PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! I'M SO SORRY! Seriously guys, I thought I'd be able to keep writing but my goodness, June was super hard. I had absolutely no social life. I ate, slept, went to school, and studied. But it all paid off, got all A's. This month will be easier, only one class to worry about…..at least I hope it'll be easier.
Shout out to my reviewers: wiccan182, DevilsGamexxDevilsPain, DeathlyIceMaiden, Lady Minuialwen, Sin of Beauty, cant log in, DarkTempest, .Princess, Yellow Fruit, A Darker Heaven and Hell, D.A.T.1
Underline: Australian slang
Italiacs: Sandy speaking
Disclaimer: I do not own any Rise of the Guardians
Pitch's POV
After getting bored in my realm, I decided to go 'strolling' around some random part of the USA country; more specifically, I think I'm around Central Park in New York, where the lights never go out. How can any children here get any sleep with all these lights and noise?
Where am I supposed to make my nightmares from? All I've seen so far are whack-jobs high on whatever drug the humans have invented in this day and age. Sad really. Even now, one of them stumbled 'through' me in the park. It's a blessing that adults can't see me; I can't make nightmares from their dreams. Their dreams are too serious, often about their jobs or their love lives; they don't have enough pure nature like children do.
They are disgusting and worthless….well, all except for one.
And again, I can't get her out of my mind. I have found myself actually counting down the hours until I can invade her dreams once again and claim my sweet Genie. One day and night have passed; I just need two more until I go see her again in 'our' dream.
And once I find her in the flesh, I'll bring her with me to my realm, where she will spend the rest of her life, giving me power to defeat the Guardians and having our fun night after night. Oh what a life that will be, the Guardians weaker and fading away, while I rule over the world once more, just like in the Dark Ages; with my girl by my side.
But that does bring up another thought that has been bothering me for some time now. What's the longest human live now? About 70 to 80 years, give or take. This means she will die, and when she dies, she'll takes my powers and all my fun. I may be the Boogeyman but I am in no way a necrophilia enthusiast.
Is there a way I can make her live forever?
'Who is this Genie girl you're talking about?' That voice. I stopped by the shadows of the tree and looked up towards the moon to my once friend now rival, the Man in the Moon.
"You don't need to know." I informed him.
'Well, you've been jabbering on and on about her for the past few minutes. So call me curious.' My old friend has a way of burrowing into my business. And it's so hard to ignore him at times since I can't physically grab him to shut him up.
'She must be really special to have caught the attention of Pitch Black.' It's obvious that he's not going to shut up.
"If you must know, she is the older sister to that little brat that foiled my plans." My fist clenched as I thought of that kid. First order of business when I rule once more, lock him and his little sister up.
'Oh, that Jaime kid. Yeah, I like his family; they seem to produce very special children.'
"Special? The only special one is Genie. The other two are flat out annoying and should be disposed of."
'Oh, someone is a little angry tonight. But I do have to ask, why are you so interested in her?'
"There's no reason for you to know. You need to learn to stay out of my business." But no, he and his stupid Guardians have to be involved and ruin everything for me.
'This business involves a child who believes.'
"She's not a child; she's a woman." A beautiful woman who believes in me as well.
'Either way, she is someone who believes. And all who believe are under the protection of me and my Guardians.' Under protection, he says. I had a feeling the Guardians had something to do with her sudden disappearance. And now it's been confirmed.
"I've grown tired of this conversation. I'll be heading back home now, since you've seem to have ruined my night for me." It's time to plan now.
'Very well, I have some of my own business to attend to. Until next time, Pitch Black.' And with that, he was silent. Finally!
"You can't hide her forever."
Genie's POV
He just had to say the P-word, didn't he? Seriously, who can resist 'please'...well, a lot of people can but I'm not one of them. And what's worse? His eyes are so big and sparkly and blue right now, they look like those cute puppy dog eyes.
Why'd I have to be a sucker for men with big blue eyes?
Crap, what am I gonna do? Well, for one, I should stop looking straight into his eyes. They are affecting my thinking process. So for now, I'll just look straight down at the rose between our hands.
Not sure that's the best thing to look at either but right now, it's better than his eyes.
Ok, let's weigh out the pros and the cons in my head. Pro: Jack is the sweetest guy I've ever met; and it's pretty obvious that he's head over heels in love with me, a lot of girls wish their guys were like this. Con: I've betrayed him by sleeping with his enemy Pitch who is also obsessed with me to the point of conning me into sex. And this thought keeps playing over and over in my head.
