OH MY GOD HELLO I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT THE HIATUS IS FINALLY OVER!
I am soooooooooo sorry I had to just cut you all off like that. And for 3 WHOLE WEEKS! Seriously I am very sorry but I had so much stuff to do in school and it really were wired a lot of my attention. Truth be told I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to update this week either because we had TCAP testing all this week. :( For those of you who don't know what that is it's basically just an entire week of taking 6-7 hour-long tests every day and then going to regular classes who still feel the need to give us homework. -_-
But anyways! YES! I is finally back! :D I'm also updating both my other stories today switch to reading those you can have that to look forward to! And if you haven't read them then please go give him a shot! There both RotG fics! But anyway! As always I would Like to thank all of my friends on this site as well as all of you who have followed, favorited and reviewed the story so far! You all are totally amazing and again I am so sorry you had to take this long! :D This will be the longest chapter to dates so I hope it helps make up for it! :D And seriously, the biggest freaking THANK YOU EVER goes to my amazing friend Mystichawk who has helped me so mush with this chapter you wouldn't freaking believe! Thanks girl! You are AMAZING!
As always I do not own RotG or The Guardians of Childhood book series. They belong to DreamWorks and William Joyce! :D So without any further ado please allow me to present to you the closing of this three-week hiatus with the next chapter of;
You'll Never Know
Chapter 9: The Fury of Nature
The Guardians and the Nightmare King all stared in stunned shock at the woman, and Jack was the only one who could bring himself to speak in the presence of the woman he had last seen over a century ago.
"Mother Nature…"
A wide eyed look of complete and utter shock was mirrored throughout the group as they all stared at the ebony haired woman before them.
The dark forest once again seemed to go completely silent as the woman strode forward out of the tree line. All of the visible forest life vanishing from sight as she approached the clearing, the only sound penetrating the still air being the gently crunch of the crisp snow beneath her feet and the chime of touching icicles in the light breeze that seemed to surround her like an invisible veil.
Jack's words echoed with the small breeze through the now otherwise silent night, but the woman's hard and steady gaze remained forward as she calmly walked under the pail light of the shining moon, seemingly staring at each one of them but also nothing at the same time.
She did not respond.
The Guardians and the Nightmare King found themselves into a pair of black and stormy eyes that continued to remain apathetic in every regard as she approached them. Each person in the group felt their heads pound like a jackhammer as even more questions were abruptly added to the already seemingly endless list.
But while the Guardians of Childhood all stood in shock at her sudden arrival, the Boogeyman held a completely separate expression.
Like the woman in front of him his eyes remained still and emotionless as he took in every tiny detail of her appearance. From her flowing ebony hair to her pale skin that seemed to almost reflect the light of the pale moon above her, every feature was exactly the same as when he had last seen her over 600 years ago.
Pitch's body remained straight and composed yet very stiff, his hands clasped together behind his back and a blank expression on his face. But for only the briefest moment his metallic silver eyes held something more than cold apathy that he couldn't fully stop from reaching the surface as he stared at the woman. The smallest flash of emotion that he damned himself for. The smallest flash of something he had tried to completely extinguish over the thousands of years he had been the Nightmare King but could never truly banish from himself.
The smallest flash of pain.
The look in his eyes quickly disappeared and he cursed silently as he managed to smother the emotion and banish it back into the shadows of his mind. His body remained still and controlled, not giving any other hint of the momentary inner agony that had just coursed through him like a fiery poison. However he wasn't quite fast enough to hide it, and his small action did not go completely unnoticed by all of those present.
The Sandman stared wide eyed at the beautiful woman in front of him that had suddenly appeared from the shadows of the wooded night. The woman who he had not seen in over five centuries, and the woman who had once been his good friend so many thousands of years ago before he had crashed to Earth.
She hadn't changed in a single way since the last time they had met so long ago, not even looking a day older and still wearing her refined air of sophistication and regal attitude that she had always had. From her obsidian storm-cloud hair to her pale alabaster skin, and her shining dark eyes that remained neutral and impassive behind her mask of lacking emotions, everything was the same.
Of course she was a spirit, she was an immortal like the rest of them that did not age. But even they could change just slightly over the passing centuries as time ticked slowly onward.
And yet she had not. Her form remained as it was, frozen and uncaring to the whims of time.
But though her physical appearance had not altered in all this time, there was something about her he saw that he had never seen before.
There was anger.
Though her face remained impassive he could clearly see the rising animosity. Her hands remained clenched in tight fists at her side that turned her already ivory skin white as the crisp snow that crunched beneath her as she approached them. And that was another thing; the fact that the snow was actually being disturbed as she walked was not a normal occurrence. She should be almost gliding over the surface of the white powder as she moved, or at the very least the snow should have actually melted before her to create a sort of path.
But the snow was actually crunching, leaving behind light footprints in the otherwise flawless sea of glistening white.
This little fact set not only Sandy but Jack on edge as well, both knowing either instinctually or through personal experience that when Mother Nature was physically altering the earth around her without using her powers, then something was about as wrong as it could possibly get. Because if it was actually her body that was affecting nature, and in a way so simple, so insignificant, so human, it meant one of two things:
It meant either a great deal of her power was being used somewhere in the world which was never a good sign. The last time that had happened was the devastating tsunami and earthquake that had hit Japan three years ago.
Or, it meant that she was purposely sealing her powers away and holding them back with great restraint, which in all honesty, was actually more terrifying than the thought of a giant tsunami.
Because it meant that something, or someone had managed to piss her off.
Both the Guardians of dreams and fun shuddered in terror at the thought. Though Jack had most certainly not been around at that time, he had heard many rumors from the few seasonals that didn't actually want to maim and kill him that Mother Nature's wrath had been the cause of the last ice age. He didn't care how much he loved the snow and cold, that was something he never wanted to see.
