Chapter 13

~4 years later~

Finally! After all her waiting Katherine finally turned sixteen today! She was officially what some considered a grown woman! Katherine couldn't imagine anything better than this very day. Then again, it was just a day. She was just another year older. And to some, another year closer to possibly finding out the truth... But the Guardians planned to avoid that as much as possible.

Oh well, it was Katherine's sweet sixteen! The year of more freedom! She could finally learn how to use swords and weapons, and ride with North during Christmas. She was finally done with schooling by Bunnymund and the yeti's. She had learned faster than the normal student, a couple years faster at that. But there was still a lot Katherine had to learn about. Like how to fight. How to use her magic more efficiently, things like that. Which, quite honestly, Katherine found ten times more exciting than random history and math. Blugh.

Everyone was waiting for Katherine to wake up and join them at the feast in the dinning room. Everyone was cheerful for now. They would discuss the issue of her growing older when there was no risk of her hearing what they had to say. Instead they talked about the new training Katherine would get, as well as a new schedule. It would be a lot of work to teach their pupil how to fight properly.

"Katherine! Happy Birthday sleepy head!" Jack exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and ran to hug Katherine. Jack picked Katherine up and twirled her in the air as she lightly laughed. Sleep still crusted her eyes, and her motions were slow.

After four years her body had finally reached all the endowments of womanhood. She had become taller, which made her curves pop out in a tantalizing way. Her breasts were at a normal size for the age of sixteen( a growing B cup, almost a C really), and her face had become more beautiful with age. Her long dark hair fell in perfect ribbons over her shoulders, and perfectly matched an olive green dress that had black lace at the bottom with some dream sand that managed to get dusted upon it.

"Happy Birthday Katherine!" Everyone else chimed in as Jack lightly set her back down. Katherine smiled at everyone, but didn't make a sound as she came to sit by North at the table where breakfast had been set out before them.

Instantly she began to lightly pile her plate with food and nibbled on tiny bits of toast and eggs. Katherine was excited that today was her birthday... but last night had been rough. She could barley sleep! The constant question of who her parents were began to haunt her every night now. She was sixteen and still no sign of whom they were! She didn't even know if they were still alive... or if they are then why don't they look for her now when she is old enough to take care of herself?

"Did you get good sleep Katherine?" North asked with a beaming smile.

"Yes. I'm just a bit tired still. How are you guys?" Katherine asked, avoiding the subject of her.

"Quite good actually! So many kids have lost teeth!" Toothina exclaimed.

"And I have a new chocolate I brought you! It should be rather nice since I spent months working on it and-"

"And all the snow days have made so many kids happy up north!" Jack interrupted Bunnymund with a sly smile. Bunnymund huffed and rolled his eyes as he grabbed a piece of toast from the table and slathered butter on it.

Sandy gave a silent thumbs up and floated over to Katherine. With a bright smile that made Katherine feel ten times better, Sandy hugged her. After a few moments she released Sandy and her day was automatically brighter. Even if she did feel like falling asleep in Sandy's arms right away. No bad dreams would dare to come near her then!

"So! What do you want to do today?" Toothina asked, her feathers bristling with excitement.

"Umm. I'm not sure..." Katherine mused as she pondered the question. There was nothing in particular she wanted to do today. If anything she was ready to learn how to fight! But surly the Guardians would not allow that. "I didn't have anything special in mind."

"Well if anything pops into your head just tell us!" Bunnymund smiled. Katherine giggled a little to herself. Bunnymund had butter dripping off of his whiskers. But she nodded. She actually felt rather in the mood to explore and be by herself for a while. Probably out of the question...

While Katherine pondered the question of what she would love to do today, the Guardians began there normal jibber jabber. About how many believers they had at the moment and if any one had seen any more complications with... well, Pitch Black. This particular subject caught Katherine's attention. She had finished reading of of the stories that the earlier Katherine had wrote. They thoroughly described Pitch in his former past glory. He didn't seem all that scary now, or at least according to the Guardians. He was weak, but still the biggest threat out there.

