A/N: Well, it's been a while. ^^;; And I have no really good excuse, except that I became unhealthily addicted to Supernatural. Totally crossing fandoms here, but if anyone reading this also loves Supernatural (CASTIEL IN PARTICULAR ::loooooooove::), TALK TO MEEEEE lol I need to spaz about the final episode! It is driving me craaaaazy...

Chapter notes: Sorry if I totally screwed up writing Toothiana...just know that it was my first attempt writing her!

Nightmares of Past II

"...unusually low temperatures for this time of year..."

"...speculations of global warming effects drastically increasing..."

"...conservationists especially concerned about the polar regions and the numerous endangered species...ice melting at a much faster rate..."

"Dude, want to join us sometime this century? Study for your stupid environmental class later!" Sam's loud voice suddenly scolded him, clearly annoyed at his lack of attention.

Jamie sighed and set aside his phone, giving one last reluctant glance at the latest article he'd been reading. He was still itching to finish, but Sam was right, it wasn't fair to the others to get distracted during their group study sessions. Still, with the way his mind had been going he knew pretty well that he'd hardly get anything done today.

He was becoming obsessed. Anytime he heard the tiniest bit of news concerning the mild winters all over the globe, he couldn't help but pounce looking for anything, anything that might give him a clue as to where his winter spirit might have gone.

Almost a month had passed, and he had nothing to show for his efforts but more worry and an irrational fear that Jack was -

No. No, he was fine. If anything had happened to Jack, he would definitely have heard about it from the other Guardians, right? They knew how close they were, so they'd at least have the courtesy to let him know, right?

Still, it didn't hurt to make sure, Jamie reasoned. Which was why, a few hours later after his friends had left, he found himself staring out the window, feeling slightly foolish for what he was about to do.

"Uh, Sandman? Can you hear me? This is Jamie Bennett...you know, Jack's friend." He started off weakly. People probably didn't pray to Sandman, but he had figured that if the dreamgiver's job consisted of reaching millions of minds at a time with his sand, he had to have some kind of feedback system that might pick up his thoughts and voice.

"I know I'm not a kid anymore...so you probably don't have any reason to watch over me, or even listen to me. But...I'm really worried. About Jack. He was acting a little strangely the last time I saw him, which was a month ago - and he usually visits every week, at least. Could you, um...well, check on him for me? And maybe let me know how he's doing? Please?"

Silence.

Jamie sighed, shoulders slumping heavily. Well, he knew it had been a long shot, but it was still disappointing. Just as he was about to get ready for bed however, a small box resting on top of his bookshelf caught his eye. Slowly, a grin formed on his face as an idea came to him.

Baby Tooth knew her duties quite well - retrieve any and all teeth found underneath the pillows of sleeping children whilst leaving coins behind in exchange. Of course, it could be said that the word 'children' in that sense was a bit subjective - after all, baby teeth usually fell out by age 13, but there were the rare and few who might still be losing them at age 15. And though it was uncommon, there were still some at that age who believed in the Tooth Fairy. So to make it easier for her and her millions of fellow fairies, they went by the simple guideline of collecting from any sleeping human that had teeth under their pillows.

It was for this reason that Baby Tooth found herself hovering curiously over a familiar face, a slight grimace crossing her tiny features as she remembered the last time she'd seen this particular human. Scrubbing out the glitter from her feathers had been quite tedious...but why was Jamie Bennett still putting teeth under his pillows? How did he still have teeth to put there in the first place?

Both questions were quickly answered as she struggled to pull out the enormous third molar. Though it wasn't the sheer size and weight of the large tooth that she struggled with, but the bulky piece of paper attached to it.

The little fairy figured Toothiana would probably want to see this.

It didn't take long for the Guardian of Memories to respond to his message. In fact, Jamie noted with a grin, she responded very quickly, squeezing into his dorm room the very next night. He thanked his lucky stars that on a whim, he'd decided to hold onto his wisdom teeth after they'd been pulled out.

"Jamie! How you've grown!" Toothiana exclaimed, rushing forward to give the human a warm hug. Jamie laughed, then sneezed as he felt soft feathers brushing up against his nose.

"Thanks, it's nice to see you too, Tooth. I take it you got my note?"

At the words, the fairy's bright expression dimmed slightly. "I did. But I'm afraid to tell you that we don't know much ourselves."

"What?" Jamie drew back from Tooth's embrace, feeling panic creeping in.

Tooth sighed. "We haven't seen Jack in a few weeks either. Which is why I was really happy to get your message - you said you may know what's going on with him?"

Jamie fidgeted, feeling slightly guilty at hearing his own words repeated to him. He briefly wondered if there was going to be some kind of repercussions for lying to a Guardian. Well at least it hadn't been to Santa, then he would've made the naughty list..."Well, not exactly...um, I only said that to make sure you came. BUT!" He continued hastily at seeing the resulting look of dismay, "The last time I did see him, he was acting strangely. And I think for some reason, it has something to with his sister."

"His sister?" Tooth echoed, the confusion evident in her voice.

"Well, it's really just a speculation," Jamie started hesitantly. "But a few weeks before he stopped visiting, he seemed to be distracted by something. Nothing too serious though, just seemed a little spacey once in a while. Then we somehow got to talking about his sister...and that was the only time he didn't seem distracted. It was the first time in a while that I'd seen him so animated. But then after that..." Jamie paused, feeling a pang as he remembered.

"...it got worse. He would space out even more, maybe even snap at you for no reason, and at times appear to be really really tired." Tooth finished for him softly.

Jamie looked up, startled. "Uh yeah, exactly. Well except for that last one." But that would explain why I was able to hold him down the last time I saw him, he couldn't help but think.

Tooth slowly flitted over to his window, perching on the ledge and staring through the glass thoughtfully. It struck Jamie how Jack had assumed an eerily similar position quite frequently the last couple times he'd seen him. Maybe the Guardians tended to find his room slightly claustrophobic?

Unexpectedly, The brunette felt a sharp pang in his chest. Jack...where are you?

Before he could allow the sudden feeling of longing overwhelm him, Tooth turned to face him again, a troubled look on her face. "I should have thought to check this before..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes seemed to glaze over. Jamie watched curiously as she simply hovered there in the same position, as if her gaze was fixed on something far away.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask just what the heck she was waiting for (in a far more polite tone of course), those amethyst eyes suddenly narrowed before clearing up to their normal color.

"What? What is it?" Jamie asked anxiously, barely keeping himself from grabbing the Guardian by the shoulders, frantically demanding to know what was going on. His breath nearly caught in his throat as Toothiana turned to him, her normally cheerful face dark with uncharacteristic anger.

"Pitch."

Over 9000 miles away, a certain winter spirit struggled to find comfort in the freezing winds of the Antarctic. Despite the below freezing temperatures however, sweat formed on his forehead, immediately freezing into tiny beads that were whisked away by the howling winds.

The young Guardian could do nothing but watch helplessly as a dark shadow slowly loomed over his writhing form.

A/N: Anyone else here get their wisdom teeth pulled? Anyone else here consider the days spent recovering as the most miserable days of your life?