A/N: Sorry that it's taken me so long to update, school's been murder. And then I had a trip with CYS (Carolina Youth Symphony) and we got to go up and play at Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday! It was an amazing trip, not just because of playing at Carnegie (best of the best right there!), but also because we got to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" ON BROADWAY! How freaking awesome is that?! It was a phenominal performance; effects and cast were perfect. Anyway, I worked on this on the bus, and now I give you chapter 9 of Finding the Way Home. Enjoy, and remember: Reviews are love!

Chapter 9: Sister Dear

Laurel was backed up against an alley wall, whimpering in fear as the two men advanced on her. They grinned at the expression on her face and drank in the scent of her fear, using it to grow stronger. The girl was breathing heavily and frantically rubbing the treble clef around her neck. "Melody, please." She whispered. "I need your help, like, right now."

Just as one of the men leaned up against her and raised his hand to her body, another voice rang out. "I'm only going to say this once, Pitch: Leave her alone!"

The men whirled around, and Laurel breathed a laugh of relief when she saw Melody there, standing tall, confident, and intimidating. The other five Guardians immediately emerged from a hole behind Melody, all taking their battle stances. "Because if you don't," Melody continued, "I'll make sure that it's the last thing you do for a very long time."

"Melody!" Laurel gasped in relief.

"I'm here, Laurel, as I promised you I would be." Melody reassured her sister, but she still didn't take her eyes off of the agents.

The men hissed. "Guardians." They spat in contempt. Once again, they shifted form so that they took on the image of Pitch Black. However this time, all the spirits firmly stood their ground. "And the music spirit is still in your company. I must say, I'm surprised. After you heard what happened to her, especially that she will soon join me because of her agony; I thought you would get rid of her as soon as you could."

"Nice try, Pitch." Melody smirked. "As you probably know by now, Laurel believes in me. And to me, having Laurel's belief alone is worth more than the belief of all the children in the world."

The copies faltered, and the Guardians and Melody made their move. Jack leaped into the air and fired a bolt of lightning ice at the same time that Bunny threw one of his boomerangs. Both the copies dodged, but that was the signal that the Guardians had been waiting for. North's swords flashed, Sandy's whips extended from his hands, and Melody swung her guitar in front of her and began strumming, a confident grin on her face. During this moment of confusion as the battle began, Laurel tucked herself out of the way behind some trash cans at the very corner of the alley. As she watched, she trembled, very relieved that the Guardians had come to help her.

Someone stepped in front of Laurel and she gasped and looked up, only to relax again immediately after when she saw that the someone was Melody, brandishing her guitar. The music spirit turned and smiled down at Laurel. "Don't worry." She whispered in comfort. "We're here." And then she turned back to the battle and struck a chord on her guitar.

A strain of music flew out and intercepted another lightning ice bolt from Jack. The bolt rebounded off her music, and struck one of the copies dead in the face. The copy looked comically dazed for a moment, fell face first onto the ground, and then dissolved into the nightmare sand.

Melody laughed in triumph and Jack grinned at her. "Nice!" he shouted before leaping back into action, staff blazing with its icy light.

Sandy mostly tried to position himself so that he was defending Melody from the remaining copy. His whips flew through the air, always aiming for the copy. However, this copy was faster than the one that had been hit with Jack's ice magic, and every single time, he managed to dodge Sandy's whips by the barest millimeter.

And apparently, taking on Pitch's appearance wasn't the only thing that agents of his were capable of. They were also able to use the nightmare sand that Pitch used. And this copy formed Pitch's scythe out of the sand and began attacking relentlessly. The Guardians started losing ground, and the only ones who were doing any damage were Jack, Sandy, and Melody, since their weapons could attack over a range. After about a minute of fighting and dodging, the copy decided to employ another favorite strategy of Pitch's: sinking into the shadows and letting his opponents search for him in vain.

"Okay, number one, that's cowardly," Melody grumbled, "and number two, that's cheap."

