Toothania flew as fast as her wings could carry her through the freezing arctic air. In the distance an aurora borealis danced about the evening sky and above it the full moon shone brightly, illuminating her path. One would think that such a show was to be awed at, be she knew the truth behind the spectacle, as every guardian did. Trouble was brewing and if Manny thought it was serious enough for a 'blue moon' then it had to be big. Tooth had sent a few of her fairies to alert the others, a small battalion was with her while the rest stayed behind to continue to collect teeth.
Coming upon the large station that was North's toy factory, she flew in through the open sky light and fluttered above an enormous globe. North was on the platform below pacing and talking to Bunnymund, who seemed to be trying to get answers from the large Russian man.
North spotted Tooth and waved her down. "Glad you could make it Tooth." He greeted, not sounding glad at all, in fact he looked rather disturbed, like he hadn't slept for days.
"What's happening North? Why have you called us?"
He shook his head. "When everyone's here."
"So you call us away from our work and won't even tell us what's going on!" Bunny cut in.
North said nothing, not even looking at his old friend and continued pacing.
Two of Tooth's fairies in from outside. They went to their queen and chirped in to her ear.
Tooth nodded. "Good work girls." She turned back to her friends. "Jack's here and Sandy's on his way."
No sooner had she spoken then the young winter spirit flew in on a gust of wind.
"What's happening, what's going on? Is it Pitch again?" Jack asked in a flurry of questions.
Tooth placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Calm down Jack, North wants us to wait for Sandy before telling us." Jack nodded and seated himself on a large machine that overlooked the globe. Baby Tooth zipped over to Jack to greet him.
"Hey Baby Tooth. Any chance you know what's going on?"
The tiny fairy shook her head sadly.
Jack sighed."Didn't think so. Thanks anyways."
A golden sand helicopter drifted in through the skylight.
"Oy North, Sandy's here." Bunny pointed.
North turned to confirm it.
The helicopter dissolved apart. Sandy floated down to the others, a question mark formed above his confused face.
North motioned them to gather around. "Your all wondering why I gathered you here, well I wish it were on better terms."
"North what's going on?" Bunnymund asked.
North stared at the ground. "Few days ago I sent elf to deliver message to Patrick inquire bout poker game. Elf did not return. Thinking he just got lost I send Yeti. Yeti did not return, so I go myself. Patrick's shire was completely abandoned. No Patrick and no leprechauns. I go to Cupid's, see if he knows anything since he's so close. When I got there everything..." He paused, moving his hands as if shifting through the air to find the right word. "Everything decomposed. Every rose rotted into smelly pulp, every heart valentine smashed and covered in mold."
Sandy inquired about Cupid and Patrick in sand language.
North motioned a yeti over. The yeti handed something off to his boss. North shook his head sadly and showed everyone what he held. A bow that was snapped in half along with a torn up green shamrock hat that was covered in mold.
Tooth gasped, covering her mouth in shock.
"Cupid and Patrick are gone." He said sadly.
Everyone gasped, a loose tear ran down Tooth's face. Jack gently wiped it away, careful not freeze her.
His grip tightened on his staff, patterns of frost creeped down along the wood. "Whose behind this? Pitch?" He asked angrily.
Bunny snorted. "Haven't seen sight nor sand of him since we took 'em down. Sandy?"
Sandy shook his head.
"Even if he was around he couldn't have gained much of his power back over these last two years."
"Not nearly enough to do something like this." North added.
"Then who could be behind this?" Tooth asked regaining her composure.
A bright ray of moonlight shone through the skylight illuminating a spot on the floor that was decorated with tiles of the guardians.
"Manny!" They said in unison and moved over to the tiles.
Jack looked up at the pale glowing orb."Manny do you know whose doing this?" He asked.
In the beam of moonlight a shadow materialized and formed into a skull and the figure of a tall slim woman.
Bunny shook his head in disbelief and looked back up at the moon. "That can't be right, she's neutral. Why would she start attacking other spirits?"
If the moon had the answer he didn't share it.
"Who is she?" Jack pointed at the shadow figure.
