Chapter Text
They pile into the not–at–all–rickety sleigh and take off, an adventure in itself, and then Jason pulls a multicoloured globe out of his jacket, holding it up and giving them an eager look over his shoulder. Trini raises an eyebrow, trying to hide her confusion, and a quick glance around to see the reactions of the others doesn’t help.
“Tooth Palace,” Jason tells the globe, holding it up to his face and swirling it a couple times, and the magic inside forms a miniature version of the mountain Trini knows the palace is hidden inside. As soon as the image solidifies, he throws it ahead of them with a confident motion, and it bursts open into a massive portal. Trini instinctively closes her eyes as they fly through the barrier of magic, and when she opens them again they’re in a different sky, now flying above a rocky mountain range instead of a snowy landscape.
It’s just as impressive, but she doesn’t have any time to take it in because they’re immediately besieged by a wave of something wispy and wrong, and Trini recoils in face of the nightmares.
“Rita,” Jason states darkly, pulling back on the reigns to bring the sleigh up to level. The scene in front of them is a mess, all smoke and dust and destruction, and Trini surveys it with a grim expression.
“Trini, take the reins for a second,” Jason passes them to her without waiting for an answer, and then he draws his sword and leaps straight up into the air, slashing through two of the nightmare putties. A handful of gleaming cylinders fall out of the rocky masses of smoke, clattering to the floor of the sleigh, and Trini ducks.
“They’re stealing the teeth!” Zack exclaims, and Trini chances a glance back to see him picking up one of the gold cylindrical objects. She gets distracted by the intense look of confusion on Kimberly’s face sitting next to him, and she momentarily forgets that she’s the one driving this sleigh as Kimberly hesitantly brushes some of the black sand off of her arm, rubbing it between her fingers and examining it closely.
“Watch out!”
A jolt shocks Trini back into the present, and she turns to the front and yanks at the reins to avoid steering them right into a tower. It sends the sleigh careening wildly through all the other floating structures, and she frantically aims for the widest open space she can see.
The landing is shaky at best, but eventually the sleigh settles on the solid platform and shudders to a halt. Kimberly doesn’t wait for it to stop moving before surging upwards with a swirl of dreamsand, already loading up an arrow as she flies, and Zack follows suit. He aims at the closest nightmare putty and throws two eggs that explode into colored smoke before leaping off the sleigh, and Trini’s eyes widen when he pulls the weapon off his back and it turns out to be a battle–axe. Jason is fighting on a platform above them, and Trini pulls her daggers, summoning the blades as she lifts off into the air to join the fight.
It’s chaos, and she tries to keep watching for the others out of the corner of her eyes, Jason with his sword and Billy with a lance while Zack swings his battle–axe. Kimberly is hovering in midair amidst the largest mass of dreamsand Trini has ever seen, launching dreamsand arrows at the nightmare putties that explode on contact and turn the black back to a more recognizable gold, and Trini reminds herself to pay attention to her own fight.
Kimberly’s way seems to be the most effective method of disabling them, but all Trini can keep doing is slashing them apart with her daggers, dispersing them into dust. When they get too close she punches at them to freeze them over and then flips over the now immobile creatures to shatter them.
She’s finding a rhythm, getting better at taking them out, but then she gasps when she sees a flash of blue and green, a desperate fairy weaving in and out of smoke. Not stopping to think, Trini leaps and snatches the tiny fairy out of the air, curving her body around it just seconds before a nightmare putty snaps at the space where it had been.
They’re only slowly gaining any ground against them, but then the putties abruptly pull a retreat, all turning back and vanishing into the sky and leaving the Guardians scattered around on various hanging platforms.
“They took the teeth! The fairies!” Billy cries out, darting around agitatedly through the tall structures and spires spread around the massive cavern, and Trini looks around. Other than a stray canister lying here and there, all the teeth seem to have been stolen, and the little fairy Trini had rescued appears to be the last one left. She lifts her hand up and carefully opens her fingers, looking over the fairy for any injuries, and the feeling of a little hand patting at her palm reassures her.
