Eighth chapter
"You okay Tempe?" Jack asked and looked at Tempora. She stood and looked out a hole in the cave wall and sighed.
"I'm fine… just feeling a little… under the weather…" she said and gave him a weak smile "I can't really sleep… when I close my eyes… he- he's there and… his words…"
"Tempe, you can't give into his words, okay?" Jack said and walked closer to her "just think about what he did last year. He killed Sandy"
"I know that! I know what he did Jack, and I won't give into his words! How weak do you think I am?!" she yelled and looked at him. Her eyes were full of sadness and Jack sighed.
"I know… sorry" he said and she looked out again "are you sad about the thing with Rose?" he walked up next to her and looked out too.
"How long have you been wanting to ask that?" she asked and looked at him.
"A long time… ever since I found out she was your sister. So? Are you?" He looked at her and she sighed.
"No… I'm downright miserable… it would be like Jamie not being able to see you… only ten times worse…"
"I see… I can't imagine what that would be like" he looked out again and saw that the sun was going down "guess Day is letting Night take over?" he said and she looked outside.
"She is… it's beautiful, right? All those beautiful colors taking over the sky… and the sky getting filled with millions and millions of stars…"
"It is beautiful… and peaceful" Jack said and looked at Tempora. She was smiling gently, and he didn't notice the black shadow beneath her eyes.
"Yeah… up here at least…" she said and sighed "back in the cities it's not nearly as beautiful…" she mumbled and Jack looked out.
"Guess you're right… well, I think I'd better get going" he said and started walking away.
"Why?" she asked and looked out the window.
"Gotta get home to Burgess, need to make sure the people have fun, right?" he said and smiled. She fisted her hands and growled lowly.
"Humans…" she said and Jack turned to look at her "humans are despicable creatures" she said and the shadow beneath her eyes began moving, turning into black sand.
"Tempe… are you okay?" Jack asked and looked at her with worry.
"They pollute the beautiful earth… with their machines and cars. Filthy creatures!" she yelled and her hair became darker.
"Tempe… you're starting to scare me" Jack said and Seraphina came over to them.
"What's going on?" she asked and looked at Tempora.
"Humans are so… weak. A little wind and they get scared they might die… maybe I should just scare them real good… let nature strike back for once. Then maybe they'd stop making mother sick all the time!" she said and punched the wall. She giggled a bit and Jack took a step back "oh they believe in the guardians alright, right until the others say they don't! Then they get scared! They get scared that they'll be 'outcasts' in their little precious groups! They stop believing, they become 'adults' they 'grow up'!" she said and made wild facts, sounding like she was incredibly drunk.
"Tempe, what are you talking about?" North asked and she sighed.
"Everybody I've ever known, those people that I made into believers… they all stopped believing!" she yelled and the room got darker and colder.
"Easy now Tempe" Jack said and walked closer to her cautiously "It couldn't be everyone"
"Maybe not, but the one who believed in me the most… he stopped believing… do you know what that feels like Jack? Do you know what it feels like, to have someone believe in you, and then just stop? Do you!?" She yelled loudly and the shadow enveloped her, falling on her like a thin layer of film "I think I understand now…" she said and fisted both her hands, clenching them together tightly.
"Understand what?" Jack asked and feared the answer.
"Sweetheart…" Seraphina shed a tear and looked at her daughter "no…" she breathed out.
"I think I understand… why Pitch did what he did…"
"Tempe… don't say something like that!"
"Having someone to see you, believe in you… and then they just stop… it's the worst feeling in the world…" she giggled again and held her face. Her giggle sounded breathless and soon turned into laughter. She looked at Jack, and her eyes had turned wild "do you know how I know this? Huh? Huh, do you? Huh Jack?!" she giggled again "no! You don't! You never asked if I'd been in love before! All those questions you've asked me, all those things we've talked about, but you never ever asked, if I'd ever felt love!"
"You told me about that boy from your life! I thought you couldn't love anyone but him! So of course I wouldn't ask about that!"
"You're a fool! Yes, I love that boy more than anything! But I can't even remember his name Jack! I hardly even remember what he looks like! And I get you wouldn't ask me about him, it would be simply awful to know more about my feelings!" she said.
"It's not like that!"
"I don't care! I did love somebody! A whooping ten years before I was reborn in fact!" she said and looked Jack in the eyes "his name was Derek Anderson! He was 15 at the time! 15 Jack! One of the oldest believers in the entire world! He saw me one day, sitting by the lake! He came and talked to me! I was so surprised, that at first I thought he was talking to himself, but no! He was talking… to me…" her voice turned sad and she looked down.
"And I told him stories… just like I did to Jamie and his friends… and he loved them so much… then I started telling about my own life… and he fell in love with me… but three years after, he had to go to college… he was gone for one year, one year Jack!" She looked at him, the sadness getting mixed in with anger "and he. Couldn't. See. Me!" she yelled and the room shook "he couldn't see me! I remember him passing right through me! I'd never, ever, felt so alone! Not even after the first time I'd been turned into a spirit. I felt like I was the only being on earth. But the worst was yet to come… I get revived, and I meet his son Kyle when I turn five… and I ask what he wants from Santa… do you know what he said Jack?" Jack stayed silent, and Seraphina sobbed into her hands. She knew the story, and had seen how much it had crushed Tempora when it had unfolded.
"He said, and I quote: My father says, that there's no such thing as Santa Claus, the Tooth fairy or any other of those things. His father Jack! The boy I had loved! The boy, who had seen me, heard my stories!" she yelled and the layer of shadow seemed to sink into her skin.
"I can't tell you how much that hurt, and when I heard Derek say it himself… it hurt even more… but Kyle… I made him believe… even if he had been told his whole life that they weren't real, I was able to make him see them… but he also stopped believing in the three years I was gone…" she said and breathed heavily "despicable, lowlife, filthy humans!" she horsed out and looked at Jack "I won't stand for them polluting earth anymore. I won't let them destroy it anymore… it's time, that Nature struck fear into their hearts…"
"Tempora, come back to senses! You sound like Pitch!" North yelled and she looked up at him.
"I know that! Don't you think I know, how Pitch sounds?! I do know North!" the shadows enveloped her even more, ensnaring her like thick snakes. She giggled again and took a step back towards the windows "maybe I'll start striking fear into that human Derek first… he deserves it" she said and took another step back "then… I'll accept Pitch's offer… and get rid of my last human part… those damn teeth!"
"Tempora, don't!" Jack yelled and reached out for her. She leaned against the window frame and fell out. He ran towards the window and looked down, looking her into the eyes. They were cold and dark. She smiled and then disappeared. Seraphina burst into crying and fell to her knees.
"Tempe…" Jack said and looked around. The room was dark and cold, and the plants were rotting, showing the bare rock walls.
"My daughter…" Seraphina managed to say under her tears and looked up.
"Seems like Pitch buried claws deep into her… what could he have bribed her with?"
"Her biggest wish… her teeth so she can see her human memories…"
"But Tooth has those, how could Pitch…"
"I think he kept hers… in case… an opportunity showed itself…" Seraphina said and cired into her hands again.
"Mother!" two voices yelled and Jack turned around "mother are you alright? What's happened to the garden? Where's Tempora?" Night looked up at noticed Jack. He looked at her and then away.
"She accepted Pitch's offer…" he said and the two girls gasped.
"No…" Day said and looked out the window.
End of chapter
i know it might end in a bad spot, but i had no idea where else to end it.