Chapter 51-Nighty Night

Pitch and Hans must've assumed they may still try evacuating the remaining citizens by ships, for there were two incredibly large black vessels stationed just outside the bay belonging to the Dream Pirates. Those ships could easily be seen from the castle; their lights glowing with an exceptionally low yellow visual, coupled well with its contorted body of sand and ghostly torn holes for sails.

Meanwhile filling the entire bay area as well as the port were the Nightmare and Fearling armies; from above high in the sky, excited two of the worm like wave that had chased after Hiccup and toothless. They had grown to become more alive and monstrous, with spikes sticking out of their surface, and their mouths was more finely defined now, with what seems to be several thousands of sharp teeth rotating within.

And standing at the head of them all, was none other than Hans and Pitch,

"Well they may be here early," started Kristoff while looking outside the window, "But it looks as though they're waiting rather patiently for their reception."

"That's because those blockheads know we can't do anything to upset them. They have us cornered." Merida said roughly; she slowly staggered onto her knees with a few grunts, and with a hand clutching to her head forcing the others to pull their gaze away beyond the glass. "Arrrrg!" shouted Merida in frustration. "Damn it! Their intimidation is working more than just terrifying the citizens."

"Merida what's wrong?" asked Anna as she kneels down beside the spirit.

Merida chuckled harshly. "I get the feeling you guys still don't quite understand what's important to us Guardians."

"What are you saying?"

"As Guardians we depend on children's' belief for more than just our strength, but our very existence." Merida groaned painfully this time as she struggled to stand. "…We may have been chosen by Manny to be Guardians of certain things, but if you think about it; loosely, Guardians are born differently from other Beings—even those as old and powerful like Mother Nature. We are born because children need a little help protecting certain things special about themselves while still young: dreams, wonder, bravery, hope, etc. Thus exists the verity of folktale people: Santa Clause the very definition of wonder, the Sandman the definition of dreams, and the Spirit of Summer the definition of courage.

Elsa recalled distinctively Bunny having said something about Guardians the first day they met. "For they are all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be." Elsa said quietly.

"So right now, even though the Pact acts as boosters so long as the promises are kept, but the Pact means nothing if the source of my existence is losing faith in me. The children that are left here are terrified out of their minds right now… and though they know I'm here fighting for them, they don't believe I can do anything against such an army…They don't believe in the power of courage in this situation, and that's killing me."

"But it's only a few children in Arendelle compare to the world," said Elsa.

Merida chuckled again. "You forget Snow Queen, I'm still fairly new to Guardianship and hardly any children have ever even heard of the Spirit of Summer. But rather than focusing on me, shouldn't we go meet those goons at the port?"

"—Not yet—for you; you're supposed to be 'transporting' Rapunzel and Eugene back to Corona."

"So you're telling me to stay here like a scared doo?"

"If something happens then you can jump in, beside right now it looks like you are having trouble standing alone."

"It's only a minor headache." However, Elsa ignored what Merida said and told her to just wait before turning to her sister.

"I'm not leaving," Anna said quickly before Elsa could speak.

"Then at least stay in the castle—"

"No," and she immediately took Elsa's hand into hers. "This war is going to end one way or another, so I'm staying right beside you and we're going to see this war end together."

"Anna please—"

The door to the room was suddenly slammed open startling everyone. It was an out of breath foot soldier fully armored; he came to inform them that the remaining army is nearly ready, and he was here to escort them.

Despite Elsa's insistence Anna didn't listen, and followed her to meet Hans and Pitch at the port. Kristoff also went with them walking alongside his wife, Commander Gorm walked on the opposite side beside his Queen, while Prince Lipso and Prince Grill made up the ends. As for the soldiers, a line of two-by-two marched a few steps behind them, while the rest were either posted at the castle, or are streaming off as instructed through other streets that leads to the port.

When the group emerged, Hans and Pitch directed their Nightmares to take them down to the ground. "Ah now what kept you all?" greeted Hans with a maniacal glee in his voice, as he trotted his Nightmare forward and stop it in front of Elsa and Anna. Pitch was a few strides behind him.

"I thought we agreed to wait until the morning of the third day," said Lipso irritably.

"Why brother, I thought I should be considerate and just end this whole war sooner rather than later. After all, everyone must be anxious for this feud to end, and so why prolong its conclusion. And there's our own home's concern after this; I can't wait to meet the rest of our brothers you know, it's been months since I've last seen them. By the way, where is Lukas? He's a bit of a bookworm so I thought he wouldn't want to miss seeing a true Dark Being in the flesh."

"Flattering Hans," said Pitch from behind. When Pitch lined himself up again with Hans, he carried a smirk upon his face, and mockingly inclined his head with grace, along with his Nightmare to the group. "Now based on your brother's descriptions of you all, I believe you on the far right is Prince Lipso, and over on the left is Prince Grill. I am honored to finally meet two of the twelve brothers of my human partner."

"And so the real monster finally shows himself," uttered Grill with a glare. That only made Pitch sneaker.