A shadow is suddenly cast over them as they group together, massive and menacing, and the little fairy squeaks and shoots towards Trini again, landing on her shoulder and then hiding away under her hair in her jacket collar. As they watch, the shadow slowly collects more of itself, all bits of darkness getting drawn into it, and then they’re faced with Rita Repulsa.
“Well, well, well,” Rita simpers, voice grating and harsh as she looks down at them. She’s just as imposing as the stories say and even more unsettling, and the air around them is suddenly heavy with something thick and cloying. It takes Trini a second to place it, and when she does it’s like her blood freezes in her veins.
It’s fear.
“You’re Zordon’s new team then,” Rita muses, strolling around at a lazy pace, but she rounds the corner and then suddenly reappears on another platform, opposite where she had been standing before. “Hmm.”
“Why are you doing this, Rita?” Jason demands, spinning to face her and tightening the grip on his sword. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” Rita’s eyes widen and then she laughs, a sound completely devoid of happiness. “Maybe, I want what you have,” she hisses, jabbing a finger at them, “To be believed in!”
A sick feeling starts to rise in Trini’s chest when she realizes she knows exactly what Rita is talking about.
“Maybe I’m tired of hiding under beds,” Rita growls, “Tired of being stuck in the shadows, tired of being trapped thanks to the actions of a self-righteous Guardian.”
“Well maybe that’s where you belong!” Zack yells angrily. “We beat you once, and we can do it again!” His fists are clenched and his face twisted into a snarl, but when he speeds up and grabs for her again, the same thing happens – she seems to melt away, disappearing from existence just to pop back up on another platform, smirking and waving her fingers at him.
Now that she’s gotten a better view, Trini realizes that she’s using the shadows. Rita must be able to move within the darkness of them, transport herself around with them. She feels the slight flutter of wings against her neck and automatically raises a hand to support the little fairy hiding there, trying to soothe it as best as she can.
Zack drops back down to their platform, glaring upwards, and Kimberly steps forward with her jaw clenched angrily, laying a supportive hand on Trini’s arm as she passes and glowing in a way that seems much more intimidating than before.
“Hang on,” Rita says, holding up a hand and sauntering forward to peer down at them, “Well, this is different.” She chuckles, the sound grating, but all her attention is now on Trini. It’s a development Trini is absolutely not a fan of, and she stiffens as Rita continues to speak. “I mean, I knew he’d chosen these fools years ago, but you’re a new one, Jack Frost.”
An unpleasant shiver runs over her at the way Rita says her name, and Trini’s grip tightens on her daggers.
“Look at you, all together and yet still so powerless against me!”
Kimberly tenses again and then snarls, charging at her with a yell with Zack and Jason quickly flanking her, but Rita only smirks. Before Kimberly can get close, a nightmare putty materializes directly in her path, smashing its fists together with a wordless roar and causing her to pull up short. They all gasp, flinching backwards, and Trini staggers away from where she was standing near the edge of the platform.
It’s the best look she’s gotten at one, and now she really wishes she hadn’t. The nightmare putty is big, angry and dangerously strong, and the feeling it brings with it is different from Rita’s, but awful just the same.
Rita only stands there and laughs, watching as a handful of nightmare putties swarm around while the first one lumbers up to her. “Easy there,” she snickers, holding out her hands in a mocking pretense of calming it down and patting it a couple times, “Easy.”
They’re all waiting for her to make the next move, and Trini can see the glow of Kimberly’s light out of the corner of her eye, comforting in its presence.
“Look familiar, Sandman? Took me a while to perfect this little trick,” Rita taunts, turning back to them and holding out one of her hands, “Turning dreams into nightmares.”
A dusting of black sand drifts out of her palm, obviously having come from the nightmare putty, but it’s only when Rita says the words that Trini finally makes the connection. The smoky sand that the putties are made of is almost the same as Kimberly’s dreamsand, muted black instead of gold and much less vibrant, and Trini’s eyes widen as she automatically turns to Kimberly.
