A/N: Hi everyone! ^^ I've been wondering if I should actually start my own fanfiction after falling in love with this awesome movie and reading so many great stories here. Have been suffering from a bad writer's block for over 5 years but RotG cured it, it's so inspiring! :)

Okay, enough of my rambling, I hope you enjoy this and I really hope I didn't repeat anything you've probably already read somewhere else. There are so many fanfictions out there that it's hard to come up with something new, but I'll try. ^^

„Sandy, come on, we can find Pitch!"

The words still rang in his ears as he watched the little golden man being swallowed by the nightmare sand in horror.

How could he have been so stupid, going after the boogeyman to face him on his own while the other guardians were knocked out cold?

It happened in the heat of the moment, he guessed. Collecting the teeth together with the famous legends had been such a blast, he couldn`t remember the last time he had so much fun.

Of course, doing something with friends, or at least aquaintances, was a lot more enjoyable than entertaining yourself or desperately trying to make people notice you, which always ended in dissappointments anyway.

For once in his life he felt useful, needed and like he could deal with every obstacle the world threw at him.

And then the nightmare appeared in front of Jamie's window. He didn't think much…in hindsight not the best option…and wanted to show everyone what he was capable of.

That was his first mistake.

Wait, no, the first mistake had been setting the alarm clock off. Without the sudden noise that greyhound wouldn`t have run amok, Bunny, North and Tooth wouldn`t have been accidentally knocked out by Sandy's dreamsand and they could have planned something more decent than his idea of 'Let's follow the dark horse and give the boogeyman the beating of his life!'

He should have waited for them to wake up, but noooo, he had to jump into danger right away.

That moment he had sealed the fate of one of his newly found friends.

He wasn't sure if 'friends' was the right word after he had only known them for a day, but then again they were the first people in 300 years to actually talk to him nicely. Even though they only did it because the Man in the Moon told them so. Only because they needed his help.

Jack shook his head to push the unwanted thoughts out of his mind but still one remained :

After finally finding 'friends', he had already failed them after a few hours.

With all his might he dashed through the sky towards Sandy who was being absorbed by the black sand more with every passing second. He couldn't allow this to happen, he couldn't allow him to die! Not because of his own recklessness! With rising panic he urged the wind to let him fly faster, once more not thinking about what exactly he was going to do once he reached the monstrous cloud of darkness, just focusing on reaching Sandy before it was too late.

And then the last glimmer of golden sand vanished between the threatening black swirls.

Jack's world broke into pieces.

"No…" he muttered under his breath, shocked, unbelieving, not wanting to accept what had just happened.

He had failed. He had been too slow. He hadn't been strong enough.

Anger welled up inside of him, anger directed at himself, at Pitch and at the other guardians for not saving Sandy either. And then he exploded.

"NOOOOOO!" he screamed as he rocketed through the depressing grey sky straight towards the boogeyman.

He couldn't just accept Sandy's death, even though it had no use anymore, he had to do something!

His focus on Pitch was lost as a wall of nightmares rose in front of him and took him by surprise. Everything that he was left to feel was a sudden impact and rough dark sand surrounding every inch of his body.

He was scared…but more than that, he was furious. That son of a *** had just killed Sandy and now he was aiming at the remaining guardians, convinced that noone was able to stop him.

Determination got the best of him. He wouldn't allow them to get hurt or even killed, he had failed Sandy, he wouldn't fail the others as well.

What happened next was all like a blur.

Power, a never before felt power, cold and warm and electrifying all at the same time, rose inside of him and once he thought it would rip him apart he let it all erupt with a loud and pained scream.

And then the world went blank.

He had no idea how long he had been out, but when he came back to his senses he found himself lying in the sleigh. Tooth was kneeling beside him with a worried expression on her face, while Bunny and North just stared at him in shock.

"Jack, how did you do that?"

He blinked and tried to sit up, but his whole body hurt and felt like all energy had been sucked out of him. But looking at the grey sky and the lack of Pitch or any trace of nightmare sand whatsoever assured him he had been successful. He was too drained, emotionally and physically to feel happy about it, though.

"I…I didn't know I could…."

In fact he didn't. Never had he needed to use this kind of power before. Well, it would have been handy during those occasions when other spirits decided to give him a hard time, but back then he hadn't felt that aggravated. Scared? Yes. Miserable? Very. Angry? Sure. But this time was different. For this time, he wasn't worried about his own well-being.

This time, he was protecting someone else.

And he hoped they could someday forgive him his failure concerning Sandy.

But he knew for sure he would never forgive himself.