Author's Note: Thanks to all the faves, follows and things! I like all the plot suggestions. :) To the reviewer who told me Pitch needs to die though: Not. Going. To. Happen. If you don't like Pitch, this story is definitely not for you. Thanks to all the reviewers who patiently (or not so patiently) waited for this chapter to come out. It is action packed, so I hope you like it.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Power of Belief

While Pitch was stuck in Mrs. Bennett's kitchen, Jamie, Pippa and the Guardians were busy gathering all of Jamie's friends. Thanks to Jamie's quick thinking with Bunny's unfinished Easter Egg and a lot of explaining on Jamie's and Pippa's part, Jamie's friends were convinced to believe, one by one.

Cupcake was the last and hardest to convince. Pitch's nightmares had hit her hardest of all, but finally they were able to convince her. She had smiled up at the Guardians once she was finally able to see them. She had given Bunny a onceover and declared that he was no unicorn, but he'd do.

A little disgruntled at being compared to a unicorn, Bunny had huffed but didn't respond to the girl. They'd all carefully snuck back over by Jamie's house, the Guardians with the children in tow. They had tried to convince the kids that it would be dangerous, but the children had insisted on coming and the Guardians didn't really have the time to argue with them.

They paused once they reached the front of Jamie's house, as Jack, Lillian and all the Nightmares were still gathered out front. The children gaped at all the Nightmares they could now see, but they couldn't see the Winter or Spring spirit.

The Guardians gave each other significant glances.

"What are we gonna do about Jack and Lillian?" Bunny asked the others.

"Who's Jack and Lillian?" Jamie asked with interest.

The Guardians all sighed at that.

"Remember when we told ya that there were hundreds of other spirits out there?" Bunny asked Jamie.

Jamie nodded, and his friends looked stunned at the news. Hundreds?

"Well, there's a teenage spirit out there who's the spirit of Winter. He spreads snow in the winter time, but Pitch's corrupted him."

Jamie furrowed his brow.

"Wait.. Winter.." he said as he thought hard. Then his eyes lit up as he got it. "Jack Frost! My mom said he nips at your nose. He's the Winter Spirit, isn't he?"

Bunny nodded and Jamie gasped as he could finally see Jack. With his gray skin and black hair, Jack looked so.. dark.

"Whoa.." Jamie muttered as he stared at Jack.

"What is it Jamie?" Pippa asked.

Jamie gestured at Jack.

"It's Jack Frost, he's the spirit of winter." Jamie explained.

Jamie's friends looked over, eager to see another spirit. Before, they had always been skeptical about anything Jamie believed in, but now that they could see the Guardians, they were more apt to believe.

There were gasps as Jack suddenly became visible.

"That's not all," Bunny said. "There's also a little lass with him. Her name is Lillian, and she's the spirit of spring. She's pretty young for a spirit."

Bunny sighed.

"She's usually pretty perky, but Pitch has corrupted her too. They're both powerful seasonal spirits, and with them on Pitch's side, there's no telling what sorts of trouble there's going to be."

Jamie squinted. A spring spirit? He looked at Jack, then around at the nightmares. He just knew that Bunny was telling the truth and he believed that there was a spring spirit. As soon as this line of thought hit him, Lillian suddenly came into view.

He gasped at the sight of the little girl with gray skin and black hair. She looked so.. so.. young. She wasn't as young as Sophie, but she was certainly younger than Jamie.

"What can we do?" Jamie asked the Guardians. "How can we help them?"

North was the one to speak this time.

"Is just it," he said sadly. "We don't know. We must get them away from Nightmares and to North Pole. There, we can figure out how to bring them back to their former selves. And away from cities and people, their powers wouldn't hurt anyone."

Jamie nodded at this.

"Then you need to get them to come after you and move away from the horses, right?" he asked.

"Right," Bunny said, getting a bad feeling. If it had been North, he would've said it was a feeling in his belly.

"Okay," Jamie said, taking a deep breath. He gave his friends a look, who could by now all see Lillian as well, and stepped out of their hiding spot near an alley.

Tooth gasped.

"What are you doing?!" she whisper-yelled at Jamie.

