Chapter 15:

Death dispatched the last of the ghouls with a gentle touch to the forehead; the thing fell with a low moan, almost sounding pleased as its body disintegrated to dust in the wind. Whenever Death wished it, he would expand and intensify his aspect so that anything that touched him died instantly, as was evidenced by the ring of dead grass about his feet. Raven was wisely keeping his distance, perched in a nearby olive tree.

The two were currently near Milan, Italy, where this latest batch of ghouls had been sighted.

Death drew his aspect back into himself, enough that he was able to assume a more human appearance, and looked to Raven. "There were no more ghouls aside from those nine, correct?"

Raven shook his head. "Those were all I saw."

"The necromancer must be close by, then. Those bodies were obscenely fresh, almost as if…,"

Death paused, examining the magical signatures close by. Then his lips drew back in a snarl.

"A summoning ritual. An incomplete summoning ritual, to summon and bind me!"

"You?!" Raven asked, wings fluttering in alarm. "Who would… Who in all the realms would be stupid enough to even attempt such a thing?"

"Or desperate enough," came a quiet voice from behind the two. Death turned to face the new figure in surprise.

"Hel? What are you doing in the Living World?" Death asked. "Are you trying to contact your father again? I told you that should you need assistance…,"

"It's not that," Hel responded quickly, meeting Death's eyes. To his alarm, her one good eye was shining with tears.

"Hel, dear one, what is wrong? Why are you raising…?"

"I'm sorry," the Norse Goddess whispered, raising her arms, one full, one skeletal, into the air.

"Konungur skugga, ég svara símtali, og binda á þennan stað anda dauðans. Hann skal ekki vera út af einhverju spara þér, ó Drottinn forn helvíti!"

Death could do nothing as manacles blacker than a moonless night fastened around his wrists; he shouted in pain as he felt his aspect bound as thin black chains looped themselves multiple times around his body and neck, fastening him to the place where he stood.

Panting, feeling the awful weight of the chains that bound him, Death raised his head to look at Hel, who was now crying freely, all but sobbing into her hands.

"You bound me... not in your name," Death wheezed as he struggled to raise himself to his full height.

"No being, not even a Ruler of the Dead, would be able to create chains like this. You bound me in the name of the Lord of Ancient Hell; what has my brother done, Hela?"

"I'm sorry," Hel sobbed. "I tried to warn you; the ghouls, I've been letting them free for centuries, small numbers at a time, to try to get you to turn your attention to Hell. It's Mephistopheles, he's… he…,"

Death, despite the fact that he was in the Living World, felt an awful chill run down his spine. "What has he done, Hel?"

"He's lost his mind. He's planning the Apocalypse; that's why he made those chains, why he made me bind you… He's ready to make his move."

Jack nearly hit his head on the ceiling of his cave home when Baby Tooth came whizzing into his cave home, chirping exuberantly.

"Baby Tooth! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed as the little fairy landed in his outstretched palm, rubbing her forehead against the pad of his thumb. After this brief greeting, she fluttered up above his hands a few inches and began gesturing madly toward the cave entrance and making other wild enunciations with her hands.

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down. You want me to… leave with you?"

A nod. More gestures.

"You want me to leave with you and… help the Guardians? Are you nuts? Bunny hates me, and after the thing at the Tooth Palace, I don't think the others will be too kindly disposed toward me either!"

The little tooth fairy frowned at him, crossing her arms.

Jack sighed. He was bored here, but he hadn't heard from Ming or the others about the situation with the ghouls.

Then a thought occurred to him. The Guardians didn't know what was going on with the ghouls; if they ran into a set, they'd need someone who would be able to summon a Reaper or preferably Death to deal with the problem.

"Fine. Lead on, Baby Tooth."

The Guardians, as it turned out, were busy collecting children's teeth in the little tooth fairy's stead. Jack had to admit it was kind of fun competing with Bunny (although North definitely won with his giant bag).

The only real moment of contention had occurred when Jamie, the little boy from Burgess Jack had taken notice of a few days ago, had acknowledged everyone except Jack. The frost spirit was used to it by now, but it still hurt when humans (the living variety; he was known to all the ghosts) didn't acknowledge him in the slightest.

