Hey y'all! So I now have the second chapter ready to be posted and I hope that you are liking this story so far, I know it may seem a bit rushed but I was planning on this all occurring in a span of 2 or 3 days though that may be extended so the story would be more fleshed out. Also I know this is a really short story and I'm sorry about that, I just really wanted to emphasize what happened with Nightlight and Kathrine. And I also want to give thanks to the readers who reviewed and followed or favorited this story it really means a lot to me, so thank you. I wonder if anyone has figured out what this story is about... Anyway on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to Dreamworks Rise of the Guardians or William Joyce's Guardian's of Childhood.
"Jack! Vhat are you doing? It is time for dinner." North called out moved down the hall to where Jack was. Jack turned to him with a shake of his head trying to get rid of the strange feeling in his heart.
"Sorry North. I just got distracted by this painting." He answered sparing a glance at said painting as North got closer. North looked at the painting and gave a small smile that was also filled with a twinge of sadness.
"Ah, I have always loved zhat painting. It is one of the few that showed all of the Guardians." North said gazing at the painting.
"All of the Guardians?" Jack asked confused since he thought that Sandy, Tooth, Bunny, and North were the only ones.
"Of course, you probably don't recognize us, it was a long time ago. Zhe young man in the middle is me when I was much younger. The man next to me was my mentor Ombric, also known as Father Time. He mostly travels and spends time with Manny and so we don't see much of him especially after the last battle. Next to Ombric is Bunny. Very different now, no?" North said with a small chuckle.
"No way that's Bunny. That has to be a relative. Bunny is bluish gray not brown." Jack exclaimed unable to believe that this being was Bunny.
"Is true, after zhe last battle with Pitch he started to gray as well as lose certain parts of his personality as he consumed more chocolate and soon he became how he is now. Don't know where robes are, will have to ask Bunny. But you vould not believe they are the same person if you just meet him, very sever personality change. I believe for better, was very uptight and annoying." North explained crossing his large arms. Jack couldn't believe they were the same person, it was a very large change Bunny went through.
"Wow, so who's the bird woman on the other side of you? A relative of Tooth?" Jack asked once he had shaken off the shock.
North chuckled before he answered with a warm smile, "No zhat is Tooth. She is zhe last of the Sisters of Flight but as she gained believers she began to change to what she looks like now."
"Why?" Jack asked confused on how she changed as well as disbelieving that this serious warrior looking woman was the bubbly Tooth that he now knows.
"Belief is a very powerful thing Jack, the children believed that she was delicate and fairy like and soon she became that but never underestimate her. She is still the Warrior Queen Toothiana no matter what she may look like now." North explained.
"Did she have a bad past North? Cause she looks very distrusting and serious, not like how she is now." He asked wondering what could have caused this distrust.
North sighed, "It iz not my story to tell, you vill have to ask Tooth."
"Okay, so I know that's Sandy next to Tooth but who are the two kids in the front?" Jack asked very curious about these two. North gave a small frown and looked like he didn't want to talk about them but just as Jack was going to take back his questions North answered.
"Zhat is Kathrine and Nightlight. Kathrine was a girl that I saw as a sister and she is known as Mother Goose. I do not see her anymore, she travels around and lives with Manny not wanting him to be lonely and to be closer to the stars. She was one of the first Guardians and the one that kept us together even if we almost lost her at one point." North stopped at this point and took in a shuddering breath. Jack placed a hand on his bicep suddenly feeling very young and small.
"You don't have to continue North, if its painful for you."North gave him a small smile.
"I know Jack but I'm okay. It was long ago."
"That doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt."Jack replied with a furrowed brow. North chuckled and patted Jack on the head.
"Yes, zhat is very true my friend. Now as I said Kathrine was a very special girl and though I don't see her I will always see her as my sister and Ombric will always see her as a daughter. The other person, Nightlight, was a very special young boy. He was from the Golden Age, where Pitch, Bunny, Sandy, and Manny are from. He was Manny's protector and he is the one that trapped Pitch onto Earth after he went after Manny and his parents the Tsar and Tsarsina. I will tell you the rest later, but Nightlight spent centuries trapped inside a diamond dagger inside Pitch's chest until he was released by a stray moon beam. He became best friends with Kathrine and an incredible friend to the rest of us. He was mischievous like you and very innocent. He couldn't really speak but he cared about the children and always made sure the darkness stayed away." North explained with a sad smile.
"He sounds incredible North, where is he now?" Jack asked very curious about this young boy that looked like him as well as wondering about this so called Golden Age.
