CHAPTER SEVEN: FEELINGS AND FREEFALL AND RESCUES

Bunnymund was beginning to regret getting North to send the brat away. Not because of his emotions or any form of guilt, no, but Sandy and Tooth had stopped talking to him three days ago and were giving him a generally hated feel. Honestly, what else did they expect to happen? A kid had no right being in their operation, the brat would kill himself one of these days and break North's ruddy too-big-heart.

North, still up in space, had lost their signal, but Bunny wasn't worried. The big lummox knew what to do.

Bunny is forced from his concentrated staring at the monitor before him by a rough coughing from behind. With a twirl of his desk chair he comes face to face with Tooth and Sandy, both of whom are glaring profusely.

"So yer talking to me again?" He asks, glaring right back.

"I dunno," Tooth says acidly, "Are you going to admit you were wrong?"

Hell naw!

"Hell naw."

"North wanted to keep him!"

"And North is too soft on kids. It was ruining everything."

"You ruined everything!" Tooth's voice raises to a shriek, and that sends Bunny shrinking into his chair. Tooth wasn't a shouter, so she was right pissed when it did happen. He stares at her with shock, but it's because of this that he can see something strange behind her.

The ship, once so small that Bunny could hold it with one hand, was now the size of a large car. The machine was much larger and constantly growing, meaning that the shrink ray's effects...

"Oh shite."

Weren't permanent.

(THIS IS A LINE, ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?)

North's hand makes a satisfying smack as it slams against the polymer siding of Pitch's lair. With a growl North slams into the building again, rage fuelling him so much that he doesn't even register the pain. His kid was in there, and god knows what Pitch was doing.

"PITCH!" The Russian shouts, "Coward! When I get my hands on you, you are dead man!"

A harsh laugh comes from the speaker embedded in the wall, and a small screen pops from the wall. North looks at Pitch's face with anger, his face red and his teeth grinding together.

"Hello there North," Pitch laughs, obviously smug, "Why, I believe you have something that belongs to me."

North eyes his surroundings and brings the Moon out from his pocket. Pitch's face lights up when he lays eyes on the ball of dust, but instantly darkens again as a small voice chirps from behind him.

"North!" Jack shouts from off screen, "North this guy is crazy and-"

"Zip it!" Pitch hisses, and Jack goes silent. North honest to god growls at that, and peers close to the camera.

"Listen to me, Pitch Black," North's tone is acid and his face is stone, "When I get in there you are in for a world of hurt. If Jack is so much as has a paper cut, I will skin you."

Pitch shrinks a bit at that, but still puts on a brave face as he demands the moon.

A small chute pops out of the wall under the intercom on North's end, and with a small sigh North sends his dream down it. The Moon disappears with a small schoom noise, and Pitch's smile deepens.

"Now give me Jack." North hisses.

"You know, actually, I think I might just keep him. Get you to be my minion, how does that sound, hm? Jack and I have been having so much fun lately, haven't we?" Through the screen North sees Pitch turn off screen, where Jack's shouting starts again.

North, in his rage, punches the camera, leaving a lovely crack along the length of it. Pitch jumps at the noise, takes one look at North's enraged face, and decides to skedaddle, slamming a button on his control panel.

North can only watch as part of Pitch's house, obviously the one Pitch and Jack were currently in, takes off into the sky. With a shout he begins to chase it, pulling a grappling hook from his jacket and shooting haphazardly at the retreating ship.

It's pure luck that the hook actually hits the ship, but it hooks onto the end currently spitting fire so that kind of sucks. North's slow as he reels himself towards the ship, just so that he doesn't end up crispy barbeque.

It's as he's flying through the sky, above the clouds, clinging with all his might to the smooth exterior of the ship with no plan whatsoever, that North thinks he's made a rather awful mistake.

(THIS IS A LINE, ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?)

"North's gunna kick your butt!" Jack shouts, slamming his foot into the wall of the cage for the umpteenth time. The cage was iron, closely resembling a fancy birdcage, and Jack wanted out. He kept slamming his sneakered feet into the walls, the door, the floor, anything, to try and get something to break.

He'd so far been unsuccessful.

"Child, please." Pitch laughs, spinning around in his pilot's chair to face Jack. "It's not as if you matter that much to North anyways, he's probably given you up as a lost cause."

Jack's shoulders slump at that, the difference huge in his hoodie.

"I couldn't see why, though."

Jack's head snaps up at Pitch's comment, looking at the golden eyed man with suspicion.

"Really?" The child asks with suspicion.

"Really." The man shrugs, "You're obviously a smart boy, if you could worm your way into the Russian's house the way you did. Even if you were just a pawn to him, it's quite the accomplishment."

Jack shudders at the pawn statement, having his own fears outed like that hurt. Pitch continues anyways, unaware of Jack's reaction.

"I'd hate to have to send you back in a body bag, anyways."

Jack's eyes widen slightly, and though tears haven't made an appearance quite yet they're threatening to. He's only nine, he should not be in this kind of situation.