"Not-so—not-so," I already had the pleaser of meeting a member of your alliance party," and he turned to look at Elsa. "We meet again Queen Elsa. I see you've exchanged that pale skin and hair for your human colors again." She didn't respond, in which prompted Pitch to continue, first breathinh in deeply through his sharp array of teeth. "What fine weather we're having tonight don't you think?" Elsa clinched her hands. "The white snow is distaining and the air is only slightly chilled, and it is all still so gloomful and dark. I don't believe this is one of your lovely works…Must be Jack Frost's farewell gift. He's quite a rather lonely snow spirit really," Pitch chuckled lightly, "So sad and pathetic that he has to throw his own funeral with this snow—"

"How dare you—" started Anna, but Kristoff quickly stop her and told her no. Pitch looked over at the couple with his head dipping lazily over to the side. His smirk remains. "And it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person Princess Anna, along with your charming reindeer man."

"You don't scare us," said Anna while narrowing her eyes at him.

Pitch's smirk only broadens. "Ooooh I just love repeating this. Of course I know you're not afraid of me. But I do know what you are afraid of. I use to hide under your bed my dear little Anna." He then suddenly turns a sharp gaze down in both directions. "I use to hide under all of your beds…! I was the monster in your closet…the thing that taps at your door looking for a snack in the night…the shadow within shadows that slithers to get you when you're alone."

"In other word you're only a bad dream," said Kristoff, daring to glare into the Being's eyes.

"It'sssss Nightmare King to you ice boy." Pitch then slowly waves a hand behind him. "And before your very eyes, do you still dare to call everything. A. Bad. Dream?"

"Every bad dream eventually ends."

To that, both Pitch and Hans howled in laughter, wilding up their armies with excitement, but they managed to keep the creatures under control. "Your quite a funny man," said Hans, "Maybe I'll keep you around to entertain me in my new Kingdome."

"How about you give him to me insteadsaid Pitch, "I would love to have him try to wake up from an endless nightmare of mine—"

"Enough!" yelled Commander Gorm while unsheathing the base of his sword.

"You're right," agreed Hans with snap of his fingers. "Enough with this talking and just give me your answer. Will you surrender and oblige by the given term of surrender…or would you rather have one last futile battle?" No one made to answer, and Gorm made no move in drawing his sword out for battle. "Now what's this? Tooooo afraid?" Hans' eyes narrowed. "I don't have all night now… Just answer me or else I'll make this easy and just kill all of you right now!" He turned his eye towards Elsa. "Starting with you." The commander moved swiftly and stood in front of his Queen. "…So I see." Hans reached for his sword.

"Wait a minute Hans," said Pitch suddenly, surprising his partner. "I really don't see your brother Lukas anywhere."

"Why does that matter?" Hans said in annoyance, "Who cares where he is—"

"He has the Light copy the Promise Book to your Dark copy."

"Look if it's so important to you, then we'll get it later after we have Arendelle and the Southern Isle under our control. No matter where Lukas is, and no matter where he hides, after today he will have nowhere to go…Is there something amusing Queen Elsa?" The group turned to look at Elsa. She was just smiling ever so faintly. "Answer me, what's so funny?"

"I was just thinking that's all." She replied simply.

"Thinking what?"

"That it is quite amazing how well the two of you get along." Hans made a chuckling sound deep in his throat, while Pitch glared at Elsa. She assumes that the Being was trying to figure out where she is going with this. "I mean it. How else would you be able to merge with Pitch's Layers and be so strong now? You must've merged with more than just with two Layers."

"Your Majesty what are you talking about?" enquired Gorm.

"Elsa what are you doing?" Anna whisper to her sister, but Elsa didn't answer either of them.

"…All except the center." Hans had said that with bitterness in his tone, which confuses Elsa as to why, but it may be a sign that the plan may work.

"Impressive. But that's just all there is to you than."

"—And what do you mean by that?!" snapped Hans, his Nightmare neighed restlessly in reaction to Hans' anger.

"Your Majesty?" questioned Gorm, as Elsa steps aside to move in front of him.

"Look all around you. You need all of this just to conquer two kingdoms."

"It's call a war, and revenge! Did you think I could hire a party of mercenaries and charge right in to kill you and your sister with my pathetic soldier salary, or hire an assassin to murder you two quietly in the shadows—each one with the gambling against magic…?! But I suppose all are very much possible over time as long as the quantity of money is adequate. However, I don't have the patient to build the money, and with such methods I can't avoid my brothers and the laws. The only way left was complete conquest."

"And so you resolved to using black magic."

"Sometime you have to fight fire with fire. Other than considering how to handle the consequences with my brothers and the laws, your snow and ice magic was the only obstacle left to deal with."

"But did it called for you to merge with multiple Layers just to take me down?" To that, Hans responded with a wave of black sand from his hand, but Elsa responded quicker with her own wave of ice. The two magic collided and flared instantly upon contact, creating a gust of ice and sand directing out in all directions. When the mess cleared, it was seen that Elsa had stumbled back a few steps back, but Hans was blown right off from his Nightmare a grand distance away.

