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Church of Bones	By : LuciferDragon Category: +M through R > Rise of the Guardians Views: 1334 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Rise of the Guardians world, and I make no profit at all from this fiction. All in good fun.

Chapter List
- 19
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20.
I was sad to see the streets void of life that night. All the decorations that should have had life stood flat in the lawns. Now I knew exactly how North felt all those years ago. I was terrified. I saw Clara glance at me. "I'm fine."
"You don't have to lie."
"It makes me feel better." I kept my dual scythes in my hands held up and dormant behind me. The wind blew through the changing trees, making the mountains howl. A plastic skeleton hanging from a tree clunked its bones in the breeze. A chill went up my spine. "Something's wrong."
"I thought this creepy vibe thing was your turn on."
"Something else is wrong." A crunching leaf behind us made us both turn around, and Clara immediately had to leap back out of the way of a knife swing.
"You don't say?" She pulled out her broadswords as I readied my scythes.
"I didn't know it was THAT kind of wrong!" I ducked a swing from the Slasher, ramming the pommels of my scythes into his ashen jaw. "Into the woods. We need to get him off the streets. Stay close." I took off while the Slasher was disoriented. "Come on!" I checked to see if she was following at all times, making sure the crunching leaves were her and not the other one. We ran for a good ten minutes, and I prayed that he had not been absorbing the souls of runners.
"Hold on, hold on," Clara said behind me, almost breathless. I stopped and turned, seeing her hunched over, gripping her sides.
I gave her the chance to catch her breath and looked around, trying to find the best way to run next. We were so lost it wasn't funny.
"We'll get him. We just need to flank him. Calm down." She straightened, her chest still heaving.
My gaze only flicked away from her for a moment. In that moment, a figure appeared behind her arm raised. I had no time to even react before a resounding crack echoed in the woods. A thick fallen branch made contact against Clara's skull, knocking her out cold. I squeaked and jumped back, my gaze flickering between her and the Slasher. A trickle of blood started to stain her blonde hair. Oh shit no. I took a few steps back and readied my weapons as he turned his attention to me. His eyes glowed a vibrant purple before it started to growl.
"Come here little girl." He adjusted the grip on his branch and lunged at me, making me jump out of the way of a swing aimed for my head. I tried to retaliate, but the gash I put on his arm seemed to do nothing. He lunged again, but I found the swings easy enough to dodge. I just couldn't get close without him attacking. I couldn't find an opening, but I wasn't getting hit either.
"I see I have to do everything myself."
I knew that voice. Immediately I had to raise my guard as the swings became more precise. I had no idea what happened. His whole demeanor changed. The blows weren't random swipes anymore. I couldn't dodge in time as he caught my leg. Pain exploded from the contact and I crippled down on the ground immediately, my scythes flying from my grasp. I tried to get up, but the blinding pain washed over me as I tried to move. The Slasher tossed the trunk aside and took out his knife. I tried to get away but there was no chance. He hovered over me and thrust the butt of the knife into my solar plexus, making my vision go white. Before I could even recover from that, a sharp, tearing sensation rose from the flesh of my broken leg and I felt the cold metal of the knife deep in my leg, in places I didn't know had nerve endings. I shrieked as the pain hit all at once. I saw red rushing faster than it should have. He had gotten an artery. I didn't have the strength or the balance to toss him off.
Luckily I didn't have to. In the last few seconds of my sight, I saw Clara leap from out of nowhere, knocking the brute off me in a total wave of surprise. I managed to see her holding her own against a fight with him, with her getting hit pretty hard, before everything went black.

What the hell is that? Wha—I hissed out a curse. What hurts? Clara! "Clara!" I shot up and immediately gripped my thigh in agony, my teeth clenched on a scream. I couldn't remember…. The Slasher. He got me. Broke my leg. Clara, she had been hit pretty hard before me. I thought she was down for the count. She hit the bastard. That's the last thing I knew.
I looked around through the pain, trying to figure out where I was. A rich, earthy aroma met my senses, and my skin was cool and damp from the atmosphere. I laid on what felt like broom moss. I blinked a few times to clear my eyes. It looked like I was underground. The walls were pure earth, and thick tree roots shined through every so often. We were for sure not where I had passed out. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I saw Clara still unconscious on another bed of broom moss. "Clara!" I hissed at a dull pain in my abdomen, reminding me I had been struck there by the butt of a knife.
"Lie still," a light voice said.
