AN: Kay... So, Bob likes the story... Not really. He sliced my neck open with the paper... And yelled that he hated me... But at least he likes the story! He'll be glad we finished this chapter!
Xay: Psst! This one's cute!
Shy: Oh yeah! I blame Xay for all of this.
Xay: What!?
Shy: You're the one who made it take long!
Xay You're the one who attacks me when you run out of inspiration!
Shy: So! Do you have a problem with that!?
Xay: ...
Moving along...
No one in the room moved. It seemed as though all was frozen, except for April and Jack, who were crying. The other Guardians stared at Jamie in horror.
Suddenly, Jamie sucked in a deep breath.
April and Jack gasped. "Timmy?!"
"Jamie?!"
Jamie rubbed his eyes and stood up. He looked around. "Why is everyone crying?" He remembered he found April's spirit memories and ran to his friend.
"Jamie, get away from him!" Jack yelled. Jamie ignored him and kept running to April. Jack got up to stop him and North stopped him. Jamie reached April and hugged him. "Avery, guess what I got!" April jumped up as the green started coloring his eyes again.
"Timmy, you're okay!" April returned the hug.
"Avery, guess what!"
"What?"
"I found something for you!" Jamie showed him the spirit memory box.
"What's this?" He asked, examining it.
"It's you're good memories. They were taken from you. But you have to choose if you want them." April looked at Jamie.
"Do you want me to?" April asked. Jamie nodded enthusiastically. "Then I want to see my memories." April touched the box and zoned out.
The Guardians untangled each other, with a few injuries. They walked over to Jamie. "What was that?!" Jack demanded.
"Well, April's real name is Avery. In his past life, he had a little brother named Timmy. I looked just like him, so when April saw me, he took me to protect me."
"Then why were you crying?" Jack asked.
"I saw his human memories."
"But how they are still at my palace?" Tooth interrupted.
"I don't know, I fell asleep and saw them. When I woke up, a voice told me that I needed to be the one to help this time. That was the same voice that told me to come out of hiding when you guys were fighting." Jamie explained.
"Weird." They all stopped as they heard April stand up. He turned around to see them. The guardians would have been relieved that April's eyes were green if it weren't for the terror that shot across them.
"I'm so sorry." April barely whispered and teleported away.
"April!" Jack wanted to stop him. He looked back at the Guardians. "Where do you think he went this time?"
"Jack, maybe we should wait. He seemed to be scared of us." Tooth said.
"No, I have to find April and make sure he's okay." Tooth flew over to Jack.
"Fine, if it's that important to find him right now, I'll help you look." Tooth said.
"Thanks." They turned to Jamie, who was yawning. "Jamie, we should get you home, its noon."
"But I want to help find April." He complained.
"Jamie, you did great today, but you have to go home. Your mom is probably worried." North said.
"No, I left a note saying I went to a friend's house." Jack ruffled Jamie's hair.
"You thought of everything didn't you?" Jack said making Jamie laugh.
"I'll bring Jamie home if you want me to." The Leprechaun offered.
"Sure. We will meet at the Pole in an hour."
Jamie and the Leprechaun when through one of his portals into Jamie's room. "Jamie, you were the one who saved April. You did more than I ever could. If you want, I can give you a new wish to use for something you want."
"Wait, didn't you say the clover would fade when you fulfilled the wish?" The Leprechaun nodded. "Then why didn't it fade?"
"I don't know, maybe we haven't saved April yet. All we did was bring him back to normal." They both paused. There was a noise coming from the window. Jamie walked over to it. He looked out.
"Look, its April!" Jamie pointed.
"What's he doing here?"
"I don't know. Can I please come with you to follow him?" Jamie looked at him.
"Ugh, the Guardians are gonna kill me…" Jamie gave him puppy eyes. "Fine."
They got out quietly and followed behind. April stopped for a minute and so did they. The Leprechaun walked forward. Jamie was about to keep walking when he heard the voice again. "Jamie, you did great, but this isn't all over."
"Why, what isn't over?"
"April is now afraid of the Guardians. His friend is hiding him somewhere around here and training him to use his powers. You need to find him and set things straight."
"What friend?" At first Jamie thought the voice wouldn't answer but then:
"I'm that friend. I'd show you where he is but it's your job to find out. I'm only here to guide you, you have to find your own way."
"But how am I gonna set things straight? He only liked me when he lost his memories."