Pitch made to attack, and Gorm drew out his sword's full length; both sides of the army prepare to charge. "—Stop-Stop—Stop!" Hans shouted with rage as he got up and started walking towards Elsa. "Stop!"

Elsa had also ordered her side to stop, and she too began to walk. Anna tried to stop her but Elsa ignored her sister's calls, and when Anna tried to go after her, both Kristoff and Gorm held her back.

The two met each other in the middle with two yards of length between them. Hans, uncontrollably started pacing side to side, before her his eyes glowed darkly yellowed, and the front row of his teeth grew shaper while their original size. "Do you honest believe you can defeat me?! Have you forgotten what I can do to you?!"

Elsa took in a deep breath and relaxed her body. "I can beat you," she replies calmly.

"Ha—what a joke! Your magic is back to regular, two of your spirit friends are gone, the other two are worthless at this moment, and your pathetic Golden Armors are of no more use than regular metal now. You no longer have power comparable to mine."

"Your power is only barrowed. Once this war ends, the power you have will be gone. Pitch will betray you, don't you know that?"

"To be quite frank, yes. I never trusted him; he never trusted me; I use him; he uses me."

"But in the end you will lose."

Hans chuckled. "We'll see about that."

Elsa wondered what he meant by that, for understood well that he would lose no matter what; Pitch will betrayed him in the end no matter what. Another wave of Hans' creation came, though this time much bigger and Elsa responded in equal size using both her ice and snow. The attacks collided once more but this time it became a battle of strength: who would be able to push beyond their ability and opponent's. At first both side were dead set in the center, but then their attacks began to volley back and forth between them. And in one of his shoves, Hans was able to push his attack close enough to Elsa, allowing him to advance forward forcing Elsa on the defense.

The closer Hans got, the more Elsa struggled to hold up her attack to protect herself. From behind, Elsa could hear Gorm commanding the soldiers to get ready, but she didn't want the men to engage in the battle. Elsa wanted it to be a one-on-one match, and let it be the deciding result to the end of the war instead of having several casulties.

"Give it up Elsa, you can't beat me!" said Hans; he was maybe no more than just a yard away from her now, but she couldn't see due to the wave attack. Elsa kept at it though, even if she could feel herself being pushed back. A minute later, Elsa felt something powerful shoved against her wave and she was slammed down onto her legs, ending the attack with another clouded explosion. This time the cloud cleared away faster, revealing Hans before Elsa with his sword drawn.

"Noooo!" Elsa heard her sister from behind running towards her, along with another pair of boots and assumed it was Kristoff, and several others.

Elsa saw the sword coming down on her; it was surrounded with swarming sands, probably meant to protect the weapon from her magic and allow it to still cut through her. Instinctively Elsa lifted up her hand to block it. When the blade came close, unexpectedly her magic suddenly blew against it with a heavy bolt of frost. It immediately froze the blade and nearly along with Hans' hand despite his swarming dands. The bolt had pushed against the blade so hard, that Hans' arm was sent too far back popping the muscle in his shoulder.

Hans fell to his knees with his other hand griping his shoulder, and he shouted out in pain. Meanwhile Elsa was baffled; she had meant for ice to defend her, but instead it was a bolt of frosts, chiming like hundreds of needles hitting on glass. "Jack?" she whispered.

"Impossible," she heard Pitch uttered. When she looked back at the Being, she saw that he was in deep rage.

Pitch hopped off of his Nightmare and disappeared into its shadows. Elsa looked in all direction but couldn't see him at first, but she turned just in time to see the Being emerged from Hans' own shadow, carrying his scythe with him. When he tried to hit Elsa the first time with his scythe, a golden sword was hefted at him by Anna, forcing Pitch to change the angle of his attack to deflect the flying blade. Anna had reached Elsa when Pitch made a second attempt, but this time Kristoff blocked the attack with his own sword. He didn't heft it like Anna did, Kristoff had managed to reach his sister-in-law in time to position himself in front of her to block with his weapon. Unfortunately, Pitch's swing was so heavy that it knocked Kristoff off his feet and sent the sword spiral out of his grip when his back hit the ground before the sisters. They quickly help him up.

Giving up on his scythe, Pitch sent a sand attack of his own. Elsa once more lifted her hand to block, and once more bolts of frosts came to her defense. Pitch's sand attack was much stronger than Hans, and it came close to knocking her down within seconds. But both Anna and Kristoff helped to keep her standing and rooted. Anna also decided to reach out and help steady her sister's arm. When she gripped Elsa's forearm, a burning red light was glowing from the palm of Elsa's hand, coupled with forest green. Then suddenly, in merging with the bolting frosts, the other colors came shooting out of Elsa's hand: one sprinkling star shaped flames and rippling currents of pure sound waves. Pitch was immediately overwhelmed and was sent flying away. The Nightmares and Fearlings positions on the ground all parted away but some were not lucky enough and ended up hit by their master. Pitch finally stops at the edge of port, nearly falling into the water.

He staggered upon standing up too quickly and fell on one knee. "Attack!" commanded Pitch, pointing his hand over at Elsa and her family. "Attack—Attack!"

