ALRIGHT HOLD IT.
Okay, people, I know some of you are reading this and all...but no-one is giving me ANY feedback whatsoever despite adding it to their 'follow' lists. Now I am grateful for that and I'm glad you like it, but please, give me a few point-outs or constructive criticism so I know I'm doing okay. I mean you don't have to, but please, review.
Just so you know, this chapter takes place around three years after the events in the fist chapter.
Chapter 2: Broken Memory.
She hadn't been born. She just...was.
The small, feathered fairy wandered the world alone. To any who could see her, she would seem no more than four or five years old.
She watched others from afar with a distance, longing gaze; Longing for them to be able to see her. She'd learned a long time ago that they couldn't, though it was a foggy, broken memory.
Just like all the others.
The small, feather-covered figure wandered through the frosty, snow-covered street, clutching a black, ragged blanket around her shoulders. It was always cold in this part of the word...whether it was spring, summer, winter, autumn...
She counted down the little seasons in her head, tiny body shivering against the cold. All she had over her feathers was a simple black dress and a ragged shawl flung over her shoulders. She was doing everything in her power to forget the chilly air as she padded along on bare, pointed feet towards a warmly lit window, glowing in the darkness of the night around her.
It was a funny feeling she got around the cold times. She loved the decorations, the happy faces on children she saw, and the tales she heard the forest fairies murmur. But she was sad because she could never be a part of it.
Christmas. That's what it was called. When that big, jolly man gave presents to the good children...children not too different from herself.
They where bigger, usually. But they liked the same things she did; They played with toys, climbed trees, laughed...
But then she would remember they couldn't see her...and they had 'mummies and daddies'
She asked some of the vague, odd and skinny fairies from the forest about 'Mummies and Daddies' and who they were. The green-skinned fairy had replied after a pause of thought, as if only then realizing what she meant by these terms.
"I believe it is what small human children call their mother and fathers. They are parents. They look after their children, care for them..."
The little fairy was upset by this, because it sounded so nice. She'd see children with their 'parents' holding their hands, and even now as she stared through the warm-feeling glass of the window, she saw a trio of children not older than herself gathered around the fire with their mother and father, story book in hand.
She loved stories. Especially ones about horses.
She loved horses.
The little feather creature loved the hoofed creatures, though was saddened that they could not see her, either. But she liked seeing people ride them. She wished she could do that...
There were animals like horses that pulled Santa's slay, she remembered vaguely as she stared through the glass, forehead resting on the see-through surface. Lots of them with big sticks on their heads.
She sighed a little and began trotting off towards the forest. There, in the trees, though it was cold...there was nothing that could make her happy and sad at the same time.
There were no faires around this time of year. Despite being some kind of fairy herself, as she could 'hop' into a small form where she sprouted had wings, (something she had discovered long ago with surprise. The other faires had been kind enough to show her how to fly...) the others found her...strange. And despite their polite ways and their influence in their forest, they were wary of her.
That only served to make her more sad. But, at least they could see her.
As she traveled through the snowy path, pulling the ragged black blanket around her even tighter, she saw that the fern-like patterns had began to glisten on the trees. Looking over a slender shoulder, the little girl saw that Mr Moon, who sometimes gave her a kindly word, was staring down upon something nearby, casting a pretty light over the snow.
Suddenly, there was a ruffling sound followed by a skidding one. The little girl flinched at the grating noise, her breath quickening. Who..was out here? In the cold...besides her?
Her yellowish eyes flickered around the forest uneasily. A cloud was passing over Mr Moon, plunging the tall trees and herself into the shadows. She shuddered, whimpering a little as memories of another person besides Santa Claus that she had heard of from books and from the forest dwellers.
The Boogeyman. He was a big, scary creature who hid in your closet, and under your bed. Though she had neither of these things, she didn't like the idea all the same.
The idea that there was someone in the shadows, waiting to get you...and steal your sweets.
She placed her small hand into her little bag, tightening her fingers around her sweets (that she had found in numerous buildings called 'shops') protectively.
But, as she wandered cautiously through the trees, she found it was not the Boogeyman. Whoever it was, they were human. And they were crouching down in a round, snowy covered clearing on their knees. They were digging with a shovel; probably where the skidding sound came from.
The little feathered girl hung back beside the trees, feeling unnerved by the expression on the other girl's face. Her hair was tied back and she was dressed warmly, so it couldn't be the cold. Something was held tight in one hand, the other digging frantically with the small shovel. She was panting hard, looking...afraid.
The little feathered girl approached, hands clasped before her nervously. She stopped just a few steps away from her, watching as she took both hands together, trying to catch her breath.
She leaned forward, head feathers standing on end in apprehension. Then, the human girl's hands opened, reveal some small, little white...
"Teeth." She whispered. The word rolled off her tongue like it had been sitting there was months. How did that...sound so...wait...
Suddenly the older girl placed the teeth in a small, red pouch and dropped them into a box. The feathered child stared with growing unease until she saw the girl place the box in the whole. What was she doing? Was she burying them?!
