Hey people. Okay so this chapter will probably really short. I've gotten two suggestions so far and I'm going to save them till a little later on. I'm going to try and be as historically accurate as possible but there will be some inconsistencies that I'm just too lazy or too behind schedule to look up. For example the way the math works out Andromeda and Amalthea died in 1553, but in one of the earlier chapters I mentioned that 16 is middle aged. That's wrong the average life expectancy in 1550 is 71 years so I was WAAAAY wrong. Oh well. Did anyone catch the tennis pun in the last chapter? Believe it or not Pitch isn't gonna be the bad guy here. Pain and Panic aren't either. I plan to have everything work out a certain way and a completely new character that's a throwback to one of my fave animated movies will be the ultimate bad guy.
As always I don't own ROTG.
"This will seem a lot like what you'd get with the teeth. The only difference really is that this gives everything good and bad." Amalthea said.
"Mostly bad" Andromeda supplied.
An image appeared on the T.V and spread to the walls, ceiling, and floor; until, it seemed, they were standing in a forest.
Tall trees soared around them fresh and green. Two girls, about eight years old, raced through the trees one with straight golden hair, the other had corkscrew curls that stuck up at weird angles, giving the girl a chaotic appearance. Both had green eyes and freckles on their pale faces. The girls wore matching simple dresses, one blue the other green.
"Molly, hurry up!" the leading girl, the one in the green dress, shouted back to her companion.
"You slow down, Claire." The curly haired blonde in the blue dress panted.
"We're gonna miss it." Claire called back.
"We're not going to miss the egg hunt Claire we've been doing them for five years and never missed one." Molly retorted
"Yeah because we always hurry." Claire chided. "You wait first, and I'll hunt okay?"
"Sure thing Claire" Molly said as the trees opened around them revealing a small town. There were children massed around a lone tree. Each held a colorful hand woven basket. Molly and Claire moved over to the other children and waited.
"All right" a man said stepping over to the small mob and clapping his hands to gain the attention of the children. "Everyone's here right?"
"Yes" the mob responded emphatically.
"Then on three you're free to go. One…Two…Three!" Children tore off in every direction. One child, Molly, remained behind. It wasn't long, however before Claire returned with six eggs in her hands. Claire sat down and Molly shot up and tore off in a different direction from where her sister came. She too returned shortly carrying several eggs in her skirt.
"I think we have plenty." Claire said counting the eggs. "How did you find so many? I found six and I was looking really hard for them."
"Nobody went that way." Molly said pointing in the direction she had gone. "So none of the eggs had been picked up."
"Well there's fifteen eggs here, that's three for each of us."
"Then let's get home, Ashe and Michael won't wait forever."
The girls tore off through the trees, the ends of their skirts folded up to hold the eggs, and didn't stop running until they came upon a small cottage nestled amongst the trees. A boy of about six came rushing out towing a three year old girl, the thumb of her free hand planted firmly in her mouth, behind him. Both had light brown hair, pale skin, and slate grey eyes. A girl of about sixteen with silky blond hair and the greenest eyes, leaned against the doorframe. Like Molly she had curly hair, but hers was tame. She looked like an older version, what Molly could potentially look like in eight years.
"You brought us eggs?" The boy asked.
"We sure did Michael." Claire responded.
"Me too?" the little girl whispered.
"C'mere Ashe." Molly said as she carefully selected three eggs. She held each one up individually. The first was a deep green and looked like a leaf. "This one was hidden in a bush, and this one…" she handed Ashe the green egg and lifted a pale grey one. "Was in a crack in a rock, this one…" she lifted a small, pale pink egg from her skirt. "Was in a squirrel hole. I had to be extra careful to get it out."
"You shouldn't tell them stupid stories Molly." The older girl said rolling her eyes as Claire gave Michael three eggs telling him precisely where she'd found them like Molly had done for Ashe.
"They aren't stupid stories Lizzy. That's really where I found them." She reached into her skirt and retrieved three more eggs. "Besides, what's wrong with keeping the belief alive for them?"
"The Easter Bunny went through all the trouble to hide these so why shouldn't we share the beautiful locations." Claire said around a mouthful of chocolate egg.
"Don't call me that. My name is Elizabeth not 'Lizzy' or 'Liz' E-liz-a-beth" she enunciated each syllable of her name. She took the eggs and entered the house where she proceeded to throw them into the fire place.
"Ha" Bunny said elbowing North as the image dissolved. "Easter."
"Christmas is better." North responded. It would have gone into a full blown argument if Polaris hadn't shot them a murderous glare and whisper hissed "At least you have a holiday."
A new image appeared around them. The cottage rose in front of them, but it seemed like something was off. The snow covered ground was covered in footprints coming and going from the house.
