my fairies-"
"Or what?" Pitch appeared on a different column, "you'll stick a quarter under my pillow?"
"Why are you doing this?" North asked.
"Maybe, I want what you have," Pitch said, pointing a finger at the guardians, "to be believed in." Those words really struck a chord on Jack and (y/n). They too knew what it was like to have the desire to be seen and believed.
"Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds!!"
"Maybe, that's where you belong," Bunny said.
"Oh go suck an egg rabbit," Pitch said, appearing under the column where Bunny was. Bunny lashed out at him, but Pitch was gone in an instant.
"Hang on, is that Jack Frost?" Pitch's voice asked. He chuckled a bit, "Since when were you all so chummy?"
"We're not," Jack said, holding his staff at ready to attack if needed.
"Oh good, a neutral party," Pitch appeared not too far from Jack, "then I'm gonna ignore you. But you must be used to that by now." Pitch then noticed (y/n), and an evil smile appeared.
"Although I can't ignore you, little Miss Angel."
"Huh? What?"
"You've been a big thorn at my side. Helping children conquer their fear of the dark. Filling their lives with your light." (y/n) took a step back, knowing that, in Pitch's eyes, she was a threat to him.
"I knew that someone was destroying my nightmares and giving the children courage over the dark, at first I thought this was Sandy's doing, but the light felt too strong and different to be his. I'd just never imagined that it would be someone as young as you. You're much more powerful then you look. And unfortunately, that's a problem for me." Hearing this, Jack slid in front of (y/n) protectively, aiming his staff at Pitch.
"Don't you dare get near her!!" he warned.
"Oh my, this is a bit of a surprise. Defending your girlfriend are you?"
"Hey! She's not-!"
"It doesn't matter," Pitch interrupted, "I will snuff out her light one way or another." Bunny just had enough of Pitch talking to (y/n) that way.
"Pitch!!" he hopped down skillfully from the column down to where Pitch was, "you'd better shut up!! Come here!!" He lunged himself at Pitch, but Pitch used his shadows to disappear. Tooth flew over to Bunny, grabbed his boomerang, and charged with a war cry at Pitch who had reappeared on a different column. He just smirk at her attempt, and before Tooth could strike, a black horse appeared, bucking and stomping hard, defending Pitch. Baby Tooth gave a freighted squeak and hid inside Jack's hood.
"Whoa!! Hey, easy girl," Pitch cooed, the horse stopped as Pitch stroked its' mane. He gathered something in his hand and held it out for everyone to see. It was the same black sand that Sandy had inspected earlier.
"Look familiar Sandman?" he asked, "took me a while to perfect this little trick."
'He can do what Sandy does!!' (y/n) thought, 'and that sand . . . wait . . . '
"You were the one who's behind all the children not being able to sleep or have sweet dreams!!" she shouted, surprising everyone with the anger in her voice. The image of a child shaking with fear of the dark and struggling in their sleep tore her up inside.
"Ah yes, turing dreams into nightmares has always been my specialty. Don't be nervous," he added, "it only riles them up more. They smell fear."
"What fear!? Of you!?" Bunny shouted with a laugh as he took his boomerang back from Tooth, "no one has ever been afraid of you since the Dark Ages."
"Oh the Dark Ages. Everyone frightened, miserable. Such happy times for me. Oh, the power I wielded. But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Lifting their hearts, and giving them hope. Meanwhile everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream. 'Oh there's nothing to be afraid of.' 'There's no such thing as the Boogieman.' Well that's all about to change." As the words left his mouth, one of the pillars suddenly began to crumble and loose its' beautiful color. The same thing happened to another and another and another, all around, everything was loosing its' shape and color.
"Oh look, it's happening already," Pitch said with an amused smirk.
"What is?" Jack asked. The look on Tooth's face said that she knew what was happening.
