Sorry this is a tad late! School, sparkly nail polish, and big fuzzy sweaters made me procrastinate hehe. :D But mind you, these next few chapters might be a tad shorter (I finally did it after all those times of promising lol!) but only because the battle is coming so everything is going faster. Lol but don't panic, the longer ones will show their ugly heads again. Now let's get back to Jack and Tooth's emotional roller coaster, shall we? Enjoy your week!
"Here in the heckle. Holding the shackle. I was never welcome here."
Hours earlier...
Basement containment, Pitch's HQ, 3:19 p.m...or rather, Italy 6-hr difference: 9:19 p.m.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream...M-Make him the cutest that I've ever seen."
Tap, tap, tap.
"Give him two lips like roses and clover...Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over."
Tap, tap, tap.
"Sandman, I-I'm so alone...Don't have nobody to call my own...Please turn on your magic beam..."
Tap, tap, tap.
"Mr. Sandman...bring me a dream."
Tap, tap, tap.
Toothiana looked up from the flower and gave Sandy a gentle smile.
"Thanks sir," she huffed before she rubbed her eye. As she grimaced when her pink eye shadow left a light trail on her hand, she looked up at him.
"You always m...make singing easier with a beat."
And her golden-haired nanny gave her a crestfallen smile – it was all he was ever capable of doing when Tooth and the girls were so noisy and rambunctious growing up.
Still, it left him sad and he continued to rap on his chains with his short fingernails.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
It echoed from the cage and bounced around the cavernous basement facility. Tooth's private tutor gave the room another lookover, assessing his environmental surroundings.
The room couldn't even be classified as a room – it was more like the remnants of an underground city, or the ruins of a place that was being held up by the surrounding mud and dirt. But while Sanderson saw the moist sloping walls and jagged grooves from the stalactites shooting down and the stalagmites crawling up, the air was dry and the floor still looked like the perfect replica of a construction equipment zone. Steel beams, wood boards, iron, and crates filled with god-knows-what surrounded him and the princess everywhere – it was like he and Toothiana didn't even matter, just being tossed in here with all of the Nightmare's begotten toys.
They were forgotten...neglected...at least until Pitch reappeared for Tooth. For the girl he'd been trying to keep safe and sound for years.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Tooth hung her head in exhaustion. She gave up all hope in releasing her wrist from the shackle and hated to see her skin red and scraped from all the tugging. But it didn't mean she was just gonna lie there. Mr. Sandy was in a much worse state than her and while she fretted her 21-year-old heart over him, the curious part of her kept eating at the back of her head.
She thumbed the petals of Jack's flower as she lifted her gaze up again.
Other than Sandy's constant tapping on his large, steel cuffs, he looked so bored, so confused, and lost for options she had yet to ask.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"We'll get outta here," she mumbled and he stopped for a second to look at her.
When Sandy's brown eyes caught hers for a moment of silent comfort, he nodded solemnly and started tapping again.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
But what to do? What to do?
"Someone will come and turn this all around," Tooth continued to herself as she stroked the petals.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"Someone always does..."
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"Someone–Oh!"
At the exact same moment Tooth pulled off a petal by accident, Sandy stopped.
Looking down in distress, Tooth shakily lifted the red petal. She hadn't meant to pull it out! The flower was supposed to stay intact...stay perfect. But she'd ruined it and she realised it was starting to show signs of wilting and dying.
"I-I'm sorry!" she whispered to the petal like it was physically hurting.
Tooth shuddered a breath and lowered it. She looked up almost embarrassingly, thinking Mr. Sandy was watching her weird change in behaviour. She opened her mouth to explain–
"Hur...H-Ha...H–"
A tiny, ragged breath was heard.
Scratchy and in pain.
Then again and again, against the echo of the chains and steel.
Tooth looked on in deep sorrow.
"Mr. Sandy...I c-can hear you," she gasped sadly, trying to stop the burning sting in her eyes so she could continue to look at him properly.
But it was near impossible. He kept shuddering with each breath he drew – she didn't know how he felt with the sand filtration floating through the room because of the black respirator she was wearing. Were his lungs burning? Was his throat? All she knew was that for every breath she heard, for every sound he was actually finally able to make, the princess knew it wasn't right.
Toothiana leaned forward against the bars.
"I can hear you and I know I shouldn't...I-I shouldn't, it's not–"
She heard his breath hitch again as he tried to wheeze back a response, trying to communicate vocally.
But Tooth closed her eyes – it just seemed wrong.
"We'll get out of here," she mumbled out loud, although the small ex-GUARDIAN wondered if whether she was saying it to him or for herself.
He raised his hands weakly to try to sign again–
He stopped again.
His skin tingled.
Tooth's wet lashes fluttered down at her lap.
She found it hard to keep looking at Mr. Sanderson without feeling pity for him, and that wasn't what she wanted him to think. But she was always worried that every second she wasn't looking at him, something terrible would happen to him and she needed to make sure he was okay.
