North thought maybe his first evaluation was too swift. Maybe Jack just respected her opinions. Sandy nodded at Jacks’ suggestion, not that anyone was actually looking at him.

Tooth felt betrayed. Her fairies had been held captive by this man. Her palace destroyed. Apparently, her anger showed. North’s hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, shaking her out of her anger.

“Little Sophie is quite smart,” North said, pulling the fairy over to him. Tooth was grateful. She didn’t usually think that ill of Pitch. Not the kind of anger that made her feel like molting. She guessed it was the air. Being surrounded by all of the spirits made her feel like she had to defend herself and her fairies.

"She is." Jack agreed with North but a look at Tooth and you could see what her feelings on the matter where. ' But she doesn't really remember that night. She was so young and like I said she just cares. She wants to think that he can be rehabilitated." And he wanted that too. Not for Pitch because he kind of hated the guy but for Sophie. He didn't want to have to go back and tell her that they had decided to make Pitch vanish like he did to Sandy. It would upset her. And Jack hated seeing her sad.

Bunny watched Jack as he talked about his blond ankle biter.He didn't like it. Sure Jack would get all quiet and wishful when he talked about a memory he had from his human year.But this was a different kind of wishful a kind they had all heard before. Of course he could be reading to much into it. Jack and Jamie were like brothers that would mean he had to see the little blonde like a sister.Bunny knew how much Jack had missed his sister, he had went south and just plowed over Antarctica in a white out after everything with Pitch had calmed down. " The ankle biter is a big softie. Kid's got a heart full of hope."

North’s eyes scanned the room, a cheery expression never leaving his face. There were so many eyes on them. Normally, he didn’t care much for appearances, but he wanted them to look like a united front today. The attendance was well over what he ever expected. There were several spirits whose eyes were fixed on the Guardians. He leaned down to Tooth and whispered “Smile” in her ear.

Tooth felt very foolish. She hadn’t even considered that they were surrounded by so many spirits. She smiled and looked at Jack. She did understand where the girl was coming from. As the Guardian of Memories, she remembered many things, among them, Pitch’s reign during the dark ages and his descent from power. “That’s a very nice idea, Jack, but who would be doing the rehabilitation?”

("HEART FULL OF HOPE." ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?)

Scratching the back of his next he realized he hadn't thought about that. And if Sophie had she hadn't told him.Jamie had said Sandy could monitor Pitch but as for rehabilitating him. His eyes grew slightly wider oh no." I think she thinks we would do it." He didn't bother keeping the shock off his face.

"No way am I babysitting that gumby." Bunny hissed out of his smile. This wasn't his first time in front of a gathering of spirits. They looked towards the guardians during times like these. They may have been the ones to fight Pitch but each of the spirits here had been effected by it in some way. Even if they were just the spirits of a holiday Pitch had yet to seek his sights on." No matter how much I care about the kid. her idea is crazy."

Jack had to agree. Not about the loving Sophie thing. Well he did but in the same way he loved Jamie, yeah that was right. Just like Jamie. No fuzzy feelings in his stomach or sudden heat. Anyway she had t o be crazy if she thought that they would watch Pitch. Hell he would never see her...and Jamie again if that was the case. He doubted it would be a short rehabilitation and no way was he going to bring that psycho around her...and Jamie.

Sandy didn’t find the idea that fat-fetched, but trying to convey that would have been near impossible. Instead, he looked at North. North nodded at him, then looked up at the moon. It would begin soon.

“Well, we wouldn’t necessarily have to,” Tooth said, looking at Bunny. “There are plenty of spirits here could. Sophie might not have known that, but it is true.”

The more Tooth thought about Sophie’s idea, the more she thought it could work, and that upset her in an entirely new way. She was taking pity on Pitch.

Light shone brightly down from the open window a hush falling over the other spirits while the Guardians continued their conversation. The silence was torn. Mostly it was from deep respect for Manny but the under tone of the silence was that it confirmed what they had hoped was untrue. Pitch had yet to be brought to them by one of the guardians. it could only mean that they had been sent to retrieve him.

"Aye but would any of them willingly take him on?" His grass green eyes scanned over the crowd of now silent spirits. He couldn't see it. Mother nature was too spacey and moving around more then Jack was. She'd lose track of Pitch before she even left the Workshop. Maybe father time but he was a recluse and that would probably just drive Pitch farther over the edge. Sophie had a big heart but she was human she didn't get it. There would be a new boogeyman. Glancing at Jack Bunny had to remember the boy was proof that they were all replaceable.