"Jamie, that's where you're wrong. He still thinks that you can replace his little brother and that's the only thing keeping him from leaving to hide. So you have to hurry and fix everything."
"But how do I fix it?" No one answered. Jamie looked around and saw the Leprechaun still following April slowly. Jamie quietly caught up. The Leprechaun turned and saw Jamie.
"Jamie, we have to be careful, he is going into the woods." He whispered. Jamie nodded. They walked through the woods a bit and then April stopped and jumped through a hole in the ground. "I don't think we should follow him anymore. It doesn't look safe."
"Please. I really want to help and if we don't follow him now, we might not find him again."
"Fine." The Leprechaun said jumping into the hole while holding Jamie's hand.
They fell until they reached the ground. They didn't feel the impact of hitting the ground. Jamie landed in a dark room. Jamie didn't know where the Leprechaun went. Jamie shrugged and looked around. He saw a door opened, a crack letting light in. He peeked around the crack and saw April. April was training his powers with someone Jamie couldn't see through the crack. April was talking, but Jamie couldn't make out any words. Jamie stayed put for a minute.
"Jamie." He heard the mystery voice. "You found him. Now is the important part. The decision moment. Will you go in and try to make thing right, or wait for the Guardians to make things worse?"
"But what if I scare him like the Guardians did?" Jamie whispered back.
"Make your decision quickly or it will be chosen for you." Jamie looked at April again. He looked really sad. Jamie didn't like to see people sad. He opened the door. April looked over at it and saw Jamie peeking over. He jumped up and walked backwards.
"April, wait." Jamie said softly. April looked down.
"I'm sorry I took you from the Guardians." Jamie walked over to him.
"Its fine, I was asleep anyway."
"But you said I scared you."
"It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."
"But I did know what I was doing. I just forgot all that happened since I met Sandy. That was me a few years ago."
"Yeah but you changed. You chose to be good. It wasn't your fault that you hit your head."
"But it's all my fault that Timmy died. It's all my fault that I turned evil and wanted revenge. It's all my fault that I had too much power today." April looked at his hands.
"April, stop blaming yourself for everything that happens in life. You tried to save Timmy, but because you couldn't, you wanted revenge for your brother's death. Anyone would want revenge, but in the end, you chose to turn good. When you turned good, all you wanted was to be seen. To have a new family. It's not your fault. Even now, you're trying to control your power to not hurt anyone." April sighed.
"I guess." Then he looked up. "Wait, are the Guardians here?"
"No, but why are you afraid of them?" Jamie asked.
"Because I hurt them. They probably want to kill me."
"No, the Guardians don't hate you. They are looking for you right now to help you."
"How did you find me anyway?"
"Um, we followed you here."
"We?"
"Yeah, me and the Leprechaun."
"Okay, I can see the guardians forgiving me, but him? He hates me! We fight every year on March seventeenth."
"He was worried about you. He chose to follow you."
"Oh. Hey Jamie, wanna see something cool?"
"Sure!"
"Watch this." April rose and controlled different colors of silly string to make a picture on the celling. It was a picture of rainbow, but with many more colors then just seven.
"Wow! That's awesome! How did you figure out how to do that?"
"My friend the disco dude helped out. He was teaching me how to control my powers."
"Who is the disco dude?"
"He was right here a minute ago, but he said he had to go. This is his place."
"Why are the other rooms dark?"
"He says that black is his favorite color."
"Oh." April handed Jamie a can of whipped cream. "What's this for?"
"Whipped cream fight!" April shouted, shooting some at Jamie.
"I'll get you for that!" Jamie shouted chasing April into another room.
Jack was searching for April with Tooth. They flew over some cities with no luck. Tooth looked up and saw the Northern lights. "Jack, we have to get to the North Pole quick."
"Why?"
"North pulled the lights, which means something bad happened. We all need to meet up at the North Pole."
By the time Tooth and Jack got to the North Pole, everyone was there. "North, what's wrong?!"
"I don't know Jack. Just five minutes ago, the Leprechaun came in saying something about Jamie."
"Where is he now?"
"Bunny is in the other room trying to find out what happened." Jack ran over to the room with the Leprechaun and Bunny in it. The Leprechaun was helping him wrap his arm and speaking rapidly.
"Guys, what happened?" Jack asked.
"I was saying goodnight to Jamie when he saw April. He insisted that we follow him." The Guardians groaned. "Then we fell in this dark, weird hole in the forest—"
"What?!" Jack gasped. "You sent him into Pitch's lair!?"
