author's note: Whelp this chapter wrote itself. I had a lot of fun with it even if I'm a bit unhappy with the pacing. Ah well, carpe diem. Also, does anyone know a good book for info on various bird species (habitat, diet, mating rituals, etc.)? Between Pitch and the fairies I'm going to need it. Oh! And any particular birds you want the lieutenants fairies modeled after? One for each continent (except Antarctica).
-Part 3-
Pitch gave a small squawk of alarm when he woke up to a dozen pair of curious faces staring at him. Fear spirit he might be but that did not mean he was immune to his own nature!
"Wha-what is all this!?" Pitch managed to as he backed away from the hovering fairies on his feet, mindful of his injured wing. Had they figured out he was actually Pitch Black already? But how? He'd barely spoken a wo- had he spoken in the wrong language? He was so certain he was speaking in crow since meeting Tooth on the roof but he was so exhausted perhaps he had slipped? Were they here to get there own piece of justice for him caging them not so long ago?
A white-feathered fairy, one of his healers from yesterday, suddenly dive-bombed the hovering flock of fairies. The pests scattered in cries of alarm painful to Pitch's sensitive ears.
"Jian! What are you doing?" One of the starers, a normal looking fairy except for her bird-like wings, demanded once she and the others recovered.
"No! What do you think you're doing? Queen-Mother left our injured guest in mine and Thamina's care. He needs rest not to be gawked at by a gaggle of overly curious fairies that should know better!" Jian practically hissed.
Pitch watched the developing fight with growing curiosity and amusement. He never understood Tooth's fairies so well, was it because he was now a crow? Or was it simply another change that happened while he was- while he was otherwise occupied?
"We were just curious, we didn't mean to startle him," another fairy, Pitch wondered with a little horror if they all had names, spoke up obviously apologetic compared to her sisters.
Jian's ruffled feathers seemed to settle at that and she was clearly growing indecisive of just how much she should chew her overly curious sisters out.
"I don't mind the company but perhaps I could eat first?" Pitch asked his stomach growling loudly in agreement.
"I'll get you water!" "Food, right, I'm on it!" "Me too!" "I'll help!"
Pitch barely had time to blink before he was suddenly left alone with the dove-like Jian. He croaked his amusement at the fairy's wryly amused face.
"Sorry about that, ever since Mother-Queen started giving us names we've all grown too curious for our own good," Jian said sincerely as she moved to check the binding on his injured wing.
"They are no worse than children," Pitch said simply. Jian looked at him curious but he did not elaborate on whether that was a good thing or not. Truthfully, he did not know. All the fairies sounded so young now that he could understand them, like little girls around five or seven years old. Only Jian and the fairies that reported to Toothiana yesterday seemed older, more like teenagers than children.
The fairies really were Tooth's children and he had kidnapped them all. Perhaps it was the influence of his crow form but, Pitch found the revelation disquieting. He had thought the fairies were like North's elves and yetis, no more than helpers Tooth used to see to her duties. Not her children.
"Are you alright?" Jian asked as she noticed his uneasiness.
Pitch eyed her warily before deciding there was no harm in honesty. "I did not know you were the Magpie Queen's children."
'Magpie' Jian mouthed before laughing. "I suppose that's true. Mother-Queen does like to collect teeth. Do you have family as well... uh, sorry, I don't know your name."
If Pitch could have smiled he would have. He was rather fond of the... quirk crows and ravens had about names.
"Crow will do."
"But that's no name! And it sounds rather rude," Jian protested, practically squawking in dismay.
Pitch let out an amused croak. "Be that as it may, crows do not have names," he explained.
"What?" a new voice shrieked. One of the gawking fairies having returned with food. "You don't have a name!?"
Almost by magic the guest room seemed to be swarmed by alarmed fairies. Pitch sensed they were almost frightened by Pitch's lack of name. Hypnotized by their alarm, Pitch felt himself growing agitated as well.
"Girls! Girls! Calm down!" ordered a fairy larger and older-sounding than most. One of Tooth's second-in-command Pitch suspected. Slowly the over-packed guest room grew calmly silent as all the fairies focused on the voice of order. "So our guest does not have a name and that simply won't do. Let's give him a name."
If Pitch thought it was loud before the room was now an unholy cacophony of arguing fairies.
"How about Sasha?" "That's a girls name!" "It can be a boy's name too!"
"Blacky!" "He's not a pet and he needs a name better than that." "Oh, like you could do better!"
"Itzal" "Sunil" "Gethin" "Turgay" "Bran" "Guntram" "Iah"
"Chandra." "That's another girl's name!" "It's also a boy's name!"
"Rakesh" "Zeru" "Keshet"
With an amused huff Pitch settled in to watch the show as Jian made sure water and food was brought over for him. He hoped Toothiana got back soon from wherever she was. Pitch wasn't sure how many ridiculous name suggestions he could handle.
CCtB
"Swords? You use swords? Since when did you use swords?" Jack asked as they arrived at the entrance to Pitch's lair.
None of them were exactly eager to head into what could very well be a trap. Jack's questions were a welcomed delay.
"I've always used swords, even before I became a Guardian," Tooth admitted as she glanced down at her Indian sabers. They were a welcomed weight in her hands. She had missed them.
"O-kay," Jack said dubiously, dragging out the syllables for emphasis. "Then why didn't you use them last time?"
Tooth's stern warrior persona cracked a little at the question as she shared a sheepish smile with North.
Bunny's eye narrowed at the two of them in suspiciously before growling in disbelief and throwing up his arms in exasperation. "Again?" he demanded. Beside him Sandy just silently laughed.
