Jack crashed to a stop on the marble bottom floor of the palace – he'd jettisoned through the door so fast he hadn't had time to slow his momentum. A group of fairies cried out in surprise and gathered round as Jack pulled himself off the floor.
He looked up to see Bunnymund and North. A sick feeling of shame bubbled in his stomach; they looked less than impressed.
"So you thought you'd slink back in after what you said to Tooth, eh?" Bunnymund growled. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back round here, mate.."
"I need to see Tooth!" Jack blurted out.
"Hopefully to apologise," North said sternly. "She's quite upset, Jack."
"There's no time!" Jack cried out. "Fearlings!"
The other Guardians looked at each other in confusion, but Jack had no time to answer. The Fearlings had been hot on his heels; they'd arrive at the Palace any moment. Tooth needed to gather her armies and defend her home.
He flew up the stairs, only to run in to Summer. Her face was grim, and her eyes were oddly red. She stood in front of him, arms crossed. "You're not seriously going to try to talk to her, are you?" she said.
Jack sidestepped her. "I need to!" he said. "Fearlings! Pitch!"
He was gone before he could see her turn after him, eyes wide and mouth agape. He burst through the door into Tooth's room.

Tooth was facing the window, but she whipped around to face him, violet eyes icy.
"Tooth," Jack said, sinking to the floor. Tooth's brows furrowed together. "What do you want?" she asked.
"Look, I'm sorry," Jack said hurriedly. "I was out of line, I'm sorry. But we can't fight, not now – something's wrong."
Tooth stared back at him, confused. "Jack, what's going on?"
"Have you actually looked outside?" Jack asked. Tooth frowned, puzzled, then threw open the latticed wood. She stared at the dark sky. She turned to Jack. "I don't understand."
"Look!" Jack flew to her side, and cupped her cheek, turning her head to face the horizon. He pointed to where the darkness gathered at the skyline. "Fearlings. It's Pitch. He's back, and he's heading here."
Tooth turned to gape at him. "That's impossible!" she gasped. "We defeated Pitch -"
"And then he gave a young girl nightmares until she became an adult. It might have been enough to create a small army."

"But then why would they be coming here? Pitch can't defeat us, we defeated him when his forces were ten times bigger, when we were weak!"
Jack's eyebrows knitted together. "I don't know," he said. "Perhaps he's trying to defeat us again anyway?"
Tooth's eyes narrowed in determination. "I'd like to see him try. Jack, you go outside, patrol the perimeter. I'll round up my fairies. We'll need every last off-duty fairy; I might even need to call back some working fairies, I'll summon the ones working the East Asia region.."
Jack smiled. Tooth was back in business. She looked sternly at him, not noticing his admiring gaze. "Well!" she exclaimed. "Hop to it, we haven't got all night!"
Jack grinned cheekily and saluted. "Sir yes sir! Checking the perimeter, sir!"
Tooth smiled, but waved him away. "Cute, but now's not the time for fun and games. Please be serious, Jack."
He nodded, and floated through the open window. "I'll let you know once they're close."
"Please do. Good luck, Jack!"

Tooth turned from the window and glided out of her quarters. She reached the main entrance of the Palace, where North and Bunnymund still stood.
"Tooth!" North boomed. "What happened with Jack? Is he telling truth?"
"He is," Tooth said. "Pitch and his Nightmares are coming, I saw them myself. They're getting close."
"What the hell are they doing here?" Bunnymund growled, reaching for a boomerang.
"We don't know," Tooth said. "Perhaps he's trying to defeat us again; he can't possibly think he can succeed, not after last time, but maybe he's trying anyway."
"Who's trying what?"
The trio looked up to see Summer descending the stairs, cane in hand. She wasn't limping anymore. Sandy floated beside her, face grim.
Tooth bit her lip and flew up to the girl. "I'm sorry about before," she said. "I lost my temper and took it out on you. Nothing's your fault, I was just upset. I'm sorry."
She took a deep breath. "But we've got bigger problems now. Pitch is coming, and we need to stop him."
Summer's eyebrows furrowed together. "Pitch? The evil guy? Why's he coming here?"
"We don't know," Tooth admitted. "But we're not sure we want to find out." She looked at Sandy. "I need you to go outside and protect the building," she said. "Could you do that for me?" Sandy nodded, and whirled away in a flourish of golden sand. Tooth watched him float out of a window.
She whipped around. "Fairies!" she called in a voice that boomed around the entire palace. It seemed impossible that such a delicate, high voice could reverberate so powerfully. "The Palace needs protecting! Come to me at once!"
Swarms of mini-fairies seemed to pour from every orifice of the castle; thousands of tiny iridescent creatures appeared to come from nowhere. They hovered around Tooth, every wide pink eye trained on the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies.
"Pitch and his Nightmares are back," Tooth declared. "A much smaller army than last time, but don't underestimate their power. I need each and every one of you defending the Palace; not one nightmare must enter the building."
The mass of fairies collectively nodded. Tooth smiled, then began separating them into divisions and directing them to different areas of the castle.

