AN: Wow I haven't updated in awhile,I'm so sorry. My internet has been messed up along with my Laptop -_- Have a longer chapter than usual to make up for it^^

Trying to get this story out there. Thinking of doing some art but would also love fanart of this.

Read bottom AN too please for slight explanations. R&R.

There was only the soft noise of their breaths and the steady pace of their footsteps in the darkness of the tunnel as they stumbled forward blindly, the hole they just fell through closing above them.

"Hello." Called a voice just to their left, Tooth let out a small scream as purple glowing eyes seemed to appear from the darkness and there was a chuckle.

"Jack? Is that you?" She called to the eyes as Sandy gathered some dream sand into his palm, the golden substance creating a dim light in the dark space.

Jack Frost stood, tall and confident in the darkness as he grinned, his sharp white teeth glinting in the dim golden light. "Hey guys; finally fought off old MIM's influence then?" he asked easily, though there was a hint of frost in his tone.

Tooth's expression changed from weary to sympathy, "Jack..."

He shook his head and smiled at her, "It's fine; you didn't know what you were doing. Pitch is waiting for us, come on, I'll take you to him."

They followed him in the dark, Sandy watching the teen move in the darkness with such ease it was as if he was one with it. For a moment when he wondered whether Jack's dominant power was over the shadows instead of the ice as it once was.

Jack felt his friend's eyes on him and turned back slightly, the purple of his eyes meeting Sanderson's golden gaze in silence, he smirked as the golden man smiled at him. He raised an eyebrow as he nodded subtly towards the fairy beside the man, who was now hovering above the ground in order not to trip in the long darkened tunnel. The man looked at him with a hint of confusion before Jack wiggled his eye brows suggestively.

Sandman opened his mouth indignantly but before he could sign anything the tunnel opened up into a vast hall. Pitch sat before them, perched high above upon his throne on the stone dais. Around him gilded cages hung from the ceiling while his monochrome globe stood off to the side, golden lights glimmering.

Jack left them instantly before seeming to reappear just as quickly, striding from behind the nightmare king's high backed throne. The two guardians watched as the boy went to a smaller, yet still visually stunning throne, his fingers trailing the shining marble armrest as he walked to the front of it before sitting in it.

Tooth felt the overwhelming power from the combined presence of the two hit her like a wave and her eyes widened. The two's marble thrones were a contrast to each other, Pitch's was as dark as night while Jack's was pale and beautiful like the snow he created, it reminded her a little of Mim's throne if she were honest. Their respective symbols loomed above their heads, Pitch's coffin like hexagon and Jack's snowflake like hexagon, were engraved into the top of their thrones.

Pitch smirked wickedly, "Sanderson," he purred dangerously before his gaze went to the tooth fairy, "Fairy."

Jack shook his head slightly at the sheer malicious glee the older spirit was giving off. He's a little too pleased even if this means more on our side to defeat MiM, Jack thought to himself.

Pitch saw Jack's expression from the corner of his eyes and grinned mentally before looking back at the guardian of dreams and his companion, the guardian of memories.

"State why you have come." He commanded; the frostiness in his voice, unmistakable.

Tooth flew a few steps forward, her amethyst eyes shining slightly with determination, "We want to help fight Mim, what he's doing is wrong and..." she took a deep breath, "If becoming allies with you is the only thing we can do then I'll do it."

The two seated men looked at her before looking to sandy who nodded in agreement, 'Light and dark is needed in the world, the humans need both. Things must be put right.' The man stated in his golden sand, eyes going more to Jack than the grey skinned man beside him. Jack was proof of that; his power over frost could be used for good or bad and Pitch and he existed to bring balance in the realm of dreams.

The nightmare king sat back for a moment as if thinking about the offer of an alliance before he stood.

