Rise of the Guardians
Guardian of Luck
Chapter Fourteen: Trying to Mend
Jack was delighted. Christmas was over, the winter was still around, and he had been having a lot of fun playing with the kids. Though it'd been two years since that fight with Pitch, Jamie and the others could still see him. He didn't interact as much for as they grew older, it was sort of bizarre to talk about 'imaginary' friends as the adults couldn't see Jack Frost at all.
Jack was swinging his staff back and forth, humming as the snow pillowed from the staff's reach and fluttered upward into the air like a shaken snow globe. He then smelled it, that familiar scent of a troll, now trespassing on his homeland. He jumped with a growl, hiding up into the thick tree limbs, though not necessarily completely hidden due to the lack of leaves.
It was a different one, though it bore the general look of a troll, then Jack had met before. It walked with a heavy gait, leaving behind holes in the ground for footprints.
Jack grumbled darkly. "Ruining my forest, ugly bit."
It was male, like the majority that had been interacted with and no less smarter than the others as he scratched his head in confusion. "Smell human. Where it go?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "God, how can he smell me? Compared to his putrid scent. Geez, imagine if I were Bunny or the kits, with their animal noses." Jack made a face.
The troll turned around and carefully followed his own tracks, Jack jumping with ease to follow to see where this one would go.
He saw the group in the distance, only a mile away from the town of Burgess. "That's too close."
He landed onto the ground, tapping it with his staff. The portal opened as he followed with ease.
Bunny was being overrun by adorableness, his children merely consuming their father as he sat with a defeated look to him.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked finally after a long pause, confused.
"Oh, nothing. It's just I can't take a break. Faustine and I are keeping them here where it's warmer so they don't get colds and they're getting really restless."
"Apparently," Jack hit Axel in the back of his head, making Axel let go of his father's ear that he'd been chewing. "I need your help. There's a group of five trolls about mile from Bergess and it's making me nervous."
"Sure…" Bunny stood up and was bombarded by Faustine, who looked absolutely thrilled. "Ow…"
She sat on his back, perked up. "Hey, Jack! You need help? Sure, let's go!"
Bunny managed to pin Faustine under him by grabbing at her hips and literally falling forward onto her. "Now wait a minute…"
Faustine wiggled with purpose. "Axel, you're in charge, do not leave, is that understood? No fires, no fights, no tricks, just be on your best behavior! If you're all good, we'll go somewhere fun for the day, okie dokie?"
With that, she bounded out from Bunny who looked angry beyond belief as she disappeared.
"What are you waiting for? Follow her!" Bunny barked at Jack who hurried off after the feline. "Do as your mother tells you!" Bunny added hurriedly before he too took off.
The four siblings looked to Axel who looked happy that he was in charge. "All right, crew, this is how it goes down. Do as I say and no one gets in trouble."
Hop and Thump looked at each other as Princessa growled softly. Hitch grinned. "Awww, I don't think anyone wants to follow Mr. Leader's orders."
"That's not fair! I'm in charge! You heard Mom and Dad!"
"Who wants to chase the leader?" Hitch called out, waving his arm happily.
Axel shrieked and tore off where effectively, he did take care of his siblings by keeping them entertained, just not having realized he would have do it with the rest of his energy.
Faustine bounded out of the rabbit hole, shivering in the sudden breeze of ice. "Augh, forgot it was winter! Oh, my poor feet!"
She skittered, whimpering as Jack arrived, who watched with amusement.
"Do you mind?" Bunny shoved him out of the rabbit hole completely, following Jack with a bound. "Oh, god, Faustine, it's just a little snow."
"Water! It's water!"
"It's winter!"
"I grew up in California! We don't have snow!" She managed to disappear from sight, though, skittering forward with intent.
Jack opened his mouth to say something only to be glared at by Bunny. "Right, so let's go see what's going on."
He jumped, leading the way. They found Faustine easily, who was hidden from sight from the group, behind a few bushes. The two men landed and watched with her as the group seemed to be arguing.
"They don't seem as friendly with each other as the group with Trow and his whore," Faustine said softly.
There was a pause before she glanced at Bunny, who was staring her down. "What?"
"Focus."
"Whatever."
The three watched the group as the leader seemed to be having an argument with the second-in-command. Unlike the group with Trow, a woman was in control of this predominantly female group. There was only one, silent male troll who was watching the argument with little expression.
"I wonder what's wrong?" Faustine mused. "Darn it… Oh! Lucky, Lucky Sound!"
The area around them shimmered as the voices came in clearly, as if the group was right next to the trio.
"I not know where it go! I followed it!" The male troll was now talking, whining loudly as the four women stared coldly at him.
"You lost human! Important human, Guardian!"
Bunny and Faustine stared at Jack from the sides of their eyes.
"Yea, one of them came a little too close to the pond."
"We need it for Trow! If we to get more of this world, we kill those who impose."
Jack glowered at the group, muttering darkly under his breath.
"Trow not in charge now! We are!" The female troll thumbed herself smartly. "Trow is weak, we strong, you take orders!"
"But…" The male was bombarded by hisses and punches by the females.
"See, we can be very deadly," Faustine whispered to Bunny. "Keep on our good side!"
"I do keep to your good side!"
"Shhhh!" Jack hissed at the couple who looked embarrassed.
"The females are in charge now?" Jack muttered. "Geez, show a little weakness and get booted."
"Trow is weak now, why isn't the King doing anything?" Bunny asked.
"Maybe he is but we just don't see it." Faustine shifted. "They're leaving their place, moving away from the town. Phew."
Bunny moved, pulling back. He patted Faustine's tail. "Let's head home."
"Already?" Jack muttered.
