Alaia Skyhawk: We've reached 2000 reviews! Whoa... Seriously, WHOA! This fic has totally blown my next most-popular out of the water. I just want to say a HUGE thanks to all of you for your support, and that I hope you continue to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 97: Arrival At Yale

Northern Summer came and went, fading into the first throws of Northern Autumn with the coming of September. As that time passed, the world continued its inexorable change thanks to David, Jamie, and several other relatives that had taken up roles as speakers and ambassadors. One place where things really hadn't changed all that much, namely because an immortal had been universally believed in there for centuries, was Burgess.

Sophie had departed from the town with both anticipation and nervousness. The first because she looked forward to seeing new places, the latter because in Burgess she'd been treated normally despite the revelation of her kinship to Jack Frost. There had been understandable surprise from everyone at first, but that had settled down in the wake of her stories to her friends about the fun times and mishaps of Jack's that had involved the family. She'd painted a picture of a normal family who happened to have an unusual relative, and who made the very best of it. What was strange about that? Nothing at all.

But outside Burgess, away from the people who knew the Bennetts well and accepted them, things would be different. She would be starting over with strangers. People who would have heard stories of the Bennetts and so be unsure of how to react. It would be a wall she'd have to get over.

Nearing New Haven in Connecticut, her green eyes idly tracking the passing scenery, Sophie gazed out through the tinted windows of the armoured car she was stuck riding in. She'd flown from Pittsburgh to New York on a scheduled passenger jet, but her status as a member of the Bennett Family had meant a compulsory although thankfully discrete government escort through both airports and during the flight. She'd been ushered through Business Class, kept separated as much as possible from the other passengers, and those over-the-top precautions would continue until the changeover point outside New Haven. Only there would she be put in a normal car, although the driver would still be a protection specialist. It all seemed so incredibly excessive, especially given the fact that Bunny would have happily allowed her to travel to the changeover point via the Warren.

Except to avoid accusations of favouritism by the Immortals, she'd been lumped with the mundane method of travel... Or at least as mundane as the government was willing to allow. She'd have flown to Connecticut directly if her mandatory escort wouldn't have risked alienating her future university peers. In arriving by car, at the very least she could hide the fact she'd been escorted at all.

Which was her one solace during the changeover to the normal car, which thankfully was as 'average' a vehicle as she could have hoped for. No one would give it a second glance, or think twice about the young woman that would emerge from it. A whisper of relief in her heart as the journey now took her via the New Haven turnpike and at last approached the region of the city where the south campus of Yale University was located. That area would be her main home for the next four years, or three years if she really pushed through the required coursework and thesis needed to be granted a degree as Master of Fine Arts.

The degree could be conferred after a minimum two-year residency if everything was completed, but she didn't want to rush. Her time here was important, and would serve a dual purpose in allowing her to spread her knowledge of the Immortals to her fellow students. With her self-sustained immortality, it wasn't like staying the extra time would affect her future plans.

It was early afternoon when the car at last pulled up outside her dorm building, and she clambered out wincing at the stiffness of being sat still so much over the past couple of days travelling. Between the flight, the overnight stay in New York, and the long drive afterwards, it was a relief for the trip to be over.

Her glare at the driver warned him not to get out and open the door for her, or help her with her luggage. She did that herself, clutching her information letter in her teeth as she then headed to get the key for her room. She already knew who she'd be rooming with, thanks again to government intervention. Her room-mate was going to be one 'Alicia Tenvers', a fellow art student with an excellent scholastic record... and no criminal history or immediate relatives with a criminal history. Sophie was admittedly rather annoyed on the young woman's behalf, that her privacy had been pried into without her knowledge. It was yet another example of the government overreaction, that ignored the fact that Sophie Bennett already wore a protection charm that was to all intents and purposes a bullet, knife, and bomb-proof suit of armour.

Sophie got a minor gawk when she stated her name to the relevant person to get her key and room number, although the guy seemed to shrug it off and think 'Nah, couldn't be that sort of Bennett'. She didn't correct him, instead turning away and heading up the stairs to find her room.

When she did locate it, Alicia was already there and settled having arrived two days previous. The red-head rising to her feet in greeting when the bag-laden blond manoeuvred herself and her luggage into the room.

Alicia helpfully took hold of two of the bags, carrying them over to the room's second bed.

"Hey, welcome to Yale. I'm Alicia Tenvers, Student of Fine Arts."

Sophie dumped her remaining bags, returning the young woman's smile as she held out a hand in greeting. She waited until Alicia was actually shaking it before she answered.

"I'm Sophie Bennett, also a Student of Fine Arts."

The speed of the other woman's handshake slowed to an awkward halt, before she blinked and visibly appeared to come to the same conclusion as the guy had downstairs.

"Um, hi. Sorry, for a moment there I thought you meant one of those Bennetts."

Sophie kept her smile in place as she released the woman's hand.

