"Jack!" Dia called as he willed the wind lift him up. He landed onto of a snow covered roof just in time to watch as Jack and Sandy disappeared over the other side. The nightmare leading them on a merry chase through the city. He huffed in annoyance and quickened his pace. "Jack! Sandy! Wait up!"

Jack's voice echoed back to him. "No time Dia! It's getting away". His voice crowed with excitement. Dia rolled his eyes but sped up as much as he could. One hand tying the purple material around his other wrist. A movement he had done so often, he barely needed to concentrate as he chased after Jack. At one point Sandy disappeared into a house after a second nightmare. Dia waved at the little golden man as he sped past.

A flash of blue light blazed up in the corner of a partially hidden roof top. "Haha! I got it!" Jack whooped. Dia jumped and floated down next to Jack, panting slightly. At their feet, seemingly engraved on the concrete roof in a mixture of black and blue was the swirling outline of a nightmare. Frost was intertwined with the horse's form.

"Good shot", Dia remarked as Jack poked the shape with the tip of his staff. He shot the other boy a small proud smile.

"Sandy! Sandy did you see that?"

"Look at this thing", Dia muttered as he crouched down to examine the frozen horse. Sone of the tendrils of its mane were weakly drifting, unable to move. Dia poked it with a cloth covered hand and small flames burnt the tendrils away.

"Frost? Day of the dead?" A voice made them jump. Jack spun around, eyes wide and staff ready. Dia was less graceful. He yelped and fell back on his arse on the ground. Fire sparking in his hands as he pushed himself grumpily to his feet.

Jack struck out with a blast of ice but Pitch vanished and reappeared on the rooftop opposite, out of range. The shadowy figure eyed both boys down with a annoyed stare. "You know for a neutral party", he drawled. "You two do spend a lot of time with those weirdos. This isn't your fight".

"You made it my fight when you stole those teeth!" Jack retorted.

Pitch frowned at them as he strolled slightly closer. "Teeth? Why do you care about the teeth? I thought you wanted them destroyed. Didn't you Dia. Or did that change?"

"I'm not talking to you Pitch", Dia snarled, sudden fury bubbling inside him. How did Pitch know about his teeth?

Pitch smiled mockingly and ignored him. He turned around and jumped. Sandy was standing behind him, arms crossed. "Now this is who I was looking for", Pitch grinned. He raised his hands and a scythe materialised out of black sand. Dia watched with awed fascination as Sandy nimbly dodged the curved blade and returned the attack with two golden whips. They snapped at the air, catching Pitch round the wrist and ankle. The shadow man barely had time to gasp before he was thrown off the roof and harshly onto the road below.

Jack whistled in appreciation as the three of them peered down at Pitch. "Remind me to never get on your bad side". Sandy smirked and gave Dia a fist bump.

Together, they floated down to face Pitch. Jack with his staff leaning against his shoulder. Dia with flames curling at his fingertips, face made all the more scary by the skull makeup emphasising his angry eyes. Sandy punched a fist into his hand threateningly.

"You can't blame me Sandy!" Pitch called out as they came closer. He scurried away from them like a spider. "You don't know what it's like to be weak and hated". He stumbled onto his feet, still backing away. "It was stupid of me to mess with your dreams so I'll tell you what"- his voice changed into a snarl -"you can have them back".

A ghostly howling noise echoed around them. A spark of dread bit at Dia as nightmares seemed to materialise around them. The black beasts encircled them, numbers growing quicker than Dia could count. "Fuckity fuck and all her little fucklings", he muttered, fists raised defensively. At his side, Jack was bounding nervously on the balls of his feet.

"You take the ones on the left and we take the ones on the right?" He suggested. On Dia's other side, Sandy shrugged helplessly. The situation now vastly beyond their control.

Pitch gazed at them from atop his mount, probably one of the largest Nightmares Dia has seen. His eyes were smug as he took in their sudden panic. "Boo!"

The nightmares charged and Sandy grabbed Dia's and Jack's arms. A golden cloud of sand formed around his feet as the guardian hoisted all three spirits into the sky. Below them, the nightmares followed in a swirling mass of darkness. Dia looked down and whined softly as they climbed higher and higher. The nightmares were steadily gaining on them. But he could also see the red shape of North's sleigh down below. It seemed like the others had finally woken up.

Sandy let go of Dia's arm and the momentum sent him spinning wildly through the air. As he spun, he unwrapped two more purple sashes from around his waist and hurriedly tied them around his feet and ankles before using the wind to slow himself down. Dia gazed around. Above him, surrounded by a swirling whirlpool of black sand, was Sandy. He seemed to have the most amount of enemies but he appeared to be handling it. Below, hundreds more nightmares were attacking Jack and the guardians. Dia caught the rainbow flash of Tooth's wings as she tore through the nightmares furiously. Bursts of blue joined her as Jack smacked a few nightmares with his staff.

Judging that they were okay, Dia soared up towards Sandy. A few nightmares launched themselves at him but he sped up. He used the air current to spin and kick the beasts with a purple foot, making them explode into flames and fade out into nothing. Emboldened by this, Dia charged head first into the swirling nightmares around Sandy. He twisted like a wild dancer and around him the sky lit up with explosions of red and orange flames.

His attack blew a hole through the chaos, allowing him to hover next to Sandy. He grinned at the other, panting slightly. "Need a hand?" Sandy smiled as his golden whips shredded a few nightmares. Dia raised his hands and shot flames into the darkness. The sky lit up with red and gold as the two of them fenced off the swirling blackness.

He didn't notice Pitch hovering above them, too busy with the enemy around him. It was only when Sandy collapsed next to him that Dia paused. "Sandy?" He asked. Blackness was expanding across the spirit's back. Dia watched in horror as Sandy's light began to dim.

Above them, Pitch laughed. "Don't fight the fear little man".

Someone was screaming and shouting below them.

"Sandy! You can fight it Sandy!" Dia urged, grabbing the guardian by the shoulders. Sandy blinked at him slowly, the blackness now eating away at his face. It stung Dia's hands, forcing him to let go.

"No!" Dia blasted fire at the approaching nightmares. "Stay away from him!" It didn't to much good. They continued to get closer, encircling tighter and tighter around them. Dia turned back to Sandy just in time to see his light go out.

The black sand enveloped him like a wave. Dia barely had time to cry out as he was smothered. He couldn't breath. There was nothing but blackness. The nightmares tossed and threw around like a ball. Everything stung with a horrible sensation of needles and Dia found himself choking. Somewhere, he was aware of someone shouting.

The deep blackness felt like forever. Then as quickly as it had come, it shattered in a sharp blaze of cold that pierced him through to the core. The stinging sensation stopped and Dia was breathing the night air again. "Dia!" Someone called. He blinked wearily at the moonlight. The sky was a nauseating blur. He was falling.

Arms scooped him up. Cold and warmth. Dia was distantly aware of someone laying him down on a wooden surface. He could hear the worried voices of North, Jack and Tooth around him. With a great effort, he blinked open his eyes. Jack's blurry face was peering down at him. Dia let his eyes close and succumbed to darkness.

Unedited