We are in the dark, since birth, since forever.
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"Why would Sandy have Jack's hood?" Toothiana wondered aloud, her violet eyes sparkling brightly with curiosity, yet fear.
"Better yet, when did he get it?" Aster adds, just as perplexed. North shakes his head, saying nothing.
"Could they have been conspiring?" Pitch murmurs, a hand on his chin.
Toothiana looks up at him in shock. "No, no impossible!" She cries, her wings fluttering.
"Well no, definitely not, if he got Sandman killed." The Boogeyman continues, deep in thought.
Aster frowns, definitely worried. "But the question still stands- why does he have it?" He asks, pulling everyone's focus towards him. He was right, where and how did he get it?
"It looks like we have a bigger mystery in our hands…" North mumbles, shaking his head.
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It was a pain, staying in this realm for so long, being unable to leave. Shou knew why LunaSol kept her here, locking her down with cuffs so she couldn't fly. As the Spirit of imagination, she was one of the spirits with most influence in children. The belief for her was already there.
She sighed, curling up on the old wooden bed. It wasn't very comfortable, the mattress was too hard for her liking, and the blankets were thin and cold. She could make her own bed, but using too much power was affecting her energy, because the cuffs the LunaSol put on her would absorb her power.
She could only rely on Jack, forcing the children to not believe.
As she lay on the bed, she heard the door creak open, and sat up quickly. Peter Rabbit squeaked, a little bit surprised. In his hands, a bowl of warm, creamy soup. "Shou, even though you're not exactly human, you still need to eat some stuff. You know, with the… the things." He said, gesturing at the energy absorption cuffs. The more energy consumed, the hungrier the person it was placed on would get.
The girl sighed, relaxing a little, and moved off the creaky bed and shuffled over to the desk on the other side of the room.
Peter headed over and placed the bowl down on the table. Shou created a spoon, the wooden object appearing through a golden, sand like ripple in time. She had just enough energy to create objects smaller than her forearm.
"Thank you, Peter." She said, grateful at the spirit of Spring for making food for her. He smiled. "You're welcome, Shou." The rabbit replied, and turned to leave.
"... Has she found Summer yet?" The girl asked, not looking up from the steaming bowl in front of her, yet not eating. The rabbit froze. "... No, she hasn't." He said, truthfully. Shou chuckled a bit. "That's good. Make sure he doesn't leave his home."
"I will."
The door closed.
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The Guardians sat around the fire, Aster pacing back and forth, while North, Toothiana and Pitch all sat down on the couch, though Pitch was in the loveseat. They all racked their brains to try and understand the past events, but none of them could come to a conclusion.
"... Any idea?" North asks, breaking the silence. Toothiana shook her head, Aster growled in frustration, and Pitch said nothing, still deep in thought. "Pitch?"
"Do you think we've been looking at this wrong?" He suddenly asked, looking up at the other three. Aster stopped his pacing and frowned. "What do you mean?" Toothiana asked, just as confused.
"I mean, what if Jack isn't doing what we think he is?"
Aster nearly exploded. "How could you say that?! He killed-"
"Yes he 'killed' Sandman." Pitch sighed. "No, he didn't."
The three Guardians were all dumbfounded. "What?" Aster finally asked, confused.
"The Sandman is alive."
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Jack held onto his snowglobe, sitting underneath a tree in the forest. Inside, the previously white glitter was now gold. Huddled in the snow, he set the globe on the ground, and removed the glass sphere, the bottom of it hidden with a hole. The gold slipped itself in the tiny house, and Jack pulled out the cap from the bottom.
The golden sand slipped out, and growing larger and larger, forming the shape of the Sandman.
"Hey, Sandy." Jack said, smiling a bit. The Sandman smiled back, but then lightly hit the boy on the forehead. Jack squawked, and rubbed his head. "I know! I know! I'm sorry! But I had to! To protect you!"
Sandman sighed, but nodded, smiling again. A question mark appeared above his head, and then pictures of a tooth, a present, and an egg appeared.
"The Guardians?"
Sandman nodded.
"They're fine… for now. But I haven't told them yet."
Sandman frowned.
"They still think I've killed you."
A scythe.
"Pitch?"
The Sandman nodded.
"Well, he'd either figured it out somehow, or he's going to kill me too."
The Sandman was about to ask another question, when a noise startled the both of them. Footsteps, and the quiet, yet chilling cry of a horse.
Jack jumped to his feet and held up the globe again. "She's here! Quick! Sandy you have to get back inside!" He says, quickly. Sandman nodded, and turned into strands of golden sand, slipping back into the globe.
He sighed, but then froze up when he heard a voice behind him.
"What are you doing, Jack?"
Jack spun around on his heel, face to face with a tall, pale woman with long black hair and a long, black dress.
