The Time Keeper wanders, lost again, wondering what to do next. She is good at finding things to play with, but now she's run out of ideas. She sees a scene in her crystal shard, a plinth almost identical to the one that Manny gave the Guardians. It just so happened that this scene was one of Santa's castle, now a regular meeting place for the five guardians. Five guardians, how interesting. The Time Keeper can't figure out why Manny had done it. The only reason it worked was because Jack hadn't been a guardian at all. She wonders what would have happened if Jack frost hadn't been there to help.
Apparently Jack wonders the same thing, as this is the topic of conversation at the moment.
Jack is sitting on a railing, again, and Bunny is leaning against the wall. Tooth is flitting about the place, and North is attempting to keep Sandy from falling asleep. In fact, the whole scene isn't too much different from the one that took place when Jack was brought there the first time.
"What do you think would have happened, if I had accepted Pitch's offer?" Jack asks tentatively.
"Vat do you mean Jack?" North asks, looking up at him.
"Well, I was just wondering how things would be different…"
"If you signed on with him?" Bunny asks "I think you're better off here, mate, as much as I hate to say it."
Tooth speaks up. "I think we should be grateful that you didn't, Jack."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I was just curious." He said, jumping off the banister.
How curious. Jack is such an intuitive boy, the Time Keeper thinks. Smiling, she knows she has just found a new design to weave. She waves her hand, and disappears.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I was just curious." He said, jumping off the banister. Nobody had time to respond, before a voice behind them startles them all.
"Curiosity killed the cat." The voice was twinkling, and unreal, as was the woman it belonged to. The first thing they saw was her hair, completely black , and floating as if caught in a breeze, though there wasn't one. That was complemented by her eyes, a deep, deep blue that almost matched her dress. Her dress looked like it had been taken, and woven from the night sky. It was almost black, but if you looked closely you could see the blue, and it had just a few pinpoints of what could be stars. Her face was so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at. She looked ethereal, unreal, all knowing.
"Who are you?" Jack was the first one to break the stunned silence. She cocks her head, considering.
"I will be whoever you think I am." She said, and here eyes caught Jack's attention. They glimmered and pulsed and swirled and… changed. They were never the same from one moment to the next, and they mesmerized everyone there. She started to walk around the room, and they followed her, never letting her out of there sights.
"Yes, but what is your name?" Jack asked, this time, he sounded almost half asleep. She looked puzzled for a second.
"I… am not entirely sure I know anymore." Suddenly, everyone jumped, freed of the trance. She had flickered, and then appeared in a different place, still pacing around the room.
"Vat are you?" North asked, suddenly scrutinizing.
She waved her hand, and… flickered again, appearing just a few feet away from the… flicker. "Well, that is easily explained. I am the Time Keeper. I keep, control, and care for… time." She smiled, and glanced sideways at them. "Everything I have is made from time."
"But," Tooth started, "I thought Father Time-"
The Time Keeper scoffed, and brushed off the thought. Flicker. "Oh, that old buffoon. No, I am nothing like him. He sees that time does not stop, but it is so much more then that." Her eyes light up as she speaks, but then dim again. "But, you wouldn't understand it. Anyway," Flicker, "I am not here to discuss me." She stopped and faced them, standing right in front of the globe. And the crystal stand.
"Then why are y' here?" Bunny asks, advancing.
She looks at Jack. "Because of you." Flicker. Jack jumps back, startled, because her movement brings her inches away from his face
"Why's it always you who brings the trouble Jack." Bunny asks.
Jack holds his hands up in protest. "I swear I didn't do anything!"
She laughs. "Of course, you didn't do anything. But all it takes is a question. And for your question, it would have to start long before any of this." And she taps her foot on the ground. Two small doors slide back, to allow the stand to rise, before the shocked eyes of the Guardians.
"How did you do that?" Tooth asks.
"I though only Manny could." Santa agrees.
Her mouth twists, but she says nothing about Manny. In stead she looks at Jack. "Well, Jack, do you want to know?" She asked, stepping back.
"Know what?" He asked, still very confused.
Instead of answering, she took a small scrap of sheer fabric out of her sleeve. " 'Be careful what you wish for.' Isn't that a phrase?" She looked at him again. And she looked back at the plinth. She tossed the scrap towards it, but as it flew it grew, to cover the entirety of the stone, stand an all, like a veil.
"But… what did I wish for?"
She laughed again. "You wanted to know how things would be different, if you had gone with Pitch. Well," Her smile widened as his eye went round. "Let's find out." And before Jack could do more than raise his hand to try to stop her, she spoke a word, and the world vanished.
Hey! Look, a new story!
This story makes me very happy, and I think that is will go places. I think you guys will love it.
Stay updated on this new, exciting story, and on my other, possibly less updated but still equally other cool story, Brightest Midnight. It's coming my friends... soon...
Please, review, suggest, favorite, follow, whatever. You are awesome.
-pjesmile
Disclaimer: I do not own rise of the Guardians, but I am an avid fan, and I write my fiction so others can enjoy it.