Chapter 13: Cassie

The day when Aeola celebrated her one year anniversary of being the spirit of the wind was the day she befriended Cassie.

Well, it wasn't exactly celebrating, and she didn't consider it an anniversary. Aeola thought of it more as "Oh, look, it's been exactly one year of being dead to my family and friends and being a shitty elemental spirit god thing." So she spent the day at her usual hangout (in the Great Plains area located in the middle of the U.S) in a place in Colorado that was surrounded by multiple plateaus. Aeola tried to keep her mind off of the "anniversary" by kicking around some rocks, staring into the sun until her eyes hurt, and playing a game where she would shoot herself up into the air, let herself free fall for a while with her eyes closed, and let the wind catch her when she thought we was getting close to the ground. It wasn't very safe, but she didn't care. It sent her blood rushing and it felt good.

Later that day Aeola saw a family of hikers walking on a path. A man was looking at a map and telling his spouse that they should've taken the more "scenic" route instead of the one they were currently on. But his partner only smiled and rolled his eyes. A teenage girl listening to loud music moped behind them, obviously not wanting to be there. Ahead of them was a much younger girl running up the path. Her eyes shone with excitement as she looked around the wide open space around her and she urged her family to walk faster.

Aeola sighed and leaned against a tree. She felt such a terrible, pulling pain in her chest that she wanted to cry. She missed her family. She missed her old friends. She hated herself for leaving them behind and felt selfish. But above all of that, there was something that pushed all of these emotions aside and made it feel like there was a heavy weight pulling down her heart.

It was loneliness.

Okay, maybe she did technically have friends. The Guardians, the children of Burgess, and Jack Frost. Pitch Black, maybe. But Aeola knew that they won't always be there. She was so sick of always being by herself, sick of running around and feeling happy when there was no one to be happy with her. A lot of the time, Aeola liked to be alone. But she did not like being lonely. This frustrated her and she kicked the tree.

"Urgh!" Aeola grunted, sitting down and rubbing her foot. "Why does everything have to suck? Why the fuck do I have to feel this way?"

"Whoa!" exclaimed the little girl. "Daddy, it's getting super windy!"

The family covered their faces to block the dust and dirt and hurried along the path. Aeola groaned and looked up at the sun again.

In the midafternoon, Aeola decided to explore the deep canyons and large cliffs in the area. It was extraordinary. She felt so small standing near the towering plateaus, and it only made her think about how many of the wonderful places that the Earth had to offer that she has yet to see.

Her wonder was interrupted, however, when she heard something crying out in the distance. It sounded shrill and broken, like a bird. It was hard to tell. But as Aeola reached the source of the sound, she saw that it was only the cry of a falcon that got itself entangled in a plastic bag that came from a nearby town. She pursed her lips.

"Aw, man. Poor thing." Aeola approached the bird. "Shit, how am I going to do this?" She reached out her hand, only to get scratched by its sharp talons that flailed around. "Ow! Damn, those are sharp. Look, if you stop struggling, then maybe I could help you. Okay, let's try this again."

Aeola tried to quickly grab the falcon's body and remove the bag, but the bird screeched and struggled even more. Its talons cut up her arms, so Aeola dropped the creature and cursed when she saw her wounds.

"What the hell? I'm trying to help you! Are we going to have to do this the hard way?" She rubbed her forehead. "Why am I talking to you? You're not even going to respond. Ugh, fuck it." Aeola put her bow and sheath to the side and walked towards the falcon with a stubborn face. "Don't try to scratch my eyes out here, okay?"

After a few minutes of screaming, scratching, pecking, and cursing, Aeola was finally able to free the falcon of the plastic bag. The both of them retreated from each other, panting.

Aeola looked at her bloody hands and gasped. "Holy fuck! What the fuck did you do? These were my favorite gloves! And I just changed my shirt last week! Now it's all torn and covered in blood!" She looked down at her Marina and the Diamonds shirt. "Look! You tore out Marina's face! Are you happy with this?"

The falcon, which was a peregrine falcon as far as Aeola's knowledge of birds could tell her, chirped.

