Author's Note: I can't believe how fast I wrote this chapter. There are so many other things I should be doing right now, but darn it! I have this story stuck in my head now and the faster I can get it out, the faster I can return to more productive things. Besides, this is where things actually begin to get interesting.

Chapter II

A Marionette Named Jack

Jack ran toward her. Each step crunched the damp grass further into the ground, cold and brittle the frost. He knelt down, setting his staff aside. To his relief, she was breathing fine. It seemed whatever had caught her by surprise didn't manage to cause further harm.

Before he could reach out to her, she woke. Her wings were the first to jolt to life. She leapt to her feet, darting her eyes left and right. "Jack!" she grabbed him then and immediately brushed his white hair off his forehead, as if checking to see if he was injured. He was fine, of course. A puzzled look etched the Tooth fairy's face. She ran her hand then down his face, turning his head sideways. Seeing nothing alarming she turned it the other way. "You're okay," she said. Then as if to assure herself, she asked. "You're okay?"

"Me?" Jack said, finding this sudden scrutiny unnerving. "I'm not the one who was knocked unconscious out of the sky."

"I…you. And he. Pitch. Oh!" Her wings flit back and forth anxiously. Whatever she had been imagining had left her shaken. "I thought he had…"

Jack reached for her hand, bringing her back toward him. His touch seemed to calm her. Now that he was standing this close, he could see the patch of missing feathers running up her arm. Blood speckled her flesh. He pulled her arm closer to get a better look. "What did this to you?"

Tooth pulled back and Jack let her go. "I was caught off guard by Pitch," she said, finally giving her own injury a better look. She pressed her hand against the exposed flesh. "How could I not see it coming?"

"What happened, Tooth," Jack demanded.

"Jack, I…don't worry about it. Nothing serious happened. All I remember was envisioning you and..." she clasped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to forget whatever it was she had seen. She shook her head. She couldn't bring herself to finish. "Oh Jack, it was awful. When I turned around, all I remember was feeling lightheaded before blacking out."

"You had a nightmare," he told her.

"But Pitch hasn't bothered any of the Guardians for so long. Why me? Has he bothered you yet?"

"No." Lie number two. Great. Unfortunately it was the only answer that would help calm her now. "He hasn't."

"That's good," Tooth said, relieved. "We'll leave him be for now, but we should spread word of this attack to the others. They should know."

"Right," Jack told her, suddenly dreading where this was going. With his latest encounter with Pitch, he felt it would be best to avoid the others for now until he worked this 'debt' out. "You go on ahead."

"Everyone would love to see you again, I know. Come with me."

Jack smiled at her and reached for his staff. He propped it against his shoulder. "No offense," he said. "I'd rather not come if I'm not needed. You know I prefer being left alone."

The Tooth fairy nodded in clasped her hands around his. "Well take care of yourself, Jack. I'll check in with you soon."

"No rush."

Then she took flight, leaving Jack behind. She was far gone when Pitch finally decided to reveal himself.

"How sweet," he whispered into Jack's ear as he slinked toward him. "I'm not sure who I found more sickening. Your act of nobleness. Or the nauseating show of concern she had dripping all over you."

Jack hoisted his staff, smashing it into his chin. "Watch where you're walking there," Jack told him, making sure the impact had done a solid job. "Could be dangerous."

Pitch stumbled backward in pain. He rubbed his chin, a bitter scowl in his eyes. "I'd be more careful if I were you. You don't want to make this dangerous."

"No," Jack corrected him. "The moment you dragged Tooth into this, you made it dangerous."

"I—" Pitch raised his arm, threatening to strike Jack across the face with it when he stopped. He smoothed out the sleeves of his robe and sighed instead. "Enough. There are more important matters to discuss."

"Right," Jack agreed. "Like how I'm never helping you with anything you ever ask of me. Forget it. It won't happen."

"Hm. Ha. HA!" Pitch cackled. "You think it's as easy as that? You think you have the free will to make your own decisions now?"

Jack didn't see what was so amusing.

"Didn't they teach you anything when you became a Guardian? If you think a Guardian can take back his promise as easily as that, you're about to be in for a rude awakening. When you make a promise, you're bound to keep it. It's not like you're human. The rules don't bend for you quite so easily."

The silence tensed between them.

"Now I need you to do something," Pitch explained. "Listen here, Jack. You do this one thing for me and I promise you, that will be the end of it. I scratched your back, you'll have scratched mine. It's a done deal."

"You must have not understood me the first time I said I'm never helping someone like you," Jack said.

"Yes," Pitch rapped his fingers against one another. "We'll see about that. Now where was I? Ah!" He stretched his arm toward the ground, materializing shadows into his palm. He turned his hand upright, cupping the newly formed shadows into his hand. Percolating in the center of his palm was a vial of black liquid.

"Catch," he ordered Jack, tossing the vial in his direction.

Jack caught it. He turned it over in his hand, examining the glass vial and the black liquid sloshing inside it.

"Drink it."

"You must be kidding."

"Does it look like I'm kidding?"

Jack frowned and studied the contents of the vial. "What is it?"

"Think of it as a gift."

"Some gift."

"You don't want it? Give it one of the other Guardians." Pitch shrugged. "Slip it into their drink when they'll least expecting it. Or lie. I see you've been favoring that route lately."

"Leave the others out of this," Jack told him. Dragging any of the other Guardians into this was out of the question. That left only himself. "And if I refuse?"

