AN: As always, the newest chapter will be up on AO3 first. Enjoy!
When Jack dreams, it's often of starlight.
During the slow parts of the year, he naps often, waiting for the seasons to turn, depending on what hemisphere of the world he is in. He dreams of snowball fights, sleigh races, and children's laughter, but during the fall and especially deep winter, when he occasionally stops and sleeps deeply, his dreams are of a different sort. They are quiet and cold, full of moonlight, starlight, and a melancholy that lingers long after waking.
When he wakes from these dreams he can not recall much but feels the weight of many more than his 300 or so odd years. Sometimes he wonders if he's forgotten more than he'll ever be able to remember.
It was from one of these dreams that Jack found himself being pulled from, he blinked several times, his eyelids heavy, and stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling. It took him a moment to remember where he was. When he did he sat up slowly on the sofa. He turned to the side of the room with a large window, sunlight was spilling in through the ice, and the whole room glowed with warm light.
Then he heard what had awoken him from his dream.
Ah ah ah ahh, ah ah.
The sound of singing reached him from somewhere in the distance.
He shuffled to his feet, rolling one of the long pant legs back up, and reached for his staff in the corner. Glancing up to where Elsa's room was he did not hear anything and assumed by the small fire burning in the hearth that she had already gone outside.
Though as he stood there he swore he could hear rustling along with the crackling of the handful of branches burning. Jack eased a bit closer to the hearth and thought he saw something move among the branches. Had an animal gotten in? But why on Earth would it be in the hearth of all places?
Leaning forward carefully he saw only burning wood and ash. It must have just been the wood shifting as it burned. It was then he noticed a pair of eyes staring back at him.
"Gaah!"
Jack leaped back, stumbling due to the long pants, and landed on his backside. The pair of eyes turned out to belong to some lizard-like animal that pounced forward and landed on the edge of the table and stared down at him. He realized that the lizard was on fire and was currently scorching the wooden table as it licked an eyeball and studied him. With a flick of his staff, he dropped a pile of snow where the lizard was at. It leapt to the side with an indignant squeak before looking back, seeing the pile of snow, letting out an equally excited noise, and then dove right into it. The snow hissed into steam and Jack swore he heard it sigh in contentment.
Standing back up Jack looked down into the rapidly melting snow pile to see the lizard–well actually it was a salamander– on its back, tongue lolling to the side. It seemed to enjoy the snow. He sighed, "Let me guess, you're a fire spirit?" The diminutive spirit rolled over and gave a happy squeak. It made sense, Elsa had told him she was the fifth spirit, meaning there were four others besides herself. He'd met Gale already, and the territorial water spirit Nokk, so that left fire and earth. This one seemed friendly at least, if not a bit chaotic. He'd usually be okay with a little chaos if melting weren't involved that is.
Ah ah ah ahh.
Jack looked up as the singing returned and then back at the fire spirit. "Wanna come with me to find Elsa?"
Another happy squeak was its reply and it jumped up onto and ran up his staff before settling in the frost on his shoulder. Anything he wore for a time tended to acquire a lacy dusting of frost, but he went ahead and added a bit extra just in case.
The main door of Elsa's home was made of ice and he opened it easily with a wave of his staff. He stood in the doorway for a moment, blinking in the sunlight before he heard the singing again.
Ah ah ah ahh.
He hopped down the slope, partly floating, this greatly amused the salamander, and landed near the foot of the hill within sight of the river. Now that he was closer he could catch more of the song's words and realized it was Elsa singing.
Where the north wind meets the sea
There's a river full of memory
He followed the sound of her voice down the river until he reached a bend where the current slowed.
Sleep, my darling, safe and sound
For in this river, all is found
He came around the bend and stopped short.
Nothing upon the face of the Earth had a right to look that beautiful in the morning light.
She had melted some of the snow and much of the river bank was bare, Elsa sat by the water's edge with a basket beside her, looking intently at something she had sitting in her lap. She wore her usual white dress, the morning light catching the many ice crystals that adorned it and her bare shoulders, throwing out a cascade of colorful light.
It reminded him of the northern lights as he slowly walked over to her.
Ah ah ah ahh.
