Chapter Twenty-Nine
She Looked Awesome

"You are actually disgusting." Eros said, rolling his eyes at her grin. "I agree with the kid, you're eating chalk."

"...You know, I could leave-"

"No."

"But you-"

"I said no, kiddo, you're stuck here."

"Because you asked me to come!"

"So sit down!"

She gave a huff and dropped down again, sitting on her folded up legs, arms resting on the edge of the building's roof. They had been waiting for awhile now for the two girls to walk past. Eros didn't think valentine's day suited the two so after a very careful conversation with Sammy, he'd been given permission to shoot them tonight.

The streets were bustling, full of people in costumes walking from house to house; some running, some shouting to each other as they ran. She scanned the crowds, looking for the two girls and found them easily in the crowd, taking photos together in front of the scarecrow set up outside one of the houses. She sat up straighter so she could see the girls more clearly, when something small and blue hit her on the cheek.

"Ah! What the-" She waved her hands in front of her face before lowering them slowly and looked around in front of her, where she saw Baby Tooth, fluttering nervously.

"Uhhh, hello?"

Baby Tooth gave a flustered but friendly wave, before zooming around the girl's head, tugging on a lock of her hair.

"Ow! Hey, hey, careful."

"...Does she want you to follow her somewhere?" Eros asked as he was raising his bow and getting ready for the shoot. Six months of preparation; no big deal.

Baby Tooth gave a squeak and nodded.

"...Well, alright. I can't really fly after you though so..."She gave a glance sideways at Eros, who was looking out over the street. "Hold on tight to me and think of where you wanna go, alright? You have to focus or we might end up...well, anywhere really."

Baby Tooth settled on the girl's shoulder and nestled in between the fabric of the girl's coat and her skin. The girl wondered how such a small creature could be so warm. She closed her eyes and waited; usually the travel was instant but this time it took a moment, trying to follow where the little fairy wanted to go. Someone tugged at her arms and legs, then tugged sharply at her chest, pulling her body from where it was.

She felt her feet touch the ground suddenly; she was standing somewhere slippery, with what could be stones underneath her feet. The sudden feeling of falling caught up to her at once, like an elevator suddenly reaching it's stop and she felt her body lurch for a moment before she opened her eyes and the feeling vanished.

"So where are- oh."

She was near that little pond where Frost had left his staff; apparently others had found out about the stick. Three flower sprites, sentient flower creatures that reached roughly her waist in height were squabbling, standing over the staff which was still laying in the snow. They were all rose sprites, the personal workers of the Spring Spirit. So Dawn knew about the staff's actual location, did she? What a pain.

"Just grab it!" One of them said; the sprites all had deep, croaky voices which amused her to no end. She couldn't stop herself smiling at the voices as the sprites argued over the best way to grab the stick.

"You try! It keeps moving."

"It's a stick, idiot! How's it meant to move?"

"You're a flower, how're you meant to move?" She asked, injecting herself into the argument. The three flowers spun to glare at whoever had found them.

"Ah, what do you want?" The largest of the three asked, waving a leafy arm at her in a gesture of 'oh who cares?' "Bored of your boyfriend for now?"

"Same as why you lot are out here, getting some time away from Mummy, I'm bored." She said, shrugging, leaning her shoulder against a tree nearby. "Watcha up to?"

"We're working, not that you know the meaning of the word. We got told to come have a look at it, magical items shouldn't just be left laying around."

"Do you need to grab stuff to look at it?"

"We weren't going to touch it, you stupid girl." One of the other sprites spat in annoyance.

"Oh good, I don't recommend it." She said, grinning just a little.

"Oh yeah? Why?" The main one sneered. They watched as she held up an arm and let the cuff of her coat sleeve fall just a little, just enough to reveal the injured wrist; the dark veins had spread further since she had shown the Guardians. Not far but far enough she had noticed it.

"What did that to you? Eros finally get sick of you? Knew you'd be the clingy type."

She glanced at her wrist, then slowly moved her eyes to settle on the staff and shrugged.

"...You tell me a stick did that? We're not stupid."

"...I mean, you sort of are, if you're trying to take something belonging to a Guardian." She shrugged. "I get your Mummy dearest is upset she wasn't chosen by the moon fellow but it's no reason to steal from a Guardian."

"You watch your tongue." One of them warned, stepping closer. "You gonna stop us taking it? What's it to you anyway? The guardians don't have time to even know you exist let alone-"

She had noticed the stick leaning next to the tree trunk and decided it looked pretty good, thick and sturdy, long enough to be a walking stick. It also made a pleasing crack as she grabbed it quickly with both hands and brought it up, smashing it into the face of the closest sprite; the larger one. The other two let out angry snarls and leapt into the fight, using their thorned leafy arms to reach out and scratch at her.

"I was just warning you guys!" She called out cheerfully, using the stick to whack at their arms, keeping them at a safer distance. This whole stick thing looked a lot easier when the kid was doing it. "I was really looking forward to tonight, you know?! You couldn't do this another day?"

"Looking forward to what?!" One of them snarled. "You don't have a special day; you don't have a holiday! You've got no occassion!"

"I certainly do!" She shouted, throwing the stick aside and holding her palms towards the creatures. "It's called a funeral!"

Baby Tooth could feel the bubble come out from the girl, but she wasn't affected by the force the girl spread out from her body. The sprites certainly did; they seemed to realise what was about to happen, only to have no time to avoid it. The wall of energy struck them and threw them back, sending them into the nearby wall of ice and rocks that made up the small cliff near the pond. It wasn't tall, barely above her head but, there was still a wall. The bubble dissipated and she was standing there alone, watching the three sprites lay exhausted and sore on the ground, unmoving. She knew they weren't dead, unfortunately.

"Right, little fairy. Let's...not tell Jack I just did that?" She asked, glancing down at the small fairy nestled into her coat pocket. When had she moved? "Can't have the kid seeing me in a different light. Even if I probably looked awesome doing it."

Baby Tooth let out an excited squeak and zoomed up, flying around the girl's head a few times before nestling in near her ear to give the girl a hug.

"Just need another of you and I'd have some new earrings." She said, smirking. "Back to Eros and you can head home, alright?"

Eyes shut, eyes open; she was next to Eros. She felt the little fairy flutter and leave through her hair, flying away from the group from behind, to avoid being seen by the newcomer. Jack Frost had, at some point, joined Eros on the roof and was settled down next to the man, watching the crowds with a smile on his face.

Good, the kid needed to smile once in a while. Jack noticed her arrival and looked over at her to smile but frowned; she didn't realise quite how covered in cuts and bruises she was from the fight.