Wow, I wonder what happened to the people reading the previous stories and not this one ^^;

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT BUT WE ARE ALMOST TO THE END-A. *Cue applause* Wow this series has been going on since before Ruse of the Guardians came out :D I apologize for the wait. I procrastinate and got tired on top of that.

Reviews would really, really help my motivation and are appreciated :)

Chapter 17: The Shatter of Alecvander

The book on the shelf had belonged to a girl from long ago. Maybe longer than Anguish himself, in a place that was happy and surrounded by the chill of snow; pure and white, but with the always present loom of the shadows. How the moon had acted more back then; sending moonbeams down to watch over the children of Earth and chase away wondering fearlings.

And now he lay and waited; acting in a different way. Why? Anguish thought it certain. There was more darkness in the word, therefore more light was needed to combat it.

Balance. There must be a balance. Be it harsh, easy...he knew there must always be a balance. It was something even the Man in the Moon could not even begin to challenge, for forces greater than he, older than he, said it so.

He hoped Alecvander knew it, too. It was usually the other side of the balance that felt against the other; their actions... or their fate.

But soon, it would come again. A greater one, when the balance is challenged and tampered and eventually overcome. It was the night he would finally be free.

And maybe, just maybe, others would be free, too.

The eggs erupted from the cave entrance like an avalanche, and Bunnymund barley caught sight of them before he yelled aloud and rolled off-balance. Jack and the others followed; Though Tooth quick leaped into a hover as they passed, watching in alarm for she had no idea what she could do.

"Bunny, How do I stop them? Is there-"

Bummyund was being carried away on his back. Kicking, he called out as they went down a slope, "Just stop whatever's scaring 'im!"

"Who-ho!" Jack grinned widely as they sped down the hill. Bunnymund yelped, North gave a yell os surprise as they descended towards the lake. Jack grinned mischievously and shot out a bolt of frost- and just as they reached the surface the eggs slipped on the ice and dropped their accidental passengers. North and Bunnymund slid like dolls onto the ice as Jack hopped onto a nearby rock.

He looked at Bunnymund and titled his head. The frosty youth couldn't help but laugh a little at the mighty guardian's plight, lying there on the ice as if they'd been hit by lightning they looked that shocked. Talk about inexperienced...

"Whoops."

Bunnymund sat up wobbly and gasped. Jack, raising a brow, followed his line of sight.

Standing at the top of the hill was a little figure with a mop full of blond hair, bouncing up and down like a rabbit herself. A giggling voice of a child rang down to greet them- and then she tripped.

Something in Jack's chest surged with horror and he flew forward- but Tooth got there first. Just as the little girl slipped towards her fall the fairy whipped forward and caught her, hovering down the slope and beside the frozen pond where the others where.

The little girl stared around in wonder, then up at Tooth. "Pretty...!"

Jack titled his head. That girl... she looked like...

"Sophie?"

Tooth set the wriggling toddler down, who spotted Bunnymund struggling off the now melting ice lake. She squealed and ran towards him as he flopped on his stomach away from the ice, tugging delightedly at his ear.

Jack laughed out loud.

"Fluffy Bunny, Hop Hop!"

Bunnymund ease his ear out of her grip and stepped back, "What is SHE doing HERE?"

The eggs cluttered away to hide under a little hollow as Sophie came close. She leaned in an called to them: "Peek a Boo!"

Jack laughed to himself, "If you guys can't handled one little kid we're totally in trouble."

North looked fluster. "We are busy all year brining joy to children, we do not have time for...children..."

Bunnymund almost face-palmed at the absurd sentence, despite it being truthful. Jack hopped onto a smooth boulder, unseen, and played with a snowflake in his hand.

"We're in worse shape than I thought if one little kid can ruin Easter..."

And the snowflake floated towards Bunnymund's eyes.

Anguish had to admit...this was a beautiful sort of magic. The innocent kind he hadn't had the pleasure of gazing upon for years. Any grief or sadness gone; the yetis and elves and eggs tangled in painting and fun...the Easter rabbit and the little girl travelled all around the paint bells and the egg trails, and hope itself seemed to glow from the warren.

And he remained in the shadows of the tunnel.

He watched quietly as the girl fell asleep; one of the lucky children without a care in the world. Snuggled in the arms of the pooka, he watched as she was then handed to Jack Frost.

Jack Frost.

I hope you can forgive us all one day. The Man in the Moon was cruel to you.

But things are always cruel at the beginning.

Some people just had it harder. But Jack seemed happier; cradling the girl in his arms almost like a loving parent and floating gently through the air and away from the warren. The eggs began travelling towards the tunnels to the surface.

Then something went cold around him.

His hand, that had sat on the wall to keep his balance (though really it didn't, just a not yet forgotten habit,) felt the rock going ice-like, stinging and bitter. A wind blew from the tunnel behind him.

Slowly, he turned.

He hadn't expected this so suddenly.

The black, nightmarish horses erupted from the tunnel entrance. Anguish was thrown aside by the awful, creeping aura of the fearlings, their whispers tugging at his ears. He swept forward and blocked them; his whole form blurring as if it had turned into a fluid fabric.

But it was not enough. Sheer, brutal power backed them up, and he was tossed aside.

Bunnymund say them coming next. He straightened up, ears rigid, and his pupils dilated. Tooth gasped. North pulled out his swords. All of their reactions happened just before they hit.

The nightmares swept through the roads and trails, eggs smashing, baskets exploding. Bunnymund gave a loud warrior's cry and threw both boomerangs; demolishing two of them. North sliced at them like jungle leaves, but the more they sliced down, there more there seemed to be.

"Get the ones by the eggs!" Bunnymund called, tossing a boomerang at one near the tunnels to the surface.

"There are too many- Oh No..." The pooka turned to see what had made North, the guardian of wonder, sound so hopeless. The nightmare he just sliced in two...reformed.

They couldn't be destroyed.

Bunnymund felt helplessness seep in. Tooth looked weak; slouched where she sat nearby, head bent and hand to her forehead. Her wings look withered.

The pooka began throwing his boomerangs rapidly, hitting more and more, again and again, but it was no use. They were suffocating the warren; whipping all about, everywhere and blocking out the light. Black sand crept around his neck and he fell backwards, overwhelmed. Not willing to give up, he kicked and lashed out, North in a similar plight behind them.

"It's no use!" He called through the chaos and the shadows closed in on them, closer-

Then another shadow came. It swept over them; like someone touching a rippled lake so one final ripple could settle them all. It blasted through the nightmares, whipping them aside like dust balls.

But Bunnymund, North and Tooth where barely able to catch it. All they knew was that they lay on the ground, in the now dimly lit warren; the beautiful eggs cracked and smashed around them.

Something horrible sank in Bunnymund's heart as he lay there.

Anguish had fallen into the icy lake after his attack. His shadowy, deathly form felt tired and strained. The water he barely felt; the cold he barely noticed. He was not of this word, anyway.

His tired brown eyes stared through the water. The dim light of the warren above watched him indifferently; icily. He floated there; masked and alone.

Jack Frost. How similar our fates where, surrounded by the cold embrace of the water...I can no longer protect the ones I love, it seems. All I can do is trust the Man in the Moon, and death himself. Alecvander...at times like these I wish you where here...

Somewhere else, Pitch the Nightmare King tossed the memory box to Jack, slipping into the darkness with a smile that would melt the bravery of the greatest warriors.

"It's not what I've done, Jack. It's what YOU have done..."

No not the eggs! D:

Poor Anguish. Please review!

You need to have read 'There Must be A Rule' to understand Anguish~