Hi! Just a warning that this chapter will be pretty sad for the Guardians (but it will get better soon.) I typed this up over the last day or so. Sorry if there are any typos or other really obvious errors that I missed when I edited it. I will post the next chapter today or tomorrow. Let me know if the info in this chapter is confusing in any way.

***I'm combining parts of the backstories and storylines created by William Joyce in the Guardians of Childhood book series, the movie, and my own ideas. So, for those who have read the books, some characters' and their backstories will be similar to the books (and/or movie) while other characters will be very different.

XxTMRxX

Spirit of Earth/Life: Terra/Mother Nature

Spirit of Light: Udaya

Spirit of Time: Tempus/Father Time

Chapter 23: Last Light of Hope

(North's Workshop)

"This has to end. Before anyone else gets taken, or hurt, or..." Tooth purposefully looked down to avoid Bunny's gaze as she spoke. She stood in front of the Globe of Belief's control panel with North and Bunny, trying to comprehend what had happened at the Warren. The Guardian of Hope was still standing, but his posture was hunched inward, his health greatly weakened from the battle and loss of Pandora's box.

"I agree, Tooth. But how we can stop them, that is ze question. They knew about Pandora's box, who knows what they will do with it now?" North was pacing back and forth across the Globe room.

It was snowing heavily outside, and the cold polar winds howled across the icy landscape surrounding the Workshop. Sandy silently watched the storm from where he sat on a window ledge inside. All gift-making materials had been moved to the basement levels of the Workshop, where things would be most protected in case of an attack. The Workshop was strangely quiet, empty without yetis bustling about the main floors as they made gifts for the world's children. Sandy missed them. And then there were the elves. No one could really control them, of course. Three of them currently sat on a window seat with Sandy, gazing out at the frigid landscape with worried expressions on their faces. The elves weren't completely stupid; they knew something bad was happening.

Bunny knew something was terribly wrong when he was specifically targeted by Hell, and especially Dark. The instant that Dark appeared in his warren, despair rolled through every egg meadow, canyon, dye river and egg tunnel like silent thunder and crushing darkness. Yet Bunny was the only one deeply affected by it. That feeling had not gone away during or after that battle, and it grew worse as time went on.

North and Tooth continued their conversation around him; North kept pacing until Bunny hissed at him to stop moving because it was making his headache worse.

"What if—Oh moon above, what if we're not enough to protect the children? Jamie? Jack would never forgive us for not stopping Hell and Dark before they could hurt him today." Tooth was muttering aloud worriedly, but talking to no one in particular. "We need to go check on Jamie and Diane, we owe them that at least. Or maybe Baby Tooth could go?"

"That might work, but Hell might be able to find us or Baby Tooth there and then Jamie would be in even more danger than before."

"North, he was unconscious! How did we, the Guardians of Childhood, let this happen? We've defeated Pitch three times now, along with plenty of other threats. We should be better than this!"

"Both of you, stop! Just stop talking!" Bunny suddenly shouted at them, startling his fellow Guardians (excluding Sandy, who's silent nature meant he rarely got involved in their arguments) so much that they actually ceased to speak.

Sandy floated down to the Globe Room from his window perch, his expression concerned. Bunny's silence and sudden outburst were so out of character that the Guardian of Dreams felt obligated to investigate. He formed a dreamsand question mark above his head as he approached Bunny, silently asking him how he felt.

Bunny looked at Sandy with despair in his eyes as he put one paw on the Globe controls to keep himself upright, and it was then that Sandy realized the full magnitude of the effects losing Pandora's box and Hope would have on the Guardians, on the world.

From the Tooth's gasp and North's whispered "Oh no," Sandy guessed that they had reach the same conclusion.

Before any of them could vocalize their shared horror, a snowglobe portal opened above the Globe's controls and two people were flung out of it, barely missing Tooth and her mini-fairies as they tumbled out onto the floor.

"We need to summon MiM," Bunny said quietly, his voice reduced to a rasp as he stared absent-mindedly at the newly arrived Jamie and Diane Bennett. "Hell and Dark are doing something to Hope. I can't tell what, exactly, but it's not good."

