AN: Hi readers, the old and the new! Hope this didn't take too long. Mind you, it's not beta-ad yet. I will repost it when it is. So there is a bit more mistakes than usual. But hey, it's better than nothing, right?

Chapter 6

The sweet sounds of morning traffic woke Bill up. Apparently someone had cut in front of a wrong person and was now called a "cutting little faggot". Other people were announcing their opinion by honking. God bless London.

He slowly got up to a sitting position, scrabbling his black bush of hair. Alone as usual. First it had felt a little odd to live with a girl and still sleep alone. But after realizing Sera simply wouldn't sleep with him in bedroom (she even dragged herself to the sofa after sex) he had learned to take the advance of it. At least he had a lot of space.

After stretching for awhile Bill jumped up glad that it was a day-off for both of them. He could take his time making breakfast, preparing eggs, pancakes and bacon. Sera obviously wouldn't eat it but he could cook her apple slices in cinnamon or something…

Smile died on his lips as he entered their combined kitchen and living room. Everything looked normal enough: extra junk had been thrown here and there to cover the tables and floor but it was homely kind of a mess. Bill cleaned every now and then just so Sera could leave her stuff lying where ever she felt like. But right now his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. Bill noticed the bathroom door was locked. It should have calmed him down, but it didn't. He ran to it, his heart pounding up in his throat.

"Are you there, love?" Bill called out and pounded the door. His voice was shaking a little. Getting no answer he swallowed and ran to get a screw driver. While twisting the lock open, he murmured to himself: "It's okay, she's just blacked out from drinking into an empty stomach again or something."

The door shot open and Bill felt like he's going to faint finding the bathroom empty. "Why the hell was it locked in the first place?" he muttered. Then he sprinted to the drawer in bedroom and rampaged through it. Sera's small stash of money was there, but a big amount of her clothing was gone.

Bill ran with unstable legs thorough the apartment, searching anything else that was missing. Her training bag, some hygiene-equipment from the bathroom, her brush: all gone. But what had remained were her passport, wallet, keys to their apartment, her cell phone…

Pacing around the living room, Bill started to talk to himself as usual when he was nervous: "It's just normal that she left, it's nothing terrible… But she never sneaks away during the night, she's not ashamed of leaving! She would have just told me that she would be away for awhile, right? And why would she leave everything important? Like she was in a hurry… but it's not like her! She doesn't just 'forget' her passport! No, something has happened, something… I need to call the police!"

Bill's eyes widened of horror and he stopped on his tracks. "The police! She will be needed in court because of Sid! No, she can't be gone. They will think there's something suspicious about her. I can't call the police…" He jumped as the window crashed close. Wind had probably closed it. After rejecting the idea that Sera had collected her stuff and jumped out of the window as ridiculous, Bill went back to panicking.

"It just doesn't make sense!" he groaned.

oooOooo

Actually it hadn't been the wind that had closed the window of Sera's and Bill's apartment. It was Jack Frost who had been searching for Pitch. It was hopeless, really: Pitch could be anywhere in the world. But after finding himself from London, the idea had struck Jack: what if Pitch was still there, assuming the Guardians wouldn't think of looking for him from Sera's apartment? So he had enthusiastically rushed there, just in time to hear Bill's desperate monologue.

Now the Wind was carrying him towards the North Pole as fast as it could. Terrible suspicions were dashing thorough his mind. The others had to hear about this.

The Yetis still seemed unwilling to let him enter Santa's workshop, but now that Jack was a guardian they had to. He smiled at his favorite Yeti, Phil, and only got a warning glare for a response.

North was keeping an eye at his globe, shouting instructions every now and then. "Jack Frost!" he yelled enthusiastically once he noticed the boy. It reminded Jack of the first time he had visited Santa's workshop. Minus the sack and the magic portal. North grabbed Jack into his large embrace, smelling like cinnamon and sawdust.

"What brings you here?" he asked, holding Jack's shoulders with his large palms. He furrowed his brows, noticing the worry on Winter Spirit's face. "Is something wrong?"

"I think it might be. Can you call the others?"

North examined the boy's face for a little while. "Are you sure?" he asked.

