Secret of Frost and Moon

Summons and Secrets

Alaia Skyhawk: I expect a great many "HOLY SHIT" comments by the time you guys get to the end of this chapter (Evil grin) :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

And a shout-out to VanRah on Deviantart, for letting me use their awesome picture of Jack Frost as the new cover for this story! Seriously, go check out their page!

~(-)~

Chapter 32: Summons and Secrets

It became something of a habit after that day, for Sandy to arrive before sundown in the region around Burgess, whenever there was snow on the ground and Jack sure to be nearby. The Spirit of Winter had made good on his decision to spread his new 'game', and by the end of the two-year war any child above a certain degree of confidence, radiated such a lack of fear of darkness that the Fearlings never bothered them. Only the more timid children, the unhappiest ones, drew the creatures in now, and a good dose of dreamsand each night kept the Fearlings at bay in those cases.

That wasn't to say Sandy found all the needy children, every night. He could try, but no method was perfect, not even his. But the 'Fun' that Jack was spreading, seemed to fill a part of that gap. Almost as though the Sandman were one half of a puzzle, and Jack was the other. And yet that knowledge, instead of helping Sandy, only made him grow more and more frustrated.

Frustrated by the limitations and flaws of his own powers, frustrated that he knew Jack had abilities that negated all of them. Why if the two of them worked together, there was every chance that Fearlings wouldn't be able to touch any children at all, anywhere in the world. Pitch would lose his greatest source of power, never to regain it. He'd be crippled for eternity, never to trouble anyone ever again.

There came a point when Sandy couldn't bear that frustration anymore, and he began to spend hours every night beseeching the Man in the Moon to make Jack a Guardian. And then came a time when the constant silence and lack of response, sent him back to his Dreamsand Isle and the little 'sandcastle' that was his home there.

Sandy didn't leave his island after that, except for the annual meetings with the other Guardians. He didn't fly around the world, following the edge of night and enjoying the sights. He simply sent his dreamsand out at range and sulked in his home. The sad thing was that his fellow Guardians wouldn't even know he was sulking, so long as dreams were still being distributed. They were all too busy with their own work and priorities to be aware of it.

But another sad thing was that, unknowing of how he'd been dismissed by them, Jack had continued to tell stories about the Guardians to the children of Burgess. Belief in them flourished in that town, creating lights on North's globe so bright that made the town stand out like a beacon amid the other lights around it. But North seemed oblivious to that fact, as did the others, as they took it for granted that those children held such unwavering belief. Not even once did the three of them think to ask why those children had such faith.

Would they have believed it if he'd told them? Probably not.

Years passed, and still Sandy refused to leave his island but for that one day each year. And even then, at the meetings, he 'said' no more than was necessary and barely listened to anything the others discussed. He was fading into the background and they hadn't noticed. He was retreating away from them and they were blinded to it. Just as they took the belief of the Burgess children for granted, so they were taking his presence as a Guardian for granted as well.

And still, every so often, Sandy would sit on the top of his sand-castle and beg the Man in the Moon to listen to him. And still, every time, there would be no answer and he would return inside to sit and frown and do little else.