Chapter 11: Nightmare battle

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Hellboy grumbled under his breath, as the Nightmare King came within full sight. He was still dressed in his black flowing robes, as always, but there was something different about him now. On previous occasions when the group had seen him(or rather, Merida), he had seemed scary enough, but Nuada had been everyone's main concern. But looking at him now, he seemed to have an echoing aura of darkness around him, and he sounded even more icy and terrifying now.

To make matters worse, Pitch hadn't come alone. Behind him from the shadows emerged a group of black horses. But these horses were not normal horses. For a start, their inky skin had a grainy texture, as though they were made from sand, and with a slight tinge of purple. Their ribs were prominent beneath their "skin" and their eyes were pure yellow, and without pupils. And they had spikes protruding from parts of their bodies like tusks.

Besides the horses, a group of pure black figures stood behind Pitch. They had squat, muscular bodies and streaming wisps(not those kind of wisps) running behind their heads and shoulders, like fire. They, too, had featureless yellow eyes, but they also had gaping mouths curved into threatening smirks. They seemed just as terrifying as Pitch. Some of the figures were taller than the rest of them, and wielded jagged curved swords and wore tricorne hats on their shadowy heads.

"Brilliant," Bunny growled irritably. "Pitch brought his whole family for the reunion."

"Not as sharp as you look, are you, rabbit?" Pitch taunted. "These Nightmares and Fearlings and Dream Pirates-some of them are my creations, yes. But they're not my whole family, you see. My daughter couldn't be here, for obvious reasons."

He turned to Nuada. "By the way, your highness, well done on reclaiming the Royal Crown. I see you've already put it to good use(he gestured non-specifically at the Golden Army). So hopefully you won't mind if I…"

A whip of black sand grew in his hand, then Pitch swung it and snatched the Crown from Hellboy's grasp, pulling it into his own hands like a fisherman reeling in his catch. He then cheerfully placed the Crown on top of his head, ignoring the horrified gasps as he walked through the group to stand atop the platform of gears.

"Well, well," the Boogeyman continued. "What a glittering assemblage, as my old friend Maleficent once said. The BPRD... The Big Four… and the Guardians, all in the same place! And now I have the Crown of Bethmoora within my grasp! I should thank you, but it'll be more fun to kill you!"

The black horses-Nightmares- pressed closer to the group. One of them got too close to Toothless, and the Night Fury roared at it, prompting it to trot backwards a little. The horses weren't going to attack them, Hiccup realized- they were trying out scare tactics.

"Don't be scared," Pitch added lazily. "Nightmares smell fear, you know. It makes them excited."

"What are you doing, Kozmotis?" Nuada asked incredulously. "How dare you take my Crown!"

"Your Crown?" Pitch grinned cheekily. "I don't remember your father ever giving you permission to wear it. You practically tore it from his dead body without a second thought!"

"He's not dead," Nuada said, but Hiccup could tell that Pitch's words hurt him. "Not anymore."

"Hey, Chris Lee!" Hellboy shouted up to Pitch. "What are you doing with that crown?"

Pitch laughed coldly. "Is that not obvious, boy?" He sneered the word "boy" as he spoke. "I'm taking revenge."

"On who?" Hiccup asked, reaching for Inferno, but he could already guess the people Pitch would mention next.

"On you, little Viking! On your dragons, on your friends, on Jack Frost! But most of all, on the Guardians!"

His expression was brutal now. "Do you have any idea what I went through the last time you fools defeated me? I was thrown underground! Turned on by my own Nightmares! Stripped of all power and left to soak in my own fears! I'd never felt so weak before…nor so angry."

Pitch's golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "I hated you all even more than I had ever since the Dark Ages. But I was patient. I waited to find a way to regain my power and cripple you once again. I heard about what the human Rasputin and his allies were planning to do with you, Hellboy, but I didn't help them. Why? Because I, and I alone, will rule the world."

Hiccup felt shocked by this. In defeating the Ogdru Jahad and Rasputin's Nazis, had they cleared the way for another evil tyrant to seize power?

"Imagine my surprise, therefore," Pitch continued, "To learn that there was another ancient force to be awakened, one which I could co-operate with. Even in the ancient times, the stories of the Golden Army used to excite me so much! The pure terror those monsters generated in the hearts of men!" A tear of joy filled his eyes. "And when I heard that dearest Nuada was seeking it out as well, I couldn't resist! He was the ideal servant for the King of Nightmares!"

