;hey guys! I hope you had a Merry Christmas! not much left to say. I don't own anything but the plot and OCs;
Jack looked into the last room of the house despite knowing he'd find nothing. He let out an annoyed sigh and closed the door. That's it. He's searched the whole house and not a sign of the Bennetts any where. He and the others had felt hopeful when they found Maeve's bedroom window left open but now he was thinking Maeve herself had left it that way.
The Winter spirit looked up the hallway at the door to Maeve's art studio. Half of him wanted to look in there but the other half was telling him to stay out. He wasn't exactly willing to go in anyway. After seeing what has happened to the whole house, he didn't want to know what they did in there. Jack walked across the hall back into Maeve's old bedroom and climbed out the open window before closing it shut. Jack jumped up onto the top of the roof where the other Guardians stood waiting for his return.
"Did you find zem?" North asked. The winter spirit shook his head. "No. No ones home." He replied. "Did 'hey leave anything behind 'hat'd help us?" Bunny asked. Jack shook his head. "Other than completely erasing Maeve from everything they own? Nothing." He replied while shouldering his staff. North nodded and scratched his chin, lost in thought. "Ok." Tooth said flying up to the boys. "I have a few fairies I could spare on the look for them. Where ever the Bennett's are, they'll find them." "Goot vork, Tooth." North said flashing a smile. "Nov vhat ve should do..."
The winter spirit zoomed North out and looked ahead at the front lawn so he'd at least look like he was listening. Deep tracks in the snow Maeve had left where starting to fade. He still felt guilty she had to go through that alone. As far as he was concerned it was the first time Daughter Nature had ever been walked through (or at least that she could remember). It reminded him of the first time he was unbelieved in.
"Woah!" Jack exclaimed as the winter wind carried him to the small village. He shook his arms as he tried to land on his feet but ended up face planting onto the ground. The winter spirit tried to stand up but his cloak was flipped over his head and he stumbled before falling back over. He laughed and hopped up to his feet while he wiped chucks of snow off of his cloak. He glanced at the village behind him then at his hand realizing he hadn't even felt the cold. He laughed again and strolled into the small crowd of people, greeting them as he went.
"Hello! Hello!" Jack greeted. He caught sight of a woman sitting on a stool sewing something. "Good evening mam." He greeted a woman while jogging up to her. The woman continued to ignore in him while she worked and talked to the person next to her. Jack furrowed his eyebrows. "Mam?" He asked again while waving a hand in her face. The winter spirit turned at the sound of children laughing. He smiled when he saw a little boy with his group of friends running right towards him. "Oh, excuse me, could you tell me where I am-?" Jack cut off as the boy ran right through him with a flash of blue. The winter spirit gasped and his eye grew wide. His hands instantly went to his chest where the boy has ran through him. He looked around at the groups of people, panicking. "Hello?!" He yelled as more people walked through him.
Jack squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. That was the past. It didn't matter now. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. The winter spirit furrowed his eyebrows at a figure that had randomly appeared out of no where. The figure was a tall man was walking down the middle of the street. It was too dark to clearly make out exactly who he was but his outline looked familiar. The winter spirit instantly took off of the roof and flew after the man. If he was who Jack thought he was then he could figure out what was going on. "...Ve- Jack! Vhere are you going?" North yelled after him. The man took a sharp turn down a pathway and Jack followed, ignoring North's yelling. Finally the man stopped at a dead end and just stood in front of the wall. Jack landed several feet behind him at the end of the alleyway.
"Jamie!" He called. The winter spirit stumbled as he landed and ran up to his old friend. "Jamie what happened to you? How could you just suddenly shut out Maeve after everything you've both been through!" Jamie continued to ignore Jack and continued to stand with his back to him. The guardian huffed with annoyance and continued ranting. "Maeve, remember? Your daughter? You raised her since she was a baby! What did she do that made you hate her?!" He yelled. The winter spirit trailed off as Jamie started to melt into the ground. The shadow spread across the ground and the walls of the alleyway. Jack stared wide-eyed before getting the message loud and clear: it was a trap. And he had taken the bait.
Black nightmare sand swarmed around the winter spirit blocking out the city around him in darkness. The winter spirit slashed randomly into the air using his staff, each time giving off a flash of blue illuminating the space around him every time he striked. Jack panted but continued to attack blindly. He grunted and got shoved to the ground. This was getting him no where. Jack stood up and slammed the butt of his staff on the ground beneath causing an irruption of wind and ice to blow away the sand. The nightmaresand erupted around him and sent the winter spirit flying.
"W-woah!" Jack yelled, completely caught off guard. He let out a muffled "Ooof!" as he landed face-first into a pile of dreamsand. The winter spirit coughed and shook his head as he propped himself up to find he was sitting on a giant baseball glove. "Thanks, Sandy." He said jumping off and landing next to his fellow Guardians. The sandman nodded and disbursed the giant glove with a flick of the wrist.
"Well, lookie here! Five of the six guardians all in one place!"
