Chapter 10
Funhouse of Shadows
This was supposed to be the last chapter...then I decided not lol I hope you enjoy sorry for such a long wait.
I followed the others into the sewers, finding them a maze different than before.
"Oi Mate, ya gonna lead us to Pitch?" Bunny said glancing at me, we looked down the dark hallways; they seemed to go on forever. I shrugged helplessly.
"It's different I said, I can't." Bunny sighed before turning back to the tunnels.
"It's so dark down here!" North's massive voice bellowed down the empty halls.
"Yea," Tooth agreed. "Its pitch black." as if on cue the shadows seemed to leap towards us, Santa Claus and Bunnymund were the first to go. They stepped forward, as if to fend off the shadows, but not quick enough and they were swallowed whole, vanishing from sight.
"North! Bunny!" Tooth yelled, rushing forward only to encounter a wall. She banged on it calling to her fellow guardians, but there was no reply.
"Tooth." Mother said placing a hand on her fairy shoulder. The rest of us turned away, glancing down the endless hallway, it had already shifted. Our entrance was gone; leaving us in what would have been complete darkness had Sandman not been producing light with his golden sand.
"I'm scared." a child whimpered, all of them cowering together.
"Don't worry, we're gonna get through this." Jack comforted. "I'd never let anything happen to you guys." a dark chuckle erupted down the hallway, sending cold chills down my spine. I took a deep shuddering breath, and Mother Nature placed a comforting hand on my shoulder to calm me.
"We have no choice." she said, announcing it to all of us. "He's blocked our exit, we need to move forward. I nodded in agreement but Father Time stopped us. His voice powerful and strict in contrast to Natures gentleness.
"Or we make our own." He stomped his staff against the ground, the crystal ball at the top flickering and swirling as the wall in front of him shattered, revealing another long dark hallway.
"I do not think it is safe." Nature ventured but Time disagreed.
"And is you're way? Walking along a predestined path? Set by none other than the boogie man himself?" he asked. Had he been talking to me I would have been offended, his tone challenging, cocky, and arrogant. But somehow Mother managed to keep calm.
"Perhaps Pitch wants us to break our own path? Maybe the set path is shorter, faster, he would never expect us to actually play along and follow It." her voice lightly touched with a British accent. They stared at each other for a moment as if in some silent battle before turning their backs on each other.
"Come along children, follow me." Father said, lifting his staff as he walked down his self-made path. The children glancing around confused. I saw figures flashing above Sandy's head, but I found them hard to understand. Arrows and clouds, and time. Father Time must have seen. He looked right at Sandy when he did it, but he just ignored him. Tooth looked around following Father and Jack as well as 2 children, the other three came with me and Nature and Sandy. Father simply set his staff alight, filling a section around them with light as they vanished into the darkness, the hole in the wall sealing up behind them, shifting and forming two new hallways; upon glancing I saw no sign of our friends. Nature waved gently to Sandy who stuck his tongue out at Time before following us down the pre-set path. I glanced aside, barely noticing that Sandy was trying to talk.
"What's wrong Sandy?" I asked watching his sand shape and reshape, he pointed frantically but I didn't understand it. "You~...want us to hurry!" I ventured but he just shook his head and repeated the motions, exclamation marks flashing above his head. "You have an idea!" I cried out happily. I watched as the Sandman face palmed at my stupidity and tugged gently on Mother Nature's long green dress.
"Yes dearie?" she asked, her voice sickly sweet and he repeated the gestures. "You don't like it?...Something is wrong." she tried and he nodded. Nature agreed, it's too easy, there is something coming...but I can't tell what it is though." Nature said troubled. I felt a cold wind and it suddenly felt as if the entire hallway was closing in on me. Locking me in. I glanced back making sure everyone was still there. Sandy illuminating the section around us. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and when I opened my eyes the light was gone.
I spun around, reaching through the darkness blindly searching for Sandman, Mother and the children. My hand found fabric suddenly and I jumped, squeaking in surprise and pulling back.
"Ember dear is that you?" Mother asked calmly.
"Yes." I squeaked. Embarrassed. My hair flared, and I ignited my hands, the almost harmless fire illuminating the hallway around us. We both spun around but sandman and the children were nowhere in sight.
"Pitch..." Mother muttered to herself, I could feel her anger growing. "Thank you my dear for lighting the way." Mother said kindly, though I could tell she was distracted. We looked at each other and silently nodded, and began silently making our way forward. My hair fire crackled in the darkness, as we made turn after turn, stopping dead in our tracks when a wall came up.
"Don't tell me there are actually dead ends in this place." I growled. Slamming my fist into a dark wall. Mother Nature sighed.
"I'm afraid so." we turned around; the paths had already changed, evaporating into shadow and reappearing as walls barely visible from the darkness and floor. We walked again our footsteps echoing through the empty halls, chills raced down my spine and I braced myself, waiting for whatever was lurking in the shadows, watching, to lunge. I don't know how long we were trapped, wandering through the endless halls, but eventually they led up to a large circular room with stairs lining the walls. There were no cages but chains hanging from the walls and I had a sinking feeling that we had just entered a dungeon.
