Sunday 7th December 2014
The Guardians didn't hear her. They weren't listening, but it didn't matter. Upon the shadows dripping like poison into the room – pooling in blackened spills – an uneasy tension soaked the cold air. It made Haru's heart beat a little faster, made her lips dry and a prickle of nerves tickle her bones. She saw Baron raise a gloved hand to his hat and tap subconsciously at the brim – whenever nerves or boredom overtook him, his fingers would become restless – but she knew this was a case of nerves, not the latter.
It didn't matter that the Guardians didn't hear her, because they innately sensed something change in the air they breathed; felt it trigger some primal instinct of fear. One-by-one they dropped into silence and spotted the darkness spreading further into the room.
"Baron," Haru whispered. "Baron, what do we do?"
She was out of her depth here. She wasn't part of the crazy world of Creations and magic and spirits – not really. She could fend off the occasional wayward fearling, but this was not her world. She turned to the Creation standing by her side. "Baron?"
He had dropped his hand from his hat, but his fingers were still restless, agitatedly picking at the white gloves. "I think that we've talked so long on the subject that Mother Nature is finally coming to us," he said.
He looked to her, and she saw the wavering fear in his eyes. Their last encounter with Mother Nature had far from left her unharmed and she knew the thoughts that were running through his mind this time.
"Haru, I want you to stand behind me," he bluntly instructed. "The shadows went for you last time; we don't want a repeat."
She didn't point out that the shadows could go easily around him. If it made him feel better, she would let him stand before her – and she would have to hope that the shadows hadn't broadened their interests onto less-human prey. She didn't miss how Muta and Toto came to stand by her sides either.
"Damn darkness," Bunnymund was heard to mutter. He slipped his boomerangs into his paws, sharing in the uneasy tension all the Guardians were now feeling. "Are you going to hide in the shadows all day or are ya going to face us, yer yellow-bellied blighter?!" he yelled. "Or are ya frightened?!"
"Frightened?" A sharp feminine voice cut through the air behind the bunny, followed by an equally-sharp, short laugh. "What is there to be frightened of? You?"
Bunnymund spun, ready to release his boomerangs, but he stared at empty air.
The shadows were creeping further across the room, growing ever closer to the Guardians and their guests. Toothania was fluttering nervously from spot to spot, hovering higher as some of the shadows flickered up towards her. North had both hands on his swords, but hadn't drawn either yet. Sandy had summoned a whip with his golden dream dust, and the shadows seemed reluctant to draw any closer, while Jack's staff was emitting a spread of ice that kept the thickest shadows at bay.
"I've never seen a ragtag group of such ill-fitting individuals in my life," the disembodied voice laughed. The darkness was creeping up the walls now and were edging ever upwards. Haru watched as they neared the windows and then started to slowly crawl over the frosted glass. "You lot can barely hold your own, especially when you're so tangled up in your own little worlds. You don't really have much to do with each other except when things go wrong, do you?" More laughter. "I suppose you should thank me for bringing you together."
"I don't know what you mean," North grumbled. "We work plenty fine together."
"Who do you think took down Pitch last time?" Bunnymund demanded, becoming ever more vocal in his nerves. The darkness around his feet was playing around his paws; he could feel them idly tickling at his fur. He banged at his chest. "We did it once, we can do it again!"
"You barely did though, didn't you?" the voice replied. "And it wasn't really you, was it, Bunnymund? The only ones who have any real power against the shadows are the Sandman and Jack Frost... but not you, I'm afraid. So what good did you do last time?"
"Hey, hey, we all worked together to defeat Pitch!" Jack snapped. He knocked his staff into the ground and widened his carpet of ice, beating the shadows further back. "We all helped."
"Well, you tried, didn't you?" The voice seemed to roll over to where the winter sprite stood, still bodiless but seemingly occupying the space closer to him. "Of course, it would have been a lot easier had you not gone looking for your memories – oh, the Guardians could have done with your help back then, couldn't they? But where were you? Where were you when they needed you?" The hollow laughter rang through the hall. "Perhaps it's just as well that you were invisible to the humans for so long. Who knows how many more times you would have made a mess of everything if you had tried to help?"
"SHUT UP!"
The staff was slammed into the floor again, and this time the ice crackled right across the room and curved halfway up the wall. The shadows caught in the blast froze, but the rest of the darkness only stirred more.
Haru edged closer to Baron. She swallowed nervously and slipped a hand into his palm. "These guys are... pretty powerful, aren't they?" she whispered. Up until now, she had imagined them mostly bumbling about their lives, easily distracted and somewhat harmless. But the magic that had just exploded from Jack Frost could have frozen her in a heartbeat.
"Yes," Baron replied. "Which is why we need their help."
Haru's throat had just dried up and her next words were hoarse in coming. "No kidding."
The shadows swirled and rose up, twisting around to the Belief Globe. It amassed and a woman's form solidified into being, sitting idly atop the globe. This was Mother Nature, but not as they had first met her.
