"I'm going now," Pitch sighed after a long silence. "You can open that if you want. It's delightfully tragic." I stared down at the intricate metal container, as he left with a flourish. The hole closed up, and I was stuck in the dark hole, all alone. My chains slowly evaporated into nothing, and I could move my aching muscles freely again.
The little light that there was came from the opening of the tube. I stared at the front of it. A girl who looked strikingly similar to me, but with long, dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes, a soft smile, and pale skin speckled with freckles stamped it. Slowly, and carefully, I flipped it open.
I was that girl. I'm wearing a long, brown dress, and have a cloth wrapped around my feet up to thighs. I'm holding a crown of flowers and leaves in my hand. It looks a bit like the one I wear, except this one was more alive, and fresh. My hair is braided to the top of my waist.
Someone is calling my name softly in the distance. I sprint toward it. It's a woman. She is my mother. We sit down, and eat dinner. There are fresh and dried flowers crowding every corner of the room.
The scene changes. I'm back in the little clearing in the forest again. There's screaming, and gunshots. I shoot up from my seat on the dry leaves, and rush toward the scream. I only run for a few minutes before I come across a man lying on his back, clutching his stomach. I kneel beside him, throwing the crown of flowers upon my head so I can use both hands to see if he is alright.
"Are you a forest spirit?" He asks dreamily.
"I'm not," I chuckle gravely. He's bleeding.
"You're that strange girl from the town, huh? Everyone says you spend all of your time out here."
"You shouldn't speak. You're hurt very badly." I haphazardly tore the bottom of my skirt off, and pressed it into his stomach.
"It's alright, but let me ask this before you go. Why do you spend so much time here?"
I glance around nervously. How did this man get shot? His killed couldn't be far away.
"It's beautiful."
"Even when it's autumn? When everything is dying?"
"Especially when it's autumn," tears brimmed in my eyes as I calmly replied, "You have to look past all of that dark, and dreary stuff, and see the beauty in everything. You have to see something good in everything. Even death. Something good has to come out of everything."
"I think you've changed a dying man."
"I don't think I have, b-because you're not going to die." I hiccup a little. Twigs, and branches snap behind me, and I shudder.
"You need to leave now before he…"
I cry out, as I back away from the man, and look all around me. I'm alone. The silence is deafening. I take one long breath in of the earth, and sigh. All at once it's broken.
Everything happens quickly. A man jumps from the shadows shooting like mad man, and I run. He nearly hits me, but instead shoots my braid almost clean off. I trip, and I'm falling down a hill. I can barely hear the other screams and roars of a bear above my own as I fall backwards closer, and closer to the ground.
I dropped the tube as I was pulled out of the memories. I didn't know whether to cry with joys or sadness. I had had a life before all of this. As I stood there in the dark with a stupid smile plastered on my face, there were two loud thuds above ground. Pitch had returned, I thought.
So you could imagine my surprise when Bunny bounded into hole. He grasped my arms.
"Are you alright, Roe?" I had never heard him this worried, and had never expected him to be in the short amount of time I had known him. Then I remembered what Pitch had said about Sandy and Tooth.
"Tooth and Sandy, they're not…?"
"Yeah…yeah, they are." He muttered, drawing away from me.
"Pitch had me locked up in here, I was going back to you guys, but I couldn't."
He noticed the tube in my hand, but didn't say a word. I rushed to pick up the hilt of my sword, and the blade from the floor.
"He broke it." I said. "But, I can fix it!" I cried. I placed them together, and concentrated, ignoring North as he came tumbling into the hole beside Bunny. An amber light glowed from my hands as they fused together.
"Pitch is too predictable." Another voice sighed. Jack. He stood at the top of the whole. I floated out, but brushed past him.
"Jack, Sandy and Tooth…"
"I heard you. They'll come back though. It'll be okay. Like last time. Pitch is using his same old tricks. This is going to be easy."
Bunny, and Santa scrambled out of the whole behind me, and began seriously discussing what to do next. They called Jack over for a moment. I watched them for a minute, debating whether or not to join, but wandered a few feet away, and sat in the soggy leaves making them crisp again.
I tucked my sword by my side. After a moment a stuck a finger on top of the hard earth. After concentrating for a little less than a moment, a little tree grew up from the ground. I giggled, finding joy in my new-found powers.
"Roe…?" A soft voice called from beside me.
"Yes, Frost?" I drew out in the same way he had.
"I should tell you something. I mean, since Pitch is doing pretty much the same thing with you that he did with me. He gave me my memories. I had a little sister, and a mom, and a family, and friends. I pulled pranks all the time, and I didn't wear shoes I guess."
"You still don't." I commented.
"Hey, they hinder me. Anyway, I was ice skating with my little sister one time, and the ice was melting. She almost fell through, but ah…I, uh, saved her. But I fell through. I remember what I said to her when she was scared. I told her that we were going to have a little fun instead, and that's what I do. I have a little fun instead of being upset, that's how I get my power. It's like North said about finding your center. You have to figure out what you do at your most serious, and real moment of your life, and that's how you control it, and make it all work."
I didn't say anything for a while. "Do you want to see what I looked like before all of this happened?" I asked, pushing my tube in front of him. He chuckled.
"Hey, you were pretty back then. What happened?"
I nudged his shoulder. "Shut up, my hair was…cut this short right before…I wish I could've kept a normal hair color though, you know? It would be nicer than having weird gray, and multi-color hair!"
"Roe, my hair is white. Besides, I like your hair. You know, I used to look…I used to look a little like Jamie actually. Him, and his sister look a lot like me and my sister did. That's kind of funny now that I think about it, I guess."
"Maybe you're related. I mean your sister probably had a family of her own."
"Yeah…yeah," he whispered, staring down at his hands. He glanced around at the tiny amount of snow littering the ground, and with a fluid sweep of the hand another sheet of snow floated over.
"How old were you when you…?"
"When I died?"
"Yeah," I drew out. I didn't want to seem rude, but he seemed comfortable talking about it.
"I was fifteen. It…it makes me sad that I couldn't remember any of this until a few years ago. I would have at least gotten to see my sister grow up, or know who she married, or anything like that. And I feel pretty bad about…well how my mother and sister must have been feeling."
"I feel bad for my mom too. I don't know, but let's not dwell on such-"
"Love birds, you separate for moment, and come here."
"Wha-! We're not…!"
"Alright," I sighed as Jack defied his words.
"I have something to show you." He pulled out a small globe. It was basically a miniature of the one in his workshop. "The lights are blinking out."
"And fast." Bunny added grimly.
"We have to fix that." Jack added.
"Obviously." I muttered. "But how do you get kids to believe in you?" They all shot me a small glance of pity.
Sorry about the shortness, but all I really wanted to succeed in doing with this chapter is show you some of Roe's past, and how she eventually died. Maybe a bit more graphic than Jack, so sorry, but oh well. And soon enough we'll find out what her center is. You should all try to guess what exactly it is in the reviews! I want to see. I mean, I've made it kind of clear...maybe, I don't know. Anyway, love all you guys, and please review!