"Very well, I accept." The man said with a sigh, Tooth and Sandy's eyes widened, they had been expecting more of a fight simply because the man was so proud. Golden eyes narrowed at their looks of shock, "Now is not the time for turning away offers of help, it will take everything we can muster to defeat MIM or at least get him to see some reason, I will not put pride before survival."

Jack snickered at the fuming man who turned to him with a growl, "Silence brat before I make today's training last until you pass out!"

The boy instantly fell silent, causing Pitch to grin maliciously in triumph.

"Take them to your wing; there should be some rooms that are acceptable. In the meantime, I shall go and prepare for our lesson." And with that the man was gone, slinking off into the shadows silently.

Jack stood from his seat and floated to the two guardians using the small air flow in the vast cavern; his bare feet met cold stone as he landed in front of the two.

"I'll show you to your rooms now, so follow me."

Before they could answer he turned on his heel and began stalking down a darkened hallway, completely forgetting that the others couldn't see as well in the dark as he. He heard Tooth's complaint about no light and flicked his wrist, causing the crystals in hall to erupt with a soft dull blue glow.

With the added light they could see that the hall itself was carved out of the rock just like the tunnel they had been in earlier, only the walls were now smoother and had crystals on the them.

"So, Jack," Tooth began, trying to make conversation, "You have your own wing?"

The boy turned back with a small smile as he nodded, "When I first stayed with Pitch, he gave me my own room which slowly morphed into my own wing as he had the space; I've only been using a few rooms though. Mainly for training and relaxing, I'm building up a library as well, though mine isn't as impressive as Pitch's. Right now though I've been staying in Pitch's room since he says me being there is helping him recover his strength faster since half of his power is in me." He said the last part with a bit of a shrug before turning back to face forward.

There was silence for a moment before the fairy spoke up again, "Pitch...treats you well?" she asked hesitantly, "When I first saw you like this," she gestured at him with her hand though he wasn't looking, "I was under Mim's spell so it only registered a little but seeing you now... why would he go so far as to give you his power? He didn't force you to accept it, did he? Your appearance has changed so drastically it's as if your frost powers are dwarfed by his. I just don't see him doing this without an ulterior mo-" She stopped as she felt sandy's hand on her arm. She looked to Jack who had stopped walking, his head lowered.

Sandy knew what had happened; at least he had a hunch. He knew that it would take extreme circumstances for Pitch to do something so drastic and even then, it was rare for something like that to work unless the subject the power was given to was in an incredibly weakened state.

They had all been told of Jack's magic changing by Mim after Pitch and the boy had visited his palace but unlike the other guardians, sandy had felt it change. He had heard his sand whisper to him about Jack receiving Pitch's power and knew the Moon had been involved somehow, there was too much left unsaid when Mim had told them of the event that took place in his palace.

The thoughts had swirled in his mind and from the extreme's he had seen Mim would go to stop Pitch and Jack he knew that his hunch was possibly right, that realisation had ultimately solidified his wavering decision on joining up with the two.

"Jack?" Tooth called out, concern in her bell like voice as she watched the young boy's shoulders draw up slightly.

"Pitch saved my life." He began, "He didn't have to but he did. He didn't force anything on me, he gave me his powers because he wanted to and I... I'll never be able to repay him for what he did. I don't think anything I can offer or give will ever equal to the sheer magnitude of what he's given to me, but, I'll stay by his side and hope that that'll be enough."

"Jack..." he heard the fairy whisper.

He turned his head slightly to look back, a watery smile on his face causing the other two to catch a glimpse of pearly white fangs, "I," He took a deep breath, "don't want to talk about this right now, ok? Maybe later." He turned back again and began walking, "I'll show you to your rooms now."

The two guardians stood still for a moment, the sadness they had seen in his gaze had shaken them to their core. Sandy had seen sadness in Jack's eyes before but never so vivid, it had been masked behind laughter and sometimes indifference but just now, it was like an abyss so deep he felt his heart clench.

Something had happened and the gaping wound in Jack's heart had become bigger because of it.

