Cleo and the Guardians

Cleo ran down the long tunnel as fast as she could as she tried to find a way out of this strange place. Cleo could hear the every echoing step she took in the tunnel, but it was slightly muted by the moss that she ran upon. After a minute of running, Cleo came to a fork in the tunnel as she stood looking at three tunnels that branched in different directions.

"Which way, which way?" Cleo voiced as she looked at each of the tunnels in a panic.

After looking at each of them, the young spirit quickly chose the tunnel on her left and ran down it. After a few minutes of running, Cleo came to a large wooden door that had strange markings on it. Cleo didn't have time to see what the markings were for as she was in a big hurry to get out of this strange tunnel and back on the surface. Cleo first tried to push the large wooden door open, but when that didn't work she grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. The door easily opened and Cleo quickly rushed into the room, while forgetting to close the door behind her. Once in the room, the young fire spirit stopped in her tracks as she gazed at the room that she had entered.

The room was large with millions upon millions of books sitting on high shelves. Cleo looked around the room to see a large sofa and a few chairs standing in the middle of the large library. The young fire spirit would have continued to stare, but she was in a hurry to escape her captors and out of their underground hideout. She was about to turn around and run back the way she came, but then she heard the sound of feet coming down the hallway that she had ran down a while ago. Cleo panicked before she shot towards the sofa and dive behind it to hide. She tried to steady her breathing as Cleo kept quiet, hoping that those strangers wouldn't find her.

Earlier...

The Guardians walked down the tunnel that Cleo had taken before coming to the fork in the road. This had some of the group members stumped as they looked at each tunnel in confusion.

"Which way did she go?" Asked Tooth as she looked at the three tunnels with a frown.

Bunny frowned as a thoughtful look came over his face before he looked at his friends.

"We're going to need to split up if we want to find her," Said the Guardian of Hope "North, you and Tooth take the tunnel on the right. Sandy, you take the middle tunnel, Jack, you'll come with me to check in the left tunnel. If anyone finds her, remember not to back her in a corner or else she'll lash out with her fireballs again. We'll meet back in the living room in about an hour."

The group nodded and took off down the tunnels that they were assigned to look through. As Jack and Bunny took the left tunnel the winter spirit frowned in thought before he asked the rabbit a question.

"So... why exactly am I stuck with you in this search mission?" Jack asked suspiciously

"Someone's got to keep an eye on you and I'm not so sure that the others will pay attention if you decided to go wandering off on your own once they took their eyes off of you." answered Bunny with a sideways glance at the winter spirit.

Jack held a hand up to his chest with a mock of disbelief on his face.

"Are you saying that you still don't trust me?" questioned Jack?

"No," replied Bunny flatly "And besides, you don't know my underground home very well like the others do so it's easy to get lost down here. You're also the only one who might be able to help calm the fire bug down with those snowflakes of yours."

"That is if she doesn't melt them first," muttered Jack.

Bunny made a grumble of agreement as they continued to walk down the tunnel in silence. They soon came to the end where they saw the wooden door that led into the library was open.

"Looks like the girl was definitely in here," voiced Bunny as he walked into the room cautiously.

Jack followed behind him before his mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief.

"Whoa! This place is huge!" exclaimed Jack when he saw all of the books in the room.

Bunny turned to glared at Jack as he raised a single finger up to his lips and shushed him to keep quiet.

"The last thing we need is to scare her," whispered Bunny.

Cleo, who was still hiding behind the sofa, heard what Bunny had said before she slowly crawled over to the right corner of her hiding spot to see the two guardians standing near the entrance of the library.

'Darn it,' thought Cleo as she frowned 'How am I going to sneak past them?'

"So where do you think she's hiding?" asked Jack curiously

"Who knows," said Bunny as he crossed his arms over his chest "This library is pretty big so she could be hiding anywhere."

Cleo quietly listened to what they were saying before she suddenly started to feel her nose itching.

'Oh no,' thought Cleo as she began to feel a sneeze coming on.

Cleo tried to hold in her sneeze while Bunny and Jack continue to talk between each other, but it was a futile effort. Cleo quickly placed her hands over her nose and mouth to muffle the sound as she let out a quiet sneeze. The young fire spirit froze in fear as she waited for Bunny and Jack to run in her direction. Luckily, they didn't as they continued to talk between each other.

"We'll take a look around down the line of bookshelves and see if she's hiding around any of the corners," said Bunny as he pointed to his left.

"Alright," said Jack with a nod.

Cleo let out a quiet sigh of relief, thinking that she was safe. If only she had noticed how Bunny's right ear had twitched in her direction when she had sneezed then she would have known that the guardian had heard her. As the guardians disappeared from out of her sight, Cleo slowly stood up and quickly made a mad dash towards the door, but she only got halfway there before she was caught by a pair of strong furry arms.

"Got ya!" exclaimed Bunny as he held Cleo tightly yet firmly within his arms.

Cleo began to struggle as she tried to escape from her captor's embrace, but no matter how hard she struggled she just couldn't get free.

"Let me go!" Shouted Cleo desperately as tears began to form in her eyes "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Hey, calm down," said Bunny as he continued to hold the struggling girl "You're not in any trouble, but if you keep thrashing around you're going to hurt yourself again."

No sooner had Bunny mentioned this that the pain within Cleo's injured shoulder suddenly flared up again. Cleo let out a sharp yelp and shot her hand up to hold her injured shoulder. She soon went still within Bunny's arms with her muscles still tense at what he might do to her next, while her body shook with fear. Bunny could feel her shaking within his arms before letting out a sad sigh. He gently shifted Cleo in his arms before crouching down on the floor so that the little girl could sit comfortably in his lap. Jack soon came up to them as he knelt down to get eye level with Cleo, while the little girl stared at the two guardians in fear and confusion.

"It's okay," Jack said gently to the child "We're not going to hurt you or do anything bad to you. We just wanted to help you after what that witch did to you."

Cleo didn't reply as she only continued to look between the two guardians. Bunny frowned thoughtfully before he spoke in a soft voice like he had used with Sophie when she first came to his Warren.

"Would it make you feel a little less uncomfortable if we told you our names?" asked Bunny.

Cleo hesitated at first before she slowly nodded her head at the guardian of hope.

"Alright then," Bunny said with a smile "My name's E. Aster Bunnymund, but everyone calls me Bunny for short." He then turned to look at Jack "And this guy right here is Jack Frost, who happens to be the annoying little brother of the team."

Jack retaliated by sticking his tongue out at Bunny. Cleo blinked in surprise at the boy's action before Jack spoke to her.

"Can you tell us your name?" He asked with a friendly smile.

Cleo once again hesitated before she spoke in a soft voice "M-My name is Cleo Alona."

"Can you tell us why you were in Poland?" asked Bunny curiously.

Cleo was about to answer when North suddenly barged in along with Tooth and Sandy.

"There you are!" shouted North.

The sudden shout made Cleo flinch before she quickly turned in Bunny's arms and buried her face into the fur of the guardian's chest. Bunny was a little surprised by this action for a second before he glared at North, along with Jack who had a look of displeasure on his face. North blinked in surprise as he looked at Bunny and Jack in confusion.

Bunny let out a sigh before he looked down at the young spirit that was shivering in his arms again.

"It's alright," whispered Bunny as he tried to calm the child down again "There's nothing to be afraid of."

The only response he got was Cleo clinging tightly to him as she continued to bury her face in the ruff of his chest.

'This is going to take a while' thought Bunny and Jack together as they stared at the young spirit that is now in their care.