~Little Tooth~

Chapter 24:

Savannah

-....-

The Man on the Moon sat silently in his seat. He leaned back, tired from looking into the big, magic telescope. He was watching Baby Tooth. He was watching her and holding back his want to guide the guardians to her. He's watch the guardians visit Savannah whenever they could, but remembered, they were VERY busy people. They had other children to protect, as well as deal with their holidays and what not. Manny knew this all too well.

The Guardians wanted to spend all their time looking for Baby Tooth, a girl that they have no idea what she looks like. They didn't know what her human skin looked like or what her hair color was. People change the older they get, so if they saw her before without realizing it, they'd never be able to pin-point her again.

Tooth and Sandy had to work 24-7 in giving dreams and getting teeth, so whatever time they spent away was not profiting. During the Pitch invasion, they took a HUGE risk. Bunny and North have a bit more freedom, but North almost always had problems with the elves and yetis, as well as designing new toys – his own side job. Bunny didn't need help the eggs so much, however it was winter in Savannah and even if it wasn't snowing cold, this year was colder then normal. He went out a few times, but didn't stay long.

Now Jack. Jack had visited many, many times. Only two of those times has he actually seen Baby Tooth, however didn't know it was her. Again, he didn't know what she looked like. He just hoped something BIG would stand out. The more human she got, the less that was a possibility. He had seen Jackson a few times, but only knew him as the man who cried, calling out "Alyss!".

"I can't let them find her...no matter how hard it is for them..." Manny sighed.

What he had told Baby Tooth was true. She was there for a reason, and it was not her time to decide to go home or not.

"I'm so sorry, my dear guardians."

-....-

-.

It was printed in the Newspapers all across Savannah the following day. In one week, it would start. The event they were all waiting for! Time for the truth to spill out and for judgment to take place. It was time for the lost to be found. It was time. Time for what the orphans of Little Apple Orphanage had been waiting for, more importantly Jackson. Time for Baby Tooth to tell her story in detail, time for Felix to speak with and for his friends, time for Cry to show off his found evidence, time for Jackson to tell the world what happened to him that very night...and time for Mrs. Overland to tell why this all happened. Time for her to tell all her little secrets.

On the front page of the Newspapers, it announced the trail of LAO would begin in one week.

One. Week.

-....-

"I wanna get a PS3!" One kid shouted.

"Those are dumb! I wished for a PS4!" Another shouted back.

"They are not!"

"I asked for make-up because it makes you prettier!" One girl smirked.

"I asked for a phone! And Iphone!" Her friend next to her laughed.

Baby Tooth had asked the class she was subbing a very, VERY simple question. What did you ask Santa for Christmas? Christmas was not far away. A week or so. Baby Tooth was confused by their answers. Being human, she knew that humans wanted things. She knew that some humans thought differently. What I'm saying is that she knew that a lot of people would believe that children shouldn't ask for things that cost so much, and that "kids back then were okay with a yoyo on a string for Christmas!". She didn't really like Human history that much.

"I asked for color pencils. My older broke mine. He was mad at me."

These answers made her feel bad.

"Misses Time?"

Baby Tooth turned to the youngest girl in the class, one who had a teddy bear in her arms. She would get upset if it was taken from her, so was aloud to bring it to school. The teddy bear reminded Baby Tooth of Nightlight.

"Yes, dear?" Baby Tooth asked.

"I asked Santa for my dad."

baby Tooth paused. The girl said it so calmly. She tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"He went out to fight the bad guys, mamma told me. Be he wasn't here last Christmas so I asked for him to visit me this Christmas!" She said with a smile on her face.

"..." Baby Tooth knelt down. " What's your name?"

"I'm Sissi. Sissi Hoover." The girl replied, the bear in her arms being hugged against her chest.

"Well I hope you get what you wished for."

Baby Tooth heard the talking in the class get louder, so she stood up and walked to the front of the room.

"OKAY! EVERYONE!" She said aloud, getting their attention. "I was left a few worksheets from your teacher."

There was a lot of aws.

"But she said it was group work! I will hand these out and go over them." Baby Tooth said and the class seemed to feel better.

It was half an hour later when the class was working hard on their worksheets. Baby Tooth sat behind the teacher's desk, working on a few things for her. She would look at the time every few minutes and look at the class as well. It wasn't until the noise of the clock ticking was drowned out by the growing sound of the kids talking did she realize something.

Sissi Hoover was sitting alone.

-...-

"I sent them out and they should be with you in a week!" Jamie listened to his mother on the other side of the phone.

"Thank you so much! We can't wait to see what's in them!" Jamie replied.