I froze. "Who's there?" Before my eyes a figure began to rise from the ground, looking more and more familiar as it came. It took on the form of a girl. A girl with pale skin. A girl with black hair. I didn't know what to say as what was only a photograph to me before came to life. "I know you, don't I?"
She nodded. "From stories, I bet." She gave a sad smile and folded her hands over her robes. "I needed you awake before I could mend the rest of your wounds," she explained as she came closer. "This will hurt again, but you must lie back. I need to reset your bones. I already mended the bleeding. "
I was still too stunned to argue. She helped me lie back and I was entranced by the billowing sleeves of her dress. My mind exploded in pain as my thigh was forced to move. I growled out another curse.
"I said it would hurt."
Even the same attitude. If I hadn't been in so much pain I would have laughed. I took in sharp breaths and exhaled. It was almost like giving birth all over again. Not quite, but close enough on the pain scale. Only this time I didn't have a familiar set of hands to grip in agony. I almost cried in happiness as my back hit the moss. Then I remembered it wasn't over.
I met the woman's eye and nodded. There was no avoiding it. "I will heal it immediately after I set it. Bear with the pain."
I kept my gaze on where the light of a beautiful orange sun was setting, peaking through some of the earth. Orange. I love the fiery colors… the blazing leaves, the laughing children. What will happen to me if there is no one to believe in the Spirit of Halloween? Would I fade away with the lack of excited children? Would I become mortal again? Would I die? I began to panic right as the woman set my leg in place. My mind went white with pain, and yet my heart still raced with the thought of losing everything. In a way, I went beyond pain. There was nothing. If there is no one to believe, if they are too busy fearing for their lives…. I would- I would die. For real. I couldn't breathe, both from the pain and the panic attack. I felt a cold sweat break over my body, and my mind was set to repeat on all the worries and fears I had.
The next thing I knew I was curled in a ball, cradled in the arms of a woman I had only seen in a picture. She was a comforting soul, just as I had imagined her to be. She was a better mother than I ever was. I had soothed bad nights, I had fixed worries, but nothing like this. It was something in her aura. I didn't have to use my center to see her beauty. It was there for all to see.
It took some time, but I managed to rein in my fears. The whole time she had been quiet and patient. I couldn't help but laugh. "This is so weird."
To my utter surprise, she laughed too, but didn't let go. "We'd make a fortune on a reality TV show, right? My father's dating a girl centuries younger than me, and I can't even count how many greats I am as a half sister."
I laughed around a remaining sob and pulled back, rubbing at my eyes and looking at her kind smile. "Yeah. Dysfunctional family much? Am I even old enough to be your step-mother?"
She shrugged. "We'll accept it. Whatever makes Father happy." She caught my gaze. "How is he?"
"You could come find out, you know. And see your brother."
She gave another sad smile. "I can't. You know I can't."
It was worth a shot. "What do you know about all this?"
"The balance is shifting dangerously away from both the side of good things and the side of bad. A third side is forming."
I frowned. "A third side? What is it?"
"I do not know. But it is an intimidating force, one as old as I. I may have to intervene."
From what I understood, she was the true keeper of the balance. North merely monitored it, while I monitored the negative. She stayed true to her oath to be neutral in everything. She only intervened when absolutely necessary. "Do what you have to do." I looked over at Clara. "How is she?"
"Lost a lot of blood, but she is fine now. When she wakes you may leave." She stood again.
"If I don't see you again, thank you. And… what should I tell him?"
She smiled and shook her head. "Tell him… tell him he's forgiven, for making me wait all those years ago. He'll understand what it means."
I nodded. "Will do." She vanished into the ground, taking with her the overall calming aura of the place. A few moments of forest noises went by uninterrupted, and I enjoyed the break from the terror of the world. Everything was still going as smoothly as ever, surprisingly enough. We only had one more person to stop, and then we were done. Halloween could continue on as if nothing had happened, and I would still stay in existence. I looked to my leg and saw a nasty bruise, but I didn't feel it at all. I slowly accepted it, realizing it could have been much worse.
I glanced over to Clara as she groaned and sat up, a hand to her head. "Why do I feel like someone clocked me with a hammer?"
"Someone did clock you with a tree branch the size of my leg."
"That explains it." She rubbed her neck and looked around. "Where are we? Last thing I remembered was some weird green thing covering us and then I was out."
"We're in a safe place. But we should be getting back. I don't know how much time has passed." I held up a hand as she stood. "Did you burn the body?"
