So I'm currently dog-sitting at my mother's house while she's away. She has a huge dog that I absolutely love and is such a good boy. Her other dog, a small one, is driving me insane. She cries over every little thing! Right now, as I type, she's crying into my ear. Dog, I've been petting you for the last hour, let me write in peace.

For the record, I'm a total animal person and love dogs. But still, I'm getting frustrated here.

Anyway, on with the show, please forgive any major grammer mistakes I made.

Shout out to my reviewers: Aramoorn, LunaWolfSunTigeress15 , SmallLittleCagedBird , LastGypsyWarrior, AwesomeFangirlOtaku01 , freegirl333

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians in any way.

Abril's POV

This….can't be real. Is it?

Please, someone tell me that this isn't real. Someone tell me that this is just a bad dream. Someone tell me that the person lying in the snow isn't dead.

It feels like somebody just punched me in my gut. My eyes were stinging from having to hold back the tears. My mouth was slightly open, but my voice was gone. No words or sounds would come out. My lips were quivering but it wasn't because of the cold snow around us.

Small flurries of snow continued to fall around the large group of Immortals that have all gathered around in a close circle. To others, it would have been a beautiful sight. The many holidays and spirits gathered around one another, almost encased in a blanket of snow.

It would have been a beautiful sight if it wasn't for the random patches of red that were splattered in the snow.

Blood.

From the way that we all came together to mourn the loss of a pure soul, you would have never guessed that we were once two groups that had been enemies.

Hal and Liam were of course on the same side, but right now, they were currently holding onto one another while Ground hog was in the middle of it. All three of them were crying their eyes out.

Even Cupid, who has pointed out how much she hated Genie, was crying. She was wrapped up tightly in Mother Nature's arms, sobbing hard into her chest.

"She just had to be brave, didn't she?" Cupid was trying to keep her reputation by sounding like she was judging the actions of Genie; but she wasn't fooling anyone right now.

Mother Nature was rubbing Cupid's back to comfort her. But Mother Nature was having a hard time herself to keep it all in. She still stood tall and proud, trying to remain composed. But she was failing hard. Just as the rest of us were.

In the time it took me to wake up and return to the group, everybody had already found somebody to help comfort them. I hadn't tried to join any of the groups, even though Tooth had tried to pull me into an embrace with her and North.

I just continued to stare at the scene before me.

I hadn't been awake when this tragedy happened. While the battle was taking place, something knocked me out right in the middle of my conversation with Genie.

I knew it was her.

During what I thought was a mental breakdown, I hadn't been paying full attention to her. Not until she asked me if I believed everybody had good and bad in them. It had pissed me off that she was trying to find some way to defend Pitch, after everything he had done to her.

But I guess that's just the kind of person she is. Forgiving.

While the rest of us were ready to kill Pitch, she was more than willing to forgive him.

Then she asked me if I'd still be her friend when she comes back and to not be mad at her. Before I could question what she meant, I felt a blunt force against the side of my head. Immediately, I was unconscious.

I was only out for a few minutes but those few minutes changed the course of the battle.

When I woke up, the battle had stopped. When I couldn't see any of the Nightmares, Night Terrors, Hal, Liam, or Pitch around, I assumed we won. Mentally, I began to cheer, thinking that we had won.

Slowly, I pushed myself up into a sitting position, taking a moment to regain some stability and to correct my blurry vision. Once I was comfortable enough, I got to my knees then stood to my full height. The first few steps I took were very wobbly; I probably looked like Bambi when he first started walking.

I almost face-planted into the snow a couple of times.

Eventually, I got the hand of walking against and decided to run to the circle to see what was going on. I mean, if we won, how come no one was jumping around in happiness?

It wasn't until I got closer to the circle that I felt the tense atmosphere.

Oh shit, where's Genie?

I began to shove away anybody that was in my way, it was much faster than having to say 'excuse me'.

A few bodies later, I was able to see North. I ran up to him to ask what was happening, but was frozen in my tracks when I saw what everybody had been looking at the whole time.

"No." I whispered to myself.

In the middle of the circle were Jack, Pitch, and Genie. But she wasn't moving at all. From the corners of her mouth, I saw dried blood. Pitch was holding onto her lifeless body, one hand was around her waist and the other under her back.