"Ve do not know vhat really happened to him as after an encounter with Pitch, he vanished and though we searched for him, we never found him and Manny never said vhat happened but I know it iz tough topic for him as he truly cared about Nightlight. With Nightlight gone ve all didn't really see each other as much as ve should have because after Nightlight vanished Kathrine also broke away because she blamed herself and without Kathrine ve did not stick together at least not until you joined us. So thank you Jack, you are truly changing us for the better." North answered giving Jack a tight hug. Jack hugged North back timidly still shy around physical affection. Yet Jack couldn't get that strange feeling out of his heart, almost as if he knew there was more but he dismissed it as just feeling a connection because of their similar looks.
"Now then, shall ve have dinner? Ve can not let good food go to waste." North said with a grin as he lead Jack to the dinning room once they broke apart. Jack smiled and followed quietly as he continued to process everything that he had been told. As they entered the room Jack's nose was assaulted with the scent of delicious food as well as the warmth and light of the room. The other guardians where talking with each other catching up with what was occurring in the Spirit realm. But as soon as North and Jack entered Bunny stopped telling his story and turned to them with a questioning look.
"Where did you two disappeared to? We've been waiting for ya Snowflake." Bunny told them. Jack just smiled and floated over to the seat next to Bunny studying him intensely. Bunny gave him a questioning look as he saw Jack studying him and if he was being truthful it was really creeping him out.
"What are ya looking at ya larrikin?" Bunny questioned shuffling a bit away from Jack. Jack just smirked before he answered with a shake of his head.
"I just can't see you with the brown fur and robes Bunny, its too weird." Bunny looked shocked at the mention of how he used to look, then he suddenly turned to North with a small growl.
"Ya told him about that North?! I thought I told you not to mention it anymore!" He cried out. North gave out a loud laugh.
"I did not Bunny, he saw painting in hallway and asked who it vas, though vas relative of yours. Boy was curious so I just told him that was you." North replied with a grin as he began to fill his plate. Bunny growled but sat back already preparing himself for Jack taunts about his old appearance.
"Aw are you embarrassed Bunny? I'm just curious about how you changed so much but I will admit that I think that you look much cooler now than before, you looked way too stuck up." Jack teased as he also filled up his plate but with only fruits and vegetables. Bunny growled but stayed quiet not wanting to start a argument when he was so hungry. Tooth and Sandy laughed but also began to eat.
"North I didn't even notice that you still had that painting." Tooth said as she had some sweet tropical fruit.
"Of course I still have painting it has all the Guardians in it, other painting has us separated not there." He answered before he dug into the food on his plate that looked like a lot of traditional Russian meals.
"Um, can I just ask something?" Jack asked picking at his small helping of fruit.
"Of course Sweet Tooth, ask away." Tooth answered with a small smile.
"Well, did you all become Guardians at the same time or did some of you become Guardians later?" He asked.
"Well, North, Kathrine and Ombric were the first Guardians though Kathrine and Ombric didn't really I guess, settle down like we did. After that I joined them, a bit reluctantly mind you. Then Tooth, that was a incredible first meeting, and the last Guardian was Sandy who found us later when we had gotten Tooth to help us." Bunny answered as he chewed on a carrot. Jack frowned as he realized he didn't mention Nightlight.
"What about Nightlight?" Jack asked quietly not really thinking about how the others were going to react. As soon as the question left his lips the others stopped eating and the room was filled with silence. No one was sure what to say as the topic surrounding Nightlight was still a open wound.
"Well, Nightlight never took the vow and he was already a Guardian before he came to Earth so I guess you could say he was the very first Guardian and then Manny and the rest of us." Tooth answered quietly hoping Jack wouldn't ask anymore about him. Jack could tell that the other were uncomfortable and so he just nodded and went back to eating his meager plate hoping the tense air surrounding them would dissipate. And slowly but surely it disappeared and everyone went back to telling fun stories and about the adventures they had gone on as well as how they had all meet but never mentioning Nightlight. Yet as they talk Jack stayed quiet as he thought about this mysterious person and wondered what happened to him and why he felt he had a connection with him.
After dinner, everyone moved to the sitting room that they were in originally and just rested until they noticed that Jack was having a hard time staying awake and kept jerking his head up every time it drooped down until Sandy slowly sent a dream sand tendril toward him making him fall asleep against Bunny. Bunny just smiled and handed him to North who had been standing close by talking to a yeti. North chuckled quietly and ordered one of his yeti to take Jack to their coolest guest room that was still close by. The Yeti nodded and carefully cradled Jack like small child. The others watched as the yeti left with Jack feeling like a family even if it has really only been a total of two days that they've known each other. It seems that Jack truly was someone special.