"Children are waking up, and realizing the Tooth fairy never came. Heh, it's such a little thing, but to a child . . . ." (y/n) still couldn't understand why the palace was falling into pieces.
"What's going on?" she asked Tooth.
"They . . . . they don't believe in me anymore," Tooth answered.
"What!?" (y/n) exclaimed.
"Didn't they tell you little Angel and Jack? It's great being a guardian, but there's a catch: if enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect, wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away. And little by little, so do they."
"They go away?" (y/n) asked, not liking the sound of that.
"Hehehehe, no Christmas or Easter or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear and darkness. And me. It's your turn not to be believed in." (y/n) couldn't take it anymore, she held up her hand and fired a blast of light towards Pitch, but he managed to dodge it. Bunny followed in her attack and threw his boomerang, Pitch almost got, hit having avoided (y/n)'s attack, but he summoned his Nightmare and rode off. The guardians went after him, along with (y/n) and Jack who flew behind, hoping to be of some help. Bunny threw some egg bombs, the Nightmare was able to dodge them and escaped through a hole in a rock wall. Everyone was now standing at the bottom of Tooth's place, it looked to be a very small forest area where a little pond and rock art were. Tooth saw the few tooth capsules that fell in the sleigh on the ground, she held one in her hands like it was the most fragile thing in the world. Jack knelt down next to her while (y/n) got down on her knees on Tooth's other side, "Sorry about the fairies," he said, trying to lift her mood.
"You shoulda seen them, they put up such a fight," Tooth said with a forced smile. Baby Tooth flew out of Jack's hood and hovered around the three, landing on (y/n)'s shoulder and giving her a little peck on the cheek, as if to say "thank you for helping to save me." Despite the situation, (y/n) had to let out a little laugh, "I'm just glad you're ok," she said, patting the little fairy on her head with a finger.
"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" Jack asked, returning to the situation at hand.
"It's not the teeth he wanted, it's the memories inside them."
"Whatdya mean?"
"That's why we collect the teeth Jack, they hold the most important memories of childhood." Tooth flapped her wings and hovered over to the rock art. Jack followed by freezing a path on the pond, in which (y/n) followed, not being affected by the cold.
"My fairies and I watch over them," she explained, "and when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them." She
looked up at the art, "We had everyone's here, your's too, and (y/n)'s."
"Uh, my memories?" Jack asked.
"What do you mean Tooth?" (y/n) asked.
"From when you were young, before you became the Angel of Light and he Jack Frost." Jack couldn't understand.
"I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost."
"Same here, I've always been the Angel of Light as long as I can remember. I was no one else."
"Of course you were, we were all someone before we were all chosen." Both Jack and (y/n) were dumbstruck.
"You should've seen Bunny's!" North said with a laugh, overhearing their conversation.
"Hey, I told you never to mention that!!" Bunny reminded, pissed that North would bring that up.
"Well . . . I just assumed that . . . ." Jack was at a loss for words.
"Are you saying that we had a life before all this?" (y/n) asked, now getting a little excited.
"With-with a home and a family!?" Jack was also getting excited.
"You two really don't remember?"
"All these years, the answers were right here. If I find my memories, I'll know why I'm here!" Jack flew around, letting some of his "happy energy" out, "you havta show me!!"
"Me too Tooth." (y/n) said.
"I . . . I can't. Pitch has them."
"Then we havta get them back!!" Jack stated. Before Tooth could say something, some of her feathers started to fall off her.
"Oh no . . . ." Everyone's attention was drawn to the rock art, parts of it were fading away and crumbling, just like the pillars did back up in
Tooth's palace.
"The children . . . we're too late . . ."
"NO!! NO!! No such thing as too late!!" North shouted, not wanting for Tooth to give up. He paced back and forth, thinking hard.
"Wait . . . waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait . . . . . I got it!!" he swung his blade at the last thing he said, almost cutting Bunny in the face.
"WE will collect the teeth!!" he announced.
