North’s hand was on his sword. “He is older now. Humans do not work the way immortals do. He should be left alone and that is final.”

Tooth floated out from behind North, her wings ready to attack if needed. The Bennett children were under the Guardians’ protection. No one would harm them if the Guardians had any say.


“He’s never been one much for dishes. I think it’s because he likes the ink stains he gets on his hands from writing with pens. I’m sure you’ve noticed,” she said, smiling.

Trick smiled his twisted playful smile. " You're not the boss of us Nicolas." treat on the other hand bent down, the symphony of grinding bones playing along with her movement. Resting one bony hand on his shoulder she looked up at Pitch from her odd angle. "Tell us. What made you want to kill the Jamie?" bone fingers dug into black cloth as Trick kept eye contact with the Russian. They had always been able to do this. Know hat move the other was going to make. North's protection of the boy was proof that they needed to..meet him.


" I know. Then he wipes them on his forehead or something and I have to walk around with him." Her smile hinted that she didn't mind at all walking around with her ink stained boyfriend. Jamie made a face at the two girls looking to his parents for help. Erica simply smiled and James shook his head.

North's face was lethal. "No," he said, his eyes matching Trick's intensity, "I am not. But it does not change the fact that you only enforce. You do not make the calls."

Pitch looked into Treat's eyes. Intimidation wouldn't work on him now. Fear wouldn't work on him now. He had nearly killed this boy himself. The least he could do was attempt to protect him from these...monsters. The thought nearly made him laugh, the slightly annoyed amusement showing in his eyes. The Nightmare King--the Bogeyman--protecting someone from monsters. "Nothing," he said, a slight smirk on his lips. The two who had been tormenting him now wanted information from him. "I was crazy--much as you are now--and I thought the boy was in my way."

Tooth could have kissed Pitch. The Nightmare King could have signed the Bennett's death sentence right then. But he didn't. Maybe there was hope for him.


Sophie laughed. "I'm afraid I'm not much better. Half the time I'm sure I'm paint covered."

The room was tense. No one had flat out called the twins crazy to their faces. Maybe Pitch did want to die. However chapped lips peeled back as a giggle escaped the female twin. It grew into a full on laugh just as off kilter as her eyes. Trick's smile grew itself. Any words he could have taunted North with fell short when the manic laughter stopped. There was that same cold that seeped into the air. " Do you know the difference between us?" the hand on his shoulder tightened and shifted into a claw. " You wake up from Nightmares." The same broken tone had a warning hiss to it. Trick giggled from his place in front of North.

Pitch didn’t even blink. He was dying today anyway. “And Halloween only comes once a year.”

A laugh escaped from Tooth, and she quickly covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle it. She did not just laugh at something the man who kidnapped her fairies said. That was not okay.

North’s eyes danced with amusement and he stared at Trick.

Standing up at his full height Bunny gripped the handles of his boomerangs. Sure the twins freaked him out but they were threatening one of his kids. Jack may be closer to Jamie then the rest of them but all of the guardians saw the Bennett children as theirs.If they wanted to kill Pitch well he could live with that.


The claw like hand gripped his shoulder tighter and a strong tug pulled the nightmare king so his face was even with hers. She snarled at him the muscles in er face rippling as if she was about to change again. Trick kept his eyes on North. They were one he knew what she was going to do just as she knew what he was going to do. " And yet in that one day we are more real. More believed in then you."
The twins didn't need to be believed in. That was the rub. They paraded around the human world as 'ghost' or shadows and monsters that hunted humans.Led them into dark woods or staring at bathroom mirrors.


Jack looked around North glade that the twins had gotten off the Jamie subject. Taking a quick step back he felt he made sure the no one was paying him any attention. he wasn't gong to wait around for the twins to bring up Jamie again.

He knew this. He had gone crazy over not being believed in. And now he was back. And paying for his crimes. He didn’t need two children telling him that no one believed in him. He was painfully aware of it. But there was a child—if his memories could be trusted—who did believe in him. And he would do what he could to make sure that the child kept believing, even if Pitch would disappear. He was sure it was coming soon. “And after that one day, you’re still influenced by whatever mortals make of your holiday.”

The words hit North, but the Russian didn’t let it show. There it was. Any spirit connected to a holiday was at the whims of mortals. It was their fate.

