As Sandy is going about his normal route, he witnesses a woman get murdered by another woman. Almost immediately after the murderer runs away, Sandy witnesses Manny change the murdered woman into a spirit and then charges him with her care and training, telling her to take her to the North Pole to give her a home, and then he doesn't say anything else. What happened to the new spirit? Will she be made a Guardian? What happens when she can understand Sandy, and is also mute when she wakes up? What happens when Sandy discovers that she has powers similar to his? What kind of relationship will blossom between the two, and what's this about finding a heart song? READ AND FIND OUT!
Sandy was just leaving North Texas and was making his way to South Texas, after delivering dreams when he suddenly heard someone talking. 'It's midnight...who in their right mind would be out this late?' He then took a moment to chuckle to himself and roll his eyes. 'You of course...' He told himself.
"So, no hard feelings then?" A young woman's voice asked, and Sandy instantly got a bad feeling within his sand, and just like North and his belly, the bad feelings were never wrong. He peeked over the edge of his sand cloud and realized there were two women walking through a walking trail. He got a little closer, assuming that since they seemed to be in their early twenties that they couldn't see him. The woman with the medium length, ash blonde hair that cascaded just below her shoulder line, shook her head. "That's good. So you don't mind if I date your ex then?" The woman with the short brunette pixie cut hair asked with what sandy felt was an evil look in her eyes. The other woman looked at her with wide eyes and seemed about to say something when the one with the pixie cut let out a dismissive sigh. "That's just too bad then..." She trailed off and suddenly pulled out a knife and slashed at the woman's throat, and then cut her in several other places. "You were a fool to let go of such a man, and this is payback for stealing him before I could ask him out!" Then, the woman ran, leaving the blonde in the dirt.
Sandy had seen many things throughout his long life. Murder was one of them. He didn't like the fact that he wasn't shocked to see such an atrocious act committed right before his eyes, but he's seen people do worse for less. Just as he was about to sigh in silence and fly off, he quickly noticed one of Manny's moon beams shine on her. 'No way!' He shouted internally, and immediately got closer to her, stepping off his cloud.
The woman's wounds healed, but just barely, then Sandy heard the all too familiar voice of Manny ring through his ears. "Sandy, I'm glad you were the one to fly by this horrible incident. She is a good person, truly, and even though she was in her early twenties, she still believed in you and the other Guardians. However, she couldn't see you, due to the...conversation...they were having. Take her to the North Pole and have her looked after. Give her a place to stay. She deserves that much at least. Especially for holding onto belief for this long...and Sandy...I want YOU to be the one to look after her and guide her to be a good spirit. Help her grow into her powers."
Sandy had furious symbols flying overhead. "Is she going to be made a Guardian? If you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you ask me to stop it!?"
"I didn't know it was going to happen, just that something bad would happen. That could've meant any number of things, and as far as being made a Guardian...time will tell."
"You're as cryptic as ever." Sandy said with his symbols, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer back. The woman stirred and groaned in pain, and Sandy watched in awe as Manny changed her ash blonde hair a royal purple, and her skin turned a slightly lighter shade. "Right...let's get you to North." He said as he made a dream cloud underneath her, and made his way to the North Pole.
Once he got there, he immediately went to North's office where he knew he would be in the middle of summer. "North! We have a situation." He said with his symbols, showing three explanation points.
"Sandy what is wrong?" North asked as he got up from his chair.
"Manny brought this woman back as a spirit and told me to bring her here to get healed, and he wanted us to look after her, and give her a place to stay."
"Is she to be a new Guardian?" North questioned as he looked at her resting form on the sand cloud, and immediately noticed the horrible wounds. "Sandy, what happened?"
"Manny said as far as being made a Guardian went...only time will tell, and...well...I was floating by when I witnessed her get murdered by someone she knew."
"That's awful!"
"I know...but North...she's in her early twenties and she still believes in us. Manny said so."
