Candy, Pitch and Sandy stood in the mindscape, solitary figures shining in the void.

'Alone at last', Candy said unsmiling.

'Does he not count?' Pitch asked sourly, jabbing a thumb at Sandy.

Sandy ignored him.

He was making swirling movements with his hands, Candy's energy entwined with his own dreamand as he wove a web around them.

Pitch scowled as he felt a tickling sensation on the back of his hand.
Sandy was interfering with the design Tooth had inked for the memory sharing.
Pitch tried to move but couldn't.
Sandy had him in his grip.
This was his domain.

'The only one that matters here is you Pitch', Candy said sweetly, 'Or should I say General Pitchiner?'

A golden glow enveloped Pitch and his lip curled in annoyance as he saw Sandy had outfitted him in Pitchiner's dress uniform.

'If you say so Candy', he said, flicking the cloak in irritation, 'or should I say 'self-obsessed, snot nosed brat'?'

'You don't like children?' Candy asked, feigning hurt.

'On the contrary, they're delicious', Pitch smirked.

'Was she delicious?' Candy asked, her smirk now rivalling Pitch's.

'Who?'

'Don't be coy. You know who', Candy said teasingly.

She tossed her hair and in another flash of golden light, she had metamorphosed into a different woman.
She was older than Candy with dark hair and kind eyes. She wore a pale blue dress emblazoned with a silver crescent moon.

'Remember?' the woman asked in Candy's voice.

Pitch remembered.

'Yes. I remember her body cartwheeling into the ether. She didn't scream. I admired that'.

'And you felt nothing else?' not-Serafina asked.

'Those people meant nothing to me', Pitch said, trying to hide the conflicting emotions bubbling inside him, 'Pitchiner was not part of me at that point'.

He shot a glare at Sandy, 'Before you help someone try to manipulate someone else, help them with the research!'

'You owe them you know', not-Serafina said, ignoring Pitch's jab as much as Sandy had, 'Or…at least one of them'.

Another golden flash.
Serafina's form was gone.
A little girl had taken her place.
Scruffy but pretty with dark hair that bore an eerie similarity to his own, Pitch knew this person too.

'Without me you wouldn't exist', not-Emily said.

Pitch was about to give a snappy retort but he gagged suddenly, as if the words were physically stuck in his throat.
His vision was blurring and when he spoke, his voice was not his own.

'What's happening?' Pitchiner gasped.

'Sandy's much better at memory sharing than Tooth is', not-Emily said, crossing her arms, Shame about these side effects huh? I put your powers to sleep. What I should have put to sleep, was you'.

'Emily?' Pitchiner asked, disbelievingly.

'You've been dreaming Daddy', Emily said happily, opening her arms, 'But it's all over now. No more Nightmares'.

'No!' Pitch yelled, shouting his emerging alter ego down, 'I am not Pitchiner! I am-'

Sandy redoubled his efforts to pull Pitchiner to the fore and Pitch doubled up in pain.

'You can save me Daddy. Just open the door', Emily pleaded.
How could Pitchiner refuse her?

'Open the…' Pitchiner began but Pitch interrupted, 'Get out! Get out of my head!'

'It's not nice is it?' not-Emily taunted Pitch, 'When someone gets in there and takes away who you are?'

'Stop! Stop it!' both Pitch and Pitchiner cried.

'How does it feel? It hurts doesn't it?' Emily asked, sympathy dripping from every syllable.

'Yes…' said Pitchiner.

'You want an end to the pain? An end to all those lonely years?'

'Yes! I'll kill you both!' roared Pitch defiantly.
The pull was too strong, Candy and Sandy's combined influence too much for his convoluted mind.

'Open the door. Let me in Pitch. I can help Daddy. We can be a family again. Just you and me. Just let me in'.

There were too many voices!

'I'm not your father!' Pitch yelled even as Pitchiner tried to reach for his beloved daughter.

'Then why are you crying?' Emily asked, offering him his tooth box.

