The battle with Pitch had just ended, and we just made it back to the North Pole. Bunny surprisingly hadn't complained about the sleigh ride this time. Instead, he was telling me what a great job I did, which, coming from the Easter Kangaroo, feels a bit weird, but after three hundred years, I'm not about to complain. As I started to walk away from the sleigh and to the door, I felt one of the reign deer nudge me. I turned around and it was Comet. "I'm alright, girl." I told her as I petted her nose and she snorted air into my face. I couldn't help the giggle that came out of my mouth, which seemed to get the attention of the other Guardians, because when I turned to look at the door, they were looking at me, slacked jawed. "What?"
"Mate...those reign deer haven't liked anyone but North...in a very very long time." I heard Bunny explain, and honestly, it confused me a bit. I may have been alone for three hundred years, but the animals usually treated me just fine. No matter who they belonged to or where they lived.
"Oh...well, we've gotten along fine the past couple of centuries. Haven't we, Comet?" I asked her and she nudged the side of my face before nudging my shoulder. "Alright, alright, I'm going." I chuckled out as I walked over to the others. They were still staring at me. "Okay, seriously, what's the issue with the reign deer liking me? You're all kind of freaking me out a bit."
"Is like what Bunny says..." North started, but it didn't help clarify anything for me. "...There was a battle with Pitch before this one, and we were victorious for a long time, but after...the reign deer got anxious around others except for us, and a few children from old village I used to live in. When the children were gone, they became wary of everyone but me. We don't know why, but it is what happened. It is just surprising that after all that time, reign deer would treat you affectionately. Is no matter, soon we will find out how that happened."
"What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly not liking where the conversation was starting to go.
"Well, you see...it's like this, sweet tooth...we were made Guardians because of Manny...but for a long time, even though we considered each other friends, I personally thought that we didn't know everything we needed to know about each other. I didn't like the subtle signs of secrets being kept, so I talked with Manny, North, Bunny, and Sandy...and they agreed that it was a good idea. The idea is...we're going to look through your memories. You already have your memory box, but the only down side to this...we will see all of the bad moments as well. Not just the good. We will also be able to hear your thoughts as clearly as if you were speaking them once you've been made a spirit. It helps build trust and understanding. Somewhere within the memories, Manny will announce an advantage in the memories. Something you couldn't have known or been able to experience before. There is also one more thing..."
"What is it?" I asked cautiously as my brow furrowed, disliking the conversation even more.
"If Pitch had any involvement in your life, we'll see that as well."
"Wait, you mean...how would you not have known if he was involved in my life? For one, you're the Guardians, and for two...you're the Tooth Fairy...Guardian of Memories."
"I Guard happy memories, Jack. I also made it to where the teeth never have a chance of showing Pitch in them. Just as a precaution."
"Then, why would they now?" I asked as we started to make our way inside and towards the elevator.
"Because, it will be placed into a special slot that Manny helped me and North design." I nodded my head, slightly understanding a bit more, but now I knew one thing for certain. I definitely wasn't going to like going down memory lane with them. I had only seen my good memories, and one of them included my death. I can't really see that as a happy memory, but I don't see that I have a choice in the matter.
Once we got to the Guardian symbol on the floor, I watched as Manny's moon beams shined onto a small almost unnoticeable circle on the floor. As it lifted out of the floor, I noticed there was a place that would perfectly fit the tooth box. "Do I have to?" I asked, trying to find a way out.
"Yes." North said. "It will also show memories from when you became a spirit."
I let out a sigh as I shook my head, and hesitantly reached into my pocket. I pulled out the tooth box and handed it to Tooth. "This isn't going to be a fun ride. I can tell."
"No, it won't be." Bunny confirmed. "It will be as if you're actually there, and trust me...for me...that was like hell on earth, but ya got us, and we'll be here with ya for the whole ride. When ya want the memory to stop just say 'stop'. when you're ready to continue say 'continue' while focusing on it resumin' and it will."
"Alright...where are we starting." I sighed out as Tooth slide the box into the slot.
"Where everyone starts with their memories...we will start on the day you were born." Tooth pressed the top of the device and it sunk back into he floor. Suddenly, we found ourselves in the village I saw in my memories when I looked into the tooth box and where Burgess is now. Bunny was right. It was like being there. It was so real, I could smell the air, feel the wind against my skin coming from a window, and even the wooden floor boards beneath my feet.
