Chapter 19

Ember struggled with her bonds feeling the metal dig in; trickles of blood seeped from the wounds she had caused herself. At least, they hadn't knocked her back out; North had reappeared at the perfect time and decided she was more use awake. They thought she would tell them Pitch's plan, and she scoffed at that idea. Like she knew much of it anyway; he told her where to go, when to attack… that was the extent of planning; everything else, she had figured out on her own or improvised.

Right now, the Guardians were still outside of Bugress near Jack's frozen lake. The fire spirit glanced over her shoulder at the ice, and it was starting to annoy her. It was the middle of August, hot and humid. She thought the lake should be just water no frozen anything anywhere. It was tempting to scoot over and try to melt it, but she thought better of it. Ember knew it was just her summer spirit side telling her these things, and it was the last thing she needed to do with four Guardians just looking for a reason to knock her out. Bunny was obviously overjoyed with seeing her like this just by the way he kept smirking at her.

"When do you think Jack will be back?" Tooth asked standing with the others in a circle. Ember's ears perked up with that question, and she looked up at them from her laying state.

"Soon I sure of it," North said. "He be back before Pitch attacks again."

This made Ember wonder where the winter spirit went in the first place; she didn't think it seemed like him to just ditch the Guardians especially when the likes of Jamie were involved. She had just figured they were keeping him away from her after all she did to him… and what she'd like to do to him again. Even without her bow, her anger caused the air temperature to shift a few degrees higher.

"Doesn't matter which one it is," Bunny complained. "Jack makes it too cold, this one makes it too hot." He threw his paws up in the air in frustration, glaring at her in the process. Behind her gag, she grinned in response.

"Sandy remove the gag," North said. "It about time we ask her what she knows."

Ember narrowed her gaze as the golden spirit walked over to her barely even looking at her. She was half tempted to try and bite him when he removed the gag, but she decided behaving was the better option for the moment. She clenched her teeth and licked her lips thoroughly once the golden sand was removed. Ugh, she'd be tasting grit for a week because of this. The Guardians stood around her.

"Do I have to look like a dead dog while we do this?" she hissed. "Can I at least sit up?"

The Guardians shared a glanced. "Come on," she continued. "You have me trussed up here." To showcase her point, she wiggled her feet which were tied together at the ankle and her hands still restrained behind her back. With a sigh, Bunny bent down and sat her right up; Ember gave him a smile. "Thank you fluff ball."

"What's Pitch planning?" the rabbit asked the moment he was back to standing up right.

"Blunt aren't ya?" she teased, but when the Guardians glowered at her, she sighed. "You already know his plans. Destroy you and what you stand for, blah blah blah."

"You've already destroyed our homes," Tooth said. "What more can you destroy?"

"You and I both know," Ember interrupted, "that your homes are fixable. You might have ash lying around for a few weeks, but that's one sad thing about fire, you can always rebuild. It's not permanent."

Sandy flashed a few images above his head, and Ember cocked an eyebrow. She wondered if the rest of the Guardians were getting this because she wasn't. The fire spirit could only hope whatever it was that he was going on about wasn't too horribly important because there was no way she was going to learn to speak sand castle.

North stroked his beard in thought before nodding at Sandy. "I agree," he said. "Pitch is planning one last strike."

"To what?" Bunny asked.

"Attack you while you're weak," Ember said seeing not point in lying. It was going to happen no matter what, and it wasn't like they could exactly prepare. With their homes gone, their powers were weak, and all the boogeyman needed to do was wait until they were at their lowest and finish this. And that would be another reason why Ember chose to just be captured; instead of throwing nightmares against them to see their strength, the fire spirit figured she could read their energy levels. Just looking at them now, she knew the time to attack was soon.

North was hunched over, Tooth was barely flying, and the rabbit looked smaller than usual. She knew the Guardians weren't going to stand a chance next time the king of fear attacked. And he knew right where to find them now that she was here. Pitch could easily track her to wherever they hid.

