Reunions and Holidays

Months passed with no word from anyone. Not even the moon. In the underground warren, there was no sky. Just me, spring, and eggs. Which wasn't as bad as it sounds, actually.

I was safe. Surrounded by the beauty of nature. Never lonesome because I had the odd eggs to keep me company. When I first arrived, the little ones surrounded around my legs welcomingly. The huge stone eggs jumped around excitedly, nearly knocking me off my feet. I patted them and explained why I was there. After that, I set off to work.

I spent the months painting and exploring, and then painting and exploring some more. My favorite spot was where Bunny and I used to sit most often, by a small pink waterfall. One day, I just sat there, watching the paint pour. I was lost in thought, thinking about what the Guardians could be doing. Were they fighting? Were they still searching for Pitch? How would this battle end, this war? We couldn't die. That's what settles most wars. Death. How many more people you could kill. What determined the end of this? Perhaps it would never end.

I sighed deeply, bringing my legs to my chest. My thoughts wandered from one Guardian to the next. North, so valiant with his scimitars. Sandy, whipping about with dreamsand. Tooth, zipping through the air, slicing with her sharp wings. And then Bunny with his martial arts and boomerangs. I thought about Bunny and all he's done for me.

He was my friend. He made sure I was happy. Made sure I was safe. When he kissed my head, what did that mean? Was it a friendly kiss? A spur-of-the-moment kiss? A fatherly kiss? Should I even be thinking about it this much? It was just a kiss on the head. Anywhere else and I should have been thinking about it. But on the head? It was nothing.

Still. I couldn't help but ponder about the topic. It wasn't like I had anything better to do. How did I feel about Bunny? There was no doubt about the answer: he was my best friend, nothing more, nothing less. The thought of being with him never crossed my mind. He's a rabbit for goodness sake!

Well, I knew my feelings for Bunny. How did he feel about me? Did the kiss mean something to him? Was I truly overanalyzing all this?! He never did anything that would suggest he felt differently, except that blasted kiss. I would find out one day, but until then I wouldn't mention it. I knew I didn't want to be anything more than friends with him. That's all that mattered.

I sighed loudly, tossing my head back. "This is agonizing!" I shouted. Two sentinel eggs approached cautiously, either curious or concerned. Either way, I stood and placed a hand on one of them. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about Aster." Both eggs leaned down as if to hang their heads. I smiled weakly. "I know. I miss him too." Sighing once more, I flew up to the top of one and sat on its head. "Do you want to go exploring?"

The stone eggs jumped up and down then carried me around the Warren once more for another exploration.

It was just another day. I lay sprawled out in a flowerbed, humming Mother Goose songs. I had pulled the skirt of my long toga over my knees and tied it there. A shorter dress was nice. Perhaps one day I would get one. Perhaps.

"All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again," I sang quietly. I thought of the darkness of the song. It would be wise for Katherine to change the lyrics up a bit, though I doubted she would. Kids wouldn't understand the true meaning of the song until they were older, when they could appreciate the words.

A red and black butterfly fluttered over and landed on my nose. I carefully opened one eye and watched the beautiful little bug. Its wings paled in comparison of Tooth's.

Suddenly the ground began to shake. Startled, the little butterfly flew away. I sat up quickly. Pitch. Was he finally attacking the Warren? The vibrations were coming from the main tunnel. With lightning speed, I flew there, pearl bow appearing in my hand. What I found was not Pitch.

The vibrations came from the many bouncing sentinel eggs. A crowd of them surrounded the entrance, though nothing was there. Confused, I landed on top of one, halting its jumping. "Whoa, whoa! Guys, what's going on?"

Naturally, none answered. Instead, my answer came in the form of a Pooka, who bolted out of the tunnel, skidding to a stop. He frantically looked around. "Cupid! Cupid, I'm back!"

My heart stopped as my eyes widened. The bow disappeared from my hand in white sparkles. Joy overcame my every being. I squealed loudly, bringing Bunnymund's attention upward. I didn't let him say a word before I tackled him to the ground. Hugging him as tightly as I could, I snuggled against the rabbit. "Oh, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny! You're back! You're back! I missed you so much! I did! I can't believe you're back!"

