Aliesha had taken Cal out for a walk. He had been getting paranoid and stressed with his room. It had taken a whole hour's of wheedling to get Tooth to agree to letting Cal out, as long as they didn't go to far and behaved.

"So, how'd it go?"

"What?"

"With the thing." Mitchell.

"Oh." Aliesha felt her cheeks redden. Cal grinned slyly. "It, um, it went OK."

"Yeah?" He prompted, pulling away from her to sit on a rock. "Tell me what happened."

"Well," Aliesha sat next to him, flexing her wings nervously, "I told him about everyone. And he seemed really excited-"

"Wait." Cal held up his hand. "He sees you?" Aliesha nodded. "How?" She explained from the beginning. Cal didn't interrupt once, listening intently. It had been a while since Aliesha had seen her brother so focused and it came as a relief. "And then I left." His face fell in disappointment and he sulked for a moment. Aliesha waited patiently, watching him turn responses over in his mind.

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I don't know. I said I'd try, but it's getting around Dad."

"We'll figure something out. Maybe I could spontaneously combust or something, make a distraction."

"Spontaneously combust?" He nodded once, looking pleased with himself. "That... I don't think that's going to work. Well," She continued at his quizzical look, "you're a winter spirit and spontaneous combustion is, well, hot."

"Thank you." She smacked his arm. "And I could do an opposite of spontaneously combusting. I could explode into snowflakes and good looking hair."

"I see your humour is intact."

"Can't take that away from me." He gave a cheeky salute and then patted her arm a little awkwardly, but he smiled all the same. "Don't you worry though, we'll sort something out. Get you back to your boo." He fell quiet, resting his head against her shoulder.

"How are you feeling?"

"Um, OK, I think." He thought for a moment. "Sometimes, I'll be alright. And then..." His expression darkened and terror seeped into his eyes. Aliesha took his hand and he smiled- a small, wavering, but grateful smile all the same.

"It'll be fine, you'll see. Don't worry."

"Using my own advice against me. Very clever."

"That's just me. Very clever."

"Fatheaded, more like."

"Oh, I'm insulted." She pretended to flounce off. Cal stumbled after her, making chicken noises. "You're such a pain." She laughed, linking her arm with his.

"I aim to please, sis."

"Cal! Lish! Inside!" Tooth was flying towards them. Jack and some of the fairies weren't far behind. "Go!" She reprimanded.

"Come on." Cal tugged on her arm and headed back to the Tooth Palace. Their parents carried on past them, yelling at them to hurry up.

"Shouldn't we help?"

"No." But he didn't sound so sure, glancing back worriedly. Aliesha made to look too, but he hurried her along.

"Cal!" She protested. "What's going on?"

"Pitch." He mumbled, massaging his chest. Her anger died down to a low simmer. "Let's get you to your room, come on."

"No, I'll stay with you."

"But-"

"I am not leaving you alone with him out there." She took his hand again and marched off. Her room was safer, trickier to get to if Pitch ever got past their parents.

From her room, they heard the distant explosions and sounds of battle. Part of the Palace, from the sound of it, had fallen away, cascading against the barricades and shattering on the ground. Cal was on her bed, knees drawn to his chest and hands over his ears. Aliesha sat with him for a while, trying to comfort him as best she could. Nothing worked.

Her nerves were fraught within twenty minutes. She was up and out the window before Cal could argue.

Cal hurried forward, tripping on the bedframe. He caught a glimpse of her tail feathers whip around the corner and then she was gone. With his staff gone, he couldn't fly. But that didn't stop him. Aliesha was going to get herself in trouble and he had to do something.

Easing himself out the window, he scanned the many turrets below him. He dropped to one, then another and another. He felt dizzy and his limbs trembled, but he couldn't let his little sister get hurt. He forced himself on, propelling himself onwards, grappling at ledges and swinging to another spot to continue.

He caught up minutes later, but it felt like hours. Pitch was holding up a little too well, but Jack, Tooth and the fairies were relentless. Aliesha was zeroing in on the few nightmares that galloped forth from Pitch's power, freezing and slamming them into disintegration. Jack hurtled towards Pitch, dumping a vast dollop of winter on the Nightmare King's head. Pitch crawled away and dissolved into darkness. A wave of his power buried Jack. Tooth screamed and dived to help, leaving Pitch free to turn on Aliesha.

Cal fell to the floor, landing in a snow drift. Tooth unburied Jack's staff and chucked it aside in her desperation to get her husband. Cal snatched it up. Energy flood through her and he zoomed up.

Aliesha deflected a dark sand attack with a flurry and sent ice shards thundering towards her foe. Pitch twisted away and summoned another tsunami of his element, building it up into a lorry-sized, writing mass of evil.

It span towards her, screeching. Aliesha tried to summon a defence in her panic, but wasn't fast enough.

A shadow fell over her and something bright yellow obscured her view. She screamed, tried to push him away, but Pitch had won. Dark sand clawed along her arms, tearing at her feathers and snatching away her breath.

Light returned. Their father's staff slipped from Cal's fingers and he fell.

"Cal!" Tooth cried. Jack was free, dazed, and had cottoned on. They shot up, catching their son. Jack retrieved his staff easily and they landed. Pitch had disappeared.

Aliesha flew down, crashing through a snow mound and fumbling, rolling a few times before righting herself. Her parents were huddled either side of her brother. Tooth was sobbing.

Cal was... colourless. His eyes grey, his hair white, his skin paler than ever before. Even his Pikachu hoodie had lost some of its luminance.

"We told you to go in!" Jack raged. Aliesha burst into tears and crumpled against Cal, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

He was gone. And it was all her fault.

I still have a poll up, in case you haven't voted yet :)