Fic I wrote when listening to "Better Days" by GooGooDolls. Hope you like it and R&R
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the story.
It was New Year's Eve. There was a grandiose party at the North Pole, all the guardians, yetis, and elves celebrating the end of a successful work-year and the arrival of a new one. There was food, music, and happiness everywhere. Everyone seemed to be having fun, except for one particular guardian who could not join the party atmosphere.
Nicholas St. North watched the celebrations from near the fire place. His blue eyes travelled from Bunnymund who had been "obliged" to dance with Tooth -more like he followed like the goof in love he was when the fairy dragged him to the dance floor-, and how Toothiana laughed at his clumsiness and occasionally spared a kiss to the pooka, to the winter spirit who chatted lively with Mother Nature and how she smiled sweetly at him.
Although his gaze was on his friends, his mind was absent and focused on old memories of other celebrations.
He felt a tug on his coat; Sandy stared at him quizzically with a golden question mark above his head, worried about his friend's strange expression.
"I'm fine, Sandy. No big deal."
The dream-weaver wasn't very convinced of it. Floating so he could to the Russian's eye level, he looked harder.
Despite the cheerful laughter and the happy faces, North's eyes looked heavy and his faint smile gave a melancholic impression, almost a pained one. It's the kind of face a person has when they miss someone.
Sanderson Mansnoozie was unsure of what could be troubling North, he sat on his golden cloud and handed a cup of eggnog to the Cossack. North took it, but did not drink, only stared at his reflection on the liquid and sighed.
"Sorry, Sandy. It's not something eggnog can fix." He left the cup on the shelf above the fireplace and started to make his way to his office, leaving a very dumb-founded Sandman behind him.
The golden man was very confused. 'Wait a minute, for him, are only two things the eggnog can't cure: losing believers and…oh, that other thing.'
No one noticed he had left the party and sat on his chair near to his work desk where rested new ice prototypes for future new toys, but, this time, he wasn't thinking of toys and new ways to bring joy to children.
He leaned back, looking at the snowy landscape beyond the window panes, feeling the silence despite the noise and music on the other rooms. He released a long sigh and started to play absentmindedly with the ring on his finger.
He stayed like that till the door opened and let in the chatter and the noise that came from the Globe Room and his workshop. He heard a not so distant cackle and the jingle of the bells on the elves' pointy hats.
"How many times have I told you to knock?" he spun his chair to face the one that had entered (most probably one of his workers).
But the one there wasn't a yeti or an elf. It was a woman who appeared to be in her thirties with beautiful braided golden hair and green eyes. She wore a white blouse beneath her red dress with thin shoulder straps and intricate flowery pattern, and sleeveless black vest. "Hello, Nicholas."
No one else ever called him by his name but one person.
He stared at her stunned as he slowly got up from his chair; he hadn't seen her in years and really thought he must have fallen asleep. "How did you…?"
"Phil let me in." she closed the door without taking her eyes of him. "He always had a soft spot for me."
Didn't everyone? Everyone would fall subject of her tender smile, her gentle eyes, and her firm yet kind voice.
"It's been years since the last time I was here; I barely remembered how it looked like." She said as she entered further into the room and looked around quietly, her gaze quickly travelling over all sort of toys and tools.
He couldn't answer, only look at her.
"I saw Jack." She said to break the silence, trying to avoid an awkward tone.
"What do you think?" He asked, knowing he still valued her opinion despite all these years.
"He has a lot of you in him, only that he doesn't know it yet." She gave him a faint yet sweet smile.
A few moments passed till he was able to generate conversation again.
"Why did you come?" he asked with honest curiosity.
"I'm not sure. I only know that I should have come a long time ago."
She bit her lip and approached to him slowly, as if she was a little scared to say the next words. "I'm sorry, Nicholas. I wish you could forgive me for all the things I did."
He looked down. It had been years since they last spoke, but he still remembered the harsh words they said to each other and how much pain it had caused.
"It was my fault, I was too obstinate."
"I believe it was because of our stubbornness." Her hands fidgeted nervously, unable to bare his doleful expression, still feeling bad for it.
"I was too selfish. I wanted to be with you, and you had children to protect." Her soft voice spoke the words she had repeated again and again to herself. "I tried to spend as much time possible together, but ended getting in the way."
The woman struggled with her words, knowing she couldn't leave the room without setting things clear. "I felt like I wasn't good enough…that you would slowly drift away from me. I was terrified."
He looked at her a little shocked and then his face saddened, feeling guilty for not noticing or taking in account what she felt at that time. He had been so concentrated in his duties as a guardian that he didn't notice what was going on around him.
And when she said that he worked too much and that he needed to learn to delegate some of the load he carried over his shoulders, he just had shrugged it off as if it wasn't big deal. He had been a fool.
"You were always more than enough." His voice sounded a bit hoarse.
Tears started to sting her eyes, and well-known warmth in her chest she felt around him appeared again. His words comforted her deeply.
"I forced you to make a decision that wasn't fair... for neither of us." It was her turn for her eyes to look downcast, hating herself for her actions.
She had given him an ultimatum: her or his work. She knew she was being irrational, but at that time her emotions distorted everything so much that she didn't stop to think what she was doing.
