Chapter 9

North's sleigh came out of the magical portal and flew above St. Petersburg. The sky was brightly illuminated by the moon and the city below glittered with lights from buildings. St. Petersburg was abuzz with noise from the people and vehicles.

"North, St. Petersburg is a very large place." Bunny said as he looked at the city below.

"I know, Bunny. That is why I am going to use this!" North took out his invention with a flourish – the fear gyroscope. He shook the device and it began glow faintly. The glow strengthened, becoming a bright golden orb. Finally, the light burst out of the glass and shot straight ahead of them.

North let out a satisfied chuckle.

"It worked! Everybody, hold on to something!" And without sparing a moment, he whipped the reindeers and sped up.

Anya's lost her grip on the handle and she quickly fumbled for something to hold onto. Unfortunately for her, that something happened to be Eren. The boy looked at the hand that clutched at his clothes, and then to the owner of the said hand. He grinned, Anya clicked her tongue.

The golden orb sliced through the air as North tried his hardest to keep up with it. Jack looked down, noticing that there are fewer lights than before. They were already flying over the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

"Hey, North, where are we going? We're almost at the edge of the city." He asked.

"Patience, Jack. Let us follow the light." In truth, even he was unaware of the light's destination.

The light decreased its speed and began to descend; North did the same.

"We're here."

North's sleigh landed in front of a rusty iron gate. The guardians stepped out and stared at the large building enclosed by the decaying gate.

Bunny wrinkled his nose. "So, why'd you take us here, North? It's far away from the city."

"This is where the light guided us." North answered, raising the glass that held the golden light inside.

"To an abandoned toy factory?" Tooth asked. Even she had no idea why they were here of all places.

"All right, everyone, we must check the whole place for Pitch's nightmare furlings. There might be, there might be not, but I am sure that we must look around. This is for the sake of every child around the world."

He stood proudly in front of the guardians before turning his back to look at the factory.

"Jack and Bunny will check the rooms. Tooth will come with me to check the basement." He face them, looking at Sandman, Anya and Eren. "The three of you will also check the rooms."

"Why is Anya included?" Eren asked, casting the brunette a cautious side glance. "She's a girl; fragile and annoying. I can do the job fine with little spikey here." Eren pointed at Sandman, who raised his eyebrow.

Anya, offended by what Eren said, spoke. "Oh, I won't be in your way because I can't stand your foul stench that matches that barbaric attitude."

The boy grinned. "Deal with it."

Anya glared at him. He seemed unfazed by her words as he walked past the open gate of the abandoned factory.

The toy factory had three buildings. The guardians split into their designated groups as soon as they passed the threshold, walking to their assigned areas.

Eren, Anya and Sandy stood in front of a large broken down door. Sandy wiped off the dirt on a sign that beside the door, barely making out the words that were written – Building B.

"Hey, shorty, want to get kicked?" Sandman frowned. He moved aside as Eren sent the door flying with his kick.

Eren, whose smile was wider than the Chesire Cat's, turned to Anya. "After you."

Anya pouted and walked past the boy. Sandy followed, but did not give the boy a glance. Eren scoffed and went in, joining his companions.

Inside the building, the three guardians slowly walked towards a wide clearing. Sandy looked around with keen eyes.

The whole room – or what seemed to the lobby – was dark. Fortunately, they can still see what they were stepping into. Trash, toy parts and dust covered the floor.

Sandy opened his right hand and sand materialized from his palm, swirling into a beautiful golden butterfly that emitted a golden light. It flew in front of them, illuminating the dark hallway.

"MAMA! MAMA!" Anya shrieked. Sandy's mouth was left agape. In front of them, Eren held a decapitated baby doll. The boy grinned menacingly.

"Will you stop that!" Anya shouted. The boy shrugged and carelessly threw away the doll, laughing.

"Oh, come on, Annae! Chill out, will ya?"

"It's Anya!"

"Whatever."

Eren laughed and walk past them, following the butterfly. Sandy exhaled deeply and trailed behind.

"Hey, shorty."

Sandy frowned at the nickname. The three of them walked along the hallway that seemed to stretch for miles. Anya answered for Sandy.

