Rise of the Guardians

Arlecchino

Chapter 03

Marcaria was humming as she tied the shoes thoughtfully. Momus was in the comfortable armchair, fast asleep with a book to his chest. He looked rather cute and innocent in his sleep, which was vibrantly different when he was awake. Awake, he acted and moved like a angry old man, fully in a tantrum, and bossy to boot.

Of course, Marcaria was all about laughter. So that she was hanging out with someone the total opposite was confusing for her. And yet, Marcaria had effectively moved in with no issues save that he yelled a lot but it never seemed to be completely directed at her.

She finished as she then scooted underfoot and away from him. She took to the front door and rang the bell gleefully. She was giggling like a five-year-old as there was a thud.

"MARCARIA! What the fucking aye?" His face was flattened on the ground as he laid there when she ran back inside into the room.

"That's for putting the snake down my shirt."

"That was for putting a sign on my back that said 'hug me'."

"You didn't seem to mind it when I hugged you."

"I did mind it, damn it!"

"Whatever. You liked it, come on!"

He pushed up into a sitting position. His tail was undone, leaving his hair mussed over the back of his neck, draping forward in bits over his shoulders. He angrily began to undo his shoelaces, swearing venomously under his breath.

She studied him before she crossed her arms. "Didn't you find it funny?"

"Not when it's me!"

"Oh, you are bad! That's gotta go, Mo!"

"MOMUS!"

"Ah, ah, ah, sugar…" She added the last word pointedly, keeping his drawl on it.

They stared at each other before she tore out of there, him chasing her with a growl.

"Come on! You're no fun! Stop that!"

"I'm going to break your damn fingers, you little twit! Teach you to trick me!"

She laughed as she turned outside and in her pursuit, she looked behind her as she saw something spark in his eyes before she saw stars and great pain.

"Ow…" Her body fell away from the tree, the bark having cut against her skin. She fell backwards, whimpering.

"What'd you expect, you weren't paying attention!"

Momus toed her before taking her head in his hands, moving it carefully. "No broken neck."

"Can we get broken necks?"

"Really want to find out?" He asked dryly, still holding her head.

"No… I like my neck, thanks."

He smirked as she laughed, pointing at him. "Made you smile!"

"Smirk, sugar, far different." He stood up, taking her arm and pulling her with him. She winced as she started to limp inside.

"What's wrong with your ankle?"

"I spun on it. It'll be fine…" Marcaria looked up at the darkening skies. "Looks like visitors."

"Get inside and stay there."

Lightning cracked as she hurried on her injured ankle to get to the front. She managed, panting in both exhaustion and pain.

The woman was another beauty, though Marcaria would eventually learn that all of the Greek gods and goddesses were that way.

"Eris, lovely to see you. Did Mother send you?"

"No, I decided to take a peek. After all, someone's got to look after you."

"I think I'm doing just fine."

"Mother says you have a pretty trinket," Eris was a blond bombshell, clad in little and what she did wear, clung tightly. Marcaria was starting to think that being referred to as a 'pretty trinket' might be some veiled insult, though their tone didn't belay this.

"That's none of your business."

"Momus, Father will be very angry that you are not listening to him. He's allowing you this place but he does not want you to interact with the mortals."

"I am not a mortal!" Marcaria protested, still limping. "I am the spirit of Tomfoolery, representative of April Fools, and I have been around for over four hundred years!"

"Really? You're a Spirit? You seem… so… not the type."

"I am too! I make others laugh."

Eris crossed her arms. "Make me laugh then."

"It's not like that, I have to do silly things. You wouldn't get it."

"Of course not, no one would. I've never heard of such a useless being."

Marcaria spit out anger. "How dare you?! Do you know who chose me? The Man in the Moon! Lune! The great being!"

"Zeus is the great being, not some alien."

"He helps the world by making it a better place, to be protected and loved and so that humans can be safe!"

"Now I'm just getting bored," Eris turned toward Momus. "You really should apologize. You'll never get back in otherwise. I know how much you want back in."

"I don't want back in."

"Lying, brother, you are lying."

"I'm not, Eris. Why don't you take your blonde little head and go cause trouble elsewhere? I'm allergic to your apple, after all."

She glared at him as she turned in a huff. She paused and then turned to Marcaria. "A mask? My brother wears one, did you know? You can't see it but it's there all the same."

