Enjoy!

A sudden screech echoed through the twisted halls of darkness; Jack lifted his head as Tooth sprang up to her feet, fists clenched.

"I guess you heard that too?" The spirit whispered, and the fairy nodded. He pushed himself into a standing position, wincing, and strained his ears to listen again.

"There!" Tooth whispered as another screech, louder than the last one, cut through the silence. Jack cursed and limped over to her, pulling up his hood.

"They're coming." He expected Tooth to gasp, or show some fear, but as purple, fierce gaze met his, Jack only saw determination flash through her mind.

"I'll help you fight them." Tooth gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tighter until the spirit could see the whites of her knuckles.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You know just as well as me that these nightmares are the worst. You haven't had enough believers in probably years."

"I don't care!" Tooth whispered loudly. More whines came from outside. "Your hurt, and I can still fight!" Jack stared at Tooth for a minute, then shook his head in defeat.

"Fine." He said and could feel a grin itching to form on his face. The fairy looked comical, with hands on her hips and her lips pursed. It was a look a mother would give to her disobedient child, and in any other situation he would already be laughing. He picked up his sword and headed towards the door. "I don't intend for us to fight our way out though."

"How will we get out then?"

Jack grinned and changed his sword back into his staff.

"We'll skate out."

Tooth laughed.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Nope. You ready?"

"Always."

—

Jack weaved through the horses, concentrating on the ice he was creating across the floor in front of him. Surprisingly, his plan was working so far and they were almost to the entrance of the 'lair'. Jack was just thinking of what to do next when his injured leg collapsed beneath him again. Luckily, he was now directly under the tunnel that lead to the outside, where Raven was waiting.

"You need to get up!" Tooth's voice whispered close to his ear as she began to pull him up from under his armpits. He could hear the horses coming closer, whining in anger and excitement. "I'm not leaving without you…come on!" The spirit pulled himself unsteadily to his feet, closing his eyes to stop the room spinning.

"Hold on to me." He said urgently.

"What?"

"Trust me." Tooth nodded and and hung onto him. Jack smiled. "I am right in thinking you can't fly?"

"Yes…What has that got to do with- Oh!" The fairy understood what he was about to do. "Be careful."

"Funny…that was the same thing I was going to say to you." Jack joked, grinning, then allowed the wind to scoop him into the air. He could hear the nightmares jumping to pursue him and desperately scanned the ground for Raven Wing.

"You can't go fast enough to escape them…you don't have to let me fly with you…I'm slowing you down."

"They catch up with me when I'm at my quickest anyway." Jack reassured.

There!

The spirit finally saw Raven. The stallion was running underneath him, whining urgently. Tooth heard his calls too, and looked underneath her feathers.

"There's one of them under us…" she warned him. Jack smiled at her.

"He's fine- he's with me." He answered and slowed down, making it easier for Raven to run underneath him.

"With you?!"

"Yeah…" Jack answered distractedly, still eyeing the stallion.

"Is there any point to ask how?" Tooth said.

"I'll explain later…" The spirit dropped from the air suddenly and began to plummet to the ground. The nightmares, confused by the sudden change, tried to follow but they were moving too quickly- they had to double back then dive, and by the time they did so the spirit was a few metres ahead of them.

Tooth gasped and cling onto him harder as she felt her grip beginning to loosen.

"What are you doing?!"

"Getting outa here!" Jack watched as Raven moved directly under him, waiting to catch. "Hold on!"

Jack waited until he was a few metres away from the ground, then grasped Raven Wing's mane and swing himself and Tooth onto his back. Tooth yelled in surprise as she was shoved against the stallion's neck; the spirit smiled slightly then turned to look behind him.

The nightmares shrieked as they made contact with the ground; two of them turned into dust on impact. The others were uncoordinated and confused; Jack took it as a queue to go and nudged Raven with his heel gently.

"Time to go." He muttered. Raven gave a short nod then raced through the woods, jumping over tree roots and stray rocks.

"This horse…he's amazing…" Tooth said as she traced the frost patterns on his neck. Jack smiled.

"Thanks…all I did was-"

A shriek of rage cut him from his explanation; the spirit spun around and saw that one surviving nightmare was now giving them the chase, eyes blazing furiously.

"That is one pissed nightmare." Jack muttered. He patted Raven. "Keep running!" The stallion resumed its fast pace as Jack reformed his weapon into the bow again, creating at arrow with his free hand. He ignored Tooth's gasp, instead focusing on the head of the nightmare.

Wait for it…come on…almost…the spirit narrowed his eyes, pulling the arrow back harder.

Now!

He released and the arrow reached its target in milliseconds, directly above the nightmare's eyes. The horse gave out a pained shriek and turned into black dust.

"That was amazing!" Tooth complimented, looking back at the pile of dust. Raven Wing slowed down to a trot as they emerged from the trees and into the lake clearing.

Jack blushed slightly.

"Not really…it was just luck…" He stammered.

"That wasn't luck." Tooth said, smiling. "How can you change your weapon like that?!"

"It's new to me too…I dunno…" Jack though back. "It just happened one day." Raven came to a halt on the edge of the frozen lake and crouched down so the two guardians could slide off. Tooth did so first, patting Raven briefly before offering a hand to Jack. The spirit grinned and gratefully took it, using is as a support for his damaged leg. Despite the extra support, his leg still gave a sharp burst of pain as it touched the ground and the spirit let out a painful hiss.

"We need to treat that." Tooth said as Jack felt the pain numb a little.

"I'm fine."

"Don't start." Jack rolled his eyes but couldn't stop the grin forming on his face. Tooth smiled back, laughing slightly as the spirit raised an eyebrow.

"Is there anywhere to go? Apart from a lake?" Tooth questioned.

"Wait!" Jack fished around in his coat and brought out a snow globe.

"Is that-?"

"Yeah…I stopped off at the Pole before hand…Phil gave it to me."

"I thought the pole had been abandoned" Tooth said. Jack nodded.

"It is. But some yeti have managed to survive." Jack through the snow globe onto the ground and a bright purple portal appeared a few feet ahead of them. "This globe takes us to the Pole." Jack added. Tooth nodded and let the spirit lean on he shoulder.

"Raven- come on." Jack called back to his horse.

"Nice name." Tooth commented. "It suits him."

"Thanks." Raven Wing trotted forward curiously and sniffed at the portal for a few seconds.

"You just step through." Jack explained to the stallion. It hesitated for a few more seconds then slowly stepped through the portal.

"Hope no one attacks him." Jack muttered as he and Tooth moved towards the portal. The spirit stumbled slightly and the fairy help him regain his balance.

"We better go then." She said. Jack smiled.

"Ladies first." Tooth snorted.

"You think I'm leaving you to walk though a portal on your own?"

"I'm not an old man!"

"I wasn't saying you were." Tooth smiled and gestured towards the portal. Jack grinned back and they both stepped through together, their strides in sync.