"I did, and I am. David Bennett, Ambassador for the Immortals, is my grandfather. James Bennett, Etheric Technology Representative, is my brother." She shrugged, being deliberately blunt. She would be sharing a room with Alicia for at least two years, and so there was no point in trying to hide anything. "The Immortals are pretty cool, once you get to know some of them. I've spent every Sunday for the past several years helping out the Easter Bunny. He used to babysit me now and then on weekends when I was little."

Alicia was now openly staring.

"That's a joke, right?"

Sophie remained bland and blunt.

"Nope. 'Normal' tends to go out the window when your many-times great-uncle is the Spirit of Winter. It means I've met his work colleagues fairly often."

Alicia was pretty dumbstruck, not surprising considering how her new room-mate had admitted to the strangeness of her life right away.

Sophie started to unpack, staying silent to allow Alicia to work her way through the inevitable thought processes. Several hours later, after keeping a tactful distance from Alicia at the nearby campus cafeteria, the two of them retired to their beds in the same awkward silence.

The following morning, Sunday, began with more of the same. With one or the other of them vacating the room for an hour or so before returning. It was just after lunch that Sophie made her move, having waited for Alicia to get back from her meal before acting.

The red-head looked at the blond puzzlement, when Sophie pulled out of her bags a leather bracer much like those worn by a certain Easter Bunny. A bracer that she then began to put on, while Alicia stared.

"Aren't you strange enough already, without weird fashion statements?"

It was the first thing she'd said to her since yesterday, and Sophie just grinned in anticipation. Sometimes the best way to kindle belief, was to rub the person's nose in it. She'd learnt that from her uncle.

"Not a fashion statement. I'm just going to the Warren to see the Easter Bunny for a couple of hours. See you in a bit."

Sophie tapped her foot twice on the floor, the bracer giving her the ability to access the tunnels of the Warren. Thus Alicia could only gape in shock as Sophie dropped and seemed to vanish through the floor.

The fresh air of the Warren was welcome when Sophie landed with practised ease within the tunnels. The young woman then broke into a full-out dash down the passages, using hands and feet to rebound off the walls of tight corners just as Bunny did. Rapidly traversing the route to his personal quarters with the agility from years of practice.

Bunny was sat at a little mossy stone table in his small private garden glade, pot of tea, cups, and chocolate cookies all set for her arrival. He smiled when he saw her, chuckling when she tumbled into a cartwheel followed by a somersault that brought her down to land neatly on the stone bench her side of the table. If she'd wanted to be a gymnast instead of an artist, she'd probably have made it to professional level quite easily. If she'd had any interest in leaps and bounds in a gym, rather than to negotiate the many areas of Warren.

He started to pour the tea once she was sat, glancing at her as he did so.

"All settled in?"

Sophie accepted the cup of tea offered to her, and picked up one of the cookies.

"I've got my unpacking done, but I'll have to wait until I get back before I know how my room-mate reacted to me disappearing through the floor."

Bunny blinked.

"You opened a burrow up in front of her?"

Sophie shrugged, taking a bite from her cookie.

"Just like Jamie hasn't hidden that he's a wizard, because it would be like saying he's ashamed of it, I'm not going to hide my own quirks from my room-mate. Either she'll be so freaked out she won't speak to me, and I'll have to make other friends, or she'll be so curious I'll be able to teach her just how great being friends with an immortal really is."

"You've been taking lessons from Jack."

Sophie noted his raised eyebrow as he said that, and she giggled.

"He's got a pretty good track-record with that method, y'know."

Bunny started to smile wryly.

"Aye, he does, now matter how many times he makes the rest of us Guardians nervous by using it. I swear, one of these days he's going to give us a heart attack."

Sophie laughed.

"You mean I won't get there first?"

Bunny joined her in laughter at that joke, the two of them continuing their talk. Moving on to the tale about the tedious flight and drive to New Haven with a government escort, and how she'd wished she could have just saved time and gone via the Warren. Then talk turned to the latest news from David and Jamie, about what they were up to and the plans for the near future.

It was two hours before Sophie returned to her room, leaping up from a magical burrow at the exact same place she'd left from. She arrived to find Alicia sat cross-legged on her bed, gaze fixed on the floor with her obviously waiting. Even so, despite being alert she flinched backwards in surprise when Sophie appeared. Stunned silent for several seconds before an exclamation burst forth.

"No way! Where did you go?!"

Sophie chuckled, regarding her with a small smile. It appeared that curiosity had won.

"Like I said, I went to the Warren. Want a look? Bunny said I could only bring friends over, but if we don't stay long I don't think he'll mind a peek." She held out her hand, now was as good a time as any. "Want me to show you?"

