Hey everybody! Sorry about the cliff hanger... or perhaps not...

Had a huge snowstorm last night, so I decided to celebrate...

Read, relax, review!

~o0o~

9.

Jack's first thoughts were of how terribly different Pitch looked to him. This was not the man he remembered. And yet... the longer Jack stared at the man, the more sure Jack became that he really hadn't changed that much at all. In fact, the new look suited him nicely, the evil betraying bastard he was.

Jack didn't trust himself to speak yet. He simply glared.

"What do you want Pitch?" Rapunzel asked the man, her voice sounding both fierce and hurt. Surreptitiously she reached behind her and began pulling loose the ties that held her hair together in its many braids.

"Oh, I had to know if it was true," Pitch answered her. "I had to see it for myself." Pitch made a tsk noise as he looked Jack over from head-to-toe without moving from where he stood, his hands folded neatly behind his back. "Dearest nephew, what has become of you?"

"I'm no nephew of yours," Jack answered bitterly, not hesitating as he raised his staff up threateningly.

Pitch grinned. "Aren't you though?" He began to walk towards the two. Rapunzel tried to jump towards him but Pitch threw out his hand, somehow magically causing her to be thrown backwards off her feet onto the hard rock. Jack cried out in shock, intending to lunge toward her to help, but Pitch had advanced towards him. In the dark man's hands now glistened a large black staff of his own, with a deadly curved blade fixed to the end- it was as if the weapon had appeared right from the shadows themselves. Jack took a step back, at a loss of what to do.

Fight! A voice inside his head called out desperately.

But how?! Another one answered in panic.

"Wait." A third voice told him calmly- but this voice was not his own. Jack's eyes narrowed. It had sounded like-

At that moment an arrow whizzed over his head and embedded itself into the stone between him and the dark man. A dragon roared from overhead. The next thing Jack knew, the large dark shape of Toothless had landed ferociously at his side, and an angry redhead had an arrow pointed straight at Pitch's chest.

"Doan yew touch him. Not. One. Moore. Step." She commanded her former teammate. Hiccup had helped Rapunzel up, and the two now stood opposite Jack and Merida, forming a semicircle around Pitch, backing him up to the rock shelf's edge. Hiccup calmly raised a flaming sword in his hand, Toothless growling lowly at his side. Rapunzel, on the other hand, held up a frying pan she had apparently retrieved from her saddlebags, the hateful expression on her face making him cringe. Jack wasn't sure which of the two he found more frightening.

"I have to say, this is very, very exciting," Pitch grinned, seeming unconcerned by the arrival of the other two Guardians and a deadly dragon. "The four of you, all in one place. I'm a little star struck!"

"Wha if Ah got Punzie to bonk ye on the back of yer head with her frying pan?" Merida asked, "Then yew'd really be seeing stars."

"Dearest greetings to you as well, my feisty friend," Pitch answered with a sickly smile. Then his smile faded into a look of utter annoyance. "Oh Hiccup, Hiccup," he spoke, turning on the spot to face the boy and rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Must we really do this? I never enjoyed your little one-sided conversations you seem so insistent on having. And besides, how rude it is for our friends!" He said, gesturing to the other Guardians as if he was the host of some great party.

Hiccup didn't react. "Just answer the question, Black," he said. "Yes, or no. It's a simple enough task, even for you." Beside him, Toothless growled in agreement.

But Pitch just shook his head. "Even you don't understand, Guardian of Knowledge."

Jack noticed Hiccup's face seem to fall for a fraction of a second before his expression hardened into a scowl. Clearly that was not the answer the boy was looking for.

"Enough." Rapunzel intervened, taking a step forward. "What do you want Pitch?" she asked, trying to cut to the chase. "Why are you doing this? All those people, the people you swore to protect! Betraying us, all of us, all of Warren- and for what?"

Pitch's eyes darted bitterly to Jack's. He looked almost... jealous. Then his gaze returned to the group as a whole. "I have done many things, and for many reasons. I'm afraid I don't have the time or patience to explain them to you now, but soon you will understand. Soon, you will all thank me." He sighed. "But for now..."

A terrible horse whinny was heard from behind the group. Hiccup and Jack turned around, startled, as a large and frightening black horse appeared from the shadows and stormed through their half-circle to join his master. It seemed to be formed from the shadows, trailing ribbons of darkness behind it as it cantered around. Just its presence made the Guardians feel uneasy and irritated.

