Chapter Eight: Blink, Then Forgotten Again

Tooth fluttered around her palace directing her fairies where to go and what to do. She was having a busy day. Children seemed to be losing teeth at every second.

"We got a cuspid in North Dakota, sector eight! An incisor in Hong-Kong, sector elven!" yelled Tooth. Two mini fairies flew over to pick up coins and fly to their assigned locations. Tooth was flying so fast that she bumped into a wall. She rubbed her head.

"Ow!" she cried. Baby Tooth fluttered up to her and twittered, asking if she was alright.

"I-I'm fine!" said Tooth. She suddenly felt deja vu wash over her, and watched as a memory that she did not recall happening played in her head.

...

"You okay?" asked Jack.

Tooth rubbed her head as she flew away from the large billboard. "I'm fine!" she fluttered up to him vivaciously and looked around excitedly. "Sorry, it's just been a really long time since I've been out on field!"

Jack looked at her curiously. "How long is a long time?"

Tooth rubbed her arm and bit her lower lip as she did the metal math. "Hm...440 years give or take?" She suddenly spotted the white glint of a child's tooth and pointed to it brightly, her feathers flaring in all directions. Toothiana laughed and flew toward it, leaving the winter spirit, who watched with a look of surprise at her odd behavior.

...

Baby Tooth cocked at her queen with a confused expression on her face. She chirped to her queen and Toothiana blinked and a light blue glow glittered around her eyes, but then quickly disappeared.

"What?" asked Tooth. She looked around and the memory she had just seen seemed to disappear from her mind. Tooth looked around, then looked back at the little fairy in front of her. "Sorry, I must have dazed off for a second."

Baby Tooth blinked at her and Tooth looked as if nothing had happened. Toothiana gave Baby Tooth a light pat on the head and then turned to a group of fairies. "You three head to Cuba! The others might need your help!"

The fairies saluted her and flew to their assigned location. Tooth turned to Baby Tooth and said, "Do you mind taking over for me for a bit? For some reason...I feel like collecting a few teeth by myself today."

Baby Tooth nodded obediently and Tooth smiled at her. "Thanks, Sweet Tooth!" said the fairy queen, and she flew out of the Tooth Palace.

Baby Tooth was bemused. Tooth hadn't gone out to collect teeth by herself in centuries. What suddenly changed her mind? Baby Tooth then remembered the glow that surrounded her eyes before she blinked it out. She must have remembered something and then forgot it again.

Baby Tooth shook herself out her thoughts. She would tell Jack this later. For now, she had to direct the Tooth Fairy Armies to collect the teeth. She chirped to three of her fairy sisters and the four of them flew off to assign jobs.

…

Sandy was having a slow, but peaceful day. He waved his hands out toward the current city he was floating over and watched as golden tendrils of dreamsand weaved their way toward the homes of multiple children. Sandy smiled as he felt the feeling of children sleeping peacefully in their beds, uninterrupted by any nightmares.

It had taken a while for him and the other Guardians to recover from the damage Pitch had caused, but they had managed to gain back their believers and put in an extra amount of work in each of their jobs to make sure something like the Battle of the Nightmare King wouldn't happen again. Sandy patted his dreamcloud and began to fly through the town just for fun, and suddenly, a memory he didn't remember played in his head.

…

He was flying next to Jack Frost. The mischievous boy of winter. They were chasing down two nightmares that they had seen fly past Jamie's bedroom winter in hopes of stopping Pitch. They split up, Sandy chasing one nightmare and Jack chasing the other. Sandy managed to gain control of the nightmare he was chasing and instantly reverted it back to a pleasant dreamsand creation and rode the manta ray looking for Jack.

He soon found the young boy standing on a building facing Pitch Black. Sandy took this as his chance since Pitch wasn't looking his way and stood a few feet away from him, tapping his foot, alerting the Boogeyman to his presence. Pitch stumbled backward, surprised.

"Ah-ha. Now this is who I'm looking for—" Pitch cut himself off when Sandy suddenly drew out his whips and lashed them out toward the Boogeyman. Pitch dodged the lashes and created a large scythe out of nightmare sand and parried with Sandy's whip's twice before Sandy managed to wrap his whips around Pitch's wrists and throw the Boogeyman against two walls before hurling him toward the street below. Pitch fell onto a car with a cry and rolled down the road, groaning. Sandy nodded, satisfied and patted his hands together. Jack walked up to him. He looked both impressed and shocked at the same time.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," said Jack. Sandy gave him a small smile and the two flew down to face Pitch.

...

Sandy shook his head as the memory ended, not noticing the faint blue glow disappearing around his eyes. He had no idea what that was, but he did not recall that ever happening during the battle with Pitch. Sandy felt the memory slip away, but couldn't help to make Burgess his next stop to give dreams to for the night.

...

Bunny was having a good day. Easter was only in a few days and things were going just swell for the Pooka. All of the eggs were ready to go, and he even had extra left over. Bunny watched as the eggs slowly marched their way toward the tunnels that lead to different continents and couldn't help but smile proudly at his work.

