Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians and blah blah blah. Only my own scenarios and OCs. :)
"London, sector nine, bicuspid! Yokohama, sector two, premolar!"
One would think that after spending roughly five hundred years doing a single job, the task set before Toothiana, queen of the fairies, would become easier, almost second-nature—and in many respects, it had. Yet even as she grew into her role and developed a deep love for and dedication to it, with each passing year the workload only increased exponentially, and there was absolutely no sign of stopping. The human population had positively exploded within the past century, and quite frankly Toothiana felt as if she could barely keep up sometimes.
"St. Petersburg, sector one, upper left incisor! Zapopan, sector two, right lateral incisor and four upper central incisors! Oh my goodness, triplets! Triplets on that last one!" she called after her tiny fairies. They waved a brief acknowledgement that they'd heard before zooming away. Toothiana clenched her hands and barely contained a squeal of glee. Just the thought of handling triplets' teeth filled her with exuberant anticipation.
Oh, what sweethearts, losing so many teeth at the same time! I can't wait to see them! I sure hope they kept them clean!
Unfortunately she didn't have time to dwell on the fantasy. The next wave of locations was already pouring in.
"Anchorage, sector eight, double premolars! Paris, sector twelve—"
"Hello!"
Toothiana spun about quickly, an enormous smile already plastered across her face.
"Hello!" she called, beaming as she flew down to greet the child properly. It was certainly an unexpected arrival (the Tooth Palace hardly ever had visitors), but as she'd already heard all about Layla Black from Jack, North, and her fairies (who'd informed her that the Pooka had had not one, but two visits from the girl, the big hairy stinker) Tooth wasn't all that surprised.
"Oh, you must be Layla! I'm so happy to finally meet you!" She took one of the girl's hands in both of her own and shook it enthusiastically, all the while showering her with rapid-fire praise. "You're so pretty! I love your hair." She released the hand to stroke at the enticing black curls. "I love your mom's hair, too, but this is just so soooft! And the color matches your skin, you look so much like your dad, I wonder, do your teeth look like his too? Are they pointed are they crooked do you brush them twice a day do you remember to floss?"
In her tremendous excitement her sentences had started to run together, the words leaving her in one long breath. When she finally remembered to stop and breathe, little Layla Black giggled.
"You're funny."
Once she had her voice back, Tooth Fairy inquired, "Can I see? Can I see your teeth? Pleeease?"
The girl opened her mouth obligingly. Tooth Fairy clenched her hands tight to keep from reaching in and prodding at them. Oohhhhhh, they were so pretty! They were pointed like Pitch's, but they were also straight and white and perfect! She was dying to touch them, but restrained herself.
Barely.
"Ohh," she cooed, "I love them. You take such good care of them."
Fluttering back a bit so she was out of temptation's reach, she begged, "Can I please collect them when they fall out? I promise I won't come into your dad's realm if he doesn't want me to. You can leave them outside for my fairies, or even bring them here, I really don't mind. But then…" Her expression wilted. "Your mom and dad probably don't want me intruding, huh?"
Layla Black cocked her head. "You mean watch my memories?"
Tooth nodded sadly. "They're so private… Not that I blame them, of course, but…well…I was really hoping to collect a spirit's teeth."
"I've already asked you know."
"Huh?"
"About my teeth. I've already asked Daddy and Mama if I could send them to you."
She broke off into a fit of giggles, completely distracted by the appearance of more than a dozen fairies. Toothiana watched, amazed, as more and more of her little assistants descended towards them, twittering excitedly as they flitted about the little girl's head in a florescent cloud. She'd half expected them to be wary of the newcomer, as the last unannounced visitor had been Pitch and his horde of Nightmares, yet the tiny fairies were clearly in love with Layla Black. They took turns plucking at the child-spirit's hair to rub their cheeks against the soft curls, and landed on her shoulders to cuddle against her warm skin, and crowded close so they could try and converse with her, never mind that Layla couldn't understand a word they said.
"Girls, girls, give her some space, please," Tooth chided, but she was largely ignored. Not that Layla minded the attention. She giggled and waved and said hello to each and every fairy, opening her mouth again and again so her teeth could be examined. When more wanted to perch upon her than would fit on her shoulders, she simply held out her arms, still giggling, so they could settle all along them too. Within moments she was positively decorated with the happily chirruping spirits, giving her the vague appearance of an ornamented tree.
Toothiana watched the scene unfold with something akin to amused shock. Apart from Jack (with whom the fairies were positively besotted) her girls had never shown such interest in another spirit before. It was both exciting and puzzling, and Toothiana observed with a broad smile and her head cocked slightly to one side.
But eventually she decided enough was enough. If left to their own devices, she knew the fairies would be at it all night. Clapping her hands to draw attention to herself, Toothiana announced, "All right now, girls, you've had your fun. There's still a lot of work to do tonight. I haven't seen those triplets' teeth yet."
Suddenly remembering themselves, the fairies rose up almost as one, twittering hasty apologies and goodbyes.
"Bye-bye!" Layla waved as they zoomed off. Then she turned to beam up at Toothiana, continuing their previous conversation as if it had never ended.