"What are you talking about?" Jamie asked as he got to his feet and picked up the textbook he had brought to the north pole with him (he was a little behind on homework.) The atmosphere in the Globe room felt so heavy it could have easily belonged to the audience of a Shakespearean tragedy.

Jamie's belief in Bunny seemed to boost the Guardian's energy and health for a moment, and he gave the 13 year-old a genuine but strained smile. "There's no easy way to say this, but there's something wrong with my center, the part of me I protect in you kids. Hell and Dark, they…they forced Jack to give up his hope in order to steal the Earth's spirit of Hope from me in the warren."

Diane's hand flew to her mouth as she and Jamie took in the fading form of the guardian of hope. With a growing horror, Jamie saw that Bunny's fur and eye color didn't just look faded, he was literally fading out of existence. His body was gradually becoming semi-translucent, like a ghost's. Jamie looked around at the other Guardians in confusion, trying to figure why the Easter Bunny was disappearing right before his eyes. Finally, his eyes settled on North.

"Tell me what's going on," he pleaded.

North didn't know where to begin. The children they protected were so rarely involved in the Guardians' battles that there was little precedent for how much he should, or even knew how to explain to the young teen. But Jamie had been involved from the day Jack was chosen to be a Guardian, and had inserted himself into the guardians' lives ever since; he had a right to know everything. But North also knew he wasn't the right person to answer Jamie's question, because he himself didn't know exactly what was going on. The situation was beginning to spiral out of control and comprehension. North had never faced Hell and Dark; he didn't know why they had allied with Pitch, why they targeted Jack, or why they wanted to steal and probably destroy the Hope in Pandora's box.

The Guardian of Wonder opened his mouth to tell Jamie what he knew and didn't know about the whole issue with Bunny and their new adversaries, when Bunny doubled over with a sharp gasp of pain. At the same time, a beam of moonlight entered the workshop through the Globe room windows, striking the center of the guardians' mosaic on the floor with a blinding flash. The Guardians and Bennetts had to close their eyes against the bright light for a moment. The light eventually faded, and they all opened their eyes to find a shocking sight.

In the middle of the mosaic stood the legendary Man in the Moon himself. With a boyish, kind face, somewhat portly figure, and eyes that seemed to contain the wisdom of someone far older than his age suggested, the creator of the Guardians of Childhood was both nothing and everything like one might expect a magical being who lived in the moon and watched over the world's children to be. His clothes and skin even glowed faintly, despite the bright lights of the Workshop.

Despite the calm that MiM radiated, Jamie was able to detect deep sorrow in his eyes when the Man in the Moon turned his head to look at him and his mother with a sad smile.

"It's been many years since a mortal believed in the Guardians as strongly as you do, Jamie. Your belief has even lead an adult to truly see us." MiM said, observing Jamie for a few moments. His gaze felt both welcoming and intimidatingly powerful at the same time. MiM's eyes flicked up to meet Diane's, and he gave slight nod of thanks before turning away from the two.

Walking over to Bunny, he placed a supporting hand on the Guardian of Hope's hunched shoulder. "I am so sorry I was not able to stop this from happening, my friend. I feared my intervention would only cause more trouble. I was wrong." By now, Bunny was essentially crouching on the ground, shivering despite the heat of the roaring fire in the nearby hearth. Sandy floated next to him.

"What's wrong with Bunny?" Jamie asked in a timid voice.

After a moment of silence, MiM shifted away from Bunny to address the room at large. "We do not have much time, and there is something I must show you. But first, I will try to answer your questions. I was not prepared for Hell and Dark to act as they have. I failed to see how dangerous they could become until Hell captured Jack Frost at the Grand Canyon—"

"Why haven't you done something then? Why can't you just save him?" Jamie interrupted him, voice full of anger and accusations.

Tooth and North winced at the teen's disrespect, but MiM didn't seem bothered by it. "I don't often interfere with conflicts down on Earth directly. It's not my usual domain; it's Mother Nature's, my Guardians, and the other spirits who have been created over time."

Jamie wasn't very convinced, but he stayed silent.

