Hey, guys! Sorry for how late in the day this chapter got posted. The hours just kind of slipped away today. *le sigh* Just one of those days, I guess. I need to get around to editing the third arc too since the chapter after this is the last chapter in this arc. At least it's conveniently falling on a Friday this time, so if I dally a bit with my editing, it'll be during the weekend when no one is online anyway. *laughs* But I'll try to avoid gaps if I can. We'll see what happens though. I'll definitely have it all edited soon either way.
Also, sorry if you've left a signed review and I haven't responded. I've been a real space case this week, and I apologize for that. I'm not even entirely sure who I did and didn't respond to already, eh heh. It's just been one of those weeks. I still respond to everyone I can and I definitely read every single review and love them, but my brain is on an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii. I'm not sure when it's coming back. :P
Anyway, without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Still don't own ROTG or GOC. And that's such a boring disclaimer. I'm mildly ashamed at my boring disclaimer skills nowadays. XD
He tried cornering Manny several more times on the issue. Manny always found some way to slip away without answering the question. What was so hard about answering a question about who someone was? If Manny had wanted this guy to take over for him, then he had to have been someone important to Manny. Jack ought to know who the guy was.
It seemed Manny wasn't going to make it easy. So Jack was going to have to try and access the MIM Industries database and solve the mystery on his own. Only problem was that finding things in the database wasn't always easy. Manny had claimed that was for security reasons, since you had to know what you were looking for in order to find it. Jack thought that was bull and planned to change it the first chance he got. But he hadn't been the Man in the Moon for long, and that was a huge undertaking to pursue.
Sure enough, punching in the name of "Nightlight" turned up no results. Jack sighed. Of course this would have to be one of Manny's protected entries. He was going to have to learn more about this Nightlight character before he could find him in the database. But who could he ask who would answer his question?
A beeping sound broke him out of his stupor. He spun around to find he was receiving an incoming call from the Guardians. They could help him as well as anyone. Could he get away with turning on the screens and having a face to face conversation? A quick check of the current bandwidth usage revealed that this time, he could. So long as he kept the conversation short. He pressed a button and the screen popped up with a view of the Guardians.
A pause, followed by a startled, "...Jack?!" from Tooth made him chuckle. He had allowed them to see his face. So they could see he was in the control room doing important things. They had never guessed Manny would allow him to touch anything fragile. This was hilarious.
"Oh, you were expecting the Easter Bunny?" said Jack, his characteristic smirk finding its way onto his face. The Easter Bunny in question seemed offended at being mentioned in such a casual manner. This only made Jack more amused.
"We expected the Man in the Moon, actually," said Tooth.
"Yeah, well, you got him," said Jack as best he could without cracking up at their reactions.
"But you're not-"
"Manny stepped down," said Jack. "He's been training me to take his place for decades and recently instated me as being the new Man in the Moon." Then, making sure not to give them the time to react, he turned to them and said, "So what did you guys want, anyway?"
"We were just-" Tooth faltered and turned to North to have him help her out.
"We hear from Jamie that Man in Moon say he can be Guardian. So we call to find out."
Jack chuckled and let a small smile cross his face. "I can't fulfill my Guardian duties now, can I? Don't worry, I've been training Jamie on how to handle my job since he was very young. He'll be a great fit. We're going to turn him immortal next week."
This caused a flurry of reactions from the Guardians as they tried to process what Jack was telling them. A Guardian replacement? They'd never had that happen before. Not to mention a Man in the Moon replacement. That was unheard of. North finally found his voice and said, "Jack, is this joke?"
Jack's face sobered up and he approached the screen to get a better look at the Guardians. "It's no joke, guys. We didn't tell you because we knew you would freak out, but the change up here won't affect your work in any significant way. You'll just be answering to me instead of Manny."
This put the Guardians into a stupor for several more moments. Then Bunny hopped forward. "But what about Jamie, mate? If what you say is true, we'll be working with him from now on. Why weren't we told about this?"
Jack shrugged. "I was only just told myself. Manny kept that a secret until the last minute." He then let a smile cross his face again. "But you'll be fine. And won't you enjoy having a little less bickering, Bunny?"
"Less bickering? When I have to answer to you?" Jack chuckled, which provoked Bunny to throw his paws in the air and storm away. "Stone the flamin' crows! Jack in charge? The bloody world is gonna end!"
With Bunny out of the picture, things were finally quiet enough to think, and Jack sobered up once again. "Hey, guys, can I ask you a question now?" After getting their nods of approval, Jack took a deep breath. He checked to make sure he wasn't currently glowing before saying, "Who is Nightlight?"