Even now as she glanced into the shadows, she saw a nightmare staring at her, and she smiled and gave it a short nod. She couldn't very well shout 'attack now!', but she figured Pitch would get the message. Now all she had to do was sit back and wait… and find a way to get her hands back on her bow. Focusing on her restraints behind her back, she decided to screw it and just heat them up as hot as possible; it wasn't like she could get burned.

"We should probably find a place to hunker down then mate," Bunny said, and the Guardians launched into a conversation of where they could go while trying to decide their next step. Ember kept her growling as quiet as possible while working with the restraints again; she knew that heating them should make them increase in size. Already, the ties were half way down her hands.

"Look at you all," Pitch said separating himself from the shadows. "Running like scared children."

"Pitch," North growled, and the Guardians assembled to face the nightmare king… which put Ember in a good position behind them. She tried not to chuckle at already being forgotten.

"How'd you find us already?" Tooth asked, and the fire spirit tried not to groan when he motioned to her.

"She's quite the little devil isn't she," Pitch said, his eyes focusing on the spirit.

"And she's also a little tied up at the moment," Bunny gloated, but he didn't get too far into his grin when he felt arms go around his neck.

"Was tied up is the key word," she hissed into the rabbit's ear before kicking out his knee. With that, she used his hunched over back to roll over him and get in front of the Guardians. "Now I'd like my bow back." She jumped back to avoid the sand whip. "If I say please, would that help?" She dodged to the right to avoid the boomerang this time. "Force it is."

Pitch sent his nightmares at the Guardians who tried to stay together to deal with the numerous dark sand creatures all the while trying to avoid Ember. She was fighting to get her bow back which was slung over North's shoulder this time; Bunny had given it to him when the Russian had returned from Jamie's. She reached for it only to get slashed across the arm.

"That hurt," she said clutching her bleeding limp. The fire spirit shot a look back at Pitch who seemed to understand. Black sand appeared from underneath the Guardian of wonder and restrained him while he shouted and fought. With a barely suppressed grin, the fire spirit stepped up to North and removed her bow while he continued to try and get away from the sand.

"North!" Tooth shouted attempting to come to his aid, but she was still having issues flying. Ember was easily able to retrieve her bow before the other Guardian even got close.

With that, she returned to Pitch's side and notched an arrow. Afterwards though, she waited with the flaming string rest next to her burnt cheek. She wanted the order to finish this; when the nightmare king got done playing with his toys, he would tell her to take them out one by one. This was the end of the Guardians. She watched idly as the nightmares began to overwhelm the Guardians until they were forced to stand back to back with the creatures all around them.

That was when Pitch chose to walk toward the weakened protectors, but Ember stayed back with her arrow aimed. He stepped next to his main nightmare and patted the thing on its neck before addressing the Guardians. He paused momentarily as he pointed at each one. "We're missing one. Ember?"

"Jack wasn't here when I woke up," she answered. "He turned tail."

The nightmare king smiled at that, but Tooth yelled back at the fire spirit. "No he didn't! He went to go see…" She didn't get much farther as black sand enclosed over her mouth.

"That's enough out of you," he said wagging his finger in her face. He was enjoying this moment. "I think each of you will make an excellent fearling…"

"You won't win," Bunny said even though the situation was screaming Pitch 2, Guardians 0.

"Who will stop me?" Pitch laughed. "You pathetic things. Or Jack? Who I don't see. You left him alone for 300 years, what can you expect in return?" He enjoyed the look of guilt on each of their faces; it was true the Guardians hadn't paid any mind to the winter spirit until he was one of them.

A snowball smashed into the side of Pitch's face. "You can expect that I'll show up to help protect the kids and my family!" Pitch glanced to his right to see Jack standing there with an older woman. His eyes went wide at the sight of the girl, but she just looked confused.

