A/N: Sorry everyone for the slightly longer wait! Things just kept on cropping up. Super Thank You to Tala White 14, egal, No one important (who actually is important cause that was a sweet review) and MysteryGirl7Freak for reviewing! Thanks as well to everyone who added this story to either their favourites or follows list since the last chapter! Each bit of feedback is such an encouragement so Thank You!

Disclaimer: Not mine (I know, it's so sad) :(

Happy reading! :)

Pitch paced through the dilapidated warehouse, a slight spring to his step. He stood tall, powerful and arrogant as he moved through the dark halls of the old building, humming a quiet tune to himself. His plans had come together perfectly. He had frequently peeked in to see Jack, remaining hidden in the shadows from the young Guardian, and had became increasingly pleased as he saw the boy squirming and grimacing in pain as his body fought to recover. He must be in agony, he had thought, and truly, he wouldn't have it any other way.

As he made his way to the old office shared by him and the demon, he was approached by one of his nightmares.

"My dear, what is it?" He asked, seeing her rushing towards him and sensing the panic radiating from her. He looked into her bright eyes, reading the thoughts and emotions that played there as she whinnied to him. "The Guardians?" He questioned for confirmation, "Fear not, they were going to come sometime." He soothed, it was time to put the next stages of his plan into action. He grimaced internally, he had hoped to have a bit longer with Frost before he had to face down the Guardians, but no matter.

He strode into the large office, Crowley had not moved from his seat behind the big table, and he was currently in discussion with another demon sat opposite him. They both looked up as the Nightmare King entered.

"The Guardians have arrived in Burgess." Pitch announced.

"Hmm," He replied, his annoyance clear in his expression. "The Winchesters, they're a pair of hunter's, have also hit the town, we've gained more attention than I had expected." Crowley mused in response. "How's Frost?" He questioned.

"Hurting." The other demon replied before Pitch could get a word in. Crowley looked to him, raising an eyebrow at the Bogeyman as he pressed him for more information.

"Defiant." Pitch drawled, "I had expected more time, but no matter," He stated as he crossed the room and took Jack's staff in his hands. "The loss of something so dear can be heart-shattering. It will not break the boy, but would bring a serious blow to his arrogance. Then, he is all yours." He continued, leaving Crowley guessing as to what exactly he was planning on doing.

"Well then, get on with it." Crowley snarled. He knew there would be no point in him speaking with the spirit while he was still so sure of himself, and besides, they had agreed that breaking Jack down would be Pitch's role, as this was what he had waited for.

"Very well." He replied before creeping away once again.

Baby Tooth shot through the sky, becoming nothing more than a colourful blur to anyone who might be around to spot her. Her mother had asked for any fairies that could be spared to make their way to Burgess to help look for Jack Frost. The news had hit Baby Tooth like a ton of bricks; she had become exceptionally close to Jack since they were properly introduced a year and a half ago, and she had become extremely concerned for the well-being of her generally new friend. It was not long, however, before she realised she should have known something was wrong. Even when Jack was busy, as he was in Northern Winter, at least one of her sisters would return from a night's work with a story of the Frost Boy with the pretty teeth; the fairies were practically his own group of personal fangirls and every story involving him spread like wildfire through the mini-fairy population. So of course, when she heard her mother's call, she had flown straight to Burgess, along with the fairies in the area and those back at the palace who were on their day off; everyone wanted to help look for Jack.

Once she had met with the other Guardians, they had all decided to do a search of Burgess and the lands surrounding it. They had split up and Baby Tooth found herself flying over the countryside surrounding Burgess. Her speed did not impede her sharp senses; her eyes being well practiced in picking up any spots of white from the centuries of collecting teeth. She was looking for the usual signs of Jack; a spot of random snow here, some icicles over there, or most obviously, a white haired boy making his way God knows where.

Baby Tooth began to see an old building in the distance. She had left all signs of civilisation quite some distance behind, the scenery underneath her being nothing but farmland, and so the old building caught her attention. As she flew closer, she could see signs of life from the building. Small slivers of light were able to be spotted as they seeped out from some of the boarded up windows, the darkness of the night making them jump out at her from quite some distance. She headed towards these slivers of light, intending on shooting through to take a peek at whatever, or whoever was in the building. They had been told Jack was took by Pitch, and she had gotten word from her mother during her search that the Nightmare King's lair was closed off. If Jack wasn't in there, he had to be somewhere. And somewhere was here.

