(All these chapters for one fight scene? Gawsh. The Guardians have been fighting Pitch and Asura since Chapter 7!
(Then again, it's not a far cry from the Soul Eater manga, what with the battle on the Moon and all. You all have been so very [heartbroken] updated on Chapter 112, right?)
(Anyway, I don't own this stuff. Just OCs and the story.)
Lord Death spun his scythe around in his hands, and then lunged forward, trying to land a blow on Asura, but the Kishin was quick and agile and dodged clearly each time.
Sandy wanted to help Lord Death, even with his waning strength, but MiM was brought to his attention again, and he knew that he couldn't drag out their fight, what with him becoming affected by the lack of belief, even though being the Guardian of Dreams, he was affected less quicker than the other Guardians.
He wished that they had time…that they could get this finished and that he could give dreams to the children that would comfort them and restore their belief…
Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noticed a few elves being tossed around by the Fearlings like rag dolls. The assistants of the Guardians were putting up the best fight that they could, but, Jack noted with dismay, the Fearlings and Nightmares were getting stronger, taking down the helpers without mercy. Kailash flew about, trying to lure the Nightmares away from their prey of Tooth's mini-fairies-
Mini-fairies?
A deep, unsettling pit that had formed in his gut was already being quickly filled with terror.
"Baby Tooth!" Jack exclaimed, getting to his feet and searching for the unique mini-fairy. His legs suddenly ached all over again, and he had to prop himself up on his staff. He clenched his jaw, trying to stay strong. Was that sweat on his neck, Jack wondered - he rarely ever felt hot.
Having less believers than the rest of the Guardians, Mother Goose felt more strained than ever as she struggled to keep her eyes open, and to stay awake. The feeling of dread was overwhelming her now, leaving a fear of death and a desire to live.
She looked around her, searching for Kailash, and also to examine the battle around her. Jack looked frantic, calling out a name over and over again that she couldn't hear. She saw the shadows overwhelming the helpers of the Guardians, and then she saw Kailash leading Nightmares away from the mini-fairies.
"Kailash!" Katherine called. Seeing its friend, Kailash complied, and flew down, but the Nightmares came with it. The storyteller gasped in air as she tried to climb up the snow goose's back, but it was only until Kailash pulled her up with a nudge of its wing that it was able to fly away, avoiding an attack from the Nightmares in the nick of time.
Looking over the entire battle, Katherine realized something.
"...Where's Pitch?"
Lord Death and Asura battled fiercely, totaling a large fraction of the forest, none willing to surrender. The scythe had hit Asura only once, but a Shinigami Chop was enough to bring the Kishin to the ground.
While getting up, something tugged at one of Asura's scarves, possibly trying to get him to go away. He looked to see that it was one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers trying to pull him away in vain. He flicked it away, but this one was persistent and flew towards him.
Scowling, he raised his scarf, and threw it down onto the mini-fairy - only for it to freeze about a tenth of an inch away from its target. He looked at where the mini-fairy had flown to, on the shoulder of a certain winter spirit.
"Don't you ever lay a finger on Baby Tooth again," Jack growled, and Baby Tooth chirped threateningly.
Asura moved to strike Jack, but then a scythe blade swung out of the corner of his eye and then he was battling Lord Death again, dodging the reaper's blows.
Katherine flew towards MiM, holding up her dagger, preparing to strike him. She was so caught up in the moment that she nearly forgot about the Nightmares following her and Kailash. One of the dark horses nipped at Kailash's tail feathers, prompting Kailash to honk in pain and fly faster away, which led to Mother Goose missing her aim and instead merely scratching MiM, who became angrier.
He commanded the Nightmares to attack, swiftly and without mercy.
Soon, both Sanderson and Katherine were caught in the middle of a storm of black sand horses, and Sandy immediately remembered that cloudy night where he was trapped and then there was an arrow and it hurt-
Katherine, however, had come up with a plan of attack that very moment.
"Sandy," she called to the Sandman, "give me the diamond dagger!"
Sandy looked to Katherine, and judging solely by her knowing smile, he passed her the diamond dagger and swiftly unleashed both his dreamsand whips, diminishing the surrounding Nightmares to harmless dreamsand, and making a way for Katherine to escape.
A more blinding pain seared in her heart, and she buried her face in Kailash's neck, trying to soothe herself with the downy feathers of the Snow Goose. It didn't help at all, and soon she felt Kailash rear up to dodge a scarf flying at a certain grim reaper. She regained a proper hold in the nick of time - but not on the dagger.
It began falling to the earth, seemingly in slow motion in the storyteller's eyes - but she wasn't about to give up yet, and turned Kailash around to fly towards the falling dagger, reaching her hand out to try to catch it. The moonbeam inside it glowed brightly, dissipating all the Fearlings that tried to scratch at Mother Goose and Kailash and reducing them to dust.
With that, she saw one shadow dart from one place to another, avoiding the light, moving closer to Lord Death's cloak.
She immediately knew who it was.
The pain in her skyrocketed, and Katherine fumbled to get to the diamond dagger, the moonbeam flickering, urging her to catch it. Her hat flew off as her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of the dagger, and Kailash flew back up towards the sky.
The moonbeam smiled at Katherine.
"Thank you."
Katherine's grey eyes gleamed with resolve as she spotted the moving shadow again.
"Don't thank me yet!" she said as Kailash, having spotted it as well, flew towards it.
Asura and Lord Death kept their attentions to each other, fighting as best as they could. The shinigami had to keep the kishin away from the Guardians, to keep them from getting distracted by Asura's insanity or becoming targets of the Demon God's blows. Asura, on the other hand, was keeping Lord Death away from helping the Guardians by becoming as invincible an opponent he could be, leaving the spirits to be overwhelmed by the shadows and the sheer pain of not being believed in.
And the kishin was almost glad that Lord Death didn't notice the shadow move in the trees.
A certain metal swoosh caught the reaper's ears, and he blocked the incoming weapon with his scythe, then he turned to face his attacker.
"What happened to you, Man in Moon?" Lord Death asked, seeing the look on his old friend's face - not one of kindness anymore, but of madness. The sparkle that had once been in his eyes was far, far gone.
"What happened to me is that I've become stronger," MiM replied with a small smile. Lord Death's eyes narrowed under his mask. "You were strong enough, long before you started having nightmares. What convinced you otherwise?"
MiM did not answer, for he remembered clearly his last nightmare.
"Such a person like you doesn't deserve to be a Guardian."
"Everything you've done was for nothing."
"Such a great creation, was he not?" Asura sneered. "Succumbing to my madness. Guess you won't have too long to enjoy the sight, though." With that, Vajra popped out of his mouth, and fired red beams at the reaper, no matter which way he dodged. In fact, Asura fired so recklessly that one of them even hit MiM, and he fell to the ground.
Jack stared at the spectacle. And then Baby Tooth chirped, spotting something in the sky.
"Mother Goose?" he asked, seeing the familiar woman, who now beginning to fade.
Pitch appeared out of nowhere as Lord Death was cornered. He came so quietly that maybe Lord Death had not heard him at all - or maybe was too busy with Asura to react.
Either way, the Bogeyman was now readying his scythe, ready to strike.
And everything was in slow motion again.
The nightmare sand scythe lowered...
The snow goose flew over the spectacle...
The Guardians looked up as the Moon was blocked...
A figure jumped from the snow goose, a burst of pure and bright light accompanying it.
It was Katherine.
Pitch suddenly felt something penetrate his back. He didn't have to look over his shoulder to know what was there.
He laughed.
And then the explosion came just as Mother Goose's last believer stopped believing.