so this is only my second story I have uploaded, I hope any readers enjoy it. I made some of my own assumptions for how some of Sandy's powers work, so I hope that makes sense.

thank you for reading!

-owlthewriter

Jack sighed as he leaned against the back of North's sleigh as the Guardians left the kids of Burgess behind. As they flew high above the ground, his mind was going in circles, as it had since he had seen his memories. He had drowned, and he still couldn't quite believe it had happened. Before he could fall any deeper into thought, Tooth turned around to face Jack.

"Jack?" she asked, gently as though he was a wounded animal, "With all this Pitch business over with, can I get your tooth canister back, to put it away?"

At her words, everyone else in the sleigh, other than North who was driving, looked over at Jack. Bunny seemed glad to have a point to focus on, rather than being sick. Jack shrunk back from all the attention suddenly on him.

He reached into his hoodie pocket and grabbed the object in question. The cylinder was not cold to Jack, but neither was it warm. He felt the rough, patterned exterior and remembered the feeling of dark, cold, water washing over him, and quickly handed it over to Tooth. He wanted to be done with it, and forget about it.

Tooth, when she grabbed the cylinder from Jack, shivered. It must have been colder than Jack had realized. She was about to hand it off to Baby Tooth with instructions to put it away when she stopped. "Did you still want to see your memories, Jack?" She asked.

"No, I don't need to. I've already seen them." Jack sighed again, trying not to remember why he had seen them.

Sandy waved to get his attention, then started throwing up symbols with his sand. 'Why? What did you see?'

Jack tried to deflect, he didn't want to talk about his time taking Sophie home. "It's a long story, Sandy. I think it might take a little too long."

Bunny snorted, "You don't want to tell us because you know you shouldn't have looked at them." The anger on his face momentarily replaced the recent queasiness.

"Fine!" Jack snapped, "I'll tell you guys, but I will warn you, it is a long story." He shifted where he sat, trying to get more comfortable. "I was just leaving Sophie's room after bringing her home, when I heard a voice. It was calling my name, so I followed it. It led me to an old, broken bed frame in the middle of a shadowy forest, with a large, deep hole underneath. I heard the voice again, and jumped down the hole"

"Jack?" North's Russian accent cut through his story, "What did you find in hole? If I remember the rumors that were going around a long time ago, that was thought to be the entrance to Pitch's lair."

When North finished talking, Jack nodded, "At the bottom of the hole was a large cavern. There were many cages hanging from the ceiling, all the other Tooth Fairies were there."

Tooth gasped, "Were they ok?"

"They were fine, other than being locked in the cages. Under the cages, all the tooth canisters were in huge towering piles. I heard my name again, and I thought I heard it from the highest pile. I began digging, but before I got very far, Pitch was behind me, holding my canister."

Bunny's eyes darkened, "So you did trade Baby Tooth for your memories!"

"No! I didn't!" Jack yelled, "He tried taunting me, telling me what I was most—" Jack stopped, not wanting the Guardians know what he was truly afraid of.

"Most what, Jack?" asked North, sensing the boy needed a little prodding to keep talking.

"What I was most afraid of." Jack whispered, drawing himself further into his hoodie as much as he could.

"And what was that, not being able to bring snow on Easter?" Bunny sneered, still sounding angry at Jack.

North sighed, "Now, now, Bunny, let Jack finish."

Jack sighed once again, "He was taunting me, saying I was afraid I would never be seen by others, and that you guys would never accept me. He kept taunting me, and I began to suspect he was distracting me. I asked him what he had done, but he turned it back on me, asking 'no, what did you do?' I tried to find you guys in the egg tunnels, but I only found broken eggs.

"I got out of the tunnels, and saw Bunny getting walked through by a child. You guys drew conclusions without letting me explain myself. After Bunny said you never should have trusted me, I left."

Sandy, who so far had just been listening to the conversation, had a mixture of shock and anger on his face while he asked, 'Where did you go?'

"Down to Antarctica, where I was going to throw my teeth into the ocean." Jack could see Tooth gasp at his words, though she calmed a little bit when he kept talking, "I couldn't do it, though. I was angry with myself, and I was going to let off some steam, but before I could, Pitch was behind me again, trying to—" Jack stopped there, not willing to tell the rest of the story.

"Jack?" Asked Tooth, "What was he trying to do this time?"

Jack shook his head, "You know, guys, I just remembered I need to go spread winter. Sorry, I gotta go!" He called over his shoulder as he flew away.

In the end, it was Sandy who found Jack. About two weeks later. He had been hiding out in Minneapolis, and doing his best not to make an overly large snowstorm, as to not be found.

