Chapter XXIV

"If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought."

-Dante Alighieri-

It's a good thing that I spared you… Haytham eyed Jamie who was busy talking to Bunnymund about a good painting design on his eggs, with scrutiny. Ever since the boy had laid his eyes on him and learned his identity, he only nodded and exchanged a few remarks with him, then went away and bonded with the others more.

Something told the Blue Guardian that Jamie didn't like him, and something in Jamie's head told him that the man was somehow dangerous to him.

"Oh how cute!" Beside him, Mikey exclaimed as he saw an egg emerging from a blooming flower on the green ground. He watched with mirthful eyes as the egg jumped out and walked wobbly towards a path where hundreds of eggs were walking with their tiny feet towards a stream of paint on the other side of the Warren.

To Haytham, the walking eggs looked like drunkards. It didn't interest him but he was a little bit amused. He was bewildered as to how Easter eggs were build. Then slowly he shifted his blue gaze to Mikey who was still amazed by the flower in front of him.

His eyes began to fill with recognition. The first time that he met Mikey, he thought that he recognized the boy from somewhere, but now he knew who the man looked like.

The outline of his jaw, the sharpness of his nose, those brown eyes that looked like melted chocolate to him. All of it was the physical characteristics of a child version of Connor, his Assassin son who killed him. He let out a sigh of chagrin, he remembered his son's face and it made him feel doomed and disappointed. Why did he join the enemy side of his Order? This, among others, was the question that haunted him today and he knew it might haunt him forever.

"Haytham, can I go over there?" Mikey asked the blue Guardian, who was cut from his heavy thoughts.

He nodded. "Yes, you may."

But Mikey didn't move. "Say Haytham, wanna paint with me?" Mikey said as he flashed his smiling face at him in an inviting way. Haytham stared at him, his face was truly inviting and that made him feel awkward. As far as he knew, he never knew much about art, let alone painting.

"No," he said simply and coldly but the boy insisted.

"Then I'll teach you. It will be fun!" Mikey said as he took Haytham's right hand before the man could move it away. Haytham grunted as the child took him in. It was too late for him to say no and it would be a disaster for him if he showed any violence or anger toward him. The Guardians would react negatively for sure.

Oh great…Haytham silently protested as Mikey playfully pulled his hand. They both walked to the deeper parts of the Warren.

On the other side of the Warren, sitting on top of an egg-shaped rock with an unpainted egg in his right hand, Jack Frost let out a long grunt of exasperation, making him look like he was producing a mantra. No wonderful, colorful ideas were appearing in his mind.

"Oh…blue again…" he decided in defeat as he thought of a single color to paint on the egg.

On the opposite side of him, also sitting on top of a rock with their backs at each other, Aiden and Lady Tsukiyomi were painting eggs. The Japanese guardian was humming a lullaby peacefully as her hand moved the paintbrush gracefully, creating beautiful patterns of Sakura flowers.

"Say Aiden-san, is your egg finish─" she looked over her shoulder and trailed off. Aiden was painting an egg on his hand but instead of colorful patterns, he painted it with nothing but venta black, a new color that was said to be darker than black.

"Aiden…the kids are the ones who will look for these eggs, not US Navy Seals or Army."

"I know…" Aiden paused as his green eyes flashed on the surface of his very black egg. "I like venta black though, it matches the color of my soul," he added earning him some sigh of protest coming from the Japanese Guardian.

On the other stone, several meters away from the couple, was North and Tooth. Tooth hummed peacefully as her hand made a soft stroke on the surface of the egg. Her egg was sparkling in pink a with flowery design that she'd made. North's egg, however, was painted a dull red and blue. He made several grunts which lasted for a minute before he let out a disappointed sigh and began to paint it with red and blue again.

"Ribbons should go with t'is…" he said in a protesting manner.

"Mate, it's Easter not Christmas." Bunny appeared beside him, his arms were crossed on his chest where tons of eggs were being cradled. Jamie, on the other hand, was looking everywhere in an excited manner, while he followed a path filled with walking eggs.

