Dead || Jack Frost

Four

As soon as the sight of tooth palace appeared, Dia knew something was up. There were no fairies in the air. Normally the place was teaming with Tooth's little hummingbirds, but Dia couldn't see any. As the sleigh drew closer, the occupants were able to make out black shapes which were heading towards them and away from the suspiciously silent tooth palace.

"What?" North uttered as the black shapes grew closer. Dia and jack stood up, abandoning their conversation to stand at the front of the sleigh.

As the shapes grew closer, Dia could see that they were horses made out of dust and galloping through the air directly towards them. The sleigh swerved as North tried to steer through the army of black horses. One came careering straight into Dia's face and he jumped back with a yelp, wrapping one of his scarves around his fist and punching the horse. The black horse caught fire and exploded into a cloud of dust. Behind him, Sandy had made a golden umbrella and was shielding himself with it.

"Their taking the tooth fairies!" Jack cried out. Dia watched as the sprite flew up and caught a stray fairy from the jaws of one of the horses. He landed on the back of the sleigh, the hummingbird fairy cradled in his palms. "You alright little baby tooth?" He asked and the fairy squealed in response.

The sleigh flew through the mountain and into tooth palace, North chasing a lone horse. "Here take over!" He shouts, passing the reigns to Dia who almost dropped them in shock. North promptly jumped on top of the sleigh, drawing his sword to slash at the horse which exploded.

"They're taking the teeth!" Bunny cried out as a few of the golden tooth container which had been inside the horse, scattered across the sleigh floor. Sandy thumbed at the residue of black dust thoughtfully. Jack cradled the little fairy closer to his chest.

"Dia! Watch out!" North warned as Dia steered particularly close to a tower. He yanked the reigns up, landing the sleigh with a thud and a scrape, but mostly unscathed on to one of the many levels of tooth palace. Everyone groaned at the impact.

"Tooth!" Dia called as he spotted the fairy flittering around above them in a panic. He left out of the sleigh, the others on his heels, and ran towards Tooth. "Are you okay?"

"They took my fairies" Tooth sobbed, sinking lower in the air. "And the teeth, all of them. Everything is gone", she whimpered as she fell to her knees as everyone surrounded her, North placing a hand on her shoulder.

The fairy Jack had saved squealed and flew out from where she had been hiding in his hoodie and towards Tooth who caught her in a hug. "Thank goodness", she breathed. "One of you is alright".

Dia hopped down onto the level below where Jack was standing, removed from the guardians, and sent him a smile. "That was really good of you", he muttered. "Saving one of the fairies".

"Thanks", Jack smiled warmly back. "I think she's rather attached to me". Dia opened his mouth to say something else when another voice spoke and the words died on his lips.

"I have to say", a cold and echoing voice said. "The big four all in one place, I'm a little starstruck", Pitch teased as he peered down at them from above. He was a tall, slim fellow, like a shadow with sallow skin and golden eyes. He made Dia's skin crawl.

"Did you like my show on the globe North", Pitch asked. "Got you all together".

"Pitch!" Tooth screamed before flying at him in rage. "You've got thirty seconds to return my fairies!" As soon as she got close, Pitch melted away into a shadow, leaving Tooth fluttering.

"Or what?" Pitch's bodiless voice jeered. "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" He reappeared on another platform a few feet away and glared down at them.

"Why are you doing this?" North demanded.

Pitch pointed a finger at them. "Maybe I want what you have. To be believed in", he spat, the statement striking something inside Dia. "Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds".

"Maybe that's where you belong", Bunny retorted, stepping forwards.

"Oh go suck an egg rabbit", Pitch scoffed in dismissal. Bunny lunged at him as pitch once again disappeared into shadow.

"Wait a minute", Pitch sounded interested. "Is that Jack Frost? And Dia de los Muertos I believe?" He chuckled darkly. "Since when are you all so chummy?"

"We're not" Jack muttered, fingers gripping his staff defensively. Dia remained silent, tightening the purple cloth tied around his fists which were held up in front of him.

"Oh a neutral party", Pitch said and both of them whirled around to see him leaning on the wall behind them. "I'm just going to ignore you two, but you must be used to that by now", he remarked before vanishing.

"Pitch!" Bunny yelled and he bounded forwards to attack only to watch Pitch disappear. Tooth ripped the boomerang from Bunny's back and flew towards where Pitch was currently standing with a war cry. A black horse sprung from Pitch's feet and reared up at Tooth, sending her faltering back with a gasp.

Pitch laughed as he pushed the black horse back. "Whoa ho ho. Do you recognise this Sandman?" He asked, spinning some of the black dust, which Dia now realised was black sand, around in his palm. Sandy glared. "It took me a while to perfect this little trick. Turning dreams into nightmares", Pitch spoke as he stroked the snorting horse. "Don't be nervous, it only riles them up more. They smell fear you know".

"What fear?" Bunny asked defensively. "Of you?" He snatched his boomerang back from Tooth. "Nobody's been afraid of you since the dark ages".

"Oh the dark ages", Pitch smiled. "All the power I welded". He looked down and caught Dia's gaze. "Dia should remembers that well", he grinned as Dia stepped back with a shiver of fear. Jack spared the boy a worried glance. "But then the Man in the moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light", Pitch continued, voice darkening with anger. "Meanwhile everyone wrote me off as a bad dream. 'Oh there's nothing to be afraid off, there's no such thing as the bogeyman!'" His face contorted with fury, "Well that's all about to change".

The tooth palace shuddered suddenly, the beautiful decor fading and crumbling away. "It's happening already", pitch proclaimed triumphantly. "All across the world, children are waking up and finding out that the tooth fairy does not exist. It's not much, but to a child", he broke off with a sickening grin as Tooth began to look more and more heartbroken.

"What's going on?" Jack asked as he and Dia gazed at the fading palace.

"They don't believe in me anymore", Tooth whispered.

"Oh didn't they tell you two?" Pitch crowed. "It's great being a guardian. But there's a catch.All they protect, hopes and dreams, as people stop believing it all goes away. And little by little, so do they". He laughed gleefully. "There will be no Christmas, no Easter, no little fairies who come in the night. It will all be replaced by fear, and darkness, and me. It's your turn not to be believed in!"

After that, everything happened quickly. Bunny leaped into motion, throwing his boomerang up and towards Pitch who ducked and jumped onto his nightmare. He fled into the air, diving down as the guardians followed. Dia and Jack flew after them, watching as Bunny threw egg bombs. They exploded into brightly coloured powders, sending Pitch fleeing into a dark cave.

They landed on the ground next to a small lake at the base of a cliff, all of them spreading out into defensive positions in case Pitch retaliated. North held his swords out for a few moments, surveying  the area before relaxing.

"He's gone".

Unedited