I'm back. Yes I know the chapters are short so this isn't much of an update. Of course this chapter is more action packed, so that's gotta be worth something right! Also...I'M PUBLISHED YOU GUYS! This is big for me, my first published project. My name is Emily Thompson, and I wrote A Tale of Roses, an original fairytale. If you enjoy my writing, maybe give the novella a look into. Anyways, onto this fairytale. Enjoy!


"Ema, we both know you're hiding because you need to recuperate," said Pitch, unfazed by my boast. "How can you possibly expect to fight me off?"

"I'm not," I said, almost hesitantly. "Kayla is."

Pitch laughed. "Her? You actually expect a child to defend you?"

"Why not?" I said. "Without kid's belief in us, we have no power. Unfortunately, so all the power they gave me is expunged for right now, but that doesn't mean they're powerless on their own." I placed my hands on Kayla's shoulders. "This is the child of Jaimie Bennet, the last kid who had a major role in defeating you. She isn't one to be messed with; with my power and her strong belief she can take you on. She may believe in me, but I believe in her too!"

"If you insist Ema," Pitch mockingly bowed, "Let's see what she's made of."

I turned to Kayla. "You can do this; my faith in you is strong."

Kayla's eyes were shaking and getting watery. "Okay," she said meekly. She slid off the cloud and approached Pitch. Pitch laughed some more.

"This is adorable," he said. "You're afraid, Kayla. You're afraid to fight me."

Kayla took a deep breath.

"Maybe I am a little afraid, but make no mistake; it's not you I'm afraid of."

"Come again," said Pitch. "I know the fears people have little girl, and I'm in that fear you have."

"My dad told me stories of when he was young, of how he fought the boogeyman with the guardians of childhood, of how he met Jack Frost. He told me the boogeyman saw him as a threat to his world of fear, so he wanted to get rid of him. As long as one child believes, the guardians would be there to stop him, to go against him. The boogeyman wanted a world where everyone was afraid and sad, where no one had any faith in the wonder of childhood."

Kayla raised her head. "In the end though, they won, the guardians and my dad. That was because faith, hope, dreams, they are stronger than fear. At the end of the day, childhood wonder was restored to the world, everyone remembered to have fun. You were just a bad dream."

Kayla smiled. "My dad told me, if I ever ran into you, if I was scared of the dark, the monsters in the shadows, or even had a nightmare, it would only be a bad dream. Nothing to be afraid defeated with light and positive thinking. So, I'm not afraid of you or what you can do to me."

Pitch was frowning now. "However, I am still scared. You're only as real as I let you be for myself, but for Ema and the guardians, you are real to them. You're a real nightmare for them, every day of every year forever. You can't hurt me, but you can hurt them. If you don't succeed, what will you do to her? That's what I'm afraid of."

Pitch was smiling again, showing his pointy teeth. Kayla got determined and clenched her paintbrush tightly. "This means I have to beat you, to protect Ema, the guardians and the world from your influence. I can't lose to you." She pointed her paintbrush toward him as if it was a sword and she was challenging him to a duel.

"Very well," said Pitch, who then summoned a giant scythe of sand. "Bring it Kayla Bennet!"

This is going to get good; I clapped my hands and cried, "Go get him Kayla!" I then imagined some popcorn to munch on, but since I was still drained, I got a small when I asked for a medium. Also it wasn't buttered, but I had to deal.

Kayla clutched her paintbrush with both hands and a mighty shield formed around us when Pitch went to land his blow. While the shield was getting broken apart, Kayla drew up a firing squad of archers to climb to the roofs and rain down on Pitch. Pitch had time to block all the hits with his own shield, before it broke up; Kayla made an illusion of us so we could get some distance. I am so proud of her, I was tearing up then.

By the time Pitch realized the deception, Kayla had drawn up two long twin blades. I suggested she also put some armor on, so she drew that on as well. She had finished drawing the armor by the time he caught up. He had a giant sword made of black sand, but Kayla was able to get up close and hit him there. That's the problem with big weapons; they're not good for close combat. The horse he was riding disintegrated. He was on the back foot, he didn't have much time to conjure a new weapon, as he was too busy defending himself. Protective love is so strong. She didn't want anything to happen to me, so nothing was going to happen.

