The Last Light

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Jack released a hopeful laugh, one that said that we had a chance. He quickly hovered towards me and picked me up again.

Before Jack could go, Baby Tooth began squeaking until we both stopped and looked at her. She pointed at herself and then the floor."You want to stay here?" Jack asked, to which Baby Tooth nodded. Jack gently picked her up and placed her on the ground. She smiled and waved as we left.

"Oh god," I muttered, as he took off again, zooming out of Pitch's lair. My grip around him tightened as we went faster than last time."Lily, I won't let you fall," Jack reassured me. I looked at him, then loosened my grip a bit.

Apparently Jamie is the same kid who woke up and saw all of us a couple of days ago. Now, he's the last kid to believe in all the Guardians. I guess it's a good thing that North woke him up.

Pitch's lair wasn't that far from Jamie's house. Once we got there Jack set me on the ground."Keep watch, okay? There's no doubt that Pitch knows about Jamie," Jack told me; I nodded in reply, pulling my knife from my holster. Jack hovered up and landed on Jamie's small windowsill.

Having my knife again made me feel a lot better. I actually felt like I could protect myself now, but having my eyesight and hearing go back to a humans kind, makes me feel weak, and strange in a way.

I didn't look away from the darkness, waiting for a Nightmare or even Pitch to show themselves. The grip I had on my knife tightened. Just thinking about Pitch right now... how dare he? How dare he do any of this?! How dare he do this to the children of the world?! To Sandy, to Bunny, to all of us?!

I understand that he wants to be believed in or feared or whatever it was, but by trying to potentially kill us Guardians is a bit much, isn't it?

The thought of the rest of the Guardians created tension in my shoulders. I looked up at the sky, waiting for a sign of them, but none came. Not yet anyway. They will definitely get here. They would do anything to protect our last believer, our last light.

But what if they are gone already? Or too weak? What if... no. If that's the case then how am I still here? They are on their way, I know they are.

I looked away from the sky and back up at Jamie's window, but Jack was gone. I noticed that the window was open, so I'm guessing that Jack went inside.

Wait... Why wasn't Jack with the Guardians? What happened? Did they get separated? It didn't even cross my mind. Never mind. It doesn't matter now. As long as when we all find each other, we stay together.

A sound soon reached my weakened ears. It was the sound of yelling, but not panicked yelling, it was more like... excited yelling, from both Jamie and Jack. What was happening up there?

A familiar sound soon resonated throughout the town. Like the sound of a certain portal opening and closing. I looked up at the sky eagerly. Were the Guardians here?! Are they okay?!

"Lily?!" A voice called down at me from Jamie's window. I looked around and saw Jack leaning out of the window. "I think it's the others!" I called back up. Soon, another person looked out the window next to Jack and looked down at me."Woah! Tiger Lily!" It was Jamie, his eyes were hopeful and full of wonder and belief. I smiled back up at him.

"Go flag them down, I'm gonna help Jamie sneak out!" Jack called down again. I nodded and ran towards the front of Jamie's house by the road. I could see the sleigh, swerving around in the sky, like it was being driven by a drunk driver.

It soon began to descend at an alarming rate, the reindeer were clueless about what was going on around them. I noticed almost too late that I was about to be hit by the sleigh, so I quickly sidestepped out of the way.

The sleigh just barely missed me as it skidded and scraped along the road. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" North yelled, trying to get his sleigh under control. As the sleigh came to a halt, I ran towards it. "Ah, moi deti! Come back!" North cried after his reindeer after they had escaped from their reins and ran.

"North, are you okay?" Tooth asked him, he looked weaker. A lot weaker. Tooth helped him to stand. When North finally got to his feet, he had to use his sword as a crutch to keep him up.

"Is official," he replied, "My powers are kaput!"

When I finally arrived, I climbed onto the right wing of the strange, wooden vehicle. Tooth was the first to see me, her face changed to one of relief and joy: an odd thing to see in these desperate times for us.

"Lily! You're okay!" Tooth said as she pulled me into a tight hug, like she was scared that if she let go, I could be taken again. My arms wrapped around her just as tightly. I looked down at her wings, and they were crumpled and useless, much like Baby Tooth's and the rest of the Baby Teeth in Pitch's lair.

The sound of North hobbling over to us caught our attention. Tooth and I pulled away from the hug.

"North, I found J-" I started but couldn't finish as North pulled me into his shoulder in a one armed hug; the fur on his coat was tickling my face. I wrapped my arms around him as well. This was the first time that North had hugged me. Actually, that's a lie. This was the first time that North really hugged me.

After a few more seconds, North pulled away from the hug. A small furry face popped up from North's shoulder and I immediately recognised who it was.

"Willow!" I was unable to get the smile off of my face as Willow ran from North's shoulder and jumped into my arms. I buried my face into her fur, relieved that she wasn't left behind at the Warren or taken by Pitch as well.

North was about to say something to me, but the large bruise and small cut on my cheek caught his eyes. He gently took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned my head to the side so that he could get a better look at my injury.

