North paced back and forth in the Globe Room, this is bad, really bad. The Guardians have to come for this! "What is it now, North?" A grumpy Bunnymund jumped out of his rabbit hole.
"Bunny!" North turned around to face the bunny with a concern look.
At his expression Bunny couldn't help but feel uneasy. "Um North?"
"North is everything alright!" Tooth came flying in.
Soon after Tooth spoke, Sandy came in. When he landed he used his sand to create a question mark and then an exclamation point above his head.
"I know Sandy, you're a busy man, but this is really important!" North looked at all his comrades with a worried expression. "I will tell you when Jack comes."
After a few minutes Jack flew through the open window. "Hey uh, I'm here."
"Your late..." Bunnymund growled at Jack.
"Sorry I was with Autumn!" Jack glared at Bunny.
Bunnymund rolled his eyes then smirked. "Right, right my bad, mate!"
Jack blushed and looked away from Bunny. "North why did you call us?"
"Come." They followed North to the Globe. "Look at the lights; some are fading fast around different parts of the world. It's glowing black!"
"It's fear..." Bunnymund mumbled in stock.
"What!" Jack snapped his head toward Bunny.
"I sense Pitch is going to rise very soon..." North looked at his fellow Guardians. "We must prepare for battle."
"Wait, how could this be!" Jack exclaimed. "We defeated him five years ago; he doesn't have the strength to fight! It can't be Pitch!"
"It is Pitch, I feel it... In my belly!" North said rubbing his stomach.
"Or it could be all the milk and cookies!" Jack continued to argue.
Tooth flew up in front of Jack. "Jack, you are not taking this seriously!"
"Toothy is right!" North walked next to Jack. "Think about all the things that are going on in the world right now. There is so much fear in the world. We have to stop Pitch before he gets stronger and makes everything else worse!"
"So Pitch is getting power from all the fear..." Jack frowned. "What are we going to do?"
"We will do all that we can." North stated. "Make sure you keep smiles on all the children's faces so they can try to forget the fear. That should slow down Pitch." The Guardians nodded at the information. "Okay, dismissed." Everyone left the Workshop determined to save the children.
Jack started to bring snow to the northern part of the world, hoping it will bring smiles to the children's faces. When he got back to Burgess it was getting dark.
Autumn was at the Bennett's house coloring with Sophie in Jamie's room. Jamie was staring out the window, tapping his foot impatiently. "Where's Jack?"
"He had to go to a Guardians meeting." Autumn answered looking up from the Disney coloring book. Jamie sighed and crashed back down on his bed. "Where's Pippa?"
"She went to Gettysburg to stay with her grandma for the winter." Jamie answered.
"Oh..." Autumn turn her head back on the coloring book and continued to color Simba and Nala.
"Look, I'm all done!" Sophie held up her coloring book to show a picture of Cinderella.
"Wow Sophie yours is so neat, mine is..." Autumn looked down at her coloring. "Messy..."
Jamie looked over at Autumns's picture and started to laugh. "What is that?!" Autumn's picture was colored out of the lines and looked really bad compared to Sophie's, whose picture is colored neatly between the lines.
"What, I haven't used a pencil in a long time..." Autumn frowned.
A knock was heard from the window. Outside Jack was waving at Jamie so he can let him in.
"It took you long enough..." Jamie mumbled as he opened the window.
"Sorry..." Jack came in the sat down on Jamie's bed. He looks over at Autumn's picture and had a confused look on his face. "What is that?"
"Nothing..." Autumn blushed and pushed the picture away. "Jack, you look tired did you rest at all."
"No I brought blizzards to the north, and that takes a lot out of a guy!" Jack sighs and rubbed his messy white hair.
"Dude, you should go rest." Jamie sat at his desk chair. "You look your age."
Jack glared at Jamie. "Thanks... Are you always going to be smart with me now?"
"Yes!" Jamie smirked. Jack formed a small snowball and threw it at Jamie's face. "Hey!"
"Jack, you should really get some rest." Autumn looked at Jack worriedly.
"No, I'm okay..." Jack smiled softly at Autumn. Autumn could tell there was something he was hiding.
"Jamie, Sophie dinner!" Mrs. Bennett called from down stairs.
"Coming mom!" Sophie yelled to her mother. She closed her coloring book and walked out of the room.
"Can we talk later?" Jack asked Jamie in a serious tone.
Jamie looked at Jack and felt uneasy. "Yeah, of course." He glanced at Jack and Autumn one last time before he turned around, walking out of his bedroom door.
