Chapter 23

As Pitch and Jack continued to play-fight with each other, Babytooth flew over. She chirped curiously, almost as if asking who Jack was with in the shadows. The boy whirled around, accidentally dragging Pitch into the light. Babytooth let out a terrified chirp and backed away. "Wait!" Jack shouted, scared. "Babytooth, let me explain!" But she just shook her head, terrified, and quickly flew away. "No, Babytooth!" She was already far out of sight.

"Pitch, we have to go after her!" The young Guardian exclaimed, about to take off.

Pitch grabbed him by the arm. "Jack, tooth fairies are one of the fastest creatures alive, and she has a head start on you. There's no way you would ever catch up." The frost elf let out a small whimper. "They'll be here any minute now."

A few seconds after he finished his sentence, a bright light filled the sky and the sleigh came rushing towards them. "Well, that was faster than I thought," the Nightmare King sighed.

The sleigh landed one roof over and the Guardians rushed towards them. Jack stood there, paralyzed. Seeing this, Pitch stood in front of him protectively. The Boogeyman shot out a wave of nightmares, to help fight the Guardians. When Pitch got knocked down by Sandy, Jack jumped back to reality. He stared in horror at his lover and friends wounding each other.

Jack went to help Pitch get away, when North grabbed him. He managed to get himself free, but fell hard on the roof. Jack hit his staff against the roof, creating an ice wall between Pitch and the Guardians. "Go home, quick!" Jack screamed.

"I'm not going to leave you here!" He shouted back.

"Please! I can handle this!" Pitch was about to protest, but saw the pleading look on Jack's face. Pitch gave an understanding nod, and disappeared in the shadows.

Sandman grabbed hold of Jack and sat him up. Dreamsand whipped around his hand, and he brought it closer to Jack's face, planning to heal him. He stopped in shock; he sensed no nightmaresand. He gave Jack a puzzled look, Jack refused to meet his gaze.

"Sandy, what're you waiting for? Get rid of blacksand." North said.

A pile of sand with a large "X" over it floated above Sandman's head.

"What?!" Tooth asked, completely confused. Bunny stood a small distance away from the other Guardians, not sure what to do.

"Then this all big misunderstanding," North thought aloud, "right Jack?"

The snow spirit looked up at them, before quickly looking back down, not knowing what to say. He gripped his staff so tightly that his knuckles turned bright white. It got very quiet. Everyone stared dumbfounded, except for Bunny, who mouthed the words: "I'm sorry."

Jack gave an almost unnoticeable nod in reply.

"Let's get back to Pole," North finally said, breaking the silence. Bunnymund helped Jack up and they all got in the sleigh. It was a very quiet and awkward ride back to the North Pole. Jack could feel a huge sob welling up in his throat, but swallowed it, forcing himself to put on his bravest face possible.

Once they arrived, North led the boy to his private workshop, and motioned for him to wait there. Jack sat down on the bench, and went back to staring at the floor. North headed out, but stopped at the door. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" Jack shook his head, knowing if he spoke his words would choke up. North gave an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. "Good," he said as he closed the door and went to discuss with the other Guardians.

"I-I'm sorry," Jack whispered to the empty room as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. The few elves that were in the room ran over to Jack, gathered in his arms, and hugged him. Jack hugged them back. "I'm hic sorry." Exhausted from the stress of it all, he laid down on the bench, wrapped his arms around the elves, and fell fast asleep. He hoped that when he woke up, he would see Pitch explaining that he had accidentally turned his dream into a nightmare. But deep in his heart, he knew that was too good to be true.

To be continued.