"Tell me all the memories you get from them!" His mother paused. "Oh, it looks like there is someone at the door! I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay! Love you, mom!" Jamie smiled.

"Love you too! Bye!"

Jamie paused before closing the call. He walked into the living room of Mr. Time's house to see Sophie sitting on the couch watching Investigation Discovery.

"What did Mom want?" Sophie asked.

"She sent us some boxes she found in the attic that have some of our old things in it." Jamie sat down next to her.

"I wonder what's inside." Sophie said.

"Probably just drawings from school and random things from when I was 10 and you were 4...5?"

"And they get here in a week?"

"That's what she said."

"Geez." Sophie leaned back. "So many things happen in just one week."

"Hm?" Jamie looked at her, confused.

"The trial, what mom sent us, and Christmas. North flies around the world in one night."

Jamie smiled. There was silence until Jamie's smile went away.

"Sophie. You think we could do something to get North's attention?" he asked.

"What? If there was anything i'm sure Baby Tooth has already tried it." Sophie sighed.

"Not even leaving a note with some cookies?" Jamie asked.

"...Well, i'm sure North cares enough to read those things. Most of them are sent to fake places before the holidays. Places made by adults that believe Santa is not real." Sophie said.

"Must be hard for him...the only letters he actually gets are the ones left by the tree on Christmas..." Jamie sighed.

"Hey, Jamie?" Sophie asked.

"Yes?" Jamie asked.

"Did we ever leave letters for Santa?" Sophie asked.

"hmm..." Jamie thought. "No...We left cookies though."

"Were they good cookies?"

Jamie chuckled. "Home made.

-....-

"One week, huh?" Penny asked, sighing as her jet black hair covered half her face. She set down her now empty shot glass. Cry stood at the other side of the bar, cleaning a glass. It was his side job – Youtube didn't pay him all that he wanted.

"It's sad. I loved being in Little Apple with everyone. I didn't see anything wrong with it. And now look at our childhoods. Ruined." Sofia sighed. She had water, for she was under the age limit.

"I wonder how this trial will go." Romana sighed, resting her head on the wooden bar.

It was late at night, maybe 11 PM, and some of the Little Apple kids, or really young adults, were gathered at the Late Night Bar. It was owned by some of Cry's close friends. There was Penny, tall, skinny, and the girl with the long, straight, jet black hair. Sofia, a girl with now dark blonde hair, combed back to show her bright green eyes. Romana seemed overworked and sleepy, her dark brown hair and that odd curl laying against the bar. Her sister, Felicia, was playing over at the small arcade in the corner of Late Night.

Along with them was Stephano and Steven, two best friends that were also at Little Apple. They were the ones hiding under one of the beds with Elden and Alex when Baby Tooth was shown around by Jackson so long ago. Both were goofing off and having light drinks. Stephano was skinnier and shorter then Steven, and his hair was short and spiky, colored lightly with red dye. Steven had brown hair that almost went over the both of his green eyes.

Last at the bar was Felix, Marzia, Cry, and their friends Ken and Minx. Ken had dark brown, messy hair, and a rather happy expression. He was a kind, caring person. Minx, who's voice made her seem older then she really was, had the front part of her hair dyed purple. Her laugh was almost like an evil villan's. She had the best since of humor.

"I'm just ready to get it over with. I've got what I need to say prepared and memorized." Cry sighed, setting down the now clean cup next to about 40 others.

"I have a feeling that they'll want to call for me as a witness." Felix sighed. "I've been told that, but do I really look that important to the case?"

"I feel that you'll be someone the Others would want to be called up." Cry said in disgust. "The Others" was the term they used to talk about the people defending Mrs. Overland.

"Why are people even defending Mrs. Overland? I thought we'd have all the evidence we'd need." Felicia ran over, leaning off the edge of the bar. Cry shot her a glance.

"Because they claim to have enough evidence to prove she's innocent. It must be legit because that so called evidence needs to at least claim something important about this case." Penny said in a dark tone.

"The Others will want to call as many of us up to the stand as possible." Romana moaned.

"We can't lie, guys." Marzia sighed. "They want us to say aloud, in front of everyone, that we never saw anything wrong. If they get as many of us as possible to say that, they could use it against us."

"They also want us to talk about we only know about all this from Jackson. Other then that one night, Baby Tooth didn't even suspect anything. For all they know, Jackson was really beaten up by two jackasses and put into a coma because of them. His memory could have just been messed up so when he awoke, he remembered all these crazy things that never happened." Cry added.

"So then what would they say about Jackson running away?" Ken asked. He and Minx knew all that Cry, Felix, and Marzia knew about the case.

"Who knows?" Felix shook his head.

"At first I was sure we'd win, but now I'm having second thoughts." Sofia said.

