3/20/14

The Darkest Night Hides the Purest Light

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Rise of the Guardians, cuz I'm broke right now, and writing fanfiction… yeah… definitely don't own it.

Warnings: some depressing things, cussing, possible M scenes, not sure about that, major screwing of characters pasts/info.

Possible Bunny/OC/Pitch… definitely Bunny/OC.. both hetero and homo, since my OC can change his/her shape and gender.

A/N: So this is my first RotG fic, I've only seen the movie, not read the books, although I have read plenty of fics so I know some stuff from the books. I might go look at the books someday, but unfortunately, that day is not today. Nor is it gonna be anytime in the near future. I have too many things going on, and it isn't a high priority at the moment. I am simply content with loving the movie. In that regard, this will follow the movie-verse, and will no doubt not contain a lot of things from the books, and will probably not follow the books at all. Again, my knowledge is limited, but I found that this was a lovely movie and I wanted to tear it to shreds, aka, screw around with the characters and have fun with it. Also, this is NOT a self-insert.. despite my pen name.. I really love Fireflies and Dragonflies.. ^^

So on with the story!

Prologue: Hidden Guardian

Hey, my name's Firefly, or at least that's what Manny told me it was. I don't really remember my other lives too much, before I woke up in this one, but I'm actually not too bothered by that. Of course some people would say I'm lying, and that's fine, they can believe what they want, it doesn't bother me, or at least not too much. See, I'm not much of a social spirit, in fact, I hate being around more than two others for extended periods of time. The only exceptions would be the kiddies, and it isn't like they see me, to really bother me. I'm not a major holiday, not even a holiday, really, and I doubt many others think I'm very important in the whole, protect the children, give to the children, blah, blah, blah; that the Guardians are all for. In the big picture, I would agree with them, and then I would be scolded by Manny for my self-discouraging thoughts.

Self-importance? Zippo. Self-esteem? Very low. My self-confidence? Depends really. I could be a chatterbox about my lil firebugs, if I could stand speaking to someone for more than thirty seconds; Manny not included, it isn't like I can tell him to go shove it. He likes to talk to me, or at least get me to talk to him. Perhaps he's trying to get me to be more social, in that regard, he has failed, epically, multiple times. Perhaps he shouldn't have told me that I was a Guardian, since that was when I spazzed and seriously went deep into my self-exile. Oh, wasn't expecting that, were you? Me, a Guardian, yeah, I laughed hysterically for several minutes, thinking he was joking, then promptly ran off and hid away for two weeks before he finally convinced me to talk to him again. I swear, you can't hide from the Man in the Moon, especially when he REALLY wants to talk to you. Well you could, but I'm sure Pitch wasn't pleased that I was hanging around his lair THAT often. I think he was planning something, but I wasn't too worried about him, I happened to have bigger problems of my own, thanks, and he's always planning world domination anyways. Not that it bothered me, I wasn't afraid of the dark, or the Boogieman, and I'm one of those spirits he doesn't mind, since you know, I'm neutral, plus I kinda need the dark to really work. My lil firebugs aren't as pretty or impressive in the daylight after all.

Luckily for me, Manny kept quiet about declaring me a Guardian, so I wasn't hounded by the others, yeah, THAT would have really gone down well with me. I have heard of the fights between Aster and North, stupid fights over who's holiday is more important. Personally? I think Aster was more impressive, since he's doing all the work in such a limited time, perishables after all. North has all year to craft toys, and he has those elves and yeti to help and do the major work for him. I side more with Sandy-Mandy and Toothy, like me, their jobs are around the clock. Of course they do more work than me, but mine isn't as simple or as easy as everyone thinks.

Oh, you're probably wondering about the nicknames, Sandy-Mandy and Toothy are the closest spirits I've ever gotten to, besides Manny. We usually pass each other while doing our things; Sandy's quite a chatterbox when you're willing to lend a hand, or a few firebugs, to deliver his dream sand. Occasionally Toothy would invite me over to the Tooth Palace, girl talk and such, which would let me hang with the girls for a lil bit. I don't really mind the girls, except when they get all giggly over Jack Frost's teeth, seeing them as bigger versions of my firebugs, with WAY more colors. Toothy's always bugging me about my past however and even showed me a golden container with a couple teeth in it. I didn't touch it, noticing without comment that there wasn't a full set of chompers in there, and knowing why that was, even without the details. I'm happily living the 'ignorance is bliss' life, thank you very much, and I'm well aware that I died young, I don't need that pointed out in yet another way.

