As always, thanks for reading! Love you guys! Almost 300 views when I posted this chapter!!
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Jack’s POV
“How are we going to find her Jack? We don’t even know where she is!” North said as I paced frantically up and down the length of the main area in North’s workshop (where the globe controls were and where the moon spoke to us). Then an idea hit me.
“Baby Tooth! Do you remember when I lost you in Pitch’s hideout? And then we met again in the South Pole? Do you remember how he got there?” I asked. Please remember! Or at least know! She thought this over for a moment before shaking her head and trying to explain why. She said she was in his pocket the whole time and couldn’t see a thing. I heard a puff sound and looked over to Sandy who had shapes and figures made of sand coming from the top of his head. Over the past couple of years I’ve learnt to read it.
“When I came back during Easter! You’re a genius Sandy!” I said, smiling. Still referring to the time I had gone to Pitch to get my memories. He gave them to me, but I accidentally left Baby Tooth behind, only to return to the surface to find that children had stopped believing in Bunny. We can get in through that way!
Eventually, the time came where we would meet up and get Belle back. So we found ourselves gathered somewhere in England where they held the Easter egg hunt every year. I couldn't stop thinking about Belle and whether she was okay. The thought also crossed my mind reminding me that we had felt the same pain at the same time. I knew we had. But I didn't know why.
“You remember where it is?” Bunny asked. I just nodded and led them deep into the shrubs. It took about five to ten minutes of walking before I came across the tunnel I had climbed out of all those years ago.
“Ready?” I asked. Everyone nodded. I was first to jump down, landing in the dimness of the deep earth. Everyone followed close behind me and we walked until I came across the familiar stone barrier between us and Pitch’s hideout.
“How did we not come here before?” North asked. I just shrugged. We all readied ourselves. If Pitch had have been able to get out of here, it would have been pointless to trap him here in the first place. He could bring people to his hideout, but he couldn’t leave. That would mean that he wasn't very strong. He was vulnerable.
“Jack! Help me!” I heard Belle call from behind the wall. I just froze, my chest tightening.
“Belle?!” I yelled, slamming my fists on the door.
“Jack!” she repeated. It just echoed in my ears.
“We need to help her!” Tooth said. That’s when I realised.
“Wait! Pitch has done this to me before! It’s a trap. I know she’s in there. He wants us to go in…”
“So… what do we do?” Bunny asked.
“We need to get her out. Which means we need to go in,” I said as confidently as I could although not even I was sure this would work. But we had to try.
“When I say three give everything you’ve got to this barrier,” I said. Tooth and Baby Tooth took a step back. They didn’t really have any attack mechanisms.
“One…” We all readied out weapons.
“Two…” I couldn’t stop my grip from tightening on the staff.
“THREE!” We all hurled towards the door and hit it with one big thump. Then there was an almost immediate crash as the barrier crumbled and we burst through to the other side. As the rubble cleared, I came to see it all look exactly as I had seen it last. The light was dim and grey, the cages hung from the ceiling, the globe sat over in the corner, but Belle was nowhere to be found.
“I didn’t expect to see you all so soon,” I heard Pitch’s voice and gripped my staff ready to freeze.
“I only took her yesterday afternoon…” he added. This time it wasn’t an echo. It was close. I took a few steps forward and spun around to face the direction of the voice. And there he stood. Looking at him infuriated me. He had taken Belle and I was going to kill him! So, instinctively, I ran towards him yelling in attack. He just disappeared into the shadows.
“You know that fighting me won’t get her back any sooner. You want her… here she is…” Pitch said as he reappeared and gestured over to near where the Guardians stood. And there behind them sat a silver rimmed glass casket. In it lay Belle, asleep. She was peaceful with her hands resting on her stomach and her ruby lips parted ever so slightly.
“What did you do to her?!” Bunny yelled as he hopped as fast as he could to the casket. Though shadows covered it and it disappeared before he could reach it. I hated how he could control what happened to Belle. So easily too.
“What do you want Pitch?” I asked, angry as hell as a fire burned inside my chest.
“Why is it that the moon talked to her? What is so special about Belle? She’s just a normal, home schooled sixteen year old girl who’s greatest fear is that no one will ever love her…”
“What…?” I asked, disbelieved.
“Why would no one love her?” I weakened for a moment, but I wanted to know.
“Because she never takes time to care about herself Jack! She only ever takes care of her family!” Pitch snapped at me. I had been speaking to Belle about that yesterday, but I hadn't realised how much she neglected her own importance. I wish I had known. All of the signs were there… How could I not see it? I hated knowing he was right. I shook off my weakened look and tried to stand strong.
“What did you do to her?!” I yelled at him.
Then suddenly, there was a loud crash and we all turned to the darkness it had come from. Even Pitch. That mustn't have been part of his plan. Instinctively, I ran towards it. And as I did, I found the smashed casket lying on the bottom of the stone floor. And there lay Belle beside it, shattered glass surrounding her.
“Belle!” I ran up to her, but once again, the shadows covered her and she disappeared. I was fed up with this. Belle was just a ragdoll to Pitch. She meant so much more to me though. I turned to Pitch and immediately jumped to put more power into the shot of ice. He dodged it, but he couldn’t fight us all. My shooting was like a signal to the others to join me.
“Why is that you haven’t known her long at all and your greatest fear has changed… Making it that you’re most afraid of losing Belle? Why her Jack?” he asked while trying to fight us all off. I just stopped, unable to move. We all did.
“Why is it that you want her? Why do you need to keep her here?!” I yelled back, pointing my staff at him.
“Take her! I don’t need her anymore!” Pitch confessed. That didn't make any sense. Why take her and then give her back so willingly?
“There’s a catch…” I said, knowing that there would be.
“Do you want her back or not?!” he replied abruptly. I knew there was still going to be a catch, but I hastily nodded anyway.
“Of course I do,” I sighed in partial defeat. Pitch sighed also. But it was a different sigh that I couldn't quite read.
“There she is…” he pointed off into the distance and the shadows moved to reveal Belle lying unconscious on the floor. That’s when I noticed Baby Tooth return to my side. Where had she gone off to? So of course I run like hell to Belle’s side, lifting her head off the ground and checking her pulse. Steady, thank god! Heavily breathing, not from the running but from the relief, I looked up to the other Guardians who ran over to help me. I looked over, through the gap in between Sandy and North, to find Pitch was gone.
“He’s disappeared! We’ve let him out!” I almost yelled in shock. We’re doomed. We’ve just set him free of his prison. Everyone froze and looked around.
“We need to get back to the Pole,” North said.
“And my fairies!” Tooth exclaimed. Last time she had left them alone they were all kidnapped. So I picked up Belle, and North pulled out a globe.
“Pole!” he said. We were in such a hurry to get back, my heart was in my chest and I couldn’t stop looking at Belle who slept peacefully in my arms. I hadn’t seen her lips so red before. They were a beautiful ruby kind of colour. We all ran into the portal, coming out the other side to find ourselves in the workshop, as planned.
“Paul!” North called. A yeti ran over.
“Has anything happened?” he asked, sternly. The yeti responded with a gruff, frightened kind of noise. That scared me.
“What?!” North yelled loudly.
“Ah!” Belle screamed, making us all jump. Just as she screamed, she sat up and we bumped heads.
“Ow!”
“Sorry!” I hastily put Belle down. She seemed to be freaking out.
“What’s wrong?” Bunny asked North.
“Pitch has been spotted on the globe!” We all turned to the globe and just as the USA passed, we saw a little black dot.
“That’s around Burgess…!” Belle exclaimed, just as we all realised what was going on.
“Ciara!”