Chapter 11: Night of the eclipse, part 3: Totality.
(9:10 PM twenty minutes until totality)
"I trusted you." Loss said, taking a step toward the guardians. He spoke in badly more then a whisper, but his voice carried pure hate and venom with every syllable "I opened up to you, shared my secrets, but all the time, you were just using me."
As Loss walked towards them, a wave of despair and fear washed over them. It were as if his very presence were polluting the air with fear, and everyone was chocking on it. All of the children that had been freed by Shock's destruction had succumb to Loss' power, and had become withdrawn and emotionless. The only ones not effected were Tommy and Jenny, who were the closest to the guardians. As each child succumbed to Loss' dark presence, the guardians felt their strength fall dramatically. Tooth's wings gave out and some of her feathers fell out, Sandy's golden glow faded to a sickly yellow, and Frost North and Bunny all looked like they had come down with a sudden flu.
"Loss, I understand you feel betrayed, but," before Lantern could finish his sentence, Loss leapt into the air.
"Bunny!" North shouted. Bunny didn't need telling twice. With all the strength he could muster, he opened a rabbit hole that sucked them all down, just as Loss crashed into the ground, reducing the parking lot to a crater.
"He's stronger then ever." Frost said as he and the others emerged near the pond.
"Who is that kid?" Tommy said, his voice breaking.
"Believe it or not, he was once a child just like you two." Lantern said. "He felt that my friends" he gestured to the guardians. "failed to protect him and his friends, and Pitch took advantage of his loss of belief, and gave him those powers."
"But now it is for us to save him. " North said proudly. He seemed to have regained some of his confidence.
"'Save him?' I'm the one who saved him." It was Pitch. He stepped out of the shadows, an unpleasant smile on his face.
"Pitch, you let that poor boy go." Tooth demanded.
"'Let him go?' How many time do I need to repeat myself; I was the one who saved him. I never forced him to come with me or accept my gifts. All I did was offer him sanctuary, away from all the misery and suffering that the world was putting him through. Honestly, it's your own faults he turned out this way."
"Our fault!" Bunny snapped.
"It's your job is to protect the children of the world, yet all throughout the world, children suffer and perish every single day. I just did what you lot never did; get directly involved."
"It is not our place to get involved in the affaires of ordinary people." North said sternly.
"Well maybe you should. Before that boy met me, he didn't even have a roof over his head. Now, thanks to me, he has power, and soon, a place of reverence. How ironic; the guardians, the protectors of children, destroyed by one of the many children that you have failed to protect."
"Don't let him get to you North." Lantern said. "He's just stalling for time."
"Oh, Lantern." Pitch said, finally noticing Lantern. "I was wondering where you has disappeared to."
"I was a mole the entire time Pitch, but now I have returned to my true friends."
"I guessed as much." Pitch said nonchalantly. "It's a pity, I really did like you, but it doesn't really matter." He took out a pocket watch. "In…ten minutes, the eclipse will hit it's peak and the entire world will be mine."
"Well, see about that!" Bunny said as he leapt forward, but Pitch faded back into the shadows before Bunny could reach him.
"I'd love to play, but I'm saving my energy for the Man-In-the-Moon. But don't worry, I'll leave you with a play mate." And out of the shadows stepped Loss. That wave of misery and despair washed over them. Loss started toward the guardians, but had barley gone three steps when WACK, Frost threw a snowball at Loss' face.
"AHHH!" Tommy laughed. Even the guardians chuckled. Frost's stunt did more then just get a laugh in. The fear and despair that Loss had brought about had vanished for an instant, but once he had scrapped the snow from his face returned. Loss marched forward again, but Frost fired another round of snowballs at him.
"Jack, what are you.."Lantern began, but Frost interrupted.
"We said we're going to save this kid, right? Well, that's what I'm trying to do."
"Frost has the right idea." Lantern said. In a burst of flames, he transformed his lantern into a solitary doorframe.
"Lantern, what are you doing?" North asked. Lantern knocked twice on the door and opened it inward.
"I'm going to get help." He stepped through and gave the door a tug. In a burst of flames, he and the doorway vanished.
"What do we do now?" Bunny said as Loss advanced on them.
"We do our jobs." North said with a grin. "We bring wonder, hope, dreams and fun to this child: and fast."
"Come with me you two." Tooth said, taking Tommy and Jenny by the hands. "This is no place for children." She lead them away from the pond and told them to head back to town before returning to the battle.
"Listen kid." Frost said as Loss advanced toward him. I know you've had a hard life, and I know feel like we failed you. But this is our chance to make things right. Let us help you."
"Quiet!" Loss threw a punch, but Frost managed to dodge it. The blow did however topple a pine tree, which Loss then seized and lifted as easily as if it were Styrofoam.
"Oh crikey!" Bunny moaned as Loss swung the tree like a club. Bunny managed to avoid the blow, but North got knocked into a boulder. Loss prepared for another swing when,
Crack. Sandy got Loss' wrist wrapped in his whip. This resulted in Loss dropping the tree in surprise. SMASH. The ice covering the pond crack like an egg, and Loss fell straight in.
"Jack, freeze him in." Bunny said said as he and the others got North and moved away from the cracking ice. Once all his friends were clear, Frost slammed his staff on the broken ice, and the pond refroze.
"Doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't move." Frost said. Loss' head was sticking out of the reformed ice, his hands and arms sticking out at odd angles.
"Now what." Loss said bitterly.
"Now," Frost picked up a handful of snow. "We have a little fun." And he threw the snowball at Loss. At first he scowled, then slowly, it turned into a smile.
"You like that?" Frost said gleefully. "Well, how about this!" He conjured up even more snowballs, and performed a series of highly impressive juggling tricks; including a arial backflip and a under-leg catch.
"Hey, Sandy." Frost called out. "Why don't you show him some of your tricks." Sandy rose to the challenge and produced two colossal sand dinosaurs that battled right there in front of them. Frost looked at Loss, and saw that the boys smile was growing wider and wider.
"It's working, were getting to him!"
"No your not!" Pitch was back, and he furious. He had also brought along what looked to be his entire Nightmare army.
"I've come to far to be stopped now!" The black sand engulfed Loss, and in a moment, he had been dug out of the ice and was back on his feet.
"It seems you need a little help." Pitch said with a nasty smile. "So I've brought the cavalry."
"So did I." Everyone tuned, and saw Lantern leaning against the splintered trunk of the tree Loss had just destroyed. His one hand, his lantern cast an eerie orange glow on him. In his other hand appeared to be…
"One of my snow globes?" North said, surprised.
"Sorry, North." Lantern said as he tossed said globe in the air and caught it. "I needed to use a few, but they went to a good cause." He threw the glob on the ground, and out of the portal came the Yetis, elves, the warrior eggs, and all of Tooth's fairies.
"Well done Lantern." Pitch said with an unpleasant smile. "But your too late." and he pointed upward.
Everyone turned there attention to the moon: It had turned a red, the eclipse has reached it peak. Everyone was so distracted, no one notice Lantern transform into a bird and darted toward Pitch.
"I win!" Just as Pitch began to sink into the shadows, Lantern changed back in a burst of flames and grabbed onto Pitch's shirt collar, and the both of them disappeared.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Thank you all for reading. I had this done on Tuesday, but chose to wait until the weekend to post it. I"ll tell you, this chapter was hard for me to write. Not because there was anything particularly difficult, but because I had to do a whole lot of improvising. Also, this chapter felt more like filler to me then anything else. Why? Because my next chapter will be the final conclusion to The Mask Guardian. See you then.