She landed precariously on a windowsill which had light peeking out through the wooden boards. The light was flickering, so it was likely from a fire or a candle rather than an electrical light bulb. The gaps were quite small, but as a tooth fairy, she was well practiced in flitting through small gaps in windows to do her duty. She edged closer to the crack, but found that she could not pass through it. It was not that she couldn't fit, rather, that she was prevented by some invisible force from doing so. She looked more closely at the gap, checking for anything that might be preventing her entry, but there was nothing; no glass or anything. She flew a small distance away from the window, and shot quickly towards the small crack, expecting to just shoot through whatever was blocking her advance. To her dismay, it did not work, and she merely ricocheted off the barrier as if it were made off wall.

Seriously confused, she peeked in through the gap. She could make out the figure of a man sat at a table beside the fire; he was in conversation with another man, but she could not hear what they were saying, and she clearly could not go closer to listen. She tried to look around the room but could not see much from her position by the window. Everything was quite dark, despite the light provided from the flickering flames, with some corners of the room so dark she didn't even know if there was a wall there or not. The room was furnished like it might have been some grand office of whatever this building was used for when it was actually in use.

Baby Tooth made to fly away from the building, hoping to maybe find another entry she could try that she might pass through easier. She knew of nothing that could keep little creatures like her out of a building; if they needed to enter somewhere, they usually got in.

As she looked around the building she came across two more men, who were stood outside what looked like the main door of the place. She shot closer to the wall as she got a better look at the two men. They were both clearly very strong and both wore grumpy expressions on their faces as their eyes scanned over the area around the door as if they were looking for something. She frowned, were they guarding the building? An old, run-down building in the middle of nowhere?

Baby Tooth lifted her wings and flew in the opposite direction of the creepy warehouse, heading back towards the forest of Burgess. Something was not right, and she wanted to personally deliver the message to her mother before bringing her and the other Guardians back to this strange place.

Jack had soon become restless in his solitude. His body had long ago became frustrated and sore from being kept in the one place and position for too long. He pulled again at the black chains which held his hands over his head but still, there was no use. He allowed himself a small, frustrated growl at his inability to do anything that would improve his current situation.

The marks on his back were recovering, but the process was agonisingly slow and there was nothing he could do to ease the sharp pains as his body tried to put itself back together again. He stole yet another glance over his shoulder; the marks were easing, but they were not nearly as far on as he had hoped they would be. The smaller marks had covered themselves nicely, and he expected new, tender skin would show itself in the next few hours, but the larger gashes he had received were still trying to knit together. It was there also that the residual black sand was present and it had been hugely counterproductive during his recovery. When his skin tried to knit back together in these areas, the dark sand burned angrily as it fought to remain lodged in place against his body's natural defenses. It was like an infection, and his immune system raged towards the darkness, increasing his body temperature as it tried to rid the injuries of the black substance so that healing could progress unhindered.

From the looks of it, his body was winning the battle against the nightmarish sand, but the process was taking a toll on Jack's well-being. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his face clammy and flushed, while his head had begun to throb. He hoped that his current feverish state was just a side effect of the healing and as he recovered, the fever would subside.

His entire being cried out for sleep, for the chance to shut off consciousness for a while so energy could be spent on healing but he denied himself the luxury. He had already succumbed to one nightmare, he sure wasn't going to fall right into Pitch's hands by leaving himself vulnerable to another. Yet, with every minute still spent in his pained state, he had started to worry over how long it was going to be before his fellow Guardians arrived, and just what else Pitch had planned.

And so he waited. Waited for his energy to be returned again so he could work out an escape plan. From head to toe his body ached, but he learned to dissociate himself from the pain, which muted it slightly.

"Well Jack?" Pitch greeted as he emerged from the shadows, "How are you holding up?" He questioned, a slight mocking tone to his voice. Jack just ignored him, seeing no point in acknowledging the man who had tortured him.

"What is it? Cat got your tongue?" Pitch laughed gleefully, sounding every bit the madman he was. Jack just glared as ferociously as he could in response to the Nightmare King's jibes.

"Oh come on Jack, aren't you going to say anything? You always have something to say!" He continued, surprised at the boy's defiance, he had expected him to be pleading for mercy by now.

"Ugh Pitch," Jack sighed, his desire for the Bogeyman to stop talking overruling his desire to refuse to respond. "Isn't there some bed you should be crawling under?"

Pitch chuckled darkly, "Always the funny one. I have to wonder how you manage it in your current situation."

"Easy, the Guardians will come, and then I'll have the satisfaction of seeing you squirm." Jack replied, a slight smile tugging at his lips to taunt the Nightmare King further. His moments of weakness were not for Pitch's eyes.

