I thought I would rewrite these chapters, make it more Tim Burton –ish and American Mcgee-ish XD taking on board on the advice of a lovely reviewer I will be more descriptive and such. That and it was beginning to annoy me – I have a tendency to write down what ever I'm thinking at the spur of the moment. I would like your opinions on this if you have one to share.

It was freezing in the North Pole, as per usual. But it was never this biting cold –it was the type of cold that froze the very marrow of your bones and began to congeal the blood that surrounded the flesh and sinew covered ivory.

It was the merciless cold that bought with it three letters swirling in the merciless chill – it was not Jack Frost's friendly wind, North, the usually jolly guardian of wonder had realised with a frown. The sight of the paper planes being thrown against the glass like it was caught in a wave, swaying back and forth – it rustled ever so slightly in the chill, making a sound similar to the skitch and scratch of a finger nail against a frosted window.

North with his inked arms, the ink spiralling around and ending in his signature "Naughty" or "Nice" tattoos, did he reach to unlatch the window; at the moment it was unlatched, it flew open with a bang – the blizzard blew in taking its iciness inside and the three parchment letters flew and fluttered in the gusts of air, in the shape of paper planes. The elves that were caught in the blizzard rolled backwards with a shrill scream, the Yeti's meanwhile were able to stand their ground against the onslaught. It blew, and bellowed around North in his blood red coat, lined with fur – not the synthetic, fake kind but the finest grey wolf pelt.

North stretched to catch the paper planes – he caught the one with the wax pumpkin seal with ease – this one was from Halloween Town; the one made from ancient looking parchment, with the ink blotted words scribbled in a child's hand was from the Never Was, once upon a time known as Wonderland, it was always a strange place but now it was bordering on sheer madness – it landed on the fireplace mantle. The last paper plane was black with white ribbons which twirled and danced in the warm office, it safely got caught in the fur of the yeti who was trying to get the window closed against the force of the chilling wind – that elegant looking letter was unmistakably from Purgatory.

Once the office was settled once again, the elves and Yeti's righted the overturned furniture – the yeti pulled the letter from his coarse fur with a disgruntled grunt.

'This is bad.' North rumbled in the quiet room, he turned to Phil, 'Go light up the beacon to call the others.' The yeti groaned an affirmative and lumbered to the room which housed the switch.

It was never good when anyone received correspondence from the Nightmare realms – with the letters clutched to his breast did he storm out of the large , almost lounge like room with a large, mahogany desk in the middle so there was no room free from North's unfinished ideas and ice sculptures half melted. A few of them toppled over as he rushed out, ignoring the sound of breaking ice – he rushed down the hallway leading to the beacon that would call the rest of the guardians though he was taking the long way, but he had a bone to pick with Pitch and truth be told, the Nightmare King deserved to be picked apart and dissected with a sharpened spoon.

The infamous Nightmare King was defeated, powers stripped away and currently held in the icy cells in the lower levels of the North pole – originally just the old reindeer stables turned into night cells for when the yeti's or the elves drunk too much on Christmas and became too rowdy.

North worked his way down the hallway, turning and winding - the door he took seemed to slope down further, under his workshop, the wooden floors disappearing and merging as a tunnel cut into ice – the loose snow crunched under his boots as he made his way to the largest cell cut into the far wall with the entrance was covered in ceiling high icicles. Within the shadows North could just make out the slumped figure of Pitch on the wall, he seemed so small and fragile now – so pale in the snow and ice, greyish skin seemed more ashen than usual, his hair unkempt and wet looking (a prison of ice was surely melting on him) but his eyes were darkly lined as though he hadn't slept in days.

North's sombre face twitched a smile at the look of defiance that Pitch shot him,

'Not sleeping well?' North asked, crossing his arms against his bulk his chest.

'My nightmares are eating me alive –seeping and seething within me.' Pitch winced when he spoke.

'Ironic then, being destroyed by the same thing you tried to destroy us with.' North couldn't find the humour of it at this moment however, seeing the once proud king so poorly.