"She is special indeed. Come, we will treat wounds. I will send elf to Tooth, Bunny, and have Tooth send Baby Tooth to find Jack, and explain situation."
"That would be a good idea." Sandy followed North to the medical wing of the North Pole as he kept an eye on the woman on his sand cloud. He made a point to notice her features in case she doesn't eat, or her muscles start to fail. The first few years as a spirit were always the most difficult for one reason or the other. He noticed that her face was round, and although it held adult features it was also childlike. He then noticed that she wasn't thin, but she wasn't overly plump either. She was in an in between area that suited her well, and she seemed to still be healthy with strong leg and arm muscles. Well, as healthy as someone could be after being murdered, brought back as a spirit, and unconscious on a dream sand cloud. Sandy had to admit to himself that he found her features to be a bit cute. Not like a child was cute, but a cute that suited an adult woman.
Once they got to the medical wing, Sandy descended her down onto one of the beds that North pointed at, and allowed his dream sand to sink back into his own cloud. However, once he removed his sand she began to groan in pain. "I'll have to examine the wounds, Sandy. Don't you need to deliver dream sand to children?"
Sandy looked at her hesitantly and let out a silent sigh as he looked back up at North. "I'll come back after I finish with the rest of North America. You do know that sometimes good dreams happen on their own right?"
"Yes, but their good dreams are best and leave no chance to turn into bad dreams if you're there. Go...I'll let you know what I find when you return." Sandy nodded and made his way to North America to finish up with the other southern states.
oOoOoOoOo
As he finished with Florida, Sandy couldn't help but think about that woman. So many questions were rushing through his mind. 'What had happened that led up to murder? What man were they talking about? Was it a betrayal of friendship? If so, what kind of friends were they? What kind of spirit would she be? What powers would she have? What would her limits be? How would she react to being at the North Pole? How would she react when she woke up? What would she say?' The thoughts repeated many times over, until he eventually found himself back at the North Pole. He rushed to the medical wing where North was waiting for him by the woman's side. "Has she woken up yet?" Sandy asked with concerned symbols above his head.
"No she hasn't, but I have healed her wounds, and stitched them up as best I could, but Sandy...When she was cut across the throat...her larynx was damaged...her vocal chords. I can not tell if it is permanent or temporary, but what I do know, is that she won't be able to speak when she wakes."
"That's...that's awful!"
"You seem truly angry..." North trailed off in surprise at Sandy's reaction as the golden man's eyes turned furiously fierce.
"Of course I am! That's an awful thing to do to someone! I'm mute, North! You can't imagine how frustrating it is to try and determine what symbols to use, and although Jack was a very quick learner, being able to decipher the symbols and their sizes for what I was saying and how I was saying it...it took him a little less than a year...but it took you, Tooth, and Bunny much much longer than that! Now, she has to go through the same problem of not being understood. She'll likely have to write down everything."
"Yes...she will need to write down stuff...I have gathered together many notebook spirals and many more pens for her to use."
Sandy shook his head as he looked at her sadly. "Do you know when she will wake?"
"Shouldn't be too long now." North said, and right at his words, the woman began to stir. "See?" North questioned as Sandy rushed to her side.
She tried to speak, but she couldn't. All that came out was a slight groan in pain. Her eyes shot wide open, and once Sandy saw them, his own widened as well. Her eyes were a deep red. Practically crimson, but not quite there at the same time. Without thinking, Sandy instantly made symbols appear. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?" As soon as the symbols fell, he felt like a bit of a fool for thinking that she would understand, but then her eyes went straight to him.
She looked around and noticed there was a notebook and pen next to her bed. She immediately picked it up and wrote in it, then she turned it to him. "I'm not alright, I hurt all over! I'm thirsty, and hungry, and...the last thing I remember was...well...I'm pretty sure I'm dead, but...where am I?"
Sandy's jaw dropped slight as he carefully displayed the next symbols. "You can understand me?"
