The Sandman was a being of very few words. He had been that way for as long as he could have remembered. When he was human, he was a mute. He supposed that it was only right that he was a silent presence as a Guardian as well. He smiled at the memories as a human, because despite them not being all that he wanted, his actions lead him to be what he was today.

He strung out another wisp of sand to a group of houses. It had been almost a month since Pitch's defeat, and he was happy to see that things were back to normal. At least, as normal as they used to be. Sandy was by nature a bit of a loner. But since all that bad business with the Nightmare King, he and his fellow Guardians have maintained a much closer relationship. It was a nice change, being able to spend time with his Fellowship and the children.

He looked back at his streams of sand. They were waning with the children starting to enter a deeper sleep. He nodded and pulled them back to his center, getting ready to leave the area. As he rose on his cloud, something white caught Sandy's eye and he looked up to see a comet of white streak past. Jack flew by, guided by the wind. Sandy smiled and waved at him, but was unseen by the mild winter spirit. Sandy felt his smile fade a little. Something was wrong.

Normally, he would have let it go. Jack Frost was a bit of an enigma to be sure. Even North had trouble talking with him. He wasn't like the rest of them. Where as they had grown and accepted what the Man in the Moon had chose, Jack was still a child. He wanted to pave his own road, and Sandy couldn't blame him.

He sat on his cloud and turned it to face the direction the Winter spirit fled to. There was something nagging at the back of his mind, and he felt his back prickle where Pitch had struck him. Sandy rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully but when he felt the cold breeze blow again he made up his mind. He spread out his arms and let his cloud swirl around him, turning into a little plane. He smiled and adjusted his made up goggles. It was unnecessary, but what could he say. He supposed he was a child at heart too.

After a half-hour or so, Sandy was ready to stop looking. The thing with Jack Frost was that if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. Sandy stood on the top of a tree, forming a spyglass and looking around in the forest by Jack's home. Really, it shouldn't be called that. It was just a little patch of forest that had a constant cold breeze and snow. He knew that North had offered Jack a place to stay, but he had refused for some reason or another. Sandy sighed and waved his hand to get rid of the spyglass. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, thinking. Suddenly, he smiled. He had a rather genius idea. He swirled his arms in front of him for a moment, pulling a small stream of dreamsand from his center. It swirled around his head for a second then took off a little to the east. Sandy followed it for a mile or two, and then it stopped and headed down. He pulled it back away from the source and made it disappear. He floated down a little and landed softly on a large tree branch.

Jack was sleeping in the crook of the tree, his arms wrapped around his staff. Sandy raised an eyebrow at his odd stance, but moved in for a closer look. Jack had his hood over his face, but there was something wrong. The Guardian of Dreams felt his back start to itch again, and his mouth pursed when he saw the familiar look of fear.

Sandy closed his eyes and sighed, spurning a thread. He let it go slowly, allowing it to weave a pattern above Jack's sleeping crown. His eyes were half closed as he worked, trying to ease Jack's mind into a deeper sleep. Sandy was unpleasantly surprised when he heard the whimper of fear come from his young friend, and at the last second stopped the weave.

Jack threw his hand out that clutched the staff, blasting a frozen arc in front of him. But it wasn't the sudden wakening that surprised Sandy; it was that Jack screamed his name as he woke. Jack seemed groggy and confused, and he looked at Sandy with something that the older spirit couldn't quite identify. Jack groaned and rubbed his face, mumbling something incoherent.

Sandy patiently waited for him to get the sleep out of his eyes. He sat, twiddling his thumbs, trying (and failing) to look innocent.

"Sandy, what are you doing here?" He asked, removing the hood from over his face. Sandy remained silent, but turned to look at the damage done from Jack's dream outburst. Jack's jaw dropped and he leaned forward to touch the part of the tree that had frozen. The arc of ice cracked a little at his touch, and he sat back against the trunk running his hands through his silver hair.

"I didn't hit you, did I?" Sandy shook his head closing his eyes. A miniature Sandy appeared over his head, but with better-defined muscles. Jack smiled and Sandy turned back to him, waving away the little figure of himself. "Right. Well, thanks for getting me out of that."

Sandy sighed and looked over at the younger Guardian. He waved a hand and a small Jack appeared, sleeping. It tossed and turned until it woke up with a start. Sandy watched as Jack's eyes got wide, but he took his staff and cut through the sand pictures.

"This is Pitch's doing. I just have to beat him."

Sandy shook his head, unsmiling as he made the pictures again. "Sandy, I know its him. I dream about this stuff every night since the whole-"

The older Guardian cut him off, creating a smaller version of himself. Pitch was behind him, and had his arrow cocked. Sandy raised his eyebrows as Jack rose to his feet and swatted the images away. He stomped to the end of the tree, and swung at the arc of ice. It shattered with a crash like breaking glass, causing the tree it had a hold on to split.

"What…What does that have to do with anything?" He heard Jack's voice crack. Sandy felt at a loss. What Jack needed to get a good night sleep wasn't dreamsand.

Sandy stepped onto the tree, and placed a warm hand on Jacks shoulder. Jack turned around and Sandy felt his heart drop when he saw the bitterness and sorrow. Sandy pulled the winter spirit down a little bit, and much to Jack's surprise covered his eyes with his hand.

"Sandy, what are you doi-"

Sandy's eyes went wide with the flashes of pain filled imagery that went flashing before him. Jack was floating in the middle of dreary darkness, surrounded by his wounded Guardians. He felt his heart lurch when he saw himself falling apart in front of Jack, over and over again. Jack carried the most pain from that battle, the Sandman sadly thought. The guilt was the one causing his bad dreams, hence why he couldn't fix it.

"No!"

He was brought back to reality when Jack slumped to his knees. His eyes were wide and frozen tears shed down his pale cheek. Sandy smiled sadly and sat down in front of the frozen boy, sighing and spurning a thread of sand. He turned it into a butterfly, then a little rabbit. A cat next that decided to rub its head against Jack's knee. Jack looked up at Sandy, who smiled. The cat turned into Jack, who was playing with a Jamie replica.

It then turned into a heart that was shattered, with the other Guardians having their backs turned towards it. They turned back around with open arms, and the heart went back together. Sandy continued on, even though he knew his features were drooping. Jack watched as the new formed heart turned back into the smaller version of himself, walking alone with Nightmares trailing behind him. Mini-Jack started fighting them off, but he was getting overwhelmed, but then a mini Sandman showed up and blasted them with sand.

Sandy waved his hand, dispersing the sands. He looked at Jack, then stood up. He took Jacks arm and tugged on his sweater, urging him to his feet. Jack wiped his face with his other arm and stood up. Sandy opened his arms to the winter spirit, smiling sadly. Jack wordlessly stepped forward and the wise tutor embraced the young Guardian, patting him on the back. He felt Jack tremble in his arms, and he knew it wasn't from the cold.

"I thought it was my fault…" Jack whispered, "when Pitch hit you with that arrow. I didn't get there quick enough."

Sandy shook his head and leaned back. He patted Jacks face, using his other hand to point at his heart. He moved his hand to his own chest, putting his hand into a fist and smiling. It was difficult for Sandy to explain to the younger Guardian what it was like for forgiveness, but when he smiled at him, Sandy thought he got it across very well.