But when she dared to stare at him again, she froze. Her eyebrows scrunched together slightly in fear – Mr. Sandy was unmoving, silent in every way and form.
"Mr. Sandy?" she mumbled worriedly. "What's...what's wrong?"
He didn't move a muscle, staring wide-eyed and ahead like he was in a trance.
"I-Is it the sand?! Are you–"
When his mouth fell slightly open, she panicked. He barely registered her in the sensation suddenly taking hold of him.
Tooth clawed against the chain on her wrist and poked her fingers through her bars again. She wiggled them in front of his eyes.
"C...Can you see me?" she begged. "I-I'm right here!"
With a quick flit over to the lone Nightmare who guarded them apathetically, she threw him an upset frown.
"Mr. Sanderson!"
Sandy inhaled with a slight shiver and when he exhaled, Tooth heard the remnants of a damaged vocal cord make sound in his throat. His breath came out raspy and in pain, but he still didn't have a voice.
"Mr. Sandy!"
She gritted her teeth. "Sandy!"
"Hey, shut up in there!"
"MR. SANDY!"
He blinked once.
Then twice.
A heartbeat later, the short man jumped slightly and looked at her. He gave the princess a slightly mystified look while she gave a short gasp of relief.
"W-What happened?" she whispered dejectedly, her still outstretched through the bars. "Y...It was like you couldn't hear me. A-Are you okay?"
He stared down at his hands for a few seconds. Tooth didn't know what to say.
Then, all at once, his blank expression transformed with a slight change of eye colour.
Tooth's own grew wide.
His eyes flashed from brown to gold, then brown again. When it was over, she pulled her hand back through the bar to grasp it as the anxiety and exhaustion threatening to make her crash.
"Sir," she said. "W-What is...What is your gene?"
Sanderson said nothing though and looked away...
...but he faced the bars and looked passed them (beyond his tired and weak features) with a suddenly determined gaze.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He started tapping on the bars again with his short nails, hard but loud enough to make an incessant echo.
Tooth gazed onto him nervously as she bit her lip. She knew her nanny enough to know that he only made noise when absolutely necessary – like to get attention. But she was confused as to why he was doing it now! Did he have a plan? She didn't know what his nails could do, what his gene could do.
But Sanderson said nothing and kept tapping his nails, harder against the bars.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He sensed something, and it was coming.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Something was coming...
Tooth looked at him wildly.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Something was coming...
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Something–
"Okay, I've had just about enough of you!"
The Nightmare guarding the archway finally turned and advanced on him. He had his semi in both hands and was gripping it tightly in front of him as he walked to Sanderson's cage.
Tooth's heart raced, feeling blood boil in her chest again.
"Don't you dare come any cl–"
Bang!
Tooth yelped in fear when the spark of the bullet exploded near her cage. The Nightmare leered at her through his phantom gas mask.
"Shut your mouth, sweetheart!" he growled before he turned to her caretaker again. "And you, with your fucking woodpecker impersonation!"
Sanderson said nothing, he didn't even react. He just kept looking up at the six-foot tall underling with a defiant gaze and continued tapping his fingernails against the bars.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The Nightmare growled and smacked the back end of his gun where Sandy's face as beyond the bars – but the little man didn't react and his fingers remained firmly planted on the steel, his tapping growing stronger.
Tooth's mouth fell open with horrific anxiety. She didn't know what to do – she loved that he was pissing off Pitch's goon...but she hated that he was pissing off Pitch's goon! She put a hand over her gas mask where her mouth was for fear of ruining something already potentially dangerous.
"S...S–"
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Tap! Tap! Tap!
"STOP that or I'm gonna pull your stubby little fingers one by one off your hand with a pair of pliers!" the Nightmare threatened with such a venomous tone that Tooth covered her respirator tighter.
A slight whine left her throat anyway.
The Nightmare whirled on her.
"Is that what you want? Hm?" he taunted her and her eyes grew wide. "Well, good news, princess. On the count of three, you get your wish!"
Tooth immediately pulled against the chain and tried to push her fingers through the bars again – it yanked her wrist back in pain. She cried out.
He unlocked Sandy's cage.
"NO!"
The Nightmare suddenly produced a pair of rusty pliers from his holster on his leg and turned back to the golden caretaker. Sandy didn't seem to stop, he just kept tapping the bars, face firm and quiet beyond his slightly wheezing breath.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The Nightmare opened the cage and stepped in since everyone knew the cage was just for show – Sanderson's real deterrence was the chains holding his arms down.
At least that's what Pitch had told them...but the Nightmare was as careless as he was cruel so he rushed forward to grip one of Sandy's hands against his steel bonds in a tight iron grip.
"One!"
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Tooth lashed out again.
"Please, don't!" she begged through her gas mask until she immediately regretted letting a Nightmare get the best of her weakness. She gritted her teeth. "You sick bastard!"
Tap! Tap! Tap!
"Two!"
