December 30

"That's what ya get fer runnin' around barefoot," Aster said smugly, leaning back against the chair with his arms folded behind his head. Jack scowled at him and then went back to inspecting his feet. They were both scratched and bloodied from doing exactly as his friend had warned against. "Could ya have run around like a normal person? Nope, not you."

"I was busy worrying about other things than my feet, thanks," Jack muttered, dropping his feet back down to the ground. His reference to the violent conflict the two of them and about thirty other people had been involved in two days ago didn't provoke much of a response from Aster. "I heard Pitch escaped from the police. He's on the run."

Aster frowned. "When did ya hear about that?"

"When you were asleep this morning. Windy came in and told me. I could barely tell what she was saying through all the profanity."

"She's kinda protective 'a ya. Of course she'll be mad he got off clean." Aster nodded at Jack's feet. "Honestly, I didn't expect the snow would tear yer feet ta shreds like that. Does it hurt?"

"Aster, does it look like it hurts?" Jack said sarcastically.

The Australian shrugged. "Think we're goin' ta get inta a fight with Pitch again?"

Jack sighed. "Yeah, I do. He wasn't very happy with me and we did just kinda ruin his life."

"You ruined his life. We just happened ta be helpin' ya."

Jack snorted. Aster reached over and grabbed his friend's head, bringing it closer. Jack tried to bat his hand away but Aster held on. He leaned in closer, ruffling his fingers through Jack's hair curiously. "Tryin' ta see how much ya've got left."

"Got left of what?"

"Brown hair." Aster let him go. "It's all white. Ya think that's from when ya almost drowned?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking." The shock of near death had killed the color pigments in his hair, and over the last few months, the white hair that had grown in had entirely replaced the original brown. Jack glanced sideways out of the kitchen. "Think we should ever tell the others about that experience?"

Aster rested his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. He stared at the entry way for a second with his friend. The two looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Nah." They both grinned, and Jack stood up, walking over towards the refrigerator. Aster glanced down and then groaned. "Jack, yer trackin' blood all over the floors again."

Jack waved it off. "Hey, you hungry? You slept, like, two days straight."

"Yeah, because some gumby thought it'd be fun ta attack the nearest fear lord an' make 'im mad. I had ta run around with that idiot all day on Christmas Eve. Know 'im?"

"I think the term you were looking for was 'drug lord', not 'fear lord'," Jack replied. He looked inside the refrigerator for a second, trying to find any food left. "I don't think Windy's used to feeding five kids."

Wendy "Wind" Cook was the police officer they had been spending the last few days with. She had nearly arrested Jack for something once, and somehow a chain of events had led to her being a guardian angel for him, giving him a metaphorical lift multiple times to get him back on his feet when something bad was going on. She had been involved in the recent fight and had offered her home up to Jack and his four friends. At risk to her own career, she had avoided telling anyone about their location. In the fight, both sides had broken some laws, and were now being searched for by the police. Pitch had already threatened to harm any family or friends they had, and they were hoping to keep them safe this way.

"Guess we won't be eating…" Jack said in an odd tone. Aster gave him a suspicious look. "Hey, Aster. Are the other three asleep? I know Sandy was a few hours ago."

"Jack, whatever yer about ta say… It's a bad idea." He glanced down at the floor as Baby Tooth, Ana's cat, walked in and rubbed up against Aster's leg. "Besides, ya'd freak out the officer lady if she came back an' we were gone." He reached down and rubbed Baby Tooth's neck. She purred and jumped up onto his lap. "…Does it involve getting' food?"

"As a matter of fact, it does," Jack said, leaning back against the counter. "Want to pay a visit to my home?"

Aster looked up at him sharply. "No. No, we are not goin' there. Not ever."

Jack groaned, looking up at the ceiling in frustration. "Aster, no one lives there anymore. It's perfectly safe." The last time he had been home with his family, his father had tried to kill him. Aster had stopped it from happening, and the two had in turn landed the Jack's father in the hospital. They had both gone there, having suffered injuries themselves, and had been tended to by Dr. Moon. Since then, his mother had fled without a word, his father had been arrested, and his sister had gone to stay with an aunt and uncle.

Aster didn't look satisfied. He set Baby Tooth down and stood up. "It's still not a good idea."

"So, we're going?" Jack said cheekily.

"I'll write a note. Hurry up an' grab a coat." Jack grinned and ran out of the room. Aster eyed his foot prints. "An' some shoes!" He grabbed a pad of paper off the counter and hastily scribbled out a note. He heard Baby Tooth mewl behind him but ignored her for the time being. Staying away from the windows and only moving around during the night had driven him nuts, even though he had been asleep most of the time. It made him twitchy and irritable.

