Author Notes and Review Replies will be at the end of each chapter. Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians. Warning: Contains Blood/Abuse, Sensitive Material.


Chapter One: Amaranth


Toothiana didn't know what to do. She stopped flitting around the room and hovered silently on the left side of the bed, opposite from the window that Pitch Black had just slunk through. The bogeyman himself stopped his movements before stepping inside quietly, smirking slightly as he watched Tooth straighten up and take in a deep breath as though to speak.

"Oh save it fairy, I don't have time to deal with you tonight, just be on your way" he declared with a tiresome drawl.

"So you can give this child some sick nightmare?" she hissed, curling her lip up. The little baby tooth by her side nodded with a defiant squeak and folded her small arms across her feathered chest. Pitch rolled his eyes and approached the tooth fairy, somewhat surprised when she didn't budge and continued to stare at him with a protective glint in her violet eyes. Suddenly she flew over and above the sleeping girl. Pitch growled and moved away, heading back to the window.

"Have it your way, fairy…" he muttered and went to clamber out the glass frame when he spun round and thrust some glittering ebony sand at her, blocking her vision and making her tumble down against a chest of drawers. She viciously brushed it out of her eyes before flying up again with a glare, she looked at the damage she had involuntarily caused to the corner of the bedroom.

The little girl stirred in her bed but after turning over, snuffled back into slumber. Pitch burst out laughing, a rasping sound that curled Tooth's patience. The next thing Pitch knew was a fist colliding with his jaw making him reel back and clutch his face. The dirty little guardian had punched him, again!

The bogeyman recalled the last time he and the tooth fairy had encountered. How it had left him missing a tooth, holding a quarter in his hand. Pitch snarled at the recollection with a sour expression as he pushed himself off the wall and shot more sand at the pesky guardian who dodged each blow but the last. He took this opportunity to lunge himself at the fallen fairy and straddle over her slim hips, her wings immediately stopping their frantic beat as she struggled beneath him.

Pitch had lost his elegance and refined nature when he was defeated by that neutral fool: Jack Frost and since then had been angrier and clumsier in his actions. But it was effective nonetheless as he grinned cruelly down at Tooth who was squirming and yelling.

"Get off me, Pitch!" she cried, face turning a dark pink colour as her efforts took the breath. Pitch trailed his hands up and over her neck, clutching. He shook his head and told her to shush.

"Wouldn't want to wake the precious child, now, would we, Toothiana?" he purred and Tooth gritted her teeth, grabbing Pitch's wrist to lessen the pressure on her throat.

Pitch hadn't been the same since his defeat against the guardians, something twisted into something even more gnarled and heavy than the torment he felt before. It was like something had snapped. This time a quick, sharp break. Like bone.

But Tooth was stronger now, she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty every once in a while. She pushed Pitch off and scrambled to the other side of the room, taking in deep breaths as Pitch crouched some few feet away and laughed lowly.

But just as he opened his mouth to speak the window snapped open and they both turned to it with surprise, an uneasy hesitation held over them like smoke.

A slim female of dark complexion with a gun in her hand and a low-slung studded belt on her waist stood there. All black leather and poker straight hair. Her black eyes glared at Tooth and Pitch with feral indifference. The man who followed was of a much paler skin tone, dark blonde hair and vacant, pale green eyes that flitted about anxiously. He was trembling with something akin to vicious excitement as he gripped a heavy length of netting and rope.

The sick chuckle slowly escaping him along with the threatening appearance of his partner, was enough to make both Toothiana and Pitch dart over to the window. They refused to even acknowledge the presence of each other with their only goal to escape.

Toothiana was confused, scared and irritated at the same time, none of this made sense, why were they running from people who couldn't even see them?! Tooth realised this and stopped her fruitless attempt for escape, turning and inhaling deeply to calm herself down as Pitch went to yank the window open wider.

That's when one of the thick wires caught round the tooth fairy's ankle and she yelped as she was forced to the ground. Her breathing became rasped and frightened, blinking rapidly as the woman laughed gleefully and sauntered towards her captured prize. Toothiana turned to Pitch as a last resort.

The bogeyman looked anxious but the expression contorted into a cruel smirk as he leapt out the window. Tooth felt her heart sink and her blood run cold as the woman approached her and sickening fumes filled the guardian's senses before darkness obscured her vision swiftly afterwards.

In the meantime Pitch was experiencing a mix between bewilderment and stale satisfaction as the dealing with the irritating tooth fairy. But…how had two adults managed to see them, let alone capture her? This question wasn't answered but added to as a sharp pain in his side alerted him and he turned his body to face his right rib where a thin needle was sticking into his black clothing.

What the hell…he thought wearily as he indeed suddenly felt weary. Unusual since Pitch never felt tired or felt the desire to sleep. But now, he wanted to curl up and drift into a deep slumber. He wasn't far from that as his head to hit the floor. All he could see were heavy black boots walking towards him down the street as he finally blacked out.

Hansel Velsing looked over his capture with a sickening leer, moving forward to bundle the taller, slender man up and sling him over his broad shoulder. Turning to see Vanessa Han leave the building, sliding down the roof and swinging down the wire, the fairy unconscious in the netting on her back.

