Disclaimer: I do not own the ROTG universe or its original characters. This story is written within the ROTG universe. The rest of the characters belong to me.

Best way to start the first day of Fall semester: Update a new chapter of my Fanfic and upload a new cover for this sequel. Again, the cover is made by garun.

Chapter 10: It came from Darkness

~Sandy's Side~

The Man of Dreams flew through the skies over the city on his little sand island, searching for the black hair boy he met last night. So far, he hasn't had any luck. No matter where he looked, he just couldn't find him. He wasn't even sure if the boy was still in the city anymore, but where would he have gone?

A sense of concern have been overwhelming him for several hours now, but most of all, he was sad. Very sad. The memory of seeing Lantern... or Cinder... looking at him with sheer terror broke his heart. Didn't the boy remember that there was no way he would ever hurt him? Did the boy even remember him at all?

"Sandy!"

Suddenly, he heard someone calling out to him and he quickly stop in his flight to turn around to where the voice came from. He spotted a familiar figure headed his way and was a little surprised to see that it was Jack Frost.

"Sandy! Thank MiM I found you!" Frost cried out in relief.

Sandy gave him a look of confusion and began to form several sand figures over his head very quickly, asking him what he was doing here.

"You probably won't believe this, but Jack O. Lantern might be back!" Frost cried out in excitement. "It started with the kids in my neighborhood saying that they saw someone with a lantern, so I got confused and went to look for him to make sure. But when I couldn't find him, I went to go check on the lantern in the forest and found that it wasn't there anymore. So I went to North and told him about it and..." He rambled very quickly from all the adrenaline, not noticing that Sandy was also trying to say something. It probably took about almost a minute for the winter spirit to finally notice Sandy had his arms crossed, looking rather annoyed. "What?"

Finally, Sandy was able to explain to him that he had already met the fire spirit and he was looking for him right now.

"Wait, you met him?" Frost stared at him in disbelief.

Sandy gestured 'Yes, but he got away.'

"Got away?!" Frost cried out in shock. "Then do you have any idea where he might be?"

Sandy shook his head sadly, so Frost bit his lower lip in disappointment.

"Well, North is still back at his place, keeping an eye on the globe. He already contacted Tooth and Bunny, so they might be meeting us later. In the mean time, we'll just have to find him on our own. I'll check on Abby. If Lantern is back, he might've visited her some time."

But before Frost could fly off to start his search, Sandy suddenly grabbed his wrist.

"Sandy, what?" Frost turned around and gave him a confused look.

The golden man tried to explain that it would not be wise to hastily confront Jack O' Lantern. He had met the fire spirit and the boy was completely afraid of him. Even attacked him in fear. Something must be wrong with him if he reacted that way. It wouldn't be a surprise if Jack O' Lantern might react the same to the snow spirit. He should approach him with caution, to avoid scaring him.

"Alright," Frost nodded in understanding. Then he flew off into the sky while Sandy watched him with concern. He just hoped that everything would be alright and whatever was wrong with Lantern, they would be able to help him.

~Phil's POV~

The sky was already getting dark while I was walking down the streets of the town. People were walking by, probably trying to get home after work. I looked around in every direction, making sure I didn't miss anyone as I was searching for a teenager.

I had an old photo in my hand, back from my high school days with me, Irwin, Michael, and Jack. Although I didn't have a photo of Will, let alone ever met the kid, Irwin was so insistent that Will looked like Jack, so I suppose the photo will be enough for reference.

"Excuse me, sir. Have you seen a teenager who looks similar to this guy in this photo, but with black hair?" I asked a random stranger.

"No, I haven't," answered the man. "Sorry."

"It's alright, sir. Thank you for your time," I thanked him.

This was getting frustrating. I had the same replies to every person I asked. Nobody had seen the boy anywhere in town at all. If it was about a dozen people, then it wasn't that surprising that nobody saw him. But I asked more than four dozen people and not one of them ever saw this kid at all. This was getting kind of strange. The only explanation I could really think of was that Will didn't come out very often. Maybe he only stayed around in his area and not wander off very far from home. It was also possible that people just didn't bother to notice the people around them, but normally, the people in Blacksburg would notice a new face in town. I guess Blacksburg wasn't the town that it used to be anymore. We used to know our neighbors and store workers would recognize their customers almost right away. With the increase of the town population, I guess it was just too many faces to remember now.

"Phil! Over here!" I heard my name being called. I turned around and saw Michael waving at me from across the street.

Making sure that there were no cars running down the streets, I crossed over to meet him. "Mikey, any luck?"

"No," he replied. "You?"

