Alaia Skyhawk:
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
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Chapter 56: Rise of the Guardians ~Part 4~
Jack took only a moment glanced at Sandy, get raised eyebrows in response, and nod his head. The Spirit of Winter following after North as the Russian headed for the nearest elevator. That meeting had, to be honest, turned into a train wreck the moment Bunny had brought up the thing about his ears being frozen. The Pooka was probably going to get another lecture from Sandy, and in the meantime the Guardian of Dreams wanted the newest Guardian to regain his emotional bearings.
Long story short, Jack and Bunny needed to be separated for at least a short while, so one could cool down, and the other could pick up his confidence from where the Pooka had smashed pieces of it into the floor.
Jack and North had reached the elevator, well out of earshot of the other Guardians, when the younger of them stopped in his tracks.
North frowned when he noticed.
"What is it?"
Jack favoured him with a bland stare, before rolling his eyes and using one hand to conjure a small Ice Mirror.
"I am the Spirit of Winter, remember? I was due to shape and shepherd a major blizzard over the Alaskan mountains when your yetis abducted me. If I'm going to be helping fight Pitch for the foreseeable near-future, then I need to make arrangements."
The mirror's surface gleamed blue, changing to an image of the interior of the Lieutenants' Residence in the Winter Sanctuary, and sure enough Zuě Hu was curled up in his customary spot for this time of year.
Jack conjured a snowball, hefted it, and threw it through the mirror... Resulting in a minor explosion of flailing paws and tail as the massive white tiger jolted awake.
"Jack!" Zuě Hu paused, looking around the otherwise empty room in confusion, before he noticed the mirror hung in mid-air close by. "I do wish you wouldn't wake me like that. What do you need?"
Jack allowed himself a wry smile for his successful prank, but then got down to business.
"Tsar Lunar's made the call, and I'm at North's Workshop with the rest of the Guardians. I need you and Cernunnos to take over the weather stuff for me, there's a blizzard over Alaska that I should be doing right about now, and then there's all that late snow over the UK and Ireland. Take care of it for me, will you?"
Zuě Hu's ears pricked forward, his eyes widening.
"You've been called? Pitch is making his move?"
Jack nodded, ignoring the way North was watching this exchange with intrigue.
"Yeah." His smile faded. "And you know what that means. I'm gonna be in fights, no doubt about that, which means I need you all to promise you won't come charging to my defence if you sense me take a hit. Marzanna has her own important work to take care of, with the thaw being well under-way, and Yuki will need to keep Dig from doing something stupid. That means I need you and Cernunnos to focus on the remainder of Northern Winter. We all have our jobs to do."
The tiger straightened up, chest puffed out in determination.
"And we shall do ours... All the best with your fight, Jack. Give Pitch a good pounding for us."
Jack tapped the edge of the mirror, causing it to crumble and vanish, just as North then murmured.
"So your Lieutenants knew as well, that you were Guardian."
Jack sighed, and joined the Russian in the spherical elevator.
"It's not the sort of thing you can hide, not from people who are as close to me as they are. Without their support, I'd never have been able to handle waiting all this time."
The elevator started to move downwards, and North nodded thoughtfully.
"You have had it very difficult, very harsh... Bunny will see that, given a little time. I'm sure you two will find a middle ground from which to built trust. You will have arguments with him, I know I did for many years and I still do, but he will get over his wounded pride eventually."
Jack didn't seem to optimistic about that.
"I hope so... Because spending eternity working alongside him, with be a real chore if he doesn't." He then suddenly began to smile, and started looking around at the main toy-manufacturing floor which the elevator was now coming to a halt at. "But, enough of that... I've wanted to see inside this place for a long time."
They exited the elevator, North signing off a batch of toys when a yeti came over with the production report.
"Really? But you only had to ask if you'd wanted to see it."
Jack was now avidly gazing at the many workbenches, which were loaded with toys in various stages of completion at the hands of dozens of yetis.
"Yeah, but where would the fun be in just being ushered in? I've been trying to bust into this place for years!"
North paused in what he was doing, to stare at Jack incredulously.
"What do you mean by 'bust in'?"
Jack laughed, even as a familiar yeti armed with a broom came up behind him to stare with similar incredulity. The yeti's sixth sense for knowing when Jack was about, had led him straight to him.