Jack wore his mischievous smile as he looked at the others. " I don't know, I think we could handle babysitting. Just put him in time out. I know this great little corner in Antarctica. All it's missing if a Pitchicile." He tapped his bottom of his staff against the floor. Lacey patterns of ice forming.

The silence unnerved Tooth. It was coming. But Jack was perfectly fine. Jack was still joking. Poor Jack. “I can see it,” she said, quietly, so that only her fellow Guardians could hear her. She had seen the sculpture that Pitch and Jack had accidentally created once. Only once. It had a terrible beauty to it, that she couldn’t handle to visit it again. “Jack will just freeze him to the sculpture and we’ll check on him once a week—if we remember.”

North laughed at that, but it didn’t really reach his eyes. He felt the overwhelming urge to hide Jack behind him. Of course, there was no way the winter spirit would allow that.

Jack laughed. Loud and unburdened, leaning on his staff. He could see it know. They'd sting him with Christmas lights or hide Easter eggs around him. Oh maybe even decorate him for New years. Put one of the plastic hats on him and streamers. The more he thought about it the more he laughed. What he didn't notice was what looked like a black mold start to spread from the center of the globe. He was cold natured so he didn't notice the chill that filled the air along with the silence. Whipping away a mock tear from his eyes the winter spirit grinned up at the others. " So where is tall dark and ugly?" This was a meeting about his fate right. A short of trial. Shouldn't Pitch be here.

Normally alert ears laid flat against his head as his eyes darted about. all of his instinct warned him that there was something off. Like when an animal gets to close to a spirit. It wants to fight or run. And Bunny knew he couldn't do either. There was no reason to fear the twins. well other then that fact that they were insane and Treat could end an immortal life, but other then that no reason at all. In fact when he wasn't in their presence Bunny felt kind of bad for the two.

"Uh you guys okay?" The immortal teen asked his back to the globe.

Tooth’s fairies were hiding behind her, shaking and shivering. She managed to get a hold of one and whispered “Fly. Go home. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” The one got the other six, and only Baby Tooth remained, who hid herself in Jack’s hood. Tooth felt very uncomfortable staring at the globe, and might not have moved again until Sandy grabbed her hand. She looked down at her friend, who smiled up at her. It was going to be a rough meeting.

North stared up at Manny. “I hope you know what you’re doing, old friend,” he whispered.

They couldn't keep jack hidden from it any more. really Bunny wasn't sure why none of them had sat the boy down and explained just what he was going to have to face. They had been too busy he figured. All wanting to forget themselves what would be staring them in the face come the Summit. What could easily happen to them at the whim of humans. When the winter spirit opened his mouth to ask another question Bunny simply rested a large paw like hand on his shoulder and shook his head. I twas better the kid kept quiet. Didn't draw attention to himself.

Everyone was suddenly acting weird and Jack had to say he wasn't sure he was comfortable with it. Turning to look over his shoulder his ice blue eyes widened at the mark on the Globe. Was that Pitch?

The Globe still shown the lights of all of the children who believed. Though the black spot growing on the center made it hard to see some of them. It did however stop rotating. With a churning mechanical sound that belong in a horror movie. Wispy black strands slithered out of the center and a strange sweetness filled the air. A cross between mold and lollipops.

Jack didn't realize he had taken a step back until his back hit the rounded belly of North. " Wha..What is that?"

North grimaced and placed his hands on Jack’s shoulders. “They are the twins,” he said, simply, as if that would explain it, even though he knew it wouldn’t. Tooth moved closer, with Sandy at her side. The five looked perfectly united.

Tooth began frantically thinking about all the things they hadn’t told Jack. Or at least, she didn’t think anyone told him about…well, much of anything, actually. She had definitely had opportunities to tell him about things. But she would always convince herself that North or Bunny would tell him. She hadn’t wanted to spoil the mood or upset him. And now he knew nothing about any of it.

He wanted to ask just who the Twins were but he black mold like substance continued to move on the Globe and he found it stole all of his attention. It looked as if it was alive not controlled like Pitch nightmare sand but a living thing. When the black substance stared to form a humanoid shape. As the shape pulled more away from the globe the stands of black stretched and tore reveling ghost pale skin. Or at least Jack thought it was skin it could have been bone based on the color.

With what looked to be a step the bone white figure dropped from the blackness in an almost boneless fashion. Looking at the thin pale girl Jack couldn't pin point anything that should have caused the pit of fear to grow in his stomach. She was clad in torn and mismatch clothes all in the color skin of a burnt dirty orange and black. Crazy hair looked as if it had tried to be tamed but being pulled in to twin-tails. From above her the mold gave way to another figure in the same puling and tearing fashion. The boy that dropped down was in the same mismatch clothes. Only only difference in the two was where the girl was thin and pale like bone the boy looked as if large pieces of his flesh had been cut off and new bruised colored skin and been sewn i nit's place.

