"Pitch!" I shout, but he is gone, vanished into thin air. Lightning strikes down in my anger and I startle backwards from the explosion, still unused to the violent reactions to my emotions. "Oh shit." I swear softly, feeling the eyes of the Guardians and Jack's on me. Even Baby Tooth stares, her tiny, multicolored eyes wide.

"My sister?" Jack repeats, sounding dazed. "I have a sister? I had a family?" He's the only one preoccupied with that, though. The others glare at me like I'm a criminal, a threat.

"You know Pitch." Bunnymund says. Not a question, a condemnation. "Who the bloody hell are you?"

"I'm no-one." I reply, trying to keep my voice level. "I'm a nobody."

"Sandy," North murmurs. My eyes widen, and I know what's going to happen before it does. I shoot upwards without another thought, barely missing the end of a golden whip that appears in the Sandman's hands. For a such little guy, he's strong. And fast.

"Hey!" I protest, dodging left and right. "Stop!" I can't turn invisible. I don't know what Pitch did, or how long it's going to last, but is sure isn't ending when I need it. I've been around long enough to know that if one of Sandy's whips touches me, I'm out cold, and then there's no chance that I'll be able to slip back into anonymity. Hell, there's barely a chance now. I look to Jack, but he still looks dazed and distracted, as if he's unaware of what's happening. "I said, stop!" I shout, but it does no good. I'm growing tired and I know that I won't be able to keep this up much longer. I streamline my body, clasping my arms to my body and drop straight downwards, again missing the whips by mere inches. I almost land in a spring before I bounce on the wind and regain altitude.

"Jack!" I yell, and his eyes widen at the sound of his name coming from my mouth. "Dammit, Jack!" I speed over to him, energy collecting in my palms. I flick it towards him like I've seen him toss snowballs at children. The energy flashes pink, gold, and red as it bursts in his eyes, sparkling before it vanishes. "Remember!" I've spent too much time in one place and the Sandman's whip crashes down again. I don't have time to get out of the way and in my panic, my hands light themselves on fire. My hand flashes up and I catch the end of the whip before it can touch my unlit skin. Immediately, I feel slow and lethargic, but don't fall asleep yet. My magic must be counteracting Sandman's, but it's not enough, I can already tell. I feel myself slipping away.

As my eyes flutter to a close, I think that I hear Jack yell "Stop!" but I might already be dreaming.


"I must say, that went rather well." Pitch appears, laughing to himself. I recognize this place – it's where he first invaded my dreams, a shadowy dream-space that I can't seem to light completely no how much I burn. "Better than I expected."

"Pitch!" I hiss at him. "What do you want from me, damn you?"

"Oh, you're just such fun," Pitch says, smiling gleefully. One of his nightmares nickers by his side, sounding as if it's laughing. "And I think that you and I could benefit greatly from one-another."

"You have nothing I want." I snap.

"Don't I?" Pitch says, waving a hand. A hole appears in the dream-space and through it I see the Guardians, all bent over my body, looking concerned. Jack is pacing, freezing the spring I am floating above as he walks.

"She is my sister." Jack whispers. "But I didn't know."

"We were all someone before we became Guardians," Tooth explains to him. "And the teeth that we collect act as vessels for us to store the best and brightest memories of childhood. When a child is in need, we'll take them back, help them remember." Toothiana flies up to a frieze on the cave wall that already seems to be crumbling and touches the peeling paint. "But they took all of them. Even yours, Jack."

"Mine?"

"His?" I repeat.

Pitch laughs. "Seems that I do have something that you want, after all." Pitch purrs. "You can't afford for him to get those memories back, now can you?"

"How do I even know that this is real?" I demand, gesturing to the scene, but it's been replaced by the amorphous black walls of the dream-space.

"Please," Pitch says, waving an impatient hand. "You're grasping at straws, love. You know it's real, just as I do." He tuts and his eyes flick upwards. "Ah, you're waking up. Until next time, nameless one. And do think about my proposal."

"What proposal," I ask desperately, but then I am awake. But no longer at the crumbling Tooth Palace. I'm in North's sleigh, which seems to be parked on a rooftop. Alone.

Thank God. Maybe now, finally, I can get away, wait until Pitch's curse wears off and then go back to doing what I do best: hiding and cleaning up after my little brother. I slip out of the sleigh, only to stop short, seeing the Sandman waiting for me. Apologetic symbols flash above his head, fast, but I still grasp the general meaning.

"It's okay, little guy," I say, smiling a little when I see Baby Tooth hovering above me. She looks happy that I'm awake. "Hi, Baby Tooth. How're you holding up?" The fairy chirps quietly, sadly. She's alone. I know the feeling.

The Sandman reaches for my hand and I flinch away. "Sorry," I say quickly. "Personal space issues." Sandy nods, understanding. He explains that the five of them – Jack included – are helping Toothiana collect the teeth. He beckons me forward, looking excited, but I shake my head.

"I – " I start, but then Jack appears, looking startled when he sees that I'm awake.

"Hey, sis," he says quietly. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," I reply, still wary. How much does he remember? "Are the other Guardians on-board with this, or are they still out to get me?" Sandy looks affronted and Jack smiles, but it's forced.

