See, I told y'all it wouldn't be as long a wait, and I ended up having a very productive day with Fluffythorne at the library. She made me think of answered to plot-related questions I would have never even though to, yet would have ended up very crucial. Many thanks for that, O nitpicky Fluffythorne.
What happened to all my reviewers? Yes, last chapter was bad, and I am rather ashamed of it(being as riddled with errors and… just bad in general), but c'mon! What happened to you guys? Lokirka? chockykitty? Kika? Hello?
Well, at least to the people who DID review.
PCM-… I'm not sure what to make of… that. Was it meant to be good, or bad? I don't know.
Fellowship of Avengers- Well, crazy is a very general term, but in that sense, yes, she is. I gave Willow moderate hypothermia, which entails slow, clumsy movements and mental confusion and can lead to death in extreme cases if the person's core temperature is not brought up. But I'm not stupid enough to kill off my precious little OC like that. I have other plans for my dear Willow. She's still got some mental torment in store for her.
Guess- Wait, this plot has been used before? Crap, I thought I had actually hit something original. I bet they weren't as awesome as mine. *conceited smirk* (kidding)
Necromancer Dreamer- Awesome username, by the way. Does this count as hurrying?
shaadiaThePrincessOfWeird- Hey, sweetie! I'm glad you like it! I'm going to just refer to as shaadia after this, because the rest is really long. Nice to see a familiar face around here! (If that makes, considering this is the internet and we actually see no one). Don't worry about keeping up, my story isn't going anywhere. Thanks for reading it!
sassysaw- I kept writing… I think this is my longest chapter, where the bulk of the words is the actual chapter, not the Author's Notes. Maybe. I might have ONE that's longer.
MoonGirl1155- You think that it's complex now. Oh, god, just you wait. You're going to need a flow chart, or something, just ask Fluffythorne, she's heard the details(no spoilers to the public though! That is between me, you and the library wall!). Though I promise I'll keep it understandable. As for the vocab… um, I actually have memorized several sections of my thesaurus. I found myself looking up the same entries so often, I just memorized them. I even email lists of them to Shaadia when she can't think of them. (In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're pen pals from opposite sides of the world.) It also might be that I have read more books than most people my age have ever seen, because I have no social life whatsoever. What do you mean 'amazing sentence'? How much of my story do you actually read out loud? You give the impression, by the consistent compliments of my writing, that you would be reading a lot(not to be conceited, which I know I sound, I'm just genuinely curious).
Fluffythorne- Yes, she is a woman, and yes, we can now see a bit of Willow's gradual decent into Insanity, which is meant to majorly affect the plot, besides "oh, she's gone crazy, we have to do something.". And, yes, cliffhangers do have a purpose in the writing business(oh). I'm glad you hold appreciation in my use of Tooth's abilities to give insight on Willow. There are things I want the audience to know, yet cannot smoothly integrate into a simple conversation. I had to get creative. And don't worry, big chapter is coming sooner than you think…
"H-Hypothermia?" Jack's eyes flicked back to Willow, not sure if her voice broke from cold or confusion. Her brows were furrowed as realization dawned.
"Think about it. You fumbled to pick up a cup. We both know that you don't fumble. You can't even remember the address of the coffee shop you've worked at for a year. You're under a thick fur quilt and next to a fire and are still shivering, though you've been there for a good few hours. What else could it be?" his voice had risen ever so slightly in volume.
"But, I don't… this is… How could I let this happen?" she whispered, a light shiver running through her body to highlight Jack's words.
"Oh, Willow, this isn't your fault, honey." Tooth murmured. Baby Tooth flitted to Willow's shoulder, nodding vigorously. "You didn't choose to be… followed, by whatever this is." She stopped there, realizing that her hesitance to say targeted did not help the situation, or reassure the girl. All it did was bring another round of realization over the utter enormity of what was really going on. Something was hunting her, and no one knew what it was or what they wanted. Only that they wanted Willow.
"What am I going to do now?" she asked. Both Guardians looked at her, not sure how to answer. As of right now, she looked incredibly small beneath the enormous blanket in her huddled state. Her face was pale and her lips were tinged blue. She didn't look as though she could do much of anything, except stay there and try to fight off the cold.