It took a moment for Jack to notice the thin sting of moonlight that lead from one of the boys clenched fist back inside the mold. It as translucent like a beam of light but moved like a sting. With a sharp tug an dark clad figure came tumbling out of the Globe. A grotesque looking jack-o-lantern over it's head.

Pitch fell out of the globe and hit the ground. The tug of the leash threatened, and he slowly rose to his feet, slumped over like the weight of pumpkin was too much for him to bear. His pace was slow and staggered, as if each movement took too much effort to complete fully. The fear he once exuded now seemed like it possessed him, and each sound that any spirit made caused him to move away, until the next sound brought him back to his original path. Each intake of his breath was audible, sounding like he was constantly gasping for a breath that would never reach his lungs. His eyes were wild and darted about, not landing on any one thing for more than a second.

Horrified.

That was the only way to describe both Pitch and the feeling that he invoked. Tooth took in a sharp breath and hid her face in North’s shoulder. North removed one hand from Jack’s shoulders and brought it to Tooth, patting her on the back lightly. North shook his head slightly, as if he couldn’t believe what was in front of him. Sandy flinched back and sunk to the ground. Tooth glanced up, out of the corner of her eye but returned to her spot on North’s shoulder with a horror-struck gasp.

That sound pierced through the pumpkin head. It was familiar. It was more than the fear behind it. He was sure he had heard that particular gasp before. His eyes found the source of it, and his eyes finally rested on Tooth. No, his mind whispered. He couldn’t let any of the Guardians see him like that. With more effort than he thought he was capable of doing, he straightened up, rising to his full height. His mind cleared slightly. He recognized the rest of the Guardians. It appeared Jack did end up taking his place with them. Good for the boy-child. He might not have as much time as the last Jack. Good that he was at least using it wisely.

A set of matching acid green eyes scanned the crowd never once glancing over that the dark figure that was being lead around like cattle. With a loud pop Treat removed the stick that was between chapped lips revealing a clear orange whirly pop. The sight of the sweet seemed to make the other spirit shift uncomfortably. The girl just smiled. A smile that would have been considered sweet and disarming if there wasn't a manic look in her eyes. A step forward and the crowed shifted again.Beside her her brother's, her other half really, grin stretched so wide it showed off his teeth. Another slight difference to the twins was their walk. Where Treat moved as if the bones in her body had been shattered in some place Trick walked like a child playing soldier. Together they looked jerky and playful.But they moved togeather

The sting of moonlight didn't allow Pitch to walk to far behind them. From his spot with the guardians Bunny shifted. It had been three hundred year ago that the last execution had taken place. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of snow white hair. They had all agreed that Jack Frost was too dangerous, they had all agreed to hand him over to Treat. Of course then she had be Hain and much softer. This time they would protect their Jack.

"Guardians....lovely weather we're having.Perfect for an exacu...trial!"They had said it as if it was planned. As if hours of refusal had been done to time their words just right. The end result was s chilly combination of voice merge together. A crazed short of giggle escaped Trick as he pulled the sting hard enough to cause the taller spirit to fall to his knees. Twirling the the clean white stick between clawed like fingers Treat looked up to the sky. "Ready for the main event." She put enhances one certain letters in her words. Not always the same letter.While his had a strange note to them as if he was laughing while he spoke. It reminded Jack of a movie Jamie had made him watch. The main character was crazy.

Tooth moved away from North. The twins gave her a sick feeling, but they were still just spirits. Spirits that were held responsible by Manny. Manny who still might be upset about the night she missed collecting teeth. She couldn’t show fear right now.

North stared down at the twins trying not to scowl. He normally felt nothing but pity for the two. It wasn’t their fault that they were like this, which he could understand. But at this moment, the biggest thought in his mind was protecting his companions. “I do not know what you think main event will be. But we are ready for the trial to commence.”

Pitch was on his knees and looked up at the Guardians from around the twins. His face was expressionless now. The spirit of fear being scared by two children. It was more embarrassing than he cared to admit, but he couldn’t go back. There was a fair chance that these last few minutes could be his last. He would not waste them being scared.

Two dark smiles were all North got in return. "Then we shouldn't keep the guest of honor waiting." Once againReaching over Trick grabbed the twisted knot of bark at the top of the punkin mask pulling it off of Pitch in a smooth movement.Treat bent down to smile at the Nightmare king making a show of putting the whirly pop back in her mouth. Jack understood that the two were clearly unstable. Probably more so then pitch had been near the end of their fight. What he couldn't understand is what their purpose here was.