You're probably wondering what I mean by that, well, it's one reason I usually avoid being around others. They ALWAYS comment on my petiteness, always cooing about I'm just a lil doll and bullshit like that. I'll have you know that I'm centuries older than most spirits, thank you very much! I was lighting up the darkness long before most spirits, and humans, were alive. Of course Sandy's older than me, and several others are too, and I did die as a spirit, reborn as a human, only to die and be reborn as a spirit again. Hey, shit happens.

I got off topic, again, so let's return to the, ahem, original line of talk, shall we? I'm petite, barely reaching five feet tall, with a slender but toned form. You could say I'm shaped like a dancer, which makes sense since I'm usually dancing in the fields with my firebugs, with long limbs and a long torso, despite being so short. I don't have much of a bust, then again I'm not really a girl, or a boy, but I prefer the feminine mindset, and I can change my shape anyway. That's fun, and convenient, not being limited to one shape. It's part of my 'center' if you will.

I always dress in darker colors, my nature of being in the dark coming into play: a black long sleeved turtleneck; black leggings that curve under my feet, leaving my heels and toes free; a dark green tunic/long shirt, with only tiny cropped sleeves, that falls to mid-thigh; and a dark gray sash that wraps from my lower ribs, down to my hips. I have two belts that wrap around my waist and hips, holding pouches that obviously hold various items of importance to me, or just stuff I found and picked up for my amusement. A leather shoulder harness covered the tops of my shoulders, curving under to leave my shoulder blades uncovered, to connect at the small of my back, as well as cover my collarbones, dipping slightly in the middle of my chest; leather wrist guards protect the back of my hands to my elbows, and leather shin guards cover my ankles to my knees. All of the dark leatherwork was decorated with painted green ivy, and held swirling grooves that would light up in the moonlight.

I usually have dark hair, not quite black, perhaps raven would be more descriptive, with a couple yellowy-white speckles throughout, my firebugs were adamant I keep some of their coloration, the jealous brats. Most of it is pulled back, in a messy bun/pony, with the ends sticking up, but I have two long plaits that loop down near my shoulders before being pinned with the rest, those plaits have glass and metal beads woven through them. The plaits conceal my slightly pointed ears, which have multiple studs and hoops pierced in the lobes and up the cartilage, silver cuffs cover both sides of the pointed edge, with golden runes engraved in them, a delicate chain dropping from one to connect to the studs. My bangs fall just over my dark gold eyes, and concealing a tiny ivy silver circlet across my forehead, an oval moonstone set in the center.

It was a gift from Manny, when I stopped hiding from him after his lil declaration. Other than the circlet, all the other jewels/metalwork was crafted by me. Surprised? How do you think I make my lil firebugs? Oh, I forgot to mention my wings, didn't I? I have insect wings, a mixture of a dragonfly's, bumblebee's, and of course, my firebug's. I usually let them fade away, they can be annoying at times, and rarely keep them out when I'm not using them. They are delicate, but stronger than they look, and I'd rather avoid them getting injured by my clumsy self. It takes a VERY long time for my wings to heal, believe me, I know, I remember when I first started flying on them. Needless to say, that's one other reason I avoid others. The humiliation of their teasing and taunts when I kept crashing into things while learning to fly is something I will never forget, or forgive.

So that's pretty much me, in a nutshell, so to speak. Why am I telling you this? Well, remember how I told you that I went into self-exile, pretty much? Well, I wasn't kidding. I literally created a human-like doll, strapped myself in, and not quite abandoned, but sure as hell avoided, the spirit world for three decades. Of course I still made my firebugs, still sent them out, and occasionally went out with them, but I pretty much lived a human life. Cowardly? Perhaps, but I wasn't willing or ready to acknowledge what Manny had sprung on me. It wasn't like he specifically told me what my 'center' was, or what I was supposed to do about it. I sure as hell wasn't going to be all buddy-buddy with the other Guardians now. Or at least with North and Aster. Of course, Manny had other plans for me, and he involved Fate, and I'm pretty sure he involved Cupid too, despite the ass always telling me that I wouldn't attract anyone with my anti-social behavior. I happily gave him the finger whenever I saw him, and no, I don't regret it, even after being lectured by Karma and Mother Nature. The vain tattle-tailing twit.

What were Manny's plans? Well, I didn't know it, but apparently I should have been a bit more observant when visiting Pitch. Had I known what he was planning, I would have done what I could, even if it wasn't much, to try and stall him, or warn the others. As it was, it was only when Sandy died and Easter was ruined, did I get my wake-up call…

So what do ya guys think? Like it? Hate it? Should I dump it?