The Golden Army rushed forward, however, only patches full of Nightmares and Fearlings actually charged; the rest for some reason started crying unsettlingly. "What is wrong with you all? Attack!" Hans shouted. But it was the same, some of them obeyed while the others continue to act unsettled.

Elsa and her family were rescued by the soldiers, and were moved safely away from the front. "Elsa what was that?" Anna asked, needing to yell slightly over the fighting. "How did you do that back there?"

"I don't know, it just happened…Maybe it wasn't just me, but us…"

"It probably had something to do with those Pacts you made to Merida and them," said Kristoff, as he carefully guards them from any Nightmares and Fearlings. A soldier had managed to retrieved Kristoff's sword and given it back to him.

"But how?" asked Elsa.

"Does it even matter how? The thing is that now we may have a chance of winning."

"I don't know about that," said Anna, "there are still so many of them—and those giant monster worms in the sky."

"Well most of them are not fighting, which makes them easier targets."

"True but why is that?" Elsa asked, as she studied some of the nearby Nightmares and Fearlings. "What aren't they all fighting?"

"Hans!" They all heard Pitch calling for his partner, and looked to where they last saw him, but they were too far away to hear anything over the sounds of fighting.

XxXxXx

"Hans, get up!" Reaching his human partner, Pitch hastily pulled the prince up by the back of his clothe and placed him onto his feet. "We have to find your brother Lukas now."

"But what about the battle here?"

"Don't you see fool, our beasts are being affected by something and there is no doubt it's your brother's work!"

"Lukas?! How can Lukas do something like this?"

Pitch then grabbed Hans by the collar pulling him close to be face-to-face with his. "You still don't understand one bit of the power that the Promise Books have. Both copies of the book! We have to find him and get the light copy away from him now!" Pitch looked around for a second and then snapped his head in the direction of the castle. "There," he said and forcibly turned Hans around to see. The castle was strangely surrounded by some sort of mystic mists and light, resembling identically to moonbeam and star light. But the moon is no more than a slim crest tonight, and Pitch had cast his darkness over the land to cover nearly all the stars.

And even though Hans was so far away, when he focused hard enough, he thought he could hear a lulling voice speaking so soothingly and calmly, to the point he nearly mistook the voice as someone else instead of Lukas'.

"We are going over there to get your brother's copy now, before he ruins everything." Pitch snapped his finger to call over both of their Nightmares.

When they mounted their beasts, they took off as fast as they could but then halted, startled when they heard several booms going off near the ocean water. The two look towards where the Dream Pirate ships were stationed, and saw both vessels were on fire, and were being attacked by Merida on her stead, along with Hiccup on Toothless.

Pitch grunted with frustrations and then commanded the worms to go after the two spirits. "Come, now let's go!" he said to Hans.

But then blasts of ice came from under them. The two managed to dodge the blasts with a few grazes, however, one of Elsa's attack struck Hans' Nightmare from the side, and something small fell from it. "No!" cried Hans as he reached for it to only have the straps slip from his grip by a centimeter.

XxXxXx

Kristoff spotted something falling from Hans' Nightmare, and without thinking, her followed it and caught it before it hit the ground. From behind him, he could hear Elsa and Anna shouting as loud as they could for the archers to shoot Pitch and Hans down, to stop them from leaving. Kristoff immediately moved and return to Anna and Elsa.

"Where did you get that satchel?" Anna asked.

"It fell from Hans' Nightmare when you were shooting all those blasts of ice."

"Wait—hang on a minute," She stated opening up its buckles. "If I'm right than inside should be…" Anna stuck her hand in and soon pulled it out, "The Dark Promise Book!" Its leather cover was worn out and tattered just like it's other copy with its paint faded away, it was almost exactly identical to its other copy if it wasn't for its rim being decorated with thinly sliced diamond shaped metals.

From around they suddenly heard the soldiers cries all rising at the same time. The three looked just in time to see one of the giant worms come crashing down into the ocean water, struggling to get back into the air, the work of Merida and Hiccup no doubt. Kristoff also raised his voice to join the others, and Anna quickly embraced her sister tightly at the sight of the losing worm. With the monster nearly down, the soldiers' moral raised higher than anyone could have wished for; victory was now ever so close, and much ever so possible, they men felt like they can just touch it.

Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff's celebration was quickly cut short, when a massive wave of black sands crashed into their surrounding soldiers, sweeping them away while leaving the three bare and alone.

"Give me back my book!" Hans shouted from above, and Pitch was right beside him.

"Just come and get it if you dare!" Anna shouted back.

From the distance they all heard another loud boom, once more coming from where the Dream Pirates are located. Everyone all saw the struggling worm came plummeting down onto the two Dream ships; its whole body was ablaze. Every soldier able erupted in more cheers and shouts of glory, the taste of victory closer becoming more of reality than a possibility. Both Pitch and Hans gritted their teeth.

"Give it up Hans," Elsa shouted from below. "You can't possibly win now." Hans glared at her, and beard his razor teeth at her like an animal. "Just break your Pact and Merging with Pitch and let this end with no more fighting. Please!"

