#rotgsecretdanta2022

[sarsfe]

Here is my first submission for the @rotgsecretsanta​ 2022! This is prompt 38 Sandy's Christmas eve rounds! You can either look at it through AO3 or read under the cut!

 I hope everyone enjoys! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Rise of the Guardians (2012) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply Summary:

Sandy gives dreams to all every night. On the nights before the major Holidays though, he has his work cut out for him. Moving ahead of North's gift giving,

Evening was settling onto the vast horizon on the Pacific Ocean. Blues, purples danced around with the reds and oranges of the setting sun while waves crashed in the vast ocean that was churning below only allowing the sound of the waves to break the otherwise silent ocean. As the sun finally slipped below the horizon, a green flash appearing for an instant, golden sea creatures started to reach out and swim across air above the ocean.

           These creatures moved around contently as a small golden ship made of dream sand appeared to gently glide just above the water. A small figure appeared to be sleeping on a bed that was in the middle of the ship as it moved westward. And when the green flash appeared across the horizon, his eyes opened sleepily as he woke up, stretching as a small dolphin swam around him in the air.

           Giving a sleepy greeting, petting the dolphin, Sandy gave a gentle smile as the boat around him started to billow up as it turned into a cloud. The normal glow of the sand reflected on the water below as the form solidified. Though clouds are typically non-descript, Sandy took the time to add a small Christmas tree beside him while adding the outline of lights around the perimeter of the cloud. This was one of his favorite nights of the year, maybe second only to Easter; both nights were great, but his favorite switched every decade or so.

              Sandy knew that North would meet up with him soon. Every year they would meet at the international date line over the pacific close to the coasts of Russia to speak about the logistics of the night. Most of the time, North would have them take the normal route of traveling down the Russian and Chinese coasts to then hit Australia before heading west. There were years where they would try something new, but, most of the time, Sandy didn’t follow North’s intricate explanations of time and efficient routes of traveling. This was mostly since he would still be dozing in and out of sleep as North explained.

              “Sandy!” he heard North call out as the sound of bells distantly filled the air, Sandy finding the sleigh race towards him.

              Smiling brightly, he immediately conjured up more sand to create a runway that North took to land on the dream sand. The jolly old elf didn’t even leave the sleigh as he leaned over to hug Sandy, a bright smile showing pure glee.

              “Sandy, thank you for your help yet again, old friend. Tonight will be the best yet!” he exclaimed. “Only changeling weather is in Canada with a snowstorm, but Jack will help make our path easier.

              Nodding happily, Sandy conjured up a Santa hand to sit on his head as some appeared on the sea creatures that still floated around them.

              “Your festive spirit is always so refreshing! Now we must go. This year lets me take my typical flight pattern. We must get going!” he exclaimed happily as he snapped his reigns, his troupe setting off the sandy runway.

              Thus, the night began!

              Sandy’s job on most holiday eves was to make the world have amazing dreams of the festivities to come. He did this to the best of his ability, but his favorite part was not giving dreams, though he could give many great ones. No, his favorite part of the night was seeing the dreams that the children would create. Others would think that Sandy was the one who had endless imagination, but the children were the ones who gave him a run for his money. They gave him so much inspiration that would create a plethora of other dreams, mixing up all that he saw to create even better visions and scenery.

              On holidays like Christmas through, the dreams Sandy encountered were hocked up on steroids.

              Once they hit the rural Russian coast, he could see small whisps of dream sand already curl up as he saw images of North sitting and reading to the children and leaving presents. Sandy even got a dream where a child was taking North to see the reindeer that his family had and asked if they could join North’s team. Once he hit Japan, he found a number of dreams where the kids were having North try sushi, showing him around Tokyo, North fighting Godzilla or some other big monster, and even teaching him how to speak Japanese.

              When he hit Australia, the dreams took an interesting turn as the dreams became more adventurous. North would be fighting kangaroos, trying to stop an attack from a hoard of scorpions, surfing on the coats, and much more. Soon he went through the rest of the East and Middle East before moving up to Europe and down through Africa. Images of Christmas towns and North filled the dreams before moving south, finding images of both winter and summer festivals as he kept moving.

