The street was not normally quiet as it was tonight, but I assumed it was the fact there was ice on the pavement. My steps were chosen carefully as I watched for patches of ice. However, a tall figure standing at the window of a restaurant caught my attention. A gentle, winter breeze danced across my exposed skin, causing me to shudder and pull my coat closer to me. My fiery red hair had been bundled up into a pony tail but the persistent wind pulled some of it loose already. However, I was not running around for the sake of my appearance, I had found my mentor.

His stare remained unmoving, from whatever it was that caught his attention. A small smile played on his lips and it seemed as if he was physically being warmed by what he was witnessing. I joined his side, and let curiosity get the best of me. Following his gaze, I found the small café had two occupants sitting right next to the window. The couple was old, that much I noticed first. The woman had her grey hair combed back and wrapped up into a tight, snug bun. A knitted shawl was draped over her crooked back, which covered any skin that her cotton, blue dress would have revealed. A string of pearls dangled off her neck, and twinkled in the candlelight. My attention pulled towards the old man, who was just as small as she was, shrunk with the ages. He wore a blue plaid shirt to match her dress, with a black bow tie. His small cap was sitting on top of his walking cane, which leaned against the window. How could I not smile? They both were smiling, laughing, and enjoying the time they had spent with each other.

"This is the place they had first met." Saint Valentine's voice brought me out of their radiating warmth. "They're celebrating their fifty-seventh anniversary together today, Scarlett."

"So long." I commented, and kept my eyes on them closely.

"You wish to see how they did, don't you?"

"How they stayed together you mean?"

Valentine nodded slowly, as his ruby eyes flashed over to watch me. I brushed my red bangs out of my eyes and focused on the couple. Slowly, as practiced, I put my fingers up to the window that blocked my way between the couple and focused on their intertwined fingers. Then, without warning, their memories and emotions hit me at once. Everything about them was pure, a relationship that was not tainted by the worries of financial security, job or children. I will freely admit that I was surprised as I pulled my hands away from the window. There had never been a more perfect relationship than the one I just witnessed.

"There's not love like that anymore." I sighed sadly.

"That doesn't mean they've faced their own hardships as well." Valentine linked his arm with mine and pulled me away from the peaceful scene and started down the cold, empty street.

We remained silent, just simply enjoying the presence of each other as we had done before. However, tonight, something felt off. Saint Valentine never wondered outside of his domain alone, especially when there are only so many days before Valentine's Day. I stayed in step with the man as I studied his features. Sure enough, there were small bags under his eyes, the flicker of life that usually danced in them were dim. Hell, the aura about him was faded. Something was not right.

As I opened my mouth to ask Valentine about it, he came to a sudden halt. I tried to pull forward, but he would not release my arm. I knew something was up.

"I forgot. Moments before you retrieved me, Grimm stopped by."

My eyebrows knitted together as I thought about the last time I had seen the Angel of Death. It wasn't that long ago. There would not really be a reason for him to stop by, especially after I denied his offer.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes everything is fine Scarlett. He was just checking in on you."

My frown didn't budge as I studied Valentine carefully, who only sighed frustrated at me.

"Even though we are immortals, we still have the need to love and show affection. Grimm is no different."

I looked away, frustrated that he wanted me to talk to Grimm again. I didn't want to talk to the Spirit of True Love about the lack of my love life.

"The Cupids need more practice." It was a feeble attempt at switching the conversation and moving it off of me.

Luckily, Valentine decided to go with my topic change.

"You've been working well with them."

"They need more work before next month."

Valentine smiled and stuck his free hand into his pocket, searching for our portal key.

"They'll get there if it's you working with them."

It was refreshing to hear him praise my attempts with the Cupids. Even though he and I are working to keep the idea of true love, Valentine's Day is the day we have to work the hardest, between trying to make sure the idea of love is kept up, even for those who think the holiday is for the greedy merchants who prosper, we try to find a way to acknowledge them.

My mentor pulled out a small paper heart. It was smothered in red glitter, the same glitter that fell off the heart and littered his jacket.

"Heart, take us home."

Wind picked up, as expected, and grabbed the heart from Valentine's hand. As expected, swirling colors of the door way had lit up. Valentine waved his hand and urged me to go first.

The Cupid's archery range was alive with fluttering wings, red glitter getting everywhere, and of course, the giggles coming from the observing Cupids. Target practice wasn't going exactly the way I had planned on, but I had decided to let them have at it, there was really no point in getting upset over it anyways. The Cupids were really there for moral support and to deal with the younger generations of the humans, as for the rest, Valentine and I dealt with them. I heard a chorus of giggles and couldn't help but look for the source. It sounded too loud to be laughing at missed targets. Their baby-like faces were red and blue eyes streaming tears of laughter. The cherubs were falling apart at the seams with giggles that some of them even tried to contain with their chubby, infant-like fingers. They truly lived up to what they had originally been imagined as; babies with wings.

"You guys…"

A could of glitter lingered in the air over the group of Cupids that decided it would be best to use each other for target practice with the Crush Dust. I coughed and waved my hand to clear the dust particles away. Upon my appearance, the Cupids cleared out of the way and resumed their giggling.

"It's going to take forever for this to clear out." I muttered under my breath. "Well go on get, there's no work that's going to be done here. Go fly the course or something."

I was responded with the sound of cheers and applauses as all of the little babies took to the sky and rushed out of the training facility. Their reaction made me even wonder if they had planned it from the very beginning.

I followed the last Cupid outside, and smiled at them flying around Valentine's Estate; their cries and laughter echoing far behind them.

'I want to fly like them someday."

Knowing that I had my work cut out for cleaning up the remains of the Crush Dust, I returned back into the range. However, when I approached the pile of dust ready to clean it up with the vacuum, I was shocked that the white glitter was replaced with black glitter, something I had never seen before. Cautiously, I reached out to touch it, but pulled away quickly; a shock of fear had found its way into me as I realized what had happened. Someone had manipulated the Crush Dust.

A/N: So this is my first Rise of the Guardians fanfic, and I want you guys to be honest with me please! Looking forward to your feedback and getting to know you guys! =)

Love,

Jazzy