I don't own Rise of the Guardians. English is not my first language, so feel free to point out my mistakes. Also, all kinds of feedback is very much appreciated!


Golden strands of dreamsand curled across the night sky. The sand slipped into houses and danced over the heads of sleeping children. The children's dreams turned pleasant and peace settled over the town. But the Sandman wasn't peaceful at all, even though he masked it well with his kind, sleepy smile. Despite the apparent serenity in the wintery town and the woods surrounding it, all was definitely not well. There had been unrest in the area, shadows, nightmares... all things that pointed to a certain shadow under the bed the Guardians had defeated a couple of years ago. The Sandman had been the first to notice it on his nightly rounds, and he had reported to the others as soon as he had been able to. There hadn't been anything too suspicious yet, but the Guardians wouldn't take any chances after the last time. So now they were especially vigilant and patrolled the town as often as their jobs allowed. Luckily, the Sandman could easily combine the vigilance with his job. He was flying high above the town, standing on a cloud of sand and weaving dreams with fantastic skill and precision. It was a great vantage point, especially if he kept his eyes and ears peeled. And he did, and that was why he heard the wind singing to alert him of the approaching winter just a moment before winter called his name.

"Heeeey, Sandy!"

The Sandman turned and waved as the wind whirled around his cloud and brought a grinning Jack Frost to a stop next to him. The skinny, pale boy hovered in front of Sandy and reached out to touch a tendril of dreamsand. Dreams escaped from it, playful golden deer prancing around Jack and then disappearing into the night. Jack laughed, icy blue eyes shining with childish glee. Sandy smiled. He was fond of the young frost child. Jack was always so playful and... well, not quite happy, but genuinely cheerful, and it warmed Sandy's heart. Jack watched the glittering dreamsand flowing away and finding its place in the town and then turned back to Sandy.

"I took a closer look at the woods. Nothing there. Have you seen anything?"

Sandy shook his head and then extended a small glowing hand, weaving a little bit more childhood joy into a dream before sending it away. Jack leaned to his crooked, frosty staff, crossing his ankles as if he were standing on a bus stop instead of thin air.

"Are you sure there's something really bad hiding around here? It could be just a stray Nightmare or something."

Sandy shrugged his shoulders and then conjured up a sand image of a small, twisted shadow creature and followed it with a triangle to symbolize caution.

"I guess you're right. Better safe than sorry... Oh, hold on..."

Jack reached into the pocket of his blue hoodie and gently pulled out something that closely resembled a hummingbird. Sandy waved happily at the mini tooth fairy that started fluttering about when Jack released her.

"Okay, we're here, Baby Tooth," Jack said, "The wind is a bit harsh way to travel for someone so small."

Baby Tooth chirped in response.

"Tooth told me to take Baby Tooth with me," Jack explained when Sandy formed a question mark over his head, "If we need back-up, she can signal the others. Tooth's on the field somewhere in India right now, I think."

Sandy nodded and then glanced around. He felt the uneasiness again. The feeling of wrongness that couldn't really be explained. It could be that Jack was right, that there was only a stray Nightmare galloping about. But it could also be something worse. It could be Pitch Black clawing his way back to menace the children again. The last couple of years had been peaceful. Almost too peaceful. Maybe Pitch had already recovered enough to try something. Of course, it was unlikely that Pitch would stand a chance against them especially if he was still weak from his defeat. But again, better safe than...

"Sandy! Look!"

Sandy looked where Jack was now pointing. He squinted his golden eyes and saw a small shadow darting into the woods. It could have been just a stray bat, but it wasn't. Sandy knew that. He pointed downwards and Jack nodded in understanding.

"Let's go."

Jack took off, riding the wind towards where the shadow had disappeared into. Sandy followed on his cloud of sand, staying airborne even when Jack's bare feet touched the snowy ground. The shadow was nowhere to be seen, but they stayed alert, looking around. Jack held his staff ready, the crooked end pointed towards the darkness. Sandy prepared some more dreamsand just in case, familiar power warming his hands. Baby Tooth fluttered near Jack's ear. The mini tooth fairy was very fond of the winter child, even more so than her sisters or Toothiana herself. It was quite adorable, actually, in Sandy's opinion. The woods were silent and calm, stray snowflakes were the only movement around them.

