Hi guys! So sorry I can't even update weekly now because I'm so busy with my school work.
Anyways, this chapter is more like a filler or otherwise known as the chapter 'before the drama unfolds'.
Yes, there is something epic brewing so stay tuned :D
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I love reviews like I love chocolate chip cookies ;P
Reviews are always appreciated :) Listen to:
Hurricane - 30 Seconds To Mars (LISTEN TO THIS, IT'S PERFECT :D)
Chapter 10: The Calm Before The Storm
Where we last stopped:
Little did Kayla know that there was someone observing them from the trees, her black eyes wide as she took in the male and female who were fighting.
She felt confused, weren't they just kissing a moment ago? She thought in a confused way as she eyed the girl whose body was shaking as if she were sobbing.
She took in the male who was pacing up and down a rather thick branch, his face furrowed in worry and shame.
She then remembered the show of blue energy on the young girl's fingertips and she deduced that they were no ordinary mortals.
Something niggled at the back of her mind when she thought about the both of them but she frowned when she couldn't remember what exactly it was.
With a furrow to her brow and a last confused stare, she flew off, leaving the pair behind as she headed for Santoff Clausen.
After dinner, the guests were all ushered to the huge living room equipped with a fireplace to keep the cold draft out.
They were all gathered around, still talking and unaware of what was conspiring.
Jack shook his head in exasperation as he saw them.
"Fellow spirits, I hope you are well fed," North said as he took place in the middle of the globe room.
The spirits all turned to North with a look of expectation.
"But this isn't the reason I called you here, although it was nice to see all of you again," North amended.
The Guardian of Wonder didn't waste time in beating around the bush.
"There has been a major problem brewing in our world and it has now affected the mortal world, especially the children," North said pensively.
"It seems that the pro-"
"The prophecy has begun," a different voice said and everyone turned simultaneously around to see Father Time with his scepter and brass clock walking through a time portal with a few wood sprites behind him.
The atmosphere was tensed as the rest of the spirits looked at each other in apparent shock.
"A… A Feeling has been created?" Amoura asked in a raspy voice.
"Yes," Jack replied with a determined look in his blue orbs. "And she's now on a mission with another fellow Feeling," the winter spirit said.
Amoura glared at Jack with a look that was unfathomable. "Who is she?" Cupid asked coldly.
"She's-" North began but Jack cut him off.
"My girlfriend," the young winter spirit said defiantly, his expression determining anyone to challenge him.
Amoura's cherry colored lips popped open in a 'O' as the other spirits looked at them in astonishment.
One of the wood sprites eyes grew bigger as she heard what Jack had said.
She came forward in front of Jack on transparent pine green wings, fluttering like a butterfly. She looked at him for a moment with doe like black orbs as she assessed what the young winter spirit said.
"Blue dress? Auburn hair? The guy with her has sandy blond hair and clad in black?" she asked in a pleasant low tone.
Jack nodded, shocked that one of the wood sprites had seen them.
"The exact one," the Guardian of Fun affirmed.
"I saw them, in one of my forest's, they were resting after the girl got attacked by a huge shadow," she said seriously, her green eyes stormy.
Jack's eyes grew wide as his impossibly pale features paled even more. "What?!" he half screamed half groaned.
The wood sprite pursed her thin lips as she took in Jack's anguished expression.
"What happened to them?" Jack asked panicked.
"Don't worry, I have been watching them and saw that the girl was fine, she awoke after a few hours as the guy took care of her. He saved her from the shadows," the wood sprite said with a reassuring smile though she seemed to hide something in that smile of hers.
"Shadows you say, Blythe?" North asked, stroking his long beard thoughtfully.
Bunny bounded up to North and put a paw on his Russian friend's shoulders.
"They must be getting stronger if they're attacking a Feeling," Lennox quipped up as all eyes turned to him. "I've seen them around though they often disappeared," the spirit of Autumn said in his southern drawl.
Jack felt his panic subside only to be replaced by a new fear. Pierre took care of Kayla? How bad was she hurt?
Jack hated sitting on the sidelines and waiting for something to happen.
Patience was never one of his virtues.
"What Lennox means to say is that, if a shadow can attack its own mortal enemy without any fear, they must be getting stronger and this spells trouble," Summer interjected with a look of concern.