"No luck either" I replied back. "I tried to ask around, but nobody has ever seen the kid."

"Same for me. If I hadn't asked Kirt before this, I would've been convinced that the kid was a ghost," thought Mikey.

"A ghost? Really, Mikey?" I gave him a weird look.

"Hey, that kid is good at moving around and not being notice. Nobody has seen the kid, so it's causing us to have a hard time finding him. Not sure how was he able to wander around and not get notice, but damn! If he's not a ghost than maybe a ninja," Mikey said with a small chuckle, amusing himself at the thought.

"What are you? Ten years old?" I stared at him, but even I couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Can't help it, man," grinned Mikey. "Kind of reminds me of another person who can sneak around unnoticed, don't you think?"

"You mean Jack? That guy is worse than a ghost or ninja. Do you remember how much trouble he caused the teachers?"

"How can I forget?"

We both amused ourselves in the memories that we had back in the good early high school days. There was never a dull moment when we were with that prankster. How we even became friends was also a mystery. I was the nerd, the shy kid who would rather spend the day in the library to avoid running into bullies or bothersome people. For Mikey, I was quite sure I heard he was the pushover before he met Irwin and Jack. Now that I think about it, I never really asked how Mikey came into the group. By the time I joined, Mikey was already hanging out with them.

As we started to walk down the sidewalk, I asked "Hey, Mikey, how did you meet Irwin and Jack anyways? You weren't the bravest among us and I'm quite sure Jack has a habit of scaring you. What got you to hang out with them?"

I was curious since Mikey was a coward and Jack was afraid of nothing, so how did these two managed to get together in the first place? They were like polar opposites.

"Me? Well..." Now Mikey looked a bit embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. "You remember how me and Irwin were in the football team, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"It was during the time when we were still practicing for a game. I wasn't doing too good. I kept dropping the ball and tripping over myself. I wasn't that fast either. I almost thought of quitting, but Irwin decided to help train me. So after school when the field was empty, Irwin would help practice with me. That was when I met Jack. He was there because of Irwin since those two were always together. He also thought of helping me train so he started to come up with these... new training exercise..."

Oh god... "What did he do?"

"Let's just say he was very creative with his training... I had to throw away two sweats and buy three new ones. Bought the extra one just in case. He even added music to the training to pump us up," Now a look of exhaustion appeared on his face just from being reminded of Jack's special training exercise.

"Music? Do you mean that ridiculously loud obnoxious screaming coming from the football field? I thought some crazy band was practicing hard rock over there almost every evening!"

"Oh my god! You heard it?! I thought nobody was at school besides the janitors!" He looked at me incredibly.

"I was studying at the library pretty late," I stated. Back then, I studied a lot and would hang out in the library until it closed. "And those firecrackers and fog horns I heard... were those...?"

"Yeah... it was part of the training... Never saw confetti the same way again..."

"..."

I'm starting to question if this training exercise was legal now.

"So did his special training helped?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's just say I even wowed our coach during the game. He was almost in tears," he said with a nervous smile. "What about you? How did you meet Jack? I only remember him saying that he saved you from some bullies and stealing the janitor's golf cart."

Right. I met Jack before I was introduced to Irwin and Mikey, so they probably didn't know the whole story to his little rescue.

"Yeah, I was saved by Jack from a few bullies. Since I was a bookworm, I was easily targeted. It was during lunch time at the back of the gym. I was caught and dragged by the seniors there. Just the typical 'give me your lunch money and I won't sucker punch you' thing. That was when Jack came in with a golf cart that belonged to a janitor. Scared the shit out of the seniors and he even chased them around the whole campus."

I can still remember that day clearly when the older seniors had me cornered to a wall and a random honking came out of nowhere. We all turned in confusion and surprise. There, zooming towards us, was Jack in a golf cart. The seniors freaked out and ran like hell. I was too stunned to move so I just froze on the spot. Then Jack went chasing after them in that vehicle and laughed hysterically like a mad man while shouting "JACK TO THE RESCUE! ALL EVILDOERS BEWARE! I HAVE A GOLF CART!"

Then an angry janitor came running after him not long after and shouted. "JACK OLIVER LANTERNSON! GIVE ME BACK MY CART OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU GET EXPELLED!"

Of course, Jack didn't get expelled, but he did get suspended for a week. I had to go to the principal to tell him that Jack actually saved me from some bullies, so he wouldn't get punished too harshly. The principal was either very understanding or was just used to Jack's crazy stunts, so instead of expulsion, it was just suspension. Jack was very grateful for my help so he got me to hang out with him and the others.

And that was how I met Jack and joined the gang.