Jamie turned back and grinned at the Guardians.

"Helping," he said innocently. Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

"Hey Jack Frost! And Lillian!" he shouted.

Jack blinked and looked around. Lillian looked around as well.

"Did someone call us?" Lillian asked Jack quietly.

"I.. I don't know," Jack said as he looked uneasy.

"Do you think it was Pitch?" Lillian asked Jack.

"No.. It sounded younger," Jack replied. But nobody could see him or Lillian, so who would know their names?

"Jaaack!" Jamie called out. "Lillian!"

"I could check it out," Lillian offered.. "I'm small and nobody would notice me," she said.

What she didn't say was that without Pitch around, she felt extremely uneasy and antsy to move around.. She didn't like that Pitch was gone so long inside that house. What was he doing in there anyway?

Jack looked down at Lillian. Even though they both were filled with darkness now, he was still protective of his friend.

"Don't be too long," Jack said. "And if you run into trouble, yell. Maybe you should take a couple Nightmares with you."

Lillian nodded and gestured at a few of the black horses. They ambled over by her easily enough and she looked at them sternly.

"Follow me," she ordered them, "and don't cause any trouble."

The Nightmares looked at each other and snorted. Trouble was their middle name.

Lillian nodded at them and then walked off towards where she had heard the voice calling.

The Guardians gaped at Jamie, then at Lillian that was walking over to them, with a few Nightmares in tow.

"It worked?" Bunny said softly to the others.

"Da," North said with a chuckle. "Why didn't we think of that?"

Bunny went to take out his boomerangs, but they were bigger than his whole body. He looked at the one boomerang he managed to sort of hold sheepishly.

"Here, let me," Tooth said as she picked up the boomerang.

Bunny took a moment to collect himself, then laid out his plan.

"Alrigh'," he said to Tooth. "Ya take out the Nightmares when they get close and North, ya grab Lillian before she can get a chance to use her spring powers. Then with any luck, we can do the same ta Jack when he comes over ta see what's goin' on. With any luck, we can get 'em out of here before Pitch realizes what's happenin.'"

Lillian glanced back at her Nightmare companions. She didn't want to say anything to Jack, but she was feeling a little strange. It was as they were standing there, waiting for Pitch that she had felt it. She glanced down at her bracelet, which had turned as pitch black as her hair. She made it glow briefly. No.. it wasn't that.

It almost felt like.. some sort of surge of power. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to in front of her. Eventually she spotted Jamie, who was looking right at her.

She paused at this. Nobody ever looked right at her. At least not outside of Halloween.

Jamie smiled at Lillian.

"You're Lillian, right?" Jamie asked.

Lillian gasped and took a step backwards.

"Wh-what?!" she exclaimed.

"The Spirit of Spring, right?" Jamie continued.

Lillian's eyes widened. A kid knew who she was and could see her?!

Before she could even blink, a boomerang sailed out from the nearby alley and destroyed one of the Nightmares.

Lillian flinched and moved away, as if afraid that a boomerang was going to hit her next.

Her bracelet began to glow as she summoned her spring powers. She knew that boomerang. The Guardians were nearby.

"JACK!" Lillian cried out as another boomerang narrowly missed the second Nightmare.

"Crikey, this is not goin' well," Bunny muttered as Tooth caught one of his boomerangs. As she got ready for another throw, the temperature suddenly dropped drastically.

Clouds gathered overhead, and not a second later, Jack was standing by Lillian, looking down at her worriedly.

"You ok?" He asked her as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Lillian pointed at Jamie, who gulped.

"He can see me," Lillian said, completely unaware that Jamie could see Jack too.

"And then a boomerang destroyed a Nightmare," she said in a hushed voice.

"The Guardians," Jack spat as he raised his staff in Jamie's direction. "Alright, come on out!"

Jack's voice sounded so different now. It was so much colder and it didn't have any of the warmth that it did before.

Reluctantly, the Guardians stepped out from the alley they were hiding in to stand in front of Jamie and the other kids. The kids however, weren't having any of it and stubbornly stood in front of the Guardians.

Jack looked at the Guardians with his cold, golden eyes.