A seven year old girl with brown hair left the house closing the door gently behind her. She brushed some tears from her eyes she ran off into the trees. A doctor soon exited the house. Closing his bag the doctor sighed sadly.
"C'mon" Amalthea said standing up and walking towards the door. The guardians fully expected her to walk into the wall but she continued walking well beyond where the wall should have been. They walked through the door, they didn't open it they phased right through it, and were standing in a humble living room. A man, in his mid to late thirties, who looked like a much older version of Ashe lay on the couch with a cloth on his forehead and a blanket covering his body.
"Poppa" A now twelve year old Molly knelt by the couch holding the man's hand. Her curls had been tamed and, rather than sticking out in every direction, now hung in silken ringlets down to the middle of her back.
"Please get better." A ten year old Michael sat next to her, tears streaming down his face.
"Come on Michael." Molly said standing up and pulling him up with her they both moved to leave the room. The guardians followed them and ended up in a room with five beds. A few seconds later Claire entered the room with Ashe, still sobbing, gripping her arm tightly. They all sat down one of the beds. The bed had an 'M' carved into the headboard and lacy trim.
"I asked Elizabeth if Santa could help dad and she told me he wasn't real." Ashe whispered slightly horrified. "She said I was getting too old to believe in such childish things."
North sucked in a breath. "What a horrible thing to do."
"Oh it gets better." Andromeda said bitterly, voice dripping with sarcasm
"I'm not too old right? You still believe in him right?" Ashe asked verging on hysteria.
"Of course they don't." Michael said bitterly "There's no such thing. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, none of them are real."
"Have you seen them?" Molly asked suddenly. Michael shook his head. "Well there you go, you have no proof that they aren't there. I believe in all of them because when I was very little Poppa told me something that I will never forget."
"What?" Michael asked leaning back against the headboard next to her.
"Seeing isn't believing." Claire stated from her position at the foot of the bed.
"Believing is seeing." Molly finished as she pulled a still crying Ashe into her lap.
"What's gonna happen if Poppa dies?" She warbled.
"It's hard to believe in good and benevolent forces when your father gets fatally sick." A voice from the doorway supplied. "There really isn't magic in the world Molly. The sooner you and Claire accept that the happier you'll be."
Molly shot the speaker a scathing glare. A now twenty year old Elizabeth entered the room.
"Where's mom? I need to discuss my engagement with her. I plan to marry Ethan in the spring." She revealed a simple metal band around the ring finger of her left hand.
"You know father doesn't approve of him." Molly interjected.
"In a few weeks it won't matter. According to the doctor he doesn't have much time left."
Ashe gasped in horror, Michael broke down crying, Claire attempted to soothe him, and Molly stood up. Her face was dipped so that her eyes were cast in shadow. Very slowly she made her way over to where Elizabeth stood. Without lifting her face, Molly punched Elizabeth square in the jaw, with enough force that her head snapped to the side.
"Get out Elizabeth." Molly's voice had taken on a murderous tone. "How DARE you say such things about your father. If I see you again there will be a fresh grave with your name on it."
"As far as anyone is concerned you are no longer a part of this family." The words had, surprisingly, come from Ashe. Elizabeth left the room cradling her bruised cheek.
"What if she's right?" Michael asked. "What if there is no magic in the world?" Molly, who'd reclaimed her place on the bed, leaned his head onto her shoulder. She seemed deep in thought.
"Maybe magic doesn't exist in the way you think it does." She muttered stroking Ashe's hair. "But I think that magic is everywhere. In friends that stick with you and family that stands by you. In rainbows and full moons, in the smile of a babe or the laughter of children."
"Magic is everywhere even if it doesn't look like magic." Claire supplied
The image faded leaving a room full of stunned guardians.
"Your sister was an awful person" Tooth said. "How could she say that about your father?"
"Believe it or not it gets worse." Andromeda said.
"How could it possibly get worse than that?" North asked.
"Just watch." Amalthea said "You'll see."
A new scene appeared around them, this one of a cemetery.
"Oh no" Tooth said. "Your poor father."
As the coffin was lowered into the ground the four children stepped forward and dropped handfuls of spring's first wildflowers into the hole in the ground. The three girls wore simple black dresses and Michael wore a cheap looking suit. The entire congregation, which appeared to consist of almost the entire town, wept as Ashe dropped to her knees.
"Daddy please wake up. I know you had lots of work to do and I know you can't do it from down there. Please wake up." Molly stepped forward and lifted Ashe to her feet just as the pall bearers began filling the grave with dirt.
"NO!" Ashe screamed struggling against Molly's grip. "Don't let them bury daddy. If they bury him he can't work and support mommy."
"Ashe" Molly said, stooping so that she was eye level with the younger girl. Molly began to cry too as she pulled Ashe into a hug. "We have to be strong right now, okay?"