In her waters, deep and true
Lie the answers and a path for you
Her pale blond hair fell around her shoulder as she worked intently on whatever was in her lap, humming and singing as she worked.
Dive down deep into her sound
But not too far or you'll be drowned
She had not noticed him and worked intently, her hands moving deftly with what looked like fine silver strands of thread, they gleamed in the light. It took him a moment to realize it was not a thread in her hand but delicate strands of ice.
The salamander hopped down from Jack's shoulder, thankfully without any scorching, and darted over to her.
"Oh, Bruni!" she held out her hand and he scampered onto it. It was then Jack realized it was his hoodie and breeches in her lap. She had been mending them – with her ice.
He really needed to learn how she did that.
Elsa smiled, "Good morning Jack. I hope Bruni didn't wake you."
Jack grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, "Ah no, he didn't but–um–there might be a singed spot on your table now…"
A heavy sigh escaped Elsa as she looked down at the salamander in her hands, her eyebrow arched, clearly unimpressed. "Again Bruni?"
The fire spirit managed to look at least a bit ashamed as it gave a low squeak. Another sigh and Elsa set him down and stood, shaking out her skirts and then holding out his clothes. "Here, I washed them in the river and did what I could to patch them, they're pretty worn out though."
Jack took them back from her, gently running his hands over the well-worn cloth. "Yea, I've had them for a long time, some of this I was wearing when I fell into the ice and became–well me. I used to drop by Gloucester in England to have some mice repair it but I've not seen them around since like –1903?"
Elsa had been eyeing her seam work on the knee of his breeches and wondered if she should have reinforced it more when she paused and looked up at him, "Mice, you had…mice mending your clothes?"
"Hey, you just set a flaming salamander down at your feet a moment ago, don't judge."
"I would never, I am just surprised I suppose. Are all fairytales real now, then?"
"Heh, I suppose that depends on what you mean by 'real' now, doesn't it?"
"And this," Elsa ran her hand over his hoodie, "did this come from the mice too?"
"Oh no, like I said they weren't around when I last dropped in to have my old shirt and cloak repaired. A lot of stuff shuffled around in Europe after that last war, but anyways this was sometime after that, my original shirt was getting real threadbare so I just picked this up back over in the Americas."
There was something about the way he said it but it gave Elsa the feeling that he hadn't just happened upon it. "Jack, what do you mean by 'picked up' ?" He gave her a very nonchalant look, "You stole it didn't you?" Disapproval bled into her voice.
"What exactly was I supposed to do? I couldn't go and ask for someone to give me something, no one could see me!"
"You could have at least left something behind as payment?"
"And I was supposed to get money from where exactly? Steal it from a tooth fairy? Don't ever do that by the way, oh man is Toothina scary when she's angry." Jack glanced back at Elsa as he absently twirled his staff and they walked back toward her home. "Tell you what, next time I need a new outfit I'll come to see you and you can make it."
"I could actually if you would like."
"Elsa, I was joking. I like my hoodie."
Holding back a smile Elsa put on the best haughty queen stance she could muster and held her chin up high. "But of course, I was merely offering an alternative. In case you should ever want…a more refined option." Her smile broke through at the end, despite her best attempts to hold it back.
There was mischief behind that smile and Jack knew it.
A matching grin pulled Jack's lips, sharp as the Cheshire cat's. "So you're saying I don't have refined taste now Elsa?"
"Well, it would be a shame if children began to think you were some kind of vagabond."
Jack pouted a bit at that, "Oh, come on. It's not that bad is it?"
Elsa merely laughed, pelted him with a snowball to the chest, and took off running.
Jack dropped his armful of clothes on the nearest rock and took off after her.
The chase was on.
By the time they were done mercilessly pelting one another with snow, they were nowhere near Elsa's home and Jack had tripped twice due to his long pants and resorted to flying. Elsa accused him of cheating until Gale showed up once again and gleefully dropped Jack out of the sky. He managed to grab a tree branch on the way down, this in turn caused the snow that had gathered on the tree branches to all fall out at once and promptly buried the unsuspecting Elsa.
