Memento Vivere means "Remember to Live".
~XxTMRxX
Chapter 12: Momento Vivere
Hell tore himself from the Sandman's grasp, not bothering to use magic, and simply ran to his mentor and friend's side. Tooth backed up slowly in shock, as she saw tears begin to trail down Hell's face, and he gripped the shoulders of Pitch's black robe like it was the only thing real in the world. Tooth was suddenly disgusted with herself. This wasn't like her. She, the Tooth Fairy, did not kill. She just didn't- not unless they were Nightmares, then they deserved it. And now she had seen his memories, all of them, in the time it took Pitch to die.
Hell did nothing to the two Guardians. His head was bowed and tears still rushed from his eyes. He had no one left who cared about him in this world, his entire immortal family was in Death's domain. He had no memories of his human family. Pitch had been the closest thing Hell had ever known as a father figure.
As Tooth watched transfixed at Hell's agony over Pitch's death, the Guardian of Dreams floated over to one of the Lair's walls, one of the only walls that the Moon's light could reach. There, he scratched something on the wall, something that would always remind him and the other Guardians why they fought the darkness.
Ex Umbra In Solem.
From shadow into light.
All Tooth and Sandy did to find their way back to the warren was follow the path of destruction. Well, Sandy guided Tooth back, because the only thing the fairy could see was the dagger, Pitch's dagger, in her hands. North, Bunny and Jack (standing by now) all looked up as their fellow Guardians flew out of the Africa tunnel, which was accidentally connected by debris so the Scotland tunnel. No one asked what happened as Tooth handed the black-bladed dagger to Jack Frost. His mouth fell open; the winter spirit knew who it belonged to. He glanced at Sandy, who was holding a non-mathematical equation above his head. Tooth + (dagger) = Pitch with an 'X' through Pitch's picture. Jack nodded. Then Sandy wrote "Hell" beneath what was already written.
"Hell? That's who we were fighting?" Bunny asked him. The Sandman nodded grimly. Jack gingerly put the dagger in his hoodie pocket.
"Great." Bunny said sarcastically.
"Pitch is dead, but in his place is something potentially far worse." North sighed. The old toy-maker looked defeated. Suddenly the determined glint was back in Jack's eyes, who suddenly tapped his staff once on the earth.
"Hey, what is this? We are the Guardians of Childhood! We've fought darkness together, we've saved the world with AWESOMENESS together! So why would any of you, any of us, think that together , we can't do it again? Come on guys! This, this is what we were born for!" Jack looked each of the other Guardians in the eyes. "This is our life." He whispered.
"You're right Jack, we can do this!" Tooth straightened and smoothed her feathers down, then continued, "Pitch's last words…they were 'Tell Jack, do not fall, do not give up hope and remember to live' and, well, none of that sounds exactly promising."
Jack Frost just smiled dramatically. "Right, I'll keep that in mind. Now who's up for some hellion catching?"
"Ha ha, funny Jack, real funny." North laughed at the pun.
Bunny was looking overly happy about what Jack said, so much, that Jack felt the sincere need to add, "And I don't mean me!"
"Dang it..."