Faith
Summary: Faith is essential to the Guardians- it's what keeps them existing and alive in children's eyes. However, when children stop believing in themselves- how can they believe in others? Here's where they meet Isabel, a mortal turned immortal spirit with a love of children. If you want to believe- you just need to take a leap of faith. READ AND REVIEW!
A/N: Hello everyone! I'm Phoenix-LOL, but I go by Phoenix and this is my first ROTG fanfic. Now bear with me, I'm still new to the franchise but I love it so much- quite honestly I blame you people and you're wonderful work XD. So to extinguishing flames now, yes this story contains OCs, but they won't be paired with any lead characters, I see that's done a lot and I want to be a bit different. I greatly appreciate reviews, but if you're going to flame they will be used to melt the North Pole, think of the Yetis people. Thanks to ArmedwithaPen for title advice- Many thanks to all and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians. I only own my OCs and the storyline. Poem Isabel belongs to J. M. Cavaness.
WOULD you love her you must know her.
And in loving feel the spell,
Breathing thro her name when spoken-
Isabel.
If there was one thing Jamie Bennett hated, it was late nights.
His teachers at school must have gotten confused on what could be considered a part 6th grade curriculum, because surely Homer was a bit of a stretch. The Odyssey, a long, epic story from ancient times was a piece of work, written in a barely understandable translation of the original Greek. Normally this would be more manageable… if he hadn't waited until the last night to read it, admittedly lack of effort on his part. Still, the literature didn't need to be so complicated!
The chill had floated in from his nearby window, left open a crack to ease the stuffiness that matted his face like a mattress in the middle of summer. The air was light, teasing the elbow that was closest to the open frame, almost begging him to abandon the large book in favor of the fun, outside world. A small smile came to his face as his nipped at his lips, actually considering the naturally pleasing offer, eventually reality checking in and reminding him of the reading test scheduled for tomorrow and he had hardly any comprehension of the text!
Sighing, he honestly wished Jack would sweep in and give him a real motive to get outside. To him, the guardian of fun was the closest to an older brother that he had- for boys they were very close. Snow days in Burgess were the absolute best- hands down greatest days ever. Jack Frost never failed to elate the youth of the town, always giving plenty layers of fresh, plush snow to mold, throw and dash through. With fall dying away, he was secretly delighted with the coming of winter- quite honestly it couldn't come fast enough.
Jamie wiped his eyes, his eyelids lagging in view of the monster he was tackling. With sleep nagging on his brain he couldn't really concentrate on the printed words on his desk.
Maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt, just to rest my eyes… He mentally assured himself, folding his arms on top of the thick-bound book and resting his head in the crook of his elbow. Before he knew it, he was out like a light.
In his dreams, he was every boy's dream.
He was on a ship; the large, Homeric war ships the Greeks built to sail the crystal clear, Aegean Sea. The sky above was blue and dotted with large, fluffy clouds- perfect sailing weather. A strong wind had caught the large, white sails, ushering the ship along with the aid of several rowers down below. Cool, fresh air filled his senses as he took a deep breath, a thrill rushing through his veins.
He opened his eyes to see birds fly overhead, gulls crying and swooping at unsuspecting fish lingering below the water's surface. One daring gull dived into the waters, after some tasty looking morsel; however it quickly came back up- squawking fearfully and flying in the opposite direction with accelerated speed.
Attention caught, Jamie looked at the once blue sky darkening, clouds dissipating as if it was suddenly night time. The calm water had roughened, waves spraying seawater up the sides of the hull.
This… is not good.
A wind picked up drastically, rolling over the rising and falling waves. Out the corner of his eye, lightning struck on the horizon and a rumble of thunder was heard in his ear drums. He stumbled back, grabbing the large wooden mast for support, straining to see a large shadow figure rise from the ocean. Lighting illuminated the sky, reflecting on the black, sleek scales of the huge, sea serpent that emerged from the depths, with dark red eyes blaring. It roared, sounding of a woman shrieking and a lion meshed together in a horrendous sound, making his heart beat faster in fear.
It spotted him quickly, smashing it's large tail along the sides of the boat, threatening to destroy the ship like it was a piece of forgotten driftwood. Jamie clutched the mast tighter, shutting his brown eyes in terror.
He wished Jack was here- he'd probably freeze the monster- that seemed like something he would do. He wished his parents were here, heck even Sophie- He just didn't want to be alone.
