Chapter 17

Marigold Tombstone

"Otherwise, leave me damn well alone."

Then Bunny slammed his foot on the ground and disappeared. . .

But not before muttering something under his breath. Jack Frost was the only one present enough to hear the exhaled scorn just before the tunnel closed.

"Why do I even bother?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I´m really sorry guys. . . That was all my fault," said Jack softly. The suffocating awkwardness dissipated ever so slightly.

"No, is alright. We all pressed him," said North as he rubbed his belly again, brow furrowed in thought.

". . . We all wanted to know. . ." he finished.

"So, what happened before I came?" asked Tooth softly. Jack filled her in as Sandy floated over to where Bunny had disappeared. There was only an orange marigold sprouting from the wooden floor. A cheerful reminder of a painful mistake.

The vibrant petals pushed the Sandman´s mind back even further into his memories with flashes of a worn blanket and a black-covered door.

"We should go talk to him and apologize," said Jack with a heavy voice once he finished his summary. North shook his head and patted his young friend on the shoulder.

"No, Jack. He wants to be alone. He will come back when he is ready. . ."

". . . Okay. . ." sighed Jack as the damper in the room settled further.

They all marinated in the stillness as the clock gave them all a long tick-tock scolding.

Finally, North gave a small smile and took a deep breath.

"Well, there is nothing to do about it now. Let´s go to kitchen for some snacks and continue with meeting there, yes? Change in scenery is needed, I think."

The others nodded solemnly and filed out, their eyes either avoiding the marigold tombstone, or staring emptily at it as they walked by.

North was the last to leave. He gently placed the black stone on the fireplace mantle, keeping it in the center so that it could be easily found if his friend decided to slip in quietly to recover it.

His pained gaze lingered on it, then his brows knit together and he let out a low sigh. As he turned to go, one eyebrow raised as the marigold stared at him, making him reconsider his decision.

Reaching back, he took the stone again. He looked around the empty room and slipped it into one of his pockets, buttoning the closure just to be safe. Then he nodded to himself and began his three-legged trek to the kitchens, his brain turning over a plan of action for when the owner of his newest nicked trinket came to retrieve it.

The walk helped him to clear his mind as he passed through the familiar setting of flying toys, grumbling yetis and the elves, who were back to their usual shenanigans with electricity and decorations.

For now, he was still in charge of hosting the meeting.

He could run Bunny´s confession through his memory again later.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seventeen hours later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .

Tooth was in her circular command station, as usual.

Her fairies were zooming around with teeth and boxes. As usual.

But their movements and voices had a dampened, blue quality to them that was not, in fact, usual.

Come to think of it, Sandy´s mood matched theirs perfectly, as he assumed North´s and Jack´s did as well.

How Bunnymund was feeling was anyone´s guess.

Sandy let out a sigh at the thought and made himself smile before floating over to catch Tooth´s attention. It wasn´t until he was right next to her that the poor woman noticed him.

"Oh! Sandy," she said with a hand to her chest, "You surprised me, are you ok?" she asked with sad eyes.

He kept his smile firm, but couldn´t bring himself to nod.

Tooth looked down.

"Yes, I think we´re all worried about him," she said with a sigh. She made to say more but her words hitched in her throat as her eyes started to blink.

Sandy rushed to give her a hug before she could start crying. He patted her head and made silent shushing sounds as they embraced.

Luckily, it seemed to work, because her lips curved up slightly and her fairies started moving a little faster as they buzzed to and fro with their precious cargo.

The hug lasted long enough for Sandy to realize that he wasn´t accustomed to embracing Tooth. The thought made him frown a little, and he made a mental note to visit her more often in order to make a new habit.

Tooth let out a content sigh as they separated, sharing a sad smile. She asked one of her fairies to take over for a bit before turning all her attention to her small friend.

"I´m sorry, was there something you wanted to talk about?" she asked, her posture straightening.

Sandy paused as a crowd of flashing signs whirled over his head. His eyes watched her carefully before his sand settled and he sent her a comforting smile.

"Flowers, tooth, ?" he sanded.

"What do you mean flowers?" she asked openly.

Sandy bit the inside of his cheek for a second before answering.

"Egg, flowers, tooth, ?"

Tooth frowned.

"You mean Bunny´s flowers?"

Sandy nodded and pointed at her.

"Oh!" she said, brightening up. "The ones he planted for me? Come here, I´ll show you!"

Sandy´s eyebrows raised and he nodded with real enthusiasm. Soon Tooth was leading him by the hand to the ground level of her home.

