"If he was winter, I was summer. If I was sunshine..."
-Karen Marie Moning
"You talked with my brother."
The woman didn't even need to turn around to notice the man sneaking up behind her. She stood on the edge of a forest, looking out into the city of New York. She turned to the man and crossed her arms, bright blue eyes narrowed with fury. Her hair, as white as Jack Frost's, billowed behind her in the wind of the small blizzard. She wore a short white dress that reached the top of her knees with spaghetti strap sleeves, light and billowy, flowing in the wind. On her feet, she wore pale pink heels. She was quite an adorable woman.
The man who had snuck up on her (naturally, the French man from previous chapters) laughed, ignoring her angry expression. "Of course you know! You are brilliant!"
"No, he warned me you were coming," she spun her back to the man, once again looking at the city, arms crossed. She was, in fact, the sister of Grimm, but the exact opposite. While he wore all black, she was light, pale colors, with a kind and open aura.
Well, not at the moment. Grimm's sister, Adriana Stork, was in a very bad mood. Mostly because she actually had to TALK with her cursed brother.
Adriana Stork was a spirit like the French man. A humanity spirit. The opposite of her brother. Her job was to assist Mother Nature with the creation of life. Mother Nature created the life force, and Adriana built from there whatever the Mother wished and delivered it to Earth. While she had the ability to turn into a stork, she usually stayed in her (much prettier (one could argue that she is the prettiest of the spirits)) human form. The human form still represented a stork though, with the flowy white dress and pink heels. The only black she wore were fingerless black leather gloves on her hands, representing the black on the tip of a stork's wing.
"You talk to your brother now?" the French man asked, for once showing some other emotion than happiness. Which was confusion.
"No. Only on special occasions," Adriana said, her voice starting to get lighter. She could never stay mad for too long, unless it was her brother.
Adriana's brother, Grimm Reaper, was just as his name suggests. The Grimm Reaper, the one that takes away life. Adriana was the one who gave (or at least, assisted (read: did the dirty work)) life. It was no wonder the two siblings hated each other.
"Ah." The French man leaned against a tree nonchalantly. "So...hows the business going?"
"Just get to the point, C."
"Oui, of course," he chuckled. "As you know, Shine has returned-"
"I'm aware."
"And I believe that she is our savior."
Adriana, her back still to him, raised her chin ever so slightly, the only signal that she was intrigued. "No spirit can take on Manny."
"Indeed."
It took Adriana a minute, but soon a smile split across her face as she spun back to him. "But she isn't a spirit. You're a genius."
"OUI! I KNOW!" he swung his hands up in the air happily. Giggles burst from Adriana, never one to hold a grudge. "So, Stork? You wanna help?"
"I would love to," she smiled kindly, before her eyes flickered down at the ground awkwardly. "But I can't. I'm really busy, and you know that."
The man didn't even seem upset, his smile stained his face. "Oui, your brother said the same thing."
Adriana's kind exterior melted into anger. "I am NOT like him!"
"Absolument pas, dearest, no! Not at all," he put his hands up in front of him for protection.
Adriana sighed and turned back into her calm self. "I will help as much as I can. You know when to call. Just ask the Wind." On cue, their old friend Wind blew in between them, rustling her flowy dress. Both spirits chuckled.
"You have a plan, don't you?" Adriana recognized the man's plotting smile anywhere. This man was almost always planning something new.
"You know me so well. Ah, well I must be off now! Au revoir!" His angel wings snapped open dramatically as Wind picked him up and he flapped away.
It was just North -I'm sorry, NICK- and Shine in the backroom. Shine made sure to stay by the fire, still perched atop her staff like a bird or a monkey or something. She craned her neck, the height now given to her by the staff allowing her to see the top of Nick's desk, where he worked feverishly on wielding a chain. He held a welding torch, a welding helmet covering his face. Shine had offered to use her fire to help, but Nick insisted to "use human way". Pitch was standing in the front of the store, just wandering around and looking at Nick's trinkets. He had seemed to grow an interest in Nick's new hobby, which was a strange feeling for him. Jack sat up on the roof, enjoying the snow.
The torch's fire clicked off, and Nick pushed up his helmet, smiling brightly at Shine. "Is almost done! Is good, no?"
Shine leaned over further on her staff to check out the necklace. It was just a silver chain so far.
"It's great! It'll fit," Shine nodded with approval. "Now the pendant?"
"Almost done with the chain, then I'll start pendant," Nick slid his helmet back down, masking his face. Shine could still see the bright smile in his eyes through the black cover.
