Hey Guys! :D
I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry this is late guys! I was busy!
*hides from angry readers*
I'm serious! I had family over and all my friends wanted to spend time with me because we all start school again next week! Not cool...:/
So, in hopes that you forgive me *hint, hint* I made this chapter extra long! I hope you're happy; I pulled an all-nighter to finish it!
And also, just to warn you now: since I'm going back to school soon, chapters will most likely take longer to be posted because of pointless things like homework and assignments. Sooooo...yeah, that sucks. Trust me, I hate it too.

Anyways, enjoy chapter 6!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of The Guardians (One day I will though! Muhahahahaha!)

Chapter 6 – An Encounter with Pitch

(Atheia's POV)

For a couple seconds, the sleigh and its passengers were flying through a whirlpool of light. Swirls of blues, pinks and yellows engulfed the sleigh in their colours, and I stared in amazement at the gorgeous sight. Seeing the end of the portal, North cracked the reins, and the reindeer shot forward and out the end of the portal with a burst of speed.

The other side of the portal opened up to a mountainous range. Flying through the air, the reindeer ran towards the peaks, half-hidden by the misty clouds floating in the pink, sun-setting sky.

Jack and I ran up to stand on either side of North. Squinting, I could make out black dots near the horizon, seeming to get closer. I looked to North, a worried expression blossoming on my face as I realized he noticed them too.

"V'hat?" He mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the approaching dots.

When they got closer, I realized they weren't just black dots. Slamming into the sleigh as they ran past, I noticed that they were black horses. They galloped in the air, dashing off to the side every once and a while and attempting to knock the sleigh off track. I tightened my grip on the sleigh, my eyes flicking over to each passing stallion; there could be thousands of them out there. I ducked as to the side as one ran pass my head.

Bunny came up to the side of the sleigh, looking over the edge as the horses ran past. One particular stallion tried a head on approach and ended up slamming and dissolving into dust as it hit a makeshift umbrella Sandy had created.

"They're taking the tooth fairies!" Jack cried, staring over the side of the sleigh.

I followed his gaze to see a stallion catch and swallow a nearby tooth fairy, locking it away with the ones that it had already caught. I noticed about two dozen captured tooth fairies trapped inside the horse's see-through ribcage, squeaking frightful pleas.

Jack leaped up in the air, snatching a tooth fairy away from the grasp of a passing stallion. He heavily breathed in fright, before falling back into the sleigh. Bunny, Sandy and I stood staring at him as he opened up his hand, a curled up mini fairy sitting on his palm.

"You okay Baby Tooth?" He asked.

Baby Tooth nodded and squeaked out a reply, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw she was okay. Jack gave me a reassuring smile, before hiding the mini fairy in his hoodie.

North led the sleigh into a crack in the side of a mountain. Jack and I looked over each side of the sleigh as it plunged into darkness to make sure they're weren't any more stallions hiding in the shadows. North dogged the man-made stalactites that hung down from the ceiling in the cave as we drove further into the mountain. Taking a turn, the guardian drove the sleigh through another open crack in the mountain. The sleigh flew over the tall and awe-striking buildings of the tooth palace, dodging the architecture and passing stallions.

Normally, I've would've stood there for about ten minutes, just gawking at the pink and gold buildings of the Tooth Palace, but my mind was hot-wired right now and I was more focused on kicking these stallions' butts. Once again noticing the green sparks on the end of my staff, I narrowed my eyes at them, before turning my attention to a passing horse. Leaping up into the air, I slashed the stallion with the end of my staff.

I hovered in the air in a shocked daze. Falling back into the sleigh, it was only when I hit the seats that my eyes tore away from the scene. I looked up towards everyone, who all (except North who was too busy driving the sleigh) were looking down at me in shock. My dazed expression turned into a massive grin as I jumped up from my seat.

"Did you see that?!" I cried, jumping around the sleigh.

"B-but, that thing! You slashed through it with your staff…!" Jack cried.