"You came to get Pitch, didn't you," Jack said and Bunny thought he heard an accusing tone in Jack's cold voice.

"No, we came for you," North said. "Both you and Lillian. Pitch has corrupted you both somehow and we wish to help you."

Lillian scooted closer to Jack at that as her bracelet stopped glowing.

"Pitch takes care of us," she said to the Guardians as the kids' eyes widened at that.

"He's usin' ya!" Bunny said angrily. "He only wants ya for ya powers. If you didn't have any, then he wouldn't give ya the time of day!"

Lillian covered her ears, looking upset.

"You're lying!" she shouted at Bunny.

Jack frowned as he saw that they were upsetting his friend.

"That's enough," he said as he held his staff out to them. The temperature dropped a few more degrees and the kids began to shiver. Most of them had thrown coats over their pajamas and haphazardly thrown shoes on.

"No, that's not enough!" Bunny growled at Jack, forgetting that he was only a tiny Pooka at the moment. "Let us help ya!"

"I don't need help!" Jack yelled suddenly at Bunny as it began to snow. "WE don't need help. Leave us alone!"

The second Nightmare, which had yet to be destroyed ran suddenly at the kids and the Guardians, ready for attack.

Tooth gasped and threw a boomerang, but she wasn't Bunny and she missed badly.

Jamie flung his arms up, as he was right in the path of the Nightmare, but instead of being hurt, the Nightmare turned into golden sand.

"Wow!" all the kids exclaimed as they saw the wonder in the golden sand.

Lillian stared at the golden sand. She knew that sand. A look of wonder appeared on her face and she moved towards the sand.

Jack's hand flashed out and he grabbed Lillian's shoulder.

"Don't touch it," Jack warned. "It's probably a trick."

Lillian's expression faded back into its cold demeanor, but the Guardians for just an instant, had seen the old Lillian shining through.

Jamie looked at his hands in wonder then grinned at Jack and Lillian.

"Let's get 'em!" he declared and ran right towards them.

"Yeah!" the other kids cried as they ran at the two spirits.

Lillian stepped back, looking frightened. Forgetting for a moment that she was a spirit who was older than all those kids, she pulled away from Jack and went to run away.

Jamie used all his snowball fighting prowess and tackled Lillian down to the ground. He placed his hands on her cheeks as he used his knees to pin her down.

"I hope this works," he muttered.

Lillian screamed as she felt a strange power flow through her. She flailed around, but Jamie had too firm of a hold on her.

Jack's eyes flashed at Lillian's scream, and he went to aim his staff at Jamie. Unfortunately, Tooth had taken the opportunity to throw another boomerang at Jack and Jack was forced to dodge.

He quickly iced the ground a few kids fell over on their way to attack him.

"J-Jack..!" Lillian cried out. The strange power was hurting her and she didn't like it. Her black hair started to lighten a little and her golden eyes started to take on a green tint.

Jack glanced at Lillian, and that moment cost him. Before he could do anything, a large pair of hands grabbed hold of him, pinning his arms at his sides.

"Now!" North cried as he held Jack from behind in a sort of hug.

The remaining kids went to Jack and placed their hands on him.

As pain burst in Jack's head, he cried out and felt afraid.

I wish Pitch was here!


Pitch froze as he had been about to take another sip of tea. He could feel that someone was destroying his Nightmares and something felt off.

Before he could think of what was happening, Jack's fear rang out to him.

I wish Pitch was here!

Hastily, Pitch stood as he thanked Mrs. Bennett for the tea and explained he just remembered somewhere that he had to be. Before Mrs. Bennett could protest, Pitch was out the door, no longer feeling trapped in the kitchen.

As Pitch rushed outside, he was astonished to see a bunch of his Nightmares milling around, and no Jack and Lillian.

Before he could start looking for them however, he hear their screams. His hands clenched into fists and he beckoned to all the remaining Nightmares.

"This way!" he commanded as they descended into the shadows.


Tooth wrung her hands as she looked at Jack and Lillian.

"They're hurting!" she said worriedly. "Maybe we should stop."

North shook his head at her.

"The darkness is fighting the belief of the children! I think will hurt until they are healed."