"You brought a human?" Ember laughed. "Were you hoping to use her as a shield?"

"Amber?" the woman asked, and this snapped the fire spirit's attention in Jack's direction. The winter took a few steps back to allow the reunion. "Is that really you?" It took some focusing, but she was able to see her elder sister come into existence. Melanie tried not to gasp at the sight of the bow being trained on something which she couldn't see. She could however see the boogeyman; ever since she was a kid, she knew him to be real… She tried not to focus on the monster but on her sister. "You look just like I remember you."

"Who are you?" Ember hissed switching the direction of her arrow in Jack's direction, but Melanie held up her hands harmlessly.

"It's me sis," she said as she tried to hold back the tears. "It's Mel."

"No!" Ember growled. "This is a trick. I never expected you to stoop so low Jack."

"Yes because I can convince some random adult to impersonate your sister," he muttered, but Ember seemingly heard him and looked even more enraged if that was possible.

"No it isn't Amber," Melanie said trying to draw the attention back to her. She recognized the look on her sister's face; after all, she had seen it numerous times on her Father's face as a kid. "It's really me. I'm here and alive because of you."

"No you're dead because of him," she growled motioning in the winter spirit's direction. "His storm made it impossible to get help. You burned alive in the apartment while I could do nothing to save you."

"Listen to me," the younger sister said, "you did everything to save me. You saved me every day from Dad. I did not die in an apartment fire. Dad kidnapped me remember?" She watched her elder sister's eyes narrow. "He took me from the apartment after stabbing mom in the back. He tried to drive off with me, but you chased him to a warehouse. There was a struggle and he set the entire warehouse on fire."

"I don't…" Ember was staring in confusion; it didn't take a genius to see the resemblance between the two- half sisters or not. "No you died. I heard you screaming."

"You heard me screaming for Dad not to hurt you," she whispered. "I thought he was going to kill us, but you saved me. You… you put an arrow into him." She avoided telling the fire spirit that the blow was fatal. That didn't seem like potent information at the moment. "You carried me to the hospital where you collapsed. You were on a ventilator for three days!"

"Please don't cry," Ember said, her bow falling an inch, in response to her younger sister's red eyes welling up. "I don't like to see you cry."

"That's because you would always wipe the tears away and tell me that there is always a better tomorrow," she said. "You told me that life was full of reasons to live, you just had to have the fire in your heart to push through the bad times."

Ember's eyes narrowed as she took a step back. "No… I saw… I remember… I…" The arrow disappeared as she put a hand to her head. "No… you died…"

"No Amber," Melanie whispered closing the distance inch by inch. "I sat by your side in the hospital for three days. When the doctor's said you… said you weren't going to make it through the night, you had them take you off the ventilator to talk to me one last time." Melanie watched her older sister stare at the ground as if it would sprout the answers. "Do you remember what you told me?"

"That… that you had such passion in your life… that you couldn't let this slow you down. That you'd go to a good family."

"And?"

"And no matter what I'd always protect you because I was your big sister," Ember finished meeting her younger sister's gaze. "I don't understand, why… why can't I remember this well?"

Melanie took a deep breath before saying, "You had nightmares the entire stay in the hospital. You thought I was dead each time you woke… and you fell asleep right before you passed."

"Jack..?"

"Did not cause any of this," she said. "I'm alive sister because of you. You're my hero."

This seemed to sink in as Ember stared at Jack for a moment before rage seemed to take back over. She raised her bow and notched an arrow; Melanie gasped and took a step back as a nightmare charged her. There was no hesitation as the fire spirit took out the dark sand creature. She re-aimed at Pitch who was glaring at her.

"Nightmares huh?" Ember growled. "I seemingly remember you were always afraid of the monster under your bed." She let the arrow go and it nicked Pitch's shoulder which got his full attention. He was glaring at the fire spirit. "I think you need to answer some questions."