"How long has this been going on?" the groundhog asked.
"Almost a week, we just discovered the prophecy not long ago," North explained as his blue eyes were contemplative.
"What are the two of them doing right now?" Amoura asked, her tone skeptical.
"Damage control," Father Time rumbled in his reedy voice.
"The other night we found that the globe lights were decreasing at a rapid pace so there was nothing left for us to do besides send out the Feelings of Faith and Belief out to make the children believe again," North explained.
"Doubts," Mother Nature said in a solemn tone.
"Why send both of them out when you can send only the Feeling of Belief?" Amoura asked in a haughty tone as she stated the logic.
Father Time turned his metallic grey eyes to her, an air of regality surrounding the Spirit of Time as he answered Cupid.
"Without faith, there can never be belief. They are one of the same and cannot live without each other. Believe is what we can see, faith is what we can't see yet we still believe," Father Time stated as Amoura clamped her mouth shut in anger.
One of the wood sprites couldn't contain her glee as her blue eyes shone with mischief.
"When are they coming back?" Fergus asked, his Irish tone more noticeable now after three glasses of spiked eggnog.
"We don't know, honestly, but at our guess, after their done with their mission," North said.
Jack swallowed against the sudden lump stuck in his throat as he thought about Kayla.
Gosh, he missed her.
Kayla awoke after a fitful night of sleep, a bitter taste in her mouth and a chink in her neck.
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she stretched and silently made her way down to the base of the tree where just hours ago she had admired the fireflies with Pierre.
She stifled a groan at the onslaught of memories, Pierre's emotional outburst, and their kiss. Kayla shook her head to get rid of the thoughts as she landed down softly, her feet padding the surface of the forest floor.
"I'm sorry for what I said," a voice said from behind her as she whirled around with a hand to her throat, her hazel eyes wide with fear.
She saw a bashful and sleep deprived Pierre standing before her, looking scruffy yet still impossibly handsome.
"Don't do that to me," Kayla stated in a huff of breath as she tried to calm her thumping heart.
"I'm sorry," Pierre said again, a hint of a smile forming on his lips.
Kayla just stared at him, not sure what to say.
She cleared her throat as Pierre waited patiently for her to continue.
"I'm sorry for how I kissed you without your permission and said something really harsh to you. But I still stand by what I say, you don't have to agree with me at all, it's just what I think," Pierre said with his usual blunt honesty.
Kayla mashed her lips together as she contemplated what to say.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion," she started slowly. "But I also stand by what I say, I care for no one the way how I care for Jack and I'm pretty sure that the feeling is mutual on his side," Kayla said.
Pierre begrudgingly nodded as a flash of pain appeared in his eyes before it was smothered away.
Kayla felt slightly guilty. She wasn't trying to hurt him, but it was the truth.
She loved Jack with every fiber of her being and she knew that her feeling was reciprocated by the winter spirit.
"It's okay, can we just put it behind us and go back to our mission?" Kayla suggested as she gave a tentative smile in Pierre's direction.
"Alright," Pierre agreed amicably in his mellow British accent.
"Alright?"
"Alright," Pierre said as he smiled and they both took off to the air simultaneously as they went to their next destination.
"Jack, may I have a word with you?" a voice came from the hallway where Jack was currently walking back to his room.
The winter spirit turned around and came face to face with the wood sprite who had told him he had seen Kayla and Pierre in her forest.
Blythe was her name.
"Yes, Blythe," Jack asked, curiosity etched on his features.
Blythe stopped in front of him, her black eyes wary as she tried to phrase her statement.
Her black tunic dress fluttered in the non-existent wind in the hallways of the Workshop illuminated by torches on the wall, casting a warm glow on the red bricked walls.
"Your girlfriend, the Feeling…" she said.
"Yeah, Kayla. What about her?" Jack asked his curiosity now at its maximum peak.
"I saw her the other day in my woods and she appeared to be… Kissing the male," Blythe said as her eyes shone compassionately.
Jack looked stunned as he tried to absorb what the wood sprite was telling him.
"My Kayla?" he asked incredulously, his blue eyes wide.
Blythe nodded.