"Whatever." Aeola equipped her weapons and winced as she touched her wounds. "Look, I appreciate the fact that you didn't scratch my eyes out like I asked you to. But it would have been even better if you didn't cut me up everywhere. What am I going to tell people when they see me like this? It looks like I murdered someone. Then my chances of making friends will be even slimmer. Well, it's not like I had a chance anyways."

The falcon shook its feathers and tilted its head to the side in question when it sensed the anger in Aeola. She shrugged.

"I'm leaving now. Try not to get stuck into anymore bags, alright?" Aeola started to fly off but landed back on the ground when the wind began to make her cuts sting. "Fuck it. I'll just walk around for a while."

Aeola walked away. The falcon did not move. It was staring at Aeola, and was still looking at the direction she went when she disappeared behind a plateau.

It only took about fifteen minutes of wandering around before Aeola realized that the falcon from earlier was following her.

She didn't know it was following her at first. When she stopped to rest and looked up to see it perched in a tree nearby, she figured it was probably hunting for food, or just another bird.

Then Aeola flew to the top of a large flat plateau to get a better view of the area and saw it on another mesa that was close by.

After that, as Aeola was walking along a hiking path, she looked up to see the falcon flying and circling above her. She was miles away from when she first found it, so she figured out that it was following her for reasons that were unknown to her.

"Maybe it's because I saved it earlier," Aeola thought. "But why won't it leave me alone?"

Later, Aeola stopped to rest under a large tree. The falcon landed on a branch and looked down at the wind spirit with watchful eyes.

Aeola furrowed her brows. "Why are you following me everywhere? What do you want from me? If it's food you want, then sorry. I've got nothing." Her stomach growled loudly and she winced. "Aw, damn. I should've taken something from that café at the tourist spot."

The falcon clicked, spread out its wings and took off into the skies. A few minutes later, it came back and dropped a dead pigeon in Aeola's lap and chirped happily.

"OH MY GODS!" screamed Aeola, jumping up in surprise. The pigeon fell onto the ground and its insides spilled out on the dirt. "What the fuck is that? You brought me a dead bird? Oh my gods, I think I'm going to vomit."

She stood off to the side and gagged. The falcon flew onto a low hanging branch and pecked her head in concern. She looked up and frowned. Why was this creature doing these things? First it followed her, then brought her a dead bird, and now it is looking at her like it is waiting for something. Why would it…

Suddenly, Aeola remembered a conversation she had with Jack Frost and Bunnymund back in February. They were in the Warren, talking about what they had been doing for the past few months. Jack was telling a story about how he had a run-in with a witch and her familiar who lived in South America.

"What's a familiar?" Aeola asked.

Bunny, who was busy painting his eggs, looked up from his work. "Familiars help witches with their magic. They normally send them out to gather information on other spells, collect ingredients for their brews, or steal from other witches. But they're bloody annoying things."

"Yeah!" Jack said. "You know that stupid witch I was talking about earlier? The whole reason why we were fighting in the first place was because she sent her dumb cat familiar thing to pluck out a piece of my hair. But that thing pretty much tried to scalp me! And then the witch got all mad at me for freezing her cat solid—"

"No one cares, Frostbite!" snapped the pooka.

Aeola leaned over and hugged her knees. "So, only witches have familiars?"

"Well," Bunny said, carefully painting a flower on an egg, "Other mythical beings can have them. They're animals most of the time and they really only serve as pets, or used to fight in battle."

"How do you get one?"

"For some people, the familiars just kind of spontaneously appear."

"Ooh, yeah!" Jack said, jumping and perching on his staff like a bird would on a stick. "I heard this thing where there was this witch who was in her garden and this weird lizard human thing appeared out of nowhere and scared the crap out of her. And I—"

Bunny threw his boomerang at the staff and Jack fell next to Aeola. "Can I please just finish a sentence without you interrupting me for once, you idiot?"

Aeola shoved a dazed Jack off her shoulder while Bunny continued on talking. "Sometimes, familiars are given to the witch, normally from a relative. Other times, when a witch or other divinity is in need of help in terms of survival, a familiar will come in and give them what they need, like food, money, or help in a fight. And if the one that they helped wants to, then they allow them to be their familiar. They usually stay for a small amount of time, or for a lifetime. If that's the case, then they will become immortal until the person they're serving passes away."