"I think you're okay," he says, sounding just as uncomfortable as I feel. " Look – " he starts, but a booming voice cuts him off.

"Ah, Sparks!" North says in his unusually loud voice. He claps me on the back and I nearly go flying off of the rooftop. 'Sparks?' I mouth to Jack. He rolls his eyes and shrugs. "You are awake!" North grins. "Come, we are collecting the teeth!"

"Uh..."I trail off awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"I think what North means to say is that we're sorry for overreacting. You're just as much a victim of Pitch's madness as we are," Tooth says gently, her expressive violet eyes sincere. I notice that they're almost like mine, though my eyes are a much darker color. "They're helping me collect the teeth. It will buy us time until we find my fairies." Tooth smiles at Baby Tooth fluttering around my head. "Although I think she likes you quite a lot. She hasn't left either you or Jack since you passed out."

"Thanks, kid," I whisper to the fairy. She hums contentedly. "So you all believe me now?"

"Manny explained to us!" North says jovially. "And Tooth is right. We reacted badly and are sorry."

"If we help them with the teeth, we'll find our memories." Jack offers, sounding quietly hopeful. For the second time today, my blood runs cold.

"I have my memories." I reply. "Er, some of them."

"But you don't know your name." Jack insists. I nod. I didn't give him back his memories when I hit him with the energy that is similar to what he uses on kids to make them lighten up on snow-days, just made him remember me. Specifically me. I can't do it again, and I wouldn't, even if I wanted to. "Please." Jack looks like he's going to say more, but he's interrupted again.

"Look," Bunnymund says, hopping out of a hole in the roof that appears out of no-where. "This reunion is touching, but if we're going to get the teeth collected in time, we've got to move."

"Bunny is right." North agrees, bounding down a chimney and popping up through another one on the other side of the street. The magic in the air is tangible as Sandy makes a sand-plane to fly around in and Bunnymund taps his foot against the roof and hops down a hole that appears.

"Later?" Jack asks. I know what he's talking about. We need closure. Both of us. I nod and Jack flies away on a burst of cold air as Toothiana starts pointing to houses, exclaiming what kinds of teeth were under pillows. Somehow, though I never meant to be, I am swept up in the excitement and jet off as well, slipping in through a window that Tooth had pointed out. A little girl is sleeping inside. I quickly grab the tooth from under her pillow before I notice that the girl is shivering. My hand warms fractionally, only the tips of my fingers glowing gold, and I touch them to the little girl's forehead. Immediately, she stops shivering and I smile and tuck the covers up to her chin.

"This is always my favorite part." Tooth says, coming in the window after me. "Seeing the kids, I mean." I nod. I've done things like this before. Nothing big, nothing important, nothing like what the Guardians do, but people shouldn't be cold and miserable. I try to help when I can. Toothiana moves on, off to help another Guardian, I assume, and I quickly fly to the hall closet and grab a pillowcase. I drop the tooth into the makeshift bag, but a pale hand appears out of nowhere, catching the tooth before it lands.

"Hey," I say. "Give that back."

"Gotta be faster than that, big sister." Jack says, with a grin – the first genuine smile I've seen in a long time – and surfs a cold breeze out of the window. I laugh, and speed to catch up with him, snatching the tooth out of his hand when he tosses it into the air in victory.

"Come on, little brother," I say, taunting him with a grin. "Let's see what's faster – winter or summer?" I don't know what's gotten into me. I don't joke – I don't remember how to joke, and here I am, challenging Jack like I used to as if it's second-nature.

"Bring it on!" Jack crows, punching the air and then we race. Teeth begin to pile up and I'm glad I grabbed my pillowcase. Jack and I zigzag into and out of houses faster than I've ever flown before, stealing from one-another in kind. But it soon becomes clear that we're not the only ones in this race. North nearly sets a house on fire trying to get to a tooth down the chimney and I get swallowed up by Bunnymund's rabbit holes more than once.

"Hey, Sparks." Jack says, falling in line alongside me as I fly.

"Dear God, are we really going with that."

"It kind of stuck." Jack says, grinning. "And kind of fits."

"Awesome." I say, rolling my eyes and leaping to a window.
"Aha!" Bunnymund exclaims, already at the house. I shoot sparks at him and he laughs, disappearing down his rabbit hole.

"Damn kangaroo." I grumble.

"I dunno," Jack says, leaning on his staff against the windowsill. "I think we could take him." We? Jack looks at me, smiling hopefully and I smile in return, a real, warm smile.

"Come on," I say, feeling myself getting warmer and warmer in preparation to fly as fast as I can. No more playing fair. If I'm going to run with these guys, I'm pulling out all the stops. Especially if I'm teaming up with Jack Frost, mischief king himself. "Let's show them what twins can do."


Hi! Wow, I can't believe the amazing response I'm getting from this story. You guys are amazing, truly, and without you, I probably wouldn't be devoting so much time and effort into this. Note: I rewrote this chapter three times before I was happy with it. So please tell me what you think! You all are brilliant! Thank you!

~Fae