Okay… so after a week, I'm back.
YEAH THAT'S RIGHT I'M BACK MWAHAHAHAH
Sooooo… I kinda hate it when I have to get used to the computer's keyboard again ;A; but anyways.
I don't own RotG in any way, they belong to their respectful owners. I only own my OCs (WOW I GOT SO MANY XD).
And remember: constructive criticism allowed, snowballs will be thrown at flames. I HAVE JACK FROST ON MY TEAM. THE WORST ENEMY WHEN HAVING A SNOWBALL FIGHT. MWAHAHAH.
P.S: I don't know how the heck I'm going to write North's and Bunny's dialogue… I mean, North is freaking Russian and Bunny's accent? Forget about it. so in advance, I apologise if the characters' dialogues are weird… or if they're not in character…
P.S.S: Heads up. Spoilers on Tooth's past, based on the books. I don't read the books, but… read the wiki so my fanfic won't clash with the story…
North rushed out the room and stood in front of the globe. The globe was dotted with little golden lights, at various places on the globe. "What are those lights?" Kaitlyn asked.
"One light represents a believer. You know, when the child believes in us Guardians?" Jack replied. He frowned as one of the lights went off. "And when it disappears, it means that the kid doesn't believe in us anymore."
Sandy nudged North. "I know! I know!" North replied as he pulled out a lever, turned it, then pushed it down again. Lights more commonly known as the aurorae borealis came out of it. "What the-?" Kaitlyn was surprised. So all those times when someone got a glimpse of these lights, it was actually an SOS signal from North?
North started pacing. "Only Bunny and Tooth left. If the other one was to come…"
Suddenly, a hole appeared in the ground. A bunny/kangaroo creature came out of it. "What's wrong?"
The sound of wings flapping was to be heard when a half-human, half-hummingbird person came to view.
"Hey Bunny, Tooth." Jack greeted the two. Kaitlyn made it a mental note to note that the Easter Bunny was a badass bunny/kangaroo with boomerangs and coloured eggs that could most probably explode, and that the Tooth Fairy isn't some fairy in a tutu going around collecting children's teeth. She had some of her mini-me's flying around her. Was it Kait's imagination or were they really swooning over Jack?
"Wait, wait, wait. Who in tha' name of Easta' is this?" Bunny pointed to Kaitlyn.
"Hush. Don't be rude, Bunny." Tooth responded. She smiled at Kait. "I'm Toothiana. Just call me Tooth for short." She extended her arm. Kait did the same and they both shook hands.
Bunny grunted. "Bunnymund. Call me Bunny for short." He eyed her warily, then looked at Jack, then back at her. "Ya' ain't related to tha' bimbo, are ya'?
Kaitlyn was taken back a little at this question. "Um, as far as I can remember, I've never met him in my life until today." She leaned on her staff. Then she remembered something. "Wait a minute, YOU'RE the TOOTH FAIRY!" her eyes lit up. "The Easter Bunny! Santa Claus! And the Sandman! And the bringer of snow, Jack Frost!" she was hyperventilating now. "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod."
"Uh, Jack? Make sure she stays away from me." Bunny took a few steps away from Kaitlyn. "She spells trouble."
Kait stopped being derpy. "Excuse me? I spell trouble?" I guess you could say that she was annoyed now. "Getting excitable over the Guardians is a bad thing? Or is it that I'm too weird?" for some reason, saying that she was trouble really angered her. She didn't know why, but it just made her boil. She took a step towards Bunny.
"Okaaay, you two. Stop it. Especially you, Bunny," Tooth stepped in between Bunny and Kait.
Kait averted her gaze from Bunny's. "Sorry about that."
He still eyed her warily, but didn't say anything.
"We are done, yes? No?" North said, to get everyone's attention. "The situation is bad. As for now, Pitch, Irina and South are out."
Tooth gasped. Bunny's eyes widened. "Wait wait wait, them too? I thought it was only Fox. He I can handle. But the four of 'em? Even with us together, I don't think we can."