He turned around and jumped when he saw Sandy standing there. Sandy raised an eyebrow, not accusing but just speculative. Aster bit back a curse and folded his arms, acting like he wasn't about to do something he wasn't supposed to. "What? You wanna come with?"

Sandy thought about it for a second, shrugged, and then nodded.

"Alright, Jack, Sandy's comin' with!"

-.-.-.-

The three cut through the forest on the outskirts of the north-east side of town to avoid anyone who might be walking around late at night. It was unlikely but not worth the chance. Besides, it was faster this way to get to Jack's house. The leaves crunched underfoot, and they were never very far from the sounds of one of the several rivers that ran through the forest. The entire thing was covered in a beautiful coat of snow. It was easy to get lost here, but they had all wandered around it enough times to not lose their way.

Jack knew the way the best, sure-footedly leading them in the direction of his house. It took them about half an hour to get there, but the walk was worth it if only for the sight of the forest. They approached it from the back, not even bothering to conceal themselves since no one was home. Jack tried the back door. It was locked.

"I'll bet a window's open-" Aster began.

Jack kicked the bottom of the door, simultaneously pulling up on the handle. Then he pushed down and opened the door. He raised an eyebrow at Aster. The Australian scowled at him. "The lock was never very good," Jack said, walking in. "Okay, I'm not sure how much food is left. I suppose it's just canned stuff, since anything that's been sitting on the counter is probably moldy- Woah, look at the shade of green the bread turned!"

Sandy and Aster exchanged exasperated looks before following him in. "Alright, should we take back all the food we can carry for the others?" Aster asked. Jack was already rifling through a cabinet, pulling cans down and setting them on the counter. "It'd be nice if we'd've thought about that sooner."

"I'll bet we can find some bags around here for that," Jack replied. "Here, if you two can keep unloading the cabinets, I'll do that." He left them to it, disappearing for a few minutes. His return came with brown paper bags from grocery stores. It only took them a few minutes to pack all of it up and prepare to leave again.

"Anything else we need to get?"

Jack shook his head but Sandy nodded. He reached over and grabbed Jack's sleeve, holding it up pointedly. "Clothes?" Jack guessed. His friend nodded again. "We're all going to smell bad if we don't change at some point," he agreed. "We're in the same clothes that we were fighting in."

"We probably smell bad already an' just can't smell it anymore," Aster muttered. "Good idea, but let's do it another time. We all gotta grab clothes from somewhere."

"While we're out, do you want to stop at your house?" Jack asked with an edge of hesitation in his voice. Like Jack's, Aster's home was empty. The reason for that, however, was because of the car crash that had killed both his parents and put his brother in a coma. He now carried around the scars of the fire the car had quickly been engulfed in. His brother was in the hospital, having not yet awoken.

"No," Aster said, shaking his head.

They left, not bothering to lock the door behind them. There was nothing left in the house to steal since it was on the market to be sold and everything inside had already been put in storage for Jack's father when he got out of prison or sent after his mother if they could find her. The walk through the forest was faster, since it became more obvious to them that Windy could get back from her late shift any time now. After the forest, they had to pass through a mile of neighborhood homes to get to her house. They stuck to passing between the backs of houses to avoid being seen in streetlamps. Aster and Sandy had both lived in this neighborhood once, just a little north-east of where they were now. It was strange how fast things had changed for them.

They remained silent, not wanting to talk and attract someone's attention. Occasionally, they gestured to each other, trying to navigate the fastest route back to Windy's house without words. The way they had first taken had definitely not been the quickest path. They were about a half mile away when Jack stopped while checking their surroundings, squinting between two houses to the road.

Aster and Sandy stopped, giving him curious looks. He set down his bag of cans and pointed at the road. They followed his gaze, looking at the figure walking out of view behind a house. Aster mouthed the word, "Pitch?" Jack nodded.

"I'm going after him," Jack whispered.

"Why?" Aster said, but Jack had already taken off. Aster groaned, dropped his bag down next to Jack's, and ran after him. Sandy followed a second later, silently wondering how messes like this happened so often to their group. "Jack!" Aster called as quietly as he could. "Jack, stop! You're being stupid! What are ya goin' ta do!"

He had almost caught up to Jack, being the fastest in the group, but Jack made a hairpin turn between two of the houses and caught Aster off guard. He skidded past before backtracking and picking up the trail again. Jack slowed and stood by the corner of the house, eyeing Pitch carefully. Sandy and Aster used the opportunity to catch up. Aster grabbed Jack's shoulder and forcefully jerked him back. He pushed him against the side of the house, gripping him tightly to stop him from running off.

