*face palms* I am so sorry for such a late chapter! I just couldn't get it out of my head and SO much school work to do. *shiver* Gowd, I hate math. This was not my original chapter planned in my head but I thought of this and was like, "Ah screw it." So instead of Bunny meeting Keria this chapter, they will meet in the next chapter! Thank you to my best friend Bubblemage-creation for supporting this story and catching any errors I missed. Thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited this story! I do NOT own Rise of the Guardians! Now on to this wonder chapter~!

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"Why are you here, Malyutka?" Both males looked at her, Jack with red eyes and a slight frown while North smiled brightly at her with glowing red cheeks. Keria sighed. She wasn't looking at them but at the floor, her hands, covered by her cloak, were wringing each other nervously. Her breath caught in her throat as she thought the next words she had to say. Her mind was racing. They were going to hate her. North would no longer be her adoptive father. He would only look at her with disgust and shame. Jack would just kill her and the rest of the Guardians would help. There would be no hesitation or pity for her. After what seemed like forever in her mind, when in reality it was only seconds, she spoke.

"I need to speak to all the Guardians." The words tasted bitter in her mouth.

The land of eternal spring was filled with quiet. No sound could be heard except for the gentle rustling of the trees, the wind blowing softly. If one walked through this land, they would see bright green trees and colorful rivers marking the landscape. Bright colorful flowers grew around the river, as if colored by the paint themselves.

In a hill on the edge of this spring wonderland, was a door. A door that was built into the lone hill, carvings of vines and flowers marking the dark red wood. Oval shaped with thin legs and swirled designs were carved into the bottom half of the door with a Pooka shaped figure in the middle of the eggs, its paws stretched at its sides as to welcome visitors.

Around the door, was countless vines growing on the hill, flowers on the vines blooming all the colors of the rainbow. In front of the barrow, was a vegetable garden of every type of vegetable you can think of, growing so large, one could barely see the dirt that it grew from. The owner of this magnificent spring time haven, the Guardian of Hope, came out his humble home. The peaceful energy in the air dropped, the gleeful atmosphere dissipating.

The large Pooka looked sickly, like he hasn't seen the sun for weeks and has gone without for food for days, evidence proving that fact as his Pooka armor was loose around his arms and legs. His grey fur was lacking its usual shine, knots seen all over the rabbit's fur. His usual sparkling emerald eyes full of hope were dull, lacking his center. His big furry ears, famous for their extreme hearing, were lowered onto his head, not lifting any time soon.

The warrior approached his garden and kneeled down as if to pick from his ripe harvest, but he didn't move. Dull green eyes started at the plants, as if looking for an answer to his problems within the green leaves. He stayed there, for what seemed like hours, kneeling into the dirt. His moment of grief was cut short was a flash of colorful lights lit up the sky of the Warren.

The bright blue, green, and pink colors were so bright, it reflected onto the entire underground cave. How the lights made it underground is still a mystery, but they did and Bunny saw them. He sighed as he stood up from the ground, his legs tingling from the torture they had to endure. Hope quickly made a tunnel straight to the Pole, not even caring if it landed him outside again, and hopped to North's workshop, wondering why the Russian was calling them together this time.

A large hand was still gripping the handle after the lights were turned on, the man not turning around but thinking about what the little dark spirit said. He did not like the feeling in his belly and he always trusted his belly. His belly was telling him that something was wrong and spirit that he has known for thousands of years was not telling him something. And that something was important.

Wonder just sighed and turned around with his a forced jolly simile when he heard the youngest one of their group throwing questions at the very annoyed young woman. The Guardian of Wonder smiled at the childish actions of Jack and thought how much the young teenager as grown out of his shell these past 20 years. He walked over to the two spirits, his black boots thumping against the floor. The frost spirit continued his rampage of questions, the spirit clothed in black losing her patience very quickly, as North came up behind Jack and gave a wide grin.

"Jack, my boy! Why don't you show Keria the Pole, da? She has not been here in many years and it has grown in these many years. I will send Yeti when the others come. Now go on, the both of you!" North's voice boomed in his Russian accent and Jack quickly nodded and grinned, turning his head towards Keria.

Keria obviously tried to decline the offer, but Jack was set on what North said and reached for her bare hand. He was not expecting the her reaction.

All of sudden, she was on the other side of the room, the shadows curling around, protecting her from any danger. Bright grey eyes were wide with fear, the flecks of color moving frantically in the iris. Her slim form was shaking, her hands covered by sleeves expect for the trembling tips of her fingers, her arms pulled close to her body.

North stood there with his eyes closed, a sigh escaping him. He should have remembered that. Jack just stood there shocked at the sudden movement, his pale hand still reaching out for hers.

The youngest Guardian didn't understand. Why did she move so suddenly, as if his hand would burn hers? Sure, he was cold but was he that cold that it would hurt to touch him? He immediately crossed that off because she looked afraid, no terrified, of any type of touch. But didn't North touch her shoulder just a few minutes ago? Why was she afraid now? Jack couldn't stand the fear in her eyes anymore and decided to do what he did best. Be a Guardian.

"It's ok. It's ok. I'm not going to touch you. We're gonna have some fun instead! How does that sound? I won't touch you I promise." Jack spread his arms out to the side to emphasize his point, his staff held loosely in one hand, and spoke softly to not scare the trembling woman. North just stood to the side and watched with amazement as Keria slowly stopped shaking, looked quickly down at her hands before she tucked them away again to whisper, "Promise?"

A grin split across Jack's face and he calmly nodded and spoke just as calmly, "Yes. Now what do you say about that tour? I'm sure there are some elves and Yetis to be terrorized."

Keria laughed softly as she followed behind the teen, the boy flying above her and laughing. North watched her and noticed she had a small smile but was still huddled under her cloak, making her look like a blob of shadows with a head popping out of it. North stroked his beard in thought but shrugged it off as nothing and sat down in front of the fireplace waiting for the arrival of the Guardians. That proved to be a mistake.