Her eyes were nothing but beetle-black pinpricks now, her sharp face accented even further by the pale pallor and long shadows falling over her skin. Her hair still flowed in that eerie nonexistent current, but now her dress was a matching black. There was a coldness to her that made Haru feel that the ice Jack wielded was mere child's play.
They were dealing with an ancient power here.
A thin-lipped smile moved tightly over the woman's lips.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise. The Big Four – or I guess it's the Big Five now – all gathered here over little old me. Why, it's enough to make a girl blush."
North stepped forward. "Emily–"
"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" The spirit rose in a storm of shadows curling into nightmares at her feet. She caught herself and composed her icy exterior once again. She dropped back onto the Belief Globe. "Not anymore."
The shadows were growing restless now. Haru stepped closer to Baron and the light magic he held to try to keep the worst at bay. She still had the wounds from their last encounter.
"Mother Nature, please, what do you want?" Toothania asked, nervously flying up to the globe but carefully keeping a safe distance. "You must be able to see what you're doing to the world – what you're doing to the people with your storms. Why?"
"Why not?"
"How about 'cause you're sworn to protect them?" Bunnymund demanded.
"You are. I have no such obligation," Mother Nature said. She sighed, rolling her head back before dropping her dead stare back to her audience. "Don't the humans just rub you up the wrong way? Doesn't it get boring pampering the spoilt little brats? Leaving coins beneath their pillows for what? For memories? What good do they do you? Or what about the presents you make for Christmas?" she demanded, moving her gaze from Toothania to North. "You say it's about wonder, but it's a wonder why you keep making the gifts when half of them will end up on the tip before the next Christmas."
"The children need wonder," North insisted.
"Oh, I'm sure; just like they need hope, and dreams, and memories, and fun... but what good has it ever done you?"
"What we do with our powers is none of your business," Bunnymund snapped with a wave of his boomerangs. "I thought you were meant to stay out of our affairs."
Mother Nature shrugged. "I changed my mind."
Jack Frost's gaze narrowed. "What changed it?" he asked.
Mother Nature melted away and she rose back out of the shadows on the tiled floor. Like Pitch, she was tall and thin, almost gaunt in her form. She appeared behind the winter spirit, making him jump and spin quickly to face her.
She glanced idly along the path of icy destruction that Jack had previously left, silently appraising the power of the newest Guardian. "Let's just say that I had a little help in that department," she eventually answered. "Why have all this power and let it go to waste? Why sit in my ivory tower and let the humans destroy this world that I have watched for so long?"
"But if you try to destroy the humans, you'll destroy the world in the process," Tooth pointed out. "You'll destroy everything."
"The humans are already doing a good job of that as it is," the elemental spirit snapped. "And I am stronger now – I have the shadows at my disposal."
"Can't you see? You're not controlling them – they're controlling you!" Bunnymund retorted. "This..." he said, motioning to her with a swing of his boomerangs, still in hand, "isn't Mother Nature. This is a bundle of anger and fear and fearling with a whole lotta power."
The dark eyes flashed and a flicker of something else moved behind them. "And what are you going to do about it?"
"Didn't ya hear? We took down Pitch. We can take down you too."
"So you keep reminding me." Mother Nature – or the thing that resided in Mother Nature's form – smiled. "But I am not Pitch. I am far, far worse."
"So why come here?" Jack demanded. "Why come and warn us? Don't tell me you have a sense of fair play."
Mother Nature laughed. "Hardly. It was more a matter of... seeing what opposition I had." Her gaze travelled past the spirits and onto the smaller residents. "I was expecting five Guardians and it looks like I got a meddling Cat Bureau for free."
As the attention moved to them, the light in Baron's hands intensified; Haru could now feel the heat from where she stood. "You came to us for help," the Creation reminded the elemental spirit.
"That was an accident."
"You wanted the Guardians to undo the damage you had done," Baron pushed on, regardless. He paused. "Or perhaps you were asking them to undo the damage you were going to do. You must have known the fearlings were close to winning; you needed the Guardians to be braced for when this happened. For when the fearlings took over entirely."
Mother Nature laughed again, but the humour never reached her pitch black eyes. "My, my, the doll is observant." She seemed to straighten somehow, despite already being at her full height, and the shadows spread further. "Yes, I came to you to stop this happening, but now it has, well... now I don't really want you lot meddling in my affairs anymore. So this is my warning to you – stay out of my way."
"Sorry, mate, but that's not going to happen."
"Why? Do you think you can really defeat me? You may be Guardians, but you are not unkillable. My nightmares can still destroy you, my cold winds bite you, my lightning strike you... and that goes for you Creations also. Just because you are not fully flesh-and-blood, don't imagine that makes you impervious to my power." She smiled, but her eyes rested on the tiny human shielded by Baron. "And humans are so exceptionally fragile. It would be a shame for anything to happen to that pretty little thing."
Baron growled, his hackles rising.
"Oh, don't worry, Creation. You toys are barely worth my time. Keep out of my way and I'll have no reason to come after you or your pretty little friend. But you... Guardians... now, you could turn out to be a difficulty..." The shadows grew restless again, straining to break free from their two-dimension existence and stifling out yet more of the light filtering through the windows. "And you've been so kind as to gather together – that should make the task so much easier..."