To drown out Pitch's rant Jack goes back to kicking at the walls of his cage and tries not to cry. Both parties on the ship remain unaware that the Moon, sitting pretty in a coffee mug, was steadily getting bigger.

(THIS IS A LINE, ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?)

North clung to the outside of the ship still, trying his damn hardest to get something under his feet with no luck. With a gasp he clings to the outside of the ship as his hands begin to slip.

"No no nononononoNO!" He shouts as his grip gives, the man plummeting to Earth.

It's with a great amount of shock that he, in fact, does not meet his sticky end via ground splattering, but instead only falls about five meters into the ship he had built with Bunnymund's help. He stares at the metal floors with shock before looking up and locking eyes with Tooth and Sandy. Turning he sees Bunny at the cockpit.

Shock floods from his system, and North takes control again.

"Pitch has Jack," He says, ignoring Tooth's fearful gasp. "We need to get into that ship."

Bunny nods before dropping his own verbal bomb.

"The shrink ray's effects wear off, mate." He says, piloting the ship closer to Pitch's, "That's why this clunker's big again. The bigger the object, the quicker it gets it's original size again."

...

"We need to get Jack out of that ship."

"Already on it mate."

Bunny pilots their ship closer, holding it steady. North grabs a hold of the controls for one of the weapons, which was basically a very large clamp on a rope, and fires. The claw hits the door of Pitch's ship smack in the center and digs it's claws in, the wire going taught between the two ships. Now it was a matter of getting from point A to point B. North can only watch as Pitch's ship begins to falter in it's course, and can't help but wonder what was going on in there.

Jack, still within the cockpit, knew exactly what was going on.

Because what was going on was potentially going to kill him.

Blue eyes watch the Moon grow too large for the mug, crushing it into dust before rolling off the table it was on, growing larger and larger.

"Uh, Pitch?" He says, watching the Moon roll past him and smack into the other wall, now the size of an exercise ball.

"What, brat?" Pitch asks, not looking from his view of the skies. Jack has no need to explain as the Moon rolls once again past him, this time large enough to set the balance off of the entire ship. Pitch whirls around and shouts in shock as the Moon crushes him into his seat, Jack wincing as he hears something crack.

Blue eyes widen in fear as the Moon works towards Jack, slamming roughly into his cage and knocking it from where it had been hanging from the ceiling. Jack and the cage both slam into the ground, and Jack just barely has time to roll out of the way as half of the cage is crushed and warped under the Moon's weight.

It's because of this crushing that Jack finds a hole he can slip his thin body through, and thus is able to gain his freedom. Blue sneakered feet inch around the Moon's random path, Jack having trouble staying upright as the floor shifted under him.

The door to his left is forced out and down, open, with a thunk and a hiss, and the wind rushes into the cockpit. Jack peers outside and sees North, on the wing of a great flying beast that look kind of like his car. A thick wire connects the two ships. Jack is forced to shift outside the main body of the ship to avoid the Moon once again, clinging to a hydraulic arm that connected the door he was standing on to Pitch's ship.

North holds his arms open and inches further out on the wing of his ship.

"Jack!" He calls, "You are going to have to jump!"

"Are you crazy?!" Jack shrieks back, gazing down to the ground far below, and then clinging even harder to the arm.

"Jack, trust me, I will catch you!" North sounded desperate as Pitch's ship rocks with more and more force, the Moon growing larger inside and setting off the balance. The claw on the door begins to groan under the stress being placed on it, setting Jack even more on edge.

"You gave me up!" Is all Jack says, shaking his head and not moving from his relative safety.

"And it was the biggest mistake I have ever made, my boy. I will catch you, and I will never let you go again!"

Jack's eyes get wider at that, more trusting, because he wants that. So badly. And he's willing to take the first jump to get there.

So he slowly begins to toe his way down the door, which was on a downwards angle, and prepares to jump. North keeps eye contact with him the whole time, even as Jack closes his eyes, shudders, and takes a deep breath.

Before he can talk himself out of it, Jack jumps.

But he doesn't get very far.

Because a dark hand reaches from the ship's interior and grabs his hoodie, yanking him backwards and into Pitch's chest. Jack lets out a high pitched shriek as Pitch wraps one arm around Jack and the other around the arm the boy had been clinging to. The boy struggles against the arm around his waist, but his feet don't come anywhere near the ground so really it's useless.

Pitch laughs, taunting North. The Russian looks ready to stab someone, and his face only darkens when Jack instinctively calls for him. Pitch begins to monologue, laughing about how he's won and yadda, yadda, but it's because of this that he misses a rather crucial detail.

And that detail's name would be the great-big-Moon-headed-right-for-him.

The satellite slams into Pitch's back, and the man lets out a pained shout, bringing his arms up to shield himself. This causes him to drop Jack as the ship shudders, causing the boy to fall right over the edge of the door.