"And North says Christmas is better than Easter," said Bunny to himself. Although he did remember when North admitted during the three-day battle with Pitch that Easter was more important than Christmas at the time. Bunny chuckled at the memory, but as he looked out toward the thousands of eggs, another memory appeared, but this time, with someone he never would have expected.

…

Jack walked up from behind Bunny and crouched down next to him. He looked out toward the thousands of eggs that were making their way toward the tunnels, all painted and ready for Easter. He smiled and chuckled lightly.

"Not bad," he said. He watched as Sophie yawned and crawled into Bunny's arms. Bunny smiled.

"Not bad yerself," said Bunny. Jack looked up at him, his cerulean blue eyes sparkling. He had just received a compliment from Bunny himself. That was something that didn't happen every day.

The two sat there in silence for a while, and then Jack said," Look, I'm sorry about the whole...the Kangaroo thing."

Bunny looked at him, and Jack looked back with a look of sincere sorriness on his face. Bunny nodded, accepting his apology and then said, "It's the accent, isn't it?"

Jack and Bunny laughed, and Bunny realized that this was the longest time he and the winter spirit interacted with each other without getting into an argument. North and Tooth came up from behind and Bunny watched as Sophie slowly fell asleep in his arms.

"Poor little ankle-biter. All tuckered out," he said. Tooth fluttered down and kneeled down next to the sleeping child, a smile appearing on her face.

"I love her," said Tooth. Sophie only yawned sleepily and rolled over. Tooth picked her up out of Bunny's arms and said, "I think it's time we take her home."

Jack stood up. "How about I take her?"

The Guardians looked at the winter spirit. Looks of worry across their faces.

"Jack, no!" cried Tooth, being careful not to jostle the sleeping two-year-old in her arms. "Pitch is out there—"

"No match for this," cut in Jack as he held out his staff determinedly.

"Which is why we need you here, with us," said Bunny. He couldn't believe what he just said. Was he actually worried for Jack? Did he...care?

Jack smiled reassuringly at the Guardians, but Bunny felt that the smile was meant for him. "Trust me," said the winter spirit. He looked at Bunny and added playfully while making walking motions with his fingers, "I'll be as quick as a bunny!"

…

Bunny blinked quickly just as the memory ended. Him acting brotherly toward Jack Frost? That never could have happened.

As the memory slipped from Bunny's mind he walked through each tunnel and made sure that the eggs were all in order, but couldn't stop the sudden feeling of guilt when he walked into the tunnel that led to Great Britain.

…

North sighed as he put down the last book on his shelf. He had spent the whole afternoon cleaning up his study which had been due for a clean. He picked up the duster and began to dust the shelf when he accidentally knocked over the toy nesting doll of himself. The dolls on the inside toppled out as the main doll split in half and North bent down to pick them up, but as he picked up the smallest doll—his center—a sudden memory played in his head.

…

"Who are you, Jack Frost?" asked North as he marched up toward the winter spirit who had a look of surprise and discombobulation written across his face as he stepped back toward the door. His back bumped into the closed door and North was face to face with the winter teen and asked, "What iz your center?"

Jack frowned. "My center?" he repeated.

"If Man in Moon chose you to be a Guardian, that means you have something very special inside," said North. Jack still looked bemused so North brushed his hand through his beard and looked to the shelf that had his nesting doll sitting on it.

North walked over to the shelf and picked the doll up. "This iz how you see me, no?" he held it in front of Jack, who had a deadpan expression on his face. North thought he saw him as a doll?

"Very big and intimidating…" continued North. "But, if you get to know me a little," he placed the doll into Jack's hand. Jack set his staff to the side and looked up at North.

North gestured to the nesting doll. "Go on."

Jack opened the first layer and looked at the doll, which had a happy expression on its face.

"You're...downright jolly?" said Jack.

"Ah! But not just jolly," said North. Jack began to open up layer after layer and North said, "I am also mysterious, and fearless, and caring, and at my center…" North opened the last doll and dropped a tiny, giant blue-eyed doll into Jack's palm. Jack blinked at it.

"There's a tiny wooden baby…" mumbled Jack, his deadpan expression returning.

"Look closer, vhat do you see?" asked North. Jack stared at the doll.

"Ah...you...you have big eyes?" he said, unsure of himself.

North grasped at his shoulders. "Yes! Big eyes, very big eyes because they are full of wonder!"

Jack watched in awe as North gestured to the wonder in almost everything in his office and outside in the Workshop. North turned to Jack and said, "This iz the wonder that I put into the world and protect in the children. This iz my center," he looked into Jack's blue eyes. "Vhat iz yours?"

Jack looked down at the doll in his hands. "I...I don't know…"

North smiled softly and curled Jack's fingers over the doll, knowing that he would find his center eventually. The winter spirit looked up at him and gave him a light smile.

...

North placed the nesting dolls back on their shelf. He held his center doll in his hand a little longer as the memory ended, but it slipped from his mind when he put the doll back on the shelf. North picked up his duster and continued to dust, occasionally looking at the "tiny wooden baby" every few minutes.

Author's Note: This is the longest chapter in this story. I really love how it turned out! =D

And the Guardians are starting to remember! That's a good sign! =)

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203