The same poisonous fear shivered through the air again and Haru tried to startle back. But Baron's hand that was holding hers tightened, keeping her from fleeing anywhere. He couldn't defend any of the Bureau if they weren't near him. Mother Nature wasn't aiming for the Bureau, but they could easily end up as collateral damage.
The Guardians were her targets, and it looked like the contagious fear was spreading to them too. Weapons were drawn, and the temperature dropped as Jack's ice readied itself to be released.
"Yer don't frighten us," Bunnymund muttered.
"You forget, I have the shadows now," Mother Nature laughed. She was barely more than a silhouette now, with darkness falling over the room and the only light coming from Sandy, Baron's magic, and the last remains of the free windows. She took a slow, steady breath. "I know what everyone fears. I can taste your terror in the air..."
"I ain't afraid of the dark!" the Guardian snapped and spun his boomerangs across the room. Mother Nature disappeared and rose out of the shadows a moment later.
"Everyone's afraid of something. And I always know what. Not that it matters," she sighed, sweeping across the room, her dark hair floating serenely behind her. "You don't have long to appreciate the finesse of my art..."
The shadows broke free of the floor and snapped into monstrous forms. Haru recognised them as the same kind of beings as the fearlings – except instead of just feeding from fear, they hungered for blood. With Mother Nature's attention on the Guardians, the darkness sprung for the spirits – but the nearest shadows still smelt the tantalising scent of human fear. She backtracked into Baron as the closest monsters tried to claw at her.
The Creation spun and emitted the same blast of light as before – but this time the shadows were stronger. They recoiled and then sprung again. Baron tried to repeat the light, but his magic was limited; this time the glow barely made them wince.
The Guardians were faring little better. Tooth was not practiced for battle, while North and Bunnymund's attacks were only half-effective. They beat the monsters back, only for them to jump back a moment later. Jack's ice froze them where they stood, but new shadows would rise up from the old.
"These aren't like Pitch's shadows!" he said as he joined his fellow Guardians.
"Aye, that's 'cause they've got Mother Nature on their side, mate. She'd be a force all by herself."
There was a cry as one of the shadows struck Tooth down from the air.
"What do we do?" Jack shouted. "We're not making any difference!"
North turned to where the mute Guardian stood. "Sandy! We need backup!"
Sandy stood at the edge of the fight, his golden sand spiralling about his feet and keeping the shadows at bay. He looked conflicted, his light rippling away from him as he watched Mother Nature in the centre of the chaos. At the Christmas spirit's shout, he seemed to snap out of his thoughts.
Two golden whips crackled into existence in his palms, and still he hesitated. He glanced to where his fellow Guardians were struggle to fight off the darkness, and something set in his small shoulders. He looked back to Mother Nature and his light went flying through the air, cutting through the shadows as they were caught in the crossfire. Both whips struck Mother Nature's back and her body twitched where she stood.
She stumbled, but kept herself from hitting the ground. The shadows had fallen as if struck also, and now the darkness was falling away from the walls they clung to. She slowly turned to face her attacker, and a strangely bittersweet smile crossed her lips. "Now... is that a way to greet an old friend...?"
She started to sink back into the shadows – injured, but not fatally so – and the other Guardians were shouting for him to deliver another blow to stop her escape. Sandy hesitated, but at the last moment he brought the whips up for a final strike... but he had been too slow and Mother Nature – or what remained of her – was gone into the shadows.
Lost – for now.
Jack flew to the mute Guardian's side, glancing to where the darkness had disappeared to. "Hey, nice going back there – it looked like we were goners there for a moment." He leant against his staff to look again to the dream Guardian, dithering for a moment in indecision. "Um... is everything... okay?"
Sandy looked to him, and in that second, Jack doubted that even if Sandy could speak, whether he would have any words to say at this moment. Then that second passed and Sandy grinned and summoned up a fast-paced montage of dream-dust images in lieu of conversation. The images were too fast for Jack to understand, but he suspected that wasn't entirely unintentional.
"Well..."
The Guardians had almost forgotten about their small guests, but the Bureau were still standing – if a little battered and bruised. The human had her hands grasped about her arms in a manner that was meant to appear casual, but the faint tendrils of blood between her fingers indicated a less pleasant explanation.
The Guardians could hold their own in a fight against the darkness. It looked like the Bureau were out of their depth.
The Creation had dropped away his light magic – out of the lack of necessity or because he had used all the power he had, it was hard to tell – and his form was trembling slightly from the strain of the magic he had depended upon. Even the other cat and crow by his side were shaken by their close encounter with the shadows.
Baron met the gaze of the Guardians.
"I think it's time we headed back now."
ooOoo
A/N: I had far too much fun with writing dark!Mother Nature in this chapter. I'm not even sorry. For anyone who's interested, I based dark!Mother Nature's movements and general personality on Eris, from Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas.
And I apologise for yesterday's and today's late chapter - this weekend has unexpectedly busy due to Christmas preparations. Merry Christmas!
Cat.