"That's Morticia." Tooth said with a sense of wariness. "She's the spirit of death and decay. But she's always maintained the balance of life and death. I can't imagine why she'd ever do something like this."
Bunnymund looked up. "Manny are you sure it's Morticia doing this? I mean really sure?"
The moon's beams brightened and flashed in Bunny's eyes.
He squinted and raised his paws to shield his face. "Alright alright your sure."
Sandy formed an image of the death spirit then a sword and fist.
North nodded."Sandy's raises a good point. If she is the one doing this, then how can we stop her?"
Shadow Morticia faded and another figure was formed. A shadow of...
"Pitch!" North shouted. "We're supposed to get Pitch Black to help us? Oh no Manny, you've been up there to long. You've got your head in the clouds."
The entire room was filled with a terribly bright light that momentarily blinded everyone before fading away.
North put his hands up in surrender. "Okay we're going to get Pitch to help us."
They all nodded more or less in agreement rather than face the Man in the Moon's anger. The shadow changed shape again into a figure standing next to a horned beast. The guardians all stared at the image in confusion.
"So we're supposed to get Pitch and a person with a cow to help us?" Bunny questioned the moon. The image stayed as it was. Sandy looked at everyone else with a question mark hanging over his head. The others seemed just as lost, except for Jack. Jack had the strange sense of recognition, something was very familiar about that cow. No not a cow, more like a goat, or...
"A ram."
"A ram? Jack what are you talking about?" Tooth asked noticing the look on his face. But Jack didn't here her. He was to focused on the figure. That ram almost resembled Chirin, just more grown. If that was Chirin then the figure must be his owner.
"El?" Jack looked up at the moon. "Is that Elsie?" The image disappeared along with the rays of moonlight. "It is then."
"Jack, you know who this is?"
The young spirit nodded. "Elsie and her pet ram. She's an old friend of mine from the same town as Jamie and me. She's has-" Jack stopped remembering the promise he made her. "Uh- she was the first person who saw me."
The other guardians eyes widened.
"But I thought Jamie was the first person to see you?" Tooth asked.
He shook his head. "Jamie was the first child to see me. El wasn't really a child when we met, she was fourteen."
Bunnymund's ears twitched. "So ya think this sheila can help us?"
North held his chin as he thought for a moment. "Man in Moon thinks she can."
"And what about Pitch? Last time we saw him he was being dragged away by his night-mares." Tooth asked.
North nodded. "Okay here's what we do. Jack and Sandy you go and get the girl, while Tooth, Bunny and I will search for Pitch."
Sandy signed that he wanted to help search for Pitch too.
"No Sandy, we need you to help Jack in case there's trouble."
Sandy sighed silently and nodded. After his almost death at the hands of Pitch the other guardians were more protective of him. He was the only one who be corrupted by the nightmare sand.
North pulled out a snow globe and handed it to Jack. "We'll meet back here in five hours, agreed?"
Jack nodded. Pocketing the snow globe he turned to his short friend. "Ready to go?"
Sandy gave a thumbs up and materialized a sand airplane.
Jack leaped into the air. "Wind!" He called. "Take us to Elsie!" A powerful gust of arctic wind whisked them into the sky and blew them in the direction of Elsie's home town.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
They had been flying for a couple hours when Sandy decided to strike up a conversation, so to speak. An image of Elsie and a question mark.
"Elsie's a really awesome, fun and nice girl I met in Burgess town. She's the one who gave me my hoodie." He tugged gently at one of the jacket's drawstrings.
Sandy silently inquired how they'd met.
"See it happened like this."
(Flashback)
Jack Frost smiled as he let loose one of his more impressive snow days. He'd been visiting his old town a lot lately, sentimentality he reasoned. There were plenty of ponds and fountains to freeze over and many children to make laugh. Watching as the kids shouted in joy over the schools being closed for the day and rushed out of their houses with their mittens and sleds. He covered the town square in a thick blanket of white, freezing the center square fountain solid. The children were all having fun sledding down little hills and sliding over the frozen water.
