Just a head's up! This might get a bit Guardians of Childhood-sy in the future, but I don't think it's really enough to categorize it as a crossover:X Anywho please enjoy, constructive criticism is always welcome!
As the moon rose into the crystal clear darkness, providing company for the stars in the vast night sky, a little girl lay in bed. Head partially tucked under her blankets, for she was certain creatures lurked about her room, waiting for their chance to snatch her away in the dead of night. The bumps and creaks throughout the house were the footsteps of hounds or giant spiders ready to jump out from the closet or under her bed. She whimpered for her parents to come save her. Soon, the door slowly opened and a man walked quietly into her room, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Sweetheart what's wrong?" he questioned.
A head popped up from beneath the covers, shivering in fear, she whispered, "There's something under the bed".
"Well of course!" the man softly spoke, he pulled the blanket down to reveal her whole face and held her hand, "that's where the guard sleeps." His soothing and gentle tone helped soothe her nerves.
"The guard?" she questioned.
"Yes of course!" he gave her a reassuring smile, "he stays there so if any monsters try to come in he can surprise attack them. Only, sometimes it gets cramped under there, so the guard moves around to get comfy, that's where the noises come from".
The little girl relaxed as she began to believe her father's tale, "So the guard is a good guy?"
"Yes dear, he'll keep you safe while me and mommy sleep." The man grabbed leaned over and kissed his daughter's head, "You'll be fine, you have the guard and the nightlight from the moon," he motioned towards her window to point out the radiant light that dimly lit up her room.
She sat up and hugged her father, squeezing as tight as a seven year old possibly could "Thank you daddy."
The man was caught a bit off guard by his daughter's surprise hug, "You're welcome, I promise you, everything is going to be fine."
He got up from his child's bed and made his way over to the door, her tiny voice calling for him once more caught his attention, he looked back as she played with the edge of her sheet, "What do I do if a monster does come in?"
He smiled at his daughter's desire for a plan, "You be brave, believe that the guard will protect you, have faith in him." She gave him a worried look, to where he continued, "promise you'll be brave, for me?"
His warming smile was contagious to her, she yawned, "Cross my heart and hope to die."
He gave a light laugh, "Alrighty, goodnight dear, I love you." then quietly shut the door, leaving his daughter to sleep the night away.
That would become one of the clearest and dearest memories she would ever have of her father, he died from a car crash when little Mina grew to be fourteen. She was extremely close with her father, and after his untimely death she grew distant. Her mother tried to console her daughter in every way possible, but the even the power of mother-daughter bonding didn't heal her wounds completely. Eventually Mina's mother remarried and had another child, Emma, who Mina did love like a little sister. Emma's father and Mina's step-father, James, has tried to fill the father role in Mina's life, but to no avail.
Her mother noticed, Mina's smile, which one would believe to be etched onto her face, it was so full of life, became a scarcity soon fading to an empty hollow shell of what it once was. Mina's attitude that was once outgoing and lively, turned to an introverted shadow, it pained her to see her daughter's liveliness slowly slip away month after month. What killed her the most, was her daughter's eyes. The energetic and cheerful look in her beautiful, vibrant green eyes, that, with each hour, day, and year drain; until one day they just seemed empty. She couldn't bear to see her daughter in so much agony, by the time she was 16, she was a completely different person. Still sweet and kind, thankfully not rebellious, yet there was a hole in her personality that only her mother could see. To fix it, she thought of the grand idea of moving, to which Mina didn't protest much, her mother claimed it was, "to a new start, a new life, where the past will literally be behind them".
In the fall, nearing winter, the family moved to Burgess, Pennsylvania, in a nice two-story house that bordered between the outskirts of the woods and the rest of the suburban neighborhood. The neighboring kids were a bit young for Mina, but her mother assumed that maybe Mina could babysit and adopt a bit of their energy.
"Welcome to home!" her mother exclaimed gloriously, her arms motioning to show off the new house.
Emma jumped out of the car in excitement and ran towards their grand palace, "Daddy look how big it is!"
"Our new palace for both our princesses!" James announced, then looked towards Mina, who had just gotten out of the car, "Does thine eldest approve of our new castle?"
Mina forced a huge smile as her half-sister looked over to her, "Why, our grand journey hath only begun!" she twirled over towards her family, with extra arm-exaggeration for her sister's amusement, "With this, our new castle, we shall conquer all!"
Emma squealed with excitement and ran inside, James following after carrying various boxes. Mina quickly dropped the act and turned to her mother, who gave her a small smile, grabbed a few boxes and went inside. Her mother loved watching Mina interact with Emma, and only wished that kind of attitude was genuine.
A house or two down, a group of kids watched their new neighbors unpack, "Jamie," one particularly tall brunette said, "Do you think Sophie would play with the younger one?"
"I think so" he replied, "Maybe we can show her to Jack whenever he decides to show up, they look the around the same age."
"What about the teenager?" Monty asked pulling on his scarf nervously, "You don't think she'll be someone who gets us into trouble do you?"
"How could we even tell?" Claude chuckled, "There's no telling with teenagers! They're crazy!"
The kids were interrupted by Jamie's mom, walking down the street with Sophie and a plate of hot cookies, she called over to Jamie, "Do you and your friends want to come with me to meet the new neighbors?"
They were all a bit reluctant, but were promised a fresh batch of sweets when they were done. As they approached, the kids stopped short, the house was closer to the woods than they had expected. Pitch had been defeated about two years ago, yet the kids were still working up the courage to venture in the very same woods his lair once was, they only ever went into the woods when they were accompanied by Jack. After some reassuring glances towards each other the group moved forwards again. Jamie's mother called them over, "This is Jamie, my son, and his friends." As she introduced them, the older woman, who introduced herself as Charlotte, called for the rest of her family to meet them.
