"This better be important!" Jack called out as he landed lightly on North's balcony. The yetis harrumphed and hurried to close the door behind him as the cold wind blew in, disrupting their toy making process.
"I had to forfeit a snowball fight for this!" Jack continued, shaking snow from his hair. A large fistful of snow shook loose of his head and landed on an elf that was underfoot, covering the poor thing up to it's jinglebells. Jack pulled him out by his hat and he ran away, shivering and clattering his teeth.
"Ahh, Jack, you're here!" North's booming voice called out. Jack lifted his head just to be engulfed in the large man's arms. He was lifted up and squeezed, his back popping and his vision limited to only the "au" in the "naughty" tattoo on North's arm. After a few moments, North set Jack on his feet, and Jack took deep lungfuls of air.
"Nice to see you too." He wheezed.
"Jack!" A friendly female voice called. Then, Jack's vision was filled with a swirl of blue, green, and purple, as he was lifted into another hug. This one however, he deemed was much more appealing, as Tooth's warm feathers and soft touch were much welcomed. After Tooth, Sandy demanded a hug as well, and Jack bent down to him. Sandy patted him on the shoulder and once Jack released him, his eagerly began his game of pictionary with the sand above his head. While Jack tried to guess what he was trying to say, another voice was heard from the door.
"Well, I ain't huggin you, mate." Jack turned and grinned at the large Pooka leaning against the doorway.
"Hey, Bun." Bunnymund scoffed at the winter spirit and lifted himself from the doorframe, entering the room with a scowl on his muzzle.
"Can we get this movin'?" He asked. "It's too cold here."
"Yes, we do need to get started." North agreed. "Come! Man in Moon has much to discuss with us." Jack, Tooth, and Sandy all flew lightly after North to the Moon Room, while Bunny followed on foot behind them, muttering. Jack caught a few words of his complaining.
"Can't walk like normal people, any of them. Nooo, gotta hover everywhere." Jack laughed.
Altogether, they entered the Moon Room. Jack smiled as he glanced around, remembering the first time he had been in this room. Three years ago, he had became a Guardian, and he had been summoned (kidnapped) and brought to this very room. He glanced up at the hole in the ceiling that allowed the silver light of the moon to shine through to the crest on the floor. The entire room was filled with murals of the Guardians and the children that they protected. Jack still felt awkward seeing his own visage painted on the wall, throwing snowballs and laughing, but he smiled to see that one of the children in his mural resembled Jamie.
North stopped in the center of the room, just to the side of the Guardian crest in the floor and the circle of light that shone through the ceiling. All the Guardians circled around the rest of the crest, facing North.
"So, Man in Moon," North started, "Why have you brought us here?"
"Yeah, mate," Bunnymund interrupted. "It's only six months til' Easter!" Jack rolled his eyes. Sandy waved his hands to gain attention, and his sand took the form of a familiar figure above his head.
"Oh no!" Tooth's hands flew to cover her mouth as she gasped. "It's not Pitch is it?" She began twittering about, her smaller fairy counterparts swarming around her in fear.
"Shush!" North boomed. "Man in Moon is speaking." Jack leaned heavily on his staff, straining his ears. He hadn't heard from the Man in the Moon since he woke up, three hundred years ago,and he was told his name. Sure, Manny had chosen him as a Guardian, but that was indirect, as far as Jack was concerned. No sound actually came from the glowing sponsor of the Guardians. Jack sighed and leaned back, disappointed.
"Oi, com'mon. Just tell us!" Bunnymund grouched. Sandy's sand shifted forms too fast for Jack to process as he thought of one threat or another. Jack picked out a broom, a crown, and a...scythe?
"Wait a sec Sandy, did you just say the Grim Reaper? He's real too?" Jack questioned. He was ignored.
Jack was about to give up and head back to Arendelle. He missed Elsa, and this was boring. But just as he was about to turn away, the silver light that was shining on the Guardian crest increased in brilliance. In fact, it got so bright that Jack had to cover his eyes. The light seared his retinas through his eyelids and he turned away, groaning. After a few moments, he turned back around and hesitantly opened one eyelid.
The light was gone entirely, the room strangely dark, and in its place, a glowing silver man stood adjusting the sleeves of his suit.
Jack's jaw dropped.
"Who is this?" He yelled, jumping in the air and landing on the top of his shepherd's crook. He perched precariously, his gaze pointed harshly at the new comer in the room.
"Manny! Is good to see you!" North chuckled out good naturedly. He reached out his arms for a hug, but the glowing man held up his hands to block him.
