Jack was sitting in a tree, still wearing the same outfit he wore when he died, and emerged from the pond. "So...I can make things frost over. I guess the moon gave me a fitting name, but I still don't know why he put me here..." Jack asked to no one. He wasn't even asking the wind. He just wanted to know. He felt it in his heart and soul the power he had, and he knew without a doubt that he hadn't even scratched let alone seen the surface of his powers.
A bright golden light brought him out of his thoughts so he silently used the wind to fly into the sky. "What is that stuff..." Jack questioned to no one but the wind, but he knew she wouldn't give an answer. She told him a few years back that if he saw strange things, that he would have to find out for himself, so that's what he went to go do. He followed the golden light, and soon realized it turned into many ropy streams of light. He continued to get closer to the village and noticed that the many streams of golden lights were going into homes. He followed all of the ropy streams high in the sky, and he noticed there was a cloud he had never seen before. He flew higher to inspect the cloud and was surprised to find a short golden man on top of it, and he seemed quite content as his, what seemed to be sand, went in and out of homes. "Hello...?"
The golden man turned around in shocked surprise. His eyes narrowed and his curiosity seemed to be piqued. A small question mark appeared above his head. "You're interesting...who are you?" The question seeped into Jack's mind, but it wasn't his voice. It was a man's voice. The accent alone was similar to Pitch's, but instead of harsh and cruel, it was soft like a bell. It sounded as if it was filled with curiosity, wonder, and amusement all at once. It was both gentle and mystical. The guardians noticed that it was deep but not nearly as deep as North's voice.
"Hold on..." North started.
"What is it North?" Jack asked, genuinely curious as to why North wanted him to stop the journey, and why he was wearing a confused and astounded expression.
"Sandy, mate...was that you?" Bunny questioned with widened eyes.
Sandy nodded with a wide grin. "Wait..." Jack started. "You're telling me that none of you have heard him talk like that? I thought that's how you all understood him."
"No, Jack..." Tooth began to explain as she looked at him in complete awe. "...It's why he has the images. If we could hear him in our heads, he wouldn't need the images."
"I thought...I thought you all talked to him that way. I thought that's how you knew what he was saying...I knew I could still hear him even if...but..." Then, a thought suddenly dawned on Jack. "Is it...Is it like how I can hear the wind speak to me?"
"Is possible. Manny made you very unique, Jack. Not only that, but you could already speak with Wind when you were mortal, AND you were able to feel everything we represent all at once."
"You mean...I understand the wind and Sandy...and no one else can?"
"We thought only mother nature could speak to the wind, and you proved that wrong." Tooth answered.
"So...I'm still learning about my powers..."
"Seems so, Jack." North stated with his eyes even wider with wonder at the young guardian.
Jack ran a hand through his hair in slight frustration and confusion. "Um...Let's continue..."
"Oh, I'm sorry, My name is Jack Frost. The man in the moon gave me my name. He gave it to me four years ago...does that make me four years old?"
A laughing symbol appeared along with a crescent moon and then a check mark. "You're an interesting one alright! If you're asking how old you are since the man in the moon gave you your name, then I suppose so." A sad symbol then appeared above sand's head. "We just met and you probably don't understand what I'm saying..."
"No, I do understand what you're saying! And...I just realized...you can see me!" Jack interrupted.
A lightning symbol appeared above Sandy's head. "Well, it's not often that it happens, but I'm shocked." Then a pair of eyes appeared over Sandy's head as he smiled. "And of course I can see you. The man in the moon created me too." Then, a crescent moon symbol appeared above his head.
"The man in the moon created you too?"
Sandy rolled his eyes with a smirk and quotation symbols appeared above his head. "That's what I just said."
Jack laughed loudly with relieved and joyful eyes. "Someone sees me!"
"Yes, and you seem extremely happy about it." Sandy grinned, but he held no symbols up.
"I AM happy about it, you have no idea." At his own words, Jack noticed that Sandy's eyes widened a great deal and he looked at him with even more shock than before. "What's wrong?"
"Um...nothing..." A circle with a diagonal line through it appeared above his head followed by an arrow pointing to the right and another lightning symbol. "I'm just continuously shocked by you."
"I apologize."
Sandy shook his head with a small smile on his lips as a smaller circle with a diagonal line through it appeared. "You have nothing to apologize for. It's nice for me to have someone to talk to as well."
"Well, I guess we already have that in common...What's your name anyway?"
"My name is Sandman. However, those I work with and alongside call me Sandy for short."
Jack looked around as the, what he assumed now to be sand, started drifting into the cloud that Sandy was sitting on top of, before he turned his gaze back to the golden man. "I don't see anyone here."
"No, they aren't here. You've probably heard of them. There's North, also known as Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy." As he named them off symbols of what the other guardians looked like appeared above his head.
"Wait...the Easter Bunny?"
"Yes...is something wrong?" A question mark appeared above his head and he gave a concerned look.