"Sir Sandman asks what?"

"You remind me of someone."

Sandy and Anya looked at him, puzzled.

"Who?" She spoke again, for Sandy.

"A friend of mine. He was also short, but taller than you. Unlike you, he talks, has black hair, and looked very taunting, but—"

"If'you're going to insult Sir Sandy further—" Anya cut in, but Eren stopped what he was saying, "—I'm going to—"

Eren raised his hand, to silence Anya. She was about to say more, but Sandy tugged onto her clothes, putting a finger to his lips when she looked his way.

Anya looked at the boy again, he was staring straight into the dark.

Something's in there. Anya thought.

The three braced themselves in facing whatever it was lurking in the darkness. The boy's eyes narrowed, a pair of golden eyes could be seen, moving closer towards them.

"What—" Anya was afraid, taking a step back.

Eren kept his eyes trained as the thing approached them. It passed by an open window, letting the moonlight shine on whatever it was. The three were surprised at the revelation.

It was a human-sized clown doll dressed in colorful but dirty clothes.

"Heh. And to think that I expected something scary." Eren commented.

As if hearing his words, the clown bent forward and crawled towards them, moving fast as if they were its prey – which was probably the case.

Sandy pushed Anya behind him and summoned his whips. The clown raised a hand revealing a sharp knife that glinted against the moonlight. Eren stood still, watching the clown.

The clown jumped high in the air, arm raised to attack them. Eren grinned.

"Gotcha!" Eren pulled out a blade from his side and threw it at the clown. The blade pierced through the clown's chest, impaling the doll onto the ceiling. It struggled for a few moments before staying still and crumbling into black sand.

"That wasn't so hard." Eren gloated. Sandy approached the pile of sand, wiping his fingers against it and bringing it closer for examination.

"Haha! You owe me, Sasha. I just saved you, princess."

Eren continued taunting Anya, but the girl didn't react. Not a glare. Or a frown. Or a scowl. Nothing. Eren blinked, finally noticing that Anya was looking past him, towards the hallway, fear written all over her face.

The boy was puzzled and turned around. What he saw startled him. What seemed to be an army of clown dolls, just like the one that he had previously speared to the ceiling, stood in front of them. Every single one wearing a creepy, mocking smile on their plastic faces.

"You've got to be kidding me." Eren muttered in disbelief.

"Let's run!" Anya shouted and sprinted away. Eren came back to his senses and quickly grabbed Sandman, running after Anya.

The dolls wasted no time and chased after the three at blinding speed.

"THE DEVIL IS THIS, MATE?!"

Bunny kicked a clown doll that launched itself at him, barely avoiding another that tried to tackle him from behind.

"Just destroy them!"

Jack, despite being air-borne, was targeted by the dolls as well. He pointed his staff at the group that were crawling on the walls and throwing themselves his way. He created ice spears and harpooned them towards the dolls, effectively disintegrating them. However, more emerged from the darkness and pursued the two.

"We're almost at the exit!"

They fought their way, quickening their pace, until they finally reached the exit of Building C.

Eren and company finally reached the end of the hallway and ran into the lobby.

"We're almost there!" Eren shouted. "Stay close to me!"

The trio eventually reached the door and got out. The sky was clear as they raced across the compound, almost bumping into the other guardians. They, too, were breathing hard.

"What the hell are those things?!" Eren demanded while a lungful or air.

"This factory was a toy clown factory." North explained. "Pitch Black's sand must have possessed these toys."

A deafening roar pierced through the air. It came from the buildings.

"North, I think we should retreat." Tooth suggested as they backed away, edging towards the rusty gate.

"No, Tooth. We must face them like a group of Spartan warriors."

"That's great, North. But we have a problem, we're not Spartans." Jack said weakly.

The doors of the buildings burst open and hundreds of dolls made their way towards the guardians.

"This is it! Prepare for war!" North shouted, pulling out his swords.

"Sir North, what about me?"

"Stay behind me!" Jack and Eren shouted in unison, confusing the guardian of Nature, barely having any time to react as North swung his blades, decapitating one of the dolls.

