Hello casual reader!
Once again, I had a fun little idea that decided to expand itself to a fic. This is more of a one-shot I came up with after too much time watching space documentaries, thinking too much about space in general (note: black holes don't suck, but magnitudes do!), and taking way too long to realize Bunny, Sandy, Manny, Pitch, and Mother Nature are all aliens. I'm not sure how many stories explore this idea, or how many have Bunny and Sandy bonding over this fact, so I thought I would add something to this idea.
Quick note: I tend to use the books for world building and thus make several references to them. For the purposes of understanding this story: Sanderson "Sandy" Mansnoozie piloted a shooting star (as if he couldn't get any awesomer!) before crashing to Earth, and E. Aster Bunnymund is a Pooka who helped humans kick off the 'Golden Age' and is the last of his species. Besides that, hopefully there's enough background relayed in the story itself to help one get the gist of their pasts.
With that, please read at your leisure!
Disclaimer: I do not own "Rise of the Guardians" or "The Guardians of Childhood." Those rights belong to DreamWorks and William Joyce, respectively.
Casting a few more strands over the Solomon Islands, Sandy leaned back on his sand cloud and smiled warmly as the grains made their way to the children settling into sleep. The expanses of water pooling between the numerous landmasses caused his already golden sand to shine brighter, the reflective surfaces glittering like newly formed galaxies he often passed during his travels through space.
Once the last child succumbed to a peaceful night, the Sandman headed southwest to continue his mission for the rest of the areas bordering the South Pacific Ocean. The unused strands waved behind him in thin ribbons, trailing against houses, shops, trees, and whatever else laid in his path. Those closest to the water skimmed gently against the surface, some grains breaking off and floating gently down like shooting stars. The soft glow startled the more light sensitive aquatic life, while the more daring attempted to find out if the sand was edible.
Sandy allowed himself to get lost in his old memories as he let Wind push him onward. Exploring systems of binary stars, nearly escaping a few supernovae, zipping around stars' and planets' orbits. Hearing the wishes of so many various species, and casting an appropriate dream to inspire them further. So much excitement he had as a pilot of a shooting star. So many things and phenomena he witnessed, when he wasn't wrapped in the comfort of a lazy snooze.
A dot passing overhead caught his attention, breaking him from the thoughts of ages past. With sharp eyes, Sandy made out the outline of a satellite as it completed another circuit around the globe. Someone, somewhere, was gathering whatever ever information it caught and forming that data into something meaningful. A breakthrough in research. The satisfaction of a job well done. Maybe even something as a program that brought a smile to someone's face.
Smiling himself, he analyzed the well familiar star patterns and took mental notes of light changes. Racing through space and stars was nice, but it was relaxing being able to lay back and admire the same things the children and adults saw. If the ancient scholars thought they had some wild stories for this open canvas, they've obviously never heard the star stories created by excited children.
Night time continued settling and Sandy masterfully kept up the pace. Dream sand stretched from his little cloud and swirled around the sleeping heads of the children, continuing to light the sky in soft golds.
He was trekking across Australia's interior when he caught sight of a familiar friend sitting on the edge of Uluru. Sandy was still high and far away enough that he knew he could continue unnoticed, but there was something about the faint outline that told him he would be needed for more than dreams tonight.
Not wasting a moment, he looked up at the moon and was thankful it was in its full phase this night. Sandy signed speedily to the celestial, smiling as the satellite shined in solidarity with Sandy's scheme. As moonbeams began consolidating around him, Sandy threw the grains into the lights' grasps. Once the dream sand was secure and settled, the beams took off through the sky to settle the sand on the sleeping children. Confident his temporary assistants could handle themselves, he made his way toward Uluru.
One large ear twitched in acknowledgement as Sandy's cloud bumped into the rock. The small being boisterously walked onto the surface and the sand cloud whooshed back to grains that vanished in a few blinks. Sandy mimed whistling, letting his sand signs shift rapidly so there was some noise between them.
From his ledge, Bunny remained silent.
Confused, but undeterred, Sandy stopped just on the edge of Bunny's view, waving in greeting while sand signing a duplicate motion. The Guardian of Hope finally turned his head, face passive as he responded, "G'day, Sandy, or G'night, I suppose."
Relieved at getting some sort of reaction, the Guardian of Dreams sand signed a mini him on his cloud flying, a few houses with dream sand tendrils, and children sleeping. "How far ya go tonight?" His final sand sign was a map of Earth, 'X' marks around the areas he had covered so far. Bunny hmmed, adding, "Looks like ya still got some ways to go."
