Chapter II
"Through your eyes the colors were fading. You've tried, you can't see the world the same. It's cold falling down like a shadow on the ground" – Ana Johnson, Coming Out Strong
The North Pole
"Jack, where have you been?" North shouted as Jack came swooping in out of nowhere with a gust of wind and snowflakes following.
"Freezing water pipes again?" Bunny raised an eyebrow as he commented sarcastically.
Jack shook his head and snickered, but before he could throw something back, Tooth interrupted with the squeaking of her tooth fairies by her side. "Let's not start this."
"Tooth is right, there is something more important to discuss." North stomped his way between Jack and Bunny towards the giant globe that had small glowing lights all over.
"Well does someone want to tell Sandy that?" Jack looked over his shoulder towards the sleeping little sandman.
North sighs and walks over to Sandy, nudging him little by little. "Sandy, wake up!" He shouts.
Sandy is startled by the outburst and at first confused but regains memory of the reason why he and everyone else is here.
"So, what's this about, North?" Jack asks as he flips his staff in his hand and rests it against his shoulder.
"Man in moon." He gestures his hand up towards the sky where the moon glow dimly against the light blue sky.
Everyone follows and stares at the moon, with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
"Something is wrong, very, very wrong." North starts to raise his voice again.
"O-okay, North." Bunny raises his paws to calm him. "How do you, wait, no, don't tell me you-"
"I feel it, in my belly." North taps his stomach.
"It's been a while though, hasn't it?" Jack stated as he looked away from the moon and towards everyone else. "Since the last time he's come out..."
The expression on everyone's faces were the same, it was anxiousness.
North shook it off and asked "What is it, old friend?" As he turns to the moon in the sky.
Sudden moonlight shines down onto a wood and metal platform with small etched pictures of Sandman, Bunny, Tooth and North. The lighting presented pictures, first of a bed, old and broken.
Tooth gasps. "It can't be."
"Pitch Black, but-" Jack doesn't finish his sentence, for he is cut off by his puzzled thoughts and continues to try to understand what the Man in the Moon is trying to tell them.
The next picture was of the moon itself, as it started to fade away slowly into nothing.
"What does that mean?" Bunny looked at Sandy as he asked nervously.
Sandy shrugged as a question mark made of sand appears above his head.
"Manny…" North began to say but was cut off when the moonlight started to flicker and fade before he could reveal the next image.
"What's happening?" Jack whispered to himself.
North happened to overhear "He's sick." He replied.
North looks down and shakes his head. "I… I don't know."
"What do we do?" Tooth asks quietly.
They each looked at one another with sad eyes but then a beam of light appears again back on the platform which opens revealing the blue Guardian stone that lights up the entire room.
Everyone at the same time takes a step back in astonishment as the moon uses forceful power to continue.
Sandy jumps and points at the stone as he makes multiple symbols from sand above his head. And somehow everyone understands.
"Another guardian?" Bunny jumps a few feet towards the stone with wide eyes.
The stone was glowing ever so bright, as little sparkles swirled all around it, creating a graceful figure. No details were shown just a silhouette of a girl, with long wavy hair, wearing a long dress.
"Who is she?" Jack asked as he took a step closer.
"Never seen anyone like that before." Bunny said. "North?"
"No." He turns to Sandy who shook his head and turns to Tooth.
"Don't look at me, I've never seen her before." Tooth waved her hands as she fluttered back a bit.
"Manny, who is she?" North asked.
The Man in the Moon's light vanished, and for the last few minutes of silence before the white clouds that slowly started to overlap the large planet, he tells the Guardians something, leaving them all in dismay.
"Okay, so now what do we do?" Jack asked as he leaned against his staff.
North strokes his long white beard and with a low rasp of his voice. "We find her."