"Servant?!" Nuada incredulously shouted. "I do not serve you, Pitch!"

"Oh, but you did, your Highness, whether you know it or not. Your anger and hatred fed my strength and provided me with the perfect means of reforming my own forces. I dispensed with my old Nightmares and kept alive the loyal members. I played on your own fear of mankind to guide you right where I wanted you to go. And now I have no further need of you, I shall take your Army as my own!"

"No, you won't," Hiccup snarled.

"An' what would ye do wi' the Golden Army anyway, Ink-Head?" Merida taunted with a completely original nickname. "Dinnae tell me ye're gonnae use 'em tae scare kids."

Pitch's smile could curdle milk. "Correct, princess. I'm not going to use them to scare kids. No, these Soldiers are the kind of things that I could scare adults senseless with! If I'm to make a successful bid for conquest, I should broaden my horizons."

"You and your big mouth, Merida," Jack hissed under his breath.

"There's just one thing I should change beforehand," Pitch continued as though Jack had not spoken. "The name. You see, 'Golden' Army doesn't sound that terrifying, does it? Nightmare Army, on the other hand…"

As he spoke, the shadowy Dream Pirates and Fearlings each split up and floated over to the Golden Soldiers. With their hands they pried their heads forward, opening a way for them to insert themselves inside the neck cavities of the huge automatons, like the pilots of a helicopter. As they did so, the Army gave a huge hiss like steam-engines, then shook violently as their metal bodies slowly changed colour, from gold to midnight black, as though they were made of paper with watercolour paint seeping through. Their eyes, in contrast, turned icy yellow, and the swords protruding from their wrists extended greatly. If anything, they looked even more terrifying than they had before.

"Ok, this is bad," Eugene murmured, wishing he had a longer frying pan for this fight.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Pitch chuckled. "And the best thing is, thanks to my minions giving them power, they're even more deadly than before! If you want to kill this Army, you'll have to take me down first! And in order to get to me, you have to get past the Nightmares!"

"Good idea," Hiccup remarked wryly. Hellboy, however, wasn't as impressed by the Nightmares as the rest of the group.

"Seriously?" he said. "This is the best way you can think of scaring us, Pitch? A bunch of black ponies? I think you'll find we're a lot tougher than that."

"Fair enough," Pitch replied lazily. "I'll make it more exciting."

He snapped his fingers, and immediately, the eight Nightmares surrounding the group crumbled into clouds of black sand, swirled in mid-air threateningly, then re-formed as eight menacing shapes that were not horses. Sammael, Rasputin, Kroenen, Gothel, the Stabbingtons, Mor'du, the Red Death and Dagur the Deranged; all the individuals that the Big Four and the BPRD had gone up against in the past, and knew all too well.

"You and your big mouth now, Red," Jack dryly remarked.

Hellboy didn't pay attention to this remark and cracked his fists together. "Why go to all this trouble, Pitch? Are you sending in your lackies because you're too scared to fight us yourself? Let's go a few rounds, just the two of us."

"No," Hiccup interrupted, brushing forwards to the front of the crowd. "I will fight Pitch."

Everyone's jaws dropped(even the Golden Army's, but they just picked up their fallen jaws again and reattached them.

"What?" Hellboy asked, complete shock registering in his yellow eyes.

"You had your turn with Nuada, Red," Hiccup replied. "I've done comparatively the least out of the rest of us. It's only fair that I should be the one to finish this fight."

"But Hic," Liz said in concern. "If you fight Pitch, he might kill you."

Hiccup smiled bravely. "I'm a Viking. It's an occupational hazard."

Astrid smiled nostalgically, remembering the last time Hiccup said something like this before squaring off with the Red Death. She quickly ran over to give her boyfriend a kiss. "Take him down, babe."

Hiccup placed a hand on her shoulder, thanking her for the courage she'd just given him. He then turned to face the Boogeyman where he stood. "What about it, General Black? Do you accept my challenge for the Crown?"

Pitch frowned and stroked his ashen chin. "Well, you weren't my first choice of opponent, but then, I suppose you are of royalty after all…Well, what am I waiting for?"

A column of black sand formed in his right hand, narrowing, becoming solid, and forming a scythe, with two yellow Nightmare eyes above the blade, giving it the look of a very tall, very thin, limbless raven. "I accept your challenge, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third! Prepare to die!"