"Do you think it went...?"

Jack was cut off when a flash of movement caught their eye again. Sandy held out his hand, letting a trail of glowing sand crawl through the air to light up their surroundings. The light caught the shadow for a moment before it darted out of sight again. Sandy didn't like it. It was like the shadow was leading them somewhere. He conjured up a bunch of images to get this across to young Jack, who just looked confused. Jack had quickly got the hang of Sandy's silent dreamsand charades after they had started talking more, but the boy still didn't always catch everything Sandy wanted to say. The shadow fluttered between the trees. Sandy gave it a frown and formed more sand. He raised a hand as a sign for Jack to stay still and let his cloud bring him just a bit closer. The shadow lingered for a moment longer, and then started to slink back, further away into the woods.

Sandy didn't let it.

Quick as lightning, Sandy lashed his hand forward. Dreamsand formed into a golden whip that wrapped around the shadow, and Sandy dragged it into the moonlight with one swift movement.

Jack looked impressed.

"That is so cool."

The shadow tried to escape the sand's grasp but it only succeeded in writhing pitifully while it was held firmly in place. Sandy looked at it closely and his eyes widened. The shadow was barely larger than Sandy and its shape was vaguely humanoid. Or more like a shrivelled mockery of a human. It squirmed wildly, trying to get away from the moonlight, glaring with soulless, empty eyes. Sandy knew what it was. He hadn't seen them for centuries, though, and he had thought they had all perished already. This was bad.

It was a Fearling.

Jack stepped closer to the creature, flicking a bit of loose snow on it with his toes.

"Sandy... what is that thing? It's not a Nightmare, is it?"

Sandy shook his head sadly. Jack wasn't old enough to have heard of Fearlings, and Sandy had hoped the boy wouldn't have needed to ever face them. Sandy created an image of a bunch of children. Then a rough silhouette of Pitch Black. Then he morphed the sand-children into Fearlings. Jack watched the shifting sands over Sandy's head with wide eyes and then glanced at the struggling Fearling. The boy turned even paler than normal and looked slightly sick.

"Pitch... he did that?" Jack asked in a weak voice and nodded towards the Fearling, "To kids?"

Sandy nodded and made a picture of a clock going backwards and a calendar showing a random year from the past. It was a long time ago. Then Pitch had realized that corrupting dreams made even more effective minions. At least Nightmares weren't so vulnerable to light. The Fearling in Sandy's grasp struggled harder, trying to get away from the light-emitting sand that burned it. It was small and weak. Sandy almost felt sad for the poor thing. But his pity was shadowed by apprehension. A lonely Fearling wasn't much of an opponent, but Fearlings usually worked in packs. And they worked for Pitch.

This Fearling could be a stray. Then again, it probably wasn't. Sandy tried to quickly get this across while keeping an eye on their surroundings. Jack took a few tentative steps towards their captive that was currently busy screaming an unnerving, hollow scream.

"So does this mean that Pitch is nearby?" Jack asked, grasping his staff again tighter. Fine lines of blue light raced to the tips of the staff from Jack's hand.

Sandy wasn't sure. He sent out more sand to light up the forest even further. The Fearling kept screaming. Baby Tooth stayed close to Jack, chirping nervously and glaring at the Fearling. Jack brought his free hand to pat Baby Tooth's head in what the boy clearly hoped was a calming gesture.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Baby Tooth pointed a tiny finger towards the screaming Fearling. Jack and Sandy turned their attention back to it again. The screaming got louder, and Sandy tugged the whip that held the Fearling captive and scowled threateningly. The Fearling's scream was cut short, at least for a while. Jack looked at Sandy uneasily.

"I think it was trying to call for someone."

Sandy nodded and was about to conjure up some more sand images before he was interrupted. This time it was by a dark, silky voice that spoke from the shadows behind them:

"Yes. Yes it was. And here I am."

Sandy and Jack spun around, weapons ready. There, in the midst of the shadows of the trees, stood a shadow of a man with a sharp-toothed grin.