"Hans!" The call came from his brothers Grill this time.

"Hans!" called Lipso, "end this senseless fighting now!"

"End it all now and face the consequences!" shouted Grill. "We can still work something out if you stop all this and return home—"

"Home?!" repeated Hans with bitterness. "Home?! I can never return home! Did I ever have a home in the first place?!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lipso.

Hans stared at his brothers blankly for a moment, and then said un-shakenly. "Of course you wouldn't know…of course you wouldn't understand! After all, I was non-existed for six years!" He then turned viciously towards Pitch. "Merge with me again! I want you to perform a Merging with me again, and this time, we'll finish this with your center."

"Hans no!" Elsa shouted.

"I said to you before Elsa, that we will see whether or not I will truly end up losing in the end. This is what I meant! Let's see if I'll be the one Consume, or be the only one to ever have control over the Nightmare King!"

Pitch started laughing menacingly while clapping his hand manically. His laugh had stopped many of the fighting below to turn their attention towards him. "Interesting there—interesting! But are you so sure you wish to Merge with my center? You can do as they say and break from this Pact and Merging before it's all too late."

"It's already too late. Now hurry up and perform the ceremony!"

Pitch's smile just spread nearly as wide as from ear to ear with his eyes glowing a mix texture of sharp silvers and yellows. "Very well. And luckily for you, the book is not needed for this since we're already Merged." With a snapped of his fingers, massive volumes of black sands encased the two of them together in a large sphere.

Elsa started shooting at the sphere with all here power, trying to interrupt the ceremony. Meanwhile, flat on Anna's hand, the Dark Promise Book had open up on its own to its blank pages, and its info on Pitch started appearing: outlining what appears to be a sort of map of Pitch's Layers and Center.

"Princess Anna, Queen Elsa," called Lipso, as he and Grill nears the sisters. "What are all these talks about Merging, Layers and Center?"

"Long explanation-short," said Kristoff, "Your brother got all his powers from Pitch by performing a sort of Merging magic with the Being—in which requires both the human and their Being to be exactly similar in personality because that's what they're Merging. That way they share a sort of link that transmit the Being's powers to their human. But if the Being's powers are more than what their human can take, he will be destroyed."

"I don't quite understand but I do know we have to stop them," said Grill, looking up at the sphere.

"I'm trying but I'm not making a dent through that thing," said Elsa, as she continues to shoot her ice at it.

In order to help Elsa, Lipso ordered two of the archers nearby to start firing at the black sphere, seconds after, one more archer voluntarily joined in. When a minute passed, there was an abrupt change in the Nightmares and Fearlings' behaviors. They suddenly started running in chaos, no longer hesitant in their attack, but there were neither control nor aim with their aggression. They ran amuck as though they had suddenly gone blind; ramming at the height of their speed in all directions, into the soldiers, and into each other with all the while howling madly. All the soldiers were forced to stop fighting in order to focus on defending themselves from the chaotic running of the Beings, even Elsa was forced to stop her attack to defend herself and her group.

A few minutes later, there was a sound coming from the black sphere. Next, it started to grow doubling its size, before instantly retracting and expanding once more. To Elsa, it looked and sounded like a heart beating, starting off as slow, before speeding up to an average beat. The rhythm and contractions continued on for another minute. But then it all stopped on the last beat and all around its surface, thin needle-like thorns fired out before bursting at the end; the sphere finally breaking.

All the sands came crumbling away upon exploding, spilling so easily over like a broken hourglass while leaving only the base of the sphere with cracks and pointed edges. When enough sands had fallen, at the center of the base both Pitch and Hans were revealed. There was no clear evidence that Hans have succeeded with the ceremony, but there was something much darker about him as his back was faced towards the group. And while Pitch's eyes were hidden behind Hans' height his wide smile could still be seen clearly through the surrounding grey.

Everyone watched intensely as Hans tilted his head side to side, and then he slowly lifted both his hands in front of him to examine them.

"Oh brother," Elsa heard Grill saying quietly from behind, "what have you become?"

As if Hans have heard him, his head snapped up and has slowly turned himself around. All his colors were gone, his new grey sheen took over his skin. Hans' chin had narrowed along with his cheeks, bringing the shape of his face to a lean triangle, and both his forehead and nose had flattened with a slanted angel. Hans stared at the group, blinking twice with a dull expression before revealing his new set of sharp teeth, mirroring a perfect smile of Pitch's.

Elsa and the others couldn't believe it. It was as if Pitch's own image had been plastered over Hans' face; at this point there too little distinguish him from his partner, and if he's even human.

"Brother," called Grill. "Please, just stop."

"…I don't want to," Hans simply replied.

His voice doesn't even sound the same. Elsa thought. She saw around them the Nightmares and Fearlings were becoming less and less chaotic; some of them had even whipped their attention towards Hans once the sphere broke, a sign in which Elsa didn't like. She then glanced towards the fight with the remaining giant worm. It looked as though Hiccup and Merida will be finishing up soon, but Elsa wished they would be already be done with their fight—ten minutes ago would've been better to help stop the ceremony.

