Jack carried Black throught the snow, back into her rotting houe, thankful it still was somehow warmer inside. He felt Black shake lightly in his arms, and knew she was even more scared then he was. Neither of them knew what was going on, and Black was terrified that it could spread to Jack if he stayed. Sheconstantly nagged at him to just leave her, but he refused to listen. Jack layed her down on her red velvet couch, and threw a blanket over her. The blanket was actually an old thick table cloth, full of holes and tears, unweaving at the edges, but it was all Black had. She had given him the same blanket to Jack to use when he slept (on the couch she was now lying on).
Black breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath again, whiping what little drops of blood that still dripped from the corner of her mouth. She tried to hide them from Jack, but he saw them anyway. He made her some tea, but whenever she took a sip, she only tasted blood, and refused to drink anymore. Jack had no idea what to do, or what was even wrong. Sure Black had seemed depressed earlier, but she didnt seem sick. Where had that attack come from? " Jack, you have to go!" Black insisted again. " Im not leaving you like this Black!" and he refused Blacks urges again and again. Black slowly regained her strength, and sat up, with shakying arms. " Jack, I dont know what that was and I dont know if it will spread to you now GO!" Black snapped. Jack ignored her, and began picking up the discarded tea cups, still full of cold tea.
Black watched as he took them into the kitchen, and began cleaning them out. She didnt understand him at all, and it scared her. She told hi of all the horrible things she had done, the same that would befall him if he stayed arounnd her, he evevn saw for himself the things Black could, and have done to people, yet he stayed. He ignored everything about Black that made her a monster, and stayed. Like a friend...She thought. She felt tears prick to her eyes. He was the first person she spoke to ( that could see and talk back to her) in over ten centuries, the only person that looked past all the evil she had done, and just saw her. She could make him suffer for the rest of eternity, without meaning to and without a way to ever save him, but he didnt care. He didnt leave. He wasnt afraid. She stared down at the rotted wooden floors, figting back the tears in her eyes. " Fool." She whispered.
Why did he do it? Why on earth does he stay! she thought angrily. He knew the risks, now she was sick and he still wont leave her. She thought of their snowball fight in the woods, that slide down the cliff, they way he tried as hard as he could to mak eher laugh, those beautiful designs he did on the pond, all for her. But why? Why does he do that when it endagers hiself so much? A soft light from the window lifted her out of her thoughts. She gazed out the window at the sky now darkened with night, and gasped. A streak of light danced alongside the stars, shining a thousand different colors, hundeds of hues mixing together beautifully, riveling the moon itself wiht its brightness. She had seen this thing before, though its been a long time, she still remembered this calling. " The Guardians," she whispered
" Jack!" she strained to yell. " Im not-" " Jack look!" Black poointed a clawed finger outside. JAck curiously went to the window and saw the sky. Jacks stomacch tied itself in knots. He knew he had to go, he was a Guardian now after all, but he didnt want to leave Black now, especially after that fit she had. "Go." she ordered him. " But-" " GO!" He nodded, and relectantly picked up his staff, and glided away. IT would take a long time to reach North, and every mile brought mroe anxiety. What could be going on? Did it have something to do with Blacks fit? He stared by at Bodie, though he could no longer see it. He worried about her.
Black watched him go. As he vanished from sight, she was glad that he ws gone, she didnt have to worrie about infecting him anymore, but, somewhere, she didnt want him to leave either. She thought he was crazy, sure, but he was the only person in over 600 years who have ever shown her a kind hand. He talked to her as a friend, and refused to leave her alone again though it ment risking his own safety. He made her have fun, and talked with her after she had spent so many years in silence, alone. Though she didnt want to admit it, and it scared her, actually liked Jack. she was torn between wishing him back soon and hopping he never returns to Bodie again. She thought of leaving a few times, but in the state she was in, that would prove a difficulty. She let the exaustion of the day engulf her, and drifted off to sleep, still thinking on Jack.
_________________________________________________
Pitch ran through the woods, going as fast as he could, ignoring the burning ache in his legs. He panted, darthing behind a large boulder. He could no longer hear any hoof beats, but he couldnt be too carefull. His heart beat a thousand times a second, and he struggled to catch his breath. He had been circling the entrance to his fortess for a long time now, but any attemp to get near it, the nightmares would chase him off again. He had to get back to that crystal, and work on controling Blacks powers from within her. He smiled as he remembered the blood flwoing from her mouth. And he could have a little extra fun while he was at it. He recoverd a while, stil alert for any sounds of hooves. When he heard none, he darted off, back tword the broken bunk that marked the enterence to his foretess. As he ran, he heard no gallops, but a light, shining from above caught his attention. At first he thought it was the Man on the Moon, and sent a scowl tword the sky, but he saw not the moon, but an erray of colors, daashing across the sky.
He growled, and clunched his fist into a ball. Hatred gripped his heart as he ground his teath together. " The Guardians!" He spat. They've seen him, damn those globes! He thought. He would have to act fast before they figured it out. He'd seen Jack with Black, he could easily tell them of her fit, and it would only be a matter of time before she told them of the missing shard off of her gem. If they got that, it would be over for him again." But not this time." he saw Jacks face again, smieling with HIS Black, and remembered him valiently leading the Guardians against him so many months ago, and his hatred reached a new level. " Not this time." He growled.
He reached the bed at last and dived own the cavern, not stopping until he was safely inside the dome that held the crystal fragment, but something was wrong.
