Tadashi bolted upright.
His head hurt something fierce, and the incurable itching was back in full force.
"What the...?" He looked around in confusion. His head was still a little foggy, but he was pretty sure he hadn't been back at SFIT before he passed out. In fact, he was pretty sure he'd been in some creepy underground tunnel. He was only like 99% sure of that. The other 1% was him hoping it had all just been a bad dream.
How had he gotten here? And how long had he been passed out? When he finished training with Jack it had only been mid-afternoon. Now the sun had set and the sky was dark. He tried to remember what had happened before he passed out, but it was all so blurry... Did Jack save him?
No, that couldn't be it. First of all, Jack wouldn't have been nearly so quiet. He was positive that if the other spirit had been down there he'd have been shouting expletives at Pitch the whole time. Though most of the evidence did seem to point to him. White hair, fighting with a staff...but whoever had saved him had green eyes, not Jack's familiar blue. Maybe Jack had a quieter more reclusive twin?
He was still mulling it over when the other guardians showed up.
"Tadashi! You're alright," Tooth exclaimed, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Uh, yeah. I mean, I guess? I don't really know what happened..." he trailed off, patting her sympathetically on the back.
The Easter Bunny- Aster, he reminded himself- looked speculatively at him, clearly wanting to say something but holding back.
"I had bad feeling in gut. And Jack said he felt bad presence after your training as well. But no one could find you," North grunted. He looked extremely put out, as if it was somehow Tadashi's fault he couldn't be found.
"Where the hell have you been? We checked here like ten times, but you weren't here before. And what the hell happened?" Jack asked. He was annoyed, but his concern seeped through his voice.
"I...I met Pitch Black," he managed to squeeze out. Tooth was hugging him far too tight.
"You what?" she exclaimed, jumping back a good foot away.
The air above Sandy's head was an explosion of golden images being exchanged in rapid succession. Jack and Aster had similar expressions of distaste on their faces, while North merely looked contemplative.
"Ah, yes. I had suspicions that would be the case. But you are unharmed?" he asked, peering closely at him.
"Um, yeah..." He was pretty sure he was physically okay. Mentally...maybe not so much.
"You sound awfully unsure about that, Mate. You got something to tell us?" Aster finally spoke up, eyes boring into him. He gulped.
"Well, I mean, he did kinda try to kill me I think? But-" he started to explain, but chaos broke out among the guardians.
"What?"
"Oh no, are you sure you're not injured? Stand straight so I can see-"
"Look closely at fingers-how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Where did that rotten egg go? I'll boomerang him straight to-"
There were so many questions bombarding him, and they were all starting to crowd him. He was still confused and kind of scared... His breath hitched a bit, and he could feel his skin getting warmer. Something tightened in his chest.
"Whoa. Okay, hang on, everyone just back off for a minute. We'll get back to our freak out after we give him some space," Jack said, noticing the effect this was having on Tadashi. All that time together made it easier for him to help prevent panic attacks.
They all took a step back, albeit rather reluctantly. Tadashi shot Jack a grateful look.
"Okay then. Let's do this one at a time, yes?" North said, speaking lowly.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Tooth asked, giving him another worried look.
He smiled weakly at them. "I'm fine. Really. Just a little shaken. That's all."
The tension visibly drained out of the group.
"How did you make it out without a scratch?" Aster asked quietly. He looked perplexed, as if he couldn't' understand why Pitch would change his mind. This was fair, since he didn't really.
"I'm not sure," he started, uncertain how to continue. "Someone saved me. They chased off all the shadows. I didn't get a good look at them. But...I kind of thought it was you at first, Jack." He looked hesitantly at the other boy.
Jack looked just as puzzled at him, but behind him the other guardians shared a look.
"You say he looked similar to Jack? How so?" North inquired.
"Oh, well they had white hair, and I think they had a staff or something too? The eyes were different though. And the voice. Kind of musical sounding?" He shrugged, rubbing at his arms.
"What about the eyes were different?" Tooth asked, eyes wide as saucers. "Were they green?"
"I-yeah. They were. How'd you know that?" Tadashi stammered at the intensity of their gaze.
"Yes, do fill us in. Because I sure as hell don't know who it is you're talking about," Jack frowned.
The remaining guardians shared another look. Said looks were starting to annoy Tadashi. What was it they were hiding from him and Jack?
"Jack we mentioned him before..." Tooth said quietly, holding her hands up in attempt to placate him.
"I sure don't remember having some conversation about someone who is apparently my long lost twin."
"Not twin Jack. Though you two are quite similar. In looks that is," North cut in. He was quelled by the glare Jack sent his way.
"You remember that story about Pitch we told you Jack? About who he was before?" Tooth began again.
He huffed. "Yeah, well it was kind of hard to forget. I mean it's not like I ever would have thought Pitch could be anything but dark and dreary."