He tightened his grip even more on the tiny man's fingers against the cuffs until Snaderson's skin was turning white against his knuckle. Sandy didn't say anything and kept his gaze heatedly on the Nightmare.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Then the pliers flashed in the light of the basement. He fixed Sanderson with a death glare, ready to enjoy the pain that was coming.
And Tooth screamed.
"NOO!"
Tap! Tap! TAP!
"THREE!"
A split second later, Sandy's irises turned gold.
And his pupils shrunk to the size of sand grains.
...
9:38 p.m.
"H–"
The Nightmare stopped just a couple inches of the way, his pliers poised and ready to pinch Sandy's fingers.
But he didn't make it all way.
The breath was stolen from Tooth's lips as she gazed in fear at her tutor. His face looked different, yet...strangely the same, almost as if he was meant to always look like this – to be golden inside and out.
She didn't know what was happening.
Pitch's Nightmare slowed for a fraction as his eyes continued to drift onto Sanderson's. He'd only meant to get a sweep of the prisoner's pathetic face then get on with his work, but it was like he suddenly couldn't think past that. As he continued to stare into Sandy's eyes, he felt drawn in...and immediately exhausted.
He wasn't physically drained, but something in his head made him feel unfocused and suddenly sleepy.
And before he could even think on it, the Nightmare submitted to the weird trance subconsciously and fell asleep instantly.
When he slumped to the floor in front of Sanderson's cage, Tooth yelped in fear.
Sandy lifted a finger to his lips, his mischievous eyes still shining a cat-like gold. And before she could blink, Sanderson gently plucked the rusty pliers out of the Nightmare's glove...and drove the back end of the tool into his head. The force was so powerful that the rattle of Sandy's chains echoed throughout the basement like a death stomp.
The pliers went at least two inches into the Nightmare's skull (even with his head cover on).
Then it was silent again, as Sandy let out a raspy breath and his body shuddered from the dying adrenaline. Before he looked directly at Tooth, he made sure his eyes were brown again.
Tooth's mouth opened and closed like a fish. When she found her voice again, her eyebrows lifted.
"S...So that's it!" she gasped. "And that's why you could always get me to go to sleep wh-when I was crying..."
And Sandy nodded. After he cast a quick glance at the dead Nightmare at his feet, he rolled his eyes to the ceiling then hobbled silently to face her. When he was facing her, he lifted his hands in quick explanation.
When he was done explaining, Tooth nearly felt her knees give out. Her pink eyes were shining in awe.
"S-So...anybody?" she repeated. "Y-You can make anyone sleep by just looking at you? Even through a camera? A recording? A-And a mirror?"
Then Sandy looked at her, while a light cough escaped his throat and rattled his lungs.
Years ago...
(Swedish) "Look at this idiot!"
They walked around in soundproof observation room, glaring at the young, silent blonde-haired gentleman who was sitting in the interrogation room by himself. They tried to find comfort in the knowledge that he couldn't see them through the black two-way window and could calm themselves enough to not risk punching out the suspect in frustration.
"The quiet, little shit!"
One of them spat on the floor.
"That bastard's gonna pay...Twelve million bonds gone AND our chief dead?! How'd he do it?"
"We'll just have to keep upping the stakes, and apply more torture."
"Until when?! I want him squealin' NOW!"
But it was sorta hard considering the man had been there for more than thirteen hours, silent and unyielding to anything they did. They'd tried suggestibility, the whole good criminal/bad criminal routine, even sleep deprivation. But the four-foot asshole was saying zip, and he wasn't even tired!
Then again, he'd never felt tired since his rebirth.
'Insomnia', his old Russian buddy kept worrying.
So all he did was stare. Stare and freak them the fuck out with his calm (but round) brown eyes.
Torture didn't seem to be a valid option either since when they tried, they realized that he was a mute.
So then how the hell did he work in espionage? How did he get his messages out to his teams? To his superiors? Did he write them notes?
And no one knew friggin' Sign Language in this part of the facility!
One guy smacked the window where the blonde man's face was.
"We need the info outta him now!"
But when Sandy heard the dull thud! come from beyond the window, he lifted his head up instantly to the dark glass.
His eyes were still wide.
The men rubbed his faces.
"You still recording that face of his?"
"Yup, camera's rolling."
As he answered, they all swarmed around the video feed, where the man's face was still staring forward.
They each frowned, drinking in his round-shaped face, and his honey brown eyes.
"Good, because I want a perfect shot of how he used to look before I go in there and–"
Two seconds later, they were all fast asleep.
Like dead weights, they all fell on top of each other, mouths open and looking positively restful. And when one man finally slumped away from the camera, Sandy's face was still looking through the camera.
...His eyes calm and irises gold.
Sandy then rolled his lips inward and looked up slightly to the ceiling, sensing the level of danger he could perceive higher than most people.
He gave a silent huff and smirked.
After realizing the coast was clear, Sandy silently pulled out a weapon from under his sleeve and began to loudly cut through his bonds.
But it wasn't like anyone could hear him. They were all dozing off in dreamland.
...
Minutes later, he was gone, and a new team rushed in to review the footage.
