Rose woke to a buzzing at her wrist. She sat up groggily, wincing at the soreness between her legs as she touched the rose on the bracelet Sandy had given her the day after they first met that she had enchanted to alert her when she had 30 minutes until she had to bring night to one side of the world. She glanced down at the sleeping figure next to her, love welling so strongly inside her heart that it threathened to burst. She gently kissed Sandy's forehead, and slid quietly off the bed, making no noise as she slipped out of the room, careful not to wake him. As she tiptoed down the stairs she found her mind drifting to thoughts of last nights exploits, making her blush at their wonton behavior. She absently thought about what her parents would think as she stepped out onto the porch, breathing the cool december air deep into her lungs. How she loved winter! The cold air brushed against her skin, refreshing her, invigorating her. She walked down the front steps , toes digging into the soft sand of the beach as her wings shuddered free. She silently asked the sand to let her love sleep before taking off, flying through the dawn sky as she made her way to the edge of the western hemisphere. She found it alittle strange to be flying by herself, as she had so rarely done so these past few months, getting used to Sandy's constant presence. Mmmmmm...Sanderson...she breathed out softly to herself, dirty thoughts running around in her mind as she contemplated all the naughty things she wanted to try with him. She often wondered how she was so damn lucky to have met him...and oh! How she loved him! She was deep in her thoughts as she skidded to halt halfway into the pacific ocean, having passed her normal starting point. She shook her head to clear it as she focused on her task, gliding back to just off the California coast. She took off across the sky, dragging the darkness after her, and, as the land below her streaked by, she wondered how someone as bright and sunny as Sandy could love someone as dark as she. Her whole world revolved around darkness and night, though she thought the night was beautiful, sometimes even more so than the day. On the other hand, she argued, Sandy's job is dreams, and only at night do people sleep and dream...she sighed. She needed to shake this insecurity. Maybe some girl time with Tooth! She grinned. She hadnt seen her for months! She slowed down at the other end of the hemisphere, stopping the darkness from leaking out her wings as she flew over Dublin, staring at all the Christmas lights. Damn had it really been that long? Was it almost Christmas? She dropped down into an alleyway outside a coffee shop, her secret vice. She pulled some darkness out of the shadows and fashioned it into leggings and a huge, fluffy black sweater, the hem stopping almost at her knees. She added some black flats and chopsticks, twisting her hip length hair into a knot and sticking the chopsticks through it, a few long curls escaping and framing her face as she walked to the door of the coffee shop. She reached for the knob when a strange feeling swept through her. She turned and looked around, the sinking feeling in her stomach told her someone was watching her. Not seeing anyone, she shrugged off the feeling and pushed open the door, allowing the humans inside to see her so it wouldnt look like the door had just come open by itself. She didnt notice the cold silver eyes staring at her from the across the street.
Rose grinned and thanked the barista for her venti pumpkin spice latte, wrapping her cold hands around the warm cup. She headed over to a secluded corner where a squishy looking couch was calling her name. She sat down, tucking her feet under her and leaned against the arm, propping one elbow on it as she sipped her steaming drink, relaxing in the warm ambience of the small place. This was her favorite coffee shop. Her secret little human place that she hadnt told anyone about. Not even Sandy. She felt a little guilty as she thought about that. She didnt like omitting things from him, and she promised herself that the next time she saw him, she would invite him to her special place. Introduce him to the joys of java. She was just thinking about what type of drink Sandy might like when a tall, dark figure walked into the shop. She watched as he drifted to the bar, stealing a drink someone was waiting for, and realized her was a spirit when he walked right through the person who was going to get their drink. She watched him smile, pointed teeth glinting as the customer argued with the barista over the missing drink. She frowned at him, she disliked stealing, and studied him as he noticed her and started making his way over to her. His hair is like Sandy's, she thought, it was spiked but slicked back in the front, the spikes all on the back of his head, and the hair was black as night. He was dressed in all black robes, his skin gray and ashy. He was scarily thin, with thin, dark grey lips, but it was his eyes that struck Rose the most. They were cold steel, silver orbs that never once wavered from her face. She felt...fear...rising in her, though she couldnt think of what she would be scared of. Her heart beat faster with the fear coursing through her, and she could swear that his grin widened just a hair, as if he KNEW she was scared, and delighted in it. She disliked him instantly. He came to a stop, standing right in front of her, looking down into her eyes. He stood there a second to long to be normal, before plopping down into the armchair across from the couch on which she sat. She narrowed her eyes at him as he sipped the pilfered beverage.