"Don't worry, I never got past the yetis." Jack turned, noticing who was behind him. "Oh, hey Phil! The kids loved the most recent 'Jack Frost tries to break into Santa's Workshop' story."
North blinked, glancing between Jack and this member of the Workshop's cleaning staff.
"You two know each other? Stories?"
Phil averted his eyes, feigning innocence, even as Jack floated into the air to sling an arm over his furry shoulders. The Spirit of Winter then grinned.
"Yeah. I try to sneak in every year, and Phil always outwits me. I then tell the kids of Burgess about it. Phil swaps through all his different 'endings' about once every thirty years, so the current kids don't hear the same ones twice. Thankfully he's only ever done the 'wrapping paper and elves' one, once. Being covered in elf drool is something I definitely don't want to experience more than once in my lifetime."
North remained speechless for several moments, before he then sighed in resignation and ran a hand over his face.
"Don't tell me any more, I get idea. But next time you want to 'bust in' to make new story for children, let me know in advance."
Jack chuckled, even as Phil looked extremely relieved that North was more amused than annoyed at learning about what had been going on.
"Sure thing." Jack resumed his looking around, now no longer distracted by Phil. "By the way, I always thought it was the elves that made the toys."
Beside him, Phil guffawed, and North started to smile as well. The Russian led Jack over to where several elves were digging through boxes of Christmas decorations, and whispered wryly in his ear.
"We just let them believe that."
Jack glanced at him, then at the elves. It was in time to see one that was wrapped in fairy lights nod to the one beside it, prompting those lights to be plugged in and render the first one rigid and glowing and grinning from being electrocuted. Behind those two, as third elf had baubles held up to its eyes as if it expected to be able to peer through them like spectacles, and another was causing a veritable avalanche as it emptied a box by way of throwing every item from inside it backwards over its head.
North pasted on a smile, and nodded to the little mischief-makers. "Very nice! Keep up good work!"
Jack wore a wicked and amused grin as he was led away from the elves, past a yeti who was painting a robot blue. The Spirit of Winter had to use his hand to smother a laugh when North's shouted 'I don't like it! Paint it red!' caused the creature to look at the rack of more than a hundred finished blue robots. It then threw its brush up into the air in exasperation and planted its face down on the workbench.
Jack was still wearing his smile from that when they at last reached an ornate wood-and-glass door. North went in first, the Spirit of Winter following him, and Jack's smile turned to an expression of curiosity when he saw that inside it was clearly North's private workroom.
There were toys everywhere, on tables, shelves floor. The room was cold, as cold as the lower levels of the workshop now that he thought about it, which made sense. He'd seen models made out of ice out on the work-floor, that were being used as reference by the yetis, and now he saw where they were coming from. Because some of the tables had large blocks of ice on them, and on others were finished models and sculptures.
Jack was still gazing in moderate awe as an elf with a cake almost as large as it was, approached North by walking along the top of the table by the room's Christmas tree. The Russian took hold of the plate, the elf failing to let go of it as the little fellows did rather too often, and as a result the elf plummeted face first to the floor where it landed with a jingle from its bell.
North held the cake out in offer of a piece.
"Fruitcake?"
Jack glanced at him, shaking his head.
"Ah, no thanks."
North tossed the cake aside absently, sending a few Christmas decorations tumbling off the table, and the elf on the floor immediately pounced on the sweet treat... Who needed to sweep up dropped food, in a place where you had over a hundred little living food disposers?
There was a pause as North watched Jack, the Russian noticing that even in his curiosity, Jack had a barrier of uncertainty and caution still between him and the other immortal. Jack was guarded, wary, and the best way North could think of dealing with that... was to startle him.
He cracked his knuckles and started to advance towards him.
"Now we get down to tacks of brass."
Jack looked at him, puzzled.
"Tacks of brass?"
North clicked his fingers, a snap of magic causing the workroom door to slam closed and lock. And then, before Jack had the chance to recover from that first surprise, North backed him against that door and poked him on the chest.
"Who are you, Jack Frost? What is your centre?"
Jack started to frown, tensing up under the feeling of threat.
"My centre?"
North's eyes narrowed searchingly.