"Welcome." a voice whispered from the shadows. Mother and I tensed our heads twirling to examine the large dark empty room.
"Pitch!" I yelled trying to mask my fear. "Show yourself coward!" I called out; I was greeted with a dark chuckle.
"There is no point in trying Ember," Pitch's voice said amused. "You're so afraid, so scared so helpless...it's oh so delightful!" he finished with a cheer. I grit my teeth the fire around me growing in real rage.
"I am NOT afraid of you!" I screamed into the darkness. Another dark chuckle.
"Maybe not." he said, appearing with a smirk from the shadows across from us. "But you are afraid of something and believe me Ember, I will find It." he smiled as if it was all just a game.
"AGG!" I screamed like a battle cry, blasting him with a ball of fire, but he was already gone and the fire shattered on the wall behind him, sending sparks flying, littering the area with embers. His laughed erupted from the room and I became aware he was playing with me.
"I'm not afraid of anything!" I called into the darkness. Another laugh.
"Don't be foolish ember. We're all afraid of something...and your fears are the most comical." I growled and stepped back, my heart beating like a humming birds, I almost jumped out of my skin when Mother rested a hand on my shoulder.
"Calm down dearie, we need to keep our heads in this kind of situation." I nodded in agreement beginning to calm down when another hand came to rest on my other shoulder.
"She's right you know, we wouldn't want you losing your temper now." Pitch said, mocking Mother's slight British accent. my eyes widened and I spun around, lunging away from the wall and launching an array of fire at Pitch, it was wasted and merely smashed against the wall singing the wall and a bit of Mother's dress, sending her tumbling out of the way. Pitch's laugh filled the room again.
"I swear to the moon if I get my hands on him." I muttered under my breath, my heart pounding faster than before. My fire flickered uncontrollably, showing how unsteady I was.
"Careful darling, you're acting rather hot headed." Pitch laughed, once again impersonating Mother Nature. I would have believed she said the unbelievable words if it weren't for the malice in the voice. I could tell Mother was tense as well and I saw a flicker of movement in the hall above the stairs ahead of me.
"Pitch." I hissed dashing forward.
"Ember!" mother called behind me, my eyes widened as I reached the top of the stairs, I spun back to her, realizing my mistake, but before I could take another step a gate slammed shut, locking me out of the round room.
"Mother!" I screeched. I saw her helpless face and I knew I was on my own; she turned, something flashing behind her. A fierce look crossed her eyes and the veins on her dress seemed to spring to life, the thorny rope sliding into her hand like a whip as she stepped aside, tense and ready. Pitch stepped forward with a smirk, his long scythe in hand. He swung at Mother but with amazing speed I didn't know she possessed she ducked out of the way, and with a flick of her wrist snapped the whip at him, the thorns digging into his side. Pitch grit his teeth and jumped back out of the way and swung again. Once more Mother moved out of the way, and she whipped at him, only for it to be blocked by the blade of his scythe, each time chopping her weapon down a few inches.
This continued for a moment like their own intricate dance, until mother didn't have much whip left. Pitch smirked, lifting his halberd a final time freezing when a ball of fire landed beside him, scorching the stone floor. He looked up and glared at me, my hand sticking through the bars of the doorway.
"Look at me; I'm your opponent here." Mother demanded, her whip regrown in her hand as she dashed at him. Pitch turned barely blocking the whip; the vain wrapped around the handle of the scythe just below the blade and yanked it free of Pitch's grasp. Pitch stepped back, almost into another fireball, his shadows leapt forward, attacking Mother like spears, she jumped away from Pitch, twirling and swirling out of the way and Pitch glared up at me.
"Meddlesome child." he hissed, and just like that the gate in front of me was replaced with a dark shadowy wall, and the sounds of battle immediately stopped. I banged my fist on the wall as I was engulfed completely in darkness. I screamed out for Mother Nature, but heard nothing in reply. I rested my head on the wall, defeated, taking a deep breath before turning to face the long pitch black hall before me. Tense, I took one stiff step forward, prepared for the worst as I set my hair aflame, the ends reaching towards the ceiling as I walked, illuminated with an orange and red glow.
You're afraid. Pitch's words haunted me, so vivid I couldn't tell if it was in my mind or in reality. I took a deep breath continuing down the empty hallway.
This place is like a fun house, it's just missing the creepy ass clowns... I thought to myself, and suddenly there was a dark chuckle. A cold wind blew, causing my fire to flicker in and out.
"You're not getting anywhere with this." Pitch's voice called out, closer this time. The wind picked up and I struggled to keep my flame alight.
"Pitch! Show yourself!" I yelled back, spinning around unable to spot him in the darkness.
