Chapter 38: Bad Blood
Everything was shifting.
Jack watched as the storm blanched, dissolving like thunderous foam. The sun was peeping through, weak rays that brought light to a world of darkness. Around them, the plant life was idly growing back, greener and healthier than it had been in years.
"By zee moon…" Cupid gaped at the growing lushness and the clearing sky.
"She did it!" Jack backflipped and shot particles of frost into the air. "This is awesome!"
"Yes…" North looked back to the wall, and his eyes narrowed at the vanishing funnel. "But vhat exactly has she done?"
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Charlotte didn't move.
The woman before her was actually Mother Nature. The savage, ruthless, cold spirit of humankind had completely changed. She rushed to Charlotte, but seemed too afraid to touch her, instead choosing to clasp her hands together.
"Wow," Charlotte said. "You…your mask…"
"Was there to try to conceal my rage." Mother Nature inhaled deeply, like she was breathing for the first time. "So you figured it out. My plan."
"Not on my own. Eldrid helped. And Typhan."
"Eldrid…" Mother Nature said the name with gratitude.
"Why?" Charlotte couldn't stop herself from asking. "Why go to all this trouble? Why would you want to—" She broke off with a wince, holding her shoulder.
Mother Nature's face contorted in horror. "Oh! Oh, Charlotte. I'm so sorry, you're hurt…"
"It's okay. I've probably had worse." Charlotte gazed down at her tattered clothes and aching body. "The Guardians will probably notice the storm clearing and be here soon."
"Right." Mother Nature looked uncomfortable. "It's time I appeal."
"You'll definitely have to tell them your reasons. But for right now, why don't you just tell me?"
Mother Nature, with a whisk of her hand, cleared away the fortress of thorns, and they crumbled into dust. Charlotte was relieved at the life that was growing back around them, and the shadows that were retreating, realizing their war had been lost. The wasteland was transforming back into a forest, just as the queen of it all was transforming back into a person.
"I've been losing myself for a long time now." Mother Nature's voice was soft, all hints of sinister intent gone. For the first time, to Charlotte's ears, she sounded like she could have been human. "Everything I told you before was true. I took you because I wanted to make someone else feel the pain I was feeling. But you reminded me of the fuzzy memories of Sagebrush I still had. You reminded me of my own daughter. And so…"
"You started to like me."
"More than that. The first love I'd felt since I had become Mother Nature came rushing back. I loved you. And I did return you for your own safety—at this point, I'm sure you're not surprised by the Elemental Sisters' actions toward your presence."
"No, I'm not." There was a lack of the usual bitterness in Charlotte's tone to match the lack in her heart. She wasn't bitter about the things that had happened anymore.
"But I had also formed a plan. A horrible, selfish plan. I would put you through hell to make you hate me—or at least, the me you didn't remember from when you were a baby. Then I would meet you again, when you were of age, tell you how I had hurt you, and then you would hate me. And after losing you, I had nothing left to hold me to humanity."
"Eldrid called that," Charlotte said quietly.
"She would. Eldrid knows me too well."
"You used your love for me against yourself."
"It's true," Mother Nature sighed. "And it worked. Until…you saved me. You did what I thought could never happen. What I'd never dare hope for."
"You wanted to be saved?"
"A small part of me did. I didn't want to destroy this world. But the other side of me, the one that loved destruction, overruled me. I wanted everything to crumble…and I wanted to crumble with it."
Charlotte took it in, noting Eldrid's scary accuracy. "All I said back there…it's true. You've been through so much, and you're okay now. Isn't that important?"
"I remember it all now," Mother Nature murmured, running her finger across Sage's painting of her. "You brought it all back. My happiness. The creature you banished back there was the side of the Mother Nature position that sought to hurt humans, the one that personified storm. She almost won."
"But she didn't," Charlotte said simply. "And now you know how to combat her if she ever tries to come back. That's important. What?" she added as Mother Nature shook her head.
"I just…you fought through a storm to save me," Mother Nature said in awe.
"Well, you held one back for me, so I'd say it's even," Charlotte replied.
Mother Nature laughed—laughed, not cackled. This Mother Nature was so demure and loving—was this really the witch she'd been fighting for weeks?
"Charlotte!"
The Guardians, Cupid, Sam, Pitch, and Eldrid swooped down, confirming Charlotte's guess. Jack enveloped her in his arms, and she could feel his grin against her cheek. "I can't believe it! You did it!"
"Once again, your lack of faith is appalling." Charlotte hugged back, relieved she still had the chance to hold him. Over his shoulder, she grinned at the Guardians, who seemed as reprieved as Jack. Pitch looked surprised, and Sam was trying to mimic his cool stature.
"Mother!" Eldrid was glowing. "How—?" She threw her arms around Mother Nature's waist. "I can't—it's really you! The real you!"