"Two birds with one stone, and here I only thought we would nab the pixie" Hansel sniggered, heading to their short, grey van across the road. "Bonus money, can't complain at all!" Hansel laughed, the noise sounded dry and crooked.

"Where are we meeting with the ring master?" Vanessa asked as they turned out of the street and down the dark road, barely lit by the odd street-lamp.

"At the big tent, just before they leave for the next town" Hansel replied and leant back, pulling a cigarette out the pocket in the front and lighting it, taking in a deep drag and offering one to Vanessa who took it gratefully until the van was clogged up with the gritty smoke.


Tooth tried to turn over but couldn't, her eyes opened slowly and she blinked a couple of times, trying to move over again. This time she realised that the confinements around her – more specifically a net – were stopping her from being at all comfortable and at this claustrophobic revelation, the tooth fairy began to panic.

"Oh no…oh god no…" she started muttering, wriggling more and more as she sat up against a cold wall that she only managed to smack her head off with the jolting movements. Toothiana stopped and calmed down before understanding that she must be in a moving vehicle; she recognised the typical movement and thrum of the engine and the road beneath the tires, even the occasional whoosh of a passing car.

Taking the time to look around, she jumped back with a yelp when she found; not even a foot away from her, a shadowy figure tied up and lying on the floor, apparently out cold near her legs. At the angle and the lack of lighting, she didn't recognise him – although he had the frame of a man.

He too woke up not long after and scowled in a way that only one person could.

"Pitch?!" she exclaimed, eyes wide as he tried to sit up but failed, leading him to grit his teeth and snarl loudly. Then he paused and turned up to her, his gold-silver eyes glinting in the dark like those of a cat.

"Oh my god…not you…surely…are these the two pigs that attacked us…you cannot be serious" he hissed, both to her and himself in disbelief and frustration. Tooth narrowed her eyes and bit her bottom lip furiously.

"Well such a shame they caught you as well, isn't it?" she claimed bitterly and Pitch let loose a quiet laugh.

"Oh my, are you getting pissed off?"

"Don't you dare start Pitch, you left me to whatever fate these sick humans would lead me to? I know we have our differences but I'm a fellow guardian-"

"I am not a guardian! Do not pretend like you and I have any neutral agreement of consideration towards each other, all there is between us is hate and betrayal, so why did I have to pull you out of that?" His voice was raising, losing its velvety tone and becoming so cold.

Tooth didn't even flinch at the sudden threat and instead felt her own anger and fear wash over her with a hot sickness, venom laced her next words.

"Common courtesy, I took you for someone more refined than betraying scum, but seems I was wrong, don't you dare blame me or the guardians, we would have helped! But it seemed you preferred the misery of your own darkness than to swallow your bitter pride hard enough to get kids believing in you with a more thought-out plan" she finished, breathing hard and probably slightly red in the face. The look of incredulity on Pitch's face was masked by the shadows and he clenched his fists, narrowing his own eyes.

"As if I have to explain anything to you, you don't understand anything, living in such a dream-like world, with kids believing and empowering you left and right, you don't know what it's like not to be believed in so don't you make it out like it is my fault!"

Then the anger snapped and fell to an uneasy tension that meant neither of them spoke for some time. They just lay or sat in the chilled darkness of a mysterious prison, trying not to think about what might happen to them. But their imagination was forgotten when the brittle doors opened revealing searing light.

The sound of circus music could be heard, a gnarled, ill tune that frightened Tooth and made her retreat further back into the corner. Even Pitch was succumbing to his own anxiety. Especially when his ankle was clasped by the meaty fist of Vanessa who pulled him to the edge of the van and onto the concrete ground with an uncomfortable thud.

Pitch swore as the rough movement had caused him to bite the inside of his mouth and the coppery flow of blood stuck in his mouth. He froze. How was he bleeding? He didn't have time to process the confused thoughts as he watched as Tooth was dragged out with equal lack of consideration and despite her terror, refused to even acknowledge Pitch's existence which made him roll his eyes as he was bundled up into a small cart-car.

Tooth was squeezed in next to him as Vanessa took the wheel and Hansel stood at the back to keep an eye on the prizes, leaning back to stare at the circus from over the roof of the small vehicle. It was a towering establishment, with long black and crimson sheets making up the walls and ceilings in the traditional circus shape, but it was crumpled and sinking as it was taken down by the many employees tugging on ropes and wires, yelling and heaving.

Tooth actually turned to Pitch now, mouthing. "what's-going-on" or something along the lines. Pitch didn't answer because he too struggled to fathom what the hell was going on. As if they still did circuses like this anymore, it was always cheap tricks and the same acrobatic moves seen seventy times before.

The cart stopped with a sudden jolt before Vanessa Han got out and headed round to stand beside Hansel Velsing, a grin on her flat face.