The Golden(now Nightmare) Army raised their arms, eager for blood, but Pitch called out, "NO! Leave the Viking and his friends! Let my Nightmares try their mettle! After that, should they survive, then you can kill them!"

Pitch strode drown the metal cog platform until he stood level with Hiccup, whilst the Nightmares cleared a space for them to fight on. Both opponents tightened their grips on their weapons, swaying from side to side on their legs.

"As I recall, you made quite a musical number before, with the Prince," Pitch taunted, and Hiccup swore he could hear electric guitar music playing in the background. "It's only fair that I start off this fight with a song of my own."

And then Pitch swung his scythe in a neat arc. Hiccup lunged out with his left hand, catching the blade and deflecting it. Pitch began singing in a low, cold voice.

"So you think that your friends in high places

Will scare my Nightmares, make them want to run?"

He backhanded Hiccup in the stomach with his scythe handle, knocking him over. Before Hiccup could get up again, Pitch sunk into the shadowed ground like water, then reappeared in a separate corner of the room.

"Well, forgive our incredulous faces,

You'll learn what power is when we are done.

Son…"

And at this point, the Nightmares surged forwards and attacked the heroes. As they attacked, they joined in singing with Pitch. Jack was shocked on two accounts: first, this was the first time he'd ever heard Nightmares speaking, or even singing, and second, they sounded even more terrifying while doing so- deep, growling echoing voices that sounded like half of Jurassic Park had tried out operetta.

"You're playing with the big boys now,

You're playing with the big boys now."

The Kroenen Nightmare charged straight for Merida and Astrid swinging his swords. Merida ducked and rolled, while Astrid swung her axe and cut off one of the Nightmare's swords, only for a blast of purple light to hit her in the shoulder and blow her backwards. Judging by the cold laugh from the Gothel Nightmare, it could only have been her.

"Stupid Saxon Arm-Freezing Curse," Astrid snarled as she tried to lever her arm up and down; it was so cold and sensationless that she might have had an ice lolly attached to her body instead.

"Every spell and gesture

Shows you who's the best, you're

Playing with the big boys now."

The Rasputin Nightmare didn't seem to have any weapons on his person, so Jack thought he might win the fight easily, but as he ran forwards with his staff held out, the black grainy hand grabbed the crook of his icy weapon and lifted him into the air before slamming it on the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Tooth gave a furious scream, flew over and then kicked Rasputin in the face, spilling his teeth(which crumbled into sand).

"You're playing with the big boys now,

You're playing with the big boys now."

The Stabbington Nightmares went straight for Eugene, brandishing their clubs and daggers. He lashed out with his frying pan, clubbing one of them, but the other one tackled him to the ground. Before he could bring down his club, however, a boomerang swung through his throat, severing his head; the thuggish man crumbled into lifeless black sand again.

"Give up your foolish mission,

Watch us apparitions

Give an exhibition how.."

Hiccup, meanwhile, had switched to his wide metal foot to climb up the gears after Pitch, only for the Nightmare King to kick his arm. Hiccup dropped Inferno, and Pitch pushed him back to the ground after his sword.

"Pick up that firey twig, boy,

You're playing with the big boys now."

The Dagur Nightmare and the Gothel Nightmare ganged up on Abe and Johann. Dagur, of course, went straight in with his axe, screaming madly, but Abe managed to jump a few feet off the ground, and plant his piscine feet in the Berserker's chest, knocking him over. Krauss simply released his ectoplasmic body from his suit, before driving his fists through Gothel's stomach and swinging them outwards. With both her flanks smashed to pieces, Gothel slowly collapsed on both sides like a damaged sand castle. In spite of his hatred for the manipulative witch, Eugene winced to imagine what it must feel like to be punched by something made of ectoplasm.

"You're playing with the big boys now,

You're playing with the big boys now."

The Sammael Nightmare shot its tongue out of its mouth straight for Stormfly. Unlike the real hellhound, this Nightmare couldn't lay eggs on a victim with its tongue, but it was still dangerous to have around your neck, so Stormfly swung her tail in to intercept. Sammael howled in pain as multiple spikes pierced its tongue, but then Toothless fired a plasma blast straight at his head from behind, filling the air with the smell of gunpowder smoke and burnt sand.