For the briefest of seconds both sets of green eyes were clear. Hurt shining though.
They remembered being sane. Skin tore from her face as she took on her monstrous appearance. Snarling in Pitch's face. At the same time as his sister Trick's own transformation happened. His head grew until a rotted jack-o-lantern took it's place. Arms once again tree like claws. The strands of wispy black air moved out of the stingy black hair that fell around Treats deformed face. A choked whimper sound came for her throat as the strand moved towards the nightmare king. The axe hit the floor with a thud as it slipped forgotten from dead looking hands.


Bunny flinched at the words. The small ball of pity he held for the twins loading it's self somewhere near his heart. To have something like that thrown in your face. The images of store bought plastic eggs full of chocolate. It could happen to anyone connected to a holiday. Still he gripped his weapons tighter. Just cause he felt sorry for them didn't mean he should underestimate them.

Thirty minutes ago, Pitch would have been a puddle of fear on the floor. But not now. Granted, he was impressed. But not scared. The Nightmare King would not fear the twins anymore. They had tortured him enough. “I’m shaking with fear,” he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “But if you’re going to go against Manny, at least make it memorable.”

With something that might have been a scream but sounded more like broken wailing Treat lunged her upped body forward. Jagged uneven teeth meet cloth, hair and Pitch's collar bone. the grip on his other shoulder was firm.The misty black strand floated around them clinging to parts of the once nightmare king. She was going to rip him apart. Not with her axe but with her bare hands and mouth and hair. Make him know the difference between reality and a nightmare. Make him long for those years trapped in his own head. The howling laughter of her brother echoed around the workshop.

Her jaw closed lose pieces of her flesh ghosting along his shoulder. Dead black eyes were kept wide open though they had a watery look to them.

He couldn't watch this. He had seen three spirits executed in his time. All with that glowing weapon discarded on the floor. He had fought before. But he had never seen anything like what Treat was trying to do to the dark man. Bracing himself he prepared to jump on the girl. They couldn't let this continue.

(( Next post will have jack screwing up.))

Pain. Agony. Anguish. The sensation that his arm was going to be removed from the rest of him. He choked on air, not able to get a real sound out. He wasn’t use to being touched, let alone hurt. The last time he remembered, it had been Tooth. Punching him in the face.

He had once been a soldier. He had led the Golden Armies in capturing the Fearlings. He knew pain. Once upon a time. But this was a different time. And it had been too long since pain had been in his life.

His head reared back as he stared up at the ceiling. His eyes widened and his mouth was agape. His arms reached out of their own accord, attempting to shove the girl away.

North shoved Trick out of the way and was attempting to pull Treat off of Pitch in a matter of seconds. Sandy and Tooth were both next to North in seconds after realizing what he was doing. The Guardians were together in this.

Seeing the others move Bunny stepped in between them and Trick. North may match him with hinted threats but he was sure he could take the unstable teen. In the back of his mind he noticed the wide eyed look of terror on Jack's face. Poor kid.

Tearing her face away from Pitch's shoulder treat's head snapped back to look at the three guardians pulling on her. Bits of black sand mixed in with a thick black drool was smeared along the muzzle of her face dripping down to the floor. She hissed. The hand gripping his shoulder jerked him back down to his knees. She would show him how crazy she was. Show him how real she was. the hand that had been free shot out to dig into the wound she had just made. She'd rip him apart from the inside out.

Bark like arms sipped at the over sized Bunny. They were standing between him and his sister. They were attacking her. He'd help rip them apart. Manny would find new guardians. Everyone was replaceable.

The wind lifted him off the ground before his mind could process what he was seeing. he had fought the nightmares. This was nothing like those battle." I can't let them near Jamie." The words were so quiet it he was sure that no one had heard them. So sure until the twins froze a set of red and a set of black eye turning in his direction. " Jamie." Two broken monstrous voice hissed in time freezing him faster then he could freeze a tongue to the pole.

The world crashed around the Guardians simultaneously.

North released the girl in front of him and pulled away. There was nothing that they could do now, and for the moment, they had forgotten Pitch. Now how were they going to get them to forget the Bennetts again?

Pitch could have strangled Jack himself at that moment, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came and the wound on his shoulder grabbed his attention. He had to admit he was somewhat surprised that the Guardians all moved to his rescue. Especially when he thought it was perfectly obvious that he was intentionally baiting them. His shoulder wound ached and dripped dark, dark red blood, and the thought of Guardians defending him flew from his mind.