Alicia remained on the bed, utterly still, before she tentatively set her feet on the floor and reached out to accept. Sophie didn't give her the chance to second guess, before she tapped her foot twice and both of them dropped into the resulting hole. Alicia shrieked as she landed rear-first with a thump on tunnel floor, but went eerily silent when she noticed the mossy green tunnel they were in. Sophie bounded to the first turn in the passage, then looked back to wave Alicia to follow. The red-head nervously did so, allowing Sophie to lead her to one of the Egg Flower Groves on the opposite side of the Warren from Bunny's quarters.

Sophie stepped aside when they reached the passage end, allowing Alicia to gaze out in awe at the rolling green hillocks and mossy rocks amid the sun-dappled light that poked fingers of gold through the Warren's roof.

"Whoa... So this is."

"The Warren. Home of E. Aster Bunnymund, otherwise know as the Easter Bunny. He's a Guardian of Childhood, and his job is to inspire and protect Hope in children." Sophie put a hand on Alicia's shoulder. "This is his off-season, so I was only here to chat to him earlier... Come on, we'd best go back."

"Do we have to?"

Sophie smothered a chuckle at that question, and changed her grip from shoulder to wrist to gently pull Alicia back into the tunnel.

"Yeah, we'd best. If he gives permission, I'll show you around some other time."

She took them to the nearest tunnel portal, and knocked twice on the circular stone door within it. The door immediately vanished to show a view of ceiling and furniture viewed from extreme floor-level, at which point Sophie tossed Alicia through it.

She following a moment later to find the woman sprawled on the floor in their shared room. Alicia then looked up at Sophie and started to laugh.

"That was awesome!"

Sophie grinned, hiding the relief she felt inside. She could have just as easily utterly freaked out her room-mate, instead of gaining this reaction that she'd wanted.

"Friends?"

Alicia hauled herself to her feet, nodding emphatically.

"Definitely! I want to go there again! The Easter Bunny is probably the ultimate artist, right?"

Sophie nodded.

"You bet he is! I'm hoping to write part of my thesis about him and his techniques. I have a few special ones myself, that I'm going to try teach other art students if the professors will let me."

Alicia's eyes widened.

"Really? What are they?"

Sophie's smile turned sly. Even as she took off her bracer, then found her purse and jacket and headed for the door.

"You'll have to wait any see. Now let's go explore. I haven't seen the Old Campus gardens yet, and I've heard it's a great place to sit and read when the weather is nice."

Alicia also grabbed her purse and jacket, following after her room-mate.

"They are. I'll show you the quickest way there, and I found a great café close by if you don't want to go the campus cafeteria."

With the smiles of a budding friendship, the two young women set out. Their walk punctuated by their conversation, which was made in quiet yet not furtive murmurs. Talking about the immortals that Sophie knew, to which she had a rather long list.

Her uncle, Jack Frost. The Easter Bunny, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus. The Senior Lieutenants of Winter, all six of them, and also a Junior Lieutenant likely to be promoted soon, Phil the Yeti. She'd also met Nightlight the Guardian of the Moon, Mother Nature, and the other three Spirits of the Seasons, Ariko, Achieng, and Oisin.

They were strolling along Library Walk by this point, the path framed by trees that had begun to change to the colours of autumn. Admitting which immortals she'd met was one thing, but another was that she wouldn't admit to her self-sustained immortality. At this stage, such a thing would only put a wall up between her and her new friend.

"I've crossed paths with others, but never got their names and they never stopped to chat. My Belief is so strong now, I don't need to be inside an immortals Range of Belief to be able to see them. It's tricky to learn though, so don't take it to heart if you can't learn to do the same."

Alicia, now well over her initial shock, smiled as she walked alongside.

"Will you be doing any of your art based on them?"

Sophie nodded.

"Of course! I have a job lined up for after I graduate, but I don't need the degree to qualify. I just decided to go for the degree because I wanted to, and so I can show people more about the Immortals. If I didn't paint pictures of them, how would I do that?"

Alicia sighed wistfully.

"You're so lucky, to know all this already. I wish I could have, so I could have kept believing in Santa and the others. Being a kid was never the same after I stopped believing in them, but you never stopped believing. You actually know them."

Sophie patted her on the arm, still smiling.

"No, we're all lucky... To be here and now, seeing the world change so that children won't ever have to stop believing ever again. Those born after the changes won't know how it was before, and so won't appreciate as much just how special the change was. But we'll know."

Alicia started to smile, and as the two of them reached the main street again, she pointed to their left.

"Last one to the end of the block, has to buy the other a muffin at the café!"

She took off, gaining a five second head-start before Sophie grinned and dashed after her. As Bunny had once said to Jack, 'never race a rabbit'. And Alicia would soon learn to never race a woman who had grown up running around the home of one.

~(-)~

Alaia Skyhawk: I could have had Sophie's room-mate take the reveal worse than she did, and react badly overall, but then it would have seriously interfered with ideas I have. So I'll probably seed in a few campus jerks/random public morons here and there instead :)