You waited for your Papa for a long time. You didn't know how long you waited, but no matter what you stayed in your spot.
The tall lady liked to stand outside the cave sometimes, but she never went in, no matter how scary it was outside. Sometimes she looked at you, but most of the time she just looked at the sky.
Animals were scared of the tall lady, and you thought that was funny because animals were scared of your Papa too, but they were scared of him for a different reason. Bugs liked the tall lady though, and butterflies liked her the best. You'd never seen a butterfly before, but you'd seen moths sometimes. Butterflies didn't like the dark, you guessed.
The butterflies liked to play in the tall lady's hair and crawl on her body when it wasn't too wet, or cold, or windy, or dark. You wished you could play in her hair, but it was too bright outside the cave and you weren't supposed to leave your spot for anything. One time, one of the butterflies landed near you! It didn't stay long, but you definitely could have caught it if you had left your spot.
When it was windy, the tall lady let the leaves play in her hair. You were glad to be in the cave when it was windy because you knew you would be blown away for sure if you left and that wouldn't have been good at all because you wouldn't be in your spot anymore.
The first time it started snowing you thought maybe the cold boy had come back, but it was just the tall lady. She would sit on the ground and let the snow fall on her while she watched the sky until her skin turned purple.
It rained sometimes too, and you didn't like it when it did because then water would collect in your spot and make you all wet and drippy. You didn't like being wet and drippy, but you stayed in your spot.
The tall lady didn't mind getting wet. She would sit in the rain until all of her hair turned flat and her dress was soppy, but she didn't mind it at all. She liked to squish the mud between her toes when it rained, and she never wore shoes. The cold boy didn't wear shoes either, and neither did the mama bird. You wondered what happened to all of their shoes, and if they would find them again one day.
The tall lady spoke to you once. She wanted to know why you were still in the cave, and why you hadn't left.
You were waiting for your Papa, you'd told her, and she had frowned at you.
Your Papa wouldn't come get you, she'd said, but that was because she didn't know your Papa. He always came back.
You didn't see the tall lady outside of the cave for a long time after that, but it was fine because you were much too tired to talk to her anyway.
You were so, so tired, and you felt very dizzy. Your eyes were sore from looking outside the cave and you just wanted to sleepbecause you were so tired, but you couldn't sleep. Not yet. Not until you found your Papa. He would definitely come back. Definitely.
It was snowing when the cold boy came.
He nearly stepped over you at first, but then he saw the stupid ropey thing. You didn't even know he was there until you heard him gasp. He picked you up and you let out a squeal because you weren't supposed to leave your spot for anything, but you must have been too quiet because the cold boy didn't hear it. You wondered why he'd gotten so big because surely you hadn't been able to fit in his hands so easily before. The ropes fell right off when he lifted you, and he cradled you close to his chest.
You had to wait for your Papa, you tried to explain, but the only noises you made were whimpers. The cold boy ignored you. You couldn't see his face, but he felt very cold right then, and he wasn't so bright either. Where was he taking you? Into the cave? No! That was where your Papa was, and your Papa hadn't come to get you yet! You had to wait outside!
"Pitch!" the cold boy shouted, and you flinched because the cold boy was angry. "Pitch, if you don't come out right now I'm going to get Mother Nature, and trust me you won't like it when I get Mother Nature."
"Go away." Your Papa said, emerging from a dark corner reluctantly. He didn't sound angry with you anymore. He sounded tired.
"Not until you explain." The cold boy told him.
"Explain what, exactly?"
"This! Explain this!" the cold boy thrust you forward and you lifted your head with a wobbly cry at the sudden jostling. You hoped he wouldn't drop you, because you were awfully far from the ground. The cold boy must have been very mad, because he didn't even let your Papa respond before he started talking again. "Is this how you treat your minions? I found it outside in the snow, waiting for you, I'd bet, and here you are acting like you don't even care."
