Alaia Skyhawk: lol, I forgot to mention this on the last chapter, but this fic has passed 1000 reviews! Seriously, you guys are AWESOME! :D

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 60: Rise of the Guardians ~Part 8~

A grey-skinned hand reached out into the breeze, to touch the near invisible trace of glittering dust that it carried. A trace which had settled everywhere that wind and air could go, here upon the surface realm of the world. Into homes, into schools, everywhere! Its power settling into the people, children and adults, waking and sleeping, rendering every single one of them immune to terror caused by Fearlings and Nightmares alike!

Pitch hissed, both in anger and at the sting the dust caused and at its purpose. But even more he hated the way that its power roused a flicker in him, one that for uncountable ages he had sought to erase and yet had never succeeded in doing. A father's memory of a child, the adoration in her eyes as she rushed to him... It was an echo that he wanted gone.

The King of Nightmares pulled back further among the shadows, his expression a silent snarl as he put two and two together. He'd felt the touch of this power before, in the glee following Jack Frost's explosive attack in response to the Sandman's demise. He'd also felt it in the 'bright dreams' that had thwarted his attempts to corrupt them. It appeared that the Spirit of Winter had powers greater than just those of ice, snow, and wind. He also had the irritating ability to imbue light and fun into any person his power touched, thereby warding them against Unnatural Fear.

Pitch's fists clenched, his gaze now following a fairy made of ice and laughter. One which carried a tooth he was certain would soon make its way into the safety of the Winter Sanctuary, and which was itself inimical to the touch of his minions.

Fearlings that had tried to destroy them, were themselves struck by their polar opposite and rendered fragile wraiths that had no choice but to flee Nightmares that attempted to capture or attack them, had either become frozen solid or crumbled to grey ash. Not even he, the King of Nightmares, could harm the things! A savage burn on one of his hands, being evidence of his first and only attempt at doing so.

Jack Frost was keeping the nightmares at bay, and he was also enabling Toothiana to keep collecting teeth. Pitch didn't doubt that Jack would also be there ready to flood the dratted rabbit's tunnels with more of the dust, once Bunnymund's eggs set out from the Warren to hide themselves for children to find. If something wasn't done, Easter would succeed, and if that happened...

Pitch growled under his breath, fury simmering inside him. The pace of the Belief Blackout was slowing, and even with the loss of The Sandman, if Easter went ahead then the Blackout would end. It would end in the laughter of children gloating over the eggs they'd found, and so long as Jack Frost remained in league with the Guardians... The Spirit of Winter would as much as become the new 'Sandman'. One who would keep nightmares and Fearlings at bay, so that the minds of sleeping children could shape dreams of their own free from fear.

The breeze twisted, a tendril of it curling up his arm, and Pitch vanished through the shadows to take up watch elsewhere. Within minutes a new thread of air did the same, almost as though the wind was searching for him, and with that thought Pitch realised that yes... It was. Jack Frost wasn't just protecting and helping the Guardians, he was hunting down their enemy, him.

Pitch's anger faded, and a smug laugh of malice rose within him. But of course, what should he have expected? The Spirits of the Seasons were tenacious if nothing else; they had to be in their line of work. And while he could not harm Jack without risking the wrath of all his peers, there was a very simple way to get him out of the way until it was too late. All that was needed, was suitable bait.

Pitch laughed and stepped through the shadows once more, back to the park in Burgess, and strolled among the trees until again he felt a breeze start to follow him. He then went to the entrance of his lair, descending that pit into darkness before strolling once more. This time into the great cavern of shadows and ruins, where tooth-boxes lay piled up below, and fairies were trapped in cages up above.

The breeze circled the chamber only once, before vanishing back the way it had come.

Pitch smiled once it was gone, and spoke to the Nightmare that stepped from the darkness to stand at his side.

"We must prepare for a most special guest, who I expect will be here very soon. We must ensure he receives a proper welcome."

~(-)~

Jack snorted quietly to himself, smiling as wisps of wind came to him every few minutes. It was surprising really how quick they could find Pitch, although that was entirely down to the fact that he was up on the surface glaring at the golems and at the frostdust on the wind. From the way Pitch changed locations so often, as if travelling about to discover just how widespread both those things were, there was no way he wasn't totally pissed off by what was going on.