North's heart stops as the boy falls past the door, but it restarts when the child grabs the wire connecting his ship to Pitch's with one hand. Jack wails for North as his other hand goes to grab the wire, connecting even as the claw groans more fiercely as time passes.

The man is already out onto the wire before his brain can think about it, hooking his arms and legs over it and crawling not unlike a sloth, just at a much rapider pace.

"Is alright, Jack!" He shouts the entire time, "Just hang on, I'm coming!"

Jack clings to the wire for dear life, unable to get a good grip without losing the one he currently has. North's halfway across the wire now, getting closer to his boy with each slide.

Jack's shaking, and his hands are slipping, and he's starting to lose control of his tears as the fear begins to overtake rational thought. The claw gives one final very-bad-noise before losing it's grip entirely with a blood curling snap.

Jack screams as he begins to plunge to Earth, North not far behind. The Russian reaches out a hand in desperation, managing to grab the falling wire attached to his ship with one hand and the screaming boy with the other. He feels his arms and shoulders give protest at the jerking stop this causes, but none of that matters as Jack clings, safe but scared, to North. The boy buries his face into North's coat and sobs, fear and adrenaline coursing through him at a high. North sighs in relief as he shifts his grip on Jack to a stronger one.

"I've got you," He murmurs as Tooth and Sandy begin to pull them back up to the ship. "I've got you."

Jack just buries his face deeper into the junction where North's neck meets his shoulder and cries harder, scared out of his wits.

"I've got you."

It's only a couple seconds later that Pitch's ship launches itself upwards, quickly moving into deep space as the moon grows and grows. With one final, green, explosion, the moon returns to it's size in the sky. Jack clings to North's arm as it happens, the both of them still being pulled up, but watches in amazement all the same as the moon returns to it's proper home. North watches with apathy, knowing that Pitch was probably up there screaming for revenge.

(THIS IS A LINE, ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?)

Jack's re-adoption had been simple, actually, Adler still ready to constantly ditch Jack at the drop of a hat. North would be offended, but since it made the entire process easier for them, well... he would live. For now.

Jack's room had since been painted blue and the boy had completely moved in, even managing to get Bunny to warm up to him. The child sat in his rocket bed and giggled as North finished one of his stories from his homeland. North noticed how dark it had been getting with shock.

"Ah, is time for bed," He declares.

"Can I have a story?" Jack asks, hyper as ever.

"Da, da, of couse."

"Three Sleepy Snowflakes?!" The boy cheers, bouncing on his bed.

"Oh, no, I'm afraid that book met a fiery death my boy. We're reading a better book tonight."

Jack looks unimpressed, but smiles when North pulls out the book from behind his back.

"Look, look, is pop-up and everything," North chuckles, opening the front page and feeding his beard through the hole that he had cut. Jack laughs at that like it's the funniest thing in the world.

"And look who wrote it, why, is me!" North exclaims as he looks at the cover again. Jack smiles and settles next to North as the man sits, curling into his side as the child had before.

"Ah, so. One Big Yeti, written by the best evil genius around," North begins jokingly. Jack elbows him in the side, causing North to laugh, but begin nonetheless.

"One big yeti, strong and free, was as happy as he could be. Then one little snowflake came around, and turned his whole life upside down."

"That looks like me!" Jack laughs as he points at the rather sub-par illustration of a white haired boy with a blue hoodie in the book.

"Vhat, no, all relations to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental."

Jack looks unimpressed again, so North continues.

"He made the yeti laugh, and he made him cry... he should have never said goodbye. And now he knows he could never part, with that one little snowflake that changed his heart."

Jack's almost asleep again, propped up on North's side without any real conscious thought. The Russian man smiles down as Jack curls into him, putting the book down and carefully picking the child up. Placing Jack in his bed North makes to leave, but pauses at the door.

Without a second thought North returns to Jack's bedside, placing a very light kiss on the boy's brow. Jack sits up as he does so and throws his arms around North with reckless abandon.

"I love you," The child whispers in his ear, clinging to North like a lifeline, his yeti held in one hand.

"I love you too, my boy." North murmurs back, holding onto Jack just as tightly. Another goodnight kiss and Jack lays back down, out like a light.

North leaves the room with a smile and a soaring heart. Carefully closing the door, North makes his way deeper into the house he can finally call home.

And then trips over that goddamn elf.

A/N Annnnnnnnnnd the end! Haha, this was a fun project, just for shits-and-gigs, but I had fun with it nonetheless!

But it comes with a bit of bad news, I'm afraid. The end of this marks the beginning of my two-to-three month hiatus. I've got work all summer (at a summer camp with no wifi) and then I'm starting college! There's not going to be a lot of time for writing, unfortunately, and that sucks major dick for both parties trust me. Buuut once I get settled I'll hopefully get the writing train back on track!

On a lighter note, thank you very much for reading, reviewing, and favoriting, your support is what makes it worth it, you guys.

So long, and thanks for all the fish! See you in September!