It killed her when he chose his duties over her. It was the right thing to do, but it hurt nonetheless.
So she left the Pole broken-hearted, and took refuge in the remaining forests on eastern Siberia where she originally came from. She was bitter and cried for a long time, letting herself sink into the deepness of the forest and clinging to her solitude; then came regret and guilt, and all of those emotions accompanied by more tears.
"I should have been there for you too." North remembered very well the emptiness there was when she left.
"No. You did what was right." Her mouth was dry and she had a heavy knot on her throat that made it hard for her to speak. "I realized it years ago, but I wasn't strong enough to come back here."
He hadn't been strong enough to go after her either, and had kept himself busy in order to forget. Not that it was easy. A vague feeling of loneliness that increased in different occasions always followed him despite his smile. He was happy, but it always felt that something was missing.
"Could you…could you forgive me, Nicholas?"
He graced her with a smile, his expression softening a little. "Can you forgive me too?"
She nodded, her throat constricted with a great feeling of relief. Then she came back to reality. She had done what she came here for, now it was time to leave.
"I came to apologize and to wish you a happy life." She hid her sadness. She wasn't here to ask him if she could come back. She had no right to ask him that. "I'm sure you want to be with your friends, I'll leave. I know my way."
She tried to exit the room before he discovered the tears in her eyes that were desperate to come out, but stopped when North caught her left hand and gently kissed it. She couldn't help but blush at the old sweet gesture he always had towards her.
The Cossack was surprised when he saw a golden wedding ring on her finger, matching the one he had. Images of her in a beautiful white dress and flowers in her hair appeared again on his mind. The day of their wedding. "You still keep it."
"My feelings haven't changed."
"After all this time…" he gulped.
"Love is something you can't switch on and off; it's always there." She cut him off, stroking his cheek with her free hand. "You're still the kind-hearted rogue I fell in love with."
He remembered that a long time he had rode with his group of bandits to steal a famous treasure he had seen in a dream to stumble upon a beautiful woman in elegant clothes, offering him all the gold and jewels in the world. For an instance he had thought this sprite was the real treasure.
Even though he arrived to that village in search of gold, he stayed in there to defend the children of Santoff Clausen. Falling in love with its protector was something he hadn't planned, but didn't regret.
"Please, don't do it." She begged.
"Do what?"
"You're about to ask me to stay again. I can't, Nicholas." She shook her head with a pained expression.
"You don't have to go." There was a little desperation in his voice; he didn't want to watch the woman he still loved to disappear.
"Everything will repeat if I don't; we'll end up fighting. I don't want to make you chose between your work and me."
"But things are different now; I want you to do this with me." He swept away the trace of tears. "To work together and bring joy to children."
She was scared now. Scared because North was offering something she had wished for a long time: to be side by side with him, to take in all the good and the bad; she wanted to say yes. However…what if things ended worse than they did last time?
He perceived her doubts and could understand them, but he would be damned if he gave up now. "Let me prove I'm the man you deserve."
For a moment…silence.
But when she said yes, his face instantly lit up and she pulled her into him. Standing on her tiptoes, she hugged him back, laughing through the tears and feeling completely happy and at peace.
"YA lyublyu tebya, Natalia" he whispered.
She hid her face against his shoulder; she had missed him so much. "I love you too, Nicholas."
On the workshop, the music had stopped and everyone was looking at the huge clock the yetis had placed above the globe and how its hands approached to the number twelve.
And the countdown started.
Ten!
The little elves scooted around the guardians and the yetis.
Nine!
Sandy left his cup of eggnog on the nearest table to watch a little closer.
Eight!
A sneaky elf took advantage of the dream-weaver's distraction and stole the cup, giggling victoriously while running away.
Seven!
Sandy shrugged and let it be.
Six!
A yeti with a party hat patted a fellow worker on the shoulder.
Five!
Bunnymund wrapped an arm around Toothiana as they waited for the clock to strike twelve.
Four!
Tooth leaned her head on his shoulder.
Three!
Jack looked around but couldn't the Russian anywhere.
Two!
Said Russian was too lost in the woman's emerald-like eyes to worry about the people outside.
One!
He leaned in closer, until their foreheads barely touched.
"Happy New Year!" shouted everyone in the workshop, hugging and congratulating each other. The yetis outdid themselves with the decorations this year: there was confetti falling from the ceiling, fireworks illuminated the night sky with various colors and shapes.
Tooth pulled Bunny into a kiss, making the pooka's eyes to widen slightly in surprise (a side effect he hadn't yet gotten rid of, even after being together for a long time). The yetis and elves around them wolf-whistled while clapping in approval.
Jack slowly smiled and interlocked his hand with Mother Nature's; the girl blushed fiercely and met the blue gaze of the winter spirit, smiling back.
At the exact end of the countdown, North kissed his wife. None of them heard the entire racket behind the doors, nor the fireworks.
This particular kiss was wrapped in that small magic that only happens after the twelfth chime of the clock and that only lasts for a few moments after it. It meant forgiveness, and fresh new starts.
Because everyone says New Year's Eve is when the world begins again, promising future better days.
If you're reading this it means you completed the story. YAY! :D
Thank you!