Rise of the Guardians: The Reason for Love

(290 years ago)

A girl sat alone by the frozen lake, her left arm wrapped around a brown husky, whom she has named Jack. The husky sat obediently beside her, his gaze never wavering from the frozen lake. Since that day, she has always visited the lake every day, hoping to find him. She hugged her knees towards her body and sobbed into them, missing the boy deeply. It has been ten years since he died while saving her, and she regretted not being able to thank him for that. How she wished that she would be able to meet him again, to embrace him, to thank him. Little did she know that her wish would be granted.

Suddenly, the husky jerked out of her arm and took off to the surrounding forest.

"Jack!" The girl cried, quickly standing up and following after the runaway dog. Jack seemed to head towards something in the forest. He stopped at a tree, barking upwards towards the branches.

"Slow down, Jack. What did you find?" The girl asked, looking up. On a branch was a brown cloak, torn and tattered due to the weathers but still recognisable.

"This is…his" She stammered, reaching up to grab the cloak. She realised that it was too high for her to reach it by jumping, and thus decided to climb the tree for the cloak. She carefully climbed up, testing her weight on each branch before resting her entire weight on it. Eventually she had the cloak in her hand. She peered happily down to the dog and waved the cloak. The dog gave an excited bark and wagged its tail. She began climbing down, but her foot missed a branch. With a fearful scream, she fell out of the tree. The branches whipped wildly at her, giving her cuts to her exposed skin which bled sluggishly. She was knocked unconscious when her head hit a larger branch. She did not feel the painful impact of her body against the forest floor.

Not even the distant echo of those barks was able to bring her back, when she could recognise that the barks were desperate, and she was wondering if she was going to become desperate too, waiting for her hand to reach more than his cloak; or if she was going to dream again about him as she always did every time she closed her eyes at the feeling of the cold winter wind.

At least, tonight, there will be peace in her heart.

The husky barked loudly, eventually catching the attention of the nearby hikers. They carried her to the nearby village, whose parents wept over the loss of their second child. The hikers paid their respect at her funeral and each left an exotic flower on her coffin before it was lowered into the embrace of Earth.

(A few days later)

His light, surrounding everything which darkness could not reach, could clearly see every person's heart, and know every piece of feeling from it. That day was no exception. Only for one detail. Once again, loyalty and love had proven themselves in a hopeless place. A place where another life was taken for granted. There was no way that feeling could go away so easily. That's why he had to do something about it.

As The Man in the Moon (MiM) looked down at her motionless body, a painful wrench at his heart told him all he needed to know. Her unconditional love for him and everything related to him, to the point where she would risk her life to get something belonging to him back, and her undying loyalty, would make her a perfect Guardian of Relationships. He decided to wait for a little while, not wanting to alert anyone by the miracle that was about to happen. When he feel that it was safe, he send out his power to the girl in her coffin. Pure white light enveloped her as she floated back to the surface.

"-ke up. Wake up…" The girl heard the voice of a disembodied being, echoing throughout her mind. She opened her eyes, looking straight at the bright full moon hanging above her. Somehow, she knew that the moon was talking to her. She took a shaky step forward, wobbling for a little while before steadying herself. Her shoulder length hair has grown longer, reaching past her waist and was jet black. Her irises were a deep shade of sunset orange. Just then, something sparkled and caught her eye. She reached out to grab a bow, beautifully decorated by swirling ribbons along the shaft. There was no draw string, but when she raised her hand, as if shooting a bow, an arrow formed in her hand, glowing with a virgin white energy. She remembered everything, about her family, about how she died, about him. Everything, but her name.

She looked up to the moon, confusion in her eyes. "Who am I? What's my…name?"

"You are the spirit of Valentine." The voice spoke again. "You are Jacqueline Valentine. Go forth, sister of the Winter Spirit." Jacqueline frowned, not understanding the MiM's last statement.

"What do you mean 'sister of the Winter Spirit'?" She asked. However, the voice has already withdrawn from her mind. The wind slowed down around her, as if understanding her confusion.

Jacqueline yawned and stretched her arms, brushing against something soft and feathery. She frowned and reached behind, still feeling the soft feathers. She concentrated and spread her wings wide, the soft white feathers glowing in the pale moon. She flapped them once, twice, testing out its strength. It was like a dream come true! She always wanted wings to soar and explore the skies. She began running, her wings flapping behind her and with a powerful jump, she began flying in the dark night sky, pure joy on her face.

A lone tombstone suddenly glowed under the pale moonlight. Etched on it were the words: 'Here lies Jacqueline Frost, whom shall be deeply missed. 16 May XXXX – 14 February XXXX'.

Hello again! Finally got around editing the mistakes and stuff. It was a little plot bunny I had quite a while ago. Though, I don't think I'll be continuing this. If you wish, you can adopt this story, just remember to credit me :D

Enjoy your morning/afternoon/evening/night!

- Sodai no Ozora