Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in chapters! I've been busy with school these past few weeks, and I have finals this week so it will probably be a little longer for the next update. Thank you for all the kind reviews! They really make my day.
The Sandman flew around the town, helping Tooth take teeth and deliver gifts to all of the children as they slept at night. Even in this time of darkness as Pitch tried to keep people from believing in the Guardians, he was actually enjoying himself as he raced the other Guardians, each trying to collect more teeth that the other.
There was a nagging tiredness in the Sandman though. It was not a good tiredness, as if he had spent all day playing and having fun. It was a bad kind of tiredness, as though he was sick and his body was trying to fight something off. He could not figure out why he was tired. During the night was when he was most alive and active, it made no sense for him to be tired. As he raced to the next house he looked up at the Man in the Moon, but the floating guardian was being cryptically silent. The Sandman decided to not worry so much and went back to concentrating on getting teeth for the Tooth Fairy.
…
Pitch screamed in frustration as the little lights on his globe lit up again, one by one. The more children that believed in the meddling Guardians, the less influence his nightmares had on the children. If he couldn't stop the children from believing then his plan would never go through.
However, he had found something very interesting while he was infecting dreams. The good dreams the Sandman sent into the minds of children seemed to be weakening, as though the Sandman was not putting as much effort into them as he normally would. This was good for Pitch, because it made it easier for him to change the dreams to nightmares, but he did not like that the Sandman was making it easy for him. It was almost as if the Sandman was letting him win this battle.
…
The Man in the Moon smiled as he watched his Guardians go across the world to help Toothiana. This was why he had created the Guardians, to make children happy and to give them faith. The Guardians were even beginning to accept Jack Frost, even if Jack Frost himself had not accepted himself as a Guardian quite yet. It was not matter. As long as the children believed in the Guardians, Pitch would never be able to carry out his evil plans.
…
"Thank you so much everyone!" Tooth said as the first rays of light came up above the horizon. "I could have never been able to do this without you!"
They had met back at Tooth's home, to place the teeth into temporary homes until they found the teeth containers and her mini-fairies. It had been a lot of work, but all of the Guardians were proud of the work they had accomplished.
The Sandman knew that they had only temporarily solved the problem though. They each had their own jobs, and the Sandman could not spend every night helping Tooth collect teeth. He needed to keep Pitch from infecting the dreams of the children. While he felt a little better than before they had collected the teeth, he still felt drained. It would be a long night ahead of him. Nevertheless, he smiled and did not let the other Guardians see how exhausted he really was.