Posting a day early!

Shout-outs:

AlexJohnD: Hey, at least I do volunteer work. I just don't get paid, but I do throw my weight around. :) So anything above 80% is an A? Hmm... My grading is 90+% is A, 80-89% is B, 70-79% is C, and everything below is normally all considered Fs. Hardly any teacher actually uses D since it's still not a passing grade. Going back on the opening toothbox thing: The only reason he opened it was because of Baby Tooth in the movie. If she hadn't had pulled it out of his pocket and told him to open it, he wouldn't have. In this fic, he doesn't really trust the guardians and sees the tooth box as the cause of everything, so why would he want to open it when it's done so much destruction?

ObsidianLove: Yes! Another Robert Frost lover! I'm glad you think Pitch isn't OOC, though I think he is :P I mean, in the movie he's really playful, and seductive, kind of like that 'hot villain' except that Pitch is ugly. haha. Then again, his voice! Jude Law can make anyone sexy! (Please ignore my fangirling...)

Canada: Nice username :) Jack is sort in a confusing spot of what side he's on. He doesn't want to be a guardian, but he does want to protect the kids, so I guess he's half way between neutral and good guy.

Darkblade 2.0: hobo bindle :) lol. Oh please don't get me started on politics. They make me all moody and want to punch someone, never a good thing. I see what you mean about him seeing his memories, but read what I wrote to AlexJohnD, and you'll see why I did what I did. Btw you're quote is being saved for the last chapter :)

Lovepuppy316: I agree. I know their jumping to conclusion thing happened again, but you also can't blame them. Look at things from their view. Jack did see Pitch. He joined Pitch. He attacked Bunny, burned down his home, and it overlooked the fact that they do jump to conclusions too much. How can you not expect the worst?

Chapter 10 is here!:

Believed In, Feared In

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

-Anne Lamott

You'll do what, Pitch had said, and what could he do?

He felt so stupid in that form like he was nothing but a nuisance to everyone else. He couldn't help North against the fearlings, or help Tooth. Heck, he couldn't even try to get Jack out of the street and somewhere safe for he was too small.

He couldn't do anything but run away like North had him do.

Don't think that way, he ordered himself. He had to be strong for his friends, for the kids, for Jack. He couldn't keep thinking that way if he was going to stop Pitch Black. One way or another, he'd return to his form and get back at the nightmare king for ever twisting Jack's thoughts for his own gain. Never would he allow that man to hurt another child.

After going through the alley and out into the street, he headed to where he knew Jamie Bennett's house to be. He hopped along, wishing he was bigger so the trip wouldn't take so long. If he was normal size, he wouldn't be so slow, not so weak or useless. He could have stayed and-

Stop it, he thought.

Just as he turned another corner, a fearling's jaws came to close to taking off his ears. He should have known it wasn't going to be easy, he thought as he slid under a parked car on the street, barely missing the black stallions teeth. As the horse tried to reach him from one side, the small rabbit escaped from the other side and rushed down the street, trying to get as far as he could before the fearling could catch up.

But before he could slide beneath another car up ahead, another fearling blocked his way, and he skidded to a stop. Trying to back from where he came, he found that way blocked to by the previous stallion. Trapped, his mind wandered again to how useless he was. He couldn't even fight these two fearlings.

No, it couldn't end here, not like this. He had to be strong, even if that was in 12 inch form. Have some hope. Without another moment to waste, the small Pooka dashed off of the street and into another alley. They were quick, but not as agile as him for when they were so close to catching him, Bunny would turn sharply, and they'd fall behind.

Each and every time those black stallions came close, he'd slide underneath a trash bin or turn a corner, even slip through a fire escape's stairs, and they would try to follow him and would get their heads caught, or crash into the obstacles. No way would he let himself be taken out by a couple of fearlings. Hope is too stubborn to die like that.

It had taken him what felt like forever of twist and turns, but he started to notice the glitter of familiar luminous gold sparkling in the night. Sandy had to be close by. Yet when he was worrying about Sandy's whereabouts, he failed to notice that he was back on the street, a vulnerable place, too open. As well as failing to notice that, he also didn't see the fearling that came hurtling over to him off to the side before it was only feet away from him.

Bunny couldn't move out of the way fast enough, but he tried anyways. And when he squinted his eyes close, waiting for those teeth to crush him, he told himself, You tried. You didn't give up, and that's all that matters.

But as seconds passed by, nothing came. Maybe death was just that swift, that he didn't even feel the pain? Opening his eyes, he saw that was still on the street, but there was no nightmare sand, only luminous gold shimmering in the night. After being with the guardians for hundreds of years, he'd recognize that from anywhere.

"Sandy?" he said aloud. The name felt comforting and familiar on his tongue, like their was no time that he'd stopped saying it.

And then he saw him, that little- now bigger than him- gold man. Blonde hair, sparkling eyes, shimmering clothes that folded in a way that reminded him of a desert. Sandman warmly smiled at him as he touched down and onto the street in front of him, recognizing the Pooka even though he wasn't his six-foot-one self anymore.