"So.." he stated softly, his voice like a thousand insect wings, making her shudder "since you can see me, I am guessing you are a spirit." He made a big show of looking around, pausing at the mutiple men who kept glancing at her. "But I can tell that humans notice you. And not just kids..." he trailed off, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his chin on top of his hands "Now how is that possible?" he stared at her intently, making the fear welling in her swell, causing her to stutter out "W...w-well, I I..."she cleared her throat and shoved down the fear, locking it into a box and ignoring it, shaking herself slightly, her voice coming out strong and confident "I am the daughter of the Man in the Moon and Mother Nature. I guess that comes with certain perks, as well as cons" she stuck her hand out to him, noting with satisfaction the surprise on his face "I am Lunar Rose, its a pleasure to meet you."
The strange man smirked, quickly shaking off his surprise, grabbing her hand with an astounding strength that wa belied by his thinness. His skin was deathly cold and rough, the nails very long and pointed like talons. Just touching him sent a sickening feeling through her that almost made her nauseous. "The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Rose, you can call me Pitch, Pitch Black". Rose gasped and jerked her hand away, standing up quickly, glad she had had enough sense to cloak her presence to humans after he had pointed out that they could see her. "Pitch Black! The Guardians told me about you!" she stumbled backwards, towards the door. He stood up and glided towards her, completely unfazed, the smirk still plastered on his face. "Stay back!" She held her hand up in front of her, wishing with all her heart that she would have had the sense to get Sandy to come with her, or at least left a note for him about where she was going. Then again at the time she left she hadnt known she was going to stop by here. He continued to advance towards her, a devious look in his eye as he got closer and closer. He made to grab her and she blasted him with the same bright ball of light that she had hit her father with, only when she hit Pitch, he went out the window into the street, the glass shattering. She ran out the door and furled her wings, shooting up into the sky, to worried about getting away to notice that he had melted away into the shadows, gone. If only for the moment.
All the fear that Rose had bottled up during their conversation was coursing through her, making her speed faster and faster, unaware of where she was going till she crashed through the huge doors of the North Pole. She covered her face as she slammed into a floating jellyfish thing and crying out as one of her wings went through the railing on the balcony, breaking her wing, one broken spike stabbing through it. She curled in on herself in pain, landing with loud bang onto the globe room floor, skidding until her head collided with the large globe, knocking it off its axis. The last thing she knew was a loud voice screaming for someone to get Sandy before everything went black.
Sanderson
Sandy woke with a smile on his face, stretching languily. He sat up and looked around, a little bummed that Rose wasnt next to him, but when he noticed the sunlight streaming in from the window, he figured she was off bringing night to the other side of the world. He got up and walked to the shower, turning on the hot water, letting it steam up the room as he looked in the mirror, fingering the shallow stratches on his shoulder from Rose's nails as they dug in during their lovemaking. Sandy grinned, flexing his arms in the mirror, watching as the stratches waved and moved with him. Hopping into the shower Sandy immediately missed Rose, thinking of how sexy it would be to do her in under the hot spray. He felt himself grow hard and glanced down at his hardening length. Something glinted near the base. He peered closer and noticed dried flecks of silver were all around his cock. What the hell? he thought, rubbing some over and pinching it between his fingers, bringing it up to his face. It washed away in the shower, a small amount running down the drain after he washed his groin. Like blood, the thought popped unbidden into his mind. Blood? Didnt some women bleed after their first time? he pondered this while he stood in the warm stream, letting the water pound against his back. Spirits cant die, they dont bleed. But she isnt all spirit, she's half human. After he was done he went into the bedroom and inspected the sheets. Sure enough, there was a small pool of dried silver, shining in the late afternoon sun. After he ate breakfast and cleaned up, picking up Rose's ruined bra and shredded underwear from the bedroom floor, he began to wonder where she was at. What could be taking her so long? He thought, frowning. Did she regret what they did? Was she mad at him? Sandy hopped onto a dream cloud, riding it throught the house and out the front door, speeding off in the direction of her palace. She had told him the wind current it rode, so that he could always find it. As he was passing over the Atlantic, he saw the Northern Lights streak across the sky, and his stomach dropped. North only sent out the lights during emergencies, and never had an emergency been so pressing that North would let them out during the day, when it was impossible for the natural ones to ever be seen. He changed direction and raced to the North Pole, his stomach sinking lower and lower with every passing second.
