Rise of the Guardians

Traverse

Chapter Three: Weaving Shadows

Skylar hid, deep in her bedroom. No light dared tread as she waited with bated breath, fear at her heels, her throat, and in her chest, her heart beating so hard, she thought it would burst.

She heard movement and pressed against the corner of the room, trying to make herself as small as possible. She clung to herself, her breath becoming rapid and shallow, the sounds of her gasps filling the room.

"Skylar."

"I'msorryimsorryimsorryimsorry…" The teenager began to rock back and forth, terror oozing off her as Pitch stayed at the doorway, not wanting to enter. "They…theytheythey…saw …"

"Good."

Her eyes flashed to him, her body still rocking. She obviously didn't believe him as she cowered.

"Skylar, come out of there, come here. It'll be fine, I promise."

"No, it won't.. it never is…"

"I need you to trust me, Skylar," He knelt down on a knee. "Come on, honey, it's all right. You don't have to be afraid.."

He stilled, looking at his outstretched hand as he seemed to want to remember this familiar scene. As if he had once comforted another, someone who he loved so long ago. But that memory couldn't surface so he ignored it and waited for Skylar to respond.

She looked into his eyes and very slowly crawled out of the corner. She was trembling, her hand visibly shaking. "I'm.. sorry.."

"No, my dear. I wanted them to see you. I wanted them to know, that I was freed from my prison. They will soon regret locking me away."

Skylar nodded, as she cuddled against him. So unnatural, but Pitch made do as he held her gingerly. The more time he spent with the girl, the more paternal he found himself.

And it wasn't entirely an unwanted feeling. He was starting to feel as he owed someone something but as he didn't remember what for, he bottled everything away and focused his attention on the Guardians.

Deep in the Warren, the children had been set aside as the twins were put in front of the group, intent on gaining any vital information to the current situation.

"I want answers and I want them now," Bunny began angrily. "This wasn't a mistake of you coming here, was it?"

The two glanced at each other. Aegis blinked and then shrugged. "No. But we're not the important party here."

"And who would be the important party be?" Bunny asked darkly.

"Can't say. I mean, it could be anyone," Aegis answered, her eyes growing wide. "So much can change, that we came here was only the first catalyst. All we can say is that when the time comes…"

The two spoke as one. "You will know what to do."

Bunny held his head. North burst forward. "Is nothing more than riddle! We want answers!"

"They're right, aren't they?" Faustine wanted to hide under the hard stares of everyone. "Well, they can't reveal the future, wouldn't that be like… bad?"

"She does have a point," Tooth was loathe to agree. "We can't harass them for answers."

"Says you," Bunny began and faltered under the doleful looks of his future twins. "Darn it, you learned that look from your mother, didn't you?"

At that conclusion, the other guardians left, though Jack was almost held back by the desperate Bunny, who really didn't want to deal with his future children at the moment.

However, once all gone, he was faced by a much bigger problem.

Faustine was on all fours, walking away as she purposely mooned her mate. Bunny gritted his teeth, before forcibly asking. "What did I do?"

"You don't love me anymore," Faustine ignored his growl as she disappeared into the foliage.

"This is what you get when you say you're.." Trek made quotation marks. "Done with everything."

Trek slowly backed away from his glowering father. "Remember, you love us."

"Doesn't mean I have to like you," Bunny hissed before stomping away.

"Killjoy," Trek muttered as Aegis pinched him as he yelped.

"Kit, come on!"

"No!" Came her disembodied voice. Bunny followed his nose to a partially hidden enclosure among the trees and bushes. She was sitting on the ground, back to him as she pointedly ignored him.

He nudged her with his foot. "How can you say that?"

"You're the one that said it!" Faustine burst out.

"I said I was 'done with this'. I said it because of frustration, including this moment right now. Doesn't mean that I stopped loving you. I never will."

Faustine was hit by a strange feeling as something flare in her mind, a vision of someone she didn't recognize. Before she could really focus on it, it was gone and so was the feeling as she promptly ignored the strange vision and turned to Bunny. "You're sure on that?"

"Absolutely," Bunny sat next to her. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, love. It's just I wasn't expecting to deal with children who knew how to bend time and space. It's something that I thought would be forgotten in time."

"But you can do it, right?"

"Well, yes."

"So it's not forgotten. And it would make sense that our children would be able to," Faustine pointed out.