Sandy once again considered knocking the entire room out with dreamsand. This was ridiculous. Treat had attacked Pitch. And now they were focused on Jamie again. It didn’t seem possible. That their attention could be swayed so easily. How changed they were.

Tooth’s eyes shifted around the room as she tried to think of something to say. Anything. Something to distract them, like North always did. “Oh, can’t we go back to ripping Pitch apart?” The words were out of her mouth before she thought about them. It was stupid. She didn’t really want Pitch torn apart. Well, maybe she had wanted to do it herself a few times, but at this moment he was a beaten dog. And he couldn’t fight back. There was no good in attacking him now. But all those thoughts were at the back of Tooth’s head. At the forefront, she was in a deep panic for Jamie and Sophie—because if they went after one Bennett sibling, they would find the other. For the first time, Tooth wished that the two weren’t so close.

No. No no no no. Gripping his staff he took flight. It took some time to make it to Jamie's from the workshop but Jack willed the wind to carry him as fast as it could. He needed to get there before the twins could, he just needed to make sure that Jamie and Sophie ere okay. He had promised her that nothing would happen. He promised them that he would keep them safe. As the blur of white changed to blue and then green Jack swore that he would keep that promise.


With a sick noise Treat removed the hand that was digging into the bite wound she had made.The dark red liquid stained the ends of her claw like hand as she reached out for her brother. New Jack would show them were this Jamie lived. Reaching down she wrapped the hand not covered in Pitch's blood towards her Axe. Thw eapon shifted back into a bright orange whirly pop.

There was nothing they could do now.Bunny heard it in their voices the Twins wouldn't be letting the Jamie thing go. Hopefully Jack could get to the kid in time.get him out of his house...his house. No. Sophie was there. His sweet creative little ankle biter. Oh he would tear the two apart if they laid on hand on her head. Tensing he prepared himself to block Trick but the thin monstrous looking spirit had slipped by him when he had froze. Dammit.

Linking hand the wispy stand of black air pulled towards the ground. The same moldy looking water stain grew on the floor at their feet. With twisted smiles the Twins sunk into the ground.


((Crappy post is Crappy. I'll put the mother earth part in next.))

North watched the twins disappear with a sense of anger and—fear? He did not stop to think. “QUICKLY. TO THE SLEIGH.” He was running out of the room and shouting orders down the hallway as Yetis rushed past to ready the sleigh.

There was a moment of hesitation on Tooth’s part. As soon as the twins vanished, she quickly turned to Pitch and words fell out of her mouth. “I don’t really want you to be eaten by the twins.” She almost didn’t register having said it, but she was flying out the door before she could think about taking it back, following North. Her thoughts were on the Bennett children, wondering how they would react to having two murderous psychopaths after them.

Sandy looked at Pitch, seeing the dark red blood dripping from his shoulder. A pain tore through him for his “dream brother” but that took backseat to the Bennett children. He wondered if the other Guardians realized they were leaving Pitch alone.

Pitch’s hand went to his shoulder, the agonizing pain getting harsher. He registered North and Toothiana’s words, and felt the look that Sandy gave him, but he didn’t care. He had tried to help the Guardians and they couldn’t even bother to get their newest member to shut his damn mouth. It was embarrassing.


Sophie was pulling pages of paintings and drawing out of boxes in her closet. She didn’t think it was going to be so much fun to show off her art. Her family had seen most of her work as soon as she finished whatever new painting she was working on, so it was a different experience trying to show it to someone who had never seen her art.

She pulled an old sketchbook out of a box and crossed the room to Joyce. “I really like this one, actually, even if it’s really simplistic. I was really trying to draw flowers, but it kind of became a collection of Easter and springtime.” She handed the book over, grinning, before realizing that was not what her brother’s girlfriend had come for. “I am so sorry, Joyce. I was going to show you my paintings, not my sketches and colored pencil drawings.”

The world rushed by in a series of blurs and noise.Never in his three hundred and some odd years of immortal life had Jack ever rode the wind this fast. It was a physical need to make it to the Bennett's as soon as he could. Horrible images kept playing out in his mind. The twins in their twisted forms advancing on Jamie. Trick grabbing him with those rough bark like hands.

Then it would switch and they would have discovered Sophie. If he had time to think about it Jack would have realized that the thought to the twins getting their hands on the little blond scared him more then the thoughts about Jamie.With a roar that mostly got swallowed up by the sound of the wind Jack willed himself to go faster.

