Disclaimer: Yep been forgetting this. I don't own RoTG but Ember is my own creation.

Chapter 7

"What do you mean you 'accidently' burnt down the workshop?" Pitch asked staring down at Ember who was leaning casually against a wall. Her eyes were narrowed as the Nightmare king talked down to her. "That was not the plan."

"It was an accident… at first," Ember defended. "Then I improvised." She had her arms crossed defensively, and it was almost too obvious that she was holding her side. Jack's power had a more profound effect on her than she thought; where he had touched her, the skin was still cool. She had never been anything but hot. She couldn't help but wonder if Jack was having similar issues after being set on fire.

"Why are you smiling?" he growled pulling her back to the present. "We've lost the element of surprise."

"I'm a horrible actress anyway," she shrugged. "It wasn't going to last long, and at least this way I took the workshop with me. There is no way North can catch up."

"Yes but it will take months for children to realize their precious Santa Claus is not worth believing in," Pitch pointed out, and Ember couldn't help but sigh exasperatedly.

"You've waited six years and now you're complaining about a few more months?" she countered, and that was when Pitch pinned her to a wall and wrapped his hand around her throat. She focused on keeping her powers under control which was taking more focus when she was being threatened. "You want the Guardians powerless?"

The Nightmare King leaned and growled into her ear, "Yes as our deal entailed."

"Then let me do my work," she snapped pushing him off with a simple flick of her power. "The workshop was an accident, yes, but it gave me an idea… unless you'd prefer to continue throwing a temper tantrum."

It was then Pitch finally composed himself. He couldn't help but be a bit short with the fire spirit. Six years trapped in a hole had only added to his anger, and when things didn't go according to plan, he lashed out. Smoothing back his hair, he clasped his hands behind his back and listened to what his partner had in mind. One failed plan didn't mean all plans had failed.

"It's quite simple," she started. "I go after each home of the guardians and tear it down brick by brick if I must. With North and the rabbit, it could take months for them, but with the rest?" She shrugged. It was quite a simple but ingenious plan. "Yes the element of surprise is gone, but you and I both know it wasn't going to last… and the Nightmare did its job. It gave each of them a taste of a bad dream."

"True," Pitch said almost staring off into the dark. "I do now have enough power to leave this hole and start infecting dreams."

"Then you go do that, and I'll start as many fires as I can to keep the guardians busy," she said with a grin.

"Sandman is going to be the biggest nuisance," he said scowling as he did so.

"Well what happens if you heat up sand to immense heat," she countered, and when Pitch gave her a strange look, she continued, "it turns to glass… and glass you can shatter." She smacked him lightly on the cheek almost like a tap.

…

"I never thought Pitch would choose to work with someone," Tooth said sitting in the snow next to all the other Guardians. The only left of the workshop was the globe, but even it was charred beyond recognition.

"He tried to recruit me six years ago," Jack admitted, and he could feel the Guardians eyes on him. "He tried to manipulate me, so that I'd turn on you." Each breath he took felt like he was on fire again; every nerve in his body was screaming for him to crawl into a snow bank and never come out.

"You guardian Jack," North said. It was blatant that everyone was trying to avoid the mess in front of them that was the workshop. If they didn't talk about it, maybe it wasn't real. "You're too good to fall for Pitch's tricks."

"He's right," Bunny said trying to comfort the younger spirit.

Jack was blaming himself for everything that just happened; if he hadn't brought Ember here, the workshop would still be standing, the Guardians wouldn't be at a loss of what to do, and it wouldn't be so painful to simply exist. His staff sat in front of him untouched since he fell to his knees. It was one thing for the Nightmare king to be back, fear never completely died… but it was quite another for another spirit to be helping him. Jack could only guess what her end means were; he just knew it had something to do with him.

"Jack this isn't your fault," Tooth said, and Sandy nodded in agreement. Multiple images flashed above his head most of them dealing with something on fire and question marks.

"I say we attack Pitch head on," Bunny said switching topics suddenly; Sandy frowned and placed a frowny face above his head too.

"We're asking for trouble if we do that," North said.

"No the kangaroo is right," Jack said earning a smile from everyone. He was back to at least acting a bit like his old self. "If he sent Ember here, he probably can't leave his realm yet. We have strength on our side."

