For an hour they had been flying. For an hour they had been searching the ground below them for any signs of life. And for an hour Katherine had been worrying over her dear friends. Were they alright? They had to be. Would she make it in time? She had to be. Couldn't- wouldn't believe that she couldn't help them. And with the astral boy leading the way she felt confident that they would be able to do something at the very least.
She was so deep in her thoughts that it had startled her when the boy of light suddenly dived downwards, his spear at the ready and glowing oh so very bright. The Himalayas were vast, all-encompassing and silent, for that was where they were at that moment. But that was all shattered by the arrival of a certain spectral boy as the moments that followed his arrival were a burst of action and noise.
Soaring after the boy of light, the reindeers all started to descend fast enough for Katherine to catch sight of the action between Pitch and the star child. If this wasn't such a dire situation, Katherine would have laughed.
In his defence, FrostLight's Nightlight instincts had kicked in the moment he had seen the shade throw away the small bodies of his doll-turned friends. Like a glowing meteor, he had slammed right into the side of the Djinni, sending the mechanical man bouncing away into the snow like a bouncing ball with quite a few very satisfying clank-clunks.
It wasn't until the Djinni had stopped bouncing did the light child regain his senses as he blinked a few times to clear the haze before wincing and cringing hard at the sight of the armoured shade. "Whoops…" was all he had said, thankful that everyone else was either too busy rescuing the fallen wizards or staring at the shade that had gone flying.
Katherine had landed quickly with the reindeers, sending the snow they had landed on to scatter. In an instant she had hopped off of the reindeer she was riding, running over to the two dolls laying in the ground before hastily picking them up and calling for another reindeer to her aid, hopping onto it just in time to see Pitch Stand once again.
" You! " Pitch snarled, scrambling to his feet just as his fearlings started to encompass them all. And, oh, FrostLight knew he had gotten onto the shade's nerves. Having his back turned to his friends, the spectral boy simply offered the shade a sheepish smile before gasping loudly in surprise as he pointed behind the Nightmare King.
That action instantly made the shade within the Djinni armour turn around to look at what the boy was pointing at. A lot of the fearlings doing the very same as their master. Seeing nothing, they all returned their gazes back to their target, only to realise they had managed to escape.
There was a moment of silence before Pitch let out a very loud, exhausted, and annoyed groan at being tricked like that. It wasn't even a moment later did he hear the echoing hysterical laughter in the winds, bouncing around the mountains.
FrostLight was laughing loudly, his tone full of mirth and mischief. "I can't believe that actually worked!" he exclaimed using his thinking talk the moment they had landed by the mouth of the cave, still giggling slightly. Katherine, too, had started to giggle at the memory of the event.
"I can't believe you flew right into him!" she giggled, still clutching onto the small frames of her friends as she led them into the cave, finding a place by the far corner.
Night was just starting to fall in the Himalayas but FrostLight's light was enough for her to properly inspect the predicament that her two friends were in, a frown starting to grow on her face as her eyes glided over their small, unmoving, and unresponsive forms as their laughter died down.
"North? Ombric?" She whispered, attempting to hold back tears at the sight, having the full weight of the situation laid bare in front of her now. "How can I save you…?" She whispered, now choking back tears.
FrostLight watched, his lips pursed in a tight line. He didn't know what happened to revert North back to normal, but he did know it had something to do with Katherine and her strong belief. In a way, it was like what happened with Jamie when he revived Sandy.
He observed the girl in front of him, his heart aching at the sight of her tears… how he so desperately wanted to reach out and wipe them away. But then he noticed it. The shift in her eyes that reflected an undying determination, allowing for a ghost of a smile to cross his face as he got up and headed for the entrance of the cave.
Dimming his light, FrostLight peeked outside, scanning the skies above and the darkened shadows for fearlings. There were many of course, Sandy was keeping the cave hidden and safe for now but he wasn't interfering too much just yet.
So it came as a surprise when a certain glowing figure came flying in like a cannonball into the cave, startling the reindeers and Katherine inside. In surprise, FrostLight whipped around to face the stout golden man that was struggling to get to his feet before rushing over to help him up.
"Sandy! Are you alright?" his thoughts were concerned as he helped up the golden man.
:I'm fine! But Pitch isn't!: Sandy exclaimed, looking down at his clasped hands where a tendril of black sand curled around the dreamweaver's wrist like a snake.
"What happened?!" his voice was urgent with a hint of fear and worry.
"The timestream is no longer the same." came an all too familiar voice, causing Katherine to gasp in fear and look around for the Nightmare King, her eyes scanning the entire cave before landing onto the small black mass in the Sandman's hands. And to her utter amazement, there stood a miniature version of the Boogeyman, except he was different. "We have failed."