Tears fell down Lillian's cheeks as she struggled against Jamie.

"Stop! Stop it!" she cried out.

Jamie looked pained at her crying, but he kept a firm hold.

Bunny watched everything, feeling helpeless.

"This is takin' too long!" he said. "We hafta get 'em to the Pole! Manny could help 'em better!"

"They're too powerful for us to transport!" Tooth said. "Jack will freeze us before we get the chance!"

"Oh fer cryin' out loud," Bunny muttered. "North's got 'em in a bear hold! Just take his staff away!"

Tooth cautiously approached Jack, who was struggling for all he was worth. With his arms pinned at his sides like that, he didn't seem capable of controlling his powers.

Tooth grabbed Jack's staff and tugged. Jack's eyes widened through the pain and he tightened his grip on the staff.

"It'll be ok Jack," Tooth reassured him. "We aren't going to hurt you."

As she tugged more at the staff, suddenly Pitch and his army of Nightmares burst out of the shadows in the alleyway. He took one look at the scene and his eyes darkened in anger.

"How DARE you harm them!" he said, glowering at the Guardians and the children.

"You're the one who - " Bunny started, then eeped and leaped into Tooth's arms as Pitch directed the Nightmares to attack.

"Cupcake, Monty!" Jamie cried out. "Get the horses!"

The two detached themselves from Jack and set about turning as many Nightmares into golden sand as they could, but there were too many of them.

More of the kids let go of Jack, and Jack's screams stopped as the strange power was no longer trying to fight the darkness. His hair, which had steadily been lightening, began to grow darker again. Bunny had leapt from Tooth's arms as she resumed trying to get Jack's staff.

Pitch stalked towards Tooth, his eyes flashing in anger. Tooth however, found her hands full as soon as she had wrenched Jack's staff from his hands, a few Nightmares attacked her.

She found herself in a tug of war with a Nightmare as it had grabbed one end of the staff in its mouth. She tugged harder on her end, when there was the sound of splintering wood.

"Oh!" she said, as she prepared to let go, but the Nightmare gave an almighty tug and to everyone's horror, the staff broke jaggedly into two pieces.

Jack let out a terrible scream as soon as the staff was broken and he went limp in North's arms.

"You DARE - " Pitch started, but Jamie had finally leapt up from Lillian to help out the other kids. As he looked at all the golden sand, an idea began to form.

"Come on!" he said to the other kids as he pulled them away to where the golden sand was gathering into a big cloud.

Lillian lay on the ground, feeling dazed. That awful feeling was leaving her, but she still felt strange. The ends of her hair were almost brown, and her eyes had green swirling in with the gold. Now with Jamie gone, her hair was darkening again and her eyes were becoming more gold.

Incensed, Pitch formed his black scythe out of the black sand and went to swing at Tooth.

"You broke him," Pitch said in a dangerous tone to her. "I'll END you!"

Before the scythe could reach her however, a golden tendril shot out and grabbed Pitch's wrist.

Pitch stared at it in horror and suddenly he was flung up high into the air. As he came back down Sandy gave him an uppercut. When Pitch landed on the ground, a golden dream was swirling over his head.

Sandy looked at the image of a golden Pitch hanging out with two golden spirits and then looked over at the two very battered spirits, recovering from the kids' attack.

Jack appeared to be almost unconscious, with his broken staff laying at his feet.

Sandy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the Guardians, as if demanding an explanation.


Author's Note: Sorry again for the sort of cliffhanger, but it seemed like a good stopping place. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I also found it amusing that Pitch was trapped in Mrs. Bennett's kitchen, then stuff went down and he's out of there in less than a minute. I like how the kids are taking a more active role in this as well. And the Guardians, even though they're not at full strength. Yes they're weak, but they aren't completely helpless. And they will be getting their powers back soon. I haven't forgotten about it. If you have any more ideas about how Jack and LIllian get healed, I'm open to suggestions. I have a few ideas, but you guys tend to think of things I haven't. I won't say when te next chapter will be out as I've been super busy lately (thus why this chapter took so long). Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter!

EDIT: Fixed some typos and a plot hole!