"Yes. It was the last thing I did before my body gave out." She put her hands on her hips. "Let's make sure my husband didn't get himself killed. I delivered toys once, and that was more than enough." She pulled an orb from a small satchel at her hip and said "North Pole" before tossing it forward.
I gave one last look to the room as Clara waited for me. "Thank you, Emily Jane." I felt a warm touch that I interpreted as a response. Satisfied, I followed Clara through the portal. I barely made it through before a figure collided with me and held on to my arms just as quickly.
"Hana?"
I gave Pitch a look of pure confusion as his grip tightened subtly, his way of conveying something was wrong. "What happened? Did Jason say something?" My eyes widened as he started looking me over, his eyes resting on each visible bruise, especially the one on my thigh, under my now-torn tights. "What happened?"
"He was right. Your leg was shattered."
He was starting to scare me. What added to the fear was the fact he was scared. Not many things could rattle the Boogeyman's cage like this. "What happened?" The portal closed behind me and I noticed Clara looking on, concerned.
His hands grabbed mine. "I need you to think very clearly. Try to remember. Did you see Drago just now? Anywhere at all."
I frowned and shook my head. "No, no, I just saw you. Why? What's going on?" Then it clicked. He was scared, he had asked me if I had seen our son. He looked winded, strained, and furious. It was too much. I gripped his coat and felt ill.
"Stay with me." He sat me down while Clara ordered the yetis to fetch something. Anything. He gave my cheeks a few light slaps. "We haven't lost yet. He's fine." He told me everything Jason had revealed, and everything Charon added on. He had just been on his way to the main hall when I came back. He had already looked all over the Pole, and the yetis had looked as well. Despite their feelings towards the Boogeyman, they were still more than willing to help Drago. No one had found a trace of him. Even Jamie had been left alone. He had been found staying with Jessica to keep her company.
That asshole had thought of everything and set it all in motion months ago. I ran my hand through my hair and gave a shaky laugh. "So that's it? End of the world? And our son is the keystone?"
"A child of sin. Yes. But there is time. He's not lost."
"I know he's not. We're not letting this thing live." I stood and he followed me. I ignored the rush of blood that left my head. "Do we know where he is?"
"No. He used an astral projection to communicate through the body. I can't trace that."
"It's dead vibes, right?"
He arched a brow. "Necromancy, yes."
I grinned. "Right up my alley. Momma bear has shit on me."
He was about to say something, but his gaze fell to my leg. "If your bone was shattered, how are you walking?"
I bit my lip. "Someone healed me. A young girl. Pale. Black hair. Beautiful greens eyes she might have inherited from her father." I noticed a subtle change in his expression. "She had a message for you. She told me to say she forgives you."
A multitude of emotions passed over his face for the briefest of seconds before he nodded and turned away. He cleared his throat. "Jason was kept this way. Clara, stay here until the others return."
"Da."
He led me down a series of hallways, both of us keeping silent as we walked. I don't think either of us had anything to say. What could be said? I think I was still in shock. I felt nothing, still comprehending the news that my son had been taken away by forces of the dead. I barely noticed him take a turn down another hallway, this one darker as all sources of light were cut off from the main atrium of the building. This one was lit by candles. Where one torch was missing, a door stood open.
I shivered as I felt the residual power from where we were. It only grew stronger as we got closer to the open room. "This might not be as difficult as I thought it would be." I looked at the body and curled my lip. "Charming."
"They're best read fresh, as morbid as it sounds."
I nodded and knelt in front of the body. The kid was stupid, but he didn't deserve this. I shivered at the awkward angle so close up. I took a deep breath and swallowed. I broke through my hesitation and put my fingers to the skull of the kid, tapping into his memories.
Just a normal high school bullied kid. He still believed in the Guardians. He had seen them all one night in Burgess, at a time where he almost didn't believe. He carried the belief to college, and so the teasing followed. He dabbled in dark arts, and was approached by a man claiming to be Charon. The man could teach him to summon beings to do his bidding. His mind was opened to the darkness, though it consumed him. He had no control over it. It changed him. He only wanted to serve his master Charon and their Lord. From the memories, I found the location he would meet Charon. It was in an abandoned house in the historic district of Burgess. I also found the intentions. Charon was not a man, but a demon. He needed a lot of sacrificial blood to open the gates of Death's fortress. Jason was able to provide that through his necromancy skills, and his idea of raising serial killers.
They almost had the blood. They were missing one other ingredient. The heart of a child born in sin.
I couldn't hold my composure any longer. I was shaking too hard. I pulled away from the body and quickly stood, stalking to the other side of the room. I held a hand over my mouth, regulating my breathing.