The Sandman's thoughts were very similar to the winter teens but were still stuck on the question of just what could have possibly made her this angry. She was known as the most neutral spirit in existence alongside Father Time and Death. She wasn't supposed to get angry. Though it sounded horrible she wasn't actually supposed to feel much of anything, at least not like normal people do.
A seasonal's power was greatly affected by their emotions; in fact in many ways it was their emotions that actually controlled their powers. Lashing out dangerously with intense feelings of anger or sadness. Even too much excitement and happiness could cause a devastating reaction of an elemental spirit wasn't careful, and Mother Nature was the most powerful elemental spirit of them all! Hell, she was the one who created them! She had no choice but to hold back her emotions at all possible cost, otherwise the very earth itself could be ripped to shreds!
It had been so many centuries since he had last seen the woman who had once been his closest friend, and his mind raced with various thoughts and questions as to her sudden appearance as he stared at her in complete bewilderment along with the others.
All of the Guardians stared in shock at her sudden arrival. The never ending and growing feelings of confusion and frustration steadily building up in each one of them as they stood once again like statues in the snow.
However, the smallest movement out of the corner of his eye somehow managed to drag both the Sandman's train of thought and his confused gaze away from the ebony haired woman. Unbeknownst to anyone else his eyes traveled upward to stare at the dark man next to him when he saw him flinch back just slightly.
Sandy's eyes went wide when he saw the Boogeyman's entire body suddenly stiffen upright like, well, 'like a deer in headlights' wasn't actually the right description. It was more like an agitated cobra ready to strike if someone was stupid enough to come too close.
The reaction was shocking to say the least, it wasn't a normal occurrence to see the King of Nightmares in such a defensive state. The apathetic look on his face wasn't all too strange though. The steady and slightly narrowed eyes that remained fixed on the approaching nature spirit with every step she took, the tight, thin line that his lips were pressed into against pale grey skin in place of a sharp toothed smirk or ravaging snarl. It really wasn't an unusual look at first glance.
But that wasn't actually what caused the Guardian of dreams eyes to go wide and his jaw to barely keep from falling to the forest floor.
Sandy was the oldest Guardian, everyone knew that. But he was also by far the most wise.
He had long ago given up the ability to speak when he became the Guardian of dreams and now the only way he could communicate was through his dream sand pictures. And because of this fact his ability to communicate was severely limited, but that wasn't always a bad thing.
On the contrary actually, though it could be more than a little frustrating at times it was a blessing in a few different ways. The side of blessing in this curse of eternal silence was that with it he had gained the ability to be able to separate himself from a situation and look at it in different views that allowed him to see things others couldn't. He was an observer. And seldom was something lost on him, no matter how small that something may be.
And so that mere second of emotion in the Boogeyman's eyes, that single moment of something he had never thought he would ever see from the Nightmare King, that smallest flash of pain, that wasn't at all lost on him.
And suddenly the abrupt appearance of his old friend was far from the first thing in his mind. Because there was something else, something that was mixed in with that pain that for a moment the golden man couldn't even begin to understand.
It wasn't just pain in his eyes. It was longing.
And suddenly everything clicked. Memories flooded into his mind of specific past battles that he would have much rather left forgotten and a look of realization slowly began to paint itself on his face.
He knew that look. He had seen that look so many times over the years he could never have kept count. He knew that look, he knew that emotion, he knew that connection. And he remembered that Mother Nature and the Boogeyman had once had that connection.
Mother Nature was Pitch's daughter.
At least, she used to be. Back when Pitch had been a human so many thousands of years ago. When he had still been Kozmotis - The greatest general that had ever and probably will ever exist, the man who had lead the Golden Age armies in the war against the Fearling demons that plagued the universe and won.
Only to be tricked into freeing them from their prison when they took the form of his daughter.
The Guardians had all been told the story so very long ago, during the first great battle with the Nightmare King. The story of how a great man had been possessed and used to drown the universe he had spent his entire life trying to protect in endless fear and pain. But it had been a tale they had all wished to forget. None of them wanted to think of their enemy as that man who had his life stolen from him. Who had lost everything he ever cared about just for trying to protect what was the most precious thing in his whole life.
And so they had banished the truth and tragedy into the backs of their minds when it had finally come time to end the war. They didn't think of who he was, they didn't think of the good he had done, they just acted. And the war had ended with the Nightmare King being banished into the shadows.
The memories of the fight were still clear as day, just like every detail of the story they had all forgotten until now. And despite everything that had just happened, despite everything Pitch had done, Sandy couldn't help but think that maybe things could have ended differently. That things should have ended differently.
And that maybe, just maybe, they still could.
The moment of already concealed emotion came to an abrupt and sudden end as the Nightmare King managed to banish his human-self back into the chains and shackles of the darkened shadows that clouded his mind. And Sandy was left with nothing but a small bit of pain that bloomed from the center of his chest and made his body go numb while the clogs and gears in his head continued to turn rapidly as various thoughts raced through his mind.
But something else he noticed in the scene before him successfully managed to send his train of racing thoughts into a bloody brick wall.
It was in that moment that he finally noticed Toothiana, who had actually taken the place on the other side of the Boogeyman when they had all stopped at the edge of the trees before the clearing. Or rather, it's what he noticed her doing.
For just a fleeting moment he had thought he'd seen her violate eyes looking at the Nightmare King with an unreadable expression on her face. But before he could even blink her eyes had returned to the form of the approaching Mother Nature and he was left wondering if what he had just seen had only been his imagination playing tricks on him.
The Guardian didn't have more than a moment to question this small action before his mind was dragged back to the harsh reality of the situation when the woman before them suddenly stopped in the center of the moonlit clearing.
Everyone present collectively felt their hearts drop to the earth's core at the woman's action and the Guardians all shared the mutual thought of Are we going to die? And Shit we are going to die!