The words were barely out of Norths mouth before Bunnymund was tapping his foot against the woodwork.His tunnels were faster and he didn't have time to waste on a sleigh. It had been Jamie's birthday. They boy was home and that meant he was near his sister. There would be no protecting her if the twins learned that she still believed in them. Hell if they got to Jamie first they could hopeful talk in into acting like they don't exist. The thought was painful but desperate times and all that. When the twins had just been curious it had been bad. Now they were mad.


Joyce had taken a seat on the younger girls bed smiling at the amount of work she could see just hanging on the walls. The room wasn't too different then when she had been in high school. Though of course her room had had less paint stains.

Taking the book from the blond she had to agree. the whole thing made her think of spring and she swore it felt s tad warmer looking at it. " Don't apologizes this is really good.Besides don't most paintings start out as sketches." Not that she knew much about art despite what her parents had tried to force down her throat. " It's so full of life. Do you mind if I flip through this?" As she was about the flip the page the window burst open letting in a rush of cold air. " Shit."


He had practically barreled into Jamie's window half tumbling into the room. A quick scan reveled the at twenty two year was no where in sight. Sophie's room.Jumping back out the window Jack moved along the out wall before he forced the girls window open. Screw being polite. Wide blue eyes scanned the room. He took vague notice of the red head sitting on her bed with her. He was glaring at ever shadow eyes darting back to the blond to make sure she was okay.

One look at Jack’s face and Sophie knew something was wrong. Something was wrong. He had just come from a trial for Pitch and something was wrong. Her eyes widened in fear. Either Pitch was dead, or he had escaped. She stepped back toward the door, eyes never leaving Jack. She opened the door and shouting, “Jamie, can you come close my window?” Whatever that look on his face was something that she had NEVER seen before.

North was still shouting at the Yetis when Sandy made it to the sleigh. He paused his yelling for a simple “Bunny?” to which Sandy shook his head. Tooth pulled Sandy into the sleigh right as they were taking off.

They had heard the bang of the window from downstairs. Both of the Bennett men were on their feet ready to race up the stairs until Sophie called down. The window."Coming." He took the steps two at a time wondering if his mind had made the right conclusions. He pushed passed his sister to glance around the room.The first hing in noticed in the room was Joyce.That was no surprise since his eyes naturally found her in any room. She looked pissed and by the way her arms were rapped around herself he could guess why. The next thing was that the window was in fact opened. In fact it looked like there were tiny cracks in the window pane.

Then there was Jack. For all intents and purposes he looked like a caged animal, no. Jamie took a closer look. He looked like mother after hearing a scream from their child's room."Joyce how about you go down stairs and let my parents know it was just a window."There was no complaining from the woman as she grumbled her whole way out of the room.

When he heard her feet on the stairs he turned to face the winter spirit. " Jack...Jack calm down and tell me what happened." He had never seen his best friend this terrified.


It wasn't until he registered that no only were all of the shadows natural but that Jamie was talking at Jack eased out of his attack pose. " You're...you're both okay?"

Sophie was still not hearing what she wanted to hear. She moved toward her brother and grabbed his arm. “W-what’s happened? Did Pitch escape? Is he on his way here? Or is he—is he dead?” Her grip on her brother’s arm tightened with each passing question, looking around the room at the shadows, not knowing whether to expect the Nightmare King himself to burst out of the shadows or if the shadows would never bring fear to a child again.

The spot that was once a tunnel for the Easter bunny now sprouted a lovely little yellow flower. From the front of the gathered spirits, those who had stuck around, a wild looking woman with light green skin and a dress that seemed to be made of flowers and vines stepped forward.Light green eyes barely took in the dark man she had moved closer to. Bending down she ran small fingers over the delicate petals cooing at the flower. Turning to stare at the nightmare king light green eyes glazed over with water as she took in the wound. turning back to the flower in her hand she repeated her actions three more times but for bobbing her head. She didn't so much as pull the flower as she coaxed it to dislodge it's self from the floor boards. Roots and all. Standing up on bare feet she held the flower out to the man they called Pitch. Eyes still a little sad but her smile was untamed and carefree.