No! That- That can't happen!
She didn't know why, but something made her reach down and snatch the box from the whole. A startled gasp shot into the air as the little girl stumbled back, clutching the teeth-box to her chest tightly.
Just as the girl's head rose to see what had happened, the moonlight broke through the clouds and cast its watchful gaze upon them. The girl's eyes were wide and tear-stained, frantic. The little girl stepped back again, holding the box away.
She...she...could see her?
The other girl stammered. "You-you...are you one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers?"
Tooth...Fairy.
The little girl felt a searing pain shoot through her head, and with one hand she clasped her skull. Her mind was racing. She felt as though she needed to do something; To take these teeth somewhere safe so they could...because they...
"They...are memories."
The words came to her like a match lit in the darkness. Yes...teeth were memories. You couldn't- Shouldn't- bury them! Ever!
"You can't bury them! These teeth are for remembering!" She scowled at the crouching human, tightening her grip on the box as the brown-haired girl reached for them with a cry.
"You-you can't! They have to be hidden!" She was crying now. The little fairy felt something pull in her chest. What?
"W-why?" She mumbled, feeling upset. What could she possible mean, have to be hidden?
"Cause...Because..." The older girl swallowed, blinking back tears. "Sometimes its better to forget things. For your own good."
The little girl stared at her, tilted her head In bemusement. "Huh...?"
"Sometimes memories are bad...and dangerous. Its better to forget." The girl nodded at the box in her hand. "If my b-brother...remembers these things...then something bad could happen. Please...he must forget so he can be happy and safe."
Happy. Safe.
The little feathered creature was torn. Bad memories? But...but...
The feeling that she had to bring these teeth to some unknown place was fading. If she had the chance to forget the lonely feeling...would she?
Yes. It would be like it didn't even happen...so...
Slowly, almost reluctantly, she released her hold. But before she handed the box back, the little fair opened it up. She plucked the small pouch, not catching the human girl's worried gaze, and emptied the teeth onto her pale little palm.
There was so small, and she could feel...something inside them. Like a vibration. There were the memories, hidden inside. Alive.
"Maybe its better for them to go away, then." She mumbled to herself more than anyone else. She began raising her other hand towards them, poking each of them blankly. She closed her eyes and sighed.
What she didn't see as she closed her fingers over the teeth was a small, fain trail of black dust dance over the pearly memory-holders. Neither did the human girl.
The little feathered creature placed the teeth back into the pouch and slid it back into the box. She handed it back to the strange human girl, and at that moment she actually acknowledged that she had seen her. She'd been so caught up in the teeth that she hadn't noticed.
"How...how can you see me?"
The girl was burying the box now, covering it with soil. She didn't respond until she was done, and she padded snow from around her on top of the filled-in whole.
She bit her lip, glancing at down at the little fairy girl as she stood up. Then, she nodded towards the moon.
"There's...a Man in the Moon."
Mr Moon? Did he make her see her?
"Hello, Mista Moon!" She called, wavy a little. There was no reply as the clouds began traveling over the round, silver ball in the sky. Once it was gone, the other girl gasped.
"Hey..she's...gone."
The little feathered girl was confused before she realized what she meant. For some reason, once Mr Moon went behind the clouds, the human had stopped being able to see her.
But she tried to get her attention none the less, an aching feeling in her chest. After someone else finally being able to see her...it hurt so much.
"I'm right here!" She wailed quietly. But he human did not hear. Instead, she turned and began walking away from the clearing, rubbing her hands together to warm them.
The little girl lowered her head, and she began sobbing a little. As she did, a small trail of faint black dusts slipped through the air around her, the shadows creeping.
She did not know, that the moment she had touched the teeth, that the memories had...been blocked. Taken away.
She did not know that not too far away, a little blond boy that she had seen wandering in the forest, who she could have sworn had seen her at least once, had woken up feeling as if he was missing something dear him.
And so, she did not hear his small, husky voice calling out in dismay.
But someone else did.
Far away in he shadows of his quite, eerily still domain, The Nightmare King himself strode around the tiny figures representing the ones in the clearing. A thoughtful look was plastered on his pale, sharp features.
How ever interesting...
This little creature...who resembled a certain tooth collector he knew of, had done something involving his sand- His Nightmare Sand- that had pulled the memory from them and hidden them. Just with a single touch.
He rose a hand and tapped his chin thoughtfully.
"What a pity. To lose such precious, innocent memories in a single moment..." A low, dangerous laugh echoed through the blackened domain, and he tilted his head back at how easy it was. He took a deep breath to righted himself from the sudden burst of laughter, placing his hands behind his back.
"Poor little thing." He murmured as he watched the tiny replica of the feather-haired girl wandering away, pulling what looked like a blanket over her shoulders. "So alone in such a cruel world."
Pitch smirked, revealing a row of sharp, pointed teeth. Perhaps making her acquaintance was in order.
And so, he stepped back into the shadows, eyes and teeth still visible as he fell into the darkness, before they vanished into the darkness as well.
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