*3/2/15 I WOULD LIKE TO NOTIFY READERS THAT I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP ON THIS FANFICTION. IN FACT, DURING THIS ENTIRE TIME I HAVE BEEN EXCESSIVELY PLANNING REMINISCENCE'S FUTURE CHAPTERS AND ITS TWO POTENTIAL SEQUELS. Because of this, I have been forming new ideas faster than I can write a permanent chapter to publish - hence the lack of more chapters since December 2013. Aren't I a crazy fangirl?

*YES PEOPLE THIS IS ACTUALLY CHAPTER 3. IT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED. I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THIS. (You all probably thought I gave up on this, didn't you?)

*I am truly sorry about the horrendously unacceptable wait for this. I was rather busy for the past few months. My life was a hurricane of full of … stuff … and unnecessarily messy and overtly extensive but still somehow vague fanfiction planning. But that's probably not a good excuse huh? *ducks angry onslaught of readers* (And to think I might be planning for a trilogy …)

TOOTH

Should I tell the Guardians about Pitch's tooth?

The thought whirled and flip-flopped and somersaulted and twisted itself in my mind. Last night, I had sent Baby Tooth to invite the Guardians to the Tooth Palace. I wanted them to see my palace completely restored (North: "Tell us when palace finished, yes?"). Also, it would be good to see them again after being cooped up and tidying things for a few weeks straight.

I wrung my hands nervously. I wasn't sure whether or not I should tell the Guardians about Pitch's tooth. Did I need to anyway? The thought was tempting but I couldn't keep such a huge secret from them - they would find out eventually, and the longer I keep it quiet, the worse their reaction would be, especially if I delivered it … and …

"What should I do?" I asked Baby Tooth, unsure of myself. "Should I tell them when they arrive?" I avoided the querying eyes of my other fairies. They all knew that I was nervous - but only Baby Tooth and I knew why.

Baby Tooth paused in her fluttering. 'It would best to tell them,' she said after some thought. 'They'll all arrive here soon, so you might as well. And also, we won't know when you'll need to deliver it, so it's best to give them the heads up on it, just in case something goes wrong with the delivery in the future.'

I slowly nodded my agreement. I was very well aware that the real danger of the tooth wasn't in its storage, but the complexity of the delivery. If anything happened to me whilst delivering the tooth and the Guardians' hadn't known about it in the first place …

'It would get very messy,' finished Baby Tooth worriedly, following my thoughts.

Exactly.

Suddenly, a gale of wind entered the palace, twirling my fairies and I in our flight. The Wind's whispering voice wrapped around my ears.

'Hello, Tooth,' greeted the Wind. 'Your frosted friend asked me for a ride to see you. He told me that you have finished restoring your palace. It looks very lovely.'

"Thank you, old friend," I thanked him.

'Anytime. Oh, here he is. Watch ou-"

"HEY TOOTH!"

Bam!

Suddenly Jack's laughter was singing in my ears! And his arms were wrapped around me! And my arms were wrapped around him too! Jack and I spun around and around and around in circles with his momentum. As he left, the Wind chuckled his amusement at the sight. That silly wind.

"Ha, sorry, Tooth," grinned Jack. He pulled our spinning to a halt then carefully untangled himself from me. The Guardian of Fun laughed softly. "The wind's a bit faster than usual," he explained, scratching the back of his head. "Hey, are you alright? Ya look kind of flushed."

My hands flew to my cheeks: my face felt unusually warm. How embarrassing!

"Oh! I'm fine! Absolutely fine!" I babbled nervously. "You just caught me off guard, nothing to worry about."

"Okay …" Jack grinned again, flaunting his perfectly white, sparkling-like-freshly-fallen-snow teeth.

Wow … I nearly forgot how gorgeous his teeth are …

I nearly dropped a couple of feet in the air in reaction to Jack's teeth, but then a tsunami of infatuation from my fairies hurtled into my mind, further flinging my mind passed the point of 'no return'. "Keep it together ladies!" I managed to say, lifting one index finger half-drunkenly in the air.

