(A/N: I'm so sorry I didn't post this chapter. Oh well. Win some, lose some. Hope this clears up most of the sheet.)
"YOU!"
A flash of blue lightning sprang out, and Tsar Lunar dodged just in time to avoid getting frozen to the platform.
"Jack, no!" Tooth flew over and hooked her arms under the winter spirit's shoulders, restraining him. Jack struggled against her grasp, trying to lash out at his target.
"FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, DAMMIT!" he screamed. "YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE ALL THIS TIME? YOU...YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD! WHY ARE YOU ALIVE, HUH? WHY?!" Trying to hold him further back, Tooth's eyes widened as she realized that the ice on the platform was a mixture of ice and shadows. She looked to him and found that his own eyes were now dark blue.
As Jack was flailing about in Tooth's hold, Lord Death stepped forward and, with a wave of his hand, summoned dark tendrils out of his robe to tie Jack's elbows together. With that, the winter spirit dropped his staff, though Tooth continued to hold on to him. "Jack Frost," the reaper spoke, "get a hold of yourself." The Guardian blinked, and then groaned, holding his head. When he opened his eyes, they were ice blue once more.
Yet barely any of the Guardians felt relieved by this – in fact, they felt even more trapped. Tooth looked from Jack to MiM, and her feathers ruffled threateningly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked MiM. "Why did you come here?"
Unlike with Jack, Lunar replied quickly to Toothiana's question. "I'm here to tell Lord Death about something that fell from the Moon, about the same time that the black blood disappeared from it."
"It was probably the Kishin that fell out of the Moon, for all we know," Bunny said. "How can we be so sure?" MiM shot back in a tone that was just as apprehensive. The Pooka glared at him while the Tooth Fairy moved to shield Jack from Lunar.
Breathing heavily, Jack looked up at MiM, and narrowed his eyes. "What..." he whispered, "...what do you want here?"
For some reason MiM hesitated. Then finally he replied, "I want to help, Jack." At that, the Fearling inside Jack hissed. "He tried to kill you the last time you met, and now he says he wants to help?" The boy shuddered and shook his head.
Feeling the palpable tension in the air, Lord Death decided to take over. "The shooting star that appeared after the Moon turned yellow again fell to Earth," he said, creating an image on the ornate mirror. "It landed on an uninhabited island in the middle of the English Channel." The image on the mirror-turned-screen showed a crater on a very tiny island, which was still smoking. "Whether it's the Kishin or not, we can't say. If it is, then he's already gone."
"And we have to catch him," North said, but the reaper nodded absently. He was deep in thought about what Maka had told him about the Battle on the Moon – how Crona utilized BREW, the demon tool, and the Mad Blood ability to seal Asura away. Now that the black blood was gone, and therefore Crona's protection, what had happened to Crona? And moreover, what happened to BREW?
Meanwhile, North was pensively staring at the mirror-turned-screen as well. "An uninhabited island in between England and France?" he said to himself. "Even if there are no children there, this does not appear on any of our maps."
"That's because that island only appeared after you disappeared, or so Father told me," Lord Death explained. "He wouldn't say anything besides the fact that there is a dark presence on the island, and it's the reason that no one lives there. I thought it was a prison of sorts."
"Or a place to keep something secret," Katherine suggested. "Like the Lunar Lamas in the Himalayas."
"The what?"
"Sorry – it was before you were born, I think," she told the reaper.
Nightlight began to stare at the mirror-turned-screen as well. A vague memory came to him about geography books – and the sheer number of them, too – and the little green fragments scattered on the blue ocean paper. But as with many of his other memories, it vanished before he could try to recall anything else.
"Do you think you can get a closer look at the island?" Bunnymund asked, peering at the image. "Think I see an animal or something there."
Lord Death looked back at the mirror, and, as if it were a video camera, it began to zoom in on the island. There were indeed creatures there at the site of the impact, and they were sniffing at the smoke, dangerously close to the its source. Soon enough, though, the Guardians' interests were piqued – these creatures looked like lionesses, but they were ghostly – as if they were made of smoke, and black smoke at that. One of them growled, a growl that sounded both like and unlike a lion's growl. Then they trotted off, and the screen blacked out again.
"What...what were those?" Jack asked, still staring at the mirror. He turned to Lord Death, but MiM was the one to answer instead. "Those are shadow creatures, just like Nightmares and Fearlings," he explained. "I'm not sure what they're called, but I know that they are the minions of the Mother of the Witches."
" 'Mother'?" Lord Death asked. "You mean the Grandwitch?"
"No," Lunar shook his head, "someone much older than the Grandwitch. In fact, she may be the dark presence on that island."
"Yes, but if she's older than Grandwitch Mabaa herself, how come neither Father nor the witches ever mention her?"
"Because she surrendered to your father after Mother Goose sealed away Pitch Black."
"It's 'Starlight' now, actually," the spectral girl said as she turned to the shorter of them. "Kailash...died while fighting Pitch. She was trying to defend Soul Eater Evans." "...Oh," MiM looked a bit surprised. "I see." Katherine nodded, looking down and pursing her lips.
Lord Death looked back to Lunar again. "A witch that surrendered to my father before the Battle on the Moon? That seems very unlikely."
"But it did happen," MiM said, "and I'm sure she had her reasons for doing it."
"So we need to get to that island to examine the situation there." The reaper decided. "I myself cannot leave Death City – Father knows what would happen in my absence – so I have to entrust this mission to people who can handle it.
"Sounds like reasonable plan," North agreed. "Why don't we undertake the mission instead? Might save Shibusen a lot of trouble." At his request, Lord Death began to consider it, and then after a few moments sighed. "Alright. But once you're done, you have to report to me about the situation."
"Yes," Katherine nodded, "we understand." Jack held up his arms. "Do you mind untying me?" he asked, and Lord Death waved his hand to make the tendrils disappear back into his robe.
As the Guardians turned to leave, MiM looked up at the reaper. "So, where do you think I should go from here?" he asked. Lord Death only looked at him. "I think you would be of more help on the island than here in Death City."
Having heard this, the Guardians turned back around, their faces reading varying degrees of shock. Inside Jack's chest, something twisted. He felt like there was a clawed creature scratching at his heart – and he probably wasn't wrong.
Tooth was the one to respond verbally. "W-what? What do you mean; he's more help with us?"
Lord Death seemed to raise his eyebrows under his mask. "Of course. It seems you have a lot of catching up to do, after all."
The winter spirit's heart felt cold as Lunar's gaze moved over to him, seemingly asking for approval. Well, if he wanted approval, he wasn't going to get it. Jack pursed his lips tight, and looked away, gulping down a wad of saliva.
"Lord Death's right," MiM remarked, his face unreadable as he walked towards the guillotine hallway and past the Guardians. "We haven't seen each other at all for the past hundred years."
He paused, and looked at them once more.
"Or rather, you haven't seen me at all for the past hundred years."