The pillar of light returned within half an hour, shining proudly as it swirled before its mistress, seeking approval like a child to its mother.
"Did you tell them?" Aggie asked.
The pillar didn't move, but Aggie felt the nod as if her own head had made it.
"And no one got hurt?" She asked.
A shake of an imaginary head.
"You're sure?"
A nod.
"Is it… answering you?" Jack asked.
"In a way." Aggie said.
"How?"
"I'm… not sure, actually." Aggie said. "I never much thought about it. I'm not sure I want to."
"What is it?"
Aggie didn't answer.
She crossed to the edge of the roof and looked over the concrete railing.
"Aggie?"
"It's a monster, Jack." Aggie managed. "It's a monster that I cannot kill…"
She knew the events of the day were catching up with her. Pitch trying to attack a city. An entire city! And she… she lost control. How did she lose control?
The more Aggie tried to recall what had gone wrong the more she questioned if anything had gone wrong. Who was to say she hadn't handled it perfectly?
She was doubting herself - a fatal mistake. Maybe Pitch was right. Maybe the evil inside her wasn't so evil after all…
No. Aggie cursed herself. That's the light talking. Not me. I have to stay strong. Think of the children.
"It seems to listen to you." Jack said. "You never told me where it even came from."
Where had it come from? It had come from Aggie, yes, but where? What part of her was so desperate to cling to the past that it held this inside her?
It doesn't matter. Aggie told herself. We could ponder this for centuries. It is a waste of time.
But… was it?
The buzz of wings hit Aggie's sensitive ears before the source ever broke the cloud cover.
Aggie turned to watch as the Tooth Fairy looked around a moment, wild eyes settling on Jack, and dove down to him with a half laugh half shriek, not even seeming to notice Aggie.
Jack shifted to sit up better, smiling weakly as he fended off her worried hands as if it were habit, insisting he wasn't as bad off as he looked.
Liar. Aggie snorted.
Carefully she approached the pair, keeping her hands at her sides, shoulders and fingers loose, attempting in every way to look non-threatening.
She had seen the tooth fairy many times, but never officially met the creature, and wasn't sure Tooth would even recognize her. "Um, not to disregard your idea of 'okay' Jack, but you should probably let your friend help you."
Tooth spun, tensing at the new voice, but relaxing slightly when she saw Aggie, her fear turning to confusion. "Hospital girl?"
Aggie offered as much of a smile as her addled mind could conjure. "Yeah, I do hang around hospitals. I guess my message got through."
"That was you?" Tooth cried. "But - that voice! I never thought - I assumed this was a trap - I never thought that - what even happened?" The last question was directed at Jack, but it was Aggie who spoke.
"Pitch."
The single word had the Tooth Fairy frozen in place. "P-Pitch?"
Before anything else could be said, there was a flash of light and a clash of angry bells, and the next thing Aggie knew a grand sleigh was screeching along the icy rooftop of her hospital.
Aggie cringed against the sound of metal scraping on concrete, of twenty-four hooves kicking frantically for a foothold.
She opened her eyes to find a curved sword level with her chest.
"No!" Jack cried, grabbing at Tooth as he struggled to his feet. "No, North! She's a friend!"
"S-she is!" Tooth managed over her shock. "I swear. North, it's… Jack… Pitch…"
"Pitch?" North's sword swung away from Aggie as he spun on his heel to gape at Tooth. "What about Pitch? What does he have to do with this?"
"Please, I will explain!" Aggie cried. "Just for goodness sake, somebody help Jack!"
The winter spirit was visibly paling in his unsteady place at Tooth's side.
No one had time to respond - the ground trembled slightly, and Bunnymund and the Sandman popped up out of the ground.
"What's going on here?" Bunny demanded.
Sandman's images flashed too fast to read, but Aggie estimated his meaning was along the lines of Bunny's.
Yet neither Tooth nor North felt inclined to summarize the situation.
"I WILL EXPLAIN LATER!" Aggie practically screamed. "Just get Jack help first! You have to have some kind of healing magic tucked away in your homes!"
The Guardians all looked at each other - minus Jack, who looked like the very act of standing was taking all of his remaining energy.
Desperate, Aggie looked to Sandman; the most sensible of the Guardians. "Sandy? Please? He's your friend, right? Help him!"
A sickening feeling was radiating outward from Jack's body and Aggie was the only one who could feel it. She knew that feeling. She'd felt it countless times, and it was never good.
It was her signal to wipe her tears and give a dying child one last kiss on the cheek; they were finally out of time.
No. Aggie's thoughts were sluggish. Not this time. Not on my watch. Not Pitch…
"DO SOMETHING!" She shrieked.
And something was done - but not by the Guardians.
Her fear and anger swirled around her in a blaze of red, and the ground fell away from beneath her. She was flying but the familiar whisper of the wind was not in her ears.
This was a different kind of flying.
With a very different destination.