Relief and excited rushed through his tiny body. "Sandy!" he called again, like a child and with all the strength he had went towards his ex-dead friend. Behind Sandman, he saw the children, Jamie Bennett, the last believer, and his other friends. When Jamie caught sight of him, he called out to his friends with excitement on his face, "Look, guys, it's the Easter Bunny," and pointed at him.

They didn't see him at first, he knew, but as they continued to look his way, he saw the way their eyes lit out and the hope filling within them. They could see him. They believed in him. He felt their belief, strong and powerful, filling the small Pooka's body. Power- so much power in their belief.

He ran even faster, and the Easter Bunny didn't even realize the change in him, inside and out, as he ran to his fellow guardian and saviors.

./../\..\.

It wasn't cold, but he couldn't help but shiver. He saw nothing, but he felt eyes watching from behind. Dread. He knew it was coming and knew it wouldn't be good, and there was no way to get around it.

From afar, he saw the light growing closer, a room. It was then he realized he wasn't standing, but instead floating on air, but this shouldn't be possible with no wind, at least he'd never been able to without it. The white room came closer, and his body passed through small opening and fell to the white ground beneath him. A crunch came when his weight fell onto it.

His eyes adjusting to the opposite environment from before, he found everything covered in white. White sprinkled on top of green patio chairs and glass tables and brown roofs and grey sidewalks. The white softly fell from the white sky.

But something about the familiar streets and houses made him more and more confused. It was Burgess, but wasn't he just there in the middle of the night, not the afternoon as it seemed now? And wasn't he talking to the guardians-

Where were they? Where was Pitch Black?

About to take to the skies, he realized his staff wasn't in his hand. Thinking he'd dropped it when he came in, he looked around at the bushes and trees, but it was no where to be found. Actually, the black room he was in was gone, too. What was going on? He shook it off and started running to the street where he was last with the guardians. It felt strange having to run instead of flying like he always would, but he still made it to his destination, and in front of him he saw a girl with familiar green feathers and man in a red coat, their backs turned to him.

"North!" he called out, sprinting towards them with a relief visible on his face. They were safe, and he wasn't alone-

His thoughts were uninterrupted by the sight of the twin swords being unsheathed by the white-bearded man. Spinning around with the swords pointed towards the teen, the boy slid to a stop, even falling to the ground to try to stop the sword from protruding through his chest. His relief was gone and in its absence was fear. "N-North?"

The man's white pupilless eyes stared at him, his eyebrows knitted together in anger. Everything was the same about him, the stringy white hair, the ushanka on the top of his head, the fur on his coat, even the wrinkles around his eyes. But those eyes were not his. They did not widen with wonder, no blue iris, no black pupils. Those where not his eyes, and Jack wanted nothing more than to get those eyes off of him.

"Wat do you want?" he asked begrudgingly, his accent thick and deep.

"What's going on, North? I don't understand..." The sword crept closer to his throat, just below his Adam's apple at the jugular notch, the hollow of his throat. Cold sweat beaded down the sides of his face.

A woman, the hummingbird girl, laughed at his response. Turning around as well, Jack could see that her violet eyes were not there, only the ever present white around him. "Didn't you realize that it was all your fault? You're the reason we're dead now. Nobody cares about us anymore, just like no one cares about you. Fear has taken over, and childhood is gone. All because of you." She smiled wickedly at him, like she shared an inside joke with him, but there was nothing sweet about that smile on her lips.

She turned away from him, and North receded as well, sheathing his swords as he and the Tooth fairy walked away from him.

"But wait-" he started to say as he got back on his feet, but a familiar yet foreign grey Pooka stood in front of him, standing at six foot one. "Bunny? How'd you-"

When he heard the Australian's voice, the large Pooka's lips didn't move, neither did those white eyes blink. "We should never have trusted you." The large Pooka cracked, and Jack watched as it shattered into black shards of glass, all sharp and thin. They danced to the ground musically, a note being heard as each one dropped and didn't rise again. But in the middle of that pile of shards sat a familiar grey rabbit but its eyes were not green like they should be."Look what you did to me," Bunnymund exclaimed, his white eyes filled with anger. "You ruin everything you touch! Look at me!" He held his paws high, but that was only so far. "How am I suppose to protect the kids when you made me into this!?" He shook his head and started to hop towards the other two, all of them leaving him in their dust.

A thought jolted the frost boy into motion towards the ceding guardians. They were leaving him alone, again. He was going to be alone with no one there, not even another human. It was a wasteland with no sky and no true earth. Nothing existed beyond the town, he knew. If they left, if he couldn't find them, he would be alone, trapped in a god-foresaken world where sanity would be lost.