He then stopped as he noticed Mikey and that strange man named Haytham. They were both sitting on pleasant ground and both of them were engaged on their respective eggs. Mikey was looking, with eyes of a natural born artist, at the egg, controlling the paint brush in his right hand with gusto.

Haytham, however, was staring at the egg with a hard, unnerving glare. The egg was feebly resisting, throwing its little legs away from him as the Blue Guardian failed to create vivid colors for the egg. With a paint brush in his right hand, he merely sighed as he gently put down the egg.

I don't have an artistic mind…Haytham smirked as he accessed his memory, looking for proof to his dismal claim of being not artistic and true to his words, he didn't have any memory regarding him drawing anything, not even when he was under the Templar Grandmaster Birch.

"Haa…" Mikey glanced behind him as he heard Haytham's debilitating sigh. He noticed the colorless egg in his hand earlier, running towards the path where his other species were walking, and this made him smile.

"Shall I teach you how to paint?" he asked as Haytham blew frustrated air from his mouth.

"A good painter is taught from his early brink of childhood. I wasn't taught how to paint."

"Well, we can dip it in the pond, over there. It seems the egg's colors were drawn from that part," Mikey said with an inviting smile. Haytham stared at his smile and the feeling of awkwardness came to him again. No matter how he changed his angle, how he viewed the boy, he had a big resemblance to, according to what he imagined, Connor's child version.

A heavy feeling of sadness swept over him, if he could go back to that time, and see Connor in that age, he might have listened to him and he might have joined him in his Order. Those ideas created a heavy weight on Haytham and he felt that weight was increasing more as Mikey's smile shone brightly toward him. "Well, if you want to…"

"Race you there!" Mikey quickly stood up and ran, leaving the startled Templar Grandmaster behind. Haytham smiled as Mikey's energetic reaction made the weight in his head disappear for a moment. He slowly got up, patted his butt for dust and quickly followed the kid without any hesitation.

At first, Haytham thought that kids were boring and annoying, but Mikey was different for him. Other than him being a look alike of Connor, he wasn't annoying and he wasn't a stupid boy either. He chuckled mentally as a thought flashed from the back of his mind. Maybe there might be hope in this world still for a child like him.

"Hey there, Jamie," Jamie, crouching down at the edge of the pond where all of the eggs were jumping and colorizing themselves, looked up and smiled at Mikey. He merely greeted Haytham with a nod. He still had a weird feeling about the guy. Something told him that the man was hiding something from him.

He greeted them both as Mikey quickly talk to his cousin.

"Bunny said that it's ok to throw eggs to the pond. Shall we try?"

"Yeah…I've been thinking about that…" Jamie said but then he trailed his sentence, a mischievous idea sprang up in his mind and this made him smile like the Cheshire cat.

"So…when does it start, hmm?" Jamie asked in a sly manner as the boy replied without any hesitation or suspicion of future mischief. However, Haytham noticed his tone and this made him cast his blue eyes at him. He saw the kid's planning eyes and this made him grin.

Oh he's planning something bad…Haytham observed as Jamie slowly crouched down to the ground, in a manner of picking up eggs but then he dipped his hand on the pinkish water of the pond and splashed it towards Mikey.

"Ah-! Jamie, really!?" Mikey shouted in protest as his green Pajamas became blue then pink then violet. His clothes were clearly soaked with magical colors that changed in a blink of an eye.

Jamie laughed heartily, not noticing the younger cousin bending down and preparing to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Ha you should've seen your face-ah!" Now it was Jamie who yelped as his blue Pajamas were bathed in colors of green that quickly changed to orange then to blue then to pink.

"Not fair!" Jamie returned with a strong protest. He quickly returned fire with the watery paint. Mikey was hit square on the face, for a moment he stood silently staring at Jamie.

Suddenly he howled: "PAINT WAR!" and they fought with paint. They splashed themselves in a raging manner, eager to hit and colorize one another. The pond rippled as splashes began to turn into a turbulent force. Mikey giggled loudly as his hand moved furiously, throwing paint at his cousin.