Jack was holding onto one of her hands and rubbing it.

From the position, the back of head was falling back, her hair splattered across the snow.

Now I understood why no one was cheering.

"North…" I finally found my voice. "How?"

"She jumped right in middle. Pitch fired arrow and Jack shot icicles. It too late for anyone to stop." North's voice shook as he spoke.

Bunny, who had been at North's side the whole time, left the group. He hopped over to Jack and Pitch to get a closer look at Genie. The two completely ignored him though, their attention never wavering as they continued to stare into the blank face.

To think, she had died from something so painful; but her face looked so peaceful. Almost as if she was smiling the whole time.

"Rest in Peace, Genie." Bunny muttered lowly to himself as he rubbed his paw against her scalp. "We'll miss you."

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

I fell down onto my knees, my hands covering my face as I cried loud and hard.

We had only known each other for a few months, not long at all. But in that small amount of time, she had become the best friend I'd ever had. It didn't matter that we couldn't hand all the time or that we couldn't talk much. The few times we did, we had still clicked. Instantly, upon meeting her, we had made a special connection.

And now she's gone.

"I'm sorry." My words were completely muffled; no one could hear me as I spoke directly into my hands.

Someone had placed their hand onto my shoulder and began to rub in a comforting way. But there was no way I could feel any comfort from anything.

"Why'd you have to do this? Why'd you have to be so stupid?" I continued to speak to myself.

Stupid stupid stupid Genie. Damn it, you didn't have to give up your life for us. Why didn't I listen to her when she began to defend Pitch? Would that have made a difference?

It was my job to keep you safe, why couldn't you just let me do my damn job and keep you safe?!

"Ok, that's enough Abril."

I recognized that voice anywhere. It was the voice of Man in Moon. I lifted my head up to see if anybody else could hear him, but it didn't look like it. They all continued to cry; so I guess he was just talking to me right now.

"Genie's not gone forever."

'What do you mean she's not gone forever? Her body is right here in front of me. She's dead.' I yelled out to him in my mind.

By then, my hands had fallen from my face but I was still crying.

"I'll start off by saying that she did it to save all of you."

'I know that, but we weren't the ones that needed saving. She was.'

"She did at first. But when she heard you say that you all were planning to kill Pitch. She started to panic a little. She didn't want to see all of your hearts tainted like that. So with my help, she stopped the battle the only way we knew how."

'She could have just tried talking; she didn't have to go get herself killed.'

"You weren't listening, and she was talking directly to you. Be truthful now, would anybody have really listened to her? Especially Jack? He was so lost in his hatred that he didn't even notice Genie running into the field until it was too late."

I took the time to remain silent to contemplate his words. As much as it hurt to say it, he was right. None of us would have listened to her; we were all so caught up in the emotions.

'But she was still an innocent soul. How can you have her killed like that? And you talk about it nonchanlantly. Was it not a big deal to you?'

"Don't assume that of me, it was a very big deal. From the moment I met her, I knew this girl was special. That's why I had decided that the day she died, I would make her into an Immortal."

'Say what now?' I looked up into the sky at the moon. In that short amount of time, all the clouds that produced snow were now long gone. Leaving us under a cover of stars.

"Now normally, I rarely reveal this kind of thing to others. But seeing that North and Bunny already know, but most likely forgot, I'll let you in. Yes, I did tell Genie to stop the battle; but she was able to do so confidently because she was told that she will have a rebirth. I plan to bring her back, she's not gone forever."

Now this is the kind of news I needed right now. Holy shit, she's coming back. And she's going to be an Immortal, like me. I'm so happy right now I could just scream.

"Don't you dare! Nobody else is supposed to know! I only told you because I need your help with the next part of her rebirth."

'Anything.'

"I need you to get her body away from everyone. Once you do that, you fly off in a random direction. I'll give you further instructions later."

'Me? Get her body? Do you see how tight Pitch is holding onto her? I doubt he'd just come up to me and say here you go.'

"You'd be surprised. Think of something Abril. I know you're a smart girl."

'Flattery won't get you anywhere. But you're right, I am smart. Consider it done.'

