Summary: It seems that they are not needed anymore. (The events leading up to and during The Guardian's departure of Earth) Warning for death and depressing ideas.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor any character appearing in this story.
Needed
Parents are strange creatures. They say that they want to protect their children, but some don't do enough. Some do too much. Some parents couldn't imagine their 'special little snowflake' being hurt or taken in their sleep. And this good intention left a lot of people wondering how to cash in on it.
Pitch had laughed when he was told. "What do a bunch of stuffy old adults think they're doing, trying to prevent me? Fear is a fact of life."
They protected their children so fiercely, with video cameras, floor sensors, heat sensors, light sensors, content censors, so that nothing that wasn't approved by their parents could get in. The dark was measured and calculated by volume, screened for bacteria, and illuminated.
Jack had sought out Pitch after the practice became common. The Boogeyman was never found again.
The Guardians were cut off, separated from their precious children by the unblinking eyes of security cameras. They could not be caught, for true belief is not seeing, but they had tried hard to be unseen and still felt. Science marched on, time had proved that sight was valueble than feeling. Fact had replaced faith. The Guardians had lost their believers, scraps at a time, before the world, at whole, seemed to give up on them.
Jack, upon seeing the end, tried valiantly to help the team, frosting over cameras, causing storms to hit power lines, but humans marched on, repairing and improving their work.
It took decades, but to them, it only felt like days.
North had gone first - the most prolific of the Guardians. He passed in a March night, magic running out since that December, when could not finish his trip around the world. Jack had been at his bedside, watching as the life and magic faded from his friend. Santoff Clausen was abandoned, both elf and Yeti scattered into the wilds. The Winter Guardian wondered if that would be it, and bargained that if the world thought that the Great Santa Claus was fake, they would not go after the rest of them. Science had to be satisfied with just one answer, right?
He was proven wrong before the year ended.
Sandy was not able to make his nightly rounds. He grew weary and began sleeping, dust seeping away from him night after night. He grew smaller and weaker until a stiff wind passed and he was carried to the Moon, back to where he could rest. Jack had felt his passing, just as Toothania and Bunnymund had.
Tooth, having been prepared since North, started sending out her fairies for one last mission: to preserve her legacy. She asked her believers to act as her fairies, to never let their child forget the happier moments of life. Tooth recalled all of her helpers, and she spent her last day on Earth whole before being raised up into the sky by a moonbeam.
"It's funny," she recalled telling her friends, "I thought it would hurt, holding all of my fairies inside of me after being split for so long. But now I know that I'm not alone, I've got a thousand wing beats in my heart to prove it." She smiled dazzlingly.
After that, Jack spent a good week trying to teach himself how to paint like Bunnymund. His favorite believer owed him a few favors, and he agreed to go in on an all-nighter for spare Easter eggs. His daughter, Tracy, didn't quite like the snow as well as her forefathers, but loved his frost designs.
"Why are you doing this? I thought you and Aster hated each other." Mr. Bennet, the middle-aged believer, asked his Guardian.
"It's not about Bunny getting his believers back, it's about making kids happy. Any kid. I don't want their hope to go to waste." Jack said, languidly painting another swirl of gold on an egg, setting it down against his other bright red, green, and yellow ones. "And if that means not going to sleep for a few days, than so be it."
Jackson Bennet agreed, and continued to work. If it mattered to his little girl, it mattered to him.
That year, Bunnymund left. For the past few years he couldn't do much but give Jack a good tongue-lashing when he needed it, much less a fight. They were in a wide desert when he was called. Another moonbeam reached down to collect it's fallen friend. "Don't worry, mate," a reassuring, yet cheerful blue rabbit told Jack. "We had a good run." small paws gestured to the Frost child's heart. "Keep those good times close to your heart, and they'll return."
He was gone.
Jack Frost was alone, again.
Note: This was written after coming to the logical conclusion that Jack would be the only one left if parents started watching their kids like hawks. 1984 style, which is I'm sure a total abuse of their rights, but they are kids and kids don't get rights.
It's my opinion that North would only die if some overzealous parent told their kid that he wasn't real up front rather than waiting until they were older, in an attempt to spare the heartbreak. Multiply that case by a lot, then send those non-believer kids into the school system, and poof! No more Santa. The same logic applies to the other Guardians as well.
Tooth and Sandy have a problem with being seen: security cameras take care of that! Bam! Now they have to go retire in space, where they came from. Bunny would last the longest because his purpose is to hide things, and he can hide himself.
Jack is left because he is tied to the Earth, He is not forgotten because he doesn't have a specific gift to be remembered for and that means that he can't be truly forgotten. He can operate without any believers, like he did before he was a Guardian. However, he is stronger because of his friend's memories, and continues to bug the Bennet's of Burgess for all of eternity. (or until space travel becomes commercial. Then it gets REALLY weird.)
Please! I am open to all feels and flames and crazy philosophical discussion!
Ill