Chapter 10 - Hope and Feathers

Jack stared in horror at the fallen figures all around him; easily a million miniature hummingbird-hybrids sprawled everywhere. A draft blew through the empty space. Dropping his staff he ran towards one of the sleeping fairies and picked it up, cradling it gently in his palms. "What did this to you?"

"Jack!" Coraline's voice rang out from a higher golden platform. His eyes followed her outstretched finger to a spot only a few meters in front of him; there Baby Tooth, her wings bent oddly, staggered dazed and confused among her sisters. The winter spirit snatched up his magically infused stick and floated just above her where he scooped the tiny fairy up in one hand before zooming back to clear ground.

"Baby Tooth? Are you okay?"

She squeaked weakly and fluttered her wings cutely but she could not even rise an inch before falling back into Jack's hands. She gave a trill and hopped from the Frost's palms to his blue frosted hood.

A green-cloaked boy floated himself and a button-eyed doll from the upper platforms, "Rapunzel, Jack," he called, "you might wanna see what we found."

When the five reached the highest gold and pink stage they landed softly and quietly, not to disturb the bulging, twitching lump of disgustingly dusty grey fur.

"I have a feeling that this doesn't belong here." Coraline stated, sarcastically but in a whisper.

The group crept towards the twitching heap, black sand was visible in it's fur which, in turn, was all tangled and knotted and stood on end. None of the small group had any inclination to touch it so they only eyed it, moving themselves around the object so that they might get a better view. They held their breath while examining the creature, that continued to twitch and heave as if it might jump at any moment. Instead it stood; slowly and with it's head still lowered, the twitchiness had stopped and there was a sudden calm. The four of them (and Baby Tooth riding in Jack's hood) stepped backwards, wary of the monstrosity in front of them.

It raised it's head.

The eyes were unnaturally dilated but the face was snarling. It stood facing them it's stance protective yet angry. The fur had ethereal patterns seemingly "tattooed" on it, brown straps were slung across it's chest, now rid of what should have been holding boomerangs.

Jack lost his breath, "Bunny?"

The creature snapped.

It pounced, flying into the open air, jumping in one quick bound forward and straight at them. They stumbled backwards fro a moment before Coraline stepped forward.

The doll hopped off Norman's shoulder, growing as she landed. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, at the same time pulling out a small needle from the stitched pouch. A whoosh and the small metal item grew into a familiar large sword. She held it in both hands (almost smiling at the familiar weight) and it swung out protectively making a metallic ring as it went.

Focusing on the beast's eyes she thought she saw the fear deep within. "Okay," she spoke, "I know you don't want me to hurt you. I can see that."

The infected pooka flinched.

"Can you control this?"

It trembled and looked at it's feet.

"No? How long can you hold-?"

The question was interrupted by a warning shouted from the necromancer who was hovering above. The doll-girl didn't need to look up and she sprung backwards, narrowly avoiding a black and grey paw. However she still collided with Rapunzel and Jack. They all tumbled off the platform, the hummingbird fairy shrilly chirping, Jack catching the brown haired girl under her arms and Coraline stabbing her large sword into the base of the platform to break her fall. Norman flew past, the large rabbit falling behind him. It squawked and flailed as it fell. Coraline twisted and pushed off her sword, (which turned back into a sewing needle as soon as it left her fingers) she kicked the falling bunny sending it into the opposite wall. He landed hard and his wrists were frozen together; courtesy of Jack. It grunted and squirmed on the tiles, a gargling sound coming out of it's mouth.

Norman floated onto the platform, "I think we found a missing Guardian." he let go of Punzie and she landed lightly on her feet running over to where Jack and Coraline were helping the mutated Bunnymund sit up.

"His mind is almost gone!" she said as she removed her hand from his forehead. "And I can't see any hope in his eyes..."

The girl removed her hand from my forehead turning towards the familiar boy and shaking her head. She said something but most of it sounded bleary like it was being spoken through water. I was so far back in my own mind that I could not control my own body, instead the dark magic that was infused with it made it move with rage. I did try to control it but I cannot so I sit at the back of my head.

The girl mentions a word, it rings through my head like a chime. "Hope". It starts my mind thinking again.

