The journey was rough to say the least. Bunnymund spent the majority of the flight in the back, gripping any handhold and locking his body as flat as he could against the seats. He said nothing, but he would occasionally go white at green simultaneously when the sleigh took and unexpected dip.

Tooth and Sandy scanned the ground as they flew towards the lights of a small town.

"I think you are right that we will find him here Bunny." North called towards the back. "Look, fresh snow!" Bunnmund had been the only one to suggest where to start looking. He had heard the winter spirit liked to haunt the snowy towns along the Pennsylvanian and Virginian borders- and he had quickly established a 'no lingering' policy in those regions. Not that the winter spirit was confined there, and it was entirely possible they wouldn't see hide or hair of the boy. It could take days to find him- days they did not have.

"I wonder if his teeth really do sparkle." Tooth laughed and Sandy nodded vigorously with a smile.

North laughed heartily and snapped the reins. The reindeer shot forwards with a grunt of power. "A guardian who brings winter! This is exciting!"

"D-don't get your hopes up." Bunny struggled to sit up as the cold air hit him, freezing his nose and making him sneeze. "He's only a mischief maker. Freezes things for fun. He does nothing but play pranks and cause trouble." He mumbled unhappily and swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.

Sandy smiled and conjured an image of a jesters hat above him.

Tooth smiled. "So he's a joker then?"

"Hey! He did ruin Easter of '68 you know! Blighter whipped up a blizzard right in my face all because I didn't have time to play snowballs. Impudent little-"

"We will see, Bunny." North answered unconcerned. Tooth looked to Sandy who opened his arms and shrugged.

The wind picked up as they closed in towards the sleepy town of Burgess. Tooth folded her wings, and North guided the reindeer lower over the roofs.

"Keep your eye out for anything strange or-"

"How about that?" Tooth asked, pointing where Sandy had spotted a blue glow coming from a notch between buildings. It was gone in a moment but North had turned the reindeer and snapped the reins in the direction where the light had come.

They circled for several minuted, peering over the sides trying to spot a familiar figure through the wind and snow.

On turning, tooth was thrown a little forwards but the extra vantage gave her a moment to see down into an alleyway below them where a lean boy with a staff was lashing out against moving shadows. "There! There he is!" she cried, part ecstatic to have found him and part terrified they were too late.

Bunny leapt to her side and snarled. "Crickey! Pitch has gotten to him first!"

They caught a glimpse of the tall man appearing behind the boy and roughly struggling for the staff.

"Jack!" Tooth shouted- trying to be heard above the wind. North and Bunny joined her, but they could not be sure the boy could hear them.

North knew he was too high up to make an immediate landing, but the urgency in the voices of his fellow guardians told him it was not the time to play it safe. He cracked the reins and the reindeer responded without question, suddenly pulling into a nose dive. They flattened out and the sleigh crushed a chimney as it came to a sudden and loud stop.

Bunny was thrown from his precious seat- but he recovered quickly and rolled to stop in the snow.
Boomerangs drawn he was already racing over the rooftops.

North recovered next, pulling tooth to her feet and steadying Sandy. They were not hurt. His reindeer were expertly trained. He drew his twin swords with relish.

"Come! Jack needs our help!"

Jack landed in a sizable drift with a grunt of pain and struggled to climb to his feet fast enough. Darkness loomed above him, a nightmare raced towards him, jaws bared- and was promptly sliced through by a blur of green and brown. The creature dissolved and jack watched as the blur arched in the air and flew back into the hands- rather paws- of a large and furious looking bunny.

The Easter Bunny, Jack recognized. For a moment it seemed the huge rabbit was rushing at him, weapons raised- and jack was struck with a sudden moment of regret for a prank he had played many centuries earlier. But the Easter bunny raced past him without a glance and was slicing up the rapidly multiplying nightmares around them without a word.

"Jack!"

Jack startled when he spun to find a large man in a red fur suit with needle thin twin swords, a man made of gold and a feathered teal blur of wings and hands that immediately began to pat the snow and trash of his shoulders so fast he had no chance to react.

"Are you alright?" She asked. "To think Pitch found you first!"

