A/N: Yeah! Over 100 views! Thank you all so much! It really is a great honor that people enjoy my story. There is going to be action in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy the show!
(North)
Sandy, Tooth, and Bunnymund all stared at me with mouths agape. Tooth was the first to speak. "But she died, North. She died way back in the battle of the Dark Ages. I was there." She looked downcast. "I saw Pitch kill her and Jokul."
"But Jokul is part of the proof! If Jack exists, why can't she?" I retorted. I knew this would hit Tooth the hardest because of her previous friendship with the spirit.
"Should we tell her?" I could tell Bunnymund didn't like this. He liked to say the spirit was unpredictable at best.
"Of course! It's here identity for moon's sake." Everybody went silent for a moment. "We could test her before we tell her, if you are all still unsure." A question mark appeared over Sandy's head. "Well, I figure that she would have the same powers as her the previous spirit. Also, if she could find the weapon that Seraphina left it. Tooth, you know where she dropped it, right?" I asked.
"I've searched for it a thousand times and I've never found it." Then I saw my own previous epiphany dance across her face. "But, you think now that she has returned, it would too. You're brilliant, North!" Tooth clapped her hands in delight. "Now we wait until the wake up so we can test your hypothesis!"
I had an important question for them all. "If you guys are planning on sticking around, would you mind helping around out here. There are three days until Christmas and there are still presents to be wrapped." The other Guardians sighed, then set to help bring Christmas.
(Maxie)
I woke up when the sun rose the next day. I sat up, feeling much better than I did yesterday. It still ached when I breathed, and my back stung and burned a slight bit when I stretched. The infirmary seemed to be a normal room with a fireplace and a window. There was a small fire burning in the fireplace. I swung my legs over the side of the side of the bed and stood up. How in the world did you heal so quickly? It caught my curiosity. Yay! Another question to ask the Guardians. I stretched again, then padded quietly over to the fire. When I felt the heat fully enveloped me, I sat down to think. What was I going to do now that Pitch was after me? What was I going to do now that I had no memories? What were the Guardians going to do with me? I saw that all of the questions were circling around one basic question. What now?
"You know if you keep your face like that for too longer, it'll stay like that." Jack rubbed his eyes and rolled out of bed. I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. "I'm guessing you were thinking something along the lines of 'what now?'" He sat just outside of the flame's heat. I scowled. My thoughts shouldn't be that easy to guess. "And I'm guessing by your reaction that I was right." When I didn't say anything, he sighed. "Until you want to talk." He stood up, grabbed his staff, and sat on the windowsill.
I just looked at him. What does he expect me to do with that? I got up and fully intended to go over and talk to him when Tooth barged in.
She looked surprised when she saw us both awake and out of bed. "Oh, um, good morning you two. How are you both feeling?" She looked to Jack first.
"Fine." He responded. Jack unwound the bandaged hand and held it out so Tooth could see. Only a thin red line showed up against his pale skin. "Soon that will heal too."
Tooth turned to me now. "What about you?" I thought quickly about it.
"My back is a tiny bit sore, and it stings when I move a certain way, and my rib aches a little bit, but otherwise I am ready to go!" I jumped, showing her that I was fine. Tooth just smiled.
"One of the perks of being immortal. Come on, the other Guardians want to talk to you." She walked out of the room, then stuck her head back in. "You too, Jack." Jack sighed and followed Tooth out the door. I followed after them quickly, not wanting to get lost in the giant building. Tooth and Jack turned into a room down the hallway. I went in just after them, and saw the coolest room ever.
It was full of moving glass sculptures. Then I looked closer at a bird flying past me and realized two things: that the bird was made of ice, and the freaking thing was flying! "Whoa," was all I could manage. Then I saw the Easter Bunny and Sandy wrapping presents in the corner. The world really must be going crazy. North came up from behind and put an arm around my shoulders.
"So you like my office." He said it as a statement, not a question.
"I like the birds." He just laughed, sitting in a chair in front of what I assume was the carving table. There were several large slabs of ice on top of the table. Everybody stopped their separate activities and looked to him.
North took a deep breath. "We know for a fact that Pitch is after you, Maxie. We also know that he has become a lot stronger and is coming for revenge. From what you tell us, we believe he is after you for who he suspects you are." I felt my eyes widen. 'For who you are.' Is that a good or bad thing? "We have a suspicion of who you are, but we have to prove it. You, Tooth, and Jack are going to look for something that was lost over 500 years ago. Tooth knows where it was last seen, but we won't tell you what it is. That is part of the test."
"But how will I know what I'm looking for if you don't tell me what it is?" Now I was really confused.