"'Hope?' Where is my hope? If this is what I protect then I had better practice what I preach"

The creature suddenly stood, breaking free of the hold of Jack and Coraline, it grunted, facing them as if he were trying to convey something.

One grunt. Two.

He staggered backwards.

Then a growl, sudden and dangerous.

"I can't do this by myself. I'm hopeless."

The growl stopped short and the pooka collapsed to the ground. Norman floated down, his hands still tingling with green glow. "We need to get him to the pole."

A collective nod and some shuffling later they were all (Bunnymund included) stepping through a portal.

A moan echoed through the vacant caves, reaching the attention of the four and the dragon. It wavered louder and it transitioned also in pitch wobbling high and low, piercing the former calmness of the Warren. They turned and glanced around them: silence. Toothless growled and a fluttery sound was heard towards one of the lower tunnels.

The group quickly trekked towards the noises that kept growing louder and higher until it was an unbearably pitched scream.

They edged cautiously towards the gaping mouth of the cave and peeped in.

Without light what they saw was just a clump of a dusty collection, dully coloured; flowers? fabric? old eggshells? feathers?

Merida held her hand out and it transitioned from peachy to blue, acting as a torch it revealed the source of the screaming.

The Tooth Fairy, hunched over and molting dull feathers to a pile of black below her. She was heaving and the team at the entrance grimaced as lumpy black sludge fell slowly from her mouth. She looked up and her eyes were grey as she clawed at her face with now deformed hands that had bloated, her fingers turning into claws.

She spoke hoarsely and rapidly, "Please! Something's happening to me! Please help m-"

Her voice stopped short and she choked, coughing up more blackness. The violent coughing was cut off suddenly and she looked up and stared, wide eyed, mouth half open in a silent plead.

Then her eyes fell blank.

Black veined out from the corner of her eyes and spread, slowly and vine-like through the rest of her body, branching out into every feather.

A rumble and her form hunched, taking a wolf-like stance as the claws on her hands extended and retraced as she breathed.

Jolting forwards the feathers underneath her flurried and tornado-ed out of the cave and engulfed every person (and dragon) in sight.

Mavis pushed her way through the cloud of black, trying to avoid the glowing eyes of the mutated fairy as she searched for her friends. She grabbed hold of a gloved wrist and pulled the Once-ler closer just before another scream wad heard. The fairy's screams were becoming unbearable and the Nightmare Princess hoped to be out of the place soon. The tall man behind her called out their teammates' names; in response a blue glow flickered to the west of the two. The fire outlined the shape of a girl, Merida. They started towards her but the feathers turned on them, stabbing towards them.

Noticing this at the last second she pushed forward her small clump of Nightmare Sand to form a shield. The feathers thunked on the object and fell silent. As soon as she lowered the shield another scream came. The two ran behind an egg-shaped rock and crouched, from there they saw the feathers fly even more furiously around the agonized fairy and the blue fire flicker, then flash before extinguishing completely.

After the flash the fathers fell still, hanging in the air; stationary as if someone, somewhere had pressed pause on a remote. The fairy collapsed onto the ground; a faintly glowing arrow lodged in her shoulder and smoke rising from a patch of charred grass a meter before her. The feathers were still dull and laced with black but her eyes, however, had returned to their normal purple.

She squeaked and looked about her, Oncie and Mavis looked around as well. They were now the only three living creatures there; Hiccup, Toothless and Merida had disappeared.

"No!" the Tooth Fairy's eyes were wide, "Where are your companions?"

She stood slowly wobbling as she went until she stopped suddenly, a look of realization dawning on her face.

"Oh. No. I know where they are. Where I sent them. Trouble is waiting for them."

She began to shake violently before fainting suddenly with the blackness form her feathers disappearing completely.

Hiccup, Merida and Toothless were still nowhere to be seen. The Once-ler sighed and mentioned that they should be getting back. Mavis agreed and they carried Toothiana through the nearest tree - a path that led to the North Pole once again.

SORRY for not updating in ages! School's been annoying and I haven't found time to write. I'll try to update the next chapter ASAP but pleas hang on.

Thank you for reading and reviewing once again! Your ideas and feedback are very helpful to me!

So yeah, as you can see the next chapter is set up for a little bit of Mericcup! Hooray! Finally. :P