And now, about five hours after starting to search for the lair, Jack's search had paid off. Pitch had retreated to it in apparent disgust, and a brave little breeze had followed him. Jack would have whooped in success when it told him the teeth and fairies were there, but for the fact he was also kicking himself at how he hadn't spotted it before.

Because the entrance to the lair was in Jackswood Park, in the most remote corner of the park's woodland. Where better for Pitch to have it, than right on the doorstep of the biggest hotspot for belief in the Guardians? It was literally the last place Jack would have dreamt of looking.

Jack waited, listening until the winds told him Pitch was out of the lair again and apparently making another try at stopping the golems. He then descended from his seat atop the spire in the Hall of Mirrors, and was to all intents proverbially cracking his knuckles as he headed to the plaza. The entrance's location had made it a bit more personal, because it meant Pitch was on his turf.

Jack chuckled to himself in anticipation of payback for that, as he headed over to Yuki and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Pitch is having another go at the golems, close to the Tooth Palace. Keep an eye on the mirrors in case any Nightmares try to follow them through." He grinned. "The winds have found the fairies and the teeth. I'm going to do a quick recon of the lair while he's distracted, so we can plan how to raid it once Easter's done."

Yuki's expression had lit up with hope at what he'd discovered, but then she frowned in concern.

"Shouldn't we just raid it now, while Pitch is distracted?"

Jack shook his head.

"I would, but we'd be going in blind, and I've only another two hours before I have to be at the Warren. A quick look is all I can chance right now. I'll only be gone about fifteen minutes."

He took flight, heading for the hole in the cavern ceiling as Yuki called out after him.

"Be careful, Jack!"

Jack smiled and nodded, disappearing out into the open air above the glacier. Well away from the substitute tooth collection, only then did he pass through a mirror to the skies above Burgess. One that he immediately dismissed to minimise links to his home base, before he plunged from the mid-afternoon sky. It was still the middle of Saturday for Burgess and the rest of this longitude of the world, but the dawn to the west was bearing down on the Date Line. Bunny would not be hiding eggs here until about eighteen hours from now.

The reminder of how little time he had to spare right now, spurred Jack to hasten to the place the winds had told him about. Down to a small clearing in the woods, where the rotting frame of an old wooden bed provided an entrance so stereotypical of 'The Boogeyman' that Jack actually face-palmed when he saw it.

Pitch hated that mocking portrayal of himself, which made not finding this entrance before now all the more self-kick worthy. Jack had noticed this bed decades ago, back when it had been in considerably better shape, but had left it be because the local teenagers used the clearing as a gathering spot. The bed was wood, and would rot away on its own over time, so he hadn't even been bothered that someone had dumped it there. It had just been a landmark for the kids, as a place to stage mock battles in the depths of the wood.

Jack now frowned to himself, thinking about that. He'd been allowing the older kids to play right on Pitch's doorstep, and he hadn't even known it.

He approached the bed, able to see beneath it that which the children would not have seen. A hole in the ground, forming a deep shaft that none but those with magic could enter. Jack carefully slid under the edge of the bed to enter it, making sure not to leave any marks to show he'd been here. He then silently dropped down the shaft and crept through the cave-like tunnel it led to, until he at last emerged into a vast cavern that couldn't possibly be under Burgess.

And it wasn't, Jack knew. The hole under the bed was just a portal that linked to this place. The actual physical location of Pitch's main lair, the remnants of the Nightmare Galleon, were unknown to any but the Nightmare King himself. But it always had an entrance somewhere when Pitch was active, that's what Mother Nature had said to him. She'd searched for the entrance herself many times, during and after the past conflicts involving Pitch, but had never found it.

But now it had been found, and regardless of where the lair actually was, it didn't matter anymore. Pitch could move the entrance as much as he wanted to now, and it wouldn't make a difference in keeping the Guardians out. Because Jack Frost could get to any place in the world with a bit of ice and a single step... so long as he'd been there at least once.

Jack's smile was grim as he stepped out onto the ledge overlooking the cavern, past the rusted Globe of Belief, to where he could see the piles of tooth-boxes. Up above, the tooth fairies began to squeak and chatter in excitement at seeing him, and he flew up with a finger pressed to his lips.