"You cannot ignore us,

You will bow before us,

Bow before our splendorous power…"

The Mor'du Nightmare reared up on its back legs and swiped at North. The Guardian of Wonder dodged out of the way, then dived for the bear's legs. He climbed up them and onto Mor'du's back, before then driving one of his swords into a soft spot on his shoulder. Mor'du howled in pain and fell to the ground, whereupon Sandy wound a Dreamsand whip around his neck. The Nightmare bear slowly turned yellow, crumbled and changed shape, becoming a golden elephant.

"Whoa!" Jack remarked as he got to his feet. "How did you do that, North?"

North chuckled. "Is not first time I have taken down a giant bear, Jack!"

"You put up a front,

You put up a fight,

And just to show I feel no spite,

You can be my acolyte!

But first it's time to bow-

Bow down!"

Liz and Jack now were faced by the massive legs of the Red Death Nightmare. The gigantic black dragon reared up and bellowed at them, glaring hatred out of all six eyes.

"Ok, Jack, plan's this," Liz said as they eyed up the enemy. "I'll take his legs on the right…"

"I'll take the ones on the left," Jack finished, before the pair ran in opposite directions to avoid the snapping mouth. Jack quickly released a stream of slippery ice beneath the dragon's feet. Liz released a concentrated stream of fire from the other flank. Dragons couldn't be burned by fire. But Liz used her fire as a laser instead, cutting through the massive legs so that the monster fell to the ground on one side, roaring in pain.

The pyrokinetic and the winter spirit reunited in front of the dragon's face to high-five before shooting ice and fire at each other to produce a massive cloud of steam, getting in the monster's eyes.

But their sense of triumph was cut short when a loud clang informed them that Hiccup had been knocked over by Pitch yet again. The Boogeyman continued singing sadistically, as he drew closer, raising the scythe above his head for the final blow.

"Or it's your own grave you dig, boy,

You're playing with the big boys now,

Playing…with…the…big…boys…

OOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"

That last part was because a massive metal fist shot out of the air and punched Pitch in the face, knocking him over.

As the chain retracted back into its socket, the astonished heroes turned to face the newest assailant of the Nightmare King.

It was Mr. Wink. The big Cave-Troll was looking in far better shape than when the BPRD had left him, bruised, unconscious and one-handed. Now he looked full of energy and- even more surprising- he had a new metal hand in his socket. This one was even more intricately detailed than the last one, with five fingers as opposed to four, and neat stylized mountain patterns around the knuckles. In addition, it was made of solid bronze, as opposed to iron.

"Mr. Wink!" Hiccup cried, getting up again whilst Pitch nursed his wounded pride(and his nose). "How did you get here?"

Mr. Wink grinned. "Your friend with the white beard is very helpful!"

All eyes fell on North, no-one even surprised that Mr. Wink could speak English all along. He smiled humbly and replied, "Vell, I paid visit to your friends in the BPRD place, and I agreed to fix the troll's hand if he helped us. I believe in fair exchange!"

Pitch slowly got to his feet, looking dangerous at this point. Hiccup looked down at him warningly.

"Don't bother, Pitch," he threatened. "We've got the advantage. You've lost."

"No!" Pitch snarled. "I will not have lost until we finish the fight!"

"THEN FIGHT HIM, MONSTER! OR RATHER, FIGHT US BOTH!"

With a loud clang, Nuada's spear fell to the ground in front of Pitch's feet. The Elven prince jumped back up the staircase to confront him.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup hissed at him.

"I'm saving your life, what does it look like?" Nuada hissed back.

Pitch now seemed intimidated by both his opponents, and he turned away from them to face Hellboy, with an oddly pitiful expression on his face.

"You, Hellboy," he called, descending the cog platform to approach him slowly. "Why must we be enemies, you and I? We could be so much more instead, surely."

Hellboy reached down for the knife he took from Nuada.

"Don't be afraid, Hellboy," Pitch continued, reaching out his own hands expressively. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why do you think I'm afraid of you?" Hellboy retorted.

Pitch raised his eyebrows. "Perhaps not of me. But you are afraid of something. People's greatest fears are the one thing I always know about. Your fear is that no-one will ever accept you, no matter how much you do for them. However much you act like a hero, people will only ever see you as a monster."

Hellboy lowered his dagger, and Hiccup could tell, much to his shock, that he could sympathize with what was being said. Pitch was trying to get him on his side, just as he had once done with Jack.