Jamie accepted the splash and laughed and returned fire. He threw the water paint at Mikey who then moved to his right, avoiding it. Jamie yelped when he saw that the water paint flying across his cousin had, most definitely, splashed over Haytham's clothes.

Haytham froze as he felt the coldness of the paint in his stomach. He slowly looked down and saw his red vest soaked with blue paint which then changed into green then to pink and then to brown. His gaze shifted to Mikey and Jamie, eyes emitting a burning blue flame. He was furious. He didn't like the paint and most likely he didn't want to play with it. It was all too childish for him.

"You two…" Haytham began as Jamie's frightened eyes stared at his blue ones. Haytham was mad of course; he was always proud of himself for being a neat freak. Now that this clothes were smeared with paint, he was angry but a feeling of excitement suddenly surged up from his mind. Since they dirtied him with paint, he had to get them back.

"So be it!" Haytham shouted as he dipped his hand on the water paint and then forcefully created a huge wave which hit them both. Jamie and Mikey were both thrown on the ground, every part of their clothes covered with interchanging paint. They had become a walking rainbow as their clothes displayed varieties of colors.

Mikey and Jamie laughed loudly. They didn't expect Haytham to create such a huge exciting wave. Haytham, after he stared at their expressions, also began to chuckle. The children's laughter had touched one of his nerves and made him laugh. He found their laughter enticing and relaxing for he hadn't heard one for a long time.

"Oh let's have some more fun!" Jack Frost, after hearing their commotion and laughter, said and jumped into the river of paint. His actions created a large wave which hurled and splashed towards the three of them, bathing them with more colors.

"My God, Jack what the hell!" Haytham was caught off guard.

"Yay! More, Jack! More!" Jamie and Mikey both cheered as they jumped again. Haytham, despite his protest, groaned in dismay as the two boys splashed the paint and bathed him some more.

"Jack, you're being a bad influence," Haytham began. His voice was calm as he attempted to scold Jack for engaging the two boys in more mundane actions. "That's Bunnymund's paint pond, it's for eggs, it might contain harmful chemicals-JESUS CHRIST-!"his scolding was cut short as he found himself being lifted by North who carried him onto his arms, after he heard their laughter earlier.

The giant man shouted: "TSAR BOMBS AWAY!"

"No-!" Haytham shouted but it was too late, North and him hit the pond and created a tsunami which splashed over everyone. Jack, Jamie, and Mikey all laughed in unison as they saw North burst to the surface bathed in many colors. Haytham resurfaced and he merely let out a defeated sigh and a still expression. He too was now a walking rainbow.

This…is going to be a long day- "Here I come!" Lady Tsukiyomi and Tooth shouted as they both made a splash entering the pond. They too had heard their noises and they got curious as to what was happening. Seeing them all on the pond made them happy, but seeing Haytham glowing in different colors made them much more excited.

Aiden, on the other hand, was standing on the bank, looking at them with a still expression. He was judging if he wanted to join them or not, but Bunnymund suddenly shouted beside him, jarring his thoughts.

"Oi what're you all doing!? You can't just jump in there!" Bunnymund said but he was completely ignored. Their thrills and laughter rang louder as Bunny's face became furious. Although it was a part of his factory of Easter eggs, he knew that it was alright for someone to swim on the paint pond but they were all running to a tight schedule. They had to deliver the Easter Eggs right now if they all wanted to return their powers immediately.

However, an unnerving feeling of envy enveloped him. They were all having the time of their lives except for him. He had swum there before and he knew it was fun but he never witnessed everyone swimming in it at once. Today was the first time that it was filled with the Guardians and their believers.

"Oh…fine. Five minutes, okay?!" Bunny then immediately jumped leaving Aiden who just stood there watching them. And then after a moment he took out his phone and took a picture of them.

"Hey, no flash!" The Guardians shouted as Aiden merely shrugged his shoulder and said. "This is going to the Daily newspaper bulletin of the Court of Heaven."

