Google Translate was used in this chapter so apologies to any French speakers if anything is wrong.

The movie only briefly alludes to the European Division, so I took a lot of liberties (and all of my knowledge of the Tooth Mouse came from the internet so again sorry if anything is wrong/please feel free to correct me on anything)

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La Petite Souris

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He'd never really paid any attention to it before he'd officially met Tooth – hell, back then he would never have even found anything strange about it had he bothered to spare it a moment's thought. But now he did know Tooth, and as such there were things he'd begun to involuntarily notice.

Namely, the mice.

As far as Jack could tell, it was a phenomenon that only occurred in Europe and places with European connections. In such places, it was almost a rare occurrence to see one of Tooth's mini fairies darting from house to house. Instead, he would occasionally catch a glimpse of a mouse sneaking along rooftops and windowpanes, or carefully navigating drainpipes. These were very clearly not ordinary mice. Ordinary mice did not wear hats or carry coins at their hips. At least, not in public anyway.

Sometimes Jack would try to follow these well-dressed mice back to wherever their base of operations was, but he always inevitably lost track of them. Either they'd noticed his attention and were deliberately shaking him, or they were too quick even for his sharp eyes.

As Jack sat on the edge of one of the larger spires that made up the Tooth Palace and gazed up at the flurry of fairies coming and going, he pondered the mice. There were never any mice at the Tooth Palace (understandable, given the altitude and lack of a way to reach it without flight). So what did that mean? Were the mice a separate myth? Then what about the memories? What about the Guardianship? Why Tooth and not whoever directed the mice (assuming they even had some kind of formal organisation)?

"Everything alright, Jack? You're looking particularly lost in thought today."

Jack let his head tilt backwards. Tooth hovered behind him, an expression of polite interest and mild concern on her face. She was flanked, as always, by a small swarm of fairies. He hadn't heard them approach.

"I was thinking about mice," he said, shifting so he could see her without straining his neck. Maybe just asking her about it would be the easiest and fastest way to get answers.

Tooth's brow furrowed. "Mice?"

"Yeah. The ones in Europe."

She looked more confused than he felt she had a right to.

"Surely you know about the mice," he pressed. Why else would the fairies avoid the area? And he couldn't see her willingly giving up access to the teeth without good reason, or the very least knowing why.

"Are you talking about La Petite Souris?" she asked after a moment.

"La petite… what?"

"La Petite Souris," Tooth repeated. She touched down on the tiled floor and moved to join him on the ledge. "The Little Mouse. She controls the European Division of tooth collection."

Jack stared at her, comprehension slowly dawning. "So you are connected to the mice."

Tooth smiled, her eyes warm with fond amusement. "I suppose you could call her a sort of sub-manager, or a junior partner. In parts of Europe, there's not really much belief in a Tooth Fairy. Instead, they have a Tooth Mouse – though of course, like me, there's no way La Petite Souris could collect all those teeth by herself."

"Hence the mice," Jack finished for her. Huh. "But what about the teeth? The memories? I thought they all got stored here."

"They do. Each morning a special group of fairies goes to collect them and bring them here. They're due to leave soon, actually. Would you like to go with them and see?"

A chance to see the Mouse HQ he'd been failing to track down for months? "Absolutely."

Tooth led him to one of the smaller, more out-of-the-way spires, where Jack easily spotted a large swarm of fairies, all decked out in the same little hats the mice wore, with pouches for the teeth tied to their sides. There were easily a hundred of them, maybe more, and they all offered cheerful greetings as Jack and Tooth drew near.

"We're giving Jack a personal tour today," Tooth told them. "So let's all make sure to do our best."

The fairies saluted proudly, and then they were off like a swarm of particularly incandescent bees. Jack and Tooth swiftly chased after them. For such little things they sure could move.

"So this Tooth Mouse… is she regular mouse sized or should I expect her to be more like Bunny?" Jack asked as the terrain beneath them shifted from mountains to valleys.

"I don't think there's anything quite like Bunny," Tooth replied, and Jack didn't bother to hide a snigger, "but no she's not regular mouse sized. She's also not person-sized, though, either. Think more like a large squirrel."