As all of them looked in around in different directions, Laurel suddenly screamed from behind Melody. The five good spirits whipped around to see the Pitch copy tightly gripping Laurel's arm and grinning in that sadistic way that only Pitch Black could manage. He threw Laurel towards the Guardians, and that's when the most horrible thing happened. Sandy stepped forward to catch her, but at the moment when he would have caught her, she passed straight through him. Melody let out a horrified "No!" and quickly stepped forward to intercept her sister, even though she suspected to be as successful in stopping her sister's fall as Sandy had been. But, to their surprise, the music spirit caught the little girl and held her protectively.

"Interesting," the copy murmured. "She doesn't believe in the Guardians, but she does believe in the insignificant music spirit. Well, come to think of it, that's not really as surprising at all."

Melody stood up, growling, but she gently led Laurel to the sidelines. Bunny threw one of his boomerangs, but, this time, the boomerang went straight through the copy, not harming him at all. "You're around someone who doesn't believe in you, Guardians. Your attacks can't hurt me at all."

"No, but I'll bet mine still can!" Melody shouted, running forward and striking a dissonant chord on her guitar. Everyone winced at the sound, especially Melody, but the copy's reaction was the worst. He screamed in pain and began to wither into the human form it had taken when he had raped Aria. Inspired by this reaction, Melody struck the same chord and this time, the agent took on the form of the second, shorter man and promptly fell to the ground. Melody stepped forward and glared at him. "Now, leave my sister alone!"

An audible gasp came from Laurel. "Sister?"

Melody took a deep breath, never taking her eyes off of the unmoving body of the second agent. "Yes, Laurel." She confessed, her voice terse from the anger she felt towards Pitch, the real Pitch Black, and his agents. "When I was still mortal, I was your sister, Aria Howland. That's why I've been haunting the house; why you trusted me so quickly when you met me in my old bedroom; and why your belief means so much to me." The agent dissolved into nightmare sand, just like the first one had done, and Melody swung her guitar back to its resting place, turned to face her sister, and knelt down to her level. "It's really me; I'm here."

"Prove it." Laurel spat in contempt. "I believe in you, but I'm not going to believe that you were my sister unless you prove it. So; two years ago, Aria and I pulled a prank on a friend, and that prank had consequences for her for the rest of the school year. Who did we prank, what was the prank, and what were the consequences for her?"

Melody grinned and a small burst of laughter escaped her lips. "Two years ago, on Carter Matkins' birthday, we tricked him into doing the scary maze game – the one where the face pops up at the end." Both Laurel and Melody giggled when the music spirit pulled a face similar to the game and silently screamed in jest. Melody continued, "We knew that we would probably end up on the naughty list for doing this to him on his birthday, but we couldn't resist. Carter was the prankster at our school, and we figured that he needed to learn that what goes around comes around. So we video-taped him playing the game and his reaction was so priceless, we sent it in to America's Funniest. He was so mad that we tricked him into doing the maze and sent the video in to be shown on national television that, nearly every day for the rest of the school year, he was shoving ice cubes down the back of my shirt. And every time, I freaked out, not because it was so sudden, but because he said that it was a spider."

A sound that was somewhere in between a gasp, a sob, and a laugh came out of Laurel. "It really is you!" She breathed, tears beginning to run down her cheeks. "Oh, Aria!" The little girl flung her arms around her older sister, laughing and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Laurel..." Jack began, but when he tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, he passed through her. A look of panic and fear crossed his face, since he had been alone for three hundred years, but Melody gently reached out to him to comfort him. Her eyes told him that he was still believed in by the rest of the children in the world, and Laurel was only having moments of doubt.

"I'm here, Laurel." Melody whispered, and Laurel pulled back to look face-to-face with the music spirit. "We're all here. Me and the Guardians. Please, Laurel. Please believe again. Do you really think I could've done all that fighting by myself?"

"Maybe not." Laurel admitted.