"If Man in Moon chose you to be a Guardian, you must have something very special inside." He stepped back, stroking his beard thoughtfully, and then moved to grab a Russian nesting doll from the nearby shelf. It was painted to look like him, holding his twin sabres. He handed it to Jack. "Here. This is how you see me, no? Very big, intimidating... But if you get to know me a little... Well, go on."
At that encouragement, Jack set his staff on his back and pulled open the first doll. The second one, also of North, wore a bright and cheery smile.
Jack started to smile wryly, relaxing.
"You are downright jolly."
North nodded, then raised a finger in point as he indicated Jack continue to open the doll layer-by-layer. Describing each as Jack revealed it.
"Ah, but not just jolly... I am also mysterious... And fearless... And caring... And at my centre."
Jack tipped the final doll into North's grasp. It looked like a tiny child bundled up in red blankets.
"...There's a tiny wooden baby."
North handed it to him.
"Look closer. What do you see?"
Jack grimaced, a little flustered, and squinted at it before saying the first thing that came to mind.
"You have big eyes?"
North raised his arms in triumph, his voice booming with exuberance as he then used his hands to emphasise his own eyes.
"Yes! Big eyes. Very big... Because they are full of wonder!" The toys in the workroom began to come to life, moving around the floor or flying if they were able, while the lights on the tree in the corner lit up. It all happened as North walked around the room with his presence seeming to fill it completely. "That is my centre. It is what I was born with. Eyes that have always seen the wonder in everything! Eyes that see lights in the trees, and magic in the air!"
The door unlocked and opened, the Russian leading Jack out to where they could both see the bustle of toy-making going on, and the flying toys that floated around the open centre of the building below the globe and around the stairs beneath it.
North pointed to it all, smiling. "This wonder is what I put into the world, and what I protect in children." He sighed, looking at Jack. "It is what makes me a Guardian. It is my centre. What is yours?"
The Spirit of Winter returned his gaze, and the barrier of uncertainty fell away from him. North was someone he'd already come to trust and admire before now, but that trust had been pushed aside without meaning to during the argument with Bunny.
Jack smiled, in amusement at how fast North had figured out how to proverbially kick him back on track.
"Fun... I am the Guardian of Fun."
North raised his eyebrows in moderate surprise, but then he chuckled.
"I should have guessed as much. It suits you."
"Thanks." Jack sighed, nodding to himself. "We should go back upstairs to the others, and start discussing how we're going to handle Pitch."
North placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding back towards the elevator.
"You're right. We have much to do."
Boom... Boom, boom, boom... Boom, boom, boom, boom...
The resounding thuds from below made both of them stop even as they were repeated over and over at a frantic pace. Someone was knocking on the door of the workshop, if impacts of that intensity could be considered to be 'knocking', and it had everyone on every level peering down over the railings to the bottom floor far below.
There was the distant sound of the entrance being opened, immediately followed by something that glowed like pale starlight streaking into the central shaft of the workshop and rebounding up it in great haste. That something came to a halt right in front of Jack and North, and the Spirit of Winter gasped at who it was.
"Nightlight!"
The Guardian of the Moon, the only Guardian not sworn to protect the children of the world in general, wore an expression of desperate urgency that matched the tone of his voice in their minds.
'You have to go! Now! Pitch is attacking the Tooth Palace!'
"WHAT?"
North's shout echoed up to the three Guardians above, and before more could be said, Nightlight shot over to him and held out a hand.
'Snowglobe, now! I'll take Tooth there, and you four can catch up in the sleigh... There are things with Pitch, shadowy horses. They're not Fearlings, they're attacking in daylight! You and Aster will need a flying platform to fight from.'
North handed over a snowglobe without question, watching as Nightlight flew up to Tooth and took her through the portal he summoned with it. The Russian then shouted to the two remaining Guardians upstairs.
"Sandy! Bunny! Let's go!"
Jack found himself picked up and hauled away by North in the following moments, much in the way Sandy grabbed Bunny and descended the centre of the workshop on a cloud of dreamsand with him in tow. Ahead of them charged a group of yetis who shouted out instructions, and within minutes the four Guardians arrived in a hallway outside a set of double doors.
North set Jack down, and strode through them. At this point, remembering the state of the sleigh back in the World Wars, the Spirit of Winter started to have second thoughts about how wise this was. North had still being using the thing three months ago.
