(A/N: Alright, so what we got…No reviews yet? Huh.)
(I still don't own anything that's not mine.)
They crept quietly into the dark halls, Nightlight and Sandy lighting the way with their glow. The rest looked for any sign of the Nightmare King and/or the Demon God, but none had popped up so far.
Remembering his past encounter with Pitch in this very place, Jack Frost made it a point to stay alert and focused at all costs. He didn't know what exactly they had up their sleeves (if Pitch had any sleeves), but it was enough to let him know that it was their supposed trump card.
Sandy too was very keen, keeping his whips at the ready for any sign of Pitch or Asura. He didn't want to die again, to give them the upper hand, to have his friends grieve all over again.
Suddenly Katherine felt that same unsettling feeling again. It was as if the very shadows were pulling at her heartstrings. Kailash sensed her discomfort, and moved closer, trying to protect its friend.
Out of nowhere, a shadow loomed over Nightlight, and his bright glow made it even more obvious. He pointed his staff at the source of the shadow, and the moonbeam flickered in distaste.
"Now, now," said Pitch. "I don't think we invited guests, did we?" He smirked and vanished again.
"Pitch!" Bunny cried out. "What did you do to the Man in the Moon?"
"What did I do?" he asked in his cold voice. "All I did was give him a dose of reality. Don't all recalcitrant children need a reprimanding?"
"He's being driven to insanity!" North pointed one of his scimitars at the King of Nightmares. "No child, naughty or nice, deserves that!"
"All according to plan," Asura said coolly, and Jack turned around to see the Kishin standing there. He fired an ice bolt at him, but Asura dodged swiftly and had the winter spirit's neck in seconds.
Sandy rushed over and tried to reach Jack using his whips, but all Asura did was catch it in midair. The Demon God then procedded to pull the Sandman towards him using his own scarves, grabbing the golden man's neck.
"It is enough, even for people like them. I am amazed." The other Guardians turned to see Asura standing calmly on another staircase in Pitch's labyrinth of a lair, looking amused. What had been attacking Jack and Sandy was actually a hallucination. And what of the two? Sandy was actually putting his tiny hands around Jack's neck, as if to strangle him, while Jack had the hook of his staff around the dreamweaver's neck, preparing to freeze his fellow Guardian – or what he thought was the Kishin.
"How easily you fall for that trick." Pitch sneered on the other side, in a large silhouette. "Now it's my turn to attack." With that, he crafted a scythe out of nightmare sand and swung. Tooth had blocked it with her swords, and then Bunny threw one of his boomerangs at the Nightmare King.
The fight had begun, with Pitch unleashing his Nightmares and Fearlings, and the Guardians landing blow after blow, with Sanderson and Jackson joining in after they came back to their senses.
"Insects," Asura said, grinning. "I like playing with insects."*
All of a sudden, a red beam flashed through and hit the Guardians, bringing them to the ground. Nightlight was the first to stand after the blow, and then Moonbeam glowed in Asura's direction. The Kishin had a weapon sticking out of his mouth which he swallowed once again, sending it back into his stomach.
"That monster," Bunnymund muttered from behind the spectral boy. "He even ate his own weapon partner…"
Pitch raised up his scythe to strike a blow, but Sandy's hand was faster, and the Bogeyman was sent flying into a corner of his lair. The Sandman and Nightlight were quick to corner him, but this time Pitch melted into the shadows, leaving the Guardians to wonder where he had gone, only to realize a second later that Asura had disappeared as well, their laughs echoing through the lair.
"Come on out and face us, you cowards!" Jack yelled, brandishing his staff like a weapon.
At this, a shadow with three glowing red eyes crept up behind the winter spirit. "Face you I shall," was all he said before striking.
But the extended finger* was a tenth of an inch from even touching Jack's chest before something caused the ground to quake. A crackling in the sky! The roof above them opened because of the intensity, and the Guardians could all see plainly that the dull crescent Moon above them was breaking.
Pitch threw back his head and laughed.
"No," Nightlight screamed, "NO!"**
"Nightlight!" Mother Goose yelled out as her friend flew up to the skies, even as Pitch yelled at the same time, "It's no use, child!" with utter glee.
The Moon in front of him was crumbling even more, like a crushed cookie, like a stale circle of cheese. Nightlight kept flying on with tears in his pale green eyes, oh, why had I allowed this to happen?
The moonbeam grew agitated at the change of its master, and its home. That monster! It would kill Pitch by the time he was freed from this dagger—
—if it ever got the chance.
Pieces of the moon fell to earth, looking more like meteorites, reminding Sandy of the way he crashed into the ocean in a saddening way. The tides were becoming wild, drowning and flooding every person and every place it touched down upon on Earth. The Moon Clipper itself was taking on a more twisted shape, becoming more eerily yellow, and blood was starting to drip out of its mouth – the blood of fallen creatures on the Moon that once were.
A moon rock hit Nightlight, making him plummet to the ground hard in a part of the Irish forest further away from Pitch's lair. The way he was falling made the spectral boy remember how he and Pitch fell to Earth – only this time he was Pitch, falling against his will, all his thoughts for the future shattered.
The Moon was now a face, and not a friendly one anymore. It had the look of a dastardly murderer, one that had no guilt, no qualms. The light it gave was no longer one to chase away the darkness; it was the light that cast the darkness. The Guardians could only listen on as an evil laugh rang out through the night, as horrified children screamed, and fear resounded throughout the world.
It was the laugh of a once kind voice, of the shadow they could see so triumphantly standing on air in front of the eternally crescent Moon.
The laugh of the Man in the Moon.
"Now you will know everything, my children," he said, grinning the same way his war ship was, "everything about fear…"
"…And madness."
(* - Based on weird Asura stuff from episodes 49 & 50.
** - Based on the part in the movie when Sandy died.
Next up is another poorly written fight scene, where the Guardians have to go up against the Man in the Moon!)