North just smiled. "You'll know it when you find it." I just twitched. I hated it when people said things like that. 'You'll see', 'I'll tell you when you're older', and 'be patient' were 3 things you don't just tell me. North's words crawled under my skin. I just like to know things. What is the harm in that?
"Now, can you tell me why exactly I am going?" Jack asked from behind me.
"For protection." North replied. It sounded as if he had to practice that a few times before it would come out. Jack has something to do with finding it, and North doesn't want to lie to him.
"Tooth is capable of taking care of herself."
"Not Tooth. You're going to protect Maxie. She doesn't have any kind of weapon for fighting, she is still hurt, and Pitch is after her." Jack looked to me, then sighed.
"When do we leave?!" I was excited to learn who I was.
"Right now." Tooth grabbed my hands. "I'm so happy for you, Maxie. Let's go!" Tooth dragged Jack and me out of the room, to wherever this mysterious object disappeared.
(Jack)
We were flying over Canada, or Tooth and I were at least. Maxie was clinging to my back, enjoying the view. "That's so cool! Whoa, that's a big lake!" She was so excited to see everything. Suddenly she shifted and actually pulled herself on my shoulders.
"What in the world are you doing?" She was sitting on my shoulders, and I had no idea what to do.
"Oh calm down, Frostie. I'm just getting a better view. A lot of people say I'm like a cat." She stopped, and I could almost hear her thinking about that last statement. "At least I thought they did. I'm not so sure." Maxie then decided that she would rather sit in the crook of my staff.
"Are you going to sit still anytime soon?" I had already anticipated her answer.
She just smiled. "Nope." She swung her legs back and forth. I grimaced. She's going to lose her balance.
"Please don't do that, you might fall!" She just stuck her tongue out at me.
"Cool it Frostie. I won't fall." She attempted to poke me in the stomach with her foot, but missed and lost her balance. "Jack!" She fell. Both Tooth and I flew after Maxie. Tooth was about 3 yards away from Maxie when something extraordinary happened. A small portion of cloud detached itself and moved toward Maxie faster than any wind could muster, coming under Maxie and halting her fall. Maxie looked about as surprised as I felt.
"What was that?" I flew down so I was even with her.
"I have no idea." She looked so confused.
"Can you make it move?" I was dumbfounded. What got into this cloud? Maxie's face contorted in concentration, and suddenly the cloud shot forward in rapid bursts of speed. "Wow." Tooth and I followed quickly after her, but she kept going forward. "Maxie! Stop!" Her cloud-thingy stopped. We finally caught up to her. Maxie was astounded.
"This is so cool! I'm going to name this little guy Charlie!" I just looked at her. How unpredictable can you get?
"Aren't you scared that you almost fell to your death?" I would be absolutely terrified. Not that I would tell Bunny that.
"You would think so, but somehow before I even knew I was going to fall, I knew Charlie would catch me. I just knew the clouds would keep me safe."
Tooth called out to us, "can we keep going? We're still a good while away." I held my thumb up, signaling to keep going. Tooth started flying with Maxie and me following. Soon it took less concentration for Maxie to make the cloud move forward.
"You okay?" I asked suddenly after flying silently for so long. She jumped slightly, and I knew I had startled her out of deep thought.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled. "I'm just wondering what this-" She gestured to Charlie, "would have to do with any kind of 'spirit'? Who would that make me, the Cloud Queen?" She looked so serious when she said that, I couldn't help but laugh. She glared for a moment, then joined me.
"If you are the Cloud Queen, where's your crown?" I retorted. She laughed harder.
"Hey," she suddenly stopped laughing, "name any flying creature." Maxie suddenly seemed very excited.
"Okay," I said, thinking for a moment. "An eagle!"
She started to concentrate again, and the cloud started to grow, stretching and shrinking into a large, white bird of prey. Her concentration broke and she gasped. I was shocked too. It was a perfect model of a really big eagle. I thought it was just made of cloud until it turned its head toward me and screeched. "Its alive!?" I touched the eagle's wingtip. It was solid and warm. "How did you, and the, what in the-"
"We're here." Tooth called back to us. She didn't seem surprised at all by the giant bird. "We'll land in that small clearing over there." She pointed to a small break in the trees, and we all banked toward the spot. Charlie the giant eagle landed first, letting Maxie slide to the ground. I landed in a small tree right off the side of the clearing, and Tooth landed right next to Maxie.
When I looked around, my jaw dropped. The area had the same effect on Maxie. "What?" Tooth asked the both of us.
"This is the place I woke up." Maxie responded at the time I said, "this is the place I saw Maxie die."
A/N: Anybody want to guess either what Maxie needs to find or who Maxie is? Leave a review or whatever!