Chapter 21

"Ah!" Chayim shouted after the paint can that he was carrying exploded inside a large microwave. The happy, peaceful mood in North's workshop was back. The machines turned their gears loudly as each one spat out anything from plush toys, to ornaments, to candy canes and other sweet treats.

A machine, dedicated only to toys for boys, hummed and emitted smoke from its exhaust as it produced cars, teddy bears, and other things boys loved.

"Damn it! My uniform!" Chayim, aggressively wiped off the red paint on his vest jacket, only to smear and spread it more.

"Don't do that, you'll make it worse." Anya said as she gently wiped off the red paint with a damp rag.

"Thanks"

"Don't mention it…"

"Hey Bunny! Look at me Bunny! Look at me!" Jack shouted excitedly as the rabbit Guardian turned away from a glass box of feather boas to look at the winter sprite.

"What-" The rabbit suddenly dropped his jaw after he saw Jack Frost wearing a full chicken costume with a large opened beak, where the head of a grinning winter sprite faced him.

"I'm a Chicken-zilla!"

"Aw rack off!" Bunny scoffed and threw a bunch of feather boas at the winter sprite.

The Guardians stood with pride in the launching sleigh bay of North's workshop. All were tired, but satisfied with their work.

"Everyone ready?" Bunny asked everyone and received a nod. He whistled to the Yetis, standing beside a huge doorway.

Chayim, whose eyes lit up again, watched in amazement as the huge reindeers emerge from the dark, dragging a colorful, magical sleigh.

"All right! Everyone, all aboard!" Bunny shouted in excitement as he hopped inside. The Guardians slowly sat in their seats and waited for Bunny to whip the reindeer into a takeoff.

"Say Bunny?"

"Yeah Mate?" Bunny turned to Jack, who sat beside him.

"Do you even know how to drive this thing?" Bunny stared at the winter sprite for a moment, then he turn and looked at the reindeer, who all snorted with a puzzled looks.

"Well?"

"…uh, yeah!"

"You hesitated," Chayim said and moved closer to him, "I'll drive."

The two looked at him with a strange look, surprised from what he said.

"Chayim, do you-"

"Let's go!" Chayim grabbed the whip from the rabbit's hand and whipped it with force. The whip hit the reindeer, who all let out a loud cry, and without any second thought, ran on a faster speed, dragging the sleigh with them.

The sky above a bright city suddenly lit up after a magic portal appeared. North's sleigh, driven by Chayim, came out and flew along the starless night.

"According to my calculations, New York should be the first stop." Bunny said as he looked down and observed the city that never slept with keen eyes.

"The Big Apple…I, really, still don't know why it's was called 'The Big Apple' when there's no apples here…" the Pooka said.

"So where will we begin?" Jack asked while the rabbit Guardian took out a wide map. He opened it and ran his furry fingers it, reading each label.

"The orphanage sounds good. Chayim, turn right, head 079 degrees."

"Roger that." Chayim pulled the ropes hard on the reindeer, turning them in the given direction.

The man in the dark robe was standing still in front of a small table. His sharp green eyes stared at the large globe, made from a glowing green smoke. The globe, apart from its glowing green aura, was also showing a lot of tiny golden colored dots.

"Pitch," he suddenly called the black specter, who was standing on a ledge outside the lighthouse.

Pitch, the Boogeyman, turned and grunted, annoyed from the mysterious man who might give him another errand and disturbing his short-time break.

"Yes?"

"Pray tell me…" the hooded man lifted and extended his right index finger, showing his almost bone, right hand, "This lights represents each child who believes in the Guardians…am I right?"

"Yes." Pitch answered mechanically.

"North… he's not available today, which means there should be less lights…am I right?"

Pitch's eyes suddenly widened, he gulped and looked away from the glowing globe.

"Am I right…?" Pitch swallowed again, nervous, the voice of the hooded man was cold and harsh, enough to scare the whole world.

"Well…yes, but-"

"THEN WHY!" the wind suddenly blew hard against the black specter, who moved away, "AM I SEEING LIGHTS!?" the man shouted angrily, his voice was different…and horrible.

"N-North isn't the only Guardian…there're other children who-"

The hooded man, after he muttered something in a foreign language angrily, turned away and strode outside to the balcony.

The hooded man was breathing heavily under his hood. He looked at the glowing city of Venice with hateful eyes. He grumbled again in a foreign language and spit on the ground.

Then, as if he didn't lash out his anger at the black specter, he called the Boogeyman.

"Pitch…can you come here for second?"

Pitch Black swallowed once more, slowly walking with light footsteps. He looked everywhere for dangerous things that might hit him.

"Yes?" Pitch stood beside the hooded man who looked at him with his sharp green eyes.

"We must accelerate our plans…" Pitch slowly smiled after hearing the word 'we'.

"We're going to intercept the Guardians, and stop them." The hooded turned his back at the Nightmare King and walked towards the small table with the glowing green globe. He smiled under his hood and faced Pitch again.

"Let's prepare."

North's sleigh came out and flew on the calm wind of night sky of Burgess. The night was calm and still, starless. The whole town was sleeping soundly since everyone prepared to meet Christmas tomorrow.

"Finally…" Jack slumped over his seat, tired from the night's work, "…the last stop. Chayim, this is my hometown, Burgess, this is where…my first believer lives."

"First believer?" Chayim looked over his shoulder as he whipped the reindeer in front of him. Curious from what the winter sprite said, the boy asked.

"How does it feel to have a believer?" he asked.