'I don't blame the nightmares, they need a food source or they will perish.' Pitch grinned with blood like black tar covering his teeth; his feet and fingers seemed to be blackened with the freezing conditions. He closed his eyes, immensely tired, 'It's the principal of nature, and it's the survival of the fittest.'

'I see you haven't been using the blankets we have given you.' The pile was as neatly folded as it was when it was bought down.

'I don't want your pity.' Pitch snapped, he sat up slightly only curl more into himself in the agony of the movement.

'The Yeti's have been saying you haven't been eating as well.' North looked at the full tray of food, preserved in the cold.

'I'm not hungry.'

'You should eat.'

'My, it seems a long trek for you to come and visit me just to implore me to eat.' Pitch sat up straighter, with a wince, grinned with his sharp teeth, 'Whatever is on the great North's mind?'

'I've gotten some letters, from your domain.' North held up the letters making Pitch scoff.

'Want my throne do they? Cancerous pests...were waiting for this moment since I have been crowned.' Pitch hissed mostly to himself.

'So there needs to be a new ruler of the Nightmare realms, surely you have picked out a regent?' North huffed, he wasn't the one who should have to deal with this mess Pitch has created.

'Every regent I have chosen has disappeared or murdered quite brutally.' Pitch explained, 'Became such a meaningless loss of life I haven't bothered to choose another.'

'Murder, has your kingdom know no morals! ' North boomed loudly; mostly in shock, and some disgust.

'I rule over a realm of Nightmares, North, it's what you expect from them.' Pitch laughed, 'Charming how they try and get my attention, backstabbing each other makes a fun game.'

'You have a strange idea of fun…'

'Not strange like some of my subjects.'

'The letters are from Halloween Town, Purgatory and the Never Was.' North said, to incite some reaction from the grey skinned man.

'They are probably wondering on what's happening…you do realise that me, powerless, you and your righteous band of guardians could very well claim my lands as retribution – pull it apart, make it your own, maybe destroy it completely.' Pitch grinned widely at North, with eyes wide and wild, delirious with fever or sickness, 'We are in the palm of your hands, whether you decide to crush us or protect us - it is your choice.'

'I don't want your lands or your hellish kingdom.' North growled lowly, grabbing the bars of the cell, 'Believe it or not Pitch, we could have left you in that hole with the demons of your own making – but we decided to save you so you can be properly brought to justice.' North turned away from the man, facing the wall.

'Don't pretend you did it out of good will, you need me alive for the binds on the Never Was to stay sealed – doesn't matter anyway, without my powers I cannot withstand the drain for much longer.'

'I won't pretend that was half the reason Sandy and I agreed with Jack to save you.' North smiled at the shock that bloomed on Pitch's face at that statement.

'Yes, Jack was the one who wanted to save you – Bunnymund was very much against it, but I suppose you wouldn't remember because you were out of it.'

'Funny, had the boy joined me I would've made him my heir…' Pitch muttered with a weak but fond smile.

'I doubt he would want your throne now or ever.' North said with an arch of a bushy brow.

'That's good, if you don't want power you would a faultless ruler – I was not a faultless king, I tried to use my power for my own gain…in doing so I have created powerful enemies.'

'Yes you had made an enemy of the ruler of Never Was quite repeatedly, sealing him away…once we were on good terms with the former queen of Wonderland, Alice Liddell. 'North began, 'I imagine the current ruler would do anything to stop the binds from reactivating…'

'A world made completely from a child's imagination, whence we called it Wonderland…it was odd that place was in the Nightmare lands to begin with.' Pitch looked a little wistful wrapping his arms around his thin frame.

'It has been a long time since that place has remotely been anything but a child's nightmare, Alice has always been secretive of her world.' Pitch had continued, 'I left her be, but then ruin and corruption soon took hold.'

'Where is she now?'

'I believe she had perished as soon as soon as the pollution began, lost in her own madness.' Pitch had a dark expression on his face, 'I needed to stop the spread, dead or alive the girl was sealed away with it.