"Easy girl... easy..." Pitch cooed at the beast as it stomped around him. "It took me awhile to perfect this little trick... Don't be nervous, it only riles them up more," he gloated with a glint in his yellow cat-like eyes. His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "They small fear, you know."

"What fear? Of you?" Merida challenged, her bow still pointed towards the man's chest, her stance unwavering.

"Brave words," Pitch noted, "but then again, I suppose you are the Guardian of Courage. Let's see what you make of my pets, then, shall we?" He spread his arms out and disappeared into the shadows on the ground. All but Merida lunged to catch him, who instead let fly her arrow, but the man had vanished too quickly. The arrow soared harmlessly over the edge of the rock shelf and fell downwards into the pit below.

The four turned on the spot to face their new threat. A dozen or so horses were silently picking their way towards the Guardians. The teens and Toothless began to slowly inch their way backwards as the horses advanced forward.

"We're going to fall off the edge if we keep walking backwards," Rapunzel warned.

"No kidding," Hiccup answered, gazing at the horses. Jack could almost see the wheels turning in the boy's head as he thought, rapidly assessing the situation. "We have to divide and conquer."

"Divide and conquer?" Merida cried out. "They're shadows! How do you conquer a shadow Hiccup?"

"I don't know Merida!" Hiccup retorted. "It's the only way. Toothless can't fly all of us out of here, and I really think it'd be better if we got rid of these things rather then let them run rampant-"

Jack had heard enough talking. He'd reached the cliff's edge. It was time to act, shadow or not.

He aimed his staff, concentrated, and watched triumphantly as a jet of silver ice sprung forth and tackled the nearest Nightmare horse, sending it tumbling to the ground.

"Well tha certainly simplifies things," Merida commented, impressed at Jack's handiwork.

Hiccup threw her an exasperated look before mounting Toothless and shooting up into the sky. They quickly landed on the other side of the ledge to take the horses from behind.

Divide and conquer.

Rapunzel and Jack rushed towards the horses, while Merida continued to fire arrows at them from her place by the edge of the cliff. Rapunzel fought quick and fast, as if it were a dance- spinning around and ducking in time to her own rhythm and beat. Her arms were strong and quick, and her frying pan succeeded in knocking out a few horses, dissolving them into shadow, or at least throwing them off course away from her friends. Her hair had untangled itself free from its braid, and she wielded it like golden whips, tripping the horses or sending them flying off the rock ledge.

Merida likewise was fast, rolling and ducking to avoid the attacks of the horses, then springing up to let loose her arrows. Jack noticed that some arrows were special- some set off mini explosions or shattered into clouds of smoke when they came in contact with a horse, others released nets meant to trap the horses, or wires to trip them. Jack could only guess they were Hiccup's designs.

Hiccup himself had dismounted from Toothless, who seemed perfectly fine running around shooting purple plasma blasts at any horse that dared approach him. The brunette boy had three horses cantering in a circle around him, too fast for the boy to either combat one at a time or make a run for it. He retracted the blade on his sword, and instead flipped open the cap on the other end, releasing a stream of sickly green smoke. He spun quickly in a circle and ducked to shield himself as he applied a spark from the other end of the weapon, setting the smoke ablaze with a loud Bang! The horses dissolved into mist, and Hiccup quickly recovered, once more brandishing the flaming sword to chase down another opponent.

Jack was managing pretty well on his own, shooting blast of ice after blast of ice at the attacking Nightmares. His aim however was not as good as Merida's, and his combat skilled seemed less honed than the others'. Still, he found himself settling into a comfortable rhythm, adrenaline pumping through his veins, and he began to think less, and simply feel more.

Suddenly he heard a scream. One of the Nightmares had snared Rapunzel's long hair while simultaneously being shot by an arrow. It had fallen over the edge of the small cliff, pulling the girl with it.

Before Jack or Merida could move, Hiccup and Toothless were soaring through the air after her. Jack was unable to see if Hiccup caught her before another Nightmare stampeded its way right in front of him, and he had to move quickly to defend himself. Then all the horses vanished. Pitch once more stood in front of him and Merida, his hands clasped behind his back, a smirk playing on his lips.

Jack risked a peek behind him, down below at the base of the pit. Relief flushed through him when he saw both Hiccup and Rapunzel were safe, but it was short lived. The two stood back to back with Toothless between them, Pitch's army of Nightmares cantering in a circle around them. This time, however, there were too many for Hiccup to do his smoke-and-fire-trick.

Jack forced himself to look away, and focus on the man in front of him. He held his staff at the ready, suddenly doubting whether a tiny blast of ice would really do him any good against Pitch.