"I owe you nothing," he growled, and the nightmares started to surround the fire spirit, but she wasn't having any of it. She fired two arrows at his feet.

"Let me make this perfectly clear," she snarled. "You will answer my questions. It's a game. You tell the truth and I don't put an arrow into your heart." A brilliantly red arrow was sitting on the bow string aimed right for the Nightmare king.

Jack shot a glance over at the Guardians who gave him a nod. This turn of events was unexpected but relieved them to no end. The truth was out, and even Bunny would admit that he was happy that the fire spirit wasn't being manipulated anymore.

"Why?" she cried. "I was dying! Why do that to me?"

Pitch sighed, "It's simple really." He clasped his hands behind his back and moved towards the fire spirit. "You kept me from terrorizing a child."

"My sister?"

"Yes. So you see I was very weak thirty years ago. I didn't have enough strength to go against these fools behind me. I needed to test my dark nightmare sand, and your sister provided the perfect opportunity. Everything scared her."

"Everything scared her because our lives were pure nightmares!" she growled tightening her grip on the bow.

"Even so," he shrugged. "You made her terrors go away like the good big sister you were." He sneered at the shaking fire spirit- from anger or memories, he wasn't sure. "And I saw a chance to get back at you for it all when you were in that hospital bed. What better nightmare than to see your sister die over and over… and for you to know it was all your fault."

"But what about Jack?" she asked seriously confused. "How did you know that he would be a guardian and that I'd be a weapon against him?"

"I didn't!" he chuckled. "When I turned your precious dreams into nightmares, I had no idea that my old friend," he said gesturing to the moon, "would bring you back. The whole Jack Frost thing was an accident and coincidence. He just happened to have made the storm that night , and your own mind made it the reason you couldn't save her." The king of fear was smiling. "I admit, how perfect it worked out in the end. Jack Frost became a guardian, and the nightmares I gave you convinced you it was all his fault."

Pitch glanced over at the winter spirit to see the glare being thrown in his direction. "If your little sister hadn't shown up and ruined the fun, I'm sure I could have gotten you to kill him just as you killed your father. Perhaps, I should rectify her living situation."

An arrow slammed into Pitch's side, but the arrow was no longer red, it was a brilliant blue. The hottest she could burn, but never had until now. "You will not touch her… Never again. Nor will you use me again!"

"Amber!" Melanie said shocked by the pure rage of her sister.

"What?" the older sister asked shooting the older woman a glance; the younger sister gestured to the boogeyman wide eyed. "Oh he threatened you, and I didn't shoot him in the heart." She found her eyes subconsciously seek out Jack, and she tried not to show all the emotions running through her, most of all being guilt...

Ember didn't waste much time before shooting six or seven arrows into the herd of Nightmares to give the Guardians breathing room. The horses around her attack, but she spun using her bow to whip fire out in a circle. This wasn't her first dance obviously with fear, but she still got slammed from behind from one of the creatures. She stumbled, yet she didn't need to turn and face it as it exploded from ice particles.

Jack and Ember's gazes met, but they didn't say a word. He just jumped into the fray with her, and the two- fire and ice- went back to back. Combined, the opposite powers wreaked havoc against the nightmares. The two spirits worked hard to avoid hurting each other. Instead of fighting the temperature changes, they let their bodies adjust naturally to make it not too cool but not too hot around them.

"Down," Ember said, and Jack ducked as she shot an arrow over his back before pulling the same maneuver she had with Bunny earlier and rolling across his back. She landed and continued to assault the creatures with arrows of blue. As long as they were focused on her, they weren't looking at her little sister.

The other Guardians fought off Pitch who was obviously greatly upset by the fire spirit's change of heart. Sandy kept using massive amounts of his golden sand to try and drown out the fear king's dark sand which was starting to be effective. Still there were so many creatures; for every one they seemed to destroy, another three popped up.