Her eyes are narrowed and her jaw is clenched, and if Trini hadn’t been looking for it, she never would have seen the small spark of fear reveal itself. Trini is already moving towards her as her lips part in a soundless gasp, and Kimberly lets go of her bow and unclenches one of her fists just long enough to create a swirl of golden dreamsand and let it fall again.
“Oh, don’t be nervous,” Rita calls down to them, her voice causing Trini to stop in her tracks and whirl around to face her again, holding her daggers up. “It only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know,” Rita says, sounding exceptionally pleased with herself.
“Fear? What fear?” Zack yells up defiantly, putting himself in front of Billy who’s shooting backwards and forwards, flight unsure but glare strong, “Of you? No one’s been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!”
Rita sighs wistfully, choosing not to engage him. “Oh, the Dark Ages! How I miss them.” Her lips curl into a sinister grin. “Everyone so frightened and miserable, such happy times for me! Ah, the power I wielded.”
Kimberly steps up to Trini’s side, their shoulders bumping into each other, and Trini feels some of her comfort cut through the uneasy atmosphere. Kimberly’s glow spreads and curls around her, reflecting off the ice of her daggers, and Trini takes a deep breath.
“But then the Man in the Moon had to interfere.” Rita sneers derisively at them before continuing to saunter around. “Zordon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light, lifting their hearts and giving them hope,” she practically spits out the words.
“Meanwhile everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream. Oh, there’s nothing to be afraid of, there’s no such thing as the Bogeyman!” she waves her hands around in an aggressive motion and narrows her eyes, promising, “Well… That’s all about to change.”
As if on cue, there’s a sudden tremor, causing the many structures to rumble and shake, and Trini looks around in alarm.
“Oh!” Rita sounds delighted as she spins and spreads her arms to encompass the space around them, “It’s happening already.”
“What is?” Trini gasps, feeling the floor tilt alarmingly under her feet. Kimberly grabs her arm, though Trini doesn’t know if it’s to help her catch her balance or her own.
“Children are waking up and realizing that the Tooth Fairy never came. I mean, such a little thing, but to a child?” Rita tuts and shakes her head. “Such a shame.”
“What is it, what’s going on?” Trini asks again, whipping her head back and forth as the palace around them continues to shake, bits flaking off the walls and falling to the ground.
Billy makes a pained noise and falters in his constant flight, wrapping his arms around himself as he dips, and Trini feels them all jerk forward.
“They – they don’t believe in me anymore,” Billy says in horror, several feathers falling off as he curls into himself, and Jason is quick to get in front of him, murmuring something low and quiet.
“Didn’t they tell you, Jack?” Rita turns her attention to Trini, and Trini grits her teeth and tilts her chin up, squaring her shoulders and returning Rita’s stare. Kimberly is defiant at her side, silently glaring so hard that Trini can practically feel the heat of it, but in that moment Rita ignores her to look Trini over with interest before continuing. “It’s great being a Guardian! But… there’s a catch.”
Her lips turn up in a wicked grin, and the nightmare putties start to coil behind her, growing larger. “If enough kids stop believing, everything they protect – wonder, hopes, dreams…” her voice is snide as she continues to stroll around, “It all goes away.” She mimes a puff of smoke and gives them a smile that’s all bared teeth. “And then, little by little… so do they.”
Trini falters, surprise at the words breaking through.
“No Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. Ah, can you imagine? No more dreams, nothing except me.” Rita spreads her arms, and Kimberly is practically vibrating with rage at Trini’s side. “Darkness, and fear,” Rita hisses, “That will be all the children of this world will know, once I destroy you.”
She finally stops moving, drawing herself up and looking down on them with shadows spreading around the cavern. “It’s your turn not to be believed in.”
At that Kimberly summons up her bow again and draws back an arrow without a word, sending Rita stumbling backwards to avoid it when she shoots it with unerring aim. Having had enough, Trini leaps into the updraft of a cold wind and charges at Rita. The others all follow suit, but Rita dodges between their attacks with only the slightest bit of effort.
They manage to force her back to the edge of the platform, but then she cackles and dives right off, free falling through the cavern towards the peaceful wooded glen at the bottom.