"I take it belief caused that?"

"Well, yes and no. Belief definitely played its part, but actually she used to be a fairy. According to the stories, she turned herself into a mouse and hid under an evil king's pillow to make all his teeth fall out." She glanced at him with a strange expression. "I have no idea how true that is, though. We haven't talked in centuries."

That was… an interesting story that he had absolutely no context for. But, "A fairy? Like you?"

Tooth's face twisted strangely, like she wanted to frown but didn't want him to see it. "No, a different kind," she said at length. "Technically speaking I'm a Sister of Flight rather than a fairy, but that's a story for another day."

A Sister of Flight? He'd never heard of anything like that. His curiosity begged to learn more, but a noticeable melancholy had settled over her and made him hold his tongue. Whatever this story was, he could be certain that it was not a happy one. She would tell him when she was ready, he was sure.

La Petite Souris' base was in the heart of France, as Jack should have expected from her name if nothing else. The fairies led them through twisting streets and unexpected turns, until they reached a beautiful woodland area. It looked familiar, but in a way that made him think he hadn't visited for a few decades at least.

"What about in other countries?" he asked, even as he took in the vast lake to their right as they went further in. "This has got to be too far for a mouse to come from across borders and bodies of water."

"They have underground networks," Tooth told him. "It's a bit like a relay; they carry the teeth a certain distance, and then another mouse will take over and bring it a little further, until it ends up back here with La Petite Souris." She paused, then, "And don't forget, these aren't ordinary mice, either. They can travel a lot further, and a lot faster, than regular mice."

Not 'ordinary mice' was something of an understatement, Jack decided, a thought that was only further backed up by the sight that greeted them when they finally arrived at La Petite Souris' home. On the outside it looked unassuming; just a hollowed out tree surrounded by a few shrubs and flowers – nothing that would warrant more than a glance to anyone passing through the area. Jack barely would have noticed it at all if not for Tooth and her fairies slowing down to a near-stop by the hollow.

As it turned out, there was no base to the interior of the tree. Instead of dirt or grass or even rotting wood, the ground inside sloped downwards into a tunnel, barely big enough for him and Tooth to pass through. Tooth and her fairies started down it without any preamble, and Jack took up the rear, forced to crawl on his hands and knees.

The tunnel wasn't as long as he'd expected it to be. Within only a few short moments, they emerged into an underground cavern roughly the size of a large house. Jack was quick to jump back to his feet, brushing loose bits of dirt from his hoodie even as he gazed around in awe.

The space was roughly dome-shaped, with compacted dirt walls pock-marked with scratches – hints to its unnatural formation. Other tunnels, smaller than the one they had entered through, branched off at various intervals, indicating that this cavern was only the start of something much larger.

For the most part, there was no real furnishing or similar decor. If Jack were to take a guess, he would assume this area was something akin to an entrance hall; merely a place to go to other places. There was, however, plenty of adornment. Like in Tooth's palace, there were murals on the walls – although these appeared in the form of hanging tapestries rather than paint or mosaic – and the floor had been covered in smooth stones.

And there were mice everywhere. They darted between his legs, barely paying him any mind as they scurried off to attend their duties, each one wearing that same official hat. Many of them were carrying teeth. Tooth immediately took to the air again, giving them more space to move.

"Ah, Toothiana!" a heavily accented, feminine voice called. "Bienvenue! Ça fait longtemps!"(1)

Jack followed the voice to its source. At the far end of the room was a doll-sized throne, and perched upon it was a chestnut coloured mouse the size of a squirrel, just as Tooth had said. Like Tooth she wasn't wearing any clothing, but there was a crown on her head that looks suspiciously like an upside-down tooth. As they watched, she rose from her seat and began towards them, arms outstretched as if she intended to sweep Tooth up in a hug.

"La Petite Souris," Tooth nodded respectfully. "Comment allez-vous? I'm sorry it's been so long."(2)

"We are all well here, merci," La Petite Souris said, stopping before them. Mice darted around them, either completely oblivious to the interaction or simply not caring. "Terrible, that Pitch Black business. So lucky for us that he was too ignorant to know of us here, and that it was all resolved in the end. Though I confess I would not have been opposed to… how do you say it? 'Rip him a new one'?" She waved a dismissive paw, as if flicking the conversation away like a piece of lint. "How are your fairies?"

