Chapter 22

Pitch, breathing heavily, grunted and tried to push back the twin blades that were held by the young Titan-shifter, who was determined to bury them on the black specter's face. He tried to move both of his arm, slowly pushing back with his swords. He held them tightly using both of his hands, but suddenly a scythe made from Pitch's black shadows formed.

Chayim, on the other hand, did not relent, and put most of his strength in pushing and slowly pushed back the black specter. His twin blades are locked and grating against the shaft of the shadow-made scythe.

The two were facing each other, their weapons colliding and creating a small spark between them.

"You…" Pitch, who was smiling despite being pushed away by the boy's blades, laughed lightly and continued, "Never know when to give up, do you?"

"Not as long as you're alive!" Chayim said before he suddenly jumped and stood a meter away from the Nightmare King. He snarled and suddenly charged towards the black specter.

Pitch then raise his scythe and walked towards the boy while spinning it above his head. He held it in both of his hands in front of his chest after Chayim jumped, spun in mid-air, and swung both of his blades at him.

Chayim growled after Pitch successfully blocked his attack, then landed and thrust himself forward and swung his right blade. The Boogeyman blocked it with his scythe, and Chayim followed up with his left blade.

The boy then jumped and kicked the black specter's left shoulder, then swung his right blade, aiming at the head of the Boogeyman.

Pitch moved backwards as the young Titan-shifter continued to swing at him, and blocked the incoming blade. The attack created another blinding spark of silver and black colors.

The two then jumped away from each other with their weapons readied. The two looked at each other with hateful eyes. Chayim's sharp grey eyes locked onto the Boogeyman, whose face formed a mocking smile.

"Give up, Chayim!"

"Why?!"

Pitch chuckled, "Because you're going to lose…"

Anya, the Guardian of Nature, was running on the snow covered roads between the townhouses of Burgess. Her breath was loud and she could feel her heart beating out of her chest. Her eyes darted everywhere, looking for the familiar brown colored jacket of her friend, Chayim.

"Did you see him?!" she fanatically asked Jack Frost, who was hovering above her.

"No! I'm going up!" Jack then flew higher above the houses. He stopped after he reached his desire altitude and looked down.

His eyes stared at the whole silent town of Burgess, looking for the familiar glint or sound of blades creating a resonating sound.

'Chayim, buddy, where are you…?' Jack thought worriedly. But then he saw a tiny spark that popped out over a large open field in the middle of the town.

"Found you." Jack, without a second thought, dove towards the field.

"Augh!" Pitch screamed in pain after he landed hard on the snow covered ground. He covered his right cheek, using his left hand, where blood began to drip.

"Tch! I only gazed him!" Chayim said while looking at the black specter in disgust. He moved his right foot behind him, bent down, and put his two blades behind him, like he was going to draw and slice the Boogeyman in two at the same time.

"Okay…you did your damage-"

"I'm only getting started." Chayim said angrily, and suddenly ran at a sprint towards the black specter, who was still slumped on the ground.

Chayim jumped and spun on the air and aimed his right blade, first at the head of the Boogeyman. Pitch then opened his right hand where a shadow began to form quickly and formed a dark sand ball.

Pitch threw it to the oncoming Titan, who already predicted such an attack, sliced it with his right blade. Chayim then aimed his left blade again to the head of the black specter.

Pitch, eyes wide, attempted to shield himself against the oncoming blade, but then he screamed after he felt the tip of the boy's left blade penetrate his left shoulder and came out at the back.

The boy impaled him.

"Chayim!" Jack Frost shouted and landed beside the boy. He was about to speak when he looked at the Boogeyman, who was wincing in pain. His eyes were wide for a moment before the boy spoke.

"Stay there, Jack." Chayim growled as he took a new blade from his gear and walked to the pinned Boogeyman.

"I'm going to rip this fucker into pieces." He snarled.

Pitch screamed in fear after he saw a glint from the blade Chayim was holding. He attempted to remove the blade on his left shoulder, only to wince again after he felt a sudden surge of pain.

Anya, who just arrived and was shocked after she saw the state of the enemy, said, "Wait Chayim!"

Chayim stopped and towered over the black creature. His eyes were locked, and he looked like he was about to slay a cow.

"It doesn't have to be this way!"

"Why?! He almost killed North! Thanks to him, he's sleeping like a dead person!" Chayim shouted angrily. His eyes didn't move and still stared at the downed Nightmare King.

Pitch looked in horror after Chayim raised his blade. The boy gave one last look at the Boogeyman, and without any second thought, he swung it downward towards his head. And then a loud, single gunshot echoed through the night.

Bunny grunted as he landed on the snow-covered road, then hopped again. He was running, or more hopping, aggressively, looking for his friends who ran to find Chayim.

"Oh…where the hell are they?!" Bunny snapped, but then he stopped. His ears stood up after he heard a loud shot, his nose twitching after picked up the smell of something burning.

He suddenly hopped away, worried for his friends, and tried to find the source of the scent – of gunpowder.

