Chapter Ten: Ebony

Pitch stared up at the ceiling. Jolted by the movements of the train now and again. It was all coming together. It wouldn't be long now. There was that definite sense of settling satisfaction but it was still hindered by the pesky emotion of doubt. Not fear. He'd never admit to that. Before he could think further about his schemes. The door shuddered open and an unknown dancer girl stood in the doorway.

"There a fairy here?"

Pitch said nothing as Toothiana below stood up and away from the bed to answer, she'd been preening her feathers.

"Me? Perhaps?"

"Yeah, the ringmaster wants you"

Pitch watched the guardian visibly freeze up and to his own distaste, he too felt a cold shiver pool at the small of his back.

"Oh...now?"

"Yes, come on" the girl rolled her eyes and leant against the frame. Jerking her thumb back.

Toothiana actually wanted to look back at the King of Nightmares as though he could do something but she knew it was futile. So instead she blinked away the soreness crawling up her eyes and inhaled. Walking toward the door.

"She's ill, they wouldn't want her" Pitch suddenly announced. The girl in the doorway raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she looked over Toothiana like she'd crawled out from under a rock. Toothiana's eyes widened and she didn't speak. What was Pitch doing? Should she go along with it? She was in such a state of shock she could only look away and down at the ground.

"Well? Is it contagious?"

"I...don't know" Tooth claimed.

The girl seemed sceptical, but took a step back, she seemed convinced enough. With that, she left. The guardian and the bogeyman remained silent as they were left in the room.

Toothiana waited a few moments before turning to the King. But he had simply turned over and said nothing. Tooth couldn't find the strength in her to ask, why?, in case she didn't like the answer. So she returned to her bed and lay down. Staring up at the bunk.

It was like nothing any of them had seen before. A grand show of monochrome sickness. The remained hidden in the tall pine trees just outside of the field clearing. Below them was the heaving train, alive with the motion of workers and...the others that they could see. Small tents scattered not far from there and then further over was the tent itself. Distinctly large and illuminated by lanterns about each of the pointed corner. They'd just finished putting it up. The train still hot with smoke.

"I can't believe we've never seen anything like this before" North exclaimed, staring down. His eyes, full of wonder, now filled with fear.

"It's a shambles, that's for sure" Bunnymund echoed with a hiss in his words. Jack glanced over to where the Easter guardian allowed his fingers to creep down to one of his boomerangs. He looked away and to the front of the train.

Without saying anything, he jumped down to the gasp of his fellow guardians and he landed in the long grass just behind the train. None of the carriages were open this side, they would just face the wilderness. Walking toward it, something happened which he'd expected. Something was stopping him. It felt cool and tingled ever so slightly, like electricity. Stepping away and leaping back up into the trees where the three others glared at him. He shrugged with a nervous smile.

"Sorry about that, but seems like whatever is keeping them in is keeping us out"

"Then how do they get an audience?" North questioned.

"I don't know if it affects humans, or if they can...turn it off…" he muttered, looking around the field until he saw it. An arched entrance, standing on its own at one end, by the tent itself.

Sandman signalled that they should wait for people to start coming in to check it out after Jack had pointed out the door frame. They all agreed bitterly and now drew their attention to the more unusual characters of the grounds.

"They are not guardians...or perhaps not yet. After all, Jack, you would have been considered a magical being before your title" North explained and the guardian of fun shrugged.

"Nah mate, these guys seem different" Bunnymund commented, his ears twitching as he narrowed his eyes down at the scene before them.

Toothiana couldn't stop thinking about earlier. Why had Pitch intervened? It didn't effect him in the slightest when the guardian was taken away. She looked down at her lap. She hadn't left the room for fear of being spotted and questioned about her so called "illness", though she didn't know whether that information had spread, she had a feeling it had.

Maybe Pitch was getting annoyed at how she acted when...she came back. The crying and the silence and the shuffle of feathers as she preened herself. That must have been it. There was no other reason the King of Nightmares would bother putting himself in jeopardy by lying to a direct messenger of the ring master.

