Chapter 16
The Guardians looked at each other after what the Titan did. Anya was looking straight at the Titan's all black eyes.
"Chayim…they are our friends." The Titan didn't respond.
"North, Tooth, Bunnymund, Sandy…" Anya pointed each from behind and stopped at Jack.
"And Jack Frost…" The Titan suddenly growled after the girl pointed the winter sprite.
Jack took a step back.
"Why's Eren angry at me?" Jack asked.
"I think because you 'hurt' him Jack…you know back at the Palace." Tooth whispered as Anya calmed the Titan down.
"No, no, no, Chayim…whatever Jack did to you, forget it, okay…?" Anya asked. But the Titan snorted irritably and looked away.
This is going to be tough, Anya thought.
Just then the wicked laughter of a man reverberated through the trees of the forest. Everyone, even the Titan, heard the laughter and readied their weapons. They knew whose laughter it was this.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The Guardians looked around the trees, then into the clearing. There, standing proud and tall, was Pitch Black.
"If it isn't my favorite enemies…" he smiled wickedly, "The Guardians," he spat the words with disgust.
"And a Titan too!" The Titan growled – he wanted to stand, but the trees prevented him from moving much.
"What do you want Pitch?" Jack pointed his staff at the man in black.
"Didn't I tell you that already, Jack? Or do you want me to repeat myself?" he looked at Anya with malevolent eyes.
Anya backed away, nervous and frightened. The Titan suddenly slammed his right fist on the ground and attempted to stand up. He growled and let out a short grumbling sound.
"Whoa, keep your giant in control, North…it might eat you." Pitch chuckled.
"The Titan will only eat you, Pitch," North countered.
"Why?"
"Because Eren is our friend!" Tooth said with pride.
"Really? That huge thing is Eren? And what, your friend?" Pitch let out a dark laughter again. "I would choose my friends carefully Tooth, because no one would like to have a cannibalistic, ugly, dangerous, inhumane, disfigured giant as a friend."
The Titan let out a roar and attempted to stand up again, but the trees tightened their restraints. Jack, offended from what the Boogeyman had said, scowled.
"You take that back Pitch, or-"
"Or what Jack?" Pitch said with a mocking smile.
"Exile me again?" he added with laughter. "I have a backer! I have someone who will back me up!" Pitch laughed like a maniac and didn't notice the Easter Bunny, who was aiming his boomerang at him.
"We don't care!" Bunny threw the boomerang to the laughing black specter. Pitch, startled from the attack, bent and avoided the Boomerang.
"And we'll defeat you and whoever your partner is!" Jack pointed his staff at the Boogeyman and produced iced snowballs.
Pitch Black bended again and ran towards the other side of the edge of the forest. The Guardians chased the black specter. Pitch, after crossing the water, stood on the edge of forest. He then turned around and took out a small vial.
"He's going to summon a giant!"
"Not on my watch!" Jack summoned a rain of hardened snowballs and launched them at Pitch. But the Boogeyman immediately threw the vial on the ground and he burst into a green flame.
And before Jack's snowballs hit the black specter, he disappeared.
"Rats! He escaped!" Bunny said angrily.
The Titan suddenly roared, his voice echoing throughout the clearing.
The Guardians looked at each other.
"We should calm Eren down…"
"Even if he's uncontrollable right now, he was clearly offended." Jack said as he flew towards the trapped giant.
"Eren," The Titan looked at him with his sharp eyes, "It's alright, I'm not the enemy." The Titan growled at him.
"Chayim, stop it." The Titan looked at Anya and stared at her.
"He's not the enemy," Anya added as the Titan darted his eyes at the winter sprite, then to her, then to the winter sprite again. He seemed to be confused.
"North, my friend, I clearly don't believe that Titan is a good Guardian." The Lorax whispered, he and North standing on the island.
The Lorax's animals slowly came out from the tree and began to resume their daily lives, even if some of the trees are destroyed.
"My friend, he is a good Guardian. I say this because I can feel it,"
"Yeah, tell that to my trees though…" The Lorax looked at the edge of the forest.
"Yes, I know that he has caused damage, but I assure you, it will never happen again." The Lorax groaned.
"Why did Pitch attack your forest, Lorax?" North suddenly asked as the Lorax looked above. The tree above him was still glowing blue.
"It's because he wants this tree." The Lorax touched the branch of the tree.
"North, do you know the saying 'The fruit of labor'?"
"Yes. It means the result of one's own labors will be generous and great." The Lorax sighed.
"This tree is a bearer of every living being of this world, North. From little toddlers and baby animals with wishful thinking, to teenagers and adults and fully grown animals, everything goes here…and if one of them successfully achieved their goal," the Lorax approached the lowest branch and picked a single fruit, emitting a blue aura, "It will bear a fruit, and that fruit will go to the person – it is their prize for achieving their goals."
The Lorax finished his explanation. He looked at the Titan on the edge of the forest, still held by the trees.
"The Titan might've liked the smell of the fruits…so he ate some of it." The Lorax sighed in disappointment. North didn't know what to say.
"Uh…Lorax," The Lorax looked up, "I apologize for what Eren did to some of your trees…he's clearly new to us."
