A/N: Heeeeeyy you little snowflakes, it's Crescendo! Here's a new chapter for you, right in time for Easter!

Before I start, thanks to all of you who reviewed-You're awesome!

Special thanks to TheMysticWolf36, who sent me an extra long review full of nice words!

Now that that's out of the way, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG!

"W-what?" Tooth asked incredulously, unable to comprehend what Jack just said.

Jack and Cherie smiled, and those smiles sent chills down the Guardians' spines. Cherie reached into her pocket and pulled out a miniature bow and a quiver full of arrows. In a split second the items grew to a normal size, and Cherie put the quiver on her back, pulled out an arrow and readied it.

Jack grinned evilly. "It wouldn't really go over well if you collected the teeth. So sorry, but we can't allow you to go any further."

Bunnymund took out his boomerangs, North took out his sword, and Sandy summoned his dreamsand whips.

Tooth, however, was looking at Jack in confusion. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"

Jack said nothing, but shot a bolt of ice at her, narrowly missing her. Cherie also fired an arrow at Bunnymund, but he blocked it with one of his boomerangs.

"That was just a warning shot," the two teenaged spirits snickered.

"Jack! What are you doing?!" North shouted in outrage.

"I told you. We can't allow you to collect the teeth. If you try to go any farther, we will stop you," Jack said. Cherie took another bow from her quiver and aimed again.

"That still doesn't explain why you two are doing this!" Tooth yelled.

"Desolé, madame Toothiana," She didn't sound very sorry; in fact she sounded a bit excited.

"This is as far as you go," Jack said.

Suddenly, Sandy lashed his sand whips at Jack, who dodged to the side. The whips lashed out again and again, and Jack kept dodging, quite gracefully actually; it looked like he was dancing around the dream sand.

While that was going on, Cherie readied her bow and fired it at Bunnymund again. Just like the first time, he blocked the projectile and threw one of his boomerangs at her, which she dodged effortlessly. What she didn't notice, however, was Bunnymund racing towards her, readying his other boomerang to knock her out with a blow to the head.

"Sorry, sheila," Bunnymund said as he raised his hand (A/N: or is it a paw? Whatever). "But I have to take you out!" he yelled as he slammed the boomerang on her head, rendering her unconscious.

…or at least, it would have, if Cherie had not blocked the blow with her bow, effectively surprising Bunny.

"Oh lá, lá, monsieur, surely you didn't believe I was a weak little spirit?" she asked sweetly.

Now it was her turn to be surprised when Bunnymund smirked. "Never doubted your strength, girlie, but I had to distract you somehow."

Cherie's eyes widened and she spun around just in time to see North coming at her with his swords. She ducked under them and swept a leg under Bunnymund, knocking him over, and flipped away from North before he could slash at her again.

"Well, this is going to be trés intéressant," (very interesting) she said, grinning evilly.

Meanwhile, Jack was having the time of his life. He was dodging Sandy's attacks effortlessly, using his power over the wind to his advantage. Oftentimes, he would shoot bolts of ice at Sandy, but he would block it with his dreamsand.

Jack wasn't frustrated though. In fact, he was having more fun with each lash he dodged.

Eventually, he started snickering, than giggling, and finally turned to full-blown laughter.

"C'mon, Sandman!" Jack taunted him. "What are you doing? Hurry up and hit me…if you can!"

Just as he said that, a multicolored blur zoomed at him, which he narrowly dodged.

"Whoa, Tooth! Careful there, someone could have gotten hurt!" Jack laughed.

Tooth looked at him sadly. "Jack…what's happened to you?"

Jack's mirth didn't fade and he looked at her and answered, "I don't think I owe you and explanation, Toothiana."

Sandy took advantage of Jack's momentary lapse of focus and lashed one of his whips at the winter spirit. It circled around his waist tightly and the Guardian of Dreams lifted Jack into the air and swung him down to the ground with such force that it made him yell in pain.