Jack made a perfect snowball, then breathing his magic into it, tossed the it starting an epic snowball fight. The young spirit laughed as he created more snowball ammo and icing the ground causing everyone to slip and slide all over the place. When that was finished he stood back to admire his work. The kids were laughing joyfully and having the times of their lives.
A young Jamie Bennett who at the time was no older than Sophie dashed out of his house in his footie pajamas, and almost made it to the fray when a female voice called.
"Jamie Bennett. What would your mother say if she saw you out here without a coat on?"
Jack and Jamie turned to see a teenage girl with long black hair striding towards them. Jack recognized her, he'd seen her around town from afar a few times before. From what he'd heard from conversations from the other children she was really nice, but she usually kept to herself.
Little Jamie looked down at the ground guiltily and shrugged. "I don't know?"
The girl smiled warmly. "Go and get your coat and hat on and I'll pull you around on your sled." Jamie cheered and sprinted for his house.
Jack chuckled. "Kids, even before they can really speak they drive you crazy."
The girl laughed. "You can say that again."
It took Jack a minute to figure what had just happened, but when he did he turned and stared at her, his eyes wide and mouth agape.
"What-what did you just say?"
She turned slightly, glancing at him. "I said, 'you can say that again."
Jack gasped. He stumbled backwards nearly falling over, but catching himself with his staff. "Can you... hear me?"
Looking him directly in the eye she nodded.
Again he gasped, but took a brave step forward as if approaching the edge of a sheer cliff. "Can you see me?"
"Why wouldn't I be able to?" She asked, a puzzled look etched onto her face.
Jack's shocked, agape mouth turned upwards into a grin of amazement. "You can hear and see me!" He said more to himself.
Once again she nodded.
Two chilly arms were suddenly wrapped around her and the strange boy's face was buried in her black locks.
"You can hear me, you can see me." He murmured into her hair.
Her face turned bright red at the sudden embrace and she shoved him away. "What do you think your doing! Who are you?"
Jack smiled remembering himself. "I'm Jack Frost."
She looked confused and a bit worried. "Your Jack Frost?" She repeated back. "Says who?"
He pointed up. "The moon told me."
She nodded. "Okay. Now I'm concerned on a number of levels." And motioned to her house. "Jack Frost why don't you come inside for a cup of hot coco while I call you a doctor."
"I mean it, watch." Leaping in the air and gliding on the wind he twirled his staff causing snow to fall around the square. He landed back in front of her and took a bow.
She looked around and then back at him. "You-you really are Jack Frost." She said with amazement.
He nodded, happy to have convinced her. "I didn't catch your name."
She smiled. "I'm Elsie, Elsie Mercy." Elsie held out her hand.
Jack was only to pleased to shake her hand, overjoyed that someone could finally see him.
Jamie ran outside dressed in his winter attire, dragging his sled. "Pull me! Pull me!" He chanted at Elsie jumping up and down.
Elsie turned to Jack. "Want to have some fun?"
He smiled. "I am fun."
The rest of the day Jack spent helping Elsie play with Jamie and build one killer snow fort. As the sky turned rosey red with the setting sun Jack knew it was about time to go. Most of the children had already gone inside, only a few of the older ones remained. Sighing he headed towards the woods, only to be stopped by a hand on his wrist.
"Wait Jack, can I see you again?" Elsie asked her eyes full of wonder.
He smiled. "Yeah if course. I'll come back tomorrow."
Jack came back everyday that month. In that time Jack had gotten to know Elsie very well. A high schooler who loved art, especially sketch art, and theater. She introduced him to her young pet ram Chirin, who instantly dislike Jack and often tried to trample him every chance he got. Elsie and Jack would do everything together, from playing in the woods to causing trouble in town. They used to play a game where Elsie would run across a pond and Jack would quickly freeze it to keep her from falling. Jack was also one of the few people who knew about her powers (though he didn't Sandman any of that). He occasionally follow her to school, which was how the rumors that the building was haunted got started.
