Author's Note: I know, I know! I'm SO late. And I'm very sorry about that. The last few weeks have been hectic. I'll save you my excuses. I just want you guys to know that no matter how long it takes me to actually post a chapter, I WILL finish this fic and it will NOT be abandoned. I promise. That said, onto the reviews!

As for the Guardians reminding me of The Avengers, I am sad to say that my Avenger knowledge is extremely limited. I saw the first Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk.. uh.. and that's about it. Mostly I like reading Guardian/Avenger crossovers where Jack is involved getting in their way somehow, and then they either join forces to battle Pitch or some such thing. But I guess I can see the Guardians as super heros. :)

To the reviewer that suggested that Jack and Lillian have a little angst and grow apart, that is actually a good idea. I'm not sure where that will pop up, but I think I will fit that in somewhere.

Anywho, this chapter is sadly somewhat short, but I felt so guilty I just had to get SOMETHING out for you guys. I kinda left it on a cliffhanger to be evil, I admit. I'm going to be really busy this weekend, but I'll try and fit in an update soon. My long absence of posting let me think a bit about where the fic is going though, so I have an idea or two to post. Anyway, thanks for all your reviews, faves, etc and enjoy! Oh! Also, time backs up a little bit as usual when Pitch is involved. Hopefully it isn't too confusing!

Chapter Sixteen: Attack on Tooth Palace

Pitch grinned to himself as he gazed at his own personal globe. Soon all those bright little lights would shine only for him. His plan was perfect!

He heard a whinny in the background from one of his Nightmares and was thankful that Lillian seemed to be out, so she wouldn't hear.

His grin faded as he thought about it. Wasn't it time for Lillian to be home? It wasn't spring, so she didn't have special permission to be out so late. With a frown, he wandered off to Lillian's room.

Her things were strewn all over and it was difficult to tell from the state of her room if she had been there recently or not. He remembered she always kept her room so neat. When had her room gotten so messy?

His frown deepened as he searched all over his lair for her, turning up nothing. Soon however, his concern turned to anger. How dare she defy him like this?! She knew the rules!

Angrily, he stormed over to the room that the Nightmares were kept and summoned one out of the room.

"Find Lillian," Pitch hissed angrily at the nightmare.

He hadn't realized, but his temper was always close to the surface now. He also didn't realize that it seemed to be driving away the very person he had wanted to keep close.

He stormed back to his globe room to wait, ignoring the Christmas tree in the corner. He had almost not gotten one this year, as he was so busy with his planning, but after snapping at Lillian and seeing the hurt expression on her face, he had instantly caved.

He tapped his fingers on a surface as he impatiently waited.


The Nightmare in question had gone to the surface and soon picked up the trail of Winter and Spring, who so often went hand in hand. It stuck to the shadows, moving around very steathily.

Soon it spotted the signs that the Sandman was near, as it spotted the golden sand. It also spotted one Winter and Spring spirit, playing around with the golden strands. As something caught the Winter Spirit's attention, the Nightmare followed after.

Before long, the Winter Spirit was unceremoniously grabbed and shoved into a sack, then tossed into a magic portal.

The Spring Spirit was left behind, looking very forlorn. The Nightmare waited to see if anything else would happen before it reported back to its master.

Sure enough, the Sandman showed up and after a very silent conversation, the Sandman and the Spring Spirit took off in the air.

The Nightmare pawed the ground nervously as it watched. Its master wasn't going to like this.

Not at all.


Pitch started pacing around the globe room as he waited impatiently. He was on his fourth pass when finally the Nightmare returned. He twirled his fingers in the Nightmare's mane, as the images of what it saw flashed before him.

He clenched his fist around the black sand, causing the Nightmare to whinny in discomfort, but he didn't notice.

She was with them.

So was Frost, that traitor!

He glared venemously at his globe of belief.

He hadn't wanted to start his plan so early, but apparently now was the time.

The Guardians would pay for taking his Lillian away.

