Canto XIX

"And I was told about this torture, that it was the Hell of carnal sins when reasons give way to desire."

-Dante Alighieri-

Pitch Black's giggle reverberated around the walls of his lair. He was sitting on the top of the Globe that emitted thousands of ominous golden dotted lights, each representing a child who believes in the guardians.

His bony fingers flipped the pages of the book at a rapacious pace. His eyes were devouring the information, for the object belongs to the Blue Guardian. He was thrilled, the book was emitting a powerful aura which his pale skin had caught and made him shiver in delight. The force, coming from the object, was tremendous and God-like.

"I can't believe...that the purpose of this book was like that. It was all wasted if he continued using this... for his reclusive purposes." He spat bitterly, judging the Blue Guardian rudely. The Nightmare King then took out his new weapon, the so called 'Apple of Eden', from the depths of his pockets and shone its light on the pages. He smiled devilishly as a dark idea cast its devious shadows on his head.

"Let's try then…" the black Guardian raised the apple with his left hand and the book with his right and commanded. "I want the children-no- the people of the world to forget the Big Four Guardians!"

Pitch watched with triumphant eyes as the Apple let out bright golden light. Since he knew that the ability of the object was to manipulate the minds of the people, he commanded without hesitation. The golden light then focused on the pages of the book and beamed its light. The Nightmare Guardian peeked at the pages and he was delighted. It was working: the golden light bathed each of the names of children and adults, defeating the once green hue of the book.

"Is it working?"

The Nightmare Guardian clicked his tongue after he heard the familiar Irish accent of the Shadow Man standing below the Globe. His presence had disrupted his excitement. He peered below and cackled.

"Yes! It was! Now…" his grin beamed at the man as he added. "Let's pay Haytham a visit, shall we?"

The darkness around me seemed to stretch forever. I knew this place already for I'd stayed here for a long time. And yet right now the whole place had creeped me out. It became new to me.

Maybe because I finally got my memories back, I finally knew who I was...and how monstrous I was.

I let out a slow, sad sigh. I recalled all of my memories, all of the people whom I'd met when I was still an earthling, a human. My father was killed for a stupid cause, the woman I loved, Ziio, was gone. She was killed when her Native village was attacked and burned down by some American soldiers.

I should've been there. I should've rescued her...so I could have had a family. Maybe if I've done that, Connor would've been a member of my order. He would've worked for me and we might have succeeded.

However...that was very impossible. It was too late for me to be a loving father with paternal feelings, it was too late for me to feel and accept love from Ziio. And if my Father was watching me right now, he would be ashamed of me. Because, all throughout my life, all throughout my living years, I killed and killed and killed. It's too late for me to be innocent. Jack Frost was right about something. Innocence makes a human, human. A human that I don't think I can be. I no longer have innocence.

"I certainly will never become a Guardian…" I said with bitterness. What I've said was correct and so I've decided. "It's time for me to break away."

Haytham's eyes slowly opened. The brown ceiling greeted him silently but then his ears caught loud snoring sounds to his left. He turned and was dismayed by the familiar face of Bunnymund, which was formed in a ridiculous and disgusting form, greeting him. His annoying snore made the Blue Guardian sit straight up on his futon. He glanced around, seeing that he was in the room where scrolls with different Japanese motivating words were hanging on the wall. He also saw the familiar sight of the sliding door where the shadow of the Sakura tree was cast.

He then turned to his right and saw the other Guardians, all of which were sleeping soundly and snoring loudly. The Blue Guardian stood up, with a dreaded grunt from his disturbing arising, and stretched his arms.

"That good night sleep wasn't good at all…" Haytham said with disappointment. Before he slept last night, the Guardians made a pillow fort and began telling scary stories which almost escalated to a pillow fight. Good thing he was there lying on the futon; his frustrated presence made them stop. His eyes then changed to a serious one as he stared at Jack Frost. His feelings and all of his memories suddenly came back, restoring what he had felt back from that place, the ritual.

"Jack...I admire your optimism but...you're wrong." Haytham criticized Jack as he recalled all of his words that he said to him. Those words that gave him an odd sense of hope, he began to erase them. He knew who he was and it was very unpleasant. He really couldn't become what they wanted him to be. A Guardian.

"Those words...are not for me...but I thank you for your thinking that I still had kindness and innocence in me…" he paused as he saw the winter Guardian groan and shift under his covers.

Haytham, not planning to wake the boy, walked away and exited the room. Jack's presence had begun to question his future actions. No matter how he tried to erase the words that he had said, it always made him felt light and peaceful and somehow human again.

Haytham slid the door shut and turned around and saw the beautiful Sakura tree. He stared at it; its beauty had never decreased. The tree was still pink and glowing thanks to the fireflies above above the tree, still flying and illuminating the earth ceiling of the Shrine's place.

