MELODY: Here is Chapter Nine everyone!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.

"Perhaps... this?" He twirled Jack's tooth box in his hand.

"Jack's not here and neither is Baby Tooth," I blurted, "You CAN'T destroy Easter now."

Pitch looked surprised, "That's impossible."

I smirked at him, "Keep on dreaming, Booger Boy."

"WHAT did you just call me?" He hissed, reappearing from here to there, to this tunnel to that tunnel, across that bridge and back, and so fast that I just gave up moving to try to see him.

"Dude," I tried not to laugh, "Your freaking NAME is Boogy. You're the Boogy Man. Boogy is a kid word for booger, hence the name Booger Man. Personally Booger BOY is more my taste, but if it's too harsh-"

"I wouldn't say such things like that when your life is in my hands," Pitch smirked, back in control. "And it's no use hiding your little boyfriend. No one is able to resist the call of a memory."

"We're not dating!" I rolled my eyes, flushing. "And you're wrong because you can search everywhere. They're not here."

"Ah, well I can still use you as leverage, I guess," Pitch sighed, "But I still have a dilemma concerning you."

"That's flattering," I tried to keep my voice neutral. If he found out I was dog meat.

"Oh, it's not so severe, I know your fears and your past, how your family was so poor you had to steal, how you were bullied CONSTANTLY, how your greatest fear is to die without saving your friends..." Pitch trailed off, "But it's YOU that the dilemma lies in."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" This had something to do with the dimensions, I could feel it.

"You are a mystery," he leered, "I haven't given you a single nightmare. You don't have teeth. Neither on the naughty or nice lists. Something is up with you."

My breath hitched. He was going to find out, I knew it.

"See, and that's your breath hitching," I caught a glimpse of Pitch by tons of teeth. He had a contemptuous smile on that made me want to kill him.

"I'm not afraid of you, you booger," I sent a wave of yellow light at him. He easily deflected it.

"Don't try to fight fear with inspiration, foolish girl," Pitch cackled, sending a Nightmare my way.

Feeling overwhelmed with happiness, I hugged the Nightmare. It turned into golden dust, which floated away into the wind. "Pitch, you're not such a douchebag after all! You just told me my center!"

Inspiration! That made sense, didn't it? How stuff always hit me like a baseball?

Pitch smirked, "I wouldn't insult me when your life is in my hands."

"Your life isn't in my hands," I said boldly, "I'm a spirit now. I'm immortal."

"That's what you'd like to believe, isn't it?" Pitch whispered in my ear. I spun around to sock him, but all I saw was a Nightmare before everything went black.

When I woke up, I realized I was in a dirty house. I knew I had to run away, but to where? Somehow I knew the owner of the house was coming home and I needed to run.

Trying the door, I realized it was locked from the outside. Gritting my teeth, I felt myself run up to a small dirty room and sit on a bed that was really two thin, dirty blankets.

A knock at the door. Realizing that I was deep in shit, pardon my language, I turned around in panic. Taking a deep breath, I rammed into a window. A sharp pain ran through my shoulder, but I didn't care. The window cracked and I jumped through.

I was pretty high up, so the land was hard and I heard a crack. Ignoring the increasing pain in my shoulder and ankle, I ran as fast as I could away from that house. I didn't know where I was going. I couldn't breathe. Air. Where was all the air?

Sitting up, I realized I'd been having a nightmare. Deep breaths Ryan, deep breaths.

Coldness, darkness, and loneliness overwhelmed me. Choking in a sob, I tried to think of happy things. The Guardians. Easter. Victory.

It wasn't working.

Tears poured out of my face. What had I done? Had I saved Easter? What happened next? What the hell did I stop Jack for if it was going to turn out well in the end? Did they forget about me? Did they ever care about me at all?

No, a voice told me, they were using you.

Curling up into a ball, I let a sob escape my mouth. I realized I was in one of those cages Pitch had used to capture the fairies. I heard their nervous twittering, but didn't really register it. I was utterly alone.

Again.

Thinking back to my nightmare, I realized I remembered every detail of it, which was unusual. The sheer feeling of panic when I realized I had no where to run or hide. That the man would catch me. But I escaped.

Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Alone. No! The Guardians would come to save me, they had to.

"Screw this shit, I'm going to do something useful!" I decided. Scuse my language. Well, if I could inspire people with my light stuff, then... it hit me like a baseball.

"It's inspiration," I told the fairies, and then blasted the whole damn place with the light. Rainbow light.

Feeling exhausted, I collapsed onto my knees. Trying to hold myself up with my hands, I smiled as all the little fairies gasped in amazement. And then I got a surprise.

All the little rainbow lights turned into little fairies. They came in all colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and there was one white. The little white one flew over to me. She was literally the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. "We will get you out," she promised.

I didn't need the Guardians to save me. I could save myself.

"Well well well," a voice called, "What do we have here?"

"Damn you Pitch!" I yelled.