When Elsa managed to unbury herself she found Jack sitting in the tree with a very smug look on his face. He laughed as she glared up at him, arms crossed over her chest until with impeccable timing Gale blew past and knocked him from his perch. He tumbled forward with an impressive amount of flailing and landed in the pile of snow Elsa had just escaped from.
Laughing, Elsa sat down beside him as he raked the snow from his hair. At first glance, his hair appeared white, but was dark beneath, as if it had once been brown and had been frosted white. His dark eyebrows lent credence to this. She wondered if he had once looked different before becoming a spirit. He grinned up at her and then flopped back dramatically in the snow, arms behind his head.
She laid back in the snow opposite of him still laughing and Gale whirled gently above them. "You're really good at it, you know."
"Good at what, winning snowball fights?" Jack tilted his head back with a sly grin to glance over at her.
Elsa smiled and refrained from dropping more snow on him, "This 'fun' you keep speaking of being the Guardian of."
Jack barked out a laugh at that and a moment of silence passed between them as they caught their breaths.
"Really though, Jack, thank you. I'd spent so long here on my own that I think I'd nearly forgotten how to have fun."
Sheepishly, Jack smiled at her, "I'm happy that we ran into each other that day then." He watched a ripple of clouds through the bare tree branches, it looked like it would snow again soon. Both heaved deep breaths of the cold late autumn air.
Elsa began to hum absentmindedly to fill the quiet, the same song from earlier.
"What song is that?" Jack couldn't help but ask.
Elsa paused, she'd not even realized she'd been humming it, "My mother used to sing it to me and my sister before bedtime. Her people once lived in these woods among the spirits. It is about Ahtohallan and the River of Memories there. After all, glaciers are rivers of ice."
"Wait, Ahtohallan is a glacier and holds a—River of Memories?" Jack had never heard of such a thing, he wondered if Toothina had.
"Have you ever heard that water has memory?" Elsa sat up and turned back towards him, Jack shook his head no.
Elsa thought for a moment, considering how to best explain before she stood up. She hesitated briefly before holding her hands out to Jack, "Here, let me show you."
He took her hands without question and rose to his feet, she began to pull him after her, back towards the direction they had come from.
Jack was just about to suggest flying them wherever they were going, but her hand in his, pulling him along, kept him quiet. He found the gentle warmth pleasant.
It did not take them long to reach a clearing.
Here the light covering of snow remained untouched, not even the forest's wildlife had disturbed the perfect blanket of white. When they reached the center she took his other hand in hers and they stood together ringed in white, hands linked.
"Water has memory. With my magic, I can channel that through the ice, it is water after all." She stood very still for a moment, Gale had not followed them, there was no breeze. The snow made the trees and any movement among them all but silent.
If not for the serioand us expression on her face and the fact he could feel her magic flow all around them Jack might have cracked a joke. "Um, Elsa…"
"Close your eyes," she ordered.
He shot her a skeptical look, eyebrows raised.
She squeezed his hands, "Trust me."
He took a deep breath and did as she asked as she also closed her eyes.
"Reach out, feel the moisture in the earth, in the air, in your breath, let it turn to ice but don't direct it, just–let it go. Let it take the shape it wants to."
It felt like the whole forest took a deep breath, the hair on the back of Jack's neck stood up, and the air released as a surge of ice with a sharp blast of wind. Jack flinched at the sudden onslaught and when he looked up again – there were several sculptures, made entirely of ice.
"Woah…are these–?"
"Yes," Elsa released his hands and turned towards the nearest sculpture, "they're memories." she smiled fondly at the figures in ice. "My sister Anna and her family."
The three ice figures sat together for what looked like a picnic. The woman in a regal-looking dress and hair pulled back had a hand raised high as if she was waving someone over. This must have been Elsa's sister. Jack studied her face for a moment, she did look a bit like Elsa, especially her nose and eyes.
"Is this your memory?" Jack asked.
"No, not directly, it's the water's memory in this area. I've used this power to bring shape to memories that happened before I had even been born. Some memories linger a long time, and others fade. The emotional impact and the importance of a moment can make some linger a long, long time. In Autohallan though, the memories are far more vivid and can go much further back in time. There the well of memory is very deep." Elsa came and stood beside Jack, gazing fondly at the icy version of her sister.
