Winters Revenge

Chapter Eighty-Nine-Echo's In The Cell.

Nick's footsteps approached the outside of the heavy guarded cells, showing his badge to security, they nodded letting him through to the cells of the Winters Institute. As he heard the loud bangs and screams of the cells filled of people who had been taken on the wrong path of life he couldn't help but feel sorry for them all knowing somewhere in the world they all had families. As he continued to walk amongst them his heart grew heavy knowing about what he was about to do was going to be heart-breaking, he could feel himself growing angry with knowing what that awful human being had done to his goddaughter. Taking a deep breath before entering the place they took only the darkest of souls, he approached the cell closely as he watched a young man stand up from his bed and look at him with no emotions whatsoever due to the nightmares serum that no doubt Pitch had been feeding him with or without permission.

"So, you've come to judge my fate huh?" Jake ran his fingers through his dark black locks.

Nick "If you could call It that." he replied fidgeting with a file that had been under his arm.

Jake "You know....Pitch wont stand for this. He'll find a way to bring her back whether you like it or not." He smiled.

Nick "He will never and wont ever touch her again." He snarled gritting his teeth angrily.

Jake "You wanna bet?" he grinned.

Nick smashed his hand against the cell as Jake backed up from the outbreak of anger smiling like an idiot knowing he'd done his job of causing Nick to have a reaction. Nick narrowed his eyes, refusing to let Jake's words shake his resolve. The tension in the room thickened, neither man willing to back down. He clutched the file tighter, remembering the promise he'd made to protect Elsa, no matter the cost....

Nick took a step closer, his eyes narrowing as he tried to steady the trembling in his hands. The tension in the cell was palpable, the air thick with memories and regret. For a moment, he wondered how much of the young man before him was truly Jake, and how much was mangled by Pitch's sinister methods of the nightmare serum. He wondered if he really cared about the fact that his father was a terrible man and that he'd wronged his half-sister? Did he even know that Elsa was his sister or had Pitch kept that a secret with what he'd done to Jakes mother along with it?

"Did you know what Pitch did to your mother?" he asked Jake suddenly standing tall as he heard the question.

Jake "What? That you murdered her? Of course he told me." He snapped as his green eyes filled with rage.

Nick " He lied to you...I didn't kill her he did." He explained.

Jake "You're a lair!" he roared.

Nick "I'm not lying! I didn't kill her I couldn't she was one of my best friends!" he yelled.

Jake's expression wavered, uncertainty flickering across his features, but his anger wouldn't let him falter. The echo of old wounds lingered between them, raw and unresolved, as the truth clashed violently with the lies he'd grown up believing. Deep down, a seed of doubt had been planted, but he refused to show it.

Jake "My father wouldn't lie to me..." he trailed of his voice sounding softer spoken.

Nick took a deep breath, his voice dropping to a gentler tone. "Jake, you have to ask yourself why he'd blame me. What would he gain by twisting the story? You deserve to know the full truth, not just his version." He let the words hang in the heavy air, hoping that somewhere beneath Jake's hardened exterior, something would begin to unravel.

Jake "Then what is the truth?" he spat from the bars.

Nick "Your father was very broken man when your mother left him....he couldn't handle her falling out of love with him for the greed of his experiments.....and he paid the price when he lost her over it..... he took you away from her.....and he even tormented your sister...." He explained.

Jake "Sister? Now I know your lying..."

Nick "I'm not lying Jake....Elsa is your half-sister; Pitch obviously hid that from you.."

Jake recoiled, his eyes widening in disbelief as the weight of Nick's words settled. "No... no, you're just trying to mess with my head," he stammered, but his conviction was wavering, like a candle in a draught. Shadows flickered in his mind, memories that never quite made sense now nudging at the edges of his certainty.

Nick stepped closer to the bars, his voice steady but urgent. "You've always felt like pieces were missing, haven't you? That because of the experiments,  I'm not your enemy, Jake. The lies have kept us both in the dark for too long."

Jake's grip tightened on the cold metal, the turmoil inside him threatening to spill over. He thought back to hushed arguments and secrets never spoken aloud, the gaps in his childhood that nobody ever tried to fill. It was as if the truth had been lurking in the shadows all this time, waiting for this moment to finally come to light. Slowly, doubt began to chip away at the foundation of everything he'd been told.

"So that means...." He found himself not being able to find the words.

Nick "You hurt you sister Jake..."

Jake " I suppose it would make sense with how much he always wanted her around and how he would tell me she was his and only his."

Jake's jaw clenched as old anger began to bubble up, pushing back against the vulnerability Nick's words had stirred. "No, you're twisting things," he snapped, shaking his head as if the motion alone could fend off the rising tide of doubt. "You don't know what you're talking about—none of this is true. You're just saying whatever you think will get to me."

He banged a fist against the bars, the sharp clang echoing through the cold air. His eyes burned, defiant and wounded. "I won't let you mess with my head. My father—he wouldn't—no, I won't believe it." Yet beneath the anger, a sliver of uncertainty still flickered, refusing to be extinguished.

Nick "I can't make you believe me." He shrugged.

Nick's expression softened, understanding the storm raging inside Jake. "I get it, mate. It's a lot to take in, and I wouldn't believe it either if I were you. But deep down, you've felt it, haven't you? The way things never quite added up, the things your father hid from both of you. He built these walls, not you or Elsa." Nick's voice dropped to a near whisper. "You deserve to know the truth, even if it hurts."

Jake "Go away! Your lying! Leave me alone!"

Nick lingered just beyond reach, his shoulders slumping as Jake's shout echoed in the dim corridor. For a moment, the only sound was the distant drip of water and Jake's ragged breathing. "I'm not lying, Jake," Nick replied quietly, his words carrying a weight that pressed into the silence. "But I'll give you space. Just... remember, sometimes the hardest truths are the ones we run from the longest."

Jake paced furiously within the confines of his cell, anger seething beneath his skin like wildfire. He glared after Nick, fists still balled and knuckles white, unwilling to let his guard down. Nick hesitated for a heartbeat at the threshold, then turned away, footsteps fading into the gloom as the oppressive silence swallowed him. Jake muttered curses under his breath, the sting of betrayal mingling with the persistent ache of unanswered questions. He stared at the door long after Nick had gone, the weight of doubt and resentment settling heavily over him, refusing to dissipate.

Jake sank to his knees, the weight of everything threatening to crush him. He pressed his forehead against the cold bars, desperate to shut out Nick's words, yet unable to stop them replaying in his mind. The corridor felt colder now, emptier, and Jake wondered if he'd ever be able to piece together what was real and what was only shadows of his father's words while Nick walked from the cells and back towards the hallways to his office. There was just one thing that was burning on his mind that he couldn't forget and that was revenge....