Cherie heard Jack's yell and her focus immediately shifted to her best friend.

"Jack!" she yelled getting ready to run towards him.

Big mistake. Bunnymund saw the chance and immediately took it, running to the Valentine's spirit and ramming his foot (A/N: of hind paw? Arrg, whatever with his anatomy) into her stomach, causing her to cry out in pain. The force of the blow knocked her over to Jack had landed.

When Jack regained his bearings, he caught sight of Cherie who was clutching her stomach in pain.

"Cherie!" Jack called, and was about to fly over to her, but a rope made out of dreamsand restricted his movements. Jack growled, his joyful mood finally gone, and glare at Sandy, who was currently tying Cherie up as well.

However, when Bunnymund moved her over to Jack so she was leaning on him, he calmed down some.

'Hey,' he whispered to her. 'You okay?'

She squirmed in discomfort. 'I've been better. Et toi?' (and you?)

'Same.'

Cherie sighed. 'So, how do we get ourselves out of this one?'

Jack looked over to where his staff landed when he was thrown. It was close by, but he could reach for it because of his binds. 'Well, my staff's over there, so I'm out. What do yo-'

Jack was cut off when both teenaged spirits got a sense of foreboding. They both had felt this before, and they knew exactly what it was. They smirked, and Jack's playful attitude returned with a vengeance.

'Follow my lead,' he whispered to Cherie, and then looked up at the Guardians towering over them.

"Well, well. Congratulations on catching us, Guardians. What do you plan to do now?" Jack asked condescendingly.

"Cut the tough act, frostbite," Bunnymund growled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now you tell us why you two were doing this, and what the hell you expect to get out of this."

Jack sniggered. "You think this was all our idea? No, we," he jerked his head towards Cherie, "are just 'knights', for now. The real 'King' on this chessboard has yet to show up."

North pointed one of swords at Jack, just centimeters away from the winter spirit's nose, but he looked at it calmly.

"What are you talking about, Jack? Who is this 'King'?" North asked.

Cherie giggled. "Oh lá, lá, so dangerous! You could hurt someone with that!"

North ignored her in favor of interrogating Jack, who was grinning despite having one of North's deathly blades in his face.

"You know him," Jack said vaguely. "In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone's heard of him."

North glared fiercely at him. "Give it up, Jack, it is over. Just tell us."

The Guardians were shocked when both teenaged spirits started snickering.

"It's over, you say?" Cherie asked.

" 'Fraid not, North. In fact, it's only just begun," Jack said ominously.

Just then, sinister laughter filled the area and the Guardians immediately recognized it and readied themselves for another battle, while Jack and Cherie remained silent.

"Pitch!" Bunnymund yelled to no one. "Show yourself you bloody coward!"

Pitch laughed balefully again, and appeared in a swirl of nightmare sand, right between the Guardians and the teen spirits.

"Ah, here we are, all together again," Pitch said sarcastically. "What a heartwarming reunion."

"Cut the crap!" Bunnymund said, and threw one of his boomerangs at him, which he dodged without difficulty. Bunny caught it as it circled back to him.

The Nightmare King chuckled. "As much as I would love to, I didn't come here to fight, not really. I just came to pick up two unruly children."

"Hey!" Jack yelled indignantly. "Unruly, maybe; children, no."

"You're children to me. Even more so when I see you tied up like this."

. "Oh lá, lá, so cruel, monsieur," Cherie said.

Pitch said nothing and walked over to them. He bent down and touched the dream sand binding Jack. It soon turned into nightmare sand and swirled in his hand and disappeared. He moved over to Cherie and did the same with her.

"Better?" Pitch asked, and to the Guardians' surprise, he wasn't sarcastic at all.

Jack got up and picked up his staff and stretched his sore limbs. "Yeah, thanks," he said sincerely.

Cherie got up and did the same. "Oui, merci."

Bunnymund had had enough of this. He didn't know what the three were talking about, or why they sounded so close, but he didn't care. He charged at Pitch, prepared to take out any Nightmare that would stand in his way.