"It was my birthday and Anna had come to see me, along with her husband Kristoff and their son."
Jack looked down to see the small boy sculpted in ice, holding what looked like a carrot in his hand. "He loved to come here when he was young, he quite enjoyed snowball fights." Elsa continued, "But when he became older he wasn't able to visit as often. I should have gone back to Arendelle more. I never thought I would be so easily forgotten, but I wasn't even aware I had become ageless at the time." She sighed heavily, "To be a spirit is to have all the time in the world–"
"–and yet no time at all." Jack finished for her. He gazed at the sculptures a bit longer, "She looks happy."
Elsa laughed softly, "Oh, she was. She was excited, she had brought a huge box of chocolates for my birthday. I was never very fond of cake."
"When is your birthday?"
"December 21st, when is yours?"
Jack considered for a moment and seemed to be counting back under his breath, for a second Elsa regretted asking. What if he couldn't remember?
He suddenly gave an amused snort, "Actually I think it was yesterday…If I haven't gotten my days mixed up, November 22nd."
Elsa's mouth formed a small 'O'. "Well, I guess you had quite an eventful birthday then." She hid a small laugh behind her hand.
"Yes, nearly drowning and getting beat up by a moody water spirit, the perfect birthday, I highly recommend it."
Elsa could not hide her laugh this time at Jack's deadpan expression.
"I promise the Nokk isn't so bad, once they get to know you, it's just a bit hard to win them over."
"It's not unusual for water spirits to be temperamental, I just wasn't aware there was one in this area." Thinking of the water horse made Jack think of the Nightmares he'd fought the previous day as well. He raised his hand to shade his eyes as he looked up through the trees to see the sun's position. It was about mid-day, at the latest.
Elsa noticed and her smile fell a little bit, "Will you need to head out soon?"
With a sigh, he gave her an apologetic smile, "Yea, as much as I'd love to stick around a win another round of snowball fights. Sandy and the others will be expecting me and I need to swing by North America before I meet up with them."
Elsa nodded, slightly disappointed, but she understood duty, very well, and that it must be done, convenient or not. Though it still boggled her mind when he mentioned visiting other continents as if he were going on a Sunday afternoon stroll.
She turned and with a wave of her hand, the ice sculptures dissipated into snow flurries and fell softly to the ground.
Jack leaned down to grab his staff and cleared his throat holding out his hand to her. "If you don't mind, I can fly us back."
Hesitating briefly, Elsa then nodded and gave her hand to him. In a swift motion, he closed the distance between them and pulled her flush to his side, his other arm wrapping around her waist. Elsa took a sharp breath, telling herself it was only her nerves about flying that made her heart flutter.
The snow around them swirled as they left the ground and began to head back toward the river and her home. As they flew Elsa's eyes wandered over the trees and hills below. "The forest has been my home for many, many years, it's not often I get to admire it from above." She looked over at Jack and smiled, he answered with a smile of this own.
They quickly reached where Jack had sat down his clothing and he gently landed them beside the rock. He scooped up his clothes and they both picked their way back up the hillside to her home. Elsa waited outside by the door as he went inside to change.
Pulling the borrowed shirt over his head he let his fingers trace over the frost Elsa had covered his bruise with. Where it had been purple before it was now yellow and green, in another day it would be gone and healed, it no longer pained him. If Jack used a bit of his magic to encourage her frost to last a bit longer, none but the hearth fire embers and walls bore witness to it.
Exiting her home he found her waiting for him just down the hill with Gale. He floated down to her, "Thanks Elsa, for letting me stay and get some rest."
"Of course, you're always welcome to stop by and rest if you need it. Perhaps next time without a dunking in the Dark Sea first." Her lips quirked into a small smile.
Jack laughed, "I make no promises." He floated down lower to her so they were nearly level and facing each other, "It'll be a while before I can come and visit again. With Christmas coming up I'll be helping North deliver presents, or well at least I'll be keeping Nightmares off his tail while he does. We're about to try something big to thin out their numbers. It may be after Near Years before I can drop by again."