"Uh, North. I don't know what you're thinking, but there's no way I'm climbing into some rickety old..." At the back of the launch tunnel, which Jack knew led to the stables for the reindeer, the doors opened and six of the creatures hauled out that which was definitely not the sleigh he remembered. "...sleigh."
It was huge, easily twice the size of the old one, and looked more like it had been combined with a snow-mobile and an aircraft than the traditional sleigh he'd seen last Christmas.
Jack blinked. "When did you build this?"
North chuckled in amusement.
"Is prototype, complete with miniature Globe of Belief. I've been working on it for couple of decades, to get it perfect... So maybe it might still have few bugs to work out."
Jack started to chuckle as well, even as Sandy happily leapt into the vehicle ahead of him.
"Ok. One ride, but that's it."
North smiled knowingly as he got in and took hold of the reins.
"Everyone loves the sleigh." He glanced at the nearby Pooka, who still hadn't gotten in. "Bunny, what are you waiting for?"
Bunny thumped a foot against the side of the sleigh, not looking all that enthusiastic.
"I think my tunnels might be faster, mate. And um, and safer."
North reached out and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, throwing him into the back beside Jack and Sandy.
"Ah, get in and buckle up!"
Bunny fumbled around for a second after he landed, looking for straps but not finding any.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are the bloody seatbelts?!"
North laughed heartily, then addressed the yetis who were checking the sleigh over ready for launch.
"That was just expression! Are we ready?" One yeti threw his hands up into the air, shaking his head in 'no', and North cracked the reins anyone. "Good! Let's go! Hyah! Out of the way!"
Yetis and elves scattered as the reindeer reared and took off at full on charge, with North laughing away, Sandy grinning with his arms up in a 'wheeee' sort of fashion, and Bunny digging his nails into the sides of the interior with such fierceness that they scratched right through the paint to the wood beneath.
Jack grinned wickedly at that, having no trouble keeping his balance against the movements of the sleigh as it took off down a twisting tunnel in the ice.
In the meantime, Bunny clamped his eyes shut and wailed as he clung on.
"Slow down, slow down!"
North glanced back, even as he pulled a lever that 'freed' sleigh and reindeer from the requirements of gravity. The result was at the coming bend, the sleigh went up the curved walls and continued upside down towards the ceiling.
"I hope you like the loopty loops!"
Bunny pressed a paw to his mouth, fighting not to throw up.
"I hope you like carrots."
The light in the tunnel got brighter, and North turned his attention ahead once more.
"Here we go!" They came out into daylight, careening up a wooden ramp and then on into open air. "Blast off!"
Jack's exuberant whoop accompanied North's laugh as they became airborne, and he jumped to the back edge of the sleigh to look at the retreating workshop as they climbed up into the sky.
"Whoa, that was great."
Jack glanced at his fellow Guardians, and noticed Bunny chancing a very brief and terrified look over the edge at the ground below... Well now, he couldn't have that. A Guardian overcome with fear, even if it was Natural Fear, wasn't something they needed while on their way to fight Pitch.
Jack crouched where he was, a wry smile plucking at his mouth.
"Hey, Bunny." He waited for the Pooka to look, and then stood up. "Check out this view- EEEYAAAAGGHGHH!"
Jack slipped and disappeared off the back of the sleigh, and Bunny gasped in horror.
"North! Jack, he's!"
Bunny looked over the side of the sleigh, expecting to see Jack plummeting to his doom, only to see the Spirit of Winter lounging on one of the sleigh's runners.
Jack grinned.
"Awww... You do care."
Bunny scowled, his fear of falling forgotten in his irritation.
"Ah, rack off you bloody show pony!"
Jack laughed and jumped back inside the sleigh, even as North shook his head at their antics and produced a snowglobe from one of his pockets.
"Hold on everyone, I know a shortcut."
Bunny gaped and clamped his paws onto the side of the sleigh again.
!Oh strewth, I knew we should have taken the tunnels!
North shook the snowglobe and whispered into it.
"I say... Tooth Palace."
He threw it, opening up a portal large enough for the sleigh, and in the next moment they were through it in a nauseating lurch that left them in dawn skies with the Tooth Palace's mountain just up ahead. It would have been a beautiful view, if not for the utter chaos in the air around it.
