A Sandy Winter

Chapter 25: Sandy's Arrival

By the time Sandy had arrived he had worked himself in a near frenzy and was no mood to pay any attention to the yetis that valiantly tried to intercept him before Phil put an end to that and allowed Sandy free passage all the way to the infirmary. Sandy's mood was definitely not helped when he saw Bunny and North guarding the infirmary door, holding ice packs to their heads as they argued.

"I say we make a run for it," Bunny stated.

"Never!" North declared. "I am Russian warrior; I do not run from things."

Bunny gave him an incredulous look and said, "What about Sandy on the warpath?"

North opened his mouth to respond then closed it again and scowled. "But Sandy is not here yet," he said. "Which means we still have time to fix Jack before he arrives."

Sandy's heart (he still wasn't sure if he had one yet) skipped a beat and he hastily formed two giant sand fists and grabbed the two bigger Guardians by the scruff of their necks and dangled them in the air.

"Oh, hi, Sandy," North said weakly, already several shades paler. Even Bunny was being docile and not trying to escape. They obviously knew it would do them no good to resist as resistance was futile.

Sandy was very careful to make his words both slow and deliberate. 'What happened to Jack?'

"To be perfectly honest we're still not sure, mate," Bunny, surprisingly, answered first. "I found him lying unconscious in a snow drift. Come to think of it there was a pretty big blizzard raging though," he added thoughtfully.

Sandy could already feel himself relaxing. A blizzard. That would certainly explain not only Jack's fatigue but why there was no snow falling. Something occurred to him however and he shook the two Guardians roughly. 'Did you see anything in the snow?'

Bunny looked confused then slowly nodded. "I remember seeing a lot of bodies," (Sandy had to stifle a groan-he really needed to have another talk with Jack about the value of human life), "most of 'em had on uniforms on some sort and there were some kids too. I know cuz I heard one of 'em screaming 'is bloody 'ead off till some grown-ups came and told 'im to stop cryin'."

Sandy frowned, considering. Uniforms. That could indicate soldiers which could also mean that there had been yet another massacre. That would definitely explain Jack's little outburst although they really needed to talk about that as well. After looking at the two obviously terrified Guardians dangling in the air Sandy decided that that had suffered enough (for now) and unceremoniously dropped them on the floor.

After untangling himself from Bunny North managed to stand up and said, "He's in here," (rather unnecessarily of course) and pushed the door open.

Once inside Sandy's heart skipped another beat. Jack lay on the bed, looking so incredibly small and vulnerable, not even taking up one percent of the yeti-sized bed. His staff was gripped tightly in one fist while the other was pressed against his stomach. The coat that Sandy had given him a couple of years ago hung limply on his slender frame, reaching almost to the end of his too short brown pants. His pale bare feet looked too large for his body even though he was curled up into a ball. Hesitantly Sandy moved forward, almost fearful of what he might find.

Fortunately North seemed to sense what was bothering him and said, in a very soft tone of voice, "His vitals are stable. The yetis tell me he is merely unconscious but should be all right."

Preferring to make his own judgments Sandy felt Jack's forehead, relief sweeping through at the icy touch. Next he sprinkled dream sand above Jack's head and was forced to admit that Jack was, indeed, alive after brief images of himself and Jack appeared then disappeared. North's statement had been confirmed; Jack was merely in a healing sleep. He would be all right and he would hopefully wake up soon and explain himself.

"Little blighter's tougher than 'e looks," Bunny commented, his arms crossed as he leaned against the doorway. "Well unless 'e's surrounded by heat…" his voice trailed off when he realized that Sandy was now in his face, an eyebrow raised as he waited for Bunny to explain himself.

North wisely decided that now would be a good time to leave and tried to sneak out the door but Bunny grabbed him by the arm.

"You aren't going anywhere, mate. If I'm gonna get it from Sandy then might as well stay and explain why Jack wasn't 'ere in the first place, mate."

North glared at the Australian and Sandy glared at both of them. There was an awful lot of explaining that needed to be done. Just then the door flew open, knocking North off his feet and Tooth entered. "Sorry I'm late," she said hurriedly. "Did I miss anything?"

A/N: Hope you guys like. Yes both endings will be written. I'll post the alternate ending after I finish the story (just to avoid confusion). Thanks for all the reviews. 10 more please. Thanks!