Katherine believed that Pitch was a threat no matter what. She did have a soft spot for him though. His past... It was soo sad. No one deserves such a thing to happen to them. For their wife to die in such a way, to loose a daughter, and to become corrupted by such vile creatures! It wasn't fair at all! And there is still that soft and broken man somewhere inside of this monstrosity. Katherine, and the other Katherine! new it to be true. But no one yet knows how to get that poor old general back from those evil clutches.

Why did the Guardians never think of that? A way to help the general Kozmotis Pitchiner? Was it just all too late? Maybe, but instead of ever thinking about it all they talked about was there next way to bring him down. It made Katherine want to stand up and growl at each one of them for being so one sided. But she kept quite and listened to them talk.

"I don't know mates. I think he is becoming more daring. We need to stop him now if you ask me." Bunnymund commented.

"Yes, but he is still very weak. He is no threat yet to kids. Have you seen signs of nightmares Sandy?" North asked in turn. Katherine wanted to intervene and say a few choice words about pitch being weak. As far as she was concerned he was nowhere near weak! In fact he was stronger than many of the Guardians, or from what she has read and seen a few times. But she didn't speak up, that would have caused a fight no one would ever have forgotten.

Sandy waved his hand in the middle. "So he is slowly coming back!" Toothina answered for Sandy. Gravely, Sandy nodded.

"Well, we have seen him a few times. He is not exactly what I would call weak, but weary of us. Heh, he is no match for this though if I might add." Jack smirked as he twirled his staff in the air, accidentally shooting an elf in the butt with a blast of ice. The elf cried out in alarm and hid behind a yeti. "Sorry!"

"Haven't... haven't you guys at least tried making a peace treaty with him?" Katherine shyly asked. Bunnymund seemed to nearly spit all of his eggs out of his mouth, and North's eyes bulged. Maybe it was a very good thing Katherine didn't speak up so often, they would have a heart attack eventually!

"What?" North asked in alarm.

"Yes, a treaty! I mean if you guys think about it logically, we need Pitch Black in a way. We need fear in this world! If we didn't have fear, any kid would go and jump off a cliff without a second thought. Animals would no longer have any caution. The balance of this world would be ruined without Pitch if you really think about it." Katherine explained. "But I mean he would have to play his part and not try and take over the world. He shouldn't give any excessive nightmares and stuff like that." Katherine quickly added.

This idea must have stricken home with the Guardians for each one sat in silence pondering this ordeal. "It wouldn't be the worst idea. But Pitch probably wouldn't agree to it." Toothina thought allowed.

"Yes, he is strong headed. He would refuse such offer. Though I must say it could be worth shot!" North added. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"But who says he wouldn't break it!" Bunnymund exclaimed. "I wouldn't trust the guy as far as i could throw him! He would turn back around as soon as we thought things were going fine and dandy, and bam! Strike us with an attack bigger than any we have ever seen. I don't like the idea very much. However you do make a point Katherine. We do need fear, but that is what we are doing now. We are making sure that fear does not get out of control.

"It is a nice idea, my dear. It may work, but I highly doubt it. But look! It is your birthday and here you are talking to us about or nemesis. Here, let us focus on something better like your presents!" Bunnymund insisted. Katherine grumbled something under her breath but she didn't object as the Guardians all jumped up and raced to go get there presents.

"It really wouldn't kill you guys to at least try." Katherine sighed once they had all left the room. Well... It actually could! But Katherine was confident that they could handle Pitch long enough to escape if he did try anything. But the conversation was over. Guardians one, Katherine zero!

"Here! It is more or less for desert, but who says you can't have dessert for breakfast?" Bunnymund announced as he hopped back into the room holding a box of what Katherine suspected was chocolate. North and the others came back in with something in there arms.