Pitch looked down at Jack's staff in quiet amusement, then looked back into his face, as if he knew exactly what he was thinking.

"I can sense your doubts Jack," he spoke tantalizingly, "your fears. You fear you're not good enough, that you aren't suited for the role you've been given."

Jack's stomach dropped.

"Well let me ease your fears," Pitch spoke quietly, eyes narrowed in resentment. "I am the true Guardian of Burgess. Of all of Warren!" The long black scythe appeared once more in Pitch's hands, and he began to inch closer to Jack. Merida stood warily a few feet away from him, breathing hard from the fight and almost out of arrows. She made no move- wanting to make each arrow she did have count. She couldn't afford reckless shots.

"The Man in the Moon chose you to replace me," Pitch continued in pure hatred, his voice rising as he got nearer, "but you aren't worthy! You know nothing of being a Guardian, Jack! What makes you special? What makes you valuable?" Pitch was barely a foot away from him, but Jack stood frozen in his spot, feeling more despair and fear with each word that left the dark man's mouth. "You've spent your whole life hiding Jack, pretending to be invisible and isolating yourself away from what could have been your true life. And here you are, ever the pretender, pretending to be someone, something, that you're not. This isn't one of your childhood games Jack. You aren't a hero. You aren't a Guardian. You're nothing!"

Jack's eyes grew wide as he watched what the man did next. He'd barely had time to recover from his shock before Pitch brought his scythe crashing down onto the stone ledge, cracking it to pieces and sending Jack tumbling over the edge.

"JACK!" Merida cried out, springing forward to grab him but already too late.

A few feet away, Pitch laughed in mirth. Merida swung around and shot an arrow aimed right at his heart- but Pitch caught it lazily in his hand before dissolving into shadow and reappearing perched on the wooden beams attached to the water dam. Merida ran to the edge of the ledge, searching desperately for any signs of the white-haired boy.

Both she and Pitch spotted him at the same time. Both of their mouths dropped wide open.

A joyful laugh echoed throughout the entire quarry, echoing off the stone walls. A flash of blue soared past Merida and somersaulted through the sky, carrying with it a powerful gushing wind that almost threw her over the edge. The blue body slowed to a stop, hovering in the air in front of Pitch, confirming for Merida what she had been unable to first believe.

Jack pointed his staff at Pitch, seeming to stand on thin air right in front of him.

"You know," Jack joked, his tone light, his gaze deadly, "next time you throw someone off a cliff, better make sure they can't fly."

Pitch seemed to be having trouble controlling his anger. His face had turned an even darker shade of grey, and his eyes shone with an even deadlier glint. He looked down at the water swirling safely in the dam beneath him. Further below, Hiccup and Rapunzel were still trapped in the ring of Nightmares, though they were doing their best to fight their way out. Jack nervously followed his gaze. Pitch smirked. He made to lunge downwards, causing Jack to shoot at him with his staff, but at the last moment melted into shadow. Jack's ice blast collided with one of the support beams holding the dam together, shattering the beam to shards of wood.

Several things happened at once.

Merida screamed a warning to Jack, but it was too late. The horses vanished as their master had. With the collapsed support beam, the walls of the dam broke wide open, sending a ginormous wave of water crashing downwards-

Time froze for Merida.

She saw herself on the edge of the rock shelf, watching as the dam exploded and the water tumbled out. She watched Jack turn in the air reflexively, holding his arms over his face in protection. She saw Hiccup gather up Rapunzel's hair in his arms, preparing to jump onto Toothless's back. She saw rock pillars tumble over like dominoes with the force of the incoming wave, and a particularly large one begin to fall... right where Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Toothless were. She watched as the three began to run in panic, dashing away from the water, trying to outrun the rock pillar... and run straight into one of the caves below. She watched as how as soon as the red flicker from Toothless's tail disappeared into the shadow of the cave, the pillar collapsed onto the ground, sealing the cave entrance just as the wave crashed into and filling the giant quarry pit.

She watched as blue energy seemed to explode from Jack's body in a fit of rage, freezing everything around him and turning the top layers of water to ice.

Special shout-out to Dragonwriterofthenight for calling one of the turnouts of this chapter... but did you foresee the rest?

I'll try to get another one in today, if I can, otherwise, definitely within the week!

Try to review if you can! I respond to ALL my reviews!

Guest Reviews:

Snowflake: So sorry! Well, sorta sorry (wink wink)... Hope this chapter was worth the wait! Thanks for the review!

See ya,

Iceprincess