Which was why Jack had quickly excused himself and gone in search of Death.

And the entity was nowhere to be found; Jack couldn't even sense him across the strange bond the two of them shared, which meant he was either in the Realm of the Dead or suppressing his aspect while he hunted for ghouls.

So Jack had flown to his next closest refuge; Tarrytown, otherwise known as Sleepy Hollow, in search of an old friend.

Jack was sitting in a tree in the Western Woods when the sound of galloping hooves had him looking up just in time to see a large black stallion with otherworldly red eyes go leaping over a log. His rider was crouched over his neck, dressed in black and silver armor with a thin white scar encircling the whole of his neck.

"Klaus!" Jack called as the pair landed. The Horseman's head lifted and he caught sight of Jack, then spurred his horse toward the frost spirit with a loud war cry. Jack smiled as he drifted to the ground while the pair galloped over, Daredevil skidding to a stop barely two feet from Jack's face. Prancing and snorting happily, the stallion pressed his nose into Jack's upraised palm.

"Hi, Daredevil! Sorry, I didn't bring any apples or carrots for you this time!" Jack said with a weak laugh.

"Jack, was machst du hier?" the Horseman asked.

"Ich fühlte mich einsam und ich konnte nicht Tod finden," Jack responded, still stroking Daredevil's nose.

Klaus frowned. "That is… troubling," the ghost said, switching to heavily accented English. "He usually comes when you call, yes?"

"Or flares his aspect so I can find him," Jack responded. "He was out hunting ghouls last I heard, though, so he could be staying low-profile to try and catch the Necromancer."

"Hmm," Klaus responded, but he didn't look entirely convinced. "What brings you to the Hollow, Jack Frost?"

Jack sighed, turning away from Daredevil and sitting down among the roots of a large, twisted trunk. "I was working with the Guardians…,"

"Why in all the Living Realm would you do that?"

"They need all the help they can get," Jack said with a small grin. Klaus gave a predatory smile that showed off his sharpened teeth and sent a small shiver down Jack's spine.

"Anyway, you know the trouble they've been having with Pitch Black? Well, Pitch kidnapped Tooth's fairies and I went out to help them collect children's teeth. North accidentally woke up one of the kids… Jamie, someone I actually know… and, well… you know… he couldn't see me."

Klaus made a sympathetic sound; as one of North America's most powerful ghosts, he was visible to any human that crossed paths with him. He more often than not found it annoying, but he understood that it was Jack's long-held wish to be noticed by someone other than the Horsemen, ghosts and Reapers.

A loud yell from up in the sky drew the attention of both spirits; they were met with the sight of North's sleigh in the process of being surrounded by Pitch's Nightmares.

At that same moment Baby Tooth came streaking out of the sky toward Jack, twittering happily, then shrieking in alarm when she caught sight of Klaus and Daredevil.

"It's okay, Baby Tooth! It's okay! They're friends!" Jack shouted up to her. Klaus rolled his eyes and Daredevil snorted in amusement.

Thus reassured, Baby Tooth flew down right into Jack's face and began tugging at his hoodie, trying to get him up into the air, all the while chirping madly.

"You guys followed me? Why?" Jack asked in disbelief. Baby Tooth glared at him, crossing her arms and chirping furiously.

"I'm serious! You guys have never paid me any mind before! Why start now?"

"Warum, tatsächlich?" Klaus muttered. Baby Tooth probably didn't understand German, but she must have gotten the gist of it because she turned to the (formerly) Headless Horseman and chirped angrily. Klaus grinned at her, baring his sharpened teeth again and meaningfully laying his hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip.

"All right, knock it off you two! I'll go help them, Baby Tooth, but not because I want to join them!"

I am so, so sorry for taking so long to update, everyone! Midterms and life in general got in the way, but hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently between now and finals. R&R, everyone!

German translations:

Jack, what are you doing here?

I was feeling lonely and couldn't find Death.

Why, indeed?