What's this? You didn't have to wait forever for an update? SORCERY!
This one feels long, but it's mostly dialog.
Heh Ben 10 reference XD
Enjoy ^w^
Disclaimer: I still don't own Rise of the Guardians. I do own the other seasonals though (but only in personality - their names are legit)
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Alone Together
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Jack groaned as consciousness slowly returned to him. He had no idea what had happened, but his head was throbbing almost as bad as that time he'd crashed into a tree (several times) and the air around him was uncomfortably stuffy and warm. But perhaps most concerning was that the world remained black even after he opened his eyes.
"You with us, Frosty?"
Ah. That would explain the temperature. "Lleu?"
"The one and only. How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been hit by a truck." Also something that had happened more than once.
Lleu chuckled, the sound irritating his headache like a hammer to the skull. "Yeah, a club to the… well, everything, will do that to you."
"Huh?" and then an earlier comment registered in his aching brain. "Wait. Us?"
"Unfortunately," said a feminine voice that could only belong to May Queen.
"My sentiments exactly," and there was Ceres.
"Um, I have a couple of questions," Jack said.
"Fire away." How Lleu could sound like he was enjoying himself was beyond Jack.
"First of all, assuming I haven't gone blind, why is everything so dark?"
"We're in a pit – some form of oubliette, I would presume," May replied quietly.
"Right… that leads me to my second question."
"Let me guess," Ceres interrupted, and Jack could practically feel the eye roll he was no doubt receiving. "Why are we in a pit?"
"Actually, I was gonna ask 'what happened' but that works too."
Lleu laughed again. "To answer both questions, we were captured by a Cyclops, who presumably dumped us down here until he feels like eating us."
"What?!" and if anyone ever accused his voice of squeaking, Jack would vehemently deny it. "Well, that explains the pain, I suppose." Jack reached around in the dark, groping for his staff, his eyes widening when he was unable to locate it. "My… my staff! Do any of you know where my staff is?"
"Calm down," Ceres ground out irritably. "It's outside; the Cyclops was, amazingly, smart enough to realise what it was for and left it top-side before throwing you on top of us."
"Oh."
They lapsed into silence.
"So… anyone got any ideas on how to get out of here?" Jack asked after a while.
"We could serve you to our jailer."
"Ceres," May said in warning.
"What?" the autumn spirit snapped defensively. "Oh, don't pretend it would bother you at all if the living ice cube was removed. We'd still be stuck here in the dark but at least the temperature would be tolerable."
"Because the cold would totally bother an autumn spirit," Lleu intervened sarcastically. "Speaking of which, it's not too hot in here for you, is it, Jack? I moved myself as far away from you as possible, but I doubt it'll help much."
"You make it sound like I've got some infectious disease," Jack raised a brow.
"You probably do."
"Ceres, enough," May sighed exasperatedly.
"Why are we even arguing?" Lleu cut across. "I mean, I know we're not technically related or anything, but we all consider Mother Nature as a kind of substitute mom or whatever it is she is to us, so doesn't that technically make us, I don't know, siblings or something?"
"Wouldn't that kinda make it our job to argue?" Jack retorted at the same time Ceres said, "I am not related to that menace!"
Lleu sighed. "May, help me out here, man."
May heaved her own sigh. "While the notion is rather strange, I suppose Lleu does have a point; we do all consider Mother to be such, even if it's based purely on our position as seasonal spirits and hers as Mother Nature. Each season, likewise, relies on each of the others. Bickering like children is a waste of time."
"I probably wouldn't have put it in those exact words but yeah," Lleu agreed.
There were a few grumbles from Jack's left (where he presumed Ceres was sitting) but other than that the dark pit returned to silence.
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...
"Who's the strongest? The strongest should go on the bottom," Lleu suggested.
"I would think the heaviest would make a better foundation," May countered.
"Okay then, who's the heaviest?"
"That's so rude!" Ceres raged. "I can practically feel all three of you staring at me!"
"Sorry, Ceres, but without the wind, we don't have much choice," Jack shrugged, taking the figurative fall for the other two.
"Fine!"
"Who's second heaviest?"
"Probably me," Lleu replied. "But there's something else we should take into consideration. Jack and I can't get too close, so if I go next it'll mean Jack will have to go after May."
"Either that or it'll be you on top."
"Right. So I'm next, then."
There were a few shuffling and rustling sounds, followed by a grunt.