Hans' tested himself, summoning ten new Nightmares behind Pitch, along with a new weapon made out of his own black sand all with a single snap of his finger. "Aren't you going to join in Pitch?" he asked his partner.

"Soon enough," Pitch replied and drifted off to the side. You focus on your fight, and I'll focus on handling the redhead and fishbone once they're done playing around." Pitch then chuckled with his teeth still bearing in full view. "I guess summer won't be coming to Arendelle now."

With a grunt, Han's and his minions charged. Elsa quickly put up a thick barrier of ice over her group. The first two beasts dispersed upon contact, but the remaing Nightmares collided with incurable force, cracking the surface of the ice and continued to bang against the barrier, furthering the cracks. Hans hacked at the ice with brut and speed, and then changed his sword to a scythe similar to Pitch's and that had an even better affect at chipping away chucks of the ice.

Elsa kept replacing the loss pieces of her barrier made by Hans, but she couldn't keep up with the number of cracks that was spreading. "Listen to me," she said to the others, "I can't keep holding them off like this they'll break through."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Lipso

"I'm going to create an opening for you all to get away by breaking the barrier and rush the pieces at them, but I will need all of you to duck low. Afterward, run and get yourself safe with the Golden Army."

Anna fumbled with the Promise Book when she rushed to tuck it under her arm. "But Elsa what about you—?"

"I'm going to be fine Anna. It's more important that you and Kristoff keep that book away from Pitch and get back to the castle to give it to Lukas. He must have done something with his copy to have scared the Nightmares, maybe he'll be able to stop all of this once he gets the black copy." Above them two Nightmares had nearly punctured her ice deep enough to get through. Elsa quickly repaired it before they could charge again.

"No time for arguing indeed," said Lipso. "Elsa is right; Princess Anna, you and Kristoff need to go, get that book to our brother. But Grill and I will stay and help you Elsa, we are not running." Another punctured was made to the side.

"Then everyone get ready," Elsa said, and as instructed the others duck their heads low and Elsa focused her target on Hans. "…Now!" She lifted both her arms and a geyser of ice shot from her hands and broke through the top of the barrier. After emerging, the geyser's ice shards trickled down onto the Nightmares and Hans, forcing them to stop and back away in order not to get shredded, however the move had also fractured the rest of the barrier. Elsa then spun herself in a circle, instantly drawing back the geyser and shot it in all direction; the barrier broke into chunks and was pushed towards the Nightmares and Hans, destroying a few of the bests and sent Hans a few feats back. Meanwhile, when the pieces were shot, Anna and Kristoff made their run towards their soldiers, while Elsa, Lipso, and Grill, made a rush towards Hans.

To cover the brothers and herself, Elsa was forced to stop charging short and eliminate the rest of the Nightmares blocking their way. Lipso reached his brother first. He swung his sword and pinned his brother's scythe down, while Grill was coming close to swing on the other side. Hans quickly disbanded his scythe, causing Lipso to stumble forward by the sudden empty space where he had the scythe pinned, and Hans kneed him in the stomach before kicking him to the ground while instantly reshaping his sand into a sword, blocking his brother Grill's attack. Ducking under another one of Grill's side swing, Hans shot a blast of sand against his brother's chest, causing him to cough in pain due to the impact stumble back. Next Hans swung his sword at his brother's legs; Grill just barely managed to jump in time, but the back of his left heel was caught on the blunt side of the sword and so he fell crushing on his shoulders then his back.

Hans stood up quickly, and tried to stab Grill. But from behind, Lipso threw himself at Hans, wrapping a tight hold around his waist and lifted him off the ground and away from Grill. Hans struggled viciously against the hold, kicking didn't help, and he couldn't swing his sword at the right angel to hit his brother. So he abandoned the weapon and reached back, implementing as much torture as he can with his hands. Meanwhile, Hans had summoned more sands below him and his brother, and the grans began to wrap around Lipso like a snake, squeezing tight. Hans willed through the pain of his own squeezing sand, until finally his brother was forced to release his hold on him and he easily drifted through the sands. He stood before Lipso and further commands his sands to continue suffocating him. Lipso's face was dangerously changing to the color red and then dark blue. He soon fainted. However, a second later the entire squeezing sand was frozen, solidified by ice, and was shattered into little bits releasing Lipso and allowing circulation again.

Hans turned himself around and saw that a small controlled snow storm was surrounding Elsa. He raised his sands and sent them flying at her like a dust bowl, and Elsa sent in her storm as well—turning it into a blizzard. When the two storms clashed, they greyed out all visions making it hard for Elsa to see, but her storm had prevented the sands from reaching her and spreading towards her soldiers. Elsa could hear something was happening on the other side and so she prepares herself. A moment after, Hans came charging out of the storms shielded by an armor made of his sands. He was once more using his scythe; he lifted it well over his head and was read to swing it at her once in reach.

