"I lived in a castle, the Kazaar Palace you see. I was –"
"The princess," Jack interrupted. Arrow glared at him.
"No…I was the daughter of a duchess. Now let me continue."
The young boy smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry."
"I was the daughter of a duchess, and nobody appreciated my existence very much. 'You are just as important as the princess,' or 'You're friends with the princess because you're at her class!' It was all a lie. The Princess was hundreds of times more beautiful, admired, loved, and cared for. Sometimes my own parents put her ahead of me. I guess it made sense, seeing she is royalty and if she ever died the kingdom collapsed. However, it still wasn't fair how I, their very own daughter, was not their first priority. In fact, that pissed me off badly. My parents always put others before me. I have an example. The king and queen threw a feast once. My father – a knight – made sure all the little boys got their meals first. Then, he checked to see if the older boys got some. It was after all the children and royal members of the family received their servings did he ask me if I've eaten. I didn't, and when he came back with my food, it was literally mostly scraps. His excuse? 'Don't be so selfish.' Yes, I became friends with Princess Liliander. She was one of the most generous people I have ever met. Princess taught me how to make daisy chains in the fields, showed me her secret hiding spots whenever she wanted privacy, and together we spied on other people's business. It was a teenage girl's dream back in the Middle Ages. We played with a group of girls, but Liliander and I were the closest to one another. I think some of the other royal family children were jealous. Oh – Lili and I, we were cousins, by the way. My mother and her mother never bonded well, but when they finally had the courage to introduce us, we instantly clicked. I've grown to love her like a sister. Lili told me herself that 'If our kingdom ever goes into war, I'll protect you and your family.'"
Arrow cleared her throat before she continued. "Eventually, we did go into war. I forgot why, it's been centuries since it happened. Servants, butlers, and a few knights ushered us into multiple rooms with no windows. Once again, the duchess and her husband played hero and heroine and stuffed all the children they found in several hiding spots and ended up getting shot by arrows in one of the towers."
Jack heard her sniffle underneath the blonde curls which covered her appearance. She raised her arms and wiped her face with the sleeve of her sleep robe. "You don't have to finish the story if it brings up bad memories. I won't mind," he mumbled. Arrow kept sobbing.
"No, I have to. I promised to tell you. Anyways, the kid was up in the tower because he wanted his daddy, who served as a tower guard, to be with him. He wouldn't let go of his leg, that's what I heard. Mom and Dad sacrificed their lives to save somebody else's. Somebody who had many more years to live. They died for a good cause. Just like the King, the Queen, and Princess. King Kazaar was a good man, he refused to go to safety unless it was certain the villagers were fine. Being the loyal wife she was, the Queen waited with him and both of them ended up getting their heads decapitated. The Princess…" Arrow inhaled a deep breath. "Liliander could have been safe; however, she refused to be protected while her mother and father were dead. She ran after them in the midst of a battle and was spotted by an enemy."
At this point the Valentine spirit stuttered multiple words out. "T-they took and tortured her in w-w-ways only the sick-minded would imagine. They d-did that to all-all the women and did not bring them back until they were f-finished with them. We couldn't flee, soldiers surrounded the area. Only the brave described their torture. Some were traumatized to the point where nothing fazed them. I attempted to hold a conversation with another girl once. She had fresh scars all over her body. I touched her knee to comfort her, but she started screaming and scratched me. I-I was one of the last few they had not taken away yet. Everyone else hated me for it. It was like…they turned their backs on me because of something I cannot control. Well, I wouldn't have blamed them. If I were raped, burned, molested, or anything else and someone else looked perfectly fine and untouched, I would hate them too. Actually, I was half convinced they would beat me to death right on the spot, so I ran away. I forgot how, but I snuck out. Somewhere far off was where my legs took me to. It was all trees and darkness.