Tadashi looked on in confusion. He had no idea who they were all talking about, but he didn't really feel like interrupting.
"Yes, very hard to imagine sometimes, but remember who told us story?"
"I don't know, the Man in the Moon?" Jack snapped, impatient for them to get to the point.
"Yes, but Manny learned from someone else," North replied, giving him a meaningful look.
Jack gaped back at him. "Are you telling me some guy that's been around since Pitch was good saw all this go down and hasn't done anything since then? And that apparently he just popped up to help Tadashi out of nowhere?" He waved his arms around in the air for emphasis, absolutely flabbergasted at what he was being told.
"Much has happened since Pitch's fall. Guardian did not do nothing. But he has been missing for almost as long. It appears he has returned," North said, stroking his beard as he pondered over what had happened.
"Um, I hate to interrupt...whatever this is, but can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Tadashi asked. His head was starting to spin, trying to keep up with their bizarre conversation.
"Oh right, you didn't hear the story. Well, once upon a time, Pitch was actually one of the good guys. But then he got tasked with guarding over some fear monsters and they tricked him, yada yada, anyway he's bad now. Oh, and someone saw all this happen and told the Man in the Moon about it later on," Jack responded nonchalantly.
What. The . Fuck.
"Okay, now that Tadashi's caught up, it's time to spill about who this mysterious life saver actually is. Does he have a name?"
"His name is Nightlight," Tooth supplied helpfully.
"Nighlight? What kind of names is Nightlight? Also, how ironic is it that he got named the same thing that keeps little kids from having nightmares about the Bogeyman." Jack snorted.
"Is not ironic. Manny named them after him. So little ones would have comfort he had when he was a child, and Nightlight watched over him."
Now that Tadashi thought about it, the person he saw before had seemed to glow. He had been ready to put it down as a near death hallucination, but apparently that might not be the case.
"Excuse me? He watched over the Man in the Moon?" Jack turned to look at Tadashi in exasperation. He just shrugged. This was clearly big news to Jack, who had known about all this guardian stuff for a while, but everything blended into equal amounts of weirdness to Tadashi.
"Yes, yes. It's how he told Manny what happened to Pitch. When they were on the run from him," North nodded as if that explained everything.
jack almost saw red.
"Will you please just tell me everything you know about this Nightlight guy's history with Pitch? You're just giving me more questions every time you answer me," he gritted out. Tooth winced.
"I'm not sure now is the best time for that story," she said.
"Now is literally the best time. What time would be better? The guy just showed up for the first time in who knows how long. Explain. Now," he demanded.
She sighed, wings dropping at his tone, but she did as he ordered. "As North said, Nightlight was Manny's guardian as a child. It was during this time that Pitch was possessed by the fearlings. It broke his heart, Jack. Nightlight and Pitch...they were very close," she trembled.
Tadashi wondered just how close she meant. Pitch had been rather shaken by Nightlight's arrival in the tunnels. And it was the fearlings that had dragged him away...
Tooth took a steadying breath and continued, "When Pitch heard that Manny had never had a bad dream before he became hell bent on turning him to the darkness. He planned on making Manny his nightmare prince, so Manny's parents took him and ran away with Nightlight. But Pitch followed them across the stars, no matter where they went. Eventually he caught up.
"The Lunanoffs- Manny's family, that is- were forced to face him. They fought bravely, but in the end Pitch was stronger than them. He was going to kill them before Nightlight intervened."
"And by intervened, you mean...?" Jack gave her a searching look, folding his arms across his chest.
"She means Nightlight took a gander at what was happening, and decided to go take care of Pitch himself. He left Manny and stabbed that venomous bugger right in the heart," Aster interjected. Both Jack and Tadashi's jaws dropped.
"Wait just a minute- if he stabbed him in the heart then what is Pitch still doing here?!" Jack exclaimed, shaking out of his stupor.
"When Nightlight stabbed him, there was said to be an explosion of light brighter than twenty suns. After that, Pitch was put into a comatose state. His body was hidden away so nothing would awaken it. As for Nightlight, he disappeared after the explosion. Nobody knew what happened to him. There were rumors...rumors that such an act had taken all the light he had, and without light he couldn't exist. He is made of light after all," Tooth said wearily.
Tadashi just shook his head. Pitch being made of shadows and darkness was one thing, but now there was some dude made entirely of light? The scientific side of him was screaming for theoretical answers.
"So...what woke Pitch then? You said he was hidden away so that wouldn't happen, but obviously it did," he asked.
"A moonbeam found him and revived him by accident. Nobody's really sure how it worked," Tooth said.
"A moonbeam fou- now you're telling me there's sentient moonbeams?" Jack yelled in exasperation. He threw his hands in the air in defeat. He was never going to understand how the universe worked.