"…and then it glowed green…" Bunny continued. Sandy conjured up the image of an explosion above his head, his eyes widening with shock as he gestured to it.

"I know!" I cried, laughing a bit out of relief and somewhat disbelief. I ducked as a couple of stallions galloped above my head.

North grumbled under his breath. "Here, take these," He mumbled, passing the reins over to Jack. Looking over at them for a second, his face lit up like a Christmas tree as he took the reins from North.

The guardian jumped up to the front of the sleigh as Jack cracked the whips, urging the reindeer to go faster. Inching along the front of the sleigh, North grabbed his double swords and slashed through a passing horse. A couple of capsules along with a handful of black dust fell into the sleigh; all that remained of it.

I looked towards the capsules in confusion whereas Bunny's eyes widened. "They're taking the teeth!" He cried. My eyes widened as I looked up to the passing stallions, now noticing similar capsules were bouncing around in their rib cages.

I glanced down at Sandy, who had picked up some of the black dust that had fallen on him off his robe. He rubbed it in between his fingers, looking over to Bunny and I, an unspoken question in his eyes.

Jack had looked back over to us at Bunny's outburst, and wasn't noticing the building in front of him. "Jack, look out!" I cried, pointing towards the golden structure.

He turned back, crying out as he barely dodged the building. Loosing control of the sleigh, we turned and crash landed on a circular platform, the sleigh tipped up on its front. I climbed out, and shaking away the nervousness building up in my stomach, I looked up to see Tooth stressfully zipping about.

"Tooth!" North cried, jumping out of the sleigh after me, followed by the others. "Are you alright?"

"They…they took my fairies…" She mumbled, flying around the buildings of the tooth palace. "And the teeth! All of them!" Tooth sunk to the floor, and I could see the tears in her eyes threatening to fall. "Everything is gone…everything."

North, Bunny and Sandy jumped up the platforms to stand by her side. Sandy laid a comforting hand on Tooth's shoulder as she miserably hung her head. Jack and I still stood on the circular platform near the sleigh, and I felt really awkward considering the situation. I mean, I barely knew Tooth, but at the same time I really wanted to comfort her; I just didn't know how.

Jack came up to stand near my side, giving me a weak smile. Leaping up from behind his hoodie, Baby Tooth flew out in the open, squeaking happily and zipping over to her mistress. I let out a small smile as Tooth's face immediately lifted as the mini fairy flew over to her.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Tooth cried, cupping Baby Tooth in her hand whist petting her with her thumb. "One of you is alright."

My head jerked up and I tightened my grip on my staff as a dark, eerie voice ran through-out the palace.

"I have to say, this is very exciting; the big four all in one place," The voice centered above the guardians, and we all gazed up to see a man peer over the side of another platform of the tooth palace.

The only source of colour on the man's face was probably his golden eyes, which contrasted against his grey skin. He wore a full-length black robe which covered his body and he had his dark hair slicked back. He gave an evil grin down to the guardians, and it took all my mental strength not to cower. "I'm a little star struck. Did you like my show on the globe North? Got you all together…didn't I?"

The man gave a grin as he walked around the platform, ducking behind a golden structure as Tooth flew up to him. "Pitch! You've got thirty seconds to return my fairies!" She cried, zipping around the structure, only for him to not be there.

"Or what?" The voice echoed around, before Pitch appeared from behind a different structure on the opposite side of the guardians. "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" The man held up his hands in a sarcastic 'I'm so scared' gesture.

"Why are you doing this?" North asked softly, trying to go for the sympathy technique, despite him pointing his sword at Pitch on the word 'you'.

"Maybe, I want what you have; to be believed in." Pitch simply replied.

Jack's and my eyes widened at his answer. We both made quick eye-contact, before turning out attention back on the boogeyman; pointing our staffs threateningly at the sound of his voice.

I saw Pitch's form melt into the shadows, and his voice echoed around the Tooth Palace again. "Maybe, I'm tired of hiding under beds!"