With that, our conversation was over for now. But I still didn't know how I was going to do this. Ok think Abril, think, how are we going to get a dead body away from everyone?

"She should be buried." I meant to say that to myself in my head, but somehow it came out of my mouth in real life. Immediately, all eyes were on me. Even Pitch's and Jack's.

"Don't you dare take her away from me." If possible, Pitch pulled Genie even closer to his chest. Jack was still able to keep a good hold on her hand. Bunny, on the other hand, had been standing on her hair. So when she was pulled, the hair was pulled also, causing him to fall back into the snow.

Not bothering to get up, I found myself crawling over towards Jack. I moved slowly as to not cause Pitch to do anything drastic.

I was finally next to Jack, who hadn't said a word yet. Did he even hear me when I said to bury her?

"Jack?"

"I can't." He answered me.

Being closer to hem let me get a better look of their faces. Not only was Jack crying but so was Pitch. They both looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Please Abril, don't make us leave her alone like that." Did he just say 'us'? As in him and Pitch?

Pitch just nodded along with Jack's statement. Neither of them seemed like they were willing to budge, but they were both near their breaking point. A little of talking should hopefully help me get Genie away from here.

"Jack, Pitch, I get it. I know what it feels like to lose something very precious to you. A few weeks before I died, my grandmother passed on. Just like you, the thought of knowing she wouldn't be with me anymore broke my heart. But my papi reminded me that even though she wouldn't be her physically anymore, she'd still be in my heart and in my mind."

Even with the sappy talk, I could tell I wasn't getting anything through them. Both of them still refused to let her go.

"And she's not going to remain like this forever." For emphasis, I slid the back side of my hand along her ice cold cheek. "Sooner or later, she'll start shriveling up and…well, she'll be nothing but bones. Now I'm asking both of you, how would you rather remember her: a lively human with a huge smile or a cold dead sac of bones?"

I really hope that got through to them; there was nothing else left for me to say. Jack suddenly let Genie's hand fall from his grip.

"Would you do it for me Abril? I don't think I have the strength to…" He wasn't able to finish the sentence. But he didn't need to; I knew he was finally accepting it. "Come on Bunny." Jack stood to move over to the other Guardians. Before Bunny left, I leaned further down to whisper into his ear.

"It's not over yet." Immediately, his ears perked up high and his nose began to twitch. "Remind North will you?" He nodded quickly before hopping off to join the others once more. Hopefully he waits to remind him until after I'm gone.

Now all that was left was Pitch.

When I turned my attention back to him, he began to stand up with Genie still in his arms. Shit, he's going to run!

"I'm not running." He waited for me to stand now. "And if you're expecting me to fight, I won't." The look on my face must have been priceless. He smirked a little, amused by what my faced said.

"You, Pitch Black, are not going to run or fight. What a surprise." I knew that he was hurting on the inside also but I couldn't help but let my sarcastic pissed nature come out to him.

Yes, I still hated him.

"I deserved that." His grip on Genie's body loosened as he held her out for me to take.

"Just like that?" I questioned when I went to grab onto her. He placed her gently into my arms; I was now the one cradling her to my chest. I had to keep mentally reminding myself that she wasn't going to remain cold forever.

"Yes, just like that. My selfishness to keep her to myself is what caused all this." His hand went ran through the strands in her hair once more. "Let this be my one final act of love: letting her go."

"You know, if you want, I can tell you where I'll bury her once I…"

"Don't bother. Just be sure where her grave is, it's overlooking the ocean. She told me that she's always loved looking at the water."

"Really? I didn't know that."

"Contrary to what you and everyone else's believe, we did talk." He leaned down to kiss her forehead once last time. "Goodbye my love."

With that being said, he turned to walk away. The other Immortals moved away from him, letting him leave peacefully. Until he got to Hal and Liam at the end.

"Pitch, we're here for you."

"Thank you, my friends. But I feel that I need to be along for a while. And I'll need to find a new place to stay. This one holds too many painful memories."

"You can stay with us." North spoke up. The other Immortals looked at him as if he had grown a second head. And truth be told, I was a little shocked also. But then again, this is North. After Genie, he was the second most forgiving person I know. "No need to mourn on your own."

