New chapter everyone! Not a ton of dialogue in this chapter, so I apologize, but I didn't want to totally rehash the story, so I only used dialogue between Elsa and one of the others unless a line was really important.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! There are 18 reviews for this story so far, which makes me really happy! Happy writer=more chapters! Speaking of which, how many chapters would you all like to see? 25? 30? Pick a number, any number (above 20, preferably) and leave it in your review!
Also, I want to leave this here. The way I envision Elsa's traveling is she calls on the Wind to take her places (since she has the power to control the Wind too, after chapter 7), but instead of flying, she turns into a small flurry of snowflakes. Like how Queen Clarion turns into a stream of pure pixie dust to travel in the Tinkerbell movies. And I'll explain that in more detail in later chapters if you can't picture it. I just wanted to mention it here so it doesn't come out of left field when I do describe it later on, and it gives you all something to picture.
Now, without further ado, I give you, chapter 9! Enjoy everyone, and snowflakes of love and fun to you all!
Chapter 9: Jack's Memories
Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and the other fairies fought Pitch and his army of Nightmares with everything they had, but it wasn't enough. Had they gotten there more quickly, or if Jack and the others had gotten there on time, they might have won, but Pitch's Nightmares greatly outnumbered them and the others were too late. They arrived in time for Jack to save Faylinn, who he nicknamed Baby Tooth since she looked just like Anna, but the black horses had already taken the other fairies, and all the teeth. The Guardians fought a losing battle with the king of nightmares, and Eugene brought up the Dark Ages Pitch had tricked Elsa into causing all those centuries ago, when Jack died. Pitch summarized the story, calling Elsa the Man in the Moon, earning a deathly glare from the queen, explaining how she chose the Guardians to replace his fear with happiness, wonder, and light.
Before Pitch left, Anna's palace started to disintegrate, and Jack was utterly confused. The Nightmare King and the Guardians had to explain to him that if enough children stopped believing, everything the Guardians stood for would disappear, and so would they. With a final, wicked grin in Elsa's direction, Pitch Black left the palace, leaving the Guardians to plan their next move.
Anna explained exactly what she did to a still very confused Jack, telling him that they collect the teeth to protect the most important memories of childhood, and that they had everyone's there, including his. The only memories she didn't have in her possession were Elsa's, since Elsa preferred to protect her own memories in her castle, but Anna obviously didn't tell Jack that. It was decided that they would help Anna collect the teeth, since Eugene, Pabbie and Kristoff visit every child in the world in one night, and Jack was promised his memories if he helped them retrieve the teeth. Elsa obviously agreed, since sisters are supposed to help each other in times of need and they've been there for each other for centuries, and Olaf agreed because he loves helping the guardians. Obviously Jack didn't know they were helping, since they were the only two he couldn't see, but the others knew. They set out and managed to collect all the teeth, but Elsa, Anna and Olaf were the only ones who remembered to leave gifts behind for the children to wake up to. They all had to take a detour to a Laundromat to get change for dollar bills to give to the children. Once all the children had gifts to wake up to, gifts that varied based on the Guardian leaving them (Eugene left Easter Eggs, Kristoff left candy canes and Christmas decorations, Pabbie left coins and sweet dreams, Jack left coins and little crystal ice figures, Olaf left coins and flowers, Faylinn and Anna left coins, and Elsa left coins and small, crystal snowflakes), the Guardians all went back to Kristoff's workshop to find a safe place to hide the teeth, deciding to leave them with Olaf and the yetis, before going to the next city.
