Canto IX

"The devil is not as black as he is painted."

-Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy-

Tooth and Haytham stood in front of a small lake, below the enormous 7 columns, at the ground level of the palace. The place gives a peaceful radiance and aura and made the Guardian in Blue relaxed in calmness. His gaze wandered around the walls, observing the murals of Tooth Fairies and little happy children, sitting in their beds. Impressive murals the man remarked positively at the paintings, depicting Tooth Fairies and their roles as givers of good memories to the children.

"Now then…it might hurt a little…" Haytham's attention then turned to Tooth. The Fairy warned him but the man gave no reluctance. His eagerness for the return of his memory prevails.

"I'm prepared…now if you please…" Haytham showed the canister. The Toothfairy gave one last look of excitement to him before she touched it. The object glowed and let out a bright light.

Haytham was still, he stood firmly and his eyes didn't leave the object even though it was giving off a very bright light. And then slowly, around him, the place began to change.

Haytham darted his eyes everywhere. He was no longer in the mystical and magnificent palace of Punjam Hy Loo. He looked up and saw the dark clouds, his nose twitch after he caught a familiar scent of smog, and his ears rang as thousands of voice entered his hearing.

Then he gazed through rows of buildings made from bricks, and its roofs with their chimney sprouting high smoke. He was in the city of London.

"City of London…this is my memory." He concluded in a relaxed manner.

The streets were crowded with people, walking beside him. He looked in front and observed the building and then to the roadside after he heard a whirring of horses and a carriage stopped in front of him.

The man watched as the door opened and a man slowly emerged. He observed the man who possessed a gold-blonde hair, wearing a coat that seems to protect him from the cold. The man turned around and called the other occupant.

"Haytham lad, time to go down, the play is about to start," Haytham's eyes widened, his heart, which never beat loudly, beat fast in a furious manner. He let out a reticent gasp of shock as he saw a child emerged from the carriage and stood beside the taller man.

That's me…? Haytham observed the child who smiled at the man. His gaze landed and concluded immediately about the identity of the man. He…must be my father…a feeling of melancholic and déjà vu sets in. he slowly formed a smile and said.

"I now remembered…" he watched as the two walked towards the entrance of the theatre. The child happily skipped along his steps and the Father watched with a calm smile on his face. "This memory is from my childhood…the first time I watched a theatre play." A feeling of gladness and sweet peace flowed in his heart. "Edward…father…" he murmured with a contended smile on his face as the whole scenery began to fade.

Pitch's lair

"Aaah!" Monkey King yelped in pain and kicked the horse who was just peacefully guardian him. He grunted and breathed tons of air as he sat straight up and clutched his injured, already-empty, left eye.

Pitch hearing the commotion, stopped and stood on the doorway of the room where the injured Monkey King was staying and treated by his fearlings, the horses. The primate glared at him and scowled.

"Now are you happy?! That plan of his is a mistake!" the Nightmare King merely nodded, but cast a look of disagreement at him, before saying, "But you jumped into it, you didn't even ask his goal."

The words of the Boogeyman burned and almost made him burst in anger, but he controlled it by making a gulp. He just cringed in annoyance and touched his left eye.

"Do not fret, however, the Shadow Man has formed a new plan and this time you might want to hear the purpose of his plan." The Boogey Man said in a calm manner of delight and attempted to amuse the Primate.

The Monkey King however only seethed and asked in a vexed manner.

"What? Steal every child's tooth again?"

"No," Pitch paused and then smiled in thrill, "it involves with only one person," he then opened the palm of his right hand, small grains of black sands began to swirl and formed a shape of a person as the Nightmare King dictated, "Haytham…Kenway."

The Blue Guardian silently watched in complete reminiscence. The memory that was unfolding in front of him has gave him a nostalgic feeling. Haytham recall and accept the memory as he saw himself, more like his past child-self, moving in a graceful manner with a sword in his hand.

He was standing on a small, but grand, garden of a house which he happily commemorated as his own.

"Alright lad, ah! That's a good one!" the older man laughed as the little child only smiled gleefully as his father patted his head. Haytham's eyes never left the blonde haired man and then to the child.

He was still in complete awe. I have…a family. He closed his eyes and thought tranquilly, What happened then? What happened to me…he tried to search for any clues about himself from the previous memories that he had witnessed in a hurried manner. His thoughts were cut however when he opened his eyes and saw his memory began to fade, a sign that it was already finish.

"I hope there's more…" he eagerly said in a serene manner.

Haytham calmly looked around. The walls around him were painted in blue with designs of ships and other nautical related, in maritime, themes. His gaze landed on a pile of books on one corner of the room, and a mountain of novelties on the other. An obvious fact that he was inside a child's room and he concluded that it was his.

"Ouch…" he finished his observation and landed his eyes at the bed where his child version was sitting on the edge and a woman, dressed in a red dress, was kneeling in front of him and tending to the wounds on his left cheek.

