A/N: Okay last chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Sussanna ran as fast as she could, dodging trees all the way. In one arm, was her little sister, Lily. In the other was her shepherd's stick. Behind her, a pack of wolves, nipping at her ankles.

Sussanna soon came to a clearing with a small pond, and a giant tree. Standing by the tree was Sussanna's twin brother, Simon, yelling at her to hurry. As she ran to him he climbed up the tree. When she approached, she held Lily out to him, he picked her up. Then he pulled up Sussanna. The three siblings scurried up the tree like squirrels. When they stopped at the top to rest, they looked down to see one of the wolves climbing up the tree after them, and gaining. With no route of escape, the children prayed for a miracle. Sussanna looked around and saw a nearby tree branch that was within jumping distance.

" Simon! Jump to that tree!" Sussanna yelled. Simon saw what she was talking about and obeyed. He jumped to the other branch and held his arms out to catch them.

Sussanna turned to Lily. " Lily, you must jump now!"

Lily stared at Sussanna with frightened eyes. " Sussanna, I'm scared."

Sussanna's face visibly softened. " I know, I know, but you just have to believe in me. I mean...after all, there's a joyful side to everything."

" No there's not!"

" Would I trick you?"

" YES! You and Jackson always play tricks!"

" Yes, well. Not, not this time. I swear, you'll be fine."

Lily nodded slowly.

Sussanna turned Lily around to face their brother. " Now, Lily, you remember that dream where you were flying. Remember how it made you happy. Well I want you to imagine tha dream and jump. Pretend you're flying."

Lily nodded and closed her eyes. Sussanna looked down briefly to see the wolf was almost on top of them. She hurriedly whispered ," One, two, three, JUMP!"

Lily jumped and landed in Simon's arms.

Sussanna smiled, but that smile soon faltered. Sussanna heard a growl behind her and turned to see the wolf preparing to pounce on her. Without another thought she jumped into Simon's awaiting arms. The three scurried to the stalk of the tree as the branch under the wolf snapped and the wolf fell to his doom.

The three siblings waited for a moment, then Lily walked out to the edge of the branch and yelled ," Take that, you big meanie! My sister sent you to your maker. Nah nah nah nah nnnaaahhh."

Sussanna and Simon chuckle at the youngest Burgess's antics.(1)

Then the branch started to crack. Sussanna's eyes widened in horror and she ran forward yelling," LILY!"

Just as Lily was about to fall, Sussanna grabbed the back of her dress and flung her back. Unfortunately, Sussanna lost her balance and fell out of the tree herself.

Sussanna screamed as she fell to the ground. First it was in terror, but on the way down ,a sturdy branch was in her falling path. She hit the branch full on and her screams turned to those of pain. She looked down at her arms to find them mangled, broken, shattered. They were bent and broken into odd angles. Sussanna looked up from her arms to see the ground fast approaching. Her eyes widened as she hit the ground with a bone-shattering CRACK! Then all was black.

" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" D.E. woke up screaming. Her eyes frantically darted around her room in Pitch's lair. Her gaze fell to her arms. No, they weren't broken, they were fine. D.E.'s breathing slowed to a normal rate. It was a dream, just a dream.

Suddenly Pitch's voice called from the dining room ," D.E., BREAKFAST IS READY!"

D.E. snapped out of her trance. She hopped out of bed and ran to the dining room. Pitch was already eating. D.E. sat on the opposite side of the table and filled her plate with bacon and eggs. She ate silently, eyes focused on her food.

Pitch however watched D.E. intently. He said ," Are you having trouble sleeping ,D.E.? I heard you screaming."

D.E. looked up from her food. " I...I just had a bad dream, that's all."

Pitch put down his fork and leaned forward. " You had a nightmare?"

D.E. nodded.

Pitch pressed on. " Would you like to tell me about it?"

D.E. waved the question aside. " It was just a nightmare about my death. I have it every once in a while."

" If it is a recurring nightmare, your death must have traumatized you."

" For your information, death is always traumatizing."

The spirit and the shade laughed for a moment before D.E. asked the question that had been bugging her since the night before. " Pitch, what is phase two?"

Pitch waved the question aside. " I-its nothing."

" Pitch, you said you would tell me!"

" D.E. it's nothing! I swear!"

" PITCH, TELL ME NOW!"

D.E.'s yell echoed through the silent lair. Pitch sighed ," Phase two...was to kidnap the Baby New Year on New Years Eve. Without the Baby New Year, at midnight, time will stop in the mortal world. Time will literally freeze, everyone will be frozen and eventually the Guardians would fade away due to the lack of belief."