"Well, I've got to head off, I have to help the Golems clean up the tunnels and probably update my wards so that doesn't happen again. Night everyone. Make sure to tell the Snowflake that he's free to see me anytime he wants as long as he doesn't freeze the Warren." Bunny said stretching as he got ready to open up a tunnel.
"Goodnight Bunny, you sure you don't want any help cleaning? I'm sure I can spare some of my faeries." Tooth said flying over to him with an anxious expression. Sandy also signaled to Bunny asked if he needed help either with cleaning or sleeping.
"Yes Bunny. Do you need help? I can ask the Yeti to go and help."North volunteered not wanting the large rabbit to be overwhelmed.
"Ta mates, but it should be alright. I'll check out what the damage is and determine whether I need help. And Sandy I don't need help sleeping, I've still got some sand leftover from last year. Night everyone." Bunny answered before he tapped him feet on the ground twice and fell through the tunnel leaving behind a pink aster. North grumbled about the flower but he knew that Bunny couldn't help it. Tooth just chuckled and flew over to him patting his shoulder.
"You know you wouldn't have to deal with the flowers if you created a room for him to open tunnels from his home." Tooth told him with a grin. North huffed.
"Perhaps but it vould not be as much fun hearing him complain about cold." North replied. Sandy shook his head and drank more from his cup of eggnog. Tooth laughed and hugged his shoulders.
"And maybe that's why he leaves flowers in your floorboards, because you enjoy torturing him." She said with a smile. North turned to her and smiled.
"Perhaps. Will you be staying or heading to palace?" North asked.
Tooth took a moment to debating whether she was too tired to fly back. "I think I will go back to my palace Nicholas, I want to be with my faeries and make sure they're okay as well as check on the tooth boxes that Pitch took. I need to try and get rid of whatever spell he used on them to make the children not believe in us so fast." Tooth answered already think about what kind of spell Pitch could have used.
"Very well Tooth but do tell me vhat he used, sympathetic magic can be very dangerous and I have already had Yeti bring out all spell books on the subject. Here take snow globe, that vay you vill not tire too much," North told her handing her one of his many snow globes. Tooth took the snow globe with a smile at North's concern.
"I will let you know what the spell is and make sure I'm careful. Goodnight Nicholas. Do tell Jack to come see me at anytime that he wants to start his memory retrieval. Night Sandy." Tooth told them before she whispered Tooth Palace into the globe and smashed it against the floor. As the Portal appeared she turned back and gave them a wave before stepping through.
Sandy took this as his cue to leave and spread a few dreams as well as make sure that Pitch's Nightmares haven't made any serious damage and that there were no strays running around. Sandy floated over to North signaling that he was leaving as well as a few symbols that left North embarrassed and denying. Sandy just gave a silent laugh before he left for his island to recharge as well as have a quick chat with an old friend. North huffed at what Sandy had been implying and tried to banish the blush from his face. He left the sitting room to head to bed but before he did he went to check on Jack. After asking his head of security yeti, Phil, where Jack was placed he found Jack completely asleep curled up in a ball on top of the covers and though the position made North feel uncomfortable Jack looked completely at peace and very comfortable. As he watched the young Guardian, North noticed a few moonbeams surround the boy almost petting him and watching over him and when North followed where they had come from, a large window on the roof, he saw Manny shinning down at him.
North then realized that Manny really did care about Jack, even though Jack felt that Manny had abandoned him, North realized that he didn't and he never would. North smiled and ruffled Jack's hair earning a small sigh which caused the moonbeams to get closer. North looked up at Manny with a small smile.
"You truly care for the boy, but I believe that he would appreciate you more if you spoke with him. Goodnight Old friend." North told him before he left for his own room for some rest.
Hey y'all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully have gotten more of a hint of what this story is about.
Now to answer some reviews.
Reviews:
Amaris Magic: Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad that you are liking this and I hope you liked this chapter.
Serami Nefera: Thank you for reviewing and for your thoughts and opinion. I do agree with what you said about the pace and I will try to work on that but again I was making this a one shot till it developed into a multi-chapter, so I'm very sorry about that. I hope you liked this chapter and again thank you for your thoughts.
If y'all have any suggestions for this story or any questions please don't hesitate to ask me or write in the reviews. Till next time! Bye!