"As well as ever, though they are definitely at their best when Jack comes to visit." Tooth smirked at him as she spoke, and Jack fought the urge to blush. He felt he distracted them more than anything.

La Petite Souris turned her gaze to him, and something very knowing slipped across her face. "Ah, it is the boy who has been trying to catch us," she said, sounding disapproving but the clear amusement in her surprisingly expressive face completely ruined any chances of hostility. "And now, Toothiana, you have ruined the game by showing him the way!"

Jack blinked, surprised. "Wait, you've been playing me this whole time?!" He'd suspected they'd been deliberately making it hard for him to follow, but to this extent?

"I cannot help it," she said, pressing a paw to her cheek in faux despondence. "You are so easy to tease." She clapped, cutting off anything Jack could say in response, "Now! What has prompted this personal visit? Surely something bad has not happened?"

"Nothing bad," Tooth smiled. "Jack wanted to see your side of tooth collection, and I suggested we come and say hello."

"But of course! Toothiana, you know you are always welcome here! And Jack," she said his name like Jaq, "any friend of Toothiana's is a friend of ours. But no more cheating, yes?"

It seemed kind of pointless, now that he knew the way. "I didn't even realise we were playing a game."

La Petite Souris shook her head like he was some ignorant fool she'd taken pity on. Then, in another abrupt turn of conversation, she turned to the mini fairies, who had been patiently waiting by Tooth's shoulder. "Ah, but we have work to do, no? Go, mes petites colombes, you know where we keep the teeth."(3)

The fairies needed no further invitation. As one, they darted off to one of the branching tunnels.

"And as for the two of you, come! I shall give you a tour myself, though I fear you are both much too large to get very far. Alas, we cannot all be dainty and perfect mice!"

Jack cast Tooth a glance as La Petite Souris turned her back. She seemed nice enough, but Jack didn't think he needed an explanation as to why Tooth wasn't a frequent visitor. Her personality was… a lot.

"We won't stay too long," Tooth whispered to him as they followed her towards one of the larger tunnels (though it was definitely going to be a tight squeeze for them), "or we'll be forced to join them for a meal."

Jack stared back at her in bemusement. "That doesn't sound so bad."

She grimaced. "Everything is made with peanut butter."

"Oh." There was only so much peanut butter one person could consume before it became too much. Jack wasn't overly interested in finding out exactly how much that was. It sounded like Tooth already knew and wanted to forget.

"I'll have the fairies delay a bit," Tooth told him quietly as they hastened to catch up to La Petite Souris' surprisingly fast gait, "and then when I give the signal they'll come find us and we can use it as an excuse to leave without being rude."

Jack shot her a thumbs up. That should give him plenty of time for a look around without risking his currently neutral relationship with peanut butter.

"Keep up, darlings!" La Petite Souris called to them. "If we are quick we will be in time for lunch! We are having a peanut curry!"

Tooth looked mildly panicked. Maybe cutting the tour short wouldn't be such a bad idea.

(1) "Welcome! It has been a long time!"

(2) "How are you?"

(3) "…my little doves…"

For the record, Lleu and La Petite Souris are good friends and he loves peanut butter

Guest Review Responses:

Fishyfour: Yeah I thought so too

Guest: Thank you! My manager is super nice and accommodating so things are definitely getting easier for me :)

A fan: kjdfhgjsfhd thank you! I feel like my own mental image of them isn't strong enough that I could draw them, and as much as I adore fan art (people please feel free to draw fan art an tell me if you do I want to see) I don't want to draw them myself because then it feels like that's how they're supposed to look. One of my favourite things about written stories is that everyone sees things a different way and I think that's so cool

Another fan: D-Did you sleep? That's a lot to read in only a few days haha Thank you so much! I'm not gonna stop updating till I hit that 150 mark tho :) I've gotta keep my promises to myself, and to you guys