Going after her, they all land in the clearing armed and ready to fight, but the area around them is light and deserted, no sign of Rita anywhere even though she had only struck the ground moments before them.
“She’s gone,” Jason says angrily, throwing his sword down so it gets stuck in the dirt. He and Zack start ranting at each other while Kimberly stares down at her hands with a furrowed brow, obviously trying to work something out, and Trini gives up on scanning the open area around them, finding no sign of Rita.
Trying to control herself, Trini blows out a frosty breath and then turns towards the one spot of quiet in this group of people, instinct drawing her towards it after all the action.
“I’m sorry about the fairies,” Trini says quietly, coming over to crouch down next to Billy where he’s sitting next to a calm pool of water that takes up part of the clearing. She lets her blades dissolve and holsters her dagger handles, leaning her elbows on her knees.
“You should’ve seen them,” Billy murmurs, “They put up such a fight…”
There comes a small squeaking sound right by Trini’s ear, and then the little fairy who had taken cover on her darts out, shooting right for Billy.
“Oh, one of you got away!” he gasps, holding his hands out and gently cupping the fairy to whisper something before holding his hands up so the fairy can fly. It doesn’t go far, zipping around somewhere above Trini’s head, and Trini watches with a small smile before turning back to Billy.
“Why did Rita take the teeth?” Trini questions, wanting to understand what use they could possibly have.
Billy shakes his head. “It’s not the teeth she wanted,” he sighs, shutting his eyes for a moment, “It’s the memories inside of them.”
“What do you mean?” Trini asks, furrowing her brow, “Memories?”
“That’s why we collect the teeth,” Billy starts to explain. Behind her, Trini can feel the other three gathering around them, and Billy continues, “They hold the most important memories of childhood.”
He rises into the air and gestures for Trini to follow him, floating over the surface of the water, and Trini only hesitates for a moment before taking a step forward, letting the water freeze under her feet and create a path. “My fairies and I watch over them, and when someone needs to remember what’s important… We help them.”
There’s a beautiful mural on the wall in front of them, depicting a Tooth Fairy holding out their hands to pass glowing teeth back to a grouping of humans, and Trini looks over the intricate colours and patterns with awe.
“We had everyone’s here. Yours too,” Billy adds offhandedly as he stares up at it, and Trini jerks her head, tearing her eyes away from the mural.
“You… you had my teeth here?” Trini says in shock, eyes widening. “My… memories?”
“From when you were young,” Billy nods, eyes wide and expression earnest as he turns to her, “Before you became Jack Frost.”
“But – I wasn’t anyone before I was Jack Frost,” Trini stutters, taking a reflexive step back. “I – I wasn’t…”
“Well of course you were,” Billy says when she doesn’t continue, furrowing his brow and tilting his head, “We were all someone before we were chosen.”
“What?” Trini stares at him, then shifts her gaze to the others to see them all watching her with confusion. “The night at the pond, I just – I assumed… I…” Trini gasps, whipping her head back and forth, “Are you saying that I had a life before that?” Her heart is beating wildly in her ears, and she feels like her world might be shifting on its axis. “With – with a home… and a family?”
Hope is clear in her voice, and it’s painful the way it’s taking over her entire being right now.
“You really don’t remember?” Billy ventures, and she shakes her head, raising a hand to push her hair out of her face.
“All these years, the answers were right here,” she whispers in disbelief, instinctively finding Kimberly’s eyes before looking away. “If I find my memories then I’ll know why I’m here! You have to show me!”
The ice under her feet is spreading, her power leaking out of her as she gets more worked up, but Trini can’t bring herself to try reigning it in.
“I can’t, Trini. Rita has them,” Billy reminds her regretfully, twisting his hands together, and Trini exhales and falters in her pacing.
“Then we have to get them back!”
Billy winces and the ground shakes again, another tremor running all through the walls reminding Trini of the things at stake, much greater than just her memories. Kimberly, still floating above the ground, steadies Zack with a hand on his shoulder.
“The children,” Billy breathes, face crumpling as more of his feathers float to the ground. The mural behind him starts to fade, bits of colour flaking off and cracks crawling through it, and Trini stills.
