MiM woke up to find himself bound in chains. Once he had realized this, he narrowed his eyes and tried to make sense of where he was now.
His first note was that it was bone-chillingly cold where he was. Even colder than the Himalayas, and that was saying something. MiM's eyes tried to adjust to the darkness, which was his next clue. As he began to move, the chains that held him rattled on metal ground.
That was enough for MiM to realize where he was now.
A flame flickered in front of his face, and he was soon looking into the face of WiS. "It's fortunate for you that you're awake," she greeted with a sneer. "I was beginning to think that I'd have to burn your face off to get your attention." With that, the fire went out.
MiM frowned, and his brow creased as he tried to remember how he had gotten knocked out in the first place.
Of course...after she declared she was going to kill me...
His head hurt. She probably clocked me on the head when I didn't see it coming. He winced at the reminder, but then his eyes widened at a sudden realization: My staff's not here. He glanced around his surroundings, but sure enough, it was nowhere to be found.
"I'm sure you've guessed already where I've taken you," Lady Solar spoke again. MiM turned to her, trying to look composed. "Of course," he craned his neck to look her in the eye. "Just like old times."
"Well, I was planning to defeat you and the Guardians on Earth, but since you wanted to go to the Moon anyway..." WiS shook her head and laughed. "No matter. You wanted me to tell you what I'm planning to do with the demon tool BREW."
"You bet your ass I do," MiM retorted.
His captor frowned. "You sounded..." she raised her eyebrow, "...just like Spirit Albarn when you said that."
"You know the reason why."
"Good boy." Solar smiled again. "Now let me tell you my side of the story.
"So a hundred years ago, I was inside the North Pole with Katherine, Maka Albarn, and Soul Eater Evans. You read the records about that, right?" She breathed a laugh, then continued. "Anyway, I had just explained to them my...rather questionable actions in Death City that eventful week. Then I got to thinking..." she pointed at him. "If your soul was just like Spirit Albarn's soul, and Maka's soul was also like Nightlight's soul..."
MiM's stomach turned as her smile grew wider, like that of one who has realized they have won the lottery. WiS continued, "...Then that meant you and Nightlight had something to do with their births. Basic law – no two souls, no matter what small difference – could be that alike. Maka said it herself.* So you performed that spell, an old Golden Age spell..." she began to hyperventilate in excitement.
Lunar tensed. Five hundred years ago, she would never have breathed like that...
She finally got her lungs under control, and finished, "...You had used an old spell to save your and Nightlight's souls by putting their essences in two unborn babies' souls!"
Lunar stared up at her, and after 4 seconds, he looked down again. "Many unborn babies' souls," he clarified. "For the generations after the Kishin was sealed away, Nightlight and I were there – reincarnating until finally reaching the Albarns."
"If that's so, then why didn't I notice that for 400 years?" WiS asked.
"You didn't really pay attention," MiM replied, and was rather pleased to see that Lady Solar couldn't keep a straight face on. He continued, "The one time you bothered to look was because of Pitch's return. And guess what? You found me in Spirit and Nightlight in Maka."
"...Point taken." WiS said after a long pause. Lunar found it in himself to lightly chuckle. "It's an emergency protocol. When any Guardian dies, we go through cycles of reincarnation until the rest of the Guardians regain full power and we are believed in again. We can't hold the beliefs of children without each other, after all; except maybe Nightlight, but I put the spell on him just the same."
"Then what happened when the Sandman died?"
"The Guardians quickly got their powers back; that's how Sandy returned without having to resort to sharing a soul. It just took longer with Nightlight and I because of 400 years of disbelief."
WiS made a sound like a cross between a laugh and a scoff. "You didn't think to tell me I should have done that for my Protectors."
"You didn't ask," he said simply.
Suddenly, Solar grabbed Lunar by his chin, and turned it upwards so that he had to look at her. "It. Could. Have. Saved. Them." she said coldly, then pushed him back. "Even if their human bodies died, thei souls would have simply gone off to be shared with any other unborn being."
"No, owning up to your mistakes would have saved them," MiM firmly told her. "And?" WiS held her hands out at her sides. "Is that what you're trying to do with Jack?"
The man stifled a growl at the winter spirit's name. "At least...I can admit I've done something wrong."
"I have admitted that!" WiS snapped harshly. "The thing about it is that I want everything to be back to the way that it was. When a child was the most powerful thing in the world, when the only things we had to worry about were Dark Spirits and not kishin eggs and my Protectors were alive!"