"No...it' s just...for some reason that name stuck out to me...I don't know why."
Sandy laughed and for once it was audible to the other guardians and they were taken back by just how wonderful it sounded. It was as if he hadn't been able to laugh in years, and was suddenly able to and did it joyfully with all his might, and to an extent, they figured that to be true at this point. "Bunny sticks out to a lot of people." Another picture of Bunny appeared over his head.
"How so?" Jack asked as he looked at the symbol of Bunny, feeling something like familiarity in his chest.
"He is a talking rabbit that is just a little over six feet tall." A speech bubble appeared which was followed by a small bunny.
"Hey...can I ask you something?" Sandy nodded. "Okay...why do you have those symbols above your head?"
"It's just my own way of talking. I can't actually speak, so these help."
"Oh...but your friends can talk to you right?"
"Yes, they do somewhat. However, we don't talk with each other much. Usually only if it's needed." A check mark appeared which was soon followed by a speech bubble with a line through it like the circle from earlier.
"Huh...so...not much then."
"No, unfortunately, not much." An 'X' symbol appeared followed by a sad face shaking it's head. Then suddenly a light bulb appeared. "Hey, I have an idea!"
"Alright, Sandy, what would that be?" Jack asked as his curiosity started to dance through his entire being.
Sandy's grin was wide and full of hope as he didn't even bother putting up symbols. "You're a young spirit so you probably don't know how to use your powers quite well yet...and frankly I don't even know what they are, but since you can understand me, and you're so happy that I can see you, perhaps I can help you while you keep me company."
"How are you going to help me? What exactly is it that you do?"
"I bring children dreams. This sand that I control, brings children and all those who believe, sweet dreams as they sleep, and I'm known to be quite creative so I'm sure there's some way I can help you. Tell me...what are your powers?"
"Um...well as far as I can tell...something to do with wintery stuff like ice and frost...but I've only frosted stuff so far." Jack shrugged his shoulders and noticed that all of the sand had made it back to the sandman's cloud. He looked back up at Sandy with a questionable look. "Well, all your sand is back in your cloud thing...where will you go? What will you do? When or how will you help me?"
"You ask a lot of questions." Three question marks appeared over his head and they were followed by a stop sign. "If you'll be patient with me, I'll explain."
"Okay...I'm sorry."
Sandy nodded with an approving grin. "We can both fly, so how about you travel with me, see what I do, and during that time we can talk and help you grow into your powers. A spirit of any kind is not much without knowing their limits, and when someone doesn't know their limits, it can get to be very dangerous. You may not be able to be seen, but you can still affect the world and everyone in it. I travel all over the world, and I continuously bring dreams to children, and once I'm done in an area we can work on your powers...we could also do so while we're flying."
"But what if I hurt you?"
Sandy let out another laugh as a laughing symbol appeared above his head. "I'd like to see you try. I can defend myself, Jack." A shield quickly appeared, and Sandy gave him a reassuring smile.
"Thank you! I would really appreciate it! Also...we're going to travel the world? I...I only know this place. The pond and this village is all I've known. How big is the world exactly?"
"Bigger than you can imagine, but don't worry...you'll be able to find that out while we travel...oh...there is one other thing...I sometimes fall asleep at random moments after delivering a lot of dreams...but usually I can stay awake for long periods of time."
"Oh...well...I rest sometimes...in my tree...but it's only for maybe an hour or two a day and then I'm wide awake."
"Well, then this will be easy...but first...I'm sensing that since you don't know how big the world is, you may not know much about yourself or other things." Sandy looked at him with a saddened expression as the happy symbol from the beginning of his words quickly turned into a concerned symbol which had a smaller question mark.
"What are you getting at?" Jack questioned, but it wasn't in a rude way, he was trying to understand what the man in front of him was trying to hint at.
"What do you know...Your intelligence Jack...I'm not trying to be rude...but tell me what you know about yourself and the world...please?"
"Oh uh...okay...well...I know that I opened my eyes when I was pulled out of a pond, and it felt like I hadn't been able to breathe or feel for a long time until I heard the man in the moon talk. I know that I look like the villagers, but I'm very pale compared to them, and none of them can use ice or see me. I somehow know that I know how to read and write. I know how to talk obviously, I know my manners, I know I'm young but I apparently skipped something one of the villagers called coming of age because my voice isn't like a child's...not completely. It's deeper. I know that the villagers need fire to keep warm, but fire hurts my skin and makes me feel tired. However, day time doesn't bother me...unless summer arrives. I um...I get hungry but I don't know how to cook for myself or how to get food so I usually just grab..."
"You eat what the villagers throw away?" Sandy asked as a forlorn expression mixed with shock quickly crossed his features.
"Y-Yeah...I know...I know that it's not acceptable and that I shouldn't do it...but sometimes I get so hungry...and it's not like I can ask for any food...Anyway..."