It was too late though. A flock of my fairies had begun to swarm around Jack, wanting to see the Guardian and catch of a glimpse of his beautiful teeth. It was insane to think that so much fangirling (what else could I call it anyway?) could occur in a single second - and from so little fairies too. Surprisingly though, amongst the savage hurricane of emotion my fairies were relaying to me, there was also a strong hint of envy from them.

And that entire green eye was landing on Baby Tooth.

I felt myself fall into a trance as I watched Baby Tooth and Jack converse animatedly with each other. It was a strange but serene feeling that temporarily cleared my mind from the chaos of my fairies' thoughts.

Since they met, Baby Tooth and Jack had become such good friends. It was amazing to see how comfortable they were in each other's company and how well each understood the other after just a few weeks. It was almost as if they've known each other for years … As if …

No. Don't be silly, Tooth.

I shook my head to clear it. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Nothing other than that little tooth I had in my private storage wall and that I should - needed - to tell the Guardians about.

I was about to tell my girls to disperse away from Jack and give him some breathing space when a glassy, rippling portal emerged in the sky ahead of us. Like a bullet being shot from a gun, a red reindeer-drawn sleigh popped out and circled round to the Tooth Palace. A familiar roar of laughter boomed from the sleigh. At the front of the flying vehicle, stood the North, tightly holding the reins of his sleigh as he drove it. Sitting behind him in a languid fashion was Sandy, hands high in the rushing air.

That's three Guardians now: one more to go, I thought as I watched the sleigh head towards the Asia Tower.

"Come on Tooth!" called out Jack, breaking me from my thoughts. He lithely launched himself higher in the air and began flying after the sleigh. Most of the fairies that had surrounded him then took it as their queue to return to work (and, thankfully, quell their emotions and clear my mind), but a few fairies, like Baby Tooth, continued to trail the winter spirit.

I quickly followed behind Jack, catching up to his side in seconds. Together we accompanied the Guardians of Wonder and Dreams the rest of the way to my Palace. With a quick movement of his hands, North smoothly parked his sleigh at the platform of the Asia Tower. Once it halted to a stop, the retired Cossack stepped out of the sleigh, looking around at my palace in amazement as he did so. Sandy followed suit behind him by quietly floating off enchanted machine.

"Tooth Palace look spotless Tooth!" North commented heartily. The Russian man hooked his thumbs into his belt with an appreciative grin on his face. "Last time I see this floor, it full of those tiny memory boxes. But now, it so clean!"

"Thank you North! And it is a relief too to see everything returned to its place," I added as I reached the Asia Tower's platform. I turned to Sandy. "What do you think, Sandy?"

Sandy smiled and formed a 'thumbs up' image of dreamsand above his head.

"Aww! Thanks!"

Jack, having reached the platform before me, stood amused beside North. He nonchalantly paced round to Sandy. "If I'm counting right, that's four Guardians down now," he thought aloud. He paced past us then, with a mischievous smirk, turned on his heel to face us, flipping his staff onto his right shoulder. "So where's our favourite Australian rabbit?"

"Bunny thought tunnels faster than sleigh," explained North seriously. "But since he not here …" Abruptly North erupted into a victory dance. He jumped and down - really haphazardly - around us. "I WIN!" he shouted.

Right on cue, a familiar tunnel emerged right beside us. Two large ears flipped out. North pointed animatedly at the ears, all the while continuing his victory dance. "I win, Bunny! You LOSE!"

The sour face of the Guardian of Hope quickly popped out. "Don't count on your luck next time you dingbat," he grumbled as he climbed out of his tunnel. "Enjoy the ride though, mate?" Bunny asked, turning to Sandy.

Sandy smiled and nodded in reply. His dreamsand formed a miniature sleigh making a couple of loops in the air.

Bunny chuckled, his earlier irritation ebbing away. "Thought so." The Pooka then turned his attention to his surroundings, letting out an appreciative whistle. "The palace looks great Tooth. It's nice to see it all cleaned up." He turned to me and grinned.

"Thanks Bunny."

"No problem mate."

