Chapter 1: A New Member
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
In the distance is North's ornately decorated and dimly lit palace built into the side of a mountain of ice. Sandy's biplane circles the massive chamber, leaving trails of Dreamsand. North, trying to be hospitable, asked them, "Cookies? Eggnog, anyone?"
"Oh, this better be good, North," Bunny remarks irritatedly when no one took up North's offer.
A second later, Nat touched down onto the red floor, her hair not frazzled in the slightest from the strong winds. "I hope I'm not late." she anxiously says, flitting over towards North's shoulder.
"Bah, nonsense," North exclaims, waving her off. He hoists a tray of cookies from one of the elves and offers them to her. "Sugar cookie?"
"I'd better not," Nat replies as Tooth rapidly flits above her. "Montreal, sector six: ten premolars, eight incisors, and twelve canines. Steer clear of the wild goose migration." Tooth said in a hurried voice to her fairies, not bothering to greet anybody as she was too busy working to socialize.
North speaks when Sandy becomes visible in his biplane. "Sandy, thank you for coming."
Sandy descends from the plane and floats to the ground. He joins North, Bunny, Nat, and Tooth as they walk through the Globe Room. Sand glyphs appear above Sandy's head communicating that he is busy and has a lot of work to do.
"I know, I know, but I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious." North indicates to Sandy. North, Bunny, Tooth Nat, and Sandy reach the center of the room. Tooth does her best to shush her mini-fairies. "The Boogie Man was here, at the Pole." North points to the globe. The other Guardians turn to look.
"Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?" Tooth asked, astonished at the idea of it.
Waving his hands, North exclaims, "Yes! There was black sand covering the globe."
"What, what. . . what do you mean black sand?" asked a confused Bunnymund.
"And then a shadow!" North continues, ignoring the question.
Bunny retorted hotly, "Hold on, hold on, I thought you said you saw Pitch."
"Well, ah, not exactly. . ." North stutters to a stop.
"Not exactly? Can you believe this guy?" Bunny turns to Sandy, who shrugs while forming a Dream Sand question mark above his head. "Yeah, you said it, Sandy," says Bunny as he goes back to painting one of his Easter eggs.
"Look, he is up to something very bad. I feel it, in my belly." North confidently clutches his stomach to emphasize his point.
His voice lowering dangerously, Bunny hops over to North and cries, "Hang on, hang on, you mean to say, you summoned me here three days before Easter because of your belly? Mate, if I did this to you three days before Christmas. . ."
As their argument continues, Tooth begins speaking to her fairies again. "Argentina. Priority alert! A batch of bicuspids in Buenos Aires."
Nat and Sandy exchange a worried look before gazing back at the chaos that is unfolding before them.
"Please, Bunny. Easter is not Christmas." North says, biting the point off of a Christmas tree shaped cookie.
"Hehe, here we go. . ." Bunnie groans, flattening his ears in anger.
North grabs Bunny's painted egg, casually juggling it in his hand as he walks off. Meanwhile Sandy and Nat, who are being served eggnog by a yeti, suddenly notices something high above.
Attempting to snatch his egg back, Bunny whines, "North, I. . . I don't have time for this. I've still got two million eggs to finish up."
The moon rises into view, high up in the ceiling; its rays of light begin to shine brightly through as they cascade down the walls of the globe room.
"No matter how much you paint is still egg!" North points out, carelessly throwing it from one hand to the other.
Sandy points to the moon unsuccessfully to get the others' attention. He looked over to where Nat had been a second ago, but she had flown up to the ramp of the observation deck of the workshop where there was urgent talk about flowers that Nat had just sprung up being dead and black. Nat looked worried as a group of butterflies swarmed around her, words flying around them.
"Look, mate, I'm dealing with perishables. Right. You've got all year to prepare." Bunny insists.
"Pittsburg, boy eight, two molars. Saltwater taffy." Tooth says, still talking to her fairies.
Sandy puts his fingers in his mouth to whistle, a silent musical note forming above his head.
"Why are rabbits always so nervous?" North asked of Bunny.
"And why are you always such a blowhard?" retorted the irritated mammal.
Tooth speaks even faster to her fairies. "Ontario, sector nine: five canines, two molars, and fourteen incisors. Is that all in one house?"
Nat is picking through her sheath of arrows, deciding that there's not enough, and she begins making some more. If the meeting wasn't going to start soon, then she was going to get some work done.