North had known Alice for as long as Pitch did – it was no lie that Pitch had allowed the girl freedom to travel around, giving permission to have the Looking Glass line to connect to the other parts of his domain. Though if Pitch's apparent fondness for the cynical, back talking girl that was partially mad ever came to light, it was swiftly denied by the former Nightmare king. Pitch had always a soft spot for young girls, though he would deny anything of the sort – with no memory or reason why he was kind to the girl, North didn't bring it up.

'She might still be there.' North said gently.

'I haven't been able to enter Wonderland and search for her since then, as I said the new ruler has changed the name to the 'Never Was'…he is very adamant with his 'no Pitch policy' so to speak.'

'He would kill you on sight.' North said softly. He had heard stories of Wonderland, now called 'Never Was' – the new ruler was as morbid as he was perverted in nature.

'Yes, to put it mildly.' Pitch huffed, 'and in my weakened state I wouldn't put it past him to try and end me'

'Are you safe as long as you remain here?' North asked.

'Probably, I will be.' Pitch added thoughtfully, 'But not for much longer.'

'You seem relaxed about this whole matter.' North was filled with unease, at the relaxed features on Pitch's face – pausing a little before he exited the icy cells.

'Well, man in the moon took away my powers….it is no longer my problem.' Pitch laughed and lifted a shaking finger which he pointed at North with a sneer, 'It's yours now.'

When North had returned to the office, the guardians were waiting for him. Jack Frost was sitting on his staff; Bunnymund was sitting on his hunches next to the frost sprite – ears flicking back and forth, alert and ready. North smiled at the sight of them, both had gotten quite close to each other over time and often Bunnymund would come to the North Pole and pull Jack soon out of the hole he had come from.

He, Sandy and Tooth had a bet going on which one would confess first and when. Still no confession as of yet but if you have been alive as long as they have you gain an exceptionally large amount of patience.

Tooth was fluttering around in worry and Sandy looked surprisingly wide awake for once.

'What's up, North?' Jack asked, looking at how worried the old guardian looked – the man was holding the three pieces of parchment loosely in his meaty hand.

'The Nightmare Realms are in panic.' North began, 'With no replacement to take the throne.'

'And we want another Nightmare king? It almost killed us all to take the current one down.' Bunnymund scowled.

'Yeah, why do we want another one?' Jack asked turning to the red guardian.

'Believe it or not, the only person that can use shadow binds is a Nightmare King. It is the ability only nightmare beings of great power can create.' North explained, heaving his tired being into his chair but he couldn't relax – he called for the one of the elves to pour him a shot of vodka.

'Shadow binds?' Bunnymund huffed, with that, Sandy grinned and flew to a locked chest – wisps of golden sand swirled around the object, it clicked and snapped open.

'I suppose it would make sense Sandy's binding spell would do the opposite.' North said thoughtfully.

'So…shadow binds would shut them?'

'Some ancient, dark magic – ever try to escape a nightmare though a door, and it is locked shut?' Tooth asked Jack.

'Being chased by something and not being able to get out of the room you mean?'

'Exactly.' Tooth smiled, fluttering around.

'So we just need someone who has strong shadow magic.' Bunnymund waved a furry hand, 'Contact a witch from Halloween Town.'

'I wish it were that simple; if that was the case I would reseal it myself'

'You, how can you reseal it?' Bunnymund muttered

North shifted uncomfortably under Bunnymund's narrowed gaze.

'I may have drabbled a little in shadow magic or dark runes when I was younger.'

Bunnymund shook his head in distaste, Sandy stared at North with a gaping mouth and Jack looked confused at the group's reaction.

'You didn't!' Tooth gasped in shock.

'I did.' North grabbed the glass given to him and the elf scampered off, 'It was frowned upon, but I thought it become useful to know a little of what I could come up against.' North threw back the shot with ease.

'Wow, you were a rebel once.' Jack laughed.

'It was nicknamed dirt magic back in the day.' Bunnymund said, 'Never thought you would even try that.' Bunnymund didn't bother to hide his newfound respect for the red suited spirit.