Baby Tooth landed on her shoulder and looked up at her, squeaking out something unintelligible. Willow offered a small smile and clumsily set the cup back on the table, the mug nearly slipping from her fingers. She held her index finger out and the tiny fairy buzzed to it and perched there. Tooth smiled at them, though the blue of her fingertips tainted the lightheartedness of the scene.
Willow slowly rotated her hand, until Baby Tooth was sitting in her palm.
"You're a cute one. And you have a pretty gold feather, just like your mama." she cooed, brushing the tips of her other hand over the soft feather on the crown of the fairy's head. Baby Tooth grinned and poked her finger playfully with her beak.
Though Jack's eyes were turned to them, his thoughts were elsewhere.
"She wouldn't go away. She wouldn't leave me alone." She. So Sandy was right, whoever this was couldn't be Pitch. But whoever "she" was, could not be underestimated. The last time they were too cocky about a threat, they almost lost.
This unseen threat seemed to be poisoning her mind. Willow had shouted out at someone who didn't seem to be there. Something was in her head, trying to break her. This also explained the meddling with the dreams, trying to get into people's minds and destroy them from the inside out.
By why Willow? What did any of this have to do with her? Logically, someone would target a person with a weak mind, and she certainly wasn't weak. There was another side to this, but he didn't have any idea what it could be.
"Willow, why had you shouted earlier? Who were you talking to?" he asked, knowing what her answer would be, but he hoped she would offer up something else. Something that might tell them how this involved her.
The small smile on her face melted away, and Baby Tooth returned to her mother's side. "Honestly? I don't really know. This… voice, kept talking to me when I was in the woods. It was almost as if she was… taunting me. Boasting how she could control me and I was powerless to stop her. She told me I belonged to her now, as if I'm her property." Anger seeped into Willow's rough tone as she recalled the ominous words, how they echoed though the blackness and she couldn't seem to escape them, no matter how fast she ran.
"She?" inquired Tooth.
"It always sounded like a female. She kept calling me things like darling and dear, but in the sense that she was trying to put me down. That's why I shouted. I don't belong to anyone and no one tells me what to do if I have anything to say about it." The finality was clear in her voice and a considerable amount of her vigor had returned, though her physical appearance hadn't changed at all. Except her eyes. Defiance blazed in the depths of her green-gray eyes.
She slid back into the chair, pulling the blanket close as she gazed at the fire. There were several minutes of silence, before Jack glanced over to see her drifting to sleep.
"Poor thing. She's probably exhausted after everything that's going on." Tooth murmured. Her wings straitened as she rose into the air, drifting off to find the others.
(*)
It was like that for the next couple of days, idle conversations and menial chatter. Willow slept through most of it as her body struggled to get her core temperature stable, but it was slowly rising.
Jack, on the other hand, grated on everyone's last nerve with his constant fidgeting. Even Sandy was losing patience with the boy, though he had to admit that, even before, the child had tendency to talk. A lot.
Unsurprisingly, Bunny was the first to snap.
"Can you not shut your bloody mouth for more than five minutes?! Crikey, we're all worried about her, but this is ridiculous!"
After that, Jack settled with pacing on the roof of the Shop, snow swirling around in a light blizzard. Baby Tooth would come get him whenever Willow would wake up, which wasn't often. Yetis complained frequently about the excesses of snow they were having to shovel out of the entrance, just to keep it useable. Jack promised he would try to keep it down, but it was difficult to control through all of his restlessness. If he was on edge, the snow was equally as fitful.
A few hours into pacing, he was certain there would be a permanent strip of ice there now, the tiny little blur of color signaled him from the corner of his eye.
"She's awake?" Baby Tooth nodded spastically as she shivered, before darting into his pocket to escape the bitter cold.
Wind cradled them as it slowed his descent to the ground, lights glowing warmly from inside the Shop.
He walked into the room where Willow had been staying, to see her simply staring at the fire as she usually did. The color in her cheeks had almost completely returned to normal, save for the peeling scab that slowly receded to reveal the soft, shiny pink of what would surely be a long-lasting scar.
"Hey." she said softly, not even turning at his soundless arrival. Baby Tooth flitted out of his pocket and zipped to the girl. She cupped her hand and the fairy landed on her outstretched palm, smiling in that way only Baby Tooth could. They had grown rather fond of one another, Willow and Baby Tooth. The girl seemed able to slip away from the impending dangers for a few minutes, as the little fairy buzzed around and tugged playfully at her disheveled auburn waves.