"Aah!" Chayim yelped and moved back. He kneeled down and was breathing heavily in pain. He was clutching his right hand with his left and groaned in pain. Small droplets of blood began to ooze out of his right hand.

"Chayim! Are you all right?!" Jack and Anya kneeled beside him, shocked and worried at what happened to their friend.

"Where…did that come from…?"

"I don't know-ah!"

Chayim suddenly felt a surging pain from his hand. He looked at it and slowly opened it. Blood suddenly poured out, like water. The snow beneath him began to turn red and right in the middle of his palm…was a bullet hole.

A bullet hole; where did it come from?!

"At last…" a voice suddenly echoed from above made the three look up. Chayim, Anya and Jack's eyes stared with shocked eyes at the figure standing on the top of a building.

The figure was wearing a dark robe which fluttered as the wind brushed past him. His head was covered with a hood, and the being looked down and bore his sharp green eyes at them.

"Who…is that?"

"I don't know…"

Jack and Anya stared in horror as the hooded being raised his right hand, revealing a long, ancient-looking rifle.

The tip of the rifle gleamed like an unsheathed sword in Anya's eyes. She stared at it for a second, then when she was about to take a step back, she paused. She felt pain in her head. She touched her head in order to reduce the pain but it didn't work, and while she was touching her head, her vision suddenly blurred.

What now…she let out a gasp after she saw a vision. The image, for a split second, distorted the young girl's vision. Anya grunted after she tried to see the image.

"Anya!"

The girl looked up, but then she suddenly fell down to the ground after Jack lunged himself and pushed her.

Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the night, followed by the sound of the lever of the rifle being moved.

Jack, still pinning the girl, looked beside him and saw a bullet hole on the snow where Anya was previously standing.

"Heh…I missed." The dark figure in the robe said, and jumped from the roof and landed softly on the ground.

The man slowly walked closer to the downed Boogeyman, who was still pinned by the young Titan shifter's blade.

He looked down and with a mocking voice said, "How long are you going to stay like that? Stand up!"

Pitch slowly formed a pitiful smile and held the blade impaled on his left shoulder.

"Ah-ah!" Pitch screamed in agony as he slowly removed the blade out. He felt the metal scraping against his bones make a small noise inside. After he removed it he threw it on the ground and, still in pain, slowly stood up beside the hooded man.

"So-sorry about that-"Pitch said weakly with a pitiful smile. The hooded man ignored him and looked at the trio in front of them.

"So this is the Titan Guardian eh?" The hooded man said as he stared at Chayim, who stood up and moved back towards his friends. He looked at the man with anger and asked.

"Are you the Nightmare King's…partner?"

"Indeed I am."

"Who the hell are you?"

The man smiled under his hood and cast his green eyes at the boy.

"I…came from hell."

The man suddenly raised his right hand, revealing his ancient looking rifle again. Chayim crossed his two blades near his chest and stood firmly, covering Jack and Anya.

The hooded man, without any second thought, pressed the trigger and fired his rifle. Chayim grunted and watched as the bullet flew and made a collision course with his blades.

The bullet eventually hit the blades and created a blinding spark of green and silver.

Sandman silently opened the huge satchel on the floor. He smiled and looked at the two children, a boy and a girl, sleeping soundly on the sofa. They were most likely waiting for Santa.

Sandman, a while ago, after he entered the house via chimney, gave them a good dream so they would not wake up or be disturbed by any sounds that he might accidentally create.

He finally took out a long, rectangular box, covered with colorful Christmas gift wrapper. He put it underneath the Christmas tree, then he put his hands inside again and took out a small, roundish object, and he also put it underneath beside the long box.

"Sandy, are you finished?" Tooth, who suddenly flew out of the chimney, asked as she hovered above him. Sandy put his index finger on his lips, telling the tooth fairy to keep quite.

Tooth smiled, embarrassed, and hovered beside him.

"They're so peaceful." Tooth said, and as she was about to approach the children, they both heard a short, loud bang.

Startled, they both looked at the window after they saw a blinding spark of gray and green behind a large building in front of the house where they were standing.

"What was that?" Tooth asked.

Sandy shrugged and immediately pointed at the road. Tooth, curious, moved closer to the window and looked outside. Just a moment later, she saw the Guardian of Hope, the Easter Bunny, hop on the roof of a house and then land on top of the building in front of them.

"Bunny?" She said and then her eyes suddenly widened, she realized that something was happening right now.

"Sandy let's go, whatever is Bunny doing, we have to help him." Tooth grabbed Sandy by his right hand, and they flew to the chimney and onto the outside

Unknowing what was happening just outside.

Finally Updated! Thanks for beta-reading Sumi-Sprite! I really appreciate your patience with me, you're the best! Guys I might go hiatus for a moment...I kinda feel tired from writing my fanfic I'm going to take a rest on this...until the spark that I'm waiting for come back...anyway check my new story! It's a cross-over between Assassin's Creed and Accel world...I'm fully concentrated on that one...since I just finished Playing Assassin's Creed and watching Accel World. Till Then fanfictioners :)