Chapter 7 – Once Upon a Memory

Jamie's toy robot stood watch on his bedside table. He slept soundly, his tongue resting in the new gap between his teeth.

Tooth fluttered over Jamie's head, her iridescent wings creating small currents of wind. Jack stood by the bed.

"Left central incisor, knocked out in a freak sledding accident. I wonder how that happened," Tooth raised her multi-toned eyes to meet Jack's ice blue ones, "Jack?"

Jack chuckled; his hand reaching out to run over the picture Jamie had drawn and hung on the wall, the one that depicted Jamie's wild ride with Jack only that morning. "Kids, huh?" He traced the outline of the sled, feeling the contours of the crayon drawing.

Tooth smiled at the peacefully dreaming boy below her, "This was always the part I liked most—seeing the kids," Tooth paused before sighing, "Why did I ever stop doing this?"

Her tone was dejected, and Jack could see just how much Tooth loved her job, "It's a little different up close, huh?" Jack remarked, trying to raise a smile from the fairy.

Tooth nodded, "Thanks for being here, Jack," she said softly, "I wish I had known about your memory. I could've helped you."

"Yeah, well, look, let's just get you taken care of," Jack said, trying to deflect the conversation away from the painful realm, "Then it's Pitch's turn."

A sudden noise outside attracted their attention, causing both Tooth and Jack to turn towards the window.

"Here you are!" North hauled a large sack in over his shoulder. The windowsill groaned as the massive Cossack squeezed himself through. Sandy bounced through the window afterwards, followed shortly by Baby Tooth.

"What gives, slowpokes?" North asked, his tone jesting.

"SHHHHH," Tooth whispered a warning. She threw a glance to where Jamie lay, still sleeping peacefully.

"How you feeling, Toothy?" North asked softly.

"Believed in!" Tooth grinned.

"Ha-ha!" North gave a little chuckle, "That's what I wanted to hear."

"Oh, I see how it is…" Bunny arrived through a rabbit hole in Jamie's bedroom floor, "All working together to make sure the rabbit gets last place."

North held his finger up to his lips, "Shhhhhh."

Jack indicated his bulging bag of teeth, "You think I need help to beat a bunny? Check it out, Peter Cottontail."

"You call that a bag of choppers?" Bunny's bag was even bigger, "Now that's a bag of choppers."

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" North interrupted, "This is about Tooth. It's not a competition! But if it was"—his bag was the largest of them all—"I win. YEEEEHAAAAAW!" North danced around Jamie's room in a Russian jig.

Suddenly a bright light caught North in the belly.

"Oh no." He froze mid step, his arm comically raised as if waiting permission to continue.

"Santa Claus?" Jamie asked, rubbing his eyes. He sat up, training his flashlight on each of the Guardians in turn, "The Easter Bunny? Sandman? The Tooth Fairy?" Jamie popped up from his pillows, "I knew you'd come!"

"Surprise!" Tooth said, pretending that this was all very normal, "We came."

"He can see us?" Jack asked, hope spreading across his face.

Jamie scanned the room, completely amazed. His eyes fell on everyone except Jack, whom he still couldn't see.

"Most of us," Bunny confirmed what Jack was beginning to realize—that even among the Guardians, he was invisible.

"Shhh," Tooth warned, "You guys, he's still awake."

"Sandy, knock him out," Bunny suggested.

Sandy advanced on Jamie, pounding a fist into his other palm.

"Huh?" Jamie scooted back on the bed.

"With the dreamsand, ya gumbies." Bunny shook his head.

At Jamie's feet, his greyhound, Abby, awoke. In her half-asleep state, she yawned, sniffing the air in Bunny's direction.

"No, Abby!" Jamie told the dog, "Stop! That's the Easter Bunny, Abby, what are you doing? Down!"

Abby put herself nose-to-nose with Bunny. She growled, low in her throat.

"All right," Bunny said, "Nobody panic." However, his eyes betrayed his true apprehension.

Jack was having trouble not laughing. Here was the great E. Aster Bunnymund, the Pooka who had tormented him for so many years, about to be brought down by a—albeit quite large—dog barely out of puppyhood, "But that's a greyhound. Do you know what greyhounds do to rabbits?"

"I think it's a pretty safe bet she's never met a rabbit like me," Bunny rotated one shoulder in a gesture of aggression. Abby continued to growl, adding in the occasional bark.

Sandy made a baseball out of dreamsand as Jack rolled his eyes at Bunny. Bunny continued, "Six foot one, nerves of steel, master of Tai Chi, and the ancient art of—" Then, Jack nudged the alarm clock on Jamie's bedside table with the straight end of his staff.