              But even with those dreams, Sandy would also run into some of the worst nightmares of the bigger holidays. Yes, there were dreams of getting coal for Christmas, but there would be nightmares of North attacking and hurting the children. Sandy would do his best to stop those in their tracks, making them turn into nicer dreams of North instead needing to attack Godzilla, the child just having been in the way and not the reason for the jolly elf’s anger. He would always do his best to mitigate these dreams, and he always hoped that when he changed the nightmares into good dreams, they would stay like that through the rest of the night.

              Every so often, one of his dream creatures would come and update him on North’s progress. Giving gifts sometimes took more time and his ability to just be in front of North helped make sure that there weren’t too many excited children waking up and halting his progress. But even then, there would be children that would wake despite the dreams. The stories North would tell him after the deliveries were always so adorable and awkward most of the time. Even after the events in Burges, he still had some trouble finding the right words to say to the children. And Sandy was more than happy to help North make these rides as smooth as possible, but he also hoped that North would interact with the children more.

               Traveling on most nights, kept Sandy within the same 9pm to midnight timeframe, though when he reached the Americas on Christmas the time was encroaching on the 2am hour. His normal rounds on a given night would allow him to at least rest a few hours between the nights. His own tiredness started to encroach on him while he made his way back northward while dreams of decked out alpacas and lit candles all over houses entered into his dreams as magical masses filled other dreams filled with music.

              North American children had dreams of Santa coming and meeting pets, of petting the reindeer and getting the latest and greatest tech and toys. He also saw dreams of snowstorms and snow days as he went over an area that had just been hit by one of Jack’s snowstorms; large snowball fights and huge snowmen being woven into these dreams.

              Like most nights, Sandy went and spent a good amount of time in Burges. Even with the time passing since their fight with Pitch, this small town brough him joy as the children grew and started families of their own, passing down the stories of their childhoods and the events that transpired. He took special care to give dreams to the adult Jamie, Sophie, and all the other Burges kids that had helped them defeat Pitch, seeing them rest peacefully yet again after all these years.

              “Sandy!” he heard a familiar voice call out as Jack floated over to his little cloud of sand. “You’re right on time,” he smiled as he looked in seeing the dreams that floated over Jamie’s head. “I still can’t believe how much time’s passed…” he reminisced. “His kids are just as bad as he was.”

              Nodding, Sandy floated up as they watched a young girl dream about sledding down the street with Jack guiding her through the town.

              “What can I say? They’re more alike than expected,” he chuckled. “How were the rounds this year?” he asked as Sandy gave a bright smile, using his sand to indicate that everything had run smoothly so far, nothing having been out of the ordinary. “Well, that’s good. That means I can start up some more snow in the east. They’ve been needing more snow,” he smiled playfully, Sandy rolling his eyes with a soft smile.

              “Go finish the night, tomorrows a big day. I’ll see you at the Pole for the party,” Jack said giving Sandy a hug before letting the wind take him.

              Waving his goodbyes, Sandy brought up his dream sand again as he traveled a little outside of Burges, finding the rickety old bed that Pitch had been dragged down into. Making a small golden Christmas tree, he sent it down, hoping that it would somehow be a sign of peace. He didn’t know why he did this every year, given his animosity towards Pitch, but the lack of the physical embodiment of nightmares always decreased during the Christmas and Easter seasons. Sandy thought that even though he might not be with them, he wasn’t fully against them anymore. Any progress in his mind was good progress. And with the tree now within the other’s realm, he continued on to finish delivering his dreams.

              Once through Canada and visiting the scientists in the arctic circle, Sandy made the last of his rounds at the pole, giving the elves and yetis all the best dreams of another successful year. Upon North’s return the two joined in a recap of the night before Sandy helped the deer find their dreams until finally North went to rest, getting dreams of a new year to come.

              Sandy was finally done with all his dream weaving for that night as he exited the Pole on a dream cloud, smiling at a job well done. He was glad that year was fairly quiet compared to the radical snowstorms or other forces of nature that they typically encountered. Though Jack could control most storms, Mother Nature and the natural forces of earth still created weather that they couldn’t avoid.

              Traveling back to where he started the Christmas run, Sandy set up another little ship where he could move to rest before the Christmas Day festivities would begin at the Pole. But first, sleep was needed as peaks of purple and orange poked out on the eastern horizon.