'A lot you don't know about me, Bunny.'

'So if you know how to do it what's stopping you?'

'The throne must be filled for the binds to work, I don't know why but anything I can do is not strong enough to hold the Never Was closed – I've tried, but it seems to shatter as soon as I placed it.'

'So, we need a new Nightmare King?'

'We do.'

'So what do we do, put an ad in the paper or go to the nightmares r us and buy us an unbroken Nightmare King on special.' Jack grinned.

'Good luck trying to find one unbroken.' Bunnymund laughed, but stopped at the glare of North, Tooth and Sandy.

'It would be best to travel to Halloween Town and sort this out with the Pumpkin King, I have meet him before – seems a nice enough man….skeleton, whatever.' North shrugged.

'You want to talk to that old beanpole of bones? Didn't he try and steal Christmas 50 years back or something.' Bunnymund huffed.

'I fixed it though, and Jack was quite apologetic for the trouble he had caused.' North said, 'He even got those three children to apologise for the trouble they caused you.'

'I thought we agreed we wouldn't talk about that.' Bunnymund growled, eyes flashing.

'Jack?' Jack pointed to himself.

'Another Jack, you haven't met him.' Bunnymund said flicking his eyes to the frost spirit, 'Jack Skellington, formally known as the Pumpkin King.'

Sandy flashed a grinning skull above his head.

'Nope, that's not me. For a second there I thought I forgot that I ruined Christmas once.' Jack Frost smirked.

'If you had ruined Christmas, you would not be alive.' North grinned.

'More cavities are caused on Halloween in that one night than the whole year.' Tooth huffed, 'it's a real nightmare.'

'Halloween Town…hey, why haven't you talked about it before?' Jack asked, looking wildly at the group.

'It's not important.' Bunnymund hissed out.

'It sounds pretty important.' Jack arched a brow matching Bunnymund's challenging glare.

'It doesn't matter, we need to go to Halloween Town and speak with Jack – he would know how to get through this without inciting war. Relations with the Never Was are already on a rocky slope, and we don't want whatever in there from getting out…ever.'

'Never Was.' Tooth shuddered, 'Is it true what they say about the new ruler? That even Pitch is disgusted with that beast of a man.'

'What have you heard?'

'The stories of children disappearing …' Tooth said quietly, 'among other things – it stopped long ago but the rumours of it starting to happen again.'

'They are just rumours unless we can find evidence to support this.' North explained calmly.

'What if they are real, we need to act fast.' Bunnymund said. Sandy nodded and poor Jack was left out of the loop.

'The best course of action, and the least likely to incite the Never Was into war is to seal it again – we need a new king, we need to go to Halloween Town.' North said sternly making Bunnymund huff.

'When should we leave?' Jack asked, finally making them realise he was still there.

'By the morning, I will write to Halloween Town at this moment – I suggest you all go home and sort out your things.'

Tooth nodded and flew out the window; possibly to instruct her fairies on what to do in her absence and Sandy flew out too, to finish his nights work.

'Are we going by sleigh?' Bunnymund asked distastefully.

'Oh course not, we will go by train – it has a direct line to Halloween town…the other way has been sealed off completely.' North said, he was referring to the portal in the tree deep in the forest so Pumpkin King's wouldn't get bored and try and take over the holidays again.

'I don't know what is worse, going by sleigh or by the looking glass line.' Bunnymund groaned; North looked thrilled to be going by train however, Jack soon joined the Christmas spirits merriment – he hasn't been on a train before. Bunnymund just groaned again at the look on the pranksters face.

TBC?

So what I have changed in this revisit was that Pitch is in prison at this moment, North was the only one who spoke to the former Nightmare King. Instead of the Nightmare before Christmas way of travelling to the different worlds though the trees with the doors – the Christmas one had been sealed by North probably out of a fear of a sneak attack if the other nightmare realms find out they could get into the North Pole that way. I hope it is better than my first one. I'll rewrite the other chapters too.