Bunnymund handed Katherine the decorative box that had lovely designs carved into it. She could smell the baked chocolates inside. It already made Katherine's mouth water. But she really didn't feel like eating sweets at the moment. So she hugged Bunnymund and set them aside for the moment.

Toothina came up to her next with another neatly carved box. When Katherine opened it she was rather shocked. Inside was a dagger with a handle made out of pure ruby. "I had some help, but I sharpened up one of the teeth from the flying elephant that happened to loose one many years ago. I don't know why I never thought to make one for myself all those years ago. But I hope you like it!" Toothina explained. Katherine smiled and out it back ion the box.

"I love it!" Katherine giggled as she hugged Toothina. Next North came up right behind Toothina and handed Katherine a sheath with a shinning silver handle that had leaves and branches twisting around it.

Katherine stared at the sheath in awe, for the sheath was made out of polished wood that had elvish writing on it that said , "Our destiny not only offers the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity!" For some reason North had always quoted that one line to Katherine. It never grew old to her and she found it very inspiring! When she carefully unsheathed the rather heavy sword, she found the quote was also engraved on the sword in gold ruins. It was rather sharp to, just looking at it made your flesh tingle.

"North... It's. It's amazing! I love it!" Katherine exclaimed as she sheathed it back instead of swinging it around like she wanted to. Katherine had rarely held a sword, and she was always somewhat nervous she would make a fool of herself with it.

Katherine and North embraced, and she put the sword beside her dagger. Next was Jack, and it was clear to tell what he had. In his hands he held a tall staff, just a tiny bit taller thank Katherine that looked like an old braided tree branch. On the top the branches spread out, almost like fingers, and cupped a glowing stone. It shone of blue and silver... a strange light Katherine seemed to remember from long ago. "I had some help finding the stone actually! It's a moon stone from Manny, along with a bit of magic stored inside it. Bunnymund helped me get it." Jack explained as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. He forgot to mention that only Katherine could harvest that magic.

Because it was Tsar Lunar's magic that had entered Katherine as a baby, she could now use the magic that was inside the staff. "Jack, this is wonderful! I love it! You didn't have to go through so much trouble for me though... you will defiantly have to tell me how to work the magic." Katherine giggled as she hugged Jack, notably longer than the others.

"I thought you might like it, besides, you already out grew the staff you started out with. I thought you could do with a better one." Jack shrugged as he let Sandy by with his present. Sandy held something square that was rapped up in brown cloth.

It was definitely not a weapon of any kind, and it was rather heavy when Sandy handed it over to Katherine with a beaming smile. He motioned with his hands for her to unwrap it and open it. So Katherine did, and as she gently unwrapped the heavy object excitement bubbled up inside her as she found a hard back (and rather old fashioned) book lying inside. It didn't have a title, so Katherine opened it up and a tiny note was lying inside. It read "Katherine, I know how much you love to read. And since knowledge is power, I have gathered up all the ancient writings and historical facts about the Star Captains, the Kingdoms of our universe, and how Fearlings came to be. It is basically every thing you need to know about why we are here, and why we fight who we do. I'm sure you will enjoy it!- Love Sandy" Katherine's mouth hung open as she put down the note and lightly flitted through some of the pages.

Indeed, there were facts about how fearlings became, well, Fearlings. About the royal family's including the Lunar's, even the Pitchiner's and there roles, and some ones Katherine had never heard before. There was information about the Star Captains, which is where Sandy reigned from. And so on and so forth.

"Sandy! How did you manage to find all this information?" Katherine exclaimed as she threw her arms around the little guardians and swung him around. Sandy beamed and shrugged as if it was nothing. But this was rather a lot of information to retain by memory.

"Pooka's are included! I helped Sandy a little with our historical facts." Bunnymund added in a matter of fact tone as he took a glance at some of the pages.

"Thank you all for the present's. They are all wonderful! I couldn't have asked for anything better." Katherine said as she smiled at each of them. "I can't wait to try out the weapons! But I think I know what I want to do today now..." Katherine grinned and patted the book.