'Shut up!' Pitch screamed, yanking the box from the little girl's hands and opening it.
He waited for his powers to return, to make him strong, to end this torture!
Nothing happened.
The box was empty.
It fell from his shaking fingers as he sank to his knees.
It felt as if a great weight on his shoulders was holding him down.

'Why isn't it working?' Pitch asked faintly.

'Emily?' Pitchiner asked faintly, 'Where are you?'

Pitch's vision was clouding over and a haze, like a building, heavy headache was settling over his thoughts.
He could hear someone singing a lullaby and he felt himself drifting off to sleep. To somewhere safe and welcoming.
But…
Candy was above him, one finger inside the tooth box, stirring the contents.
She was smiling serenely.

'Because you're not the Boogyeman anymore', Candy whispered, 'All you are…is mine'.

Tooth awoke to the gentle touch of a leaf falling onto her cheek.
Opening her eyes, she looked up into a thick canopy of branches.
She recognised it as the celestial tree from Pitch's garden but it wasn't in the lair.
She was outside.
She sat up and noticed Pitch sitting beside her.
He gave her a contented smile then turned away.
'So this is what it's like to dream', he said.

Tooth didn't respond.
The grass beneath her fingers was soft but her memory focused powers told her it wasn't real grass.
Another dream then.
She followed Pitch's gaze.
They were sitting on a grassy hill overlooking a pristine shoreline.
The sun was setting in the pink sky as seabirds cried in the distance.
The waves were calm as they lapped at the dusky sands and the breeze was gentle, carrying the fresh scent of salt and ozone.

'Everything feels so far away', Pitch commented.

'I've dreamt about this before', Tooth said, 'Ever since we began memory sharing. It must be a shared mental fantasy. Another side effect'.

'A pleasant one', Pitch said.

'We have to wake up Pitch', Tooth said, fingers curling into fists.

'Why? It's so peaceful here'.

He lowered himself back, eyes closed.

'It's so quiet here. No noise in my head. No aches. No hunger'.

'But it's not real!' Tooth stressed, 'Do you want to be under her spell?!'

Pitch opened his eyes and looked at her.

'You don't like it here? With me?'

Tooth was taken aback despite the calmness of Pitch's question. He may as well have been commenting on the weather.

'That's not it!' she stammered, 'It's beautiful here and it's wonderful that we made it- somehow! But it doesn't work like this! It's not about things being perfect! It's about overcoming obstacles and-and someone doing what they have to for the person that they-that they care about! No matter…'

'No matter how much it hurts', Pitch finished.

He took her hand and squeezed it gently.

'Yes', Tooth said, finally understanding.
What Candy had said about how Pitch felt…was true!
Tooth was so astonished by this that she jumped when Pitch kissed her.
It was just a little touch of the lips on her cheek.
Barely more than a breath.
But it made her cheeks colour and her breath hitch in her throat.

'It was all real', whispered Pitch.

He stood and returned his gaze to the horizon.

'Goodbye Tooth', he said.

'What do you mean?' Tooth asked, worried at his resigned tone, 'You're going to be fine! I'll fix this! Like I promised!'

Pitch's eyes narrowed and Tooth followed his gaze.

The sun was bleeding into the water, dying it a vibrant pink.
The bird cries had vanished, silenced by a growing, rushing sound: as if a vast wind was drawing near.
The sky was cracking above them: bits of cloud falling like dust from an ancient ceiling.

'It was a nice dream while it lasted', Pitch said seriously, offering his hand to Tooth.

She took it and he lifted her onto her feet.

'But it's time for you to wake up', Pitch said, holding her shoulders.
Tooth could see the apprehension in his eyes as they darted towards the shoreline.

The sea was rising and bubbling as it began to devour the shoreline.
The sky burst open with the sound of crashing glass showing a gaping black void.
The tree behind them was torn from its roots and flew upwards as if it weighed nothing at all.

'What's happening?!' Tooth shouted over the howling wind, grasping Pitch's arms as she felt the typhoon threaten to tear them apart.

