Krysta spirit of fortune ch 9
Chapter 9: meeting the big 4
Dedicated to Fallenangel5342
It was a lazy warm summer afternoon and I was sleeping peacefully in my favorite tree on my favorite branch, that was big enough to hold me in either form, when I heard a twittering squeak. I opened one eye to see a tooth fairy fluttering inches from my nose. He, she, it–I can never tell– was squeaking at me to wake up. I surveyed the creature, noting its eyes especially. Jack had told me about his little fairy friend, Baby Tooth, and that she had two different colored eyes and a yellow feather atop her head. This pest had the same violet eyes as Tooth and no yellow feather on the top of its head.
"Scram, I'm sleeping." I said, curling up into a tighter ball. The thing continued squeaking at me.
"I get hungry right after I wake up from a nap, so I'd fly away now before I'm all the way up." I growled. I was drifting off again when I felt a sharp tug on one if my whiskers. The fairy had the nerve to laugh as it did so.
"That's it." I said and knocked the fairy from the air, pinning it with one paw. Transforming into my human form, I lifted up my hand that had been pinning the fairy. I used my other hand to grab hold of its wings. It looked up at me in slight fear.
"Hmm… you're lucky I'm in the mood for fish right now. So tell me, little imp, does your mother know were you are?" I teased the creature. It nodded its head. I realized something right then. One: it was the middle of the day, and two: tooth fairies only collect teeth at night.
"Miss a tooth during collection last night?" I questioned. The fairy looked insulted and shook its head no. So if Tooth knew were this fairy was and it hadn't been sent back to grab a missed tooth then…
"Is your mother around?" I guessed. The fairy nodded its head.
"Where?" I asked.
"Right here. Now if you don't mind, I would like my fairy back." Tooth said, fluttering just outside of the leafy canopy of my tree. I slowly set the fairy down on the branch and released its wings. The creature immediately flew up and behind Tooth, squeaking the whole way.
"Are you Krysta?" Tooth asked in a no nonsense tone.
"Depends." I said with a smirk, "why ya looking for her?"
"It's about Jack Frost…" Tooth began.
"Snowflake? What's he done this time?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
"He got hurt on a mission and keeps muttering something about Krysta." Tooth says, her eyes betraying a hint of worry for her fellow Guardian.
"Then yeah, I'm Krysta. Let's go." I said, leaping down to the ground and starting to walk into the woods. I stopped and looked at Tooth sheepishly.
"Where are we going, exactly?" I asked.
"My palace." Tooth said.
"Right, how do I get there, it's a floating mountain for pity's sake." I said, folding my arms and looking at her.
"Like this," Tooth said, pulling out a snow globe, "Tooth Palace." She said and smashed the globe. I was about to say something when Tooth came up behind me and pushed me into the portal. In a split second I was falling. The wind whistled past my ears, and I could have almost sworn I saw my life flash before my eyes. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, like North's sleigh! Only this time I didn't have a wooden bench to dig my claws into.
"Hang on!" I heard a voice shout. Then I felt two small hands catch me under my arms.
"You almost killed me!" I shouted at Tooth.
"Call it payback for all the times you chased my fairies." Tooth said as she flew us into the Tooth Palace. I was in awe at the glistening gold and brilliant greens, blues, and purples of the palace. Tooth soon put me down on the ground, Sandy and North were already there.
"Where's the kangaroo?" I asked after I had regained my balance.
"Looking for Jack's staff." North said, worry making the Guardian of wonder look older, "you are Krysta, yes?"
"Yeah, where is Frosty?" I asked. Sandy pointed up the hall and we all followed Tooth's lead. Soon enough we came to a room with a bed in the middle of it. Jack lay on the bed, a black bruise showed on his temple and one leg was propped up on a pillow. I walked forward until I was right next to the bed.
"Jack," I said sadly, "how did this happen?"
"We had trouble with a Bakhtak, Jack tried to corner it but it knocked him out of a window down onto the street." Tooth explained, placing a wet cloth on Jack's bruise.
"Krysta." Jack whispered in a faint voice.
"I'm right here, Jack." I said, gently touching his shoulder. A few fairies twittered at my actions but Tooth shushed them. Jack's eyes opened and you could hear the sign of relief from the other Guardians.
"Krysta?" Jack asked sitting up a bit, "ouch, oh my head." He laid back down onto the couch.
"Don't move to much, you hit your head and landed badly on your leg." Tooth said, hovering nervously by Jack.
"How you feel?" North asked. Sandy made golden question marks above his head.
"Like I fell out of a two story building." Jack joked. I rolled my eyes at him before Jack returned his focus to me.
Krysta… the bakhtak, it said it knew you. It said to tell you it knows what you did, what did it mean?" Jack said, looking at me with such a serious look it was unnerving. I honestly had no idea, unless it was talking about… but how could a bakhtak know about that, unless…
"I need to go." I said, turning to head out the door. Jack grabs my wrist, I turn to face him.
"What did it mean?" Jack asked again.
"I'd like ta know too." Bunny said, hoping into the room with Jack's staff. I pulled my wrist out of Jack's grasp, he was surprisingly weak right now. Bunny handed Jack his staff then turned to face me.
