Don't worry, I'm not dead! Sorry for taking so long, but I managed to delete this chapter right after writing a huge chunk of it. Twice. Then I lost my iPod, which I had all my ideas and writings on, for two weeks. Yeah. So, sorry.

Sandy rushed back to the North Pole. Technically, he knew he had made excellent time, even though the flight felt like it had taken ages. In reality, he had made the return trip in a fraction of the time it had taken him and Tooth on the way out.

Soon enough, Sandy was passing over the frozen wasteland of the North Pole for the third time today, but he was too worried about Tooth to care. As Sandy came up on North's factory, he didn't bother with petty things like speed, or dignity, or gravity. Tooth's safety was at stake; none of those things mattered. Later, he would realize that simply letting himself fly through the window into a working yeti may have lost him time in the long run, but he hadn't wanted to slow down until he found North.

North had elected to remain in the factory, as opposed to his private workshop. He enjoyed watching the toys being made, and the yetis needed all the help they could get with keeping the elves from messing with things they shouldn't. It was often very hard dealing with the elves. One had to make sure that the tiny creatures felt as if they were really helping bring Christmas, when in reality they weren't let within ten feet of anything even remotely important.

North was trying to keep an eye on a group of particularly 'helpful' elves when he heard a dreadful crash and the grunts of an upset yeti behind him. North sighed in defeat. He was positive he had kept all the elves clear of the toys, but obviously, he had missed at least one.

North turned, ready to scoop up the offending elf, but stopped when he realized there was none. The noise he heard had come from something round and gold slamming into a yeti's work table. Poor Marco; that yeti always seemed to be getting the worst of things.

For now, North focused on the thing that had crash landed, because the only round, golden object he could think of was usually much more calm and collected.

North strode over to the newly made mess and hauled Sandy out of it. "Ha! My friend! Good to see you back so soon. But you can not have traveled to Tooth Palace and back already, no?"

Sandy shook his head, and a barrage of images flashed above his head.

North smiled. "Sandy, what have we said about slowing down? We can not understand when you do that!" Sandy narrowed his eyes slightly in exasperation, but started over anyway.

Slowly, a picture of Tooth and Sandy appeared, both flying. When Sandy showed North that they had stopped to talk, the bulky man winked, and Sandy blushed, confirming his suspicion. However, North did not pursue it, and Sandy gave him a grateful look.

Soon, North forgot the sweet moment between his two friends as nightmares formed out of dream sand. They were small and gold, yet unmistakable. They surrounded Tooth and Sandy, but their master was conspicuously absent.

North rubbed his chin and became increasingly worried as the dream sand Tooth was separated from her fellow Guardian, but both seemed to be doing all right on their own. Soon enough, Pitch himself entered the memory, but something was off. Most of his face was covered by a hood, only his teeth showing.

North motioned for Sandy to pause. "He was really wearing hood? He never has before. Did something change?" Sandy nodded morosely, and continued his story.

North watched as Sandy battled Pitch, and his eyes widened in surprise when he exploded into dust. He tried to interrupt Sandy again, but he was just waved off as he went on.

Sandy stopped all the dream sand images he had made and formed them into one of Pitch, and North nodded grimly. He could guess where this was going, but he prayed to the moon that he was wrong. He could only watch as Pitch snuck up behind a newly made sand Tooth Fairy and grab her from behind, muffling her cries with his slim hand.

North ran his hands through his snowy hair. "Oh, this is bad. Very not good. We must call others again immediately. But one thing I do not understand. If you were fighting Pitch, how was Tooth kidnapped... by Pitch?"

Sandy mimed Pitch holding some formless dream sand that quickly formed into a smaller version of himself. North shook his head. Did the Boogeyman get new abilities every time he tried to take over? It seemed so.

North looked up to see the normally patient Sandman floating over to the control panel in front of the Globe. North cocked an eyebrow; apparently his few seconds of reflection took too long for Sandy's liking.

North walked over as well, and he reached the panel just as Sandy pushed in the handle for the Lights. He chuckled softly as the little man had to use both hands and all of his weight to shift it. He was just as worried as Sandy, but he knew there was nothing they could do at the moment. All that was left was to wait.

Tooth woke slowly, regaining consciousness one bit at a time. The first thought she had was, had she fallen asleep on the trip home earlier? It was the middle of the day, but she hadn't slept in a while; maybe Sandy had carried her home. She smiled at the thought, but then realized that she wasn't lying on anything even remotely resembling a bed. In fact, it felt like hard, rocky ground.

Suddenly, she remembered what had happened and shot up, completely alert. Her eyes flew open, but it made little difference; everything was pitch black. A few days ago, she would have smiled at the play on words. A few days ago, Pitch had been trapped with no hope of escape.

Tooth stood and began to feel her way around the room. She didn't dare fly, for she knew that she would almost certainly fly into an obstacle long before she found an exit.

She hadn't gone very far when she noticed that she could now see the faint outline of her hand. Tooth realized that wherever she was, was growing lighter, but that didn't make her feel any better. Light meant Pitch wanted her to see, and Tooth knew he couldn't want her to see anything good.

The room didn't get much lighter, but Tooth could make out that she was in a large cave. Judging by the previous lack of light, it was either very deep or underground.

"Do you like it?" The smooth British voice made Tooth jump nearly a foot in the air. She spun around to face the shadows behind her as Pitch slowly walked out. He was grinning. Tooth knew that he was feeding on her fear, but she couldn't help herself. "W-what do you want with me?" Tooth tried to sound bold, but she stuttered and her voice was noticeably higher than normal.

"My dear Tooth; why do you automatically assume I want something from you? Granted, you're right, but still. It's not polite to believe the worst." Pitch had begun circling Tooth, and she didn't like it one bit. She turned with him as he walked with his hands behind his back. "I'll never help you. I'd rather die."

The glint in Pitch's eyes told Tooth that he would grant her wish in a second, and it scared her more than if he had spoken aloud. She swallowed her next words and decided to stick with watching him. After all, it's not like she actually wanted to die.

Pitch stopped circling and nodded swiftly. He had a decisively smug grin that Tooth instantly disliked. "Good. Maybe you can learn to hold your tongue. I always knew you were the smartest of the group." Tooth shivered. The Nightmare King could make even a compliment into an insult.

Pitch motioned to the surrounding cavern. "You best get used to the damp and dark, Toothiana. You're going to be here for a long while." And with that comment, he turned and strolled back into the shadows.

In a sudden fit of courage, Tooth balled her fists and shouted, "I'm not afraid of you, Pitch! My friends will come for me!" Pitch's haunting laughter echoed back to her, filled with malice and scorn. "Silly little Tooth Fairy; I'm counting on it."