For the first few days I felt lost, I was lost. It had been four days since I escaped my old life, and I starved and craved for a droplet of water to fall onto my tongue. Everywhere I stumbled I crashed into greenery. Not a single human life existed, at least that was what I assumed. Exhausted, I laid down and looked up at constellations. Right when I was about to pass out, when I was about to regret leaving the women, a wooden cabin lit up behind a cluster of forestry.
It was – it was a miracle, because the cabin belonged to someone very beautiful. That's where I met my lover.
Her name is Meredith. She had mesmerizing jet black hair, green eyes, and moved with a lot of grace for such a badass. She caught my eye contact from a distance from her window. I didn't pay much attention to it, because I was desperate for – well, everything – but now since I have so much spare time in my hands, being able to see precisely must be one of her abilities. Back on topic, she walked out of her home and helped me stumble into safety. She cared for me very gently; never over-feeding me, and let me rest for as much as I desired the first week. After my recovery, begun the most amazing part of my life. She taught me about nature: what berries are edible, how to not scare animals away, walking without making a single noise, and shooting with a hand-made bow she carved for me."
The spirit turned away from the window she'd been starting at from the start but focused her attention at her fellow winter guardian. "We told each other stories of our past before we met, hers mostly involved outdoors, and on the contrary mine about my royal life. Every fourteenth of February she would retrieve her own set of bow and arrows in the forest which I can never find and go on a quest to shoot her arrows at potential lovers in other lands. I was horrified when I witnessed it. She had wings for god's sake! I screamed at her, 'You're murdering the innocent!' Meredith realized she never told me who she really was: Cupid, a mythological creature who shoots arrows which may look and feel realistic, but doesn't pain a human one bit. It was all so bizarre and challenging to take in, I didn't believe her until she let me aim an arrow at a pair of teenagers in China.
People were much more reserved than they are now; the boy kissed the girl on the hand very lightly, and she giggled nervously. You see, I never understood love. It was all too strange to like someone so much you feel the need to touch them – just to verify their existence, that they're real, because your life is surreal whenever they're around. I never understood what love was, that is, until Cupid showed me. We watched the couple from the sky (Yes, Cupid carried me with her wings) and it absent-mindedly slipped out of my mouth. I said, 'I wish someone could have a strong attraction to me.' And then Cupid spun around and pressed her lips against mine. I thought, 'Holy crap! She's kissing me!' I was in a state of shock, I think she felt that she scared me so she pulled away. When she did, I got a little upset. I liked her lips against mine. That's when it hit me – I liked Cupid. She liked me back. So, what did I do? I yanked her back in for another kiss, a real kiss, and this time I kept record of all the things I liked about it. I liked how soft and warm her lips were, and how perfect they seemed to fit with my lips, how in sync our lips moved, and how I had my hands on her back while she gripped onto my waist. Note all of these events happened above the ground, we were still flying. And…" Arrow kept on rambling, but Jack was caught off guard. Something didn't seem right. Arrow ran away from a palace, into a forest, where she met someone called Meredith, who turned out to be Cupid. Cupid is referred to as a "she", which meant Cupid is female. Arrow liked Cupid. Cupid liked Arrow. Wait a second... the young guardian's jaw dropped, almost similar to when Jamie called his name for the first time. Unfortunately, the blonde spirit noticed and paused her story-telling. The young guardian mentally cursed himself for revealing his emotions.
"Jack is something wrong? I'm positive I did not say anything surprising –"
"You like girls?!" Arrow frowned.
"I did, I loved Cupid. But now I'm uncertain, I mean, when boys this generation hit on me I playfully flirt back, but I – I just – er, uh, um – ugh – what a late reaction! I thought you caught on!" she stuttered, "Jack!"
"I'm sorry!" Jack retorted. "I mean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to react the way I did. It's just … a lot to take in right now. Like, wow. This occurred centuries ago, too."
Arrow chuckled upon hearing this. "Yeah, I guess we were risk takes when it came to romance."
"…Wow."
"I know."