Sandy let the sand fade away, gesturing for Bunny to take over with an encouraging smile. Realizing his friend wasn't going to leave him any time soon, Bunny let out a sigh, turning back to the expansive plane before him. "Just stuffed, that's all."
A question mark flashed in response. When Bunny didn't readily elaborate, Sandy held back a sigh and looked over his friend once more.
There were splashes of color in Bunny's fur, an obvious sign he was working with his paints in the Warren. His boomerangs were recently polished, so he wasn't in any recent fights. Besides the paint, his fur was unblemished so he hadn't run into any nature spirits (especially Jack Frost, as the kangaroo like creature would still be shivering from that kind of encounter) or anything that would put him in physical stress.
This meant he hadn't left the Warren most of the day and looks to have spent that time partaking in some focused tasks. While that eased Sandy's worry about his friend being physically hurt, it still didn't clear up why Bunny was out here in such a down mood.
When an idea still come to mind, Sandy shrugged and took a seat next to Bunny on the edge. His small legs were much more comically short compared to Bunny's longer ones, but it didn't stop Sandy from lightly kicking them out anyway. Every now and then he would shoot a few grains of sand from the tips of his feet, watching the grains fall along the side.
At some point Sandy laid down on his back, enjoying an unclouded view of the night sky, even if his companion didn't seem to be in the same mood to enjoy it. He sand signed a few of the constellation and asterism stories he's picked up over the many years, hoping something would entice Bunny to conversation.
Unsuccessful once more, the former star pilot contemplated the stars for a moment and then began sand signing his own stories based off his past journeys. He morphed his old star ship into an ocean ship, sailing himself along the bright patch known on Earth as 'The Milky Way.' The ship then sprouted small bird wings and kept pace with Cygnus as they flew past Aquila, his tiny figure waving to the nearby Delphinus. He imitated fire sprouting from Draco's mouth that swirled above the pair to form several planets and systems he passed through ages ago. He made a few stars explode, letting the dust quickly reform into more, smaller stars.
Sandy continued reacting the cosmic wonders he's seen when Bunny finally spoke. "Do ya ever miss it sometimes, Sandy? Gallivantin' in space? Having the option to go back where ya come from?"
Surprised at the question, Sandy sat back up and shrugged. He sand signed a general scale, a smiley face on one side and a sad face on the other. He tipped the scales back and forth, finally settling a bit more weight on the smiley side but leaving a small amount on the sad side as well. He quickly followed with a few sand images of Bunny and the other Guardians, their other friends and comrades against Pitch, the mermaids who watched over him as he slept, finishing his thoughts on a line of children holding hands.
While Bunny's expression lightened some, he still hadn't shaken off his down features. "Yeah, Earth isn't too bad. Though sometimes it doesn't feel quite like home."
Sandy matched his friend's gaze, and finally realized what had been bothering Bunny. Hesitatingly, he sand signed Bunny based off the first time they met, still a tall figure but rounder in body with less bulk and wearing glasses. He added similar looking figures beside him, along with various eggs and egg-shaped machines.
"I've been looking back recently," Bunny admitted, leaning forward on his legs as a quiet breeze ruffled his fur. "Tryin' to figure out where I went wrong, what I should have done differently. We Pookas were so clever, strong, resilient, and resourceful. I traveled through time with the same ease I summon my tunnels now. All our knowledge and skill, helped make the Golden Age what is was."
Both grew silent as the reminisced on those days. When the Pookas shared the knowledge they had with the beings of the Golden Age, creating a great time of exploration and wonder. When star pilots like Sandy could spend their time cruising through space with only the fear of gravity as their limit.
A beautiful time indeed to be alive and have access to amazing inventions that could make fantasies realities.
"With all of that, though, it still wasn't enough against Pitch and the Fearlings. None of our strength, cunning, or technology could stop him. And time traveling would have just made everything worse. I told North when we first met that I came here hoping to make another Golden Age, hoping this one would stick. However, every hop forward seems to go 3 hops back. I'm just not sure I can do this again if Earth doesn't work out."
The issue now out in the air, Sandy looked down and thought over his own time on Earth. Inspiring children to dream did fill him with joy and encouragement that the future could be bright as those super blue giants he used to fly by. Although, there were times his constant laps around the planet made him feel trapped, stuck in a way he knew would drive any other star pilot crazy. It was also discouraging to watch the children grow up, ready to achieve those dreams, only to have them sieve out of their hands when life grew too heavy. Over and over they witnessed this cycle, hoping the next cycle of children would be able to break that mold.