Mother Nature stiffened at the touch, but softened into the hug with a warm smile. "I owe you too much, Eldrid. Your devotion aided in today's victory."
The Guardians were on guard as soon as Eldrid addressed the mysterious woman as "Mother." "Motha Nature?" Bunnymund asked.
Eldrid let go, standing at Mother Nature's side. "It's me," Mother Nature confirmed. "We have much to discuss, Guard—"
Nimble feet hitting ground cut her off. Nixie, Aura, Xylan, and a woman Charlotte had never seen before had arrived. Nixie held the woman bridal-style in her arms.
"I told you," the woman proclaimed in a croak, pointing. Even from a distance, Charlotte could see the gold glitter and rainbow make-up that dusted her dark skin. "All is well with humankind…"
Charlotte shuddered at the sickness that seemed to have the woman in a chokehold.
"Mother?" came a small voice. Aura approached slowly, like the image of a saved Mother Nature was just a mirage. "You're…you're alright—"
"No!" Nixie was shaking, whipping her head back and forth between the ill woman in her arms and Mother Nature. "This—this isn't how it's supposed to work—Star—"
Star coughed, a hacking deep in her chest. Nixie sat on the ground and kept Star's head in her lap, smoothing away the woman's electric blonde hair. Eldrid joined them, feeling Star's forehead.
"You're as hot as a supernova," Eldrid gasped.
Star barked out another cough, but her lips quirked. "Compliments…will get you nowhere, dear Eldrid."
"Please, Star—" Nixie was near tears, grasping onto Star's limp hands. She cried out when Star's hand was flimsy and fading, edged with dim golden light. "What can we do? Anything! Don't leave m—us!"
"There's—there's nothing we can do." Eldrid wiped her tears away, and they sizzled on the dirt like embers. "It's her time, Nix."
"My Final Wish has been made," Star sighed. "Once…once I pass, it will come to pass: the era of the Wishing Star…will end."
Charlotte, despite her confusion, felt bad. Whoever this woman was, she was important to the Sisters of Water and Fire. Even if Nixie hated her, she didn't deserve to lose someone she clearly cared about.
"But—how—this isn't how—" Then Nixie's eyes were on Charlotte. Nixie's jaw clenched, and she ripped the bandages off her hand. "This will help you."
"Nixie?" Star croaked.
"It'll heal you. That's why we made it, isn't it?"
"I don't—no," Star realized suddenly, eyes going wide. "Don't…don't you dare, Nixie. It's not worth it—"
"You are worth it." Nixie revealed her palm, and Charlotte started.
"That's the mark you gave me!" Charlotte cried. "What're you—"
"Apologies in advance," Nixie said.
"Nixie, it will kill you too," Star barked.
"I don't care!" Nixie's mouth wobbled. "You shouldn't have to die alone, Star." Then she reached to place her two fingers on the two dots of the mark.
"NO!"
For a moment, Charlotte thought Star had exploded. She shielded her eyes from the enormous beacon of light that had transformed Star's body, but peeking through the cage of her fingers revealed Star hovering feet above the ground, and Nixie, too, hiding from the light.
Charlotte's hand glowed in unison to Star's body. She watched in wonder as the strange mark was wiped clean from her and Nixie's hands and infused with Star's light.
"I'm sorry, Nixie." Star's words reverberated as she broke into tiny glowing twinkles. "We can't do everything together. But it's alright. I'll always love you, no matter where I am."
The promise was all that was left. Star's body completely broke into thousands of fairy-like twinkles and dispersed in every direction, rustling the trees and blowing Charlotte's hair from her shoulders.
A howl detonated from Nixie's throat. Tears ran down her cheeks and she pounded the ground again and again until her hand was askew.
"Nixie—" Eldrid tried.
"You!" Nixie seethed at Charlotte, stumbling to her feet. "You did this!"
"Me?" Charlotte was genuinely shocked.
"We were supposed to be together! To the end and beyond! But you've ruined everything!"
"Nixie," Mother Nature warned gently. "You must calm down."
"I have to calm down?" Nixie looked at her former leader with disgust. "Hypocrisy looks awful on you. You almost sucked this world dry of life over a brat!"
"Nixie, look." Charlotte held up her hands in surrender. "I don't want to fight you. I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend, but being angry won't bring her back."
"No." Nixie turned blazing eyes back on her. "You're not sorry now…but you will be."
In a burst of speed, Nixie shot forward and flung Charlotte over her shoulder. Before Charlotte could even process a reaction, she and Nixie were being absorbed into Nixie's bright blue elemental state.
"No!" Mother Nature cried, but the blue orb of energy had already plopped and sunk into the ground, taking Nixie and Charlotte with it.