Suddenly, Jamie felt something brush across his shoulders, pressing on them in a comforting manner. It was someone was standing behind him and whispering-
"You're not alone."
He opened his eyes timidly to see a woman standing behind him, taller than him greatly with eyes of inspiring emerald. She looked down at his side, a sheathed sword materializing on his waist as she did so.
"Don't let it terrify you. This is your dream- remind it of that."
Something about her tone was warm but strong and slowly her words settled into his brain. Looking back at the howling beast; Jamie Bennett felt a swell of bravery, the creature slowly looking less venomous in his eyes.
"Have faith- you can dismiss this nightmare."
He drew the sword, grasping with both hands as his eyes hardened. Running forward, he cried out, swiping the beast defiantly with the simple weapon. One successful slash across the chest caused the beast to scream in pain and crumble into black sand that swept away with the wind.
Taking in the moment, the boy panted and stood erect, dropping the sword as the metal clunked against the wood deck. Turning back, he caught sight of the woman who gave him his words of encouragement. She nodded at him, flashing a wonderful smile in his direction. The area around them fuzzed, slowly awakening from the land of sleep to and back to the land of the real world, he welcomed it with a smile, closing his eyes to allow the dream to end.
It wasn't until Jamie reopened his eyes did he feel his body ache from being hunched over a book for god-knows-how-long. Stretching up, his frame snapped back into place and he sighed, relishing in the vividness of his latest dream. It had all seemed real, especially that woman…
"You have some strange dreams, if you don't mind me saying so."
He shot around at the familiar voice. On his open windowsill sat the girl in his dream- eyes and all. She looked almost as old as Jack, with dark brown hair tied up neatly wearing a gown of empire, white, flowy dress- just her presence was breathtaking.
"Uhhh… thanks?"
A light laugh escaped her pink lips, "Welcome."
"Just- who are you now?" The boy perked, standing up, "Are you one of them- the guardians?"
The woman tilted her head, as if contemplating her answer, "…Not exactly."
"Oh." He walked over and sat parallel to her on his bed, "You a sprite- A spirit?"
"Yes, I'm a spirit- you can call me Isabel." She introduced herself, blinking ever so lightly that her dark eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings.
"I'm Jamie." The boy responded in a friendly tone, making the girl smile again, "So… why did you help me?"
"You're dream was turning into a nightmare," She brushed her hair back, fiddling with the thin strap of her dress, "I know what nightmares do to kids so I thought I'd help you out… Nobody likes a nightmare."
The brown haired kid nodded, shivering at the thought of the Nightmare King, "Yeah…"
The woman reached into a small packet of her dress, pulling out a small golden whistle. Bringing the small device to her lips, she blew into it- creating a high-pitched sound that he himself barely heard.
"I have to go now Jamie," She brought her legs over the sill to the other side, "It was nice to meet you."
Jamie could only nod before the girl jumped from the window sill, out into the cool, autumn night. In a fit of shock, the boy rushed to the window frame just in time to see the girl being flown away in a golden chariot, drawn by two winged pegasai into the night sky and across the full moon's beams of light. As quick as he picked her out, she vanished into the clouds and out of his sight.
"Woah…"
Wait till he tells everyone about this!
Down in the dark depths of the place only fear could breed, pitch Black clutched his forehead. The precious nightmare he had sent to that Bennett kid had been dissolved- by the boy himself. He had seen it clearly, the sea-dream through the eyes of the monster itself- and it was going so well until… SHE appeared.
He had never seen such a spirit before- her body giving off an eerie glow distinguishing her from another figment of the boy's imagination. Her words carried such power as to defeat his firm encasement of fear on the child's mind- it was surely impossible. He was merely intrigued by the new immortal, her essence radiating with elegant beauty and power.
It was bad enough that the guardians had defeated him, ever so slowly he was recovering… only now he was particularly weak- he needed all the fear he could collect to rebuild his strength.
A nagging persisted at the back of his mind, something about that woman was unsettling- if she had the power to restore bravery in a simple child then what were the limits to her influence? Could she affect other children? How would he ever grow if she was there to-?
It suddenly occurred to the villain- he was actually worrying over a spirit, a simple woman none the less.
He waved the thought away immediately, more important manners pressing his attention. However her image never left the back corners of his mind- the image of beautiful girl with eyes of emerald green and a soft voice of light that could rival that of an angel.