"Believe it or not, I know what it's like to be shunned and treated like I do not belong," Pitch continued. "I can tell you from experience, these humans won't accept you. No more than they'll accept me. You need to think about which side you are on. I can help you choose the right one."

For a few moments, Hellboy was silent. But then he pulled out his dagger and pointed it at Pitch's throat.

"Sorry about this, pal," he remarked. "But I've already been tempted by an evil guy once."

Pitch looked genuinely shocked. "But- why? Why side with them instead of me?"

"Cos I only look like a monster," Hellboy replied proudly. "But everyone knows the real monster here's you!"

Pitch's eyes were wide with hurt for a few minutes, but then his eyebrows lowered and his expression hardened. "You wish to fight with them? So be it!"

And he raised his scythe above his head, only for a golden whip of some kind to wind around his arm. With a scream of pain, Pitch dropped his scythe, clutching at his arm. The whip(now revealed to be some of Rapunzel's hair) slowly withdrew and returned to its original length, whilst Rapunzel herself drew a Viking sword from her hip.

Hiccup shuddered to see this. Rapunzel was the healer of the Big Four. She rarely took lives, and preferred to heal them. So if even she was prepared to use a weapon which Hiccup had only given to her as a ceremonial item, this battle must be about to have a serious outcome.

"Don't you dare touch my friend," she growled, looking every bit as golden and dangerous as the Army.

It was then that Hiccup noticed that Pitch's arm had changed colour- instead of its usual ashen hue, it was now a more normal pink, and far warmer than the rest of him. He looked up just in time to see Rapunzel's hair glowing brightly, and an idea sprang into his head.

But before he could put the plan into action, Pitch whipped around with a wild, violent scream, drawing a sword of black Nightmare sand which he tried to bring down on Hiccup's head. Drawing Inferno, Hiccup blocked him yet again, but before either of them could knock each other over, a powerful blast of icy wind threw Pitch off the ground and up into the ceiling of the chamber. Pitch fell to the ground and lay unconscious.

"Thanks, Jack," Hiccup said to his friend.

"It's only temporary, Hiccup," Jack replied. "He'll come round in a minute, and then we'll have to fight him again."

"Well, I've got a plan to help us fight him," Hiccup pointed out with a sly look. "Rapunzel, could you do that thing you did with your hair just then?"

Rapunzel quickly made her hair grow into a narrow rope, then swung it around the neck of one of the Nightmares(who had changed back into their normal equine forms without their master's supervision).

"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine," she sung, ignoring the Nightmare's attempts to pull itself free. As she sung, her hair glowed around the beast's neck, and it slowly turned yellow, crumbled and then reformed, now a perfect Dreamsand horse.

"There. You see that?" Hiccup pointed out. "Rapunzel's hair does more than just heal sicknesses and wounds, it turns Nightmares back into dreams. Like Sandman's touch, right?"

Sandman created a tick of sand above his head to agree.

"Well, when Rapunzel wound her hair around Pitch's arm, it changed colour," he continued. "It turned from grey to pink, like he briefly became human instead of…all this." he pointed in an unspecific way at Pitch's body.

"You just gestured to all of him," Bunny pointed out.

"Shut up, Bunny. Don't steal other people's jokes. Anyway, if we can use Rapunzel's hair to make Pitch human, we can save him as well as everyone else!"

"You can't be serious," Bunny incredulously remarked. "Pitch hates his own humanity with the greatest passion, mate. He'll try to stop that hair touching him."

"Then we'll have to force it on him," Rapunzel replied determinedly.

An angry shout informed them that Pitch was recovering himself. They didn't have long to react.

Such evil cannot easily be defeated, my children, a gentle voice spoke in their minds; one they immediately recognized as Mother Nature. I fear the only way to restore balance and defeat the Golden Army will be to kill my father, though I do not relish the prospect.

"What do you mean, kill Pitch?" Liz asked aloud, in spite of the fact that Mother Nature was not in fact present. "You said Pitch is a spirit, like the rest of the Guardians, right? Well, spirits are ageless and incredibly resistant to physical injuries. None of us knows how to kill one."

"But I do," Nuada replied, pointing over to his spear.

Jack shuddered at the sight of the spear, but even he had to concede Nuada's point.

"He's right," Jack said aloud. "That spear's not a normal weapon, guys. If it could kill me, it could definitely kill him."

Pitch had got to his feet by this point, whereupon Hiccup turned to face him again.