"We're on the run from the police, Pitch has dozens 'a people backin' 'im up, an' yer not gonna beat 'im up. If he sees ya, he'll know we're hidin' somewhere around here an' it'll put Windy in danger." Jack put his hand against Aster's chest, trying to shove him away. Aster grabbed it and brushed it off. "You talk ta 'im, an' ya put all of us in danger. He'll kill ya if he can 'cause 'a the trouble ya caused a few days ago. Are ya really so stupid ya'd die just ta get the last word in?"

"Aster," Jack growled, "he's heading towards Jamie's house."

Aster's head snapped around, looking in the direction Pitch had just gone. He let Jack go, stepping back. "Are ya sure?"

"Positive. Jamie's house is the third house down on the road Pitch just turned onto."

Aster glanced at the other two, who stared back. With unspoken agreement, they took off again, running after Pitch. He didn't have much of a lead, since he wasn't running at all and didn't know he was being followed. They turned the corner after him and caught up within a minute.

"Where're you headed, Pitch?" Jack called out.

Pitch whipped around, glaring at the three of them. "Get arrested already and save me the trouble of having to get you out of my way permanently."

Jack smirked. "Oh, sounds like you're a bit touchy tonight. Something to do with you losing the fight a few nights ago? Yeah, that did end pretty badly for you guys."

"You really want a fight right now?" Pitch snapped.

Jack gave him a weird look and then glanced from Sandy to Aster then to Pitch on his own. "Can't you count?"

"I can come back with four times as many people in five minutes. So I'll ask again. Do you really want a fight right now?"

"I don't think either of us have the resources for one right now, actually," Jack replied. "Get away from Jamie's house. That's all I'm asking for."

Pitch glanced casually at the house behind him. "What makes you think I'm after the boy? What would that be for?"

"I don't know, and that alone has me concerned," Jack said, stepping forward. "You're right, I don't want a fight tonight. But you don't either. Leave him alone." He tried to avoid scanning the nearby area for anyone who worked for Pitch. There wasn't anyone he could see without looking closer, but he didn't doubt there was at least one other person out there who had been going to break in to the Bennett's house with him.

Pitch tapped the fingers of one hand against his thigh. He looked at the house on more time and shrugged. "Let's call a truce. Both sides need to recuperate. For one month, neither of us make an attack on each other of any kind. You don't try to get me arrested, I don't try to get you guys arrested. You don't attack my base, I don't attack you. And I suppose I won't attack anyone you guys particularly care about."

"Anyone who works for you has to abide by those terms too," Jack said firmly.

Pitch nodded. "Yeah. Same goes for your friends."

"Deal, then."

"See you in a month." Pitch raised his hand in farewell and turned away.

The two behind him remained silent for a moment.

"Ya couldn't push it out ta two months?"

"Shut up, Aster."

-.-.-.-.-

They were back at the house a few minutes later, depositing the grocery bags on the counter and floor. Jack fell into a chair, groaning as he looked at the bottom of his feet which had been torn up again from not wearing shoes.

"I keep tellin' ya to wear shoes."

"Oh, stuff it, Aster."

"It's not like yer goin' ta do anythin' useful if ya don't ever use a speck 'a common sense," Aster said.

Ana darted into the kitchen they were sitting in and grabbed both of them by the shoulders. They glanced up as she pulled them up from their chairs and began dragging them out of the room. She hushed them as they started to protest and tugged them up the stairs. Sandy, silent as always, gestured for them to hurry. Before Aster or Jack could ask what was going on, they heard the sound of a door opening downstairs and two voices talking as they entered. Aster and Jack needed no further prompting, moving quickly and quietly.

North was waiting for them in the guest room. There were blankets piled around the room, since they had all been sleeping in here for the last few days. He seemed impatient, and it looked like he'd been forced in here as well. Ana put a finger over her lips to keep him quiet and closed the door behind the four of them. Sandy pulled out a pad of paper from his pocket and scribbled down a note. He showed it to the rest of them.

The doctor is here

North frowned. He whispered quietly, "What?"

"Which one?" Aster peeked behind the window curtains, which were always closed. He caught sight of a car in the driveway that they had never seen before. "Dr. Moon?"

Ana nodded. "We saw him pull up a few minutes ago. Wind was stalling as best as she could."

"What's he doing here?" Jack muttered irritably. "None of us are injured."

They all looked at his feet.

"Most all of us are uninjured."

"He's a doctor and he got particularly attached to you two after you showed up at the hospital twice in one month in horrible condition," Ana said, looking at Jack and Aster. "He probably just wants to know if Windy knows where you are so he can offer his help."

