Disclaimer: I don't own any works referenced in this story.

Chapter 8

Back at the Pole

Tooth was more stressed than she had ever been. Not since Pitch had stolen her fairies had she been as worried as she was now. A few days to Christmas and Jack Frost had gone missing.

She had been finishing up a teeth-collecting run when the signal came out. Tooth had made it an effort to try and be in the field more since the other Guardians had helped her during Pitch's fairy kidnapping. It made her feel closer to the children whose teeth she was collecting and made the fairies know that she appreciated their efforts. The runs always ended in success these days.

So when she looked up in the sky and saw North's artificial Northern Lights, Tooth had dropped the teeth off and flown straight to the Pole, followed by Baby Tooth and two other fairies. Whether it was Pitch, the Coachman, or another threat, Tooth thought she could handle it.

That was until she heard North explain the situation. One moment, Jack was standing around the Pole, having just heard of the annual Moving Day. The next, he had disappeared, a yeti claiming he had flown out the door. Jack had not returned, and nobody had seen him.

All the Guardians took off on an immediate search. Bunny went into his tunnels to check the Warren. North flew off on his sleigh to do a flyover, and Sandy had sat down, eyes closed, trying to find Jack in dreams. Tooth had flown off and notified her fairies, agreeing with the other Guardians to meet up in one hour.

Tooth was just returning from that search right now. Her fairies had reported that they couldn't find Jack, and she had found the same results. Even Baby Tooth, who had searched for Jack the hardest, hadn't been able to find him.

When Tooth arrived, she found that the other Guardians' expeditions had failed as well. North and Bunny had turned up nothing. Sandy's expression indicated the same result.

North shook his head. "I don't know what else to do. Are you sure, Sandy, that you couldn't find Jack?"

Sandy shook his head, a shape of a person in mist above his head.

"And what does that mean exactly, mate? Do you mean that you were lost, or that Jack was lost in the dream?" Bunnymund asked.

Sandy looked over at Bunnymund, a shape of Sandy standing in the middle of some hazy woods, looking around with nothing to see.

"So it was Jack who was lost? I thought you were the head of dreams. Why can't you find one cold bloke?"

Sandy gave the original figure of Jack in mist. Bunny put a hand to his face and tried asking Sandy the question another way.

Tooth put her hands in her face. This was getting them nowhere. They should continue looking for Jack, not debating about dreams. North would agree with her.

But when Tooth looked up, she saw that North was arguing with a yeti holding a large clipboard. North was telling the yeti that there were meetings you could barge in on and meetings you couldn't. This was a meeting you couldn't. The yeti, who North was calling Jerry, was waving his clipboard and grunting exasperatedly.

Tooth sighed. She might have to go out and search again. Nothing else seemed to work.

But as she took a quick look, preparing to speak, she noticed something in the large window in the ceiling. A large, white object was moving into position above the window. It was the moon. Tooth was shocked. The Man in the Moon Himself was getting involved. This was something big. She needed to tell the other Guardians.

However, that proved easier said than done. "Uh, guys?" Tooth said, raising her hands to get the Guardians' attention. It unfortunately didn't work. North, Bunny, and Sandy were still arguing and discussing ways to find Jack, with Jerry standing nearby, waving his clipboard. Tooth tried waving her hands and raising her voice to get the Guardians' attention, but nobody listened.

Tooth took a deep breath. "Ok, time to try a different tactic," she muttered. Tooth looked at her fairy assistants and pointed at North, Bunny, and Sandy. The fairies flew over and started pulling the Guardians by their ears. Rubbing their sore ears, the Guardians stopped their discussion to look over at Tooth.

"Huh, now I know how Sandy feels at these meetings sometimes," Tooth muttered. "I'm sorry to interrupt but take a look at the window."

North looked up. "Ah, Man in Moon. Brilliant idea, Tooth. He must want to discuss this."

North then turned to the moon. "Hello, old friend. What is going on? Do you know what happened to Jack?"

The moon shined its light down onto the Guardian crest on the floor. As the Guardians stared, several images started to appear. First, a silhouette of Jack, followed by some wavy lines next to a mountain, a clock, a snowflake, and a Scandinavian palace.

"Well, that's clear as mud." Bunny said. But North was shaking his head.