Pitch kicked her away to get some distance, with that distance Kayla grabbed the paintbrush and turned her swords into sword whips. Pitch tried to utilize the giant weapon, but Kayla just spun her whips and deflected it.

"How is she this good?" asked Pitch, frustrated.

"Because it's the power of imagination," I said. "You can do anything with that. She may not have had any combat training, but she imagines herself as my mighty defender, so that's what she is."

"Your powers can't possibly be that strong, unless…you gave them to her through a conduit."

"It took you that long to realize it?"

"No wonder I sensed the fear decreasing," said Pitch, "you lended your power to the runts to let them undo my work. You've proven you're a powerful asset to whatever side you assist."

"You going anywhere with this?"

"Are we going to continue fighting," asked Kayla. "We have all night left to go."

"I'm just wondering," he said conjuring a bow and some arrows. "What would happen if that conduit was lost?" He went to aim, and fired several arrows to Kayla's left. Kayla managed to dodge and deflect most of them; of course one snagged the paintbrush. Luckily I learned my lesson with the Cupid fiasco; my arrows don't break, so a paintbrush wouldn't either. It did jettison it out of bounds though.

"You can't destroy imagination Pitch," I cried.

"I can keep it at bay though," said Pitch. "Without your power to resupply her, her illusionary aids will disappear once I wear them down." I turned a tad pale. He did know how to make people scared.

"Don't stop fighting, you can still last a couple minutes."

"Don't intend to stop," she said, folding up one of her whip swords back into a sword.

I got off my cloud and went to go retrieve the brush, and Kayla kept trying to keep him at bay. The most I could do was hover a bit to get from rooftop to rooftop, but I was mainly running. I reached the arrow that pinned the brush. I thought a small happy thought ('we are going to win') making my hand glow so I could pull the arrow out. I picked up my brush and turned around, to find myself surrounded by nightmares.

I had two choices: I could use the brush as a power boost to defend myself, but by the time I got back Kayla's power would have run out. I could sacrifice the brush and send it back to Kayla, but then I would be in danger. I could just make two brushes, not with the power I had right now. Kayla did say she wasn't in danger from Pitch, but if she believed he could hurt me…

I picked out my bow, shoved the brush in the string, and took the shot. It broke through one nightmare that surrounded me, but it wasn't enough. It was enough to make it back to Kayla though. It got caught behind her ear. Now I was defenseless, kind of. I reached for my sword, and drew it.

The nightmares rushed me, and I started swinging. I was tired, so it's not like I could take out many at once. I got knocked onto my back. The nightmare went to stomp into me, but missed. The nightmares continued to try to stomp, but they kept missing. I looked around me, four leafed clovers had grown. How lucky of me.

"Nothin's worse than tarnished gold," said a familiar voice. "Ye best be leavin Ema alone."

"McClagin?" I said, "You're here too?"

"We're all here lass," said McClagin in his rotundness. "Consider it our atonement."

"I've been getting a lot of that tonight," I said sitting up.

"We're here to help Ema," said McArthur.

"What would you need of us?" said McCorgin.

"I'm a little tired right now," I said. "Can you pull some tricks and get rid of the nightmares in town?"

"Can do, Ema," said McClagin.

"Easily," said McBar.

"We've got tons of Mud, Potatoes, and Stinkweed at the ready," said McIvan.

"We'll give those nightmares an unlucky night," said McClagin. "Come on boys!" The leprechauns rushed off to cause their mischief, hopefully all for good. Now that that was off my plate, I could get back and support Kayla.


The Leprecauns have joined the fight, unlike the movie the kids actually put in an active effort. Wow, what a climax I'm shaping up. Once this is all over I might merge the chapters so it's not so lengthy, or longer reads of chapters...you get the idea. Until next time...stay tuned!

-Admiringroseblossom11