"What did Pitch do to you?" North growled, the anger against Pitch was evident in his voice. "It would be worse if Jack wasn't there," I said, and it was true; Jack gave his staff to Pitch in an attempt to save me and he got the ice to help stop the swelling of the bruise on my face.

North turned my head back so that I was looking at him."Jack?" He asked, I could hear shock in his voice. "Well, yeah," I responded, "Why... what?" Why were they so shocked?"Look!" Tooth gasped, pointing at Jack who was now landing on the ground in front of the sleigh. Tooth jumped off the sleigh, but she couldn't fly. "Jack!" She called out, stumbling to her feet, "Jack!"

"You okay?" Jack asked her, Tooth replied by gingerly brushing her feathers back, slightly embarrassed. After North had gotten out of the sleigh, he hobbled towards Jack, using his sword as a crutch. I placed Willow on my shoulder and followed him.

"What are you doing here?" North asked him, he seemed a bit suspicious of him, I'll have to ask later, after everything is over (for Pitch).

"Same as you," Jack responded. The sound of a door closing caught our attention. Jamie soon ran into our sight and he stopped as soon as we were in his.

"The last light!" North murmured, almost relieved and shocked that he still saw us.

The brunet kid, Jamie, ran up to us laughing in relief."Wow! It is you! I mean, it is you!" Jamie exclaimed excitedly as he placed his hand in North's.

"I knew it wasn't a dream!" Jamie laughed as he turned to Jack who smiled back. Jamie was looking directly at him. Does Jamie see him? Does he believe in him now? Is that what all that shouting was about?

"Jack, he sees you!" North said, sounding proud of Jack. So that's what all that shouting was about.

Jack shoved Jamie on the shoulder in fondness and gave him a smile. That was short lived however when Jack looked back up at us with an expression of confusion.

"Wait- but- where's Bunny?" Jack asked. Oh. I didn't even notice that he wasn't here. I'm a bad friend, I know. Seriously though, where is he?

Oh no. Back at Tooth Palace, Pitch said that if enough kids stop believing we disappear. He hasn't... has he? I looked up at North.

"Losing Easter took its toll on all of us. Bunny most of all," North informed us vaguely as he and Tooth turned to look at the sleigh whose reindeer had gone AWOL.

Probably a second after our attention was drawn to the sleigh did a small grey and white rabbit with jade green eyes jump onto the edge of the sleigh and down onto the wing, an expression of shame spread across it's face.

"Oh, no," Jack murmured. Oh, no. Is that Bunny? I feel like it is. It is. What happened to him? He has got to be the tiniest, fluffiest, most non threatening thing I have ever seen. Let's just hope that he is just as powerful in this form.

"That's the Easter Bunny?" Jamie chuckled as he walked towards the rabbit on the sleigh. Bunny stood up on his haunches.

"Now somebody sees me! Awh- where were you 'bout an hour ago, mate?" Bunny ranted.

Now I know that this is a serious predicament that Bunny is in, and I am not a bad person, but we need to appreciate that Bunny's voice hasn't changed at all! So we are basically looking at a tiny, adorable rabbit that just so happens to have quite a deep voice. You will never understand how both funny and bad that is.

"What happened to him? He used to be huge, and cool, and now he's... cute," Jamie asked us as he rubbed Bunny under the cheek.

"Oh, s' good!" Bunny muttered but soon got a grip and batted Jamie's hand away. He turned to Jack with an irritated look. Willow covered her face with her fluffy paws in preparation for the incoming argument. I don't think there will be one though.

"Did you tell him to say that?" Bunny asked angrily, jumping off of the wing of the sleigh and bounding towards Jack. "That's it, let's go, me n' you! Come on!" Bunny growled as he jumped up and hit Jack's leg with his rear haunches, then hops on his back legs like a boxer.

"No, actually, he told me you were real!" Jamie informed him as he crouched down to Bunny's level. Jamie continued."Just when I started to think that maybe you weren't."

Bunny calmed and he relaxed onto his rear haunches. He glanced over at Jack almost in disbelief, then turned back to Jamie. "He made you believe? In me?" Bunny asked, thrown by Jamie's words. Jamie responded with a smile and a nod.

Bunny looked up at Jack with an expression of surprise and relief, before giving him a genuinely grateful smile. Jack returned with a smile of his own. At least they have a reason to get along now.

Willow rubbed her cheek against mine. It was clear that she missed me. I missed her too. I thought she was lost in the Warren or that she was taken by Pitch as well.

Thunder and lightning crackled and roared through the sky, startling each and every one of us here. Bunny and Willow visibly jumped. Looking up at the clouds, we saw one cloud that was notably different from the others. It was bigger, darker, denser. It was Nightmare Sand. And who was standing on it, sneering down at us but Pitch.

"Get Jamie out of here!" Jack told us before flying up to the Nightmare Cloud and it's leader.

"Be careful, Jack!" North called after him as he ushered us in the opposite direction to hide the last light.

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