All of them were tiring; Ember had done obviously a too good of job of making sure Pitch had the power he needed to overrun the Guardians. Both Jack and Ember were thrown against a tree, but they refused to make a sound.

"I'll finish what that fire started," Pitch growled coming towards the fire spirit when a little girl came from nowhere.

"No!" the girl cried stepping between the two spirit's and the nightmare king. "You won't hurt them."

"Amber," Jack said, and Ember looked at him strangely to which he pointed to the child. She seemed to get it right away; this was her sister's daughter. Forcing herself to her feet, she got in front of the child as did Jack.

"You think you can stand against me," he snarled.

"We're not afraid of you," Jack said, and to iterate his point, he grabbed Ember's hand. They felt the temperature fluctuate between them, and while Ember looked dissatisfied with this change of events, she still got the cue to attack together. Swinging his staff and swinging her bow, the two allowed their powers to combine in mid-air, fire and ice mixing in raw form, and just as it had done to them, it exploded out to throw Pitch a good twenty feet back right into Sandy's attack. They immediately let go, and Ember frowned at the winter spirit, shaking feeling back into her hand. Jack formed a snowball in his to cool it down.

"Who knew fire and ice went so well together?" Jack joked.

"I think everyone does," the fire spirit said. "It's one of those common sense things."

"Amber!" Melanie said running onto the field to grab her daughter. "Leave her alone you creatures!" The nightmares reared up and had to back away. The elder sister stared in pride as her younger sister showed bravery and didn't allow an ounce of fear to overcome her. Just as Ember had protected Melanie, the younger sister now protected another little girl.

"No!" Pitch growled seeing his creations finally falling back. As a last ditch attempt, he created the image of Ember's Father. He came at the two sisters, but before Ember could step up and dispel the creature, Melanie did.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore," she said, stone faced. "I can't be when I have a big sister always willing to protect me." The image immediately dispelled.

The Guardians, weak and tired, plus Ember advanced on Pitch. She didn't think twice about drawing back an arrow. "I should kill you," she hissed. "After everything you've done, you deserve no less." She shot the arrow, so it landed between the fear king's legs. His eyes went wide. "Say sweet dreams…"

"Ember," Jack said, and she looked over at the Guardians to see them unsure of how to proceed now. They obviously didn't want her to destroy the fear king as that would make her no better than him, but it was her niece's eyes that changed everything. They weren't looking at the fear king afraid but at her. Her words and anger had scared the girl… She dissipated the arrow and stepped away turning her back to the Guardians.

"It's over Pitch," North said.

"You can't kill fear," the king growled. "I'll come back."

"And when you do," Jack said, "we'll be here to stop you."

The Nightmare king found his self being absorbed by the shadows. His powers were fading; the lack of fear from the Guardians and the human were handicapping him. He narrowed his gaze and promised that he'd come back, and next time, he wouldn't stop until the Guardians were dead or fearlings. This was the last time he'd lose. His last sight was Sandy using his own magic to dispel all the nightmares in the town, and with that, Pitch disappeared again.

"Good job Jack," North said.

"Not bad Frostbite," Bunny said patting him on the back.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Tooth said.

Sandy gave the younger spirit thumbs up and a smile. At that, they all turned to see Ember staring at the ground. They weren't sure what to do with her, and it didn't look like she knew what to do with herself.

"Oh Amber," Melanie said with pity. She couldn't help it- to see her sister like this, in pain and angry was heartbreaking.

That seemed to snap Ember from her daze as she turned to face the Guardians. They stared at her in shock as she had her bow pointed on Jack with a red arrow already notched.

"I think we have some unfinished business Frost," she hissed.

Chapter 20: Jack and Ember have one last fight to settle everything… but the winter spirit doesn't understand what it's all about. He tries to talk through the anger, but the fire spirit doesn't seem to want to hear it.

OOC: Super long chapter in response to the wait you all had. This story might actually finish up in the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed the ride. R&R