They soon reached Jack's wing, a hall of several doors; he lead them down it in near silence as he told them what lay beyond some of the closed doors, "This is the library I was talking about." He explained, opening the door to his left.

Sandy's eyes widened at the number of books in the room, shelves upon shelves lined the walls all the way to the curved ceilings. The crystals in this room gave off a warm orange glow like a gentle flame. Comfortable chairs were scattered about, some with tables in front of them while a small cluster were placed before a now empty fireplace in an intimate yet comfortable setting; a sofa with a wing backed armchair beside it, facing it was a mirrored version of itself a small coffee table between the two.

Jack chuckled at the golden man's expression, "Just think, Pitch's library is bigger than mine." Sanderson turned stunned eyes to the young frost spirit as he signed a question, "Well, apart from training and my frost duties I don't really have much to do and before Pitch took me in I didn't have anything besides the clothes on my back and my staff, I didn't even think I needed anything," he muttered the last part with an eye roll, "but I've realised I quite like reading, it's like I get to visit different worlds, I also like learning new things and it helps pass the time. I think Pitch is the same, he doesn't like being bored and throws a fit whenever he is; he's childish like that."

Sandy laughed silently at that, he knew how the other man could get when he was bored, that was why most of their old battles were fought, not because Pitch was itching for a fight but simply because the man was bored.

"Feel free to use the library whenever you want, unlike Pitch, mine doesn't have protective wards on sections so you can read whatever you want."

He showed them the rest of the rooms, there was a common room and a training room with several weapons that Jack said the nightmare king was training him to use so he could fight with them when he made them out of nightmare sand. There was even a room filled with instruments that the boy claimed he was also being instructed in by the king of darkness.

The rest of the rooms were unused so were either empty or locked until they were going to be used.

It was after they were shown their own rooms that Jack pointed in the direction of his own at the very end of the hall before he walked past it and towards what looked to be a large gilded monochrome mirror which held no glass, "Beyond this is one of the passage's to Pitch's wing, if you don't find me in this one and need me, tap the carving of the horse here," at this he let his fingers caress the carving of a horse balancing on its hind legs, at the touch a shadowy spectre of the creature stepped from the carving calmly, "She'll find me and bring me to you." He turned his dark gaze to them and they nodded in understanding. "Good." He said with a grin as the mare faded back into the mirror frame.

"Have you finished with the tour, Jack?" the name was whispered into the boys ear and Jack grinned, spinning around to face the dark corner by his right. He was used to the man's lurking by now and with his sand magic could sense his presence.

"Pitch." Jack greeted before said man materialised, his golden gaze only on his apprentice. Jack's grin widened as the nightmare kings hand went to pet his hair instinctively before the appendage suddenly drew back, as if only just remembering the others in the hall.

From the corner of his eye he saw the fairy raise an eyebrow and Sandy's eyes light up in interest.

Jack pouted slightly, he had gotten so used to Pitch's strange habit of touching his hair that at his realisation the man wouldn't do it so casually while the other two were here, he almost resented them.

"I'm finished now, was there something you wanted?"

Pitch's gaze bored into is with annoyance evident on his face, "Our lesson Jack." The man growled.

Jack blinked with practised fake obliviousness, "Oh yeah!" He announced as if only just realising.

"One day I'm going to kill you." The Nightmare King muttered darkly, turning away to become one once more with the shadows.

The boy grinned, "You say that but I think you'd get lonely without me."

At the sing song tone Pitch growled once more and stepped into the shadows, his harsh order of, "Just hurry up boy!" was the only thing heard before he disappeared completely.

There was a moment of silence in the crystal lit hall, Tooth standing in slight dumbfounded awe while Sandy chuckled silently.

The fairy watched as Jack hummed happily at the reaction he had gotten from the older man, the teen then turning to them; his eye's brighter than before.