The blue-eyed boy stared in disbelief for a few more seconds before he shook his head away from his imagination to concentrate. "Okay, yeah, I'm over it now. Continue." He brought his hand out.
"You sure? Everything clear?"
"Ye – no. No, there are a few things I need to clarify."
"Shoot."
Jack breathed in sharply. "Okay, so you and Cupid are two different people. You weren't joking. Your name really is Arrow."
"That's what I changed it to after I took the Eternal Vow and grew myself a pair of wings, not to mention I'm immortal now."
"What was your original name? And what the hell is an Eternal Vow?"
Arrow shot him a look of death. Jack gulped back fear. "Look it up. I'm not wasting my breath explaining terms you should be familiar with."
The winter guardian was not dealing with her gritty attitude. No, not tonight. He stamped his staff on the bedroom floor, which coated the wooden boards with a layer of frost. Arrow immediately flinched and jerked her feet off the ground. 'Hey, whoa, chill. I just want to know what this vow is. And you're not fooling me with this whole bitchy persona. Tooth said you only act this way to hide secrets, therefore –"
"Francine," she barked.
"I – what?"
"That's my name."
Jack's eyes softened. "Francine, that's a pleasant name. Why did you change it?"
Shrugging her shoulders, she answered, "I hate it. And to match. Cupid and Arrow sounds better, don't you think?" The blonde girl glanced at Jack while he dropped his gaze. "You know, we flew over your village once, Jack. I'm quite certain the boy with brown hair was you. He was holding onto his sister with one hand and clenching onto a pair of skates with the other."
The young spirit's gaze averted back to the speaker. He couldn't believe was he was hearing. "Was that the day I –"
"I wish I knew. We didn't stay very long. Cupid did mention how you would have made an excellent dad."
A moment of silence passed the two immortals. Neither of them knew how to finish the conversation, nor did they want to finish. Jack was so close to discovering more about his past life, but once again failed. Overall, it was only fair that he offered an ear to listen to Arrow's story.
"So um," he cleared his throat, "what happened between you and Cupid? No offense, I mean obviously you guys aren't together anymore…"
"Okay, this is hard, so bear with me." Jack could tell she was uncomfortable retelling the events of this moment by her sudden slouched posture. "The Nightmare King attacked for spreading love and joy to the world. It was two against all his duplicates, and while Cupid and I were busying ourselves with ridding his creations, he - he shot an arrow straight into her back. A-and there was nothing I could do! Meredith was the one dying, and I just kneeled in front of her, screaming in her face as nightmare sand flew all around us. She was the one in pain, I should've been whispering soothing words to her, but I panicked, and it was vice versa. She calmly said, 'Be brave, take care of the future lovers for me, okay? You ran away from home once, and found me. Listen carefully Arrow, once I'm gone the Eternal Vow breaks. You'll still have your powers. Do me a favor, search for someone who loves you as much as I do, and never let them go. I'm sorry, I –" and then her body turned into black sand. Those were her last words. She didn't even get to finish. After she was gone, I laid on the pavement, choking on my own tears while black sand swept around me. Eventually, I was engulfed by it and blacked out. The next time I woke up I was still laying down, but on a bed, and the Man in the Moon stood on my bedside. I noticed Cupid's set of bow and arrows leaning against a shelf and everything replayed in my head. I began to bawl all over the sheets while the Man in the Moon rubbed my back. He told me, 'Arrow, the young lovers belong in your hands now. I'm sure Cupid would pass her weapon onto you. Use it like she would.' I laid in bed frigid for the next two days, didn't eat a single bite of food, and only drank water when he came to check on me. I lost all hope in life. There was no point in existing, I thought. Then, it was as if she was watching me. For some weird reason, a voice spoke in my head. 'Would Cupid be happy with you giving up? No! So quit sulking and pull through. You did it once, you can do it again. You'll find happiness again.'"
"That was really cliché," Jack commented.