"Maybe, that's where you belong!" Bunny cried in the direction of his voice.

I heard a sigh, before Pitch's form materialized underneath the platform Bunny was standing on.

"Go suck an egg, rabbit." He said, before melting back into the shadows. Bunny ducked down to grab him, clutching only air as the shadows melted away.

Jack and I stood back to back, our staffs out menacingly as the shadows danced around on the circular platform we were standing on.

"Hang on, is that…Jack Frost? And who's with him? Little Atheia isn't it?"

I shivered as Pitch said my name; it was creepy how easily my name rolled off his tongue. The echoing only made it worse.

"How in Hades do you know my name?" I growled, my eyes flicking over the architecture of the palace, looking for any signs of Pitch.

"Ah, Hades, good friend of mine; too bad he's locked down in the Underworld, unable to help me, no thanks to you four Guardians," His voice echoed around, making it hard to determine where he actually was. "How I know your name, you ask? It's quite simple really."

Pitch appeared on the platform above where Jack and I were standing, locking eyes with me. His cold, golden eyes were unlike Sandy's, whose were filled with love and kindness. Pitch's eyes held hate, evil, and worse of all; revenge. "You can't know someone's fear without knowing their name."

Pitch melted back into the shadows and I felt a wave of dread overcome my body. Pushing the feeling away, I tightened my grip on my staff as I searched for Pitch's echoing voice.

"Since when are you all so chummy, anyway?"

"We're not," Jack replied from behind me, his icy orbs searching for the boogeyman.

"Oh, good," Pitch said as he formed in front of us, leaning against another part of the palace. "A neutral party. Then I'm going to ignore you two, but I'm guessing you would be used to that by now." Jack's and my defense stance faltered as Pitch muttered those words, walking off without a second thought.

"Pitch!" Bunny cried, jumping off the platform and bolting towards the grey man. "You shadow-sneaking ratbag! Come 'ere!"

Without a glance back, Pitch dissolved, reforming on top of another platform. Taking Bunny's dumbfounded state to her advantage; Tooth grabbed one of Bunny's boomerangs that hung around his shoulder. She cried out whist flying up to the boogeyman, only to stop dead as a stallion materialized by Pitch's side, rearing up at the fairy's approach.

Tooth gasped as flew away slightly as the stallion whined and snorted, rearing up in excitement. Baby Tooth squeaked in fright and flew behind Jack.

"Whoa!" Pitch cried to the horse, holding his hands up to calm the stallion. "Easy girl…easy," He patted the horse, grabbing some dust from its body and holding it out for us to see. He chuckled, locking eyes with Sandy. "Look familiar Sandman?"

Sandy held out a ball of dream sand in his palm, looking down on it, before glaring up at Pitch. My eyes widened as I realized that the stallion was not made out of dust. It was made from sand; Sandy's dream sand.

I gazed back up at Pitch in shock, whereas he merely chuckled. "It took me a while to perfect this trick; turning dreams into nightmares," He said, whilst petting the nightmare next to him, which snorted in anger towards us.

Tooth flew the rest of the way down to the platform beneath her, landing next to Bunny. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear.

"Don't be nervous, it only riles them up further. They smell fear, you know?"

"What fear? Of you?" Bunny laughed, taking the boomerang from Tooth's hand and pointing it at Pitch. "No one has been afraid of you since The Dark Ages!"

"Oh, the Dark Ages," Pitch mumbled, a happy smile on his face. "Everyone frightened; miserable. Such happy times for me, oh the power I wielded!" His smile turned into a growl as he said the next part. "But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with you wonder and light; lifting their hearts, and giving them hope. Meanwhile everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream. 'Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. There's no such thing as the boogeyman.'" He growled at the guardians, glaring each one of them in the eye. "But that's all about to change."

I looked around; noticing the paint from Tooth's palace seemed to peel off. I glanced off to the side and saw as a golden podium start to crack around the edges. Bits and pieces of architecture crumbled as Pitch's grin grew wider.