"Would you like to see your son, Laura?" A voice was heard, so we walked through the wall and saw a midwife holding a bundle wrapped in clean linen, and on the bed there was a woman who was breathing heavily.
"Let me see him." She said simply, but for some reason there wasn't even the tiniest amount of Joy in her voice.
"Here..." The midwife said sadly, and I looked at the others and they were equally confused.
The woman took the bundle and when a cry came from the bundle, the wind from outside came bursting through, knocking things over, and the room dropped a few degrees. "Take him!" She shouted. "It's just like when I was six months pregnant...he is evil! With every kick I would get cold and the wind would pick up! Take him! He's an abomination...a devil child!"
"Laura..." The infant cried more and the room got even colder.
"He'll freeze the whole village if he...if he..." The woman started looking more and more tired. "...You said that I...would likely not...survive...child birth...get rid of him...make sure he is somewhere no one will find him."
"That's cruel!" The midwife shouted.
"Do you want the whole village to freeze!?"
"N-No...but..."
"Then get...rid of him. If he...is destined to...live...someone...will find...him. I will...not...raise...a devil...ch...ild..." The woman's eyes closed and she laid limp in the bed.
"STOP!" I shouted and started breathing hard. My chest hurt and the tears burned my eyes as I looked to Bunny, and for some reason I instantly wrapped my arms around him, clutching his fur, and embarrassingly started sobbing into his chest.
"There, There, Jacky..." Bunny told me in a surprisingly comforting way as he wrapped one arm around my back while held one of his paws on the back of my head.
At his words and how he was being so comforting, I only cried more as I spoke. "I...I wasn't...wanted...! I...didn't...do anything! I...was...just...born! She...didn't...even...name me! She...she called me a devil child!"
"You're wanted now, Jacky. I've said a lot of bad things to ya...and I regret them now more than ever...but we're here for ya. We look after one another. You're part of the family now, mate." I looked up at Bunny, my chin resting in the scruff of his fur on his chest, and he smiled down at me. I couldn't even say anything, because I could tell he meant it. So, I just buried my face back into his chest, and continued to childishly cry into Bunny's fur. "That's it, Jacky...ya just let us know when you're done." I calmed my crying as much as I could until I was doing nothing more than sniffling. I nodded my head, and he let me go. "Ya alright, mate?"
I wiped my tears as I stepped back away from him. "Yeah...it's just...it's already off to a bad start...and it makes me wonder...I had a family when I looked into my memory box. A mother who looked like me, and a sister that did too! I don't know how I got there if it wasn't here."
"We'll figure that out, alright?"
I nodded my head. "Thank's Bunny...why did you let me do that anyway?" I asked curiously, because up until yesterday, if the Easter Bunny had a naughty list or a go to hell list, I was on it.
"You've no idea what watching my past did to me. My past...it started off great...but then...Pitch happened. He wiped out my entire family and all of my people. I had to relive that Jack. I had to relive it, and I could do nothing to warn them, to stop it from happening..."
I nodded and gave him another hug, feeling like he needed one. "It's alright, Bun-Bun. You got me now too."
I could've sworn I heard Bunny choke on a sob or a cry, but I wasn't looking so I couldn't say for sure what it was. "Bah!" He laughed out. "We're just a couple of saps, ain't we, Frostbite?"
I smiled and turned to face the dead woman on the bed, and nodded my head. "Continue." I told it, wanting to see the rest of the memories, and almost immediately it continued as the midwife covered the woman on the bed with the blanket, and walked out the door with me.
"I'll protect you little one."
"STOP!" I shouted in confusion and shock.
"Mate, who was that? It wasn't the woman holdin' ya."
"That...that's Wind! The wind...she...I always call her Wind or Wendy...but..."
"Well...maybe it has something to do with the fact you were born with powers." North mentioned, and at that my eyes went wide in realization.
"I...I was born with powers, wasn't I? That's what that was."
"Seems so, Jacky." Bunny told me with a sympathetic smile.
"A-Alright...Continue." The woman continued away from the house and into the forest. It was the middle of winter, and there was no real way to know the date. All I knew was that I was fourteen when I died.