MiM continued. "I have made many mistakes recently. One of which is not seeing that Hell and Dark aren't new immortals, or even normal spirits at all. When Hell took Jack, I immediately went to Mother Nature. Jack worked with her and the other seasonal spirits as the spirit of Winter long before he was a Guardian, so his capture affected both mine and Terra's domains. Terra, Mother Nature, is the embodiment of the Earth, keeper of the essence of Life itself. She's older than me, and has faced more threats to the Earth than I have. She already knew what had happened to Jack, and she was also able to tell me about Hell and Dark."

"Terra knows them? How?" Tooth asked, suddenly curious as to what could make the unshakably calm Man in the Moon so distressed.

"Apparently, Hell and Dark are as old as human civilization. They're biological brothers, and along with their sister, they were created to be the embodiments of suffering and illusion during the height of humanity's first empire, and the first war against an entity called Chaos. I had not come to the Moon yet; I was still far away on the other side of the galaxy on my family's home planet. Pitch Black did not even exist then."

The textbook in Jamie's hand slipped out of his grip and fell to the floor with a loud 'thump'. "Whoa…" he said, impressed and slightly scared by all the new information.

"So you're saying that this 'chaos' thing created the embodiments of suffering and illusion thousands and thousands of years ago?" Diane was hesitant to speak up, but she wanted to make sure she followed what this powerful spirit, who she guessed was the leader of the Guardians, was saying.

MiM tilted his head as he looked at her. "Essentially. In that case, Chaos was a person, not a thing. As a natural force, chaos is neutral, causing change to happen in the universe. When that force grows stagnant, it can become twisted, sometimes becoming conscious enough to possess a physical form. Then it becomes a problem. Hell and Dark are products of the first embodiment of Chaos. Terra told me that Chaos was only defeated when she joined forces with Father Time, Udaya, the spirit of all Light, and the other spirits they had created."

"Why have we never heard of this? And why bring this up now, when it might have helped us a few months ago?" Tooth asked. None of the current immortal spirits had ever talked about the threat of Chaos.

"Because they thought Chaos was destroyed, along with Hell and Dark. But that was not the case. Today, I learned from Udaya that just before Chaos was defeated, it unleashed terrifying illusions that grew so strong they became real. I grew up knowing about them; we called them fearlings." MiM answered gravely.

Sandy shot up a few feet in the air, symbols and images whirling above his head so fast it was impossible to read. However, MiM understood what the guardian of dreams was trying to say. "Yes, Sandy, you're correct. Somehow Chaos created the fearlings, which lead to the Wars of the Dream Pirates and the creation of Pitch Black. Hell and Dark met Pitch sometime after he escaped from his underground prison, which was after he chased me to Earth and was defeated here the first time."

"So Chaos has been behind everything," Bunny whispered in the shocked silence that followed MiM's revelation. Even speaking was painful for the Guardian of Hope now, and he looked more and more like a ghost with every minute.

MiM nodded. "We didn't even think to look for Chaos, or Hell and Dark. Everyone from the first war against Chaos thought they were gone. "

"You also came here to try to preserve my center in case Hell and Dark destroy Pandora's box." Bunny stated. It wasn't a question.

At that, MiM's eyes took on a deep sorrowful quality again as he answered, "Yes."

"So you're going to let Bunny just disappear?" Jamie asked in disbelief.

"With all of my magic, I alone can't stop Bunny's fate. Chaos must have been planning this for millennia to be so far ahead of us. I only pray that Hell and Dark are not powerful enough to bring another embodiment to life. Terra said that Dark and Hell were able to shield their locations from her until I went to her about a week ago. They somehow know where we are, but it's become almost impossible to find them."

"Wait, so they're not in Burgess anymore?" Jamie was very confused by now.

"I'm afraid we don't have much more time now. I have to show you what I was able to find with the help of the other eldest spirits, but, I can tell you Jamie that you can access Pitch's old lair in Burgess, but Dark has crafted so many illusions around the lair that even I couldn't get in, and I doubt anyone could find their way out."

"So while we were fighting them, they were also secretly fighting you. Dark barely showed us his real illusion capabilities at the Warren." North muttered under his breath.