" But, even with them being frozen, wouldn't the children still believe?"

" No, there minds would be frozen, the would think and believe in nothing. They'd be statues. Trapped in a forever sleep. Then I would have let my nightmares wreak havoc on the earth, and I would have been the powerful being I once was."

D.E. felt like she was frozen herself. Then she finally spoke ," Pitch, didn't you hear what Reaper said. He said that he was going to finish phase two. We have to stop him!"

" I already alerted the Guardians. They'll take care of it."

" Pitch, I have to help them!"

" No! You don't! Didn't you say you didn't want to be a Guardian!"

" Yes I don't, but that doesn't mean I can't help!"

" But..."

" PITCH, I know the real reason you don't want me to go! It's because part of you is hoping that the Guardians will be defeated. Then you and I can stay together like this, without the guardians getting in the way! Am I wrong?!"

Pitch tried to answer, but ended up looking at his feet. She was right, as always.

D.E. panted before continuing ," Well, I did you ever think that maybe when I found out, I would leave. Ether way Pitch, tomorrow, I might be gone. And I might not come back."

Pitch looked at D.E.. Then he sighed and said ," Come on, lets get a nightmare horse ready for you."

D.E. sat on one of Pitch's nightmare horses, with her satchel wrapped around her should, her staff in hand, and her cloak resting on her shoulders with the hood up.

Pitch picked up her free hand and said ," The nightmare will take you to the Sands of Time, were Father Time's castle and the Baby New Year are. Good luck."

D.E. paused before hugging Pitch. "Thank you."

D.E. backed away and before she took off, she asked ," What is this nightmares name?"

Pitch smiled. " It's Nightingale."

D.E. nodded, smiling, then she rocketed out of the lair.

As she left though, she thought to Pitch,

The Nightingale chirped,

She was finally free,

She screeched, Thank you Crow,

What could I give to thee,

Pitch silently thought to himself ,

The Crow cawed,

For he was as happy as could be,

He said,

Come and travel with me.

Pitch thought on that last stanza for a moment. Then, as soon as D.E. was a few miles away, he called Onyx to him. " Come on, boy. Lets go after her."

D.E. was at the Sands of Time ( Which resided somewhere near Egypt, thank goodness it was nighttime or she [and Jack for that matter]would melt.), in less than a blink of an eye.

A short time later she saw Father time's beautiful palace, which was made of sandstone, gold, fabulous glass windows, and diamond roofs. The castle was cube shaped with four turrets at the corners. One large turret came out of the middle of the cube and many diamond roofs came from its base. At the top of the middle turret was a giant hourglass.

D.E. pointed to the palace. " There, Nightingale!"

The nightmare obeyed and flew down toward the castle. D.E. dropped off the dark horse onto the windowsill and wave goodbye to Nightingale. D.E. peered into the window and saw the battle raging on inside in he grand hall. It appeared that Reaper had recruited an army of rouge nightmares and was now battling the Guardians, Burgess kids, teenagers, and Mr. and Mrs. Fair and Bennett. And they were losing.

D.E. spotted Reaper on the balcony of the hall and in his hand was an arrow pointed at ... Oh, God. There is now way in heck I gonna let him hit Jack!

D.E. bolted into the room and with her staff, she shot bolts of lightning at Reaper. All fighting in the room stopped as everyone looked at the new combatant. D.E. smirked at the Guardians and their allies. " Excuse me, but who told you, you guys could start the party without me?!"

The whole room erupted with the joyful cry of " D.E.!"

D.E. smiled and turned to Reaper. " Okay ,Reaper, time to meet your maker!"

Reaper chuckled evilly ," I have a better idea. Why don't you meet your's?!" Reaper waved his hands and out of the ground crawled hundreds of undead.

D.E. looked at the walking dead, unimpressed. She turned to the teenagers. " Any of you have an energy drink?"

The teens turned to each other in confusion before Arieth pulled a Monster out of her purse. " Will this do?"

D.E. smiled and took the drink. " Perfect. Kilowani, get over here!"

Kilowani came over grumbling. " WEED! Where the heck where you? We've been looking for you for the past five days." She looked at the Monster in D.E.'s hand. It was times like this when D.E. and Kilowani's minds were perfectly in sync, so that one could know what the other was thinking. Kilowani grinned, took the monster and said ," I love how your conniving little mind works." before chugging down the Monster.