"Crikey!" Bunny exclaimed as Abby leaped toward him. He hopped around the room, the greyhound nipping at his tail.

"Stop! Sit!" Jamie commanded, "Down, girl, down!"

The dog chased Bunny over the bed and up the walls while Tooth struggled to silence the alarm clock.

"Sandy!" cried North, urging him to throw the ball at the dog and end this madness. But before Sandy could throw it, Abby knocked into him, and dreamsand went flying.

Tooth shook her head at the chaos, "This is not proper Tooth Fairy behaviour," she scolded.

North ducked when the dreamsand sailed towards him. Unfortunately, Tooth was right behind him and the dreamsand ball caught her right in the face. The sleepy dust knocked her and Baby Tooth out cold. They both fell to the floor with a thud. A dreamy little tooth floated above each fairy's head.

Streams of dreamsand filled Jamie's bedroom, in ribbons that quickly became like fireworks.

Bunny dodged Abby, shouting, "This thing's rabid! Get this dingo off me!" He caught a whiff of sand, "Oh no." Bunny yawned before passing out, dreaming of carrots. Next to him, Abby fell heavily, dreaming of bunnies.

"Candy canes," North said sleepily before he also toppled over onto Jamie's mattress after receiving his own ball of dreamsand. North's weight catapulted Jamie into the air.

"Whoaaaa!" Jamie cried even as Sandy caught him. Sandy dumped a bit of dreamsand on the boy's head, putting him back under.

"Whoops." Jack took a long look around the now-quiet room. Tooth and Baby Tooth were sleeping, curled in a corner, while Bunny was snuggling with North, "Oh, I really wish I had a camera right now," Jack, for lack of a better word, giggled.

Sandy and Jack turned towards the window, spotting a Nightmare streaking away.

"Sandy, c'mon!" Jack exclaimed, "We can find Pitch."

Sandy spared the sleeping Guardians a look before following Jack out into the night.

~! #%^][=-`

Sophie toddled into her big brother's room while everyone was sleeping. She giggled as she reached into North's pocket and knocked free a snowglobe.

"Pretty!" Sophie said as she carried the snowy ball over towards Bunny, "Easter Bunny! Hop, hop, hop!"

Each hop was punctuated by Sophie bouncing up and down. Sophie shook the snowglobe, revealing a beautiful image of Bunny's Warren. Delighted, Sophie began to take the globe back to her room, but on the way, she tripped over Abby. The globe smashed on the floor, and a portal opened in front of her.

The sound of a portal closing roused North, but it was too late. Sophie was already gone.

~! #$%^][=-`

Jack and Sandy followed two Nightmares across the rooftops of Burgess.

Jack called out in joy, riding the wind to catch one of the Nightmares. The Nightmare flew over a rooftop, and Jack followed.

Jack chased the Nightmare away from a house, just in time to see Sandy wrestling with the other one. The Nightmare was strong, but Sandy was stronger. With a blast, Sandy changed the dark grit into golden dreamsand and then rode the now stingray-shaped dream over Burgess.

Jack tore after the one that got away, "Ha!" he shouted as the Nightmare turned down an alley and then traveled up to another rooftop. A blast of frost from Jack's staff froze the Nightmare into a solid mass.

"I got it! Sandy!" Jack called, "Sandy, did you see that? Look at this thing," he poked the Nightmare with his staff.

But it wasn't Sandy who appeared behind him, "Frost?"

Pitch slipped out of the shadows behind Jack.

Jack whirled on his dexterous, pale toes and shot a streak of frost at him. Pitch dodged it without seemingly any effort.

"You know," Pitch said, "For a 'neutral party,' you spend an awful lot of time with those wierdos. This isn't your fight, Jack."

Jack bared his staff at the specter in front of him, "You made it my fight when you stole those teeth," he growled. Common sense told him not to elaborate.

Pitch squinted at the Spirit of Winter, "Teeth? Why do you care about the teeth?" A noise behind Pitch cause him to turn. Sandy stood there, and Pitch quickly moved away, "Now this is who I'm looking for—" Before Pitch could finish the sentence, Sandy blasted him with dreamsand.

Pitch ducked and aimed his nightmare sand directly at Sandy. Jack ducked out of the way as Sandy was forced onto a high ledge. Sandy himself nearly fell backwards, but regained his balance at the last minute. Using a wave of dreamsand, Sandy shot back at Pitch, throwing him off the rooftop to land with a crash on the street below.

Jack peered down at Pitch through the darkness, "Remind me not to get on your bad side," he shot a quick smile at Sandy.

Pitch shook off the crash, stepping away as Sandy and Jack flew off the roof and into the street.

