Pitch shoved me sideways, and I released his memories, completely dumbfounded. He stooped down, gathering the shattered pieces and whimpering, "No… no…"

I staggered back a few more steps, assuring myself over and over, They weren't my memories… they weren't my memories.

I was suddenly knocked out of my stupor when the traffic light flipped to green, though the road had been deserted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the light glint off of gold metal. My memory cylinder was lying there, caught on the top of a drain along the sidewalk.

Pitch curled around himself, gasping like he couldn't breathe. His body began to shake, little areas disappearing and fading a piece at a time. I glanced up to catch Aila's eye, and by the look on her face, I knew exactly what she was thinking.

New urgency filled me. I rushed for my memory cylinder.

Pitch lurched for me. He gripped me by the neck and threw me to the ground. "What have you done?" he roared.

Up close, I could see each wavering spot scattered across his skin, glitching and melting so it almost looked like he was crumbling. His eyes burned with a wild, untamed mania.

I threw up a shield. His scythe smashed against it over and over. The shield and the scythe finally broke apart, and Pitch slammed his knuckles into my face. The world blurred and pain exploded through my nose as he struck again and again.

I lashed a whip around his ankle and yanked. He slammed onto his back. I leaped to my feet, ready to finish the fight once and for all, but headlights blinded me.

I rolled to the ground, barely dodging as multiple cars hurtled between me and Pitch. The light flipped to red again, and I scrambled to my feet. My body turned cold.

Pitch had found my memories. And he had his scythe raised over his head, ready to destroy them.

In a flash of green and red, Aila leaped from the sidewalk onto his back. Pitch jerked sideways, and the scythe faded as he clawed at his throat.

Aila gasped. She released Pitch and collapsed to the ground, wailing until her voice began to cut out unnaturally. A pit opened in my stomach as I noticed her form shuddering. The fading was so violent, she barely even looked like a person.

Pitch snatched her off the ground, and she dangled limply from his hands, struggling to suck air into her lungs. He clasped her forehead with his palm, and I could just see the nightmare sand moving in front of her eyes.

She belted out a heart-stopping shriek.

Every one of my nightmares came together one blood curdling moment. All at once, I could see Aila crumbling, and I could feel the pain in my back, and my body turned to nightmare sand.

Don't fight the fear, little man.

I leaped into the air above the cars and heaved a pile of dreamsand. My nightmares withered.

The golden mass grasped Pitch, and Aila dropped to the sidewalk.

All the fear melted in an instant, converting to a fierce, burning zeal. Pitch contorted. He fell to his knees and howled. Gold filled his veins, crawling up the side of his neck and through his arms.

Every nightmare in the vicinity galloped to their master's aid. I released my fist, and the golden mass burst in every direction. The nightmares crumbled from the touch. The ground rumbled. Little gold flakes began to fall from the sky along with the slowing snow.

Pitch tumbled to the ground, unconscious. That revealed Jack and Tooth, both gawking at me.

I lurched to the sidewalk, nearly collapsing.

Aila just laid there, sprawled haphazardly over the snow-dusted concrete with her back towards me.

I sank to my knees beside her. I just watched for a moment that felt like it lasted an eternity, almost too afraid to touch her.

I gathered her in my arms, rolling her onto her back. Her head slumped into my elbow. I pulled back the shawl I had given her to see her body had pieced itself back together the best it could. But her arms and most of her legs never came back. They just tapered into nothingness.

Relief flooded me as her eyes fluttered open. She squinted at me.

"Sandy…" she rasped faintly.

"Sandy!" the voice of North called. I glanced over my shoulder to see him and Bunny sprinting towards us.

"Sandy! It's Aila, we have to…" he skidded to a halt at the sight of the two of us. "Oh no…"

Queen Beckett shoved past them, her soldiers on her heels. She fell to her knees on the other side of Aila and glanced over what was left of her. She said nothing, but I saw the way her face grew grim and her hands began to tremble.

She pursed her lips, cleared her throat, and stood. She pointed to Pitch. "Bind him up. We will take him to the Isle." The soldiers saluted and followed the command.

A flash of anger burst through me, but Jack stepped in before I could.

"Hold on!" he exclaimed indignantly. "What about Aila?! You have to help her!"

Beckett's face suddenly contorted. "I tried!" she shouted. "I tried to help her, but she wouldn't let me! Now it's too late!"

The anger froze over into horror. We all just stared at her as the words echoed through the city.