"Ah that was fun!" Jamie and Mikey said happily as Haytham trailed behind them with a heavy face. Yes fun for you kids…oh my back…he caressed his lower back behind him in a soft manner. The three of them were now walking towards the deeper part of the Warren where the eggs, after they bathed themselves from the color pond, would line up for distribution.

Haytham was still glowing in different colors just like the Guardians and the two boys who were both discussing about today's fun.

"Oh I'm still covered with paint, it feels sticky," complained.

"It might be Molten Phenol," Jamie and Mikey wondered in concern, now that they began to worry about the chemical elements of the paint. Haytham blew his nose in a prideful manner and called the two before they entered to a large archway formed by two huge trees that was bent inward.

"Now you two come over here for a moment," Haytham said as the two boys looked at each other before they proceeded, curious about what he would say to them. But he didn't say anything. The Blue Guardian then touched both of their shoulders and silently emitted a blue aura. The aura increased its luminance as it traveled and enveloped the two boys who made several 'oohs' and 'aahs' in amazement. The Blue Guardian's color was pretty and beautiful to them and after a second it disappeared, leaving all three of them spotless and clean. The paint had disappeared. The two boys smiled in astonishment, it was a cleaning spell that they'd witnessed and their admiration to the Blue Guardian had increased.

"Wow Haytham, how did you do it?"

"It's like magic." Mikey and Jamie exchanged appraisal as Haytham smirked at them.

"Oh it's nothing just a little bit cleaning spell," Haytham simply said. His cleaning spell, which he had discovered and called ever since he became a supernatural being, was one of his most useful powers that he possessed right now and he, even though with enmity, thanked the Man in the Moon for granting him with such abilities. Although the Moon didn't grant him these abilities... and this was still a power popping up out of nowhere.

All three of them then resumed their walking and passed underneath the archway.

They then stepped into another clearing. Haytham saw North, Tooth and Bunny in the middle of the clearing where hundreds, probably billions of eggs were lined up. They were probably counting and tallying all of them, making sure that every child would receive an egg for the Easter Sunday. Right in front of him, several meters away from the first row of eggs were seven tunnels. Each of the lines were facing the tunnels and right above the entrance of it, drawn on the surface with artistic detail, were the continents where the tunnel would lead the eggs.

"Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia…and even Antarctica?"Haytham rose his right brow in amusement, even a desolated place such as Antarctica, was included in the countries where the eggs would hide.

Nobody lives there…and even if there is someone living there, finding eggs would be like that awesome movie calledthe Hunger Games… The movie Hunger Games, Haytham watched it when it first premiered in, he was fascinated with the concept of the movie about how 12 pairs of children and teenagers, trapped in a huge dome. It was all about killing each other to bring honor to their districts. Haytham thought as he imagined the children of Antarctica plowing the snow and using the noses of Huskies to look for eggs which made him chuckle, they'll be like those people on the movie, looking for goods, getting them back to their homes and pride fully showing it to their parents who will give them appraisal and honor in return. May the odds be ever in their favor…I guess.

"Aw I feel sleepy," Jamie said as he yawned with Mikey. The two boys began to rub their eyes as the heaviness of today's activities had finally taken a toll on them.

"I wanna see them walk through those tunnels," Mikey said and then both of the boys yawned again. Haytham found their actions quiet entertaining, they both looked like wolf pups, tired from playing and hunting. The three of them sat down on the ground, beside a rock as they watched the final batch of eggs entering the archway away from them.

The two boys, with their backs brushed against his blue cloak where they snuggled, were glad that the cloak gave them a comfortable heat. Their heads then rested upon the man's chest as Haytham opened his arms and welcomed them into a hug. The children were tired and they need to sleep, so the Blue Guardian didn't find any malice in letting them sleep on him and felt the warmness of his clothes.

"Haytham…" Jamie muttered as the man glanced down at him.

"Yes?"

"Sorry I misjudged you."

Haytham was startled by what the boy said but he merely smiled. He knew that the kid already judged him from his menacing looks earlier, but he had ignored it for he knew that today's society was filled with judgmental people, including children. Haytham deemed that these judgmental children were the cause of today's endless cycle of hatred.

What kind of society that could exist from judgmental children? A chaotic one, definitely.

