Giving Fantasia: The Taking Fantasia Sequel

Chapter 136: Divided We Fall

Chapter 136: Divided We Fall

Everything exploded.

No one person could recall what happened. There were too many players and too many parts. The repercussions of the guardians' actions avalanched within the blink of an eye. The aftermath was violent, fast, and unstoppable.

But it all started when Jim broke the Wishing Star and Wendy's happy thought resurrected Sandman from the nightmares within the Black Cauldron.

"No...impossible." Pitch gaped between Peter and Sandman. Dreamsand sprinkled across his nose as Peter released Elsa, and Sandman wagged a finger. Bad Pitch. Bad. North is going to put you on the Naughty List.

"No. No! How?! How is this..." Pitch looked at Wendy. She was smiling speechlessly at Peter, dreamsand streaming from her hands. Every nightmare she touched twinkled into a dream. Similarly, shadows poofed into golden clouds and the Black Cauldron cracked like a golden egg.

Nightmares and shadows scattered, wild with confusion. But none were confused as Wendy. Her shadow working powers had reversed! But how?

Sandman knew how. He could have explained, but he preferred to watch Wendy instead – she looked like a child bewildered by Christmas magic. Sandman sighed. Sometimes it was nice to be happy, and not need a reason why.

But the explanation was simple: dreams and nightmares are almost identical.  Have you ever noticed how quickly dreams become nightmares, and a nightmares become dreams? The only difference between them is whether the dream is "good" or "bad" – "happy" or "sad."

Well, Peter's happy thought ("I love you") saved him from the nightmare. 

But, Wendy's happy thought ("He loves me") transformed her nightmares into dreams. After all, shadow workers use both dark and light. And at that moment, Wendy was glowing. So her powers, closely tied to nightmares, crossed the indiscriminate boundary to dreams. 

Sandman smiled at Wendy. He winked. Then, a dreamsand boxing-mitt forming around his fist, Sandman clobbered Pitch with his left hook. Simultaneously, Jack scooped a handful of Elsa's snow. As Pitch stumbled, he hurled a snowball.

Boof! The snowball smashed Pitch's face. Jack whooped. Scampering around Wendy, he packed two, three, four more snowballs. But just as he aimed, someone else flung a snowball at Pitch.

It was Elsa. Just like the night she and Jack had thrown snowballs in King Arthur's castle, Elsa attacked her fears. She threw a snowball that leveled Pitch to his knees. She threw a snowball that knocked Jack's staff from his hand. Then she threw a final snowball –

"Hey!" Jack staggered. Elsa's snowball had hit him! Right on the hoodie! Smack dab over his heart! Jack was flummoxed! "Wait a minute – that was a great shot. She...she can't...can she see me?"

Jack looked at Elsa.

Elsa smiled. "Let it go." she answered, tossing Jack his staff. "Mr. Frost."

"No!" Pitch roared. Gathering his nightmares, he summoned Peter's shadow. But Wendy met Pitch with a single strike, shielding Peter (and Shadow) from his nightmares.

"You can't get rid of me!" Pitch fired nightmares at Wendy. "Not forever! There will always be fear! Wherever there is shadow magic, there will always be fear! My nightmares will find you, shadow worker! My nightmares -- "

"I'm not afraid." Wendy grit her teeth, forcing Pitch from her mind. Needle raised, she motioned to the nightmares. "So these can't be my nightmares.  And if they're not my nightmares...they must be yours."

Wendy closed her eyes. She focused, imagined Peter's vow of love, and thrust the nightmares at Pitch.

Pitch...was terrified.

"Goodnight." Wendy whispered. "Sleep tight."

Above the sky was whirling. The Wishing Star was screaming down. Sinbad had jumped from the Jolly Roger, Ariel and Sarah beside him. Tooth, Pips, and Crysta were racing to break their fall. Magical energy warped from the Black Cauldron as the portal caved beneath the Wishing Star. The world spun like a kaleidoscope. Peter tumbled into the wind. Jack ripped Wendy and Elsa into the snow. Nightmares sucked into the cauldron. Pitch struggled to escape, but the blackness pulled both he and Ruber into the cauldron's black, bottomless mouth –

Pitch vanished. But Ruber remained. He grabbed King Arthur and climbed, using the boy as an anchor. Hysterically, he cast Arthur at the Black Cauldron. 

But Amalthea, still a unicorn, twisted upright. With her last breath, she stabbed Ruber with her horn. The horn cracked from Amalthea's forehead. It embedded in Ruber's heart.

Amalthea fell.

And as his lady died, Arthur seized Excalibur and destroyed the Black Cauldron. The magical portal popped and rebounded. The Wishing Star shattered. 

The magical eruption left nothing. 

There were no nightmares. There were no shadows. There were no pirates, villains, or Boogiemen.

There was only a black hole. A black hole where the Wishing Star use to be. A black hole ripped through the fabric of outer space,  laced with leftover celestial thread, and leading into the next galaxy.

The Man in the Moon exhaled. He swelled over the survivors and cried over the casualties. But there was one face he did not see.

Ariel uncurled from Sinbad. She trailed the line of star dust left by the Wishing Star when it fell.

"Jim?"