"Oh they're coming." Pitch simply stated, Jack's attention shooting to him, his body tensing as he waited for him to continue. "But it won't matter. If not for you, I would have won our last battle, and you are here. On top of that, I'm stronger; I have a horde of demons under my command." He approached Jack as he spoke, leaning in to whisper in his ear, "Let them come." He moved back to meet the boy's glare, but underneath the anger, Pitch could feel the fear, the hopelessness taking root.

For an instant as Pitch droned on in his velvety voice, Jack believed him. The arguments he made made sense, and that scared Jack; it is hard to remain so sure when faced with very valid counter arguments.

But it did not take long for Jack to remember that Pitch was twisting past events in his favour.

"You're wrong." Pitch once again looked towards Jack, infuriated by the defiant hope written all over the boy's face.

"Oh am I?" He challenged.

Jack's smirk grew tauntingly wide, "Yes. Last time, the Guardians had only one light of belief, they were weakened. As well as that, you took Sandy out of the picture, and everyone knows he's your biggest threat. Yes Pitch, let them come." He finished, his voice layered with confidence to hide the pain he felt.

It was that confidence that enraged Pitch. He wanted Jack broken, but it was starting to seem like anything he done or said to the boy was just going to be met with a smirk and some witty comment. His anger hit new levels when Jack used his own words against him, and he silently called the boy's ankle cuff into action, sending heated shocks through the teen's body. He smirked with a sadistic form of glee as he watched Jack jerk involuntarily, his face contorted in pain. But still, no scream. Ah well, Pitch thought as he pulled out a very familiar object.

Once the shocks had subsided Jack kept his gaze at the ground, breathing deeply to help him regain some control of himself before looking towards Pitch again. The marks he had received from the whip made every tightening of his muscles in response to the shocks seem twice as painful. Once Jack felt able, he looked towards the Bogeyman once more, and the sight he was met with made his stomach drop in dread. Twirling between the fingertips of the Nightmare King was Jack's staff. He looked at the spirit of winter with a dark, threatening gaze, savouring the instant dread that flushed across his face.

Jack remembered the last time his staff had been broken, by the very man stood before him; it had been a pain that ripped through to his very core. Since then he had learned of how he first came in contact with the wizened stick, and had placed even more emotional significance on the old piece of wood that had become like another limb to him. He had saved his sister with that staff.

He steeled himself for the agony that was sure to come once Pitch broke his one, cherished possession. "Just do it." Jack ordered, looking determinedly towards the ground.

Pitch snarled angrily; he wanted to see the effects of the staff being broken as it happened, and he couldn't do that if the boy was keeping his head bowed at the ground. "Do what?" He questioned innocently.

Jack froze as confusion wracked his mind, It's not like Pitch could use the staff, what else could he want with it? He looked up, his defences down as surprise flickered on his face.

As soon as blue eyes met yellow, Pitch smirked and cleanly broke the staff in two. Agony flashed across Jack's face as he cried out; he had let himself be tricked into putting his guard down. He instinctively tried to curl in on himself but it only caused more pain to his already highly damaged wrists.

"Dammit Pitch!" He growled out, glaring up to the dark man in front of him. Pitch simply smirked, throwing the broken pieces of wood on the floor. Whatever miracle had happened that had fixed the staff last time, it was sure not to be repeated in the state Jack was in. He turned to leave, not bothering to say much more to the hurting spirit.

He felt power reign within him; the surprise of the boy and the anguish he felt when he realised he had dropped his defences at the worst time had caused a sharp increase in the young Guardian's emotions. It was the first time he had seen through the cocky, arrogant walls Jack had put up since being here, and oh what a glimpse it was. Fear reigned supreme underneath the spirit's surface: the fear of a Guardian, an immortal child. Underneath his confidant stance the pain he was under was taking its toll on the boy's emotional well-being. In spite of himself, seeds of doubt had took root, about whether or not the other Guardians would be able to defeat Pitch and reclaim Jack. They were small, and he denied them, but they were there. The rush was intoxicating and left Pitch feeling highly satisfied. However, he was also left with a tinge of sadness; he would not catch Jack as unawares again, yet he craved more of the delightful fear the boy exposed when he did.

It was time to let the demon in.

"Do you think they worked?" Sam questioned aloud. Once Dean had awoken he had told them of what he had dreamed about. Sam appreciated what the little Sandman was trying to do; by making the Guardians more recognisable from their own childhood, he hoped Dean would have more faith in them. The section of the dream for Jack was stranger, but Sam had to just assume Sandy knew what he was doing.