"What do you mean, you thought it was only Fox?" Jack asked. Everyone turned to look at Bunny.
"Last time I heard, he was stealing my eggs. Makin' trouble. Ya' know, messing up Easta'."
North looked up to the moon. The moon was to be seen, although it was only afternoon. "And yet, Manny hasn't recruited any new Guardian." He turned to look at the others. "But it is decided. We must make way for a new member, even if the person is not chosen by him."
South was a little reluctant to step on Australian land. "Is this really necessary? Recruiting the fox?" she asked. It was uncomfortable setting on another Guardian's territory, even if it was not North's. She was used to being isolated from the others. Even being this close was uncomfortable.
"Yes, it is. We need all of their opposites. And I mean, all. Well, except for the Tooth Fairy though, she doesn't have one," Pitch answered.
Irina was having fun, at least. The heat and sunlight really lifted up her spirits. Even though there was plenty sunlight at the South Pole, it was much too cold for her taste. She enjoyed something warm, something hot, something… bright.
Even from afar, Pitch could see South weakening and Irina gaining strength. Unfortunately, the opposites of the Guardians also meant for the opposites of his own team as well. South was well accustomed to the cold; Irina was not. Irina could take up the heat as her power source; South got weakened by it. Perhaps, if South lived in a place as dry as this, she would not like the cold. It was the matter of her getting used to her surroundings.
Personally, Pitch didn't mind, hot or cold. It was only the matter of sunlight. In his weakened state, it hurt, considering he was the King of Nightmares, a shadow spirit.
"You know what I'd like? Seeing Frost melt here," Irina piped up. She tended to talk to herself out loud most of the times. "See if he can handle the heat." Ever since recruiting her, that had always been on her mind: defeating Jack Frost.
"I've heard about him before. He won't literally melt in such conditions. He'd just get a horrible headache," South replied to Irina's random blabbering.
"Oh." Irina stopped walking to think for a while. After a moment, she started skipping, obviously happy. "But if he's suffering in any way, I'll be happy." She had an innocent smile on her face, even though what she had just said didn't seem so innocent. It seemed cruel, in fact.
"Oh, and this Fox we're looking for? How does he look like?" Irina asked. South cursed herself for not asking earlier, as it meant she was looking for something she did not know about. South hated making mistakes. She was a perfectionist, you could say.
"He's a quite tall, with beige fur. Big ears. A typical fennec fox, but with the proportions of a human. Similar to Bunnymund. Carries a boomerang and a few knives." Pitch responded. He never thought of telling the others on what to look for, as he thought they already knew.
"Any characteristics to look out for? Does he have a hideout? A den, perhaps?" South started asking questions, to show that she had been thinking about it. Even if she was just a minority in a certain group, she still liked to contribute something. Even a small idea would do.
"Hmmm…" Pitch thought for a while. He has heard rumours from the people around here talking to tourists about the empty, yet mysterious den. The rumour was that there is a fox's den out here in the desert, but there is no fox that resides there, or rather, it can't be seen. It has been dubbed 'The Lair of the Invisible Fox'. It wasn't much, but at least they had a place to look.
Pitch told Irina and South about his plans. After a short rest, they continued on, looking for the fourth member of their group.
Bunny started twitching a lot. His nose, to be exact. It went –twitch- to the left, then again, -twitch- to the right. Jack was amused seeing this.
"What's wrong, Cotton Tail? Got dust in your nose?" Jack mocked. He wasn't called the Guardian of Fun for nothing. He could practically pick fun out of any situation.
"Rack off, yer bloody show pony," he said, nose still twitching. "There's some miserable asses on my territory."
Jack straightened up. "Who?"
Nose still twitching, Bunny smiled a cocky grin. "Now yer' interested, yeah?" Jack made a face at him.