Summer walked the rest of the stairs, down to North and Bunnymund.
"You two!" Tooth called. "Keep close to Summer. I know she's trained with you, Bunny, but I don't think it's safe to let her fight."
"Not to worry, kid," Bunnymund said, putting an arm around her shoulder. "You're safe with us."
"Not one nightmare will pass these blades!" North declared, whipping out his sabers and winking at Summer.
"It's not me I'm worried about," Summer said, looking up as a troop of fairies headed to the west wing of the palace. They were such delicate, little things; Summer couldn't believe that they could do any sort of fighting. Let alone against the spectre of her nightmares. Summer shivered, and feared for the fairies. She couldn't bear to see the sweet little things hurt. How could Tooth send them out like that?
North noticed her gaze, and smiled reassuringly. "Is no problem, Summer," he said. "Tooth's fairies, they are tough little things. It takes a lot to wear them down, they'll be fine."
Summer nodded. She hoped they were right.
Just as Tooth finished sending her fairies out, Jack flung the doors open and skidded back into the Palace. Before the heavy doors swung back into place, Summer caught a glimpse of a great dark undulating shadow, filled with thousands of yellow glowing points. The sight sent her skin crawling. Were those the Nightmares? There was something awfully, darkly familiar about those pale yellow eyes.
"They're here!" Jack exclaimed. Tooth paled, but the determined look remained on her face. "I've got to join my fairies!" she cried, flying to the door and pulling it open. She slipped past it and was gone.
Jack was hot on her heels. "Not by yourself!" he yelled, before he too had disappeared.
Summer's throat constricted. She was so afraid.

"I don't like this, North," Bunnymund growled. "Waiting. What if they need our help?"
"Tooth wouldn't have made us stay if she didn't think she could handle things," North said. "You know that."
"And Tooth has a bloody awful habit of thinking she can handle things when she can't! You know that!"
North frowned. "Bunny, we must trust her," he said. "Besides, we have our duty."
Bunnymund harrumphed. North smiled weakly at him.

Suddenly, Jack crashed through the heavy marble doors.
"Jack!" North cried. "Are you alright?"
Jack pulled himself up and coughed. "They pack a hell of a punch," he said. "The fairies are holding up, though."
A great black amorphous shape darted through the door, loosely forming the shape of a skeletal horse. Its narrow eyes glowed yellow. Summer shrieked in fright.
Jack quickly righted himself and struck the creature with his staff. Ice took over the creature, freezing it solid, then with a solid blow from the butt of the staff, the creature shattered into frosty particles and white snow exploding everywhere.
"We need backup!" Jack yelled, leaping back out into the fray.

They had underestimated the new Nightmares – last time, their strength had been in numbers. Individually, they'd been fairly easy to defeat.
However, this time was different. There weren't so many, but the Nightmares themselves were stronger. They were more powerful, able to deal mighty kicks and blows that left Jack winded, and harder to kill. Jack wasn't so sure that they'd so easily overpower them anymore.

He glanced around; Sandy was surrounded in whirls of golden and black sand; several Nightmares had attacked him at once, appearing to intend to engulf him. Sandy was holding off, but only just.
Tooth had retrieved a pair of daggers, and was using them to slice at the creatures. The one benefit of the new Nightmares and their more substantial forms was that it was harder for them to simply reform when physically attacked. Tooth was a marvellous flurry of iridescent feathers and flashes of metal; if Jack looked too long, he'd become engrossed and slip up.
North and Bunnymund had apparently joined the party; they too were leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
Where's Summer?
The Nightmare caught him solidly in the chest.

Tooth turned just in time to witness the incident, and gaped in horror as Jack plummeted to earth. He didn't get up.
She forgot the battle and hurtled to his side, pulling his head on her lap. "Please be okay, please be okay," she whispered. "Jack, wake up!"
Jack groaned and threw an arm clumsily over his torso. Tooth pulled up his sweatshirt and winced; an ugly purple hoof-shaped bruise was already forming against the white skin. He was well and truly out of action now. She pulled the material back down and hauled Jack up against her chest. A Nightmare whirled at her and she slashed at it with her dagger. Never abandon a fallen Guardian.