"Same here."

The bell on the front door rung, the door opening and closing. Cry looked passed the few at the bar and saw Baby Tooth walking in, looking a bit down.

"Hey there! What's wrong?" Cry asked as Baby Tooth took a seat between Felix and Romana.

"How was your day with elementary schoolers?" Felix asked.

"Well..." Baby Tooth set her bag against the bottom of the bar stool. "It was okay, I guess."

"What happened?" Marzia asked.

"I met this little girl...she...she seems so lonely. I've felt bad, even though she seems happy the way she is." Baby Tooth explained.

"You wanna drink?" Cry asked. It was his job, you know.

"Nah." Baby Tooth shook her head.

"A little girl?" Sofia asked.

"Her name is Sissi Hoover. Her hair is tinted red, and she carries around this teddy bear becouse she gets upset when it's not with her. She doesn't seem to have any friends, but is overall okay with it. I learned she's the only girl in her class who wears dresses." Baby Tooth went on. "When I asked the kids what they wanted from santa, she asked for her father to come back from the army. Or Navy. I never did figure out which one."

"Don't let that make you feel bad. If she's happy with her life then it's all okay." Ken replied.

"She sounds like an interesting child." Penny added.

"But I was thinking..."

They continued to watch the young woman.

"I was thinking about how we all seemed happy in Little Apple. How even if we were orphans, and got less attention then other children, that we were always happy. People would normally believe that everything is okay with us and our lives, right?" Baby Tooth asked.

"Don't over think this, okay? It'll end badly for you." Felix sighed.

"Besides, you have other things to think about. We were talking about the trail a few moments ago." Romana added.

"The trail, huh?" Baby Tooth shook her head a bit.

"Maybe you should go home. You look sleepy." Felix said.

"Don't you have to sub for them again tomorrow?" Cry asked.

"Tomorrow is Tuesday, right?" Baby Tooth asked.

"Yep."

"I'll be subbing for the rest of the week."

-...-

Jack Frost laughed as he played with some of the children in the park in the middle of Burgess. They could see him and they tossed snowballs at him as well. They spent the day playing and riding sleds and even ice-skating. By the afternoon, they all went home, one by one, leaving Jack to rome around the neighborhood.

With his hands in his pockets, he looked up at the setting sun. The sky was orange and beautiful. The wind was light. It was quiet. Walking down the side of the street, he had unknowingly walked passed Jamie's house. He stopped when he realized it.

"We meet again." He let out a captured breath. His eyes ran against Jamie's bedroom window. He looked down at the porch and then at the driveway. His heart nearly stopped when he saw a car there. He then slowly began to make his way to the windows of the house. Looking inside, he saw lights on. He could hear a TV on inside. However, the windows all had curtains over them.

Jack moved on to find a kitchen window that he could see through. He gazed in, seeing a woman making something to eat. He knew her as Jamie and Sophie's mother. He smiled. They had to be home! Jack raced to Jamie's bedroom window and knocked on it. He waited.

"Hmm..."

Jack knocked again, letting the wind push on as his hand touched the glass and frost spread over it. Nothing. He then pushed on it to find it was locked. The wind reassured him, slipping into the cracks and, entering the room, blew the curtains aside for a few seconds. Jack saw nothing at all. Jamie's room had nothing but an old bed and dresser. No pictures on the wall, no gadgets on the dresser. No sign of young boy life.

"Did he come back?" Jack looked harder. "What about Sophie?"

The wind blew past him, and within a few seconds, came back. Sophie's room was empty as well.

"So they arn't here?" Jack asked. "Where are they?"

The wind got stronger and then cooled down.

"You think they might still be in Savannah? With Baby Tooth?" Jack asked.

A short silence.

Jack sighed. "It wouldn't hurt to look again. But it also wouldn't hurt to find them. Just once, I ask. I've looked so many times within that place that i'm not sure which town I know better by hand : Burgess or Savannah. When will I get lucky and finally find them?!"

The wind whistled.

"No, I'm not giving up. When did I ever give up!?" Jack hissed at the invisible spirit.

The wind continued to blow around the small yard.

"Well...I'm still looking, aren't I!?" Jack barked. "I'm not going to give up belief on the kids that never stopped believing me!"

The wind wooshed at Jack as if it were to ask him, "What if Jamie and Sophie don't believe anymore? What proof do you have that they believe?!"

Jack growled. "Forget you. I've going back to Savannah!"

If wind had a human form, it would be sighing. It would roll it's eyes. Jack needed him to be able to fly, that idiot. Wind knew this, but didn't let Jack fall to the ground. He let Jack fly. He helped the spirit get to Savannah anyway.

-...-