Bunny explained Aeola the physical appearances of familiars (sometimes human, an animal, or a mix of different species). Then after he kicked Jacked out of the Warren for burying his eggs in a pile of snow, he told her how familiars are usually spirits of those who wish to protect or guard the witch, and how familiars are able to sense the emotions and feel the physical pain of their master. They talked for a long time about the subject until Jack came back and started to pester Bunny.

Aeola thought about that conversation, and then what the falcon had done for her. She stood up and asked, "Is that what you want? You…want to be my familiar?"

The falcon squawked and jumped onto Aeola's shoulder. Its sharp talons dug into her skin and made her cry out in pain.

"Ow! Alright, I'll take that as a yes." Aeola thought for a moment. Does she really want to have this creature as her familiar? She doesn't really need it for spells or anything of the sorts. The only person she fights is Triton, but she doubts that a one foot tall bird will be able to help her in battling a powerful sea god. She also gets hurt a lot, so she's afraid that the falcon will die from the amount of times Aeola injures herself. And not only that, but Aeola doesn't know a single thing about taking care of a peregrine falcon. What do they eat? Do they need exercise? What if it has babies? There was no way she'd be able to foster this animal.

But then Aeola thought of all the times she'd been lonely. So many days, she had hungered for a friend, and now she had the chance to fill in that feeling of loneliness. And there was no guilt in letting the falcon be her familiar, since it was offering. They both wanted this, so why was she hesitating?

"Alright," Aeola said, smiling. "You can be my familiar. As long as you stop getting me all scratched up. Do we have a deal?"

"Squa!" the falcon screeched.

Goosebumps suddenly formed on Aeola's arms and she gasped. The falcon flapped its wings nervously and chirped at the sky. Then a warm breeze that carried the scent of wildflowers surrounded them and relaxed them. Among the rustling leaves, Aeola could make out a voice speaking to her. It was a woman with a soft and musical voice. It was Mother Nature.

"You are both forever bound to each other until one of you dismisses the other from your companionship," She said. "Assist each other in whatever way you need to be assisted, and may my blessings protect you two."

The voice faded off. It was silent for a moment. Then Aeola turned to the falcon and said, "I didn't know Mother Nature got involved with this kind of stuff. Cool. Anyways, now that you are my eternal pet, I'm going to have to give you a name. Are you male?"

The falcon tilted its head to the side.

"Uh, are you female?"

The falcon clicked and bowed her head.

"Okay." Aeola thought for a moment. "I wanted to name you after some certain characters from this show…how about Anna? No. Rachel? No…Muriel? Hael? What about Naomi?" She sighed. "None of those fit. I wanted to name you Cas, because you have black and white feathers with black wings, but I don't think the actual angel Castiel would like me naming a bird after him." She looked up at the clouds and made a face. "Hmmm…Oh! How about Cassie? It still has Cas in it, but I'm technically not naming you after the real angel. So it's safe to use. How about it? Cassie?"

"Squa!"

"Alright!" Aeola laughed and flew up into the air with Cassie following her. "This is so fucking cool! Whoa, you're following me! That's…that's so great! Oh my gods!" She squealed out of excitement. "Okay, I'm going to have to get a special glove so you can stand on my arm, along with a bunch of other bird stuff. And new clothes for myself, since they're still dirty and ruined. But right now…right now I want to see how fast you can fly. Can you keep up with me? I know you're the fastest flyer in the world. Were you granted any special powers to keep up with me or something?"

Cassie chirped sharply.

"Well…I want to see how fast you are! Just chase me, okay? Ready, set, go!"

Aeola sped off to the north. Cassie flapped her wings and followed her new master. Aeola felt a little ridiculous talking to this bird and acting like a child by making it chase her. But she didn't care. It made her feel happy.

"G-g-get back here, F-f-f-frostbite!" ordered a very furious and cold Bunnymund.

"No way! I'm having way too much fun up here!" Jack said. He cradled an armful of Easter eggs as he flew higher into the air.