"Daddy would want us to be strong." Michael said as he and Claire joined the hug. They were all crying and sniffling and nobody wanted to remove them from their position just in front of their father's grave.
"Our father was a very sweet and kind man." Amalthea said.
The scene changed once again. Now the children, along with their mother, sat in a church pew.
Dressed to the nines, Ashe and Michael were fidgeting uncomfortably, while Claire and Molly were on edge and clearly angry. An unknown voice rang through the room:
"If there is anyone who, for any reason, objects to this marriage, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."
As one Michael, Ashe, Molly, and Claire rose, much to their mother's mortification, and spoke:
"I object" the bride to be turned revealing the angry face of a twenty two year old Elizabeth.
"May I ask why" the pastor said "It's practically unheard of for the family to object."
Molly spoke for the four.
"We object on the grounds that our father did not approve of this union, and neither do we."
"Uh, Excuse me Father." Molly's mother grabbed her and dragged her and the others from the pew.
After a moment they filed back in each now proudly sporting a red mark on their cheeks.
They sat in the pew without another word.
"She hit you?" Tooth asked.
"Yeah?" Andromeda said with a shrug. "You look surprised. But when I threatened my older sister's life you said nothing."
"She deserved it." Jack muttered.
A fourteen year old Molly stood in front of a church. The only signal that this was a different day was that, rather than Elizabeth, it was Molly's mother who wore the white gown of a bride-to-be.
"I swear if you go through with this I will never speak to you again." Molly hissed.
"You have no say in whom I marry. Please you and your siblings need a father figure in your lives." The woman, who looked like an older form of Elizabeth, pleaded.
"I don't object to you remarrying but God forbid the dirt should settle on dad's grave before you take another man to your bed."
"Watch your tone young lady."
"ANYONE but him mom, please." Molly was desperate.
Her mother ignored her pleas and entered the church.
The scene faded and the guardians stood rigid faces slack with shock. Even Polaris seemed surprised.
"If she was happy why would you have a problem with who she married?"
"Just watch," Amalthea said slightly bitter. "Ah here we go."
A scene appeared before them. It was the same house as always, but there was a more sinister feel to it somehow. It was nighttime, coming up on midnight, based on the position of the moon.
A scream reverberated through the house prompting the guardians to enter. When they reached the living room they were shocked. A now fifteen Molly and Claire stood pressing Michael and Ashe into the corner with their bodies. Their arms were spread in an attempt to guard their younger siblings. Standing before them was a man, large and muscular, brandishing an iron poker that he had retrieved from the fireplace. Though it was Molly he'd hit it was Ashe who'd screamed. He swung the poker again, striking Claire on the side of the head and Molly on the shoulder, however, the sisters held firm defending their siblings.
"Go to your room." The man hissed. "Unless you have something to say" he gripped Molly's arm. She bared her teeth at him and suppressed a growl. "No? I thought not."
When they entered the room they found that three of the five beds had been pushed together. The guardians guessed, based on the amount of dust accumulated around the rest of the room, that this relocation hadn't been recent. Michael and Ashe crawled into the middle with Molly and Claire on either side. The elder sisters once more placed their arms protectively over their siblings.
The scene blurred and when it refocused the children had changed from long sleeve dresses and tunic, to threadbare night clothes. The thinness of Molly and Claire's nightgowns revealing that what they'd seen hadn't been the first time they'd gotten between their step-father and their siblings. Black and blue bruises lined their arms and torsos.
"He was careful" Andromeda said.
"Never to leave a bruise where it shows" Amalthea finished "He went so far as to threaten Michael and Ashe's life if Andromeda didn't stay silent."
"He was so worried that someone would find out what he really was." Andromeda supplied.
A pair of fifteen year old girls entered a small bakery.
"Hello Miss Alice" Claire greeted.
"Hello girls, you're here early today." A woman with kind blue eyes and wavy red hair waved to them. She ushered them behind the counter, where they put on aprons and began to work on two large lumps of dough. "Are things at home still…" she paused searching for the right word.
"Hell on earth?" Claire supplied. "Yes"
"I was going to say rough" Miss Alice sighed as Molly snickered into the dough she was kneading.
The scene blurred, the sun rested on the horizon as Molly, Claire, and Alice exited the building.
"Here you go girls." Alice handed Molly a paper bag she'd been holding as she locked the door. "There's four in there, one each."
"We couldn't possibly…" Claire started.
"I insist." Alice said pushing the bag into Molly's hands firmly. "Give one to Michael and Ashe each. You all looked like you could use something sweet when I saw you shopping yesterday."
Molly dipped her head in thanks while Clair hugged Alice.
"If there's anything you need," Alice said "And I do mean anything, you come to me okay?"
"There is one thing…" Claire said "If … if something were to… happen to us…"
"I will take care of Michael and Ashe." Alice smiled sadly.
"What's going to happen?" Jack asked.