"Exactly." Melody encouraged. "Those agents knew that all of us were here, not just me. You know they're here; you're just scared because of what almost happened to you. That danger's gone for now, Laurel. We'll protect you. But we can't do that if you don't believe." She gently turned Laurel around so that, when Laurel once again believed, she would be facing the five official Guardians. "Please, Laurel. Believe in them again. We need you. Please."

Laurel closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, telling herself that Melody, her sister, was speaking the truth. When, after a couple of seconds, Laurel opened her eyes again, she gasped and a huge grin crossed her face when the shapes of the five official Guardians began to shimmer into existence. "Guardians!" she declared, ecstatic, "I believe in you again! I believe!" And the flickering images solidified into the actual Guardians. Laurel jumped slightly in shock, but she soon gained enough courage to step forward and prove her belief. Jack bravely volunteered and stepped forward to meet Laurel in the middle. The girl's hand trembled in anticipation as she raised it, but she was able to firmly grasp the frost spirit's arm and, at that, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Laurel laughed and even went so far as to embrace Jack, a gesture which he eagerly returned, happy that her belief in the Guardians was restored.

North stepped forward when Laurel released Jack; the Guardian of Wonder choosing to administer yet another one of his famous bear hugs to the twelve-year-old. "Laurel, we are sorry." He whispered.

Laurel looked up at him, confused. "Sorry for what?"

Melody gave an exasperated sigh. "Don't start that again, North." She scolded. "Don't any of you start that again."

"Start what again?" Laurel asked.

"They're beating themselves up over what happened on... that night." Melody explained.

"Is our job to protect the children." North reasoned. "Melody, as Aria, you were still child. We neglected our duty to protect you."

"And I asked you to protect Laurel here." The music spirit countered without missing a beat. Laurel had, by this time, managed to squirm free of North and back up so that she was once again standing next to her sister. Melody wrapped her arm around Laurel's shoulder, but otherwise continued addressing the Guardians. "I knew full well that I would be raped and/or murdered that night, and I made the decision to do everything that I could to make sure she would be safe. And if that included asking you to protect her no matter what happened to me, then I would be willing to pay that price. And to be honest, I sort of drew them to my location that night just to buy Laurel some more time." This statement made Laurel cling even tighter to Melody. "So all of you can stop blaming yourselves."

Tooth flitted forward and placed one of her tiny hands on Melody's shoulder, the other on Laurel's; her eyes searching the other two's eyes for any sign of blame directed at the Guardians, despite what they said. However, true to their words, both the new spirit and her still-mortal sister accepted the consequences of their choices and neither laid any of the blame on any of the Guardians. The fairy smiled in acceptance and wrapped her arms around Melody and Laurel, finally forgiving herself for something that she was never blamed for. Soon, all the Guardians joined in, finally acknowledging the fact that Melody and Laurel accepted what had happened that night as the consequences of their own choices.

After a few seconds of reconciliation, everyone separated again and the Guardians decided that they should go off and patrol for the real Pitch, giving Laurel her well-needed reunion with her sister. The two girls took a few moments to simply enjoy each other's presence before Laurel asked, "Melody, why didn't you tell me that you were Aria when I met you in your old bedroom?"

Melody laughed sheepishly. "I was kind of having a little bit of a joke with you; I wanted to see how long it would take for you to figure it out that Aria your sister and Melody the music spirit were really the same person."

Laurel grinned. "You never change, do you?"

"Laurel? Where are you?" Two new voices broke the air and Laurel sighed.

"That'll be Annabelle and Carter." She explained. Reluctantly breaking away from her sister, Laurel moved to the entrance of the alleyway. "I'm here you two. I'm fine."

The two Matkins children burst into the alleyway, relieved smiles on their faces. "We were so worried about you, Laurel!" Annabelle exclaimed; both she and Carter throwing their arms around their foster sister. "Those men could have found you!"

"They did." Laurel informed them. "But they weren't able to do anything."