"With any luck," Aster muttered. "But why'd he come here?"

"Wind was mother-henning Jack while we were at the hospital," Ana said, "and since he left home, it's the obvious place he'd go."

"Shouldn't we, you know, leave the house?" Jack asked.

"What, is the doctor goin' ta come walkin' around or somethin'? Ya think Wind would let 'im? We're fine."

-.-.-.-

Wendy glanced into the kitchen, wincing to herself. She breathed a silent sigh of relief when she noticed Aster and Jack were gone. There were two cups of tea on the counter, though, so she moved past the room and continued down the hallway. "Sorry, I had some family over and they trashed the place a bit," she said without turning around. There were pillows that had been taken from beds and couches on the ground in random places from when Aster had been throwing them at Jack and there was a dent in the wall from when Jack had thrown a small empty trashcan at Aster in retribution and missed.

"Were you babysitting their kids?" he asked innocently enough.

She wished he'd just come out and say that he was positive she was harboring the five teenagers. "Yeah. So, you said you had information on the Pitch Black case?"

"I read in the paper that he was arrested for possession of controlled substances, but that was it," the doctor said. "I know for a fact Pitch caused someone harm the night you tried to arrest him. When I heard there'd been a fight between some of the kids, I went out to see if anyone was injured. There were bloody footprints on the frozen pond. There are only a few teenagers crazy or determined enough to run barefoot across ice and Pitch isn't one of them."

They stopped in the living room and faced each other. It didn't look like either was comfortable enough with the conversation to consider sitting down.

"Well, if you want to push for an assault charge, you're going to have to find someone to testify. Plus, you're going to have to find Black. He evaded us so far and we don't know where he ran off to."

"Officer, you know Black's going to get off the charge you've already got him. You can get him for fleeing arrest, but that won't hold him for as long as he deserves. You also know where you can find some kids who would testify against him." He watched at her without suspicion or pressure, just with honesty and openness.

She gave him a level look. "There is no one I know who I could put in front of a witness stand and have testify without them getting arrested or putting them in danger." It wasn't exactly a confession but she hoped it would make him leave the situation alone.

"If you did have someone who could testify, why wouldn't they be able to?"

"Well, if they had been in a fight against Black, they probably would have had to break some laws like theft to get information on him and assault for trying to catch him or anyone who worked for him. I might be waiting to see how bad it would be before even asking them to think about it." She shrugged. "It's all fair in war, isn't it? But not after war."

"If it's war between them and Pitch Black, that was just the prologue," Dr. Moon said grimly. She gave him a confused look. "I know they're trying to stop Black, but it's just going to get harder. Something's going on with the kids. He's…he's taking a particular interest in them for some reason. I don't know if he's trying to make them scared because that will give him power over them later, but… They're going to be in serious trouble very soon. And they're going to need guardians to protect them."

"The police can keep an eye out."

"The police are going to have other problems. Do you really think Pitch is going to let you guys interfere? He'll make it as hard as possible. You need someone who can get things done immediately, not after you've gone through the legal route and he's already gone."

"Do you have someone who would be willing to do that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I know some people who would be willing to."

Wendy stiffened, glaring at him. Angrily, she hissed, "You are not dragging them into it again. Did you see what happened to them last time? Are you even thinking about their well-being?"

"None of them were too badly hurt, and have you considered what will happen when they run off without telling you to fight him?"

"They wouldn't-"

"They will. He's the reason why they left home. They want to stop him. They can't turn back now and there had better be a good reason about why they left their homes behind them. It doesn't matter if you want to protect them or not. They're going to be out there again, fighting their hardest against him. He's going to respond in turn, and he's not going to have any qualms about taking them out as fast and violently as he can. You have to be ready for that."

"I am not letting them go out there again."

"They're teenagers! What makes you think they'll listen to you? Jack might, for a while. But he's the most adventurous of the group and he won't stay inside long. You can't keep them hidden in your house forever. That would be too cruel."

She shook her head. "No, it would be cruel to lead them on and make them think they can take him down."

"You don't think they can?"

"Jack's barely fifteen, damn it! Sandy's the oldest and he's not even seventeen! They are way too young!"

"The body is trapped by time, but the spirit is immortal and ageless. They have already seen too much and are already as old as some adults. The fact that they were willing to risk life and limb to stop him proves that."

"What would you have me do, encourage them? Never."

"Let them decide. I doubt they're not listening already."

"Well, of course they're listening, but-"

Jack's voice broke through her statement from the vents above. "Uh, sorry to interrupt," he said, "but we kinda do have a say in this." Wendy glared at Dr. Moon, who shrugged. "Hey, how'd you know where we were?"