"Do you want to come? You'll be able to see more of this place's layout, today's room for training is near the underground springs, so I can show you that. It's really nice to have a bath in, though I can only do it so often since it's so hot."

Tooth had to smile at the boys excitement, throughout his and Pitch's little exchange she had seen a glimpse of their relationship, she still wasn't sure about Pitch but it seemed to two got on well enough. Pitch even seemed fond of the boy if that aborted gesture of affection was something to go by, it seemed if she and Sandy hadn't been there he would have went through with it and judging by Jack's behaviour it was a regular occurrence. Interesting; perhaps Pitch wasn't as cold hearted as he seemed.

With a nod of confirmation from Sandy and a 'of course' from Tooth, they soon retraced their steps to the throne room before going through some large doors off to the side and began down another hallway, Jack remembering to turn the light on for the others following.

As they walked, passing opened doors, Jack played tour guide, showing them both the formal and informal dining room, other common rooms and parlours, two more libraries and even a room like a greenhouse with an underground pool in its centre, its vast amount of plants and flowers thriving even though they were underground.

"This is one of my favourite rooms," he sighed happily, "Pitch's too." He added, chuckling at Tooth's shocked look, "He enjoys nature and his spells help everything stay healthy if he's not around to tend them for a long time, there are rare plants here and even a few that don't exist on the surface any more. He says this room is merely for his pursuit of knowledge but I can tell he likes it."

Sandy was amazed the other sand wielder had such a thing in his lair, though he supposed he didn't know him as well as Jack despite all the years he and Kozmotis Pitchiner had interacted.

"This lake is only one of the underground sources of water here. I'll show you the others. You have to keep track of all the twists and turns in this place r you could get lost, that's why I haven't taken you that far in, right now we're not even a quarter of the way in." Jack informed them, exiting the room once more; Tooth tore her eyes away from the glowing crystals on the ceiling and followed.

He showed them four other rooms that were in the connecting hall, each held a spring or underground lake or pool, some were heated by the earth and one was as cold as ice, the charms to make that happen were etched into the walls specifically for Jack's personal enjoyment.

Finally they were led to the room Pitch had chosen for his and Jack's lesson that day, it was again down a separate hall and much like Jack's wing had many doors on either side.

Pitch stood in the middle of the room, his eyes narrowing on the two guardians slightly as they entered after Jack, though he said nothing about them being there.

"You're late, Jack."

"Sorry, I thought I'd show them other rooms along the way." The dark hair teen said with a smile.

"Fair enough, let us begin. Shadow training first."

At the words the two guardians watched as Jack's smile vanished and a blank look took its place, "Yes, of course." He took a defensive pose, only just managing to deflect Pitch's attack as the man charged at him.

Sandy stumbled back a little in shock at the speed of the attack before taking hold of the tooth fairies am and tugging her towards a platform that allowed them to see the entirety of the room from above.

Pitch grinned at the boy's nightmare sand shield, "You're getting better."

Purple eyes glowed with the praise as an almost identical grin spread over the teens face, "Thanks, I had a great teacher."

"Now, let's test just how much you've learnt, brat."

Silver eye's narrowed as they stared at Nicholas St North in barely controlled in rage.

"What do you mean, you can't find them?" hissed the pale skinned man, his hair antenna twitched in his annoyance.

Santa flinched slightly at the deadly tone as the light of the moon narrowed on him.

"Toothiana isn't at her palace and Sandy isn't on duty and isn't on his island." The large man explained, where had his friends gone? He frowned before an idea popped into his head. "Maybe Pitch has captured them?" he asked in a helpful tone. The pale light on him intensified for a moment before moving to light up the floor in front of him.

Mim growled, that could have happened, though weakened Pitch still had Jack and if he couldn't sense the two of them wherever they were hiding he was sure he wouldn't be able to sense Tooth and Sandman either if they were taken. But would they make such a bold move now? Yes, Pitch would, he would strike while they thought he was weak and he had the knowledge to break his compulsion spells.

