*CLANG*

"AAGH!"

*THUNK*

Cassius opened his eyes. He was alive somehow, and without a knife buried in his gut. Suddenly Jack was by his side.

"Can you move?" He asked frantically. Cassius shook his head, his legs still unresponsive. Jack took the king's arm and threw it over his shoulder, dragging him to his feet.

"What happened?" Cassius groaned out, straining to pick his head up. A loud squawking filled his ears. He managed to catch a glimpse of Gunza swatting at the air, and a black shape swerving and diving around her.

"What is that?"

"The raven…" Jack said aghast.

Gunza screamed and managed to land a slap on the raven, knocking it aside. It righted itself midair, perching itself on Jack's shoulder.

Gunza huffed with frustration.

"ENOUGH!" She screamed "No more messing around!" She raised her arms, a howl escaping from her mouth. Hundreds of vultures dropped from the sky, filling all empty space until a sea of black covered the roof.

Jack could no longer see his friends.

'Pitch, please hurry up!' He thought.

Gunza threw her arm in their direction, her eyes blazing.

"KILL THEM!"

The horde of vultures charged forward. Jack gripped at his staff, prepared to fire back.

Just then, a tidal wave of gold fell from above, sweeping away the first few rows of vultures. Jack's head shot up. A hole had formed, as if someone unzipped the sky. Several feet away, a second one appeared. And another, and another. Finally, with all the anticipation, figures stepped out from each one.

"Sandman!" Jack shouted with joy. The short, golden man floated from the hole, followed by an army of sand animals. A booming laugh came from another one and North shot from it on his sleigh. He tossed two snow globes to the ground, yeti's filing out one after another. Edri stepped from the third, wielding a curved sword and dressed like an Egyptian warrior. Nymph and Helios emerged from the fourth, a swarm of giant butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and many others behind them. Finally, with a flock of sheep at her side, Ambrose appeared. Jack felt his heart swell and his shoulders sank with relief.

"Lord Hades!" Shouted a concerned scream. From the hole above them, two men layered in black armor leaped to the ground. They lifted Cassius off of Jack, bringing him to the ground where they knelt on one knee.

"My Lord are you alright?!"

Cassius chuckled, groaning as he managed to sit up. "I'll be alright, Turtwig."

"We were alerted that something was wrong." The other spoke up. "We and the others had feared something had happened."

"Haven't I told you before not to worry so much?"

"Wait a minute wait a minute," Jack waved his arms about. The three looked up at him.

"Turtwig?" Jack asked, confused. "As in your cat, Turtwig?!"

"That's right," Cassius nodded. "Cyndaquil and Turtwig co-captain the feline army of the underworld. They act as guardians and protectors."

Jack stared at the two soldiers now noticing a pair of cat ears sprouting from their heads.

"Crazy cat ladies everywhere are crying with jealousy."

Cassius tried to punch at his shins but his arm flopped heavily back to the ground. Turtwig and Cyndaquil each took an arm and hoisted him to his feet.

"We need to escort you away from the fight, my lord."

"Keep him close." A new voice said. Pitch had appeared beside him. "We'll need him the moment he's recovered."

The two guards exchanged glances and shrugged. They bounded away, bringing the king to safety. Around them, the fighting had begun. Idyss had achieved his canine form, fighting beside Ambrose. The Guardians and their armies brought down vultures by the number, Pitch had managed to bring Bunny's egg golems and Tooth's fairies. There were others too. He spotted a bright green suit of armor with a massive clover insignia engraved into the back. Holes appeared and disappeared in the ground, large rodents grabbing the nearest shadow and dragging them underground. Blazing pink arrows raining from the sky, winged kids in toga quickly aiming to fire again. An impossibly tall man with a flaming Jack-o-lantern for a head. Painted skeletons in colorful dresses and embroidered sombreros, an old hag with a giant burlap sack, a massive black horse with a headless rider. Hundreds had been brought here, many of which Jack didn't even recognize. He stared at the battle in awe.

"Sorry I'm late," Pitch said matter-of-factly. "Would have been faster but I had some feathers to collect."

"Couldn't have been better timing." Jack said with a grin.

"Well in that case it's good that I brought you this." In his hands, was a long black staff with a massive silver sickle extending from it. Thana's scythe. Jack stared at it.

"I don't understand…" he said. The raven squawked and Jack felt a sting as it nipped his ear.

"She's right, you know." Pitch said. "What is there to understand? Take it."

"I… it can't be that simple- OUCH! Fine! I'll take it!"

The raven had nipped his ear again. Pitch handed him the scythe, rolling his eyes at Jack's further hesitation.

