The catacombs were dark, damp, and cold. This section was closed to the public – not that much of the catacombs was actually open for exploration, to be fair – and water seeped down the walls in rivulets, slowly rising as they went deeper down until it covered the floor. The only light came from Sandy's streams of dreamsand, hovering over their heads to let them see, and the silence was deafening and ominous, broken only by the buzzing of Tooth's wings and the splashing of their feet through the water pooled on the floor.
That, and Bunny's soft grumbling about wet fur and the misery thereof. Jack was walking on a thin skiff of ice on top of the water, but he kept his mouth shut about the particular fun that was bare feet and ice. It wasn't like it bothered him much anyway.
Jack clutched his staff tight and kept close to the other Guardians. Remembering what he had said about his earlier experience in Pitch's lair – and assuming, from the little of Jack they had managed to learn over this hectic weekend, that he was severely downplaying what had happened – the other Guardians didn't comment on his sudden jumpiness.
If they all were thinking of Katherine, none of them were going to say so. Still, there was no words needed between them before they found themselves taking protective positions around their newest, keeping it subtle so Jack was in the center of their formation without even realizing it.
With Sandy on point, North and Tooth watching the sides, and Bunny covering the rear, they moved quickly through the tunnels, faster than a human would dare. Sandy's sand explored the tunnels around them, searching for the entrances invisible to human eyes, probing spots eyes couldn't see and senses couldn't reach, keeping them on track and away from danger.
Sandy perked up, an exclamation point hanging over his head, brighter than neon in the tunnel as he pointed to an entrance to Pitch's lair, only visible as a darker patch of blackness in the dark shadows and invisible to human senses. They slid into the dark entrance silently, all senses on alert and keeping pressed close together.
The tooth boxes were still piled carelessly into huge piles on the floor, and Tooth stiffened at the disregard to her life's work. Her fairies rushed her, chirping excitedly and clustering around their mother as soon as they spotted her.
She was obviously furious over the treatment of the tooth boxes, her tail feathers ruffling and flaring even as she attempted to comfort her girls, the tiny fairies cooing and snuggling against her.
If the other Guardians had any lingering doubts about Jack betraying them for his tooth box and abandoning or trading Baby Tooth for it, they were dispelled in the face of the fairies' joy as fairies peeled off from the group around Tooth, crowding around Jack and Baby Tooth, chirping worriedly at both of them.
Quite a few of the little fairies, obviously worn out from their ordeal, actually perched on Jack, hiding in his hood or clustering on his shoulders, a few extra tired fairies tucking themselves into his hoodie pocket. His hair, though, was claimed by Baby Tooth, who nestled down in it until she was barely visible like it was her own personal soft, cool little nest.
They'd never seen the baby teeth perch on anyone but a Guardian, and sidelong glances and uncomfortable shifting said clear as a shout how each of them remembered only now that it had been ages since any little fairy had tried to perch on one of them.
A few hesitantly hovered over the other Guardians, and soothed something deep inside when they gingerly settled on shoulders, five or six to a Guardian.
