Night's Fury

Jade felt very much like a caged bird, and she did not like it.

Not one bit.

Though this cage was on the ground, it was not much bigger than the ones housing the fairies overhead and definitely sturdier.

As a dragon, she was quite a bit stronger than any human, but even her hardest kicks had done nothing beyond make the entire structure quake.

This entire situation was severely frustrating her, and she was mentally making a list of grievances to exact revenge over.

Just as she reached a milestone fifty, a shadow moved in her peripheral, and smoldering feline eyes caught triumphant, scheming yellow.

“Oh, just what I needed.” She grumbled sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Isn’t there a puppy somewhere you need to kick or something?”

Pitch seemed rather bemused by her sass, circling the cage slowly.

“You are not afraid.”

“I thought we established this already.” Jade pointed out, leaning back comfortably. “You don’t even break the top ten.”

“That was when you had the Guardians and Frost as support.” Pitch noted, not stopping his slow circling pace. “And yet you have no fear now, all alone and at my mercy…”

“That’s a matter of perspective.” The Night Fury responded, completely untroubled. “A caged tiger is no less dangerous than a wild one.”

Any other being would have been intimidated, perhaps even frightened, by the veiled threat, but Pitch…

It excited him.

How long had it been, he wondered, since someone had proved to be an equal?

“I’ve met many of your kind over the centuries.” The Nightmare King mused, eyes glowing through the dark. “But none quite as exquisite as you. Intelligent, deadly…”

Sensing something off, Jade’s pupils narrowed in suspicion as she began to wonder where this conversation was heading.

“You have such a strong spark…” He purred, standing behind the stubbornly-unmoving dragon. “It’s intoxicating.”

Scales bristled, standing on-end like the fur of a threatened cat, and created a sharp barrier against any unwanted touches.

Jade was liking this entire situation less and less.

“Those large brutes may carry the name Monstrous Nightmare, but you are the true fear-bringer, aren’t you?”

She broke her silence in a burst of anger, her eyes like green fire and burning through Pitch’s soul.

“No, I’m not.”

“Still so young and naïve.” He scolded lightly, brushing off the dragon-child’s conviction. “You will realize what you are meant to be eventually, and so will they.”

There was no need to ask who ‘they’ were, but Jade’s expression stayed stony, eyes still burning.

“Do you really think they care for you?” Pitch wondered, still circling like a lazy predator. “They only kept you around to help defeat me. Once they have no use for you, they’ll turn on you.”

A faint twinge of uncertainty, of fear, but she fortified the cracks in moments with a surge of confidence.

It was impressive, and his infatuation grew.

“I’m not stupid.” Jade voiced, calming herself. “This is a waste of both our time. You can talk all you want, but I’m not going to listen.”

With that, she cocooned herself in large black wings, tail coming around to ripple in warning.

Letting out a soft breath, the winged girl reached into her shirt, pulling out the ice-ring that hung from a thin cord around her neck.

It pulsed a soft blue in the dark made by her wings, and settled her nerves like nothing else could.

Fingers curling around the seemingly-delicate piece, she ignored everything going on outside her little bubble, plans formulating.

Jade was not about to sit there, like some damsel in distress, and wait for someone to save her!

She is a dragon, a Night Fury, and there would never be a prison able to contain her!

After a moment, her shoulder’s slumped, and she smacked her forehead against her knees.

That was what Jack would say, but she was not quite so sure…

“You really are quite beautiful, you know.”

Jade tensed up as those words penetrated her defenses.

“So small and sleek…Under that waterfall, I almost mistook you for a dark angel.”

There was a pause as the implications set in…

“So that’s the sound privacy makes when it dies.” Jade noted wittily. “Who’d have thought?”

A chuckle was her answer.

“Out of everything, that’s what you chose to focus on, my dear?”

Pitch was suddenly at her back, almost close enough to touch, and her ear horns twitched, laying flat as he took a long inhale of her scent.

Yeah, Jade was really not liking where this whole situation was going right now.

Her tail reared up and swung for the man’s head, missing only because he bled into the shadows at the last moment.

Sending him a glare, Jade pulled her tail back in, fins flexing warily.

“Ever heard of personal space?”

Pitch seemed to study the girl for a few moments, drinking in her features, before a slow, wicked smile formed.

One word went through Jade’s mind.

Shit.

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Jade knew that, one day, someone would realize how much she and Jack cared for each other and act on it.

After three hundred years, she had not expected it to happen like this.

Arms and wings pinned by nightmare-sand, the dragon-girl struggled violently against her restraints, unable to roar or spew fire from the grains holding her mouth closed.

Jack’s grip tightened on his staff as Pitch moved towards the immobilized girl as if his offer of partnership had not just been shot down and he was not squeezing Baby Tooth.

“What’s wrong, Jack?” He mocked, a smirk forming. “Did you forget that you left your little friend all alone in my lair?”

There was a stab of guilt, but Jack pushed it aside, aiming his staff at the Nightmare King.

“I’ve gotten to know her very well.” Pitch continued, unperturbed. “So very bright and charming…”

Jade growled lowly as the man’s free hand came up, stroking her face with false affection, and Jack’s jaw clenched.

“Don’t you think she would make a lovely Nightmare Queen?”

Whatever control the winter spirit snapped.

“Leave her alone!”

A blast of ice slammed into a sudden wall of nightmare-sand, and only served to widen the shadow-man’s smirk.

“Did I hit a nerve?”

Practically vibrating in rage, Jack could not tear his eyes away from Jade’s, wide and slightly scared.

No one else would have noticed it, or the spark that said I trust you.

“Let them go, Pitch.” He demanded, restraining himself from trying to freeze the man and shove him off the nearby cliff.

“The staff, Jack. Hand it over, and I’ll let them go.”

The frost-boy hesitated for a moment, torn.

His staff was the conduit, the source, of his power, and without it, he would no longer be able to bring winter or even fly.

But…

All I know is that I wouldn’t trade Jade for anything in the world.

He would trade anything to get her back.

With one last resigned spin, Jack held his prized possession out for Pitch to take, the frost retreating from the wood once it left his grasp.

“Alright, now let them go.” Jack voiced, holding a hand out for Baby Tooth.

“No.”

Stunned by the blunt answer, he could only stare in bewilderment.

“You said you wanted to be alone, so be alone.”

That set off both girls.

Baby Tooth acted first, stabbing Pitch’s hand with her needle-like beak.

Flinching violently at the unexpected pain, the Nightmare King flung the helpless mini-fairy into an icy wall.

Jade’s spark flared up like a forest fire, and she shattered her restraints with a roar.

Pulling a fist back, she whirled in a tight circle and struck the shadow-man full in the face hard enough to send him flying.

Heart racing, the Night Fury turned back to Jack, wings unfurling from her desperate need to get out of there.

“Jack-”

The crack of wood snapping echoed in her ears with Jack’s scream.

“JACK!”

Before she could move, or even think, nightmare-sand slammed into her back.

Pinned down, Jade screeched in panic, wings trying in vain to flex and tail whipping around in a frenzy.

“Jade.” The winter spirit whispered just as he was knocked off his feet and into a ravine.

She could only watch, heart cracking, and closed her eyes as the burn of tears came.

No…