"Your shoes better be clean," Ceres grumbled.
"Alright, May, your turn."
Jack felt the presence on his right move away followed by more protests.
"Gah, how much do you two weigh?"
"Oh relax, will you? All of us are light enough to get blown around by the wind."
"If you look up my dress you'll regret it."
"May, I can't even see my hand in front of my face; your underwear are perfectly safe."
"Okay, Jack, I'm ready."
"Right," Jack took a few small steps forward, not wanting to bump into the growing tower of spirits and accidentally cause them all to fall. The stack was easy enough to find – the pit may have been deep but it wasn't very wide in diameter.
He flinched when a hand sudden touched his elbow. "Here, give me your hand and I'll help you up," Ceres said grudgingly.
Jack slid his arm slowly out of her grip until their hands touched, allowing her to guide him upwards.
"Ugh your feet are like ice!"
"Duh, spirit of winter."
"Ow! At least I'm not a living furnace like some people."
"Sorry, Frosty. Just more incentive to climb on up, eh?"
"Jack, you're standing on my braid."
"Oops, sorry, May."
Having had centuries to practice balancing on the tip of a thin staff, keeping steady on May's narrow shoulders was a walk in the park and, slowly, Jack stood upright.
"Ow!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah, hit my head on the lid."
"Well stop yabbering and open it already!"
"Alright, alright already."
"Just ignore her, Jack."
Jack pressed both palms up against the thick slab of wood and pushed as hard as he could. But it was like trying to shift a boulder.
"Ugh, he grunted. "It's too heavy."
"Either that or it's locked."
"Oops."
"What?" Ceres' tone made him want to stay at the top of the pit until the Cyclops came back so he could get out of there without having to answer the question – one way or another.
"I may have, accidentally, forgotten about certain side effects of my powers and, completely unintentionally–"
"Just spit it out already!"
"…I think I froze the lid."
There was a collective groan.
"Clearly we're not going to achieve anything like this," May said. "So, Jack, if you could get off me it would be much appreciated; I don't think the lid is the only thing you're freezing."
"Sorry!" Jack winced, jumping down as easily as he would from any tree.
More shuffling sounds followed as the spirit-tower was disassembled.
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...
"Okay, what about this. What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?"
"That's a hard one," Jack grinned.
It had been at least an hour since their failed escape attempt and they'd taken to answering whatever questions came to mind to stave off boredom. They'd already gone through the boring (and highly predictable) 'favourite colour' and 'if you were an animal what would be' and so forth.
"…I accidentally introduced Cirsium vulgare to North America," surprisingly it was May who confessed first, and Jack was sure he wasn't the only one to turn a shocked gaze to where the spring spirit was sitting. "…And Australia."
"Am I the only one who has no idea what Cirsi-vulgar-whatever is?" Jack asked when it was clear no one was going to say anything.
"…It's spear thistle."
May had done something wrong? May had done something wrong? And this wasn't just some minor act of 'stupidity'. Thistles were a noxious weed! And May was at fault.
"How do you accidentally spread an invasive weed?" Lleu said incredulously, because, really, it had to be asked.
"Some seeds must have gotten caught on my dress when I went through Europe," the poor girl sounded so resigned and guilty. Jack almost felt bad for her. Almost. The other, much larger part of him was enjoying the fact that strict, no-nonsense May had screwed up.
"You call that stupid?" Lleu laughed. "One time I messed up with the monsoons and several countries had harvest failures. Would've turned out fine but the governments had no idea what they were doing. I still feel bad about that one, actually."
"Technically that wasn't completely your fault," Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, but if the monsoons had come like they were supposed to, it never would have happened, faulty government or not."
"One time I decided to do a little touring before winter and accidentally started a migration," Jack shrugged.
"Please, I hardly think that's the stupidest thing you've ever done."
"No, you're right. I… may have had a hand in the Year Without a Summer in 1816… let's just say Mount Tambora's eruption wasn't the sole cause. Purely accidental, I swear."
"Um, yeah, sorry about that," Lleu said sheepishly. "I may or may not have irritated the fire spirits that year…"
Jack stared silently for several seconds before bursting into laughter. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. It was a horrible event."
"What about you, Ceres?" Lleu asked. "Done anything stupid?"
"This is childish, I won't–"
"Oh, come on, 'Res; May told us hers and I doubt you'll find a more serious person anywhere."
Silence.
"Ceres?"
"…Some of those crop circles might not have been made by people or aliens."