"I told him to stay upstairs. He rebelled and followed. He saw my real shape. He ran off. I thought Jack would find him. I never imagined—"
"It doesn't matter," I said quickly and took a few more breaths to calm down. "It doesn't matter. We were all made to look ridiculous. We didn't think anything of it when he said child of sin. Jessica's daughter seemed the perfect fit for the description. I didn't even think… Why do they need a child like that?"
He shook his head. "I don't know the ritual details. Take solace. He's had combat training since he was five for this exact situation. He may have been taken, but I'm sure not without severing a few limbs."
"But why Drago? He wasn't born of sin. We both wanted him. We didn't do any devil worship to make my body function again. So why him?"
"He shouldn't exist."
I spun around, seeing the last woman I wanted to see standing in the middle of the room, hands on her hips, her scythe resting against her shoulder.
"You died." Lady Death nodded towards Pitch. "He still hasn't. He could produce heirs with whomever he wanted, but you shouldn't have been able to do so." She pulled a nerve and she knew it. I hated the smug smirk that took over her face. "I'm only speaking the truth."
"Speak the rest and get out."
"I'm just as pissed about this whole thing as you. If these people plan to bring the dead to life, then my job is obsolete. I can't have that. What would I do in the meantime?" Her eyes traveled to Pitch again and I snapped my fingers in her face while he curled his lip.
"So why come here?"
"Because of you. You're the reason the dead will rise again. You defied fate by taking that gift." Her smirk only broadened. "You can't cheat me, dearest. Not completely. Tell me Hana, what is considered a sin?"
"Something dark that a person does when they stray from the path of their god."
"Dark things. Temptations. Creatures of temptation. Creatures of evil. Evil nights. You two are the manifestations of sin. He as a soulless shadow and you as a Spirit of Halloween, when the realms are connected, and all the evil can slip through if not watched. The icons of horror and dread." She clasped her hands together. "Put those two creatures together with the option of having a baby and what do you get? The absolute pure manifestation of sin itself. Your son." Her eyes narrowed. "A pathetic boy though. Maybe the necromancer should use him. It would be doing the world a favor. Getting rid of one of its mistakes."
I could barely see as she started circling around me. I wouldn't snap. I wouldn't.
Until she spoke again, only low enough for me to hear. "And then there would be one more mistake to wipe out, witch."
I bobbed my head a few times, as if assessing her words. Without warning I bent down and swooped the shadows up to bind Lady Death and throw her into the farthest wall so I could pick up momentum. I let her slide down the wall as she came to a rest next to former Jason. I used the shadows to bind her to the same steel hoop jammed into the wall.
I turned and stalked out of the room, needing to get as far away from that room as possible. I didn't need to add murder on to my list of new experiences. Could you even murder Death? If I couldn't, I could at least torture her. Pleasant ideas filled my head but I shook them off. I knew where we had to go, and the sooner we left, the sooner it would all be over.

I hadn't expected her to stay calm for so long. Which is why when she lashed out with her shadows it didn't come as a shock. As I had said before, Death had never accepted what had happened. It clouded her judgment horribly. She knew Hana could be very dangerous if she chose to be. I had made sure she would be able to hold her own most of the time. I had also taught her to get out of a situation if she couldn't win.
In this, she had done both, and I was only surprised that she didn't attempt to kill Death. It wasn't possible, of course, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel pain. She also knew that I wouldn't hesitate to strike her if she said such things to me. Why she continued to antagonize us both I probably would never understand.
"You look like a man into bondage." I looked to Death, seeing her hiking up her dress with her legs. I rolled my eyes and moved to the door. "Wait, are you really going to leave me in here? With the corpse?"
"You need time alone to cool down. Think of him as your therapist. He's a really great listener. Doesn't say much, but you might learn something."
"You can't do this."
I looked up to the ceiling and pulled a thoughtful look. "Ah, yes, I think I can." I pointed to the torch. "And to really get your mind moving…" I removed the fire from the torch, letting the only light come from the hallway. "I'll try to remember to have a yeti come fetch you when you've had ample time to think. Your reapers should be fine without you for a few days."
"Just make sure she doesn't meet the same fate as your wife." She quirked a brow. "Now that'd be such a shame."
I had been in the process of shutting the door when I froze.
"She says hello by the way. And that she approves of the life you're leading. Most of the time." She sneered. "Happy lovey dovey shit. She says you should have another baby. A girl." The sneer turned into a grin. "And name it Emma. So close to the original, isn't it?"
