14OK, I was really surprised how popular this story turned out to be… I hope you guys like the direction that I am taking it in this chapter. This story isn't going to be very long though. Sorry to disappoint any of you. I will probably have this chapter then one or two others possibly. This is just a plot bunny that has not been leaving me alone for the last several months.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians… there would have been a whole lot more drama in it if I had. Lol
The Guardians blinked furiously as they tried to get the stars out of their eyes. The whole room had descended into silence.
"Jez ya Gumby… What you trying to do, blind us?" Bunny said crossly. When North had cleared his eyes, he looked at the older version of their Jack. The man was looking at them as if he had seen a ghost.
"Your… your real?" Jack said quietly, so softly in fact that if the room hadn't been dead silent they wouldn't have been able to hear him. Jack set his staff down, the fairly intimidating weapon standing on its own as he walked closer to them. He reached out and laid a hand on Bunny's shoulder, as if expecting it to go through him.
"Your not astral projections… so…. You have to be real. How are you real?" Jack asked, turning to North. Then as if lightning stuck him, he gave a loud almost scream of delight as he zipped around, not dissimilar to Tooth when she got excited, hugging each of them and crying.
"Oh my moon, your real. The others wont believe this. Whats gonna happen to us? Oh we'll work something out. This means we can defeat Pitchnier for good! You guys have to idea how much you've missed… I'm gonna have to catch you up. Oh wait here!." He said all this in such a rush as he hugged each Guardian then he bolted out of the room, leaving them standing in confusion.
"Do you 'ave any idea what just happened?" North asked, fixing his coat where it had gotten rumpled.
"That would be Mr. Guardian finally finding what he has been waiting fifteen hundred years for." The Guardians looked down to see an Elf. He was about three feet tall, a good two feel taler than the rest of them, wearing usual elf clothing with a combat vest over them.
"My name is Dingle. I'm in second in command here at Santof Clausen. A lot has changed Guardians not much for the better." With that the squeaky voiced elf walked away to converse with another elf at a terminal.
Then they heard the sound of a whirlwind coming through the open doors Jack had left behind. Through them came Jack carrying a feathered woman who looked a lot like Tooth, behind him riding air currents was an old looking yeti and several adults though they were clearly spirits. One girl had bunny ears, another had a unicorn horn, one looked like a young Jack only with his hair in a white pony tail, two had fox ears, and one had giant eyes covered by equally giant glasses.
"Oh Baby, they are alive! We can introduce her to her grandchildren. Oh God… shes gonna kill me…" Jack stopped dead a few feet from the Guardians, giving Tooth a half thrilled, half terrified look. The woman in his arms, smacked him across the head and flew from his arms.
"Jackson Frost, you will shut up this minute and explain, calmly what the hell is going on here! I am pregnant and all this fus is not good for my stress levels. You know what happened the last time, the babes were born two months early… not that was your fault though…" She slowed her triad seeing Jacks pained face.
"I know… I just wish I could have stopped him from attacking Tooth Palace like that." Jack said softly, wrapping his arm around her.
"Your mothers here…" He said softly, turning the woman around. Standing in front of Jack was a very pregnant, human sized Baby Tooth. She had on an Indy style dress and she looked to be about eight months pregnant.
The Guardians and the people behind Jack had been shocked silent through this entire ordeal. Baby Tooth slowly walked over to Tooth, cautiously reaching out to take one of Tooth hands.
"Momma?" she asked in such a small scared voice, Tooth scooped her girl in a tight hug. Baby Tooth and Tooth cried into each others shoulders; one glad to finally haver her mother back, the other shocked and happy her daughter was going to have children.
"Protectors…. I'd like to introduce you to your predecessors, the Guardians of Childhood." Jack said with an air of authority to the gaggle of spirits behind him.
"Guardians…" Jacks voice caught a little saying their title, "I'd like to introduce you to your heirs, the Protectors of Childhood. Though you might recognize their names."
"Jamie," He pointed to the young man with the white hair in a ponytail. "Protector of Fun and Snow."
"Phil, Protector of Wonder." The elderly Yeti garbled a greeting that only Jack and North could understand.
"Cupcake, Protector of Innocence." The horned girl waved shyly at the Guardians.
"Protectors of Mischief and Mayhem! Claude and Caleb at your service!" The two foxes yelled appearing in front of the Guardians in a flash of smoke. Jack glared at the two which caused them to just wink at him before they chased each other into the beams running across the sides of the room.
"Protector of Hope is young Sophie." He nodded to the young girl hiding behind Jamie with the Bunny ears.
"And lastly we have the Protector of Youthful Knowledge, Monty." Jack smiled kindly at the bug eyes youth waving bored at the guardians.
"May I go back to my Library Guardian, you know that I can only leave for an hour each day." Jack nodded and the teen flew off in a hurry.
"I imagine you have questions?" Jack asked as each of the teens he had introduced went off to their preferred areas of Santof Clausen. The group nodded, to shocked to speak as Jack led them through a door and into an room with a large fireplace and an even larger sofa with a now antique replica of Norths red chair from their time.
"This is actually your old chair North, I have had to spell it with repeated enchantments over the years. It's more enchantment than chair now actually, I'd fall to dust if I fell." Jack said fondly, settling into the chair gently.
"Now… Questions?" He raised a single eyebrow.
"What happened?" North said, each member starting at the now old frost spirit.
"Well… a lot has happened. I guess I better start when you got pulled through the portal that Pitch made…" Jack said, sighing sadly.
I am so not sorry for this cliff hanger. This was truly the best place to end this chapter. If I had kept writing, it would have ended up being way too long instead of this nice short and sweet chapter. I don't know when the next chapter will be. I am in my last semester of college and it is hard to keep up a steady writing mojo when I have to write research papers. I will endeavor to get something done over the course of the next week because I am going to be on Spring Break.
Thanks for reading.
Z