"Fine. It's the miserable fox, Pitch, yer 'hot' opposite-"
"That sounded wrong."
"-Irina, and South. All there. The fox isn't with them, tho'. In fact, the other three are lookin' for 'im."
North was pacing the room. "Then after that, I'm fairly sure that they'd start making plans. It's fortunate that Tooth doesn't have a counterpart."
And where was Kaitlyn and Tooth? They were walking around the workshop while Tooth explained about them and their opposites. "You see, there are many like us out there. Although we they are not Guardians, they maintain the balance of nature in some way. For example, Mother Nature and Father Time. The Leprechaun. Karma. And, to balance it out, we even have our counterparts. Like for Jack, it's Irina. She's a Fire Spirit, and the most powerful one out there. Spirits like her bring heat and warmth. Unfortunately, Irina was one of the ones who turned sour." Tooth paused for a while, watching a yeti assemble a toy.
"I thought elves made the toys," Kaitlyn said, while watching two elves fighting over a cookie. Another one was scurrying around while carrying a glass of eggnog. Tooth smiled. "North just lets the children believe that."
Kaitlyn nodded and took a look around her. There were many, many toys that were being assembled at once. The yetis also had to test out the toys, so occasionally a wooden airplane would fly past her. "So… about the other counterparts? I'm kind of curious now." She turned to the fairy, who was busy discussing plans with her mini-me's on the collection of teeth now that she was going to be busy.
She sighed as she watched her helpers fly away, all except for one. "This one here, Jack once saved her from Pitch, twenty years ago. Pitch had decided to kidnap all of my helpers. He got them all except for this one." The little helper was different from all the others. Instead of a blue feather jutting out, she had a golden one, just like Tooth herself.
"Jack nick-named her Baby Tooth and occasionally she follows him around everywhere. He doesn't mind, though." The smile faded. "About the others. North's counterpart is South. She's the exact opposite of him. Take a random aspect of North, and it's the complete opposite in South. For Bunny, it's Fox. Bunny brings hope to the world by hiding his eggs everywhere. It's like you're hoping to find something special, and you did! Fox takes the eggs away, destroying the children's hopes in finding an Easter egg."
Kaitlyn nodded. She was mentally counting the number of Guardians VS the number of their counterparts. "Wait, you said that all of you had a counterpart, right? What about yours?" she looked at Tooth.
Tooth's expression darkened. Even Baby Tooth seemed a little afraid. "No no no, you um, don't have to tell me. It's okay! I just thought you forgot about it, or something…" Kaitlyn panicked, because Tooth was pretty scary with that expression.
"I don't have a counterpart. I had an enemy, though. He's dead now. I guess I could tell you about it, if you're interested."
An enemy? This seemed interesting. Kaitlyn took a conveniently placed chair and sat down. "Sure."
Tooth went into a sitting position in mid-air. "A long, long time ago. There was this maharaja. You do know what a maharaja is, right?"
"Um, yeah. They're like emperors and stuff."
"Good. So anyways, there was once a man named Haroom who was sold from birth to be a slave of this maharaja. Even in the difference in power and position, they became great friends. The maharaja was vain and selfish, though. Haroom had the heart of the prince, even though he was serving such a maharaja. They both respected each other. The maharaja liked hunting animals and using their heads to line up the wall as prizes. Haroom was magnificent at tracking, but the maharaja was the one who killed the animals. Haroom always looked away when the animals were killed." She paused, trying to remember the full story.
"The only creature the maharaja has never hunted was the flying elephant, which could be found at the Punjam Hy Loo palace; which now is my palace. He made a machine that was able to fly up to the palace. As he was about to shoot the elephant, one of the Sisters of Flight appeared, and he proceeded to shoot her."
"Wait wait wait. Hold up. What is a 'Sister of Flight'?" Tooth mouthed 'oops' as she forgot to explain what a 'Sister of Flight' was.