"That's alright," Haytham said calmly. He forgave the boy since he admitted his wrongdoings. Blessed be these kinds of children…Haytham thought kindly, his faith in humanity was restored a little bit. He was glad that such honest children like Mikey and Jamie still existed, because when he was revived he saw how society had changed. He saw children betraying their mothers and fathers just for selfish causes or stupid anger. This made him angry and he lost his faith.

"I guess I misjudged humanity too…" Haytham mumbled but the two children were already asleep. He quietly stared at Jamie and then Mikey, their faces displaying complete serenity. The Blue Guardian rested the back of his head on the rock behind him and looked up and came face to face with the smiling Jack Frost who was looking down at him.

"Yes Jack?"

"Aw Haytham you tucked them both in…you're so sweet." Jack hovered from the stone and landed in front of him. Haytham merely snorted, he wasn't shocked because he already felt the spirit's presence earlier.

"Well, what do you want me to do? Make them energetic again? Anyway, I think someone must bring them back to their house. It's already getting late in their world," Haytham suggested as Jack shrugged.

"Nope sorry I can't come I still have to count the eggs," Jack said as Aiden passed the archway with eggs in his arms, he too was probably counting the eggs. His presence was felt by Jack who turned around and called to him.

"Hey Aiden, can you assist Haytham? He needs to bring back the kids to their homes." Jack said without any hindrance earning him a disappointed click of a tongue from Haytham for reminding the detective about his duty on guarding him. He didn't want degrading words such as 'prisoner' to be muttered by him. He found it very offensive to his taste.

"My hands are full. Haytham can bring the kids back." Aiden simply said, making the Blue Guardian shift his eyes toward him. The Detective was letting him travel far away from his sight, this made him feel relaxed.

"My, my, thanks for that Aiden, I can finally leave your eyes of imprisonment," Haytham said as he stood up and carried the two kids with care.

The Detective however quickly interjected. "Don't bother planning for a clean escape, I already planted something in you even before this whole funny business started." Haytham clicked his tongue in disappointment again. Leaving the man's guarding presence was completely worthless now even though that Aiden might have been lying about what he said.

Jack Frost sighed heavily. He found Aiden's words to be off putting. The relentless nature of the Detective on capturing Haytham was completely undiminished. He moved towards Haytham and took out a pair of small snow globes from the depths of his jacket pocket and gave it to the Blue Guardian.

"Well Haytham you know the Bennett residence, right?"

"Yes."

"Off you go, then. North lent you this for safe travel. Just shout the place where you want to go before you crush it on the ground." Jack said with a smile as he saw Haytham take the snow globe from his hands and put it in his pocket, while struggling to keep the two children balanced on his shoulders. He observed him more. The Blue Guardian was indeed showing caring actions for the two. He had clearly changed from his lost attitude to this peaceful air of sentiment.

Haytham then made a bow with his head and shouted the place where he would go. The globe shattered by the weight of his foot and released a colorful cloud which enveloped all three of them and in an instant they all disappeared.

Bennett's Residence

Haytham grunted in annoyance as his free hand feebly lifted the window of Jamie's bedroom. His left hidden blade suffered under his and the boys weight. He finally entered after he bumped his head on the windowsill which made him grunt. He fixed his tricorn hat once they were through.

He went over to the bed and gently put down the two kids on the single bed. He stared at them both with amazement. The feelings and emotions that he felt while he bonded with them were pretty intense. He had never felt so much happiness right now, and that made him think.

Could I be changing without me knowing it…? Haytham's question seemed to echo throughout the room as he deeply absorbed the answer. He was indeed changing and this made him create another thought about his old self, which was disappearing slowly. Haytham had already thought about it when he was revived. Could it be that being revived by the moon was a punishment to him? Could it be that God, if there was ever one, pitied him and revived so he could live another life without creating the same sins that he had done before?

Those questions, which the Blue Guardian had forgotten for a long time, began to come back because he finally felt something that had not been felt for a long time. And that was a feeling of living in peace. He only stopped feeling the peace when his father was killed and that was the beginning of his hardships up to now.