"What!?" Tooth asked, thinking that this was a ridiculous idea.
"We collect teeth, children keep believing in you." Tooth tried to talk some sense into him, "We're talking seven continents, millions of kids-"
"Give me break. You know how many toys I deliver in one night?"
"And eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny added.
"And Jack, (y/n)," North called, "if you two help us, we will get you your memories." Tooth chuckled, happy to see that this really could work out. Sandy gave a thumbs up, showing that he was gonna help as well. Bunny groaned in annoyance hearing that Jack was going to help them. (y/n) and Jack looked at eachother and smiled. Facing the four guardians, they said in unison, "I'm in."
~0~
"Hahahahaha!! Quickly!! Quickly!!" North cheered, popping in and out of chimneys in a puff of black smoke, gathering the teeth of the children in China. Bunny ran on the roofs, hopping from window to window since he couldn't fly like Jack, (y/n) and Sandy could.
"Hop to it rabbit!! I'm five teeth ahead!!" Jack shouted, playfully
switching from flying to running on the roofs.
"Yeah right. Look, I'd tell you to scurry out of my way, but really what's the point? Cause you wouldn't keep up anyway!"
"Is that a challenge Cottontail!?"
"Oh you don't want to race a rabbit mate." (y/n) sighed deeply and flew between the two after getting a tooth.
"Boys boys, come on, this isn't a race!" she said.
"A race!?" North asked, only overhearing the word "race."
"Is it a race!? This is going to be. Epic!!" (y/n) faceplamed, sometimes even North can act like a child. Meanwhile Tooth was acting like a hardcore otaku in an anime convention. Pointing out every tooth by name.
"They're everywhere!!" she shouted happily. Not seeing where she was flying, she accidentally crashed into a billboard with a tooth paste ad on it.
"Ow!"
"Oh, you ok?" Jack asked form the top of the billboard.
"Oh fine! Sorry," Tooth flew up to Jack, "it's just been a long time since I've been out in the field."
"How long is a 'long time'?"
"Four hundred-forty years give or take?" Then from far off, she spotted a tooth that shone in the moonlight. She flew over to it. Jack gave Baby Tooth a "is she always like this?" look, and she just shrugged her shoulders. Jack continued to do his part in collecting teeth. In one house, before he could even set a foot in, Bunny beat him to it. He held up the tooth and taunted Jack by holding it up and chuckling. Jack frowned, and before Bunny knew it, he was hit in the face with Jack's frost. He quickly hopped through one of his holes and rubbed at his face, attempting to defrost it. (y/n) was passing by when she noticed Bunny struggling with his little predicament.
"Bunny? Did you beat Jack to a tooth?" she asked, trying very hard not to laugh.
"Uh . . . . . yeah," Bunny said, embarrassed that (y/n) saw him like this, "bloody git turned my face into a snowcone!!"
The gang moved on to India, where North got teeth from twins, Bunny got a jackpot from a kid that clearly overdid it while playing hockey, and Sandy stole a tooth from North when Bunny accidentally opened a hole under him, the result ended with both North and Bunny stuck in the hole and Sandy claiming another tooth. Bunny got back at Jack for freezing his face by opening a hole right when Jack set his feet on the ground, causing Jack to fall right in.
In France, Tooth ran into the Tooth Mouse, which Baby Tooth gave a good beating on accident. Determined to catch Bunny by surprise, Jack hid by the roof of a house he saw Bunny enter and waited, when he heard footsteps, he instantly created a path of his slippery frost. But he was caught off guard when he heard a feminine scream. Acting quickly, he came out of his hiding spot and held out his arms, catching (y/n) before she slid off the roof. She crossed her arms across her chest.
"Jack, was that frost trap for Bunny?"
"Uhhhhh . . . . Maybe." She sighed, "Man, you guys can be worse then the children," she surprised Jack by placing her hand on his cheek, "but I wont deny it, it's fun." Jack's face, for the first time in his life, actually felt warm.