Mother Nature's steady and hard gaze remained trained on them all, but still in a strange way that it was almost like she was looking right through them and the Guardians felt a collective shudder go up their spins. For what felt like an eternity she merely stood there, still as the night air that had fallen silent with her presence.
None of them dared be the first to speak as the instincts of self-preservation took hold of them, and so they just stood there with her and waited for whatever move fate would decide to play out. However she said nothing, and the silence that created was utterly deafening.
Anticipation and anxiety built up in every one of them as the scene stretched on for what seemed like forever with the slowly ticking hands of time that may as well have been frozen in place. And when the endless moment did finally end each one of them thought they were going to have a heart attack despite the fact they had been desperately waiting for the woman to finally speak. However what she said was one thing they had not at all been expecting.
"Lunar."
The Nightmare King and Guardians alike felt their eyes narrow in confused scrutiny at her words and they all flinched back just slightly as her body turned away from them. She raised her head towards the night sky above whose bright stars seemed to darken and hide themselves from her piercing stare.
The shining pale light of the luminous orb above them acted against the stars behind it and shown down its radiant moonbeams even brighter than before in response to the woman's voice that was harsh and cold like the arctic winds.
Questions and confusion raced through everyone's thoughts, which in all honest seemed to be becoming the norm for them as the day went on. At least that was until a look of stunned realization flashed across the Tooth Fairy's face.
It had taken only a few seconds of confusion and doubt before all of the pieces suddenly clicked in her mind and she let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't actually known she had been holding. Sadly though the others were far too focused on the situation playing out in front of them to take any notice of the fairy queen's sudden change in demeanor, and before she had the chance to tell them that everything was alright the memory of Mother Nature spoke again.
"Let's skip the pleasantries shall we," She said. "I believe you know why I have come all this way, and I have already given you my answer." Her voice was even, with no signs of anger, though her hands remained in tight, vice-like fists at her sides despite her otherwise calm appearance.
The moon's light intensified again and the descending moonbeams flickered and danced through the air around her, however the narrowing of her already fierce eyes showed that the response she had just been given was not to her liking.
The Guardians and the Boogeyman looked between the form of the nature spirit and the moon with great interest- though Pitch would forever deny such accusations -and questioned just what it was that the Man in the Moon was saying to her that could have brought on such a reaction from the woman who was known most for her calm mind and neutrality.
"I am not going to reconsider." She said coldly in response to the Moon's obvious plea for her to do just that.
The moonbeams danced once again, sending ripples of shimmering white and blue-tinted light snaking across the trees and Mother Nature's gaze hardened. "Lunar, if you ask me one more time I am going to get angry," She said quietly and each of the Guardians, and Pitch, felt shivers go up their spines. Her voice was low and soft, but there was a subtle hint of threat under all of that which made each and every one of them tremble.
But the moonbeams persisted, moving around the clearing and reflecting their light off of each glimmering icicle as if they were begging someone. The rest of the light of the pale moon shone down on her like a single, solitary spotlight and Mother Nature's hands, illuminated by the light, were shown to be in the shape of fists. Her alabaster skin had turned almost translucent, though with what none of them knew. Anger? Rage? Hate? Fear?
However, whatever MIM's response was to her last words was clearly one she had not wanted to hear.
"Do not even attempt to play the fool Lunar!" Her eyes flashed dangerously as a gust of wind briefly whipped through the clearing and just the faintest clap of thunder could be heard in the distance. The sudden rise in her voice was enough to make everyone flinch and both the Guardians of fun and dreams were smart enough take a few steps back as they all gaped in shock. "I have given you my answer and I have told you that I will never permit this!"
Again the moonbeams around them moved and flickered between dim and bright as the soft glow of the pale moon shined down on the woman who glared in return. Her hands seemed to clench tighter and her already pale and nearly transparent skin began to turn a snow white at her knuckles while her nails pierced into her palm like sharp needles.
"Why?" She suddenly hissed, as if interrupting someone in the middle of a lecture. Her eyes had widened until her black pupils had turned her irises into slits and the fabric of her elegant dress was crumbled in her fists. "You have the audacity to ask me why?!"
If the Guardians had been afraid of her before, then they were absolutely terrified of her now. Even Pitch, the King of Fear himself, was having trouble keeping himself from shaking as he looked on at the absolutely livid spirit before them that practically radiated power and red hot fury.
"Because you have no right!" Mother Nature was staring up at the sky now, her eyes reflecting the twin milky spheres of the moon and making her pupils seem almost white. "No right at all! You disrupt and meddle in things which you do not understand, and then you attempt to convince yourself, and me, that you are right?! This is not your domain to tamper with as you so please and you are playing a very dangerous game."
A blast of freezing air shot through the clearing as her emotions and aggravation began to rise exponentially, breaking off some of the more fragile and thin icicles and sending them tinkling down to earth again in a shower of gossamer ice. The fragile white powder scattered along the ground was thrown up into the air as she cursed, realizing what she was doing and began to breathe while moving to hold tightly to the waist of her dress as if to suppress the rising urge to throw her hands in the air in frustration and cause the blizzard of the next six centuries. She slowly managed to reign in her emotions once again as the snow settled and gently began to fall back down to the silent earth below.
During this time, the Guardians stood stunned. Though, after all the things they had seen it was surprising that they still had the capacity to feel surprise or shock. Confusion and a rather justified amount of fear coursed through each of those present in varying degrees as they tried to understand the meaning of her words.
The moon's light intensified in response to her words, but- much to the annoyance of both the Guardians and Boogeyman, they continued to only hear Mother Nature's words as the conversation between her and the Man in the Moon continued. All of them were trying to rationalize just what they were seeing and piecing together what little they all could from the one sided conversation, while desperately wondering what the other half was as they continually looked back and forth between the woman and the pale moon. Sandy was the closest, if only because he was mute and used to conversations of this kind.