A flurry of sad and angry symbols appeared so fast, Jack almost couldn't keep up, and he found himself feeling very fortunately that he didn't need to. "No! Not anymore...That's another thing I'm going to have to teach you. You're going to learn how to get and make your own food. The times will change year after year and you will need to be much more prepared than you are right now. With that said...please continue."
"Right well...I can talk to the wind and..."
"You can what?"
"Talk to the wind...is that strange?"
"No it just means that you're a little different that's all." Sandy gave him a wide smile that reached his eyes. "The man in the moon must've really seen something special in you for you to be able to do that."
"Huh...alright...um...I know my basics. colors, numbers, objects...things like that...I know my animals. I know what my power feels like in my body...'
"What does it feel like for you?"
"Well...the irony of it...it feels like a strange kind of joyful warmth that rushes through my whole body, even though I'm cold to the touch...and that's all I seem to be able to do. During the spring time if I stood on a patch of green grass, it would freeze it instantly, but it would quickly melt into water."
"That's remarkable..." Sandy smiled genuinely as he knew that his powers felt much the same way except his felt cool and calm like a spring or summer breeze. His eyes shifted quickly to the staff that Jack was holding and looked at it curiously. "Jack, fly with me as we go to the other side of the world."
"O-Okay..."
As they flew, Sandy's curiosity couldn't be calmed anymore. "Jack, was that staff of yours always covered in ice?"
"Hmm? Oh, no...I found it when the man in the moon put me back down on the pond. That's when the ice and frosting happened. When I touched it with my toe it frosted a little but it went away when my toe did. It appeared it again when I held it in my hands."
"May I see it?"
"I um...I don't think I can fly without it."
"Come stand on my cloud as we continue forward. I won't let you fall."
Jack did as he was told and noticed that he wasn't falling at all, and that the cloud was incredibly soft, and it tickled his feet a little. then, he noticed another peculiar reaction as he stood on the cloud. "M...My feet aren't freezing your sand!"
"No, they aren't. My sand is like your ice. It's a part of my powers and unless you actually deliberately use your powers against me, it won't affect me in the slightest. Although...I don't suspect you to be the type of person to harm me. So, that's good...anyway, the staff. May I see it?"
"Um...sure here...Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure..." Sandy said before taking the staff.
"You haven't needed symbols above your head for a while...so how am I still able to hear you talk if that was your way of communicating?"
"Because you can hear my thoughts apparently." Sandy smirked as he looked at the staff that no longer held any ice in it or even coldness for that matter.
"Has that happened before?"
"No..." Sandy looked up at him briefly wih a small smile.
"But the way I understand you when the symbols are up...is it the same thing?"
"No, not necessarily. My friends can understand me with the symbols. They can speak to me and I can speak to them with the symbols, but other than that...they can't hear my thoughts..."
"Did the man in the moon make me this way?"
"He's the only one capable. Anyway...it seems that your staff is similar to my sand, North's magic, Tooth's fairies and wings, and Bunny's own power along with his boomerangs."
"C-Come again!? Your sand...Magic...Fairies...boomerangs...what?"
"Their weapons and their own magic is an extension of them. Without it, they can't do much. They are unique to only them just as my sand is unique to me and your staff is to you. Your staff will be like an extension of yourself do you understand? You must take care of it."
"I...I understand." Jack nodded his head as he gently took the staff back.
Jack looked over at the guardians and noticed that they seemed to be shocked by the things they said, but he wanted to make sure it wasn't just his own shocked emotions. "You guys okay?" He asked as the scene was about to change once more.
North, Bunny, and Tooth immediately looked back and forth between Sandy and Jack with wide eyes, and dropped jaws. Jack felt a tugging on his pant leg and looked down at Sandy who then gave him a pointed look as a symbol of the sandman appeared followed by a speech bubble with a diagonal line through it, and after that, there was a clock. "Oh...right..."
"W-What did Sandy say?" North asked with childlike wonder.
"He said that in all his time of being the Sandman, no one has been able to hear him talk, and now you've heard his voice for the first time and you all found out that I can hear his thoughts and that that was the reason why you were all shocked."
"Well..." Bunny chuckled out nervously. "That's about the gist of it, mate, but I wish that's all it was."
"What do you mean?"
"Mate...you are the first person to ever hear Sandy speak, and even then...in all the time we've known Sandy, he has never reached out to anyone like that. To be quite honest, he kept to himself even when he became a guardian. We talked yeah...We would have meetings every four months and yearly meetings at the beginning of the year, but it was all for the children and planning. We knew he could fight in battle before Pitch came back...but..."
"This is the first time you're getting to know Sandy on a bit of a personal level."
"Yeah...basically, and if I'm gonna be honest...considering the year the two of you met...it makes sense now." Bunny stated vaguely as he ran his paw through his ears.
"What makes sense now?"
"That little by little he started opening up to us more."
Jack laughed out in disbelief. "Surely, I couldn't have made that much of a difference..." The pointed looks the other guardians were giving him were unnerving and answered his almost question. "Um...let's continue."