We will watch over the children of Earth,
Guide them safely from the ways of harm,
Keep happy their hearts, brave their souls, and rosy their cheeks.
We will guard with our lives their hopes and dreams,
For they are all that we have, all that we are,
And all that we will ever be.
The Nightlight was the first being in the universe to take the Oath of the Guardians. His entire purpose, the very center of his being, was to be a Guardian.
Thousands of years ago, he was born out of pure light. The silver boy was the brightest creature in the entire universe, which is why the man on the moon took notice to him. Tsar Lunar, or Manny, tracked down the Nightlight and asked that he become a guardian of the sky.
Nightlight sat on the moon for centuries with only the stars to keep him company. He was content, he was happy with the knowledge that he was protecting every single child on the earth just by lighting up their night sky.
Until one fateful evening, he saw another being in the sky. It was another guardian of the stars, only she was made of golden light. Although Nightlight didn't know, the girl sitting on the sun was named Daylight. Just like him, she was born of light. Daylight was created by the lady on the sun, out of fear of the newly-born Nightmare King. "The boogeyman" had recently begun to threaten the safety of the children, and Tsarina Solar was fearful that he'd try to destroy the sun in an attempt to get eternal night.
Manny blamed himself for the creation of the Nightmare King, and agreed wholeheartedly that the skies needed another guardian.
Upon seeing that there was someone else in the stars with him, Nightlight realized just how lonely he had been these past few centuries.
A few cycles later, Nightlight caught another glimpse of the Daylight as he was fishing for stars. He nearly dropped his fishing line in his flailing attempt to get a better view. Although the moment was brief, the image was ingrained into his mind forever: a beautiful golden girl, with long hair floating around her face ethereally. She was looking up into the stars longingly, unaware of Nightlight. But Nightlight couldn't help but feel something deep in his chest just from looking at her.
It was several years before Daylight ever saw Nightlight, he was so far away, and she was surrounded by an overwhelming amount of light at all times. But finally she noticed. Sitting on top of the moon was a silver boy, with messy hair and...a fishing pole? Daylight giggled to herself as she watched him swing the pole around above his head to cast the line.
Manny noticed Nightlight's distraction, and didn't hesitate to warn him, "You are one of the most important guardians we have. Becoming infatuated with the Sun is not going to end well."
Nightlight wanted to protest, but didn't.
Meanwhile, Tsarina Solar joined her daughter on the sun and gently reminded her, "You belong here, with me. Lighting up the heavens is very important."
"Yes, Mother."
The warnings did little to prevent the two from slowly growing closer-metaphorically of course. Daylight began to long to be able to leave the sun just to be with Nightlight once. She wanted to see the boy made of light. Likewise, Nightlight found himself daring to fly further and further away from the moon to briefly get a closer look at Daylight.
Every night they were able to see each other, Daylight would giggle and blush at Nightlight's antics. He would jump up and fly around the Moon, gesturing wildly in an attempt to charade messages to her. Although she only understood him on occasion, it always made her laugh. On every other night when they couldn't see one another, Daylight would draw pictures or write messages in the sky, telling Nightlight how much she enjoyed seeing him and how much he made her laugh. These messages made Nightlight want to jump for joy.
After several decades of this, the Boogeyman began to notice what was happening in the sky. He saw how the Moon would darken so Nightlight could catch a glimpse of Daylight, how the Guardian was slowly but surely throwing his duties away for this girl he could never even touch. And, although she wasn't actively sacrificing anything to see Nightlight, Daylight seemed prepared to give up anything to be with him.
An evil smile crept across the Nightmare King's face as an idea began to grow. Using their love as a tool to manipulate them, he could trick them into leaving their posts. All he had to do was re-assemble his army.
Nightlight's tummy fluttered in anticipation, tonight was the night he would get to see Daylight. He could hardly bear the waiting.
Daylight tugged on her hair nervously, she was so anxious to see Nightlight once again, the anticipation was driving her mad.
But... there was no Nightlight.
And there was no Daylight.
The Nightlight jumped up, heart quickening in worry. Where was the sun? Why couldn't he see it?
The Daylight gasped and tried to move closer, concerned that she couldn't see the moon.
Then they saw the nightmares. Pitch's army of fearlings and nightmares were swirling around in the sky, looking like they were preparing to attack.
"They're going to darken the sun!"
"They've destroyed the moon!"
Without a second thought, Nightlight grabbed his fishing pole. In his hand, it transformed itself back into his staff, complete with a pure crystal reflecting his glow. He fled from his post on the Moon, and flew towards where he knew the Sun was meant to be. He was determined to defeat the army and save the Daylight.
After hesitating, Daylight leapt up and soared towards the Moon, leaving the Sun behind. She couldn't let the Nightmare King hurt her love.
Silver and gold crashed into each other among a sea of pure black. Daylight's golden eyes widened as they met with the silver eyes of Nightlight. Her heart sank as she realized her grave mistake. Desperately, she tried to fly back towards the sun. Nightlight's heart was racing in panic as he attempted to return to his post on the moon. Before they could find their way back, the wave of nightmares crashed down. The two guardians were dragged down in the chaos.
Somehow, Nightlight managed to fight his way through the fear and darkness until he spotted the beautiful glow of the Daylight. Her tear-filled eyes softened as she saw him, and she accepted his outstretched hand. But, as they had been warned thousands of times, the sun and the moon were never supposed to meet. Daylight gasped as her gold began to clash with his silver, a burning cold beginning to spread from her fingertips to the rest of her. Nightlight let out a small cry as her gold began to spread a painful fire through his limbs.
