Sea biscuit: I know. Seth loves you too. Nice Zoe will come back. I think. Maybe.

Cheshire Cat: Jack would be like – 'Angel, you need to calm down,' then he would probably just throw a snowball at her and run as fast as he could.

Tanairy Cornelio: Good hopefully. Pitch will be afraid. At the end.

Dex Zabeth: Yeah, she can be real nasty when she wants to be.

SoaringPheonix86: Well, all I can say is – Good luck, friend. Try finding something good about this one.

DevineGuardianAngel: Don't worry. Nasty Zoe is staying for a few chapters. Oh yeah. She's gonna have her time.

Robotic Unicorn Ninja Cookie: Don't worry I have the ending all planned and it's nothing like that. =Spoiler alert= Although it is sappy.

Chapter 12 – The truth.

Tooth was in hysterics, worse so than when she found out that Baby Tooth had gone missing. North was stood tall but had tears down his cheeks. Tooth on the other hand, she had thrown herself over Jack's body. She held his top tightly, her feathers were limp and barely coloured. They had left Bunny at North's, still under the Sandman's influence. Rosie and Ashley stood awkwardly to one side, with Seth and Lucas next to them. Lucas was holding Rosie's shoulder, offering her a small comfort. Seth held Ashley around the waist, his head bowed.

'What happened?' North asked quietly, his hands clenching and flattening against his thigh. Tooth inhaled, pausing in her grieving only to cry more. She had cried for Sandy when he passed, but they all knew that when fighting Pitch, there were risks. Death being one of them. But this, it was mindless. There was no reason for Jack to die.

'He just began to have a fit,' Ashley said. 'We couldn't do anything, Zoe, she couldn't do anything either,' she adds. 'We did, uh, find a phone,' Ashley says looking at Seth. He nods and puts his hand in his pocket pulling out Zoe's phone. Tooth lifts her head wiping her eyes. She holds out her hand and Seth passes it over.

'There was a video, she had tried to delete it. We watched it,' Seth says as Tooth turned it on. 'It explains a few things,' he says sadly. Tooth raised a brow and went into the videos. North helped her up from the snow, she brushed the cold clumps from her feathers and accepts the blanket that one of the Yetis that had literally just appeared handed to her. They walked out a portal, holding more blankets giving them to Ashley and Rosie. They had tried to move Jack's body, but like his staff, it had somehow become rooted to the place. Nothing they could do, couldn't lift him, magically or with strength. So, the Yetis were building a shelter around him.

'Wait... Where's the wind?' Ashley asks. The wind was indeed dying. North and Tooth both looked into the sky. The snow itself was beginning to falter. Rosie sniffed the air and her ears twitched.

'Silence,' she muttered, glancing up to Lucas.

'Mother Nature has passed,' Seth said his voice dropping to seriousness. 'I fear that Zoe has had her revenge.'

'No!' Tooth gasped. 'What's going to happen? Without Mother Nature... what will happen? The plants, the wind, the, the, well... everything!'

Lucas had begun shaking, Rosie was holding onto his arm. Ashley swore and ran over to her sister. 'What's going on?'She asked. Rosie's ears had flattened, her tail between her legs. She was mumbling to Lucas who's whole body seemed to begin to glow. The deep blue light began to appear again. Tooth had began to flitter in panic, North stood protectively in front of her.

'Lucas, Lucas, baby, please calm down,' Rosie said beginning to panic. He twisted and turned his head in his hands. 'Ashley! You need to get the others out of here!' The wind picked up around Lucas, a light blue colour and sounded like nails down a blackboard. Ashley clamped her hat to her head to stop it escaping. 'Ashley you have to go!' Lucas thrashed, almost as if her was fighting an invisible force.

'Like hell I'm leaving you,' Ashley swore. She caught a back hand from one of Lucas' wild swings and knocked her to the snow. Seth caught her just before she fell, holding her up.

'What's going on?!' North bellowed. Tooth peered over his shoulder. The wind screamed around them, stirring up the white powder. It got to the point where Tooth could barely see Rosie, who clung from Lucas' arm shouting at him. The rest of his body was bucked and in spasm, but the arm that she held was still. North held his arm in front of his eyes, blocking the flurry. The wind dropped as quickly as it began, the ear piercing screech dying. Tooth looked over to where Lucas was still glowing. He was holding Rosie's face, cupped gently. She has tears running down her cheeks, her ears still flat to her head. He kissed her gently, his hands leaving her face and unsheathing the sword across his back.