Jack had a heartbeat to feel the mixture of shock and panic and fascination brewing inside him- he knew who these spirits were and but he was bewildered as to why they were here or what it could mean. They were touching him. With soft gestures and warm smiles.
But he could feel the danger close by and his instincts kicked in. He swung his staff through the air, landing several hard blows to the nightmares rushing up behind them. He was only half surprised when the new arrivals immediately took up arms and began dispatching the sand creatures left right and center.

He gaped open mouthed as the sandman- a creature of peace and dreams- expertly cut down a forming nightmare with a long and shimmering whip. While the delicate Tooth fairy flung pink and teal blades into the shadows, never missing a mark.

"Come out Pitch ya filthy mongrel!" The Easter bunny roared as he cut one of the last charging nightmares. The few left standing had recanted to a safe distance, stalking out of reach. Jack turned frantically, searching dark corners for the shadowy figure. The danger was not gone.

The alley filled with laughter. Empty manic laughter that echoed off the icy walls.

"You think you can win if you drag a child into your mess?"

Santa took a swing at a nightmare who came too close. "Bah! He is not simple child; He is Guardian!"

The disembodied voice only laughed harder. "A Guardian? I had no idea your standards had fallen so low, North."

"He's worth a thousand of you!" Tooth snapped.

Jack wondered briefly who and where this child they were speaking of was- and pitied him.
But then Tooth's pale hands curled defensively into his shoulders and glared into the darkness. Why had she…

Pitch stepped out of the shadows, his hands folded together in front of him. "Oh didn't anyone tell you, Frost? I figured you knew." They turned in unison to glare. He gestured one grey hand up and Jack saw the moon had broken through the clouds and filling the alley with light.

"The moons decided to make you a Guardian."

Jack blinked and stepped away from the Tooth fairy's hands and looked from Pitch to the Guardians, everyone had their eyes on him. "No he hasn't." he countered lamely.

"Oh but he has- why else would they-" he waved his hand towards the brightly colored group, "-be here?"

Jack stared at the Guardians. He had no answer.

He had crossed paths with the sandman before, and one unfortunately run in with the Easter Bunny. But he had only ever heard of the tooth fairy and Santa. And here they were- slicing up nightmares and picking him out of trash…

"It doesn't matter why they're here." He matched pitches glares with one of his own. "But it seems- their making fine work of your lot. I hope they hang around."

Pitch fumed. The man in red laughed heartily and pointed a thin blade towards Pitch.

"Stop this madness pitch. This road does not end well for you."

Pitch however, ignored him. Yellow eyes still pinned on Jack as he took three calculated step backwards. "You think it's great they've come to you? You think being a guardian is the answer to your entire dream? But I'll tell you the truth jack. See, when the children stop believing-"

Pitch faded into shadow in unison as he stepped out of shadow to jacks immediate left. He leaned close to the boy and hissed quietly.
"The guardians will cease to exist."

Jack startled upwards several feet into the air- at the same moment the boomerang swept through the rapidly dissipating image of pitches manic face. But Pitch had already melted away.
His laughter echoed on the walls as he faded away completely.

"Come and find me Guardians."

The corners of the alley seemed lighter, the formed nightmares however began to circle once more, closing the distance between the Guardians and Jack.

"Jack."

The boy landed on his feet and turned to the large man in red. Although the man looked tired- old even, and he was surrounded by menacing shadows; the man smiled as if he weren't. And jack found himself comforted by this.

"I am North. I think you are knowing who we are. But we make proper introductions later. For now we deal with these, yes?" He pointed a blade towards the circling dark shapes.

It wasn't a request, or an order. But Jack knew he had been asked to help.
He hadn't needed to ask, Jack had his own to settle with the nightmares now. Especially Pitch- who seemed to enjoy mucking about with Jacks head. And he was weary now. Three hundred years alone and now five introductions in one night? All the boogieman had done was lie. And convincingly. Why was this miss matched group here? Why did they want him?
His head was reeling.

But Norths gesture flooded his gut with something twitchy. He found his chest was too tight to breath.

"Let us make quick work of these." North called, rushing two bucking nightmares with his twin blades.

Jack simply grinned, nodded his head dumbly and jumped into his work. Blasting nightmares into the snow.

Have anyone else played the Game? If you have- what did you think?

R&R