Jack couldn't sit back and allow that. "Wait!" he called to them. He started to run towards them, until he felt the black glass shards on the ground pierce his feet, and he fell once more, jabbing a few others into his arms and legs as he did. He tried to pick himself up again, yet he was so tired, so sick of everything that he just wanted to lay there among with shattered black glass even though they caused his blood to drip and mix with the thin layer of white snow. They were cold against his skin, even for him, a winter spirit.

Picking one up from beside him, Jack brought it close to his face to see the black shard. It looked grainy, like nightmare sand, but it was held together by ice, he noticed which made it sleek and sharp.

Ironically, Pitch's voice still repeated that one question he could never believe, not with what has happened:

What goes better with cold than dark?

./../\..\.

North's twin swords slashed through yet another fearling's body, bringing it down to nothing more than spilled sand on the street. "Tooth, get Jack out of here!" he roared as he pivoted away from a nightmare stallion's hooves. Tooth, trying to oblige to his order, tried to lift the boy into her arms, but without her wings, he was too heavy. Her feet weren't used to that kind of weight even if Jack was light even for his size.

She had to half drag him and carry the large staff to get him out of the area from where the Russian was fighting on his own. She took him to the closest alley, hoping he'd be safest there. Once she made it inside the mouth of the alley, she nearly dropped the teen from exhaustion. She felt it in her bones, that loss of strength that was there when she had believers. Now she was as vulnerable as any human, even more for she could see spirits like Pitch Black and they would figure out of her weak state.

Heaving the boy a bit farther, she finally set the boy up against a green trash bin and herself beside him. When she looked at his face, her heart ached. His eyes clenched, eyebrows furrowed, sweat beading down the sides of his face. A nightmare is what he was having, and Tooth could do nothing but watch. Shaking his shoulder and yelling in his ear wouldn't pull him out of this.

Useless, she thought to herself. Without children's belief, she was no better than Bunny. How North was out there fighting, she didn't understand. That one kid must have some powerful belief. She stood to her feet again and walked to mouth of the alley again, looking out. She had to get back out there. If Bunny and North were risking their lives and fighting when they were so weak, should would share this with them. Tooth had to do something, anything to help them, not just sit back and watch.

But she couldn't leave Jack, not in the state he was in.

"Tooth?!"

She heard the Australian's voice from down the street, but she was expecting was not what she saw. His size. He stood all six feet and one inch, proud and strong. Behind him were several kids, each one staring at her with curiosity and anticipation. They could see her! But when she saw the shimmer gold man, she couldn't hold back anymore.

"Sandy!" she cried as she raced to snatch him in her arms and never let go.

"Tooth! You're flyin'!" Bunny pointed out as she realized herself the hum of her wings behind her. She clashed into the gold man who wasn't expecting the force of a freight train to tackle him, but greeted her warmly, laughing even.

"Ms. Tooth Fairy, you are so cool!" one of the boys with darker skin and an orange beanie said to her as he released Sandy from her death grip.

"Caleb, she's more than cool; She's awesome!" another dark skinned boy said to the other, probably his brother.

"Tooth," Bunny interrupted. "Where's Jack?"

She gasped in realization. She'd left him completely defenseless when there are fearlings all over the city and Pitch Black not far away. "In the alley. Quickly!" Without waiting to see if they were following, she flew at full speed to where she last left the winter spirit. When she fluttered into the alleyway and over to his body, she found nothing different, not even the scowl on his face. He was safe.

Toothiana let out a sigh of relief as the others caught up to her. "Jack Frost?" Jamie questioned when the hummingbird hybrid turned to Sand. She told him the situation, of him being stuck in a nightmare and how North was out there alone fighting for his life. "Can you help him?" she asked, pointing at the young white-haired boy.

But before he answered, he cast a gold a whip towards the entrance to the alley, destroying the fearling that had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for its chance that never came. Sandy signed to the fairy and Pooka. "There will be more, but I can't fight while I'm in Jack's mind. Watch my back."

The two nodded without hesitation, wanting to help the spirit and willing to protect him and the children at all cost.

After smiling at his two best friends, the Sandman stood beside the dreaming boy, still lent against the green trash bin, and put his gold hand on the boy's left temple, pushing his mind into the other's.

./../\..\.

Aeona Liz showed me the quote. THANK YOU! *sending you virtual cookies*

The alley they are in is the one from the movie... or it's at least the one I remember :P

To tell you the truth, the dream Jack had- I actually dreamed about the guardians shattering into black glass. It was about Jack making ice sculptures and the guardians came and shattered along with the other ice sculptures, and Jack was all alone. My dreams are weird :P

AAHH There was so much I wanted to do for this chapter, but I never got to do it! I guess that means you're all going to get another chapter than I'd planned. I hope this chapter is okay. I think it seemed a little too hopeful for the future, but maybe that's just what the guardians need, for everything to be filled with hope?

Next Chapter: June 30th. I'll try to post earlier if I can! (PS the more reviews I get the more quicker it'll come!)

Please, I beg you, review! Right now it's very crucial that you do, so I can see and alter the next chapter if needed. Review, and Thank you!