"Pitch?...Pitch no. I I don't remember what happened to him." The other guardians must have been dealing with him. Jack found he couldn't really care. Treat had done more damage to Pitch then Pitch had done to all of the children of the world and because of him her and her demented brother were interested in Jamie. "I'm sorry..I didn't...think..no one told me. No one warned me about them." he wasn't making sense even to his own ears but what had happened at the workshop had aught up to him. The sight of their transformations, Treat attempting to rip Pitch apart with her mouth. he hadn't been prepared for that.

Pitch looked at the spirit that had once been his daughter. She held a flower out to him, roots and all. The hand that wasn’t holding his shoulder reached out for the flower. He took it, staring into her eyes. Somewhere in there was his little girl. “Thank you,” he said, his voice shaking slightly.

Sophie, confused as she was, still released her brother and crossed the room. She approached Jack slowly, both because she was frightened and because she didn’t want to frighten him. She wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him close. “Jack, it’s okay. What happened?”

The watery look to her eyes vanished But she didn't say anything as usual . Most thought the spirit simply couldn't speak.Smiling brighter the spirit of nature turned on the balls of her feet and skipped off to find the huge evergreen that grew in the Work shop.North had left so he couldn't stop her from climbing it.



For a split second Jack didn't realize it was Sophie hugging him. Still thinking back to what had happened at the workshop. It was the smell. Her smell. A mix of her soap and paint and wax from pastels. A Sophie smell that chased away the smell of rotten candy. Dropping his staff his arms locked around her holding her closer to his chest. He was to relieved to have found her and Jamie twin-less that he didn't care about the tiny wings beating around in his stomach. "Sophie."

Something horrible had happened. Something had to have gone wrong at the trial because he had never never seen jack this scared. And still it felt awkward watching the two. " Jack. I need you to tell me what happened." Jamie ran a hand through his brown hair glancing at the door. He wasn't sure how much time they had before Joyce came back upstairs. This wasn't how he wanted to tell her.

Taking a moment to just breath in the blond Jack lifted his head to stare at his best friend. " I met Manny's enforcers." He couldn't tell them about the horrible things they had done. The worst spirit they had ever met was Pitch.

Sophie quickly realized she was not getting out if Jack's hug, not that tried it would have. Why would she abandon a friend so obviously in need of comfort? She continued holding him. "His enforcers?" Her mind raced with thoughts of the huge, frightening bears that must be Manny's enforcers. If someone as frightening as Pitch was only the king of nightmares, then something that could kill Pitch had to even more frightening. Especially if fun, carefree Jack was scared of them.

North landed on the roof and slid down the chimney before it had.come to a complete stop. There were three people in the living room, but he didn't care. They wouldn't be able to see him anyway. He headed up the stairs, and burst into the room mere seconds after Tooth and Sandy came in through the window, who had both attempted to stop the sleigh. He heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of the two Bennett children, crossing the room and placing a hand in Jamie shoulder.

Jack nodded shifting around so his head rested on Sophie's and he could still see Jamie. "Twins. They're crazy...worst then Pitch was." He wouldn't say more. He didn't want to scare them but as he locked eyes with Jamie he knew that the kid saw it. How scared the encounter had left him. Jamie took a half step forward ready to join his sister and best friend. A crash from downstairs drew their attention. Jack's arms locking tighter around Sophie. His whole body tensed preparing to fling the blond behind him and dive for the door. He'd face that axe thing before he let them into this room.


Every muscle relaxed when it was just North who stepped into the room resting his hand on Jamie's shoulder. Jack still had his arms around Sophie. From the window Sandy and Tooth flew in followed shortly by Bunny who sent a quick glare at jack. More pointedly at where Jack's arms were. Jamie looked at all of the guardians, his friends and where he would normally smile a serious expression was on his face. jack was freaked out and North had left the Pole three month before Christmas. Something was up. Looking up to North he hoped he would get a straight answer out of the jolly man. "What happened?"

North's face was serious and as deadly as one if his swords. "You have been brought to the attention of the twins."

Tooth was unsure if North was going to go on, but she couldn't allow the two children who the Guardians had cared for so much be left in the dark. "The twins are Manny's enforcers. They are the spirits of Halloween."

Sophie's head was still buried in Jack's chest, so she couldn't be sure, but she thought all of the Guardians were there. Her reaction to North's words was to hold tighter to Jack. These twins were interested in her brother? These enforcers who were apparently the embodiment of Halloween as much as Bunny was of Easter. Halloween was about scary things. Ghosts and monsters. What was going to be after her brother?