(Fast Forward to where Elsie was 17)
Jack was in Elsie's room, sitting cross legged on her bed, watching as she sketched him. One hand held the isle while the other moved a pencil fluidly over the paper with speed and skill. It was so tempting to him to just fly over and peak at the drawing, but she'd firmly warned him not to move. A few minutes later she'd finished and and showed him. It was a mirror image of him, down to the look of youth and exuberance in his eyes.
He marveled at her work leaning over the foot of the bed to get a closer look. He leaned just a little to far forward and tumbled off the bed, his shawl catching and tearing as he fell. Elsie rushed to help him up. Jack grumbled, examining the large tear. Over the years the old piece of clothing had been worn and nearly shredded. Elsie had repaired it the best she could a few timed before, but it looked like now the old thing needed to be retired.
"Jack hold out your arms." Elsie had a thoughtful look.
Confused he did as he was told.
She spread her arms out to match his.
"Good, looks like we're about the same size." She dropped her arms and went to her closet, shuffled around a few things, then brought out a white box about the size of a pizza box. Elsie set on the bed and opened, moving some of the decorative paper that was usually associated with clothing and pulled out a sky blue hoodie. "Try it on."
Jack removed his worn shawl and tried on the hoodie. It was a perfect fit. Looking into a mirror Jack struck a few posses admiring his new look. The fabric was soft and warm and very light weight despite it's durable nature. There was a pocket in the front and a hood he could pull over his head. Though he had to admit overall the color was his favorite thing about it.
"I love it!" He said turning to Elsie, his face the definition of delight.
"I'm glad. It was last years birthday gift but not at all my style. Now sit down. I have to do another drawing of you like this.
(End Flashback)
Jack was all smiles as he re-tolled the story to Sandy, re-living the happy memories.
Sandy giggled silently, a heart appearing over his head.
Jack blushed."No I don't like her like that! She's just a friend. Besides we haven't seen each other in a few years."
The heart became a question mark.
"Well she got more involved with her own things and I went to spread winter over other parts of the world, and then with all the business with Pitch and the guardians... we just didn't have much time to hang out." Jack said regrettably.
Sandy nodded understandably. He pointed ahead of them, where a town was coming up.
Jack nodded and lead the way.
0o0o0o0o0o
Most of the town was dark except for the street lamps and a few lighted houses. They flew to the edge of the town where a small two story house and a small shed were built. The door of the shed was open a crack and sliver of light leaked out.
"That's the one there. Hey looks like she's in the shed."
They landed in the back yard, careful not to make a sound.
Jack crept over to the shed and poking his head in whispered, "Hey El, you in there? It's me Jack."
There was no response, but Jack began walking slowly backwards. "Sandy you might want to get some dream sand ready."
Sandy made a confused face, but as the shed door was pushed open he soon understood.
In the doorway silhouetted by the inside light stood an enormous animal, which Sandy recognized from Manny's shadow image as the girl Elsie's pet ram. And he didn't look too happy.
Jack tried to retreat, but for every step he took backwards the ram advanced one. Raising his hands in surrender the winter spirit tried to show that he meant no harm.
"Hey there Chirin old buddy. It's me, Jack Frost. You remember me, don't you?"
The ram lowered his head, snorting clouds of hot breath, clawing up the dirt with a hoof.
"Uh oh, he remembers me alright. Sandy can you-" He had no time to finish his sentence as Chirin charged.
Jack leaped into the air to avoid the stabbing horns and trampling hooves, and landed behind him. Chirin turned and charged again and again forcing Jack to dodge every which way to avoid harm. Poor Sandy couldn't get a clear shot with both parties moving about so, plus the fact that he had to occasionally avoid being trampled himself didn't help either.
Jack leaped over the ram again, but this time Chirin reared up onto his back legs and caught the spirit's pants on his horns. Chirin tossed his head about, shaking Jack and causing him to flail like a flag in a wind storm.
Two things happened next. First the snow globe in Jack's pocket flew out and opened a portal to North's workshop. Secondly Jack's pants ripped, sending him flying into the picket fence that separated this yard from the next.
Jack panted picking himself up. The sound of approaching hooves made him act fast. He lept out of the way just in time as Chirin's horns pierced the spot in the fence where he'd just been. The sharp ivory impaled the wooden planks and Chirin struggled to get free.
