Hey guys! Soooo it's officially my last day of spring break (internally cries incessantly over my upcoming classes and impending doom). But anyway, here's Chapter 20! While I do have the story pretty much wrapped up on my laptop, I most likely won't be able to edit and publish as frequently as I have this past week because of classes starting again (so rude of the professors, making me choose actually passing classes over having fun posting stories XD). I'll try to post 2 chapters a month starting in April, but we'll see how well I actually stick with that schedule lol

Anyway, you know the drill. I do not own ROTG, just my OCs

"I NEVER should have trusted you!" Pitch roared.

After a gut instinct in the boogeyman told him to race back to Death Valley, upon all the Guardians' bidding - as well as Mother Nature's - he remained at their campsite in the Gobi Desert. It wasn't until a couple hours had passed when Tooth noticed Jack's absence that the others became concerned. As they began searching for the young winter spirit, Sandman encountered a mound of sand which remained frozen, which prompted Pitch to immediately shadow-travel to Death Valley.

He searched every inch of the deserted area, screaming Amberlynn's name, with no answer back. He even sent his entire team of Nightmares throughout the region to cover more ground. By the time the Guardians and Mother Nature all made it to the desert, they found Pitch kneeling down next to a mound of sand, which somehow managed to remain frozen. While in the Gobi Desert, where it was cold enough that they could pretend to reason the frozen sand was nothing, this was Death Valley. Even at night, the temperatures still manage to be too hot for many mortals to comfortably stay outside. There was no ignoring of who was responsible for this.

North stepped forward and consoled, "Pitch, I am sorry this-"

He didn't have time to finish that thought. Pitch swung around and placed a solid black dagger dangerously close against the throat of the Guardian. His eyes a pure silver rage, he growled, "Don't. You. Dare. Pretend. To understand." As the other Guardians drew their weapons, prepared to fight to save their friend, Mother Nature put her hand up in a silent plea to do nothing yet.

She walked toward the two spirits and gently placed a hand on the King of Nightmare's shoulders. She said nothing, but when Pitch spun his head and saw her, he loosened his grip and lowered his dagger away from North.

"I should have followed my instinct," he muttered. Mother Nature quietly warned, "Pitch…" He jerked his shoulder free of her touch and continued, "How did you even allow a bloody desert cloud to enter anywhere in California or Nevada?! This is your fault that she's gone. Every last one of you. I NEVER should have trusted you!"

In a fit of rage he threw his dagger as far and hard as he could, puncturing straight through a cactus which resided several yards away. "This is my fault that he's out there. I should have finished the job all those millenia ago! Guardians' code of ethics be damned! I shouldn't have let this play out like some democracy! I should have stuck with my instinct about how to trap him, how to end him, and most importantly how to protect Amberlynn from this godforsaken mess of a creature! And all of your fears screaming at me aren't helping anything either!"

Out of all the fears coming at him - fear of what was happening to Jack, whether Amberlynn was even alive (he loathed that fear the most), how would they defeat Lynx - one particular fear stuck out to him above the others. A fear he hasn't known ever while on this Earth.

Help me, Daddy. I don't know what to do now. I'm frightened. It was such a soft, quiet fear that Pitch knew Mother Nature wasn't even aware her subconscious had this fear. It was one he was more than familiar with as the boogeyman, seeing many children - and even adults - trapped in a particular situation that they can't seem to get out of and all they want is for their parents to come and make everything better.

It was such a pure, raw, emotional fear that it was one of the most satisfying to prey on against mortals, but he has never heard or felt such fear, such need for a parent...and for that fear to be directed towards himself, coming from Mother Nature. His own daughter. His baby girl. The King of Nightmares part of him relished to know he could bring such fear to one of the elder spirits, but the paternal side of him for all intents and purposes temporarily kicked the darkness to the curb. He was no fool to think she would want any consolation from him - especially lest he risk the Guardians finding out about their relationship - but his paternal instincts, something he never thought he'd feel again, screamed at him to make sure he had every intent of making things better again.

Rather than wrap her in a hug and never let her go, he settled for laying his hand against her shoulder and gently squeezing it in consolation, trying to let her know that everything's okay...even if nothing was.

But back to the matter at hand. How he longed to see his beloved's face again! He remembered after discovering her devious little secret, she took him with her to watch her magic in action. Her long, flaming red hair wrapped around one of her slender arms, her charcoal-grey eyes glowing with a pulse that matched the heat radiating from her hair, her freckly face scrunched up in devious concentration as she worked to cause a heat wave in Canada while she resided in Mexico...all for the sake of messing with Jack Frost. Wait a minute, Black! That's it!

"Amberlynn and Frost must be absolutely terrified right now!" Pitch said to no one in particular. Bunny snorted, "Oi, the King of Nightmares' astute sense of observation is absolutely astounding. What gave it away?"

"What I mean, Rabbit," he jibed back, "is that I can find where they are. Your fears are radiating way too loudly for me, but I'm certain your current fears are nowhere near as powerful as the fears either one of them must be facing right now. I can track them if I listen for their fears and, if I find them, I find Lynx…"

"And if we find Lynx, we can put an end to this madness once and for all," Mother Nature replied. Not one to make sure things haven't always been thought completely through, Bunny countered, "Except for one small problem. There are over 7 billion humans on this earth alone, not to mention the thousands of major spirits plus all the minor spirits and any of our little friends? How many hundreds of tooth fairies does Tooth have alone? How exactly do you plan to filter through every last one of those fears?"

Pitch rolled his eyes at Bunny's skepticism. "I don't ask you how or why you bribe children with eggs out of all possible gifts for Easter, so I don't expect you to ask me how or why I do my job. But the short answer I will give you is each person radiates fear differently, it's almost like a fingerprint. No two are exactly alike. So all I have to do is hone in on either Amberlynn or Frost's fears and I should be able to find them."

"And how do you know this will work?" Bunny challenged. "Yeah I caught that you said 'should work,' instead of 'will work.'" Pitch sent a glare Bunny's way, one that sent him just enough fear to twitch and lower his ears slightly in response. "Let's just say," Pitch replied, "that I know a spirit who has a similar skillset."