He would get her back.

Then he would destroy them all.


Jack was staring around North's workshop in utter confusion. Not only had he just climbed out of the sack he had been tossed through a portal in, but now North and Tooth were grinning at him, while Bunny looked impassive.

"Uh.." Jack said a little nervously, while he held his staff.

Thankfully that seemed to have gone with him when he was tossed in the sack.

"Sandy will be here soon," North boomed out with a grin. "Then we start!"

"Start what?" Jack asked, but shortly after that, Sandy arrived.

Sandy's plane touched down in the workshop and two figures climbed out from the plane. One was Sandy, and the other was a very windswept..

"Lil - " Jack started, but North interrupted, not noticing that there was another guest.

"Now, we start!" North waved grandly at the elves and suddenly music burst forth as it started to look like a three-ring circus in the workshop.

There were even elves juggling flaming torches!

Jack's eyes widened at this and he backed away from the fire.

Who thought that was a good idea?!

Lillian noticed Jack's discomfort and decided to help him out. She tried to walk over to him, but all the various elves were in the way.

She tried to wrestle her way through the crowd, but soon Jack's discomfort turned to anger.

Who were the Guardians to just shove him in a sack and torment him with flaming torches?!

"Enough!" Jack slammed his staff down on the ground, causing a cold wave of frost to cover all the elves.

The torches were blown out and everyone fell silent.

"What is all this?!" Jack demanded, glaring at North.

"This?" North grinned at Jack. "This is ceremony! You are now one of us. You are a Guardian!"

North gestured at the elves around them.

"Music!" he called.

The elf band started up again, but Jack put his foot down.

"No music!" he glared at the elves, who stopped. One was so upset that it threw its horn down on the ground and walked away sulkily.

"Of course music!" North said, still oblivious to Jack's anger.

"Who says I want to join you guys anyway?" Jack huffed as Lillian drew nearer.

Lillian wasn't too happy about wading through the crowd of elves and was wishing that she were just a little taller. She was taller than the elves, but their stupid pointy hats were around the same size as she was, and it was hard to see where Jack was.

"You know what?" Bunny looked around at the other Guardians. "I think we dodged a bullet. What does he know about making kids happy?"

Jack clutched his staff a little closer as hurt entered his eyes.

Fed up with elf-wading, Lillian shoved and kicked her way to the front.

"Stop picking on Jack!" Lillian stormed over to the Easter Bunny and kicked him right in the shin. "He knows a lot about making kids happy! More than YOU."

Bunny looked stunned that the child spirit was there, and she kicked him!

"Hey, sheila - " Bunny started.

"The name's LILLIAN," Lillian glared at him. "And I thought you were nice 'cuz you and the other Guardians got us gifts for Christmas!"

"I - " Bunny started again, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. How was it that this.. this.. kid was telling him off?

"Well.. Well.. This is what I think of you," she said and then stuck her tongue out at Bunny.

She stomped over to Jack and slipped her hand into his, giving it a comforting squeeze.

Jack looked torn between being hurt over Bunny's remarks, amused at Lillian telling Bunny off and grateful that she stuck up for him.

He settled on quietly telling her thanks, while the other Guardians stared at the pair of spirits with their mouths open.

All except for Sandy that is. Sandy gave Lillian a thumbs up before he nudged North and raised an eyebrow at him.

North got the hint to take Jack aside.

"Jack, why don't you walk with me?" North asked.

Lillian narrowed her eyes distrustfully at North. Apparently their kidnapping of Jack and how Bunny was lowered her opinion of most of the Guardians.

Sandy walked over by Jack and Lillian. A picture of a happy face appeared over his head and he gave the pair a thumbs up to indicate that everything would be alright.

He gently grabbed Lillian's other hand and pulled her away from Jack, so that Jack could walk over by North. Sandy made a shooing motion at Jack and then gave him a gentle smile.

Jack nodded at Sandy and hooked his trademark smirk on his face for Lillian.