He thought- and he was right- that the Man in the Moon was trying to convince her to assist him in the raising of a new spirit. Who, he didn't have a clue. The other Guardians and Pitch hadn't even gotten that far yet.
The moon beams concentrated and intensified their light, like MIM was pinching the ridge of his nose in irritation at the stubborn woman below. Then they expanded again and she was once again bathed in the white light.
"Oh don't even think about going that route Lunar!" She snapped, looking down and away from the moon in disgust. Her hands subconsciously smoothed down the crumpled part of her dress and she folded her arms. The moonbeams didn't move, but evidently he has still said something because she gritted her teeth. "So you say," She replied. "But I still have yet to be convinced that this is anything more than a suicide mission."
The moonbeams remained still.
"And why should I trust you?" She asked pointedly, the wind rising up again and running its invisible fingers through her hair, reminding them all of some unnamed ancient goddess. "You claim this is something that needs to be done, and yet you refuse to give me a reason as to why!"
The moonbeams paused in hesitation and quivered slightly for a moment like they were making a decision. But when they again moved it was slow, as if their master was very reluctant to give this information.
"It's a secret." She snapped. "Of course it is." Then she looked up at the sky, her voice losing just the smallest bit of its sharp edge and sounding much more irritated than anything at the moment. "Would it truly kill you to let someone in on your plans once in a while? Especially someone who could actually assist you in getting this right so that you wouldn't have to concern yourself with, oh I don't know, perhaps condemning some poor soul to suffer an eternity of never ending pain and isolation?!" She screamed.
"I have no details, no plans, you haven't even told me who you plan on using!" Her anger was steadily rising and it was taking everything she had to try and hold herself back from causing the trees around her from bursting into flames at her increasing feelings of fiery rage, and for a moment she somehow managed to calm herself just slightly and suppress the fury that was steadily building within her.
However that brief moment quickly came to a crashing end at the sound of a sharp intake of breath as a single beam of moonlight quivered and relayed the message its master had sent in response to the woman's words. Six sets of eyes snapped back onto the form of nature personified and widened in disbelief and what could be described as borderline terror.
Mother Nature's eyes were wide and her face was sewn into a look of near horror similar to that she was being given by the group of spirits watching her that she was completely unaware of. Disbelief, shock, and pure unadulterated rage flashed in her eyes like a roaring fire that again began to melt the snow and cause the glistening icicles to fall to the forest floor and shatter like fine glass as her mouth opened and a ravaging snarl ripped through the air, nearly sending them all scurrying for cover.
The descending moonbeam who had just revealed something she clearly did not approve of quivered in fear at the enraged nature spirit who, from the murderous look in her eyes, was about ready to impale someone.
"WHAT?!" She screeched, her eyes flashing with fury as her head snapped up and her face was once again bathed in milky light. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
Not a single thing moved. Her chest was heaving up and down, indignation mingling with fury and hellfire as she raged up at him.
"You fool! How could you ever choose someone this young for such a fate?! You are damning a child to an eternity of hell! How could you even consider doing such a thing when you have claimed it as your job to protect children from pain?!" With her screams of rage towards the iridescent moon above the last of the six jaws finally made it to the ground in complete shock.
Everyone winced back, both from the ferocity that was Mother Nature's anger and in dumbfounded disbelief at what they had just hard as they stared at the enraged woman. MIM would never hurt a child! How could she even say such a thing?! He was the one who created the Guardians to protect children!
Their minds raced and desperately struggled to understand what was happening that if they had been any more focused their heads may have very well started to smoke.
The moonbeams tried to rectify their master's words, but she was having none of it. Her fury was aroused now and she would not be sated until her point was made. "No!" She screamed.
"I will not allow it! Not only have you refused to give me a reason to permit such a thing, but no reason you could possibly give could ever be reason enough for this to be acceptable!"
The moonbeams shook rapidly, as if they were trying to hurriedly explain the situation and calm the woman but from the sound of rumbling and the bright flash of lightning that struck the ground not even six feet away from the Easter Bunny (who nearly ended up on the ground) she wasn't interested in listening to any sort of excuse the moon had to give her.
Her features seemed to become even more intense with ferocity and anger as she seethed towards the sky when the moonlight again shifted and shot through the air to respond. "You wouldn't dare to attempt to do this without my assistance; even you could never do something so rash!"
By this point all of the fresh snow that had surrounded the woman when she had arrived actually begun to melt from the intense hear of her rising anger, leaving behind a small but still growing a patch of dry dirt and dead grass that looked like it had been set on fire and made the spirit of winter feel his desire to flee to a cave in Antarctica increase tenfold.
"This is beyond stupidity!" She cried, flinging her hands in exasperated frustration, though fire still raged in her eyes. Thunder boomed overhead as the scent of lightning filled the air like thick smoke and a handful of light rain drops began to fall from the darkening sky that the present spirits were somehow unable to feel. "How, in the name of the constellations can you expect me to get behind this?!"
Again the woman's eyes flashed when the beams of light moved to explain something to the enraged nature spirit. The anger and frustration remained clear on her face but just slightly did the others manage to see how her shoulders began to slowly lose tension as she forced herself to breath.
"How could you even consider doing such a thing?!" She said. Her voice losing just the smallest bit of its sharp edge and sounding much more irritated than anything at the moment as though the shock from the situation was finally managing to catch up with her, though her expression continued to remain as cold and ominous as always.
However the gleaming blade of her emotions was quickly reformed and ready to impale someone with what she was told by the descending moonbeams.
"A seasonal is one thing, they are indeed strong and are forced to be reckoned with just as much as the elements they protect. But this?! This passes into the realm of ignorance and insanity!" The tone in her once calm voice was now deadly at best as she nearly screamed toward the sky.
Jack instantly stiffened at the mention of a seasonal spirit, now being far too focused on the woman in front of him and the conversation at hand to notice the brief glances and looks being shot at him from both the other Guardians and Pitch.
