A/N: Sorry thatit took me so long to update this story, there's really no excuse. Anyway, here's the moment that you've all been waiting for" The big battle!

Chapter 11: The Battle

The Nightmare King didn't even flinch as the enraged music spirit began her attack, nor did he try to retaliate or even retaliate. Quite the contrary, he merely side-stepped her, the grin shifting into a look of only slightly amused boredom at the ineffectiveness of her attack as she flew past him. "Is that really the best that you've got?" he taunted her; eliciting another growl from Melody before she once again started to try to attack. This time; sending chords at him nonstop and dodging around, just in case Pitch should decide to send a stream of nightmare sand her way.

"Melody, stop this!" North scolded.

"You're doing exactly what he wants you to do!" Jack shouted to her, noticing Pitch's self-satisfied smirk.

Melody was not convinced. "I don't think you realize," she hissed, "but every single moment of my life as Melody has been spent making sure that my sister was safe from Pitch, and if anyone thinks that I'm about to let my efforts be wasted after all this time, then you don't know me at all!"

She leaped again, and this time, Pitch did throw his black sand – not at Melody herself, as everyone suspected, but at the place where Melody would land, given her current trajectory. As soon as she landed, the sand clung to her feet, wound up her legs and snagged her arms, successfully rendering her immobile. "Pathetic," he sneered, throwing more sand at her.

This sand was not designed to cause physical damage, no, instead it went straight for Melody's eyes. She shrieked in agony and closed her eyes in an attempt to ward off the assault of sand, struggling to free herself all the while. Her efforts were in vain, as the sand holding her down wouldn't give at all, and the sand Pitch had just thrown at her wormed its way under her closed lids.

"Aria!" Laurel shrieked in horror. She and her two foster siblings attempted to struggle out of their bonds, but they were too strong. Jack leaped up and began to freeze the sand, but the warmth of oncoming summer made it more difficult for him to work his magic. While he tried to work, the sand that was assaulting Melody fully worked its way underneath her eyelids, and after a moment, everyone realized that the sand wasn't going into her eyes – it was going into her brain! When her eyes opened, they weren't the warm amber that they had always been, but a deep purple, almost black, and tendrils of nightmare sand swirled around her head.

She growled at Jack and aimed an attack at him. "Leave my sister alone!" But before she could fire, she gasped and doubled over in pain. "No – Get out of my head, Pitch!" Said evil spirit laughed quietly as she clutched at and shook her head, attempting to break his hold over her.

All of the Guardians, and the three children, were horrified when they realized exactly what Pitch had done to Melody. Sandy quickly threw some of his dreamsand at her, but one of her hands, also covered in the nightmare sand, shot up and swatted the golden sand away. She looked at her hand, terrified of what she had just done, but that wasn't the worst. As soon as she looked at it, the black sand swirling around her hand began to bring her hand down to her guitar, controlling her much like she was a puppet. Oh, she resisted, she resisted it with all her might, but she was too young to be able glanced to resist such a direct assault on her mind.

Jack, having freed Laurel, Annabelle, and Carter and gotten them safely to the ground, fired one of his ice bolts at Pitch, hoping it would distract him enough so that Sandy could free Melody from the nightmare king's control. Pitch's hands came up, deflecting the boy's attack. Jack struggled to keep up the assault, and Sandy flicked one of his whips around the stream of ice, strengthening it with Pitch's main weakness. At last, the attack landed and Pitch was thrown back. The rest of the Guardians leaped into battle, distracting Pitch enough so that he couldn't do anything more to Melody, but not enough for him to free her from his grasp. The music spirit gasped and crumpled to the ground, her guitar thrown aside.

"Aria!" Laurel, Annabelle, and Carter all exclaimed as they rushed to her aid. Melody drew herself up onto her hands and knees and gazed at the mortal trio, tears in her purple eyes.

"Get away from me," she whispered. "I'm too dangerous now. He might not be making me do anything right at this moment, but I'm still under his control."

Aria, come on, you're strong, you can fight this." Laurel encouraged.

"I'm sorry, Laurel." Melody gasped, closing her eyes as Pitch made another mental assault. "He's too strong. Even with the Guardians attacking him, he's still strong enough to suppress my mind, even though he can't make me do anything."

Laurel growled. "Okay, that's it!" She stood up, and when the Boogeyman was thrown in her direction, she surprised him with a roundhouse kick to the face! Melody gasped, Pitch's hold on her momentarily broken due to his surprise, and Sandy chose that moment to snap his whips over her head, scattering dreamsand over her and freeing her mind permanently from Pitch's grasp. She leaped to her feet, reveling in her returned freedom, the black sand fleeing from her mind and body at the onslaught of dreamsand. She gracefully leaped over to where her guitar had fallen and picked it up, marveling at how resilient it was – not a single scratch or dent.

