Yay, guess who's coming out of hiatus!
Well, I was going to post on Christmas… then I got a new laptop… then I got distracted with my new drawing programs… then it was the 27th.
BUT, I am here now with the next chapter! Yay!
And to reviews.(By the way, I'm going to have to start being selective with answering them, because it was recently brought to my attention that my Author's Notes end up very long because of them.)
KikaKatTIOI- I knew you would get the GL:TAS ref, I wanted to know if anyone else would. And yes, I spend a while angsting over things like that in these chapters. Same thing when I put in Mary K.
KiraTERRAMika- Yes, I wonder where I would have come up with Terra?(Actually, you're about to find out the real reason why, but we can go with this in the meantime.)
ELLE55- Well, not soon… but here now.
Alysiana- I am not a pro yet, because I am 15 and no one would take me seriously.
PCM- "Wonderful evil" Oximoron much?:)
Fluffythorne- Yes, apparently Jack has an edge, too. But it seemed plausible, because Jack seemed awfully vicious in the movie when he and Pitch were in Antarctica. And good, I hate those cheesy cliche moments. And unique was my goal when I created the Creatures, because I don't think there are all that many unique plots where another mystical force/race/person is involved. I'm not going to answer most of those questions, because the story will in due time, but I can safely say Hysterium won't be dying any time soon. She is important for reasons that will be realized… later.
Crimson dawn bled into the indigo sky as the first rays of dawn snaked into the cracks of night. The stars began fading one by one, though the humble glow of the moon was more resilient.
Passion alight, the pair standing in the depths of the forest finally pulled away, that inevitable sense of duty each was born with tugging at their consciences.
Jack gazed into her earthen eyes, and he saw his own thoughts mirrored in them. "You can't possibly imagine how glad I am to see you, but right now-"
"I know. We have to get to Aly." Willow finished. "We can talk later, I will explain what I can."
Accepting this as an answer, Jack wrapped his arm around her waist, twining his fingers through hers, as she slid her free arm around his neck. Gazing at her face, he noticed that the thin scar had not faded from her cheek.
Lifting her into the sky, they began flying towards Aly's house, but after a couple of minutes, Willow began shifting around in Jack's grip.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I don't know. There's this weird pressure where your arm is, and it almost itches." she answered, becoming still. "But it doesn't matter, I'll deal with it later."
A few minutes later, they landed on Aly's roof, where the small girl was huddled, shivering. Her dark skin that matched her mother's stood out in sharp contrast to the stark white of the snow.
"Willow!" she cried, lurching forward and squeezing the older girl around the waist. The bundle was long forgotten, lying in the clear patch where she had been.
"Hey, Aly." she said, quickly unwinding her death grip. At the tight hug, the itching sensation in her back shifted to a sharp pinching.
Aly stepped back, practically vibrating in the cold, but based on the massive grin on her face, she didn't seem to notice.
Willow, however, did. She unzipped her jacket to fully reveal the olive green top beneath it and shrugged out of the sleeves. As she pulled it off of her shoulders, the itching sensation vanished from her back.
"Here." She told Aly, kneeling down and wrapping it around her. She wasn't very cold, so it should keep her fairly warm. Though, now that she thought about it, she wasn't all that cold without it, either…
She heard a soft gasp behind her. "Um, Willow, I think I know why your back was bothering you."
"Why, what's wrong?" she asked, turning around.
"Willow, you have wings!" Aly squealed.
"Wait, what? Would someone care to tell me exactly what's going on?" she asked. Twisting her neck, she peered over her shoulder.
Oh.
She did have wings.
Granted, small wings, but there, folded neatly against her back were thin, branch-like… veins? She wasn't certain. Attached to them, was a thin, translucent membrane that shimmered subtly like dragonfly wings.
Well, that certainly did explain what was bothering her earlier.
"Can you fly?" Aly asked, her voice shattering Willow's awed reverie.
"Um, I don't know." she answered. They unfolded and opened up to fan out on either side of her, hovering at the height of her eyes and going down to her waist, a bit longer than her hair. They felt like any other part of her body, and it wasn't difficult to open them. However, when she tried to actually fly, she only succeeded in making them flutter for a moment.
"Hm, maybe not. I don't really know how, it's not like I've ever practiced this kind if thing." she admitted, re-folding them into their former position.