"This force is not a seasonal element and is far too powerful for a single entity besides myself to control properly!" The scrunched look of total confusion of Jack's face that was being mirrored flawlessly by all the others fell away into just plain shock as those words echoed through the silent air.
At this all the spirits present started, especially the spirit of winter. Something even more powerful than a seasonal?
By now, most of them had guessed that this big deal was about Mother Nature and Manny raising a new spirit, but they- apart from Sandy and now Pitch as he suddenly realized the full implications of their situation, still didn't understand why they were here to witness it.
Tooth had a pretty shrewd idea, but she didn't voice it aloud. She would wait to see if the others were thinking the same. Plus, speaking at a time like this would be downright impossible to do without stuttering or squeaking like a mouse.
The moonbeams flickered hesitantly, and Mother Nature closed her eyes, trying to quell her anger. It was clearly a hard task, judging by how much thunder and lightning they heard overhead. "Lunar, I would not help you with this if you threatened to kill me." She finally said and everyone reared back in shock. Kill her?! What was she talking about?!
Clearly MiM was confused too, because when he sent down another ray of moonlight it was soft, almost like a whisper against the darkness of the forest.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him, almost all the anger gone from her face. It was blank as a piece of uncut marble. "Because you are a fool, Lunar." She said quietly. Here was the normal flat, neutral voice of the spirit of the earth. "You have been up in your palace too long. You have forgotten one of the crucial lessons in dealing with the universe."
They could practically hear him ask the next question, it was so obvious. And that is?
She smiled, but it was not a pleasant smile. It was a I know more than you and I pity you for being oblivious smile. "That everything we do, everything, from stepping on a pebble to creating a new spirit, has consequences."
This was evidently not the answer MiM was looking for because he sent down a harsher ray of light to strike Mother Nature's frame. Mother Nature didn't flinch.
"You know this is true, Lunar." She said patiently. "So do the sensible thing, and abandon this foolish ploy."
More harsh light, this time nearly blinding them. And she just stood in the center of it with her arms folded in a composed and dignified manor, a dark green sliver in the center of the white like a thin pupil in an eye of white. The shimmering beams darted around rapidly and trembled as they spoke to the woman whose rage was building with each passing second as her last nerves of patents were being severed and bursting into flames before gasoline was thrown onto the fire.
Storm clouds could be seen coming in from all sides' overhead, blocking out the sparkling stars but still keeping out of the way of the moon's light as Mother Nature's powers seeped and lashed out through her raging emotions. "I have given my word, I will never assist you in such a thing! Not like this, not with something this powerful! Not with something this unstable! If this goes wrong it is putting the very fate of humanity at risk!"
The collective thoughts of all those present could pretty much be summed up as OK. Now they're talking about the apocalypse, just what the HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!
The minds of the spirits witnessing the exchange between the personifications of the earth and moon themselves raced and continued to desperately piece together what could be even a remotely logical explanation for what they were seeing. They might as well have been listening to the theory of relativity being explained backwards and in Mandarin. At least Tooth would have probably been able to understand that!
The pale lights that filled the clearing from the moon above swirled and twisted together as they danced in the sky and Mother Nature looked about ready to bring on the apocalypse herself as she sneered up at the luminous orb.
"I have already given my word to allow you to take part in the rising of the next winter seasonal but this is another matter entirely!" Jack felt his heart jump into his mouth and then sink like a lead rock into his stomach as a sharp gasp shot down his throat; half way there he was also sure that his heart may have just traded places with his freaking liver but it was to heard to concentrate on only one of the knots that was forming in his stomach as the woman continued.
"Lunar, we're talking about a single spirit with the power to change the world as the humans know it!" Mother Nature raised her hands to her face to rub her eyes. She looked incredibly tired. "And let's not forget the spirit itself!"
The moonbeams danced as she looked up at them in rage.
"What do you think I mean?!" She snapped. "Have you even thought about what havoc you could wreak on the mind of this vessel?! If you do this wrong... you would shatter what soul and memories were left." She paused, then she barked out a laugh. "The great Man in the Moon, risking the life of a child just to bring another spirit into the world. I thought you were supposed to protect them, not butcher them!"
Jack felt like he had just been upright slapped as those words left her mouth. (As if his internal organs suddenly deciding to play a game of musical chairs wasn't bad enough) A cold, sharp breath shot into his lungs from a gasp that nearly choked him and he was too in shock to even notice that all present were staring intently at him with wide unblinking eyes.
He knew he had been created by the moon, and he knew through just simple instinct and freaking common sense that Mother Nature was also responsible for him becoming a spirit. But somehow it was still a shock to hear about it directly like this. He knew they had to be talking about him even if there wasn't any concrete proof. He was the only winter spirit there was!
And truth be told maybe that wasn't really the part that shocked him. More than anything, if he actually thought about it, it was how their conversation had segued from MIM somehow hurting a kid… to him. He knew he was happy now, well not right now at all really but he was a Guardian! He knew he wasn't completely alone anymore, he even had believers!
But even still, 300 years was a long time to be left on your own. Jack new he had quite a bit of resentment towards MIM, even though he was a Guardian.
He had, or at least he's like to believe that he's forgiven him for just dumping him for three centuries. But there was still that awful feeling of his stomach going into knots and his chest clenching like a fist whenever he thought about it.
A part of him still resented the moon, for good reason. And he wasn't sure if that feeling would ever completely go away.
But now, suddenly hearing all of this, of being told that he hadn't actually been alone, and that there was someone like him that the moon seemed to have just abandoned, that shot through him like a bolt of electricity and made his heart feel like it was being ripped from his chest.
