Kitsune (Jack Frost x OC)

Chapter 7: North has a Plan

"Whoa ho ho ho, hey! Easy girl, easy. Hehe. Look familiar, Sandman? *he petted her mane and showed everyone the horse was made of black sand* Took me a while to perfect this little trick: turning dreams into nightmares. Don't be nervous; it only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know"

"What fear? Of you?" Bunny laughed as Tooth returned his boomerang. "No one's 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 Bogeyman! Well, that's all about to change. Hehe. Oh look, it's happening already"

"What is?" Jack asked and Mikoto noticed how pieces of the buildings started to rot away or crumble.

"Oh..." the tooth fairy exclaimed, not hiding her new pain.

"Children are waking up and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came. It's such a little thing, but to a child-" Pitch continued with a smirk of victory.

"What's going on?"

"They... They don't believe in me anymore" the fairy fell on her laps, her hands on top of them as her purple eyes held sadness and pain.

It hurt Mikoto to a whole new level as pain and sadness was not something she could take. She immediately broke apart from Jack and started to march towards Pitch.

"Didn't they tell you, 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. 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!"

Grabbing the chance, Bunny tossed his boomerang while Mikoto charged. Pitch climbed on the nightmare and dived into the void below. Without thinking, the Kitsune went first, suddenly not afraid of heights. She tossed her katana, its blade already turning red from the increased temperature coming from her hands.

It hit the nightmare and caused it to dissolve but Pitch managed to escape before Bunny's bomb eggs could reach him.

She landed first on soft grass close to a lake which held a wall. The wall showed the history of how Tooth Fairy started and her goal. She picked up her katana, the blade had left a scorch mark on the earth but now cooled down as the others landed by her side.

Mikoto didn't even realise she had jumped and didn't seem to affect her as she sheathed her weapon. Her inner fire was burning with anger and wanting to make Pitch pay for causing pain not only to Tooth fairy but also to all those kids.

While Bunny and North argued in the background with Sandy watching, Mikoto and Jack approached the Tooth Fairy. She was weakly flying close to the shore of the lake while looking at the wall.

"I'm sorry about the fairies"

"We weren't fast enough"

"It's okay," the fairy said with a sad smile. "You should've seen them. They put up such a fight"

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?"

"It's not the teeth he wanted, it's the memories inside them"

"What do you mean?" Jack asked as Mikoto tilted her head to the side.

"That's why we collect the teeth, Jack. They hold the most important memories of childhood" The trio move towards the lagoon wall. Tooth was flying while Jack had created iced-over patches for him and Mikoto to walk. "My fairies and I watch over them. And when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. We had everyone's here. Yours too"

"I.../My memories?" the duo exclaimed, shocked at the sudden new information.

"From when you were young. Before you became Jack Frost or you take the name Mikoto"

"But, I- I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost," Jack said while the Kitsune teared up.

"I was someone before...the whole?" she asked right after.

"Well of course you were. We were all someone before we were chosen"

"What?" the duo questioned.

North who had overheard them, smiled. "You should have seen Bunny!"

"Hey, I told you to never mention that!"

"The night at the pond, I just...Why I assumed... Are you saying, are you saying I had a life? Before that, w- I- With a, with a home? And- and a family?"

"You really don't remember?" Tooth asked and then turned to Mikoto who passed a hand through her pink hair while trying to hold back tears. "Neither of you?"

"I didn't even know I had a name before...before I choose this one...nether the less...I was a human or that I had someone"

"All these years the answers were right here... If I find my memories, then I'll know why I'm here. Ya have to show me!" Jack asked as he grabbed both of her hands into his.

That didn't go unnoticed by Mikoto who snapped from her little life-crisis. She watched how the two of them were awfully close and something in her heart started to ache.

"I- I can't, Jack. Pitch has them"

"Then we have to get them back! Right Mikoto?" he asked and turned to look at her who gave a nod and a weak smile, trying to ignore the sudden pang of pain.

Suddenly, Tooth gasped. "Oh no... *Her feathers are moulting* The children... We're too late"

Suddenly, North tapped his forehead to think while leaning on one sword. "No! No! No such thing as too late! *He hums with his mouth shut as he thinks* Wait, wait, wait wait wait wait wait! ... *He points one cutlass at Bunny, who flinches backwards* Idea! Hah! *Gestures with the other sword between Bunny and Sandman* We! Will collect the teeth!"

"What?" Tooth exclaimed, shocked by the idea.

"We get teeth, children keep believing in you"

"We're talking 7 continents, millions of kids!"

"Give me a break, you know how many toys I deliver in one night?"

Bunny grinned. "And eggs I hide in one day?"

Then, the Holly man turned to the two friends. "And Jack, Mikoto. If you two help us, we will get you your memories"

Tooth laughed in excitement and hugged Jack who was closer, earning a side glare from Mikoto who barely registered the idea and Bunny grumbled at the news of the duo joining.

"I am in! I mean, we are in! Right Mikoto?" he asked as he was let go and turned to look at her.

"Huh? Of course, yes"