Ve should have noticed sooner. Maybe then things would not be so bad.
I, Nicholas St. North, am the last Guardian and these words that I leave here are probably my last. Even Pitch cannot escape zis fate. Probably why we never hear from him again after that Easter that Jack came to be with us.
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Jack sat before the globe. He was watching the lights in Burgess, one single light in particular was beginning to fade. After all these years this one light had always been bright. Jamie Bennett, but now it was time... Jamie was human after all and as was expected, humans died. Jack flew to Burgess where he knew Jamie still lived. Had always lived, no one knew he was about to die except Jack. He knew it in his heart as he slipped into the home for the elderly to visit his favorite believer.
"Jack." Despite age and sickness, the brown eyes that had always lit up to see him since the boy had first seen him, did so now.
"Jamie." Jack smiled, despite the tears that were beginning to gather in his eyes.
"You know, don't you?" Jack nodded.
"I wanted you to know... I've always loved you. I kept my promise, to always believe." Jack nodded.
"Yeah... you sure did." He was too torn to admit that Jamie wasn't just his first believer, but his last as well.
"Can I see it snow... one last time?" Jack nodded, sniffling a little and produced the snow in the room. Jamie smiled softly and closed his eyes for the final time as Jack set his staff nearby. He felt so weak... The nurses who came in to check on Jamie barely noticed the wooden crook that lay on the bed with the elderly man. No one questioned where it came from or who it belonged to. Inscribed on the staff in small letters was a small message:
Bury me with him
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Ve searched for Jack for many days when he did not show when I call meeting. Lights were going out slowly over globe. Ve did not find trace of him. Ze next to go was Sandy... he did not have many believers as was and was gone only a year later. Without dreams... children stop believing in us faster. More lights go out. Tooth, Bunny and I do what we could... but it was middle of summer when all this began... Bunny could not rely on holiday to help bring Sandy back and Christmas vas too far... Was nothing we could do about Jack... Tooth disappeared around Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and Bunny on zis last Halloween. Ze children of the world have stopped believing over ze years... I am only one left and Christmas is coming... still... more lights go out. Despite efforts, children are growing up too quickly; leaving behind belief in us and spreading lies zat we do not exist to their younger siblings. Jamie tried so hard to spread belief about Jack... even helped make movie about us and still waz not enough. I can barely see now, forgive if I make error for remembering them brings tears to eyes. All were good freinds. True Guardians.
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Now... I alone remain... but as years have passed since the Halloween Bunny disappear I have no hope. It iz nearing last day of summer and only two believers remain in world now. How they know... I don't know... but they do and they are all that keep me here. No... only one now. I fear zis Christmas will be without me. I feel so tired now. Like when waz battling Pitch. One child still believes... I cannot hope to survive to Christmas if things continue as they have.
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This was the last words that were found by Nicholas St. North, Guardian of Wonder. I, Mother Nature, have taken these words and made them immortal in the minds of the humans who can read. This story will continue to go on so long as they do. They have forgotten the Guardians, the ones who kept watch over their children and left now only the adults to shepherd the children to the new age. It is this, the year humans call 2092, eighty years of the anniversary of Jack Frost becoming a Guardian, that I have sent out this story. I say to those who read this, teach your children to believe and maybe some day the Guardians might be able to return... Perhaps not the ones who faded, but new Guardians to watch over the children. They need protectors from the evils of this world and I can only implore and pray that you will remember them.
Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun - 2080
His Nocturnal Magnificence, Sanderson Mansnoozie, Sandman the First, Lord High Protector of Sleep and Dreams, Guardian of Dreams - 2081
Toothiana, Guardian of Memories - 2089
E. Aster Bunnymund, Guardian of Hope - 2091
Nicholas St. North, Guardian of Wonder - 2092
Rest in Peace Guardians of Childhood