Jack looked between the four of before leaning forward, using his staff to support him as a mischievous smirk grew on his face. "Oh now I know I'm missing out on something good."
With a cough North tried to hide his blush even as he shuffled his feet. "Bad habits die hard, nyet? 's why so many children stay on naughty list."
Now Bunny was smirking, stance relaxed with his arms crossed as he studied the Russian. "I don't think many ankle-biters have bad habits likebanditry anymore mate."
"Banditry? You were a bandit!" Jack demanded as he looked between his fellow Guardians, trying to see if they tricking him. "Really?"
"Yes," North admitted, blush fading as he puffed his chest out with pride. "Was prince of bandits. Stole half of Europe's fortune." Then noticing the expressions he was getting from the others, North turned sheepish once more. "But that was then. I am Guardian now."
"Doesn't stop you from treating my Warren like it got mysterious treasures just waiting for you to discover," Bunny pointed out dryly.
"Or my palace," Tooth added a bit of steel returning to her voice. "I broke my swords chasing him out the last time he tried to 'explore'. North hadn't finished repairing them before Pitch attacked."
"Huh," Jack said. "Okay, so we going down? Cause I don't think Pitch is coming out."
In grim silence the Guardians entered Pitch's lair. The entrance led them into the large chamber containing the many cages Pitch once used to contain Tooth's fairies and the hollow globe. The five of them spanned out, prepared to be attack at any moment, but, no attack came. Finding the large room as secure as it could be given Pitch's ability to manipulate shadows the gathered around the weak light of the globe.
"I think this goes without saying considering where we are but, am I the only one starting getting to creeped out by the lack of Pitch and Nightmares?" Jack spoke up finally.
As if waiting for a signal, a strange cackling echoed throughout the chamber. It was like the sound of a thousand insect legs on stone combined with the clip-clop of horses to create laughter. The worst part of it was as far as Tooth was concerned was how the laughter seemed to be in her mind and crawl down her spine.
"I stand corrected. That was much creepier than thinking this place deserted," Jack joked with false bravado as the Guardians moved to protect each other's backs.
"Jack," Bunny growled unhappily, ears and nose twitching as he senses stretched for any signs of danger.
"I know, I know. Don't provide the wanna-be villains with openings for dramatics and/or monologues," the winter spirit continued to joke.
"Pitch! Come out! We know you are here!" North bellowed to the surrounding darkness.
There was a moment of stretched out silence before the cackling, louder than before, echoed through the cavern and their minds once more. From the various shadows out walked Nightmares but they were different. Before the horses were made of corrupted dreamsand. Now the creatures looked to be made out of shadows, skin almost leathery where their darkness was thickest.
"WrOnG," The Nightmares spoke without opening their mouths.
"What do you mean, 'wrong'?" Tooth demanded, mentally berating herself and others for knowingly walking into a trap.
"PiTcH iS gOnE. dEaD," The Nightmares explained as at least fifty of them circled the Guardians. One made a snapping motion at the guardians displaying a fanged set of teeth that seemed to drip some kind of poison. "We AtE hIs FeAr." For a third time the cackling noise echoed as the Nightmares enclosed the Guardians further. The underground chamber grew quiet before the Nightmares whispered, conspiratorially, "We... AtE... hIm."
"Oh, I've had enough of this," Jack muttered before slamming his staff to the ground, an explosion of sub-zero air rushing into the shrieking horde of Nightmares. "You ate him? Yeah right! Nice try scaring us better luck next time!"
It was all the signal the other Guardians needed to engage the Nightmares. Instantly Sanderson and Tooth took the air to provide the others with arial cover. Roaring with laughter, North's sabers cut through the shadowy creatures while Bunny used his boomerangs and egg grenades to force the Nightmares back. Jack, now empowered by believers, was stronger than ever; a true force of nature.
"InSoLeNt GuArDiAnS! dEaD oR gOnE, iT mAtTeRs NoT! pItCh BlAcK iS nO mOrE! fEaR iS uNfEtTeReD!" hissed the Nightmares before they fled the cavern, leaving the Guardians with a dubious victory.
"Well, that was... anti-climatic," Jack complained as he swung his staff to rest across his shoulders. He turned away from the the various passages the nightmares used to flee and turned towards his fellow Guardians. "I can't believe they tried to claim Pitch was dead. That they ate him." Jack scoffed at the idea. "Right guys?"
The older Guardians shared an uneasy look.
"Guys?" Jack asked nervously.
"Is not... unheard of for old spirits to die and new spirits replace them," North admitted.
"But this is Pitch, North. World's more likely to croak before that ne'er do well does," Bunny argued face twisting in distaste as he realized he was complimenting Pitch.
"It's a little early to worry about whether the Nightmares were lying or not. Let's just get out of here and let the rest of the spirit community know we might have another situation on our hands," Tooth suggested. There was not much else they could do at the moment.
"I will look into way to confirm Nightmares claims," North agreed as the moved cautiously towards the exit. "Jack, Sandy, inform other spirits, yes?"
"I'll go with Frostbite. Tooth?" Bunny inquired once they were once more above ground.
Tooth wanted to help more, she did, but- "I'll send out what fairies I can spare but, I don't want to leave my palace unprotected. Not after last time."
Jack moved forward instantly, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we won't let Pitch kidnap your fairies. Not again. Do what you need to do Tooth. If we need you or if you need to know something we'll let you know."
Tooth gave her fellow Guardians a grateful smile as they gave similarly reassuring words. She'd do what she could to help as soon as she knew her palace was safe. The crow she rescued for Pippa had completely slipped her mind until arrived home to pandemonium.