"So what will happen to me if Hope is destroyed, or released or whatever? For once, could you give us a straight answer?" Bunny spoke through clenched teeth, eyes squeezed shut against another wave of pain. Jamie watched all of this rather fearfully. He thought he had seen the Guardians at their lowest moments when he and his friends had helped them fight Pitch in Burgess; but Bunny's suffering and fading out of existence redefined this view.

"I can, with the help of Udaya, Tempus, and Terra. As the Guardian of Hope, will you let us preserve your center for the sake of our world?" MiM asked.

"I won't let hope die on my watch." Bunny said with a determined nod. Tooth, Sandy and North observed their friend with tears (or dreamsand) in their eyes.

MiM made a sideway gesture with his hand, and three human figures appeared around the Globe Room. One appeared in a beautiful swirl of translucent ribbons of golden light. Another seemed to come right through a ripple in thin air next to MiM. The third walked out of a wooden support column on the edge of the room. Sandy gasped silently as he recognized the ancient immortals that MiM had called.

In the Globe Room, out of the ripple in the air came Tempus, or "Father Time", the embodiment and protector of Time (and Space.) When looked at directly, his face and body seemed to shift slowly between that of an elderly man and a teenage boy's. He wore a navy blue cloak and carried a wooden staff topped with a blue-green stone that glowed faintly from within.

Forming out of the swirling ribbons of light was Udaya, the spirit of Light. With dark skin, long black hair, and a golden floor-length dress with wide shoulder straps, she seemed to glow with her own sunlight.

And gracefully stepping out from the wooden support column (the closest thing to a living portal for her) was Terra, otherwise known as Mother Nature or Mother Earth.

"We will miss you, Bunny." Tooth darted forward to hug the Guardian of Hope. Then she flew back to hover next to North with a few of her mini fairies.

MiM then made the Moonstone rise from under the guardian mosaic on the floor (which had been redone to included Jack after he was made a guardian). Udaya quickly approached the fading Easter Bunny. He cracked open his eyes as she placed a hand over his heart, and a silent understanding seemed to pass between them. A moment later, the two of them were encased in ribbons of golden light, like a miniature aurora borealis, which quickly condensed into a glowing ball above Bunny's heart as the guardian of hope fell to the ground, then faded away completely. Udaya picked up the glowing orb in her hands and, with Terra's hand's joining hers, placed it on top of the Moonstone. The magical stone then absorbed the light, glowing slightly from residual golden magic after the orb was gone.

"What will happen now? Is it true what Bunny said about you preserving his center?" After a long silence, North finally spoke up from his place a few feet away from the Globe control station.

"Yes. His life force and center of Hope are loosely tied to the Earth's life and hope, similar to how my life is tied the Earth's and vise versa. Preserving his center means that even if Hell and Dark destroy Pandora's box, there is still a piece of hope left." Terra explained, her green eyes shimmering with tears that fell onto her simple brown and green dress. She was still focused on the Moonstone as MiM sent it back to its storage place beneath the guardian mosaic.

"And, as Sandy might know-" Udaya glanced over at the guardian of dreams, who looked back at her with the eyes of someone who had just been called on to answer a question but they hadn't heard the question. "Or maybe he doesn't remember that he knows, that whenever a new spirit is created the regular way, it takes the combined power of MiM's magic, my light to guide the new spirit's heart to their center or purpose, Terra's ability to give them a new life, and and Tempus to grant them immortality. Dark and Hell were created by Chaos alone. So long as a conscious, twisted form of Chaos remains, so will they. We have to make sure this can never happen again, which is why we need to show you what MiM and Terra have discovered about Pitch's old lair right now."

"I feel like I'm missing a lot of information..." Jamie whispered.

Tempus suddenly stepped forward into the guardian floor mosaic. "We have run out of time for talking. We preserved hope, but I fear that we are too late to prevent what Hell and Dark have just started," he said urgently, and without further ado, he swung his staff upward in a wide arc to create a temporary tear in space and time, giving everyone in the room a way to collectively watch past and present events without changing them.

And they would never forget what they saw.

Anyone know exactly what MiM is the Guardian of? I think it's something like magic, fate, or dreams? Currently I think of him as the Guardians of magic. (Unfortunately I've forgotten, and I read the books a long time ago.)