Elsa smiled, "I understand. I'll be fine. Don't worry, I'm sure you can wait that long to lose another snowball fight."
He laughed again, "I'll take that as a challenge!" He swopped back into the air for a moment but then seemed to change his mind and landed in front of her. Despite her smile, there was something about her that seemed so small and sad, it made his chest ache. "Hey, Elsa, I–" he itched to reach out to her but was unsure. He held open an arm, offering.
For a brief second, Elsa was confused before she realized he was offering her a hug. Her mind took a moment to process it and in the meantime, Gale decided to help and shoved her forward with a gentle but firm gust. She stumbled into him with a slight 'oof'. His arms came up and held her gently and Elsa smelled fresh mountain air and his clean clothes. She breathed deeply and sunk into the embrace, her eyes misted. It had been more years than she could count since someone had hugged her last. Her arms came up with trembling hands and gently returned the gesture.
Jack gently stroked the back of her head, "I'll see you soon, Elsa." He released her and floated back up.
"Yes, soon." Elsa smiled and waved at him and he flew up and off. He was out of sight in a few seconds. She stood there on the ridge for a long moment with Gale gently whirling around her. She felt the cool touch of the wind on her damp cheeks, "Yes, I miss him already too."
The wind swirled around her in reply.
Jack stood on the bank of a very familiar pond just outside Burgess. After leaving Elsa's forest he'd shot across the Northern Atlantic Ocean at breakneck speed, coming down through Canada and into the Northern United States spreading winter and a heavy frost as he went. It was twilight here now and the fading light reflected off the pond. It hadn't been cold enough yet to freeze it over.
He would be heading back to the North Pole to meet the others soon but after bringing frost and snow to this area he felt the need to stop by his old hometown.
Elsa's words that morning echoed in his mind as he stared at the pond he had died and been reborn in.
Water has memory.
He walked out into the center of the pond, the water freezing under his feet as he went. When he reached the center half the pond was frozen over, taking a deep breath he closed his eyes.
He reached out, feeling the moisture in the air, below his feet, all around him. It was a little harder here, Elsa's forest teemed with magic in a way only a few places in the world did nowadays. But one of the good things about being a nature spirit was the ability to feel the natural magic in almost everything.
There was magic in the curl of old fallen leaves, the sway of long grass on the breeze, in the water ripples on a pond. If you knew where to look, there was magic everywhere.
He took another deep breath, held it, and gathered his magic.
And then let it go.
Ice magic shot out around him in a whoosh, skating over the pond's surface and then along its banks in an instant.
When Jack opened his eyes he was thrilled to see several ice sculptures. They were of moments he was unfamiliar with, people from different eras, and some even appeared to be happy memories. He smiled at them but then looked over to one side of the pond.
He had wondered if the water would remember, clearly it did.
There, in perfectly sculpted ice were the motionless forms of himself and his sister, frozen at the moment before he pulled her off the ice with his staff. Kneeling Jack looked over at himself first for a moment. When trying to save his sister the thought that he might die had never even crossed his mind. Mostly he was only thinking of Mary, but being young and thinking everything would be alright was also a factor.
He turned and looked into his sister's face. It'd been so long since he'd seen her, his recovered memories were sometimes faint, often more impressions than perfect recollections. There was fear in her expression, but also hope, despite Jack's teasing and pranks, he'd never let her down when she needed him most. He had not failed her in that at least.
He looked back to the edge of the pond, just over the shoulder of his sculpture, there was another figure standing on the bank. Odd. There hadn't been anyone else with them the day he fell into the water. A memory from a later time perhaps?
Drawing closer he noticed a smaller form, it was a young child, clinging to the skirts of the other figure. He looked up into the face of the adult statue and was startled.
She was older and her hair was pulled up in the way a married woman would have worn it at the time, but it was undoubtedly his sister. The shape of her nose and eyes was the same, it was almost like looking at his sister and his mother at the same time.
Jack stared at her for a long moment, joy and sadness warring over his heart. Joy, because clearly, she had lived to adulthood but also sadness for not getting to see it. How many times had he perhaps passed her by in his long years without his memories?