"Uhhhhhhhhhh . . . . thanks."
Meanwhile, North did a little dance before jumping down a chimney, he didn't see that Bunny had entered the house first, and was now lighting the fireplace.
"Ho ho ho."
BOOM!!
"AHHHH!!"
~0~
After all the teeth were collected, everyone held up their bags to present to Tooth, who gave them a round of applause.
"Wow, you guys collect teeth and leave gifts as fast as my fairies." At the mention of "leaving gifts," everyone gave her a confused look.
"You guys have been leaving gifts, right?" Tooth asked, worried. Sandy began to nod, but then shook his head. They all went back and focused on giving the children something. Jack, (y/n), and Sandy relied on quarters as gifts (which they got from a coin exchanger at places they could find that had one), Bunny left his eggs, and North left candies and presents (even went as far as leaving a huge, lit up tree as a gift).
As they continued, they was all oblivious to the Nightmare that watched them from the shadows . . . .
~0~
Jack, (y/n), and Tooth all got to Jamie's house at the same time. Tooth just smiled at the two.
"This one was knocked out by a freak sledding accident," Tooth said, collecting Jamie's tooth, "I wonder if that could've happened? Jack?"
"Yeah," (y/n) said, knowing they both had Jack in his place. He chuckled nervously while looking at a picture of the accident Jamie had
drawn.
"Kids huh?" Tooth twirled the quarter in her hand before putting it under Jamie's pillow. She hovered above Jamie's bed, taking in the sight of his sleeping figure.
"This was always the part I liked most. Seeing the kids."
"I know what you mean," (y/n) said, standing at Jamie's bed side, "it's always a reward to see them become at peace when I give them my light, and it's even better when I come back to them and they're no longer scared."
"Oh why did I ever stop doing this?" Tooth asked herself.
"It's always a little different up close huh?" (y/n) stated. Tooth smiled at the two spirits.
"Thanks for being here (y/n), Jack. I wish I'd known about your memories. It could've helped you guys."
"Tooth, don't worry about us, let's just get you taken care of," (y/n) said, putting a hand on Tooth's shoulder.
"Then it's Pitch's turn," Jack added. A huge groan was heard from the window. It was North trying to squeeze through Jamie's window.
"Ah! Here you are!" he half shouted, finally getting through after a couple more tries. Sandy followed behind him. Tooth shushed them, pointing to Jamie.
"Oh, what gives slowpokes?" North asked in a whisper, then he turned his attention at Tooth, "How're you feeling Toothy?"
"Believed in," she answered confidently. North let out a quite chuckle,
"That's what I want to hear." A hole appeared in the back of the room with Bunny coming form it.
"Ah I see how it it," he said, jumping out of his hole, "all working together and make sure the rabbit gets last place." Everyone shushed
him at the same time. He waved his paws in front of him, telling them that he gets it.
"You think I need help to beat a bunny?" he held up his bag, "check it out Peter Cottontail."
"Jack, yours is the same size as mine," (y/n) said, showing her own bag.
"Oh yeah, (y/n) and I got you beat!"
"You call that a bag of choppers?" Bunny presented his bag, it was clearly bigger then Jacks and (y/n)'s put together, "now that's a bag of choppers." (y/n) sighed heavily, knowing that there was nothing she could say to make it clear that this was not a competition.
"Gentlemen gentlemen, this is about Tooth, it's not a competition."
"Oh thank you North!!" (y/n) exclaimed, happy to see that North finally got the idea.
"But if it was," North threw down his bag that was the biggest out of all of the bags, "I would be the winner!!"
"I take it back," (y/n) mumbled. Before anyone could stop him, North let out a bunch of loud cheers and jumped up and down. It was all stopped when the light from a flashlight was shined upon them.
"Oh no . . . ." North said, seeing what he had done. Jamie gasped.
