It was so sudden, one minute is was warm as winter can be and the next...felt like ice running down my back. Why can't I breathe? My body wasn't working, I was sinking but how when I usually can control it? I'm the top in swimming in my village. Realization dawned on me, I was drowning in a lake that had freezing water and I couldn't move. It hurts, someone make it stop please! My thoughts were cut off as the icy cold water entered my lungs but what I don't remember is feeling cold arms bringing me back to the surface and a boys face that had white hair and worried blue eyes.
The sun shined through the window of the small room. I groaned as I opened my green grass eyes looking around as I sat up, the sheets and comforter green and red. The walls had different images, one the wall had pictures or reindeer and little elves in red hats with bells, the wall was a deep brown wood color while the other wall held a window with pictures of different people. Who are these people? I thought as I went to get up but stopped when I felt a stabbing pain in my lungs. I groaned again sitting back down on the bed with my left arm around my stomach area. A knock was heard as someone tapped on the door. "hey! You're up! North! She's up!" the boy yelled out in the hall before jumping up and flying over to me. Wait a minute, he flew?! My thoughts were still processing what he did while he talked. "..so yeah, my name's Jack!". He held out his hand as I blinked looking at him before taking his hand, "Anna..." my vocal cords hurt like someone had a burning sword pressed against them. Suddenly a big guy, a fairy type person, and a giant..rabbit... I blinked making sure I wasn't seeing things.
"hi! My names Toothiana but you can call me Tooth! Oh my it's so nice that Jack has someone his own age around! This is just great!" she sounded very excited which was a little scary on my end, I backed away a little trying to keep my distance from her, scary fairy. "Tooth, you're scaring her, relax" Jack spoke turning towards the Tooth Fairy. Suddenly a little man came in through the window, wait a minute...ITS THE SANDMAN! my eyes went wide as I jumped at the little spirit tackling and hugging him as tight as I could. " THANK YOU SO MUCH! You gave me that dream on Easter that was able to help me keep my baby brother alive!" my smile was so wide that it would have normally hurt but I didn't pay a bit of attention. I blinked as I let go of the little guy, I looked around at each character in the room. First I looked at Tooth then the giant rabbit then to the big guy with tattoos and then the tall thin boy in the chair with a staff. "okay, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm in a room with the Tooth Fairy, I'm guessing the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause and Jack Frost?" They all nodded fearing that I would pass out but I just stared at them looking to each one a question popping into my head. "question...how in the world did I get here?" my vocal cords didn't hurt as badly as it did when I spoke the first time around. "Jack saw you fall into the lake. What were you doing there?" Tooth asked sitting on the bed with me on the floor. I looked at all of them before looking down, "my baby brother wanted to go onto the ice so I told him that I would show him what it was like with me out there by myself so he wouldn't think it was fun until it cracked. Wait, am I dead?" I blinked looking up at Jack. He looked away and at everyone else but me. Santa looked me in the eyes and sadly nodded. My eyes went wide as I stared at the jolly man.
It took a few minutes for it to sink it, I'm dead? But how am I still breathing and all of this? Why wasn't I able to get myself out? I was top of my game! my mind was reeling with questions but no answers until an Australian accent spoke. " ya died the same way Jack did, ya drowned sheila" the giant rabbit talked and it had an Australian accent? This is getting weirder. "who are you exactly, I know Toothiana and Jack Frost and Sandman but you?" I asked quite curious even though I'm pretty sure I know. "E. Aster Bunnymund is the name sheila but call me Bunnymund" He spoke, the different tattoos on his fur moving slightly. "yeah, or Bunny or kangaroo" Jack smirked at Bunnymund before jumping out of the way of Bunnymunds paw about to hit him in the back of the head. " Do you have a specific name Santa or is Santa your name?" I asked blinking looking up at the tall jolly man. He smiled, his eyes seemed to light up. "North is the name I go by with the guardians young Anna. I saw that you've been pretty nice this year, what was going to be your wish?" North asked with a knowing smile. I frowned looking down at the floor, my knees pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapping themselves around my knees. "I wanted my brother safe for Christmas this year... I'm never going to get the chance to tell him I love him again..." my voice trailed as I sighed laying my forehead on my knees covering my face.