'I can't keep her out anymore!' Pitch yelled desperately, 'It's up to you, so…'

He grabbed her face.

She screamed as they were both lifted bodily from the ground.
They spun like reverse sky divers upwards towards the cold of the void.
Despite the fearsome gusts ripping tears from her eyes she forced them eyes open and met Pitch's steady gaze.

He yelled in her face and though the words were lost, the message penetrated her own sleeping brain loud and clear, driving out the dreamsand clogging her thoughts.

'WAKE UP!'

Tooth jerked awake but had enough presence of mind to keep her eyes closed.
Bunny had been left to guard her: she could hear his heavy breathing and sense the dark energy pulsing inside him.
Cracking one eye open slightly, she could see his dark shape pacing some distance away from her cage. As he passed beneath a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, she saw something flash on his back.
Focusing on the glint, she saw it was some kind of spiky protrusion.
The arrow!
If Candy had used the arrow containing Pitch's powers to turn Bunny into that thing then maybe she could pull the arrow out and remove them. Just like Candy had done to Pitch!
Maybe they wouldn't need his teeth to empower Pitch after all!
Trying to calm her heart rate, she considered the situation.
She had no idea how long she had been asleep but if Bunny was still here then chances were the concert was still ongoing, if it had even started.
She had to find Pitch.
Getting out of the cage would be easy.
Over the centuries, purely out of necessity, she had become an adept locksmith: able to get into even the most heavily fortified homes to reach the teeth waiting to be collected within.
Ever since she had created the mini fairies, she had had no use for this particular skillset but still always kept one tucked behind her ear for old time's sake.
The lock on the cage, unlike the bars did not appear to be magical and Tooth thanked the stars she had never told the others about her specialization.
The tricky part was going to be Bunny.
She stirred slightly as a test and watched Bunny's reaction.
He gave no sign he had heard her.
She tried a bigger move and rolled herself so she was underneath the lock, one arm falling through the bars.
Hiding her face beneath one arm, Tooth saw Bunny look at her but, unconcerned with her movements, he simply scratched himself and looked away.
Reaching up slowly, Tooth stuck the lockpick into the lock and withdrew her hand slowly.
She was ready.
She waited until Bunny had his back to her then rose up from the floor of the cage and began to pick the lock.
She stifled a gasp of relief as she unlocked it but the small click of the lock was enough to grab Bunny's attention.
He snarled and immediately pounded towards Tooth as she threw the cage open.
Despite fear churning in her stomach (the effects of Pitch's powers raging hot and strong) she stood her ground and bent her knees.
Far easier than Sandy.
Bunny snarled, curved claws scraping against the floor.
All she had to do…
Bunny was three feet away.
She shifted her weight back.
Was…
He leapt at her!
Jump!
Tooth took flight and Bunny landed where she had been standing, in the cage.
He slipped on the cage's smooth floor and rammed into the bars at the opposite side of the cage.
Tooth back flipped in mid-air and swooping down, clicked the lock back into place as Bunny recovered.
Realizing he had been caught, Bunny snarled at her and stomped a foot angrily.
Tooth realised he was trying to summon one of his tunnels and was gratified to see nothing happen.
North's bars were doing their job: no magical escape for anyone inside the cage.
But that did not mean she couldn't reach in.
Flying above the cage, she placed both feet on the bars and braced herself.
Bunny frantically kicked at the bars and threw himself against them.
Tooth focused on her target and with the reflexes of a bird of prey, grabbed the metal feathers at the end of the arrow.
Bunny tensed as he realised what she was doing and Tooth got a good look at hateful yellow eyes and a red mouth full of needle like black teeth.

'You'll thank me later' she yelled and with every bit of strength she could muster, yanked the arrow out of Bunny' back.

The effect was instantaneous.
As the arrow left Bunny's back, the blackness coating his fur was sucked out with it, staining the shaft inky black once more.
The caustic yellow in Bunny's eyes was drained as they resolved into two astonished green eyes staring at her.
He collapsed, the cage swinging with the sudden weight of his prone body.