"Now, hold still little sailor," the woman said firmly but in a jocular way. "How could you gain such a wound…? You only took one punch from him,"

"I protected my friend," the boy said proudly to the woman who merely raised an eyebrow, skeptic on what the boy dictated.

"Really, Haytham, so landing the first punch is now a 'form' of protection, my little brother," Little brother? The man looked at the woman, his eyes showed a light of rumination on the woman's identity, and then as if it returned to him, he finally recognize her.

"Jenny…Kenway…my sister…" he said slowly, his memory has completely returned and he finally remembered his whole family and the fact that he was a truly human before. And then for a long time he face move and formed a smile, his recollection had brought him a perfect amity in his heart and made his eyes so watery... that a single tear formed, and dropped down across his right cheek.

The man let out a sigh; the feeling of the warm, lone, tear had brought him to his senses and wished that it will never stop.

"I now remembered…father told me something here…" he slowly looked towards the doorway of the room, expecting his father to appear. And he was correct. The man possessed a golden hair showed and stood by the doorway, observing the child with a look of amusement and pride.

"Father…you never really know what shame is…" Haytham said and silently listened as his father spoke to his child version. He closed his eyes and began to relive the part where he said something about himself.

That's why...I idolize you...no...I love you so much...happiness and other joyous feeling, clouded his mind and weight his heart while he watch his father spoke to the child who listened to him with a smile. He didn't hear the words because all he can feel at that time was the thumping of his relieved heart. Haytham, as of now, was happy.

Haytham serenely sighed as the memory faded and brought him back to the place where he was standing on. The sounds of water falling from the waterfall greeted him first, then the rays of the sun that began to bathe him in its radiant light from the sky.

"Haytham…are you finished?" Tooth landed beside the taller man who glanced at her.

"Yes…"

"So…how was it?" the intrigued Toothfairy asked, her ears caught the light tone of the man which indicated that his mood was good.

"It's uh…fine." Haytham stared at the canister as he recalled all of the memories that he witness and regained. Even though he felt happy that he finally remembered something about himself, and knew that he had a family who cared for him, he noticed something missing.

"Ms Tooth. Well about my memory, it seems to be…a little bit short." He looked at his canister, observed it with keen eyes and wondered about his memories. The canister indeed showed him his memories, but there were only the good ones. The man thought that there should be more than those good memories.

"Really, how odd. Usually the Precursor Box extracts, records, and store every good memories from a child's teeth." Haytham, after hearing the word, felt a prickling pain in his head. He lightly touched and pressed his right hand on his forehead and tried to ignore it but to no avail, the word as if it was a bullet, made his head send an agonizing pain throughout his body and made his legs light under his own weight.

Tooth was puzzled after she saw Haytham who suddenly took a heavy breathed, her hands immediately went to his shoulder to support his balance as the man took a step back.

"Haytham, are you ok?"

"Yes…I am fine," the man immediately moved away from the worried Tooth Fairy, preventing to create a scene. He mentally clicked his tongue in pain. Great now what…? He grunted silently and ailed the pain on his head, wishing it to go away.

Tooth observed him more and began to think. The problem was that the man memory wasn't complete. He knew something about himself, something about his true identity and that wasn't found on the memory canister that she was storing. The Tooth fairy silently analyzed and interpreted everything that Haytham said and then an idea struck her.

"I think I know how we can fully bring your memories back Haytham."

The man turned to her with a silent curious look. The Tooth fairy caught his interest.

"How?"

"Well it involves with-ah!" Tooth suddenly landed and fell, she almost hit her head on the ground but the Blue Guardian immediately rush and reacted and caught her before she fully hit the ground.

"What's wrong?" He asked in a grave manner, puzzled to what happened to the Toothfairy.

"M-my wings…" Tooth glanced behind her and tried to move her humming bird-like wings but it didn't, "its stop moving."

Haytham, still puzzled to what she said, stood up and was about to walked away to call the other guardians for help, even though that he found Tooth's situation a little bit of a burden for him, when he stopped and noticed something.

The walls and the rocks that surround the waterfall which were painted with murals of the Tooth Fairy in brightly colored pink are now changing its colors to a deep dull grey. Haytham was clueless to what was happening right now to the murals when the Tooth fairy answered his questioning look.

"It's children…they no longer believe in me…"

No longer believe in you...? The man turned around, baffled to what she said. "Does this happen before?"

"Yes, but we brought it back-"

"Tooth, you ok?" Jack swiftly hovered and landed beside the weak Guardian of Good Memories, his eyes were full of concern.

"Yes I'm ok,"

"They've stolen your powers again, and I think the same thing might work," Tooth smile at the winter sprite and nodded, "And not to mention it will work very fast since we have new one here." She landed her excited gaze at Haytham who looked at them with puzzled look.

