OMFG! *Groans* Sorry about the lack of updates, guys. My bad!
I was writing 3 other stories (Well, one is actually editing, but it still counts) and it just got so overwhelming and just- GAH!
Also, My computer keeps deleting my work or turning itself off whenever I nearly finish writing this chapter. And, it's happened so many times that I just had to walk away from this story for a few days unless I went on a rage and destroyed my laptop
...
Bookworm210: Yes, that does mean short. But, I did mention that a series of One-Shots and mini arches would follow after this story. And, maybe, I might turn this into a full story after I've finished all my other stories.
I'm glad you love it all! Especially John, I felt really paranoid about how people would like him or he might be terrible or something.
The Blue Phantom: Why mention I'm awesome when we already know that, Blue?!
Lets just say, I have a whole vault full of them. Big enough to contain a certain Winter Spirit *Evil chuckles*
yujuh7: Yep, I'm continuing this story since people liked it so much. I'm glad you've following this story, and loving it. Thank you for the review, it made me feel much more encouraged to write this chapter.
John sighed as he glided through the night sky, flying past the shadowed clouds and winking stars as the darkness become more surrounding and incredibly dull. Stopping within the blackened clouds as he hovered there in thought.
'Maybe you should find another place to have fun.' John suggested to himself, even though is heart ached as he thought about leaving Britain.
His heart always aches when he leaves the small empire of Great Britain, departing from its bleak streets yet joyful communities. Whenever he leaves, he feels like he was leaving some sort of home. That ache he feels when he leaves is what always brings him back, back towards the small empire, back towards the only place he can feel some sort of true home at.
Maybe he lived here once? Grew up here before he was sent off to battle and be 'reborn'.
John might never get that answer, or any answer to the thousands of questions he had to ask.
He made his decision with a sigh, twisting through the air as his hair ruffled in the Winter breeze, "Hey, Wind!" John cried, "You know where to go!".
And the wind did know, for it blast John skywards and straight ahead with incredible, fierce speed.
John traveled through the clouds above the spanning oceans, the seas sparkling in the moonlight and the rising sunlight as the sun began to travel through the sky. The glistening seas turned into the sandy shores of beaches; then the towering buildings towns and cities of civilization.
A small town, combined of grand, ancient buildings and simply designed, new ones, made him finally stop and land on to a telephone wire with graceful ease.
He walked across the wire, looking down at the town and its streets blanketed with snow and frost.
'Damn, it's snowing everywhere, isn't it?' The sight caused John to think with a raised eyebrow, but he shrugged it off as he continued travelling around the town by the rooftops and power lines.
He didn't want to answer those questions right now. For, the small town of Burgess needed their old resident back.
John whipped his head up, releasing a carefree laugh as the wind tossed him through the low streets of Burgess.
The wind laughed, too. It's bitter cold embrace twirling around John, spreading its swift breeze in its wake. Papers were blown, scarfs were lost and people were shocked by the change of the Winter Breeze.
The young teen whooped as he glided across the corner, the wind thrusting him into flips and spins as they turned. He loved the wind, it was like his companion and his loyal ally. He wouldn't call it a friend, though, for he understood that the wind had a much closer, loving bond with somebody that wasn't him; John respected that the wind had allies and friends, for John believed they were all the same because they all rode the skies.
Adrenaline rushed through his veins, excitement coursing through his bloods that he felt like he could fly for decades without rest, like he was energized for anything.
A sudden blast from the wind made John thrust to the left, stumbling in the air and nearly collapsing as he crashed into a brick wall. John shook his head, trying to break his shocked and confused daze. He regained balance within the wind and recovered just as he saw a little boy, with messy brown hair and wide brown eyes, skid straight past him on a spontaneous trail of ice that has appeared across the road. His sled rushed past pedestrians and cars, receiving gasps and irritated cries. And, wait...was that a person flying beside the kid?!
Was that another spirit?!
John nearly yelled out after the pair, attempting to follow after the little boy and- believed to be -spirit but they were already lost in the maze of buildings and pathways.
He cursed, yelling out in frustration as he descend towards the ground.
