TOOTH

*Some weeks after the film's end*

It had been only a few weeks after the Guardians and I finally defeated Pitch, but the schedules of our lives had begun to resurface. We had each returned to our designated roles: Bunnymund was already preparing for next year's Easter; North ("Christmas is now once again more important than Easter") resumed his work for the upcoming Christmas; Jack had decided to remain in Burgess for a few more days before travelling to Europe; Sandy resumed delivering the much needed dreams to children worldwide; and me? Well, I went back to my palace to bring home my lost fairies and teeth.

The task of returning the millions of collected teeth to my home was as meticulous and laborious as it sounded. But hey, I was just grateful to have everything returned to home. Thanks to all my fairies and the rest of the Guardians, I was able to move all of the teeth from Pitch's lair to the floors of my palace about three weeks ago. Since then, we've been sorting the containers back to their rightful spots.

Sandy, North, Jack and Bunny were huge helpers in the first two weeks. But eventually, they (reluctantly) had to leave the rest to me because of their roles. Jack still had his hands full with Winter; Sandy's job was ongoing, like mine; and North needed to prepare for this year's Christmas. Bunny stayed a little longer since Easter had just recently passed, but once the containers' locations reached further than a rabbit's jump's height, all he could do was sort until there wasn't much left to do. After that, he returned to the Warren, leaving us fairies to finish the job.

To be honest, I was quite surprised at how well the boys were able to help sort the teeth. As the keeper of memories, I use a complex sorting system that not only organised teeth by continent, but also by family and era and a whole lot of other factors. And I always do this by memory. That's why there are no signs for THE CONTINENT OF THE AMERICAS or THE SMITH FAMILY or something like that.

I guess that's why I was chosen to become the Tooth Fairy: I have a long lasting memory.

So, here we are, back to the present. I could feel a wave of excitement as I slipped one of the last containers back into its rightful place. We were only three more containers away from restoring the palace - who wouldn't be excited? Just a few weeks ago, piles of teeth containers littered the floor of the main tower, but now, only a few containers remained- we were on the home stretch!

I polished the end of the container with my hand and smiled back at the image of a happy girl's face. Slowly, her name resurfaced from an old memory: Rosie Overland. She had some of the prettiest teeth of her generation. I always remember how they glistened like freshly fallen snow. Grinning, I dived back down from the tower and quickly flew over to the remaining unsorted teeth.

I could feel the tsunami of anticipation being generated from my fairies. As I flew back, my grin broadened as four fairies notified me that two more containers had been returned. I could feel my own excitement rise - there was only one left! And that was it! Quickly, I zipped down to the floor of the main tower where the last container remained.

"One left ladies!" I shouted, as I picked up the final container. Thrilled screams filled the air. I could feel my mind slowly drifting into a scatter-brained state as all my fairies' frenzied thoughts flew to my head. I grinned at the response and examined the face of the child these teeth belonged to. A laugh escaped my lips.

Brown hair and eyes filled with wonder: it was Jamie Bennett's! I thought his was sorted back a few days ago, but with the multitude of thoughts I share with all my fairies, I could have easily mistaken. With a giggle of delight, I raced to Jamie's shelf, zooming to the Americas tower, eyes open for the last open slot.

And there it was, a single lonely hole, just waiting to be filled! I flew closer, and closer, container at the ready to slot in. I could feel the anticipation rise from my fairies. Here it was! I didn't care to make a full stop. Without a moment of hesitation, I slipped Jamie's container into its rightful place.

That was finest moment of our lives. An enormous cheer erupted from us. "We did it ladies! Our palace is complete once again!" Another cheer was received and I almost felt dizzy as the thrill hit my head. But I couldn't care but laugh and high five and make loops - lots of loops - in the air, the world turning around and around like a washing machine's insides. Finally, everything was back to normal!

I soared in the energy of my relief, handing out more high fives as I zoomed around the palace. It was a while before the excitement eventually calmed down, but even after that, we still remained giddy. Night had begun to fall, with a full moon of MiM smiling down on us. There was no need for me to urge the girls to get flying: with their spirits in such a high state they were zipping to their duty in seconds.

Soon enough, the palace became quiet. But it wasn't an eerie kind that was caused by fear or loneliness. It was peaceful, blissfully peaceful. I sighed in relief and floated down to the ledges of one of my towers. A beautiful, white glow covered the palace. I smiled and turned to face MiM, my wings lifting me higher to edge closer to the ancient spirit. I could feel my mind returning from its scatterbrained mess, but it was worth the trouble. It was the only weakness of having thousands of mini copies of yourself flying around the world.

I shrugged at the thought and clasped my hands, resting them on my chest. I had never felt so grateful in my life. Everything had finally returned to normal. Everyone was safe, everyone was happy. And it was all I could ask for in a good life as a Guardian.

Excuse me, Tooth.

Suddenly, I was pulled out of my reverie. It was one of my fairies, calling to me. I unclasped my hands and found Baby Tooth flying up to me, a white tooth in her hand.

"First one back! Good job, Baby Tooth!" I praised cheerfully.

Baby Tooth nodded avidly. But there was something in her eyes that told me something else. I could feel a sense of confusion and hesitation about her. And nervousness too. My smile dropped from my face. Baby Tooth was rarely nervous when carrying a precious tooth. Usually, we're all excited to collect one whilst out on the field.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

I held out my hand for her to sit on, but instead, she placed the tooth gingerly onto it. She then slowly backed a bit away from it, as if she was unsure about its existence. I could feel a frown puckering at my face as I examined the small tooth. I used my right index finger to turn it over, noting how it looked quite aged and dull for a milk tooth.

It was a molar tooth, and by the looks of it, it was one that would be replaced by an adult second premolar. I held the molar closer to my eyes for further inspection. It had probably been located on the jaw and judging by the way the roots stuck out, it might have been struck out instead of gradually loosened.

I held the molar back out to Baby Tooth. Confusion masked my face. "I don't see what's wrong with this one. But it looks like a late bloomer. How old was the child this tooth belonged to?"

Uh oh. Baby Tooth froze at the question. I could see the hesitation in her eyes and I could feel that she didn't know how to answer the question. I didn't like the sense of this uncertainty. What could possibly be wrong?

"Was it an adult?" I asked instead. "You know, some humans don't lose their baby teeth until they're really old, and others don't have an adult replacement for a couple of their milk teeth and have to wait it out." I could feel Baby Tooth's uncertainty fade a fraction. Bingo!

"See, nothing to worry about then!" I said cheerfully. I held out the tooth for her to return it but suddenly she was chirping away, flying around in a frenzied motion. I quickly withdrew my hand and curled my fingers over the tooth.

No, no, no, Tooth! You don't understand! There's no container for this tooth! We don't have one! And yes, this tooth came from an adult and …

Baby Tooth's thoughts barrelled into my mind, each one tripping over each other as she frantically tried to explain. Eventually, her nervousness mixed into her words and I could no longer keep track of what she was saying.

I held my free hand out in attempt to slow her down. "Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" I cried as a headache began to form at the back of my head. "Slow down! Take a deep breath. There's nothing to worry about. We can just make a container for this tooth; we do it all the ti-"

Abruptly, the key line hit me, stopping me in mid-sentence. "Wait, did you just say that this tooth came from an adult?"

Baby Tooth nodded.

"Then there should be a container for it," I reasoned. "We couldn't have lost it. We found every single one."

I could a feel a sense of uncertainty rise within me as the answer slowly revealed itself.

"Whose tooth is this?" I asked slowly, unsure if I wanted my answer to be correct or not.

It's Pitch's, replied Baby Tooth.

Thanks for reading!