To JaymeBell,

I couldn't find your profile with the info you gave me, so could you just list Sugar High's hair colors in a review? I might not fit her in this one, but I started another, and will definitely include her then!

Thanks!

So, this chapter will probably make you either cry or laugh (It sure made my mom cry)

~Bookie~

The sleigh ride was bumpy. Even bumpier than usual. And the sleigh didn't very updated, more outdated.

"Hey, North, I thought you were getting a new sleigh!" Jack called over the roar of the wind. North glanced over his shoulder.

"The new one is... in shop!" he yelled over the wind, still steering them ahead. Jack still wasn't satisfied.

"Meaning?" he shouted, the wind growing louder.

"The yetis crashed it! This is back up!" North was practically screaming, the wind was so loud.

"Jeez, North. What is it with this sleigh and crashing?" Jack yelled, pushing North's patience even further. North threw a venomous look over his shoulder. Jack took the hint to stop talking. He sat in the back next to Night Light.

"Wait to tick North off." she said, cuffing him on the back of the head.

"It's what I do." he answered, rubbing the back of his head. They sat in silence for a while, until Night Light broke the silent streak.

"So, Ashllyn must've been pretty important to you guys. I mean, you went through all this trouble to save her instead of just stabbing her and being done with it."

Jack was taken aback. "Yeah, she was pretty cool. She helped defeat Pitch. There's just some things you just can't go through with someone and not become attached," he paused, glancing at Night Light's sorrowful face. "You know, we sat on that windowsill in the library. After your- Sandy- died. She told me not to blame myself."

"She seems pretty awesome." Night Light said, her voice cracking ever so slightly. Jack wondered if anyone had ever described her like that. The moment was ruined by the disgusting sounds of Bunny heaving over the side of the sleigh.

"Are- *insert heave*- we there yet? *insert heave,*" Bunny asked in between vomiting. North answered.

"Almost, Bunny. Try to keep the vomit outside the sleigh."

They all laughed at that. But it was a strained, nervous laugh. They where laughing for one another's sake. They were laughing to convince themselves that their crazy plan would work.

Upon their arrival in Burgess, the guardians hastily spilled out of the sleigh. They gathered Jaime up in the middle of a tightly knit group. They made their way slowly to the park, ready to swoop to the rescue.

Yeah, that's gonna work, Jack thought bitterly. If there was one thing he had learned in life, it was that nothing ever went according to plan.

So, they stood anyway, staring defiantly at the woods. Scanning the tree line, they spotted the first of Terralia's army.

A black panther, prowling out of the woods. How did they know it was Terralia's, you ask? It had radiation green eyes, that glowed green like headlights. It obviously wasn't a warrior, but a scout. Once he spotted them, it threw its head back with an earsplitting, blood-curdling yowl. It then turned tail and ran back to the woods.

"Get ready." Bunny said, his boomerangs unsheathing his boomerangs. Tooth and a small array of mini-teeth got in battle stance. North drew his swords, and Night Light's hands began to swirl with dream sand. Sandy's whips appeared in his hands. Jack brandished his staff. Jaime made a snowball, the most feared of all weapons.

That's when all the forces of nature broke loose.

The next hour was a whirlwind of colors and sounds, bodies flying everywhere, even the plants where fighting against the guardians. Jack lost sight of Jaime for a while, until he spotted him running to the well in the clearing, the sword of a fallen warrior in his hand.

It's not North's sword, Jack thought. North was, in fact, fighting a tiger right behind him. But all the fighting stopped when the woods exploded.

They didn't really explode, a bright green light shot from the well, giving the impression of an explosion. Jack could hear himself screaming, and leaping in the air and flying to the clearing.

Standing in the clearing, surrounded by a swirling green vortex, was Terralia. And Jaime had been thrown to the edges of the clearing, a silver dagger clutched in his hands. He went in to get the dagger! Jack thought. Jaime had known that without the dagger, they couldn't defeat Terralia. Or save Ashllyn.

Terralia threw back her head in deranged laughter. The whirlwind stiffened and solidified until it was almost a solid green wall surrounding her. Jaime picked himself up and brushed off. He looked a little worse for wear. His nose was bleeding, and he had a bruise on his cheek. He wrapped his hand around the dagger. He had a frightening look of steely determination in his eyes. It was a look that no nine year old should ever have.

Jaime was thrown to the ground after the explosion. He groaned and felt his nose. It hurt when he touched it. Definitely broken, he thought. His cheek also hurt where he had landed on it. The sword he had found was laying bent and useless in a bush. But the dagger was still wrapped firmly in his hands.

He stood up, wincing in pain. He gripped the dagger and took a deep breath. He remembered what Night Light had told him in private while they were making the mixture. Just don't think about anything. Just think about courage. Confidence. Let it fill you up. Then, you can do anything, she had said, looking him straight in the eye. He closed his eyes, and let his mind go blank. He felt nothing other than confidence. He forced all fear out of his body.

When Jaime opened his eyes, they were filled with determination and confidence. He braced himself, brandished the dagger and charged. He didn't feel the wind around him, nor did he feel the green whirlwind. He ran right through it.

Sometime during all of this, Night Light flew up on her dream sand cloud. She and Jack watched, horrified, as Jaime charged right through Terralia's vortex. They watched as he drove the dagger through her chest. Terralia let out a strangled gasp, and then looked disbelieving at the dagger in her chest.

Jaime was breathing heavily, and he let go of the dagger. His face had gone from confidence to horror to sorrow all in a matter of seconds. He fell to his knees beside Terralia. Night Light sped forwards, pulling Jack along with her. She touched down three feet from Jaime and Terralia. She and Jack rushed over to Jaime. Jaime had tears streaming down his face. Terralia's eyes had turned purple. She was Ashllyn again. Jack sat down and put her head in his lap. She was staring upwards, her eyes slowly losing their shine. She took a shuddering breath and looked directly at Jaime. She took his hand and held it tight.

"Hey, Jaime. Don- don't cry. You did good, kiddo. You did the r- right thing. I-I'm-" she stopped to take another shuddering breath. "I'm proud of you."

Jaime gave her a weak, tear stained smile. Night Light put her hand on Jaime's shoulder.

"I hate to break up this moment, but we don't have a lot of time," she took out a little gold pin from her pocket. It was glowing pink. "Jaime, when I say 'go', pull out the dagger. Okay, go." She said, gesturing for Jaime to pull the dagger out. He did, causing Ashllyn to gasp in pain. The dagger was covered with blood. Night Light quickly pinned the torn edges of her shirt together with the pin. The pinkish glow faded away, and seemed to make the blood glow pink.

Night Light pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and began to read from it.

"Rivers flow clean and pure, for every wound there is a cure. Stop the stream that flows so red, let her be alive, not dead. Save the one who bleeds, give her what she needs. Rivers flow clean and pure, for every wound there is a cure."

Jack and Jaime held their breaths waiting. Ashllyn hadn't said anything after talking to Jaime. Her breaths grew shallower and shallower, until they finally stopped. The usual glint in her eyes faded until they looked as dull as a toy's. Jack frantically searched for a pulse, only to find none.

He let tears stream freely down his face. He and Jaime looked at each other in disbelief. There was no stopping it, no explanation except for the cold, cruel truth.

Ashllyn Grace was dead.