John missed it, the opportunity to meet another spirit, a chance to meet somebody just like him. He had it, then lost it as soon as it came.
Through his whole immortal life, John has never met another spirit. Except, for the conversations with the nature and water spirits, and the occasionally encounter with the Easter Bunny (Which never lasted long or ended well, in John's opinion). He even met Santa once, but the jolly immortal didn't notice John trailing behind his sleigh in wonder and excitement.
Nobody notices him, not even the immortals.
It was like he was the odd one out, the shunned and exiled one of the whole immortal world. Barely any person- spirit, sprite, or any immortal in between -took the time to greet him, have a small conversation, prove to him that he exists to them. They took no effort, and that just made John worthless.
Which, in John's opinion, he was!
He had no special powers, no abilities over anything except the wind- and that wasn't even him, it was the wind itself! No control over weather or nature, or a unique way to be useful in this world- Spirit or likewise.
He hasn't even got a center.
The nature spirits told him about 'centers', the things that make the person who they are or what gives them the purpose to remain on this earth. All the nature spirits were, of course, nature and wildlife; the water spirits were the same, except for they care more about the aquatic wildlife.
The 'Centers' of spirits is what creates them, bonds them to the spirit world, makes them who they are.
So why, just why, was he the only spirit that didn't have a center, have his own purpose?
Maybe his lack of a purpose, a center, is what makes the spirit world shun him and disown him. Never talks to him and makes him feel eternally alone. Forever leave him in the dark, with no hope of an answer for his questions or some help for his troubles.
John sighed, bowing his head as he stared at the frozen ground beneath his combat boots.
He no longer wanted to be in Burgess. He just wanted to be alone, which wasn't exactly hard for him- but the point still remains.
Before he could mutter a command, the wind already whisked him into the air and through the afternoon sky as the fast currents and clouds whipped past him.
John wanted to laugh, smile at the wind for its gratefulness, but he just...couldn't. It's like he lost the ability to smile, the way to laugh and chuckle, forgot how to be happy.
Well, he forgot how to be happy and joyful a long time ago. In fact, he never remembered how, like always.
His eyes glanced across the forest, it beautiful towering trees that glistened with snow and frost in the late afternoon sky. The wind noticed, and gracefully set him down upon the forest ground of withering leaves and snow that crunched under his feet.
Raising his hood, John stuffed his hands into the warm pockets of his jacket as sharp, small snowflakes fell from the dark, forming clouds and piercing his hidden face with bitterness.
"Well, guess some Winter Sprite is pissed." John grumbled as he trudge through the increasing snow, burying his hands further into his hoodie until he felt the cold metal of a familiar golden locket against his palm. He clutched the necklace within his palm, remembering the bright, joyful face of his little sister.
His little sister, That is all he could call her. He has no hint or memory of her name, her age, or any event involving her. The only he knew was that he had a little sister, and what she looked like because of the locket.
His sister was the only memory, only good memory, he had so he'd tried to desperately to find her and learn more, remember more about her and himself.
But, his planned failed. He never found her, and he probably never will.
It has been 100 years. So, no matter how young she was when he left, she'll be over 100 years old and probably would have forgotten John anyway.
John sighed, gripping on to the locket more tightly as looked at the bleak, Winter sky.
Even though the large, grey snowcloud that overwhelmed the evening sky blocked out almost any light, the moon shone through the snow like a bright, silver beacon; bathing John's covered face in gentle light.
John coldly chuckled, "You're up early, aren't you?" He called to the moon, glaring intensely at its cratered surface.
No response came, only silence.
"You know..." John continued, trying to ignore the hurt he felt within the terrible silence, "You've got to talk to me sooner or later. So...wouldn't it be better if you...talk to me...now?" His tone was hopeful, pleading as if the moon would finally listen to him.
It didn't. Only the subtle breeze of the wind and the creaking branches of the forest were heard through the such dreadful quiet.
"Look, I know you're listening to me and watching me from up there so you can at least talk to me." John's tone become more stern, more frustrated and angered, "You don't even have to talk! Just answer some questions. I only need a 'yes' or a 'no' but you won't even give me that! What have I done wrong to not just get some answers to questions I deserve to know after all these decades!?" John was beginning to shout now, his voice echoing through the darkening forest.