She waved to Marcaria. "You are a poor fool to follow in my brother's realm. He'll get bored of you and drive you away. That's how he always is. Don't come crying to us when he breaks your heart."

"Breaks my.. Now, wait a minute, I don't know what you're thinking but we are not…"

Eris left, leaving Marcaria glaring at the open space. "He's already trying to drive me away with his rudeness!"

She turned toward him. "You have a strange family."

"It's the mythology, it's all screwed up."

"Is it true you have a mask?"

"Not literally but figuratively."

"Why?"

Momus shrugged.

"Ah, so maybe it's something you need to find out?"

"Why would I want to?"

"I don't know, to break out of tradition? You can't be happy about being typecast as a dick."

"I've gotten used to myself. It's everyone else that has a damn problem." Momus started for inside. She limped off after him, wincing.

"Sprained. You shouldn't have been running."

"You were chasing me, I didn't have a choice."

"Could've let me caught you and punished you like I wanted to. Though, in the end, I still got what I wanted."

"For me to be hurt?!" She was hurt by that. "Excuse me," She forced by him through the door frame, hobbling to a east corridor to where she was residing in. She entered the room, wincing as she managed to the bed.

She carefully undid her shoe laces, though in the end, her ankle still throbbed. She managed to take it off without crying too much as she stared at how swollen it already was.

"How the Hell was I walking on it?" She wheezed past the pain, elevating her leg up with a pillow. She tried to rub the ankle but that only made her see stars of pain.

She laid back, sniffling. She wanted to get comfortable but the throbbing was distracting for her.

She sat up finally, giving up on trying to 'sleep it off'. She glared at her ankle. "I'm a Spirit, am I really supposed to be harmed here?"

The door thudded open as she screamed in surprise. Then she screamed at Momus. "Don't you know how to KNOCK!?"

Momus stared at her. "It's my house. I do what I want."

He had things in his arms. He set down the towels before disappearing into the bathroom. He emerged with the bowl steaming from the hot water.

The bowl was set on the dresser next to the bed as he soaked a towel, then carefully put it on her ankle.

"Next time, don't run."

"I wouldn't if you weren't so threatening."

He glanced at her, face unreadable.

"What?" She asked a little softly, feeling like she might've hit something.

"What?" He repeated, giving her an familiar cold stare. "Keep that on, I'll get you some pain meds."

"Thank you, Momus."

He didn't bother looking behind him as he left, closing the door as he spoke. "Thought it was Mo."

She stared at the closed door, conflicted. "Great, did he mean that or not?"

Being bedridden wasn't something in the cards for Marcaria. By the time she was allowed free, she was stir-crazy.

"Heading out to the mortal world, don't stay up!"

She tore off into the wheat only to reappear in seconds, getting into a violent sneezing fit. "Achoo! Achoo! Stupid.. ACHOO! Aller, achoo! GIES!"

She had to take off her mask, even that side of her face itched. She tried to scratch it but she hated dealing with the mauled side of her face.

"Ahhhh… it's so itchy!" She broke out into another sneezing fit. "Hey.. Wait…a… Achoo! SNEEZING POWDER!"

She swore up and down. "I thought. Achooo! There was something familiar… Achoo! MOMUS!"

He was inside, laughing softly to himself. Though he got what he wanted, she ended up staying around in the God's home. She washed herself before washing her mask, making plans of 'evil' to get back at Momus for tricking her.

She was watching the night sky slowly rise, awaiting the Man in the Moon. Unlike most spirits, Marcaria was always very chatty with the man she called Lune. Tonight was of no difference as the Man in the Moon started first.

She crossed her arms quickly, looking put out. "Well, yea, I probably should go out and make people laugh but people don't want my humor anymore. I'm worn out and I'm not even in a competition anymore. I can't make anyone laugh. I can't remember the last time I made humans genuinely laugh."

She sat down, dejected. "Maybe I'm just not needed anymore. I mean, I don't want to hurt others to make others laugh, where's the fun in that for all? That's not fair to the one that gets hurt. So.. I guess this means I'm out of a job."

She fiddled her fingers. "So, am I fired?" She asked the Man in the Moon shakily, looking terrified as she peeked up to the moon.

She waited only to hear silence. "Is that a yes?" She asked finally, pale. "Oh, god, I've been fired!" She staggered to her feet. "Oh, shit, shit, shit!" Her hands furiously patted her body. "I'm going to disappear!"

