Frozen Chains

Chapter 20

It was the middle of the night. Jack couldn't sleep; his mind was whirling, filled with thoughts and images and worries. Thoughts about him and Jay. Images of him and his brother being hurt. And worries of the Guardians throwing them out.

Pitch always told them that no one liked or cared for them, and anyone who did were simply pretending to benefit themselves. He said that no one would ever love them. And, after hearing it for so long, Jack grew to believe him.

He felt lonely, sleeping in his own bed, away from Jay. He and his brother had always slept together before, and now, he was alone, his thoughts getting the best of him. He wanted Jay.

Slowly, Jack sat up in bed, wincing as his bruises screamed in protest. He carefully got out of bed. He wasn't that great at walking yet, and he already practiced a lot earlier that day, so walking now was hard, be he ignored the burning in his legs and walked across the room.

"J-Jay?" He whispered, shaking his brother's shoulder.

Jay gasped and jerked awake, then relaxed upon seeing it was Jack, His brow furrowed and he cocked his head slightly as if to say, 'what are you doing up?'

Jack shivered in the dim lighting. "I got scared. C-can I sleep with you?"

Jay nodded his head towards the Velcro straps around his wrists and ankles. Jack knew that Guardians kept him tied down so he wouldn't hurt himself, but one exception wouldn't do any harm, would it?

He undid Jay's restraints. Jay scooted over, making room for Jack, who climbed in the bed and huddled next to his twin, shivering. He was glad to be able to feel some sort of comfort by being with his brother.

"Goodnight, Jay." He whispered.

***

He woke to the sound of a door opening and closing. Jack jumped, suddenly wondering if he was going to get both himself and Jay in trouble for switching beds. Was he supposed to only sleep by himself? It had never occurred to him that he might be doing something wrong.

Jack began to tremble slightly. The Guardians wouldn't punish them, would they?

He kept his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep in hopes that the Guardians wouldn't punish him all too quickly, though feigning sleep had never worked on Pitch before.

"Aw, they're so cute." Tooth whispered.

"I kinda feel bad for waking them up," answered Bunny, who must've walked in with Tooth. "They've been through a lot of crap over the past few days; I wonder if we should let them sleep."

"Nonsense. We're trying to get them into a normal sleeping pattern."

Sleeping pattern? Jack knew of no such thing. When they were with Pitch, he and Jay just always slept whenever they could, and that time was usually taken from them by nightmares, anyways. It might explain the dark circles under their eyes.

Jay whimpered in his sleep. The corners of his mouth twitched downwards.

"I think he's having a nightmare, toothy." Bunny said quickly.

"Oh, no. Jay? Wake up-!" Tooth began to say.

At that moment, Jay shot into a sitting position with a gasp, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead and his entire body quivering with fear. Whether he woke because of Tooth or because the intensity of the nightmare was too strong, Jack never found out.

Jack sat up, rubbing his eyes, and looked at his twin. Jay and drew his knees into his chest and hugged them there, resting his chin on his kneecaps and rocking back and forth. His eyes were filled with angst.

"Are you okay?" Tooth asked, nervously flying to his bedside.

Jay shook his head, backing away from her, mouthing the word 'no' so slightly that only Jack could see it. He wrapped his arms around his brother and held him, waiting for the panic attack to cease.

But it didn't.

Jay remained immobile, breathing heavily, shaking, and whimpering under his breath. 

"Do we have anxiety medication?" Tooth said.

"I think so, but I don't know how much we need ta give him." Bunny said, turning and rummaging through the cupboards.

Medication? Medicine. What if there was something bad in the pills? Pitch used to make them eat bad stuff before by saying it would help, when it was really designed to make people sick. What had they done to deserve this? Why did Tooth want to make them sick?

"Here." Bunny handed Tooth a small white pill.

"Alright, can you give this to him, Jack?" Tooth asked.

"W-will i-it hurt h-him?" He asked honestly, then winced. "S-sorry, I-I sh-shouldn't have sp-spoken out of t-turn, pl-please don't h-hit me... "

Tooth suddenly looked sad. "This won't hurt him. And you're allowed to ask questions, Jack. No one can stop you."

Jack shook his head, shivering. They didn't understand what Pitch used to do to them for talking without permission...

He did as he was told and took the pill from Tooth with shaking hands, pushing it past Jay's trembling lips. Jay swallowed it by instinct and relaxed slightly in Jack's arms, though his eyes still showed fear. He pushed himself up and went immediately to staring at his hands. His body was still shaking slightly as an aftershock of the panic attack.

"Morning, boys." Tooth said, smiling gently. "I see you snuck into Jay's bed last night, Jack."

Jack cringed. "I-I'm s-sorry, I d-didn't kn-know we w-w-were s-supposed to st-stay in- "

"No, you didn't do anything wrong, mate." Bunny promised.

"You're fine, Jack. No one minds." She agreed. "What we do mind is how you're feeling."

Jay only shook his head, his fingers feeling gently at the cloth that covered his eye. Jack could only imagine how sore his brother was feeling, both physically and emotionally. 

"I'm sorry, Jay. Is there anything I can do?" Tooth asked.

He only shook his head again.

"What about you, Jack?" Bunny asked.

Jack felt his eyes widen. It wasn't very often that people actually considered how he was feeling. Sure, the Guardians had asked a couple of times, but he was still getting used to the idea that there were people who actually cared for him-

No. They didn't care. Pitch had said no one would ever care for him, and Pitch never lied. Jack couldn't get his hopes up like that.

So he shrugged.

"C'mon, don't be so vague." Tooth laughed softly.

"N-n-not... Not as b-bad as b-before." Jack stammered finally.

"Good. Because three days from now, it's been decided," she said, "that we're going back to Pitch's lair to get your staffs back!"

And in that moment, everything crumbled apart.