"Beautiful as ever…" he murmured with amazement. The tree had reminded him of the forest that he saw in his memories together with the Mohawk woman. He suddenly shifted his gaze away in trepidation. The memory had caused him a longing feeling which he had already erased. No, not now...he mentally whispered, disillusioning himself. Haytham tried to erase her and the feeling that he dreaded not to feel again. And that was loneliness and for some reason he was sick of it.

"Haytham?"

He turned around after he heard a woman's voice. His blue eyes met the beautiful dark silver eyes of Lady Tsukiyomi standing with a soot sprite in her right hand. Her beautiful, dazzling black kimono with oriental floral design fluttered as she moved towards him.

"Oh, Tsukiyomi-san…" Great...just when can I be alone...Haytham mentally clicked his tongue in amazement. He wanted to be alone but they still had ways of finding him.

"Are you alright? You seem to be pale as a ghost."

"Ghost? Please, isn't that what we are…? We're all already dead, yet we live and breathe...aren't we the same as them?" Haytham smiled.

The Japanese Guardian smiled and simply said, "But we're higher than them…" she turned to her right side and glanced at the tree. "Say...how was your memory? Do you remember who you were before you became a Guardian?"

The question made the Grandmaster cast a serious face. The question put him off but he recovered quickly as he replied. "Yes."

"Then who were you before you became what you are right now?" the Japanese Guardian asked smoothly. However to Haytham, her tone sounded interrogative. He glared to his left. Not now...try not to think of killing her...Haytham's dark thoughts loomed. He was planning to kill the woman if she asked again but, he hated to admit, he was in a disadvantage. The Guardians were many, defeating them would only have a fifty-fifty chance of survival for the Blue Guardian, and he was weak because of the ritual last night.

"I'm...a good man," Haytham lied as his face formed a calm, soft smile. "I had a good life," he added.

The door to the bedroom behind him opened and made him stop. Jack Frost and Aiden Pearce came out. The winter Guardian was still yawning and scratching his eyes, appearing sleepy and tired.

"Oh morning Haytham," Jack said as he smiled.

"Good morning,"

"Good Morning Prisoner," Aiden said and Haytham only frowned. The detective was still sharp as ever despite his green eyes showing signs of exhaustion.

"Oh, Aiden, morning. Glad you woke up earlier than me," the Blue Guardian said sarcastically, irritated by his remarks earlier.

"Glad you're still breathing despite that severe stroke you experienced last night, despite your old age," Aiden returned. and This made the man aggravated but he controlled his temper.

Interesting...I'll kill you last. Haytham thought as he eyed Aiden condemningly.

Jack, uninterested in the conversation, made a large yawn. He then raised his right hand in order to summon a small snow flake, a habit that he learned to do as he woke up every morning. However, today was different.

"What…?" a confused look grew on Jack's face. Nothing formed in his hand. He tried and again nothing. His face morphed into a panicked one. He let out a gasp of fear for it could only mean one thing.

"Haytham...everyone…"

Haytham let out a grunt and turned around to look towards him, troublingly. The boy disrupted his wonderful talk with Aiden.

"What is it?"

"I think...I lost my power." The Blue Guardian was puzzled by what the frightened winter Guardian said.

Aiden exclaimed, "You're right," The Watchdog was pointing his Dominator gun behind Haytham who clicked his tongue in displeasure after his eyes landed on the weapon. He found the dangerous object disturbing.

"Great Aiden, will you please say something before you point that thing-"

"My gun can't read you… or him," Aiden's startled tone confused the Blue Guardian more. How can that be when his gun was powered by millions of people who know how to tell the truth? Haytham looked down again at the weapon, but the only thing that he noticed was that the gun was no longer emitting a sky blue glow, like it was turned off.

He smirked. "Aiden, have you tried turning it off and back on again?" Haytham said with an arrogant tone as he watched Aiden's face change into a worried one. Finding the gun's current status made him somehow relaxed because the detective could no longer threaten him.

"No...its-" Aiden was cut off when the door behind him opened and North burst in, panting heavily.

"Lads!" North hurriedly went to them and quickly took out the small globe from his yukata pocket. The object was emitting golden lights, just like the big globe back at the North Pole.

"What's that, North?" Jack asked, bewildered by the strange object.

"This? Small version of the globe back in' me workshop, it shows believers. Now look at it, they're disappearing!" North said in a panic. The guardians looked and, true to old Man's words, the lights were disappearing. It was a sign that the children's belief in the guardians were diminishing at a terrifying rate.