"How did you manage to fight them off?" Carter asked. "I don't think you'd be strong enough, given the descriptions you gave us when you first came to live with our family."

"I didn't fight them." Laurel said, and then started laughing at the astonished looks that appeared on Annabelle and Carter's faces. "The Guardians saved me. Melody enchanted this necklace so that she can feel when I need help and, then she'll come and help. When those men cornered me, I rubbed the necklace and the Guardians came and fought them off."

"Melody?" Annabelle asked. "I haven't heard of her."

Laurel shrugged. "She hasn't been a spirit very long. Actually, as far as I know, I'm the only one who believes in her." Laurel stole a glance at the music spirit out of the corner of her eye and grinned. "She's still here, by the way. In case you want to believe and see her."

Annabelle closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she gasped when she saw the music spirit standing just behind Laurel, and a gasp from Carter two seconds later revealed that he, too, now believed in Melody. "So are you the spirit this little knucklehead here said that she saw in her old house?" Annabelle asked. "And while we're at it, why were you haunting her house in the first place?"

Melody laughed, and the sound warmed the hearts of the three children standing there. She hooked a protective arm around Laurel's shoulder saying, "That I am. And the reason I'm 'haunting her house,' as you say, is because in life, I was the big sister of this little knucklehead here." When she called Laurel a knucklehead, Melody began to give Laurel a noogie, but she twisted away from her older sister's hand, both girls giggling wildly as Laurel attempted to smooth out her hair. When they finally managed to get their giggles under control, they turned back to face Annabelle and Carter, only to burst out laughing again at the gaping mouths of the Matkins children.

"You – you were Aria?" Annabelle asked, awed and horrified at the same time; horrified because she remembered what Laurel had told them what had happened to Aria on that night, but she was awed seeing her best friend as a spirit, a Guardian.

"I was." Melody admitted. "But I'm not Aria anymore; she did die that night. I'm Melody now." She walked forward and hugged Annabelle and Carter. "It's good to see you guys again. Thank you for taking Laurel in after that night."

Carter tickled the back of her neck, whispering, "Spider!"

Melody jumped and all of the kids, especially Carter, laughed. "You're still mad about that maze?" Melody asked him, incredulous. "You've already gotten me back a million times over, with those ice cubes from the lunchroom being shoved down the back of my shirt."

A light caught their attention, and when all of them looked up, they saw a single streak of blue lightning shooting up from the ground. "That'll be Jack." Melody deducted. "He must have found the entrance to Pitch's lair. And it's almost night." She turned back to her sister and the Matkins children, kneeling down to their levels. "Listen, this is very important," she instructed, urgency coloring her voice. "I need you all to go home, immediately. Don't take any detours and keep out of the shadows; imagine that every shadow is one of the Vashta Nerada."

"Ari-aaa." Laurel groaned. "I just got you back; don't go all Doctor Who nerd on me!"

"Well I had to use an analogy you'll recognize." Melody defended herself. "Anyway, it's almost night, and this is when Pitch becomes more powerful. He can use the shadows, so make sure to stay away from shadows. Just go home, go into one of your bedrooms, all three of you, huddle together and tell yourselves that all of us are real; that'll make us more powerful. And the most important instruction I have for you: Don't fall asleep! If you fall asleep, Pitch could attack you with his Nightmares, and that'll weaken us Guardians. Got all that?"

"Go home, stay out of the shadows, tell ourselves that the Guardians are real, and don't fall asleep. Got it." Carter reviewed her instructions.

Melody nodded. "Good." The kids ran off and Melody watched them leave as long as she could before turning back, bringing her guitar around and playing a few notes to carry her to where she had seen Jack's signal coming from.

A/N: I'm hoping most of you are Whovians and understood that reference. If not, tough, 'cause I'm not changing it. I hope you liked this chapter, and I will hopefully have the next chapter up before summer, but keep in mind, I'm under a lot of pressure with graduation coming up in about two months and searching for a job.