"Now Sandy!"
Sandy threw a ball of dream sand, but at the same moment the planks were ripped from their place on the fence. Chirin ducked and the dream sand knocked over a couple garbage cans making a terrible racket.
Jack landed by Sandy. "Well at least he's disarmed." He panted.
But it seemed fate loved a good joke, as the now livid ram smashed his head on the ground splintering the wood and targeted Sandy.
"Whats going on out here?" Came a voice.
Jack and Sandy turned to see a young woman running towards them from the house.
It was Elsie, she stopped looking at the confrontation.
"Jack?"
"El!"
An image of Elsie appeared above Sandy's head.
"The Sand Man?" She said in disbelief, then gasped. "Chirin!"
They all turned to see the ram charging.
"Sandy look out!" Jack tackled him out of harms way. The ram had no time to stop himself and disappeared through the portal.
"Chirin no!" Without thinking Elsie dashed through after him.
"El!" Jack and Sandy followed through just as the portal was closing.
0o0o0o0o0o
(North's Workshop)
Chaos spread quickly, toys were thrown into the air, tables were over turned. The yetis shouted at one another trying to figure out what to do, while elves ran to and fro trying to avoid being trampled by Chirin's hooves. He reared and bucked looking around in a panic.
'What happened, where was he? One moment he was battling his old adversary, the cold one, and next he was somewhere else.
He hated the cold one, he was reckless and had threatened his master. Now the cold one had returned, entering his territory and dared to enter his sleeping space. Well he wasn't having any of it. He was going to get it through the cold one's head that this was his territory and he wasn't welcome. Then as he was fighting, the small shiny one had intervened. He'd decided to quickly dispatch the small annoyance and continue his fight with the cold one. But instead of trampling the small one under hoof, he'd ended up here, far away from home and without his master in this strange place full of strange creatures who ran and shouted.'
Elsie, Jack and Sandy appeared in the workshop, tumbling over each other and landing in a pile on the ground. Sandy managed to pull himself up and dusted himself off. A vicious roar cut through the noise of the chaos as Chirin looked at him with eyes nearly red with rage.
'Chirin turned and spotted the small shiny one. Him, he must have done this somehow. Well he wasn't going to let him live to tell about it. Chirin charged.'
Sandy, to afraid to move, closed his eyes preparing for those horrible horns to pierce him. He waited and when nothing happened carefully opened his eyes, afraid of what he might see. What he saw wasn't frightening but was none the less shocking.
The girl Elsie was standing before him and had somehow caught the ram by the horns mid charge. Gripping a horn tightly in each hand she flipped Chirin onto his side and pinned him to the ground. She held him there for a good five minutes, during that time the chaos died down.
Sandy collected himself and helped Jack off the ground. All the yetis and elves were staring at Elsie who was still keeping Chirin still. The ram was panting heavily but the look of panic educed rage was gone from his eyes.
The yetis began going about their business once more, re-setting tables and sweeping up broken toys.
"Is he-is he gonna be okay?" Jack asked still a little shaken from the whole ordeal.
She nodded. "Yeah. He just needed to calm down. Are you both alright?" She glanced at them.
"I'm fine. Sandy?"
He gave a thumbs up and bowed his thanks to her.
"Anytime." She removed herself from Chirin who had calmed down enough to look around. The ram slowly climbed to his hooves and sniffed the air curiously. All traces of the ferocious beast had left him, leaving only a fierce looking but calm animal.
Sandy pulled on Jack's sleeve, he made an image of two people shaking hands.
"Oh right. El this is Sandy and Sandy this is my best friend Elsie and well you've met Chirin."
Sandy outstretched his hand which she shook.
"Nice to meet you, big fan of your work."
Sandy smiled at the praise.
A group of elves had gathered around and were staring at Elsie in awe. She was also attracting curious looks from the yetis. She took a moment to look around her strange new surroundings.
"Uh, not to be rude and change the subject but where are we?"
"Santa's workshop." Jack said smiling at her expression. "Follow me."