A small snort caught them all of guard; the only warning they got before May Queen, of all people, giggled uncontrollably from her 'corner' of the pit. The two boys were quick to join in before, at last, a hesitant autumn spirit.
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"Ugh I'm so bored. I almost want the Cyclops to turn up just so I'd have something to do!"
"Be careful what you wish for, Snow Cone."
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"Did anyone remember to bring any food?"
"Lleu, I'm pretty sure none of us planned to get captured by a man-eating Cyclops."
"Apparently we're dinner," Jack shrugged. "Assuming you don't want to eat yourself, May's probably the closest thing to 'cooked'."
"Hey!"
"Ceres, can't you grow us some apples or something?"
"Do you see an apple tree in here?"
"Actually I can't see anything."
"Me neither."
"Ugh, you know what I mean."
"Here, I can probably grow us some flowers," May huffed.
"Flowers?" Lleu and Ceres echoed.
"They're actually pretty good," Jack commented. He could feel three sets of intense stares aimed at him. "What?"
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"Why do you hate me so much anyway?"
"You know why," Ceres grumbled.
"Okay, I get the whole 'ruining the pretty colours of autumn' and all that, but you do realise winter would happen anyway, even if I didn't turn up."
"Right?"
"I think it's because you're the embodiment of the subject of her animosity."
"Did Lleu just say something smart?"
"Hey!"
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"How about this, then: I promise I won't interfere with the coming of winter in whichever part of the world you're in, okay? You'll just have to tell me where you're going to be so I can avoid it."
"…Really?"
"Really."
"Alright then; I'll hold you to that."
"I don't know about you, but I think the dark must have gotten to those two if they're actually having a civil conversation," Lleu whispered to May.
"I heard that," Ceres and Jack said.
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"I guess winter's not all bad. The frost patterns and the snowflakes are pretty."
"Who are you and what have you done with Ceres?!"
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"Guys… I need to go to the bathroom."
"Go in here and I swear to MiM it'll be the last thing you'll ever do."
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...
Jack started awake at the sound of heavy movements, not having realised he'd fallen asleep.
"Do you guys hear that?" he whispered.
"Yes," May returned.
"You think someone's trying to open the lid?" Lleu asked.
"I know I said earlier I wouldn't mind, but now I'm not so sure I want to face a hungry Cyclops."
"What? Ceres, you could take that guy with one hand tied behind your back!"
"Shh!" May shushed harshly.
Whoever it was was clearly having trouble with all the ice that had frozen the lid in place, several angry muffled curses drifting down to them.
"Who do you think it is?" Lleu said quietly.
"Damn it, Jack! Why did you have to go and freeze the damn thing?!" the muffled voice yelled. "And don't even try to pretend it wasn't you!"
Three of the four seasonal spirits burst into beaming grins. Jack wasn't sure he could share the sentiment.
"I think I'm supposed to feel relieved that we're being rescued but she doesn't sound all that happy with me…"
"I'm sure she'll forgive you. She always does."
There was a loud bang as a torrent of wind tore the lid off its hinges, pouring sunlight down into the pit and forcing the four inside to shield their eyes.
"Are you alright?" Mother Nature asked in concern, peering down at her 'children'.
As soon as they'd recovered from their blinding, Lleu, May and Ceres shot up into the air in three gusts, Jack suddenly finding himself covered in leaves, petals, and a fine layer of sweat. He hadn't realised how much Lleu's natural heat had been affecting him until the cooler air pressed against him.
He could hear Mother Nature fussing over them, reassuring them that 'the nasty oaf wouldn't be hurting them ever again' which could mean many, many things. Jack looked up at the smooth stone walls around him, knowing that no amount of agility would help him get out. He was stuck down there until someone thought to toss him his staff.
"Oi, Jack!"
The winter spirit looked up to see three sets of hands reaching down for him, one of their owners beaming, another smiling softly and the last looking away and pretending not to care. Mother Nature stood behind them, pride etched all over her beautiful face.
Jack grinned back at them, feeling like he belonged with these supposed 'siblings' of his for the first time in 300 years.
"Not that I don't appreciate the effort, but I can't exactly reach you. Why not just pass me my staff?"
Guest Review Responses:
Cag: Really? *motivation and self esteem rises significantly* Thank you so much! Ah, the penguins... there are mixed reactions to the penguins XD But I do have other ideas so expect to see them again eventually XD