The Pooka laughed and held me gently. "Man, Lovey, I missed ya, too," he said, stroking my hair. "It's been way too long, ya know?" As he sat up, he never released me. I was grinning uncontrollably and I felt like I just wanted to kiss him all over. Though it had only been months, it felt like years. Bunny took a moment to take me in and then smiled. "Guess what?" he said quietly.

"What?" I leaned forward anxiously.

"It's over. Pitch is gone."

"Oh, Bunny, do you mean it?!" I exclaimed, feeling a bit childish for the way it came out.

He laughed and nodded. "You bet, mate!" he said. And I swore I heard him mutter, "For now…"

I pretended like I didn't hear and hugged him again instead. "I'm so glad! You have to tell me all about it! Please, what happened?"

As gently as possible, Bunny pulled me off of him. Standing, he headed off to a nearby flowerbed. "Maybe later, alright? I'm all tuckered out," he said and curled up amongst the flowers. His eyes slowly drifted shut. "You're free to go, if you'd like. Thanks for staying outta trouble."

I smiled and sat beside him. "No problem," I said, petting his fur. "I think I'll stay a little while."

…Bunny slept for a long time. A day and a half later, when he awoke, I was still there by his side. He was really grateful for that. We took a walk together so he could stretch out his sore muscles. As we walked, he told me all about the battle and how brave everyone was. He prided himself in describing how frightened Pitch really was. He promised that the Boogeyman would never get me again. When I asked what happened to him, Bunny said that they banished him to his own lair. We wouldn't be seeing him again for a long, long time.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "For a second, I thought you were going to tell me you actually killed him," I chortled. Bunny looked at me, going quiet. I looked down at my sandals. "That's what bothered me a lot. I know we can't die, but something kept nagging at me that…maybe we can."

At that, Bunny stopped walking. I turned to him, dread filling me inside. "Look, Lovey, when you mentioned this at the Pole, I was going to tell you, but I didn't want ya to worry." I knew where this was going. "We're not immortal," he said slowly. "We're immortal in the sense that we never age. But it is entirely possible for us to die."

We went quiet a moment. Then I exploded, "Bunny!"

"I didn't want you to freak out!" he countered. "If I had told you that then, you would never have let us leave without ya. It was better that you stayed!"

Out of nowhere, I punched his arm. "Don't you ever do that again, you understand?" I barked. The Pooka rubbed his arm, but I knew that he was so much stronger than me that it didn't affect him much. "Do you know what I would have done if one of you never came back? I-I don't even know what I would have done!" Bunny watched me pace about, ranting, and didn't say a word. Not until I noticed he was just standing there. "What?" I snapped.

A soft smile spread across his face and he took me into his arms once more. "You're too sweet, ya know that, sheila?"

I only pouted and buried my face in his shoulder.

Things were kind of different after that. Every one of us was extremely busy. Each Guardian, except Sandy, spent more time in their homes. North only came out on Christmas; Bunny only came out on Easter. Tooth never came out at all. With this thing she called a "relic," she was able to make thousands of mini duplicates of herself. She stayed in the Tooth Palace, where she directed the cute tooth fairies to each house to collect the teeth for her. It was a more efficient way to get things done than before. Tooth seemed to like it okay, staying inside her palace, having the hummingbird-looking fairies do the work.

Problem was that after she created the tooth fairies, she was always so busy. Whenever I decided to visit, she didn't have much time to spend with me, always having to give the fairies her full attention. Because of that, I only visited every so often just to make sure she was okay.

After that battle with Pitch, Sandy had to take a long time to bring sweet dreams to the children that Pitch almost traumatized. Surprisingly, he was almost as busy as Toothiana! So I only visited him when he was in my area.

Even North was busier than before! He had to make the following Christmases even better than the last, which meant he spent all his time creating new toys that kids would love. He couldn't be bothered by me for long, so I let him do his work.