"Be right back," he told her.

"If you're longer than ten minutes, I'm sending a search party," she told him seriously.

Jack chuckled at that and followed after North.

After the two had gone Tooth flew over by Lillian.

"Oh my gosh, you are SO adorable!" she gushed at Lillian, who was looking uncomfortable at all the attention.

Tooth flew into Lillian's personal space to examine her teeth.

"Your teeth are perfect," she exclaimed.

Lillian tried to reply, but for reasons unknown to her, the Tooth Fairy had stuck her fingers in her mouth.

Seeing that Bunny wasn't jumping to the rescue (he was probably still upset about the whole kicking thing), Sandy pulled Tooth away from Lillian while giving Tooth a look.

Tooth grinned sheepishly at Sandy before looking back at Lillian.

"Sorry about that, I tend to get a little carried away." she said.

"Hmph," Lillian replied. "Why did you kidnap Jack?!" she demanded while glaring mostly at Bunny.

"Hey, the Man in the Moon picked Jack to be a Guardian, alrigh'?" Bunny said, sounding defensive. "And the sack idea was North's! I was just goin' along with the plan. It was the fastest way of gettin' him to the Pole."

Lillian rolled her eyes at this.

"HELLO, you could've ASKED him to go with you! Why'd you have to be all mean!" she exclaimed while glaring at Bunny some more.

Bunny's ears drooped a little as he realized that she did have a point.

"Jack thought you guys were getting along better and you forgave him for '68! Then you go and KIDNAP him and be all mean! Meanie head!" she said, while reverting back to her six year old vocabulary.

It was strange, but even though she'd been alive for over thirty years, sometimes she seemed to act more childish. Perhaps it was because she was forever trapped in a child's body, but something about her refused to completely mature.

Bunny opened his mouth to say something, but one of Tooth's fairies flew into the workshop before making a beeline for Tooth. The fairy frantically began tweeting at Tooth and she gasped.

"Oh no! There's trouble at the Palace!" she exclaimed.

"What is it, Sheila?" Bunny asked, looking concerned.

"Pitch is attacking my fairies!" she said, hovering in the air looking very distressed. "I have to go!"

Lillian gave a huge gasp as Tooth flew off with her fairies.

Pitch was attacking the Tooth Fairy's palace?

Lillian stared at the place where Tooth left with wide eyes. What was going on?

She flinched when a furry paw landed on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll get 'em," Bunny said in what was supposed to be a reassuring tone.

Lillian bit her lip at that.

The Guardians were going to get Pitch?


Jack was holding a Russian nesting doll that was in the shape of North. North had just finished explaining what his center was.

Jack was a little confused why the tiny wooden baby had to have the eyes filled with wonder, but he supposed this was some sort of representation of North's inner child.

Or something.

"You, Jack Frost!" North said, getting in Jack's space again. "What is your center!"

Jack looked down at the wooden baby, letting his white bangs cover his eyes a bit. He bit his lip as he thought for a moment.

"I.. I don't know," he stammered.

North looked to be on the verge of saying something to Jack about this, but Bunny suddenly burst into the door.

"What did I say about - " North started to complain, when Bunny interrupted him.

"Trouble at Tooth Palace," Bunny told North hurriedly, as Tooth flew past the window.

North ushered Jack out of his office as they all made their way back to where Sandy and Lillian had been left.

"We take sleigh!" North said authoritatively.

"My tunnels are safer!" Bunny tried to tell him as they all started walking to where North kept the sleigh.

Lillian grabbed Jack's hand while they walked and looked up at him with a scared expression.

"It's Pitch," she whispered to Jack. "He's attacking the Tooth Fairy's palace."

Bunny was too busy arguing with North to notice the whispered conversation, but Sandy was walking behind North and Bunny, while Jack and Lillian lagged behind.

Sandy glanced back apprehensively at his favorite spirits as he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Oh man," Jack whispered back. "What are we going to do?"

