Fleur felt numb.
She slowly opened her eyes to meet with a bright white light, forcing her to tightly close them again. Fleur dug her nails into the surface she was lying on – which appeared to be a soft mattress. With a careful push to the mattress, she succeeded in sitting up against the headboard. She then quirked an eyebrow when a large furry creature beside her (who she didn't notice for some unknown reason) speaking an unknown language to her. "Uh, hello?" she said, or at least tried to. Her voice was raspy and she started to have hiccups. The large creature beside her immediately widened its eyes and grabbed the glass of water across the room. The spirit hesitantly accepted the drink before nodding to the creature. She slowly took a large gulp of the water, instantly refreshing her mind and body, feeling relaxed. "Thank you," she whispered to the creature. He smiled at the girl, collected the glass, then went out the room.
Fleur attempted to stand up but immediately failed as searing pain encased her right calf. She fell back on to the bed and groaned, "What the - ?" She hiked up her skirt to see the lower half of her leg bandaged tightly. But the main thing she noticed was the tiny specks of black sand around the faint line of blood on it.
NIGHTMARES – FEARLINGS – SAND – PAIN – FOREST – NORTH
The Spirit of Spring rubbed her forehead as she remembered the previous events and realized she was at the North Pole. Fleur tensed; she was in the residence of the leader of the Guardians himself, and since it was Christmas, then all of the Guardians were here!
Fleur had never been more nervous all her life.
I need to get out of here.
She looked around the room she was in, and was relieved to see her bow and quiver of arrows placed on one of the chairs beside her bedside table. Using the said table as support, she limped towards her weapon. As she was reaching out for her quiver, someone knocked on the door. Fleur froze, and slowly backed away from her bow and arrows. She sat on the side of her bed just as the door opened.
"Oh hey, you're awake. Merry Christmas," said the visitor. Fleur caught her breath; she'd recognize that messy white hair anywhere. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. Mentally smirking, she thought of a plan.
Fleur nodded in response while emerald green eyes met crystal blue ones.
"So, uh, would you like to join us? For Christmas dinner, I mean."
Fleur felt her heart flutter – she has never celebrated Christmas with someone else before! She smiled and nodded eagerly as her worries seemed to be washed away by the sincere invitation. Jack smiled back and gestured her to the door. The spirit stood up excitedly, but soon ended up sitting back down. The boy cringed at this and helped her up. "Here, use this as a crutch for the mean time," he gave her his staff, which she gratefully accepted, and exited the room.
What Fleur didn't expect was a large hall with Christmas decorations. Then again, she was in the house of Father Christmas himself.
"Merry Christmas!"
Fleur whipped around to see the famous group of five in front of a large Christmas tree, all smiling at her. The spirit gaped at them, never feeling more welcome than she had ever been. But inside, she was scared – scared that they would know about her, scared that they would try to get her independence and make her join them. Oh, how nervous she was with her plan, hoping that it would work just fine.
The girl smiled widely and approached them. She nodded at them, letting out a sigh of content. On her right, the Easter Bunny raised his eyebrows. "'S wrong, Sheila? Cat got your tongue?" The other Guardians frowned at this, looking at their guest intently for an answer. Oh this is gonna be fun, Fleur thought in her head.
The stranger looked up in realization, pointed at her throat, then shook her head. "You can't speak?" suggested Jack. The girl nodded sadly.
For a second, just a second, Fleur could have sworn there was immense pity in the Guardians' eyes. That was until Tooth perked up, "Hold on, I've got just the thing!" Then she zoomed out of the room. They all stared at the spot where she used to hover over. After a few seconds of staring and blinking, the Tooth Fairy returned. She flew over to Fleur and handed her a notepad and a pen. The notepad showed colours of blue, green, purple, gold and silver, in the shape of diamonds. The pattern had also been copied unto the pen. Fleur looked up to see the fairy smiling. "I used these notepads to make my notes for the fairies when I'm gone. Whatever you write in it gets projected when opened for the person to see. You can have this one, so you can talk to us easily. Merry Christmas," she finished. Fleur stared at her violet orbs and blinked, looking back at the notepad. She took her pencil and wrote:
"Thank you. And Merry Christmas to you too."
The words lifted from the paper and rose to the air, reforming. The projection made the Guardians smile, then dissolved after a few seconds.
"I'm Toothiana, by the way. Tooth for short. And that's Sandy," she pointed to the golden man.
The large man with the white beard stepped forward, "I am North. You might know me as Santa Claus."
"The name's Bunny," said the large Pooka
"More like Kangaroo, really," muttered the white-haired spirit.
"Oi!"
The albino chuckled then shook his head. "I'm Jack - Jack Frost."
Tooth looked back at Fleur, "And you are..?"
Fleur stared at her notepad and wrote down the first name that came to mind: Emily.
She paused for a moment, then added: Emily Jane.
