Nonexistent (Rise of the Guardians)

8. Maybe We Can Pull This Off?

Bunnymund whipped out his boomerangs and threw them at Pitch with a defiant yell. The boogeyman dodged skillfully and leapt onto his nightmare, diving towards the ground like a flying patch of darkness. The Guardians all jumped after him, weapons drawn and determined expressions on their faces. Jack and I dove off the platform behind them, Jack clutching his staff tightly and me summoning a mini whirlwind around my hands as North unsheathed his swords and Sandy made a whip out of dreamsand.

As Pitch was disappearing into the inky shadows below the palace, Bunnymund threw a handful of colorful eggs, which exploded in large bursts of color, like dye bombs in a color run.

We landed in a small meadow, lit by lights reflecting off the golden surfaces of the palace. There was a pink blossomed tree laying out over the water of a small pool that occupied one corner, with a painted mural depicting Toothiana and several of her fairies handing something to children; I didn't really get it at the moment, but I had more important things to think about. Mainly Toothiana.

The sprite was breathing heavily as if flying was taking an enormous effort for her, and her feathers were droopy as she leaned against a boulder for support as she panted, probably from shock. A moment later, North announced that Pitch was gone, and Tooth lowered herself onto her knees on the bank of the pool, among a few scattered Tooth boxes. Jack walked over to her and squatted down on her left, while I perched just to her right on top of the boulder, my arms spread out slightly to help me keep my balance.

Jack leaned down to match Tooth's height, a sympathetic look making its way onto his face. I felt my innards twist as he spoke to Toothiana in such a caring way, but shook the feeling off in light of Tooth's plight.

"I'm sorry about the fairies." Jack murmured.

Tooth sighed, all her previous vigor faded to the point that if I hadn't been around her before this fiasco, I would have thought that she had never smiled.

"You should have seen them." She muttered. "They put up such a fight." A teensy smile made its way into her face, the pride she felt for her fairies shining through her despairing demeanor.

I hopped down from my perch on the moss-covered boulder to land next to Toothiana. "Why would Pitch take the teeth?" I queried.

She picked up a dusty tooth box. "It's not the teeth he wanted. It's the memories inside them." My eyes narrowed in confusion.

Jack voiced my next question for me. "What do you mean?" Tooth rose to her petite feet before her wings began to work again and she lifted off the ground. Jack followed her as Toothiana fluttered across the water, heading towards the mural. The water froze as Jack's bare feet touched it, and I hovered over the patches of ice Jack left behind, using a small cushion of air to keep me aloft as I hovered.

"This is why we collect the teeth." She gestured to the mural, "They hold the most important memories of childhood."

The mural suddenly made sense. The shimmering golden scenes that Toothiana and her fairies were giving to the children were their memories, and they were stored inside the teeth the sprites held.

"My fairies watch over them, and when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them." She smiled serenely up at the mural as she continued, "We had everyone's here. Even both of yours." She said simply, turning to us with a casual look that didn't quite portray the fact that this little tidbit was absolute earth-shattering news to me and Jack.

"Memories. Our memories. From before we became- well, us?" Jack nearly erupted in eager anticipation, while I smiled incredibly widely at the news. We had never thought that we could learn our pasts, or who we were before we became spirits.