The only one who never seemed to change (well, except for Manny) was Bunnymund. While he was busy painting the most beautiful eggs you can think of, he found time to let me be with him.

That is, when I found the time. With the Dark Ages behind the world, everyone found hope and love. Rare was it that I found the time to sit and talk with my friends. I was constantly bouncing all over the place, shooting multiple people in one area. The world was drastically changing and all I wanted to do was be there to witness it. But years came and years went and eventually I forgot to check my hourglass. It was the mid-1600s when I realized how long I had been without my friends. I only noticed because I had finally slowed down to a normal pace.

Valentine's Day had just passed. I thought I would give North a visit. He was in his office, using his chainsaw to carve out a new toy I couldn't make out yet. The yetis welcomed me in and brought me to him. Because the chainsaw was so loud, North didn't hear me come in. I thanked the yeti and waited until North was done carving to cough loudly. He jumped slightly and turned. Upon seeing me, the jolly man burst out in a grin.

"Cupid! It has been nearly a century!" he exclaimed, opening his arms and standing. I went over to him and the bulky man trapped me in his arms in a bone-crunching hug. "Where have you been this whole time, Lovey?"

"Everywhere," I wheezed. North set me down and laughed boisterously. I rolled my shoulders and stretched my sore wings.

"So!" North boomed as he slapped my back, nearly knocking the wind out of me. "What brings you here at this time?"

I shook my head and walked to the window seat. "Nothing much; I just realized what time it was and thought I'd drop by," I answered, sitting. "I think I'll visit the others after this, too."

He agreed that it would be a great idea and we spent the rest of the hour talking, catching up on what's been going on. Since Pitch was defeated, things had been going greatly. The world was happier and thus the Guardians were happier. We talked about how Christmas was coming along and how Valentine's Day was. I was happy to know that the holiday had spread nearly all around the globe. Though people still didn't see me, I was at least glad to know that more and more people were celebrating the holiday.

The more we spoke about our holidays, the more I grew curious. I dared to ask North something that had just crossed my mind. "Hey, North," I said, "what other holiday spirits are there?"

The blue-eyed man thought about this for a minute and then said, "Well, there is me, you, Bunny, the Leprechaun, the Groundhog…and I believe the April Fool was born just a few centuries ago."

My eyes sparkled at the sound of other holiday spirits. "Really? Leprechaun, Groundhog, and the April Fool?! Why haven't we hung out before? I'd love to meet them!"

North scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, Lovey, you see, the other holidays are more…bitter…"

I furrowed my brow. "'Bitter'? What do you mean?" I asked concernedly.

"Cupid," Santa started, "not everyone can be as accepting as you. We Guardians want to befriend every good spirit, but not every spirit wants to befriend the Guardians." I squinted, not quite understanding what he was saying. "Agh, perhaps it is time you meet them for yourself. I completely encourage it!"

Meeting the other holidays. I had never thought of it before. But now that I had, I desperately wanted to meet them. First thing was first, though. I went and visited Sandy, then Tooth, then Bunny. I told each of them my plan to meet the other holidays and each was as nervous as North, though all of them said it was wise for me to make my own judgments. So I did.

Tooth told me where to find Leprechaun. North told me where he suspected to find the April Fool. Bunny reluctantly told me where to find the Groundhog, but said not to get my hopes up. The Groundhog was cranky and preferred to be alone. Because of that information, I set out to find this Groundhog.

He lived in North America, very hidden in a state called Pennsylvania. It took a long time to find him, but I finally did on Groundhog's Day. After the ceremony was over and he did indeed see his shadow, he tried going back into the ground. I dove after him, grabbing him by the scruff. I wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

The small creature squirmed in my hand as I pulled him back out of the ground. "Hey, who do you think you are? I oughta bite you to death! Do you know who I am, missy? I am the Groundhog! No one messes with me! You don't know who you're dealing with! Let me go! Let me go, I say! Why, I…"

I studied the small and adorable animal as he kicked and scratched. I didn't expect him to look like this, nor be so garrulous. His voice was squeaky and rapid. Around his neck, he wore a yellow bandana, but was all as far as clothes went. "Slow down, slow down," I said calmly, trying to talk over his ranting. "I'm Cupid. I just wanted to meet the other holidays, is all."