"Welcome to the Freak show, freaks!" she laughed and Hansel joined in as they left, they just left like that. Naturally Pitch took this moment to try and squirm free, turning to glare at his binds as though the angry look he gave them would tear them. But that was hardly the case and a cold, pointed slither of a whip suddenly jutted under his chin and slowly pulled his face forward to face who must be the ringmaster, he even had the twirling, black moustache.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" despite the idiotic cliché, his voice was like grease-stained, brown satin - crumpled with the sweat of grimy workers, and the rasp of impatience and consistent yelling. He had a large, round face that was blushed an unattractive crimson beneath the layers of powdered make up.

His eyelashes were long and dark and spiked in a way that matched his uniform, the typical crimson of a ringmaster's attire, black trousers and a white collar shirt. But it was studded with black and bronze metal clips and chains, like some freaky S&M version of the former wear. His lips were thin yet his smile wide and demonic as gritty teeth were displayed in the yellowish light of the setting.

Big, brutal and bloody fucking pleased with the two specimen before him that he spent his time looking over, he clearly liked what he saw because he clapped his hands with the softened pad of black leather gloves and four dirty men came out to collect up the King of Nightmares and the Guardian of Memories, who were equal in their fear and bewilderment.

"Yes, we will indeed take this two fine creatures to our next show…then the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the NEXT!" he shuddered with glee and contained himself with the drag of a fat cigar forced into his mouth from the depths of his tight chest pocket.

Tooth looked over at Pitch who was being restrained directly next to her, their net-imprisonment and binds had been removed to be replaced with the beefy arms of thick employees so escape options were cut off immediately.

"A few things you two ought to know. Escape is futile and a little pinch of fairy dust means you freaks can bleed, vomit and whatever else I want you to do. A circus needs the brightest of colours after all. Doesn't it?" he chortled to himself as Tooth and Pitch felt their innards go cold. It all made sense to Pitch now.

"They look friendly enough being with each other, throw em' in the same trailer, this isn't a first class fucking service, they get food when the rest of the livestock earns it" the man called out and the guards must have nodded as the guardian and bogeyman were hauled off away from the ringmaster and tent – towards a large, impossibly old fashioned and crooked old thing that must have been a train.

A train…was this not the twenty first century? Could they not get something a bit classier or modern? It was not even like they were trying to capture the vintage spirit of traditional entertainment; it sincerely looked like a rickety wreck.

The next thing Toothiana knew was the wooden floor grazing her spine painfully as she and Pitch were thrust into the candle-lit obscurity of a spare trailer and the doors were slid shut on them with a crashing bang. Pitch had struggled profoundly before he was hit viciously round the jaw for his rebellious efforts and thrown into the trailer like a sack of spuds.

Even then they didn't say anything to each other, whether from fear and horror or the continued tension between them regarding the difficulties of the past, they shuffled back as the train started with a hideous whistle and a blow of thick smoke as the vehicle began chugging along.

Toothiana was assured the guardians would realise she was missing and someone used to being around everywhere at different times; the sandman, would find her and get her out with no more stress and trauma ingrained in her aching brain. Despite this glow of hope, the tooth fairy curled up on the dusty, poor smelling ground and thought about resting.

Resting was the last thing on Pitch's mind, he wanted to escape and he wanted to escape now, his night-mares would be searching for their master all too soon, it would all be over like the short hours of day and he could go back to his lair. What Tooth had said earlier hadn't stung him like he thought it would, but rather sparked an interest in him, a new motive to obtain the belief of infants without the careless ideas of his previous scheme. But for now he just needed to get out. So reluctantly lying on his back, ignoring the splinters of wood, he thought about calming his mind to a sense of rationality.


A/N: I'm so excited about getting this started! Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think so far!

-LAW09


~Review Replies~

Cookie Guest: Ah, that's interesting how you came across the story then. I hope the circus aspect is living up to your interests! Hmm...I live for crack-ships I guess ahahah, who knows, you might think they go together pretty okay by the end of the story! Either way I hope you enjoy reading! Thanks for the cookies! Thanks for the review as well!

That-Cheeky-Bat: Oh man yes, that is such a fantastic review! Thanks so much!

"Cute Together" Guest: I thought so anyway! Ahaha, I'm glad you think so too! I guess it's a small time ship but I hope more shippers will emerge! Thank you so much for the review!

SkyressFantasys: Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying it so far! Thanks for the review!

Pretzel-logic: I've seen a lot of the artwork and that's more or less what inspired me to write for the ship. Oh god I can imagine literal cavities ahahaha, I know, we must contribute! I'm so pleased you're interested so far and hope you continue to enjoy it! Thanks so much for the lovely review!

Re: Ahahahahaah, "innocents to exploit", I like your thinking! This list really helped me pick some more varied characters. I know you're not being mean, I'm super happy for the help! I hope that I continue to utilise your suggestions well. Thanks so much for the wonderful helpful review!

Xion5: Aww! That's fantastic! I'm so glad you like the look of it! I am now keeping track of this story and will be continuing it with a more regular schedule, I hope you continue to enjoy and thans for the review!

"Write More" Guest: Alas! I shall! Thank you for the review! :D

NinjaDino721: I am in the midst of making sure I update more regularly from now on, thanks so much for the praise of my writing, it really makes me smile. I hope you continue to be interested, thanks for the review!