A cold hand was placed on my shoulder but I didn't dare look up, I didn't want to be viewed as a weak person for crying. "Guys, could you give us a minute?" Jack asked, I noticed his voice held sympathy, almost like he knew what I was going through. I heard the door shut gently as the footsteps left. "Anna, I know what it feels like. I died drowning trying to save my baby sister. I fell through the ice and my sister watched from the side..." Jack's arm went around my shoulders pulling me towards him. It was cold but in a comforting way, even though I prefer summer to winter. "Jack...it hurt so much when I saw his face, I couldn't stop the hurt in his eyes. My brother is no idiot, he knew as soon as he heard the ice crack, he yelled but I didn't hear, I was already under water. Why did it betray me like that? Why!" I didn't raise my head as the tears flooded down my face. Jack rubbed circles on my back as a knock was heard. "Jack, mate, we have something to tell you" everyone filed in as Jack looked up. "Anna...what is your center" North posed the question as I looked up at him, tears still falling down my face. I thought about it and the answer came naturally to me. " I was the one everyone went to for help, with whatever emotional problems they had. They would walk away renewed and refresh. I thought the Easter Bunny was the guardian of spring" the questioning was in my voice but it wasn't a question, at least they didn't take it like that. "Anna...you hold Spring as the element, yes Bunny holds spring in the Easter sense, he is not an elemental but Anna...you are..." I blinked looking at everyone before realizing I didn't have my pocket knife on me. " where's my pocket knife?" everyone blinked as I got up, even though my lungs hurt, I searched everywhere. "Damnit! Wheres my pocket knife!?" I growled sitting on the bed with my head in my hands. "my father gave that to me...before he died..." my voice trailed as I shook my head tired of crying. I heard rustle of fabric, looking up at Bunnymund, I noticed him holding my pocket knife. "your dad is very good at making knives sheila. He gave that to you on Easter, the day before he died didn't he?" Bunnymund's voice was quiet, it seemed like he knew my dad. "he did, how did you know that?" I turned and looked at Bunnymund before grabbing my knife careful not to hurt him. "I was there looking over ya that day when he gave that to you. You were so excited, I wondered how anyone would've been that excited but you were" again, Bunnymund's voice didn't lose it's soft tone. I nodded before laying on the bed, twirling the knife in my fingers. My mind was off in another land before I was pulled out of my day dreaming. "Anna, I have talked with Manny, you are the guardian of spring time. Now! Time to bring you as one of us!" North got a big book out but I stopped him right there. "North, everyone, I mean no offense but why would I want to be a guardian? I'm not good with kids, only teenagers and adults" I looked at everyone carefully.
"Anna...it's not so bad being a guardian, I mean at first I was like you but then I would see the kids faces light up even more, especially when I started getting believers" Jack smiled at me before getting up and getting his staff. "Come Anna, I want to show you something" Jack held out his hand to me with a smile on his face. I took his hand curious on how he could or would change my mind. He took me to this room that had this giant globe with tiny lights around it. "Anna..this is the globe and those tiny lights are the children who believe in us. Bunny, Tooth, North, Sandy...they all need believers and seasonal spirits may not, it's not so bad looking after then as if they were a younger sibling. My first believer was a kid named Jamie Bennett and he didn't start believing in me until we had to fight the boogeyman or also known as Pitch. The reason was because I had to keep Jaime from thinking the Easter Bunny wasn't real and that ultimately caused him to see me. After three hundred years of wandering and not understanding why people couldn't see me, the feeling of being lonely, did I truly understand why I was a guardian." Jack smiled as he finished still holding my hand gently. I returned then sighed while nodding. "let me see how it goes before I say yes to being a guardian OK? Deal?" I wanted to make sure everyone was on board before I said anything, at least that was my thought while Jack and the others nodded. It wouldn't be very long until that ability of spring time was put to good use though because someone wanted revenge.