However, what got in his way wasn't one of Pitch's Nightmares at all. It was Jack and Cherie, with their respective weapons pointed at his throat. They both glared at him while Pitch looked at Bunny impassively.

Bunny's eyes widened and he jumped back. (A/N: or hopped. He IS a bunny.)

North looked confused, and then realization hit him. "Jack…you are not saying…that the 'King' you spoke of is…"

Jack looked at North and smirked. "'Bout time you figured it out. I gave you enough hints, after all. You must be denser than I thought."

The three rouge spirits could practically see the steam coming out of the Guardians' ears. They were seething with rage, especially Sandy.

Jack noticed Sandy's anger and nudged Pitch with his elbow. The winter spirit looked towards Sandy pointedly and Pitch nodded in understanding; nothing good could come from an enraged Sandman, especially not now. Jack looked at Cherie and they both nodded at each other and Jack grabbed her shoulder.

"Well, this was fun," Pitch said. "But we must get going. Places to go, people to see, dreams to destroy."

"You're not going anywhere!" Bunny yelled, and threw one of his boomerangs at Pitch, who blocked it with a wall of black sand.

The same black sand started to swirl around the rogue spirits, and Pitch smirked. "Till next time, Guardians."

"And have a good morning," Jack and Cherie snickered, and then they disappeared.

"Good morning…?" North asked, confused.

Tooth looked at the sky and gasped. "North! The sun!"

The sun was coming up. And the children were now waking up

With nothing under their pillows, except for their measly baby teeth.

Back at Pitch's lair, Cherie was busy fussing over Jack, who was still in a bit of pain from when Sandy threw him.

"Jack, are you sure you're alright?" she asked for what seemed like the 20th time. "You did land pretty hard," she asked, worried

Jack laughed. "I'm fine. More importantly…" he looked at Pitch, who was once again in front of his globe. Jack went to stand beside him with Cherie trailing behind.

"Pitch," Jack said, looking at the globe as well. "You didn't really expect us to stop them, did you." It wasn't a question, and it wasn't an accusation; it was a statement of fact.

Pitch chuckled. "No, I didn't. Your job was merely to distract them while I took care of some business myself."

"Which would be…?"

Pitch turned to Jack. "Finding the location of one of your other friends, Lilith Le Fay, the spirit of Halloween."

At that Cherie shot up excitedly. "You found Lily? Really?! Where is she?!"

Jack laughed. "Calm down; let the guy get a sentence out."

Pitch chuckled again. "She is currently residing in an abandoned cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. It's quite fitting, almost painfully so."

"Says the guy who calls his hideout 'Under the Bed'," Jack pointed out.

Pitch pointedly ignored that in favor of watching the lights in Hong Kong go out. Jack turned back to the globe as well and smirked. "Even if we were just diversions, we still got something done," he said.

"Indeed. Now go you two. It's imperative that you get to her as soon as possible. The Guardians might try to get to her first; they need a replacement for Jack, after all," Pitch said.

Cherie scowled. "Jack, we can't let that happen. Lilith's my best friend."

"Hey!"

She smiled and rolled her big green eyes. "My best female friend," she clarified.

"Oh, just get going, you two," Pitch said, not spiteful at all; he'd grown rather fond of the two spirits.

It was likewise with them as well. They both laughed and said, "Later!" and disappeared.

When they were gone, Pitch turned back to the globe and saw that it was not just Hong Kong; all of the lights in China had gone out.

Pitch smirked. "'Knights', indeed, but in due time they too will rise to become 'Kings' of a different stature," he said, and laughed evilly.

When the two teenage spirits landed in the town of Salem, it was nighttime, it was cold, and there were absolutely no people on the streets.

All this equaled to a very happy Jack Frost.

He laughed as he froze a few water pipes. "Ah, now this is more like it! Sorry Cherie, but France is way too warm right now for my liking."

