A Cure for Hiccups

Chapter 5: Fear

"...there's only one thing missing: a touch of Fear!" (Rise of the Guardians)

~🌟~

Sandman was let out of the cage as soon as he promised not to bring out his whips. The two accepted the proposal and now were standing together in Pitch's lair. They were not inside of the scurried behold but on the cliff that Pitch was when Sandman was in the cage. The butterfly flew freely into the cave slowly making its way around the shadows, bringing a little light into the place.

"So," Pitch started, looking down at Sandman. "How do you want to do this?"

It was awkward. The two men had to help each other out. Each one had a goal, yet each one had to work with the other to achieve it. They had a history, a past. And that wasn't the best.

A question mark made out of dreams and formed above Sandman's head. How does someone exactly scare someone?

"Hicc."

Sandman turned to look at Pitch but he found that the man disappeared. Sandman turned around in a full circle, but he found that the Nightmare King had disappeared into the shadows. Sandman crossed his arms and dreams and erupted around his ears. He then sighed and walked around. He wondered where Pitch went. He didn't go out of his lair because Sandman would have surely seen him. He cannot transverse through the shadows if the hole had moonlight encasing it.

Sandman decided to look for his promisee and in the man-made structure which was the home of the Nightmare King in a sense. He started going towards it following the cliff which was connected to a part of the structure. A set of stairs brought him down to where he originally was before he spotted the caged butterfly. Images of Pitch, an arrow, and a wall materialized above Sandman with his dreamsand. The arrow was pointed towards the wall which had an archway in it. Sandman then entered the structure.

It was dark inside of the structure. This was because it was inside of a cave and the only natural light source was the moonlight from the hole in the ceiling. But Sandman had the bonus of having dreamsand, which laminated a soft glow around it. Sandman created a torch, the sand waving as if it were actual flames.

He walked through the foreyard. As he walked, the shadows seemed to get closer to him. Inching towards him as if he was going to get crushed by them. Sandman drew his torch closer to himself, it casting strange shadows on his face. He looked from side to side as he seemingly found the end of the hallway. The sound of chains creaked from above him. He looked up, but the darkness didn't allow him to see anything.

"Hiss!"

Something ran in between his legs and it screeched when Sandman turned around. He put his torch near it and recognized it as a cat. Its black legs running away outside. Sandan turned to have the corner and moved his torc near the walls to find that there was another hallway to his left. He continued his search for Pitch. He dismissed the cat as a coincidence. The poor thing, Pitch would never help it to the surface. If he saw it again maybe he would help it, but his mission was to find the missing Boogeyman.

The hallway that Sandman took widened as he walked down it. The sound of rattling chains came back. This time it seemed to be louder. Sandman quickened his pace and he stopped at a clearing. He was on the other side of Pitch's house-type building. A podium-type thing was where he was now. He had a perfect view of hundreds of cages. Each one of them dangling from a line of chains. One of them was moving, its chain making the noise he was following. It had something in it.

It looked like a person.

~🌟~

Shalom, Seedlings!

Today's question is: Do you think the thing in the cage is a kid or something else? Place our guesses in the comments.