What do they mean by—oh no…a realization suddenly pops into his head and his eyes shifted to a distrustful one. "What're you two scheming-?"

"Ahoy you three! Tooth you power's gone again." North and all of the Guardians arrived after inspecting the whole palace for damage from the assault of Pitch's familiars. The Tooth Fairy immediately walked towards the old Guardian and told her 'plan' on bringing back her powers and the belief of Children to her.

North nodded and nodded and exclaimed in a joyful manner.

"Yes that can certainly work!"

"Yeah, since Haytham is here." Haytham gave a sharp glare at Jack who didn't heed it. Aiden stood behind him and quickly said.

"You don't have any choice then…"

"…" The silently stared at the group with ridiculed eyes, he silently thought and tried to create an argument against them. I do have a choice! He glanced at the Tooth Fairy and slowly calmed down. The Tooth Fairy still held a clue about his memory and now that she was strip off from her powers, her ability to make someone remember was already gone. He let out a short grunt and internally cursed, he finally reached a decision that he didn't want.

"Now…what are you planning everyone?" Well, 'curiosity killed the cat' is a good example for my situation right now…I am the cat, the Guardians smiled at him as he prepared himself, but…satisfaction brought it back. He finished his thought as North cleared his throat and announced.

"Haytham! Tomorrow is Christmas Day! And we'll help Tooth by taking the children's teeth and give them presents." Haytham silently stared at them, his face was still as he let out a long sigh of dispirit. I hope I received this satisfaction…and bring me back to my peaceful yonder self…he only pondered mechanically. He didn't like the plan however he didn't have a choice; he only agreed to help them.

"Bunny! Hop! Hop! Hop! Will they visit?" Sophie, a little blonde girl, energetically jumped on her bed. She fixed her ribbon on her pajamas as her big brother Jamie entered and sighed, the boy was tired from all of the activities that he had done today.

"Ok Sophie, to bed now, Mikey and I were about to sleep." Jamie said and her little sister quickly obeyed after he added, "They might visit tonight so earn up your energy since everyone will play with the Guardians later, ok?" the little girl only nodded and immediately tucked herself to bed.

Jamie smiled and quickly closed the door, letting her little sister enter in her deep sleep.

"Whew, my sister is asleep," Jamie closed the door of his room and slumped down on his bed. His cousin, Mikey, was in his desk with a drawing pad on his hands, he was silent as his hands guided his pencil on the smooth surface.

"What're you doing, cous?"

"Ah this, I'm drawing something," Mikey proudly showed his drawing to the boy who only exclaimed. The drawing a well-detailed of a little girl in a white dress, her face was covered with a long black hair that seem to stretch to her feet.

"Isn't that 'Sadako' the Japanese Ghost?"

"Yup, I figured that I must draw her since we match together with our friends. It was fun by the way." Mikey giggled as he resumed his drawing. The two were silent for a moment before the boy spoke again. "My dream is to become a web-toon graphic artist."

"Really? Cool! Aren't they that ones who drew scary, comic books,"

"Yeah, isn't that amazing!" Jamie felt interested to the Cousin's dream said happily. The two discussed in a much more heated, but 'nerdy', way about webtoons and comics. Mikey, as he told his cousin more about himself, began to felt at peace as his cousin questions his hobby and talent in interested way.

"Aw you're so cool, Mikey! Did you said earlier that your mother was a painter that restores others painting?"

"Yes, it's her job back from Washington D.C. She's working on a art museum there, but she retired early. "The boy looked at the window and recalled his memories back at the capital city. As far as he can recall it was a little bit lonely. The boy doesn't have much friends and his mother was always busy and as for his father he couldn't recall much.

"Mikey?"

"Ah so sorry I space out," Mikey quickly looked away from the window and added, "anyway my Mom is restoring a painting here in Burgess, for its Founding celebration."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Burgess foundation day will be also a big celebration 3 days after Christmas."

"It's gonna be fun then, especially the local authorities found a painting that belongs to main family branch of the founders, the Burgess family themselves,"

"Cool!" Jamie said and then he smiled wickedly and spoke in a jocular menacing tone, "And the portrait is cursed and will doomed this town forever!" Mikey laughed heartily at his cousin's joke. The two was heavily talking and exchanging remarks with each other and completely absorbed to one another's interest, that they didn't notice the fast changing pace time.

"I'm very excited to meet your friends, the Guardians, Jamie, are they really interesting?" Mikey asked in a fascinated tone. The two of them had an animated discussion earlier together with Jamie's group of friends who all claimed that they were the 'only ones' that could see them. The native boy's curiosity on the guardians didn't falter till now, he was completely interested.

"Yes they were especially Jack Frost, you'll meet him soon enough," Jamie said as he yawned from sleepiness.

Woo-hoo! Finally Updated! Thanks for reading my fanfics, please leave some reviews or like my story if you like it :) Special thanks to NewAnimeLover7951 for proofreading.