Hey, I'm sorry this took a while to upload. Between the kids, final exams, and trying still to find an internship; life has been hectic. To make it up, you now have two (yes count them) two updates. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Awaken …

It was the first thing he hears as his eyes open to the darkness. He blinked a couple of times before his eyesight began to focus. He breathed his first breath of piney air that had a hint of….something. He looked around and realized he was alone.

No….wait

Not alone.

Someone spoke.

His eyes closed as a bright yet calm light shone down near the glade he was lying in. It took him a couple of tries to get used to the appendages that held him up, but soon he began to walk toward the light. At first he was scared, for it was an unknown thing to him.

And yet something told him to come closer, that the light will not hurt him. He unsteadily crept closer and closer until he was in the light. He looked up, and gazed in awe. A circular object hung on a black canvas.

I see the moon,

The moon sees me

The moon sees somebody I want to see

So, God bless the moon and God bless me

And God bless the 'Somebody' I want to see

Jack Frost was in a conundrum.

The Guardian of Fun was baffled.

He was bamboozled.

As Jack watched another child be picked up by the paramedics and rush to the hospital, Jack sat on a branch and scratched his head.

'What in Manny's name is going on?' he thought.

The frost sprite leaped down and landed with bare feet upon the snow covered ground. He stared at the broken sled which a few minutes ago was whole and sliding down a hill carrying a happy nine year old boy. A nine year old boy who was unfortunately going too fast and may now be dying, or already dead. Jack felt tears slowly falling from his blue orbs, but quickly wiped them away.

"This is happening too much. It wasn't supposed to be like this." He muttered.

Fifty years…

It has been fifty years since he took the Guardian's oath and became a protector of children. It took a while and things did start to have a rough start. But Jack Frost finally had believers. The children from Burgess did unfortunately grow up, but they always believed in him and spread stories around about the famous Jack Frost. He had a family (granted they were a completely different set than he ever thought he could be with), he was finally someone in Manny's eyes. Everything was perfect…

'Or so I thought…'

It was little things at first. Children running into the streets without looking, eating and drinking things they weren't supposed to, mouthing off to figures of authority. Everyone was saying that kids will be kids and at that time, it was far and few. But as two years turned into seven, the situations began to get worse. Children began to turn into spoil brats and disregard any and all safety. Many were getting into avoidable accidents and dying left and right.

And then the adults began to act strangely. Because of the situation with the children, parents were either depressed or miserable. They spent their days in angry fits, which caused panic, distrust and hatred. Crime rates began to increase, which led to people literally destroying each other. No one wanted to have fun anymore.

These events even began to affect the spirit world itself. Last time he visit North, Jack noticed that there was a lack of lights in the Eastern European countries. Between North America and European alone, there was always a high volume of children who waited for Santa's gifts. When asked, the Cossack simply replied, "I have no idea. "

Even Toothaina and Bunnymund were having difficulties with children either demanding more quarters for their tooth or simply not being surprise at finding eggs. Sandy was having a tough time giving out dreams because most no longer had the imagination or the childlike delight for him to grasp and mold into good visions.

Other spirits were also complaining about the mortals who were suffering or causing problems, which in turn was causing the spirits to weaken. A half a century of misery, disappointments, and failures. The winter sprite kicked the little snow mound in front of him before calling the wind to take him to the North Pole. There was an important meeting today with the others. Hopefully they could sit down and discuss their plan of action for this situation.

Before all of the lights go out…

"I thank you for coming on such short notice…"

The Guardians of Childhood all nodded their heads as an apprehensive North began the meeting. They were all seated in the globe room with North standing at the front of the table. Tooth was on his right with a worried look on her face. Her little fairies fluttered around her in response to her gnawing on her bottom lip. Jack Frost was sitting on the back of a chair as he stared at North, with Bunny twirling his boomerang in his big paws in a nervous habit. The only one who seemed at all calm was Sandy. But that was because he had a sleepy look on his face.

"As you know, past decades or so have been showing…eh some drastic problems and-"

"Cut the bullshit, North! This is isn't a Bloody business meeting."

"ASTER!"

Smack!

"Ouch! Dangit Tooth!"

North shook his head with a sigh. He lifted up his hands to try to calm everyone down. Jack unfortunately was giggling up a storm and Sandy was raising his hands, trying grab everyone's attention. Tooth and Bunny were almost coming to blows.

BANG!

It got quiet as everyone turned to North, who was holding a silver pistol that was pointing straight in the air, smoke coming from the muzzle. "We are finished, da?" he stated. Everyone nodded…well, except Jack who, began to open his mouth. "And no Jack, you may not have my pistol."

"Darn…" Jack said as he snapped his fingers.

North quickly put his gun back in its holster at his side. Then he sighed again and looked at everyone.

"It must be serious if you're bring out the big guns, North." Jack commented.

"Yes, Jack. It is. As I was saying, children are either not believing or becoming greedy. They are also dying or getting injured. Just today I lost ten lights in Asia alone. A couple of days ago, thirty in North America and Africa." North said.

Bunny rubbed the back of neck, "Yeah, the same with me. The little ankle biters just pick up eggs but aren't excited. There not happy or surprised anymore. The kiddies are almost like zombies now, mate."

"And the children keep knocking out teeth that aren't ready to come out. They are running around with gaps in their mouths. It's so horrible!" Tooth exclaimed as she wrung her hands.