"H-Hi Mother Sun!" He said, nervously.
The woman's facial expression doesn't change, and Jack reluctantly responds. "I just… wanted a break." He said. He was telling part of the truth, just a little white lie. Jack wasn't sure if LunaSol believed him, but she said nothing, and turned around. "Get back to the home." She said, simply, before mounting her horse once more.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" The boy ran off, holding onto the snow globe tightly.
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Peter could have called for help, but he was too afraid, for if LunaSol had found out…
The spirit of Spring shuddered, imagining the things LunaSol was capable of. But he knew they couldn't do it on their own, no, they needed all the help they could get.
So he made his way to the center of the city, and did something he never thought he'd do.
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"How could anyone do this?" A woman exclaims, pointing at the water fountain that now had no water. Jamie stood there, unable to say anything. The once beautiful mermaid that was in the center of the fountain was covered with vines, tightly wound around her, forcing no water to come out of the large bowl she held. Before, she looked serene, but now, she looked… sad.
He, too, wondered who would do such a thing, and how. It was spring, yet the vines had done something unexpected. His mother put a hand on his shoulder, and guided him away to the car. "Don't worry too much Jamie, I'm sure they'll remove the vines soon." She assured him, but the boy couldn't help but wonder what was wrong.
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North was distraught, and so were the others. "First Jack, and now Peter?" Toothiana asks, "What is happening?"
Not even Pitch knew. Although he said "maybe they were looking at this wrong", he wasn't sure if he was right anymore.
"Guys, Easter is coming up. We need to bring back belief." Aster said, determined. They almost forgot, the power of belief that was needed to make sure they had enough strength.
"What are we going to do, then?" Pitch asks. Aster grins. "We're painting eggs." The pooka says, gleefully clapping his paws together. He was like a child, excited for chocolate, or his favorite toy. Pitch chuckled at his joy, and North stood from his seat. "Yes! To the sleigh!" He said, but Aster shook his head.
"No way mate, we're going straight down the rabbit hole."
He hit his foot on the ground, and the ground swallowed them whole.
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They all landed on the ground in a grassy place, their screams coming to an abrupt stop. Pitch stood up and dusted himself off, mildly irritated at the unexpected fall. Aster laughed, hopping out, and turning to show them where they were. "Welcome to the Warren!" He exclaims, his rock golems standing up and introducing their presence.
"This place is beautiful, Bunny!" Toothiana said, standing up to look around the area. The sunshine filtered through, and the grass was bright green. The air was clear and fresh, a peaceful place to stay in.
Aster smiled, but turned around when he realized something was different. "Wait, there's someone else in here." He said, pulling out his wooden boomerangs in alarm. The others quickly pulled out their own weapons, and the golems turned to their offense mode, spinning their heads around to an angry expression.
After a couple seconds, which felt like an agonizing few hours, a boy walked out from the dark cave, and flopped straight onto his face. He had fluffy white hair and a blue shirt that was too big for him, a staff made of gnarled black wood dropping down next to him, the top of it was curled to look like the moon, and he was bombarded by tiny white eggs with legs.
"... Who's this?" Toothiana asked, a little caught off guard. Pitch sighed, putting down his scythe. "That's William Overseer, spirit of Honor." He said, a little disappointed it wasn't someone he could hit.
William looked up, his green eyes and friendly face smiling at them. "Yep! That's me!" He said. "Can someone please get the eggs off me?"
Aster sighed and whistled. The eggs hopped off the boy, and he stood up to dust himself off and pick up his staff. "Thank you!" He said, smiling brightly. Aster rolled his eyes, but smiled, amused.
"What are you doing here, William?" North asked the boy as he sheathed his blades. William's face lit up as he suddenly remembered why he was here. "Oh! That's right! It's the Seasons!"
The guardians were confused. The Seasons? Did this involve what Peter did to the water fountain in Burgess? "What do you mean?" Toothiana asked.
"They've been missing. What Peter did to the water fountain was a call for help."
They were shocked. A call for help? "How are you so sure?" The fairy asks again, and William's smile disappeared. "Because I was the one who set up every spirit's call for help." He says.
Pitch said nothing this entire time. He knew William, a high ranking general during the Golden Age, a completely different person back then. Yet, his intimidating power was still there. "So what do you propose we do?" He breaks the silence, and now all eyes are on him.
"... I don't know!" William says in a carefree tone. "It's your job as Manny's Guardians!" Aster nearly fell over in surprise. "What!?"
"Now if you'll excuse me! I have to go wake somebody up!" He said, turning to fly off. "Wait!" Toothiana stops him. "Is there anyone else we can ask for help?"
The boy thought for a moment, before smiling. "There's the Personalities, and Ea Summer. They will be able to help."
And then he was gone.