D.E. and Jack spread their arms out and backed away. " You might want," D.E. said ," to stand back."

All the Guardians and mortals watched with anticipation as Kilowani finished the energy drink. Everyone waited a moment ,and then, out of the blue, Kilowani started jumping around like a bouncy ball. " WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO, ALRIGHT! HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO! FLAME ON!" Suddenly, Kilowani lit her entire body on fire. ( If any of you have seen the Fantastic Four, Kilowani looks like the Human Torch in female, 16 year old form.)

Kilowani turned to the approaching undead. " BOYS, PREPARE TO DIE...AGAIN." Kilowani charged the walkers(2) and as she passed them, they burst into flames. In about five minutes, most of the undead were burnt to a crisp and Kilowani came down from her energy high. Kilowani walked over to the group. " That was fun."

Less than a minute passed before everyone started laugh. North bellowed ," Vhere vere you durning battle with Pitch last year? He wouldn't have stood chance!"

Their laugher was quickly slaughtered as D.E. was knocked away from the others, right into a wall. Nightmares stopped and of the others from coming to D.E.'s aid. D.E. groggily propped herself up on her elbows and looked up to see a very angry Reaper. " HOW DARE YOU LAUGH IN MY PRESENCE! I AM THE GRIM REAPER! What is it about you, that causes so much trouble? Every time you show up, my plans are ruined! I think you need to be removed, so you can't mess up anything else.!"

Reaper drew back his scythe meaning to deliver the final blow. D.E. brought her hands to her face, waiting. But the blow never came. Reaper was suddenly blasted to the far end of the hall. D.E. looked up to see a welcoming sight. "Pitch!"

The shade turned around and smiled. " D.E., in trouble again, I see."

D.E. rolled her eyes and got to her feet. " Yeah, yeah. Don't give me the lecture."

Everyone turned to face Reaper as he unleashed more undead soldiers. D.E. glanced at the Guardians before charging at the undead. The Guardians, mortals, and Pitch followed in suit. The battle had just begun.

Jack made his way to way to where D.E. was fighting. The two went back to back. " Okay, now you owe me an explanation. What the heck just happened back there?"

D.E. shrugged, " Simple, Pitch saved my butt."

" Why?"

" Why do you want to know? Watch your left."

Jack kicked the skeleton on his left." Ahem, Pitch Black, the arch enemy of the Guardians, just saved you from his partner. Why?"

" You were worried about me, weren't you?" D.E. said eager to change the subject.

Jack sighed ," Of course I was. I was looking for you all over the place. I thought Pitch had you."

" No, he didn't," D.E. lied. She shot lightning and a few zombies on her right. " I chased him out of my tree and ... I left my staff behind."

" You idiot."

" Hey, knock it off with the name calling. By the way, where's the Baby New Year and Father Time?"

Jack turned his attention to Reaper. " In one of the back rooms. So, how are we taking Reaper out?"

D.E. looked Jackie and Kilowani and yelled ," JACKIE, KILOWANI! Get over her!"

The two girls came over and Jackie said ," What?"

" I have a plan." D.E. whispered. " You, Jack and Kilowani go distract Reaper and when I give the word we all use are seasonal powers on him at the same time."

Kilowani nodded. " Good, I like that plan. Oh, let me get my staff."

Jack and D.E.'s eyes went wide and the pulled Jackie back. A crack formed in the floor and a flow of lava slowly crept out of the crack and formed a 6 foot staff with flames on one end. " Okay I'm ready."

D.E. slowly creeped up behind Reaper as Jack, Jackie, and Kilowani were putting on a show.

Kilowani was poofing around in bursts of flames. " Reaper I'm over her! Now I'm over here! Nope I'm over here."

Reaper shouted ," HOLD STILL YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

" Yeah right Reaper. I'm magic, I'm a wizard. I'm full of tricks!"

D.E. turned her attention to Jackie and nearly gagged. She had managed to make a functioning catapult out of some wooden shelves over by the wall and she even carved designs into it. She was launching explosives at Reaper, missing mind you. D.E. muttered to herself," Her creativity is unmatched."

D.E. snuck up behind Reaper and yelled " NOW!" D.E. pushed him in the middle of the four teens.

Reaper looked up at them. " W-What are you d-d-doing?"

Jack answered him in a very confident voice. " Sending you back were you belong, underground!"

The four teens pointed their staffs at Reaper and the tips began to glow. D.E. shouted ," FIRE!"