"Santa Claus?" the light went to Bunny, "the Easter Bunny?" down to Sandy, "Sandman?" Sandy gave him a cute smile and a wave. Finally, Jamie saw Tooth, "The Tooth Fairy!! I knew you'd come!" he said happily. Tooth decided to play along, "Surprise! We came!"
"He can see us?" Jack asked, baffled by that fact.
"Can he, really see us?" (y/n) asked along with Jack, sharing his shock.
"Most of us," Bunny said. As Jamie continued to shine his flashlight, (y/n) noticed that he never really pointed it at her and Jack. She lowered her head, looking at the ground with a look of disappointment. Jack did the same. Tooth cleared her throat.
"You guys! He's still awake!"
"Sandy, knock him out!" Bunny ordered. Sandy curled his hands into fists, "with the dreams sand you gumbies!!" Out of nowhere, Jamie's grey hound appeared on top of his head, growling at Bunny.
"No stop! That's the Easter Bunny!!" Jamie shouted, trying to get his dog to stop, "what are you doing Abbie!? Down!" Even though Abbie's attention was on Bunny, (y/n) still hid behind North, a little wary of the dog.
"Alright, nobody panic," Bunny set his bag down to be ready for anything this dog may pull.
"But that's a um . . . that's a grey hound, do you know what grey hounds DO to rabbits?" Jack said, really emphasizing the word "do."
"Eh, he's never met a rabbit like me," Bunny said while Sandy created a ball of his sand, "six foot one, nerves of steal, master of tai chi." Jack rolled his eyes and looked over at Jamie's alarm clock, hitting it with his staff, he set it off . . . and Abbie. She lunged at Bunny.
"Crikey!! Ahhh!!" Bunny bounced everywhere around the room, trying to avoid being attacked by Abbie. Sandy tried to aim for Abbie to stop her, but the grey hound was moving too fast. Jamie was shouting commands, but nothing was working. Abbie accidentally jumped on Sandy, making him throw his dream sand. It hit Tooth and Baby Tooth first, knocking them both out, they both had little images of teeth swirling around their heads, showing what they were dreaming about.
"Get this dingo off me!!" Bunny yelled out. The dream sand reflect off a picture frame and hit Bunny, his images were carrots, then it finally got Abbie, who was dreaming about bones. But it wasn't finished there, it bounced off and hit North, little pictures of candy canes circled his head.
"Candy canes . . ." he said sleepily. He fell on Jamie's bed, causing him to fly off and land in Sandy's arms, where Sandy sprinkled some sand and Jamie was off into dreamland. During all this, Jack watched while perched on a dresser.
"Whoops." He saw Bunny's carrots grow hand and began to do moves with North's candy canes. Laughing, he got down from the dresser.
"Hahahaha! Oh I really wish I had a camera right now," he said through his laughter, he then noticed something, "wait, where's (y/n)?"
"Down here," she appeared from under the bed, "took cover once Sandy's dream sand left his hand," she explained as she dusted her dress off and readjusted her headband, "what on earth were you thinking Jack!?"
"Hey come on, it was funny!"
"Well, ok, it was amusing, but that was still reckless!"
"Man, you need to lighten up a bit, have some fun."
"Oh what am I going to do with you?" but (y/n) smiled anyway and helped Sandy get Jamie back to bed. All of a sudden, the sound of angry neighing was heard. The three looked out the window, it was one of Pitch's Nightmares. It glanced at them and quicky ran away. Jack smiled, knowing that if a Nightmare was, Pitch wasn't too far behind. He rode the wind while shouting to the others, "Sandy!! (y/n)!! Come on!! We can find Pitch!" Sandy followed Jack, (y/n) headed to the window, but then looked back at the other guardians, wondering if it was a god idea to leave them behind like that. She knew that if she hung out here any longer, she'll loose the boys. Jumping out the window, she flew in the direction she saw Jack fly off in.