"But first I want ta know who you are, sheila." Bunny said.
"Krysta, spirit of fortune. At your service." I said with a mock bow. Sandy smiled and formed a golden cat above his head.
"Who? Never mind, what was that Bakhtak talking about? What did ya do?" Bunny demanded, if he was a cat he would have have been fluffed up and hissing at me, fangs bared.
"That's what I'm going to go find out, where was this beasty you were chasing?" I said, looking at North.
"It's too dangerous…" North began.
"Paris, France." Jack said. I nodded and started heading out the door. North stood between me and the door, his arms crossed, a firm look of determination on his face.
"No." He said just as firmly, "is to dangerous." I charged North, but the big Russian simply bumped me backwards with his belly.
"I said no." North stated, placing a hand in his sword.
"Fine, I won't leave through the door." I said, pulling out the snow globe I had taken from Notth's pocket. The ball was smooth and when I held it I saw swirling mists and an ugly goblin-ish creature scurrying into an open window. I then saw myself chasing after the foul thing and corner it in a dark ally, then the globe went dark. I snapped out of my vision when I felt something furry try to grab my arms. I quickly spun around and back-flipped out of Bunny's grasp. I dodged Tooth, who slammed into Bunny. Sandy was aiming a ball of dream sand at my head while North was trying to come up behind me.
Right as North lunged and Sandy threw the dreamsand I jumped up, using North to give me an extra boost. The sand hit North and ricochet off the ceiling to hit Tooth and Bunny then Jack. Sandy caught it but by then I had already prepared the snow globe.
"Paris, France." I said to it as I threw it in the ground, pausing for a moment I turned back to my friend and the Guardians, "forgive me." I whispered then jumped through the portal.
In less than a minute I was in Paris, France. The sun was starting to set so I had a bit of time to find where the bakhtak was going to show up. I walked down street after street, looking for things I had seen in my vision. An old brick house, one window that never shut straight, and an old pot of dead flowers on the sill. I found it right as the sun went all the way down. I changed into my half cat form and waited across the street, hidden among some gargoyles. I listened as a child wined at there mother.
" Maman, je ne veux pas aller dormir. La chose la moyenne pourrait revenir!" The child said in a scared voice.
"Nonsense , ce n'était qu'un mauvais rêve, Bonne nuit ma chérie." The mom soothed.
"Bonne nuit maman." The child answered reluctantly. The light went out and the darkness increased, only the faint light of the streetlights kept the shadows at bay. Around 3'am a mist began rolling in. The vapor swirled as something moved through it. I climbed down from the roof I was on and snuck along behind it. The bakhtak's stench was horrid, like something had died then died again. It wriggled its way through the window and I followed it. We were in a child's nursery, the creature was already sitting on the poor little boy's chest, giggling with evil delight as the boy wiggled around as the nightmare over took him.
"Leave him alone you ugly thing." I hissed, unsheathing my claws. The creature turned towards me and I got my first decent look at it. It's skin was a sick greenish-brown and it's eyes were like two black coals.
"I knew you'd show up eventually." It laughed quietly, "how long has it been? A year, three years?"
"287 and I regret ever meeting you." I growled.
"I'm hurt Krysta, really I am." The beast looked offended.
"Like I give a flying pig what you think! What did you tell Jack?" I demanded.
"Hush, we don't want to wake up this little dear." The creature said, mockingly stroking the child's hair. The child's breathing was getting ragged, how long had this monster plagued him? I drew my dagger, ready to throw it.
"Off, now." I hissed. "You are coming with me and you will tell me what you know." The creature's eyes narrowed at the glinting silver dagger in my hand. It got off the boy and walked towards me slowly. It stopped halfway across the room and made a mad dash for the window. I sliced the creature's arm as it ran past. The silver and iron blend burning its skin as it cut. The creature hissed and shot through the window, I followed, ignoring my instincts that were telling me not to follow. I raced after the creature, following it around every corner, down every alley, and even across rooftops. I could sense it was beginning to tire when it turned down one more alley. I rushed in to see the creature scrambling to try to climb the massive brick wall in front of it.
"You're done." I said, moving closer to the creature, my knife ready incase it tried anything, "tell me what you told Jack."
"I told him I knew you, that was all! I swear!" The bakhtak said, cowering from my blade. But something was off, it kept looking behind me. I turned around to look but there was nothing, I growled as I turned back to face the little devil only to be hit on the head. I stumbled to the ground, looking up threw bleary eyes at the bakhtak.
"Sweet dreams." It smiled evilly before everything went black.
Author notes: ok so this is dedicated to Fallenangel5342 who wanted Krysta to meet the other Guardians but it sort of snowballed into something bigger that may take up 2-3 chapters. But I'm still accepting requests! If it's good I will dedicate the chapter to you!
*Bakhtaks are known for causing bad dreams or causing near-suffocation and sleep paralysis by sitting on a person's chest as they sleep. They can appear goblin like or as old hags.
*What the child and mother said to each other: Mama, I don't want to go to sleep, the mean thing might come back.
Nonsense, it was only a bad dream, Good night my darling.
Good night mama.