She panted from her outburst, and walked away, not facing him. Then she stopped, and he could tell that she was grinning. "Well, I want everything back to the way it was 500 years ago."
He watched as she sneered even wider, and pulled out BREW to look at it. "I think I have the perfect tool to use to make it happen...to make everyone forget."
MiM's mouth fell open. Before he could say anything else, WiS finished, "Oh, and thanks for teaching me how to write. Because of your efforts, I was able to write a...proper letter to your Guardians." She laughed, and then she was gone.
He lowered his head, trying to think of a way out of this, but all that he could think of was what did she tell them?
"I can't believe this," Jack breathed, stepping back, and then briskly walking over to a pillar before kicking it. "I can't believe this!"
"I can't believe it either." Bunny crossed his arms. "I mean, why would he even try to gain our trust if all he's gonna do is betray it?"
Jack leaned on his staff, nodding grimly. "Maybe I was right to be suspicious of him after all."
"But..." Katherine looked from the upset Guardians to the gong. She flew up to it, floating next to Nightlight as she examined the instrument as well. "There's gotta be some other explanation for what happened here. L-like the Woman in the Sun could have been here..."
Nightlight had the same pensive look on his face, only he was looking down and thinking. Finally he looked up to Katherine, and said in a whisper, "But no one really taught the Woman in the Sun how to write."
"So...you somehow think the Man in the Moon is really behind this?"
"Guys!" The Guardians looked up to acknowledge the person who called out – it was Tooth. Once they were all focused on her, she continued, "I know you're all upset about this. Of course. But it just means our enemy is different now. Our objective hasn't changed. We have to go to the Moon, find BREW there, and stop whatever it is they're gonna use BREW for."
After a pause of two seconds, North stood up. "Of course. Thank you, Tooth." He put a hand on her shoulder, and then turned to everyone else. "We might be upset about this message, but it's not like we can't handle it! We are still Guardians, and we have to protect this Earth from danger." With that, he turned to the storyteller. "Katherine! Where are the airships?"
"They're down the hall," Katherine said. "But I still don't know if they work; they were only for emergencies."
"Then let's go and find out, shall we?" North headed out of the room, with the Guardians following after him.
Jack was at the back of the line, trying to keep his feelings in check. I should never have trusted him.
Maybe I should just kill him.
Shut up. The winter spirit closed his eyes, trying to block out the unnecessary thoughts. I'm not going to become a murderer just because the Man in the Moon is teaming up with one.
I already am. The Fearling cackled. Remember the Bennetts?
Jack grabbed at his head, trying to keep the thoughts out. Stop. Stop. Stop. He breathed in and out, calming himself.
A hand tugged at the hem of his jacket. He looked down to see Sandy looking at him with a concerned face. The winter spirit finally eased, and then he put a hand on Sandy's head, ruffling the dream-giver's hair.
"Thanks, Sandy, I needed that."
The two of them followed the Guardians to the end of the hall. This led to a large room – almost like a large museum room housing ancient planes. Jack's mouth fell open in wonder. "Nice," he said to no one in particular. "Looks almost like it came out of a steampunk movie."
Sandy smiled up at him. Jack was beginning to sound like his old self again.
"Not really, mate," Bunny said in reply to Jack's statement. "Humans may've had a good idea of what the Constellations' ships looked like, but it's not really the same thing."
"We just need to find a small ship, one big enough for ze seven of us," North looked around. He mused quietly to himself, "Wasn't like old days, you could just ask for Lunar Moths..."
Tooth lifted herself higher, and flew around the room before spotting something. "Here!" she called from a few yards away. "This should be small enough."
The other Guardians came over to see an airship with large wings that made up for its small coach. They could see quite plainly that it was enough for them, and with that they quickly got on board.
Jack ran a hand over the ship's stardust-plated railing. "Can this really take us to the Moon?" the winter spirit asked his fellow Guardians. North smiled. "We will see."
He nodded to Sandy, who called forth a stream of dreamsand to use as the ship's fuel. It vanished into a small pipe in the center of the deck, and Jack nearly laughed as the ship thrummed into life.
(A/N: * - WiS is referring to the thirteenth chapter of The First Guardian.
So sorry for the long hiatus. I honestly don't really like this part of The First Guardian AU anymore – seeing as I don't update it often – but I guess I ought to finish what I started.)