"Hey." he replied, cracking a small grin at the nonchalance of the sort-of conversation. Her slender rubbed the top of the fairy's head, receiving adoring squeaks for the attention.
"Do you do anything when I'm asleep besides go up on the roof and pace? I hear Bunny complaining about it all the time, what with the mess you're making with the snow." she glanced over to him, the soft tones of her eyes flashing in the warm light. "Getting worried, are we?" she teased.
"Maybe a bit." he admitted ruefully. "You spent so much time sleeping, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself."
"You could have gone back to Burgess, or something. You don't have to feel tied down, or anything. It's not like anything can happen to me here, and I'm sure you have much more fun messing with the lives of innocent civilians, than waiting around on me." Though she was right, he couldn't bring himself to leave. He had heard some of the things she had murmured in her sleep, about him abandoning her like everyone else had, and he just couldn't do it.
"That's true, I could, but Jamie is expecting a full recount of what went on at the Warren, and that kid can ask question like a teacher. That is not something I want to get stuck in the middle of." he said, worrying the smooth wood of his staff with his thumb.
Her fingers flexed and dug furrows in the quilt, dulled nerves only barely picking up the softness of the fur.
"Am I confined to the chair and blanket by the fire, or am I allowed to get up?" she asked, her feisty tone returning as she raised a cocky eyebrow at Jack. He smirked back at her.
"I don't know why you bother asking, it's not like you'd actually listen if I told you to stay there. You would probably move anyways, just simply because I wanted you to stay there."
"Very true, but I wasn't asking for permission. I was simply asking if I would get in trouble if I got up. I'm in Santa's freaking Workshop, I want to look around. I can't imagine many people have actually seen this place, and I'm no exception to the crowd of curious souls." The sarcasm slipped from her voice, being replaced with childlike curiosity.
Jack couldn't blame her, he had been curious, too, and she didn't even have to be shoved in a sack and chucked through a portal to get the opportunity.
"I suppose not, though I doubt anyone would have actually done anything anyways. I would rather you have on something besides that jacket, though." Her thin cotton jacket was all she had on when she left her house, instead of the thick one she usually wore, and couldn't it possibly be doing her any real good.
"Fair enough, but what am I supposed to wear?" she asked, shrugging out of the jacket, Jack taking it and hanging it by the fire on one of the stocking pegs. Jack considered a moment, before whispering to Baby Tooth, who fluttered off.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
"You'll see." he said evasively.
A few minutes later, Tooth flitted into the room.
"Hello, sweetie! How are you doing?" she asked, her voice reverting back to its usual indecipherable speed.
"I'm doing pretty well, actually. I was just asking Jack, here, If I was confined to this chair, or if I could look around a bit. He decided to nitpick over the thickness of my jacket." she rolled her eyes, though shivered lightly.
"Here, dear, use this." Tooth held out her equally thin feathered shawl, bright colors reflecting the fire. "It's a cold trip up here. I promise it's much warmer than it looks."
Willow raised an eyebrow at the ostentatious garment, before shivering again and accepting it. The pompous down settled over her bare arms, radiating surprising warmth given its thickness.
"Hm, a little flashy for you." Jack teased, receiving a half-hearted glare from Willow, but she was too cold for her to be more than mildly irritated. "Would you like the grand tour?"
"So long as North doesn't mind, that would be nice. I wouldn't mind getting away from the entire, crazy woman hunting me down for some reason, thing for a little while." she said, rising from the chair on unsteady feet, but jack made no move to help her for two reasons. One, she was cold enough without him in her personal space, and two, she would probably push him away, anyways.
"I don't see why he would. Try not to pass out on me, or anything, though." he said.
"Pass out? I've spent the past two days doing almost nothing but sleeping." One mahogany eyebrow arched again.
"Oh, trust me, you've never see anything like this."
(*)
It has been several minutes, yet she still hadn't spoken, or even moved. Not even shivering, she simply stared around in awestruck wonder at the sight before her. Scores of toys fluttered, glided and swooped through the air, several narrowly missing her head. Dozens of yetis bustled around while carrying a variety of objects, ranging from simple things like wood and paint, to, what looked like, complex electrical components.