She could feel that her fairies were also weakening; as each one fell, two more caught it and brought it back to the safety of the Palace, before returning to the battle. It wouldn't be long before the Nightmares would reach the Palace. Her stomach twisted at this thought.
She looked up in time to see Sandy overcome by the Nightmares. They didn't try to engulf him, they knew this wouldn't work; however they were able to wrap around him and immobilise him, preventing him from using his dreamsand to fight them. Sandy struggled against the Nightmares, but he was fully incapacitated.

Tooth watched the Nightmares back North and Bunnymund up against a wall. Soon, they too were bound tightly, unable to move.
Several Nightmares surrounded her and Jack, stamping the ground menacingly. Tooth brandished her dagger at them, but they were unperturbed.
The Guardians were trapped. They'd been defeated, and so quickly. Tooth's feathers drooped. How had she underestimated them yet again? She hadn't imagined the Nightmares would be made stronger this time. How?

Summer's nightmares. She'd seen the pictures the girl had drawn. She hadn't imagined that a child would have such horrible dreams, and had barely been able to believe them. Perhaps the drawings were merely scratching the surface. In that case... oh, Summer. Pitch would have had the perfect material to create stronger Nightmares than ever before, no matter how few their numbers.
She looked up, and an icy feeling slid down her back when she recognised the figure gliding to the front of the remaining Nightmares.
His yellow eyes were aglow with triumph, and his teeth were bared in a victorious smile.

Pitch.

He clapped slowly. "A valiant fight, my dear Guardians!" he called. "And there I was afraid you'd fail to give me a warm welcome. Consider it the warmest I've received! However, I believe your efforts have been in vain."
His eyes slid to Tooth. "It was certainly a pleasure to meet with your fairies again, my dear Toothiana. Determined little creatures, they are. However, I think you all have noticed that I've made a few.. design changes to my glorious Nightmares. What did you think of the second draft? I have to say, it's an improvement on the last lot. All thanks to the help of a dear friend of mine."
His gaze turned to the marble doors, and a sinister smile spread on his face. Tooth turned to see Summer standing in front of the doors. She looked petrified.

Pitch spread his arms out, like a crow spreading its wings. "Summer! My darling. Surely you recognise me?"
Summer stepped backwards, and Pitch laughed.
"In any case, I didn't come here for nothing," he said. "You all put up a gallant fight, but did you know what you were fighting to protect?"
"You won't defeat us again, Pitch!" Bunnymund spat, before a band of black sand snapped over his jaw. Pitch laughed; it was a low, sinister, gloating sound.

"You truly believed I would try to defeat you again so soon?" Pitch asked. "Really? Did you think I was so naïve?" He shook his head. "I expected better of you Guardians. Have you really not worked it out? I need to build up my army, as you can see. I have much work to do. And I'm missing a certain key tool for my work." His eyes rested on Summer.
"You want Summer!" Tooth gasped in realisation. Of course; he'd want the girl to build up his army. How could she have missed it?
"The penny drops," Pitch said lightly. "Now, if we could get this over with quickly, I won't have to lose any more Nightmares, and you Guardians won't have to lose any limbs. Summer; if you would come with me, my dear."
Summer remained frozen, her eyes large and scared, her knuckles white on her cane.
Pitch sighed, resting his long, white fingers on his forehead. "Let's try this again," he said. "Summer, do you want to see your friends suffer? They've done so much for you; they've protected you, fought for you. Look, they lie injured because of you." Pitch swept his hand towards Tooth and Jack. Jack grunted, struggling to sit.
Summer gripped her cane harder. He was right.

They're in danger, and it's because of me.
I ruin everything.

"Do you really want to see your friends suffer any more than they have to?" Pitch asked. He seemed almost sorrowful. "Summer, dearest. The longer your hesitate, the more they suffer. If you don't come with me, they'll simply die. Come with me, and my Nightmares will leave them alone; they'll be left in peace. You don't want to prolong their suffering, do you?"
His hand was outstretched.
"You don't want to kill your friends, do you, Summer?"
"Don't do it, Summer!" Tooth cried out. She knew the Guardians would not die – Pitch simply didn't have the power. The Guardians would happily suffer for as long as they needed to until Pitch slunk back into his shadows. Pitch would only last until sunrise before he had to retreat.

