I had a good time in Spain :) got back today and sat down to write, almost like I never left lol

Enjoy the shot!

Beguile, v.
- You are tricked into doing something

"Sandy? Can I talk to you?" Jack asked quietly, sitting down on the cloud of golden sand beside the little man as he spread the dreams around the small town they were hovering over. Sandy cast him a sideways glance, taking in the crestfallen expression on his face and how the normally excitable and trouble making teen seemed shy and reserved. The dream master nodded slightly, looking back to his work, creating more dreams to send out to children.

"The thing is... you know when you were gone, when Pitch was trying to take over?" Jack continued, and Sandy nodded grimly, the sting of the black sand still very vivid in his memory. "Something happened... have you been told?"

At this, the smaller man stopped his work, trusting the sand to find it's own way to children while he gave Jack his full attention. North had mentioned briefly that Jack had betrayed them in a way at Easter while he had been gone, but he hadn't really gone into detail. So he shrugged slightly, sitting down and crossing his legs neatly in front of him, listening.

"I was taking Sophie back to bed, 'cos she got into the Warren, yeah?" Sandy nodded. "Well, I heard a voice, and I recognised it, so I followed it."

The smaller man nodded, understanding why Jack would do that. He knew now about the boy's past, about him dying to save his sister and he thought it was very admirable, and had a deep respect for the boy for doing that. But he didn't know what Jack was talking about now.

"I found Pitch's lair..." the white haired boy mumbled, and Sandy felt his attention intensify as more information was coming out. "I... the voice was coming from my memory box, and it was my sister and when I realised they were my memories I wanted to get them but I felt bad. So I tried to stop Pitch, and he... he told me my fears."

A question mark conjured itself above Sandy's head, and Jack gulped slightly as he went on.

"He said that no matter what I did you guys would never accept me, and I'd never be good enough and I would always mess things up," he explained, and Sandy shook his head vigorously. He'd always liked Jack. The dream master had seen him over the course of his three hundred years being a Winter Spirit and always loved how Jack ran after his dream sand, look at the different dreams he was making. He'd been a bit of company for the boy when he had nobody else otherwise. Of course his own duties had taken up the majority of his time, but he always intentionally sent streams of the sand past Jack when they did meet, because it always seemed to make the kid smile, and that was important to Sandy. Jack was – in effect – just a kid, and he'd taken the oath to protect children and make them happy. That included Jack.

"It was how I felt... anyway, I chased him around for a bit, but he kept hiding in shadows and stuff. And then eventually he threw the box to me and told me I'd done something wrong. Then I turned up in the Warren and everything was destroyed by the nightmares."

Sandy felt himself deflate a little bit, feeling terrible for the boy. It sounded as if Pitch had tricked him and stalled him whilst the nightmares wrecked Easter. He didn't know the whole situation, but from Jack's point of view it was a lot different than the brief North had given him.

"It made it all look like my fault... when I found Bunny, Tooth and North they saw the memory box and assumed I'd made a deal with Pitch to get my memories as long as I didn't stop him."

At this the small golden man reached out and took Jack's hand, squeezing it lightly to show him some support. He believed the kid... but he was wondering why he was telling him all of this. He should have told the others this right away.

So he created flickering images above his head, each of the other three Guardians, a box of teeth, Pitch. He was asking if Jack had told the others this story, and he bit his lip.

"I tried... Tooth listened, and I think she believes me. I don't think North does, and Bunny just won't listen at all."

Sandy felt a bit disheartened when he heard that. Of course Tooth would believe him, she gave everyone a chance and would listen to any story. She was a kind heart, and if she was sure people were telling the truth then she would believe them. Sandy didn't worry about what Tooth thought, because she would see the truth in the story and trust Jack.

It was North and Bunny he was most worried about, because there was no reason they shouldn't listen and trust him. The dream master knew Jack and North had developed a father son kind of bond, and if North was going to be true to that relationship they'd formed then he should listen to Jack and believe what he was said.

As for Bunny, the Pooka and Jack were like brothers, and as much as they might protest it he'd seen them laugh and joke and knew if given half a chance they would be thick as thieves.

"Will you help me tell them? Because they'll... um... listen to you? Metaphorically of course, you don't actually speak do you?" the boy laughed, and it was good to hear that chuckle in his voice again. So Sandy nodded, smiling, rising up again so he floated above his cloud, and Jack stayed sat there watching him.

"Thanks Sandy."