Secret of Frost and Moon

New First Impressions

Alaia Skyhawk: Sooo many giggles to come. Enjoy :)

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.

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Chapter 84: New First Impressions

There was an awkward silence immediately after he said it, one that dragged out in such a way as to make him just a little bit nervous. He'd heard pauses like this before, from North and Bunny in particular, and they usually led to one thing.

The explosion of voices that inevitably followed, as North jumped to conclusions, and Bunny immediately made things worse by loudly either agreeing or disagreeing.

"The Spirit of Winter?! He works for Mother Nature!"

"But he is also a Guardian, he works for the Man in the Moon!"

"She stole Katherine from us!"

"But she also chased away those Fearlings!"

"But Pitch was in that rock! She could have chased them away to trick us!"

"Please, the two of you. Calm down!"

North had his swords drawn, Bunny was using his staff to prevent the Russian from charging around and doing anything he might regret. Tooth, although far less hyper than she was in Jack's time, was fluttering around them trying to get them to see reason. Katherine, Nightlight, and Ombric were watching the scene as though entranced... And off to the side, very close to Jack, Sandy shook his head and let out a silent sigh.

Jack casually strolled over to him, and gave him a nudge before speaking in sandscript.

'This is familiar.'

Sandy blinked, staring at him in surprise, before hesitantly drawing a sequence of symbols.

'You understand this?'

Jack nodded. It was the old type of sandscipt, obviously, but he knew that version as well as he knew the new one.

'Yep. Me and you are good friends in the future. I learnt to talk the way you do, so we could chat and I could translate for you.'

Sandy's expression broke out into a big smile, and he excitedly tugged Jack towards a couple of chairs well away from the smouldering charcoal in the hearth. From his perspective, this was the first time he'd been able to talk to someone properly, and be understood, for a very long time.

He clapped his hands happily once they were sat, then chuckled silently as he pointed to himself and the others.

'Are we very different in your time?'

Jack returned the little man's smile, laughing silently as well.

'You're exactly the same. Standing off to the side, barely noticed most of the time. Looking on while those two make idiots of themselves, and Tooth tries and fails to stop them from bickering. North, with that dark hair, looks a lot younger than the one I know, and your Bunny is a bit... strange.' Jack glanced at the remaining three. 'Katherine is younger than the one I know, and Nightlight's manner seems slightly younger too. Ombric is about the same, an eccentric. '

Sandy silently laughed again, although he now looked a bit more serious.

'To preserve time's integrity, I know you will not be able to tell us much of the future. But may I ask, do we succeed in defeating Pitch in this coming battle? Do we defeat him for good?'

Jack frowned, glancing at the rest of the still oblivious Guardians, before he answered.

'You defeat him, but it's not forever. I've fought him in my time, though that is the final battle. In my time, Pitch stopped existing seven years ago, and the Golden Age is on the verge of being reborn. Mother Nature... She gets her father back.'