Not even two seconds into looking at Sandy's recording though...they fell asleep too.
And over and over again, no one could figure out why.
Toothiana's mouth fell open with a look bordering amazement and nervous. Sandy merely shrugged mid-explanation.
Then with his fingers he signed his codename: he lifted both hands and started rubbing his fingers together like he feeling something grainy between them; then touched his thumb to his forehead and moved it down to his chest.
"Sand"..."man".
And anybody without the Center gene fell prey to his gaze.
She frowned.
"So our song...? Wait, but I fell asleep every time you–"
He waved a finger in the air to stop her.
You forgot? he signed.
And he reminded her that since she was a hybrid, she only had half the gene.
Tooth rubbed her head stressfully.
"Oh right...I forgot."
But it then it made sense to Tooth – why he went out on the most covert missions...why he was a Rank A GUARDIAN. He was virtually untouchable with one glance, even if it was a reflection, a snapshot, or a recording of his face; no one could ever hold Sandy down long enough to stop him.
Tooth wiped her mouth.
"B-But what about Pitch? Can't you...you know, do that on him?"
But while she gasped in thought, Sandy shook his head. He made a long, frustrated sign gesture to say that 'Pitch seemed immune even though the man hadn't realized it yet'.
When Tooth looked down at his steel bonds, she then realized that that was probably why Pitch had chained him so much. He didn't know what Sandy was capable of, just that every Nightmare he'd sent after the short and portly gentleman never came back; partly because Sandy was more perceptive of their comings, and killed them in their sleep.
And it was why Tooth had a sinking feeling about Pitch that she was still afraid to voice out loud.
But she gulped with a weak smile.
"Y-You sure you're not a Candyman?" she teased nervously.
When Sandy shrugged again, Tooth huffed gratefully. He gave a coy smile.
Of course she'd remembered all the scary stories kids used to tell her growing up about the killer version of the Sandman who stabbed children with candy canes if they called his names three times in the mirror at midnight – but was her private tutor even capable of that?
But as she looked at him, watching the unmoving corpse lay at his feet and remembering the dark feature she'd never seen cross his face before, she bit her lip.
Maybe he was...just as she was more comfortable holding a gun than he'd ever hope to see.
It made her insides coil uncomfortably.
But she couldn't think on it when Sandy suddenly jolted where he stood. He gave a tight, raspy breath and suddenly remembered why he'd killed the Nightmare in the first place – so did the princess.
"Mr. Sandy!" she mumbled shakily. "You should leave me and get out of here now! U-Use whatever he's got in that belt of his or...You're so silent, you can slip past–"
But he shook his head and rubbed his throat. When he did, it made him cough slightly and that scratchy tone lingered.
She gritted her teeth – she really wanted to stab Pitch with something too.
But suddenly Sanderson looked at Tooth again and made a quick explanation with his fingers.
She blinked and leaned toward him again.
"Wh...H-How do you know?" she asked. "Who's coming?!"
And before she could stop herself–
"Is it Jack?"
Sandy paused mid-sentence with his fingers bent in complicated symbols. He lifted his head, curiosity piquing as if to say...'Jack? Who's Jack?'
Almost instantly, Tooth's mouth clamped shut and she felt herself slump against the bars. But even though her cheeks burned with embarrassment, her expression was agonizing.
"H-He's my..." she started but she stopped short.
She'd wanted to say 'friend' since it was the first thing that came to her head. But even she started to stumble on it, it was like she couldn't finish.
Instead, she looked down at the flower.
The poinsettia's petals were crinkling under the pressure of her sweaty palms and she took a deep gulp of air as she watched several more petals start to fall into her lap. The thing was, for all the flower's beauty and holiday joy, she didn't want the bright green and fiery red...
She wanted blue.
An arctic blue that could swallow her whole and break her heart...and it was almost too much to handle.
Shutting her eyes, she clenched her jaw.
"He'll come, don't worry," she said determinedly to her nanny. He continued to look at her softened features knowingly. "H-He's a GUARDIAN too...it's in him not to, even if I don't want him to."
And after Sandy coughed, pulled his head up more fully. With wide eyes and a slightly opened mouth, he stared in shock.
Tooth saw the expression through a peek of her lashes and she smiled sadly.
Suddenly–
Footsteps.
...
10:02 p.m.
Hard combat boots, echoed down the hall outside the basement holding room.
It made Tooth's heart race and Sandy's features harden. As they both sat up higher against the bars, and not wanting to look scared at whatever was coming their way, they frowned defiantly.
A second later, a two Nightmares appeared, in uniforms more complex and packed with arsenal.
Arch-level Nightmares, no doubt – and they knew they were as sure as dead when the two realized what was going on.
One of them however stopped short at the sight of them while the other kept rushing forward.
"Son of a bitch, he got out!" he growled with a hoarse voice before looking at the corpse near in his cage. "Damn low ranks."
When the guard Nightmare's Bluetooth disconnected on their computers, they knew something was up – but nothing to this extent. He flexed his scarred fingers against his waistbelt as he chuckled darkly.