Without warning, the Groundhog scratched my cheek. I cried out in pain and dropped him, holding the three scratches on my cheek. The Groundhog jumped, glaring at me. "Hmph! That'll teach ya to mess with me!" he shouted, and then continued to burrow down under the ground, grumbling all the while.

Needless to say, after meeting the Groundhog, I was a little nervous about meeting the other holidays. What if they were all grumpy like him? Especially Leprechaun! I heard he had a temper on him. Before going anywhere else, I went to Bunny's Warren to see if he had any herbs that would heal the wound quickly. You can imagine Bunny's anger when I told him what happened.

"What?!" he exploded, jumping to his feet. "The Groundhog did that to ya? Why, I oughta kick his-!"

I raised my hands in defense. "Bunny, it's okay, it's just a scratch," I said gently. "I guess I should have listened to you in the first place, huh?"

I tried to get Bunnymund to relax, but for the rest of the day, he was all riled up. Thankfully he had an herb that would get it to heal faster. Sure enough, in only two days, my skin was as good as new.

After spending the next two weeks doing what I was actually supposed to do, I was off to Ireland. Hidden in the green mountain range, I found it: the Leprechaun's hideaway. There was a large rock with a rainbow design on it. Underneath, I found, was a hole. It led inside! I was so excited! Rolling the boulder away, I peered inside. There was a mountain of gold lying about, but I was definitely not interested in the gold pieces. After looking around for humans, I jumped inside the hole, landing and ultimately slipping on the gold.

I laughed a bit and tried to stand, which ended in complete failure each time. Suddenly a voice came from a different room. "Oi! Who's in my gold?!" Startled, I tried to stand once more, but slipped all the way down the bottom of the pile. From out of a doorway, the Leprechaun stood. And I was completely shocked at her appearance. I was expecting a small man with a full orange beard. But the true Leprechaun was nothing like that.

She was about 4 feet tall with fiery red hair – and a temper to match! She looked to be about fourteen, and wore a green wool sweater tied together at the waist, gray pants, and black shoes I hadn't seen before. She also had a dark green porter cap with a black strap on it, a four-leaf clover stuck in it. When she saw me, she clenched her fists and strode inside.

"Who the hell're you, ah?" she shouted. "You think you can just come in here and steal my gold? Well, you've got another thing coming, Pinky!" As she neared me, she rolled up the sleeves of her sweater as if she really meant to punch me.

Fearful, I jumped to my feet and backed away. "Hold on now, hold on!" I exclaimed. "Please, I honestly don't want your gold. I swear to you!"

"Liar! Why else would you be here?" she snapped.

My wings hit a wall behind me and I was cornered. I covered my face, cringing. "I'm Cupid; I just wanted to meet the other holidays and I thought it would be great to finally meet you!" I spit out. Just as the Leprechaun got to me, she stopped and studied me.

I slowly removed my hands from my face and looked back at her. Slowly, she burst out laughing. "You're kidding me, right?" she said through laughs. "You're telling me that you are Cupid? Ha! That's a laugh. You're supposed to be a wee cherub wearing a diaper, aren't ya?"

My cheeks flushed. "Well, you're supposed to be a little man with a beard and pipe, aren't you?" I countered, crossing my arms.

For a moment, Leprechaun's eyes widened and then she glared at me darkly. I braced my muscles, ready for the punch I expected. But then…she smiled and I let my guard down.

And then she punched my arm as hard as she could.

"Ow…" I muttered, rubbing my arm. Would I get hurt every time I met a new holiday?

"You're all right, Cupid," Leprechaun said. My heart fluttered. She didn't hate me like the Groundhog did. The short girl took me around her hideout and I got to know her a little, learning about all she does. When I asked to see a coin, she flipped and wouldn't even let me touch the pile. Apparently she had been around since the 1200s, and while she had believers at first, the numbers slowly diminished. Now she was like me, no believers at all. Rare was it that people would see her.