It haunts me, just like a bad dream.
So I guess the big question is: what good could come out of a relationship with a Guardian? A few years of happiness until I get old to the point wrinkles and saggy skin all over. There is no way that Jack would be interested in me then. On the other hand, Pitch may lose interest also.
Oh great, so I have to wait up to 60 years for two immortal beings to lose interest in me. So I guess my answer is pretty clear.
Before I could say anything to Jack, North's booming voice echoed across the room; proving to be the perfect distraction. But a slightly terrifying one.
"GENIE, IT IS TIME!" I squeaked a little from fear and acted on my first instinct, which apparently is jumping into Jack's arms and holding onto him tightly
Geez, North is so good at nearly giving me heart attacks with his voice. How on earth is he so silent when he's delivering presents at night? Well, kids are deep sleepers thanks to the Sandman.
"Scared you too, huh?" Jack chuckled as he rubbed my back tenderly. I could feel his heart beating against my chest; and it was going pretty fast. Not sure if it's from North scaring him or me being pushed up against him.
"Don't worry, I got you." I pulled back slightly, his hands sliding down to my lower back, still holding on pretty tight.
The rose that I was holding had gotten crushed between us; now the stem was crooked and the petals were barely hanging on.
"Oh no, the rose." The first thoughtful present that Jack gave me and I ruined it. Aren't I the best 'girlfriend' material?
He grabbed onto the now dead rose and stuffed it back inside his front pocket. I guess he wanted to save it to save it for sentimental reasons.
"Hey, no worries. This gives me a chance to go find purple lilacs now, which I will accomplish." How can he be such a big sweetheart?
His right hand came up to cup my left cheek, pulling my face closer to his. His eyes closed and his lips slightly puckered. As much as part of me just wanted to pull away, I felt my own eyes closing slightly and moving closer to meet his lips.
Before we could, North cleared his throat, catching both of our attentions.
"Am I interrupting something?" He smirked at us; Bunny was right behind him, looking down at the floor.
"Sort of." Jack's hand remained on my cheek. "Can you give us like, 3 more minutes?"
"Man in Moon say he ready for Genie. We can't keep him waiting."
"But…"
"All right. Let's do it." I interrupted Jack. Shoot, if we were going to kiss, I was not about to do it front of North and Bunny like this.
"Excellent!" North moved past us, grabbing Jack in the process and pulling him towards the globe. Jack struggled and continued to argue for those three minutes, luckily, North wasn't giving in.
From this view, it looked like Jack was throwing a bit of a tantrum. I chuckled a little from relief, North really saved my butt there. I do need to find a way to thank him later.
"Hey Bunny." I turned around to greet my furry friend. "So what can I expect from this Man in the Moon guy?" He didn't answer me or look at me. That's strange.
Since I am shorter than him, I moved slightly underneath his chin to get a closer look at his eyes. They were so red and puffy; he had been crying.
What could have made him cry?
"Bunny, are you ok?" I grabbed onto his giant hand and rubbed his upper arm in comfort. "Bunny?" He finally looked me in the eye; his eyes slightly widened and immediately, his attitude changed.
"Oh Genie, I'm spiffy." He pulled his hand from my grip and moved away from me, getting closer to the group. But I don't believe him. Something is definitely bothering him.
"Are you sure?"
"Reckon!" With that, he turned away and sprinted over to the other Guardians, leaving me extremely baffled. When I am done with this meeting with Man in the Moon, I'm going to have a talk with Bunny to see what's really bothering him.
Not wasting any more time, I rushed over to the Guardians, which now included the Tooth Fairy and Sandy; and saw that they had placed what looked like a bean bag chair directly underneath the moonlight.
"Uh, what's with the bean bag chair?" I questioned.
"In order to talk to Man in Moon, you must be asleep under moonlight." North informed me. "Sandy will hit you with dream sand, knocking you straight out."
"Oh, all right, seems simple enough." With no hesitation, I sat down into the bean bag chair, letting it engulf me. It's not exactly comfy but thanks to the dream sand, it shouldn't matter.
"Will I be asleep for long?" Each of them gave each other a questioning glance before looking back down at me.
"We're not sure sweetie." Tooth lowered herself to my level. "It's so rare when he wants to meet with someone, it could last for a few minutes to a few hours."
"A few hours? Oh great." I said sarcastically.
"But don't worry. We'll all be here the whole time." Tooth floated back up to the others.