"Oh, it's happening already."

"What is?" Jack asked, glancing around at the crumbling platforms.

"Children are waking up, and realizing the Tooth fairy never came," Pitch jeered, smirking down at the helpless guardian. "They're such little things, but to a child…"

"What's going on?" I questioned, gazing at Tooth. Her face held a world of hurt; I couldn't imagine what she would be feeling.

"They…they don't believe in me anymore," She mumbled.

Jack and I gazed at her in disbelief, before turning our attention back to Pitch.

"Didn't they tell you two? It's great being a guardian! But, there's a catch," He smiled down, quickly glancing at Tooth's form, before locking eyes with Jack and I. "If enough kids stop believing, everything you friends protect; wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away…" He smirked, looking down at the guardians. "…and little by little, so do they." Chuckling, he looked down as the faces of the guardians fell at his words. "No Christmas, or Easter or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear and darkness…and me. It's your turn, not to be believed in."

Bunny launched the boomerang in Pitch's direction. He repeatedly had to dodge it as it kept coming for him. Finally having enough, he jumped onto the nightmare stallion. The nightmare ran off the end of the platform, racing towards the ground with the guardians at his heels.

Giving a quick look towards each other, Jack and I gave a nod and ran off the side of the platform, staffs in hand. Bunny launched Easter eggs Pitch's way, and they exploded in a variety of colours, causing Pitch's form to duck, dive and twist through the bombs. Landing on the edge of a lake, we all held our weapons out, looking around the area.

North dropped his swords, a look of disbelief on his face. "He's gone."

"What do ya mean he's gone, mate?" Bunny cried.

"Well, you can't see him, no? He's not here!" North boomed.

Tooth fluttered over to the side, a miserable look on her face. She felt to her knees, picking up one of the surviving tooth containers. She ran her finger along it, and I could see tears in her violet eyes threatening to fall.

I pushed the noise of North and Bunny's bickering out of my head and padded over to Tooth. I knelt down near her and wrapped her in a comforting hug. "I'm sorry about the fairies," I whispered as I pulled away to sit next to her. Jack came over to us, kneeling in front of Tooth as well.

Tooth gave a weak smile at the mention of her fairies. "You should have seen them; they put up such a fight."

Glancing down at the golden tooth containers, Jack brought his eyes back up to Tooth, a questioning look in his eyes. "Why would Pitch steal the teeth?"

"It's not the teeth he wanted; it's the memories inside them."

"What do you mean?" I asked Tooth as she gave me a quick glance.

"That's why we collect the teeth; they hold the most important memories of childhood."

Tooth turned her head to look at a painting on the wall behind her. Getting up, she fluttered over the lake, glancing up at the wall. I followed her, hovering above the lake by right side as Jack walked along, freezing the lake to stand by her left.

I looked up at the painting, seeing the largest was an image of Tooth and a group of children holding out their teeth towards her. The other images were pictures of the mini fairies along with different types of symbols; though I didn't know what of.

"My fairies and I watch over them, and when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them," Tooth continued, gazing up at the painting. "We had everyone's here; your's too," She said, gesturing to both of us as she laid a hand on each of our shoulders.

My whole body tensed up as Tooth uttered those words; your's too. My mind was running a mile a minute and shock radiated through out my body.

"M-my memories?" Jack and I choked out simultaneously.

"From when you were young," She said as she backed away to face both of us. "Before you became Jack and Atheia."

Jack and I made quick eye contact; it was obvious both of us were shocked and didn't have a clue as to what Tooth was taking about.

"But, we weren't anyone before we became Jack and Atheia…" I mumbled.

"Of course you were," Tooth said as she flew a little closer. "We were all somebody before we were chosen."

I eyes widened as a million thoughts ran through my mind. My palms felt sweaty and my heart was beating so fast that I thought it might burst out of chest. I tried to steady my breathing as a felt a rush of emotions. Shock? Happiness? Fear? Heck, I couldn't care less.

"What?" I heard Jack murmur. He sounded as shocked as I felt.