Sandy waves a sand flag above his head, pointing and jumping up and down as the moonlight continues to fill the room.
"Tooth! Can't you see we're trying to argue?" North asked of Tooth.
Crossing her arms in annoyance, Tooth snaps, "Sorry, not all of us get to work one night a year. Am I right, Sandy and Nat?" Tooth looks up at them, then.
Nat winks at her before saying, "You got that right."
Sandy tries to signal with a golden arrow, pointing toward the ceiling, but to no avail as the others continue their bickering. Nat saw the arrow which reminded her of her own and she went back to creating more.
Sandy thinks Tooth has noticed for a split second, but then he dumps that theory as she continues chattering to her fairies as fast as her wings are fluttering. "San Diego, sector two! Five incisors, a bicuspid and a really loose molar on stand-by."
"Come on, mate, Pitch went out with the dark ages. We made sure of that, remember?" Bunny told North in a mocking tone.
Waving his hand to dismiss Bunny's comment, North insists, "I know it was him. We have serious situation!"
"Well, I've got a serious situation with some eggs." Bunny snaps, finally snatching his egg back from North.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt the 'We work so hard once a year club' but could we concentrate on the matter. . ." Tooth says, her voice drowning out as both North and Bunny turn on her and begin yelling.
Sandy can't take it anymore, grabs an elf by his hat, and vigorously shakes it's bell. The other Guardians are finally silenced and all turn to look at Sandy, who points up, a sand crescent moon forming above his head. Nat flies down from the ramp as the dizzy elf staggers away, joining the others. Finally, the others turn to see the shaft of moonlight as it concentrates on the circle between them.
"Aah! Man in Moon! Sandy, why didn't you say something?" North said accusingly. Sandy gives him a deadpan stare, Dream Sand smoke shoots out his ears. North continues with, "It's been a long time old friend! What is big news?"
Everyone looks to the center of the intense spot of moonlight, the light ebbs away, leaving a dark spot which resolves into the shadowed silhouette of Pitch. The Guardians look on, stunned.
"It is Pitch," Bunny admits.
North pats his belly and gives Bunny a look. "Manny. . . what must we do?" North asks after looking at Bunny with an 'I told you so' look.
In answer, the shadow of Pitch disappears and the circle of moonlight intensifies and shrinks, concentrating further illuminating an ornate symbol on the floor, at the center of their circle. The symbol rises out of the ground revealing a large gem at the head of a pillar.
"Ah, guys, you know what this means?" asks Tooth excitedly.
The moon's light suddenly refracts through the gem casting light all over the chamber.
"He's choosing a new Guardian," Nat says, her voice dripping with anticipation. The last Guardian to be chosen had been herself and that had been nearly five hundred years ago. She could not wait to both no longer be the newest member and to meet their newest addition.
"What? Why?" asked a stunned Bunny, who unlike Nat didn't believe they needed any new members.
"Must be big deal! Manny thinks we need help!"
"Since when do we need help?!" Bunny asked, now annoyed.
"I wonder who it's gonna be?" Nat curiously inquired as she took a stand in between Tooth and Sandy.
A Dream Sand Four-Leaf clover forms above Sandy's head. "Maybe the Leprechaun?" interpreted Tooth.
"Please not the groundhog, please not the groundhog," Bunny muttered with his paws crossed.
Then a bright flash, a rush of wind, and a figure resolve over the central pillar: slight, hooded, bearing a familiar hooked staff. "Jack Frost," stated North, shell-shocked.
"Ah, I take it back! The Groundhog's fine!" Bunny suddenly said, his face falling at who the Moon had just suggested.
The Mini-Teeth all sigh and swoon as the Guardians stand there, stunned, except for Nat. She
leans in, excited and says, "You've got Spring, Summer, and Fall as of now. Might as well make it the complete package and involve Winter too. Jack could be useful."
Tooth sighs happily. "Well, ah, as long he helps to ah...to protect the children, right?" and Nat nodded in consent.
Whirling around on Tooth, Bunny snaps, "Jack Frost? He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with my egg hunts. Right? He's an irresponsible, selfish. . ."
"Guardian." North finished for Bunny, receiving a look of betrayal from him.
This stops Bunnymund in his tracks, but only for a second. "Jack Frost is many things, but he is not a Guardian."
Nat shakes her head and says, "The Man in the Moon seems to think he is."
