The three Guardians stood together in morning. Sandy's picture was laying on the floor, shining. Tooth laid a candle on the image and flew back. The elves were slowing ringing their bells on their hats. All of North's yetis were crowding behind them, paying their respect to the Sandman. Tooth and North looked at each other sadly, and Tooth held out her hands to Bunny and North. They took them and bowed their heads.
Jack had flown off as soon as they reached the Pole. She needed to get away, to clear her head. Thoughts were racing through her head in a frenzy. How did she create so much power? What would Pitch do now? They hadn't defeated him, not even close. Mostly though, she thought of Sandy. He was the only Guardian that "talked" to Jack before she was chosen. Though they weren't close, Sandy was one of the spirits that Jack could have almost called a friend.
Eventually, she returned to the Pole. Unlike the other Guardians, who had stood together to mourn Sandy, Jack mourned alone. She had always been a loner, and she wouldn't show her emotions in front of others. She couldn't hide them either, not now. So she sat by herself on the windowsill in North's office. Her hood was up. A finger reached out and tapped the glass, causing frost to spread on the window in the shape of the Sandman.
North came up behind the winter spirit. Curled up like that, she looked very much like a child. "Are you alright?" North asked her. It was a stupid question and he knew it, but there wasn't much else he could say.
"I just..." she didn't know how to put it into words. She did her best though. "I wish I could have done something."
"Done something? Jack you stood up to Pitch! You saved us."
"Sandy-"
"Would be proud of what you did." The younger spirit looked up at him. She took North by surprise. Sure, North knew that she was upset. That was clear. But he had never seen Jack show any real emotion before. The look of pain on Jack's face...it struck him hard.
She pulled off her hood and got up to walk away. North didn't want her to be alone though. "I don't know who you were in your past life, but in this life you are Guardian." He put his hand on her shoulder. Jack immediately flinched again, then cursed in her head. Why couldn't she ever just accept comfort? No matter how hard she tried, she always flinched at any physical contact. She couldn't help it. North, noticing her discomfort, took his hand off her shoulder.
"How can I know who I am, until I find out who I was?' she asked.
"You will," North assured her. "I feel it. In my belly." Jack couldn't resits as eye roll. It was such a strange phrase. But she did feel better.
All three remaining Guardians and Jack stood around the globe. "Look how fast they're going out!" Tooth said. She sounded like she was trying really hard not to panic.
"It's fear," Jack said. She flew up to the globe. "He's tipped the balance."
Bunny approached the other three immortals. "Hey, buck up you sad sacks. We can still turn this around!" He was the Guardian of Hope, and that's what he intended to spread, to the children and his fellow Guardians. "Easter is tomorrow, and I need your help. I say we pull out all the stocks and we get those little lights flickering again!"
Effect was immediate. North grabbed his coat, and the four hurried towards the sleigh. "Bunny is right!" North said. "As much as it pains me to say, old friend, this time Easter is more important than Christmas."
Bunny's eyes went as wide as the eggs he painted. "Hey, did everyone hear that?"
North did his best to ignore that comment. "We must hurry to the Warren. Everyone, to the sleigh!"
'Not this time' Bunny though. He jumped in front of the group. "Oh, no mate. My Warren, my rules. Buckle up," he mocked. He tapped his foot and a hole appeared under the group. North had just enough time to swear in Russian before they were sliding down the tunnels.
Tooth and Jack were laughing , along with the elves. The yetis and North however did not have such happy attitudes. When they landed int he Warren, North laid on his back for a few seconds. "Ha, buckle up. Is very funny."
Bunny just chuckled. "Welcome to the Warren," he said. It had been over a century since the Guardians had been here, and Jack had never been to the Warren before. He was about to suggest they get started, when his keen ears picked up an unfamiliar noise. He used his senses to try to figure it out. "Something's up," he told the others.
All the eggs that were in the tunnel in front of them started running out. Bunny got his boomerangs ready, North drew his swords, Jack got her staff ready and all the others got in a defensive position. Then , with a large battle cry, the all charged towards the tunnel...
And froze when a little two-year old girl ran up to them. She was holding some eggs in her arms. The little girl looked up at the strange group in confusion. Jack was the first to recover. She knew this child well. "Sophie?" The all quickly hide there weapons and tried awkwardly smiling at the child.
Sophie got over her surprise quickly, and went straight for the elves. "Elf, elf, elf!" she shrieked, running after it.
"What is she doing here?" Bunny demanded.
North patted himself doing. "Ah, snow globe," he said sheepishly.