"You should've seen Bunny," North laughed, causing Bunny to turn and scowl at him.

"The night at the pond…" Jack started.

"…and the forest…" I added.

"Well, I just thought…"

"…I assumed…"

"Are…are you saying, that I had a life…" Jack said, getting worked up.

"…before all of that?" I finished.

"With a home?"

"And a family?"

Normally, I would've figured out now that it was kinda creepy how I was finishing Frosty's sentences so easily, but I was too excited about what Tooth was saying to worry about my 'super cool' sentence-finishing powers.

Tooth stared at us in disbelief. "You guys really don't remember?"

I turned to Jack, a disbelieving look on my face. He looked up at me, his eyes filled shock. "All the answers were right here…" I breathed out.

Jack turned to Tooth, a grin on his face. "If we find out our memories, we'll know why we're here."

I rushed around in the air, the feeling of joy sweeping through me at the thought of seeing my memories. What would they be like? I suddenly got a cold feeling. What if I had a bad life? I pushed those thoughts from my mind; I had to figure out why I was here, even if it meant reliving bad memories.

"You have to show us them!" I cried, flying over to a ledge, with Jack following at my heels.

A look of sympathy appeared on Tooth's features. "I can't, Pitch has them."

Jack wasn't going to give up. A look of determination swept over his face as he couched down, pointing his staff at her. "Then we have to get them back!"

Tooth looked like she was about to say something else before a few feathers were plucked from her body. She let out a gasp watching them fall, and I looked up to the wall to see the painting slowly disappear.

"The children…we're too late."

"No! No! No such thing as too late!" North cried. He hummed to himself, before his face brightened and he swung one of his swords near Bunny's face. "Idea!" He laughed, as Jack and I leaned on our staffs, grinning as North triumphantly shouted; "We will collect the teeth!"

"What?!" Tooth shouted in disbelief.

"We get teeth; children keep believing, in you."

"We're talking seven continents! Millions of kids!"

"Give me break; do you know how many toys I deliver in one night?" North asked, a smirk on his face as he twirled his swords.

"And eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny perked up.

"And Jack, Atheia. If you help us, we will get you your memories back." North said as he knowingly smirked our way. I gave one look, grinning as Jack nodded his head. Crouching down to Jack's level, I matched North's smirk with one of my own.

"We're in."

There you go guys! :)

I hope you enjoyed that chapter!

Please leave me a review for this chapter, even if it's just to tell me I suck for getting the chapter out late! I enjoy any feedback! ;)
With that thought, THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed last chapter, you guys all make me smile :D
On with the responses!

Review Responses:

0ren: OH, thank gosh! I was really hoping that it didn't sound dragged out or anything! Hehe, glad you liked the part between North and Atheia ;D I though I should add Atheia's open thought of the sleigh. :) Also, I get what you're saying about Spring and Winter, they are pretty similar 'fun wise' when you think about it like that :D Thanks for reviewing!

Gwen: Thanks :D Glad you like it!

storygirl99210: Nah, she isn't. I decided to not make it a romance fic. Besides, I've got something else planned...muhahaha! ;)

JustPlainOldMe: Thanks for your lovely review! I'm glad you think it isn't fast or slowly paced, I was going for that ;) Nah, being serious I was actually worried it was dragged out, so that's a relief! Also, I'm glad you like the idea of Atheia being a Greek goddess :) I was reading MOA when I got the idea for the story, so you can thank Rick Riordan for the idea :)

haz: Glad you do! :D

Guest: Your review made me laugh ;D And when you look at it like that, it does made sense! She'd probably hate something that's not natural, e.g: a 6f 1 tall bunny ;)

Again, thank you everyone who reviewed! I also send my thanks to the people who have favourited and followed this story :D
I shall send virtual cookies to all of you! :D:D:D:D
As usual, leave me a review, and if you're new to this story please Favourite and Follow if you like it so far :)
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Have a great day guys!

CrystalxRose