'No Lucas!' Seth shouted. It broke the spell that Lucas was under, his head jerked upward, looking straight at them. Rosie grabbed him again but it was too late. His eyes swirled black, his face hardened.

'What is happening?' North asked Seth desperately.

'Choas,' Lucas said softly. His deep voice was edged with something deadly and base. He looked straight at Jack, his hands bringing the sword around to his front. 'Complete and utter Chaos!' He threw his head back and screamed as a wave of power tore through him. His clothing burst into a vibrant blue flame, the blackened material turning colour, becoming hardened plate. The next wave of power knocked them all to the floor, Ashley thrown into Seth, Tooth and North skidding across the snow. Rosie was thrown from him, and she tumbled across the drift.

A bloodied Roman stood before them, his blade dripped a dark blue, a distressing contrast against the blinding white snow. He was still shaking, his hands still clasped on the blade.

'I am Chaos,' Lucas said his voice breaking.

'No Lucas,' Rosie said coughing from the snow, she pulled herself onto all fours. 'No baby, please,' she said looking at him. He flinched at her words, but the air shimmered and he vanished. Rosie began to cry, Ashley crawled over to her sister and cradled her. 'He's gone,' Rosie sobbed.

'Shit!' Seth swore. 'This is bad, this is really, really bad,' he said getting to his feet. North helped Tooth to her feet, she began to flutter her wings as soon as she was upright. Seth concentrated, holding his hands out in front of him, his eyes began to glow a golden red, his dark hair taking the same sheen that Lucas' always had. A orb appears between his palms, it began to darken in parts to a blue. Seth swore again and looked at the sky. A large thundercloud was beginning to spread.

'I don't get it!' Tooth said nervously. 'What's going on?'

'Lucas, the spirit of Chaos. He's lost control and is now rampaging across the earth,' Seth said quickly. 'Look, Mother Nature died right? So all the work that she does had ceased. The world has gone into panic. As Lucas said, complete and utter chaos. He can't help himself, but it does mean serious trouble.' He explained. North shook his head.

'That video, what does it say? Does it explain why Zoe is doing this?' North asked. He heard Zoe's voice, he turned to see Tooth standing in the snow watching the message. She had pressed play when Seth had begun to talk.

'Oh.. North...' She said tears in her eyes. North took the phone and replayed the message. Minutes passed, only Zoe's voice in the clearing. Rosie was still crying but her whimpers were muffled by Ashley's clothing.

'I see,' North says getting to the end of the message. 'Man in moon gave her duty.'

'Duty?' Tooth repeated, 'that's not a duty North! That's more like a damn punishment! Why Zoe? Why make Zoe decide? That's totally unfair!' She said looking at the moon angrily. 'We are the Guardians! Why didn't he tell us?'

…

My feet are bloodied and bare. Covered in ashes from the burnt plants. I can still see that scars from ten years ago, where the shadows tore at my skin. It was a shadow that killed Jack, only one person I know can create them. He is next.

'Oh Cheryl.' His voice rang out in the clearing. I had left Natalie's home, now standing in the area in the mountains. But the place was no longer idyllic, the flowers and trees withered and shrivelled. The lake filled with dark algae and the fish has perished. I froze, my scythe blade was still coated with Natalie's blood. I can't help the giggle that breaks from my lips. This is too perfect.

'Pitch,' I reply, my shoulders shaking. I can tell that he's behind me.

'You look like you've been through a lot Cheryl, aren't you tired?' He said moving closer to me.

'You could say that,' I laugh. 'It's been a rather long day,' I add. He touches my shoulder and I spin around to face him. His apparition was almost opaque, he's definitely getting stronger. The shock on his face is obvious. 'Can you smell that?' I say lifting my head. 'Breathe it in, deeply.' Pitch scowls as he breathes in.

'That's...'

'That's her fear,' I say laughing and leaning closer to him. 'Her sweet, delicious fear.' I inhale with a smile on my face. 'Does it hurt?' I taunt. 'Do you feel the blind ache squeeze around your heart?'

'You killed her,' he says finally, his eyes looking at the blood on my scythe. I clap my hand to my mouth. I gasp and look guilty. The screaming in my mind intensifies, just for a moment, but it's enough to cause me pain.