Lillian shrugged helplessly.

"They said they were going to get him," she said, her voice trembling a little.

Sandy's eyes widened at that. Did Lillian actually sound concerned for Pitch?!

Before Sandy could even think of doing anything, they were soon all outside.

North asked a yeti if the sleigh was ready and the yeti shook its head frantically indicating the that the sleigh was definitely not ready.

"Good! We leave now!" North said happily as he clapped his hands together.

North's voice brought Jack and Lillian's conversation to a close as the finally started paying attention to what was going on.

Their jaws both dropped when the sleigh came into view.

"Wow," Lillian breathed.

North took in the awed expressions of both Jack and Lillian and smirked smugly at Bunny.

"Everyone loves the sleigh," he boasted.

North ushered everyone aboard before he too climbed on and grabbed the reins.

"Everyone hold on!" North shouted as the sleigh took off at roller coaster speeds.

In fact, the tunnel that lead from North's workshop was similar to a roller coaster as it looped and swerved around.

"I hope you like loop-de-loops!" North said with a grin back at his passengers.

Bunny was definitely looking more green than grey at the moment as they finally came out of the tunnel and flew in the air.

"I hope ya like carrots," he said as he tried very hard to keep all his carrots inside himself.

Once the sleigh was far enough away from the Workshop, North pulled a snow globe out of his pocket.

"I say, Tooth Palace," he whispered to it as he tossed it in front of the sleigh.

The sleigh flew into the portal and soon appeared in the air near Tooth's Palace.

Jack and Lillian exchanged looks as chaos reined. Black horses were flying around everywhere, and seemed to be chasing after the fairies.

"They're taking the fairies!" Jack exclaimed as he suddenly jumped up and snatched a poor fairy out of the air. It had almost been caught by one of the black horses.

Bunny threw a boomerang at a few of the horses, and one broke apart right over the sleigh, depositing a few long golden cases.

"They're stealin' the teeth too!" Bunny said as Sandy held some of the strange black sand in his palm. He clenched his fist over it as he looked upset.

"Jack! Take reins!" North said as he shoved the reins into Jack's hands.

Jack suddenly found himself steering while North withdrew his swords and slashed at some of the horses.

"Oy! Look out!" Bunny exclaimed as they seemed to be heading straight for a pillar.

The sleigh came to a rough landing on a platform near where Tooth was, flitting around.

"My fairies! The teeth!" she said, looking very distressed. "They.. they took everything!"

The other spirits climbed out of the sleigh. As Jack wandered over by Tooth, the fairy that he had rescued flew over by Tooth.

"Oh, thank goodness! At least one of you is safe!" she exclaimed.

As she fawned over her fairy, she heard a big gasp of surprise. Looking up, she saw the figure of Pitch Black smirking at them.


This was too easy. Pitch's plan was going perfectly. He grinned as he watched his Nightmares stealing the little fairies by swallowing them whole. Even when Tooth flew in, there wasn't much she could do to stop him. Ha!

Not long after that, the rest of the pathetic Guardians showed up, but they were far too late. He already had everything he needed.

He smirked at them, very smug, until his golden eyes fell on a pair of spirits.

Jack and Lillian.

What were they doing here?!


Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. I realized that I skipped over a few things when I was posting this, such as the naming of Baby Tooth. (D'oh!) But don't worry, I'll slip it in. I was also trying to make the movie more interesting, by showing different things that were probably going on at the same time as when you saw movie events. Such as Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny all talking while Jack and North were having their chat. I'm also going on the assumption that everyone has actually SEEN the movie, so I don't feel required to post every single detail. Plus remember, I'm going based off of memory. Anyway, the next chapter will feature the rest of the confrontation at Tooth's and then all the fun-ness of collecting teeth! As always, if you guys have any suggestions for plot, etc, just let me know. Also, if you have any drabble ideas for later on, I'd appreciate that too. And don't worry, Lillian will eventually get a nice long look around the Workshop.