Against the small voice telling him not to he turned his head to get a better look at North. He had never seen the jolly man look so stern. " North who are they?" From his place next to North bunny wanted to smack the kid. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. The Twins were crazy and couldn't keep there mind on more then one thing. North was the only one who ever spoke when they were around. With a feeling of foreboding he watch Treat's glowing green eyes snap over to the newest Guardian.

North felt like tossing Jack into a sack and throwing him through a portal to the Warren or the Bennett’s until it was safe for him to come back. Of course, he couldn’t do that. Instead, he moved in front of Jack and put on a show of announcing to the room. “For newest members of our world, I will introduce these two.” If he could just keep Jack quiet, they might forget about him. He motioned to the pair, attempting to keep his control. “This is Trick and Treat. They are Manny’s enforcers.”

Jack did not like being pushed to the back and if it wasn't for a furry hand tightly gripping his shoulder he would have pushed his way back in front of North. If it wasn't for the fact that the unhinged looks from booth Trick and Treat froze his blood faster then he could freeze a lake he would have shoved the rabbit off. He didn't know way the two unnerved him but they did.

He didn't know Manny had enforcers, or even what their job would be. He knew he wasn't as old as the others and most of his immortal life had been spent alone. he understood that there were things he didn't know yet. Still there was a feeling that there was something big no one was telling him.

As if sharing one brain the twins looked around the large red clad man to the ice boy. Another guardian...new and young. The beam of light glowed brighter gathering the attention of the two old spirits. Yes they had a trail to get over with so Treat could rid the world of Pitch. "Have your trial Guardians." Treat turned to face the five whirly pop sliding out of her mouth and in a shimmer of sliver light transforming into her executioners axe. The long hand was the paper white martial of the lollipop stick. The clear almost glass like edging surrounding encased moonlight.

The sight of the blade caused a wave of unease. it had been gifted to her by Manny so long ago that some of the spirits in attendance hadn't been created yet. A single bit of moonlight to be used to end the life of a spirit who broke the rules. " We all know how it's going to end."

Pitch kept his chin up. They were there to discuss his fate. His…death. He hadn’t really had too much lucid time to come to terms with it. Being an immortal faced with his own morality…it was definitely a new experience. One that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to appreciate again. Seeing the weapon that would bring his death made it all too real. But he refused to let it get to him. He looked up at moon—at Manny. His old friend.

Sandy’s eyes had not left Pitch. It was hard to see him in such a state. He truly felt somewhat responsible. Pitch and he were both just different sides to the same coin. Same means to different ends. They were both older than anyone else in the room. In fact, you could probably combine three different spirits and scarcely makes it to the age that they were. And soon Sandy was going to be alone. Except for Manny.

North looked down his nose at the Twins. “You might not be as connected to Manny as you think.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. However, just a glance up at the moon made him feel like it was true. He had to wonder when the last time the twins actually talked to Manny was.

Acid green eyes darkened glaring cold at the Russian.They were older then him by hundreds of years. Bone white hands gripped the handle of her weapon tightly as Treat started to twitch then convulse.A horrible noise releasing from her throat that sounded more like the whim of someone whose neck had been broken.The kind of noise you wish to never hear again. The ghost image of her trialed behind her convulsing figure until her skin became a muted gray color and the little muscle the separated her bones and skin thin to nothing. Burnt orange hair turned stringy and black and hung around a hollow face. the most grotesque part of the transformation came from her mouth. The sound of bones snapping and skin tearing to make way for the monster like mussel that formed. Teeth gagged and ribbons of skin dangling down. The howling like whine continued.

Jack wanted to hurl but couldn't bring his eyes to move away from the sight. Bunny had only seen this form once. It still was more terrifying then anything else he had witnessed.A physical show of just how tainted the female spirit had become. Luckily -or unluckily- the movement of Trick made him drag his eyes away from the wailing spirit. The male spirit had a darkness in his eyes but had yet to transform.No instead he got right in front of North. Lips stretched over teeth in a snarl. One black tipped claw like hand trial the tips of it's fingers down the side of the guardian's face." When was the last time you had a conversation with Manny of substance, Nicolas." The name was spat.

Tooth flitted over to Bunny, floating just behind him with her hands on his shoulders. The transformation of Treat had frightened and disgusted her, which was enough on its own, but when coupled with the blatant threat that Treat had just delivered to North there came a completely different type of fear.