"You dare talk about me as if I am not here?" Pitch snarled. "You dare not fear me? I am the Boogeyman! I will make you fear me!"

Hiccup jumped headfirst at Pitch, swinging his sword at him; it passed right through him harmlessly, but even Pitch gasped at the heat of the blade. And then gagged and coughed as Hiccup threw a glass pellet of Zippleback gas into his face. As the cloud of green gas swirled around him, obscuring him from view, Toothless and Stormfly released a blast of fire into it. The gas ignited, throwing Pitch in the face of one of the Golden Soldiers, who fell to the ground in surprise at the sudden blow. When Pitch got up, his hair smoking and his face singed, he looked, ironically even blacker than before.

"Stop gassing me!" he shouted. "Why don't you fight fairly?"

"Because you don't either!" Hiccup said as he jumped forwards again, clashing burning sword against Nightmare sword, forcing the Boogeyman backwards. Pitch no longer looked as powerful as he had at the start of the fight. He looked, for the second time in all the time Jack had known him, afraid himself. But, judging by the fact that none of the Nightmares were running to attack him, he wasn't scared enough.

With a growl, one of the Dream Pirates- a big ugly creature with a pair of long curling horns like a ram, drew his sword and crept towards the two combatants, clearly planning on helping Pitch by underhand means.

"Hey, that's cheatin'!" Merida angrily objected. She fired an arrow at the Pirate's black head, but it just passed harmlessly through.

"Let me try," Mr. Wink replied, and he fired his mechanical fist from its socket. Like a fisherman's hook, he wound his metal fingers around the monster's legs, then swung his fist backwards and forwards, beating the Pirate into the ground repeatedly. After nine slams, the Pirate finally broke into a cloud of black sand and dissipated in the wind.

"Puny Dream Pirate," Jack growled in his best Hulk impression.

As the fight continued, Hiccup and Pitch had put their swords away by this point, and were just using their bare hands. Pitch had the advantage of being able to make himself unsolid and teleport around Hiccup, but Hiccup was persistent and determined. All his years of anger built up towards those who had belittled him and threatened his people- Snotlout, Dagur, the Red Death, and even Alvin the Treacherous- was channelled into his fists with each blow. Pitch showed no signs of giving up the fight, but he was seriously bruised now, his left eye blackened, and several of his teeth knocked out(Tooth was so angry with him right now, she didn't even bother giving him quarters).

And then, with a final thwack, Hiccup delivered a blow that flipped Pitch onto his back, leaving him sprawled like an eel.

"That's for the Guardians," the young Viking said, before then dropping Inferno onto Pitch's chest, flat side down. "And that's for everyone else."

Astrid had a knowing laugh, which no-one else joined in with. Toothless had now left the group to approach his master, snarling at Pitch.

"Stay back Toothless," Hiccup replied, reaching over to Pitch's head and removing the Crown from it. "It's over now."

A shadow of Pitch's cold smile crept back into his face. "Or is it?" he asked unpleasantly.

He scooped up a handful of Nightmare sand, then shook it, so that it elongated into the shape of a small, sharp dagger. Hiccup narrowly jumped back as Pitch lunged upwards with it, grabbing him by the collar and pinning him to the ground in turn. Hiccup could not block the dagger now.

But someone else could. A flash of silver shot between the two combatants, blocking the shadowy blade a few inches from Hiccup's heart. The head of a spear. A spear held by two angry Elves.

Nuada's expression was far worse than that of total rage he wore upon his face in the presence of the BPRD. It was grief, hurt and complete betrayal. Even Nuala, who seemed far too gentle to hurt a living soul, stared daggers into Pitch's yellow eyes with her own.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, old friend," Pitch wheedled, trying to reason with the Elf prince even now. "This human is the enemy."

"Is he?" Nuada hissed. "Or are you? You filled my head with poisonous thoughts, monster. I became a traitor to my own people for your sake, I even wounded my own father, and now I find that it was not even for a good cause like you claimed."

"Your evil has gone on for too long, Pitch Black," Nuala added coldly. "Now you must die."

Pitch laughed scornfully. "I am fear personified, Elf-girl. You cannot kill fear."

"And we will not kill fear," Nuada agreed, with a vindictive expression in his eyes. "But we will kill you!"