Haytham quickly darted his eyes to the window, disrupting his resolving thoughts. He felt something was watching him and true to his instinct, he saw a pair of golden eyes staring back at him. The moon's light from the outside had illuminated the familiar outline that he saw whenever Pitch Black was terrorizing them.

The Black horse whinnied before it galloped away from him. Haytham, after taking a one last look at Jamie and Mikey to make sure that they were still asleep, quickly dashed and leaped from the window. He ejected his right hidden blade which hoisted him towards the roof of the next house. From there he ran on foot, his boots clacking widely on the roof as he chased the horse galloping below him on the snow covered street.

"Now where're you taking me?" Haytham hissed predatorily, the horse was looking at him back from the house, then ran away after he saw him. It had no intention of fighting him. Its intention was simple: to be seen and to be chased by him, which meant that Pitch wanted to see him or he wanted to ambush him. Either way, Haytham was determined to face him. Pitch had his key and this was Haytham's chance to kill him and end this commotion that he had caused.

The Horse suddenly whinnied as it reached a clearing in the middle of the town. Haytham concluded that the clearing was Burgess town for right at its entrance, a huge statue was standing. It was probably the statue of the founder of the town but he didn't heed any attention to it. He quickly jumped off the roof and landed on the ground and proceeded to enter the park.

The black, sandy horse stopped in front of a frozen fountain. Haytham also stopped his chase and stood behind it. The horse has stopped running because he had already taken Haytham to the place where Pitch might be hiding. He readied himself as he took out his gun from his left holster and his sword on his right. His eyes wandered as he scanned his surroundings, looking for the familiar silhouette of the Nightmare King.

"Hello there, Grandmaster Haytham E. Kenway," Haytham quickly darted his eyes towards the source of the voice. There was a shadowy part of a tree standing beside the fountain. He quickly aimed his gun and fired a single shot.

The bullet made a loud sound which made the horse disintegrate from shock as it bounced off the trunk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy there, Haytham." Haytham quickly spun around and aimed his gun at another tree and its shadowy part and finally laid his eyes on the familiar pair of golden eyes of Pitch Black, the Boogeyman.

Pitch, with his face plastered in a dark welcoming grin, walked and emerged from the shadow of the tree with his hands and arms open wide as if he was welcoming the Blue Guardian, which was probably the case.

"You're quite troublesome, aren't you, Pitch?" Haytham relaxed his serious face, but his hands remained where his weapons were. "What you're doing right now makes it easier to kill you."

"Oh I thank you for your compliment, but I did not come here to kill you," Pitch said in a relaxed manner, not even showing the slightest hint of a threat. "I came here to…propose something to you."

Haytham's right brow rose and curiosity screamed in his eyes as Pitch successfully caught his interest. "You seem to know me more…perhaps you've already sneaked a peek into my memory." He said as he concluded that since Pitch was showing himself like this, he must have something for him, a great trick perhaps on defeating him. But he swore to himself that he wouldn't fall for any of his dirty tricks.

"Why yes, Haytham…I know you already…what you fear…what were your 'playmates' true goals…but first!" Pitch raised his voice in a delightful manner, which made Haytham move his sword slightly, reacting to his sudden change of tone.

"What're the true goals of the Templars, Haytham…? What do you really want?"

The question made Haytham glance to his left in thought. Those questions were too familiar to him and his answer would be the same as every Grandmaster said to whoever asked them that.

"Order…Purpose…Direction…no more than that. That's our true aim-"

"Which will never happen, am I right? Since 'all Templars' had become extinct together with your arch nemesis, the Brotherhood of Assassins today." Haytham then lowered his sword. What Pitch had said had startled him. The Order of the Templar Knights wouldn't be destroyed let alone extinct even when its Grandmasters were killed, the Brotherhood of Assassin's had proven for they've killed many of their kind yet they still grew in numbers. There was no proof, however, to Haytham's belief that Templars still existed today, only a slight feeling that they were. But there wasn't any proof to Pitch's claim, either.