He couldn't tell if his mind was a blank of if he was just thinking too hard to be able to register anything. He didn't notice the wide eyed stares of the others. He didn't notice the second and third strikes of white hot lightning that shot down towards the ground next to the group. He didn't notice the pain that was slowly numbing his hand as he gripped his staff like an iron vice.
All he noticed was the conversation going on in front of him.
Mother Nature through her hands harshly to her sides when the lights dimmed and flickered again, holding them there in tight fists as if to keep herself from tearing her hair out. Or better yet, to keep her from flying up to that blasted palace of his and wringing Lunar's neck like a dish towel!
"Think of the damage this one could do!" She urged him, looking up at the sky again with an intense glare as her anger continued to escalate. "I'm not just talking cities here, I'm talking entire continents! If you screw this up, the entire world is going to pay for it. You're supposed to help protect children, correct? Well, think of all the damage it will do to them and your precious Guardians if this goes wrong and blows up in your face!"
No one failed to notice the slightly bitter way she spoke their title and Jack wondered what she had against them. However his thoughts on the subject were abruptly cut off when he saw Mother Nature's features take on a look of abject horror and crushing despair before exploding into a white hot fury that sent chills up the spirit of winter's spine.
"Don't you dare attempt to bring my father into this Lunar, he has nothing to do with this matter!" Her anger and rage at whatever had just been said to her grew and spread outward like a small shock wave finally succeeded in melting the snow around her and scorched the dry earth in blackened ash as what little hold she had left on her pent up emotions began to crack like fragile glass.
Five out of six jaws hit the snow that was far enough away from the center of the clearing to have been spared the heat wave of Mother Nature's anger that may as well have been a nuclear bomb.
The Guardians stood in shock at those words as the memories that had already returned to Sandy rushed back to the original big four like a tidal wave. However as expected Jack was in a far stronger state of shock than his new comrades and the look on his face would have been comical had the situation not been so direly serious.
F-father?! Mother Nature… has a father?! Who could-how- but that doesn't…WHAT?!
The spirit of winter's brain was doing back flips as he tried to rationalize the impossibility of what he had just heard her say. Sadly however, Jack wasn't in the worst shape out of everyone at the woman's sudden exclamation.
Pitch Black was completely frozen to the spot, not a single visible muscle in his body moving despite the fact that his heart was beating so intensely inside his chest that he could almost hear his ribs cracking and it felt like he had just been punched in the gut by a raging giant. The gray stone mask of emotionless apathy he had inhabited almost this entire time took only a second to fall away like crumbling stone and left behind a searing pain in his eyes and a cold, almost numbing pain that wrapped around his heart like a chain and vice.
His mind was no longer focused on what he was doing and the utterly disgusting thought of the Guardians seeing him in any form of weakness didn't even register to him as his mind and thoughts faded into a blackness deeper than the shadows he commanded. Not a single coherent thought filled the empty void as the pain and emotion he had felt before managed to resurface. Not a raging snarl, not a bitter sob. Nothing. He was as unmoving as a stone and twice as cold.
He couldn't even curse himself for letting the emotions he had spent thousands of years trying to destroy return tenfold and grip at his heart and lungs like the claws of a Fearling as he stared at the woman who had once been his little girl in the life he had so long ago lost. Bitter and painful emotions resurfaced after so many thousands of years of being surprised and hidden away in the darkness of his soul that even after all this time he was still unable to let go of, though God knew he wished he could!
Deafening silence rang in his ears like a demonic siren's song or the echo of a harsh violin bow's stroke and shallow breath died in his throat. Memories of his past life as the great general flooded into his mind and made him want to scream out with the hissing Fearlings in protest.
As the memories of his past life began to flood back, despite his feeble protests, he was aware that the other Guardians had changed the directions of their gazes onto him. He didn't care though. Let them look! He thought, once he was actually able to form thoughts again. Let them even try to judge me now!
Because he knew that, if any of them mentioned it, he would kill them without a moment's hesitation. Such were the rawness of the emotions bubbling up in his chest. Not because of the memories of themselves, but because he knew that the light and the happiness which he saw in them would never be his again and it sent what felt like molten steel flowing through his entire being, making him seem like he was being surrounded by white-hot coals while the feeling of a steel blade piercing his heart merely added to the inner hell that was consuming his body and soul alike.
Oh yes, he was aware of the Guardians watching him. All but the youngest, who- thankfully, wasn't actually aware of the bond shared by the Nightmare King and Mother Nature. Pitch felt like he would die right here if that were discovered by the Frost boy.
But the one thing Pitch didn't notice as he looked on at Mother Nature and pointedly ignored the Guardians, was the look on his own face. They saw it but he, who was far too busy trying to fight off the pain and sadness which burst like bubbles of acid through his heart and clenching it like a vise to even notice the composition of his own features, didn't.
This time it was all of the Guardians, aside from their youngest, who took the time to look at Pitch, and though they had been expecting to see something, they really weren't expecting this.
They all saw his face contorted in a look of pain that only two of them had seen, and only once before. North and Bunny's mind shot back to the moment all those centuries ago during the final moments of their battle with the Nightmare King at the earth's core. In that single moment Kathrine had shown Pitch the small silver locket with a picture of his lost daughter concealed inside.
They remembered how time itself seemed to momentarily freeze in place before the Nightmare King screamed out in shriek of utter agony that echoed through the center of the earth and had honestly nearly deafened them all as he grabbed at his chest as if the image had physically injured him before he and his army retreated into the shadows.
But the second, the very second before that scream tore through the air, they had seen something that had never managed to be completely whipped from their minds: A small, almost minuscule glimmer of recognition and that look that had crossed his face that had been anything but that of the horrid Nightmare King.
North remembered it as the look of the father he once was, finally breaking through the darkness, only to realize that the most important thing in the world to him was something he would never see again, that the only reason he had fought the darkness in the first place, was long since gone.
Bunny remembered it as feeling a heart soar and fill with hope, then that same heart sink like a stone and the hopelessness had nearly killed him.