After receiving a stiff nod he shrugged his board shoulders and turned to summon the other Guardians. Northern lights spread across the sky. Jack watched them wave, glittering in differed shades of red, green and violet.

Bunny was the first one to arrive, because of his rabbit holes. He tapped the floor nervously with his paw. Before he could open his mouth Tooth dashed in, her little wings fluttering nervously. "What is it?" she cried out immediately. "Is it Pitch? Is he back? Did you find him? What did he do?" Jack refused to answer any of her questions before Sandman landed slowly to them, with a hot-air balloon made of golden sand. He still managed to turn Jack wordless with the beautiful things he created.

Once they were all gathered Jack started to speak: "Sera is gone." For a moment their expressions were blank.

"Oh!" North said, realization lighting up his face. "That tiny girl whose house we kept Pitch in!" The others nodded, remembering her. Jack was surprised: they had forgotten about her that fast?

"That's too bad, but how does this concern us?" Bunny asked. "I think it was Pitch," Jack replied.

They all stared at him in silence. "Jack," Tooth said carefully. "I know you are mad at him, we all are, but we can't just blame everything on him."

"She's got a point," Bunny said. "What could the Nightmare King possibly want from a human girl? Especially an adult. She can't even see him… most of the time."

"But what if he has found a way!" Jack cried out. Why didn't anyone else see it? "Look guys, you don't get it… What it's like to be heard, to be acknowledged, after so long time. I remember when Jaime said my name. It was… wonderful. You know what Pitch is like!"

The other Guardians shared doubtful looks. "As far as I know, the girl may have left all by herself," Bunny noted.

"Yes" Tooth said. "I heard that man, Bill, say to his friend in phone that she does that."

"But I heard him say that this is not like her, she had left a lot of things behind her," Jack argued.

"Well think about this," Bunny growled, turning impatient, "What if you are right and Pitch did take her, what then? Even if we found her, she sure doesn't see us. We aren't able to do anything for her!"

Before this point North had just been following the conversation. Now it however was turning into an argument, so he raised his hand to interrupt them. "Bunny has a point," he said. "We are not able to do anything anyway before we find Pitch." He didn't give Jack an opportunity to argue. "We will keep looking for Pitch like usually. That's all we can do."

oooOooo

Sera landed not-so-gracefully on her face. Damn that cold stone floor. She cursed under her breath as she slowly emerged on her feet, trying to keep what may have remained from her dignity. The Bogeyman was lurking in the shadows of the room. His yellow eyes and teeth, formed into a wicked grin, gave him away. Sera eyed him suspiciously, straightening her back. At this point it was pretty clear he was a threat. What kind of a threat, that was still uncertain.

Though she had her suspicions.

They just stood there looking at each other for a while, Pitch still mostly hiding behind darkness. After few minutes Sera was pretty sure he wasn't about to verge her without a warning again, so she dared to take her eyes off him to glance around herself. They were in a room that reminded her of some sort of a ballroom. Dark, abandoned, dusty ballroom. Huge walls seemed to be made out of the same dark stone as everything else there, but the floor was smooth marble. It felt freezing against her soles. The light was the same, cold and distant as in her dream. Sera still couldn't see the source of it. Big throne-like armchair had been placed against one wall.

Sera cleared her throat not knowing why she had expected him to speak up first. "Care to explain what the hell is going on?" The Nightmare King chuckled from his shadows. "Wrong question, darling," he said and slowly started to glide towards the armchair. Sera was getting really irritated at this point.

"Okay, how about this: What do you want from me?" she said and crossed her arms on her chest. "That's more like it," Pitch said and sat down. He made a small gesture and something dropped from the ceiling on the floor in front of her. Sera jumped back and he laughed at the baffled look on her face. Once recovered from the scare, she narrowed her eyes and picked up her dancing shoes. The Bogeyman grinned at her and shifted to more comfortable position on his chair.

"Dance for me."

oooOooo

AN: Now usually my criterion for a chapter is that it takes the plot significantly forward. But I wouldn't be a writer if I didn't write a short filler chapter every now and then, right? I'm not gonna lie: this month is so booked already that I'm probably not able to update. Just hang in there with me mates, and have a good Valentine's day! :)

~Janice