Nightlight hadn't been exaggerating. There were things that looked like shadowy horses, but while they trailed wispy tendrils of darkness like a Fearling, they were solid... And they were chasing down and snatching every little fairy they could find.
Jack tensed up, grabbing his staff from his back and leaping into the air.
"They're taking the Tooth Fairies!" He shot past in front of one of the creatures, grabbing the fairy it had been trying to add to the dozen others visibly trapped inside its ribcage. Jack landed back on the sleigh, cradling the fairy in his hands. "Hey there, little Baby Tooth. You ok?"
The fairy nodded, squeaking in relief, right as North steered the sleigh inside the hollow mountain. Inside it was much quieter than outside, but there were still many of the creatures flying around and a number of them had Nightlight in pursuit with his spear. But there were too many for him and Tooth to fight on their own, and North scowled in anger at the trespass on this special place.
He handed the reins to Jack.
"Here, take over!"
Jack grabbed the reins from him, and North drew his swords and jumped to stand on the forward edge of the sleigh. From there he slashed at a passing creature, causing it to explode into a cloud of black sand and several tooth-boxes to fall from it and clatter onto the floor of the vehicle.
Bunny picked one of them up, glancing at Sandy.
"They're stealing the teeth!"
Sandy took hold of some of the sand that had landed on his clothing, running it through his fingers in concern as he returned the look. Jack, distracted by the exchange, was then forced to sharply turn the sleigh when North's shout warned him they were about to hit one of the spires.
The evasive manoeuvre brought them down in a hard landing on one of the palace platforms, the last of the creatures abandoning the place to eerie silence. Tooth was fluttering around up above.
North called up to her, concerned.
"Tooth! Are you alright?"
She then descended to where they were, frantic as Nightlight swooped down to join them.
"They- They took my fairies! And the teeth! All of them!"
She dropped to her knees, devastated. "Everything is gone! Everything." The Guardians rushed to her side to comfort her, the same moment the fairy that Jack had saved, fluttered out of his hood and over to her 'mother'.
Tooth gasped, hope returning to her eyes as she grasped the little one and cradled her close. "Oh! Thank goodness! One of you is alright."
A male voice intruded on the moment. One that all of them but Jack were very familiar with.
"I have to say, this is very, very exciting." They looked up to see Pitch, standing high above them and smirking. The Big Four and the Man in the Moon's babysitter, all in one place. I'm a little star-struck." His smirk widened. "Did you like my show on the globe, North? Got you all together, didn't I?"
By his tone they knew they'd been tricked. By gathering at the Workshop, the Palace had been left unguarded and vulnerable.
Tooth didn't take that very well, and shot up into the air shouting.
"Pitch! You have got thirty seconds to return my fairies!"
She dashed towards him but he vanished into the shadows, leaving her searching in frustration before he appeared on another platform close by.
He smiled, raising his arms in an 'I'm so scared' gesture.
"Or what? You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" His expression darkened. "To gain the ability to walk in the light, I could no longer be seen or touched by those who didn't believe in me... You may have thought you won, when you tricked me into this existence back then, but you didn't. Because now I want what you have... To be believed in!" His expression became a snarl. "I'm tired of hiding under beds!"
Bunny drew one of his boomerangs from its strap.
"Maybe that's where you belong."
Pitch vanished from above, and startled them by appearing over the edge of the platform they were on.
"Oh, go suck an egg, rabbit!"
Bunny made a strike at him, but Pitch disappeared again. The Nightmare King's voice then coming from the central platform where Tooth usually spent her time when working.
"Hang on, is that Jack Frost?" They turned to see Pitch lazing against a pillar, staring at them. "Since when were the Guardians and the Spirits of the Seasons all so chummy?"
Jack clenched his staff, scowling.
"Then it looks like you need to revise your facts, because you're obviously behind the times on your info. You're dealing with the Big Five, not the Big Four."
Pitch raised his eyebrows, mildly surprise.
"You? A Guardian?" He scoffed, unimpressed. "You're joking, right? The Spirit of Winter, a Guardian? Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
Jack's eyes narrowed.
"Keep picking a fight with me, and find out."
Pitch regarded him in amusement and smirked.