The teenager pursed her lips together. "It wasn't cliché back then. I stayed in a different town, meeting new people and befriending them. Note I'm immortal, not invisible. Every five years, I made some lame excuse about how I'd be moving to a different state so the habitants don't suspect me of never aging. I switched towns eight times before I spotted her – Baby Tooth. At first I looked right past it, she looks like a Hummingbird! Then I saw some form of face and I went 'Woah there, something's up.' So I followed her until she fluttered into a child's bedroom and dove under their pillow to take their tooth. I was so ecstatic to meet someone else from the supernatural world; I knocked myself into the glass window. Luckily, they didn't wake up, but it sure did catch Baby Tooth's attention. So, I explained everything and she led me to Tooth's Palace, and that's where my happiness was rediscovered. I may not have my love with me, but I have friends now. You too, Jack." She patted the boy on the knee. "It's twelve 'o'clock, you know what that means."
Jack turned three-sixty degrees, yet there was no clock to tell the time. Little did he know his new friend was once again staring out her window. Across from hers was Sandy's bedroom, and a clock tower is built beside it. Indeed, the clock said twelve 'o' clock. The guardian furrowed his salt-and-pepper eyebrows. "That it's late and we should really get some sleep?" He joked. Seriously though, he had no idea what she was hinting off.
"No, stupid!" Arrow clocked him in the head for being so oblivious. "It's Christmas!"
"Ow!" Jack muttered. He crawled into a ball, acting as if he had a concussion.
Arrow face contorted from playful to apologetic. "Oh, I'm sorry, Jack –"
"Just kidding. You really think I get hurt that easily?" He got up from the ground and flopped right back onto her bed. Arms behind his head and against the headboard, he shut his eyes close for a few seconds before turning to face Arrow and softly spoke. "Merry Christmas."
"You have a habit of making yourself at home, you know that?" The green-eyed teen chuckled. "No, what I mean is, stay. We can pull an all-nighter and get to know each other better. You are the Guardian of Fun." She added with a wink. "We can bring the White Christmas into North's workshop, if you know what I mean."
"Hmm, nah, I think North has presents for us who are staying, I don't wanna ruin that." The winter guardian smirked.
"Oh." Arrow sounded a bit disappointed, but quickly hid it with a feigned smile. "Well in that case, we should hit the hay."
"Hit the hay? Are we from the nineties?"
"People still say that! Now shoo, I'm tired."
"Ooh, Arrow's tired now? Just thirty seconds go she was begging the wonderful Jack Frost to stay." He playfully teased.
"Hey, North's paying us a visit, I don't want him to think we have some instant 'connection'."
"Geez, Arrow. You're basically married to Cupid. Who does he think you are? Some dirty cheater?"
"The Eternal Vow's complicated! Now leave! Bye," Arrow pushed and shoved Jack as hard as she could but he wouldn't budge. "Okay fine, don't leave," she huffed, "But I'm staying in your room. Where is it?"
"I'm not telling unless you explain this whole 'Eternal Vow' shit. You ordered me to stay and now you're kicking me out?"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine! Stay. And find someone else to entertain you with this whole 'Eternal Vow shit'. But this is my room so find someplace else so slumber. You're not sleeping on my bed."
"Simple, wow, this armchair looks pretty comfy," he pat on the armrest, "I think I'll make this my bed for the night."
Arrow crawled under her layers of blankets; however before doing so she grabbed the top sheet and tossed it over to Jack. "Here, for the rest of the night. You might get cold."
The two take a few seconds to absorb what she had just stated. Then, a synchronized laugh filled the room. "My bad." She hid under her blankets so only anything above her nose peeked out. "Merry Christmas Jack," she mumbled under the bedspread.
"Merry Christmas."
What do you guys think? I'm not very confident with my work but I just really feel the need to share my ideas with other readers. Tell me how I did, anything is appreciated!
And thanks QuillOwl, thunder angel13, and Farrah for the reviews!