"That's so like Jack to do," chuckled Mikey. Then his expression started to sadden. "Looks like it's not only Irwin that likes to reminisce about the past. I wonder how Jack would be now if he was still with us."

"Who knows? If he kept his character from high school, imagine the chaos he would cause at his workplace," I thought out loud. "If he did mature a bit and act his age, then maybe he could've done something great. He's definitely smart and has more guts than any of us put together, but he just doesn't use it for a better cause. Just look at all the pranks he came up with!"

"Agreed," he nodded. "Some of his stuff were pretty... creative..."

"Crazy, more like it."

Then both of us started to chuckle. We tried not to laugh too loud because there were a few people walking down the streets. We didn't want to draw unnecessary attention.

"Man! There was never a dull moment with him," exclaimed Mikey. "I'll probably sound like Irwin, but honestly, I also sometimes wished that Jack was still with us and that accident never happened."

"It's not just you two. Even I wished that the accident was just a bad nightmare and I would wake up the next morning to go to school. Then find Jack alive and well. Ready to initiate his next scheme like planting stink bombs around school or filling the whole gym with bubbles," I told him as I started to feel a little... down. Looks like all this talk about Jack was getting to us again.

"Hey, Phil. Do you ever believe in... you know... the afterlife?" Mikey suddenly asked.

"The afterlife?" I stared at him, confused. "You know me. I only believe in things that can be explained. Not some religious nonsense that has no proof or evidence. The idea of the afterlife is merely to help people feel assured that there is something there after they die."

I'm not the type of person who believe in these silly things like heaven and hell or these paranormal business. There's no solid proof to these things and I'm the type that believes in what can be explained. Not just mere blind faith and empty hope.

"Sorry. Just thought I'll ask," apologized Mikey.

"What about you?" I asked, curious now. "What's your thought about it?"

"Me? Well, I guess I believe it a little," Mikey smiled at me nervously. "Sometimes, there are just things that can't be explain with science. Also, I just like to hope that maybe... just maybe... that we can still meet the people that we care about after we die like my grandparents and... Jack."

"I see," I thought about Mikey's explanation. "If you put it that way, it would be nice to meet Jack again. He'll probably greet us with something overly dramatic if we ever meet him in the afterlife. I can already imagine something crazy and obnoxiously loud. If it's Jack, he'll definitely make it over the top. Probably something similar to what he did to my fifteenth birthday... or something much... worse."

"Oh god... don't remind me," whined Mikey. I guess he was still traumatized by that event. Even though it was my birthday, somehow, he was the victim on that day.

Both of us ended up laughing while continuing to recall our childhood memories. The most part, it was about Jack's crazy ideas and pranks. Irwin was usually the one that liked to lead our group, but most of the time, he just went with whatever Jack was doing. He sometimes came up with his own ideas, but it's always Jack that polished them. Mikey would just go with the flow even when he didn't agree to the risk. I had to be the one to carefully watch over the group so they don't get into too much trouble.

Some of those pranks were successful while there were also ones that failed spectacularly. There were also some close calls and they nearly got into some real trouble, but that was what made high school so much fun. They were nice memories to remember, but at the same time, sad. It was almost bitter sweet.

It was clear that Irwin wasn't the only one who can't let go of the past.

~Will's POV~

I was already in town so I tried to remember how to get back to Irwin's apartment. Not sure where Irwin was now, so it would be best to just stay where he would come back to for sure. I thought it would be faster to fly, but I had to make a few stops to make sure I was going in the right direction.

Let's see, if I remember right, it should be left at this chicken billboard and another left at the Chinese to-go place.

As I landed on the said billboard, I looked around for the Chinese restaurant. But as I was searching for the place, I caught something at the corner of my eye and I turned to look at what it was. My whole body almost froze when I recognized that golden glow floating above the buildings.

It was that glowing man!

I didn't know who he was and what he wanted with me from last time we met, but I was too afraid to find out. Actually, no, I did know a little about him, but some pieces of information were still kind of missing from my memory. During the trip to Blacksburg, I had some time to think about the man, I tried to search the memory that I gained to find out who he was. He was glowing man who had control over sand I believe. It can take on many forms like some shake shifting trick. What was his name? No matter how much I tried, it felt like his name was at the tip of my tongue. Yet, it just won't come out.

Not to mention, these memories of him were also kind of a weird. One part, he seemed nice and had this kind smile on his face. Another, he glared at me and attacked me with his sand. It was confusing. I didn't know what that meant. Was he a friend or an enemy? Was he nice or dangerous? Until I know for sure who he was and what he could be towards me, it was safer to stay away and stay hidden.