Deciding at the moment that hitting Hans directly with ice wouldn't be effective, Elsa lifted the hems of her dress, and stomped her shoes. The ground before her was quickly covered in ice and continues to spread forward. Upon stepping onto the ice, Hans slip and slid onto his back, the scythe scatting out of his hands. She then willed her ice to forme around his limbs like cuffs pinning him firmly onto the ground. Struggle as he might, Hans couldn't break free with only his strength.

"Now," said Elsa out of breathe, and swallows hard. The back of her throat felt dry to the point it hurt, like chilling air picking at her flesh. But she forced her breathing to stay under control and tried not to show it. "For the last time Hans. Please. Stop this."

Hans growled with clenched teeth. "Pitch!" he shouted. Elsa had forgotten about Pitch and looked to see where he is, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Pitch!" Hans called again. Elsa then had a frightening thought that Pitch may have gone after Anna and Kristoff to get the black copy back. She looked towards the general direction to the castle, but saw there was no sign of conflict behind the battle field, nor at the castle itself.

Could they already be taken?! Elsa quickly eliminated the idea from her head, reasoning that otherwise Pitch would have done something by now to save Hans: by threatening to kill her family unless they trade hostages. If he hasn't gotten Anna and Kristoff, then where is he? Another thought occurred to her. Why didn't Pitch join the fight with Hans between us after the ceremony?

"Daaaamnit Pitch!"

Hans shouting had snapped Elsa out of her thought. "Hans you can't win; I won't let you. Just stop all this now."

Hans glared at her. "Never!" With a long deep shout, two Nightmare horses heeded his call. They both rush to his aid with one occupying Elsa, and the other using the front of is hooves, taking only one single stomp to fracture the cuffs for Hans to break free. When he got back on his feet, the Nightmare that distracted Elsa was destroyed, and she had instantly gotten rid of the second. She tried to hit Hans but he dodged the attack.

He threw three of his own attacks but Elsa blocked it by creating her usual ice wall. However, when she stepped to the side to shoot more snow, Hans was gone. Elsa looked all around but couldn't find him.

From the corner of her eyes, she spotted Grill signaling to her. He was still lying on the ground and his shoulder look disconnected. Grill was saying something but Elsa couldn't hear him; he was desperately pointing towards her. Elsa looked around once more but still saw nothing. She then caught the sight of her shadow; it was oddly large, stretching long and far.

Suddenly from behind she was tackle down by Hans. Elsa struggle to get away, but with Hans' weight against her she couldn't move freely, and soon Hans managed to turn her on her back, gathering both hands into one of his own with the help of his sands. When Elsa tried to freeze her way out, she found that her ices and snow were being swallowed by the sands just as similar to when she was caught by Pitch, and couldn't understand why now.

Breathing heavily, Hans said "This, is it Elsa," while squeezing tight her hands and using his free one to brush his hair back. "There's no one to save you this time." He then formed his sands back into a sword, and placed the tip of it at her noise. Elsa froze still at the pointed touch. Hans smiled wide once more, and traced the tip down to her throat while speaking so softy, it was like he was whispering a baby to sleep. "Goood-beyyy, Snooow Queen."

Elsa shut her eyes, slowly feeling the point of the blade pinch at her skin, then a growing pressure against her Adam's apple. When she felt the slip of red liquid staining down her neck, the sharp point was suddenly gone from contact, followed by a painful grunt, and the hold upon her hand vanished. Elsa heard Hans grunting some more, gasping as though he couldn't breathe; his sword hit the ground soon after. She opened her eyes in time to see him griping the side of his head and clutching his chest before rolling off of her. Hans struggled with himself on the ground for a minute before managing to stand up, but even then his legs still couldn't support him. He started yelling in pain, and was almost like clawing his head a chest now.

"Hans?!" Elsa got up and tried to help him, but amongst his struggle he knocked her away and she fell back down.

"Hans!" called Grill, and he approached his brother with a limp arm but was also knocked down. Next to try was Lipso, however he appears to only be half-conscious, and could barely mutter Hans's name. Lipso grabbed his brother by the arm with one hand and held his grip; he was knocked down a few time but managed to pull himself up using his brother. He held on long enough for Grill to come and help.

Elsa wanted to trap Hans in a funnel of ice, but couldn't get a clear shot; when the brothers tried to move away for Elsa to shoot, Hans would charge straight at her, so Grill and Lipso needed to hold him in place the best they could.

When she finally decided to come close and directly touch him in order to trap him, all of a sudden, massive amounts of black sands started swirling around him, starting from the base of his feet moving up towards his head until he was completely covered. Afterward, the sands covering him expanded, engulfing Hans once more in a sphere and forcibly removed his brothers off of him. Elsa tried breaking through the sphere again, and this time she positioned herself no more than ten steps from is, but the result remained the same; she couldn't break through. A moment later, some sort of force from the sand suddenly attacked her, knocking Elsa through the air by a feat or two away. She landed on her side, slightly scraping her head on the stone ground before hitting it hard.