Her features set in ice were somber but gentle, there was a fondness in her eyes as she stared out at the water that made his chest ache. In the crook of her arm was a basket filled with wildflowers. His eyes followed her other arm down to the small boy whose head her hand rested lightly upon.
Crouching down Jack held back a small sob as he looked into his nephew's face.
Hours later Jack wheeled into the North Pole on the wind, flying over the domed building he dove into the tunnel exit for North's sleigh. The yetis were preparing it for the Christmas Eve launch. He swept his staff as he flew by, leveling off and smoothing out the sleigh's path in the ice. They called to him in thanks as he swooped through into the Pole proper through the loading bay.
With it being three weeks out from Christmas it was an absolute madhouse at every turn. Reindeer were being fed plenty of enchanted carrots and being fitted for their harnesses. Yetis were packing toys and touching up the sleigh, elves were ever constantly underfoot. You couldn't turn around without being caught up in some kind of movement and the noise was a cacophony of yelling and banging.
Jack loved chaos to some degree but how North got anything done and kept track of it all was beyond him.
"Ah, Jack my boy there you are!"
Speaking of North, his booming voice cut through the noisy workshop and Jack made his way over to the balcony that overlooked the globe from the main room. "Hey North, Sandy." He greeted them both where they stood on the platform looking out over the workshop below as he came to land lightly on the railing. "Where are Bunny and Tooth?"
"On their way. Tooth has something important to show us and asked Bunny to help her, she did not want to fly a great distance with them." North paused and looked down over Jack's shoulder. "No, put those sketchbooks on the bottom, the load with balance better!" North was temporarily distracted and Jack grinned watching him waive his hands in grand gestures as he ordered his yetis on how to pack.
Sandy waived at him, gold symbols and shapes flickering over his head in rapid succession. Over the last several years Jack had gotten better and interpreting Sandy's symbols but sometimes had to ask him to slow down a bit.
"Oh, you got my message yesterday? Good, I wasn't sure. Yea, I'm fine, I just needed a bit of a break. Who did you get to fill in? Please tell me it wasn't Bunny, I'll never hear the end of it."
Sandy's shoulders shook with silent laughter and nodded, Bunny had filled in for him. Great.
Sandy then created a snowflake above his head with a question mark, his expression curious. Jack quirked an eyebrow, unsure of what he was asking. Sandy elaborated by creating a silhouette in golden sand with long hair and a flowing dress.
Jack realized Sandy was asking about Elsa. Had she left that much of an impression on the dream when it landed in her hand? He didn't think Sandy would care, but some of the other Guardians might nag at him for spending too much time in the forest with her. He tried to brush off his question.
"Oh, yea. I had a friend in the area, they were giving me a hand to get to a village with kids so I could send you a message."
Sandy raised an eyebrow but any further questions were postponed by the arrival of the remaining two Guardians. In the courtyard below a set of reindeer jumped aside, the yeti barely able to keep them from going airborne, as one of Bunnymund's tunnels opened up in the ice. Toothina flew out first with Bunny hopping out after her.
In Toothina's arms, she carried a highly ornate box.
"Bunny, you spook the reindeer!" North complained.
"Hey, you wanted me to bring Tooth here, I got her here. I can't help it the only solid ground in this place is your stables." Bunny shivered as he shook the snow and ice from his fur.
Jack flew over to stand by North, "Why didn't Tooth want to fly here?"
"Ah, Tooth tells me that what she has brought with her is likely to attract Nightmare. Would not want a horde of them following her here eh?"
Tooth flew up to them, the box clutched to her chest as they all headed into the main room. Jack flew after, coming around the globe lit with countless glowing lights, and landed on the railing next to the control panel.
"Oh, look who's shown up for work! Have a nice day off Frost?" Bunny teased.
Jack made a face at Bunnymund. "Yea, yea, I'm sure you were so put out helping Sandy. You should thank me, exercise is good for you."
"Hey, if you're the one who needs breaks from patrols maybe you should get some more exercise. You're a bit young to be getting tired so quickly. Sandy will end up leaving you in the dust." Bunny grinned, seemingly very amused by his own joke.
"Haha, tell you what Bunny I'll go take care of Nightmares and you can go deal with cranky, territorial water spirits."