'I did? Oh no!' I say mockingly. I lift up my scythe to look at it. 'Oh, would you look at that. I did. I did kill her.' I giggle more. Pitch's face went like stone. He frowned and his eyes glittered. I beam at him. 'The best part? She begged me,' I say in a breath. 'She begged me for her pathetic little existence,' I run my finger over my blade, breaking the skin on the sharp edge. My fresh blood mingled with the dried, tar like red that was Natalie's. I had his full attention.

'Why? The bala-,' he began.

I lost all humour. 'No!' I screech at him. 'Fuck the balance. Fuck you too!' I scream. I swing my blade through his apparition, slicing it cleanly in two. But the shadows merged together again and he reappeared again. 'I will take everything that you hold dear,' I promise staring at him in pure fury. 'You will regret the day that you took Jack from me,' I hiss.

'Jack Frost?' Pitch said. His face lost his anger. Instead it turned into glee. 'Jack Frost was one of the three?' He clapped his hands. 'That is poetic justice,' he says smiling. 'Which means, this will be even more sweet.'

'What the fuck are you on about?!' I spit at him. I can already feel my rage from his reaction. Pitch grinned and crossed the gap between us quickly, pressing his hands against my temples.

'I need you to break Zoe,' he says in my ear. 'Not just your mind, but your entire being.'

I felt as if the darkness that flooded my body and mind was deathly cold. It sapped at my strength and I felt my scythe drop from my fingers. I fell to what ever classed as the floor and cradled my head in my hands. The screaming that I had previously only heard in my mind was now echoing around me, edged with a voice more painful. Pitch began to laugh. 'Does it hurt? Do you feel the blind ache squeeze around your heart?' Pitch mocked, repeating my words back at me. I whimper pulling at my hair.

'I will kill you, like your pathetic daughter,' I whisper. 'I will take pleasure in feeling your soul leave your body,' I gasp as a wave of pain passes over me. He kneels by my side and laughs, steepling his fingers.

'The beauty of this moment? Is that you think I killed Jack, that's perfect,' he says softly stroking my hair. I try to twitch away from his touch, but the pain is too much. 'I didn't kill Jack Zoe... Cheryl... Daya.'

'Trying to make excuses, won't save you,' I promise. 'You are going to die.'

'No my dear,' he laughs. He tilts my head up to his and smiles. 'I will give you a clue. The man in the moon was not talking about the Guardians, when he said that the three of the five will die.'

'Bull shit,' I say through clenched teeth.

'No. It's not.' He chuckled. He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. I look up at him, I can hear the cries of agony around me and in my mind. I can hear Jack's voice. Talking to me as if everything was normal. I scream loudly.

'Make it stop!' I yell at him. I can feel Jack's breathe on the nape of my neck, his fingers running over my feathers. 'Make it stop!' I scream more.

'Oh no, I don't think so,' he smiles. 'But I will tell you this before I leave,' he picks me up, making me stand on my own two feet, I wobble, unable to take the voices in my head and around me.

'He wasn't talking about the five Guardians,' Pitch said. 'He was talking about the five... stone... carriers,' he says slowly.

'Five... stone carriers?' I repeat numbly.

'Oh yes, Reaper.' Pitch laughs. 'You chose to save North by removing the stone, you could have done the same for Jack but you didn't. You chose to sacrifice Jack, to save North,' he smiles. 'You cannot die, but whoever holds the reaper's stones is susceptible to darkness and the death they absorb.'

'You're lying!' I yell, my head roiling with the accusation.

'No, I'm not. Which is why this is so perfect.' Pitch clapped his hands. I feel my mind shut down and my heart shudder to a stop. What he's just said makes perfect sense. None of the other Guardians have died.. So.. I did. I killed Jack.

Me.

I did it.

I killed him.

…

Pitch laughs as he watches Zoe crumble. He can see the snap inside her mind. Her blood red eyes going dim, glazing over. Her wings dropped and she fell to her knees. He winced as tears filled her eyes. The scythe that was by her side vanished. If he thought that she was broken before, now truly she had gone. He left her in the nightmare, Jack's voice had only got louder and clearer. She wouldn't be able to break free. She would be trapped here. Until, he needed her.

I am incredibly ill. Just to let you know. Like really badly, and I'm still working two jobs. So apologies for this late chapter and any late chapters that are to come. I know this chapter sucks a little but please review and let me know what you think.