As she continued to walk in the forest, she came across a bed with a mattress on top of it. "A bed...in the middle of the forest?" She questioned as she looked down at me in her arms. "I really don't want to do this...but that woman...she's the head of the village...her husband...is a horrible man. You would've been better off without them anyway..." There was a single tear that fell down her eye as she set the infant down on the bed, but then it dawned on me. I know that bed.
"STOP!" I shouted and raked my hands through my hair.
"Mate, you keep stopping, we're gonna be here for a while."
"I know...but don't you see! Does anyone else know where we've seen a bed in the middle of the forest before!?"
Everyone's eyes were on me and then on the bed I was just set down on. "She has no idea..." North stated in shock. "...but wait...this does not make sense...how did you live?"
"I have no clue, but we're going to find out!" I told them with wide eyes. "Continue."
Right after she set me down on the bed, she ran away, leaving me alone in the darkness of the moonless night. "Oh, sweet one...I will protect you..." Wendy called to my infant self as she gently blew at my oak brown hair, and it seemed as if the air itself became comforting and warm. "Mother Nature won't be happy about this...but I will look after you as much as I can. I cannot do what other mothers do. I cannot physically feed you or clothe you, but I can promise I will hold you in ways that only I can, and I will keep you warm. Even though I haven't had a physical form for over a billion years, in my own ways, I will try to look after you as if you were my own. I just hope someone finds you soon...so they can feed you."
About ten minutes after Wind had promised that, we all saw a shadow come out from under the bed. It was Pitch, and he looked down at me with a confused expression. "A baby? Who leaves a baby in the middle of a forest...and on Christmas Eve no less." Pitch reached down towards me, but was quickly knocked over by Wendy. "What in the...!?"
"Do not touch him Pitch Black! Mother has told me of what you have done to innocents!"
"That was when the fears and nightmares controlled ME! Now I control THEM!"
"STOP!" I called out and looked immediately to Bunny. "Pitch can speak with Wendy?"
"Yeah, he can speak with and hear nature. It's one of the ways he's able to slink around. However, he can't affect any of it. He can't use it or force it to do anything, so all he can really do is carry on a conversation." Bunny told me as if it wasn't just the most ridiculous thing anyone's heard.
"This is getting too weird." I shook my head and faced the memory again. "Continue."
The wind circled around Pitch, almost analyzing him. "Mother Nature says you are her biological father..." Pitch gave a quick yet unsure nod. "Well then...I have a request...but first I will tell you why this infant is on a bed above your lair. His birth mother gave birth to him not more than two hours ago, and he has powers. He can summon and speak with me, although, he doesn't know that yet, and he can make it colder. The woman called him a devil child and ordered that he be taken away, not caring where or how. The midwife did as she was asked, albeit reluctantly, and she placed him here saying that he would've been better off without them."
"What are you getting at?" Pitch asked as he continued to look down at me on the bed.
My eyes opened and I looked up at him. When I saw him, a smile quickly grew on my face and I took a hand out of the blanket to reach out for him. The look on his face was strange to see on him, and the other's thought so as well, if their gasps were anything to go by. He looked down at me fondly and and held his finger out to my hand, and I grabbed it. Not very well, but my fingers were hooked on his. However, as soon as I did that, the colors in his eyes changed to silver almost immediately. There were tiny flecks and flickers of gold as if something was trying to break through, but the longer I held onto him, the more the gold dissipated. "Take care of him. Feed him, clothe him, treat him as your own, and I will do the same on my end. I will be like a mother to him by keeping him warm and holding him when others cannot, but if you do not take care of him and raise him...I'm afraid he will perish."
"You are the wind itself...making you one of my daughter's beings. That would make you like a granddaughter to me...yet you want me to basically be his father...and you the mother? Seems a bit wrong to me."
"Perhaps...but I'm already disobeying Mother quite a bit by talking to you...so I may not belong to her anymore...besides...when he summoned me with his first cry...I felt as if my connection with her broke somehow...so perhaps I cannot call her Mother anymore...but merely Mother Nature."
"Why do you care for the child so much?" Pitch asked as he continued to look at me with a soft smile, which was still a bit unsettling from where I stood.