"Don't worry, I can help you. I wasn't very good at flying, either, at first. I fell out of the sky." Jack chuckled. She turned back to Aly, who was still wrapped in her jacket, causing him to wonder how Willow wasn't cold. Her shirt didn't have any sleeves, not that he was complaining, or anything, but those gloves couldn't offer much warmth, especially without fingers, however, the chilly air didn't seem to faze her at all. He wondered if this had anything to do with her becoming a Creature.
"Okay, you need to get back to your room soon, so you don't get in trouble with you parents. Are you ready?" she asked, holding out her hand. Aly nodded and reached out, grasping her hand. Willow scooped her up in one hand, the bundled scarf in the other, and Jack was expecting her to ask him to lower him, but instead, she walked to the other side of the roof overlooking the backyard.
Willow was very good at doing the opposite of what he expected, but it was rather surprising to see her jump off of the edge of the two story roof.
Eyes widening in alarm, he leapt forward, but then he heard a delighted giggle. Peering over the edge, he saw Willow and Aly in a slow bounce on an enormous trampoline.
Floating down to them, he raised an eyebrow at Willow. "Next time you decide to jump off of a roof, would you mind telling me there's a trampoline at the bottom?" he asked.
She glanced at him sheepishly. "Um, sorry about that. I used to do this all the time with her when I babysat and her parents weren't home. Which may or may not make me a bad sitter, but no one was ever hurt." she smiled. "It was just fun."
He sighed at this answer, but the Guardian of Fun wasn't exactly in the best position to be contradicting her.
They walked over to the, still ajar, window plastered in planetary stickers. Willow pushed up the pane, careful not to let it squeak. She then ducked inside, turning to pull the little girl through.
Once she had set her down on the floor, Aly looked at her bed and let out a wide yawn. All things considered, they should have expected it. She had been awake half the night and stuck in the freezing cold while an insane woman was trying to capture or kill her. A pretty rough night for any kid.
She pulled the thick jacket from around her her and handed it back to Willow. She glanced at the wrapped scarf in her hands.
"What's in that?" she asked.
Willow carefully unwrapped the soft fabric, peeling away the layers until a pale lavender egg was resting in her palm, the soft blue shimmer on the shell dotted with snatches of red and orange from the sky.
"An egg?"
"Yes, an egg." Willow smiled. "But this is a very special egg. It is a symbol of Hope."
Aly looked at the egg with awed eyes, brushing the shell lightly with one of her fingers before crawling into her warm nest of blankets on her bed. Willow pulled the thick quilt over her, the girl's eyes already drooping.
"Goodnight, Aly." she whispered.
"It's morning." the girl mumbled with a sleepy grin.
Willow chuckled and slipped her jacket back on, turning to the window to leave. Jack was standing outside the sill, peering into the lightly shadowed room. Just before she pulled up her sleeve on her left arm, he saw a faded asterisk shaped scar near her shoulder.
"Willow." The older girl turned. Aly sat up, her brown eyes now wide. "Thank you for being okay."
A warm smile tugged at her lips, and she slipped out the window.
"So, now what?" she said, her fingers wrapping around Jack's.
"I suppose we should go back to the Pole. If they haven't sent out the Lights yet, then they either haven't figured out we're gone yet, or they just skipped that." Jack answered, only partly joking. Willow's eyes wandered to the partially lit sky behind him.
"Um, what are the Lights?" she asked, still looking at the sky.
"They're pretty much the Northern Lights, but everywhere. Only Spirit can see them." Jack answered.
"You might want to add Creatures to that list." she told him, pointing to the horizon.
"Why would- oh." He turned to see the shimmering ribbons snaking across the sky. "Well, this should be interesting to explain."
(*)
The soft twinkle of Burgess' lights glimmered in the horizon, blinking at the fast approaching sleigh.
Sapphire eyes remained steadfastly on the distant glow, to be pulled away by nothing less than that faint itch tingling in his arm again. North shifted his grip on the reins to his right hand, looking down at his arm as the light tingle shifted to a sharp sting.
His eyes widened a the blank space where Willow's name once was, green letters beginning to trace across his skin like the touch of a razor as a new tattoo came to life.
Terra.
North raised a bushy eyebrow at the name. Who was Terra? Did she have anything to do with Willow, and if so, what?
Dozens of questions, but no answers. However, with Burgess only minutes away, answers may be in reach soon enough.
Tooth noticed the shift in the large Russian's demeanor, peering curiously around to see what, exactly, it was he was doing. She managed to catch a glance of his pulling down his sleeve, his focus returning to the sky.
"North?" she asked quietly, "Is something happening?"
"Maybe. I have a hunch, but I don't know for certain."