"What's happening, North?" Jack asked worriedly as Lady Tsukiyomi noticed something on the floor and looked down. A soot sprite was squeaking on the wooden floor, haphazardly.

She picked it up and listened, her eyes becoming alert. "Everyone," the Guardians turned to her as she spoke in a serious tone, "we've got company." She said as the Blue Guardian smirked. Finally action would happen! He was already bored staying idle in this place.

North, Jack and Aiden nodded to each other, preparing themselves for the battle. "I'll wake Bunny up," North said as he walked back to the room.

Jack, on the other hand, asked the woman, "Where are our weapons...?"

"Indeed," Haytham supported, a pleasant smile was spread on his face, excited for the battle.

"What do you mean, company? How do they even know that we're here?" Bunny, stretching and yawning, asked tiredly.

"I don't know. Just prepare, we have no time to think of anything," North said grievously. He took his clothes from the soot sprites on the floor.

"North...we gotta at least form a strategy," Bunny suggested after he recalled the previous battle that he had witnessed one day ago. It was unpleasant for it took one of their comrade's lives. "We can't aimlessly defend ourselves," he said simply but he only saw North flinging his cloak on his back, jumping into his pants and suiting up. Snapping due to the frustration of ignoring his trivial suggestion, the Rabbit shouted in anger. "North we must think of something or else one of us might die today!"

"I am thinking! I am not stupid enough to command you all to attack without any plan!" North's angry eyes glared at Bunny. The Rabbit Guardian was startled for he had not seen that expression on the Old Man's face for a long time. He wasn't the type of a man to show that particular emotion.

"Bunny...at least have faith in me," North relaxed his face, calming himself down. The Rabbit Guardian was baffled by what he had said and reflected on the words that he threw at him. He began to feel guilty. He was his friend and yet he doubted him because he was scared that one of them might die.

"I'm sorry North...I'll wake Tooth up…" Bunny glanced away shamefully and hopped towards the next room.

"Thank you for that." Jack smiled as he took his blue hoodie, brown distress pants and his staff from the soot sprites on the floor of the hallway. He entered the large bedroom where the Guardians had previously slept. He was surprised when he saw Haytham inside. The man had just finished putting on his pants and his back was shown to the Winter Sprite.

"Yes, Jack, what is it?" Haytham called without turning around, sensing the boy behind him.

"Nothing...what's with your back? It's full of scars," Jack asked, puzzled and in awe. He was enthralled by the Blue Guardian's well built, muscular physique despite his age. The scars, however, made him feel a bit uneasy and he started to doubt what Haytham had said about him having a good life. Those scars negated it because it all looked like he was always in a fight with swords. The man had clearly didn't have a good life for he looked like he was clashing swords with someone constantly while he was still alive.

"Oh this...it's nothing. I fell on a horse once while I was still alive." Haytham poorly lied but the winter sprite just shrugged it away. He put on his white shirt and red vest and then his blue cloak.

A couple of soot sprites slid the door open and entered. They were carrying his sword and his gun. The Guardian took it and equipped it. He turned around and saw Jack had finished putting on his pants and blue hoodie. The boy took his staff and swung it on his shoulder, smiling.

"We have long day ahead of us, don't we?" he asked Haytham who made a smile.

"Indeed...better together on this, isn't that right?" The Blue Guardian fluttered his blue cloak, readying himself for the battle. He unsheathed his sword and looked at its shiny blades before uttering with grave voice, "Better together...for now."

Above Mt Fuji

The early morning sun slowly rose up from the horizon, bathing the majestic mountain with glorious light. The sky was blue and peaceful for there were birds gliding passively with their wings stretched wide. The air was cold but calm.

However the birds in the sky were quickly dispersed and flew away, sensing danger ahead of them. Right in the sky, creating unholy buzzing sounds, was a large gray cloud. It would look like it was a normal heavy cloud but if someone looked close enough they would see that it was made and ran by a horde of black nightmare horses.

Pitch Black, riding on one of black horses, was leading the whole nightmare horse armada with a devilish grin on his face. His nightmarish amber eyes stared down at the crater of the beautiful mountain ravenously.

"This is the place...right?" he asked the Shadow man who was riding a nightmare horse.

The man moved beside him, bearing his two coloured mask, and said, "Yes."

"Hold still willya!" Monkey King and the Babadook, both riding on a single horse, struggled to keep the horse afloat. They moved beside Pitch and the Primate grinned disastrously.

"Heh...time to wake them up. You're quite lucky that you found them, eh?" he grinned at the Shadow Man.

The Shadow man just turned to him and said, "I don't have luck...I make my own luck."

Yay! Finally Updated! This might be a short one since I'm planning a major battle on the next chapter. Special thanks to Janazza and Noon30ish for proofreading. :)