Even if he can't walk in direct sunlight without that infernal armour of his, Jack could and from what happened in his palace he knew how deep the bonds between Jack and the nightmare king ran, there was no doubt the boy would do as Pitch asked, despite his friendship with the guardian of dreams.

He doubted the two would go to Pitch willingly, they had been enemies for centuries and even if they cared for Jack he doubted they'd willingly team up with him against himself.

No, they worshipped him; he gave them their positions and had favoured them all these years. They wouldn't DARE to such a thing. Would they?

Sanderson's power was unpredictable, Just as Pitch's was, he had wondered if it was an entirely separate entity once. He also had a fondness for Jack that didn't waver despite the news of the boy turning on them. Therefore it was possible Sandy defected but Queen Toothiana? Perhaps her feelings for Sandy had been used against her? He knew she held much affection for the guardian of dreams whether she herself realised their depths of not.

She was loyal to the children, she wouldn't help Pitch, of that he was sure.

His only option was to bring them back and if they had betrayed him, he would destroy them like the traitors they would be.

He turned his gaze back down onto the Earth and into North's workshop where the man and Bunymund, who stood off to the side were waiting for his orders.

"Kozmotis Pitchiner and Jackson Overland Frost are our enemies; they are a threat to the children of the world find them and bring them to me, if necessary destroy them." He growled, he would protect the children from their poison. "As for Sanderson Mansnoozie and Queen Toothiana, their loyalties are unclear, when you find them be cautious and bring them to me, only use force if needed." Mim stated calmly.

Bunnymund stepped forward in shock, "Unclear? They were kidnapped! There's no way they would go to those bastards willingly!"

North placed a hand on his friends shoulder, "That may be true, but is good to be cautious."

"But mate, they might be under Pitch's spell or something if they attack us! We can't hurt them." Bunny exclaimed, turning his eyes to North imploringly. The man nodded before turning to Mim's light.

"We'll find them."

Mim's eyes narrowed ever so slightly before he retracted his gaze from them, his light vanishing from the workshop floor. He might have to strengthen his spells on those two; they shouldn't be able to talk back to him. It would seem their magic was fighting against his, though he had only turned their dark thoughts on Pitch and Jack to extreme levels and put mild compulsion spells on them, he might have to do more to keep them in check.

Now the mess with Tooth and Sanderson had been brought to his attention, he didn't know what to think.

To think all this was because Pitch had the ridiculous need to be seen. If a battle was to be fought he would lead it himself and have the personal honour of erasing darkness from the world. He would rip it out of him and imprison it once more and finish the job with Jack. The boy was tainted by Pitch's shadows, his mind and will no longer mould-able and so he would end the boy's unnecessary existence like the failed plan the boy was.

Pitch should have stayed in the shadows where he belonged.

He turned his gaze back to Earth, he knew it was only a matter of time before one or both of the two showed themselves and he would be ready for them.

He grinned widely, as his hands clasped together in excited glee, he'd be ready.

AN: So yay! New chapter, I'm just happy my computer's allowing me to do this *hugs laptop* Though it won't let me do grammar & spell checks UGH!

Clearing things up and brief explanations:

Explaining Jack's slight light heartedness with Tooth and Sandy: He's just glad he doesn't have to fight them. He's also trying to make them (more Tooth) feel somewhat at ease since they were 'enemies' only so long ago. Plus Sandy and he have a friendship.

Explaining Pitch: I wanted to show Pitch does have interests other than the obvious. He's been alone for so long it's natural he has hobbies etc. ^^

Also I wanted to give them a kind of playfulness, they're usually together and they have habits/routines now. Jack is comfortable with him and trusts Pitch, so he's less 'I'm watching you' than before. Though Jack does have his serious moments in this chapter I wanted to show how things have hanged between him and Pitch since say, the second chapter.

Not sure how good this was but thanks for sticking with it. Review?