Cherie looked at him oddly. "Jack, it was only 20°C (A/N: 68°F)."

"Your point?"

She rolled her eyes. She said nothing and looked around. "We need to find that cemetery."

Jack floated up and crouched on a nearby water fountain. "Well, this is Salem. There's probably at least a dozen of them here; half of them maybe tourist sites."

Cherie turned to him, suddenly heated. "Then we just have to check them all! The longer we sit here talking, the more time the Guardians have of finding Lilith before us!"

Jack held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay!" he said, then looked at her softly when her back was turned. 'She really cares about her, doesn't she?'

He jumped off the water fountain, grabbed Cherie and flew them over every abandoned cemetery; true to Jack's prediction, there were 12 of them and 6 of them were tourist spots.

When they landed in the last cemetery they found, called Gypsy Haven, Cherie looked about ready to explode.

"We've been looking around this damn town forever! Next time, we're going to force Pitch to give us more information," she said crossly.

"Agreed," Jack said with his arm crossed; he was annoyed too.

They looked around the cemetery in awe; Gypsy Haven was more than likely an actual safe have for gypsies of old. There were abandoned caravans all over the place, and the headstones were decorated with worn, colorful beads and torn shawls.

Jack whistled. "Wow~. What are the odds that she's here?"

Cherie looked around a bit more and nodded. "Pretty good, I'd say. Or rather, she'd better be."

They both kept walking for a bit, when a sudden bright light caught their attention. Jack flew them over to where it was coming from and his eyes widened. The light turned out to be a magic portal, and out stepped none other than North.

'Shit! Jack exclaimed mentally, and he pulled Cherie down and they hid themselves behind a bush.

'What's he doing here?!' Cherie whispered urgently. 'I mean, I knew that one of them was looking for her too, but how did he know where to look?'

Jack said nothing and just watched North's movements intently.

Suddenly, they heard North's voice ask a question quietly. They couldn't make out what he said, but he seemed to be talking to someone. They both were startled although, when they heard a smooth, light female voice respond.

'Jack!' Cherie whisper-shouted. 'That's-'

'Shh!' he shushed her, covering her mouth. With his other hand, he put down his staff quietly and brushed through the shrubbery as silently as he could.

When he finally got through, he caught a glimpse of North, but couldn't see the female he was talking to.

"You must come with us!" North was arguing. "We need your help."

"And for what possible reason would I want to help you?" the female voice asked.

North straightened. "Pitch Black has returned, and he is aiming to cover the world in fear once more, but now he has the aid of Jack Frost and Cherie St. Valentine." Jack and Cherie resisted the urge to sigh; the way North said it made them sound bratty and childish.

The said nothing for at first, then said, "Jack Frost and Cherie St. Valentine, you say?"

"Yes. Man in Moon has chosen Jack as Guardian, but he refuses to accept his destiny." North said matter-of-factly.

Now Cherie had to cover Jack's mouth to keep him from yelling a string of profanities at North.

'Destiny, my ass!' he wanted to scream. 'The Man in the Moon might have given me life, but he sure as hell doesn't run it!'

While Jack was struggling, the other two were continuing their conversation. By the time he actually calmed down, the conversation was nearing its end.

"…fear, North. I'm sorry," the female said, sounding indifferent.

North saddened, and seemed to deflate; he clearly didn't expect 'no' for an answer. Without a word he turned and threw a snow globe, and a magic portal appeared. Just as he was about to step in, he turned back around. "I beg you to reconsider, Lilith Le Fay."

The female now known as Lilith simply responded, "I won't."

North sighed, and disappeared into the portal.

As soon as he was gone, the two teenage spirits, who were still hiding, heard Lilith say, "I know you're there."

Jack looked at Cherie and Cherie looked back at Jack. The winter spirit shrugged and Cherie rolled her eyes. They both stood up and looked at Lilith.