Maybe it was nothing to do with her. Pitch could have just wanted to mess around with the ringmaster again. Toothiana fell back against her bed. Still too narrow and too lumpy but she didn't care for all the thoughts nabbing at her mind. Of course there was that little assumption that he actually might care for her, might not want her to go through that kind of thing. But who was she kidding…

Closing her eyes she decided there was no harm in getting some sleep. It was a bizarre concept. She interacted so much with the idea of sleep when it came to the children yet never experienced it herself until now. Just what kind of enchantment did this ringmaster have that meant she and Pitch would become so...human?

The guardians had remained in their tree-hideout after a few adjustments to make sure they truly wouldn't be seen. After Bunnymund had pointed out just how different some of these people were, the group had been in a constant state of bewilderment.

"Do you think they're rare?" Jack questioned after his eyes followed a creature of seemingly neither masculine nor feminine form. Draped in what seemed to be willow branches, vines creeping up the slim contours of their body, antlers not unlike that of a deer protruding from their skull. Judging by these features, along with the greenish shade of their skin and the slow, sluggish movements, it seemed like it was one with nature.

Another specimen, equally as fascinating, this time transported within a tank. Not particularly modern nor clean but the tailed creature within was still visible. Long hair swirling about his shoulders, the colour of a twilight sky, his tail and fins shimmering like ground metal. The workers were evidently unbothered by the incredible people about them as they forced them to travel across the grounds with sour expressions and trudging motions.

Jack wanted to fly down again, see if he could find a glitch in the dome-like atmosphere caging them, or maybe catch the attention of someone who could help. But the guardians seemed in tune with his interests and glanced to him meaningfully every now and again. Accusing him of something he hadn't already done. Finally Bunnymund voiced his worries.

"Don't even think about it, you're only askin' for trouble"

"Maybe they need a distraction, some kind of fuss" Jack tried.

"By the looks of it, they wouldn't struggle to catch ya, mate" the guardian sighed. This circus definitely had more tricks up its sleeve than just a protective barrier. Some of the creatures caught seemed a little more than difficult prizes.

Nodding reluctantly at Bunnymund's words, Jack turned away with a sigh.

It wasn't like Pitch to just 'mooch' around the circus grounds when he wanted nothing more than to distance himself from just about everyone. But he was going off to 'mooch', Arna had told Toothiana after the guardian had asked.

"Oh right...I…" she trailed off, leaving the young girl with a puzzled expression.

"What's up? You've been off all day"

"Well…" Toothiana stopped herself. She had no right involving a thirteen year old in this kind of debauchery. So she inhaled quietly and smiled. "It's nothing my darling, don't worry".

Carnation didn't look convinced but didn't press the issue any further. It was clear that the fairy was uncomfortable. The young performer had been reassured of Tooth's well-being and in turn had informed a rather panicked Bubbles, who had nodded without any questioning, to Carnation's surprise.

Meanwhile Pitch had kept to the edges of the section all the tents were set up. He only had one in mind. He spotted it and made his way over, strides long and confident. As per usual, Viktor was settled out front, but this time Iancu was actually with him, they were sitting so close they might as well be embracing. The both looked up when Pitch stood before them.

"So, how has it been going?" the bogeyman questioned and Iancu was motionless before a cruel smirk appeared over his face.

"They're not messing with me as much since it happened, they think I'll try something. Especially if I was so bold to attack Blanche who has a pretty heavy body-guard" the vampire explained. Viktor looked to him nervously but said nothing. The vampire continued, "But Wolf is getting riled up, I sure don't want to be at the brunt of his anger when he finds out".

"I assure you, you won't be. Actually I have another request. It's nothing much. I just want you to accompany me to the dressing tent tomorrow night before the show" the tall man leant forward, hands clasped behind his back with a grin. The vampire just nodded, a little confused.

"Of course, but why?"

"It doesn't matter, just make sure you're there" was the only answer he was given.