The entire room lit up with the power exerted from the teenagers. As the light diminished, all the Guardians and Pitch looked at a very defeated-looking Reaper. The undead seemed to be interested in their masters defeat. They started crowding around Reaper. Jack grabbed Kilowani and flew away, Jackie flew out of the way of the walkers and D.E. flew behind a pillar near the open front door.

" NO! No! No stay away from me! I am your master! NO!" Reaper screamed as the undead dragged him underground. As the last zombie disappered all the holes vanished. Reaper was gone.

D.E. POV

North had all the Guardians, immortal and mortal teens, excluding D.E. who was still hiding behind the pillar, and the other humans gather around Kilowani and Jackie. D.E.'s eyebrows furrowed. Where was Pitch?

D.E. looked back at North, he was holding the book of the Guardians. Looks like Jackie and Kilowani are taking the oath.

D.E. started looking around again and she saw Pitch walking out into the desert. D.E. looked at the full moon outside, to the Guardians, then back to Pitch. D.E. sighed and looked back at the moon. " Manny, you sick creep, sending me for a whirl. I don't know what's right and wrong anymore. I know you want me to be a Guardian, but..." D.E. looked at Pitch. "... I don't fit in with them, they're nice and all. I hate to say it, but I'm more comfortable with the Boogeyman." D.E. looked back at Manny. " I wish you would tell me what you're planning, because I know your up to something up there. But for now" D.E. turned back to Pitch. " I'm going on a rebel streak."

D.E. ran out the door and chased after Pitch. " PITCH WAIT! WAIT! PITCH!"

Pitch turned around and was nearly tackled to the ground as D.E. hugged him. D.E. said into his chest ," I want to go with you."

Pitch's eyes went wide. " But, your suppose to be a Guardian. Man in Moon said..."

" I don't care what Manny said! Besides Jack and Kilowani, you're the only person who treats me like I'm a person and ,to be honest, I don't even know the Guardians that well! I want to go with you!"

Pitch smiled slowly and wrapped his arms around D.E.. " Alright then, let's go home."

Pitch started to summon the shadows to take them back to the lair. As the left though, D.E. heard a voice yell out to her. She turned her head to see a little girl with long black hair, tied into a braid, and brown eyes running toward her.

" Marlene?"

Then they were gone.

Marlene POV

Everyone Gathered around Jackie and Kilowani as North pulled out the book of the Guardians. North looked at the crowd and said ," 'As anyone seen D.E.?"

They all shook their heads and North shrugged. " Vé will find her later. Now Jackie and Kilowani take oath." Jackie started to get excited while Kilowani looked like she wanted to get out of there. North continued ," Do you, Jackie Lantern and Kilowani Pyronia(3), vow to watch over the children of the world? To guard with your lives their hopes, their wishes ,and their dreams? For they are all we have and all we will ever be."

Jackie gave her answer first. " I will."

North turned to Kilowani. " And you?"

Kilowani rubbed the back of her head. " Well, I don't know. I mean the responsibilities of watching over billions of children all over the world might be..."

Jackie brought the large heel of her platform boots down on Kilowani's toes. "OW! Okay ,yes ,I vow to watch over the children of the world. Happy now! Yeesh!"

North chuckled and bellowed ," Then you are now and forever more...GUARDIANS! Kilowani Guardian of Magic! Jackie Guardian of Creativity!"

Everyone cheered untill Cupcake pointed outside and said ," There's D.E.!"

Everyone looked to where she was pointing and saw D.E. running out into the nightfall desert. Kilowani shouted ," So she thinks that I have to become a Guardian and she doesn't. After her ,kids!"

All the children took off into the desert, with Marlene taking the lead. As she got closer, she saw D.E. disappearing into shadows. She cried out ," D.E.!" She saw D.E. turn around right before she vanished. Marlene stopped running. Jack and Jamie came to her sides. D.E. tears fell down her face as she whispered ," She just... disappeared... into the shadows."

Jack put a comforting hand on her shoulder, his face grim. " Don't worry Marlene, we'll find her. We will find her."

D.E. POV

Pitch and D.E. exited the shadows into D.E. newly refurbished room. Pitch held his arms out and said ," Welcome home, my child."

THE END

A/N: Okay, wow. I'm actually finished with this story. Hope everyone liked it!

(1) Remember, D.E.'s origional name was Sussanna Burgess

(2)Yes, I know. Walking Dead reference. I didn't know what to call them.

(3) Yes, Kilowani has a last name and its Pyronia