"Don't worry, we'll put you in your place!"
But as he took a step forward–
BAM!
An elbow bashed him in the side of the head.
And a gasp later, a knife cut the flesh at his throat.
"Now let's reconfigure that Bluetooth of yours, shall we?" the other hissed and he was on his dying comrade in a heartbeat. Tooth and Sandy watched in shock as the Nightmare bent over his sputtering partner and fiddled with his communications. When he was done, the bloodied Nightmare's complink was set to another random Nightmare's channel – that would give him enough time for what he was about to do.
He stood up after he fired a bullet execution-style into the man's head.
"Karma's a bitch, bitch."
The Nightmare then said nothing and stalked up to both Tooth and Sandy's cages with a dark saunter. His shoulders rolled effectively and he moved like a cat on the dirty concrete floor. He also didn't seem to give the dead Nightmare a rat's ass as he neared their cages and dragged the Nightmare out a few feet away.
Then when he was almost face-to-face with Tooth's cage, he squatted in front of her.
"Remember me?"
And a second later, he yanked off his gas mask and hood to expose his face.
Tooth took a moment to analyse his features, squinting in the harsh light as she did. He regarded her with a blank expression before a tick later, he smirked devilishly.
With a familiar set of straight teeth.
And like fire and brimstone–
"You SON OF A–"
SLAM!
Tooth's shackle and her boot made a powerful echo all around the cavernous room before it vanished.
She breathed heavily through her nose. How could she almost forget those dark, green eyes and swirling, brown hair?!
Well, it was shorter and lighter now, and he'd sorta spiked up the front a bit but–
"ARGH, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO PRETENDED TO DANCE WITH ME IN THE HOTEL BEFORE YOU HAD ME KIDNAPPED!" she screeched and with another angry cry, she smacked her chains against the cage.
She suddenly remembered how his smile made her melt the first time he greeted her...and how his hands were on her waist...until he, you know, fired a gun at the ceiling and shoved her into another Nightmare.
"LYING, LITTLE–YOU BASTARD, I DARE YOU TO COME IN THIS CAGE! I DARE YOU!"
But the Nightmare didn't even apologize. Instead, he rolled his green eyes to the ceiling.
"By all means, keep screaming, but you're gonna make it harder for me to bust you out."
Tooth's mental processes halted for a millisecond.
"Wh...Huh?"
Not even waiting to answer her, the green-eyed Nightmare turned to Sanderson – only to find his expression as unforgiving as the princess'...and if anything, it was much more lethal. It sent a shiver travel down his skin as he trained himself not to look Sandy directly in the eye...as he'd been told.
"Agent SANDMAN," the Nightmare whispered urgently. The short man's eyes grew wide – so did Tooth's.
The Nightmare continued.
"I'm ELF 709 and I am here to assist by loyalty until they take me out alive," he said in such a tone that exuded the genuine authority and loyalty to a man other than Pitch.
When neither Tooth nor Sandy said anything, he added, "He said you would know...I am the mole. I've been taken off the N.N.O. by North thanks to his Desire gene ramifications."
"Remember, old friend...Confirmation is, TAKE ME OUT ALIVE and I AM THE MOLE."
A beat of pregnant silence later...
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Tooth stared with bug eyes as her nanny began to clap slightly and bowed to the Nightmare. She thought that for a moment, she was already dead and she was already living in an alternate universe where Nightmares were friendly and rainbows were made out of hippo tears.
She sputtered.
"Wh-Why are you clapping?!" she hissed nervously as the green-eyed man she'd once shared two dances with stared back at her – she wanted to punch him. "We can't trust anything he says!"
The brunette lifted his hands defensively.
"Well, you're gonna have to, princess," he urged. "Because it's true, I hid myself among Pitch's men to give North the assistance in case he ever needed it...and I think he needs it."
But Toothiana's eyes were maliciously hard and her jaw was taut.
"You willingly walked away from a great man like North, t...to give yourself up to Nightmares? To kill and kidnap innocent people?! Do you even remember what you do to m–"
All he did was shake his head quickly.
"I wish I had more time to explain but I've gotta get you both out before Pitch knows I'm a de facto."
And for a breadth of a moment, Tooth froze.
Jack's voice floated into her ears.
"Because if this is a double agent, then who knows what'll happen to her unless we get her away from him."
When she looked at Sandy for some kind of confirmation, the short man wasn't looking at her. He was still staring seriously (but with a bit more acceptance) at the triple agent. He gave a tiny, scratchy exhale as the sand particles tickled in his lungs.
The man stared back at him.
A second later, he produced a large fusion cutter from his bulky weapons belt. It was the kind strong enough to sear through steel. He gripped it tightly as Sandy continued to stare.
"North told me about you just before the link was severed," the ELF mumbled with a slight frown. "It's an honour, sir."
And Sandy bowed slightly before the man turned to Toothiana.