It was probably safer to travel on foot at this point. Flying would only catch his attention. Not to mention, I have a lantern with me. It would be like carrying around a beacon for him to find me. It would probably take longer to walk, but it was better safe than sorry.

With that thought, I flew down onto the ground and made sure to hide in dark places where it would be harder to get notice. I dimmed the fire in the lantern so it wouldn't stand out, but also enough to see my way around. Guess the open street wasn't a good idea. I'll just have to sneak through the alleys. Luckily, I have a good idea on which way to go. It's like having my own Blacksburg map in my head. I know almost every route and every street to travel.

Good thing the sky was dark. It really helped with making the alleys darker. Thanks to the few lights here, I was able to see what was in the alleys. There were a bunch of trash cans, boxes, trash bags, a whole ton of garbage... cockroaches... ew...

Squeak!

Rat!

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

More rats! Too many rats! This alley is in need of an exterminator!

Reow!

Squeak!

Oh my...! Not Squeakers!

Suddenly, a cat jumped out of nowhere and managed to sink its paws on an unfortunate rat that wasn't able to run away fast enough. It's loud squeak of fear only lasted a few seconds before the cat quickly bit its neck and carried its prey away in its jaws. It was like watching the animal wildlife channel, but live! The cruelty of the animal kingdom!

I know I said we needed an exterminator, but I seriously did not mean it like this!

Once the cat disappeared with its meal, the other rats also disappeared from the area. Probably finding a new place to hide. The whole alley went back to being silent as the night. I continued to travel on. Sneaking from one alley to another. Making sure to check if the golden man was around.

That little scene back there sure got me all jumpy. I really did not need to see that. It almost felt like a bad omen or something.

As I was about to cross a street out in the open, I made sure to look around for any sign of the glowing man. Alright. So far, no sign of him. I quickly flew across the street to get to the other side as fast as I could, fearing that the glowing man would appear any second and spot me. Once I entered the alley on the otherside, I stopped at the corner and peaked out to see if I was spotted. Nope, no glowy head or hair of the man.

Phew! So far so good.

Bi! Bi!

Huh?!

Suddenly, I thought I heard a high pitch cry beside me. When I looked around, I saw nothing. I tried picking out my ear to see if it was just those moments when your eardrums make high pitch sound out of nowhere. But before I can confirm anything, there was a sudden rattle of a can being knocked over.

Clank! Clank!

Holy lollipops! What was that!?

Grrrrrr

Okay... That did not sound promising.

My whole body jolted upon hearing the growl and I felt shivers going down my spine. I slowly turned around to where I heard the sound. Glaring at me from the other side of the alley was a very large black dog.

Even though it stood in the dark parts of the alley, I could still make out it's body shape and I can definitely say that the dog was the biggest dog I've seen in my life! It looked as big as a car! No, I'm not exaggerating! It's that BIG!

Something else also felt very off about that enormous dog. Not only was it abnormally large, it's eyes... they were red... bright glowing red. I'm quite sure black dogs didn't have red eyes. Especially, ones that glow in the dark.

Grrrrr

"Uh... Good doggy?"

It slowly moved towards me as if it was stalking a prey, causing me to step backwards in fear. Its eyes stayed locked on me like a target and I could feel its threatening aura flowing from it.

As it started to step into a brighter area, I was able to get a clearer look on its appearance. Its body was covered in long messy black fur as if it has never had a proper groom in its life. Its fang were long and sharp like a saber-toothed cat with something oozing out of its mouth. At first, I thought it was its saliva, but what kind of saliva comes in mucky black goo?

An alarm rang inside my head that this dog was anything but normal. My instinct was screaming danger and my whole body was shivering in fear.

What was this thing?! A giant monster dog?!

Grrrrrrr

"Um... Stay... please?"

The giant black dog continued to step closer as I tried to step backwards, away from it. It's menacing red eyes were staring at me intensely and its mouth was spread to show its fearsome sharp teeth. And during all this, all I could think of...

I officially hate dogs!

Suddenly, it hunched down as if ready to pounce on me and I was bracing myself for the attack.

"FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY WHY DO YOU HATE ME?!"

Hooowwwwlllll...

Just as I screamed like the little sissy I was, I heard a loud howl and a burst of flames exploded from my lantern. Then three figures came shooting out and landed in front of me. Black smokey figures of skeletal wolves appeared and they were growling threateningly at the giant black dog, which was apparently twice their size.

Oh yeah! I forgot I had those smog creatures! The Holies have not forsaken me!

"FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY THANK YOU!"

The monster dog seemed to have paused in its attack when the three smog wolves appeared, forming a blockade between me and the dog. But it only lasted a second before it began to growl back at them, not pleased to find an obstacle between it and its prey, me.