"I know, my friend, even I was tempted once to eat one." The Lorax said and chuckled.
Jack, sitting in front of the calmed Titan, was holding a strange, blue colored fruit. He looked at it with intent as he tried to identify what it was.
"It smells delicious…" Jack raised and observed it, 'Wonder what this one is…?' He thought.
The Titan suddenly moved and stared with its sharp eyes. He was looking at the winter sprite.
Jack stood up and attempted to back away, but Anya, who appeared behind him, tapped him from behind on his shoulder.
"Jack, I have to tell you something." She said.
"Yeah, what is it?" Jack and Anya walked away from the Titan, whose eyes still locked on the winter sprite.
Anya, after she went away from the Titan, then explained what Chayim had said to her about his true identity. His home planet and some life stories, everything. The Guardians listened intently, and contemplated this new information about the boy.
"So his name is Chayim."Bunny said
"Yes."
"I like 'Eren' though." Jack said.
"And that's what can calm him down?" Tooth asked. Anya nodded.
Sandy made a questioning motion and looked at Anya.
"I don't know…but I think he's not a bad guy." Anya said as she glanced over her shoulder and saw the Titan looking at the tree with lots of fruit.
Jack stared at the Titan for a moment, then an idea suddenly pops out in his mind. He hovered immediately and landed in front of the Titan.
"Er-Chayim…?" The Titan looked at him again. Then the winter sprite raised his hand with the fruit. Jack saw the eyes of the Titan look at it. He then moved to the right, then to the left, and the eyes of the Titan followed his hand.
"Hmm…I think he's hungry." Jack slowly moved closer to the Titan's mouth. The Titan growled at him but then stopped.
"Chayim…are you hungry?" Jack moved closer, but then suddenly the Titan's mouth slowly opened. The winter sprite saw his teeth, the large tongue, then what seemed to be its throat at the end.
Jack slowly placed the fruit on the Titan's tongue and immediately withdrew his hand before the Titan's mouth closed suddenly.
The Titan chewed the little fruit in its mouth and swallowed it down. Jack smiled as he moved closer again.
"Chayim you're just hungry aren't you?" The Titan looked at him again, then to Anya, who approached and stood beside the winter sprite.
"I'm going to let go of you now…" Anya said carefully, "Promise me you're not going to destroy anything…" The Titan only stared at her, silent.
Anya swallowed, and then commanded the trees to release him. The trees slowly untighten their branches on the Titan, together with the vines, which slowly unbound the Titan's legs.
The Titan, feeling the restraints starting to vanish, immediately slammed its right fist on the ground and stood up.
The Guardians looked up with difficulty due of the sheer height of the Titan.
'He's huge…' Jack looked on in awe and amazement. The Titan looked down, slowly kneeled, and opened his left hand, showing it to Anya.
Anya looked at the palm, then to him, puzzled from the Titan's action.
"Do you want me to get on…?" The Titan didn't answer and still stretched his hand.
"Okay…" Anya took a step onto the large palm, which then suddenly lifted her up. Anya held on the large index finger for support as the Titan carried her with his left hand.
Anya then looked around. Due to the height of the Titan, she could see the whole forest and the mountain ranges on the horizon, and she was amazed. It was a beautiful sight.
"Wow…it's beautiful…" Anya then turned and look at the Titan.
"Did you want me to see this…?" The Titan only stared at her. Anya, still puzzled from the action of the Titan, observed the eyes of the giant.
They was no longer sharp and scary…they turned into an innocent pair of eyes. The sharp grey color was slowly replaced by a gentle hue of silver-gray, his pupils - although large - no longer frightening.
"I think Chayim likes you Anya." Jack, who slowly landed on the right shoulder of the Titan, said. The Titan made a side glance at Jack and growled. Jack took a step back and flew away.
"Fine, I'm out of the picture!" Jack pouted as he flew away. The Titan snorted, his eyebrows relaxed, and then focused back on Anya.
Anya then wondered. The Titan in front of her only stared at her, and she wondered if the Titan if the Titan not only liked her, but was rather in love with her.
Suddenly Anya noticed that the Titan began to disintegrate. The skin on the calm face began to detach, and slowly the hand where she was standing disappeared too.
Anya let out a gasped as she fell, but the winter sprite caught her.
"Whew…glad I caught you…" Jack said, but then he noticed the boy who was falling.
"I got him!" Bunny hopped from a tree branch and caught Chayim. They both landed on the ground safely.
"Sorry…am I too heavy?" Anya asked embarrassed.
"Nope." Jack said with a smile.
"Great, this boy is all tuckered out." Bunny said as he carried the sleeping boy on his right shoulder.
"The tree is good place for him to rest." North, who just finished his conversation with the Lorax, suggested after he saw what happened. He then winked at the Lorax who silently disagreed.
"Well…yeah, I think it is." The Lorax huffed after making a side glance at the boy.
The Guardians then walked towards the tree, leaving the edge of the forest. After the door closed and the animals went on their way, a pair of amber eyes peered in between of the leaves of a tree.
"Oh…so that's what it is…" Pitch chuckled before he disappeared.
Chapter is up! Love at first sight :) Special thanks to Sumi-Sprite :)