The Leprechaun frowned. "No, I said we fell down a hole—"
"That hole was Pitch's lair!"
"Wait," Bunny held his hand up. "Pitch's lair is in Burgess?"
Jack smiled nervously. "Um… Well, you can't get mad at me! You guys didn't tell me about the pinkie promise thing cuz you thought that I knew! So I'll just say that I thought you knew!" he burst out.
"When did you find that out?" Bunny demanded.
"Um… When Easter was ruined…" Jack replied nervously.
Bunny face palmed then winced as he jostled his arm. Jack frowned. "What's wrong?"
Bunny grimaced and rolled his shoulder. "My arm got a bit banged up in the fight with April. Think it's broken."
Jack frowned. "Oh… Don't tell April, it'll only make him more upset."
"Do you know why April would be in the forest?" the Leprechaun asked.
"No."
"Do you think he knew about Pitch's lair?" the Leprechaun asked.
"Maybe?"
"What are we gonna do?"
Bunny looked forward dramatically. "What we always do."
Jack sighed. "You mean go in without a plan, get our butts kicked, and wait for some random person to rise up and save us?"
"…We need a plan…"
"April, be careful!" Jamie shouted from his place on the floor. "You're gonna knock it over!"
April strained, trying to reach the top of their tower of empty silly-string cans from where he had teleported in the air. "I know! I've got this!" he placed the last can on the top.
There was a loud crashing noise and April tumbling and yelping.
"April!" Jamie complained. "We worked really hard on that!"
April sighed. "We can try again." He suggested.
Jamie smirked. "Okay!"
April began to stack up the foundation again while Jamie shook a can. "Are you sure these are all empty?" he questioned, opening the cover.
"Of course!" April threw over his shoulder.
Jamie frowned and pushed the top and jumped as it sprayed April.
"Gaaaah!" April put his hands up to block the onslaught of silly-string.
Jamie blushed and dropped it. "Oops."
April smirked. "I'm gonna get you for that!" he started shaking random cans then found one with some left in it. "Look out!" he sprayed it at Jamie.
"Aah!" Jamie giggled and ducked behind a pile of silly-string cans. "April, cut it—"
April stopped and held up his hand. Jamie froze. They heard a distant sound of talking, falling, crashing and a few "ow"s. Jamie recognized the voices.
"Oh!" he smiled. "It's the Guardi—" he stopped when he saw April's face. "Uh…" April stepped backwards.
"Um… I gotta go get something from… Um… April Fools Land. See you lat—"
"Wait April." April stopped to listen as they heard the Guardians getting closer. "You can't keep hiding from them. You can show them that you can control your powers. I believe that the Guardians will forgive you." April heard them in the room next to them.
"I-I don't think I'm ready to take that chance." April whispered. The Guardians came into the room and April immediately teleported away. Jack ran to Jamie.
"Jamie, are you okay?" Jamie nodded. "Why did you come down here?"
"Don't worry, April said that this is his friend the disco dude's house."
Jack's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. The other Guardians followed suit. Jamie broke the silence. "Um, are you guys okay?"
"This is… This is Pitch's lair."
April teleported to another part of the lair. The room filled with complete darkness. "Pitch, are you in here?" April rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Yes, why?"
"The Guardians are here. I don't know what to do." April felt something touch his shoulder.
"First things first, don't freak out again. I don't want my lair any more colorful." April turned around but it was too dark to see.
"What's the second thing?"
"That's entirely up to you."
"Pitch's lair!" Jamie squeaked. Jack just nodded. "Wait, Pitch is the Disco Dude? Then why would he try to help me? Why was he guiding me? Was it all a trap?" Jamie was sucked up in his thoughts until Jack snapped him back into reality.
"I think we should get out of here. I don't think we are ready if Pitch is still here." Jack said to Jamie walking over to the Guardians.
"Wait Jack." Jack stopped. "Aren't we going to get April?" Jamie asked.
"How do you know he isn't working with Pitch?"
"Because I trust him. He only left because he is afraid you guys won't accept him." Jamie walked over to the Guardians. "If he did come back, would you guys forgive him?" They looked at each other guiltily and Jack sighed.
"I guess he deserves a second chance…" The door opened quietly and April walked in. He nervously looked up.
"Really?"
Jack sighed and patted him on the back. "Yeah. Everyone deserves a second chance."
Jamie bit his lip and looked up at Jack. "Everyone?"
:P