"No! Not again!" Bunny howled, "When I said it, I meant it!"
Meanwhile, North was staring anxiously at the globe, and Tooth was directing her fairies by talking faster than humanely possible. Sandy was standing on the side, studying the elves, who were, as usual, just eating cookies and grinning stupidly. Jack, of course, was perched precariously on top of his staff, looking like he was on the verge of laughter while staring at Bunny, who was throwing a tantrum.
"Well, calm down, Mick," Jack said, tilting his head to the side, "Actually, no, I think I'll stick to Kangaroo. Mick just doesn't sound the same."
Bunnymund stomped his foot, furious. "The blizzard of '68 just wasn't enough, was it? You just had to make another one! And you could've done it on any other day! But no! You just had to set it on Easter! Again! What did I ever do to you?"
"Oh, calm down, Bunny," Jack said, grinning, "It's not the end of the world. I mean, snow just makes it easier for kids to find the eggs, right? I just made the kids happier!"
The Easter Bunny was about to furiously retort when North raised one large hand.
"Enough!" North bellowed, "I called you all in here for an actual reason! The Man in the Moon has to say something, and he didn't come here to listen to you two argue about colored eggs!"
Sandy pointed to his head, which sported a question mark.
"I don't know, Sandy, but when Manny speaks, you listen," North said, "and he is about to speak soon. I can feel it. In my belly."
The Guardians had learned long ago to not argue with the belly.
Tooth turned around, her colorful wings fluttering as she finally stopped her crazy speed talking.
"He's right, guys. The Man in the Moon almost never talks to us. It's probably pretty important."
"But he did it again! I mean, on Easter! He just can't get enough attention, can he –"
"Ok, Bunny! It was just on Pennsylvania! Jamie wanted snow! I couldn't just ignore Jamie, he was my first belie-"
"Ok, seriously, stop," Tooth said firmly, "Manny's about to talk …"
Just then, the moon glowed, brighter than ever before.
Everyone shut up, and looked up with anticipation.
The moon light gathered into a brilliantly bright beam, and pointed to a small sector, with symbols carved into it, and all the Guardians hurriedly ran over. They were confused beyond belief. The moon rarely did anything.
They all gathered around the sector. Suddenly, the sector split into quarters, and from the depths of the ground, there rose a dazzling, blue crystal.
The Guardian Crystal.
Tooth sucked in a breath. "Do you guys know what this means?"
"Impossible," North breathed out.
The Sandman's head was whirring with question marks and exclamation points, each one larger than the next.
The Easter Bunny blinked, "B-but wait! Didn't we just pick another Guardian? It was this clown – right here!"
"Hey!" Jack protested.
Mist and sparks swirled around the blue crystal, faster and faster, until the whole stone was obscured, and a heavy fog hung over it. And then, a figure sprung from the gem.
All the Guardians stared in silence.
"Wait…" Jack said, "Who is she?"
Before the five Guardians stood a figure of a girl – young, slim, and, with no doubts, beautiful. Long hair, bound in a loose braid, hung over her shoulder, and eyes, wide and fringed with impossibly long lashes, stared back at them.
North was stunned. "I have… never seen her before. I thought that I knew all of the immortals!"
Bunny, for the first time ever, was speechless, and the question mark over the Sandman's head doubled in size.
Suddenly, sparks flew across the figure of the girl, and lights danced. And next to the girl, another figure appeared.
The five immortals looked on, disbelieving.
The figure next to the girl looked familiar – a hoodie, large eyes, a Shepard's staff.
There was a long pause.
Finally, Tooth broke the silence.
"Jack?" she said in a near whisper, "is that … you?"
North shook his head. "Is that even possible? For a Guardian to have a partner?"
Bunnymund was about to make a snide comment about Jack not having enough powers, when a voice entered all their minds.
"Her name is the Snow Queen."
All the Guardians gasped, and looked at each other in a state of panic.
"Who was that?" Tooth shrieked.
Sandy's question mark changed into an exclamation mark.
Jack was stunned. He'd heard the voice before, he knew it, he knew it, he knew it.
Suddenly, with a burst of memory, he whispered.
"It's the Man in the Moon."
"What?" North howled, "That's absolutely impossible! Manny does not speak, he shows!"
"I know," Jack said, still stunned, "but…"
Then, the voice spoke again.
"It is I."
Stunned, all the immortals stopped arguing.
"Jack. The Snow Queen is to be … put in the best form of words, your apprentice."
Jack stared at the crystal, unbelieving.
"It has never been done before. But the Snow Queen is lost and alone. She has no memories of who she was, who she has been – but she has gone through times of trouble and deep pain, of times so deeply horrifying and with so much grief, that I had to take them away."
Jack winced. He remembered the feeling of emptiness, of coldness, and nothingness.
"But why? " Jack said, utterly perplexed. "Why me?"
"The Snow Queen is special. She is extremely powerful, and put into the wrong hands, she will be a weapon of destruction. Your mission, among others, is to make her seen to everyone. Let her be believed in. This life is to be her second chance."
"What was it? " Jack demanded, "What was so horrifying, so terrible, that she had to have her memories taken away? And why me? You didn't answer my question. Tooth can take care of her just as well as I can."
"That," the Man in the Moon paused, as if he were thinking, "That is something for you, yourself, to discover. But I will give you control over her memories."
In Jack's hands, a small tube suddenly appeared. It was gold, and carved with symbols, and at the base of the cylinder, there was a small face, etched into the tube.
"Her teeth. It holds her memories," Tooth breathed.
"When you find the time right, you can give her memories back. You can judge."
Jack's hands shook as he held the tube.
"But that is not the only reason I am here today. There stands a threat to the children of the world."
Immediately, all the Guardians stood at attention.
"An enemy is rising – more terrible than you can imagine. And you will need all the help that you can obtain – and the Snow Queen will most definitely help you."
"Ok," Jack said, disbelievingly, "Who is this guy? How do we stop him?"
"That, I know not. It is for you, the Guardian, to defeat the evil. For who it is … you will discover when you find the Snow Queen."
None of the Guardians knew that to say – they now had another member added to their group, and now they were being informed that the kids they were protecting were now in danger?
"It is time for me to leave."
The moonlight started to fade, but it came back, for a brief moment, as if he had a second thought.
"She is in the Ice Palace."
And the moon was gone.
There was a silence that could have lasted a lifetime.
"Well," North said, slowly, "I guess… we go to the Ice Palace."
He took out his snow globe, and in it, there was a castle of blues and whites, of purples and soft pinks – all the colors of ice.
A thousand miles away from the North Pole, long, tapered fingers were clasped around each other, as the owner of them stared condescendingly down at a black figure.
"You have disappointed me, Pitch."
"Mistress, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"All that I asked," a hand ghosted over his shoulders, "was to give the children a fright in their dreams, were they are most vulnerable. You have failed. "
"Mistress –"
"Silence. You couldn't even get all the lights on the globe to flicker, let alone go out. You were stopped by one child."
"Mistr-"
"No matter," the woman went on, as if Pitch had never spoken, "this time, I will be doing the work. You were merely a test run."
The woman smiled, a grin that would make most scream and run.
"This time, the Guardians will fall."