Hi guys! Thank you again for all your kind words and reviews, I really appreciate them all. Dear Sheeijan, thank you for your ideas and support.

There seems to have been some confusion as to when Jack is going to wake up. Don't worry, that's all resolved now, lol.

My apologies that its not longer. Some...drama...(that's the only polite way I can phrase it), happened with my ex husband, that nearly ended up permanently traumatizing my two little girls. Don't worry, my frying pan met his balls in an epic battle. The skillet won.

Enjoy.

Chapter 12

The Tooth Fairy had the thought to go to the children as soon as she could to tell them that Jack had been found. The children of Burgess had been so relived to find out that Jack was safe, and Jamie had sent along a card (more like an overloaded poster) from them all that wished Jack the best. Toothania had teared up a bit at the sight of the poster, knowing how much Jack would love it. Granted, it was going to take some doing to make sure none of the liberal amount of blue glitter (little Sophie's addition) fell off as she flew back to the Tooth Palace to store it for him. She didn't find out for nearly a month that her little fairies had been inspired by the art, and had made Jack a card too. Or, rather, several thousand.

With nearly a metric ton of blue glitter involved in the creative process.

Nearly a week later, Mother Earth had sent a message to the Guardians. She detailed the names of the Summer spirits that were causing so much trouble, and their main territories. Two of the five, Djinn and Sutekh, hadn't been seen in almost a month. It seemed to confirm Bunnymund's memories of defending Jack from them, which was a positive sign for all the Guardians to consider.

The other three were suspected of using transporting magic to jump across the world, which would make them much harder to track down. Emesh, Notos, and Nuba were some of the oldest spirits around. They knew a great deal of magic from many parts of the world, and seemed to be pooling their knowledge to keep them hidden. At least they tended to return to their home regions often; the best chance of catching them would be some kind of ambush.

Little tooth fairies would scour the deserts and territories at night during their rounds of collecting teeth, and a few brave yetis had volunteered to go hunting during the colder nights in the vast deserts. Bunnymund was single-handedly patrolling multiple deserts at once, able to race across them with his incredible speed. He was rather eager to meet the Summer spirits that would have dared to harm Jack. (And he desperately needed something to do to keep his mind off the incessant need to be near and solidify further the bond with his sleeping, vulnerable mate.)

Sandy had posted his dream sentinels in every desert the spirits were known to roam. As soon as any activity appeared, he could send out the call to the other Guardians. They were more than ready to put down the group and protect their Jack.

But it seemed that the loss of two of their number had taught the other three caution. They were in deep hiding somewhere, and their ancient knowledge of magic was shielding them from magical sight. For now, at least. North was firmly of the opinion that they would get complacent or cocky sooner or later. And as soon as they showed themselves, the Guardians would be there to bring them to justice.

Pitch's part in the scheme wouldn't be discovered for a long while. But then again, Pitch always had been good at hiding things from the Guardians...


Four and a half months later...

Bunny had regularly patrolled his hundreds of tunnels near the Warren for months now. He'd found small, almost insignificant signs of spirits that had been prowling near the edges of his wards within his first day of rounds. If Aster hadn't been aware of the Summer spirits and their plot, he could have and most likely would have dismissed the signs as nothing, or maybe some kind of animal's tracks. The spirits had known how to cover their tracks and nearly all traces of their magical signature, and would have escaped unchallenged with Jack if Bunny hadn't been there to protect him.

The Pooka had been enraged at the discovery. The signs were barely a few months old, meaning that the Summer spirits had known where Jack was, had maybe even followed him for MiM knew how long. They had been testing the Warren's magical defenses, and had clearly found them lacking to keep them out for long. He had even found where the two desert spirits had punched through his ward scheme, a weakness he'd never known it had. He had already made adjustments to compensate for it, but the principle still stood. He needed to protect Jack.

He wanted to be near Jack so badly, but no longer trusted himself to do so. He didn't dare step foot into his home only to be confronted by the deliciously intoxicating scent of mint. Oh, his heat wouldn't affect him for another year, but it would still be increasingly hard to not give a small nuzzle or little touch to his mate's shoulder or neck.

And he'd had time to finally come to grips with calling Jack that. His mate. Not the term like it was normally used in an Aussie's context, but a real mate, a bonded eternally mate. He didn't deserve it, and MiM knew Jack didn't deserve it either, but...it was frightening and wonderful all at once. The last of the Pookas finally had a bond-mate. No matter what happened, Bunnymund knew that he would never be alone. For someone that had lost his entire species, that was something incredible and to be cherished no matter how it happened. But oh gods, if only it hadn't happened like it had...

A soft swirl of mint on a cooler than normal breeze made him go completely still. He threw open his magical senses and searched, pushing his magic down every tunnel and wall. It pushed through the doors and gates of the Warren, echoing through his magical golems and plants until it reached the thicket. His magic rejoiced at finding the building, surging crest of white and glacial blue of Jack's magic. Jack's power stirred and grew, unfurling like the leaves of a flower, or like fronds of frost over a window pane. Awareness shot through the power like a bolt of lightning, and Bunnymund gasped in shock, hope, anxiety, and even the faintest slivers of fear and joy mixed.

Jack was awake.


A pair of bleary eyes blinked awake as pale pink lips opened wide in a yawn. Pale young limbs stretched in the best way, absently scratching over a spot on his chest. Glacier blue eyes blinked clear at the surprising feel of a soft blanket over his legs and waist. Long fingers gently touched the silvery cloth, and Jack smiled at the sight of it. Someone had cared enough to cover him in case he was, the winter spirit found a chuckle at the thought, cold. A quick mental check on his magical reserves had the spirit smiling. He was fully charged and ready to go out and have some fun!

A flash of golden sand came to him from the corner of his eye, and Jack looked surprised to see a small bird made of dream sand fly off from what looked to be a perch in the thorns around his thicket. Had Sandy put it there? Was he worried about Jack?

Or had he found Bunny? Oh please, let Sandy have found Bunny! Jack felt a surge of worry and concern for his friend. Along with some major embarrassment and a mental promise of one hell of a beat-down. What the hell had those freak spirits done to the Easter Bunny? And did someone, anyone, manage to fix it? If not, Jack was more than eager to track down those damned spirits and make them pay for every single second of suffering they'd forced on others.

A loud series of chirps was his only warning as a very relived and happy Baby Tooth crashed into Jack's chest. The teen frantically scrambled to cover up his lower half with one hand as the other cradled the little fairy to him. Once he got back his composure, (and protected his modesty), he answered her urgent nuzzles and little kisses of her beak with a small, genuine smile. "Hey, Baby Tooth. Wow, hehe, you act like you're happy to see me."

She chirped softer now, eyes closing in contentment as she lay her cheek against his.

Jack blinked in surprise at her display of more-obvious-than-usual affection. "I missed you too, B.T. How's the old Hopper? Back to his old grumpy self, or still nuttier than squirrel"-(big, innocent violet eyes looked up at him, and he instantly modified his language)-"sa. Squirrels, I mean, nuttier than a squirrel, 'cause you know, squirrels, nuts...oh boy," he hung his head at his own nonsense, the little fairy nearly rolling out of his hand in laughter. "That was bad, wasn't it? Well I'm glad you think its funny. But seriously, how is he?"

Baby Tooth just shook her head, the little gold feather waving back and forth. It looked like Jack didn't understand just what had happened to him. Maybe he didn't remember? Oh well. She was just glad that she wasn't the one that was going to have to explain it to him.

She honestly pitied the one that had to explain all of this.


...

Bonus points and shout-outs to whoever picks out the real histories and story behind these new spirits' names!

Please review!