"When did you learn how to do a roundhouse kick, Laurel?" Melody asked as she transformed her guitar back into a violin.

Laurel shrugged. "I... kinda started taking Tai Kwon Do after that night. Figured I might want to learn how to defend myself. I'm already a yellow belt."

"Anything else that I should know?" Melody asked, checking the tune on her violin and grinning when it was still in perfect tune.

"I started fencing as well and I'm already top in my class."

"Nice!" Melody grinned, shaking back her hair and bringing her violin onto her shoulder. Instead of joining her fellow Guardians in battle, Melody instead played from the sidelines and not only did her music do some damage to Pitch, but it also helped to invigorate the other Guardians, tipping the battle in their favor. By the time the last note was struck, Pitch was a whimpering mess on the floor of the cave. Melody swung her violin back onto her back, "sheathed" her bow, and walked over to her fellow spirits.

"Nice to have you back, Melody!" North cheered as she joined them.

"Thanks, North. Wonderful to be back." Melody declared. Sandy placed his hand on her arm and she turned to him, grinning in thanks, her once again amber eyes aglow with delight. "I'm fine, Sandy. Thank you." She turned back to Pitch, all traces of her grin gone and her eyes as hard as steel. "So what should we do with this one?" she asked.

"Just leave him," Tooth suggested, trying to take pity on him. "He's probably learned his lesson this time."

"'Sides," Bunny contributed. "He's weak now. Not a threat."

"That may be true, kangaroo." Jack laughed, causing Bunny to twitch in annoyance. All joking then drained from him, the look on his face as cold as the ice which he controlled, as he said, "But let's just be sure..." The Guardian of Fun leveled his staff and fired a steady stream of ice at the nightmare king, firmly encasing him in a block of ice. "That ought to hold him for a few decades," he stated, turning around once he made certain that the ice was thick enough. "Now, let's get out of here."

"Buckle up," Bunny smirked, thumping his foot against the ground. Everyone except Jack yelped in surprise as one of the Pooka's tunnels opened up underneath their feet. For a few moments, they were all tumbling around as they slid, eventually getting tossed back up onto solid ground, just outside the entrance to the lair that they had just come from. Mortals and immortals both were laughing, relieved that Pitch had been soundly defeated once again, and that Melody was freed from his control. Said music spirit looked down at her arms and smiled so widely that she thought she would pull a muscle when she saw that her bruises were completely gone. She quickly ran a hand through her hair and gasped in joy when she felt that her scar from the fatal bullet was also gone.

North's hand on her shoulder startled her slightly, but she turned to her companions with a smile on her face.

"How you feeling, Melody?" the Guardian of Wonder asked.

The youngest immortal took a few deep breaths, basking in the light and comfort of the moon, before grinning once again. "I feel fantastic," she declared.

The Russian stepped back, drew a snow globe out of his robes, shook it, and threw it on the ground, opening a portal. Several yetis stepped out, one carrying an old, worn, leather-bound book, the cover of which was emblazoned with a large "G" encased in a crystal. "It is high time you take oath," he told her, opening the book.

Melody's breath caught in her throat. "But – but I'm-"

"You're ready." Laurel told her. When her older sister looked at her, Laurel repeated herself. "You're ready, Melody. I know you are."

Hearing her sister call her by her spirit name for the first time convinced Melody. "Well, then. If my sister thinks that I'm ready..." She turned back to face North and nodded.

"Will you, Melody, vow to protect the children of the world? To guard them with your life; their hopes, their wishes, and their dreams, for they are all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be?"

Melody paused and looked to her sister and best friends, all of whom were grinning proudly at her. She gave them her own confident grin before turning back to North, her smiled widening even further. "I swear that I will," she vowed.

North smiled back and declared, "Then congratulations, Melody, for you are, now and forevermore, a Guardian."

A joyous squeal from Laurel was the new Guardian's only warning before she was knocked sideways by her sister cannonballing into her in celebration. "Woah, Laurel, careful!" she joked, ruffling her sister's hair.

There was a minor celebration, mostly of congratulations to Melody, in the clearing before the children decided that they had stayed up way too late, even though they doubted they would be able to sleep, with all the memories of the excitement of that night. Melody and Sandy gently guided them back to the Matkins' home, and the Guardian of Dreams threw some of his dreamsand onto the mortals.

As the two headed back to the North Pole to meet back up with the others for the full celebration, Melody turned and smiled at Sandy. "Thanks for being there for me when I needed you, Sandy," she thanked him, and he hugged her. "You're a good friend."

A/N: Oh my goodness! Is this true? There's no cliffhanger? Yes it is true, I've actually managed to end a chapter in this story on a solid note (no pun intended)! When Melody joins the battle from the sidelines, you can either play "Sandman Returns" from the RoTG soundtrack, or "He's a Pirate" from the POTC soundtrack.