(*)
"Okay, can you please explain to me why we're here again?" Jack asked as they ducked through her bedroom window.
"Well, I'm obviously not going to live here anymore, so I would like to pick up a few things. Plus, and I know this sounds insane, but I want to check on my mother." she said, refusing to meet his incredulous eyes.
"Okay, wanting to get your things, I understand, but that woman beat you. Why would you have a care in the world what happened to her?" he asked, lightly tracing her scar with an icy touch.
Her slender fingers wrapped around his wrist, pulling his hand away from her face. "Jack, I care because, no matter how much she tormented me, how much she made my life a living hell, she's still my mother, and she's the only family I've got. I don't have any plans to come back here, so I'm going to take the chance to see her one last time, when she can't see me and can't hurt me. I don't want my last memory of her to be when I was backhanded."
To this, Jack said nothing.
She spent a few minutes pulling the various drawing from the wall and off of her desk, slipping them into a small binder. Then, another sketchbook was pulled from one of the locked drawers, as well as a small, dark stained wooden box.
She dug in her closet for a moment, then withdrew a dilapidated old string backpack, one string knotted together after having been snapped, and two holes at the top, where a book or binder would have worn it down. The binder, sketchbook and mystery box went into it, as well as her bundled scarf. She pulled the distressed strings shut and set the bag on her bed, then slipped through her ajar bedroom door, Jack following closely behind.
She made no attempt to be silent, knowing there wasn't a point. Her eyes glanced around the sty of a house, broken glass and garbage littering the floor, sour alcohol perfuming the air. She eventually came to, what used to be, her parent's bedroom door, but it was almost never entered anymore.
However, the rest of the house was empty, and the dull buzzing behind the door was the only sound in the house.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to go in alone." she said quietly, her hand resting of the knob.
"Wait, are you-"
"Please." She turned to him, cutting off his sentence. "She won't hurt me."
He studies her soft eyes for a moment. "Okay. I trust you."
She nodded and turned the lightly rusted brass handle, stepping inside.
She walked slowly through the room, the bed empty and neat as ever. This was the only room that her mother ever cleaned, even then, only to dust the impeccable room. The door to the private bathroom was closed, and the source of the buzzing seemed to come from behind it.
She twisted the knob and pushed it open.
(*)
Jack was standing anxiously outside the door, staring a hole in the panels, when he heard a sharp gasp, followed by a low cry.
Disregarding her earlier words, he pushed the door open of see her standing in front of, what he assumed was, the bathroom door, hands covering her mouth, eyes wide in horror.
"Willow, what's the matter?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.
"I.. she…" Words abandoned her and a small tear welled in her eye, rolling down her cheek in a lone streak. He looked into the small room, and what he saw shook him to the very core.
A photograph of a man and a woman, adorned in wedding finery and surrounded by blooming flowers and gossamer ribbons. A gilded frame wrapped around the image, bits of glass from the spiderwebbed crack decorating the intricate designs. Most of the pane was still there, albeit shattered, with the exception of one long, thin shard.
That, was clutched in Willow's mother's right hand, blood glistening on the razor tip.
She was wrapped in a filthy robe and lying in the tub. Blood still dripped to the floor in a thick pool from the deceptively small incision in her left wrist, though there were several streaks inside the tub as well, and a swarm of flies buzzed around.
Her muddy brown eyes were glassy and distant, and her chest was still.
Willow turned away, her hands gripping the front of Jack's hoodie as she leaned against his shoulder, eyes shut tight.
"I think you were right." she whispered. "I shouldn't have come."
She stepped back and brushed the scant water from her eyes. Jack wasn't exactly sure what to do.
"Um, do you…" he trailed off.
"Yeah, can I have a minute?" she said, looking back at her mother.
Jack backed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Willow's steps were slow as she entered the bathroom. She tried very hard not to think about the puddle of blood that covered half of the floor and the flies that circled the room.
"Well, maybe I meant something to you after all." she muttered. In truth, she didn't really believe that. Her mother had never loved her. Hell, her mother never even liked her. As far as she was concerned, Willow was a replacement for her father's love.
But, she liked to think that her mother actually cared about her, even if this was a result.
She stepped around the congealed pool, reaching for her right hand. The bright glint of her ring was unmarred by blood, after having been moved to her other hand upon being widowed. She pried the glass from her grip, allowing it to clink to the bottom of the porcelain basin. A thin cut ran along her palm where her grip on the glass sliced her skin.