"That's impossible. We're very powerful. I saw some men becoming Templar Grandmasters before my very own eyes, and your claim can't be proven for I know that there are some of us that still exist." Haytham said with pride but Pitch loudly laughed.

"Ha! You've no idea what the Arbiters and the Man in the Moon did to your brethren. The Templars are no more. Now enough about them. Let's talk about…this." Pitch then took out the Apple of Eden from his cloak. Haytham readied his sword again, pointing it at Pitch. If Pitch tried to utter or think of a command to control him, then Haytham would slash his hand. But he was startled as Pitch toyed with it carelessly in his hand. "You recognized this Haytham?"

"Yes… the Apple of Eden. The Templars were looking for it and so were the Assassins." Haytham recognized the artifact in Pitch's hand. It was the Apple of Eden and a legitimate one. Its legend was passed down through Templar's Grandmasters. The story revolving around it was that it could control a whole nation of People.

"Sadly, you can't have this. I hid the real one."

"Then why the fuck are you showing it to me!?" Haytham howled, his temper was at its limit. Pitch was completely toying with him. Haytham just wanted to know what Pitch was going to propose.

"Say your proposal now before I cut you to pieces!" he scowled again as Pitch chuckled malevolently.

Pitch's left hand then took out something from the left pocket of his black robe. He looked at it for moment before he said, "I'll explain it to you later." Pitch chuckled madly as he tossed something to Haytham. The Blue Guardian quickly caught it in midair and looked at it. It was his Memory Precursor Box, the one that contained his good memory.

Why's he giving this to me-? Haytham was puzzled by his action but then a dooming realization flashed his mind. Why did Pitch want him to meet him here right now? Why was he so open right now and why did he toy with his weapon? And the answer was a very simple and tactical one.

Pitch had separated him from the Guardians. His full force must be running amok at the Warren.

"You son of a bitch!" Haytham cursed loudly as he dived in and grabbed Pitch by his neck. He pushed him down to the snow covered ground, anger rising up at the fact that he was tricked from the very beginning.

Haytham then pointed his right hidden blade at his neck, the coldness of the metal made Pitch laugh hysterically instead of being scared.

"Ha! Haytham! Staying with them had made you dull and boring…" Pitch said as he moved his face closer but Haytham pushed him further on the snow.

"Aren't you going to ask me about your Memory Key right now?" The sudden thought of his memory key had made the Blue Guardian's anger dissipate. He quickly remembered and cursed mentally. He had completely forgotten his memory key, the most important object in his entire life.

"Where is it-TELL ME!" Haytham shouted as he stabbed Pitch in the stomach, making the enemy yelp in pain. But Pitch laughed again in madness as he whispered, blood flowing from his mouth.

"Do I have to answer that when you already figured out why I am delaying your return? Why I perfectly separated you from them by planting a shadow sleeping agent in Jamie and Mikey's cookies which they ate many hours ago and made them feel so sleepy all of the sudden?" Pitch's words crashed down on Haytham. The timing was indeed perfect. Jamie and Mikey fell asleep. He already knew that he gained the Guardians' trust so that he could freely leave them and make the place free of his presence. Pitch's plan was so perfect for him that he almost praised him but then the doomed thought of the location of the key loomed in.

"It's with them… am I right…?"

"BINGO! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I JUST GAVE THEM FRONT SEAT ON VIEWING YOUR MEMORY HAYTHAM! YOU'RE SO EXPOSED-!" Haytham didn't let Pitch finish his sentence. He burst into anger and punched his face as forceful as he could. A loud crack of the bone echoed throughout the night as he stood up and shouted Bunnymund's place, crushing the globe and disappeared.

The night of Burgess was filled with Pitch's evil laughter. He was successful in luring Haytham out. Now all he need to do, all he could do right now, was wait out the effects of what he had done, and he was so excited right now that he couldn't possible do it perfectly.

"Now Phase one is finished…" Pitch snickered as he looked straight to the moon from the ground. "Let's begin Phase two, shall we!?"

Special thanks to Noon30ish for proofreading. :) Chapter is up everyone!