A black cloud of nightmare sand flew around the Guardians and reformed into its controller. A teenage girl with jet black skin and hair appeared standing above on the building in front of them. She had a menacing grin and red, yellow, and grey eyes that continued to swirl as she glanced at all of them.
"I must admit." She continued while placing her hands on her hips and slowly walking towards them. "I'm a little star-struck."
"Fear." North muttered eyeing Maeve's 'evil twin'. Fear laughed. "Hey, Long time no see! But I think one of you is missing..." It said counting each of the Guardians with her pointer finger. "Ah! don't tell me! It's Janey isn't it!" "It's Maeve." Jack growled but Fear ignored him. "Is she back at the Pole resting? I hope so. That'd just make throwing her into a wall worthless."
"Quit with t'rambl'n, ya nightmare-wannabe." Bunny snapped at her. "What'd are ya do'n out here anyway? Shouldn't ya be pouting in t'shadows like ya always do?" Fear's eyes narrowed but she quickly regained herself. "Whaaat? I'm just trying to enjoy a nice reunion With the freaks that helped me get where I am today!" Fear asked sarcastically. "Buuuut if you insist I skip to the good part..." She snapped her fingers and as if on cue giant clouds of nightmare sand formed on the buildings. "...let me introduce you to my new 'friends'."
The clouds instantly swirled and shot together to form new nightmares. Giant jet-black yetis heavily armed with spiked weapons formed on one roof, life sized sentinel eggs formed on another. In the air, the cloud of nightmaresand turned into an army of tooth fairies that swarmed down from their place in the sky and floated behind Fear. The guardians turned around to see the traditional versions of nightmares shaped like jet black horses.
Fear walked over the edge of her building and smirked at the Guardians horror-struck expressions. "Boo." She mocked, sending all the nightmares charging at once.
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"Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack..."
Maeve clicked her tongue to match the movement of her thumbs and her feet. She laid on the ground with her upper body propped up against Decebal's back as he tried to nap. The protector of Daughter Nature lifted his head gave her an annoyed glance. Maeve turned her head towards the lion while continuing the clicking noises. He huffed and laid back down while covering his ears with his front paws.
Maeve laughed and sat up. "Sorry, buddy." She apologized while ruffling his mane. "I'm just bored." Decebal snorted and pushed her towards the globe with his back paw. "Entertain yourself and study the globe." Daughter Nature crossed her arms and shook her head at the grumpy lion. "I was entertaining myself." she replied. Decebal snorted and rolled over. "Then entertain yourself in a less annoying way." "You by far are the biggest and laziest house cat I have ever seen." She smirked. Decebal only yawned and stretched out more on the floor. Maeve rolled her eyes and turned to the globe. Propping her chin on her hand, Daughter Nature noticed the storm in Russia was still raging on. "Must be a bad one..." She mumbled while turning the globe with her free hand.
Maeve paused when Pennsylvania rolled into her view. It looked normal except for the small tornado forming around it. Daughter Nature squinted at the state. That was weird. It didn't look like a tornado. She quickly jumped onto her feet and flew up to the side of the globe. Maeve looked at the little tornado more closely. It wasn't spiraling like a normal tornado. It was spiraling in a circle around the state. Or more like the city. "Dec!" She exclaimed jumping off of the globe and next to the lion. "Dec! Get up!" Decebal growled and tried to go back to sleep, much to her annoyance. "Decebal! Get! Up!" Maeve yelled while zapping the lion. The protector of Daughter Nature let out a loud yelp and jumped to his feet like a scared cat as he looked around wide-eyed.
He growled at Maeve angrily. "What was that for?!" "Burgess is under attack! We got to get up there!" She replied waving her hands at the globe. Decebal snorted and sat down. "We don't have to go anywhere." Maeve looked appalled at the lion. "Well then, I have get up there! I'm a guardian and this is just as much my fight as it is theirs." She snapped heading towards the exit. "I'm going if you want me to or not." Decebal watched as Maeve walked through the plants. He knew perfectly well he was the only person or animal that could transport Maeve to that fight without weakening her. He also knew she would go with out him for sure and get herself killed.
The lion let out a low growl of annoyance. He stood up and ran after Maeve roaring to catch her attention. "You're not going anywhere without me!"
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Lightning cracked in the sky and the wind continued to increase as the clouds continued to incase the city of Burgess. Fear stood on the roof of the building in the very the center of the storm, her arms raised allowing her to control the raging storm. Below her where the Guardians, but she wasn't concerned about them for now.
The nightmare queen growled with annoyance as a familiar show crept up on the wall. "This isn't working!" It snapped. "She still hasn't shown up even with the storm! Just grab one of them and let's go!" "No!" Fear barked glaring daggers. "This will work. You know Janey. Always playing the hero. Now get back into position and wait!" The shadow grumbled but sunk into the floor and obeyed it's orders.
;leaving with a cliffhanger! Don't worry I'll update again soon. Life has been keeping me busy and I'm trying my best. Thanks for reading and please leave a review, it really encourages me to post these chapters and to write quicker. Thanks again.;