Even if his star ship hadn't been permanently damaged from his escape from Pitch and didn't crash into an ocean, Sandy's promise as a Guardian would keep him grounded to the Earth's children, since the oath only included the children on a world almost 150 billion meters from a star whose system was about 8 kilo parsecs from the center of the 'Milky Way' galaxy. Not much argument to negotiate a quick lap around this part of the universe whenever the Guardian of Dreams felt like taking a break.
If Sandy did leave though, he knew there wouldn't be anyone else to encourage such dreams. If children didn't dream, though, then what did they have to look forward to when they grew up? Once they were an adult, who is to say those innocent, large dreams conjured during the age of youth wouldn't still be around? Even if they were only an aside they would tell the children growing up after them?
Keeping that thought in mind, Sandy stood up and hovered in from of his friend. Sure he had Bunny's attention, he sand signed an egg, letting it hatch to a jolly figure, flashed several different symbols of various professions around them, and then have them hold another egg which hatched to a smaller jolly figure. All with a bright smile he hoped Bunny understood.
The Pooka remained silent for several seconds, before cracking a small smile as he said, "Not everything needs an egg metaphor with me, ya know." Sandy merely shook his body with a silent laugh, casting Bunny a teasing smile. "You are right, though. The humans are finally figurin' out how to make actual, good chocolate. And the little ankle biters do come up with some crazy stuff."
Sand signing a thumps up, the smaller man moved back onto the cliff and pointed out to the west, replacing his thump with a few radio telescopes set in an array. "Aye, they are finding their own path to space. Maybe they'll catch a few traces of the Golden Age left and find a way to actually make it last."
Smiling in agreement, Sandy brought his sand down and gave his friend a final look. Bunny merely shook his head, a grin still grazing his features. "I'm alright now, Sandy. A little air and good company needed to help me clear my head. I'll stay out a while longer, then call it a night. As ya can tell, I'm onto something with the paints." He showed off a bright patch of fur to make his point, the color and texture unfamiliar to Sandy.
"It's a secret til I figure it out," Bunny responded at Sandy's confusion. Rolling his head, Sandy waved goodbye and stepped off the cliff, a sand cloud already forming under foot to carry him off.
Sandy took to the air, looking back one more time to Bunny when he was a bit away. Above his head a star and egg were sand signed, the two colliding together so the egg was settled in the star's center.
A bright look suddenly blazed in Bunny's eyes and the kangaroo styled being hoped up from his seat, reaching behind him simultaneously. "Think you just helped me figure something out, Sandy! Guess I'll be heading back sooner than expected. Here-" He tossed something through the air into Sandy's unexpected hand. "Tell me what ya think later."
Before Sandy could respond, Bunny gave a few taps on the edge of the rock and hopped off Uluru. A tunnel opened in time for him to avoid colliding with the ground, closing immediately behind him and popping up a few native flowers.
Blinking away the last of his confusion, Sandy shrugged once more and looked at the item his friend gave him. Realizing it was a chocolate egg, he jumped up in excitement and began unwrapping the covering as his cloud began their westward journey. The night may not have been young on this side anymore, but there was always a child ready for a night of peaceful dreams at any given moment.
Beyond the Earth's atmosphere and at the edge of its gravity, the Man in the Moon beamed down at them.
The Golden Age as these veterans knew may be gone, blown apart like stars young and old, and remembered only for its remnants, but those remnants combined with the right force and momentum still had the potential to become something grander than its predecessor. Perhaps there were finally enough beings with the spark and ability to change things for the better on this seemingly conventional rock orbiting around a common star located in a casual part of space.
And that wraps up this story! Thank you very much for reaching this far and hope this satisfied your curiosity/boredom!
Few notes: I'm not Australian nor do I have an Australian to bounce causal slang and terms with, but I tried to get Bunny's voice through as best as I could and am open to suggestions. I referenced quite a bit of space-related stuff and while I like to think I know most of the basics, feel free to point out if I messed something up. If you feel like you learned something new, then I'm glad to hear it! As a bit of an Easter egg (pun intended), I included a reference to an astronomical program in Australia that's provided some good data on our understanding of space. There should be enough clues to guess what it is. Extra hint: part of its name is hidden around the reference point.
On that final note, thank you once again for reading and enjoy the rest of your time!