Another round of potential jury duty this week, and I'm also working on a costume for Katsucon this week (Sandy) so next instalment may be late, but if I don't get chosen I might be able to get in extra writing. No promises. By late I mean it may take a whole four days instead of three. Thanks for all the kind comments about the last chapter! - Not The Milk
After a while, Annamore felt a piece of paper pressed into her hand. She looked in the direction it came from and saw Jack give her a thumbs up. She unfolded the paper and glanced at it.
No words on it, it was a series of stick figure drawings showing someone putting their arm over someone else's shoulder. She snorted slightly, wondering if he expected her to do that. Feeling a light touch on her arm, she turned her attention to Sandy. He pointed at the paper, a question mark over his head.
"Just Jack being himself." She whispered, handing him the paper so he could see what she had laughed at.
He stared at it for a moment before chuckling. "It'd be weird if I started to try to use those moves." Annamore stretched, exaggerating it as much as she could, before putting her arm over Sandy's shoulder. "See? It doesn't work when I do it." He nodded in agreement, a smile on his face. "Here, you try it instead."
She removed her arm to let him try. It felt just as silly, and forced her to lean down so his arm could reach. "Not much of an improvement, is it?" She said quietly, resting her head on him for lack of a better place to put it when leaning. He shook his head, but to her surprise didn't take his arm back. She didn't try to sit back up, despite the fact that it was a lot harder to watch the rest of the movie this way. Annamore decided that he was probably suffering residual effects from the snowballs they'd thrown earlier.
She pondered how odd things were – she was losing power, and they had to go after Hate and potentially Pitch too, and here she was watching a movie for the first time in her life with the guardians when before she'd met them she'd probably be freaking out. The cupid tried to tell herself she could probably use a little more worry, but it was pretty difficult to worry at the moment.
After the movie, they slipped through the emergency exit. "It's dark already. How long was that movie?" Bunny asked, glancing around behind the theater. "Longer than most." Jack shrugged. "Did you guys enjoy it?"
"Yes! But they didn't fight a dragon." North complained. "I thought there was going to be a dragon."
"That movie is going to be a three parter, someone said." Jack shrugged.
"Alright, let's go hunt down this guy before North decides to run away with the dwarves." Annamore suggested. "Speaking of that, now I want to see what he'd look like if he braided his beard."
Taking to the sleigh again, they flew all over looking for nightmares or traces of darker shadows. Not finding anything, they started getting frustrated. "I think we may have to split up, mates." Bunnymund suggested.
"I'm afraid to say I think you're right." Annamore admitted. Landing, they readied themselves to go their separate ways.
"Here." Bunny handed each of them an egg. "If you find yourself attacked, drop this. It'll let everyone know where you are in a hurry."
"Hey, Annamore. How can you fight? Do you plan on making your enemies love you or something?" Jack asked curiously.
She smirked. "Not all my arrows are benign. I can protect myself."
Splitting up, she took to the air and flew over streets and alleys, looking for anything amiss. The moon was pleasantly bright, making her feel bold. She had her bow ready, and her fingers tapped restlessly on her arrows. Her eyes moved back and forth across the ground. Coming to a square close to the center of the town, she paused in flight, taking stock of her surroundings. She saw a flash of gold a few streets over, and her the jingle of bells in the direction of a church tower she saw closer to the edge of town.
Out of nowhere a tall, dark clad man appeared in front of her. He grabbed her with one arm before she could react, while his other hand pressed against her mouth prevented her from calling out or screaming. "Boo." The hands owner said simply, a malicious smile on his face. He started to drag her down into the shadows, she was able to get an arm free. She slipped the egg from her pocket and smashed it into his face. He let go instantly, screaming in pain from the flash of light. Annamore herself was nearly blinded, and found herself falling along with her would be captor.
Shoving him away, she got air back underneath her wings and stopped her fall. Blinking the spots away from her eyes, she grabbed an arrow and shot it towards the man, who she could only assume was Pitch. His eyes were full of anger as they flashed up to meet hers. He waved his arm and black sand knocked her arrow out of the way. Raising his other arm, more black sand rose up and tried to grab her, forcing her to dodge. She fired again, flying straight towards him to try to avoid another attack from the sand.
He blocked the arrow again, and caught her as she hurtled towards him. One hand grabbed her wrists, while the other went back around her throat and squeezed tightly. "You seem oddly intent on killing me." He said drily, a mildly amused expression on his face. "Even the guardians couldn't do that."
"Third times the charm, I hope!" A voice shouted from below. Something made Pitch lurch forward, releasing Annamore. She dropped, her eyes watering as she gasped for air, and unable to fly from lack of oxygen. North swooped under her with the sleigh, grabbing her and tossing her into the seat behind him. She took a moment to recover. "Thanks!" She gasped, before jumping back off the sleigh and back into the fray. Pitch was distracted, dodging attacks from both Sandy and Jack. She grabbed an arrow and shot, striking true. Everyone, Pitch included, paused in shock.
Before anyone could recover, another flash-egg went off in the distance. Their eyes turned to it for only a second, but that was long enough for Pitch to disappear back into the shadows. Without a word, they rushed off to the spot that the egg had gone off in, to find Bunnymund and Tooth both looking angry, but unharmed. "That bat-winged freak tried to sneak up on Tooth. He wasn't expecting her to be much of a fight, I bet. But she's one tough sheila." Bunnymund explained.