Jack and Autumn flew out of Jamie's window and flew over to the woods. Jack landed on the middle of his pond, freezing over the ice. Autumn landed a couple feet away from him glancing at him worriedly.
"Jack there is something you aren't telling me." Autumn began. "What happened at the meeting?"
Jack paused and stared at the ground for a bit, trying to figure out what to say. "It's Pitch Black, he is threatening the children."
"What!" Autumn exclaimed. "But you defeated him five years ago, there is no way he has the strength to do anything!"
"That is exactly what I said, but North has a feeling, and he is usually right." Jack explained.
"So what do we do?" Autumn asked.
"We?" Jack spoke serious. "You aren't going to do anything, leave it to me and the Guardians."
"I can't do that." Autumn looked dead serious. "The children of the world mean a lot to me too, so when Pitch threatens them it's kind of a personal thing."
"Autumn..."
"No, I'm fighting this time!" Autumn declared.
Jack was about to say something until he was interrupted by a loud scream coming from town. Jack and Autumn froze when they realized who the scream came from.
"Sophie..."
"Sophie dear, can you please take out the trash?" Mrs. Bennett asked her daughter as she was washing the dishes.
"I can do it mom." Jamie offered.
"No I want you to do the table." She said.
"Okay." Jamie said and grabbed a soapy sponge.
Sophie took the trash out of the trash can, sealing the bag so the garbage wouldn't fall out. "Ew it smells!" She said as she carried the bag out the back door. She put the trash into the garbage bin. Behind the garbage bin something large moved.
"Abby?" Sophie looks over but the figure moved across the yard hiding behind a tree. "Abby this isn't time to play!" Sophie walked over to the tree to get the dog. When she got close she heard a threatening snort. It wasn't a dog and if it was, Abby wouldn't sound so threatening. "Abby?" She peered around the tree but what she saw made her freeze in horror.
A large black sandy horse came out from behind the tree, raising its front hooves in the air. Sophie let out a scream as the Nightmare was about to attack her.
"Sophie no!" Jamie ran toward his sister and grabbed her just in time before the massive horse could hurt her. "I got you Soph, don't worry." Jamie said as he held her close, keeping her safe from the Nightmare. The dark horse snorted angrily and walked toward Jamie. Jamie backed away fearfully, but kept a brave face for the sake of his sister.
"Jamie, Sophie!" Jack flew towards the Bennett's. The horse was caught by surprise and froze when Jack hit it with his staff.
Autumn land in front of Jamie and Sophie. "Are you two alright?"
"What is that doing here!?" Jamie asked angry and confused.
"Jamie, Sophie what in the world happened!" Mrs. Bennett ran out toward her children, unable to see Jack, Autumn or the frozen Nightmare.
"It was a coyote." Jamie lied. "I uh, scared it away."
"Oh my!" Mrs. Bennett gasped. "Come inside, I will call the Animal Control!" Mrs. Bennett guided her children into the house. Jamie looked back at Jack and Autumn, silently telling them to follow.
Jack and Autumn followed and walked up to Jamie's room. Jamie closed his bedroom door and turn to Jack. "Why was a Nightmare about to attack my sister!?"
"It's Pitch, he is back..." Jack answered.
"What?" Jamie looked panicked. "B-but how?"
"It's fear." Jack answered. "People are more scared these days and it gives him power."
"How are you going to stop him?" Jamie asked sitting down on his desk.
"I don't know, but we can't do anything until we actually know where he is." Jack said.
"What about his lair?" Autumn pondered. "Isn't it under the bed in the woods?"
Jack shook his head, "No, when his Nightmares attacked him they dragged him down under the bed and closed up the whole, there is nothing there."
"Great..." Jamie mumbled.
Jamie's bedroom door opened, startling everyone.
"Sophie?"
"Jamie, I'm scared can I sleep in your room tonight?" Sophie said in tears.
Jamie walked over to his little sister and bent down to her eye level. "Hey Soph, there is nothing to be afraid of okay?" Jamie rubbed her messy blonde hair. "I'm going to look after you." Jack looked at Jamie fondly, remembering his time of being a big brother.
When Jack snapped out of looking back at his memory he walked over to the window and opened it. "I'm going to go talk to Sandy about this then hopefully we can figure something out." Without saying goodbye Jack flew out of the window.
"I'm going to say here; just in case another Nightmare comes by I can protect you."
Jamie and Sophie nodded. Sophie laid out sheets on Jamie's floor and curled into her favorite blanket. "Goodnight Jamie, Autumn."
"Goodnight." Jamie said turning around to get into a comfortable position.