"On the contrary, my friend, it makes sense to me. Jack must have gone into actual Northern Lights. It seems to match wavy lines and the clock. I recognize snowflake symbol and palace. It looks like palace at Arendelle, a Scandinavian country that prospered in early 19th century. The snowflake seems to indicate symbol of ruler of Arendelle in 1840s, who was connected to snow and ice. It makes sense that Jack was drawn there."

Bunnymund looked incredulously at North. "You could tell all that from the shadows?"

North looked over. "Yes. I thought that was fairly easy to understand. Didn't you?"

Tooth decided to intervene before another argument took place. "Alright, so Jack is in Arendelle. Don't you think that we should commence an expedition to find him."

North nodded his head. "Quite right. Jerry, prep the sleigh. I think I'll be able to find Jack before Christmas. It might be a whole year in Arendelle before I find him, but I'll be back, split the licked."

Jerry grunted excitedly. He was waving his clipboard and shoving it in North's face. Literally.

North took a second to push the clipboard away. "Fine, Jerry. Let's see what's so important that you almost gave me concussion."

North looked down at the paper on the clipboard. He started nodding his head, muttering to himself. A second or two later, his eyebrows shot up. He took a second look at a particular spot. Then North did something quite unexpected, given the present circumstances. He started laughing. He laughed so hard, he needed to take a seat to catch his breath.

Tooth turned, looking confused at Bunny and Sandy. Why was North laughing at a time like this? If the laugh hadn't been an excited, happy laugh, instead of a funny joke kind-of laugh, Tooth would have been cross.

Bunny decided to voice what everyone else was thinking. "What's going on, North? What's so funny?"

North took a moment to compose himself. "I am sorry, my friends. There was something in here that made me smile. Now I am understanding better what plan is. Jack needs to stay in Arendelle for the time being."

Now Tooth was really befuddled. "Why? He's probably worried sick, all alone and without any friends. You could bring him home right now."

North shook his head. "No, I couldn't. As I said, even if I could find him quickly, it might be a year where he is before I find him, and even longer or shorter to get back. Time is weird when it comes to Northern Lights.

"Also, the reason why Jack needs to stay is the same reason why I was laughing. There are four names from Arendelle on the list, and Jack is one of them."

Bunnymund shook his head. "So Jack is on the Nice List. Big deal. He can celebrate Christmas when he gets back."

North chuckled again, his smile getting bigger. "That is where you are wrong, Bunny. This list isn't Nice List, though Jack is on that list. It isn't Naughty List, either. No, I have some good news. Jack is now on other list. You know one I mean. The one related to the station on floor nine," he said, showing the others the paper he was looking at. Tooth saw a number 1225 with two silver bells on either side at the top.

It took a second for all the other Guardians to realize what that symbol meant. When they did, the reactions were swift. Sandy shared a grin that was as big as North's. Tooth gave a shrill cheer and did a somersault in the air. Finally, Jack was going to get the chance of a lifetime. A night he was definitely going to remember for the rest of his life. A night she and all the other Guardians had experienced, aside from North for obvious reasons. She had been hoping for a chance like this one for him. Even Bunnymund cracked a smile, though it wasn't as big as North's or Sandy's.

Tooth came to her senses quickly. "Well, I am very excited. I can't believe Jack made it. This will definitely make his time away from the present worth it to him. Still, we should let Jack know we know where he is and that we'll see him soon."

North nodded. "Quite right, Tooth." He turned towards Jerry. "Jerry, I want you to get me some materials. Get me some paper and some of the special ink, you know the one. Also, we're out of quills, so I need you to get me some feather quills from the Northern snow geese. Take Tom with you, he needs to stretch his legs."

Jerry nodded, racing off to gather the materials. This seemed to be very important. He hadn't seen North this excited in years. He ran off to find Jerry. Probably finishing up painting 200 toys, only to be told they were the wrong color again. North really needed to spread the toy color scheme information throughout the Pole. Well, North was right. Some exercise would do Tom good. Who ever said a little freezing snow and spontaneous mountain climbing wasn't good for the health?

And now we introduce a very interesting aspect to the story. An aspect that you might find hints of as it progresses, but will come in big time later in the story. Hope you're as excited as I am for it. As always, please rate and review.