She was as tall as Jack and looked about 19, had pale white skin, long jet-black hair tied up in a high ponytail, with bangs covering one of her blazing red eyes. She was wearing a black sweater with a white skull on it that showed her right shoulder a bit and the sleeves covered her hands completely and flared out at the ends. She was also wearing black jeans with a chain accessory connected to her belt loops, and black stiletto boots. She also had a black bandanna with a single jack-o-lantern design tied around her left leg.

Lilith looked at Jack. "Frost," she greeted him coolly.

Jack nodded. "Le Fay," he regarded just as calmly, then smiled goofily.

Lilith looked at him a bit longer, and then smiled slightly. "Idiot," she said fondly.

Cherie couldn't stand it anymore. The sight of her greatest best friend was too much for her hyperactive emotions to handle. She ran at Lilith and tackled her in a hug.

"Lilyyyyy!" she cried, gripping her tightly.

Lilith was startled out of her calm demeanor and stuttered out, "C-Cherie?"

"I haven't seen you in two centuries, Lily! Two centuries! Do you know how much I've missed you?!" she yelled, suddenly angry.

'I don't know if I should be happy or upset that she didn't miss me nearly as much.' Jack thought in amusement.

Lilith sighed, her calm displacement returning. "Cherie, calm down."

"Tais-toi! (A/N: if you don't remember, it means shut up.) Don't tell me to calm down!"

Lilith sighed again and patted Cherie's head. "Yeah, I get it. Just stop yelling at me."

Cherie 'hmphed' and released her. Lilith stepped back a bit to get her bearings back and straightened her sweater a little.

"So," Jack started, balancing himself on top of his staff. "What's new?"

The Halloween spirit looked at him somewhat incredulously. "Do you really think that this is a time for small talk?" she asked, amused.

"Heh. No, not really," Jack admitted. "I'm guessing you know that this isn't just a simple visit."

"Naturally."

"And?" Cherie pressed.

Lilith laughed a bit. "Why do you think I turned North down? Besides the obvious reason. You guys may be total idiots, but you're still my best friends. Besides," she paused, walking up to Jack and ruffled his hair with one of her hidden hands. "I know Frosty over here has had the worst time of all of us."

Jack scoffed, and swatted her hand away playfully. "Yeah, whatever Lily," he said, then smiled genuinely. "But thanks."

Lilith nodded. "No prob. I'll leave with you guys in a minute; there's something I need to do first."

She walked over to one of the headstones and raised her concealed hands over it. She closed her eyes and concentrated. A minute later, a shimmer appeared and formed into a shape of a woman. She had long curly black hair tied back with a pick scarf. She wore a short sleeve white shirt that revealed her shoulders with a lavender shawl with stars on her arms. She was also wearing a long light purple skirt with another shawl with little gold balls hanging from it, and Jack noted she was barefoot. She had large hop earrings and it was clear that she was a gypsy.

The woman smiled at Lilith. "Oh, hello, Lilith. It's been a long time hasn't it?"

Lilith nodded. "That it has, Esméralda." (A/N: I don't own The Hunchback of Norte Dame!)

Esméralda looked at the other two spirits, who weren't startled in the least at the sight of a ghost; they've seen Lilith summon one before. "These are the friends you've told me about?"

Lily nodded.

"I assume you're leaving then." Again, the Halloween spirit nodded.

Esméralda smiled. "Well, if you ever need me, don't hesitate to summon me, alright? I do worry, you know. Promise me?"

Lilith's one visible eye softened. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. But I promise."

Esméralda nodded, then turned to Jack and Cherie. "Look after her, please. I've known her for many years; she's been rather lonely with just us ghosts keeping her company."

Cherie stepped up. "We don't abandon our friend! We'll look after her, je promets!" (I promise!) she declared.

Jack stepped up as well and smiled. "You're mistaken, Miss Esméralda. It's Lilith that takes care of us."

The gypsy smiled. "If that's so, I have no worries. Until next time," she said, and then she vanished.