With a few seconds of recovery, Elsa forced herself to get back up and turn her attention back onto the black sphere. Her vision focused in time for her to see the disbanding into a stream of floating sands, but Hans was nowhere to be seen; he was just gone. Elsa followed the stream of sands with her eyes and it glided all the way to the air, and there stood Pitch. He opened up the palm of his hand and each grain condensed, tightly compacting into each other to fit nightly into Pitch's open hand. When the last bit was compacted, Pitch squeeze gently, and open, and the sands were gone. He rubbed his fingers together as if he was brushing off the remains of powdery seasoning, and looked over at Elsa, smiling and wicking at her.

"What have you done?" called Grill to Pitch, as he pushed himself up. "What have you done to our brother, you monster?!"

Pitch chuckled and rested both hands behind his back. "Nothing really. Your foolish brother did it to himself. He asked for more powers, and so I simply gave him what he wanted. It's not my fault if he couldn't handle it."

Don't tell me… Elsa thought. Don't tell me…Hans been…"Pitch," called Elsa. "Break your Pact with Hans, he's no longer of any use to you—"

Pitch chuckled wickedly again. "You're right, he issss no longer of any use to me." Pitch started chuckling once more, and it quickly grew into a menacing laugh.

Lipso yelled loudly; his face was crunched hard, creating two bridges between the brows of his eyes and three more on his forehead, with teeth bared liked a growling wolf. Lipso lifted his sword and threw it at Pitch, twirling like a spinning wheel whiling cutting through the air with a sharp sound. As the blade neared Pitch, the Being stop his laugh and whip the sword with the back of his hand cover with sand, sending the blade spinning into the water. "Is this it then? Is this all you got Prince Lipso?"

"Why?" said Elsa, drawing Pitch's attention back to her. "Why did you do this…all of this…What are you after and why did you had to get Hans involve?!"

"Had…?Haaad?" Pitch repeated with glee, in which made Elsa wonder at. "What did you mean by had, Your Majesty?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking what you mean by your words?"

It looked as though Pitch was enjoying this little moment of confusion, and he furthers it by pretending to take the time and think. "Ah, that's right; I didn't quite tell the truth earlier because I couldn't stop myself from laughing, and I phrased it incorrectly." Pitch coughed twice into his hand to clear up his throat before speaking. "You were right when you said Hans is no longer of any use to me—but that was only half right. Hans is no longer of use to me…for the moment."

Moment?

There was a growing shine in the distance that caught Pitch's attention and Elsa's. Pitch turned away from the light as though it was hurting him, but Elsa couldn't help but keep looking. The castle was in full illumination, and it looks as though it was going to keep growing brighter and brighter, but it didn't hurt her eyes to continue looking at the increasing light. In fact, she felt drawn towards it and something strong growing inside of her. When she finally did look away, she saw that once more the Nightmares and Fearlings were becoming restless and chaotic again with their fighting. She heard Pitch hiss with annoyance and so turned her attention back to him.

"Gaaaaaah!" he groans. From behind him, his sands stated forming a large looming shadow as big as a giant that shielded him the light, as well as casting a cloak of darkness over the battlefield. "Well now, as much as I would love to settle this fight with a winner decided. It's time for me to go. I may not have gotten the book, but I still got what I needed." And Pitch slowly started walking backward towards the giant shadow with a wide mocking smile upon his face.

"Wait a minute Pitch!" called Elsa. "You said at the moment Hans wasn't of any use to you. Does that mean he hasn't been Consumed yet?" Pitch didn't answer. He only continued smiling as he walks backward. And as he did, at the core of the shadow, a deep abyss seemed to have open. Slowly, all the Nightmares and Fearlings stopped fighting, and started running towards and disappearing into the shadow's core. It was like watching a nightmarish vortex, with the water is black and made of sand, sucking in creatures haunting the deeps parts of the mind.

Pitch was just a few more steps away from disappearing, and there was only a few more minions to go. Wanting to know the fate of Hans, Elsa quickly created tons of ice underneath her like a glacier that propelled up. She stopped its creation after reaching the desired height, and started stretching its length as she ran towards Pitch. "Pitch wait!"

"Something tells me we will meet again Snow Queen, but unfortunately it won't be in your dreamy nightmares. Until then though, enjoy your nighty-nights."

"Pitch!" When Elsa was just a feat away from him, Pitch had already step inside the core and disappeared with his mocking smile; Elsa didn't dare pursuer him beyond that point. The core closed instantly after the last minions went through.

Afterward, the shadow began to shake violently, rumbling the ground along with it, and to everyone's fright, it started to growl; Elsa half believed that the thing would start moving and possibly start swatting its hands at the soldiers. However, the shadow opens its mouth, and was swallowing itself. It took no more than a minute for it to finish itself, and when it did, the shaking and growling stopped all together. The shadow had seem as though to have swallowed the rest of the night along with it, for the sky was lighter now, with the familiar deep dark shade of emerald blue. Elsa had also notice that the castle was no longer illuminate with moonbeam and star light; everything had just appears to up and vanish like a dream, there were even no traces of the Dream Pirates, nor those terrible giant worms…nor any signs of Hiccup and Merida. Everything just seems more like a dream, once the sun was seen rising in the far horizon.