"Okay, easy. You can't blame me for trying, Sandy. You don't know what it's like to be weak and hated. It was stupid of me to mess with your dreams. So I'll tell you what: You can have 'em back," Pitch offered.

Before Sandy and Jack could react, hundreds of Nightmares filled the street and stood, dark as shadow, on the surrounding rooftops.

Jack turned to Sandy, "You take the ones on the left, and I'll take the ones on the right?"

Pitch rose from the ground, astride the skeletal Onyx, "Boo!" Pitch shouted at Sandy and Jack. It appeared that was a call to arms, for the Nightmares began to charge.

Jack and Sandy were forced together, back-to-back, searching for and escape. Suddenly, the sound of sleigh bells and reindeer hoover filled the air. North's sleight zoomed overhead, buzzing past Pitch and his Nightmares.

Bunny had been asleep in the sleigh, but was knocked conscious by the jostling of the sleigh. A bit confused, he barked, "Get out of my Warren." Then realizing where he was, Bunny gathered his boomerangs for battle.

Sandy flung dreamsand at the Nightmares, while Jack held them off, wielding his staff like a master. Tooth charged out of the sleigh and into the night, calling out, "Iestil!" as she raced to Jack and Sandy's aid. Her razor-sharp wings sliced through the Nightmares like a knife through warm butter.

Like a general at war, Pitch commanded his army of Nightmares to continue the attack.

Bunny jumped from the sleigh onto a roof. His boomerangs flew, dissolving every Nightmare in their paths. When the sleigh passed by, Bunny hopped back in.

"Ha, ha, ha!" North cheered, "Come on!"

Jack dodged two Nightmares in quick succession, but was blindsided by a third. This one, a particularly feral beast, tore his staff right from his hands. As it cartwheeled away, Jack began to fall, reaching out desperately to close his fingers around his power conduit.

"Aaaaaaah!" His fingers managed to grasp the worn, cool wood, and he hooked the crooked end into the rails of the sleigh. Taking a second to catch his breath, he barely heard Bunny advise, "You might want to duck." The boomerang he had thrown came sailing back, missing Jack's head by inches.

Pitch's Nightmares surrounded Sandy, and he valiantly fought them off with pleasant dreams of his own.

"We gotta help Sandy!" Jack pointed from the sleigh.

"Hyah!" North flicked the reins, and the reindeer redoubled their speed.

But it was too late. Like an archer on the periphery of a battle, Pitch shaped nightmare sand into a bow and arrow. He aimed at Sandy's back, stilled for a fraction of a second, and let the projectile fly. It hit Sandy between the shoulders and exploded.

"Noooo!" Jack yelled. He leaped out of the sleigh and dove towards the fray.

"Jack!" North called out after him.

Pitch laughed as the Nightmares took over Sandy's dreams.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Don't fight the fear, little man," Pitch called.

North pulled the sleigh around for a rescue mission, but Nightmares surrounded him, "Hurry, hurry!" North called to Jack.

Sandy's dreamsand was turning black as bad dreams took over, "I'd say sweet dreams, but there aren't any left," Pitch said.

Jack persevered, fighting off Nightmares, all the while struggling to reach Sandy.

"Sandy," North said, moaning.

Sandy stood tall, glaring at Pitch one last time as the Nightmare sand surrounding him, and then the cloud of black dust covered him completely and he was gone.

Pitch clapped his hands with joy.

"No…NOOOOO!" Jack reached Pitch and then rushed forward, his staff bright with energy that came from his center.

Pitch turned and sent an enormous wave of Nightmares at the Spirit of Winter. It was too much, even for him, to take all at once. Jack was overwhelmed as Pitch stood and looked on, smirking.

Jack swung his staff in one last desperate attempt. Frost and ice filled the night air. The attacking Nightmares crystalized and exploded into snow.

"Aaahh!" Pitch was caught by surprise and tossed back out of the air and far, far away.

The effort drained all of Jack's power. He collapsed in the air, unable to hear the wind, and free falling until Tooth sprang up and caught him. Settling him down in the sleigh, she asked, "Jack, how did you do that?"

The response was a long time coming. It took Jack almost a minute to be able to open his eyes properly, let alone formulate a response. Jack fingered his staff and replied groggily, "I didn't know I could."

~! #$%^][=-`

As the sleigh zipped off into the night, Pitch stood up and looked around at where he'd crash-landed. His first emotion was anger, but then something struck a chord with him. Smiling his diabolical smile, he watched the sleigh slip into a snowglobe portal, reindeer bells chiming in its wake.

Jack Frost was a worthy opponent.

"Finally!" Pitch dusted himself off, "Someone who knows how to have a little fun!" He waved in the general direction of the departed sleigh.

When next they met, he would be ready. Pitch's grin widened in anticipation.