"He called to me...and I felt him. I instantly knew him as well as I know myself with his first cry. He will be a good and kind child. Mischievous...very Mischievous, but he will be kind, caring, generous, patient, understanding, and filled with laughter. It was very strange...knowing him in such a way...but I do. If you are as in control as you claim...then you should have enough control to use your shadows to give him food and clothing, and I have circled around in your lair before. I know you have a room that was dedicated to Mother Nature...though I know not why, but it is there none the less."
"After I gained full control...after the Guardians defeated me...I gained my sanity, and I wept for years I don't know why I'm telling you this...perhaps it's the infant...but I thought if I made the nursery she was in...then I would feel less guilt about being tricked into opening the gate I swore to keep closed...but it only fueled the guilt. I have never gone back in there since."
"The room hasn't gained a single spec of dust, and currently, you're the only one who has experience with that sort of thing...and he will not be welcomed back into the village as he is now. They will know that he was the woman's child, and if the midwife should speak of it or if the father should ask of it...he won't be received well, and from how the midwife spoke...the father may not show him any mercy."
"You are aware that I cannot purchase food or clothing, aren't you?"
"Yes, I also know that you have multiple secret farms and gardens all over the world that are hidden from man."
"How do you know that?" He asked as he then furrowed his brows in confusion.
"I was curious as to who Mother Nature was speaking about so I let myself in."
"That makes sense."
"Pitch...will you take care of the child? It's not like you have anything better to do with your time, and your powers are weak. You are only limited to the shadows now. I can tell the fearlings and nightmares would still be under your control if you could...but for some reason it's like they lay dormant beneath your soul."
Pitch then let out a heavy sigh as he nodded his head. "I will take care of this child." He gently lifted me up from the bed and looked at me with another fond smile. He cradled me in his arms, and I seemed to fall asleep almost instantly. "He'll need a name."
"Well...he'll be like a son to you, but it would be bad if he is seen and says his last name is Pitchiner..."
"Yes it would be..." Pitch agreed as he used the blanket I was swaddled in to cover my face up a bit.
"Well, what would you have named Mother Nature if she had been a boy?"
Pitch smiled down at my sleeping form and nodded his head. "Jackson Overland."
"That's a great name! Now...what about a last name...?"
Pitch chuckled lightly. "You said he can make it colder?"
"Yes..."
"Frost should do nicely." He chuckled out in a warm manner, and my eyes went wide in disbelief.
"Stop..." I said simply and so it did. I looked to the ground in disbelief.
"Jack?" I heard Tooth question with the same amount of disbelief.
"Just...just give me a moment." I told them as I continued to look at the ground beneath my feet. I couldn't believe that he named me. I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to acknowledge it, because a human woman who actually gave birth to me...didn't even take the time to name me or even look at me with so much as a smile, but Pitch was looking at me with the same look I've seen on proud and loving fathers all over the world when they were holding their babies.
"Names are important things in spirit world...which is where we reside...and only children who believe can see...unless they are gifted like you are here and..." North mentioned. "...Pitch gave you a name...and he lives within the spirit world. Same rules apply. Your name carries more weight than previously thought, but it was given with heart. I can tell just by looking at Pitch's face when he sees you here. It is very strange...yes...but it is start of your journey and I have a feeling in my belly that your past somehow connects to the most recent battle."
"Is your belly ever wrong?" I asked with genuine curiosity, as I remember him telling me he felt it in his belly that I would discover who I was.
"No. It has never been wrong. Not once." He told me proudly.
I nodded my head and looked at the memory. "Continue."
"That's an excellent last name!"
"Thank you." He looked down to me as he carefully cradled me in his arms, and he smiled gently at me. "I will look after you as if you were my own son."
"Will you have him call you father?"
"No..." Pitch told Wendy with a saddened expression. "...I lost the right to such things when I opened the black gate, but I will still make sure he is cared for."
"And loved?" Wendy asked with concern, and I had to admit, I was growing more curious about the past I didn't know about.
"And loved." He answered. "Besides...when he held my hand...something in my cold, dead, and blackened heart...somehow became warm, alive, and almost pure...almost. It will be a win-win situation for us both, I think."
"I'm glad to hear it! Thank you, Pitch Black."
