A/N: Just a couple little edits, nothing big.

Italics + Underline = Sandy Speak

May 21st

Loving

The first time Jack met the Sandman, he'd been terrified of him.

It had been only two years since the spirit had risen from his lake, and already, he'd learned what a cruel place the world of immortals could be. He'd met three of his seasonal co-workers already, and things didn't end well for him. Nobody even bothered to explain anything about what he was or what he was supposed to do. Not a soul cared about him enough to do that, and his experimenting led to a lot of annoyed spirits.

For months now, he'd watched the golden sand travel along the night sky, occasionally spotting the master of it high in the sky. Jack had always hidden from him, scared of what the immortal would think of him.

But then, he'd run into the Dream Master, quite literally. The immortal teen's flying still needed a bit of improvement.

When Jack had crashed onto Sandy's cloud, he'd been really alarmed. He didn't know what to expect from the elder spirit.

Well, he'd been scared. That was kind of stupid.

The golden man was easily the nicest spirit Jack had ever met. (Or he thought so . . . he wasn't very good at understanding his pictographs at first.)

Unfortunately for the lonely spirit, he hardly ever saw the Sandman. He was always busy, and didn't always have time to spend with the winter spirit.

Until Pitch happened.

Nobody had seen it coming, least of all Sandy. Not a single Nightmare had come to his attention before the Boogeyman attacked. The specter had been careful.

And that had almost been the Guardian's downfall. Well, that and their outright stupidity concerning Jack.

The Master of Dreams still winced at any mention of that.

But, they tried to fix their mistakes. All of them did.

And that's what counted.

Because, that was what family did.

"SANDY! SANDY! COME HERE!"

Golden eyes turned, startled, toward the sound of Bunny's panicked voice. Quickly, the Sand Master dropped his cloud of sand to the ground, facing the Pooka.

A golden question mark appeared over his head, but not before Aster had leapt onto the cloud himself.

"The Pole. Now. Jack's been hurt."

There was no way to describe Sandy's sense of terror at that statement.

He asked no more questions, instead transforming his sand into a plane and rushing toward the Workshop. Bunny filled him in on the way there.

There'd been a fire near Burgess, and Jack had gone to fight it. Sandy had to screw up his face when he learned that fact. Honestly, the boy was too protective of that town for his own good.

Finally, the duo made it to the Pole, and rushed in, finding Toothiana fluttering worriedly outside the medical wing.

Sandy had never been more worried in his entire life. Tooth had told them just how bad Jack had appeared, and with the absence of any yetis, they couldn't ask what was going on.

It was terrifying.

"Check."

". . . How are you this good?" Sandy shook his head at the board, trying to figure out how to salvage the game.

"I just am. Check."

The Sand Master let an exclamation point form over his head before moving his only remaining pawn. The bedridden boy smirked a bit, and the elder Guardian knew that he'd done something wrong. Jack slid his bishop forward.

"Checkmate," He emphasized. Sandy felt his jaw drop in disbelief before he sighed.

The winter spirit grinned before pulling out a piece of loose-leaf paper, "That makes five for me, one for you. Want to play again?"

Sandy,

I decided to write you a letter. Well, it's more like Tooth wanted me to write you a letter, and I went along with it because I'm bored.

Did you know that I used to keep a journal? Well, I did. I think that's why I'm always more open on paper than in actual conversations. I'm used to writing the truth down, instead of the half-truths I usually tell.

Anyways, that's why I'm writing this to you instead of just telling you. It's easier that way.

So, did you know that North wants us to get together and take a picture so that he can send out Christmas cards to all the immortals? Like a family photo or something.

Now I'm rambling. Here's the point of the letter:

Sandy, you are the most awesome brother ever.

Yikes. I said it. Scary.

Yup, I'm considering you my adopted brother now. Hopefully you're okay with it, because once I get an opinion, it's hard to get me to let go of it.

I'll admit. That was hard to write.

You know I've been thinking. During those centuries, all I wanted was someone to care. Now I have you guys.

I'm the most happy I've ever been.

So, thanks. For reading this. For being awesome. For pranking Bunny with me. For being you.

For loving me.

Wow, I sound sappy. I'm going to quit now, while I'm ahead. It's already taken me a half hour to write this stinking thing.

Love,

Jack Frost