Lilith turned to her best friends and smiled. "Well, we best get going then. Better 'present myself' to the Nightmare King," she said jokingly.

Jack scoffed and Cherie giggled. Jack moved over to Cherie, putting a hand on her shoulder, then looked at Lilith. "Need a ride?" he asked.

Lilith shook her head negative. "Nope. I have my own. Hang on…" she off, and put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. A second later, there was an echoing neigh, and a ghostly skeletal horse appeared out of thin air. Its mane was made on blue flames, and it looked downright menacing.

Lilith went up to the horse and petted its muzzle lovingly. "Hey there, Persephone. How are you girl?" (A/N: okay, I may or may not have taken the idea to name the female horse Persephone from the House of Night series by L.J. Smith. Point is, I DO NOT OWN!)

Persephone neighed happily in reply.

Jack stepped up-not cautious in the slightest-and petted the mare's muzzle as well. "Persephone, Queen of Hades, huh? It fits her."

Cherie looked at the mare smiling softly. "She's beautiful, in a dark, twisted sort of way."

Lilith climbed on the mare. "Thanks. Now let's go," she smirked mischievously. "Race you there!"

Persephone neighed and shot off into the air with Lilith on her back.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Jack and Cherie shouted, and the North Wind flew them after her.

When the three spirits landed in Pitch's lair, Jack and Cherie were grumbling irritably and Lilith was smirking lightly at her win. They entered the vage room and Lilith's eyes zeroed in on the dark globe.

She walked over to it and touché one of the small flickering lights. "What is this?" she asked quietly.

"That would be all the children whose hearts are still untainted by my fear," Pitch said, popping up quite literally out of nowhere.

"Shit!" Jack cried, jumping about five feet in the air. "Dammit, Pitch, don't do that!"

Pitch looked at Jack. "I'm the Nightmare King, Jack. It's my job," he deadpanned.

"Leave your job to the children not us," Cherie grumbled.

Lilith, who wasn't startled in the slightest, turned to Pitch. "It's nice to meet you sir," she said politely. "Since my holiday revolves closely around fear, I've heard a lot about you from the ghosts I've met; they always sing your praises."

Pitch chuckled. "It's interesting to know that I'm known even in the realm of specters. And please, don't call me sir, just call me Pitch."

Lilith nodded. "Alright, Pitch."

Jack stepped up. "So, what's out next move, Pitch?"

Cherie stepped up as well. "Yeah, are we going to look for-"

She was cut off, however, when Lilith shushed her. The Halloween spirit scanned the room for a bit, before she whipped her are in a random direction, and a needle shot out of her sleeve, and disappeared into the shadows. Not even a millisecond later, a squealing chirp was heard.

Jack, Lilith, and Cherie shot off immediately towards the direction that the sound came from, with Pitch trailing behind in the shadows.

They all stopped in front of a wall, and saw a lone tooth fairy pinned against the wall, a needle through her top feather, struggling futilely.

"Well, what do we have here?" Lilith asked curiously, picking up the fairy by her wings and holding her up.

Cherie looked at the fairy in interest. "It's one of Toothiana's fairies. Did one of them escape without us noticing?"

Jack observed for a minute, silently. "No…none of them escaped. Look at her top feather; it's different from the others."

The two girls looked at the fairy more closely. It was true; while the other fairies had a green top feather, this one had a yellow one like Tooth's.

"You're right, Jack," Lilith said. "But what does it mean?"

"It means," Jack said, smirking evilly. "that we've found ourselves a little spy."

A/N: If you guys haven't figured it out yet; yes, it's Baby Tooth. So...Oh, no! They got Baby Tooth! What will they do to the poor thing?!

Jack: Well, you did make me evil so they can only assume it's something bad, obviously.

Me: Don't get smart with me Frost, i DO decide who lives and who dies here.

Jack: ...

Me: That's what I thought.

Lilith: *sigh* Please review!

Me: They give me inner strength!