She nodded her head and began writing again. "Yes, I can understand you. Although, it's a bit strange. It's like your voice is going into my mind when you hold up those tiny images. Now...I'm a bit frightened...can you tell me what happened and where I am?"
"Oh! Right...well, you um...you did die. You were murdered...I witnessed it, but then the Man in the Moon brought you back as a spirit. You're not dead anymore, but you were. The Man in the Moon, also known as Manny, asked me to bring you here to be healed, looked after, and to be given a home."
"Okay, and where is 'here' exactly?"
"Ah, well...the North Pole." He answered honestly, and he looked at North who was completely stunned that the woman could understand Sandy, and that they were having a silent, yet full blown conversation. "That's Nicholas St. North...but you would more than likely know him as Santa Clause."
A small smile played at her lips as her eyes shone with fascination while she frantically wrote in her notebook. "You can't be serious! I mean...I know I was a bit of a child by still believing in Santa at the age of twenty-three, but still...this can't really be the North Pole. This has to be a crazy dream or something. I mean...I can certainly tell I'm a spirit...I do clearly remember dying, and I feel different...but the North Pole? I thought...well...isn't it just for children? I was beginning to think it wasn't real myself...but now you're saying I'm here...and that the big man over there is Santa Clause!?"
Sandy gave her a soft smile and nodded his head. "Yes, that's who you know to be Santa, but the rest of us spirits just call him North. You're really and truly at the North Pole, and as far as it being a dream..." Sandy laughed internally, and apparently she could hear it because her smile widened slightly. "...well...I'm known as Sandy, but you would likely know me as The Sandman. So, I can promise you, this is most certainly not a dream."
"You're telling the truth...I can tell. I'm good at telling when someone is lying to me. So...if that's Santa...erm...North...and you're the Sandman...then, are the others real too?"
"Depends on what you mean by others."
"Tooth Fairy?" She questioned and Sandy nodded with another soft smile."The Easter Bunny?"
"Yes, but we all just call him Bunny."
"What about Jack Frost?"
"You believe in Jack Frost?" Sandy asked, slightly taken back by the question.
"Well...yeah. There's a song that has a line saying, 'Jack Frost nipping at your nose.' Even legends have some small shred of truth. At least, that's what I've always believed."
"You're quite interesting...but yes, Jack Frost is real. Jack, Bunny, Tooth, North, and myself...we make up a group of spirits called The Guardians of Childhood. There are of course many many other spirits, but we look after the safety of all of the children in the world. We all have our own individual traits that look after the children. Tooth protects their memories, North protects their sense of Wonder and Magic, Bunny protects their Hope, Jack protects their Joy, and I protect their dreams. Together we work on protecting everything at once, but most of the time we do our jobs individually." Once he was finished explaining and noticed her wide eyed and surprised expression, he quickly remembered that she said she was thirsty and hungry. He turned to North and quickly asked, "Can you get her a glass of water and something to eat please? Not cookies...soup or something."
"Yeah, of course. I will have yeti set up room for her as well." North said as he left the room with a still slightly stunned expression.
Sandy soon felt a tap on his shoulder and realized it was the woman. He looked down at the notebook she was showing him, and shook his head with a grin. "Why did North seem so surprised?"
"Normally, the other spirits had to learn to understand me. Even Jack, who picked up quicker than the rest. You're the first to understand immediately."
"Just another thing to add to the list of strange I've experienced in the past fifteen minutes." She showed Sandy, but then she had a look of shock like she forgot something and started writing again."I almost forgot! My name is...well it's a bit weird, and my father made it up, but my name is Magerina...(Mage-er-eena) but my friends just called me Mage. I prefer Mage. Oh...and Mage like a magic user. That's why I like it so much."
"Mage it is then." Sandy told her with a reassuring smile. "You know...you seem to be taking all of this rather well."