Nicholas blinked once, but stared Trick in the eyes, evenly. “You would do well to remember that Manny and I often talk of children.” The statement seemed harmless enough, if it wasn’t examined too closely. Of course, this was not what North was implying at all. “Like you.” He was, of course, referring to their appearance rather than age, but he felt his point got across.

Sandy, who had at first flinched back at the sight of Treat’s transformation, floated past the girl and to Pitch. He has been alive when Trick and Treat were first brought to life, back when their names were quite different, and if there were ever a time that humanity were to die out, he would be there long after the pair had disappeared. He knew of who they once were and why they were the way they were now, but it was not something he felt the need to dwell on at that moment. Instead, he placed his hand on Pitch’s, glancing up at him.

Pitch looked down at the Guardian of Dreams, and felt more grateful than he would admit. It was nice that in his last hour, his old friend would be at his side. He had started his spirithood on this planet with Sanderson there, and his spirithood would end with him there as well.

It wasn't as violent or as prominent as Treats transformation but the hand that was raised in the air thinned. Flesh and bone thinned to bark like hands. The green of his eyes darkened to red.Hot breath hissed out of clenched teeth.

No matter how unnerving it was to watch, to listen, to the sound coming out of the female Jack wouldn't stand by and watch this spirit threaten North. And though their words were conversational enough Jack noticed the transformation of his hands, the red glow of his eyes. This enforcer was clearly threatening North. So the Winter spirit swiftly moved out of Bunny grip and took the step that placed him at the Russian's side.

He had barely had the time to look up at the creature before rough bark like fingers had grabbed onto his chin. A quick tug reveled that though the hand felt like it was made of twigs it held more strength then it appeared. Rough finger like appendages dug into the sides of his cheek and his breath stopped somewhere in this throat. The male- was he tick or treat?- pulled Jack's face closer to his. Eyes glowing and chapped lips thinned by the snarl on his face. Those eyes briefly glanced up at North and a mocking giggle took over the snarl. "You mean Children like him?"

Behind him his sister had stopped her gurgled whine instead staring at the scene was large dead eyes.

No. Dread filled the Guardian of hope and he took a step forward. He was faster then Trick. He could snatch jack away before the crazed Halloween spirit did anything. He knew the kid was brave and loyal but damn he should have just stayed where he was. North and Trick always threatened each other but each knew with out Manny's consent nothing would ever come of it. Jack however...Jack had messed up a lot in his 300 years. And Manny wasn't always so willing to over look.

North’s sword was drawn and at Trick’s neck as soon as the sentence was out of his mouth. “You should step away from Jack now.”

Tooth flitted upward and looked down at Trick, a threatening and angry look on her face. Threatening a Guardian so blatantly would not be taken lightly. North was right to pull out his swords, and if she had thought for a moment that the twins would threaten any of them, she would have brought her swords as well. But if it came to it, her wings were just as sharp and twice as fast.

Pitch inwardly guffawed at Trick’s obvious threat to Jack, who didn’t seem to understand the danger he was in. Apparently the Guardians shared nothing with the boy. And apparently Trick hadn’t learned from Pitch’s misfires. You don’t threaten a Guardian. To threaten one is to threaten all.

Sandy knew this was getting out of hand, and by the way the moon was shining, Manny agreed.

As if a switch had gone off life,crazed manic life, flooded dead eye and Treat snapped back into her previous form.the moonlight bladed axe was pressed against North's belly. The hard candy coating pressing into the red clad body part. You did not raise a weapon against them. Trick just smiled. An unfazed wide smile as he felt the slight shake to the boys frame. "Jack?" Eyes left the guardian of wonders face and turned to lock with ice blue ones. The threat of the cold blades fell from his mind. Both his and sisters attention focused on the winter spirit.

Behind him he heard his sisters in even voice." so this is the new Jack Frost?"

Sandy’s dreamsand fell over the crowd, sparkling and enchanting. The moment Treat had put her axe against North, he had thrown it. It was a knee-jerk reaction. At first it was just a ball of sand, aimed at Treat to put her to sleep. But, thinking better of it, he hit it with a whip of dreamsand, causing the sand to scatter everywhere. The gesture was to draw attention to himself and Pitch, who he hoisted into a standing position.

North felt the axe at his belly. The only object that could kill him was at his belly. He did not move his sword until the dreamsand fell upon him. Even then, his sword was only a stroke away.

When the dreamsand hit Tooth, it took her a few moments to calm down. When it finally settled, Tooth flew down to Trick’s side and as gently as she could, moved between her and North, pushing the axe with calm hands. “I believe we have gotten off track.”