"And to you as well, princess," he said curtly and bowed his own head. "I'll get you both out...and North said to tell you, not to worry. Jack's with him."
And when her heart raced, his face scrunched slightly.
"I don't know who that is."
But Tooth was already shaking her head frantically, hair flying around her tear-stained face.
"I-It's okay," she breathed (or gasped) in relief. "I do...I do...and that's enough."
"You're enough, Tooth."
"I...I'll believe you," she murmured. "B-But just for the next ten minutes or so!"
"Good enough for me."
And when the ELF started firing up the fusion cutter, Sanderson looked over at Tooth. He watched his princess look wildly ahead beyond the bars with a hand rubbing her forehead. But after a moment, she dropped her hand over her heart and clenched it tightly.
And Sandy smiled slightly – because what spoke louder than action?
A few seconds later, a loud sheeeer! sprung up.
Tooth went to cover her ears before she realized something as the ELF tried to cut through her cage. The sound was so LOUD. It was making a powerful reverb across the basement cavern, and was no doubt echoing out of the archway and into the tunnels leading back up to Pitch's facility! Her mouth fell slack and when Sandy sensed it, he looked back at her...already knowing exactly what she was going to say, but letting her say it anyway.
Tooth pointed and heaved shakily through her gas mask.
"H-How are we doing this, making all this noise, w-without alerting anyone? Or someone hearing it in the halls?"
"Because they can't!" the ELF said loudly over the raucous of the fusion cutter.
"Why aren't you getting him out first, idiot?! He needs more help than I do!"
(Thai) "You sure about that?"
"Hey buddy, don't you use my language!"
And after the ELF rolled his eyes and concentrated on her bars in silence, Sanderson lifted his fingers again. As quick as a tongue, he started to sign and pointed at his ears.
He explained that like some GUARDIANs, he had a secondary gift – and it gave him the ability to control the sound waves almost fifty feet around him. So any sound or noises that drifted around him and traveled through the air, he could manipulate until its speed, distance, and the entire vibration was virtually non-existent...almost silent.
She blinked twice.
"What?!"
That was almost too much to comprehend – Sandy could...dull sounds?
"B-But how?!" she stuttered. "So, sir, you...y-you can make anything quieter? Make anyone think they're far away? O-Or deaf?"
He nodded and shrugged. And suddenly, it explained a lot.
How else was he able to move around her, around the palace, around everyone? He could easily sneak in and out of places undetected with his spy agility and anyone who caught him or his face on camera would instantly knock out into a deep sleep without reasons beyond exhaustion (that would get them in trouble) – that gave him plenty of time to erase his presence or cover his tracks! He really could be one of the most powerful GUARDIANs with a gene like that...and whatever else coupled with that.
That's why he was able to sneak around, sending notes to Prime Minister Bangkot...and why he was able to infiltrate the company (the one that created/trained him) with North and destroy all their files, while also protecting Tooth's information and her clones. It all made sense to Tooth now...even right down to miniscule fact that she always slept better when he was around – she'd always assumed that it was before of comfort. People did say that when you fall asleep quickly, it meant you were most comfortable where you were and who you were with. But no one was like Mr. Sanderson so she'd just convinced herself that for all his muteness and gentle nature, she was always more relaxed...
It also made sense to her now why she always dreamt about Mr. Sandy having gold eyes, not brown.
As the fusion cutter cut the air around them, but not penetrating that invisible sound bubble that Sandy was able to control, Tooth turned to him expectantly.
"B-But what about the cameras?" she propositioned as she looked at the ELF she was still having mixed feelings about. "What if they see him and–"
"Don't worry, princess," the ELF interjected. "I'm an arch-level. I was able to switch feeds on these cameras so the less-attentive boys upstairs won't notice. They're Nightmares, remember? Completely pathetic."
And Sandy gave him a tiny thumbs up, to which Tooth still looked upon in shock.
She felt her heart slowly started to come down from the high anxiety that had been plaguing it all day. Sure, it was still there, brought on by all the fear surrounding her, but it wasn't as severe – not when there was a possibility of her getting out and helping her nanny.
So even though it raced, it raced for good reason now.
And Tooth couldn't be more grateful.
She still couldn't believe...was still amazed knowing that all these powerful people, and GUARDIANs like Sanderson, were watching over her for years, without her knowing it. They went about her like normal everyday people, like protectors from afar, like strangers, and all the while they were looking out for her, watching her grow, and making sure she and her sisters didn't end up on the end of a horrible news tabloid or a experiment table.
She tightened her fist still over her heart.
But not anymore...No more being protected.
No, this time...it was her turn.
She had protect them now, and the world, like the girl she always was, and the princess she was destined to be.
They were her family now, just as much as her sisters and for everything completely abnormal about them, she would defend them with her life – even if it meant clawing Pitch in the face with her own fingernails. And just like that, as she squeezed the flower in her hand one last time, the fire came back to her heart.
Tooth placed it back behind her ear and sat up on her knees.
When she caught the green-eyed ELF's apologetic gaze for everything he'd done to her, she nodded her head in forgiveness and determination.