Grrrrrr

Grrrrrrrrrr

Before the larger beast can attack, one of the smog wolves took the first strike and pounced on the dog. It tried to sink its fangs into the dog's neck, but the demon canine was able to bite into the wolf's hind leg and pulled it off. The wolf cried out in pain as it was viciously torn off and thrown to the side like a ragged doll. The other two wolves quickly jumped onto its back, using their claws to hook themselves onto it.

The monster dog tried to bite them, but they were too far away from its reach, so it tried to shake them off instead. Unfortunately for it, the first wolf that attacked it quickly got up and swiped its face. The dog made a painful cry and tried to swiped the wolf back, but the smog wolf jumped backwards to dodge its attack before jumping back for another swipe.

Unable to throw off the wolves from its back, it got frustrated and slammed its body into the wall. This time, it was able to crush one of the wolves, causing it to cry out and disappear into a burst of flames.

With one taken out, it tried to get the other one off its back by slamming itself on the wall on the other side. But before it could, the wolf jumped off the back and sank its fangs into its neck. The giant dog yelped and swung its claws at the smog wolf to get it off.

The other wolf quickly went for its hind leg with its fangs, causing the dog to loose its balance and fall hard on its side. It crashed right into a stack of wooden crates and pieces of wood flew everywhere.

The two smog wolves were able to jump off at the right moment so they didn't crashed with it. They stood watch at the monster dog as if making sure the beast was down.

I thought it was over, so I sighed in relief.

But my relief was short lived. The smog wolves started to growl threateningly as if sensing that their enemy wasn't going down that easily. The giant mutt started to move and push itself up, but it limped a little as if it was injured.

This dog was a tough one. Even though it looked really injured, it still wanted to fight. Do I look that TASTY!? I'm quite sure I don't have a lot of meat on me!

Just when I thought my situation was already bad as it was, I heard movements from down the alleys.

Grrrrrr

Suddenly, I heard more growls coming from the alley where the monster dog came from. I immediately looked down the dark pathway and saw bright red eyes staring at me.

You've got to be kidding me! There were more!?

Grrrrrr

Now that sounded like it came from behind me, so I turned around and saw more red eyes shining from the darkness.

Okay, I'm officially going to get myself rip to pieces by giant monster dogs. I should've considered writing my will.

The smog wolves realized that they were completely outnumbered, so they fell back and stood protectively around me. We were surrounded from both sides, so each wolf stood on each of my side, between me and the pack of monster dogs. The wolves knew that they wouldn't be able to fight back, but they still stood their ground and growled at the dogs.

The dogs weren't intimidated by the wolves at all. Of course, they weren't! Just look at their size! The wolves were like puppies to them! Not to mention, they were only two against their whole pack!

This was not good. Not good at all. We were surrounded like cornered rats. I tried to think of a way out, but I was panicking so bad I couldn't think straight. I'm SOdead! I'm gonna be dog chow!

Woosh!

Suddenly, I felt something entered the alley. It was like a presence of something or someone and it somehow felt... familiar? The feeling came rather quickly and swept through the alley like a gust of wind.

The animals seemed to have felt the presence too, because their ears perked up and were looking around in confusion. They were unsure what had just entered the area and was trying to find the source of it. That's when I noticed that the alley was quickly getting dark and I mean like very unnaturally. It was like the shadows were expanding and spreading as if it had a life of its own. They were even spreading up the walls!

Pop!

A light bulb suddenly blew up when the shadow reached it, making the alley look dimmer. This caused the large dogs to feel reckless and unsure what to do next. Even the smog wolves had moved closer to me

What was going on? Another enemy?

Pop!

There goes another one. Only the lamp hanging from the fourth floor was left.

Grrrrr

It seemed one of the dogs remembered what it came here for and it stared at me menacingly. A second later, it quickly leaped into the air with its jaws wide open towards me. The smog wolf quickly intervened and leaped at the dog as well. The last thing I saw was my smog wolf sinking its claws into the dog's side before I felt something wrapped around my chest and pulled me into the darkness...

Pop!

Thank you for reading. Please comment or leave feedback or suggestions.

Thanks to RainSonata for helping with editing and proofreading.

~TheWholockBronyAssassin: Sorry for the edit of your username, but the site won't allow me to post your username correctly. I believe it thinks your name is a link or something so it won't show. Thank you for the name suggestion. It will be added to my list of names for the fire animals.

The grammar corrections are mostly thanks to my editor/proofreader, RainSonata. She has helped me with this story since the Spirit of Fall story. :)