Their inner light began to shine brighter, slowly beginning to change color. They stared at each other as a strange transformation began to occur. Daylight watched as Nightlight's silver eyes changed into an icy blue, his hair paled to white, and his skin turned a pale pink... the color of some humans. Nightlight watched as she transformed as well, her golden eyes turned green, her golden hair faded and stopped weightlessly floating, and her skin became the color of the pink humans. The pain they had experienced from touching each other was gone... They were no longer the guardians of the sun and moon.
Despite herself, Daylight's eyes filled with tears once again and she buried her face in Nightlight's chest. He held her tightly, fighting back tears of his own. He was the first guardian in the entire galaxy... And he had failed. Nightlight wished he hadn't been so stupid. It was his fault. He let the Nightmare King trick him into believing the Sun had stopped shining. Seeing the Daylight up close, he realized that Pitch Black would've been no match for her goodness and light. Seeing her up close, he realized that she was even more lovely than he had ever tried to imagine.
Unable to resist, he held her closer. She looked up into his eyes and pulled him into a kiss, surprising herself.
Despite the fact that they now possessed physical bodies, they began to glow again. It was different, much more subtle. Nightlight's glow was a pale blue, and Daylight's was a rose pink. As they held each other, the light grew brighter and brighter until it began to outshine the original sun and moon. Slowly, the golden-pink light began to ribbon around Nightlight and the silver-blue light began to spiral around Daylight. The two contrasting colors ribboned and weaved around, creating a beautiful tapestry of light and color.
The light became so bright that it began to shoot through the Nightmare King's army, destroying fearlings left and right.
Neither Nightlight nor Daylight realized it until all of the nightmares were gone, and they began to completely free-fall towards the quickly-approaching earth. They were ripped away from each other for the last moments of their fall.
She crashed through the trees until crashing to the hard earth. Panic filled her, she had never been in true darkness before. Even though it was only a shadow being cast by a tree, Daylight's heart was trying to pound its way free from her chest. Her long golden hair fell into her face, and she realized it was still glowing. She gasped, perhaps she was still a guardian! But as she remained in the darkness, her hair began to fade. She grasped at it desperately, hoping to somehow make it glow again, but it turned to a dark brown before her very eyes. NO! She stared at the dark locks in horror. A single, golden tear fell from her cheek and landed on the ground.
If she had stayed to watch, she would've seen the small drop of sun grow into a magical, golden flower.
But the sound of crashing caught her attention. She forced herself to her feet and ran through the woods until she found a frozen lake with a hole smashed through the ice.
Nightlight struggled to swim his way back to the surface of the freezing water. The waters icy shock had caused him to release his air, and his lungs were screaming.
Stay in the water.
Nightlight recognized the voice as the man on the moon's. He looked up at the moon desperately and silently begged for an explanation. Before the moon could reply, a hand plunged into the water and grabbed onto Nightlight.
With a strength that even surprised herself, Daylight dragged Nightlight from the frozen water and onto the more solid ice.
Nightlight gasped for air, and gasped in shock as a strange warmth began to flood through him. Although he couldn't see it, his icy eyes were darkening to a brown, and his white hair had slowly changed into a caramel color. He looked up at Daylight, and couldn't help but stare in shock at her long, dark brown hair.
Although neither spoke, both knew what had happened.
They were human.
The Nightmare King was lurking in the woods surrounding the lake, chest filled with fury. This hadn't been his plan!
Step One: Block the Sun and Moon's lights with nightmares and fearlings
Step Two: Whisper in the Guardians' thoughts and make them believe their "loves" were dead
Step Three: Have his army drag the Guardians down to earth and break their ties to the Sun and Moon.
There was absolutely no Step Four: Have the stupid Guardians kiss and connect to each other before their fall was over, preventing them from becoming completely mortal. Pitch fumed. How was he supposed to snuff out their lights for good?
Daylight saw Pitch over Nightlight's shoulder. She jumped to her feet and held up her arms to strike. Nightlight followed suit. He spotted his staff a few feet away from where he had crashed to the earth. He quickly grabbed it and aimed it at the Nightmare King. Pitch laughed as he saw Nightlight's reaction to the staff. When the staff had hit the earth, the diamond of light had snapped off the rest of the staff and shattered into a million pieces. Nightlight felt like he had just lost part of his soul. In a way, he had.
Pitch realized that, despite their new bond, the two guardians were extremely weak from losing their connection to the stars. He laughed maniacally and attacked.
From up above, Tsar Lunar and Tsarina Corona had to watch in horror as the Nightmare King slaughtered Nightlight and Daylight. The two former guardians fell to the ground, lifeless. Pitch Black cackled and looked up at the Moon triumphantly.
Later, the Guardian of Time informed the other Guardians that all was not hopeless, for Nightlight and Daylight had died in each others arms after bonding with each other during their fall. This meant that, even though Pitch had killed these forms, they would be reborn in new forms, in new lifetimes. Nightlight and Daylight would return, and hopefully find a way to return to the stars.
The Bogeyman knew this too. He knew that his new task was to track the brats down in each of their new lives and either prevent them from meeting or simply kill them. In the meanwhile , he had who knows how many years to wreak havoc on the earth with his new army.
His nightmares were finally ready, and he had just killed the two strongest guardians.
Hey guys! So, I wanted to better explain what this one-shot was about, but I felt extremely limited by the Summary character limit. Obviously this is kind of like the origin story of Jack and Rapunzel, aka "Nightlight" and "Daylight". Technically they're mortals now, but they're very special mortals. They'll be reborn over and over again until they regain their immortality/guardianship. If you've read my fanfiction Believe in Me, this is kinda like a prequel-prequel. (And also the whole situation makes a tad more sense, because I explained it all in that story.) It also ties in with Chasing the Wind because the Jack and Rapunzel in that story are one of the reincarnations. So yeah! I hope you liked it!