Sandy had found Jack when he had accidentally touched a stream of dream sand. Sandy immediately informed North, who was going to send either some elves or yetis to get him, however, he decided to ask Tooth instead. (She was less likely to make it chaotic). Tooth was busy, trying to make up for the time she would be spending with the other Guardians once Jack made it to the Pole, so she told Bunny to collect Jack.

Bunny had been all too happy to kidnap the young Guardian, and did so without complaint. He did it in a manner very like when they told Jack he was to be a Guardian.

"Again? Really?" Jack snapped as he tried to free himself from the bag, all the while glaring at those gathered around him. Sandy and Tooth looked a little ashamed that they had been part of it, though North (and Bunny even more so) seemed proud of themselves. Some of the elves were laughing at Jack's less-than-graceful entrance once again, but were stopped when Jack froze them.

"Jack, you need to finish telling us what happened." Tooth said, Sandy nodding behind her. "We don't like keeping secrets, it's not fair to each other."

"We need to be united." North added in a tone that left Jack no room to argue.

Jack blew out a long breath before continuing his story, knowing that there was no argument that would work in his favor at this point. "So, I was in Antarctica, and Pitch had once again appeared behind me. Though, instead of telling me about my biggest fears, he tried to get me to join him."

Everyone gasped at this, Tooth even uttering 'no' under her breath.

"I tried to get rid of him by blasting ice at him, but it didn't hit because he countered with his nightmare sand. After we fought a little more, I told him I wasn't going to join him. He wasn't too mad, though he asked for my staff." His voice tapered off.

Jack really didn't want to think about this again. He just wanted to forget what he had learned. "I didn't want to give it to him, but then he showed me he had Baby Tooth trapped in his hand."

He was cut off by Tooth as she gasped. "Sorry." She whispered.

"I only gave my staff to Pitch after he started tightening his grip on Baby Tooth. Even then, he wouldn't let her go, so she poked him with her beak. Pitch threw her against an ice wall, and she fell down a crevice in the ice. Then, he broke my staff in two."

"How did you get it fixed?" Asked North, eyes full of wonder trying to figure out how Jack had fixed the now clearly in-one-piece staff that was in his hands.

"I'm still not quite sure. Anyway, after Pitch broke my staff, he pushed me down the same crevice he had thrown Baby Tooth. After I landed, he laughed and threw the pieces of my staff down as well.

"I made sure Baby Tooth was alright, but I couldn't keep her warm. She ducked into my pocket, and I thought she was going to just try to stay as warm as she could. Instead, she pushed the canister out of the pocket and urged me to look at my memories."

"How many memories did you see?" Asked Tooth, leaning forward, closer to Jack.

Jack took a step back, "Four, though the first three were just quick flashes." He saw North nod for him to go on. "In the first, I was playing and laughing with my sister. The second, I was hanging by my legs from a tree while younger kids watched and laughed with joy. Then I was telling some sort of story to the younger kids."

"And the last one?" asked Tooth, clearly excited to find out.

"I was going to go ice skating with my sister. I told my mother that yes, we would be careful." Jack took a second to swallow, "Then we were on the ice, and it was cracking under her."

"What happened, Jack?" asked Bunny, seeming worried for Jack's sister.

"I convinced her to let me help her away from the weak ice, I pulled her away with my staff. In doing so, I ended up on the cracked ice. It broke."

Everyone's faces were identical expressions of shock. Even Bunny didn't seem angry at Jack.

"How long were you under ice, before Man in Moon saved you?" North's face changed from shock and horror to confusion as he spoke.

"Too long."

"What do you mean, Jack?" Tooth asked.

"HE DIDN'T!" Jack snapped angrily, "Man in Moon didn't save me. Not in time, at least. I drowned." He tried to fly away from the others , but he was quickly caught by a tendril of dream sand. Jack landed hard as the sand pulled him downwards.

Sandy had his hands on his hips and an angry expression on his face. 'Where do you think you're going? You can't just leave with 'I drowned' being the last thing you say!' Sandy's sand was barely forming recognizable shapes before the next one began forming.

The other three had finally shaken themselves from their shock, and now they had the beginning of horror on their faces.

"Jack?" Tooth's voice was soft, and full of pity. "What—"

"I don't need or want any of your pity. I just want to forget about it." Jack's voice still held a trace of anger, though it was now overshadowed with a mix of desperation and sadness.

Sandy shook his head, 'Jack, we aren't trying to pity you, we just want to show you we care'

Around him, North, Bunny and Tooth nodded their heads. They seemed to get happier when Jack let the anger leave his face.

"I told you what you wanted to know, but I don't want to talk about my memories." Jack said, the desperation now clear in his voice. He grabbed his staff and sat in the crook of it.

"Ok, Jack, we won't pry." North said appeaseingly, holding out his hands gently.

Jack gave a half smile and a light laugh, "Sounds good, North."