"But even if you didn't, I still love you, Mom." Willow tugged the ring from her finger, slipping it into her pocket. She walked from the room, not looking back as she returned to Jack.
"Are you… okay?" he asked.
She took a deep breath. "No, not really. I just need time."
Jack nodded and they picked back through the house towards her room. Willow scooped up the landline, dialed 911, then set the ringing phone on the table.
"She doesn't deserve to lay there and rot." she said to Jack's skeptical eyes.
Jack begged to differ, but he said nothing.
They slipped back into Willow's room, and Jack walked towards the window. While he was ducking through the window, Willow stooped down without a sound and snatched the book that held so much weight from beneath her bed, tucking it into her waistband beneath her jacket before Jack turned.
"Ready?" he asked, holding his hand out.
She reached out and grabbed it without hesitation, sliding the derelict bag onto her shoulder. "Definately."
"Good, because you get to explain what happened." he informed her as she stepped through the window as well.
"What are you…" she trailed off when she saw a very distinctive shadow stretching across the snow. "Oh."
"Can I ask what in the bloody hell is going on?!"
(*)
North pulled the sleigh into a soundless landing on the roof of Willow's house, thin furrows streaking the snow where the tracks of the sleigh had been. The reindeer stood silently in the snow, the light of the early morning gleaming off of their antlers.
"So, what are you going to do if ya find him?" Bunny asked, breaking the tense silence.
"When we find both of them, I want to know why they left. Is not much, but it is only way we find out what is going on." North answered.
"North, I know you don't really want to talk about this, but have you thought about what we're going to do if we only find Jack?" Tooth asked quietly. Baby Tooth looked up at her mother, her wide magenta eyes full of worry.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Finally, though, small golden figures of Jack and Willow swirled to life above Sandy's head.
"Sandy is right." North said firmly. "We will handle that if we need to."
No sooner than he had said this, Bunny's ears began to twitch. "Hold one, mates, I think I hear something."
In an almost comical way, all four of them glanced over the edge of the roof.
Jack stepped out of the window just beneath them, before turning and peering back inside.
"Ready?" They heard.
There was a muffled reply, but only Bunny could hear exactly whose voice it was.
"Good, because you get to explain what happened." He said, helping a very familiar, yet completely different, person through the open sill.
"What are you…" Her gaze stopped on the silhouette of the sleigh. "Oh."
By that point, Bunny had had enough. "Can I ask what in the bloody hell is going on?!" he said loudly.
Willow turned to look up at the rest of the Guardians, all of which looked very worried, aside from Bunny. Bunny was looking rather livid, actually.
"Um, that's a really funny story…" she said, rubbing her arm.
"Well, if I were you, I'd be gettin' to telling that story." The Pooka said.
"Hey, lay off Kangaroo. She's had a rough night." Jack said, his tone verging on harsh as his eyes narrowed.
"Jack, it's fine. If anything, it's justified. We were the ones who took off on them, remember?" she whispered. He grumbled at this, but said nothing, knowing she was right. His arm slipped around her waist again, though carefully now, and he leapt onto the roof.
"Okay, well, you might want to get comfortable." she said. "This is a long story."
(*)
Bunny blinked.
"Can ya repeat that?" he asked.
"Which part?" Willow asked, her hair blowing everywhere from the wind in the sleigh.
"Pretty much the whole thing."
Willow cracked a small grin. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in at once."
"And you say you have wings now?" he asked, still looking very confused.
She shrugged out of her jacket and unfolded the very nature-esque wings that had been tucked neatly under the jacket, their translucent surface reflecting the pinks and oranges in the sky much like Tooth's did.
"Ooh, does this mean you can fly now, too!" Tooth gushed. Baby Tooth flitted over and landed on her shoulder, extending her tiny hand to touch the soft membrane.
"I don't know. I can make them move, but I don't really know how to fly." she told her.
"Oh, of course!" Tooth exclaimed. "It's been so long ago, but I had trouble figuring out wings, too. I can help you."
"Really? Thanks." she said, folding them back flat against her back.
"Oh, it's no problem, sweetie. We're just glad you're safe." She said gently, placing her hand over Willow's.
"So, now what?" Bunny asked. "Apparently we missed all the action, and I would still like to know what went on in that house, because seeing Frost climbing out the window with a pretty little sheila in tow isn't really reassuring."
Jack shot a glare at the rabbit, but Willow only looked down at her lap, eyes darkening.
Sandy felt the atmosphere shift to a more melancholy mood, and cut his hand over his throat to silence Bunny, but the furry Guardian was determined to have his questions answered.
