A/C I cowrote this with the shiny, talented user 2806257, who's always been my beta. We switch off writing every other chapter, with me starting off. Starts during the fight scene that destroys Sandy, but taking a different turn that creates the rest of the AU.

An ebony cloud of destructive nightmares swirled through the sky, biting away at the stars and even at the light of the moon. The six of them hung in the air, thrashing to the beat of the glistening cold grains of the black sand that twirled through the air.

The four Guardians clung to the sleigh as it thrust them forward into the night sky that bristled with fear. No, they didn't cling; they all were sprung at the very edge of the sleigh, ready to jump into the action despite how tremendous the fall was beneath them. North steered them forward, towards the mass of black, towards the spark of light that gleamed through all the nightmare sand. Jack and Bunny stood shoulder to shoulder, against the bite of the wind, ready to launch up into the nest of fear that was encasing the glimmer. Tooth posed directly behind them, her feathers spiked up into the flashy colors that warned her opposers so clearly to beware.

But, of course, the entity they were facing now was the very essence of fear, who wouldn't simply back down because they appeared as a formidable foe. Instead, he continued to spin his web, blocking out the one light left in the sky. That radiance was the Sandman, his hair pricked up in defiance, whips of dreamsand emanating from his hands, fighting so desperately against Pitch. The two of them stood, outlined against the grey of clouds, one diminishing into the shadows while the other glowed like the sun. But this wasn't a sun that could heat up the entire world, and, as the other Guardians watched, desperately flying through the sky towards him, the glow of his dreamsand seemed to be waning, weakening.

And if they lost Sandy... no, Jack couldn't even consider that. Sandy had always been there, for all of them, with the rest of the Guardians and the winter spirit, too; a constant shimmering reminder of happiness. Most importantly, he was there for the children, lighting up their nightly thoughts with his sand. Despite how silent this singular Guardian was, he was the oldest of them all, the most constant, the wisest. They couldn't lose the Sandman.

Without a second thought to consider the utter stupidity, Jack flew forward, in front of the sleigh, thrusting himself into the wind that whipped into the same direction at his command. We can't lose Sandy. I can't lose Sandy, Jack's thoughts blared, the only other thing he was aware of, besides the challenge before him. He had to help Sandy, get him out, keep him safe.

"Jack!" Bunnymund's voice echoed in a shout, calling the young phantasm back. But he couldn't—wouldn't back down. Sandy needed him. He couldn't just back down, into the sleigh, where the pace they were arriving at would be far too late. Even as he propelled himself, Jack could see the horror and fear beginning to creep over Sandy's usually smiling face. Perhaps even he would be too late for the Sandman.

"Give into the fear, little man," Pitch hissed, his voice rebounding into the black sand and twisting into such a large amplification. A wicked grin was spread upon the coal-splattered complexion of the terror, his eyes glowing as they focused, so transfixed on the Sandman.

In the flash of a moment, Pitch let loose a treacherous knife of nightmares, launching it at the dream king. For that split second, everything seemed to freeze. Jack continued to zoom forward, unaware that he was too late, unable to help his friend. Tooth screeched out a warning, but such words were little use to the little man of dreamsand. As the blade bit into his back, Sandy lurched upright, tensing in the pain that sprung so vibrantly through him. For another second, nothing happened; Sandy simply froze with the knife stuck in his back. Then the nightmare sand began to creep up his legs, unraveling his light. The glistening blackness swept across his body, encasing him in a shell of black. His pupils dilated, before his eyes fell shut, and the Sandman was steady pulled to Pitch's side by the tether of nightmare sand.

"Sandy!" Jack cried out, soaring even more desperately towards Pitch.

With a grin from the Nightmare King, a black wall fell from his fingers. The glimmering web of sand pounded down on the tiny figure of Jack, who suddenly seemed so helpless.

"No," Tooth whispered, as the three Guardians watched the wall come in horror. They had lost Sandman, lost the emanating light that spread through dreams and created such hope and happiness, and now... now they might lose Jack too.

But, to everyone's greatest surprise, a surging burst of white frost spurted from Jack, into the mass of blackness, fighting it back, destroying it. The sheer power and light of it was blinding, continuing to push against the nightmares, continuing to push against Pitch. The frosty sparkles forced Pitch out of his cloud of fear, and both he and the shell of Sandman fell to the ground, sinking into the tree level and out of view.

Jack watched numbly. Perhaps he should have felt some sort of rush of hope at this victory, maybe some happiness. But he felt nothing, just completely numb. Sandy was gone, the happy little man with his confident smiles and world of dreamsand. Jack hadn't made it in time, hadn't reached out towards the oldest Guardian in time, and now he was gone. Sure, he fought all those nightmares off, but for what? He was dead, gone, lost in the deafening shell of nightmares. The dream had been taken over, and Jack sensed that the nightmare was only beginning.

Jack began to fall, to plummet from his spot, and down into the sleigh that North angled below him. Worse than his own feeling of complete destruction were the sober faces of the friends around him. Bunnymund's hop over was so small, so weak... Jack had never seen him like this, never seen any of them so disheartened. North looked by far the worst, such a look of hopeless sorrow lingering on his features; he simply shook his head back and forth, as if wishing to clear it head from all that rotted there.

"Jack, how did you do that?" Tooth asked, her voice frail, with the air of someone who was about to start crying. The words she spoke weren't unhappy, though, and Jack could tell how desperately she was trying to lighten the situation. They all needed this whole position to be lighter, and that's why they needed Sandy so badly.

"I didn't know I could," Jack shook his head, sitting down on the bench, his breath coming out in shaky, half-formed gasps. "Sandman... What happened to him? What did Pitch do to him?"

"We don't know," North murmured, continuing to shake his own head. "Not exactly."

"We should go and get him back, then," Jack sputtered, the very bristle of hope beginning to paint his voice as he tried to stand up.

Bunnymund's strong paw forced Jack back into his seat. "No, mate, we might not know what Pitch did to 'em, but Sandy's gone, and there's no getting him back."

Jack sank back into place, his shoulders falling in the sheer hopelessness of the whole situation. "No. . ."

Without a word of warning or preparation, North silently pulled out his snow globe and threw it in front of the sleigh. The icy palace of the North Pole loomed ahead of them in the swirling circle, before the reindeer danced back into motion and pulled them all through out of the sky that was so full of fear.