And at the same time as Pitch's yellow eyes widened, and he turned his dagger to stab upwards at the Elves, the royal siblings thrust their spear downwards, even as a flash of gold shot in front of the spear's tip before it went straight into the Nightmare King's flesh.

Pitch let out a horrible scream of agony, then threw Hiccup away from him with his remaining hand. The Viking looked back in shock at what was ensuing before him. Rapunzel had jumped between the two Elves and Pitch, and had received the dagger to the flank. But even as she sunk to her knees in pain, she had managed to wrap her hair around the head of Nuada's spear, so that its glowing strands were being pressed into the wound in Pitch's flesh. Golden light shot from Pitch's chest like fire, as he staggered to his feet, screaming like a Night Fury.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" he cried. "I CAN'T BE DEFEATED! NOT LIKE THIS! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And then, the glowing gold fire ceased, and Nuada withdrew his spear like a whaler's harpoon, breathing heavily. For a few minutes, Pitch stood, shocked and clawing at the ink-like blood that ran from his chest where Nuada's spear had entered his heart. He turned to look at his Nightmare subjects, and then to the heroes. And then, with a soft groan, Pitch fell to the ground, with a resonating thud.

But it was not for Pitch that Eugene then broke free from the restraints of the group, running forwards helplessly, screaming "RAPUNZEL!"

The princess of Corona lay coughing on her flank, the dagger had crumbled into black soot, leaving her with an ugly wound of the same colour. Rapunzel had pressed her hair against her flank, trying desperately to heal herself.

The rest of the group ran over to tend to her. Hellboy gazed numbly at the Princess' savage wound, Liz, Astrid and Merida had eyes filled with tears, and Toothless' pupils had widened to plaintive orbs.

"Why, Blondie?" Eugene croaked tearfully, tenderly grasping his wife's cheeks.

"Same reason… as Merida," Rapunzel whispered. "I couldn't… let them die."

"Why did you help us?" Nuala pleaded. "You do not know us as well as Merida. Why are we so special to you?"

Rapunzel reached out and took Nuala's hand. "Because, Nuala…you're Abe's new dream."

Touched by these words, Abraham did something he never thought he could do. He cried, shedding small tears from his large blue piscine eyes.

"Have courage, Sheila," Bunny said soothingly to the sweet-hearted royal he'd brought into the modern world what felt like so long ago. "We're gonna save ya. We owe ya that much."

"Da," North agreed. "Ve Guardians do not repay our oaths with treachery. Sandy vill help you heal yourself."

Smiling warmly, the Guardian of Dreams floated gently over to Rapunzel. Taking her hand in his own(which seemed almost comic due to his small hands), he guided it to her wound, and gestured to her to begin singing.

"Flower, gleam and glow," Rapunzel began, slowly at first, but gradually building in strength as her hair glowed; as she sung, Sandy began to glow himself, like an ice-cream cone made of fireflies. "Let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine."

And then a third voice joined in, one which was smooth and elegant, and male. "Heal what has been hurt, change the Fates' design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. What once…was mine."

And from across the chamber shot a streaming trail of golden vapour, seeping into Rapunzel's wound like the Forest God's blood had seeped into Jack's. As the golden light intensified, Rapunzel's wound shrank and began to close, until eventually, it was as though she had never been wounded at all.

Rapunzel gasped in fresh air, feeling her wound semi-consciously to check whether it was still there. And then, she looked over to see the person who had helped heal her.

It was Pitch. But he no longer looked like he once did. The ashen colour of his skin had softened to a friendly pink. His shadowy robes had dissolved into clothes more befitting the Coronan Captain of the Guard; gold epaulettes over a red tunic and black trousers, with numerous medals decorating his wounded chest. His black hair was a lighter, warmer shade now, his teeth no longer as pointed, and his eyes had changed from silver-yellow to pure chartreuse. Kneeling over him was the figure of Mother Nature.

"You're safe now, Rapunzel," Pitch whispered, black blood staining his lips as he lay from where he spoke. "I hope you can forgive me for my crimes."

Rapunzel looked at Pitch in complete shock. "You saved my life," she said softly.

Pitch smiled bitterly. "A small way to thank you…for saving mine."

"But I didn't save you," Rapunzel replied.

"You did, Rapunzel. You restored my inner goodness, purged the foul taint of the Fearlings from my heart. I have lived in darkness for so long, Rapunzel. But now at last, I see the light. Now I can finally find peace."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked incredulously.