"You're not fired! I don't think he can get rid of you. Wouldn't he have gotten rid of the Boogeyman?"

She stared at Momus. "No. I mean, yea, he's a bad guy but he serves a purpose in a sense."

"To what? Terrify children with nightmares? Make them wet their beds? Cause mental and emotional trauma?" Momus was very livid. "That's bullshit."

"It's complicated. Our roles are all sort of complicated. We came from something and then are put into a next existence. Most of us don't lose their memories which often is what drives us to do what we do. The Boogeyman is scary but he lost things too. Haven't you lost anything that made you who you are now?"

Momus ran his hand through his hair. He elected to be confused. "Yea, I don't think about stuff like that. It's no matter to me."

Marcaria frowned at him. "Of course it is. You have feelings, don't you? You're like not a robot, a heartless mechanism? You still have a beating heart, even if you're made by the human's storytelling, you're still something living."

Momus turned away, looking like he wanted to end the conversation. Marcaria hurried after him, getting in front of him and stalling him in his tracks. "Don't you like something about yourself? Or think you can change?"

"No."

He tried to walk around her but she spread her arms out. His flash of anger had her suddenly thrown away from him, far and hard as she hit a tree backwards.

He was frozen, having realized what he'd done as she struggled to sit up. She was crying softly, unaware that she was actually crying before she staggered to her feet.

Her voice was hoarse. "I feel sorry for you. I just wanted to make your life a little brighter.. That's what I'm supposed to do.. But I guess I really am a failure."

She ran past him, sobbing as she disappeared into the wheat. This time, she found the exit with no problems, falling into a bright sunny, winter day. Her arms wrapped around herself tightly, already shivering.

"Oh, now I wish I could disappear." Her hands held to her head, already aching.

"You all right?"

Marcaria looked up, crying. Her hand pushed her mask back onto her face as she tried to look tough in front of the Guardian of Fun.

"Of course I am," She managed, standing up. She brushed her clothes, shivering tightly.

Jack was skeptical. He held his staff in his hand, running his free hand against the back of his neck. "You're freezing."

"I'm fine!" She snapped. "Go away! I don't need you, I don't need him, I don't need anyone but me! So go away!"

She turned and ran away from the confused boy. "What the Hell is wrong with that girl?"

Momus was storming around his home, hitting and kicking as he made things fall and break into pieces. He was growling like an animal, furious at himself for being an ass. And he couldn't seem to bring himself to break out of that rut and run after her like he knew he should.

But his image wouldn't let him. Set in such a woven story that his sole purpose seemed to hurt others, it wasn't something he wanted. What he never wanted but was deemed doomed to do so.

As such, he was leaving a wake of angry destruction before he finally screamed. Energy erupted around him, shattering everything around him. The hallway's walls were shattered outwards as the build shook on its foundation, the ceiling above about to crack and fall.

He was teleported out of the home by Nyx, who had automatically felt his anger swelling out and far from his own tethered spot in space.

"Why am I like this?" He screamed, power still radiating from him. "What purpose is this that I have to hurt every single thing!"

"Just because it's how we were dreamt, doesn't mean we have to be exact. Once away from paper, we become reality, we are real and we can change."

"Then why can't I?"

"It's all in your head, Momus. While we cannot change our fundamental basis, we aren't strictly tied to what our mythology is. That's when it's written. Now that we are real, in a sense, we don't have to do what we have to but what we want to."

Nxy crossed her arms. "She's now wandering in the deep snow, freezing to death and refusing to be helped because she doesn't want to be. You go to her, apologize for being an ass, and get her somewhere warm."

"Fine," He snarled before hitting his hand to his face, dragging himself to the wheat. "She's right, there's got to be an easier way."

She had stopped wandering, realizing she'd gotten lost. She had managed to drift away from the quaint town into the lands of nowhere, where the snow was piled high, the snow was falling hard, and she didn't see any sort of shelter.

"This wasn't the smartest thing I've done."

She took a few pulling steps to find herself tumbling down a hill. She was buried in snow, now feeling numb. She dug herself out frantically, coughing up snow.

There was sun but no warmth. She wasn't dressed for winter, she usually managed to find her way to where the weather was better but apparently, Momus's home opened up near Burgess, where it was the dead of winter.

"AUGH!" She screamed in frustration. "The only power I have is to make people laugh, not to fight the cold! If I die out here, I'll come back and haunt you all! I swear on my life!"

