Chapter Two: Charcoal


North pushed the lever down furiously. The shadow across the ground by the light of the moon picturing Tooth tied up and screaming enough to send the Russian into a panic and with the glittering northern lights flaming over the skies, he could only pray the guardians would be quick.

Sandman darted through the window on a swirling cloud of golden dust and floated next to his friend with concerned eyes.

Jack swept in with a flip on his staff and landed on the ground with a light skip, Bunnymund popping up next to him and nearly knocking the Guardian of Fun over. North's factory was quieter than usual with Christmas some time away. A chilling wind blew outside.

North looked up to Man in Moon who stayed within crystal clear view and shone down on the guardians.

"Tooth is missing?" Jack responded after hearing what Manny had to say. North nodded firmly with narrowed eyes and explained the shadows presentation.

"We must stay calm and do what we can to find her as quickly as possible-"

Sandman started jumping up frantically, glittering shapes appearing over his head and the three guardians crowded around to decipher them.

"The moon has directed us to a child's house?" Bunnymund recited and Sandman nodded.

"We must get there as soon as we can" North claimed "To the house of a little girl called Ivy Philipova in England".


Tooth woke with a yelp as a hard force was shoved into her side. Pitch was kicking her to consciousness and she sat up sluggishly, holding her side carefully and staring at the dark spirit incredulously.

"What?" she hissed, voice weak from a bad night's sleep. Pitch said nothing and sat back into the shadows. But she needn't have an answer from him as the train suddenly jerked to a roaring hault.

Being thrown into the wall, Tooth groaned and looked back at her wings, checking they were alright. She could barely keep them moving at this point.

After a few rattling sounds deep within the train carriages, the giant wooden doors that kept them enclosed slid open and Toothiana blinked at the sharp sunlight.

Some men just grunted and leant forward to grab their chains and pull them outside.

There were in a huge field and staff members was milling around with equipment and costumes, heading over to where a huge plastic sheet was getting ready to be built into the classic striped tent.

"Are circuses still popular?" Pitch breathed harshly but he could only growl when he too was thrown into a cage on wheels.

"You cannot be serious" the spirit of fear uttered furiously and went to tear at the bars when one of the staff kicked the side of the pen.

"Don't even fucking think about it you slick bastard"

Tooth cradled herself as her cage was dragged along uneven ground and she was splattered with damp mud from the earth and the staff members torn boots.

This couldn't be happening, she couldn't move. The chains were bruising her wrists to the point that the slightest movement of the joints led to agony. Glancing over to Pitch, the man didn't so much as flinch at anything.

As they got closer and closer to the tent more and more people started eyeing them up and down. Tooth just kept her head down and tried to hid her face as a few men spat on the ground at the sight of her teal and golden feathers.

Pitch was becoming livid, he hated all the attention and the overall degrading feeling of inferiority and he started flexing his fingers. He tried clutching onto nearby shadows but found he couldn't-

CRACK.

Pitch gasped when a horrific, metallic lash shredded the skin on his arm and he snapped his eyes upwards to see the ringmaster coming towards him, an unimpressed look on his flabby face.

"We'll have none of that foul play" he cackled. Cracking the whip into the ground as a warning. Tooth flinched.

"Take em' to the back, they're useless until the tent is up" he called out. The two men 'escorting' them, nodded and started yanking the pens towards a clutter of crates and animal cages. Braking the small barred boxes there. They headed off to do other duties.

Tooth now took a moment to properly look around. Her eyes had adjusted to the sudden brightness of the sun and she glanced around the large field. The train was some way away on the tracks, thick smoke swirling into the air as people clambered in and out with equipment. Animals, leashes, paint and tutu's, bowling pins and long staffs, torches, rope, hooks and hammers and just about everything else.

At least where they were now they weren't getting so much attention but people still stared as they passed. People of all heights, ages and sizes were picking up heavy hammers and slamming them into the hooks holding up the tent as members inside started building up the structure with huge wooden beams.

Orders were being shrieked and barked left and right and no one was standing still. A pretty girl ran past with four white and ebony stallions and another man went past with huge bulging muscles and a thick, perfectly structured moustache and beard.

It was so...not modern it was astonishing. Pillars and stands went past and some had even started practicing. A couple handstand walking their way over to the tent entrance that was gradually being presented with every heave and ho from workers.

Toothiana looked over to Pitch who was inspecting his fresh whip wound. He was bleeding and though it did little to stain his black attire, the crimson liquid was clearly noticeable in between the torn seams.