"Bunny, can't you just leave her alone for a while?" Jack questioned sharply, but he shook his head.
"The both of you just took off in the middle of the night, without telling anyone, and while she was still injured after the last one of your little misadventures. Then, we find you both perfectly fine, her completely healed and another species, climbing out of her bedroom from the house where she probably spent most of her life being abused. I don't know about you, but I think that deserves some answers!" Bunny finished, irritated.
Willow's head lifted up, her eyes becoming cold and detached. "I was in that house, because I wanted to check on my mother. She beat me for years, but she is still my mother. What I ended up finding, was a body that must have been there for hours, maybe days, and a hell of a lot of blood. I don't know about you, but I think that deserves some time to let it go!" she snapped, her voice having risen in volume to the point she was almost shouting.
Bunny sat there, speechless, and Tooth covered her mouth with her hands. Sandy crossed his arms and gave Bunny a look.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't-" Willow cut him off.
"No, you didn't know, but you would've when I was damn well ready for you and everyone else to know." she said stiffly.
Bunny's ears drooped, and he studied the floor.
Willow pulled her jacket back on with stiff movements, fidgeted a moment, then sighed. She reached out and put a hand on Bunny's shoulder.
"Sorry. I'm just… a little overwhelmed myself." she leaned back against Jack and ran her fingers through her, knotted once again, hair, flinching when her hand yanked the knots. "A lot has happened in the past few hours, and I'm still trying to get a grip on what's real and what isn't."
"I'm sorry, too. I pushed too hard. I kind of deserved it." he replied, repentant.
"Willow." North said suddenly. "Does name Terra mean anything to you?"
She looked at him, surprised. "When I woke up in the forest, this… voice, told me that was my name. Kind of like Jack Frost, or the Easter Bunny, I guess. I think it's Latin for Earth, which makes sense." she shrugged. "I personally am happy with my own name. Why?"
"Name on Nice list changed."
"Oh come on!" Jack whined. "Is everyone here on the Nice list but me?!"
"Yes." Willow, Bunny and North said in unison, while Tooth giggled and Sandy nodded.
"You said your name means Earth, right?" Tooth asked.
"I think so. I took a couple of Latin classes in high school, but I don't remember too much of it." Willow answered.
"Does that mean you can control earth?"
Jack and Willow shared a look.
"Um, yes. I didn't say anything before, because I don't know much about it, or how to really control it." she admitted.
"Well, you seemed to be controlling it pretty well before." Jack pointed out.
"That was because that voice was telling me what to do." she said, fidgeting with her necklace. Jack noticed for the first time that it was not glowing any more.
"Well, can you do it now?" Bunny asked.
"I don't know. I'm half afraid if I try, I'll hurt someone." she said.
"Well, you won't know until you try." Tooth encouraged.
"I just don't think the sleigh is the best place to be experimenting. Besides, I don't have any earth." she countered, stubborn as ever.
"We are almost to Pole." North announced.
The brief remainder of the trip was spent in silence, allowing everyone a much needed moment to collect their thoughts.
(*)
"I still don't think this is a good idea." Willow murmured to Jack. His cool hands wrapped around her waist from behind.
"You'll be fine. We can take care of ourselves." he said into her ear.
"If you two are through whispering sweet nothings, we have other things to do!" Bunny called loudly across the Warren.
Ultimately, they decided it would be the best place, despite Bunny's protests. No mortals could stumble across them accidentally, and, in this more secluded section of the Spring wonderland, any possible destruction could be reigned in.
Jack chuckled, his lips brushing her tangled hair before he joined the others a few meters away.
"Okay, we start simple. Try to move rock." North instructed, gesturing to one of the small rocks strewn around.
Willow nodded, closing her eyes in concentration. After a moment, a sixth sense of a sort kicked in and she was suddenly hyper aware of every rock, pebble and grain of sand within several feet of her. She focused her energy onto a relatively small rock a few feet away, and imagined it levitating.
Opening her eyes, she saw the stone hovering about eighteen inches off the ground.
"Whoa, am I doing that?" she asked, her voice quiet so she didn't break her concentration.
"Yep. Did you know your eyes glow when you use your powers?" Jack said. The stone wobbled a moment, before falling back to the ground with a quiet thud.
"Oops." she said. "My concentration slipped when I was told my eyes apparently glow."
Jack gave a sheepish grin. "Well, they do! Actually, it's kind of cool."
"Says the Winter Spirit." she teased.