"Shhhh, I'll be back soon, with Tooth and the others. I need all of you to sit tight until Easter is finished." He smiled. "I've made some helpers for Tooth, and they're collecting the teeth right now, so you don't need to worry. Everything is going to be just fine."

The fairies in the nearby cages nodded in understanding, even if a few looked upset at the prospect of being trapped for another day. But at the same time they all looked relieved to know the teeth were still being collected, and word of that was quickly spreading to the fairies in the rest of the cages.

Jack glided back away from them, ready to leave and head to the Warren with the news, when the fairies all suddenly shrieked in warning. That was the only notice he got before he was enveloped in black sand, pulled disorientated from the air until he found himself floating in utter darkness.

He couldn't see a thing, couldn't hear the fairies anymore, and had no frame of reference other than being aware of which was was up and which was down.

"I hope you realise who you're messing with, Pitch. Do you seriously think Mother Nature and my Lieutenants won't come after you for this?"

A laugh filled the silence, and Pitch's golden eyes gleamed from the surrounding darkness.

"Well that's where you're wrong. You see, while I may not know how that irritating bond between you and your fellow Seasonals is created, or even what other purposes it serves, I did figure one thing out from my many years of watching... It's that the Immortals within each seasonal group only sense an attack on one of their own, if that individual suffers physical pain."

Jack tensed.

"I don't see your point."

Pitch laughed again.

"I have no intention of hurting you, Jack. You're just going to sit here, in this hole I've made for you, and I'm not going to lay so much as a finger on you. After all, you're just floating there. I've not harmed you in the slightest, and that means your Lieutenants don't know you're trapped. You're not going anywhere until I let you."

Jack gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing.

"We'll see about that."

He began to conjure an Ice Mirror, forming by touch and mind's eye that which it was too dark for him to see. But before he could finish it, black sand rushed past and shattered it. A second attempt yielded the same result, and a third, until Pitch laughed again.

"You're wasting your time, Jack. You might as well give up." Jack felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to let off a black of ice, but Pitch had slipped behind him again with ease to murmur close to his ear. "And really, this is a chance for me to thank you. After all, none of this would have happened if not for you."

Jack lashed out once more, but again found his target to be gone. An unease starting to fill him.

"What do you mean?"

Pitch loomed out of the darkness, some aspect of his power letting the Spirit of Winter see him even here where no trace of light could be found. The Nightmare King was smiling.

"The Blizzard of '68, Jack. The Belief Blackout that you and Mother Nature caused, when you buried Easter for the eastern States of America." He chuckled, amused and smug. "Until that point I'd been too weak to do anything, what with the Guardians doing such a good job of keeping all the little brats protected from my Fearlings. But that changed, on that day..."

Pitch vanished, reappearing at Jack's shoulder smirking in triumph. "It was you who taught me just how effective spoiling even one Guardian's work can be, in starting a Blackout to bring them to their knees. Can you imagine the effect on all the precious little children, when three Guardian's have had their work ruined?"

Jack had gone still, his eyes widened in horror and his breath coming in short gasps.

"You... You came up with this plan because of me?"

Pitch laughed, trailing a taunting finger down the side of Jack's face.

"I did... And do you know what gave me the strength to rise and begin setting up this plan?" He vanished from sight, his voice looming from every direction. "It was you... Your greatest fear, brought about by your own hand. To be forgotten by your family, even for that short time, filled you with such delectable terror... You brought me back to power, Jack. And now... knowing that... you have a new greatest fear."

"...S-stop it! Stop it!"

Jack's shout went unheeded as Pitch spoke in glee.

"You fear that everything you have suffered, that all the years of waiting and hiding, have been for nothing." Jack felt something grip him, as the last few words reached his ears. "Well, Jack... They have."

Jack tumbled through the air, blinking in confusion as he was thrust back into the bright light of midday... and that made him pause in dawning horror. Because it had been mid-afternoon in Burgess when he'd entered the lair, and the only way it could be noon would be if...

If it were Easter Sunday. Pitch had locked him in darkness, disorientated and with no way to tell the passing of time, for almost a full day.

Jack almost choked on that thought, demanding the nearby winds to tell him where the rest of the Guardians were. The answer came back with almost sickening swiftness, because they were down below, in the park. The Guardians had come looking for him, in the other other place they could know to look if he weren't at the Winter Sanctuary.