The Guardian of Memories mothering nature kicked in and she wanted to ask if he was alright but she stopped. What had he really done but helped her get into this mess and kick her in the ribs? There was no point even trying to help him when nothing would be gained. Toothiana was saddened and angered by this revelation and decided not to look at him at all. She was still surprised the ringmaster was right about the bleeding. It was surreal.

Eventually the two men returned with clunking keys and released the two spirits, but kept them chained by winding their leashes into the ground with tights hooks.

"Food in a bit, don't go anywhere" one smirked as they wandered off once more.

Pitch swore furiously and tugged hard on his chain, only for a hideously loud, bony crack to resound which could have only been his wrist. He stopped then.

Tooth had never been so frightened in her life, not since her memory palace had been jeopardised by the man who sat beside her this very moment.

The crack of the whip had rattled her bones and the cages alone were enough to freak her out, she hadn't removed the tight grip around herself since she had been removed from the train carriage, she needed as much comfort as she could didn't even need food so the promise of nutrition hardly made things less daunting. At least that's what she thought. She'd spent the past hour ignoring the growing sensation of a low rattle in her stomach. Was this what hunger felt like?

Pitch was fuming silently, though he had calmed down considerably since his initial capture and had taken a few recent moments to take in his surroundings, he wasn't impressed and he was pissed off. The way people took such fascinating things like him and even the foolish Guardian of Memories for granted was disgusting and ridiculously stupid.

Pitch had noticed the almost caring glance from the Tooth fairy, but before he could turn

with a snapping remark she turned away coldly and he figured she had realised just who she might have been dealing with. He didn't blame her for not wasting her time on someone who wouldn't have hesitated to continue giving her hell.

It was partly her fault there were even in this mess. Her impulsive, aggressive mannerisms hardly helped anything.

The two men were back again, this time with small paper bags that they dumped next to the spirits.

"Eat up or you're having it for breakfast" the burlier one threatened.

Both spirits tentatively took the bags and peered inside with stale anticipation.

Some slightly hard bread and a slither of ham awaited them and both had to avoid looking at each other incredulously as so not to have any mutual feeling between them.

"Is there not even any water" Pitch hissed. He had quickly understood that whatever...enchanted atmosphere the ringmaster had so vaguely explained, meant not only bleeding and vomit, but hunger. He'd assumed the empty growl of his innards was hungry and now wondered how was he supposed to eat such dry food and not have the slightest bit of liquid to drain it down with? Tooth heard him and didn't grace him with her own opinion but shared his irritated disappointment. Pitch was aggravated with the tense silence now and actually turned to the fairy.

"Bet this is new for you, being out in the field"

Tooth glanced over with surprise but her eyes were cold.

"What do you know about my work?" she hissed.

"Only that you leave all the jobs to your little flying rats"

"My fairies, and I have enough to deal with at the memory palace, like you do all the work all the time, Pitch" she spat his name and crumpled the bag up, placing it by her side for a little later. She didn't have much of an appetite right now. In fact all she felt was a hot, gnarled stone In the base of her stomach, replacing the hunger.

"Of course not, I was purely being observational, don't be so touchy, Fairy" he sighed, annoyed.

"...What do you think will happen?"

"Finally thinking aloud are we? Well I have no idea, humans are unpredictable. I just hope one of their fears gets close enough for me to latch onto"

"Will you be able to do something then?" Toothiana was ashamed of the hope in her voice.

"Maybe…" he didn't mention earlier when he found himself unable to manipulate the shadows. "But I am not going to assist your escape so better think of your own" he smirked cruelly and she narrowed her eyes.

"As if I need you to save me" she uttered beneath her breath.

"Alright, come on, time for dress-up!" a hideously loud voice startled them both and they turned to look at a huge, bulging woman with large blonde and black curls and slimy purple lipstick adorning inflated lips. Her eyelashes alone could do more damage than the ringmaster's whip.

"Dress-up?" Tooth asked nervously and the woman laughed, stomach rolling with every bellowing heave.

"Yes you priss, we'll get you unchained and then it's the makeup carriage for you two" she called as two members came over to release the spirits but keep them on a hand-held leash.

"Oh no, I am not getting groomed like some dog" Pitch snarled, yanking at his chains as they were dragged to a nearby tent.

Inside it was hot, sweaty and reeked of perfume and saliva. The two were thrust into a chair and before either had a chance to move, they were swarmed over by what could only be make-up artists.


A/N: Not much to say, stay tuned!

-LAW09


~Review Replies~

Darthcat: Oh do not worry! It will become so soon! Thanks for the review! :)

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