"No!"

Katherine's sketchbook fell to the floor with a muffled thunk.Cold fury filled Jack as he clenched the box tightly in his hand. As he lunged down toward an observing Nightlight and shoved him away from Rapunzel's softening form. Her blood was warm against his skin as he pressed one hand over her shoulder, and the other by her wound. She had healing magic. If he removed the blade, would she be able to save herself? Maybe it hadn't quite reached her heart...

But it was already too late. Her eyes had lost their focus.

It was too late.

It couldn't be.

Rapunzel wasn't supposed to die.

Her hand was heavy and limp as he pulled it into his lap, clenching it hard as if that could bring her back. "Please," he whispered. A wave of sorrow filled him like an avalanche crashing into his heart. An uncontrollable sob tore through him, and then another. Rapunzel. Beautiful Rapunzel. They'd been so close to reaching safety.

What had any of this been for, if not to save her?

Whispers of thoughts not his own sounded faintly in his head. Should be... water... Not very long now... Though distant, he recognized the voice as Nightlights. His gaze shifted to the diamond blade deeply imbedded in Rapunzel's chest, a wet ring of blood surrounding its glistening base. Darkness tinted the edges of his vision. A slight, phantom weight tugged at his sleeve, the nape of his neck, as he leaned over Rapunzel's body.

Nightlight.

It was his fault, wasn't it? Jack had successfully trapped Pitch Black in his new eternal prison, and Nightlight had betrayed them all. The Man in the Moon had betrayed them all. The Guardians were his children, but Nightlight had been his first. His favourite. His bodyguard. He knew all of the secrets the Guardians weren't allowed to hear.

Jack could have sworn he saw a glimpse of fear in Nightlight's eyes at he twisted to meet his gaze. Nightlight stood back, eyes briefly flicking toward the box that Jack had let tumble down beside Rapunzel's shoulder. Jack could barely register the confusion flooding Nightlight's aura before the feeling came over him like a dizzying rush.

It felt like a claw had suddenly latched itself onto his brain, sinking deep within its folds as they pushed Jack back to the periphery of his own body. His fingers became a distant thought, even as he watched them flex and curl seemingly on their own. He felt as if he was floating, unfeeling, with chopped off limbs that he could not control no matter how badly he wanted to reattach them. Yet there was a warm weight at his back that he could vaguely sense sitting there, hugging the length of his body from wrist to wrist, and ankle to ankle. Heavy, too heavy for him to move.

The world felt slow.

Slow, and dull, and blurry.

His gaze turned back to Rapunzel's soft face. Was it already losing its colour? Jack wanted to brush a finger over her cheek. He wanted to feel the warmth of her life, the sway of her breathing. Instead, his chin dipped down to her chest, where the diamond blade lay.

His fingers wrapped around its base, slicing his palm open as they tightened enough to slowly pull it out of her body. Jack's stomach clenched painfully as he watched blood freely pour out of the wound.

Stop it, he yelled at himself. He didn't want to see her this way—bloody, with a deep gash in her chest. He never wanted to see her this way.

Bloody.

Dead.

Not here.

Warmth pressed against his cheek, and his head turned back to face his friends.

"Jack?" One of them said. The voice was muffled, almost unintelligible. Chirpy. Worried. Tooth. "Are you alright?"

The box on the ground slipped into the pocket of his sweater.

"What is that, behind him?"

Jack turned to his left, faster than he felt, and lunged forward, blade drawn and aimed at Tooth's surprised form. A single swing of Nightlight's staff sent him crashing against the castle wall. The hallway swam as he saw Nightlight bend to take Rapunzel into his arms, Tooth watching him wearily. She turned her gaze back to Jack when his body moved back onto its feet. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't particularly care.

Pain flared in his head as the claws dug deeper. Jack winced. Fell to one knee.

Hands slipped under his arms, pulling back with a groan until he felt himself become weightless. We could really use Sandy right now... He wasn't sure if the words were thought or voiced.

We have to pull it off.

What is it.

Who is it.

When Jack opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was blurred cobblestone as he swayed over a hard shoulder, arms hanging long toward the ground. The hard corners of the box dug into his stomach.

Rapunzel, Jack thought. Where was Rapunzel? What had Nightlight done to her?

There was another, newer part of him that hissed in response.

Pain. It flared again in his head until Jack took a breath and let go to his thoughts.

His body twisted to the side, quick enough that the person carrying him did not have time to react. His feet caught him before his shoulders could hit hard ground. Wild eyes—Nightlight's and Tooth's and Flynn's, who'd been the one carrying him—met his.

"Jack, please," Tooth said, hands raised. Freesia hovered beside her. "We're trying to get you help!"

There was something within him that itched when he looked at Tooth. Her feathers were too bright. When Jack raised his hands, sleet—cold, wet, and miserable—shot toward the birds' wings, so dizzyingly quick that Jack barely caught sight of the hand, the entire arm resting along the length of his own. It was a dark shadow, half within his body, half submerging, and it was clinging to him like a second soul desperate to claim Jack as its own.

It sent him into a panic.

Jack fought against it, push push pushing, but its claws had already sunk too deep in his sorrow. He was hovering above his body now, watching as the darkness at his back rolled the cramps out of its—Jacks—muscles while it used him like a puppet. Too late.

It was too late, twice over now.

It plucked his staff off of the ground where Tooth had dropped it. Twinetender turned black where the shadow's—Jack's—hand met its body. The black was like a plague against the wood, infecting it with an energy Jack could only associate with Pitch Black. But this was different, still. It had a mind of its own, and though the evil felt like that of Pitch's, Jack knew it wasn't of his making. Not this time.

This... This thing, it was something completely different, yet eerily familiar. Its mind pried at Jacks, invading him entirely... and Jack had let it all happen. He turned Twinetender toward Tooth and sent a second, more powerful shot of sleet her way. She should have drawn her twin swords against him. She should have fought before—

By the time Jack and the shadow registered the muffled footsteps, it was too late. A flash of yellow leaped over him just as he'd spun around, taking grasp of his sweater and sending him crashing onto his back. A round face hovered above him, auburn hair framing it like a halo. Strong palms pressed hard against both of his temples. Before he could think anything of it, a flash of bright white light consumed his vision as Katherine opened her mind wide for him to see.

.

.

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If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts! :)

(July 29th, 2018): Boo. Did you see it? Did you see the sticker on the cover? Guess who won first place in the Flavored Awaaaards??! Das right, you're looking at her. Well... Her writing. ;) 

If you have the time, you should definitely go check them out, as well as the other winners! :) Give em some love. Meanwhile... Any guesses about what Katherine has to show Jack?  I'd love to know! (PS: I finished writing the last chapter two days ago. 3:) )

*Edited, (October 14th, 2021).