"Hang on, princess," he then pressed his fusion cutter harder into the bars. "First you, then SANDMAN...then we find your sisters."
"And North?"
Sandy rattled his chains in agreement.
"I sent out the distress beacon a while ago," the ELF confessed. "So expect a fight. A major one, because North's been waiting for this showdown with Pitch...We all have."
And Tooth said nothing.
As she watched him work agonizingly slow on her cage (the fusion cutter wasn't meant for 2" thick bars), she narrowed her eyes to the floor of her cage. Her sisters...Her sisters needed her, wherever they were in this hellhole.
A heartbeat later, Tooth exhaled deeply...and Mr. Sandy turned to glance at her at the precise moment her eyes shone briefly with an unknown reflected light.
His eyebrows lifted high on his brows but he said nothing, just absolutely confused and stunned...but Tooth was dead to the world around her as she drifted through the telepathic link with her sisters.
Each one was asleep...except for one.
...
"W...We-We're all here," Tatiana (BT) mumbled incoherently to herself. "I can't b-believe we're all here..."
Her feet felt like lead even though she wasn't tired. Emotionally weighed down, she stumbled as two Nightmares shoved her to keep going.
Tooth flit her pink eyes with Tat's, drinking in the scene.
BT's feet were bare and when she dropped her head tiredly, she saw the young handmaiden in a simple, white dress – easy for removal during scientific procedure but with a level of decency. It still made her sick. Tooth suddenly watched Tat flit her eyes sideways and in the corner of her peripheral vision, she caught sight of two men in lab coats. Their faces were stark and emotionless as they closed the group behind her.
Then with an almost-nervous glance forward, Tat dared to look ahead.
And Tooth immediately understood why she was so hesitant.
Long black material billowed just ahead of her, and the darkness of the long coat so deep it seemed like the shadows themselves were weaved into the fabric. She watched BT's fingers twitch in fear every time they weren't walking under the light of overhead. But when the man ahead turned slightly as two newcomers joined on him his right, Tat couldn't stop herself from gazing on Pitch Black's face.
The side view even gave Tooth a shiver.
His skin was so ashen and gray, gaunt and hollow, every time he moved under the angled lights and shadows of the hallway. His hair was still slicked back like spikes against his skull and his high cheekbones did not ease her. And as Tooth stared more, she felt herself get trapped in his golden eyes like quicksand.
Or...were they gold? Because the more Tooth squinted in terror, the more she realized that his irises were actually grey around the edges, like an ash plume moving toward the center just to kill out the brilliant yellow surrounding his pupil.
Maybe Pitch's genes were evil too...maybe that's why they messed with his eye colour so intensely.
Unless...and she prayed her earlier fleeting thought would leave her forever...unless maybe, Pitch had a gene...a Ce–
"You have it?" she heard him say through Tat's mind.
Tooth wanted to cover her mouth as she shivered in fear.
Not a second later though, one of his hands (which had been holding his other behind his back as he was always seen doing) reached out. One of the new men who had joined their moving group, gave something small and shiny for his long and bony fingers to grasp.
That was the most Tooth ever got to the see.
"The rest have just finished being shipped to the other men."
Tatiana's vision squinted slightly and Tooth knew instantly that she was glaring at the back of Pitch's head.
"Atta girl," Tooth mumbled proudly at her sister's bravery.
Yet–
"Aah!"
"Head down, clone!"
And Tooth watched as Tat's gaze moved forcibly to the ground – but it had moved so fast, so violently, she knew Tat wouldn't have moved on her own like that.
BT suddenly shut her eyes, blocking out Tooth's line of vision...but she still heard sobbing and throaty shouts.
"HEAD DOWN! OR WE'LL–"
But a second later, something made BT's chin lift up – it was Pitch's glove, and she was forced to stare directly into his eyes.
"Come now, gentleman."
BT tried to shirk her face out of his touch but his fingers curled under her jaw more tightly.
"Go ahead. TRY that again. But with you dead, you're useless to me."
His plummy voice was so low it was difficult to hear, and his graying-gold kept flitting back and forth across her face with strange fascination.
"Not that that should concern you, love, because the dead won't bother you."
And his face split with darkened rage.
"It's really the living you have to worry about."
...
Tooth gasped.
She was tossed back into herself and looked up through the cage.
The ELF momentarily paused in his fusion cutting and Sanderson was still staring at her worriedly – he'd almost cut off his Silencing gene as his voice gave a light cough. But when she looked back at the ELF (dressed under all the Nightmare attire she hated), she fixed him with a cold but fiery look.
"You'd better get me outta here," she ordered with the fierceness of a queen. "Because shit's gonna go down tonight."
And he paused with a slightly wide-eyed, emerald look before he dropped his head down and kept on slicing through the steel.
"You got it, your highness."
And Sanderson couldn't be more proud...and more afraid.
Eventually, one steel bar fell with a clank! It was only a few more bars (and her shackled wrist) to go...then it was Sandy's turn.