"Really now, North. I figured that all of you would be happy to rid of me, maybe even once and for all?" A huge collective gasp was all that was heard. It seemed that I was the only one with my head on right, I knew he was joking.

"Now is not the time for jokes Pitch."

"Everyone needs to relax. And anyway, when have any of you, besides Hal and Liam, cared about what I do? Just like the rest of you, I have my own way of mourning; and I'd like to do it by myself. Take care of her Abril."

He continued to walk away from the group until he reached the shadows made by trees. He took one last look at Genie before stepping in and going off to do his own thing.

"Well then, I better take off. Need to go find an ocean or some sort."

"Do you need any…"

"I need no help, I've got this. Thank you." I really needed to get out of there. Mentally, I was exhausted from all the conversations. All I wanted to go was get Genie to the right place, watch her get re-born, and then take a nap for about 10 years or so. Ok, that last one was an exaggeration but you get the gist.

'Alright Man in moon, I did my job. And it looks like nobody is following me. What's next?"

"Lucky you, you're already flying in the right direction. Just keep going until you reach the Pacific Ocean."

'Wait, I'm not really burying her, right? I only said that to make everybody else feel better and because Pitch insisted.'

"No, she's not being buried. It was just pure coincidence that her birth place will be near an ocean."

'Well, how much longer do I have until I get there?'

"I'd say about 5-10 more minutes."

'10 more minutes?!'

"Is that a problem?"

'Kind of. See, I've recently been diagnosed with a little something called exhaustion. Good thing for you, it's not contagious but I do need to follow my doctor's orders.'

"Let me guess, lots of rest and fluids?"

'Oh, see, you do know how to make a funny.'

"And others wonder why I choose you to be the Spirit of April Fool's Day."

'What? Who wonders that? I think I'm perfect for such an amazing holiday. But seriously, who wonders? It's Cupid, isn't it?'

"Oh look, you're here."

'Am I really?' Sure enough, right in front of me was a giant Ocean. I landed right on the ledge that was overlooking the giant waves that rolled over the Pacific. This was a perfect place to make a mock grave.

"You've done your job well, Abril. Thank you. Now just place her body right there on the ground and step back. I'll take care of the rest."

'Should I leave?'

"No, I think it would make her feel better to see someone she already knows and cares about."

I made sure to place Genie down on a patch of grass with the least amount of rocks on it. For some reason, I started primping her, like making sure her hair wasn't out of place and wiping away the dried up blood on the corner of her lips.

"Don't worry about it Abril. Everything will be taken care of thanks to the star's rays."

'Star?'

"Look a little over to your right. Do you see it?" Following his instructions, I was able to see what he was referring to. It had to be the brightest star I've ever seen. It shone so brightly in the clear sky that it put all the other stars to shame. Like a giant diamond.

"That star is what humans call Sirius A. In just a few more minutes, its rays will shine directly down on Genie's body. And then, the magic will begin."

The few minutes seemed to pace painfully slow. I started to play some worst case scenarios in my head, which was so unlike me. I thought that if the rays were moving too slow, it would be too late. Like her body wouldn't accept her soul back and then we would have lost her forever.

Truth be told, I had always been curious about how an Immortal was born. From what Jack had told me once, no one really knew how it happened since others weren't around. It wasn't until after they were born that news would get out that a new Immortal had joined the world.

"Actually, someone has seen rebirth."

'Really? Who?'

"Goodness, you've already forgotten. Liam was present for you birth."

'You just had to remind me, didn't you?'

"You're the one that asked." Right at that moment, the star's ray landed directly on Genie. I stayed quiet to let Man in Moon do this thing.

With his power, it seemed that the rays became even brighter. Small speckles began to fall from the star into her body. Thanks to that, all the injuries she had obtained from the battle were now gone.

Her body then levitated off the ground and her hair began to fly around in all directions. It truly was an amazing yet creepy site. Suddenly, a loud gasp and multiple breaths for air were heard. Since it wasn't me making the noise, I knew it had to be just one other person.

Genie.

She's alive.