"Yes well...I trust you won't mention this to anyone."
"Like I said...I felt something strange happen with my connection to Mother Nature. She'll likely choose a new wind spirit to replace me soon. She's had connections sever before, so it doesn't really bother her that much. After it's gone, she starts looking for the next candidate as soon as possible."
"Very well. First things first, he hasn't been fed." I watched as Pitch carefully laid me back down on the bed, and vanished into the shadows.
He was gone for about three hours, and in the time, Wendy continued to comfort me and keep me warm. She would move my blanket back into place when need be, and to my surprise, despite how loud I had cried...no one came. Then, Pitch returned with nothing. "I thought you went to go get him food!" Wendy shouted in aggravation.
"I did. I also took it upon myself to stock the lair with food and formula for him. I also have gotten everything ready in his soon to be room. That's why it took so long. Now..." He lifted me up carefully and bounced me lightly in his arms. "...he needs to be fed. It is well past feeding time."
"You'll be good to him. I know it."
"Yes, well...you said you would be helping, and you are tied to the boy now."
The scene immediately shifted, and suddenly we were in a nursery room, and to all our surprise, it was beautiful too. It was lit up with gorgeous candles I had only seen in castle halls, the walls themselves were painted gold with silver swirls and stars, the floor was seemingly made of marble. There was a book shelf filled with books in the corner of the room, and next to that was a rocking horse and some hand carved and hand painted baby toys. There was a changing table that seemed to already be stocked like he said, but in the corner of the room where it was the brightest due to the positioning of the candles. Then, we all noticed that in the brightest area of the room, there stood a hand carved cot with stars carved into the wood, and in it was a plain white sheet accompanied by a blanket made of wool that was dyed grey. Next to the cot Pitch was sitting, and holding me while he fed me. "I'm going to be honest...I didn't think you would be this good with him. I knew you would be good to him, but not this good and considering this is his first feeding, he's doing remarkably well as well."
"I HAVE done this before, you know. I honestly enjoyed looking after my daughter when she was small. I found it pleasant. Even the tantrums and sleepless nights...my wife loved her, but she couldn't understand how I found joy in taking care of Emily when she was having a tantrum or when she would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. Honestly...to this day...I don't understand it myself, but it gave me a pleasant feeling. Right now...this is a peace I hadn't known in a long time, and I feel joyful for the first time in a very long time." Then Pitch looked up from me and furrowed his brows just before shaking his head. "Again! I don't know why I'm telling you any of this!"
"You have someone to talk to now. Someone who will be here listening. That's why."
"I suppose so." Pitch sighed. Once he was done feeding me and burping me he carefully stood up and laid me down into the cot, looked at his hand, and then turned his gaze to a medium sized box at the very top of the book shelf. Then, he looked back at me and let out a heavy sigh. "Wind..."
"You can call me Wendy. It was my name when I was human..."
"Very well...Wendy...have you ever been able to lift the Sandman's dream sand?"
"I have. When my siblings would get into fights and Sandy would still give children good dreams through the storms, I would help guide his dream sand. He doesn't know that, but that's okay."
"Good..." Pitch said as he walked over to where the box was, took the it down, placed it on the desk, and opened it. What was inside had all of us gaping in shock. It was Sandy's dream sand. "I had collected this in hopes of being able to use it, but I haven't figured it out yet...I tried to use it on myself, but I can't. Every time I touched it, it would turn black and lose all it's powers. So, what I'm asking is..."
"Yes, I would be glad to." Wendy told him as she lifted a small amount of sand out of the box and sprinkled some over my eyes.
I fell asleep and nothing appeared over my head, but I was sound asleep. "Why does nothing appear?"
"He is not quite at the age for something to appear. He should be able to have something appear within a month. At least...from what I've seen anyway."
"Hmm...well, we will have to wait and see, won't we?" He looked down at me sleeping and a soft smile appeared over his face. "Sweet Dreams, Jack."
"I thought you named him Jackson."
"It's a shortened version of his name. Emily's first full name is Amelia, but no one knows that besides the two of us...well...now the three of us. She always hated the name Amelia, so...she started to go by Emily, and it stuck."
"Hmm...Jack suits him fine as well. Sweet Dreams, Jack."