There was a sensation of something rolling over her like waves, the grew in strength until she craned her head backwards to look upward into Momus's eyes. She was still halfway buried in the snow as she gritted her teeth. "Don't need your help."

She was pulled out effortlessly, his grasp sending a sense of warmth of unfamiliarity that wrapped around her tightly. She automatically stopped shivering.

"Let's go," Momus said, turning away as they disappeared into a sense of melding. They appeared automatically in front of Momus's home, now having fixed itself.

He carefully put her on the ground. While the energy kept her warm, she was still soaked in snow and once he let go, the barrier of energy dispersed and she resumed shivering.

Her teeth were chattering as she felt faint. "I was only out for like ten minutes.."

"It was the dead of winter, you fell into six feet of snow," Momus didn't finish his sentence as he picked her up in his arms with a swoop.

"Hey, wait a.."

"Shut up."

She chattered as he took her to not her room but his.

"Hey, look, I don't come in here."

"My bathtub is more fitting."

He pushed the door open to the bathroom which was essentially a spa.

"Wow.."

"Yea." He put her down and started the water, the steam automatically pillowing upward as he turned and reached for her.

She shrieked when he tried to take off her wet shirt. "DO YOU MIND?!"

"Can you feel your fingers?"

"That doesn't mean you can cop a feel!"

"Stop fighting!"

It was a struggle but once he had the wet shirt off, he felt like he'd won. Until he turned to look at her chest. The mauling had been more than her face, there was gouges in her shoulder and down her chest, nearly to her breast and then there was a few streaked wounds just under the left breast, against the ribs.

"That rib.." Her voice was small, going to the rib just under her breast. "That broke inward and it went into my heart. I died then."

"You didn't when.. It was attacking you?"

"No…" Her eye was a haunted look. "It was so… I wasn't in my body then and I was watching the children run. I felt happy that they were safe but on another level, it was such a terrible pain. I get nightmares, time to time.."

Her left arm was trying to cover the obvious wounds. "I don't like to reveal myself. No one wants to see it, after all. Not even me."

"I'm sorry," He looked away. "I wasn't thinking.."

"It's fine. You weren't being mean, you just wanted to make me warm again." As if on cue, she started to chatter.

He pointed to the bath. "Get in."

She started for the warm water before he stuttered. "Got to take the rest off!"

"Oh, whoops."

She stared at him pointedly.

"What?" "I'm fine at this point so please shoo."

He seemed hesitant to leave but he took that imitative and left. She hurriedly undressed and then delved into the warm water.

"Ah, so much better."

She shrieked when Momus walked right back in. She watched him as he sat down next to the tub, back against the edge as he seemed to just meld into the silence.

She ran her hands lightly over the water, conflicted. She then suddenly smiled and began to flick at his head, water droplets landing on him. It took a moment before he seemed to realize it.

He turned to look over his shoulder. When he did, she shoved water into him as she burst out laughing.

He turned away before smiling slightly when she began to poke into her back.

"You're a child, Prank."

"A kid at heart, yea but I'm not a child," Marcaria pouted, delving back into the heat. She eyed her chest with annoyance.

"How can you look at me?"

"How can you look at me?"

She frowned. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"I threw you."

She faltered. "Oh, yea. I can't say 'water under the bridge' because that wasn't right."

"I'm sorry."

There was something in his voice that made her believe that.

"I can't make it up to you, for doing something so awful. I shouldn't have done it but… I'm not used to being fought against and more than that, I have a terrible, terrible temper. It's one of the reasons why I'm banished from Mt. Olympus."

He paused. "Well, that and insulting Zeus wasn't a good idea, even if I thought it was at the time."

"How so?"

"I insulted his children and how a bad father he had to be. Plus the whole sleeping with anything that moves."

"You are a mean-spirited person… so you say, though. I bet you can change."

"Am I forgiven?"

"You saw me in my full wounds, I think you are."

"How does your wound play into any of this?"

"I've never trusted anyone to see my face, let alone to my… chest."

"About to say breast? Because essentially, I didn't see it, just the bra."

"You still saw it!"

"Nice set."

Water was pooled heavily over his head as he dropped his head, laughing softly.

"Hey, I made you laugh!"

"Yea, you're not incapable of such," He stood up. "Take your time, I'll get dinner started."

"All right.. Thanks, Momus."

"Mo." And he was out the door, and she was left to relax and enjoy the setting of his bath.