"Ha, that's our Katherine! Go read my dear, Yeti's will put your weapons somewhere safe. We are going to continue talking, if you need us will be here." North beamed as Katherine took up her book and left to go read in her normal hidden spot.

Katherine read for the entire day actually. She couldn't take her eyes off the book, especially when it came to the kingdoms. Not many know about the kingdoms of the universe, but the main one is of course the Lunar's. They definitely have an amazing history, and somewhat sad if you think about how Manny was separated from his parents at such a young age. He had a major role to fill at such a young age, it almost brought tears to Katherine's eyes despite of how many times she had been told the story.

When a Yeti came in and told her it was time for dinner he had to forcefully yank the book out of her hand and put it aside. He was nice enough of course to put her bookmark inside it before he closed it so Katherine didn't loose her page. But Katherine was rather reluctant to go to dinner. But it was either walk herself or be carried to dinner.

All the Guardians were still there discussing something Katherine didn't understand since it was in hushed whispers. But they changed the topic to something more joyful when they all crowded around the table and discussed funny incidents that had occurred this past year. Even some old events occurred, like when North had accidentally set his beard on fire and had a bucket of water thrown on him. Katherine laughed rather hard at that memory since she was the one who threw the water on North. He looked like a husky with burnt hairs when he was wet.

Jack had run straight into the Eiffel tower one time, nearly breaking his nose. Bunnymund got a good laugh out of that, until Toothina brought up the time they all had a prank war and he got turned pink for a solid month. Bunnymund retorted with how she was the one who stunk like rotten eggs for a while when she fell for his prank. Jack brought up how Sandy had fallen asleep once and ended up with a full mustache and an eye piece. Everyone got a good laugh out of that. North even brought up how Katherine shrieked that one time when they all dressed up for Halloween as a version of Pitch. Katherine swore they had dressed up as spiders and the grim reaper. (which is why she shrieked. She thought she had died!)

They laughed for almost another hour and a half until everyone began to retire and head back to their homes. Katherine hugged everyone and went off to bed instead of reading. She had become rather afraid of reading at night because of what happened when she saw the eyes and the hand. Ever since then she would race into the room to get her book, maybe stay for a minute or two, and then dash back out to her room where she knew she was safe.

But she found a little surprise for her when she was just about to plop down on her bed. There was a tiny silk black bag on her desk beside her bed. It was on top of her journal which she planned to write in for a bit before she went to bed.

"What is that?" Katherine thought allowed as she gently grabbed up the bag. It was small enough to neatly fit in her hand, and it felt rather light. Katherine opened it to see if there was actually anything inside of it. But what she saw nearly made her scream.

Inside was sand. Almost like dream sand, but it was black. To be exact, it was Pitch's nightmare sand and Katherine knew the stuff well. She had seen Pitch use it to forge deadly weapons, and even to give one little kid a nightmare. But, why was it in her room? And how had Pitch gotten inhere without anyone noticing!? That was probably spookier than having a bag full of nightmares in your hand.

Katherine was about to race out of her room and tell North, but something held her back. It was as if the stuff was calling to her! Telling her just to touch it. Just to let the sand fall between her fingers... To wield it. This urge wove itself deep inside Katherine until the thought became unbearable. Katherine knew better, she knew she ought to go tell North right away that Pitch had been here and he knew how to get inside the Workshop. But this urge glued her to the spot.

Katherine had learned how to manipulate dream sand long ago. Sandy had taught her every method in the book, and Katherine was rather good at it. She could think of a dream, and the sand would flow out of her finger tips as if it was the naturalist thing ever. But never before had she tried to use nightmare sand. Never had she even thought about creating a nightmare! But now it was as if the idea was like sweet molasses running down her throat and coating every inch of her body.

It was unbearable to resist. So Katherine took a shaky breath, and emptied the nightmares into her hand...