"It's great! You have to have a believer, Jamie will be very happy if he sees your Titan form," Chayim only smiled and just shrugged off what the winter sprite had said. Of course he won't…he thought.

"Let's land right there, I think it's a park." Chayim pointed at the large open field ground in the middle of the silent town. All of the Guardians nodded as the boy maneuvered the sleigh towards the park.

The town house of the lovely town of Burgess stood silent. The occupants, especially the children, were sleeping soundly to the silent night. Tomorrow would be Christmas, a very important event for children and other people who celebrated it.

Suddenly a small thump sound echoed from the ceiling, through the silent neighborhood, of one of the town houses.

"Ah! That's close." Bunny said after his hairy paws slipped on ice. He huffed and put the large sack that he was carrying on the roof and looked down at the chimney hole.

"Sorry kids, if some were still awake and waiting to see Santa, I'm no Santa." Bunny said apologetically and jumped down the chimney.

"So, this is Jaime Bennett's huh…?" Chayim looked at the sleeping, brown haired child on the bed with curiosity. He bent and moved his head closer to the sleeping boy.

"Isn't he a great person? I'm so lucky that I met him…" Jack said proudly as the boy only smiled and moved away. He looked around the room and saw children's posters of a cartoon TV show, a sports celebrity and some other stuff hanging on the wall.

"You can look at him too, Anya." Jack laughed at the girl who was standing i`n one corner, far away from the boy.

Anya made a side glance, smiled uneasily, and moved closer to the boy. She smiled after she saw an innocent face, she then brushed the rich-colored brown lock of hair off the Jamie's face.

"He's a good boy." She said and moved and stood beside Chayim.

"Let's give him the best present…hmm…" Chayim put the sack, which he was carrying in his back, on the floor and dug around inside it. The sack was magical since it contained millions of toys, but it only looked like a regular sack.

"Ah-ha, this might do." Chayim happily said, and took a large rectangular box. He gently put the box on the side table and smiled at the boy again.

"Good night, it was nice seeing you." The trio stood on the foot of the bed with kind smiles. The boy snored lightly and moved.

"Boy, I really hope Jamie will see us soon…" Anya said.

"Don't worry Anya. I'll introduce you to him after we defeat Pitch and whoever his partner is. Right Chayim?"

Jack turned to Chayim, but was puzzled when he saw the boy was looking not at him or Jamie, but to the window.

"Chayi-"

"Shh…I feel something. Jack stay close to Jamie." Chayim said as he unsheathed his twin segmented blades. The two moved away after Chayim went to the window, covered by a curtain, which he slightly moved.

Chayim looked outside. It was still night time and the only sound that he heard was the sound of the snow's gentle impact on the snow-covered ground. Suddenly he heard a rustling sound within the snow.

This sound…Chayim listened and focused. It's not Bunnymund…or Sandman…or Tooth. His thoughts were cut when he heard the muffled sound of a whining animal – a horse.

"Pitch Black!" The Guardians looked at him after he gasped but they only saw an open window. Chayim, before the Guardians saw him, opened the window, jumped and pressed the trigger of his 3-DMG, and swept past the threshold and onto the silent town's street.

Chayim jumped and glided across the snow covered street of the townhouses and landed on the roof of a house. His eyes scan the whole ground, looking for a horse, the source of the sound that he heard.

'Where are you…?' Chayim gritted his teeth in anger, then his eyes squinted after he saw a horse, a black colored one, come out from a dark alley and ran away from him.

"There you are!" Chayim pressed the trigger of his gear and immediately glided and chased the running horse.

"You're going to lead me to your master!" Chayim thundered and swept past a tree that shook after the gust from the boy's 3DMG hit its branches.

Chayim thrust forcefully against the calm wind, his gears producing a lot of noises, enough to wake the sleeping occupants of the townhouse.

Finally, after he saw the black horse slows down, he took out a single blade from his gear, looked at the black horse one more time, and threw it with force.

The blade flew like a boomerang and hit the black horse on the head. The black horse whirled and dropped to the ground and began to disintegrate.

Chayim landed on the snow covered ground and looked around, 'Where am I…?' He thought and looked for any familiar landmarks so he could figure out where the Nightmare led him to.

The place where he was was some kind of a park, since he saw a playground for children, a snow covered bench, and a lot of frozen lamp post that emitted a low golden light. He was, according to his calculations, back in the park, where they landed earlier.

"Tch…where the hell are you…Pitch!" Chayim said angrily and darted his eyes around the dark alley between two apartment buildings.

His eyes didn't leave the spot and he didn't even bother to wipe off the single sweat drop running down to his cheek. He felt that the being that he was looking for was standing right there.

Then after what seemed like forever, his sharp ears picked up a soft footstep.

"You have impressively sharp senses…Eren…or wait, is it Chayim?" A cold voice taunted the man who unsheathed his twin blades.

"Finally, I can get to see you up close and alone, Chayim…" Pitch, whose face locked in a smile, emerged from the darkness with pride, shadows trailing behind him.

"Pitch Black! I'll never forgive you!"

"Ohoho, I don't expect you to…"

The two looked at each other for a while as the snow from above fell at a gentle pace. The wind suddenly blew hard and swept past the two, whose eyes locked on each other. Then after what seemed to be hours, a small light rock, resting on the edge of a frozen fountain in the middle of the park, fell and hit the ice hard and created a light thump sound.

"You're dead!" Chayim, without any second thoughts, charged at the black specter.

Yay! Finally Updated my fanfic! Special thanks to Sumi-Sprite for beta-reading :)