"So …" drawled Jack teasingly to Bunny, entering in a new thread of conversation. "I see that …"

I drifted out of Guardians' conversation as my thoughts returned to my attention. All four Guardians are here, I thought hesitantly. It's time to tell them about Pitch's tooth. A wave of uncertainty rushed up to me as I fully took in the task at hand. This is going to be so difficult.

'Then let's do it and get it over with,' encouraged Baby Tooth, breaking me from my thoughts.

Right.

"Hey, guys … " I began.

"You should've seen him! It was the pinkest sight I've seen in three hundred years!" crowed Jack. North and Sandy laughed away with the winter Guardian whilst Bunny turned ever redder in the face.

What on earth are they talking about? I turned to Baby Tooth but she merely shrugged.

"That's enough you little overgrown icypole!" yelled Bunny. He waved a paw at Jack. "That was a bloomin' accident! Now shut your mouth or I'm gonna-"

"Gonna do what?" interrupted Jack teasingly. He could barely stifle his own laughter. "Stick me in the freezer? I don't know, sounds pretty cosy for the likes of me. At least I didn't end up good enough to be in a toy display like you! Admit it Bunny, you're just too fond of Sophie to say "No" to her!"

Another round of guffawing erupted from Jack, North and Sandy - well, not really Sandy, but you could definitely tell he was enjoying this too much. I decided to spare Bunny any more damage to his pride. That and my resolve to get my news over and done with was starting to wane.

"Hey! Guys!" I yelled. "HEY!"

The Guardians immediately silenced at my voice. Concern and surprise at the urgency in my voice fluttered in their eyes. I spoke before they could.

"There's another reason why I called you here: I need to show you guys something."

Immediately understanding, North nodded his acknowledgement without question. "Lead the way, we take sleigh," he grunted.

As North and Bunny jumped into the sleigh, I launched myself higher into the air, with Jack and Sandy beside me. I began to lead the way to the Main Tower once the sleigh was airborne.

It was a silent and brief flight. Jack kept glancing back to me worriedly as he flew beside me; it made me all the more nervous about what I was going to do. Like the rest of the Guardians, he knew something was wrong. I couldn't hide the fact that I was a bit distressed but who could blame me?

I had the Bogeyman's only surviving milk tooth in my private storage wall.

Once we arrived at the Main Tower, I didn't wait to see North's sleigh land. I quickly whisked into my room and fluttered to a standstill in front of my wall. With a light press of my hand, the wall opened; shelves and all. And waiting patiently on the lowest shelf was the memory box. I grabbed it hastily with both hands and clutched it close to me. It was now or never.

"So what you want us to see, Tooth?" I heard North's voice behind me and I could sense the others standing quietly beside him.

I took in a deep, calming breath. "Just … don't freak out, okay?" I warned them slowly. A wary silence engulfed the Guardians - I could feel it. Now they were absolutely concerned. Just take it slow, Tooth, just take it slow.

I turned to them and slowly, ever so slowly, rotated the memory box in my hands … until its marked face was shown to them.

… To be continued in chapter 4?

*Thank you for reading!

*I would especially like to thank anyone who was any of the readers who began reading my fanfiction since its initial publication on in January. If you're still on a roll reading this, thank you for continuing to read my fanfiction despite the huge wait for chapter 3. I would give you a hug if I knew who you are in real life!

*I would also like to thank every single reader and reviewer (even if you hated my fanfiction) for reading Reminiscence and its story so far. It's an amazing thing for me to think that even after leaving such a huge gap for chapter 3 to arrive, there are actually still people who are looking it up and viewing it to this very day.

*In particular, I would like to thank Jade de Green Queen for reviewing twice on chapter 2 - one during its initial publication and a surprising second a few months ago - and encouraging me to finish chapter 3. And also, I would like to give a particular thank you to Zefirka, Chibimissa and YukiGirl21 for reviewing very recently. I might've given up on this fanfiction if it weren't especially for your support!

*There is no guarantee that chapter 4 will arrive any time soon. I can only hope I would be able to get it up and running in the future.