"Where else would you go?"

"Told you," Ana muttered, probably standing a few feet behind Jack.

A few seconds later, the five teenagers showed up, coming through the doorway with a small degree of hesitancy. Wendy shot a pointed glare at Jack but he ignored her for the time being. Aster and North took the lead on the matter, although all of them had their own speculations and queries.

"Why's Pitch after the kids?" Aster asked, folding his arms. "He wasn't before."

"As I said earlier, I'm not exactly sure. But if you take a look at papers from neighboring towns, there have already been several reports of attacks on children. No injuries yet, it just frightened them a little. It's a little too much of a coincidence, though, isn't it?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"If you want to protect the kids and make them not afraid of Pitch, they can't know who you are. If they know you, it will cause doubts that you can protect them. If you become legends… You don't exist. You're not liable to be arrested. You can be anything, do anything, and no one can criticize you because. It keeps you safe."

"You're saying it like we've already done it," Ana said.

He shrugged slightly. "I've started thinking about it ever since I heard Pitch had escaped."

"Okay, details aside, I'm up for it if it means I can get another round at stoppin' Pitch," Aster said bluntly. "We shoulda stopped 'im last time an' we didn't. We're got ta make up for it somehow."

"You're not even going to hear the rest of any idea he has?" Wendy said in a deadpan, knowing she'd already lost this battle.

"We can figure it out later," North said, grinning. "Aster is right. We have a wrong to right!"

"It may take longer than you think," Wendy cautioned. "While you're coming up with plans, he will be too. This can get bloody and could cause a revenge feud that will never end."

"Well, it's not like any of us have any children of our own we could endanger," Jack pointed out. "If we do this, we should probably move out of your house to keep you from being involved in any legal problems that could arise. That, and it'll be annoying if we have to worry about sneaking out of your house every time we have to leave."

"I'm sure we can find somewhere to stay. We could probably break into a building or something," Ana said, surprising everyone with her vote for criminal activity.

Aster nodded thoughtfully. "If we're not here, that should work."

"Officer Cook can help you avoid police efforts," the doctor said, "and you can let me know as soon as anyone is injured."

"I'm nominating North to be in charge," Jack said suddenly.

"What?" North said in alarm, looking at Jack.

The white headed teenager shrugged. "Sandy's too quiet, Aster's too loud, Ana's going to be busy doing other stuff I'll bet, and I don't like being in charge."

"But your plan was the reason we were able to win the fight last time!"

"So I'm a good planner. That doesn't mean I'm a good leader. Take today, for instance. In hindsight, going back to my house to steal a bunch of canned food so Wind doesn't have to use up her entire bank account at the grocery store wasn't such a good idea since it was obvious who took it."

"I'll nominate North for leader, too," Ana said. Sandy nodded.

Aster gave North a very non-sympathetic look. "Yer doin' it, mate."

"Okay," North said, not entirely sure how he had found himself in this position.

"Where should we stay?"

"We should leave as soon as possible. There're some storms coming. I'll bet we can use it to cover our tracks for good with the police. We can fake our deaths somehow and lay low for a while. The canned food needs to last us a while until we can find another source of food."

"What happens if we get injured and we can't contact the doctor?"

"Well, don't get injured!"

"Tomorrow night, let's send everyone out to get warm clothes from their homes. Bring anything you might think could be useful."

"We should start finding a good area to make the base."

"What'll we call it?"

"Something totally random."

"Why?"

" 'Cause."

"Santoff Claussen."

"What?"

"Hey, that sounds cool."

"What does that even mean?"

"Who cares?"

"We should probably focus on getting food and water so we don't starve to death…"

"Oh, yeah."

Wendy shot Dr. Moon a half-hearted glare, but had to admit to herself that the teenagers seemed more alive in the last few minutes than they had ever since she had taken them in a few days ago. Maybe he was right. Maybe they did belong out in the midst of the adventure, pitting everything they had to save the lives of kids they didn't even know.

-.-.-.-

a/n: This story is like the movie. You don't have to know the back story but it helps make sense of things. "Rivers" was the back story. If you're coming over from Rivers, you already know what I mean. If you're not and you don't want to read Rivers, it's not necessary (I would like you to, but you don't have to). You should be able to understand this story without me needing to explain too much in notes.

Just about everything has symbolism behind it. For instance, Aster's scars are very similar to the grey markings in Bunny's fur and Jack doesn't have good parental figures because he didn't have any parental figures in the movie. There will be a list posted soon regarding what correlates to what.

This is being co-written with Zephyrus Genesis.