The next city just happened to be Jack's hometown, and they all met up in the room of a young boy named Jamie. Elsa was the only one to know exactly who Jamie was, and she was glad Jack had been playing with him and that he had followed Anna to Jamie's room. Jamie was Emma's however-many-greats-grandson, meaning Jack was his however-many-greats-uncle. Jamie's little sister Sophie was actually a reincarnation of Rapunzel, and Elsa made sure she would one day remember. She gave her a strong belief in the Easter Bunny when she reincarnated her, and that belief would eventually grow into what it had been in Rapunzel and Eugene's first life. Eugene didn't know this, since he had never seen Sophie, but the Snow Queen had a plan to get them together. She also reincarnated Maximus as Abby, their greyhound, and had plans to reincarnate Pascal, but she wouldn't do that until Sophie was older. Elsa arrived in the bedroom just before the other Guardians did, and smiled watching Jack interact with Jamie. He always was amazing with kids, and memories or not, he definitely kept that trait.
Not long after Elsa arrived, so did the other Guardians. They began to argue over who collected the most teeth, but Jamie woke up and saw all of them except for Jack, and Elsa held her finger to her lips to keep him from mentioning her, and he did. He was still extremely confused, however, and as Pabbie was going to put him back to sleep with dream sand, Abby came running in. Being Maximus, she remembered Eugene and how much they argued, and immediately began growling at him. Jack caused mischief by turning on the alarm, startling Eugene and causing him to run around the room with the greyhound until Pabbie finally used his sand to knock everyone but himself, Jack and Elsa out. The three laughed quietly at the sleeping Guardians until Jack and Elsa saw a Nightmare outside the window, and Jack immediately chased after it, leaving Elsa and Pabbie to follow. The trio chased the two Nightmares through the town of Burgess, only to stop when Pitch showed up.
Pitch obviously either didn't recognize Jack or didn't remember him, because he didn't understand why they were all hanging out together, and like always he practically ignored Elsa. Then again, Pitch didn't catch on very quickly. It had been three hundred years and he still didn't realize Bunny, North, Tooth, and Sandy were Elsa's family. Jack made the mistake of commenting on the stolen teeth, which confused Pitch long enough for Pabbie to get the upper hand in the fight, but the Nightmare King didn't stay down very long. Jack, Elsa and Pabbie fought the Nightmares with all their might, but there were too many of them. Luckily, their previously sleeping friends had woken up right on time and were now rushing towards the battle, still somewhat asleep on Kristoff's sleigh. They woke up quickly and rushed into action, helping to destroy the Nightmares, but Pabbie got caught up in the center of a swirl of black sand and bad dreams, and Pitch shot an arrow of his Nightmare dust into Pabbie's back, destroying the golden guardian.
Elsa and Jack, both horrified beyond belief, rush to help him, and find a wave of Nightmares rushing towards them. Jack, who moved in front of Elsa without realizing she was even there, took the initial hit, and the Snow Queen, unable to lose anyone else to the king of fear, uses everything she has in her heart, from pain to anger, and ultimately to love, to charge Jack's staff. She combined her powers with his and together they knocked Pitch out of the sky in an explosion of ice and snow. Jack, completely drained and unconscious, fell through Elsa towards the ground, and was rescued by Anna. When he woke up, the others asked how he did that, and he replied by saying he didn't know he could. Elsa quietly explained to the others that she helped by combining her powers with his, and then they went back to Kristoff's workshop to mourn the loss of their friend. As they left, Elsa heard a delighted voice, one that she knew by memory and still occasionally heard in the darkest corners of the world, one that was as delighted as it had been when she froze the world, creating the Dark Ages and bringing him into power.
"Finally!" the voice exclaimed. "Someone who knows how to have a little fun!" Elsa felt a chill go down her spine, slightly worried that Pitch had figured out who Jack was, but the Guardians had other things to worry about.
The Guardians held a memorial for Pabbie, with each of them mourning in their own way. Kristoff almost cried, and Anna put her hand on his shoulder, quietly telling him she wouldn't judge if he cried. At that, he looked at his wife and smiled sadly, but seemed to cheer up enough to focus on what was coming. Eugene was in shock, and couldn't figure out how to process what happened. Olaf was sitting near him sadly, trying to find a way to cheer up the giant bunny and give him hope. Elsa sat away from the others, not wanting to deal with the sadness of losing someone she loved once again. She instead sat across from Jack in a window ledge, watching with a sad smile as he touched the glass of the window and created an image of Pabbie out of frost. Kristoff came to collect him then, since they had to save Easter to make the children believe, and Elsa followed slowly, adding her own design to Jack's since she knew he wouldn't notice.