"We have five kids at home that can't be alone for long," Bunny said shortly. "We'll catch you later."
He thumped and disappeared into the rabbit hole, Faustine blowing a kiss to Jack. "Sleep well! Dream of me!"
"That's not funny!" Jack shouted, red in the face.
Axel was being pounded on as he cried openly. Bunny shouted, scattering the rest as Axel, while unharmed, had damaged pride as he sniffled, wiping his snotty nose as he gulped in angst.
"They were mean to me! They chased me all around…"
"You wanted us to obey you or else we'd be in trouble!" Came Princessa's shout, somewhere hidden. All four children were hidden.
"Axel, that's not how we do things," Bunny began.
"Really?" Faustine poked at her mate. "Funny, he's just like you."
"We'll talk later."
Axel and the others were set for a nap. Faustine was mulling for dinner when there was a familiar pull.
"Daddy! And… Mom, yea," Faustine ended with little enthusiasm.
And the party got better as her sisters appeared. Audris naturally lead the way while Felicia was helping Zaida, who was pregnant again.
They stood a part from Faustine who crossed her arms and gave them, sans her father, a cold look. "What are you doing here? All of you?"
"Well, your mother and I are back together, having had many long conversations and we had equally long conversations with your sisters and brothers and we decided, as a family, to come and seek your forgiveness." Erik smiled warmly.
"No."
Anabella opened her mouth to protest. Faustine cut her off. "I'm tired of it. None of you really cared about me, save for Papa. You all expected me to turn out into a nobody, some crazy old cat lady who talks to things that are so-called 'imaginary'."
She crossed her arms. "I am happily mated to the Easter Bunny, I AM a Guardian, and my babies are all cuter than yours and you know it."
Anabella sighed. "I think this is all my fault. If I wasn't so closed-minded, my ways wouldn't have gotten onto your sisters. I thank the Maneki-Neko that you turned out exactly as how your father was and is." She held her hand to her mate with a warm smile. "Took a few centuries to win me over. But it shouldn't take me that long to accept my daughter for what and who she is."
"I'm sorry, honey, I really am. I love my grandchildren, they are all adorable and cherished clearly by their parents. And I love you, sweetheart. I always have. It's hard for a cat to see outside their world but the world is so much bigger than we realize."
"Completely," Erik agreed.
"We're sorry too. We always thought you were weird, but you know, the good kind, not like Uncle Ai… which I guess he's not that weird considering that Hitch takes after him. We just… don't seem to be open to seeing what another is like and that's our fault." Audris was firm on that.
"Hugs?" Felicia said hopefully, holding out her arms.
"Well…" Faustine began only to see the pile of children all move onto their aunt. "Children!"
"Yea! I knew we'd wear them down!" Hop jumped around Felicia's head with glee. Thump was nuzzling tightly as Princessa was pushing to do the same but unable as Thump kept a foot up, pushing Princessa away.
Hitch was wrapped around his grandmother's leg, now a familiar scene. He purred loudly as Axel was staring at Zaida's belly before poking her. "Boop."
"Don't do that!" Zaida shooed at him. "It's hard enough with the boys, I don't need you to do the same."
"How many you got?" Axel asked next. "More boys? We need more boys!"
"We do not!" Came the girls' protest.
"We don't know," Zaida told Axel. "We never do."
"Can't you sneak into a hospital?"
"Why?"
Axel crossed his arms. "They have what is known as 'ultrasounds'. They tell you the gender of the baby."
"For the last time, we can't sneak into a human hospital!" Bunny protested.
"Do we have a hospital?" Faustine asked suddenly. "Why haven't I heard about this?!"
Her parents stared at her before looking to Bunny. "Well, is there?"
"We do have shops and specialties but no hospitals." Erik stroked his chin.
"So… now that we've all made up, we wanted to know if we could be of any help?"
"I did have the kids down for a nap. Help me wrangle them," Faustine offered to her mother.
"Not that. About the trolls."
"We're waiting for the King to do something," Faustine snorted. "I haven't seen anything yet!"
"There's a King?" Zaida asked skeptically.
"Yep! And they live in the Trollhold."
"Trollhold?" Anabella blinked.
"Yea, their own dimension. They left the Earth in search of peace due to the Boogeyman making them out to be bad guys. They're not like their mythology at all."
"Well, some of them are," Bunny corrected.
"So now it's a waiting game?" Anabella was a little upset. "Their smell is starting to get into the Cat Havens."
"Not our Eastertide!"
The adults stared at Axel, who said pointedly. "We named our Cat Haven."
"Oh, that's a neat idea!" Felicia perked up. "We should do that!"
"When we have more to go on, we'll talk more," Bunny offered.
"Now!" Faustine clapped her hands. "The little ones need to go take a nap!"
"NOOO!"
"Oh, come on," Faustine wailed. "Mama wants a nap too!"
"You're supposed to be an adult!"
"I'm tired, E! If SOMEONE didn't keep me up all night, I wouldn't be tired!"
Poor Bunny was under the interested scrutiny of the family as his body turned hot. "Nap time, okay, come on, kids!"
"But," Axel began only to be scuffed by a frazzled Bunny.
"Just shut up and keep moving," He whispered, strained as the children followed him obediently.
"Awww.. They love their daddy!" Faustine clapped her hands together.
"Well, Daddy didn't like being the center of attention," Anabella said dryly. "Honey, you really should watch what you say. It can get very uncomfortable."
"I didn't say details," Faustine scoffed. "I'm not stupid. No way I'm letting you all know my little bed secrets."
"FAUSTINE!"
"That I never said anything about," Faustine smiled weakly. "Crap, E's going to yell at me again."