"You wonder but it really is that simple." Pitch said, sinking away into his shadow. "You've been entrusted to end this."

Jack saw him reappear in the center of the battle. He whirled around his nightmare scythe, clearly enjoying himself with a terrifying smile on his face. At least six vultures were brought down in one swing. As the battle moved on, the air became hazy. Purple fires erupting everywhere from each defeated vulture. Jack glanced at the raven. The bird stared into his eyes, and he felt his sense of resolve grow. The bird took off and Jack followed.

The two were an odd fighting pair but somehow they paved a pathway through the chaos, barreling down enemies as they went. They left a purple trail of frozen vultures behind them. There was something strange however, as they swerved around allies. Within all the fighting, Gunza was nowhere to be found. Jack was beginning to think maybe she had managed to escape again. Summoning every vulture at her will would give her the perfect out.

"WATCH IT!"

Jack swerved violently to the left, crashing to the ground just as a vulture was tackled by a swarm of angry leaves. It hit the ground in a burst of purple. Ambrose hovered beside the winter spirit, puffing a strand of purple hair out of her face.

"I've definitely had enough of those things." She grumbled. Jack stared at the autumn spirit reflexively throwing his arms around her.

"Wha- Frost!" She shouted. Jack quickly let go, almost dropping Thana's scythe in the process.

"Sorry! Couldn't help myself." He smiled sheepishly.

Ambrose shook her head and smirked.

"You missed me, huh?"

"Idyss told me what happened. I was worried you were gone too."

Ambrose frowned and suddenly punched him in the shoulder. Jack grabbed his arm, surprised both at the punch and at how strong it was.

"After all these years and with everything we've been through, you think I'd be brought down by a couple of ugly, deformed birds? At least humor me a little bit." She slashed her crook, knocking two more vultures from the sky with a rolling gust of wind.

Jack smiled at her. A flash of movement caught the corner of his eye. Above them, Gunza appeared and disappeared from the clouds of the storm. Now Jack understood. She had been manipulating their surroundings, trying to gain an advantage. A hand on his shoulder brought him back for a moment. Ambrose gave him a determined look.

"Together?"

Jack nodded. With the raven leading the way, the two spirits flew through the air into the swirling clouds. They willed the wind as fast it would carry them. The storm battled against them, and a shriek of Gunza's laughter filled the wind. There were crashes of thunder and lighting, rain began to pour. At one point Jack was sure it was being directed against them. Giant stones of hail hurled towards them. Ambrose smacked them away, and Jack froze another bunch. Things came flying at them from all over. Ice, snow, rain, bolts of lightening. Jack and Ambrose flew back to back, blocking attacks from the storm and looking for the Hela.

"I CAN'T FIND HER!" Jack screamed over the storm.

"ME NEITHER!" Ambrose screamed back. "I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"Of course you don't!" Gunza's voice echoed around them. "The power I hold is too much for you to comprehend! I am everywhere and yet, you are blind!"

The spirits were slapped with a gale like a truck, knocking them both unconscious for a moment. Jack dizzily regained himself, grabbing Ambrose as she also woke up. Another wall hit them, throwing shards of hail along with it. Jack felt his face and neck split with cuts. He barely had time to think before it happened again.

Jack yelled, thrusting his crook. The next attack, a massive bolt of lightning, flashed faster than Jack could blink. It shouldn't have work, and yet the bolt froze and burst into a shower of ice. A wave of nausea almost caused him to black out a second time, but Ambrose held him up. Another shriek filled the wind, and for a moment, it sounded like a cry of pain. That's when an idea popped into Jack's head. He turned towards the wall of black, swirling clouds that surrounded the storm's eye. It looked familiar, similar in fact, to a certain dress of shadows.

"Ambrose!" He shouted. "The eye! She's there!"

"Go!" She shouted back.

Jack took off, and Ambrose spun, slapping a strong gust of wind to carry him. Jack yelled as he burst through the wall of clouds. The world turned white, Gunza hovering meters away. She growled, her whip and dagger appearing in her hands. Jack grabbed Thana's scythe with two hands, putting everything he could muster into it. All his rage, anger, sadness, hurt, confusion, every feeling he had. Gunza flapped her wings, the two on a head-on collision with one another. Jack raised the scythe, and swung.

The storm exploded. As Jack felt his body go limp, he realized that there was nothing in his hands. Not Thana's scythe, and not his crook. He couldn't see anything around him, everything was black. He felt himself plummeting, wondering what he ever did to the wind to deserve such a beating on the way down. He thought they were friends. The wind was not his friend in this case.