As they went, he had another revelation about his friendship with Toothiana. Though he had known North longer, and he spent more down-time with him, Sandy felt closer to Tooth. His brows furrowed a bit at the thought, but he realized that it was because of how similar their jobs were.

North and Bunnymund were great. But, Tooth alone could appreciate how draining it could be to work 365 nights a year.

He raised his brows as another string of thoughts morphed above him. Despite Bunnymund´s aversion to the subject, Sandy was glad that they would have more meetings soon. Friends don´t make themselves, right?

His thoughts were put on hold as he and Tooth neared the ground.

"Here they are," she said proudly, gesturing to an intricate mound of flora.

"He planted them for me right here himself, and somehow they´ve never needed weeding or re-planting, just water," she said, smiling softly.

The patch was indeed beautiful. White carnations, bluebells, yellow tulips and purple iris´ swirled together in a graceful pattern of life. The smell was fresh and invigorating, and the sound of the bees that hummed lazily over the blooms was soothing and melodic.

Sandy felt some of his distress evaporate at the beautiful sight before him.

"Aren´t they lovely?" she asked contently. "The tulips are my favorites. He said that yellow tulips represent sunny smiles, and the white flowers make me think of sparkling teeth!"

She knelt and picked one of the bluebells. Then she handed it carefully to Sandy, who loved it immediately.

He admired the vibrant purple-blue color and let out a sigh. Despite the heart clenching events from earlier, this spot brought back good memories of his stubborn, furry friend.

"Calendar, flowers, ?" he asked.

"Oh, a year or two after I became a guardian. It was soon after the first fight that we had with Pitch. Bunny came and helped us, remember?"

Sandy nodded and lowered himself onto the ground so they could be side by side.

"Well, after my wing got injured, North asked Bunny to help me." She chuckled a little. "I didn´t want him to. He was so strict and grouchy, remember?"

Sandy nodded with raised eyebrows.

Tooth continued.

"At least, that´s what I thought at the time. It wasn´t until a few weeks had passed and my wing was nearly healed that he actually seemed to relax enough for us to talk a little for the first time. . ."

She gave a sad smile to Sandy, which he returned.

"I realized that he was just very direct, and he thought niceties were a waste of time. He wasn´t trying to be rude, and he actually did care about how I was."

Her smile became fond.

"He asked me how I was adjusting to becoming a guardian."

She chuckled and glanced knowingly at Sandy, who looked curious.

"I thought it was strange for him to ask, since he wanted absolutely nothing to do with us, remember?"

Sandy let out a smug grin, making a scoreboard above his head.

"G:1, Egg:0"

Tooth tried to keep from laughing but failed as she smacked him lightly on the shoulder and covered her mouth.

"You two were so mean to him!" she scolded through a smile.

Sandy shrugged cockily.

"Egg, G, checkmark, fireworks."

Tooth shook her head, but couldn´t get rid of her grin.

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Well friends, I´m sorry that this one isn´t as polished. My eyes are starting to give me trouble, and staring at a computer for school and this story isn´t doing me any favors. With that said, I don´t know if I´ll be able to publish a chapter next week, but I´ll do my best.

To these wonderful people:

Guest: Thank you so much for your reviews! I´m sorry to hear about your childhood bully, Angel. What a terrible name for a bully! But I´m proud of you for getting yourself out of that situation. I´m sure it was frightening. I do have a question for you (more than just the usual ones). Would you rather read one chapter per week (average word count being just short of 2,000) consistently, or would you rather have a hiatus of a few months and then 2 chapter updates per week with the same average word count? This isn´t relevant now, I´m just planning for the future, and since you´ve been such a consistent help I want to take your opinion into account. Thank you Friend!

Shellycat: Hello, and thanks for leaving a review! Interesting theory about Pitch. . . We shall see. . . And I think you´re right. The others would have done better if they´d just asked him if he was alright, and then dropped it.

What do you think?

1. Any thoughts about Sandy´s motivation for going to visit Tooth? What do you think about the flowers?

2. So far, we´ve seen how 3 of the 5 guardians are reacting to what happened. What differences do you see between North, Sandy and Tooth? Why do you think they´re responding this way? How would you be feeling if you were one of them?

3. What do you think that North is planning/considering?

4. Have you ever gotten into an argument or a conflict like this, and how did you fix it?

5. Any other thoughts you would like to share (again, sorry for the lack of organization in this post. My eyes feel very scrambled today).

Have a great week, and hopefully I´ll see you here in 8 days. If not, I´ll be back in 2 weeks!