Chapter 22 – A Special Visitor

"So, what happened next was …"

"Uh-huh," was all my sister said as she used one of her fingers to cover my mouth. "Rest, my sister. I'll tell the story for a while, ok?" Looking at my brother, though, she gave him a look as he caught her eye wearily.

"What?" he asked, looking up from where he was watching Cloud put me to bed. Inclining her head towards the door, she signaled for both of them to leave, seeing me close my eyes.

"You could have been a little nicer to Castor, you know …"

(Cloud's POV)

"What did I do now?" my brother asked, not carrying how loud his voice echoed in the guess hall at everyone tried to settle down for the night. Hearing him yawn behind me, I spun around and unflared my wings in mild agitation. "Look, whatever I did, I'm sorry. Alright?" Pausing to cover his mouth this time, I waited as he said, "My first concern was finding you guys in that blizzard last night. I admit, when Terra said to all of us that Castor was North's son, as well as Angel's, too, I found that a little hard to believe! All of us did!"

"Zack," I tried to whisper, saying my brother's real name to make him listen as someone a little farther back turned to hear us, coming closer.

"No, Linds, you listen," Solar said rather heatedly, his hair flaming up as a result. "We were up all night trying to track down Angel in that frozen tundra, and then we got worried when the adults said that you didn't come back yet! Aurora was already given out by the time we got back here, trying to use her keen tracking abilities to the highest degree to give us any sign of a clue to follow and that's why she stayed behind when Blaze and I left with Sandy, Jack, and Nightlight to find you. When we get there, we find you guys with him right as Angel is attacking the Guardians and the Globe. Coincidence? I don't think so!"

"What are you trying to say, Solar?" I challenged him, standing my ground, not caring that we weren't alone anymore as Snow and Luna looked on us with worried glances right as Castor just remained stolidly silent. "You weren't there! He was there with us all night, true, but he helped us, too. He made us camp, made us a fire to keep warm by, and, most importantly, made sure we were safe throughout the night. He even helped all of us, and even you, get back here in one piece!"

Huffing a bit with reluctance, he only shook his head a bit as he attempted to keep arguing, "You have to admit that it is a little odd that Angel was here, at the same time, we all got back! Are you sure he knew absolutely nothing about … Ow!"

Interrupted by a sharp wet snowball to the back of his head, Solar only cringed as the water sizzled out his hair, turning it damp brown, as he turned around to see who it was to blame, shocked to see Snow's maniacal laughter as well as the look of suppression on Luna's face as she also attempted to hide a small yet noticeable chuckle. Hi-fiving Luna, Snow spoke up to my brother as she said, "Do us all a favor, Lava Head, and relax, alright?!" Earning from him a tired yet judgmental eye, Snow also said, "Besides, if Dusty believes him when he said he didn't know anything about Angel being here, then he didn't. I have to trust that! Why can't you?!"

Seeing Castor right behind them look away at the touch of Luna's gentle hand on his shoulder, I only smiled, glad to see that there was something else kind underneath his rugged and stoic personality. Meanwhile, turning back to face my brother, I saw him choose to say nothing as he tiredly made his past us, stopping dead-pan in mid-step when he felt another one of Snow's chilly wet snowballs hit him straight in the back.

Watching him leave, Snow only cupped her hand to say to his tense back, "That one was for waking me up!"

"I'll go talk to him. Wish me luck," Luna said, following Solar as he trudged to the Elevator Lift, wanting to find a quiet area to just think and no doubt process what just happened. We all did, but I knew the others were skeptical about the amount of trust that Dusty and me were giving towards him, even after the way he protected both of his parents the way he did and how he sent Angel away from the Guardians' judgment after Sandy put her to sleep.

"Everything ok?" I heard Snow ask, looking down to see her staring up into my eyes in concern. "How's Dusty?"

"She's fine, Snow," I told her, ruffling her hair a bit as she just hugged me. "She's just resting …"

Running past me, Snow ran in there to be with Dusty as Castor and I were left standing in the hallway, alone. Looking up towards him, he asked me, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," was all I said as we both started towards the lift and rode it down to go outside. Walking past the yetis in the workshop, who all stared unsurely at Castor as we went past, I didn't know we had a trio of little feet following us.

"Ouch, Snow, that was my foot!"
"We shouldn't be following them …"
"Quiet! I want to hear what he says …"

He took a while to just stare out and up at the wintry noon sky where the stars were still barely visible in the morning's arctic arc. Connecting his gaze on one in the distance, he said, "I don't why I chose to come all the way out here." Sighing, he changed the subject as he said, "Why did you stick up for me like that back there? You didn't have to."

"Is that really what you wanted to ask?" I asked him plainly, to which he only looked down over his shoulder at me as I lightly smiled, knowing there was something more. "Besides, it wasn't fair, not after everything's that happened."

"I don't care what people may think or say about me, alright?" he said, feeling the faint breeze of the winter air brush past his head of brown hair. Pulling off his burly brown cloak of faux fur off his relieved shoulders, he sat down in the snow in just his regular wear of a dark teal vest top and long black pants, not even cold. "I came here looking for answers, not to be interrogated."

"Then ask," was all I said, seeing him respond with a sigh, noticing immediately that we were not alone.

"Then, why is it so important whether or not kids believe in the Guardians?" He challenged me, a question I almost could almost see coming from his past actions. "I mean, I've heard the stories, but belief comes and goes, children grow up, and … Well, the world is not as innocent as it used to be. Why fight for it?"