Anya peered from behind a large box placed beside a dumpster, watching the guardians fight against the living dolls.

There was North, Bunny and Sandy, fighting with weapons of their choice. Tooth, with her numerous fairies, swooped across the dolls, knocking them away with speed and force. Jack materialized countless ice spears that rained on the horde.

Where's Eren? Anya searched for the brunet, finally spotting him on the roof, fighting against a group of dolls on his own. He held his blades as he slashed at the dolls, his arms and blades a blur as he moved quickly.

Anya's eyes were locked on him as he delivered a kick to one doll and – without missing a beat – spun wildly to continue hacking the toys.

"He's like a…" Her eyes widened in amusement. "…an acrobat…and a dancer."

The battle continued for hours, the numbers dwindling until all but one has been defeated.

"Naughty toys will not be tolerated." North stomped his foot on the head of the doll, smashing it to pieces. Everyone was gasping for breath, obviously exhausted by the battle.

"That was a nice exercise." Jack joked.

"Ha! They were just weaklings!" Eren said, wiping dirt off of his blade.

Anya, sensing that the danger has finally passed, came out of her hiding place and went over to Jack. She kept her head down, disappointed at herself.

"Everyone, I'm truly sorry for being such a useless guardian."

They all turned to her – except Eren who was still looking at the rundown establishment – eyes wide at her words.

"Oh no, Anya. You're not useless! We should never have brought you here. We should have told you that this was what it meant for us to be working as guardians." Tooth patted her on the shoulder while Bunny and Jack smiled at her.

"It's all right, my dear. If you want, I shall teach you how to fight!" North offered.

"You're all being too soft on her. The girl was, as she said, completely useless." Eren said harshly.

Bunny frowned. "At least she isn't a monster like you, mate."

The boy's eyes narrowed. "Look who's talking. Why don't you look at the mirror once in a while?"

"The one who should do that is you."

"Hah! Whatever. I'm not staying in this stupid group anymore."

A dark, sinister laugh interrupted their heated exchange. The guardians became alert, bracing themselves for another enemy, eyes scanning the area for the source of the laughter.

"I know that laugh. It's him. He's here."

Everyone looked up at the building in front of them where a tall, dark silhouette stood. Golden eyes glittered as they looked from one guardian to another, a wide grin on his lips.

"Good evening, Guardians." The voice was sharp, cold, and harsh.

The guardians' fears were confirmed – he escaped from being exiled.

Their arch nemesis. Pitch Black. The Boogeyman.

"Pitch."

"North." The man giggled, before diverting his attention to someone else. "Jack Frost."

"What are you doing here, Pitch?" Jack demanded. "You should be in exile!"

Pitch laughed, the sound prickling at the hairs at the back of their necks.

"You can not kill fear, Jack Frost. Nor can you exile it. It will always grow into a huge uncontrollable beast."

Pitch reached into his robe and pulled out a small glass vial.

"Even if you appear now, no one will believe in you!"

Pitch looked at Bunny. "I don't care anymore." He noticed an unfamiliar face.

"And who might you be?"

Eren smiled at Pitch. He seemed too weak to be someone that the guardians should be wary of.

"Me? Oh, I just stole a cupcake and was caught by them. Now I'm forced to join them so I can pay for it."

"Oh… a boring guardian, then." Pitch easily dismissed Eren's presence, making his lack of interest in the boy obvious.

"What do you want, Pitch?" Bunny raised his boomerang, aiming it at the dark man.

"Ah, so kind of you to ask. I want two things from you, Guardians." They listened, but kept their guard up. "One: I want revenge. I will never forgive what you did to me, especially you, Jack Frost. You have no idea what it feels to be stripped of your powers…"

"Serves you right!"

Pitch glared at him, before his eyes drifted to the Guardian of Nature.

"Two: I want her." He pointed his pale, skeleton-like finger at Anya. The girl took a step back, eyes widening in fear.

The guardians all had one question running in their minds.

Why?

Hoo-Hoo finally i updated my story. Well here it is Eren's first fight with the guardians. Pitch had appeared and wants two things from them: His personal vendetta...and the Guardian of nature, Anya. Special thanks to BlackRain105 :)