"Please, Nick, this suit is Elvish made." He had a strange accent that just played at the edges of his words. His glow emanated from him several inches out. His grey/silver hair was coiffed perfectly, not a single strand out of place. His skin was also grey, but unlike the sickly color Pitch's grey sheen had been, it seemed to perfectly mimic the tan color of human skin, with all its depth, just in shades of white and black. Everything about him was shades of grey or silver, from his hair, to the tips of his shoes. That is, except his eyes. His eyes shone like pools of molten gold.
Suddenly, Jack stopped admiring the stranger, as what North said sunk in.
"Wait, Manny? As in, the Man in the Moon? This guy?"
"Well you didn't think Man in the Moon was just a name, right Jack?" Tooth asked giggling.
"Yeah, mate, com'mon." Bunnymund commented.
"Oh, shush Aster." The strange man laughed. "You know you've never seen my humanoid form either."
"Mate!" Bunnymund complained. "At least I knew!" He mumbled under his breath.
Sandy stuck out a finger and stroked the top of it with his other, "Shame!"
"What brings you to earth, Manny?" North asked, ignoring the bickering going on around him.
"Well, Nicklaus, it seems as though we've got a real problem on our hands."
"Pitch?" Jack asked angrily, landing on the floor with his staff clenched tight in his fist. Manny nodded, his ageless face grim.
"I'm afraid so, Jackson. And a few others you've dealt with in the past."
Jack straightened out, confused. The rest began shouting out in fear.
"Lethe?" Tooth shouted.
"Pandora?" Bunny groaned.
"Krampus?" North sighed. Manny nodded at all three of them.
"And more, I'm afraid." Jack interrupted again, waving his hands and stepping forward.
"Hold on a minute, who? New Guardian here remember!"
"Yes, Jackson, I remember. But it's not my place to fill you in on your fellow Guardian's pasts. I'm only here to tell you what you must do to protect the children of this world."
Tooth laid a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"We'll explain it all later, Jack." She assured him.
"I wish Elsa was here." He muttered. Sandy was the only one that heard him. His sand formed a question mark above his head, but it was misconstrued by the others of the group as a question for Manny. The conversation was directed towards him again.
"What must we do, friend?" North asked gravely.
"I'm afraid," Manny said for the third time, "There's nothing you can do. You're going to need help."
Tooth clapped her hands excitedly.
"A new Guardian? Please let it be a girl this time!" She begged.
"Not the Groundhog." Bunny groaned.
Manny interrupted their musings. "Not a Guardian. A human."
Even Jack gasped. "But humans could never put up a fight against Pitch!" Bunny yelled.
"Elsa could." Jack thought smugly.
Manny crossed his arms and nodded. "I agree, it seems impossible. But there is one human who I've been keeping an eye on. Incredibly powerful, and quite possibly our only hope."
"Elsa could kick whoever's butt."
"Well, who it is, mate?" Bunny asked impatiently. Manny smiled and waved his hand. An image made out of the same silver light that surrounded him was projected over the center of the Guardian crest. Jack rolled his eyes and looked up at it, fully expecting to be disappointed. He assessed the image with bored eyes.
Long dress, braided hair, regal posture, hand raised creating...ice and snow?
"Elsa!" Jack yelled, lurching forward. He looked up at Manny with panicked eyes.
The rest of the Guardians watched, confused, as Jack panicked.
"You can't bring her into this. You can't get her around Pitch, do you know what he would do to her? She's had enough fear in her life." Jack was starting to hyperventilate. Of course Manny had to be joking. He was calling Jack's bluff, somehow he had known what Jack had been thinking. He was just scaring Jack into paying attention. Right?
"Please tell me you're joking." Jack begged. Manny frowned and looked at Jack concerned.
"Jack I know you have feelings for the girl but surely you more than anyone know what she's capable of."
"But she's just barely learned to control her powers!" North laid a calming hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack turned with a terrified expression to face him. He leaped up to reach North's shoulders and shook him as much as he could. Which wasn't much.
"Don't you understand what's going on?" He turned to all of them. They stared at him, confused and shocked at his outburst.
"No, Jack, we don't. Who is that girl?" Tooth asked.
"Yeah, mate, what's got your knickers in a twist?" Bunny asked, concerned for once.
Jack turned helplessly to Sandy, who shrugged his shoulders. Finally, Jack turned back to Manny.
"She's the only one?" He whispered. Manny nodded.
"I'm sorry, Jack. But without her we, and all the children of the world, are doomed." Jack whimpered. All the children of the world included Jamie, the only other person whom he really loved.
"Let me be the one to tell her." He begged. Manny nodded slowly.
"Alright Jack. But you need to be quick about it. Pitch and the others are already disrupting the dreams of children, and I'm not sure what their plan is. We need to hurry before it gets any worse." Jack leapt into the air.
"I'll go now. We'll be back tomorrow." He promised. He flew out the hole in the ceiling that usually held Manny's silver light. The Guardians watched him go.
"So." Tooth began. "What was that about?"