"So basically, there was once an race of women known as the Sisters of Flight. They were winged and were known for being beautiful and fierce warriors. They lived in a great palace called Punjam Hy Loo. Their palace was guarded by the flying elephants I was talking about. Do you, um, understand now?" Kaitlyn nodded.
"Since Haroom couldn't allow it to happen, he got into the course of the arrow and it struck him in the chest. After seeing the compassion of a human being, the Sister of Flight, Rashmi, healed him. The others who had gathered proceeded to kill the maharaja, but instead, they let him go if he would leave everything, including his cruelty and vanity. Once all of these were gone, he was as simple as a monkey – he had even grown a tail." Tooth's wings were flapping at a much faster rate now.
"Haroom and Rashmi lived on the palace and wed. They had a child. Me." Was it just Kait or was that a tear rolling down Tooth's cheek? "I was born a mortal, so we lived on the outskirts of a town. At twelve, after I had lost all my baby teeth, my wings grew. Feathers started growing on me too. By the end of the day, I could fly as fast as the birds, and I made friends with the birds and the wind. I usually helped the kids there pick the ripest mangoes and star fruits that were usually unreachable to them and the adults. The adults saw a different meaning to me, though. They thought I was an evil spirit that had to be killed, or they thought that capturing me and forcing me to steal the riches of the new maharaja would be good. The kids begged their parents not to ask they grew fond of me. Heck, I grew fond of them myself."
"So my parents and I escaped. My father, Haroom, being an expert tracker managed to avoid coming in the lines of the hunters, while my mother enlisted the help of the forest creatures as she could speak any animal language. Even the kids helped by alerting us about the hunters' positions, or when they got too close to our camp. One day, they discovered us after the parents followed their kids to the forest. A hunter, known as the Mysterious Hunter, followed the trail of gold coins the parents left for him to follow. My parents were kidnapped. If I didn't appear before dawn, they would be killed. I went to the site, and we fought. The hunters were too overwhelming, though. Knowing that I could not save them and would be trapped, they gave me a small ruby box with a pouch inside it, containing my baby teeth and told me to run. They were murdered." Tears started rolling freely down Tooth's face. Even Baby Tooth had this sad expression.
After a while, Kaitlyn was going to say something but Tooth started talking again. "The memories my teeth contained was enough to get me through the days. Years passed. I was convinced that I didn't belong anywhere, being half-half. I didn't belong to the creatures of the jungle, nor to the humans. As the children grew, they lost their innocence and goodness. I decided to collect their teeth to return it to them in to remind them of who they were. They then decided to hide the teeth under their pillows, and I left them gifts. Little bits of chipped gold, maybe even little pieces of jewels. The parents got suspicious as the child would wake up with handful of treasures. One day, they set a trap for me. Instead of flying into a child's room to collect teeth, I was trapped inside a cage. They brought me to the palace to be killed in front of the Sisters of Flight. I held on to the ruby box, and onto the memories of my parents. The cage disappeared. That's how my mini-fairies came about. I had half a mind to kill the Mysterious Hunter, who was actually the maharaja that tried killing my mother. I let him go and let the forest animals kill him instead."
"The end, I guess?" Kaitlyn asked. "Sorry, but I'm not someone who knows how to comfort you and stuff. Um… maybe a hug would do?" she got up of the chair and extended her arms. Tooth hugged her as tight as she could.
"Oh, a hug is all I need!" phew. Tooth was back to her cheerful self.
"Okay. But… I can't breathe."
Tooth quickly let go. "Sorry, sorry." And she smiled. Even Baby Tooth lit up.
From that moment on, the both of them knew they were going to be best friends.
Long chapter is long. And I did warn you, SPOILERS! I hope I can update regularly now. Oh yeah. Starting from next year, I can ONLY upload once a week. Worst case scenario, once every two weeks. So yeah. School. To all you non-Malaysian readers: our calendar is VERY different from yours. Even I got confused lol XD
And I'm kinda proud/happy with this chapter. :D