Chapter 8

In Which All Hell Breaks Loose

The wind around me was roaring. It was so loud and cold, and I just wanted to sleep. So why was I flying?

Confused, I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of the ground rushing up to meet me. Ah!

It was like someone had slapped me; all of the sudden I was wide awake. I couldn't feel the cuts covering my body, oozing blood. I could feel my heart beating wildly and before I could make the conscious decision to do so, the wind formed a cushion of sorts, trying to slow my fall.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! The pain broke through again, my left arm had gotten caught under me and I heard a snap half a second before the wind scattered and I began to fall again, trying to hold my arm to myself without moving it too much. It hurt so badly.

The ground was coming too quickly still. The wind offered resistance, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't do it. I closed my eyes.

North had been busy lately. The yetis were not being as productive as he wanted; he kept having to go through the workshop to make sure they were all working. Too often he caught them napping or slacking off. There were toys to make! They needed to make more toys than ever before.

The elves were being lazy too; every time he asked for cookies they took far too long to bring them. One yeti tried to suggest that the kitchens couldn't keep up with his demand for food, but this couldn't be true. They were just lazy, wasting time, sleeping somewhere instead of working.

He paced in his office now, the doors open so he could watch the workshop. It was nearly full to bursting with toys now; he had pulled all the yetis from the wrapping department so they could all make toys. They air, which used to have airplanes and all types of creations soaring about, was crammed full of various toys; too many for any of them to move at all. It was wonderful.

Suddenly there was a sharp chirping in his ear; tooth fairies. One of them, the loudest, was shaking a small piece of paper at him. He grabbed it from her, simultaneously shoving one last cookie in his mouth before shouting an order out to the workshop.

"Phil, Dave! Get my sled ready. The rest of you keep working!"

The fairies reach Sandy around the same time. He was asleep in a nest-like construction of dream sand. He ignored them at first as they tried to wake him. Finally he opened an eye and took the paper. He read it quickly and then dropped it, shrugged and went back to sleep. The fairies began chirping louder and tugging at his clothes, trying to get him up but he waved a hand at them, releasing dream sand into their eyes and they dropped too, instantly asleep.

The fairies reached the Warren easily and found a similar situation to the Pole; the Warren was full of beautifully painted eggs. Bunny was in the middle of it, picking up eggs and examining, and setting aside the most beautiful into a separate pile for himself.

As the fairies approached he grinned widely and held up another egg, one painted pink with delicate yellow flowers covering it.

"Look at this one! Beautiful, isn't it? And I made it. Me!" He puffed out his chest.

"I made all of these!" He gestured widely at the hills, covered in colorful eggs. The fairies didn't seem to care; the flew right up to him and began chirping in his face, one of them holding a small piece of paper.

"Oh, for me? Thank you!" Bunny took the note and read it quickly, his demeanor changing as he did so.

"She did what?!" And he bounded off into the tunnels, followed closely by the tooth fairies.

Jack was in Oklahoma, playing around with some kids who were enjoying their freak snow day. The fairies, looking very cold and trying to keep moving, had a lot of trouble actually handing Jack the note. When he finally got a good look at it, he stopped laughing.

"No… No way." And he took off, flying east as quickly as he could.

Pitch had been drawn to the scene the instant Tooth had discovered that some of the teeth were missing; her fear was palpable to him even a continent away. Curious, he had followed her surreptitiously until they encountered Rona. Then Tooth's fear had disappeared, overpowered by Rona's.

His fists clenched of their own accord as he watched, fighting off the instinct to get involved. He watched as she tried to catch the falling teeth, being attacked by the tooth fairies. Then he watched again as she took off in pursuit of Tooth, trying to explain. He watched as, once again, she was attacked relentlessly.

He did not watch her fall.

The landing didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. In fact, it felt more like hitting something that slowed me down before stopping. It felt warm.

I opened my eyes, but at first saw nothing except a pale, grey face and golden eyes looking back.

"Pitch…" He was holding me upright but against his chest, supporting my weight. Damn my arm hurt.

Almost as quickly as he'd caught me, he released me and stepped back. I stumbled as my feet hit the ground and held on to my arm tightly, trying to immobilize it. In the moment he'd held me my fear had all but disappeared, leaving me feeling weak and dizzy as the adrenaline began to fade from my system. I began to shiver violently.

Then I heard sleigh bells and gave a sigh of relief; North was here. Now things would be cleared up. The sleigh flew right by me, but North jumped out, swords at the ready and… Pointed at me!

"North, Tooth's got the wrong idea, but she won't listen. I didn't-"

"Quiet!" A hole opened in the ground next to him and Bunny jumped out, ready to throw a boomerang, his eyes trained on me.

"Guys, please listen, I didn't take the teeth, they were-"

"What is this all about?" Pitch spoke up and stepped forward. The Guardians looked even angrier now.

"Did he tell you to take the teeth, Rona? Why!?" North demanded. I shook my head and tried once again to explain what had happened but was cut off before I could even begin.

"North, if she's gone bad she could be casting a spell on us right now." Bunny's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"She could have gotten us all to come here so she can take my eggs."

"Or the Christmas presents!" North seemed shocked and furious that I would even consider taking them.

"That's not-"

"Don't let her get a chance to use her magic!" Bunny jumped closer and tossed a boomerang, and I deflected it, dropping my left arm in the process. I bit back a scream as the pain tore through me, giving me one last boost of adrenaline as my mind processed that I was in danger.

"No!" Pitch shouted, and shadows surrounded us, but the attacks did not stop; the boomerang nearly hit me as it returned to Bunny and one of North's swords sliced through the darkness, catching on my coat and nearing a new hole into it but missing my skin.

I felt a cold hand grab my wrist a pull me towards the edge of the darkness, trying to get me away from the fighting. A flash of white hair confirmed their identity; Jack was here.

"Come on, you need to get out of here!" He shouted, trying to pull me out but I resisted.

"No, they'll kill each other!" I pulled my wrist away from him and turned to try and go back, I needed to stop them. Maybe a spell…

Suddenly, he grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me back around, pulling me towards him forcefully and he pressed his lips against mine.

My eyes went wide in shock, but Jacks were closed. He was holding me tightly, and I couldn't push him away with only one arm. It felt awful. His skin was so cold it burned and I didn't want this, I just wanted it to stop.

After a few seconds he loosened his grip and I pushed him back as hard as I could manage, using both my good arm and the wind.

"What the hell was that?!" Jack didn't answer. His eyes were open now, and he looked just as surprised as I felt.

"Why the fuck did you- we're in the middle of a fight, what the…" My voice trailed off.

His hoodie was changing colors. I could see a faint glimmer of silver in the center of the red stain. The shadows disappeared abruptly as I froze in place; Pitch must have sensed my fear again because he was suddenly at my side.

North was standing behind Jack, one sword still pointed at me. The other had run Jack through.

Oh god, no… Everything disappeared as Pitch grabbed me and the shadows surrounded us tightly, transporting us away from the battle.

Everything was silent now. Pitch and I stood in the middle of his home, the sunken castle. The Guardians were gone, the tooth fairies that had been attacking me were gone. Jack was gone.

I felt numb for a brief moment before I passed out again.

A beautiful woman watched, hidden, as the Guardians stood there, watching the spot where the witch and the king of nightmares had disappeared. Then they quickly agreed between themselves that the witch was going to pay for killing Jack.

The woman scoffed.

"Idiot. Couldn't even tell the difference between love and lust."

A brief moment of silence as my heart breaks from writing this.

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