"What's the chance Ember is being manipulated like how he tried with you Jack?" Tooth asked the question bugging everyone.

"She made her stance pretty clear," Bunny said pointing to the rubble, and everyone looked at the workshop.

"If she is being tricked," North said keeping his voice tight, "then we help."

"If she isn't..?" Bunny pressured.

"I stop her," Jack said. "Our powers cancel out. I have the best chance."

"She could kill you," Tooth said, placing her hand on Jack's arm.

"She could kill any of us," he countered, "but I don't think that's what she wants with me." He didn't explain what Ember had said to him in the air about it all being about him and making him suffer. He didn't want to worry the other Guardians; he could take care of himself- he had for the last 300 years… and he didn't want any of them to get hurt because of him.

"Don't do anything stupid mate," Bunny said. "We need you."

Jack immediately lit up with a grin. "Awww that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Don't push it."

It couldn't be helped; the Guardians allowed a small laugh to trickle out. At least some things didn't change. The conversation turned from what to do with Pitch and what could be done with the workshop. Thankfully, North thought he could fix it up and at least get something out by Christmas as long as the yetis put in hard work rebuilding it all. It wouldn't be what it was, but there would at least still be Christmas.

The moon was suddenly shining down on them, and each of them turned their heads to the sky. Only North seemed to know what was going on when he exclaimed, "Old friend, we could use help." There wasn't a reply directly, but when a cloud passed over, light from the moon poured through, and on the snow in front of them, a name became spelled out Amber Lane.

"Is that Ember's real name?" Bunny asked. "What use is that?!" He glared up at the sky as if to say 'really?'.

Sandy flashed more images including the name followed by a silhouette of the fire spirit and an image of teeth. Immediately, Tooth got excited at the sight of teeth and went into a full conversation about how amazing the incisors could be and all the chunks of gums. Sandy blew dream sand from his ears then went slower with each image- her name, her silhouette with fire, silhouette without fire, and teeth.

"Her memories!" Jack exclaimed, and Sandy nodded rolling his eyes.

"Good idea Jack," North said missing the glare from the Sandman. "With her memories, we can try and figure out why she's doing this. Tooth?"

Tooth blinked a few times before smiling sheepishly. "I was distracted. What was that?" North had to re-explain, but when he was done, she nodded. "Yeah I should be able to find them. But I don't usually activate them myself, the children do it for me… But I'm sure I can figure something out."

"Before we go rummaging," Bunny shuddered with that word, "through teeth, why don't we go after the main problem first? Pitch."

"We split up," North said with a nod. "Jack, Bunny, and I go to Pitch's lair, Sandy and Tooth go to her palace."

"Yeah," Jack drawled, "this doesn't seem like a good idea."

"I shouldn't be long," Tooth said. "Sandy can help." He nodded in encouragement.

"Good plan," North said barely registering that if they were wrong about Pitch's strength, they would be sorely outnumbered… and Ember was always a wild card. She could be at the lair or she could be elsewhere…

"Perhaps I should go with Tooth," Jack said. "If Ember is there…"

"She's Pitch's lap dog," Bunny countered. "She's probably shacked up with him not at the Palace."

Jack had to concede even though she had said she would go after the Warren and Palace; the chance she was already there was slim. Without him, North and Bunny would surely be outnumbered against any Nightmares.

"Well I'm sure Pitch would love a blizzard in his lair anyway," Jack joked not showing how much he disliked this plan and trying to hide the pain he was still in. In truth, he wasn't sure how much he could be right now, and he could only hope Ember was experiencing similar circumstances.

Chapter 8: North, Bunny, and Jack go after Pitch while Tooth and Sandy go for the teeth that could reveal everything… However Ember does like to keep some things quiet, and Sandy has to be stopped in her mind- the biggest opposition besides Jack.

OOC: I hope you guys area liking this. If you have any constructive criticism, go ahead and let me know. I'm always up for adjusting things, but if you dislike Ember- yeah leave that at the door. Also for those curious as to why I update so quickly: A. I like writing this story B. Your reviews drive me to put more chapters up… also I'm just a quick writer when I know what I want.