Not the best chapter please forgive

I'm still trying to figure out where I'm gonna go with this story

Hayley was at Jamie's house for a late-night movie. It had taken a lot of convincing on her mother's part, but Sarah had finally agreed to let Hayley stay over, after Tara had rolled her eyes and reminded her that Hayley and Jamie were only eleven, and that Jamie's mother was in the house as well.

Hayley wondered, for a moment, if it had been wise to come over. Tara still wasn't home yet, after all. She'd gone wandering around after dinner, and she'd left her phone behind, like she so often did.

But then Jamie beamed at her, and Hayley figured that Tara knew how to take care of herself.

Sophie was watching Hayley with her head tilted, green eyes wide, as Hayley and Jamie sifted through the tall stack of movies that he'd found in one of the cupboards.

"Um," Hayley asked, "why's your sister staring at me like that?"

She was watching Sophie almost warily, and almost unconsciously, moved slightly closer to Jamie.

She didn't notice Jamie's face flare red.

"Um." He swallowed, and then he stammered, "I don't – I don't know." He swallowed again.

Sophie finally let out a giggle, and pointed at Hayley: "You're pretty!"

Hayley flushed, a little, and glanced at Jamie - "Did your sister just call me pretty?"

Jamie didn't miss the small smile spreading over Hayley's face, as Sophie turned to him, and giggled: "Don't you think so?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "Yeah, she is."

And then he froze, abruptly, his hand hovering over the stack of movies as he realised what he'd just said. It was now Hayley's face which was completely red, as she swung her hair forward to hide her face.

"Um – " Jamie swallowed again. "I mean, you know, yes she did, which, um, I guess she totally believed she had reason to say, and, uh, I wouldn't know, you know – "

For some reason, Sophie let out a bright, happy laugh, and Jamie wished she was up in bed and somewhere very far away because this was turning into a complete and total mess –

"Um," said Hayley. "Thanks."

They sat next to each other, and Jamie didn't know what was louder - the noise from the TV or the embarrassment radiating out from the both of them.

Jack had finally finished painting some annoying-looking toy robot when Baby Tooth flew into North's palace, looking shaken and scared and chattering on a mile a minute, her wings whirring in the air.

"Baby Tooth! What's wrong?" Toothiana was up in the air in an instant, looking worried as she hovered in front of her fairy.

Baby Tooth chattered and chattered, and Jack and Bunny and Sandy and North watched as Tooth's face grew pale, their hands dropping from their work.

She turned to the other Guardians, and her eyes were glistening slightly.

"Pitch," she said, in a hoarse voice. "He's back."

"What?"

"Impossible!"

"No, he's back," Tooth said, firmly. "He's in Burgess right now. Baby Tooth's just been there to collect some teeth, and she saw him. She saw him and all his Nightmares."

Only one word of that sentence registered in Jack's brain.

"Burgess?" he demanded, rising up and grabbing his staff. Jamie, he thought. God, that was where Pitch was defeated, where Jamie lived. What if Pitch wanted revenge?

Tooth nodded, her face fearful. "He was after someone, Baby Tooth says. She says that she saw all his Nightmares, his whole army of them, chasing after some teenage girl – "

"A teenage girl?" North echoed, and there was confusion clear in his voice – a confused shared by the other Guardians. What on earth would Pitch want with a teenage girl? He thrived on fear, and it was the fear of children that he liked best –

Tooth nodded. "A teenage girl with pink hair."

Another voice echoed in Jack's head now, and somehow he felt even colder and emptier than he'd felt when he'd been afraid for Jamie.

Tara.

Tara couldn't remember the last time she'd run this much, and so fast.

The ground was slippery below her feet, but still she ran, never stopping, breathing heavily as she skidded through streets that she'd never seen before in her entire life. Still the black sand rose up behind her, in the shape of horrific, evil-looking horses with cruel eyes –

And then, abruptly, she almost slammed into a hard, brick wall.

Fuck. A dead end. She, being the stupid, ridiculous girl that she was, had let herself be cornered.

No way out.

"Well, well, well," a voice said behind her, cold and lilting and one that made her shiver, as, slowly, she turned back around to face the dark sand of horses. A lithe grey figure was riding on one, yellow eyes hard and glinting in a grey face, an amused smirk on his lips. "So this is Jack's little princess."

"You're Pitch Black," said Tara, and to her intense surprise she found that her voice wasn't shaking, that she wasn't stammering. "Aren't you?"

"Very good," Pitch said, approvingly. "It's nice to know that I'm believed in."

"You're fear," she said. "You're always there. It's just how people deal with you."

"You know, that sounds most uncouth," said Pitch. And then he smirked again, a cruel smirk. "You're a very interesting girl, Tara. My Nightmares have been trying to get into your dreams for days, you know."

"Your – what?"

"My Nightmares," Pitch repeated, narrowing his eyes. "And yet somehow, they could never get in."

"Good for me?" Tara asked, and she was surprised, suddenly, just how quickly her fear was fading, just how much she wasn't terrified of this dark figure in front of her. He was dark, he was radiating fear, and her heart was still racing; but somehow, she just wasn't so scared anymore. "Um, why not?"

Pitch Black scowled, sensing that the girl's fear was lessening. "Because," he more or less spat out, moving nearer so that his cold yellow eyes were boring into hers, "you, my dear, are afraid of fear. You are afraid of being afraid."

And then her heart started thumping again, furiously, as the Nightmares reared around her, and she felt so very alone and so very scared.

That was when the snowball struck.

"PITCH!" a voice yelled, and ice started coating the ground, creeping up the legs of the Nightmares, as a furious Jack Frost flew through the air, landing in front of Pitch Black, his face hard, his eyes cold.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Jack Frost." The smirk was back on Pitch's face once more. "What a pleasant surprise."

"How did you recover so quickly, from the last time we kicked your ass?"

"How crude, Jack. If you must know, it really wasn't very hard, considering I had all my Nightmares without me." There was a cold light in Pitch's eyes. "And, you know, your friend here is really very interesting."

"What's she matter to you?" Jack demanded.

"I'm sure you would like to know," Pitch chuckled as he took in the boy's furious gaze, something in his eyes that showed just how much he was willing to lash out at anyone who dared to harm the girl behind him. "But don't worry, Jack. I'm sure my Nightmares will entertain you and the other Guardians while you try to figure it out."

Tara couldn't keep track of what was happening around her.

She could see, vaguely, Jack in front of her, yelling, shouting, ice spreading around him –

A multi-coloured blur, wings whizzing through the air –

A small, round, golden man, long trails of golden sand swirling in the darkness –

Splotches of bright colours, boomerangs hurling back and forth, a large bunny –

A large, white-bearded man swinging two large swords –

All she was aware of was the darkness, the glittering black sand that swarmed around her, surrounding her, suffocating her –

And then everything went black, just as she could hear a familiar voice call her name, sounding frantic, worried.

Tara.

Why did that name sound so familiar? She thought that it meant something, that it was important to her in some way…

And there was just the darkness, and everything was so cold.

Frosty2002, seriously, do you read my mind half the time because half the ideas you put out are usually ideas half-formed in my head omg HAHAHA. anyway this chapter is kind of for you because, I don't know, I mean it's not very good but it's something haha