"I asked Daddy and Mama if I could leave my teeth for your fairies to collect. They said no, but they're okay with me bringing them here for you to keep. 'It's not like we're going to do anything with them', they said. But if you do look into my memories," she added in the same cheerful tone, "they'll be really mad."
"I won't do that," Toothiana swore. "It would be rude of me to go poking my nose into your memories for no reason. Plus, as I said, I know they're both very private, your parents, so I won't intrude on them that way."
With those words, a thought struck her suddenly and she uttered a surprised "Oh!" before zooming off without explanation. Not that she was gone long; it took only a minute for her to find was she was looking for and retrieve it. Layla was still waiting for her on the platform when she returned.
Suddenly very awkward about what she intended to do, Toothiana said hesitantly, "Um…here." She held out her hand, offering the child a black tooth case.
Layla eyed the case, obviously noting the white warning painted across the front as well as the coiled wire binding it shut. She didn't say anything about either, but nevertheless it left Tooth feeling unspeakably awful.
Laughing uncomfortably, the Guardian of Memories unwound the wire. "Sorry about that." Pulling the wire free at last, she held the case out again, and this time Layla took it.
"Is it Daddy's?"
Toothiana suspected the child already knew the answer, but she responded anyway. "Yes."
"Did you see his memories?"
Wracked with guilt, Tooth winced. "Yes. We all did—Jack and North and Sandy and Bunny and I." She fluttered down to land on the platform, kneeling before the child as if in penance. "We were very confused, Layla. We knew your parents were married, but we did not understand why. At the time, we thought… Our understanding of both your parents was very limited. We could not imagine why the celestial spirits had agreed to such a bond."
"They love each other very much."
"Yes," Tooth said, looking up into those expressive olive green eyes and smiling warmly at the child's simple, pure, innocent words. "They do. We all realized that once we looked inside your father's memories."
"Did you see the rite?"
"No," she replied honestly, shaking her head. "We did not get that far. We only saw enough to understand their relationship."
Layla smiled widely, revealing every one of her perfectly pointed teeth. "Then it should be fine." She clutched the case tightly to her chest, like a prized possession. It warmed Toothiana's heart to see the child so protective and loving of her father.
"Would you like to see the Palace before you go?" the fairy queen offered, beating her wings to rise into the air once more.
"Yes!" Bouncing eagerly on the spot, the girl begged, "Can I see where you keep the teeth? And the coins you leave for the kids? And where the fairies sleep? And what it looks like from on top of the mountain? I bet you could see the moon from up there!"
Tooth laughed freely at the child-spirit's exuberance. "Of course, of course," she promised cheerfully. "We'll see all of it. And the view is wonderful from the top of the Palace, you'll see!"
The rest of the night was spent touring the Tooth Palace. Toothiana happily chattered away without pausing for breath, rattling off facts and history and answering Layla's seemingly endless stream of questions. The girl was boundlessly curious—a fact which would undoubtedly doubt endear her to North—and was genuinely thrilled by every single thing she saw. Tooth thought it marvelous, and was herself taken by the fact that Layla could keep up with her rather fast-paced manner of speaking. Most spirits would have grown annoyed or overwhelmed by her babbling, but little Layla Black seemed to have no problem with it at all…although that was probably because she was pretty energetic herself.
How in Manny's name did Bunny ever put up with her? Tooth found herself grinning wickedly at the thought. The poor, poor Pooka.
Like all good things, however, their visit eventually reached its end. As dawn began to peek over the horizon outside the Palace, Tooth and her fairies all bid their goodbyes, the former insisting Layla return for another visit.
"I will," the girl promised. "But I have to see Sandman first."
Toothiana pressed her hands to her mouth to hide an unexpected smile, but quickly abandoned the attempt; Layla's fit of giggles at the expression on her face was enough to cause the fairy queen to laugh right along with her.
"He's rather quiet," Tooth finally managed to say.
"I know," Layla said happily. "I can be quiet too…sometimes."
One pristine eyebrow rose. "Were you with Bunny?"
An enormous grin was all the answer she got, but it was enough. Tooth shook her head, still smiling. This girl was certainly a firecracker.
"Bye-bye!" Layla called loudly, so that the fairies too busy to see her off could hear. A chorus of twitters echoed off the walls of the Tooth Palace, carrying their warm farewells back to her. With one final wave to Tooth, Layla Black summoned a shadow portal and vanished into it.
The moment she was gone, Toothiana did a rather impressive triple backflip through the air. "She was so cute! That hair, and her smile, and those teeth!" She squealed in sheer delight. "I love those teeth, and we get to collect them! Isn't that fantastic?!"
She flew off into the Palace, blabbering away to any fairy that would listen. Not that the girls minded; they were more than used to their queen's incessant monologues by now, and besides, they were all busy chittering excitedly amongst themselves too.
Yes, Layla Black was certainly going to be the talk of the realm for many nights to come.
And Sandy gets to meet her next! Tooth thought, practically quivering with glee. I can't wait to hear how that turns out!