"What about your jobs?" This time, it was Sandy to speak….well, in his place, signal with his sand. He already had a ball of dream sand gathered up and ready to throw.
"Tooth's got Baby Tooth filling in and the world can live without me for a few hours."
"I'm still shocked that I can understand everything you say to me." He smiled at me.
"And that's why I like you. So Ready?" I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. After that, I nodded for Sandy to do his thing. Within seconds, the ball of sand hit me square in the face, making my head fall back and knocking me out cold; just like North said it would.
I was really curious to see what the Man in the Moon would look like. I didn't really know what to expect though. In my mind, I imagined a man with a head shaped like a moon.
I had thought the process would be just like when Pitch comes into my dream. But this wasn't my dreams at all.
I have no idea where I am. Looking around, I saw a blue sky and clouds pass by slowly; and felt the wind in my hair. Well, I am visiting someone who lives in the moon…..could it be?
Looking down from where I was, I then saw the Guardians gathered around my sleeping body, and Jack was sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding onto one of my hands. I let out a shaky laugh and smiled just like the Cheshire cat.
Holy shit, I'm inside the freakin' moon! This is insane!
"Where you expecting we'd meet? I can't get inside your dreams, you know." I turned back around to see a short, chubby man dressed in yellow zoot suit. He wore a slightly darker yellow overcoat over the suit with a red bowtie. He had bright blue eyes and a hair styled like a question mark.
"Are you him?" I asked anxiously.
"I am." He strutted up to me, a slightly jump with each step; until he stood right in front of me.
He really was short; his head barely reached my waist. He smiled up at me and bowed down at his waist. "I am the Man in the Moon, but you can call me Manny. Pleased to meet you."
How do I greet him now? Do I bow or curtsy? I should have asked North how I was to approach Manny.
"It's nice to meet you too Manny." He stood back up to his full height, a big grin plastered on his face. "I'm Genie."
"Oh I know. I've heard quite a bit about you." He turned and motioned for me to follow him to the center of the moon, where a table and two chairs were placed.
When did those get there and how are they not falling through the moon? Wait, how am I not falling through the moon?
On the table, he had a plate of what looked like shortbread cookies and a pot of tea with two cups.
"Who's been talking about me?" He pulled out a seat for me. I went and took my place, him pushing the seat in for me as I sat. "Thank you."
"Jack is one of them." He skipped over to his seat, eager to sit and play host to me. He poured us both a cup of tea, sliding one over to me. "It's a special brand of 'moon' tea."
"I've never heart of moon tea." I lifted the cup up to my nose to smell for the aroma. But there was none. He motioned for me to take a sip, which I did. I recognized the taste right off the bat; it was my favorite black tea with milk and honey.
What's weird, after I took a sip, the whole place smelled like black tea. That definitely wasn't there before.
"That tea takes on the favorite flavor of our guest." He grabbed onto his cup and took a sip. "Oh, this is the best flavor I've had in a long time. You've got great taste."
"You're very flattering." He was easily making me blush. It must have been a while since he's had anyone up here with him. I wonder why he doesn't ask the Guardians to visit him more often.
"Now back to business, I've heard about you from Jack Frost. Ever since he discovered that you could see him, he'd been so enthusiastic. These nights, he looked up at me and tells me all about you."
"Really?" Now I feel really bad that I was getting ready to turn him down earlier.
"So what are you going to tell him?"
"Tell him?" Oh great, Jack must have told him he was going to 'ask me out'.
"Honestly, I was going to say 'no'." I admitted no sense in lying to the man in moon who is feeding me too. I wonder if he is going to yell at me for possibly getting ready to break one of his Guardians heart.
Instead of continuing on with the subject, he changed it completely to something different.
"From what I'm seeing, you are an adult, how can you possibly see my Guardians? And more importantly, how can you see Pitch Black?" I had been pondering that myself for a while. I placed the cup of tea back down on the table and reached for a cookie.
"I guess I never stopped believing. Since Jaime and Sophie are a lot younger than me, I wanted them to believe in that magic and such." Especially after the horrible thing I almost did to them.
"They helped me build up my imagination, and inspired me to write books for children." I took a bite of the cookie, noting that the flavor was not one of a shortbread cookie, but of a chocolate chip cookie.
Guess the cookies do the same thing as the tea.
"Go on." Manny grabbed onto his cookie and gobbled it down.
"As for Pitch, I'm not really sure of why I can see him. He's the one who knows all of our fears, but I've locked away mine for years." But the longer he's around, the more the chains around those memories are coming apart.