The youngest was as they expected, and bonded with Sophie instantaneously, the teenager was the one they kept a watchful eye on. Jame noticed the dark circles under her eyes, it seemed she hadn't ever heard of a bed. She greeted Jamie's mom with a smile and shook hands with her, then looked towards Jamie and his friends. The girl wasn't very tall, he instinctively compared her to almost Jack's height, a bit shorter, but with massive amounts of dark-brown hair, which Pippa asked if she could braid sometime.
Mina smiled, "Uh, sure I guess. Good luck though, I can hardly even brush it".
As her and Pippa did most of the talking, the rest of the group tried deciphering what kind of teenager she was. She didn't seem like the bullying-type, she had a plain black long-sleeve shirt on with some dark blue jeans, so Monty came to the conclusion of punk, he whispered his finding to Jamie, who didn't quite agree, she just didn't fit the profile. Punk kids just don't smile, period. The kids shortly grew tired of trying and were rescued when Jamie's mom motioned for their departure, saying they were holding up the unpacking. As they walked back Jamie's mom mentioned that Mina could be a potential babysitter, so it would be best to make a good impression.
When the evening came, light snow had begun to hit the ground and the sun started to creep behind the horizon. The unpacking was finished just in time, the new family didn't have to worry about unpacking in freezing temperatures. In the Bennett household, Jamie anxiously searched out his window, and not too long after, her saw a blur of blue and white zoom by. Jamie shot his bedroom window open as the winter sprite barrelled through. Snow started falling from the ceiling as Jamie and Jack danced around the room.
"Jamie! How've you been buddy! It feels like I haven't been here in forever!" Jack laughed as he intricate snowflake designs on Jamie's window.
"Fall was kinda a drag" Jamie admitted, "You didn't visit as much as I thought you would."
Jack felt guilty, he didn't show up for shenanigans as much as he hoped he could have. Being a guardian was a lot more work than he thought it would be, either way he was just glad more and more people could see him. After his past 300 years of isolation, this prize was worth the wait, even if it came with the cost of actually having a bit of responsibility. He would have to travel around and felt like he constantly had to make bigger and grander winters. The biggest pro and con, however, was having to check on Pitch's lair every now and then. It was in the deeper part of the woods thankfully, yet he always got a pang of worry for his first-believer living close to it.
After a bit of catching up Jamie mentioned there was someone new in town, "They have two daughters, one about Sophie's age and a teenager," Jamie's smile dropped, "But live at the house closest to the woods."
Jack gave a small frown, he didn't want Jamie to worry so he quickly fixed it with a smile, "Don't worry about it, There hasn't been any signs of Pitch since we last saw him."
If they had a kid Sophie's age, then if Pitch were to come back she would be the easiest target, he shook his head from his thought and started ruffling Jamie's hair, freezing it slightly for a constant state of bedhead.
Jamie's worry cleared and they continued to mess around until Jamie's mom interrupted to tell Jamie to close his window and go to bed. Jack said his goodbyes and departed, he floated over to the house closest to the woods, peering inside the upstairs window he saw a little girl with brown hair laying in bed, her mother reading a book before tucking her in for the night.
Nothing much to do here
While Jack was coating the house in a fresh layer of frost before heading over to check on Pitch's lair, he noticed the back window of the upper story slightly opened. He headed over and saw what must be the other daughter, the older one, talking with what had appeared to be her mom.
"Be honest this time, do you like it? The house." The older woman asked.
"It's okay i guess, I mean...It isn't really 'home' to me." the girl responded, "I don't know it feels so... foreign."
The mom gave her daughter a worried smile, "Well it's the first day so give it a try, I'm sure you'll make a TON of new friends, I mean we moved here for you really."
Jack could feel the mood tense up inside as the daughter grew increasingly anxious, "What? Y...you moved here for me? This big house?"
"Well it wasn't all for you...just, nevermind, I do have something for you though."
Jack leaned closer to see what the daughter was handed, a big and shiny camera. The mom said something didn't quite catch and then left the room while turning off the light, he could see the moonlight reflecting off the daughter's expressionless face, she stared down at the object like she had never seen one before, or like she didn't know what to do. Jack suddenly remembered he had a job to do, he dashed off the roof and flew towards the forest.
Let's just get this over with, he thought to himself.
As he soared through the sky he thought about what Pitch had said to him back on Antarctica two years ago, "to long for a family" those words haunted him long after his defeat. Jack found himself wondering if Pitch was being genuine, if he truly did just want someone to see him, or if it was all just a ploy to convince Jack to join him in creating a world of darkness. For a moment, Pitch didn't look like the monster under the bed, no, he looked like someone reaching out for help. Is that what he truly wanted? Jack had thought 300 years of loneliness was sheer torture, yet he could never imagine how thousands of years would feel. Watching civilization grow right in front of you and never playing a part in any of it, he couldn't imagine a more lonesome existence.
Then again, he remembered the actions Pitch had taken from Bunnymund and Sandmans' stories of how the Golden Age quickly disintegrated because of his actions. How he had destroyed planets, stars, and Bunny's whole civilization. How he took the hopes and dreams of an entire age and laughed as they fell before him. How he tore families apart, destroyed lives by turning people into shadow monsters; maybe this was his divine punishment, maybe he just got what he deserved, an eternal life in complete isolation.
Regardless, that was the past, this is now; Jack pushed his thoughts aside to focus on the task at hand, he landed on the ground with his eyes spotting the worst possible scenario, the entrance to Pitch's lair was open once again. Jack didn't see any surrounding nightmares, but he didn't want to take a chance of Pitch being revived. He took a deep breath and jumped down the rabbit hole.