"Sort of hoping not. It's too complicated but I think the twins know more about it then they let on." Bunny plopped himself next to Faustine. "We need to get them to tell us about the girl. They know her and that must mean something."

Bunny elbowed Faustine slightly. "Well?"

"I'm thinking."

"Try not to burn any brain cells."

Faustine's slitted gaze peered from him by the side. He tried to smile charmingly, but Bunny leaned away very slowly. "It was a joke."

"Not funny! I'm not stupid!"

"No, of course not. You didn't realize you were pregnant until your mother told you."

"Shut up!"

Trek and Aegis were whispering together as their 'younger' siblings watched them intently.

Axel eventually moseyed on over. "So, you guys know the Boogeyman?"

"Kind of," Aegis hedged.

"We know his daughter."

"His.. He has a kid?"

"Well, two, actually. He doesn't remember his first one right now but eventually.."

Aegis hit Trek across the head. "Shut up!"

"So then this Skylar is his kid?" Hitch asked, appearing from the right side of Axel.

"Sort of," Trek answered. "She's…"

He saw Aegis's hand raised threateningly. "What? We were told not to tell the parents. Nothing about our siblings!"

Aegis thought on it. "I don't know…"

"I think they should know. We're around her age.. I think, and we can be her friends. That's important, remember?"

"Well, all right," Aegis said finally, hesitantly.

"How do we befriend her?" Thump's nose went into overdrive, looking very curious.

"I wouldn't mind more friends!" Princessa said brightly. "She looks so sad too!"

"We can be good friends!" Hop offered. "How do we meet her?"

Trek and Aegis glanced at each other before waving their hands to their siblings. The seven gathered into a tight group, whispering softly to each other as they made plans to find this Skylar and befriend her.

Meanwhile, the Guardians were having a panic attack. Jack was alone at his pond, looking into the water as he wondered exactly what they were going to do. Pitch was going to come after them but how and when? Was he going to attack the children?

Jack frowned suddenly, turning away to peer into the falling shadows among the thick trees.

The soft sound of a woman laughing irked him, as Jack spun onto his heels, holding up his staff.

The woman slinked out from the shadows, her night black hair falling in waves upon the ground, forming into a massive ocean of hair. Her skin was pale, her eyes were green, and she was tall and lean with a familiar build. Her smile slowly faded as she tilted her head.

"The Guardian of Fun…how quaint. I was wandering and wanted to see what became of you. Not much, as I see."

Jack glared at her. "Who are you?"

"I? I am Mother Nature, my boy. And with a warning. Do not dare go against the Nightmare King. Only I shall do so and only when ready. Heed my warning, frosted child and tell all of your other Guardians."

"Why..?" Jack began as the woman turned into clouds and dispersed as quickly as she had appeared. "Mother Nature?"

Deep in Pitch's lair, Pitch felt something cross his senses, something warm and familiar before it was swiftly eaten away by the darkness within him. He was looking at the globe, a dark copy of the one in North's home as the gold dots danced around, tormenting him. He was going to take out all the dreams, all the hopes, and all the wishes and return the world to what it was before, before the Man in the Moon appeared, before the coming of the Guardians. When the world was set in the Dark Ages, where there was only suffering and his total power over the Earth.

'Papa…' Someone whispered in his ear, making him turn hard. 'Papa! You promised to come home.. To find me.. Papa, where are you?'

"Papa?"

Pitch turned to his other side, Skylar looking up at him as she held a teddy bear made of shadows formed into fabric.

"My dear, it's very late."

"I heard a woman… she was talking to me."

"A woman? There's only I, my dear."

"But.. She said that you knew her, once upon a time."

Pitch narrowed his eye. "I see. Skylar, you need to go to bed. Your bags are only getting bigger."

"Papa, what are we going to do against the Guardians?"

"I am going to restore the old balance of the world by taking them out. Back in the old days, where I was important.. Remembered…" He smiled bitterly,.

"Am I not helping you?"

"As I will allow it. You will not go against them, Skylar, you're too young, too weak still. You need to learn more first."

Skylar nodded as he guided her back to the bedroom. She watched him leave, turning to her bed as she remembered the woman. She had told her to find the bunnies and kittens of the Easter Bunny and to befriend them. By doing so, she would help her new father.

Skylar didn't see how but something about the woman made her think she was telling the truth, being honest. And it made Skylar want to do as she was asked to do.