Tooth leapt from the top of the cage and, leaving the arrow (now pulsing with poisonous black energy once more) on top of a nearby box, approached the cage.

Bunny's eyes flickered open.

'Tooth? That you?' he croaked.

'More importantly, is it you?' she asked with a deliberate lack of emotion.

'I hope so', Bunny said, rubbing his head, 'So I can have the pleasure of knockin' that sugar toasted witch Cupid on her sorry backside!'

He tried to stand abruptly but only managed an ungainly wobble before he had to sink back down.
He groaned in pain.
Tooth unlocked the cage hastily.
Candy's energy had completely dissipated.
While under Candy's spell, the faint scent of it had clung to Bunny like a physical presence and his eyes had seemed unfocused and far away.
From a more intuitive point of view, the anger in Bunny's eyes was real enough to convince her he was back to normal.

'Strewth everything hurts!' Bunny grunted as Tooth helped him out of the cage, supporting him with her shoulder.

'How did she get you Bunny?'

'Heard a strange voice down one of me tunnels. I go to investigate, next thing I know I'm making chocolate bars with her gob on 'em', Bunny said with disgust.

Tooth helped him stiffly settle on a nearby pile of cushions.
He didn't look good: he was shivering and didn't even seem to have the energy to lift his ears.
The one good thing was that it proved Pitch's magic could stop Candy's.
As Tooth dabbed Bunny's damp forehead with a nearby cloth, she reflected on the panicked reactions of her fans in the mall.
If she could get Pitch his powers back in front of the crowd at the concert and he let another one of those shrieks loose then maybe she could-

'Tooth? You in there?'

'Yes! Sorry Bunny!' she said, halting her train of thought.

'I was sayin' Candy's gonna go after Manny! We gotta stop her!'

'You're not going anywhere right now Bunny', Tooth said firmly but kindly, 'You've just had dark magic pulled out of you. We need to let your body recover'.

'But she has the Guardian stone!'

'She what?!' Tooth exclaimed.

'North had the yetis bring it here. She's gonna use it like some kind of transmitter pointed right at Manny'.

Tooth's eyes narrowed.
It was worse than she had thought. Than she could have ever imagined!

'You see?! You're gonna need me'.

'Yes I am but not like this Bunny', Tooth said, 'You can barely move'.

'Give me some of that chocolate I'll be fine', Bunny said, gesturing at a box stamped with Candy's face, 'But we got another problem'.

'Shoot', Tooth invited, as she began to lift chocolate bars.
There were so many boxes and props in this warehouse! Maybe there were other useful things?

'Candy ordered me to stay here but she wants you on stage for the grand finale. Jack's gonna be checking on the walkie talkie soon. She doesn't trust me to follow her orders anymore'.

'Well then', Tooth said, beaming as an idea to buy time occurred to her, 'How about we call him early?'

'Jack? You there?' Bunny asked, walkie talkie in hand.

He had eaten one chocolate bar and was already feeling better but the room had not yet stopped spinning.

'Woah Bunny! You're back to normal! You okay?' Jack's voice crackled through the walkie talkie, the delight at hearing Bunny's voice palpable.

Tooth couldn't help but smile to herself as she searched the warehouse for anything that would give them an advantage.
It said a lot about Jack that even while brainwashed, he still cared so much for his friends.
Looking at Bunny, the same thought was going through his mind despite the urgency of their situation.

'You know me Jack', he said reassuringly, 'If that rat bag Pitch can handle it, so can I'.

'I know you can. But you're sure you're okay?' Jack pressed.

'Got a rotten taste in me mouth and I feel like I've been trampled by North's reindeer but yeah. Thank the Moon that stuff wears off right?' Bunny said.

It made sense to use that as the reason Bunny was back to normal.
Jack had seen Pitch's powers dwindle over time at Halloween when he had used his teeth to return to his 'Dark Ages' level of power. It was an explanation he was likely to accept.