This was not okay. "Crikey, somebody do something!" Bunny snapped.
Jack put her hands up. "Hey, don't look at me. I'm invisible, remember?"
As Sophie dragged the elf past them, Tooth made an attempt. "Don't worry Bunny. I bet she's a fairy fan," she said as she flew up to Sophie. "It's okay little one."
"Pretty!" Sophie sighed, looking at the feathers that covered Tooth's body.
"You know what, I've got something for you," Tooth announced. She held out some teeth. "Here it is. Look at all the pretty teeth! With little blood and gum on them!"
The two year old was not impressed. Sophie screamed and dashed away from the fairy.
The whole scene was very amusing to Jack. She laughed. "Blood and gums?" She flew up and landed on an egg-shaped stone, right by where Sophie was playing peek-a-boo with some eggs. "When was the last time you guys actually hung out with kids?"
"Peek-a-boo!" Sophie shouted at the eggs.
"We are very busy bringing joy to children! We don't have time-" He paused as Sophie ran by and he realized what he was saying, "-for children?" The last bit was almost a question.
A snowflake formed on Jack's hand. "If one little kid can ruin Easter, than you're in worse shape than I thought." She blew the snowflake towards Bunny, and it landed on his nose. Blue sparks appeared in front of his face, and a smile was beginning to form.
He led Sophie over to a newborn egg. "Ya want to paint some eggs, yeah?"
"Okay!" she giggled.
"Come on then," he said gently.
Millions, maybe even billions of eggs all marched around, ready to be painted. North muttered in Russian. "That's a lot of eggs."
"Uh, how much time do we have?" Jack asked. She was balancing on her staff, feeling fairly proud of what she had started.
Bunny raced around the Warren with Sophie on his back. She was clinging to his neck and both were cheering loudly.
"All right troops! It's time to push back." Eggs were sprayed with paint by flowers. "That means eggs everywhere!" Sophie laid on top and floated across the Warren. One little elf tried to help push eggs into the paint river, but ended up getting pushed in himself.
North picked up an egg. Its legs were still kicking. "Okay, that's little strange."
"No mate." Bunny was cuddling a group of them. "That's adorable."
He continued to encourage the group. "There will be springtime in every continent! And I'm bringing hope with me!"
'Springtime in every continent. Um, oops. That's not happening' Jack thought. There were plenty of placed she had already given snow to. She wasn't about to tell Bunny that though.
Bunny ran by a yeti painting red eggs. "Too Christmassy mate. Paint them blue." The yeti yelled in frustration, looking at his huge stacks of red eggs.
Sophie was running around near Bunny. "Oh, what's over there?" Bunny asked. A colourful, patterned egg was in the middle of the path. Sophie ran to it and picked it up. She showed Bunny. "Aw, that's a beauty!" he said. Sophie was giggled in happiness. Bunny took her hand. "Now, all we're gotta do is get him and his little mates to the top, and we'll have ourselves Easter."
He and Sophie sat down (in Bunny's case) and watched the eggs. Jack came up and crouched beside Sophie. The little girl, who was now very sleepy, curled up in Bunny's arms and fell asleep.
"Not bad," Jack admitted, seeing all of the eggs.
Bunny actually gave her a kind smile. "Not bad yourself."
Her face lit up slightly. She rarely ever got kindness given to her, so she stopped showing any. But she gave it a shot. "Hey, look, I'm sorry the whole, you know, the kangaroo thing."
"It's the accent isn't it?" The both chuckled softly. Bunny looked at the ball curled up in his arms. "Poor little ankle-biter. Look at her. All tuckered out."
North and Tooth had walked up behind them. Tooth kneeled beside Bunny. "I love her." It had been a long time since any of the Guardians had spent any real time with kids. Today had helped remind them why they protect the kids. "I think it's time to get her home," Tooth suggested, taking Sophie from Bunny.
"How about I take her?" Jack suggested. It had been fun painting eggs, but she wasn't an indoor spirit. She was longing to fly. Taking Sophie home would give her a few minutes to glide with the wind.
Tooth wasn't sure. "Jack, no. Pitch is…"
"No match for this," Jack grinned, holding her staff out.
"Which is why we need you here with us," Bunny replied.
But Jack wasn't going to give in. "Trust me. I'll be quick as a bunny."
The three Guardians shared a look. Tooth finally gave in and handed the girl to Jack.
"Oh sure. Now you can touch me. When your sleeping," Jack muttered. Seeing the looks on the Guardian's faces from that comment, Jack flashed a grin and flew off to Burgess.