Shine hopped of her staff, growing restless. She wandered into the front room. "Pitch, do you know what time it is?" She wasn't sure how much time she had left.
"Jack's the one with the watch," Pitch said without looking up from a tiny black model horse, that looked a little bit too much like his night mares...
Shine rolled her eyes and put one hand on the door, preparing to go outside into the cold.
Jack's hand hovered above the snow that caked the roof of the building as he sat cross-legged. The snow started to pick up, swirling like a small tornado under his hand. Humming a tune, he swayed his one hand, almost like a dance, sending the snowflakes bouncing about.
"Feed the darkness with your passion." He started to sing the tune he was humming under his breath, still making the snowflakes dance. "Feed the darkness with your love. We may not have much anymore."
He raised his hand and the snowflakes started to dance higher, above his head. "But we still have a lot."
He didn't notice Shine land on the roof behind him, leaning against her staff and watching him with curiosity.
Jack was singing a song he heard sung by children a lot now-a-days, to keep their spirits high in the Dark Ages. He has grown to like that song, despite it technically being against him. "Fight the cold, embrace the warmth." Jack's voice slowly grew louder. "Show your strength and fly. Nightmares may control us now but have faith and we'll try..." The snowflakes started to swirl around Jack before flying in front of him, forming a small snowman. "We'll try..."
"Cute," Shine snorted sarcastically, interrupting his song. Jack squeaked (though he will forever deny making the sound) and the snowman collapsed. He spun around, twisting his back.
"Oh my Moon!" he panted, fear still coating his eyes. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough to hear that little song of yours," Shine plopped next to him, crossing her legs and placing her staff right next to Jack's in front of them. "I didn't know you sang."
"I don't," Jack shook his head, rolling his eyes. "It's just been stuck in my head. It's a song kids sing a lot."
"I wouldn't know," Shine chuckled, shrugging. To anyone, it would have been an easy cover. But as soon as she laughed, Jack's head snapped up to look at her face. She raised an eyebrow, but that act wasn't enough.
"You're sad," Jack stated obviously.
Shine rolled her eyes. "I am not."
"You've been not existing for fifteen years, Firework," Jack crossed his arms. "C'mon. Don't try and hide."
Shine glared at him, but it soon melted. She looked down at the ground (technically speaking, it was the roof, but still). "Jamie's grown up now."
"I know," Jack giggled, running his fingers through his white locks. "It's crazy."
Shine put her hands behind her and leaned back, looking up at the sky. "So. You're a Being of Darkness," she said awkwardly. After all, it has only felt like about an hour since she learned this information. Her head was still spinning.
"Yep," Jack looked up at the sky as well.
"You're...evil."
Jack hesitated before another "Yep."
Shine's eyes never left the snowing clouds. "And you've...accepted that."
Another hesitation. "Uh huh."
"You're... having fun?" Finally, Shine looked back down at Jack. Their eyes met, his freezing, light ones to her dark, flaming ones. When Jack stayed silent, Shine sighed. "Which makes you even worse, you know that?"
"Yeah," Jack sighed, curling his knees to his chest and resting his chin on his knees, looking out at the frozen tundra that was Northern Russia.
Shine desperately wanted to change the subject. No matter how long they've been enemies, Shine never thought he was truly evil. He was just...different than her.
"That was a pretty song," Shine blurt out, though she wasn't sure why. A smile twitched on Jack's lips, but he otherwise looked distant.
"Yeah, it gets stuck in your head after hearing it every day for fifteen years," he chuckled unconvincingly, tangling his fingers in his hair.
"You're actually decent at singing, too," Shine acted surprised. "I never thought you would be good at something."
"Hey, at least I can sing. You have nothing," Jack gently nudged his shoulder into hers.
"Oh yeah, Frosty?"
"Ooooh yeah, Firecracker."
Both of them laughed, never have really 'jokingly' fought before. Jack's laughs subsided as he watched Shine giggle. She had her fist covering her mouth slightly, shoulders shaking up and down rapidly, eyes squeezed shut. There was no other term for it, Shine was adorable.
Jack's heart thumped, and he jumped slightly at the strange feeling.
"You alright, Frost?" Shine asked, laughter quieting down now, catching his confused expression. Before he had time to answer, Pitch swooped up in front of them, his black robes fluttering at the action.
"It's finished."
Aw where are all my reviewers? I hope the story isn't getting boring!
Comments? Questions? Criticisms?