I was going to let her go. I really was. I was going to let her stay in the dark with a decaying boy and that would have been it. I shook my head, smiling. "Deidra, what's the one thing you should never do to the Boogeyman?"
Her mouth moved a few times, but only a small squeak came out.
My shape slipped and tendrils held her head back, kept her eyes open. "You should never piss him off. There are things worse than death." I spread the fingers of my right hand down the middle, two on each side. I hovered them right in front of her eyes, now shaking in fear. I held down the rest of her twitching body with more tendrils. "Hold still. This will only hurt for a moment." I chuckled. "But then again, I'm a known liar." I shoved my fingers through her eyes, letting them phase through her skin upon contact. I accessed her brain directly, manipulating her consciousness, putting her under immediately. I then tampered with her dreams. I made it a nightmare. I made a continuous line of tiny Nightmares, one for each inhale of breath to cycle until we decided enough was enough.
I plunged the room in darkness and made a mental note to try my hardest to not forget which door she was behind.
But then again, I am old. Things did tend to slip my mind. I smiled in satisfaction as a scream of pure terror came from the room, muffled but still piercing. I do love the screams…
I slipped through the shadows to return to the atrium, finding everyone had returned.
"I think I know where they are." She took a crystal from her pocket, enlarging it and the shadow inside. She activated the shadows, and they gave way to the image of a nice old church. "From Jason's memories, this is where they met. I was able to touch some of Charon's memories too, which confirms the location." She looked around. "You don't have to help any further if you do not wish. I know the past—"
"The past is past," North said, and I couldn't help but stare at him. He was one of the enemies I held the longest, and here he was, saying to let go of the past. It probably helped that I hadn't turned that girl so long ago, and had let her become her Mother Goose icon. If it hadn't been for my help, that never-aging boy would still be a boy, and not an ageless man with his one true love. North would have never found Clara on one of his adventures. Jack would have never become a blasted Guardian. Hana would have never come back. Drago would have never been born. I would have never heard a form of forgiveness from my daughter.
Despite how horrible I had been to everyone in the past, without my darkness, they would not have their lights. And I would not have mine. She approves of the life you're leading. I grinned in my head, leaning against the closest pillar, just watching Hana move as she talked. She had a way with speaking with her hands, that one would say she really was Italian. I could still feel her fear as she tried to mask it, but it was starting to give way to hope. It was something I typically rolled my eyes at, but this time, I wanted to believe. It was better than nothing.
I was more amazed that they wanted to help. But when I thought of it, Drago was a known charmer. For a child that was the manifestation of sin, he did not act it. As a baby he acted no different than any infant. He was polite, and always meant well. It was no wonder they wanted to help him.
"We'll leave immediately," Hana continued. "The Void would be the fastest way to get there. You'll all need some form of shadow clothing or something to keep in control of where you're standing. Saddle up what you have and be ready to leave immediately. We can't afford to give him the time to get the rest of the parts of the ritual." She moved to the broad empty space on that level and summoned Hessian, patting his muzzle and pressing her forehead to it, her horns peaking on both sides. The strong stallion snorted and gently nosed her. She wasn't as fine as she was trying to fool us into thinking she was. I was amazed she had held herself together at all. But then I remembered. She held herself together around others. She didn't tend to show if things bothered her. If anything slipped through her façade, she would brush it off as nothing.
On the inside, she was screaming and she had no way to hide to let it out, she had no time. While the others dispersed to gather their wares, I approached her as she gently stroked the glowing skeletal pattern in Hessians's fur. I stood behind her and tipped her into my arms. I pulled us into the shadows so she was curled against me in a realm no one else could intrude upon.
In this realm she could let it go while I kept her safe. As I let her break, I thought of all the things I would do to Charon. Each one would make what I did to Death seem merciful. Only one other man had made the mistake to threaten my family. And I severed his head from his body. That was before I had become a Dream Pirate. A Nightmare King. Before I learned all the delicious ways to torture someone to get the best screams of terror without even touching them.
No, a nightmare he could never wake from would be too merciful. He deserved much, much worse. And I would spend my time fleshing out the best punishment I could. In the meantime, I let her wrap her arms around my neck tightly, feeling her whole body shudder before completely breaking.
"We'll find him," I muttered. I needed to hope. "He'll be fine. I promise." Could I promise that? Regardless, I spent the rest of the time we had to spare calming her down. And I spent the time hoping they would come true.
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