Jack grinned at the sight of Willow's shocked face, wishing he had a camera for the priceless expression.
"Impressed?"
"That is the very paragon of an understatement." she breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from the blinding explosion of color and movement. Stride no longer shaky, she stepped forward slowly, as though if she moved too quickly, it would vanish. Her sharp eyes flicked around erratically, trying to memorize every detail, suppressing the last shred of rationality that told her she would never be able to.
Jack leaned against his staff, watching as she turned in a slow circle to see the massive column that radiated pure joy. A gentle tinkling caressed their ears as a curious elf drew near. Willow glanced over at the crimson garbed creature, then turned to him.
"I'm sure I'm saying the same thing anyone else who has been here has pointed out, but I thought the elves made the toys." she said, before looking back at the tiny elf.
"Yeah, about that. I'm still not entirely sure the little guys are house broken, so I fear for the lives of any child that receives a gift they built." he chuckled.
Willow ducked as some sort of rotating sphere flew over her head.
"How does a place like this even exist?" she asked, eyes restless as something different caught their fancy every few seconds.
"I've been asking myself the same thing for years." he answered.
"And?"
"Obviously, I have yet to find an answer." he walked forward, but stopped a few feet from her, still not wanting to be too close. "I kind of hope I never do. I would ruin the magic of it."
She nodded. "Yeah, half of its beauty is its wonder."
"Wow, I would swear you've been saving that line, considering this is North's place, after all." Jack commented.
"Well, it would just be shameful if the home of the Guardian of Wonder didn't have that mysterious imagination to it, which no one can never quite understand. It's what makes it feel like magic." she said, the words flowing from her mouth like scripted poetry. Just like at the Warren, she was a different person here, the aura of Wonder unearthing a very suppressed part of her.
"I wish I could just capture it all. I could spend the rest of my life drawing every detail of this room, yet I could never place it all onto paper." Her hand reached up to skim the bottom of a remote control helicopter. "Everything shifts and changes so much, it would be impossible to ever put into a flat sketch."
Though the moment of distraction was a wonderful escape, it could, by no means, last forever. Eventually, her gaze dropped to the floor and her soft smile fell. "A part of me feels like this is all too good to be true. To suddenly be whisked away from my shitty life, and dropped into a world of fantasy and fairytales. And even here, something still wants to hurt me. I don't know what I did that was so wrong that I just can't get a break."
Jack sighed. "You didn't do anything wrong, life will always have its drawbacks. The difference is, this time, you have people who want to help you and are willing to look out for you."
She looked up at the white haired boy, his pastel eyes promising that they would protect her. "You make an awful lot of promises, Jack. It's not that I don't believe you, I believe you'll carry them out or die trying, but I'm a walking taboo. Bad things always seem to happen when I'm around, and I can't help but wonder if it'll be enough."
All her life, it seemed to be one thing after another. Her father deployed to Iran, then him being blown to bits in an explosion a mere four months later. She had just turned nine, and nightmares plagued her in an unending torrent, though she now knew they were not caused entirely from her own mind.
But the most horrifying thing, was the dolls.
They looked like poppets, little Wiccan dolls used for witchcraft, often taking resemblance to her father. They chattered into her ears constantly, the menial noise worming its way into her mind and pushing her close and closer to her breaking point, No matter where she went, what she did, she was unable to escape them.
Then, one day, they just… stopped. After tormenting her for two years, they seemed to just vanish all together.
Until now.
Though she hadn't directly seen them, she could feel them watching her, always darting from her vision when she looked. That's when the woman began speaking to her.
She shuddered and pulled Tooth's gaudy shawl closer, but not because of the chill. Even Jack could see that, though he hesitated to ask. Despite everything she had been through, they had known each other for a week. At this point, whatever was bothering her was probably none of his business, but under the circumstances, he couldn't leave it be.
"What's wrong?"
She looked away, and he could feel that wall rising between them again.
"It's nothing. Just some drama from the past, but it doesn't matter." She walked past him, effectively cutting off the conversation as she headed back to the little sitting room where she first woke.
He watched her walk away, but didn't follow, not yet. There was something different about her, something besides she could see them at her age. He felt the need to protect her, as if she were a delicate china doll made of the most fragile porcelain. She neither wanted, nor needed, protection, but something about her made Jack want to keep her from harm.
