Pitch was long gone—devoured by his own sick nightmares.
After the Guardians' epic confrontation with the villain, the children of the world were once again filled with hopes and dreams, memories, fun and wonder.
Now, that didn't mean that the children no longer feared anything.
And tonight, one particular 7-year-old Sophie Bennett was having trouble falling asleep under her polka-dotted big girl covers.
As of the elimination of The Boogeyman, the Guardians had decided to occasionally keep tabs on the young Bennetts… particularly a certain Jack Frost.
It was roughly 11:00pm in the wintery town of Burgess, after the children were meant to be fast asleep, when the Guardian of Fun decided to pay a visit to his First Believer.
15-year-old James Bennett still believed in the Winter Spirit, and though fewer and fewer of his friends did anymore, Jamie continued to trust Jack with all his heart.
When Jack peered through the young man's window, he could make out the outline of a very tired Jamie, passed out over his mangled covers whilst still clutching a tattered stuffed bunny.
At this, Jack couldn't help but smile, for now that Jamie was grown, the sprite could only catch glimpses of the boy's innocent side, a side mostly limited to the dark hours of the night, long after he'd fallen asleep.
Not having the heart to wake him up, the Winter Spirit cast a frozen pattern over the glass to let the boy know Jack had paid him a visit.
When the white haired sprite had informed one such Bunnymund where he was going, the latter couldn't help but beg for him to check on "his little ankle-biter", so he did.
Arriving at young Sophie's window didn't bring as much joy as the Guardian would have hoped, for when he peered inside, the little girl lay wide awake, clutching her polka-dot covers in one hand, and a similar bunny to Jamie's in the other.
Sensing the fear that radiated off the child, Jack called out to her before entering so as not to startle the poor thing.
"Sophie?" he called softly.
When the emerald-eyed girl looked around for the source of the familiar voice, Jack pushed gently on the glass, landing gracefully on the carpet-covered floor.
"J-Jack?" the delicate voice whimpered, looking up at the Winter Spirit through her disheveled dirty-blonde bangs.
Casting aside his staff so as not to accidentally make the room any colder, Jack slowly approached the little girl as if approaching a wounded animal.
"Yeah, it's me, kiddo," the Guardian reassured Sophie, taking a seat at the end of her bed.
"It's only me, Jack," he murmured, looking at the little one with concerned eyes when she didn't move towards him.
"Soph, are you okay?" the sprite's protectiveness surfaced more each second.
Jack reached a hand out to place on Sophie's knee, but when she flinched, he knew something was really wrong.
"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, munchkin, I could never…" Jack's voice trailed off with increasing concern.
And then, without warning, the blonde haired girl attacked him with a desperate hug, nearly toppling the older lad off the bed if it weren't for her arms flung around his neck.
Startled, Jack took a second before hesitantly hugging the girl back, afraid he was going to freeze her to death, but when she didn't let go, he somehow held on tighter, willing himself to take all her fears away.
"Jack, I—I'm sorry, I—" Sophie stuttered, and it wasn't until she looked up at the lad that he noticed her eyes were swollen with tears.
"Hey, now, you have no reason to apologize, little one," Jack shushed her, tucking strands of hair behind her ear in attempts to comfort her.
"What's going on, Soph?" the Guardian questioned seriously after Sophie had calmed down a considerable amount.
He watched as the little girl stiffened, before shifting uneasily in his arms and mumbling an incoherent response.
"I'm gonna need you to speak up, kiddo," Jack said, blue eyes searching Sophie's body language for an answer.
"There's this kid at school… Charlie Lawrence…" Sophie started off faintly.
At this, Jack could feel his anger boil up to colossal amounts and it took everything in him not to freeze everything in sight.
"He doesn't like me very much because I said I still believe in the Easter Bunny, and well… I don't like going out to recess anymore," the tearful little girl finished sheepishly, not daring to look the Guardian in the eye.
Jack was quick to put the pieces together and nearly lost it at the thought of his little angel being hurt by some bully.
When the Winter Spirit didn't respond right away, Sophie mistook his silence for indifference and quickly shrunk away from him.
"I'm sorry… It was dumb, it—it didn't matter," Soph rambled on just long enough for Jack's senses to kick back in.
"Hey, hey, it was not dumb and it does matter," Jack chided her softly, looking deep into her innocent green eyes.
"What that boy did to you was not okay and you did not deserve that," he reassured the girl, lifting her chin a bit so she met his sincere gaze.
"That boy needs someone to teach him a lesson," Jack thought to himself vengefully.
"But for now, Sophie needs me" the Guardian of Fun looked back at the teary eyes of the seven year old and in less than two seconds, she was back in his arms.
He cradled the little girl and whispered reassurances in her ear 'til she had no more tears left.
As he tucked her weary body back in bed, he granted her a playful smile.
"Nothing can get to you as long as you have me, kiddo," Jack winked at the child, causing a faint pinkness to rise in her cheeks.
"Not to mention Bunnymund, Tooth, North, Sandy, your brother… We've all got you, munchkin; no need to worry," Jack gave the sleepy girl a final kiss to the forehead before quietly departing the room, making sure Sophie was sound asleep before he actually left.
He left with only one thing on his mind: a certain Mr. Lawrence would have a tough time getting to school the next day…