This prompted startled gasps from the Guardians, which only confused Jack even more. Why did everyone react this way at the mention of the guy? "Have you found him?" said Tooth. "Is he okay?"
Jack waved his hands and shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. No one will even tell me who he is. I know he's important because I keep hearing people use his name, but no one seems to want to speak of him. Who is he?"
"Can you not use database?" said North.
Jack sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "That's the thing. Manny has a strange setup with that where I can't access files without a little more information. He thinks it's more secure or something. I think it's dangerous."
"You will change that?"
Jack nodded. "Yep, as soon as I get the chance. But right now, I need to know. Who is he?"
The Guardians sighed and looked at the ground. Jack waited a moment before North addressed him again. "He was Man in Moon's-uh-Manny's Guardian as child. He protected Manny from Pitch, and protected children as well."
Jack rubbed his chin as he pondered this. "Sounds like a pretty cool guy. What happened to him?"
A sigh. "We don't know," said Tooth. She looked up to meet Jack's eyes, then looked away once again. "He disappeared one day. We've always been afraid Pitch got to him, but Pitch isn't about to spill about that. And Manny hasn't been very forthcoming with that information either, if he knows it."
"Tricky," said Jack, and he began walking toward the database controls once again. "But I might be able to figure out what Manny did with him now. Let's see..." He pushed a few buttons and brought up a list of categories. Knowing that Nightlight had been Manny's Guardian was useful. Jack figured Manny might have counted him as one of the Guardians. He looked in the Guardian category, but to no avail. Then he looked under Protectors, but found no listing in there either. He remembered people had started calling Jack by the nickname due to his new glowing ability. So he checked under the listing of Light, but still came up short.
Scratching his head, he turned back to the screen. "Either he doesn't have a case file for Nightlight, which I find hard to believe, or this guy's file is really protected."
The other Guardians sighed, and North turned to walk away. "I should get back to work. Must reset trains so they run on proper tracks."
Jack blinked a couple times at the words before they registered, then his eyes went wide. "Wait! Could Nightlight have been reset?"
This prompted wide eyed reactions from the Guardians as they pondered that. They knew what it meant. How they had never considered the possibility when they knew it was done was beyond him.
Jack whipped out his access card and swiped it in the machine. The Reset category had extra protections. It was to ensure that the people affected weren't targeted while they were vulnerable. Once into the Reset category, Jack did a quick search for Nightlight, then came back cheering. "Success!"
"You find him?" said North.
"He was reset?" said Tooth. Meanwhile, Sandy looked baffled between everyone talking, torn between being startled and relieved.
"Apparently," said Jack as he opened Nightlight's file and began reading. "He sounds like an interesting guy." He laughed. "Oh gosh, all these pranks he played are in his file too."
The Guardians chuckled, and Bunny came back into the room to find the others focused on what Jack was doing. Once he was filled in on what Jack had found out, Bunny bounded forward and said, "Bloody hell, Jack! Who is he now then?"
Jack snorted and turned to face Bunny. "I haven't gotten that far yet, and even if I had, I don't think I'm allowed to tell you. His file is protected for a reason."
"Frostbite, I swear, if you play these games I'm gonna come up to the moon and I'm gonna-"
"Hush!" Jack swiped his hand for silence as he continued to read the words on the screen. That couldn't be what he thought... could it?
"What? What is it?" said Bunny. "What's wrong, Frostbite?"
Jack mashed the print button and whipped out the sheet of digital paper. Then he took off running without bothering to end the conversation. He had to find Manny, and now. Where was that guy hiding?
Dun dun dun! What did Jack find out? (Let's be real, most of you know very well what he just found out, but it's still fun watching him figure it out, haha. I'm just being vague for the sake of the few rare, lucky people who have not caught onto my foreshadowing yet and have yet to figure out what's going on. Lucky peeps. I'd like to not see an ending coming as often as I do. That's just kind of something that ends up happening after you read and write a lot. You start knowing how a story's gonna end... aaaaaannnddd I'm babbling. Obviously reading and writing a lot hasn't cured that. Sorry. Moving on.)
Anyway, I'm curious what you guys think again. It's awesome to hear from you each day. It really brightens up my day and it's sad that I won't be able to keep getting these reviews in every day very soon. *melodramatic sobs* Still, I can enjoy it while it lasts, right? ;)
I'll post the last chapter of this arc tomorrow, so check back soon! Take care, and thanks for reading!