At the Beginning

We were strangers, starting out on a journey
Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected, what you did to my heart
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me
This is the start

And life is a road that I wanna keep going
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

- Anastasia, At The Beginning, watch?v=zspz-zqeNbg

There were cheers as the curtains pulled back from the bower, and Tooth felt Jack's hand tighten on hers. Despite everything, he still had trouble with too much attention on him at once.

Still, he stayed beside Tooth as the spirits came forward in ones and twos to congratulate them, accepting the handshakes and pats to the back with grace and smiles.

Or at least, as much grace as Jack could muster. He kept exchanging glances with Tooth, the two of them giggling, almost deliriously happy and refusing to let a bit of awkwardness bring them down. Today was a day for joy, not for resentments, and nothing was going to interfere in that.

After greeting the new couple spirits drifted off, to the buffet North had provided or the edges of the dance floor as the yeti cleared away the chairs they had waited in, mingling and talking softly.

The congratulations seemed to go on forever, but finally they came to the last spirits and the pair were left alone for the moment. Tooth tugged on Jack's hand and they drifted over toward the buffet, where a yeti handed them cups of water when they passed on the more substantial beverages.

They wanted to remember tonight, not have their memories clouded by anything.

Hands clasped, they stood leaning against each other as they looked over the assembled spirits.

Humming contentedly, Tooth rested her head on Jack's shoulder and trailed a finger across the embroidery on his tunic, careful not to spill her water on him. "So the yeti finally got you in one of their creations, hm?"

He shrugged with his free shoulder. "It's better than things they've tried before. North says they're willing to listen now if I'm willing to talk. I might yet. You look amazing. That's some jewelry."

"It was my mother's," Tooth said softly, not moving from her spot on his shoulder. She felt him press a kiss to her crown covered forehead and drew back to look up at him.

"Think she would've liked me?"

"She could be very...formal," Tooth answered finally. "She'd have loved you. If only because you can't be formal for more than a few minutes at a time at best."

Jack gave a little hum at that and they were quiet again, looking over the gathering. North had promised them a first dance, and they were both looking forward to it, but there was a certain amount of mingling happening before the music and real party got going.

"Wonder what that was earlier..." Jack wondered aloud. Tooth's wings flicked as she remembered that burst of sound just before the ceremony, eyes narrowing as she continued to look over the crowd, this time wondering who had caused that disturbance.

"Call it my wedding gift," said a smooth, accented voice from behind them, and they spun in shock to see Pitch Black examining the offerings of the buffet and looking rather pleased with himself.

"Pitch, what," Tooth began to hiss, pausing when he held up a placating hand.

"Sandy invited me, as his 'plus one'," Pitch said. "I wasn't going to come, but he was most insistent. As for earlier, it seems one of the older spirits thought one of you not good enough for this marriage...or wanted one of you for themselves, it was a bit hard to tell. They weren't being clear, but they were being loud and attempting to storm the ceremony. So I removed them from the Pole before they could disturb the proceedings. As I said, my gift to you."

"Um...thank you?" Jack finally said after a few awkward moments. Pitch sniffed and nodded before a stream of golden sand snaked its way around Jack, wrapping around Pitch's wrist.

To the surprise of both Jack and Tooth, Pitch's face seemed to go several shades darker as Sandy appeared, giving the married couple a giant grin and a wink before tugging on the sand leash, drawing Pitch after him.

"...was Pitch just...blushing?" Jack asked, he and Tooth glancing between each other and the direction Sandy had dragged Pitch off in.

"I...do believe so," Tooth answered, hardly able to believe what she'd just seen. Her confusion was cut off as the first strains of music began, and she grabbed Jack's hand, her grin only matched by his in its brilliance and joy. "Let's go, husband-mine!"

They knew North was announcing them, introducing them as a married couple, but for those few minutes all that existed was each other and the music. Everything else, from the gazes of the attendees, the murmurs of their conversation, faded away as they spun around the floor with eyes only for each other, the kind of magical dance Jack had laughingly brushed off as only existing in fairytale movies.

As all perfect moments must, it eventually came to an end as the song stopped, the pair coming back to earth – both literally and figuratively, as their feet had left the ground halfway through the song. They'd never noticed, too wrapped up in the feel of feathers and frost and each other to realize they were dancing on air.

There was scattered applause and good-natured catcalls and encouragements before other dancers began to join them on the dance floor.

They never could tell, later, how long they spent dancing. Eventually there were requests to dance with the bride and groom, and they separated for dances, only to reunite later.

Later on, while dancing with an ecstatic Cupid, Tooth caught Jack's eye from across the room as he paused for a drink. Holding her gaze, his cheeks frosted over lightly as he raised his hand, brushing a kiss over the ring adorning his finger.

Tooth's cheeks flushed brighter than North's suit as Cupid laughed and cooed over the pair of them.

Later they would have to use Tooth's position as the Guardian of Memories to properly remember the whole night. Whenever they tried to remember it, it seemed to flash by in highlights – Bunny laughing, head thrown back at something North had said, Sandy pulling a willing Pitch around the dance floor in a strange tango. The jingling of elf bells as they ran pell-mell through the crowd, gods and goddesses, spirits of every shape and creed dancing and flirting, and the moon glowing through the skylight over all of them like a silver benediction.

And every inch bursting with overwhelming, overflowing joy.

No one would say they lived happily ever after, for that was too cliché, to trite for them, and a Guardian's lie would always be full of danger and heartbreak alongside the joy and the love – but they certainly gave it their best.

A/N: So, finally at the end. It's been a real ride. To be honest, when I started this fic, I expected it to cap out at about ten chapters. Oops.

I'll be editing these end notes later to have a link to the 8track and downloadable playlist of the songs I used in this fic. Hope everyone enjoyed the ride with me!

Download link for a playlist of this fic can be found here: post/ 102394416294/ only-the-music-download-link-only-seems-as

I tried to do an 8tracks playlist, but as there's more than one Abba song, it won't happen.