Disclaimer: This work of fan fiction uses characters from Rise of the Guardians and The Guardians of Childhood which are trademarked by DreamWorks Animation and William Joyce respectively. The author of this story claims no ownership over them. The story the author is telling is of her own invention and it is not purported or believed to be part of the canon storyline. This story is made for entertainment purposes only. The author is not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.
I'm choked up and I can't even breathe
Time goes by but it's no use
Please heal my heart so I can smile a little
– T-ara & The Seeya & Speed & 5 Dolls
Eau De Vie – Shiki "Rouge" OST
Tales – Nightmares Arc
Chapter 2: Roses Are Red, His Blood is Too
March 5th, 2014
She came to Burgess in the Winter: to surprise him. The weather was mild, warm and soft; filled with small snowflakes falling gently from the clouds. It was dawn when she came, when the flowers awakening and begin to bloom. She landed quietly on the right-hand side of his like, landing into the snow with her bare feet with a soft crunch.
It was warmer than Lily expected, much warmer than she thought Jack would be comfortable with it being this time around. The snow underneath the soles of her feet melted quickly, becoming liquid at a rate she knew that the Winter Spirit would not approve of: he always said that snow needed to have the perfect consistency else snowballs would not hold their shape.
"Jack?" she called out, glancing around for the boy in question, "Jack. It's Lily!"
She frowned; he would have come to greet her now: there was no real way to surprise him. Maybe he wanted to play hide and seek.
"Oh Jack, you know I am terrible at hide and seek. Come out, Jack!" she sighed. Lily started to look for him anyway, dashing over to Jack's favourite tree to see if he had hidden around it.
"Jack, where are you?"
Suddenly something caught her eye.
A patch of vivid red amidst the blanket of pure white: a contrast so severe it hurt to see.
She squinted at it, attempting to focus her eyes on the sight. It nearly stopped the Flower Spirit's heart when she recognized a tuff of silvery-white hair and the all-too familiar blue sweater. She stepped cautiously towards the red.
"Jack?" she called quietly, her mind confused and her heart broken. Please, please say that her eyes are failing her. She blinked quickly; starting to take larger and faster steps towards the crimson red. Please, please say that it was just a joke – that he was just pranking her. Her steps quickly turned to running and then all out sprinting towards the red.
The sight did not change: no, it got clearer and sharper. The colours becoming more vibrant.
It was crimson red staining pure white.
Crimson red staining soft blue.
Crimson red staining her vision.
His bright, crimson, red blood.
Jack lay in the middle of the pool of red, curled up on his side. His right arm loosely holding his sweater and his left lay sprawled beside him. He wasn't moving – barely breathing.
"Jack!" she screamed, skidding to her knees into the scarlet snow. She gingerly turned the Guardian over onto his back. His head lolled to the side, his skin nearly blue and his lips ashen pale.
"Jack, Jack, open your eyes. Please. Please!" she cried, her voice cracking an octave higher under all the mental strain. She pressed her palm against his cheek and squeezed his left hand in her right.
No movement; his eyes remained shut.
Her eyes traveled down to his torso, she shrieked and turned her head away into the snow only seconds later. She focused her eyes on his broken staff, thrown carelessly into the snow beside him trying to not think about the tear in his hoodie, a large hole in the center of his chest where blood was streaming out and a wave of black was weaving in.
It was right over his heart.
Lily whimpered.
She quickly took a couple deep breaths before turning back to the wound and placed a trembling hand onto his chest. His blood was burning hot and when her fingers brushed against the filmy black substance, her world turned cold, black and numb as fear took her.
She snapped her wrist back, her breath coming in rapid gasps as she tried to calm down and think clearly. Something happened, a fight broke out and Jack lost, horrendously.
"He is bleeding, he's bleeding, he is bleeding" she mumbled rapidly.
"He's dying."
No. No. Don't think like that. No.
Lily quickly shook her head and steeled her nerves.
Starch the bleeding, try to close the wound, get him help, and make sure he keeps breathing. Come on, she was the Flower Princess,make use of the title! She quickly stood up, muttering reassuring words to her unconscious Winter Prince as she went.
"I'm sorry, Jack, just wait a second. You'll be alright. I promise you will be alright."
She rushed over to a patch of clean snow and swiped it all away to reveal a patch of dark soil. She pressed her fingers against the dirt and called forth her powers, and when she lifted it away, there was a small stem of a plant growing from it. She leaned down quickly and breathed on it. The plant grew and grew until it was large bush with tiny white flowers and bunches of black coloured berries: an Elderberry plant – used as a poultice to stop the bleeding.
She quickly plucked the berries from the bush. Running back to Jack, she crushed the berries between her fingers and scooped up a handful of clean snow to combined the two together before pulling out a handkerchief and putting her crudely made poultice into it. She folded the white-staining-purple handkerchief into a neat square and pressed it into Jack's wound, praying that the flower will starch the bleeding quickly.
She didn't even notice, when she returned, that the waves of black within Jack's chest disappeared, burrowing deeper into his flesh and winding its way around his body and into his head.
She quickly tore off the hem of her skirt and lifted Jack's torso into her arms before wrapping the piece of fabric around his frame to hold her makeshift poultice to the wound. She lowered his head into her lap before checking to see if there was any more damage done.
"Stay with me, Jack. Don't leave me now." She whispered.
Lily knew that she needed to get Jack help, but where is the closest place? April does not have the skills or the heart to deal with this and Calla was an ocean away.
But Nicolas Saint North…. He would be relatively closer – provided that she makes the journey straight north and then down to Siberia… Lily quickly grabbed both halves of the Winter Spirit's broken staff and tied them to the belt-loop of her skirt before reaching down and pulling the unconscious boy up. She pulled his right arm over her shoulder and held onto his torso with her left. The additional weight will slow her down and strain her wings – but nothing else mattered anymore.
"Hang on, Jack. You'll be okay."
She tore into Nicolas Saint North's Workshop, collapsing onto the beautiful red rug, panting. Nicolas snapped upright from his documents just to see a flash of white crash through a window and land in a heap on the ground. He quickly got up and called for the Yetis – quickly figuring that something is seriously wrong.
He approached the heap to see that the white was a set of unfurled wings. The wings twitched and curled back, revealing a girl with pale blonde, wind-swept hair struggled to sit up, breathing heavily.
Ah, it was Jack's friend: Lily the Spring Spirit of Flowers.
"Lily, what brings you here –"
She lifted her wings off the ground and North saw that there was somebody with her.
Someone who was lying on his stomach and not moving: someone with snow-white hair and a frost-covered hoodie.
Jack.
North quickly knelt down and pulled Jack into his arms. The bandage around his chest was dyed red with blood – but for the most part dry. Lily pulled the staff from her waist then, presenting it to North as evidence of some sort of terrible event.
"What happened?"
"I don't know – I don't know, but he's been stabbed in the heart."
And finally North was able to see her face. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, her eyes bloodshot red, her skin dry and cracked, and a streak of dried tears running down either side her cheeks.
"Go pull the Aurora, Lily. I get him to infirmary."
"Will he be –"
"He will be fine."
Author's Note: Or will he? Hello everyone! Hope you are all having a fabulous December day! I just wanted to take the time to thank those who have commented, followed, and favourited the story thus far! Your feedback is most welcome and I hope you enjoying the content!
To Amaryllis: I also liked my old summary for the story, but I thought the amount of quotation marks would clutter it and make it difficult to read. Do you think I should go back to it?
Please follow, favourite, and review!
Cordially,
EireneHarmonia