Fleur saw the Sandman scowl at the name, but shrugged it off. North grinned, "What a wonderful name!" He clasped his hands together, "Well then! It is time to eat. You must be starving, Emily." He gestured to the long dining table behind him, food of all sorts stacked upon it. Fleur felt her mouth water at the sight of it. She approached the table with longing and took a seat while the Guardians followed her example. She hesitantly took a bite of the chicken that was on her plate and hummed in delight. Fleur smiled before slowly stuffing herself with the best tasting food she had had for decades. The Guardians looked at her with amused looks on their faces before letting them enjoy the food as well. Tooth had stuck with eating only a few vegetables and meat, avoiding all sorts of sugar infested dish as possible. Sandy and North allowed themselves to most of the food on the table, accompanied by several glasses of eggnog. Bunny and Jack had taken hold on most of the sweets as Tooth cringed for the sake of their teeth.
Christmas carols played in the background, enhancing the Christmas spirit. After finishing her meal, Fleur leaned on her chair and stared at the room surrounding her. Five beautifully woven stockings hung above the fireplace, the Christmas tree right next to it. The tree was almost as tall as the room, wrapped in bright blinking Christmas lights, ending with a shining gold star on top. Several gifts were left at its feet, coming in different sizes and shapes. Fleur felt a bit crestfallen at the sight of them. Fleur, get a hold of yourself. Why would they get you a gift when they've just met you? She shook her head. Fleur started writing in her notepad:
Excuse me. I will be going to bed now, and I will leave in the morning. Thank you for having me. Merry Christmas.
She gently pushed the chair backwards and stood up with great difficulty. The spirit froze as a hand was placed on her shoulder. "C'mon, you can't leave yet! We're about to open our presents!" Fleur looked to her left to see Jack with an encouraging smile on his face. She couldn't believe her ears and kept blinking at him. Presents..? The thought of them left Fleur flabbergasted. She slowly returned to her seat, her mind blank and heart racing. This was the last thing that she thought would have happened. Fleur stared at the Christmas tree, allowing its magnificence take over her thoughts. That was until Jack waved his hand in front of her. "Hello? Earth to Emily? It's time for presents!" he said. Fleur shook her head and smiled at Jack's enthusiasm. The spirit slowly stood up and approached the tree, using Jack's staff as a crutch once more. Sitting down beside the rest, Fleur shot a grateful smile to Jack, who returned it.
North cleared his throat, "Now, dear Emily, we are sure you are still very tired, no?" Come to think of it, Fleur had been very exhausted and suddenly felt the desire to fall asleep on the spot. Instead, she fought back the temptation and nodded. "Well then, we must give you our present first. Here." The jolly man gave her a small box covered in green gift wrapping, with a blue ribbon on top. The girl took it in her hands and stared at it in awe. "Well? Open it!" said Tooth excitedly. Fleur grinned and unwrapped her present. She gasped. Inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen; its pendant was a flower covered in golden sand and intricate frost designs, attached to two colourful feathers. She slowly took it out of the box and put it around her neck. After staring at it for a while, she immediately grabbed her notepad and started writing furiously.
Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! It is absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Thank you!
As the message projected into the air, Fleur hugged North as tight as she could, as he was the one closest to her. North chuckled and hugged her back. "Oh don't thank just me, Emily. These four came up with the idea and I only helped making it. Whoever hurt you got you really badly. So we thought this would cheer you up. Merry Christmas, young Emily."
Fleur looked at the rest of the Guardians in awe and hugged each and every one of them. Once she finished, she stared at her necklace again, taking in its beauty. Then out of nowhere, she let out a yawn, which surprised the rest. "Of course! You must be tired now. Sweet tooth, do you mind taking her to bed?" asked Tooth. Jack nodded in response and helped Fleur up. "Merry Christmas, Emily Jane!" exclaimed the Guardians, before she left the hall.
Jack left Fleur in her room and bid her good night before leaving. The Spirit of Spring lay down in contentment that the day had brought and closed her eyes. She had just celebrated Christmas with the Guardians! The Guardians...
Fleur widened her eyes and realized the mistake she had made. This was definitely not part of the plan, and it caught her off guard. She let her hands cover her face and groaned. How could she have missed this? Letting the Guardians get.. get attached to her! The attachment she had never wanted to happen. Fleur turned to stare at her window with a troubled look on her face. She intended to leave as soon as possible, but now she couldn't decide if she wanted to. She was supposed to hate the Guardians! Hate them for leaving her alone for hundreds of years! But after what they did today... she couldn't.
No. I need to leave now. Save them the trouble.
After a few preparations, she grabbed her bow and quiver and opened the window, letting the cold breeze take over the room. With one last look behind her, she left.
The next morning, Tooth knocked on Emily's door with a breakfast tray on her hands. "Emily?" She placed the tray on the ground and opened the door. Tooth gasped.
"Emily?!"
And that's a wrap! Whew, that's the longest I have ever written. Sorry for the delay, my schedule's been very hectic lately and I'm going back to school next week. So before I go to school, here's a little something for you! I might not update till late August, I'm sorry. But I will do my best to update sooner than that, I promise!
Your reviews, follows, and favourites are always appreciated and keep me going! Also please leave me writing tips, I need them :)
See you next time,
xxMystiquota