“We’re too late,” he says in dismay, “Too late…”
“No,” Jason says determinedly, balling his hands into fists, “No, there has to be a way, there has to be something we can do!” Zack is nodding as well, a fierce look on his face, and Kimberly bites her lip as she twists her hands together. “We can’t be too late, we can make them believe again!”
“Well, why don’t… we collect the teeth?” Trini says hesitantly, shrugging when they all turn to her. “Kids wake up to see their teeth gone, they assume it was the Tooth Fairy, belief restored,” Trini says, tipping her head back and forth as she speaks.
Everyone seems to mull her words over, and one by one they brighten at the idea.
“Bet I can collect more teeth than you can,” Zack teases, elbowing Jason in the side, and Kimberly scoffs.
“Please, like either of you are going to beat me?” She flips her hair dramatically and ramps up her glow, sending golden light across the clearing. Trini is transfixed by the way it reflects off the frozen water, and she almost misses Billy’s hesitation.
“That’s – there’s seven continents, millions of kids, I don’t have my fairies to help us – ”
Jason smiles at him. “Do you know how many toys I deliver in one night?”
“How many dreams I spread?” Kimberly spreads her arms, letting off a dusting of dreamsand.
“And how many eggs I hide in one day?” Zack adds, grinning at him and then turning to Trini. “We’re all in, what about you, Frosty?”
“Oh, it is on,” she laughs, and her breath catches when Kimberly tackles her in an excited hug and then urges them all back up to the sleigh, pulling her by the hand.
“Come on then,” she gestures for the boys to follow, “Time for us to get to work!”
They go on a race across the world, each gathering teeth in an attempt to outdo the others, and Trini lets herself get swept up in the elation of it all, playing just as much of a part in it as the others. Going city by city, town by town, they’re covering ground fast, and she can’t remember the last time she’d had this much fun.
“So how’re you liking your first day as a Guardian?” Kimberly yells as she flies alongside behind her, trailing golden sand with a wide smile on her face. They’re ahead of the boys, but Trini isn’t going to let Kimberly win without a fight.
“I’m not a Guardian!” Trini yells back, dodging around a clock tower and aiming for the next populated area.
“Oh no?” Kimberly spreads her arms out and does a quick twirl, brighter than everything Trini knows and twice as lovely. “You’re protecting the children, aren’t you? That’s what a Guardian does.”
That stumps Trini, leaving her mulling it over, and she pouts when she realizes it’s true. “I’m – I mean – ”
The coin in her jacket pocket warms and suddenly starts vibrating, as if reminding her that it’s still there, and Trini has no response.
“Anyways,” Kimberly continues, “You’re one of the team now, and as your first team building exercise slash competition, it’s inevitable that you’re going to lose.”
Trini laughs. “You’d have to put me to sleep to beat me at this rate, princess.”
“Hm,” Kimberly eyes sparkle in the moonlight, reflecting silver and gold, and when Trini looks at her in suspicion, she raises an eyebrow and waves a hand to form a ball of dreamsand, no bigger than a baseball. She’s flying sideways now, effortlessly keeping pace with Trini, and when she starts tossing the ball up and down casually with a raised eyebrow in her direction, Trini glares, pointing a finger and giving her a warning look.
“Kim, no. No, don’t you dare, I swear to god if you knock me out – ”
Kimberly only smirks in response, and the last thing Trini sees is a golden blur as the ball of dreamsand bursts in her face, soundly putting her to sleep.
She doesn’t know that Kimberly is the one to catch her, nor does she see the fond look on her face as she lowers them both to the top of a nearby skyscraper. She doesn’t feel the gentle hand that brushes her hair back before settling her securely against a wall, and she doesn’t hear the soft words the Kimberly whispers to her before letting go and standing without her.
She doesn’t see the way Kimberly waves her hand to summon a gleaming dreamsand pterodactyl with a sort of hammock hanging around its neck, twisting her fingers to scoop it around her body and lift her into the air, nor does she see the way Kimberly promptly steals the bag with all the teeth she’s collected before taking off into the sky.
All she does is sleep.