"But I couldn't understand, what really was going on. It all seemed confusing," she responded, twisting her fingers.
"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked, a frown appearing on his face.
"Yes, I saw it with my own eyes," she affirmed, her eyes sorry once more.
Jack's eyes grew wide as he felt as if someone had stepped in his chest, crushing his heart along the way. He felt as if he couldn't breathe.
This wasn't right.
Kayla and Pierre.
Kayla kissing Pierre?
Blythe was saying something else but Jack couldn't get what it was as his heartbeat roared in his ears, drowning out her words.
He turned around abruptly, walking numbly to his room as he closed the door behind him silently.
He looked around the apartment as he contemplated what Blythe had said.
The apartment looked the same. The same huge glass windows where he and Kayla would steal a few stolen moments of silent night time flying.
The same stairs leading to their two room top floor.
But one thing was missing. Kayla of course.
Jack felt the pain rip through him as he clenched his fist, the silence of the apartment -where Kayla's humming or their conversation would normally fill the empty spaces- seemed as if it was mocking him.
Jack knew jealousy, he knew love, and he knew the feeling of falling but this ripping hurt feeling coursing through him?
It was completely foreign.
Kayla and Pierre had been flying over a city, filled with choking smoke curling around the tall buildings.
It was night time here and the stars were twinkling merrily in the black velvet sky, their beauty marred and stolen by the abyss of twinkling lights of the city below.
Kayla flew down on building level, throwing her faith rays down.
The atmosphere around the city changed from rushed capriciousness to a mellower surrounding.
It was astonishing.
She happened to pass on one of the many apartments located in this city when she heard a child defiantly talking back.
"Why should I put my teeth under my bed?!" the child cried out as she screeched to a halt and peered in the window, 10 storey's above the ground.
She looked in and saw a blond haired little girl defiantly shaking her head as her exasperated mother tried to explain to her.
The little girl was in bed, wrapped in her blankets like a cocoon.
"It's for the tooth fairy to collect your teeth and leave some money under your bed," her mother, a plump woman with the same blond hair and face as her daughter, said good-naturedly.
Her daughter shook her head as she pouted.
"I don't believe in the tooth fairy," her daughter said with a shake in her head.
Kayla pursed her lips as she saw what happened. She turned her head and saw Pierre flying past her, his face a mask of concentration as he let his pulsing blue believe ray fall over the city with a familiar angelic glow.
"Psst, Pierre," Kayla whispered though it was completely unnecessary.
Pierre furrowed his brow as he flew to him and leaned in to see what she was looking at.
"The little girl doesn't believe in the tooth fairy anymore," Kayla whispered as Pierre cocked his head to one side, observing the little girl whose mum was staring around the room as if looking for divine intervention to help her with her daughter.
Kayla snuck a glance at Pierre and they both nodded.
The both of them raised their glowing palms simultaneously and blue and green rays filled up the room as the mum who looked exasperated suddenly smiled.
Her daughter went from suddenly resistant to taking the tooth from her mum and staring at it intently.
"Mum, tell me about the tooth fairy again," she asked tentatively as her mother heaved a sigh of relief and told her the story of the tooth fairy along with the story of Santa, the Easter Bunny and more.
Kayla had a huge grin on her face as she stared at Pierre who also looked at her with a small smile.
"I love my job," Kayla said enthusiastically as Pierre laughed and nodded with her.
"Where else do we have to go?" Pierre asked as he floated next to her, the both of them flying away from the apartment.
Kayla took out the map from the satchel and looked intently at it.
She gave a small laugh.
"Nowhere else," she said heartily as she smiled.
From the corner of her eye, she noted that there was a black shadow creeping up from Pierre's shadow casted on the wall of the buildings but when she blinked, they were gone.
She shook her head and dismissed her crazy notation as tiredness.
"Let's go home," she said happily and in a flash, they were both on their way to the Workshop.
A shady entity stood in the dark of the shadows as he saw the two Feelings take off to the air.
If the shadow could smile, it would be grinning evilly as its plan was forming to perfection.
His compliance was intercepting the mission perfectly and it couldn't wait to see its plan in motion.
"The end of the era of Believe is coming soon," it whispered in a murderous voice as the other shadows screamed in impatient ecstasy.