Sheeeerrr...CLANK!
Sheeeerrr...CLANK!
CLANK!
CLINCH! (Somewhere a cartridge was reloaded into a gun.)
Ziiiiip! (A uniform was suiting up. Then–)
VRRRRMMM...
CLANK!
"You're good, princess! Get out now, but keep your mask on!"
Tooth wasted no time following the ELF out of her cage. She gasped lightly as her socks touched the dirty floor, feeling liberated and ready for a fight to start.
"Thanks," she huffed and when she turned, he was already working on Sanderson's cuffs. That's when Tooth spun again.
Catching the dead Nightmare a few feet away, she sprinted over to his corpse and knelt down slightly. With hard eyes, she patted his belt and extracted any weapons he had in pockets. Then with a grimace, she eyed his boots and guessed they might be her size. Pulling them off, she fitted them onto her own – and nearly screamed when she accidentally activated a spike on the front.
"Your highness!"
A familiar scratchy gasp followed.
Tooth turned as she got up easily on her new shoes. After she figured out how to deactivate the spike, she ran back instantly.
And she found herself wrapped in a warm embrace with her caretaker.
"M-Mr. Sandy..." she squeezed him so tight she was sure his tiny, round body would pop like a tube of toothpaste – but she didn't care.
"Now let's get you out of here."
Sanderson gave her as big as a hug he could, his eyes shut. It used to be so easy to hug the tiny princess back when she was a little girl; now that she was a grown woman (yet only a foot higher than him), he found it a little hard to wrap his short arms around her. She laughed weakly as if sensing the thought. But that was Tooth, always guessing what people were thinking and honing in on people's emotions.
When they pulled away, Tooth immediately moved back to the dead Nightmares and grabbed whatever she could find. She found a set of knives for herself and shoved a Colt Mustang XSP gun into her boot since her holster was gone. Sandy came up beside her, silent and calculating, as he rummaged through the weaponry himself. At first, he was utterly shocked and worried over Toothiana's change in behaviour (rushing to grab weapons rather than run from them), but it went away as quick as the wind; he knew the second he first watched her that something had changed. She appeared more focused...more headstrong...
Just like her mother.
The ELF gave them an impatient look.
"Princess," he called and when she turned again, her eyes grew wide. In his hand was her two gun holsters – from where he hid them was her lucky guess.
"Wh-How did you–"
"Arch-level, remember? But it was the only thing I could snag."
When she took it from his grip, she shot him a respectful smirk.
"You rock," she commented before she started strapping them over her tight spy pants again.
"No chick-flick moments," he drawled then handed her a new Taurus from his waistbelt. As she did, the ELF looked up in time to see Sandy pull a new weapon from the Nightmare he shot. He brandished it with a courageous smirk of his own until the ELF scratched his head.
"Not to be rude, sir," the ELF offered and Sandy looked at him. The greeny-eyed man pointed at the weapon Sanderson was clutching. "But that weapon is sort of ineffective for most Nightmares. I don't think you should waste time trying t–"
SNAP!
Tooth and the ELF jumped slightly when Sanderson's weapon came down hard and quick as lightning on the cage over their heads. It left a violent slice in the steel that seemed nearly impossible – but for GUARDIANs, inhuman strength was always their advantage.
The ELF turned back quickly with a sheepish smile and a quirked brow.
"Uh, never mind," he said. "You guys good?"
Sandy nodded and bent his knees, looking ready to take off with the man–
"Wait!"
They both stopped instantly and turned over their shoulders.
Toothiana was standing with her guns confidently strapped to her thighs and was looking at the cages one last time – she was also holding a short blade in her right hand. For about ten seconds, she said nothing, and just stared at the steel chains and the mess around the cages.
(German) Not so fast, princess.
Come out, come out, kitty cat...
Let's wreak havoc on the world, shall we?
She shut her eyes.
Gyaah!...J-JAAACK!
NO...NO!...NOO!
His voice made her ache...made her heart pound with fire.
A moment later, Tooth grabbed all her hair behind her head and in one quick motion–
Sandy's eyebrows flew up.
He watched her dark, collarbone-length hair slice away and fall into her fist. When her head felt lighter and she brought her hand back to stare at her wavy tresses, she frowned sadly.
Tooth then looked at them.
"I'm gonna miss it," she huffed before she placed it gently behind a crate and primped her short locks. "I-Is it okay?"
Sandy nodded encouragingly (and proudly) as the ELF spoke. "So they can't grab it, right?"
And Tooth narrowed her eyes, feeling her hair bounce and frame her tilting face.
"Not this time."
Chapter's soundtrack: "Ready, Aim, Fire!" – Imagine Dragons
Picture Tooth's new do however you want! All we know is that she's back too! Also, creds to my dad who (being such an oldie) played me this old song called 'Mr. Sandman'...I just rainbow snowcone'd into asjdkl :D And...just try to guess what weapon Sandy picked. ;) *If you like animation, then go 'like' TEAM UULA on Youtube!