"Then it confirms my theory." He ate another cookie.
"And that is?" He avoided my question and got back onto the subject of Pitch Black.
"I must tell you, the other one I've heard about you from is Pitch Black. I actually just spoke to him a few minutes ago." My breath caught in my chest, my stomach twisted in fear, and my body shook in nervousness. Does he know?
"What did he say?"
"To be it plainly, He's obsessed with you." Well, I knew that already. "Why?" Oh great, now I have to answer his question. Again, I can't lie to him.
"I guess it's because I slept with him." With that, he dropped the cup onto the table and spit out the tea, coughing to get the remainder out of his throat.
"You slept with him?! When?! You've been under our protection from Day 1. I have a shield over all of my Guardians realms." Oh, he's in extreme panic mode. Maybe I shouldn't have been so upfront with that answer.
"It's not like that. He's been coming into my dreams since before I got here, basically interrupting my sleep cycle. When he saw how desperate I was to sleep, he made a deal with me."
I can only imagine what he'd say after that. 'Oh man, how stupid can you be?'
He remained silent for a while, letting that information process in his mind. And instead of being yelled at, I was now being laughed out.
He doubled over in his chair, clutching his belly as he laughed and laughed and laughed.
"What did I say that was so funny?"
"So let me get it straight. The whole reason you're going to say no to Jack is because of that one little dream?"
"It wasn't just a dream. It was a real nightmare."
"Might have been a nightmare, but it wasn't real; all of this was done in your deep sub consciousness. Physically, you two never connected, if you get my drift." Did he just insinuate what I think he insinuated?
"Ok, but when I woke up…"
"In his world, it was real. Only because dreams are his playground. But with you, none of it was 'real'. Just a…what do teenagers call it? A Wet dream."
Oh man, I'm actually having this kind of talk with the Man in the Moon. This is super embarrassing.
"So I didn't really have sex with Pitch?"
"No!" A wave of relief ran though my body. I've never been so thankful for anything else.
"So stop thinking that you did something wrong and just say yes to Jack!" He really was stressing that out.
"Are you trying to play matchmaker?" He nodded hastily.
"Honestly, I always thought he'd be too chicken to say anything to you; let alone initiate a kiss. And Jack didn't have any friends for years, so seeing him with my Guardians and now a potential girlfriend is amazing. He's really come along way. Just to let you know, you have my blessings."
I guess with that, it would bring out meeting to an end. Now that this is over, I can get back down to earth and go comfort Bunny.
"And don't worry about Bunny. I know how to take care of all my Guardians."
"That's good to hear. And thank you for the blessings, but the thing with Jack won't last long. I mean, I'm a human and he's a Guardian."
"That won't remain true for long since you're going to die soon." His hands came up to slap over his mouth, like he had let out something that I wasn't supposed to hear. But I heard it all.
"I'm going….to….die?" Did those words just leave both of our mouths? I'm going to die? I'm going to die?!
"Oh dear, I said too much." He jumped out of his chair, ran around to my side and pulled me out of the chair; he led me back to the edge of the moon, where I had appeared. "Well, that's all we can talk for today. It was great meeting you."
He was not going to get rid of me so easily, not after that statement.
"No! You said I was going to die?!" I wanted an answer. Was this protection just going to fail in the end? Was Pitch going to kill me in anger?
"Again, Jack all the way. Have a good day!" Oh hell no!
"Don't do this to me!" I wanted to stay to ask more questions. With two claps of his hands, I was off the moon and back in my body down on earth.
"Wow, took you about an hour. So what did you guys talk about?" My head swung left and right multiple times; completely ignoring Jack's question. No way, He actually sent back down to earth while I still had questions.
"I wasn't done yet." I whispered to myself.
"Excuse me?" Sandy was right in front of me, having heard my whisper.
"Sandy, knock me out again!" I screamed. "I'm not done with him!" I pointed at the moon, emphasizing the target of my anger.
"Why?" He asked me.
"I said you can't do that to me! That's so unfair!" My legs were shaking so bad from rage that I couldn't bring myself to stand.
"Hey hey, calm down." Jack was trying to sooth me. But I'm not paying any attention. I need to get back up to Manny.
"How am I suppose to calm down when I've been told that I'm going to die soon?!"
Australian translation:
Spiffy- great
Reckon- you bet, Absolutely!
And there you have it. Man, Genie's really freaking out now that she knows she's going to die. I would too if I were in her place.
Well, that's it for this chapter. Please leave a review and have a great day!