Soon the ray was too intense to look at; it swallowed Genie's whole body, beginning her transformation. I had to look away; the rays were beginning to burn my eyes. I had to put my hands up to shield them and peek through my fingers in order to see if it was done yet.

Thankfully it didn't take that long. I had thought it would take about an hour or so, but it was all done in about 5 minutes.

Genie's body was still levitated but she wasn't lying down anymore. She was flying on her own, and she had her back turned me to me. She was staring out at the ocean, taking it all in.

"Genie." She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder. Her eyes widened when she noticed it was me. And her lips curled up into a smile.

"Abril? Is that really you?" It was so good to hear her voice again.

"Yeah girl, it's me. The one and only."

She was struggling with her new found power of flying. At first, she was unable to turn around fully. She was trying to power through it by trying to gain momentum with her upper body.

"Don't force it. It's almost like swimming, just think it and go in that direction." I informed her.

"Ok, ok, ok. I got this." She thought about and began to concentrate. I remember my first day of flying too. It took me all about a few hours to know how to do it by heart; she'll get it in no time.

Eventually, after a few seconds of flopping around like a newborn bird, she made it over to me and landed on her feet. We now stood face to face.

Something that Man in Moon never told me while being born again was how clear your vision becomes. The only time that wavers for a bit is when you're injured, like getting hit on the side of the head.

Her eyes were wide open as they scanned my face and body. But that was fine since I was practically doing the same thing to her.

Her hair was still long but not that long. Instead of falling to her waist, it now fell to her shoulder blades. And it wans't straight anymore either, it was now wavy. The once dark brown beauty was now silver haired with several strands of light blue.

Her eyes matched the light blue strands in her hair, they were so piercing. Her skin was now as white as alabaster. To the naked eye, her skin would be flawless; but if you squinted and look closely, you could see some light freckles along her nose.

I wonder if she asked Man in Moon to be able to keep those. Like I had asked him to keep my hazel eyes.

Her lips looked like they had been polished with a light shade of pink.

As for her attire, she was now barefoot like a majority of us and wore a dark blue halter top dress that was tight around her chest and waist. It flared out right at her hips and ended right above her knees, white lace frills decorated the endings of her dress.

In a way, she looked like an angel straight out of a child's story book.

"Genie. You're alive, you're back. You're beautiful…and you're in big trouble!"

"I'm sorry!" She closed her eyes shut and held her hands tight against the side of her body. "It was the only way we could think of but I'm prepared for any punishment you decide to give me. But since I avoided your face can you please avoid mine? I really don't want to nurse a black eye."

Yup, she's still the same funny Genie.

"Yeah, you did give me a bump on my head so…" I formed my hand into a fist and bumped her a little hard on her head. "You deserve more than that but I'm in a forgiving mood at the moment. Just don't hit me with a stick or any other objet every again."

"Really, that's it?" Even though both of us knew it wasn't hard, she still rubbed the spot on her head where I had hit her.

"While I don't support what you and Man in Moon decided to do in order to end the battle, I can understand why you did it that way."

"So we're still friends?"

"Duh, none of the other Immortals are as fun as you. And hey, now we can hang out all the time. Oh, I can teach you the different kinds of tricks to plays on others. We're gonna have so much fun, I finally have a buddy who will never leave me."

"Uh, as fun as that sounds, that's really more your field. You are the Spirit of April Fool's Day but Man in Moon told me that I'm meant to do something completely different."

" I know. Nobody can play tricks like me, but don't keep me in the dark, what is your specialty? Are you based off a holiday?"

"I'm actually kind of all the holidays combined."

"How does that even work?"

"Well, children are always making wishes during the holidays. It doesn't matter which one. They can wish for something small like wanting some extra money from the Tooth Fairy or wish for something big like a new bike on Christmas Day. So my job is to visit the children of the world and grant some of their wishes. Especially on their birthdays, this is going to be hard because I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with the world population."

"So you're literally a genie who happens to be named Genie?"

"Yup! Pretty cool, huh?"

Sorry for the short chapter but I wanted to get Genie's transformation out of the way. The next chapter will actually take place a few years after Genie dying. Keep in mind that everybody, except North, Bunny, and Abril think that Genie is dead.

Thanks for reading. Please leave me a review. I enjoy reading them so much.