"Mate, you can manipulate the winds and create blizzards. Is it really that surprising that moonbeams can be sentient?" Aster quirked an eyebrow at him. He had a point.
"Fine. I just- I need a moment to process all this," Jack said. He paced around the lab, frost creeping from his footsteps.
"So...nobody knows what this Nightlight has been doing since then?" Tadashi broke the silence with his question. They all swiveled to look at him. Even Sandy, who had been suspiciously quiet during all of this. Well, maybe not suspiciously quiet so much as suspiciously not making signs over his head.
"No," was all North replied with.
"What I don't understand is why he didn't come talk to any of us," Tooth said, scratching her head.
"I mean, none of us knew him personally, but surely he knows who we are. At the very least he'd know we were working against Pitch."
Sandy raised his hand tentatively with a small arrow pointing down at him.
"Hmm? Oh, right. Sorry. I forgot you met him before, Sandy. Yes, I know it was just once, but you'd think he'd still remember you. After all, you both do the talking with pictures thing," she gestured at the image over his head.
"He talked to me though," Tadashi said. A slight furrow appeared between his brows. Nightlight had definitely used his voice back in the tunnels.
"He can talk, but he prefers to use images like Sandy," North explained.
Tadashi scuffed his feet on the floor and tried to clear his head. So much had changed in such a short span of time. Maybe someday once he was a fully fledged guardian he'd have all this supernatural nonsense and dramatic back stories under control. Right now everything was way out of hand.
Jack drifted over to his side and draped an arm across his shoulders. He smiled crookedly at him before returning his attention back to the others. "So what are we going to do? I mean, this changes things doesn't it?" He glared at them, challenging them to prove him wrong.
"Of course it does!" North boomed. He planted his fists firmly on his hips and straightened to his full height. "Pitch is finally back on scene, and he has tried to kill guardian. We cannot let this pass."
"You're right. Something is stirring. Pitch was never so bold in the past, and what with Nightlight's return... I think it's safe to say that something big is coming." Aster's nose twitched when he was concentrating. Tadashi thought it was kind of cute, but he had enough of his wits about him not to mention it. He just survived an encounter with the Bogeyman-it would be a shame to die immediately after by getting on the Easter Bunny's bad side.
"Should we be looking for Pitch then? Or for nightlight?" Tooth asked, flittering anxiously above them.
They all took a moment to think it over.
"We~ll, maybe we should just look for both of them? I mean, isn't that the obvious answer?" Jack drawled.
"Not obvious, Frostbite. There's lots of things to consider. If we split up and someone finds Pitch then how do we know he won't overpower them? Last time he almost wiped us out, and even if he lost in the end it's been years since then. He could have easily regained his strength in that time, and with this new development he's probably gotten more powerful.
"And we don't personally know Nightlight that well. He might not care to see us. Maybe nobody's seen him in millennia because he didn't want to be seen. He saved Sparky over here, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's on our side. Tooth said it herself, he and Pitch were real close back in the day."
Tooth scoffed, "Nightlight would never. Manny trusted him more than anyone, and his feelings didn't stop him from defeating Pitch in the past." She hummed with angry energy.
"A lot can change in that amount of time," Aster said, frowning with indignity as she flew closer, face scrunched up in outrage.
"Nightlight was the first Guardian. He wouldn't betray the children like that. Someone who radiates such light could never stoop so low to the dark." She and Aster continued to glower at each other. The tension in the air was thick enough that Tadashi could have cut into it with a knife.
"Um, I know I don't have much experience with any of this, but I think Tooth is right. I only saw him for a few moments, but it didn't look like he was about to align himself with Pitch anytime soon," Tadashi said. "Not that that means he'll be on our side," he amended quickly when Aster snapped his disapproving gaze over to him. Tooth had a triumphant smile on her face.
"I just don't think we have to worry about him going dark. You could be right though, Aster. He might not want to see us. After all, it's not like he hung around to make sure you found me." He brought a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck, dislodging Jack's arm in the process.
"Well, that solved a whole lot of nothing," the winter spirit sighed. He swung his staff to rest on his shoulders and strode over to Honey's work station where he poked at a few of the tools left out.
"Jack is right. We are getting nowhere. We must act!" North bellowed, pounding his fist into his palm.
Tadashi slumped. It was a miracle they ever got anything done around here since they couldn't seem to agree on anything.
Sandy popped between them all and began throwing little gold images into the air. One of which was an arrow that looked suspiciously like it was pointing at him. The other guardians nodded along, far more experienced at deciphering his words than Tadashi.
"Sandy is also right. Best we figure this out another day. For now, we should go about our duties. And for you Tadashi, that means getting rest. Don't worry. Things will work out in end," said North, patting him hard on the back. Tadashi wondered if he'd find a hand shaped bruise on there tomorrow.
He also wondered if it was normal for them to just ignore their problems and procrastinate about what to do. It was like being back in college.