Elsa, Jack, Kristoff, Anna, Faylinn, and Eugene all went to the warren, and Olaf went back to the moon to be Elsa's eye-in-the-sky while she was fighting with her family. He knew he was of more help in the moon right now, watching over the world, but Elsa jokingly began to think he was stealing her job. When they reached the warren, a place Elsa had visited a few times in the past, everyone was in awe. Suddenly, they heard screaming and saw eggs running out of one of the tunnels, and everyone prepared for battle. What they were met with made the Guardians' jaws drop in surprise, but Elsa just smiled.
Sophie had taken one of North's snow globes and gone through a portal to Eugene's home. At first all the Guardians just wanted her to leave, then Anna scared her off by showing her a tooth covered in blood and gums—obviously three centuries had not improved her sister's awkwardness around people—but Jack taught them how to have fun with kids. He created a small snowflake that touched Eugene's nose, inspiring Eugene and everyone else to have fun with the young, blonde child with bright, green eyes. Elsa couldn't have been prouder of him for proving himself by using his center, whether he knew it was his center or not, and she sat to the side to watch. A few times Sophie ran over to play with her, but each time she distracted her with a bright blue, beautiful butterfly made of ice, which the young girl immediately chased. Elsa smiled, realizing this was what her cousin was like as a toddler, and wondered if Eugene had recognized her yet. It didn't look like he did. Anna came over when it became apparent that everything was set and almost ready to go, and sat on the rock next to her sister.
"You look happy," the hummingbird girl commented with a smile.
"I am. We can fix everything. Jack is starting to believe in himself again, even though he doesn't have his memories, and I've never been more proud of him. And although it happened a little earlier than I originally planned, Eugene found his love again," the Snow Queen told her sister with a smile, then noticed the young woman's shocked face and continued. "Anna, you do realize that's Punzie, right?" The Tooth Fairy's strangely beautiful purple eyes widened in surprise, then looked over at Eugene playing with the toddler and laughed quietly.
"Aww! She's so cute! Does she have Punzie's magic, though?" Anna asked her older sister, who nodded immediately.
"Of course she does, Anna. She just doesn't know it yet. When she's a little older I'll find a way to explain it to her. Maybe I'll have Eugene teach her the song," the wintery girl said thoughtfully, watching her family play. Kristoff dragged Anna back to help a moment later, and Elsa just sat smiling. Soon after, the little girl fell asleep, and the Snow Queen watched as Eugene showed affection for the little 'ankle-biter' while Jack offered to take her back home. The others argued at first, wanting him with them in case Pitch returned, but Jack convinced them that he would be fine, and they agreed. Jack left, and everything was fine until Elsa heard a very faint, very familiar voice.
"Jack…" the young girl's voice called, and Elsa gasped in shock, causing her family to turn to her in confusion. Emma had been dead for centuries, but the Snow Queen knew her voice as well as she knew that of her own sister. Elsa felt herself begin to shake slightly, and Anna flew over.
"Elsa? Elsa, what's wrong?" the younger Guardian of Memories asked worriedly, and Elsa could only shake her head.
"Pitch opened Jack's memories…he's in trouble. We all are. The memories Pitch took may not have me in them, but Pitch is the one who killed Jack all those years ago, and his death is one of the memories contained in his teeth. Pitch will definitely remember the young boy who died in that lake saving his sister…" Elsa trailed off, a look of horror overtaking her beautiful features, and the Guardians stared at each other in shock.
Duh, duh, duuuuuh! So, what do you all think? Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Punzie's back everyone! And she's adorable! Please review!