Pitch looked up at him. "I may well have hated the Guardians, young Viking. But I could not hate them more than I hated myself. I could have used my powers for the good of mankind, as they have done, but instead I chose to drown myself in my own self-loathing and let it blind me to what is truly important. Now I must let a more worthy successor take my place."

He looked over to Mother Nature. "My daughter, Emily. Can you forgive me for my neglect of you? Can you forgive me for having gone so far astray?"

Mother Nature's viridian eyes were wet as she replied, "I do, father."

Pitch nodded sadly. "Then I am finally ready to see your mother again. I hope the judges of the underworld may show me mercy."

He looked over to the heroes. "Guardians, heroes. Take the Royal Crown. Destroy it. Do not let the evil of the Golden Army fall into anyone else's hands. If you destroy the Crown, you destroy the Army. And without the Army, the monsters of fear I have created will be killed as well. Will you do that?"

The group nodded firmly. "We will."

Pitch smiled faintly. "Then so passes Kozmotis Pitchiner, general of the Golden Armies."

His body glowed intensely, and Pitch crumbled into a cloud of white light, which swirled upwards and then passed straight through the rooftop of the great cavern, and disappeared completely.

Mother Nature got to her feet, her expression full of grief, and then she took a deep breath before turning to the heroes.

"Come, my friends," she said calmly. "Do not let my father's sacrifice be needless. The Golden Army must not be released."

And with this said, she then turned into a cloud of leaves and was gone.

Hiccup looked down at the thin metal band in his hands, which had cost so many lives to piece together. Had it been worthwhile for Pitch? Or even for Nuada?

"All that power…" he muttered quietly, looking down at the metal item. But Merida immediately snatched the crown from him.

"Dinnae touch tha' accursed thing, Hiccup," she growled. "The Crown will consume yer mind if ye try tae wear it. We need tae destroy it, an' quickly."

Upon seeing the agitated expressions of the surrounding Nightmares, Fearlings, and Dream Pirates, Hiccup immediately agreed.

"How do we destroy the Crown, though?" he asked. "We can't take it to pieces, or someone could just repair it again."

"Well, why not take the One Ring approach?" Jack asked.

"Which is?"

"Melt it," Jack replied simply, before taking the Crown from Merida and passing it into Liz' hands. Stormfly and Toothless gathered around her, and then, with deep concentration, Liz made her hands ignite. The two dragons released concentrated streams of fire from their mouths, and after a few seconds, the Crown started to glow under their attack.

With a panicking whinny, the Nightmares and the Golden Army began to charge forwards, but to no avail, as the Royal Crown slowly melted and dripped out of Liz' hands, finally consumed by dragon fire. It formed liquid metal puddles on the ground.

The Nightmares reared up on their back legs and let out loud neighs before their bodies slowly crumbled into black sand that spilled into the air. As they did so, Sandy created several long strands of Dreamsand, waving them towards the black sand and slowly purifying it. As he did so, the Fearlings inside the Golden Army howled in fury, but they then crumbled like smoke, and as they crumbled, the Golden Soldiers fell to their knees, their metal body parts falling off one by one, their red eyes ceasing to glow inside their heads, and oil spilling from their collapsing builds. Outside, the increasing clamour of metal continued outside the control room, showing that the rest of the Army shared this fate. When all the Fearlings were down, North then drew his swords and swung them in a neat arc, spraying the Dream Pirates with white sand, like the contents of one of his snow globes.

"Begone, Dream Pirates!" he shouted. "Return to the shadows, and do not return to this place again!"

A swirling portal opened behind the Dream Pirates, and a violent gust of Arctic wind from Jack then blew them backwards through it. They disappeared with a bellow of hatred, and then the portal closed again, leaving behind nothing but the molten gold left from the Royal Crown, and seventy times seventy giant automatons now lying in pieces.

"So, that's how you defeat an indestructible army," Bunny dryly remarked, pushing one of the Soldiers' heads with his foot to check it was shut down.

Hiccup turned to the group slowly, his head low.

"Come on, people," he said. "We've completed our quest. Now let's get out of this foul cave."

And there you are! The next-to-last chapter, in which Pitch is killed(don't know whether to be sad or happy about that), the Golden Army is finally shut down for good, and Nuada and Nuala are still alive! Woo-hooo! Please rate, review and you'll find out what happens next in the final chapter, coming soon!

Sammael29