"I don't care, and it's not my minion. The fearlings never were." Your Papa corrected him disinterestedly. "Now if that's all you came here to say, leave. And take that… thing with you."
"So you're just going to abandon it then? It'll die! It needs you!" The cold boy protested.
"It died the day it changed. It needs fear. And once it finds some, it will latch on and feed until nothing remains. It doesn't care about anything else." Your Papa scoffed dismissively.
"Then you're just killing it twice. If it wanted fear, why didn't it go find some? Why did it stay? It stayed because it trusted you to take care of it, and you betrayed it." The cold boy accused viciously.
"And it told you all of this itself, didn't it? Fearlings lie, Jack." Your Papa said, pacing back and forth restlessly.
"How can it lie? It can barely speak!" the cold boy argued furiously, still holding you out to your Papa.
"It's what they do. They find every ounce of goodness in you and they use it to destroy you. I've seen it happen too many times to count!" Your Papa was much taller than the cold boy when he loomed, but the cold boy didn't move. The cold boy was very brave.
"If you would just spend time with it you'd see it's not like that! It's practically a child—"
"No it is not!" your Papa snapped. "It is not a child! Maybe it used to be, but those days are long gone, and its nature is irredeemable. Whatever childishness it displays now is nothing more than a mockery of what they once were."
"That isn't true! It isn't an act!" the cold boy insisted.
"Isn't it? I've been fooled once!" Your Papa spread his arms wide to gesture at himself, a dry laugh rasping in his throat. You didn't know why he was laughing, but it didn't sound good at all. "I won't be fooled again," He said.
The cold boy's eyes fell on something near his feet and he stooped to pick it up. "Can fearlings draw pictures of their papas then, or was that just an act too?" he wanted to know. He was looking at your drawing that you had made at the big man's place. Your Papa didn't answer. "Maybe some of them were just pretending, but this one isn't, I can feel it!"
"And I should believe you based on that?" Your Papa sounded like he was going to laugh again, but he didn't sound happy.
"Why can't you just accept that it wants to be with you?" The cold boy shouted.
"Because it is a monster."
"It is a child and you did this to it!"
Your Papa fell silent and the cold boy held you against his chest once more.
Why was the cold boy yelling at your Papa? Don't yell at your Papa, you tried to tell him, but the cold boy didn't listen.
"Mother Nature was right, you don't deserve to be a father. But this fearling doesn't deserve to be abandoned by one." The cold boy said after a moment, breathing hard. You thought it was funny that the cold boy was shivering, because he was always cold but he never shivered.
"She said that about me, did she?" Your Papa asked stiffly. The cold boy squeezed you gently.
"She said that if you were going to ignore the only thing that still calls you it's father, then you didn't deserve to be one in the first place." The cold boy replied bluntly.
"She really thinks that, does she…?" your Papa murmured.
The cold boy hugged you tighter. "She's also the one who told me about the fearling. If I hadn't shown up it'd still be outside. I'm taking it back to the Guardians, so—"
"Give it to me." Your Papa interrupted, holding out his hand. He was hurting again, you knew, and you hoped you wouldn't get hurt too. You didn't want to get hurt again.
"What?" The cold boy took a step back, drawing you closer.
"I don't want to ask again. Give me the fearling, Jack. Please."
The cold boy didn't move at first, and he was afraid to, but slowly, ever so slowly, you felt yourself being placed into a pair of outstretched hands. You curled up against them with a whine as you were cradled gently.
You shifted and tried to lift your head, letting out a wail because whose hands were—
Oh…
Oh…
Your Papa shushed you softly and you couldn't help but whine because it really was your Papa! He'd never held you before. It was so nice being held by your Papa, and you could see why the other younger ones always fought over it. But right now you were so, so tired… you just wanted to sleep…
Your eyes started to drift shut. Yes. Sleep would be nice.
"I'm so sorry, little one," Your Papa said. You didn't know why he was sorry, but you forgave him because he was your Papa and you loved him very much.
You were happy that you found your Papa.