It was that look, the same look he wore now, that had once made them think that maybe Pitch had a chance of going back to being the man he once was, and that he could be free of the Fearlings hold. But over the centuries of constant fighting and war, that small thought and sliver of belief managed to fade into the darkness along with the memories of the great general.
But here it was again. That look, that belief. It was still there. And none of them really knew what to think of it.
Before any of them had even a second to think about this their attention was harshly ripped away from the Nightmare King and back to Mother Nature as she once more spoke to the pale moon above them. Pitch again raised his head, struggling to force down the last of his emotions while screaming a string of curses and obscenities at himself that hadn't seen the light of day in well over a century for letting himself lose control like that.
The Fearlings in his head screeched and hissed along with his own mind at his stupidity but he had long since learned to tune them out. He managed to just barely suppress the pain that sprouted forth like a flowering plant in his chest and extinguish any visible emotion from his face as she spoke. Once again taking the proper form of the Fearling King he was as he listened to the woman speak.
Without anyone present realizing it Mother Nature's expression had once again changed as their focus had been drawn to the Boogeyman rather than her.
Her look of rage and hate towards the silver moon above had slowly begun to relax as she again realized what she was doing and forced herself to regain control of her emotions as she cursed at herself for allowing herself to lose control like that simply because her father had been brought up in conversation. In that was especially she was very much like her father.
Without anyone present realizing it Mother Nature's expression had once again changed as their focus had been drawn to the Boogeyman rather than her.
Mother Nature's venomous glare softened just slightly as she managed to take control of her accursed emotions and now took on the form of annoyance and irritation as the moons light danced around her, whispering in a language only she seemed to be able to understand. She raised an inquisitive brow at the glowing orb for a moment as if in contemplation before her shoulders fell with a soft, almost nonexistent sigh.
"Say perhaps I did assist you in this," She said evenly, purposely choosing to avoid her momentary outburst that would most likely be the fueling cause for a raging hurricane off the cost of Antarctica later. "Who could you have possibly chosen as the vessel to contain such power?"
Again in response to the woman's words the dancing moonbeams began to move, coming together to shin a brighter and cast more brilliant light that reflected off the snow like diamonds before her.
Everyone watched in curiosity as the lights began to move as one around the empty clearing like a spotlight on a dancer's stage. After a moment the twinkling lights came to land beside a small mound of white powder that covered the ground in a blanket of glistening snow.
Mother Nature's gaze traveled with the moonlight along with the Guardians and the Boogeyman. They all stared at the small hill of snow curiously for a moment in confusion, each of them half expecting at least something to suddenly come up from the ground if not burst into flames after all the other chaos they had been forced to witness.
"At least this wasn't just some random scheme of yours that you merely through together on a whim." The moonbeams around her intensified and flickered about in anger at her thinly veiled insult toward their master but she pointedly ignored them as she continued to look down at the small pile of snow with eyes that progressively softened as time slowly ticked by.
"Your reasoning for this idiocy must be of at least some concern if you are this damn determined." She said, her voice returning to a tone of apathy rather than raging anger and malice. "But even still, whatever your reasoning is it is ludicrous when you compare it to the fact that this could endanger the lives of millions should it go wrong."
Mother Nature's gaze returned to look up at the pale moon above her as she turned her head away from the illuminated snow drift. "I don't care that you have taken precautions in this Lunar. This is still the epitome of reckless idiocy!"
The moon sent down more and more iridescent beams of light, but Mother Nature just scoffed at them. "That may be, but that doesn't change the fact that without my help, you can't do this correctly. And I am refusing. Even you wouldn't be stubborn enough to attempt this without me."
The beams contracted angrily, forming a tight-knit group that she stared at as if a message were scrawled in there somewhere.
"I have no doubt," she said coolly through gritted teeth that nearly made the present Tooth Fairy lose consciousness. "But I have told you once and I shall tell you again. I will not help you create this spirit unless you choose a stronger, older vessel."
The moonbeams didn't move, but their unheard message was clearly less that sympathetic because they saw Mother Nature's anger blaze again.
"It infuriates me how blasé you are about this," She growled, glaring up at the moon so intensely that it could have set ice on fire as her hands remained clenched so tightly at her sides they were trembling in barely restrained fury. "This is a life, Lunar! Not some experiment! It will never work! Something will go wrong and it is she who will have to suffer for your actions! What in the name of the constellations could-"
Then, without warning a new moonbeam shot down from the moon and cut her off in mid-sentence. This one's light shone far brighter than the rest, almost like the naked blade of a sword as it throbbed its way down to her. Other dancing moonbeams moved to collect around it until it was a thick beacon of white light which shone down on the snow, reflecting their own light better than the finest diamonds.
The moonbeam shook and trembled as it rushed to tell the woman something while the moonbeam's behind it that were still highlighting edges of the small mound of glistening snow in the clearing seemed to be joining their sibling to hurriedly pass along the message that was either very important or very stupid, judging from the look on her face.
Her eyes narrowed into tight slits, the anger partially draining away from her cold gaze as the moonbeam passed along the message from its master. A scrutinizing look etched its way across her face as she was given the message.
But suddenly then her eyes seemed to relax just slightly, and for the briefest moment they all thought they saw something akin to pity in her gray irises. But that might've just been a trick of the moonlight.
For a long moment that seemed to stretch on for hours Mother Nature remained silent. Her body still straight and composed while little by little, the anger began to fall from her eyes. The storm clouds above them slowly dissipated and the twinkling stars they had concealed once again shined brightly overhead. With every passing second the Guardians and the Nightmare King found themselves growing slightly more anxious to hear what the woman would say next, again not at all knowing what to suspect.
Oddly though, when she did speak, her voice was soft.
