114Set during the movie.
There had been a brief moment where they believed that they had Pitch and his nightmares on the run. It was impossible to corner a shadow, and Pitch reminded them of that. He fell into the shadow that his existence, reaching up the brick walls in such a threatening manner.
It was only Jack's reflexes that kept him being impaled completely. Pitch's scythe banged against the concrete instead of running Jack through. The winter spirit tried to leap away, gain a safe distance. He even threw up his staff in defense.
Pitch's scythe swiped at him, bludgeoning and piercing all at the same time. He fell into the brick wall just as gold light engulfed the horizon for a moment. Pitch was suddenly being dragged away, golden strands lapping at his darkness.
The wound left behind was raw and deep. It oozed darkness and blood, reaching up and out to swallow him whole. He slipped down the wall, for the moment the others following the Nightmare King to see the glorious sight of his sudden and swift defeat.
It was not swift enough.
He could feel the darkness course through him like poison and hurt like nothing Jack had ever felt before. It hurt more than when he melted, or when he was burned. It hurt more than the last time Pitch's darkness touch him.
This was not like a burn, this was like a sickness. A terrible feeling akin to fear that welled up inside him and forced tears down his cheeks and a cry past his lips. He brought his hands up to the wound, hoping to stop the darkness. It reached across his skin like tendrils, hungry and devouring.
He closed his eyes for a second, focused on what was going on around him. The others had followed Pitch. They probably thought he'd simply been thrown into a wall. That was not so grievous; Jack wished for that. Anything but the pain that crashed into him and blinded him.
He tried to climb to his feet. He wanted to see the victory. He wanted to know what it felt like to succeed. To have someone to celebrate it with. He staggered up, using the wall. His vision blurred, the world tiled sickeningly. He could feel the panic entering his heart, eating at him. He could feel it gliding across his skin like an arid wind, cutting him like his skin was paper.
He stumbled and fell, landing back on the concrete with a thud. He could not move, could not see. He knew nothing and yet saw every moment he had ever lived pass before his eyes. The pain crashed into him and ebbed. The roaring in his ears reached a crescendo and died into horrifying silence.
He was a stranger to this sudden silence, and yet it felt frighteningly familiar. It was the silence that slept beneath the ice of a dark lake.
He could hear voices through a barrier. They called his name and he reached for them. For the briefest of moments he saw Bunny's face hovering over him, could see his lips forming words yet no noises reached him. He could feel the Pooka's paws grabbing at him. He could see North and Tooth. He thought he saw Sandy, but it was unclear. A part of him that was still somehow holding onto the outside world told him that Sandy was dead.
They were mere snatches of light and sound against the all-consuming darkness. There was nothing left of him after a moment more. He let the blackness reach into his soul. There was no other choice. He was so tired. He fell from himself and into a slumber that would never match any other he had had before.
Afterword: This is probably stupidly confusing. But Jack is dying. Nuff said. It's 3am as I write this, and I really should not be. I should go to bed…
This is requested by LaZy-RaIn-DaNcEr, who wanted me to re-write the scene in the movie where Pitch is about to run Jack through with the scythe but Sandy revives just in time to win the battle. Except she wanted to see what would happen if Sandy had been just a few more seconds later.
Edit: If you've come over from Invisible, then this should be familiar. My OCD tendencies were really starting to get annoyed with the simple fact that this was not of the same continuity as the rest of the Invisible timeline. I also realized that I could seriously just turn this into a mini-story. Not a full story because I don't think I could write thirty thousand words for this particular arch, but I could totally make it long enough to stick in its own story. So that's what I've done. I'll continue Invisible as if these last two chapters don't exist. I'll try updating this regularly as well, but I've been having trouble simply writing fanfiction in general lately.