"I have no idea, I don't feel any different." Dean offered, uncharacteristically unsure.

"They're close." Announced Cas, turning towards the door and keeping the occasional glance on the window.

Through the window, which had been left open slightly despite the cool air outside, shot in a little bird like creature. Sam and Cas recognised the little creature as a mini Tooth Fairy due to her brightly coloured feathers but Dean recognised her from his dream. This was the fairy with the golden boxes.

"Oh my God." Dean muttered under his breath. Both Sam and Cas shot their gazes between him and the little fairy who was squeaking away in a high pitched voice.

"You can see?" Sam gasped as the other Guardians appeared, either through the door or the window or, in Bunny's case, the floor.

Dean was left in shocked silence at the appearance of the characters from his dreams. "I see," He replied quietly as he found his voice again.

The Guardians watched with smiling faces as Dean processed their appearance, all knowing enough to remain quiet once they saw the shock, awe and wonder on the elder Winchester's face, bringing out a shadow of the youthful boy he once was.

"You- You're real." Dean stammered, still slightly struggling to believe what he was seeing with his own two eyes.

"It worked," North began before turning to Sandy, "Good job Sandy! Gold star!"

"Dean, are you ok?" Sam questioned, highly unaccustomed to seeing his brother so shell shocked.

"I'm fine." He replied, his eyes never leaving the Guardians for fear that they would disappear if he looked away and he would have to convince himself he was crazy.

Cas, not feeling the need to delve deeper into the mental or emotional well-being of the elder brother once he had assured them he was fine, turned to the Guardians. "Sam said you were conducting a search of the area, did you find anything?" He questioned, getting right to the point.

"Ah yes! Toothy? You can explain best!" North replied.

Tooth smiled widely as North indicated for her to relay what had happened. "Well, I called on some of my girls to help with the search so we could split up and cover more ground. They were sent to search the wider area while we searched the woods."

"We checked Pitch's layer but it was closed over, has been for a while; nothings came up or went down from there in the past couple of weeks at least." Bunny explained.

"So you found nothing?" Questioned Sam, disappointment tinging his voice.

"Well no," Tooth began, "We didn't, but Baby Tooth found something: a warehouse. It was quite a bit outside of town surrounded by farmlands. It was broken down, unused but there were lights coming from some of the windows."

"Did she see inside? Is Jack there?" Sam questioned.

"That's the thing, she couldn't get inside; there was like this barrier preventing her from entering the building, and then she saw men guarding the doors so she thought it best to return to us." As she finished her story she looked over at Baby Tooth proudly.

"A barrier?" Dean repeated, his attention having been drawn by the story as he went into full hunter mode. He had resolved to treat this like any other case and hunting was something he could do and do well, that was not about to change.

Sam merely grimaced and shrugged, having no real idea of what would prevent a Tooth Fairy from entering a building like that; she was a Tooth Fairy, shouldn't she be able to get into every building?

"The demons must have it warded." Cas concluded. "It would appear this is the correct place."

"But how are we going to get in?" Bunny pressed, "If it's warded against us the best we'll be able to do is throw rocks at the place."

"It wouldn't be warded against all of us," Cas replied, turning towards Sam and Dean, "There are no wards for humans."

"It's a warehouse full of demons and whatever this lot are after." Dean stated.

"Pitch Black." Tooth piped up helpfully.

"We'll never get him out on our own, we don't even know if our weapons work against this Pitch Black." He continued, insistent on being realistic about the situation.

"You wouldn't have to do it on your own." Cas replied, he bent over the table as he drew some symbols on a page, before lifting the sheet of paper to display his work. "Find these sigils, they will be on the inside of each exterior wall to the building, destroy them all, and we can get in."

Sam took the sheet and looked closer at the markings; there were six drawn on the page.

"You may not see these two," Cas continued as he gestured to the bottom two sigils, "They are angel warding but I assume if they warded it against immortals they warded against angels too; and you'll know if you won't judging by whether or not I follow you into the building."

"Sounds like a plan," Sam replied.

"Most weapons work against Pitch and his nightmares," North stated in response to Dean's earlier query. "I have swords, Bunny has boomerangs, Tooth has her wings and Sandy makes whips; they all work fine." He explained with a shrug.

"Ok, let's do it." Dean agreed, reaching to the bottom of his bed for their weapons bag.

A/N: Please let me know your thoughts on the chapter, I'd appreciate it so very very very much! :) Thanks for reading! :D