"That's true, and you're right," I said, not surprised that kids were surprised at my words and poking their heads out from behind a nearby snow drift, knowing that they were busted. As Castor noticed them, too, I continued, "For some of them, though, it's what makes them real. Protecting the wonders, dreams, hopes, and memories of the world – the small things and joys that are often forgotten in vain and darkness – that is what the Guardians strive to protect in those that still choose or want to believe. And because what they choose to do is tied into their purpose, let's just say that if all of the belief in the world just suddenly went out … It would be like they never existed at all."

"Right," he said, looking at the way that Dusty, Snow, and Aurora were all three looking at us. Looking straight up, he said, "I heard about what happened with Pitch several years ago. He was defeated, wasn't he?"

"The Guardians told us so," Dusty replied, stepping forward to pick up the story. "In comparison, I know of the story how Pitch attacked my parents. And, even when Dad faded into a nightmare, the belief that came back when it did … It brought him back with the joy that dreams give to those that inspire them to go forward and onto the next. That's one of the future things I want to do one day."

"And true, some of us were born into this life, and it's all we know about and want to protect," Aurora said, crossing her arms and cocking her brown tipped tanned ears up past her silver blue hair, as she stood up in her pink top and blue shorts, accented with a green fold skirt, covered up with a woolen cloak to keep warm. "That's what we see in the 'eyes' of our parents. It's what gives them life."

Castor's eyes blinked with this information as he heard Snow speak up next, "And there are others, like my Dad and my Mom, who Manny chose to give life, too, to help support the founding joys of the world when they helped to save another. Having faith and having fun are two of the many existing joys that help to support the breath and balance of the world, among others, too."

"It's true," I said, gaining Castor's attention back as he just listened. "By the way, don't mind my brother's temperament. He's gets a little testy when he's tired, right Dust?" At my sister's nod, we all laughed as it helped to lighten Castor's mood even more as he joined in as well. "There's something else you have to understand, too. Some of us have yet to find out who we are in amidst all of this. Like my mother, my brother and I were given new lives because of Manny and we try to do everything we can to fulfill why he placed us all here together."

"It's because you're a family," Dusty said, looking right at me as she launched herself at me in a tight hug. "We are a family!"

"Alright, this is sweet and all," Castor said, holding up his hands in mild impatience as he then earned a mild yet amused annoyance from even me as Aurora looked him hard in the face. "But it doesn't really answer my question. Why am I here?"

"Only you can answer that question, young Nick," we all heard as we turned to see a young woman with a heart-shaped face and with long-auburn colored hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail. Dressed in a distinctive yellow fur coat, she only chuckled and smiled warmly as she pulled up her shouldered pack and stood between Terra and Nightlight. "Hello, children."

"Katherine, you are here!" Luna exclaimed, looking out the door as the moon princess ran to her and kissed her on the cheek, before any of us knew what to say. "When Nightlight hinted you were coming, I … Oh! It's so good to see you!"

Giggling as she warmly returned her hug, Katherine said, "It is lovely to see you, too, my dear." Looking up at us, she said to Castor, "You have questions."

"Yes" was all he said as she came forward and down to his level as she stared into his eyes.

"One eye brown, and the other, blue," She teasingly said as we all stared at her in awe, Castor only giving her an odd look like he hadn't heard of her before. "The Man in the Moon has spoken highly of you, young Nick. You were born by no mere accident. Presently, you know of only half your story, which is a part of your mother's as well. This is why I am here."

"I … don't understand," Caster said, unsure of what to think of the idea of 'Mother Goose' right in front of him. "What do you mean by that?"

Before Katherine could answer him, though, his eyes automatically saw Terra as she called for him, saying, "Castor, North would like to see you, if you up for it."

Looking at the others and then back at Katherine, who only nodded in encouragement, he started forward as he followed Terra back inside eagerly.

Noticing that the girls were gathered around Katherine, I only smiled at the enchanted looks in their eyes as they each took turns politely reaching out to feel the outer covers of the book.

"I love the colors on the book cover. They're so pretty!" I heard Dusty say right as Snow said after her, "I know! Kinda reminds me of a butterfly, right?"

However, right as Aurora got close, she noticed the six little curves that looked a little bit like a caterpillar's legs as she said, "Why does this book look like it has a body, almost like a worm …"

When Aurora got too close to the top edge of the book, though, Katherine said, "I don't know if you want to touch there …"

"Achoo!" came a small voice from the book as a tiny face appeared on the top of rim where the shape of a 'head' was and his little six little arms moved as Aurora jumped back at the same time, shouting, "Eeewww!"

"Well, pardon me," the book said, looking straight back at Aurora's face as Dusty and Snow just laughed. "Eeewww-yourself." Removing himself from the flap in Katherine's bag, the little bookworm butterfly volume climbed down into Katherine's gloved hands, saying, "Why are we just standing out here in the cold when it lead to hypothermia?"

"Awesome, can I hold him?" Snow asked, coming close enough for the talking book to feel the cold emanating from her, making his 'wings' open up in shivering flaps. Looking up at her instead, I could tell the book was shivering too much to 'reply' as Snow picked up on it, too, changing her mind about her request, instead only cooing at it as Aurora backed away from it calling it rude.

"He is adorable," Dusty chimed in, smiling at the book, too, in wonder, both girls just smiling up at Katherine as she then cradled the volume fondly.

"Alright, Mr. Qwerty, that's enough. Let's get you inside," Katherine said, revealing his name, following Sandy's gesture for all of us to come in for some hot chocolate and some lunch. However, I wasn't the only one to notice Nightlight's blush as Katherine planted a peck on his cheek in passing, coming in just after Luna and he closed the door to the book's pleasure.

Chapter 22, here and done a little sooner than I thought. I hope you guys enjoy, me and my co-writer really liked this chapter and we thank you guys for still reading this story.

Next up, a very special sub-story plot that will tell the past of Angel's past. Stay tuned!