"I think I'll pass, and ignore you. I'm not stupid enough to strike a Spirit of the Seasons, and bring Mother Nature down on my head."
Bunny started forward angrily.
"Then if you won't pick a fight with him, you can pick one with me! Get here you shadow sneaking ratbag!"
Pitch vanished into shadows again before Bunny could reach him, but Tooth was watching for him. The moment he reappeared on the opposite column, she grabbed Bunny's other boomerang and charged...
She then skidded to a halt in mid-air, letting out a startled gasp, as Pitch conjured one of the shadow horses and it reared up in defence of him.
The horse dropped back to all fours as Tooth retreated, snorting in agitation, and Pitch ran a hand along its side almost affectionately.
"Whoa! Hey, easy, girl. Easy." He drew a wisp of black sand from its mane, twirled it in his hand, and looked at Sandy. "Look familiar, Sandman? Took me a while to perfect this little trick... Turning dreams into Nightmares." He laughed at Sandy's surprised and outraged expression. "I found out early on that you had a new trick. Those dreams that glow brighter proved a real stinger when I tried the trick on them. It's just a pity for you that it seems you didn't have the power to do that with all your dreams. I'd never have been able to do this, if you did."
Sandy's hand went to the pouch of frostdust hidden inside his clothing, which he'd used so sparingly for so long, and then he glanced at the stricken expression on Jack's face. If not for all the secrecy, the hiding, they could have deprived Pitch of his army of Nightmares.
Nightlight looked similarly shaken, and for the three Guardians who didn't know the true origin of those 'special dreams', it was enough to unnerve them as well.
Pitch smiled, sensing their varied internal turmoil, and placed his hand on the Nightmare's neck as it started to snort in agitation.
"Don't be nervous, it only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know."
Bunny glared and pointed at him.
"What fear? Of you!? No one's been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!"
Pitch's expression hardened in rage for a moment, but then he smiled in nostalgia.
"Oh, the Dark Ages... Everyone frightened. Miserable. Such happy times for me. Oh, the power I wielded!" His smile faded into a scowl. "But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light! Lifting their hearts! And giving them hope... Meanwhile, everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream! 'Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of! There's no such thing as the Boogeyman!'" He glared down at them in contempt. "Well that's all about to change."
There was a faint whisper of sound, like dust and grit falling, and Pitch glanced to where the golden surface of parts of the spires began to fall away leaving dull and tarnished metal and tile behind. "Oh look, it's happening already."
Jack looked around, seeing the decay talking place everywhere around them.
"What's going on?"
Nightlight gritted his teeth in failure.
'He's been ambushing and taking the Tooth Fairies for hours. By the time I noticed, and flew to warn you, dawn had already reached and passed most of the Eastern Nations.'
Tooth gasped in realisation and horror, and Pitch started to gloat.
"That's right. Children are waking up and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came... I mean it's such a little thing, but to a child..."
Tooth had her hands to her mouth, eyes wide.
"They... They don't believe in me anymore."
Up above them, Pitch revelled in Tooth's despair and glanced at the Spirit of Winter.
"Didn't they tell you, Jack? It's great being a Guardian, but there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect... wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away... And little by little, so do they." He laughed. "You've all had so many believers for so long, losing thousands every day to growing up, and gaining thousands of little ones who were just becoming old enough to believe. You've become so numb to the sense of that happening, that you never even noticed all those little flickers of belief abandoning you in droves."
He drew himself up, confident and arrogant. "You don't deserve that belief, and so now there will be no Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing. But fear and darkness... and me! It's your turn not to be believed in!"
His words sparked fury among the Guardians, who all launched themselves in his direction. But Pitch didn't stay to fight, instead leaping astride his Nightmare and descending towards the bottom of the palace dodging their attacks all the way.
And then he darted into a dark crevice, where shadow lay thick, and vanished from their reach.
All six Guardians landed in the garden below the palace, near the pond where a mural of Tooth adorned the wall, and glanced at each other even as North stated the frustrating obvious.
"He's gone."
~(-)~
Alaia Skyhawk: NIGHTLIGHT! Yep, I'm working him in! I also filled a few Book vs Film plotholes here, and hinted at an explanation for why Film!Pitch can walk in light but Book!Pitch can't :)