But Summer didn't know that.
Summer stepped forward. Pitch's eyes narrowed. "That's it, dearest."
Summer took a deep breath. She was terrified; her heart thudded in her chest, the sound pounding in her ears and throat. Her hands and feet felt numb, her legs were turning to jelly. But she looked up, and stared straight into the eyes of the spectre who'd slunk in the shadows of her dreams for so long. It was strange, seeing him large as life in front of her, a real living being, rather than a shadow of a memory.
She took another step, and pulled at her scarf. It felt too tight around her constricted throat.
"Oh, Summer," Tooth murmured. Summer smiled bravely. "I'll be fine," she said in a voice that sounded calmer than she felt. "I can deal with nightmares, remember? It'll be fine."
She walked straight towards Pitch, looking straight ahead. She refused to show how truly afraid she was to the king of nightmares.

Pitch smiled, and all of the Nightmares engulfed Summer.
Tooth felt helpless as she watched the scene unfold. Summer had been standing in front of Pitch, head tilted upwards to face him, when suddenly the Nightmares surrounding the Guardians disappeared, and a flurry of black sand and whirled around the girl and obscured her from view. The undulating mass rose up in the air, and Pitch laughed.

The Nightmares rose higher and higher as Pitch laughed, and despair ebbed heavily into Tooth's chest. A mere girl, and they'd failed to protect her.

Then, the unexpected happened.

Pitch's laughter died in his throat; high up in the sky, a bright flame had burst at the summit of the mass of Nightmares.
The Nightmares screamed, but it was too late; the black sand burst into glowing embers, the fire engulfing the creatures. It was over in an instant; the fire consumed every last creature, and burned itself out.
And Tooth saw a familiar red scarf trailing as a small figure plummeted to the ground.
"Summer!" Tooth exclaimed, then kicked off the ground, soaring into the air. She jettisoned towards the falling figure, and breathed as Summer's body fell into her arms.

Pitch was livid. "How?!" he screeched, yellow eyes wild with rage. They calmed as realisation dawned on Pitch.
"She spent far too much time with you," he breathed. "You all wormed your way into her head, you changed her... after everything..."
As Tooth flew closer, she could have sworn she could detect sorrow in the eyes of the Boogeyman. A deep loss showed on his face like a scar.
"You took her from me," he said simply. "You turned my girl against me."
"She's not your girl," Jack said. He seemed to be recovering from his injury. "She doesn't belong to you."
Anger flashed across Pitch's face. "Yet again you've taken everything from me," he hissed. "It is never enough for you, is it?"
"I believe it is time for you to leave," North said. He held his right saber up to Pitch. "Unless you'd like to stay and – how you say? Chat."

Pitch snarled, and in a flourish of shadow, he had disappeared. Hopefully for good.

North turned to Tooth. "How is she?"
"Alive," Tooth said, hefting the prone Summer. She was completely unconscious. "Do you have any idea what happened back there?"
North shook his head, frowning. "It is a puzzle," he said. "Perhaps Summer will have the answer, when she wakes."
Bunnymund grabbed Jack's hand and hauled the boy to his feet. "D'ya enjoy getting injured or something?" he exclaimed. He smirked. "You like being cuddled by pretty nurses, do ya?" he said with a wink. Jack made a face and demonstrated that he wasn't in too much pain to elbow the chuckling Bunnymund hard in the ribs.

Sandy flew close to Tooth, inspecting Summer. "I don't think she's hurt," Tooth said. "Whatever happened, she came out on top."
North sighed. "After all that, I feel it is time for hot cocoa!" he exclaimed. Jack groaned. "We're in the middle of the jungle, and you want hot cocoa?" he exclaimed. North grinned. "Is never bad time for cocoa! My shout."
With that, the five Guardians and one strange human entered the Palace.

Author's Note:
I don't know if people are going to think this is a cop-out solution or not o_o;;; I hope it's alright. This is just what I always imagined would happen.
If the Guardians hadn't kept Summer with them for the three days, it would have been easy for Pitch to turn Summer over to his side. The kind of person she'd have become if the Guardians hadn't intervened is a totally different story. This solution was to show just how drastically the Guardians had changed her, to the point where Pitch couldn't use her as a tool anymore.
So what happens to Pitch now? Who knows :P Maybe he'll try again, maybe he's given up. I wanted to make it clear how upset he was that Summer had changed. Is it just because he can't use her in his plans anymore? Or does the loss run deeper than that? :)
Also. Summer scored 29 on the Mary Sue Litmus test, by the way xD man, I'm pushing it... the thing is, a lot of the "Sue-ish" aspects of her character are there because they're essential to the story, y'know?
One more chapter to go, by the way! I didn't think I'd be able to write this so quickly xD it feels very short to me.
Not to mention, art! I figured you'd all like to see what actually Summer looks like :) as always, just remove the dashes (-)!
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