"I think it would be better if you experienced those consequences for yourself. You must not have believed me when I said a Guardian's word was good enough for me. See, when you make a promise like that it must come from your center. If you ignore your center, well…" Pitch clapped his hands then extended his arms toward Jack. "See for yourself."

Jack tossed the vial up into the air, catching it as it fell back down again. He felt great. So why did he still feel as if Pitch was holding the upper hand? He inspected the vial once more before pocketing it out of sight. He spun his staff firmly into his grasp and prepared to do what he did best. It was finally time to spread this place with some winter fun.

However, nothing happened. It was as if something inside was blocking him. Jack spun his hand in circles in the air, trying to conjure at least frost to form on his fingertips. He spun nothing but wind.

"Having any trouble over there?" Pitch called from the distance. Jack turned around to see him watching with a bemused grin on his face. "Come on. Give it your best shot. You're so entertaining to watch."

Jack clenched his fist.

"This is not my doing, I assure you," Pitch told him. "This is only a temporary symptom brought on by the promise you gave me. Or failed to give me, in this case. Maybe this symptom could turn into a permanent one. Who knows? The next move is yours."

Nothing more was said.

"Honestly Jack, I don't care what you decide to do at this point. As far as I'm concerned, you're no longer a threat. Unfortunately, you're no longer an asset either. But drink that little dose of liquid there, and I'll at least promise you this. Things will return as they were before. Everything will be normal."

Jack uncorked the vial. He held his breath. The faster he got this over with, the sooner things could return to normal. Pitch had given him his promise after all, right? Whatever that meant.

He tipped the liquid down his throat.

And swallowed.

#

It was alarmingly cold when Jack woke.

He found it strange that he was still in the center of that same barren field he had last been. Quite some time had passed. Night had fallen. Freshly fallen snow coated the surface of the field. The next thing he noticed were his clothes. They clung to his body, stiff with semi-frozen frost. It was a moonless night. Clouds blanketed the skies in thick shadows.

When Jack tried to sit up, he nearly screamed. Pain coursed through his body, crippling him back to the ground. The slightest movement seemed to place enormous pressure on his bones. It was a sensation unlike Jack had ever before felt. He groaned and fell back into the ground, too weak to stand, let alone sit upright.

"Hey, y'alright?"

A young man near his age leaned over him. Jack felt an arm slip under his back and lift him off the ground to sit upright. Still he was wavering between consciousness and sleep. And honestly, sleep was seeming like the easier of the two options.

"Are you alone?" the young man asked.

Jack nodded. "...yeah—" he coughed violently.

"How'd get out here?"

"I didn't know..." Jack tried answering truthfully but he was having difficulty articulating his thoughts. "Where is he?"

"Who? I thought you said you were alone."

"Pitch." It took Jack by surprise when he was suddenly hauled to his feet. He gripped the stranger's other arm, helping to support his weight. He kept slipping out of consciousness and this young man, whoever he was, was doing a decent job of holding him upright, trying to keep him awake by asking questions that didn't matter. "Is he still here?"

"...I don't know," the young man replied. "I'll find out for you—"

"No—!" Jack suddenly lost his grip around the other man's shoulder. The sudden outburst had sent his head spinning. His vision blurred. "...don't go..."

He was caught from collapsing into the ground. This young man still with him now had his arm wrapped around his back, supporting his weight. In a desperate attempt to make the world stop spinning, Jack closed his eyes.

The young man was on a cellphone, dialing for someone. It wasn't until that moment that Jack began to comprehend the oddity of this whole situation. Guardians and spirits didn't have cellphones.

"Yeah," Jack listened in on the conversation. "I'm outside Rosewood Cemetery. There's this boy out here I found passed out on the ground...I don't know...hypothermia maybe but I think he's going into shock-"

Jack struggled to stand on his own again. He attempted to place some distance between him and this stranger, but the young man leveraged his weight just right so Jack wouldn't risk falling again.

"No! The nearest building is at least five miles away...I have a car...yes, there's a heater...I can drive. Won't be a problem. It'll be faster that way...are you sure that's the nearest hospital?"

The phone conversation ended shortly afterward.

"Hey, stay with me," the young man told Jack. "Need you awake for this, got it?"

But Jack was done answering his questions. He didn't have the energy anymore.

The next thing he knew he was being forced inside the passenger seat of a car. "Watch your head," Jack heard him say. The stranger cushioned a hand over his head, preventing him from hitting his head against the side frame of the car. Then he removed his coat and threw it over Jack. It was a black parka. Soon the car engine was roaring and heat was blasting from the vents.

I've never driven in one of these before, Jack thought to himself. Unfortunately, it was less exciting than he had imagined. North's sleigh was by far more exhilarating. But this did give Jack the chance to get a clear, solid glance at this stranger who had stuck beside him ever since he had woke alone in that field where Pitch had left him.

It was Jamie Bennett.

Kimauri - Thank you for the feedback! You said you were curious to see what Pitch was going for, so I hope you have not been disappointed in this latest twist of events. Can't say too much right now. Don't want to spoil too much. But I hope you will still continue to read more as I update.

reckless is a wreak - You're too kind. Thanks!

Thank you also to OtakuAme, rainbugs and Androgynous-Heron for taking the time to review as well, in addition to any others I may have missed here! It's always lovely to hear from other readers. :)