"Not to mention so many getting into accidents and just losing all common sense. And don't even get me started on the adults," Jack groaned. "They're crazier than the children!"

Do you think it is Pitch Black? Sandy questioned.

"Nyet. At first, I thought so. But I checked all big entrances of Pitch's home. They are sealed and I heard the Nightmares still in the caverns. If they can't get out, he shouldn't either." North said.

Bunny cracked his paws together, "Well that's good. That wuss will be asking for an arse kicking if he was."

"What about Manny? Does he know what's going on?" asked Jack.

The Guardians have yet to hear from the Man in the Moon since the Easter disaster five decades ago. Jack had asked how to talk to Manny, only for North to reply that when Manny is ready to talk, he will call them. "Nyet, he has not contacted me. Every night for fifty years, I have been looking at the sky. Not so much as a moonbeam. Which is why I have something important to tell." North said, looking sad.

"North, what is it?" Tooth asked. The Russian sighed and closed his eyes. "Mother Nature and Father Time will be conducting a meeting tonight at the Summit…"

Everyone gasped.

No spirit has seen the custodians of earth in several centuries. They were a powerful duo with Mother Nature a force to be reckon with and Father Time a complicated man. They usually did not interfere with other spirts and only showed themselves when dire situations demanded their presence. And even then, you did not want them meddling in such affairs.

"North, you can't be serious. Is the situation that bad that they need to be involved? We haven't seen them since the World Wars!" exclaimed the tooth fairy.

This is very bad. Why now? Spelled the Sandman.

North rubbed his Naughty tattooed arm. "Извини́те. But what is happening right now is not just affecting us, but entire spirit realm. Spring delivered the summons and said that all spirits must attend. No exceptions. We will leave in thirty minutes, da?"

As everyone began to prepare to leave, Jack was filled with excitement, dread, and an ill sense of foreboding. He has never met Father Time or Mother Nature, only heard about their awesome power. Granted they sounded like two people that you didn't want to cross. Hopefully if anyone will be able to fix…whatever was wrong with the mortals, it should be the all-powerful Mother Nature and Father Time.

The six foot four Spirit of Love was stressed.

Eros slowly strolled down the marble hallway, lost in thoughts. He ran his left hand through his long, pink striped blond hair, his blue eyes hardening at the knowledge that rattled his brain. His right hand jingled the keys in the pocket of his black pants, before leaving to unclip his white tie that laid against his red button-down dress shirt. He sighed as he pocketed the object before coming to a stop.

Ever since humanity began its downward spiral into insanity, Eros and his cherub helpers had been working overtime trying to spread affections and love around. But unfortunately, people were just too damn stubborn. No one was saying 'I love you' anymore and fondness and caring was at an all-time low.

Humans were still having sex because it was an instinct to mate. But instead of being a stress reliever, the act that was as old as time itself was causing heartache and pain. Everyone got off but no one got on the love train.

Frankly, it was making Eros pull out his hair.

The Lord of Love sighed and pulled out his keys and eyed the red door in front of him. He had promised himself that he wasn't going to use the Sleeping Beauty draught after the last disaster, but desperate times call for desperate measures. So far, no one was finding their soul mates, and that was throwing hinges in future lives. Eros unlocked the door and opened it, revealing the big red room, his eyes automatically going to the pedestal where the draught should rest.

His breath stopped short.

What the…

It's gone.

It's gone.

Why was it gone?

He's the only one with the keys.

It should be herehereherehere….

Eros took large steps all the way to platform, his eyes widening as he beheld the empty space. He stopped and carefully placed his hand on the red pillow.

'So I wasn't hallucinating. It's really gone' he thought dumbly.

Eros grit his teeth and closed his eyes. There was no telling when or how long ago the draught was taken. Only a few spirits knew about the draught and they have been sworn not to touch it. Eros pulled his hand back, only to stop. His face procured a curious look as he rubbed his fingertips together.

"This feels like sand…" he muttered.

Eros looked back at the crimson pillow and his eyebrows shot up his forehead in surprise. There were small piles of black sand just lying upon the pillow. Frowning, he grabbed a handful of it and held up to his face. It felt and looked like dream sand. But it didn't have the bubbly cheerfulness of the Sandman. It was something darker. Something that just had a taste of fear…

Fear…

Eros looked from his hand and stared at the wall, his mind racing so fast that he almost didn't hear one of his helpers call his name.

"Lord Eros, it is time for the meeting at the summit."

The man turned his head and yelled, "I'll be coming in a minute!" Eros turn his head back toward the pillow. He then quickly took out a large baby blue handkerchief from his pocket and carefully scooped the sand into it. He wrapped it up and placed it back into his pocket. He turned quickly and walked out of the room.

He looked up at the big thing in the sky with such an expression on his face. The moonbeam shining down on him filled him with such warmth, such feeling…

Such love.

He blinked a couple times in curiosity and tilted his head.

Pitch Black…

He looked around when he heard the voice. He then looked back at the object in the sky as the moonbeam's light grew brighter.

Your….name…is…Pitch Black, my child.

He blinked a couple more times and then…. Pitch Black smiled.

I see the moon,

The moon sees me

The moon sees somebody I want to see

So, God bless the moon and God bless me

And God bless the 'Somebody' I want to see

Footnotes:

• Извини́те-I'm Sorry(informal)