I liked that. We had something in common that the Guardians would never know. Despite her quick temper, Leppy and I came to be good friends. I even dared to ask her why she doesn't hang out with the Guardians more often. Her answer surprised me. "The Guardians don't care about us," she spat. "They only care about themselves and the children."

It reminded me of Pitch, but I didn't say so. "That's not true," I tried. "The Guardians care about all of us. They want to be our friends. They-"

"Ah, shut it, Pinky," she grumbled. And that was the end of that conversation. I spent a few more hours with Leppy and then it was time to go back to my duties. I promised to see her soon and then I was off.

After that, I was really busy and never found the time to find the April Fool, whoever he was. Decades passed and I could only focus on one holiday: Valentine's Day. The humans needed me. However, in the year 1692, I stuck around and watched an interesting romance. It was between a young girl and an older, married man. The girl, mad with jealousy, ended up accusing the man of being a witch and got him hanged. In 1692 and 1693, I witnessed a few of those hangings in North America. It was insane.

In the year 1698, I decided to take a break to celebrate All Hallows Eve with humans. Children dressed in costumes walked around and asked for gifts. North had told me that there was no spirit of Halloween that he knew of. I thought that was unfortunate. Nearly every holiday had its own spirit, even April Fools! I had asked Manny if there ever would be a spirit of Halloween. All he said was that I would have to look and see. It took that as a challenge. That is why in the fall of 1698, I searched all over the globe for this spirit. I didn't know what I was looking for, but Manny told me that I would find the spirit in North America.

It was getting late. I was pessimistic because I just could not find anyone out of the ordinary. I was beginning to think that Manny was playing a trick on me. And then, just as I was about to give up all hope, I found her.

I sat on the grass in front of someone's lawn and watched the children walk by. Occasionally I would have to take out my bow and arrow and shoot someone, but it didn't happen often. The land was clearing out, parents getting their children to bed. I stood, thinking it was a good idea. Until I saw a girl rummaging through a child's bag, unbeknownst to the child! I was outraged! She was stealing from the child! On impulse, I shouted, "Hey!"

The girl, who looked to be a teenager, stood straight and looked around. She frowned, clutching a broom. I gasped when I noticed the color of her eyes. They were orange! Suddenly, the girl let go of the broom. It levitated in the air! And she stood on top of it and flew off! She definitely wasn't human!

"Hey! Come back!" I shouted, flying after her. My wings flapped hard to keep up with her. In the moonlight, I saw her tall silhouette, one hand on her hip. "Hey, you! Come back!"

She came to a sudden stop. The broomstick spun around and she faced me. I slowed to a stop before her, doing my best to hover, something I was still trying to master. Now that she was still, I could see her appearance perfectly.

She had short, messy, boyish black hair, her bangs highlighted orange and bordering her slim face. Her eyes were round, the color of pumpkins. Her attire was odd and hard to describe. Her short, torn sleeves were an army green, while she wore white gauze wrapped all around her torso. The torn skirt of her dress was the same color of the sleeves and stopped just below her thighs; her leggings were striped, orange and black. Her shoes, black and shiny.

"You…" I said breathlessly, "are you a spirit?"

She stared at me some, suspicious, and when I spoke, her eyes widened. Still, she did not speak. It took that as a yes.

"I'm Cupid," I introduced myself, venturing higher and closer.

And then she smiled. And spoke. "I'm Hallow," she said. "Nice to meet ya."

A/N: So, this chapter really got me thinking about these characters. So I suppose that I should state that Rise of the Guardians is © DreamWorks and William Joyce. HOWEVER. This version of Cupid and the spirit of Halloween, Hallow, are both mine. I've had work stolen from me before, so I must say please ask me if you can use my characters in your story. D: Please and thank you? This version of Leprechaun is in fact © Ironic-Sarcasm from her fic Technicolor Dreams. She's one of my favorite authors, so I asked her if I could use her take on Leprechaun and she gave me her permission. With that said, go ahead and show Ironic-Sarcasm some love, and I will see you in the next chapter! -Eri