Chapter Three: Trying to Restore Memories

Jack flew all the way back to his lake and crashed into his home. He buried his head into his pillow, tears still falling down his cheeks. He couldn't believe the Guardians kicked him out. He couldn't believe that he wasn't believed in anymore. Everything he loved and cherished was gone.

Maybe it really was too good to be true, Jack thought. This made the tears fall even faster.

Jack sat up and curled into himself. He leaned against his window and stared outside. Snow was still piled everywhere from the blizzard he had created, and the moon was nowhere in sight.

Jack sighed and closed his eyes. Was everything that had happened in the past just one of the Sandman's dreams?

The Wind softly ruffled Jack's hair. Jack smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

"Thanks, Wind," said Jack. He got out of bed and decided to sit outside for a while. Jack walked out of his tree and sat by the edge of his lake. He tapped his finger against the ice causing a thin trail of frost fractals to spread across the surface.

Had the Guardians really taken away his Guardianship and pretended to be nice all along? Jack had finally thought that he found friends and maybe even a family in the Guardians, but maybe it was all an act. Maybe they didn't really care about him. Maybe the Man in the Moon decided to lift his spirits by making think he would become a Guardian and then strip all of that hope away from him.

Jack kicked the snow. This didn't feel right. The Guardians were excited to celebrate their one year anniversary of defeating Pitch, and were even more elated to celebrate Jack's one year anniversary as the Guardian of Fun. They wouldn't just turn their backs on him after decorating for three hours for the special occasion.

Jack looked up in hopes of seeing the moon for solace, but the clouds were still blocking it out. Jack stood up and went back inside. He was going to find answers.

…

When Jack woke up the next morning all of the memories of the day flooded back. He had hoped that he would wake up and discover that what had happened the other day was just a bad dream, but to his dismay, it was reality.

Jack picked out a cookie from the cookie jar and shoved it in his mouth. The sight of the Christmas colored jar brought back memories of him with North, making him sigh sadly. He grabbed his staff from its place on the wall and stepped outside. It was still snowy.

"I really hope Mother Nature doesn't get too upset with me for this…" said Jack. He had been expecting Emily Jane to at least come to his place and give him a lecture, but she hadn't said anything at all. Maybe she had forgotten him too. Jack was relieved to at least not have to deal with her at the moment.

Jack stretched and took to the air. He flew over Jamie's house and saw him and his friends having a snowball fight. Jack felt a pang of sadness watching him have fun with his friends. Usually, Jamie would wave when he flew by, but the nine-year-old continued to pelt his friends with snowballs.

Flying helped Jack clear his head as he thought of what could've happened. He really wished the Man in the Moon would tell him what was going on, but it wasn't night and it had been cloudy for two days straight.

Jack flew back to his lake and into the forest surrounding it. He stopped when he reached a dirt covered hole in the ground and looked down at it. Jack didn't know if Pitch was behind this since it would take him sometime to recover from the battle, but he wanted to make sure that the Boogeyman didn't try anything anyway. Jack created a thick layer of ice to cover up the dirt covered hole just in case.

Jack decided to at least try and make friends with the Guardians again. Maybe it would jog their memories if he mentioned some of their past adventures. Jack flew toward the direction of Punjam Hy Loo. Tooth was the Guardian of Memories, so maybe she would remember faster than the others.

Jack entered the Tooth Palace and landed lightly on his feet. Thousands of mini fairies were flying around placing children's teeth in their tooth boxes or flying out to retrieve them. Jack smiled as he saw Baby Tooth among the ones placing teeth into tooth boxes.

The mini fairies noticed his presence and at the sight of his teeth, they attacked him. Jack yelped as he felt hundreds of fairies tackle him and pry open his mouth. They gushed over his teeth and Jack could hear some fairies sigh. Jack struggled under their hold.

"Uh...guys? Could you get off of me, please?" Jack asked. The mini fairies fluttered away from him with dreamy looks on their faces. Baby Tooth and a few others shook their heads at their sisters' behavior toward the winter sprite.

"Thanks," said Jack. Some fairies fainted at the sight of his white teeth. Jack laughed.

"Okay, okay. I get it. My teeth are beautiful," said Jack. "Do you guys know where Tooth is?"

Baby Tooth fluttered up to him and nodded. She waved her hand in a gesture to follow him and led him to the heart of the Tooth Palace. Jack smiled at the sight of Tooth directing her fairies where to go. Her rainbow colored feathers darted everywhere as she assigned locations and oversaw the placement of children's teeth. Baby Tooth chirped to her and Tooth turned around. Jack suddenly felt very awkward. Tooth didn't remember him. What was he supposed to do?

"Er...Hi, Tooth," said Jack. "Remember me?" Jack mentally slapped himself. Of course she doesn't remember you!

Jack was surprised when Tooth fluttered up to him curiously. "Hello...Jack Frost was it? I've heard a lot about you!" She gasped when she caught a glimpse of his teeth. "Oh my moon!" She pried his mouth open and cooed. "Your teeth are beautiful! They really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow!"

Baby Tooth twittered at her and Tooth instantly recoiled. "Oh, sorry! It's just that your teeth are so...so amazing!"

Jack smiled. Even though she didn't remember him, she still acted like her old self. Jack also noticed that she was a lot friendlier with him than when she was at the anniversary.

"Yeah...You're fairies were looking at them earlier too," said Jack.

Tooth nodded. "I can tell." She gestured to some fairies who were still on the ground from when they passed out.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Yep. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something...About the anniversary party, I—"

"Jack," said Tooth. "It was Guardians only. And...You're not a Guardian."

Jack winced but quickly reverted to his casual composure. "Y-yeah. I know, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for breaking in and interrupting like that."

Tooth smiled softly. "It's okay. North said that other spirits had tried to break into his Workshop multiple times. You're actually the first one to make it past security."

So I actually broke into the North Pole successfully, thought Jack. Go figure.

"Anyway, how can I help you? I don't have much time," said Tooth.

"Well, I was wondering how you and the other Guardians defeated the Boogeyman," said Jack. "That must have been very difficult."

Jack thought that if he could get Tooth to recount the events from the three day battle, he would be able to get Tooth to remember what actually happened.

" That's a long story. I—"

A mini fairy fluttered up to Tooth and squeaked things to Tooth that Jack didn't understand. Tooth went through a series of various expressions, the first one being in disbelief and the last one being complete shock.

"Really? She did?! Oh no!" Tooth turned to Jack. "I'm sorry Jack. But I can't tell you right now. We have a mix up in Russia that we need to resolve."

Jack shrugged, but deep down, he was disappointed. "It's fine. I probably should get back to doing...other stuff too."

Tooth smiled at him and then turned to her fairies. "Okay ladies, to Russia and stat!" The Fairy Queen and her small army flew out of the palace, leaving Jack alone.

Jack sighed. A troop of mini fairies fluttered up to him with concerned expressions. Baby Tooth was amongst them.

"It's okay, guys," said Jack. "I'll just be leaving I guess."

The group of fairies nodded and flew away to their duties. Baby Tooth lingered for a while, but then flew away to join her sisters. Jack flew out of the Tooth Palace and toward Australia.

If he couldn't convince Tooth, then maybe he could convince a Kangaroo.