'You want me to come down? Give you a hand?' Jack asked.

'To be honest mate, I'm just gonna sit here for a while', Bunny said.
He didn't need to put much effort in putting across a tone of exhaustion.

'But you'll miss the concert!' Jack exclaimed.

'I know mate but I wouldn't feel right watching it anyway', Bunny said, the tone of disappointment far harder to affect.

A metal sound distracted him and he saw Tooth using a screwdriver to prop open a can of black paint.
He raised an eyebrow as he watched her begin to paint her feathers with it and it took a gesture from Tooth to remind him Jack was still listening.

'Sorry, walkie talkie cut out a bit there. After what I did…I'm just gonna keep an eye on Tooth. Make sure nothin' else goes wrong'.

There was a pause from Jack. Bunny and Tooth exchanged worried glances.

'How's she doing?' Jack asked finally.

'Still out for the count. Think I might put a blanket round her. You think Candy would mind?'

'Heck no! It's just a blanket. Besides she's too busy in makeup right now'.

'Where's everybody else?' Bunny asked.

Tooth flashed Bunny a thumbs up, other hand still busy painting her feathers.

'Well, North's messing with the special effects: finally managed to get the yetis to cooperate. Sandy's working crowd control. Was about to join him when you called'.

'What about Pitch?' Bunny asked.

'Don't worry. He's not a problem anymore'.

Jack carried on heedless of Bunny and Tooth's shared look.

'It's great to have you back Bunny! I can't wait to tell the guys!'

Bunny's eyes widened and he carefully phrased his response in his head before speaking.

'Do me a favour mate. Don't tell 'em', he said, 'Don't feel ready to face 'em yet'.

'Bunny you gotta stop being so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes'.

Bunny fought the urge to swear.
Damn Jack for being so supportive and understanding!

'Maybe but this was a big one', Bunny insisted, 'Want to apologize to Candy before I do anything else. Just tell her I got things under control yeah?'

'Okay. You got it', Jack said.

Bunny wiped his forehead and Tooth nodded.

'Well, enjoy the concert mate', Bunny finished, 'Gimme a shout when Candy wants Tooth in place for the finale. I'm not going anywhere'.

'Sure thing. Later!'

Bunny cut the link and tucked the walkie talkie back into his bandoleer.

'That'll buy us some time', he said.

'The yetis are here?' Tooth asked.

'Yep', Bunny said, rummaging inside a nearby box, 'North brought them in to work the effects and finish the stage. Totally tone deaf so Candy's spell can't affect them. Could be useful, as long as North doesn't catch wind of ya talkin' to 'em'.

Tooth watched him arrange a feathered headdress and a pile of clothes beneath a thick blanket in the cage before closing the door again.
In the gloom, it would be just about passable for her under a blanket.
Until someone got close enough for a proper examination.

'I'll follow ya up as soon as I can', Bunny said, sitting gingerly down on the ground, 'Hopefully with some more reinforcements. As soon as my head stops spinning'.

'Got it', Tooth affirmed, finishing her paint job.

She flew to a dusty floor length mirror and examined her handiwork.
All traces of her usual vibrant colours had been smothered beneath a generous layer of black body paint. If she kept high and avoided the lights, she would be practically invisible to anybody, be they mortal or Guardian.

As a finishing touch, she took a nearby sword belt made for one Shakespearean play or another and reached for the arrow.
Careful not to touch the tip, she slotted it through the scabbard and tied it tightly to her waist.

'Tooth', Bunny said.

Tooth turned to look at him, the solemnity in his voice drawing her attention.

'You know I hate Pitch's guts', he said.

'Yeah?' Tooth agreed, wondering where Bunny was going with this.

'But nobody deserves', Bunny said, pointing to the arrow, 'to have that running through their veins'.

'I know nobody deserves it', Tooth said quietly.

She touched Bunny's paw and gave him a sad smile.

'But those people up there deserve to be free', she said.
Then she was gone, heading for the noise of the concert outside.