"You're so weak, your efforts are so very pointless." he sneered, ignoring me, even closer this time. I tensed my back to the wall. "You said you're not afraid of anything...but really you're riddled with fears, I can feel it, I can sense your fear. Your sweet delicious fear, it rolls off you in waves." I growled, growing angrier with every word. "Let's put your theory to the test, shall we. So tell me Ember." his voice right beside me now. "Are you afraid of the dark?" I felt him beside me, and with a cry I through my fire through the hall, barely missing him, I saw his face, smirking 1/2 concealed in darkness, as he faded back into shadows, the cold wind finally knocking my fire out, and no matter how hard I tried the air around me wouldn't allow my fire to light.
I took a deep breath, not moving for a moment, hesitant to make my way through the maze. After a moment I took another deep, shuddering breath and continued. The halls twisting in the dark and the walls seemed to breathe as I ran my hand along them, feeling my way through the darkness.
"I am not afraid of the dark." I said gently, to myself, taking a breath, steadying my breathing, I could feel my heartbeat slowing. "Do you hear me Pitch? I am not afraid!" I repeated louder this time.
"It's not the darkness that scares people." Pitch said knowingly from somewhere in front of me. "It's what's lurking in the shadows." my arms flailed and I pushed away from him, who was only a foot away from me. I felt his long, cold, bony fingers wrap around my arm like a skeleton and drag me through the floor as if I were nothing more than a ghost of a person. I felt like I was being pressed into nonexistence and when I appeared in another hallway, this one lit with a few dim torches, I collapsed to my knees, alone. I looked around my breathing shallow as I rose to my feet, looking up and down the hallway that only went one way. without a word I headed down the path and stopped in my tracks when I heard something ahead of me, whatever it was it wasn't' human. I tensed, testing my fire, able to hold a fireball in my hand.
Footsteps echoed through the hallway, and the beast came into view, it was one of the nightmare horses, it was twice my size and I braced myself as it raced closer. That's it. I thought as I spread out my arms, grateful to have my power back as I lifted myself off the ground. I've had enough running and hiding. Hovering as flames swirled around me. I closed my eyes to the light they caused, it's time to fight back, I'm done being scared. I thought angrily and opened my eyes glaring at the monster my eyes as red as fire, as a demons, as a nightmare.
(Author's note: I'm involving pictures OoO *gasp*
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hope you like)
the fire swarmed forward, washing over the black horse. Fear crossed its face, and it let out a shriek so in human, so horrifying, something that should only exist in the deepest pits of hell. It echoed through the halls, and the horse incinerated as the fire moved, each trail of flame vaporizing the nightmare in a flaming inferno.
I landed gently on the floor, taking a fearless step forward. Power flooded through my veins, I was invincible, unstoppable, Pitch didn't stand a chance against me, I could fight Father Time face to face and he would be powerless against me. I felt so powerful there wasn't a thing in the world I couldn't do. drunk on my new level I made my way down the hall, my red eyes taking in every detail, all my senses were heightened, I could tell everything around me, the darkness and the light both extremely vivid to my eyes as I walked, it wasn't long until I came to another large room, and saw Pitch standing in the middle, waiting for me.
On the sides of the dungeon like room, chained to the walls were the other guardians, and in a cage like cell were the children. I snarled at Pitch, smoke billowing from my nose like a bull. Mother and the children stared at me mortified by my fiery, angry appearance. Santa looked defeated even when he looked at me, how could he? My eyes were still glowing red and embers and sparks whizzed through the air around me, falling from my hair that was reaching and waving towards the ceiling in a billowing fire. That was sure to give them hope, I was powerful, and now I could rival Pitch, Santa needed to cheer up. I growled at Pitch, my wrath growing.
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"Mate...you alright?" Bunnymund asked worried but I ignored him. Pitch let out an excited laugh, hopping around giddy. "Oi ya Gumby, get ahold of yourself!" Bunny yelled again, did they think Pitch was controlling me? He wasn't I was on my own, in complete control of my new power that must have been from the children finally believing in me.
"Pitch I hope you're ready to die." I said my voice stern; Pitch smiled, and pretended to cower.
"Oh I'm terrified!" he laughed, still bent down in a fake cowering position. I growled, and stabbed my staff of fire into the ground; it thudded like a real staff, shaking the room.
"DON'T MOCK ME!" I bellowed, in a voice that didn't belong to me. Pitch straightened up, seriously, a slight smirk tugging at his lips.
"You're quite serious aren't you." he took a step forward, stopping when the inferno around me flared up.
"You bet." I snapped. Taking on a fighting position, ready to end Pitch, to end fear, once and for all.
"Very well then." he said somberly, straightening up. "Let us begin."
Author's note:
yahoo I'm adding an extra chapter lol that wasn't all supposed to be there but it came to me and since it was a lot I decided to split it into two chapters. I'm sorry if I disappointed you I know I was leading up for that to be the last chapter but I got so many new ideas! lol and I am sorry it took so long, anyway I hope you enjoyed it and please review tell me what you think, whether you liked it or not and why. :) I wish you all a very good day and I'm off to write the rest thank you my beloved readers lol and the pictures were because I just finished an epic anime called shakugan no shana and the main character's appearance works for Ember so I edited her eyes lol it's a good anime I recommend it. ;)