"Okay, moving on." Bunny grumbled.
This time, Willow knelt down and placed her hands on the soft ground, fingers spread. Her eyes began to glow again and she slowly picked her hands up from the ground, thin ribbons of sand following their corners of her lips twitched upwards, and she extended her arms outwards, causing the sand to swirl around her body.
"Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening." she whispered, now full on grinning. However, no sooner had she spoken, did the sand jerk then spray out, showering both her and the other Guardians in rough grains.
"Sorry!" she said, standing and brushing the sand off of her clothes and out of her hair.
"Can you do that wall thing again?" Jack asked, shaking the sand from his feathery hair. "When you first found Hysterium and I fighting?" The maniacal Creature's name was spoken with bitterness.
"I can try." Her eyes closed and she held out her hands once more.
Several long moments passed before a low rumble was heard. Almost painfully slowly, a rather misshapen wall of earth rose about six inches out of the ground.
Willow's hands trembled and her eyes opened, the soft glow fading as she lightly panted. "Well, I guess that one is out for a while."
"Hm." North mused. "Can you manipulate rocks into other shapes?"
"I can find out." She picked up the rock from earlier and began to mentally poke around the composition of the stone. Then, after a long minute, its form began to shift. It morphed into a long, slender rod in her hands, bringing her to open her eyes. She watched the stone move like liquid, and it gave her an idea.
The stone phenomena snaked up her arm and curled around her bicep, twisting in a simple pattern like a decorative bracelet. Jack grinned at her actions and walked towards her, wondering how he ever convinced her to stick around.
Willow's eyes stopped glowing and she shifted her arm to admire her handiwork, when a wave of fatigue washed over her. She swayed on her feet as lightheadedness enveloped her mind. After a moment, her knees gave out.
"Whoa, easy!" Jack caught her as she fell against him, his arms easily supporting her weight. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." she said, regaining her footing, but she still swayed. Jack kept his arm around her shoulders. "That took a lot more out of me than I expected." she explained.
"Perhaps we should stop for day." North suggested, and everyone nodded in agreement.
North, Sandy and Tooth each went their separate ways to their own homes, North in a particular hurry with Christmas so close, and Bunny disappeared soon after, leaving Jack and Willow off in their own little quiet corner of the world.
"So, now what?" Jack asked.
"That question is getting really hard to answer." she sighed. They walked to the shade of a small tree, tiny pink flowers dotting the luscious branches. Willow leaned against the trunk, attempting once more to run her fingers through her hair, but it seemed to have other ideas.
"Why did you stop me?" he asked suddenly.
"Stop you?"
"I was about to kill her, or at least try, and we both knew it. So why did you stop me? If anything, you have more justification to let me." he said, not directly answering her question, but enough that she caught on to what he meant.
Her eyes focused on the horizon as she considered his question. "Because… I didn't want you to be like her."
Jack raised an confused eyebrow.
"I mean, if you tried to or did kill her, it would make you no better a person than her, because you were both willing and did go that far. But if you would have gone through with it..." she paused, considering her words carefully. "You wouldn't have been you anymore. It would have changed who you are to the very core, and you wouldn't be e the same person." She looked into his crystal blue eyes. "You wouldn't be the person I fell in love with."
Jack smiled at her, wrapping his arms around her waist beneath her jacket, running his cool fingers over her folded wings. She shivered lightly at the sensation.
"Well, I think I can safely say that was the single most philosophical thing I have ever heard someone come up with on the spot." he murmured into her ear.
Willow blushed. "And I probably couldn't say it again if I tried. I used to do that to my dad. He'd ask me a question and I'd come up with this bizarre response, then he'd ask me where I read that from."
"Your dad sounds like a pretty neat guy." Jack commented, his eyes far away.
"Yeah, he was." She noticed his expression. "What's up?"
"It's kind of stupid, really. I just don't remember much about my dad, or either of my parents, really. A lot of my past is a huge blur, because my teeth only showed me what was important." he shrugged.
Willow sighed. "Between you and be, I understand how Tooth's job as a Guardian is important, but what really determines what is important? Yes, there are some things that are obvious like yours, but what about all the little things? There are a million moments in everyone's life that make them smile every time they think of them, and are precious to them."
"And it's moments like that I wish I could have, but I can't really miss them, either, because I don't have any." he confessed.
Willow slipped her hand into his. "Well, it's a good thing you're immortal, because you have plenty of time to make some new ones."
You're right, I do." He said, dipping his head to catch her lips with his own.