Jack frost looked down at the snowball fight happening and smiled. He was perched on the highest branch of a snow coated pine tree, where the projectile objects wouldn't hit him. As much as he liked snowball fights, he didn't like being in them. Not after Jamie died twenty years ago. He lived a long life, but age finally did what it did best and caught up with Jack's mortal friend. He had hoped, for a moment, that Man in the Moon would somehow make Jamie a Guardian as well...but no. No Guardian had been made since he had a hundred years ago.
He toyed with his staff and glanced up at the sky. He should probably be getting back to the North Pole. North said he had something important to tell him. But the kids were still having so much fun.
"Just a little longer." Jack decided, kicking his feet up onto the branch with the rest of him. He alternated between looking down at the kids and up at the sky. He chuckled slightly as one kid got pegged right in the face by his friends snowball, then almost fell off the tree when he looked back up.
Brilliant streaks of green and pink lit up the sky. Invisible to all but the Guardians. North was calling them. In an instant Jack was up and racing towards the Pole. Flying as fast as he could, he was still the last to get there. Though the Tooth Fairy was only barely before him. They all waited for Jack, standing around the Guardian's symbol on the floor. North looked shell shocked, they all knew something had happened to make him so surprised. Something big.
"What is it?" Jack demanded, walking right up to the man he considered to be his father at this point.
"Pitch had reawaken Jack. His shadow covered globe and the entire palace shook with his haunting laughter. He is back and he is stronger." North looked on the verge of crying. Jack too donned the shocked look, but recovered quickly and looked up at the sky at the Man in the Moon. The last time Pitch had awoken, Jack had been chosen by the Man in the Moon as the newest Guardian. If Pitch was indeed stronger now, what could the five do, they'd come so close to being defeated last time.
"What will we do?" Tooth asked lightly, her feathery face paling a little bit. Bunnymund stood tall and rigid, not saying anything. And Sandy slouched over slightly in disbelief. Jack kept looking at the Man in the Moon, begging him to give them an answer. Sandy, sort of recovering from his dazed slump, followed Jack's gaze and became excited when he realized the moon was looking down at them. He tried to get the others attention, but they were all looking down at their feet or away from Sandy.
"I got this one Sandy." Jack whispered, seeing the little guy's plight. "North, Tooth, Bunny. The Moon." He pointed out. They immediately perked up a little. The pale moonlight stretched into the room, across the floor, and the panel opened to reveal the blueish crystal.
"A new Guardian." North observed. Of course, it had to be. The five had almost failed last time. Only a new Guardian could help them against Pitch this time. But the frail looking figure who appeared above the crystal was one that none of them could identify.
"Uh, guys...I don't know about you...but the Man in the Moon may be drawing a blank this time." Bunny said quietly. North scowled at him.
"Nonsense. Man in Moon knows exactly what he's doing." He said firmly.
"Who is she?" Tooth was the first to actually ask. Jack only stared at the beautiful face in the projection. Her hair, though he could not see color in it, was wavy and reached the end of her back. She had large eyes, full of feeling, and small lips. The girl was little in general. She couldn't be older than Jack was, and the shirt she wore, obviously one for a man, swam on the feeble thing. It had to be three or four sizes larger than her. But she looked comfortable. And beneath it were gray jeans, probably the only pair she had by the look of it. She was thin and short and looked very fragile. But she was also alarmingly beautiful.
Suddenly the image changed. The girl disappeared and in her place a figure stood. With no discernible features or hair, no one could identify this one either. There was no face, no fingers or toes. It was like an artists mannequin but more humanoid.
"Hello friends. It is I, the Man in the Moon." The figure spoke before anyone had found their voices.
"Oh, perfect timing Moon. So who's this new Guardian?" Jack immediately diving into the subject, apparently not surprised with this new arrival.
"Her name is Auryn Autumn. She is not yet an Immortal, but she will be. And her assistance will be needed by you in this your darkest hour."
"But I've never heard of an Auryn. I know everyone, every child is a dot on that globe, and I've never brought her anything for Christmas." North protested.
"Oh another Naughty Lister, alright." Jack said sarcastically.
"No Jack, she's not on either list." North said shortly. Jack wrinkled his brow in confusion.
"But, everyone is one on of the lists. Everyone."
"It's true. I've never collected any teeth for Auryn. Moon, who is she?" Tooth demands. Moon simply stood for a moment or two before stepping off the crystal and walking towards the globe.
"Did you know he could do that?" Bunny asked North quietly. North only shook his head and watched the pale figure point to a spot on the globe where no lights flickered. North shook his head.
"No one lives there. No lights have flicked there for hundreds of years." He said dismissively. Moon glanced back at them then when he glanced back, a small white light, different from the golden ones representing the other children of the world, glowed from the stark land.
"There are thousands of children in that land. The reason their lights do not flicker here, is that they have never heard of you. And since you have not been Guardian to them for the very reason of them not knowing about you, Auryn has taken the job. She guards the children of that land. And now you must find her." the figure made its way back to the crystal and stood once again to give them one last piece of advice. "Auryn does not speak. But she knows things without words being said. Trust her and she will know what to do." the figure disappeared then, and the crystal sank back into the floor.
The five looked back and forth at each other, not knowing what to do exactly. They knew they should never doubt the Man in the Moon. But for some reason no one quite knew what to do now. Finally Jack cleared his throat.
"I'll go guys. Sandy, you in?" the little golden man nodded enthusiastically and above his head golden sand took the form of an airplane. "We'll be right back guys." The five nodded at each other one more time and the two took off, Jack flying on the air and Sandy flying in a golden airplane.
Above the palace Pitch smiled to himself. He had heard everything said below in the little meeting. So, the Guardians were going to stop him were they? No. Not this time. He had plans for little Auryn Autumn. And when he had her, the Guardians would be powerless to defeat him.