She was a mystery, craving friendship, but unwilling to open up and trust someone. He was more than willing to offer that friendship, but, ultimately, it was she who decided whom to trust. Until then, he could do nothing but give her a reason to trust him.
He sighed and went after the girl, finding her curled in front of the fire once more, watching the flames dance with an unwavering gaze. Her lips still held the barest tinge of cerulean, as well as her fingers, but the color was returning. Her skin was still a few shades lighter than it should be, but the pink in her cheeks told him that she was finally getting warm.
He still kept his distance, though, because even though her body temperature was rising, the actual hypothermia would take time to fade, leaving her discoordinated until then.
Before he could take another step, though, Bunny came up behind him, and he turned.
"North was askin' for you and the sheila. There's something you need to see." he said.
"I thought we established my name is Willow, not Sheila." Willow called, rising from the floor.
"Never said it was, lass. Sheila is just another name for girl." he retorted, chuckling once.
"Be that as it may, I still have a name." She brushed past the two, walking in the direction Bunny had come from, though how she knew that when her back was turned, he didn't know.
"Sharp one, isn't she." the rabbit commented.
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it."
(*)
The enormous globe was covered by millions of little twinkling lights, but Willow still wasn't sure what it was she was looking at.
"Alright, I get the whole 'each child who believes is a light' thing, but what do I have to do with any of this?" she asked.
"This." The stock Russian rotated the globe, until the top faced them, showing where a single light shone brightly.
"Okay, a blue dot. I still don't see why that is so important."
"The dot is you. You believe, so light shines. What worries me is color. Should be yellow, not blue." he explained.
"Why does it matter what color the light is?" she couldn't figure out why it mattered if hers was a different color. Maybe it was just because she was older than your typical believer. North, however, did not agree.
"If so, why is Jamie's dot not blue? Or any of friends? There are other older children who believe. No, something is interfering. Question is, what?"
Willow was about to say something else, but was cut off by a low hum that filled the air. All eyes turned to her as she fumbled for her pocket. They all stared at her phone as it vibrated in her palm.
"Well, I'll be damned. The piece of junk still works." She glanced at the name on the screen. "Crap, it's Joe. What am I supposed to tell him?"
She was met with no reply, however, and silence hung in the air until the screen flashed for a new voicemail.
"Well. That's going to be an interesting conversation later." she commented in an amusingly offhand way. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and turned her attention back to the globe. "So, we were talking about my little belief light being the wrong color, correct?"
"Yes, but we don't know why. Nothing else to be said until we do." said North. At this, Sandy shrugged, before a few fast-moving images swirled around his head and he pointed to the window.
"Come again?" asked Willow, still not able to decode the mute Guardian's way of communication.
"He says time to spread dreamsand." North translated, before leaving the room under a heavy stride.
"Well, alright then." Willow murmured, watching as Sandy hopped onto a large golden jellyfish and drifted out the enormous, bay style window.
Willow fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt, silvery leaf patterns standing out against the black material.
"What's on your mind?"
She turned to the white haired teen. "I was kind of wishing I was close enough to home to grab a couple sets of clothes, and maybe my sketchbook. I've been wearing the same thing for three days."
"Since when did you care what your clothes looked like?" he asked.
"I don't, but I mean the same clothes, Jack. Wearing the same socks for three days is a little much, even for me." she said, giving him a pointed look.
"Well, I could bring you some clothes. I know where you live." Jack offered.
"You don't even realize how creepy you made that sound, even by total accident, do you." she asked, shaking her head.
"Hey, I was trying to be nice! You know what I meant!" he protested.
"Yes, I did. And that would be very nice. I suppose I can't talk you into letting me tag along, though, can I?" she asked.
"You suppose right."
She sighed. "I didn't think you would say yes. There's a navy blue backpack on an old coat hanger in the back of my closet that you can use. My gray bag is hanging on the knob." she directed.
Jack nodded as she turned back to the fire and he slipped from the room.
Less of a cliffhanger, but I got grief from FT over them, so now there will be less of them, because I hold a lot of respect to her opinions and don't want to piss her off and she stops reading.
By the time y'all see this chapter, I will have started writing the next one, because it's going to be important and I'm excited, because I want to know what happens, too.