"Yeah, well...I can feel the stitches all over my body, and I'm suddenly not able to speak. I would like to think that a dream would be a lot more merciful than that, and besides...as imaginative as I am, I would never be able to imagine I would be healed at the North Pole in the presence of the Sandman and Santa Clause. So...all in all...this has to be real. That, and I know you're not lying. I can tell."
"All good points, and yes, a dream would be much much more merciful. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault. In fact, I should be thanking you and...what did you call him? Manny? I should be thanking the two of you. Besides...there wasn't much to my life anyhow."
"What do you mean?" Sandy questioned sadly as his brow furrowed in concerned confusion.
"Well, I moved away from my family, and they didn't really keep in contact with me even though I tried...I was going to go to college to take up art classes...but that never happened...clearly... :/ but anyway, other than that...I only really had one other friend at work, and well...you saw how well that turned out. :( Not much of a friend. And Hey...just so I know...what year is it?"
Sandy smiled at her fondly and let out a soft chuckle that only she could hear. "The year is still 2045..."
Almost immediately she started shaking her head as she quickly scribbled, "2045! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!"
"I am! I'm sorry! I couldn't help it! Seriously though, the year is still 2013, and it's still the end of January."
She scowled at him and crossed her arms before writing some more. "You're mean...just kidding. I think I would've pulled the same joke. *Sigh* So what do we do now?"
Sandy read the small part that indicated a sigh, and couldn't help the amused chuckle that left his mind. No one either than her could hear it, but it was a good chuckle regardless. "Now...we wait for North to bring you food and water, and then we are going to try to get you into a room."
"Wait...am I going to be living at the North Pole?"
"Seems like, Mage."
"Will I have powers? O.o"
Sandy smiled at the face she drew and nodded his head. "Every spirit has some kind of power. Mine is my dream sand, North...well...he learned magic when he was human, and it just got more powerful when he was made a spirit, so he has his mysterious magic, Bunny has Nature magic and knows some sorcery here and there, Tooth has the power of flight, but make no mistake, if she's in battle mode...those fast wings of hers become as sharp as ten thousand blades...only when she's in battle thought. Then, there's Jack. He is the spirit of Winter. Some of the other seasonal spirits say he IS winter, so there's that...but yeah you'll have powers and they'll be unique to only you."
"That's awesome! When do I get to test it out!?"
"Again...taking things rather well." Sandy told her as he raised a curious brow with a small smirk.
"Yeah well...I've always like the idea of having magic or some kind of powers. My mother used to say that my head spends more time in the clouds than the birds do."
"Never a bad quality to have in my opinion..." Sandy told her with a wide grin. "...and it's good that you're taking this all as well as you are. The first few years of being a spirit are always the worst...but I guess the worst part for you will be your voice...again...I'm sorry..."
"Why are you sorry? You've been kind to me."
"Well...I'm mute. I know how frustrating it is to not have a voice."
Mage gave him a confused expression as she slowly started writing. "But...I can hear you just fine. I can hear your laughter too."
"Yes...YOU can...but everyone else...can't. They merely understand what my symbols mean. My symbols to them is like sign language for humans. They understand it, but there's no voice to it. I'm not sure why you can understand me, but I'm not going to even start complaining. Hey...how does my voice sound to you? I know what it sounds like to me...in my head...but what does it sound like to you?"
She gave him a sly yet confident smirk as she quickly wrote, "Hmm...it sounds British, but not too dignified and not too unrefined either...a happy middle almost."
"Good...not just me." He laughed out.
After his 'words' they both heard the door open and turned to face it. "Tooth, Jack, and Bunny are here. They wish to meet her, and see how she is."
"Will that be alright with you, Mage?" She quickly nodded and turned to North and nodded just as frantically, suddenly feeling a bout of excitement at getting to meet the others.
"Why do you hold up an image for Sorcerer?"
Mage waved her hand at North and got his attention and began writing. "That's because it's my name. My name is Mage."
"Oh, very unique name. That's a good name. I will go get others."
"Thank you." She wrote quickly.