"Look at her!" Beckett exclaimed. Her voice suddenly quieted, filled with despair. "There is nothing any of us can do for her."

I shook my head, suddenly feeling dizzy. My heart rammed against my ribs and my throat closed up. I turned back to Aila, feeling tears press against my eyes.

I quickly steeled myself. No, there had to be something, anything, I could do.

"No, there is something we can do," Jack insisted. "You told me there was only one way Aila could get her memories back." He pointed towards the sky. "If the one who took them away returned them.

Queen Beckett sighed. She shook her head. "Go then. But I must return to the Isle." She gestured to her soldiers. "We can not risk being away for much longer." North handed her a globe. She shook it, whispered the name of the Isle, and threw it so it burst into a swirling portal.

The soldiers marched through, carrying Pitch. I watched in a stunned daze as the Nightmare King disappeared in a mere second. He suddenly seemed so unimportant.

Beckett approached the portal behind them, but she hesitated. She sent one last somber glance at Aila. "I do truly hope you succeed… if any of us deserved to be free again, it was Aila."

Just like that, she stepped through. The portal closed behind her, and the six of us were left hovering around the dark sidewalk.

I turned my face towards the sky. The clouds had finally parted, and the moon was staring down at us in its full splendor. It almost seemed closer than normal.

"Sandy…"

Aila struggled to lift her head. I leaned down, catching her face in my palm. Her eyes were covered in an unnatural film, and I could barely feel her skin, almost like it wasn't even there. I rubbed her cheek with my thumb, hoping she could understand I was telling her everything was ok. We would fix this.

She must have understood, because a tiny smile pulled up at the corner of her mouth. I could just make out the little dimple on her freckled cheek. Then, her eyes slid shut, and she fell limp again.

I clenched my teeth and felt a hardened determination settle inside. I turned up to the other Guardians. They glanced back and forth, nodding together. We were in this together.

"Tooth, Jack," North instructed. "Go find Aila's memories. Bunny, you get Sandy's." The three scattered, and then North turned to me. "Let's get her to the sleigh."

Without taking my arms out from under Aila, I began to form a bed of dreamsand under her. I lifted her up and carried her to the sleigh.


. . .

We had no time to spare. The moment we touched down, North ushered everyone inside. I gently lowered Aila down from the sleigh, trying my best not to look directly at her. But I caught a glimpse. The fading was spreading, now even to her chest. Even her face had turned slightly opaque.

I didn't hesitate long enough to let it register. I carried Aila inside, where the others were gathered around the giant globe.

North opened the sky window, revealing the face of the moon watching from the sky. A thick unease settled over us. Slowly, all their eyes flicked to me.

Jack approached me. He silently handed me a broken memory cylinder.

I sent one glance back at Aila, who lay eerily still on a bed of dreamsand, her complexion sickly. And yet, she still looked so beautiful… like a delicate flower.

I clenched my fist around her memory cylinder and floated upwards. The moon grew closer, nearly filling the entire sky window with bright, blinding light. I refused to wince away. I lifted the memory cylinder.

A moment of complete silence passed, feeling like an eternity. The only thing I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears. The memory cylinder began to feel heavy.

A beam of moonlight filled the window. I threw my other hand up over my head, trying to block out the pervasive gleam. The memory cylinder disappeared from my palm.

I forced my eyes open to see the jumble of pieces floating in the air… but no, there was a hand holding it. A hand that seemed to be made of little particles of rock and dust with a vibrant glow of their own.

I traced the hand to the connected arm, all the way back to the form of a body draped in robes. Everything was made of particles of moon dust, even his face, which looked more like an indefinite silhouette.

I watched in awe as he drew the memory cylinder closer. He glanced down at what was left of Aila, almost reluctantly, and then placed his other hand overtop of the cylinder. There was a flash.

When the light cleared, her cylinder was whole, gleaming like it was brand new.

He held the memories out to me. I paused, caught up in disbelief as I admired the beautiful cylinder, and then I gingerly lifted it from his hand. It had a new weight that had been missing before.

"Take it to her." the Man in the Moon rumbled.

I glanced up in shock at the sound of his voice, then nodded. I turned back towards Aila and the Guardians and lowered down from the moonbeam. I lightly touched the ground and glided to Aila's side.

With her form bathed in the moonlight, I could truly see through her, like looking through stained glass.

She had no hands left to grasp the cylinder, so I pressed it against her chest and stepped back, wringing my hands. Everyone gathered closer and hovered over her, holding their breath.