"I see," She said. Her stormy eyes never left the snowy mound and it seemed like she was making an effort to even speak at all. She took a breath, then tore her gaze away from the mound to look up at the moon. "But why must it be a child?"
She seemed to be pleading with him, and when Manny gave a response she sighed heavily before her eyes widened in noticeable surprise. "This child?" She said, almost as if to herself as she looked back to the mound of snow.
"Why must it be this child specifically?" She asked in speculation and a good amount of interest she had not intended to let show.
Pitch and the Guardians felt their eyes widen at this. It was true that MIM never simply created a spirit without just cause or reason, all of them were aware of this fact. However before this they hadn't much thought about it.
They had all been far to caught up in the conversation playing out in front of them and nearly getting hit by flashing lightning bolts that they hadn't thought about that vaguer question.
All of the Guardians, Jack included, all knew that if MIM not only chose whoever this girl was to be a spirit, let alone another Guardian, then there must be a very good reason. Even more so when you consider he had to deal with the screaming wrath of Mother Nature before he was able to do it if these memories are any clear indication.
Mother Nature's eyes dropped with a heavy sigh before her gaze returned to the pale moon. "Your intentions, however misguided they may be, are good Lunar." She said quietly, looking off into the starry horizon.
The Guardians were surprised. This from a woman who had just accused him of butchery a few minutes ago?
"You truly do care, however much it seems like you do not." She sighed again. "But no matter how much you care, I cannot allow myself to ruin an innocent child's life for this."
The moonbeams got agitated, collecting again and shining down around the edges of the mound once more and the group of observing spirits watched as Mother Nature's eyes went wide for only a fraction of a second before once again narrowing into tight slits as silence settled in the moonlit clearing and the woman pressed her lips into a thin line as in in thought. Once more the quiet seemed to stretch on forever as all present stood on pins and needles and waited for the woman to finally speak again.
But, when she finally did speak, they had almost wished she hadn't.
Like someone had stepped on a landmine in each of their minds a chain reaction of confusion and thought was suddenly set off that ripped them straight from reality and brought them all back to the Psyche and her words that shot through their heads like bullets. A question, a single question that raised more questions than everything they had seen before, making them burn with curiosity about what was going to happen next in this strange story, and simultaneously terrifying them.
"Who..." She whispered, almost to herself in a way that everyone had to strain to hear her even in the otherwise empty silence. "Or what... could possibly need protection so much as to require the fate of a child to be so devastating?"
These words echoed through each of their minds as the memory of the winged girl began to unravel in the darkness of their thoughts and pass before their eyes like some sick sort of play.
"You people call yourselves the Guardians of childhood! HA! You have no right to claim that title because you couldn't protect even one little girl! She was the one protecting you!"
'The one protecting you'
That line pounded in their heads like a drum and none of the Guardians could help the feeling of a fist being planted into their gut.
The look on Mother Nature's face had once more changed. Her gaze held anger but not nearly as strong as before and her lips were held in a thin line, her jaw clenched like she was trying to keep from screaming again. But besides the anger, besides the clear attempt at restraint that was slowly growing stronger again, there was something else.
Besides the look of anger and annoyance, she just looked… tired.
The others couldn't have really been put more on edge at this point, but they would have been if it were possible. True most of them hadn't seen Mother Nature in over three centuries but still. The fact that the representation of earth itself could look so tired, so exhausted, it didn't sit well with any of them.
For a moment the woman closed her eyes, looking like she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for the next twelve centuries as she sighed heavily. She looked harshly up to the moon one last time before speaking. "Do as you will, but I will have no part in this!" She said as she began to turn away from the moons light.
"Whatever happens will be yours and yours alone to deal with. I can only pray that you have even the slightest clue as to what you are about to set into motion."
At her words, the moonbeams vanished from the clearing as if they too were far beyond done with this conversation, and all that was left was the pure, watery light cast by the moon itself. The glimmering light gave her eyes a watery appearance and for just the briefest moment they had thought she was crying. The Guardians and the Boogeyman watched with mixed emotions as the woman calmly began to walk away towards the shadows of the tree line where she had come from. But just before she could reach the safety of the closed off forest, she paused.
With just the slightest of movements she looked over her shoulder towards the center of the clearing, her eyes landing on the small mound of glistening snow that the moonbeams surrounded but still refused to touch.
Everyone present would swear to the end of time what they saw, but would never bring themselves to speak of it aloud.
The mournful look of sorrow and pain that covered Mother Nature's features, at any other time so stony and cold you would think she was a statue, froze them to the spot. Her eyes shimmered in the moons light with tears that she would never actually allow herself to shed as she looked back to the mound of silent snow.
"Be well, young one." She whispered, gazing down at the mound as if it were a body, ready to be buried and return to the earth.
The wind, so fierce before as it whipped through the trees and howled with Mother Nature's raging emotions, was still and smoldering. "Be strong, and be safe." Then, as an afterthought she said, "I just hope to God Lunar knows what he's doing."
And then she turned to leave. They could tell by the slow way she walked that she was contemplating going back, like she wanted to do something, but she didn't. All of them knew that Mother Nature was nothing if not adamant in her words, and she had chosen to take no part in the raising of this new spirit.
And so, with the mournful expression still etched across her face she turned again to leave the snow and light filled clearing beneath the shining moon, her head bowed forward as if in shame for what was about to happen.
OK! Well that's the chapter! I really hope you guys like it and that it makes up for the long wait at least a little bit! Because seriously! Do you people know how hard it was for me to write MN's dialogue?! I spent at least 14 hours writing this chapter!
So please favorite, follow, and send in support, suggestions, and requests by reviewing! :D And go check out my other stories as well please!
Until next time everyone! Keep calm and-
EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!
OK who in the hell let the Dalek's in here?! *nearly get's git with a laser* OH SOMEBODY IS SOOOO GETTING SUED FOR THIS!
REVIEW AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEBODY CALL THE DOCTOR!