Pitch left the vicinity and was tempted to turn back, test his findings. But he couldn't cause a stir, not yet. Instead he continued back to the train carriages. Or rather, he intended to when a familiar face stopped him.

"A little bird told me that your fairy is sick" Trollson hissed, arms folded at his chest.

"What of it?" was all Pitch replied, voice as smooth as silk as usual and even more so in comparison. The man curled his upper lip with an ugly snarl.

"It's a shame, hope she's all good to go for the show tomorrow"

"I expect she will manage"

"Yeah, always the way with these mystery illnesses. They disappear when it's convenient" the man cocked his head to the side and stepped forward.

Pitch had always had a talent for knowing an individual's deepest fears. This knowledge, second nature to him, had become blurred during his days here. But suddenly, the King of nightmares was struck with a sense of clarity, that burned excitement through him. He kept the sudden revelation to himself. But Pitch could not help but smirk as he delved into the mind of Trollson.

Fear of rejection. But not in the way one would think. Fear of being denied what he wanted, in case he returned to that dark, dank corner of his existence. Where no one took him seriously and he'd have to learn to earn his desires. Something this idle man feared more than the average might.

"Who knows, she might become sick again after the performance" the bogeyman purred before leaving, brushing past with a chuckle. Leaving Trollson dumbfounded and unmoving. How he'd love to go after the sly bastard, but not here and not now.

Unbeknownst to Trollson, he wasn't the only one with revenge on his mind. Even as Pitch strode back with a newfound confidence, he couldn't help that creeping...feeling. Itching the back of his neck. What was it? Aggravation, anger? To what? The idea of that beast messing with Toothiana?

The feeling sparked. Pitch's smile faded and he scowled. As if he would let himself begin to care about the flittery guardian.

But hadn't that already happened? It had started when he lied about the fairy's 'illness', and truly, it was only developing and showing itself when the bogeyman least expected it.

Blanche watched the newcomer enter the carriages from her tent across the way and pursed her lips. Something didn't seem right. The young woman tentatively brought fingers up to her neck where the bite wounds were healing quite quickly. A hand covered her own and she smiled, turning to Wolf. In his none beast form he was still a man of remarkable height. Broad shoulders and back, his hair a deep chestnut, speckled with grey around the edges. A beard growing down the sides of his cheeks and around his jaw. His eyes were filled with frustration and consideration and Blanche felt so bad for him. She remembers how so many people messed with his temper when he first came to the circus. Of course they stopped when the consequences became stained red. But now someone was at it again. If she didn't know any better, she'd think it was someone who wasn't used to way things worked at this horror-show and she looked back to the train carriage where Pitch had disappeared.

It was Sandman who eventually crept down to the outskirts of the dome, he tested it himself with a small pool of sand that bent over the curvature of the invisible shape. Then he made his way down the train looking for clues. Finally he came to the front engine and carriage of the train where there just so happened to be a series of posters on the side. Advertising the old with ripped corners and faded colours, and then the new with a fine sheen. One of which immediately stood out. A definite artistic masterpiece, portraying the shadows of an army on the left, and the silhouettes of another army, of more 'tribal' appearance on the right.

Then in the middle, with outlines crisp, was the shape of a tall man with spiked hair and a hovering lady, with wings. Their hands reaching out to one another, and the title curved and bold above reading: Green Feathers and Ink: A tale of war and love between a banished prince and the enchantress who saves him.

A/N: *sweats* not sure about that last little title, but you know, I don't run a circus in real life so it doesn't matter too much if my advertising skills suck. Either way, the next chapter is indeed this show where it all goes off! I hope you are continuing to enjoy this story!

-LAW09

CHAPTER ELEVEN UPDATE: To be confirmed.

~Review Replies~

The Fallen Angel of Pain: Oh it is so good to see you again! There is a sudden outburst of updates and I'm glad you're happy about it! I'm going through to edit right now so thanks for the tip! I hope you continue to enjoy and thanks for the review!