Bunny stepped out of his hole but retreated back when his feet touched the snow. He threw his boomerang at Jack. "I s-swear if you d-d-don't give back th-th-those eggs, I'll…aw, b-bloody hell…it's too c-c-c-cold out here!"

Jack smirked down at the pooka and tossed one of the eggs in the air playfully. He had stolen several of Bunny's eggs in the Warren because he was bored. Bunny yelled at him and chased him through the tunnels until one of them led them out in the middle of the snowy areas in Montana. Bunny has never been a huge fan of the cold, so he had a hard time trying to step out of the rabbit hole to try to catch Jack. But even then, Jack could fly and he can't, so there really was no point.

"J-j-jack Frost!" Bunny yelled angrily, rubbing his arms to gain warmth. "Easter is in t-two d-d-days! I n-n-need those b-b-ba…I need those b-back now!"

"Oh, come on," Jack said. "I only have five eggs. You can easily make more. Stop being so uptight all the time."

"Y-y-y-you bloody whacker!"

"Sorry, what? Can't hear you!"

As Bunny yelled a string of curses at the winter spirit, Jack only laughed at him and tossed the egg in the air again…only for it to be intercepted by a falcon.

"Ka!" it screeched.

"Holy crap!" Jack exclaimed, dropping the eggs in surprise.

The falcon wasn't able to carry the egg in its talons, so it fell to the ground with the others. Bunny perked up and jumped out into the snow, catching all of his precious creations before they landed in the snow and quickly going back to stand in his hole when the cold started to numb his legs.

"Ha!" the pooka snapped. "That's w-what y-y-you get!"

Jack was baffled. "The falcon messed me up! It came out of nowhere!"

"Cassie?" a girl called.

Cassie circled around and flew down to a nearby tree where Aeola was standing. As she ran to where Bunny was, Aeola put out her arm so that Cassie can stand on it.

"Hi, guys!" she greeted excitedly.

Jack flew down. He and Bunny were about to greet her back until they saw how torn up and bloody her arms and clothes were. They stared at her with horrified expressions.

"Wh…what happened to you?" Jack muttered.

Aeola looked down at herself. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about my clothes. But I can explain." She pointed at Cassie and grinned. "Guys…I got a familiar!"

"What?"

"Yeah! Her name's Cassie. I just got her today!"

"D-did she d-d-d-do that to y-y-y-you?" Bunny asked, shivering.

"Well…yeah! And I know it looks really bad, but we're friends now! Let me explain. Okay, so I was in Colorado, and I'm just wandering around, right? And then…"

As Aeola told her story of how she met Cassie, Jack and Bunny exchanged glances. How unpredictable this girl was! Bunny thought of her as shy and quiet. Jack thought of her as playful and nice. But now she has come to them all cut up and covered in blood with a falcon on her arm and excitedly telling how the bird had almost scratched her eyes out…it was just very unexpected.

"Why would you want to see me again? I'm not a very exciting person to be around," Jack remembered Aeola saying.

He chuckled lightly and watched Aeola's eyes widen as she threw her bloody arms up in the air while she told her story. "I don't know, princess," he thought. "This is pretty exciting for me."

Finals are destroying me. ;_; Just so you guys know.

I thought I'd give Aeola a pet thing because why not? And no! I did not make references to Supernatural again what are you talking about? Haha...ha...

So, when I first wrote this, I didn't have a basic plot line for it. I was just going to BS through it. But now that I have the basic plot in place, chapters might come up more frequently. But since I'm busy with a lot of stuff, I won't make a lot of promises. I will be able to post another chapter before the end of December!

Also, I must say I'm disappointed in the lack of reviews. I really need reviews to motivate myself to write more. I love to write. I. Want. Reviews. I mean, I don't care what you say. You can say "holy crap the Doctor WHo 50th made me fukin cryyy". Just SEEING the amount of reviews I get makes me happy. S REVIEW AND FOLLOW AND FAVORITE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Now if you excuse me, I'm still suffering from post-Doctor Who 50th anxiety.

-psychochirpingmistress

(WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST PUT THE REAL ROSE IN THE 50TH. ROSE BEING A PERSONIFICATION OF A MACHINE AND NOT BEING SEEN BY TEN AND ELEVEN IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WHYY)