"Sweet dreams you two."Autumn said as she watched Sandy's dream sand create imagines above the children's heads. Sophie was dreaming about Bunny fighting off the Nightmares and Jamie was dreaming of holding hands with Pippa.
Autumn tried staying up for the night but she was getting really tired. Autumn sat down and laid her head against the wall. Within minutes she was asleep.
Jack flew high above the clouds trying to find Sandy. When he saw a golden cloud, he quickly flew over there.
"Sandy!" Jack exclaimed when he saw him. "I saw a Nightmare, it attack Jamie and Sophie!"
Sandy became worried and flashed sand asking Jack if they are alright.
"Yeah they are fine but look out for the Nightmare okay, they might attack and I don't want you to get hurt the last-"
Sandy stopped Jack from what he was saying by creating a stop sign with the message sand. He smiled and put two thumps up.
Jack laughed, "Of course you will be fine, I don't know what I'm worrying about."
Sandy laughed silently then created a compass that pointed north.
Jack had to think for a moment to realize what it meant. "Go to the North Pole, you want me to let North know?" Jack asked.
Sandy shook his head.
"Alright, thanks Sandy!" Jack flew off toward the Pole.
It was late fall Jack and Autumn where sitting next to each other in the park.
"You know Autumn, I um, I have a lot to talk to you about." Jack said looking into her eyes.
"About what?" Autumn asked Jack.
"About you and -" A scream interrupted Jack.
Autumn turned around to see who screamed but no one was there. "Jack." She turned around to look at Jack but he wasn't there. She looked around to see if he was around. She tried to fly but she couldn't get up from the ground. "What's going on?" Everything started to fade. "Jack where are you?" Everything started to get darker. "Jack! Help me! I'm scared!" Autumn screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Oh Jack won't be helping you any time soon honey..." A voice called behind Autumn.
Autumn turned her head around to see who was talked. Autumn's face became pale.
"Jack's gone, missy!" The person said.
"Ava..." Autumn gulped.
"It's just you and me." Ava sent a fire ball towards Autumn's frozen body.
"Ahh!" Autumn screamed, waking up Jamie and Sophie.
"Autumn are you alright?" Jamie asked rushing over to her. "Did you have a nightmare?" Autumn shook her head. "So did I."
"I had a nightmare as well..." Sophie spoke up.
"What?" Autumn looked at Sophie and Jamie confused that they all had nightmares at the same time.
There was a cold and creepy laugh that echoed in Jamie's room. Sophie ran into Jamie and he grabbed her, scooting in closer towards Autumn.
"Who's there?" Autumn asked. Another laugh echoed in the room. "Show yourself!"
A long shadow came out of under Jamie's bed and it formed into a tall figure. He had gray skin and silver- yellow eyes. He had his black hair pushed back making his hair spiky in the back. He wore a robe and looked very frightening.
"Is that Autumn Pines that is talking back to me?" The man asked in a dark British accent.
"Pitch Black!" Jamie gasped.
"Oh, it is so good to see you Jamie!" Pitch glanced at Jamie. "You're all grown up." Pitch looked down at Sophie and smiled when he saw she was shaking in fear. "My, and look at you!" He reached out to touch Sophie until a head grabbed his wrist forcefully.
"Don't. Touch. Her!" Jamie threatens Pitch.
Pitch looked amused and pulled his hand away. Autumn stepped in front of the children and gave Pitch a glare. "Leave."
"I'm afraid I will not." Pitch smirked.
Leaves twirled around Autumn's hands and her chakrams, Rowan and Elm formed in her hands. Jamie, Sophie and Pitch where surprised to see this. "A little feisty Autumn, but I guess if you hang out with weirdoes like Jack Frost you will get that way."
Autumn pushed Rowan close to Pitch's throat. He froze and become quite. "I'll tell you again, leave now..." Autumn growled.
"Fine just give Jack this message; come find me." Pitch sunk back into the shadows and disappeared. Autumn put Rowan and Elm away and looked back and Jamie and Sophie.
"Everything's going to be okay." Autumn said. "Let's just go back to sleep." The children nodded and claimed back into their sheets.
"Autumn can you lay down next to me?" Sophie asked.
"Of course." Autumn lay down next to Sophie, stroking her hair when she leans against her body. "We won't let anything bad happen to you children, I promise."
Chapter two! Pitch shows up and is causing trouble. What do you think will happen next? By the way, I gave Autumn's weapons the names Rowan and Elm because I think the trees leaves are pretty in the fall. Please review, follow and favorite!