Bunny's ears perked up at that. "Oi mate, you tangled with a water spirit? They're always a temperamental bunch. Never know if they'll help you or try to kill you. You alright?"
"This one defiantly leaned more towards the 'kill you' option, but yea I'm fine."
"Jack you know you can always ask us for help, right? You shouldn't do everything all on your own." Tooth scolded him gently, "We are a team after all." She sent a knowing glare at Bunny. "We help one another out."
"I know, I know. I was fine, really, just needed a break." Jack quickly brought their attention back to Toothina, the last thing he ever wanted was for them to think he wasn't capable of looking after his Guardian duties. "So, what's in the box?"
Tooth flew forward and set her box down on the large table that occupied the space in front of the huge hearth. Jack tended to avoid that end of the table, North usually had quite the fire going. She opened the lid as they gathered around.
Jack floated up and looked down, his brow furrowing, "Tooth boxes?"
There nestled in the box was a handful of tooth boxes, their shiny and geometric sides reflected the lights and glow of the fire. When Pitch had taken on the Guardians before he'd had his Nightmares steal the tooth boxes along with the fairies, to destroy the belief of children, but Jack didn't understand how this would attract them. Pitch would not likely try the same trick twice.
"Tooth boxes will attract a nightmare?" Jack asked scratching his head.
"An average tooth box? No, but these are not your average tooth boxes." Toothina looked sadly down at them.
Jack stared at them a moment, now that she mentioned it, these did appear more silver than the gold he was familiar with.
Tooth reached down and gently stroked the top of one box, but did not activate it. "These are special cases. As Guardians, we do our best to help every child in some way, but even we can not save them from all hardship. Some, unfortunately, face hardship so difficult, it permanently taints their memories."
Bunny's ears dropped a bit, "Then these are children who had painful, difficult memories?"
Toothina nodded, "I try to keep an extra eye on the children who need the most help, so that is why they look slightly different than the other boxes. Memories like this, they're painful enough to cause bad dreams all on their own, without Pitch. The Nightmares are likely to be drawn to that, but I've never tried it before."
North stroked his beard, "I see, I see. Yes, these might work. We can test out on Christmas!"
"North, are you sure that's a good idea?" Bunny argued, "You really want to possibly have a bunch of Nightmares chasing you around delivering presents?"
"No, of course not Bunny. That's why they'll be chasing after you all and I will deliver presents." North laughed and Bunnymund sputtered.
"What, you want to use us as cannon fodder, seriously?" Bunny protested.
For once Tooth did not try to break up the argument and just sighed.
Sandy made several symbols at her in question and Jack stared down at the boxes before gently picking one up and turning it on its end.
"Oh, don't worry Sandy, these are older boxes, from the lower archives, these children have long passed on by now. I wouldn't ever use a living child's memories, it's much too risky." She reassured Sandy and looked back at Jack, who had visibly stilled, a tooth box in his hand. One of her fairies flying near her gave a little chirp in worry. "Jack, something wrong?"
Jack looked like he'd seen a ghost. He was staring down at the box in his hand with an unreadable expression.
"Jack?" Tooth asked again, completely ignoring North and Bunny in the background, both she and Sandy were concerned now, had he accidentally activated a box?
Jack shook his head and glanced up at them and then back down at the box in his hand. "No, nothing's wrong. It… just makes me sad. I wish I could have been able to help." Jack stared hard at the tooth box, turned over in his hand, end facing up.
Tooth's expression softened in understanding, "We all do."
Jack nodded and held out the tooth box to her, "If we do this, do me a favor. Don't use this one."
Both Tooth and Sandy exchanged worried glances and Tooth took the box back, "Why not?"
Jack looked back at them as he floated over towards the two other Guardians. His eyes were downcast and his brow furrowed, "Just call it a gut feeling," and he flew over to break up the other two with Sandy following after him.
At the rate North and Bunny were going, they'd need to get yeti involved soon if they didn't stop their bickering.
Tooth stared after them for a moment and then down at the tooth box in her hand.
The image of a small pale child with platinum hair in a single braid greeted her, there was no smile in the little girl's ice-blue eyes.