Jack dove, heading for where the open grassy areas of the park met with the wooded section. The area where the biggest part of the Burgess Easter Egg Hunt always took place. When he landed, none of the nearby children so much as glanced at him. They looked depressed, disappointed, and deeply upset... Their muted words to one another like a knife to his heart.

"There are no eggs."

"There's none anywhere."

"I give up."

"Come on, let's go."

One girl stooped to look under a bush, but the motion was listless.

"Maybe he just hid them really well this year."

She and the others turned to head from the park, and that was when Bunny hurried out from where he'd hidden himself to watch them. He had a small basket of eggs looped onto his arm, bright and colourful, but even Jack could tell they'd been painted at a huge rush. The paint on some of them still looked wet.

"Kids! Oi!"

That Bunny, who had never shown himself to children for centuries, had leapt into the open like that went to show how desperate he was. The children didn't notice him, one boy pausing to shrug at the girl who had looked under the bush.

"I checked everywhere! There's nothing!"

Bunny darted over, standing between the two of them and holding out one of his eggs.

"Yes there is! There is! I mean these aren't my best lookin' googies, but they'll do in a pinch!"

The two children stared, seemingly at the Pooka stood between them.

"I can't believe it."

Bunny started to smile.

"I know. I-"

"There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny."

The children resumed their walk, Bunny stood stock-still in shock.

"Easter's over. Forget this."

Bunny stared after them for a moment, before running ahead to stand in their path.

"What! No! Wrong! Not, not true! I'm right in front of ya, mate!"

They walked right through him...

Jack, who had experienced that so many times, closed his eyes in memory. He knew how unnerving it was, and how much it hurt emotionally if you were the type to care.

And it hurt Bunny like a kick to the gut, the Pooka crouching down and doubling over in despair.

"They don't see me... They don't see me."

North, Tooth, and Nightlight emerged from cover now, hastening to comfort the Guardian of Hope, and it was only now that they noticed Jack stood nearby.

North's eyes widened when he saw him.

"Jack! Where were you?" He gestured towards Bunny. "Look what happened! The Nightmares attacked the

tunnels. They smashed every egg, crushed every basket. Nothing made it to the surface."

Jack cringed in guilt, and then he noticed something missing when he glanced towards Tooth. The golem was still with her, but...

"Where's Baby Tooth?"

Tooth clasped her hands in distress.

"They took her... The Nightmares took her, and I couldn't stop it."

Bunny stood, dropping the basket of useless eggs before he rounded on Jack.

"You said you would be there to help us! What kind of Guardian are you, if you're not even there when we need you?!"

Nightlight grabbed Bunny by the arm, stopping him from approaching Jack.

'Yuki said he found where the teeth were, and the fairies! Jack went to investigate, so we'd know what to expect before we went to get them!'

Bunny wrenched himself free.

"And that takes a full day, does it?" The Pooka's spirit seemed to crumble, and he hunched down once more. "Easter is new beginnings, new life. Easter is about hope... and now it's gone... It's all Jack's fault."

Nightlight gaped at that, but before he could say a word a choked sound from Jack interrupted him. He, Tooth, and North all looked at the Guardian of Fun, in time to see the tears in Jack's eyes. Before the Spirit of Winter then launched himself into the sky so fast there was no chance of catching him.

Nightlight remained utterly still for several seconds, before he grabbed Bunny by the scruff of his neck and yanked him to his feet. The spectral boy shaking his other fist at the Pooka in barely-checked anger.

'It is NOT JACK'S FAULT! Or did you not see the black sand stuck to his clothing?' Bunny's eyes widened, as did the others, and Nightlight released his hold. 'Pitch tricked all of you into leaving Tooth's palace unguarded, so that he could raid it. You can't blame Jack for falling for the same trick. He'd only have been missing for as long as he was, if Pitch had held him trapped. Yet instead of welcoming him back and asking him if he was unharmed, you shouted at him instead.'

The accusing words that reverberated in their minds made all three of them cringe in guilt as Jack had done. It was Tooth who then spoke, her voice filled with remorse.

"Do you think he'll come back?"

Nightlight faced her and nodded, pointing at the golem still fluttering beside her.

'He hasn't abandoned us yet, and he won't... He'll come back, because he's a Guardian.'

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Alaia Skyhawk: Man, I really messed with Jack's head in this chapter. Poor guy :(