The fairy nodded to her friend and continued the story. "Bunnymund jumped in to assist right as Pitch showed up and told him that they should make a break for it."
Jack grinned cheerfully. "It's because Anny here managed to tag Pitch. Hopefully that will slow him down a bit."
"Hey, about that…" Annamore looked between them nervously. "Remember how I said I had different arrows?"
"We aren't going to like this, are we?" Jack's smile disappeared.
"My vision was a tad hazy, OK? Being strangled is no picnic. I may have used the wrong kind of arrow on him. You never know, maybe that'll improve his personality a bit?" She offered hopefully. "Or, just as likely, he has no feelings for anyone at all, so maybe nothing will happen."
"She has a point there, mate." The rabbit leaned against a wall. "I'm not betting they'll come back out tonight."
"I agree." Tooth said, brushing her feathers back down from where they were ruffled in her fight. "We'll continue this tomorrow. Sandy, why don't you make sure Annamore gets home safely?"
"Oh, smooth." Jack whispered quietly to Tooth, his eyes sparkling with approval.
"You're a bad influence on Tooth, Jack." Annamore rolled her eyes, but was more than happy to hop into the classic plane. After they landed on the cloud, and Sandy turned to leave, she realized she was just as bad as Tooth or Jack.
"Wait." She said quietly, nervously.
He stopped and looked at her questioningly.
"Look, I know you no longer care for me in the same way as before…" She paused, thinking over her word choice. "But you said you'd still be my friend. So, as a friend, could you stay with me a while? I don't want to be alone yet. Or, I can just nap on your cloud while you work. Technically, it's your fault I'm not used to being alone anymore, so the least you can do is take-" He held a finger up to hush her, his face stern.
She stopped talking, worried she'd made things worse. He turned away from her again and gestured, making the cloud of sand form underneath them both. He glanced back again, this time with a slight smile on his face. She reached forward and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks, Sandy."
The next day was a repeat, for the most part. They went to another city, attacked people with snowballs, and went on their separate ways again. They didn't find any sign of their enemies after that first night. After a week Annamore felt her power starting to drain faster than they could replenish even with the snowballs.
She didn't need to say anything to the guardians about it, either. It was obvious from her slowly molting feathers, and how she stopped flying in front of her friends. She still could, but it was as ungainly as the flight of any fledgling bird, and she didn't want anyone to see it if she could help it. North tried to get her to stay at the pole so he could keep an eye on her, but she wasn't convinced. She was still hoping for another chance at being able to find and beat her enemies, although at this rate she'd be no good in a fight.
The guardians started taking turns showing up in the morning to make sure she was alright, before everyone gathered for the snowball attacks. Finally one morning she heard the knock on her door and was so weak she fell even as she opened the door. Bunny caught her and carried her outside, setting her down in the sunlight. "Sheila, what are we going to do with you?" He asked worriedly, sitting down next to her.
"Not sure if there's anything that can be done, but thanks for the concern." She met his eyes seriously. "Unless we figure out how to stop these guys, I'm likely a goner."
"Don't talk like that." The guardian of Easter protested. She shook her head, holding up a hand to forestall further argument. "We are a little too old to be deluding ourselves like this. I don't care if I die. I do care if love dies. Even if I get knocked out of this, I expect you guys can manage to take down Pitch again, and his little buddy too. They can't hide forever."
"We didn't plan to." A voice called out from overhead. "We just wanted to make sure you were suffering properly."
They glanced up in alarm, both grabbing their weapons, but as soon as Annamore's eyes fell on her enemy she froze in shock.
"You again!" Bunny snarled, throwing a boomerang at the man flying above them. "Get down here so I can finish you off! Anny, what are you waiting for? Shoot!"
"He's… I know him! Kirai. He's the one who…" She was shaken. It made perfect sense for him to have become hate. It also made her angry. She regained her ability to move and shot at him. Unfortunately, her weakness made her slow, and he was able to dodge easily.
"So, you recognize me, do you? Glad to see you haven't forgotten after all these years." Kirai clapped his hands cheerfully.
"Hard to forget when I've still got the scars. Don't take it personally if I hope you don't survive this time." She fitted another arrow to her bow, and aimed. He dodged again, a smirk on his face. "Really now, all this time and that's still all you can do? No wonder you're powers are failing. Personally, I want to kill you too, but someone else thinks you might still serve some purpose." He snapped his fingers and a herd of nightmares jumped onto her cloud from below and started stalking towards them from all sides.
She stood back to back with Bunny now, facing the nightmares on each side. "So, Bunny… Surrounded and on a cloud, and someone needs to tell the others what just happened here."
"You're planning something stupid, aren't you?" The rabbit's ears pointed back in annoyance.
"You know me pretty well. Take care of these for me." She quickly unsnapped the belt that she carried her quiver on, and shoved in and the bow into his paws. "I trust you guys can manage a rescue. And if not… Heck with it, tell Sandy I loved him." She used what little strength she had left to get enough lift to make it over the heads of the nightmares, much to Kirai's obvious shock. "You guys want me? Come and get me!" She dropped over the edge of the cloud, drawing off most of the nightmares and leaving a few red feathers fluttering in her wake.
Bunnymund tapped his foot quickly and hopped down the tunnel as the winged man darted off after Annamore. He was railing at himself for not having taken Annamore to the pole the instant he realized that she was that weak, but at least the others would already be assembled there by now.