When Sandy neared the Pole, he saw the enormous twin front doors broken and hanging off their hinges. His heart in his throat, he sped into through them and took in the carnage that had become the normally chaotically organized workshop. Toys lay littered on the ground, the decorations were in disarray, the balcony overlooking the main work space had a huge chunk missing, the railing broken and splintered. He noticed with growing horror that there was a copius amount of shiny silver liquid dripping from the destroyed rails. Oh no...oh no oh no oh no...he thought panic mounting as he scanned the globe room, his eyes immediately landing on huge black wings tied to poles stuck in the ground, one bleeding profusely as yetis held towels against it. In the middle was a limp body, lying it back in a low cot, blood red hair spilled over the edges, silver matting some as a good foot rested on the floor. The body's face hidden by the other Guardians, of whom were standing around it, solemnly talking in low voices. Sandy couldnt process the scene, that couldnt be Rose. It couldnt be HIS Rose lying in the cot. His dream cloud slowly came forward, disappearing and dropping Sandy to his knees on the ground when he saw Rose's face, deathly pale and stark white against the her hair, he grabbed the hand that hung limply off the cot, fingertips brushing the floor, and he whispered "What happened?" his eyes never leaving her face, noting with growing panic that even her normally flushed cheeks and red lips were white and colorless. The others gaped at him, not believing that they had just heard him speak. "WHAT HAPPENED?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, a small part of him hoping his voice would wake her. "WHY ARE HER WINGS TIED UP?! WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO TO HER?!" gently placed her hand on her stomach, rising as he shouted, his face so full of rage that the others stumbled back away from him. Only North, his oldest friend, stood still, holding out his hands. "Sanderson, we didnt do this. She came crashing in, she was going to fast to stop in time. Her wings..." North looked at them sadly. "her wings were to big spread at full length to be indoors. They were damaged." he gestured at the yetis attempting to stop the flow of blood from one, and the other, Sandy noticed, was bent at a weird angle. It was broken. Sandy teared up, glaring at North. North stopped him before he could say something "Sandy, we had to tie them down, they kept trying to shrink back into her. We have to set the bones and stop the bleeding, or they could be permanetly damaged. Or worse, she could bleed out." Sandy's eyes widened as the implication of what North said sank in. He was saying she could die. DIE. Some part of her is human, she could DIE. And Manny had said he didnt know the extent of her powers, insinuated that he didnt know if she could come back, to keep her safe. Sandy fell to his knees beside her, pressing his forhead against hers. "Rose...Rose please...wake up, love. Baby wake up!" he shook her head gently. Her eyes never even fluttered. His heart sank. He looked up into the sad faces of his friends pleadingly, silently begging them to fix her. He stood up and, stalking over to where the yetis were trying to staunch the flow of silver from her wing, he shoved them out of the way, pushing his sand into her wound until it was completely stuffed, no blood seeping through. He ran over to the other wing and with a sickening feeling, used his sand again, this time, he wrapped the broken wing bone in sand and with a deep breath, snapped it straight with a terrible nauseating crack. Rose screamed in agony.