Silence. Always silence.
"Please! Just talk to me!" John screamed, the wind responding and beginning to howl, "I don't ask for much, just...why?!" John continued the yell at the moon, "Why, why, why, why, why?!"
Unshed tear stung John's eyes, making him stubbornly attempt to wipe them away but to no avail for they remained.
"I don't know if I'm being selfish, or you regret creating me, or I'm not good enough but...I just...want to know...why." His voice broke at the last part, a sob breaking through him as the tears were finally shed, rolling down his cheeks.
John never cries. Sure, he cried during the first hours of his life and has been on the verge of tears many times before but he has never truly cried. He has bottled all his emotions up, and he never really noticed what he felt until now, sobbing uncontrollably.
He was alone, unloved, unwanted. He was angry, frustrated, desperate, scared.
John never had fear grip him so tightly, overwhelm him so easily.
He was afraid of loneliness, afraid of solitude, afraid of being cast out and neglected; being walked through and unseen by every being on the planet. But the thing he was most afraid of, was never knowing why.
Sobs became sniffs, sniffs became whimpers, and then whimpers faded away to become the dreadful silence that John always despised.
The moon remained quiet through it all, and John didn't have the effort to ask and plead another time. He laid on the ground, curling in on himself as sniffs and whimpers began to return and tears threatened to leak from his eyes again.
Darkness embraced John as he remained on the ground for...hours? He didn't want to know, the gracefully falling snow collecting round his shoulders and knees.
'Okay, you've had your moment. Now get up.' His mind snapped, reawakening him from his lost thoughts and making him sluggishly move his sore, freezing limbs from the ground. Raising to his feet, John looked at the dark landscape around him and shivered, but not because of the temperature.
Something wasn't right about this place.
Before John could figure out what, a loud, piercing wail of a creature echoed through the atmosphere, a series of vicious galloping sounding after its wake.
A blur of shadows stood out from the trees and snow, John looking at it with shock and horror. It was a horse, but not an ordinary pet used for riding. Created by shadows and darkness, with eyes of bright amber spreading eeriness with its glare. Its body shifted as small grains of its body fell away and created a trail.
Within that second of seeing it, it was gone. Lost within the trees.
"Oh no you don't." John muttered as he summoned the wind, a quick blast sending him into the height and safety of the trees which he traveled through. Branch by branch, he jumped across the forest after the creature of darkness.
The trees began to spread out, revealing an open plain that the horse raced through. John went to follow further, but stopped within the thick branches of an oak as he stared at the sight.
Darkness spread through the plain like an unnatural plague, not a single glimmer of visible moonlight shining upon the soil. Shadows spilled out of a gaping hole within the center of the plain, its depth unknown and frightening, as a broken, wooden bed frame rested above it, almost ready to fall apart and make someone plummet into the darkness.
Shivers went up John's spine at the sight, a feeling of paranoia and fear overwhelming his confused mind. He watch, brown eyes glaring at the bed frame, as the horse dived into the shadows.
Silence, it remained like that for several minutes before a choir of horrifying wails came from the hole, a series of angered stomping from furious horses, to many to be possible to fit within such a tiny hole.
Then, a terrible chuckle, increasing in volume and insanity until it became a wicked laugh. John felt himself trimmer in fear and horror, to frozen to move yet to scared to stay. His mind screamed at him to fly away from the place, away from the danger, but remained still as shadows burst from the hole and a figure crafted by fear and nightmares began to rise...
Dun. Dun. DUNNNN! Cliffhanger! XD
Anyway, sorry for the long wait, my lovelies. Got distracted by other stories, editing old stories, Tumblr, and a vicious plot bunny that won't leave me alone!
Also, Happy Easter! Take this new chapter as a gift from me. I hope you're all enjoying this day of hope and new beginnings as much as I am! (I got 5 easter eggs and a whole box of Lucky Charms to munch on. Nom Nom Nom)
Remember to Rate and Review! :D