"Trials" Amalthea said.
"A disgusting pig of a man coupled with an outbreak of the plague." Andromeda supplied. "We rejected him and he didn't take it very well. An accusation of that sort is a hefty thing."
"They're witches I tell you." A large man led a mob of angry villagers to the cabin. Molly and Claire, now sixteen, stood in front of it, heads lifted defiantly. A man in clerical robes stood before them. "Bewitching me into feeling lustful things."
"Clarabelle and Mullybane Stonewill, you stand accused of witchcraft. How do you plea?" the cleric sneered. A small group of men had moved behind them and now the girls were restrained. "Admit that you were the ones who brought this plague on us and repent. Save your souls."
"We have done nothing of the sort."
"Let our almighty Father be the judge of that." Came a woman's voice from the back of the crowd. A curly haired woman cradling a baby stepped forward. "Let them face trials and, if they be innocent as they claim, the Father will spare them."
Molly and Claire glanced at the woman horror spreading across their faces. They tore free from the men holding them and ran.
When the world refocused the girls were standing with Michael and Ashe.
"Please" Claire begged. "Run away from here. Go home, under Molly's bed is a loose board, under that board is a box with our names carved into it. Take it and find Miss. Alice. Leave this town, there should be enough there to start a new life somewhere else. There might even be enough to get the lot of you out of the country."
"NO" Ashe screamed. "You can't leave us."
"We have to. It's too dangerous for us right now. We'll find you again. I promise." Claire said as she and Molly buried them in a hug. "Just know that as long as there are stars in the night sky, there will be a place in our hearts for you two. Now go." The sisters shoved their siblings away roughly. In moments Michael and Ashe were gone and the villagers had caught up. Molly and Claire were apprehended and roughly dragged to the town square.
"Mullybane?" Jack questioned.
Andromeda shrugged. "A name's a name."
Night had fallen over the town. The square had several new acquisitions including a pair of stocks and a patch of red hot coals. The stocks were no longer occupied, their former prisoners standing, with their hands bound behind them, before the coals. The light from the coals illuminated their grim expressions. Their feet were bare. All of a sudden Molly was shoved roughly from behind, the guardians watched in horror as she, soon followed by Claire, began to march dutifully down the coals. The smell of burning flesh and blood soon filled the air and tears were streaming down both girls faces. They had been stripped of their clothes and now wore simple white dresses.
Tooth gasped in horror, Polaris leveled a comforting hand on Andromeda and Amalthea's shoulders, Jack and Sandy looked decidedly green in the face, and North and Bunny were gripping their weapons as though they wanted to jump in and help.
The girls reached the end of the coals where a man slathered something on their feet and wrapped them with cloth.
"Take them to their cell." The cleric from before had appeared behind where the guardians were standing. Molly and Claire were grabbed and roughly thrown towards what looked like a courthouse. The scene blurred again and when it refocused they were once again standing in the square.
"Unbind their feet and let us see if they are witches." The cloth was removed from their feet and as one might expect they were still burned and bloody.
"You see" the man said "I told you they were witches."
"The Father's grace does not rest with them." It was the woman from before.
"If that is true Elizabeth." Claire said "Then we will see you all in hell. Perhaps my understanding is flawed but did God not dictate to Moses that 'thou shalt not kill'? I seem to recall that being one of the ten rules." But it was for naught. The crowed wasn't listening. They were, instead, chanting:
"Hang them"
"Burn them"
"Drown them"
Each voice screaming to be heard above all others that there suggestion might be the one that's used.
"Your own sister? She sold you out?" Bunny, as well as the other guardians, jolted in surprise.
"So…" Jack said "Tried and convicted as witches, huh?"
And it began to dawn on the guardians that they had failed. Their mission was to protect children, and they had failed two of the children who'd needed them most.
"This is your last chance to repent." The cleric spoke from beside the gallows.
"We have done nothing wrong." Claire repeated from her position atop them. She and Molly still wore the white dresses, their arms were once again bound behind them, and a noose was draped about their throats. They did not, however, look the least bit scared. Molly eyed the crowd with a cool disappointment while Claire reprimanded them.
"God will see to it that you regret this day. His grace will abandon you and your kin for claiming the lives of two innocents."
"May He have mercy on your souls." The cleric gestured and the undertaker pulled the leaver. Even as the ropes reached their ends the disappointed and reprimanding looks never left Claire and Molly's faces. Even as the light dimmed from their eyes and death claimed them, they continued to shame the people in the square.
And that's where I'll end it. To be honest I wanted to do all the human experiences in one chapter. Also, so you don't ask later, the difference between experiences and memories is you get the good and the bad. You experience the sights and sounds and smells. All five of your senses are involved even if you can't directly interfere. So the next chapter is planned to start in on their immortal experiences but it might not.
Seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing