Disclaimer: I do not own ROTG
I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'm SO SORRY!
For all who were waiting SO very patiently for the next installment of the Bedtime stories arc, and I know I've been taking my time on it, but I haven't forgotten, but when you have a brain that throws around drabble ideas the way some people play pinball…it's not easy.
And I KNOW that I promised Human!Bunny….but I think the people waiting for bedtime stories kind of have you trumped in terms of who has had more patience…so please be nice…ok?
OK! Here is the next installment of bedtime stories!
North sat in his favorite armchair in front of the fire, his blue eyes gazing into the flames as he pondered the nightmare from the previous evening. He knew that Jack did not always stay with him, but only dropped by when he felt like sleeping in a proper bed, which left a boatload of nights unaccounted for that he could easily suffer from nightmares all alone. Thus was the reasoning behind summoning the other guardians, except he had not used the northern lights in his attempt at having a 'secret war council' meeting with the older members of their team. Something had to done, and North was determined to make sure that their youngest member was taken care of by his new family.
"Oi North, what's with the secret messages?"
Father Christmas' head shot up as he met the gaze of his long time friend E. Aster Bunnymund and his eyes crinkled as he smiled in greeting "There is something important I wish to discuss…without Jack."
One of Aster's eyebrows shot sky high as he processed what the man said, but was cut off before he could make a remark.
"What could we possibly discuss that won't involve Jack?"
Both guardians turned and gave a small wave at the Tooth fairy as she and Sandy flew down to the area where all had gathered. North gave a melancholy sigh and then gestured for everyone to sit down. Once again his gaze was drawn towards the flames, and the large man began to explain the reason behind his troubled countenance.
"Jack has been having nightmares" Santa spoke quietly, noting the immediate change in the atmosphere "Last night he woke up screaming, and when I woke him up, he was terrified."
"Do you know what the nightmare was?" Tooth asked softly, her lavender eyes full of worry.
"No," North replied "Nor did I ask, I only feel worry that he is fighting Pitch without anyone to help him when he falls asleep."
"Look mate" Bunny said with sympathetic eyes "You've already offered the kid a home here, there's not much more you can do."
"I know" North sighed, his face becoming downcast "I was just hoping we could find a way to help him fight his nightmares, because regardless of being around for three hundred years, Jack is in many ways still a child, and I have no doubt that Pitch is using that to his advantage."
Sandy floated into the middle of the conversation, an image of Jack on a bed curled up in a ball and looking scared, then an image of North, and a question mark.
"Yeah!" Tooth cried "What did you do last night?"
North blinked, and then gave a small laugh "Well" he said slowly, gesturing with his hands as he searched for the right words "I remembered that I had nightmares as a child, and so I did what my father had done for me."
"Which was?" Bunny asked.
"I told him a bedtime story."
"You," Aster barked out a laugh "Told a bedtime story ta snowflake? Come on mate, I don't really see that going down considering he doesn't like ta be fussed over."
"True, true" The large man conceded "Jack was not sold on idea at first either, but it worked, and he had good sleep for the rest of the night."
"What story did you tell?" Tooth asked.
"I tell him old German folktale," North replied proudly "Jack likes original fairytales, not those silly things thought up by movie companies."
Bunny found himself nodding. He couldn't deny that he felt a tad more respect for the boy on his choice. There just wasn't enough people anymore who cared about the original fairytales and folklore, and to find that their youngest guardian was one of them, made the rabbit irrationally happy.
"Then that settles it" The Pooka murmured as he stood up.
"What settles it?" Toothiana asked her face screwed in confusion.
"We will just have ta tell the twerp bedtime stories to help him avoid nightmares." Bunny shrugged in seeming nonchalance.
"That is great idea!" North practically sang.
And that was how it began.
…
Later that night, Jack returned to the North Pole after a long day of playing with some baby polar bears. Since it was summer, there were few areas he could go without suffering from heatstroke, and so the sprite found himself often just exploring the workshop, or playing with the wind outside, if not taking numerous long naps due to it being his time of hibernation. Tonight however he dragged himself to his room, only to give his bed a weary glare. The night before North had helped him fight away the shadows by telling him a bedtime story, an act Jack admitted to himself actually helped a lot despite his age, but tonight North was away on business, and he was alone.
"GAH!"
Jack slapped himself hard across the face, he did not need North to deal with Nightmares, and he most certainly did not need bedtime stories. He was three hundred and sixteen years old for crying out loud! With a determined nod, and a stubborn set to his chin, the winter spirit set his staff down against the wall, and crawled into his bed. Snuggling deep into his blankets, the frost child closed his eyes, and allowed himself to relax. He did not want to become dependent on the other guardians, and he most certainly was not some little kid that was scared to go to sleep, tonight he would face those phantoms on his own.
Unfortunately that was not to be…
Sandy was stopping by preparing to give all those who dwelt in the castle sweet dreams when he felt a disturbance in the dreamscape. Rushing towards its source, Sandy gave a silent sigh of grief when he was led to the window of their youngest member. Once again the boy was caught in the throes of a nightmare, and the sandman immediately wrapped his trembling frame in a thick blanket of golden sand, pouring out his contribution for the boy's wellbeing by giving him his personal favorite fairy tale, in the form of a dream.
…..The story of The Three Ravens…
One day in November, the Queen died….
Outside the leaves fell lamenting, reds and gold's falling in memory of their beloved lady. Inside, weeping, the King, his three sons, and a daughter, as well as hundreds of others who came to pay their last respects; but there was one among the mourners who's eyes were dry. There was one among the mourners whose heart was ice, whose soul was cold, whose smile was sly, whose mind raced ahead to the day when the King would want to ease his loneliness. And the witch, for which she was, fixed her dry eyes on the mourning King, and schemed 'Mine' she schemed, 'Mine, all mine, and you may well weep.'
Her scheme was simple and terrible, she groaned for power, for majesty over all things, and for that gold circle to be placed on her head. She wanted this until the want ate away her heart and soul. The King never saw the witch, all he saw was the play of memories working their terrible dance on his weary mind. But if anything, the witch was patient. She waited, and drew the King in inch by inch, the past tugging him one way, and she patiently pulling him the other. Because when he finally saw her, he thought he saw his wife. "You're back!" he thinks, and she whispers in the dark "Our little secret."
Soon the announcement was made, and the wedding had been celebrated, but the witch was not happy, nor satisfied. For those children were her rivals in power, and the longer they lived, the more she would have to fight for what she believed to be rightfully hers. And so she sowed a seed of fear in the children's lives. Stairs gave way, horses bucked wild, balconies crumbled, and snakes lived in the toy box. Despite these happenings, the Queen was always honey, but sometimes the King would catch a look, and he worried; perhaps she was also the bee.
Torn between his enchantment with his wife, and the love for his children, the King schemed up a plan of his own. Rushing into the castle nursery, the King clapped his hands excitedly, garnering his children's attention.
"Children!" he cried "Come, we are going to take a holiday!"
"Where father?" one of the young princes asked.
"To a forest" the King replied, his eyes twinkling "A magic forest!"
Walking to the edge of their kingdom, the King held out a simple ball of thread, and then placed it on the ground. Suddenly the ball began to move on its own, and the children watched it move down the path and into the trees.
"Follow the thread." The King shouted.
Soon a great game was underway as the children followed the magical ball of thread deep into the forest. Laughing and shouting, they chased the ball until it came to a stop outside a hidden glade. Within lay a lovely cottage, a lake, and a beautiful garden. Shouting with excitement, the children ran inside, exploring every inch of their new home.
"This is your secret place" the King told the princess softly "No one can find you here without the magic thread, and I will come visit you each day."
"You brought us here because of her, haven't you" The princess said sorrowfully "our stepmother."
"Of course not!"
But the princess was right, for right at that moment, the Queen was sitting at home studying terrible spells. They were obstacles keeping her from power, and the more that they clouded her mind with fear for her position as Queen, the darker her plans for them became. Through slight of hand and manipulations, the Queen soon stole the magic thread and discovered the children's hideaway, then set off in her plan of death and doom.
Upon arriving at the hideaway belonging to the children, the evil Queen searched out the three princes, giving them three shirts that she had made for them, begging them to try them on so that she may see the boys wearing them.
"Put them on," she said cheerily "then your father can see you in them!"
But how could their father see them, when this thread won't work, when that ball would roll and lead him to their magical place of refuge. Even though they were scared, they did as they were told, but none expected the Queen to rise up, throwing her hands into the air muttering an incantation over and over.
"The shirt will hurt, the wings will sting, the beak will shriek, the eyes will cry!"
As she muttered that horrible incantation, the princes writhed and shrieked as their bodies twisted and shrank, feathers shooting from their skin and their faces bubbling as beak grew from their mouths. The witch cackled at the sight, but stopped when she turned around and noticed the princess, her eyes glaring accusingly at her step mother before turning around and running for her life. For a day and a night the princess ran, stumbled, fled until she dropped, dropped into a dead sleep. And when she woke there were three ravens in front of her, or perhaps she dreamt it, for they spoke to her.
'Sister' they seemed to say 'We are trapped, help us.'
"How," she asked "how can I help you?"
'You must keep silent,' they replied 'for three years, three month, three weeks, and three days.'
Putting her finger to her lips as a sign, the princess felt a tear fall down her cheek as she thought to herself "Then I will not speak."
And so the princess began her promise not to speak to a single soul for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days. She could not speak to a single soul, she could not even write a note, for such was the power of their stepmother's spell. The princess made her home high in the hollow of a tree, and there she began to live out the exile imposed upon her, silent as weeks and weeks went by. Until the day when a young prince comes upon a stream, and in the stream he finds a handkerchief, and on the bank he finds the princess. She jumped up, startled but the prince stops her with an outstretched arm, pleading her to stay.
"Come back," he cried his face a mask of confusion as she motioned for him to stay away "have you been cursed, is that it."
The princess strengthened her resolve, refusing to speak to the handsome stranger, the prince continued to gaze on her "Can…Can you not speak?" he finally murmured.
The princess gave him a wary glare, making the prince smile at her in both amusement and interest "Look," he finally said in a kind tone "I'm not going to hurt you, I'll simply sit quietly down beside you."
After saying this, he sat down on the bank, with the princess sitting on the other side, her glare never leaving his face, her beautiful eyes scrutinizing his every move. Eventually he brought out food, and offered her some, to which she could not deny and soon the prince was talking whilst she sat eating. He talked of everything, of his past, his present, and his plans but all the while he was thinking "What eyes…" and "To kiss that mouth…". So entranced was he with the princess that he came back to that forest glade every day, each day the princess found that she could smile again, a darling smile that wrapped around her heart and his heart, and squeezed them tightly together. Soon the prince gave up speaking too, and the two were content to merely sit, each enjoying the other's presence and smiles.
Until finally the Prince could no longer wait, and burst "Love" he said and "Marriage" and "Always" and "Ever"! And then they kissed, and that was that, the princess soon found herself riding home with the prince, her face aglow with the beauty of the love he had given her, but all the while, she had still not spoken, not even a whisper. On the way to his kingdom, the prince spoke of his father the king, and his mother, who had died some time before. The princess felt her heart break in two, wishing for all she was that she could say "I know, mine too."
In time, they finally arrived, and as proud as you please the prince introduced his sweetheart to his father, and his stepmother. The princess reared back as if she had been slapped, for the new queen was none other than her stepmother the witch, who was recently widowed from her previous husband. The witch glared at the princess, a sneer twisting her lips. To her the princess was nothing more than a thorn pricking at her ambitions, for she had a taste for Kings now, for countries, for power. And the only person capable of ruining her carefully laid plans was the very princess standing before her. Though the princess could not speak, she accused with her eyes 'Killer of my father, bewitcher of my brothers', and the witch knew she had to be done with her, lest the princess come between her and her ambitions.
The prince however knew nothing of this and married his sweetheart, and soon the princess was pregnant with their first child. It felt not even a minute had gone by until there he was, a son, and the princess would have given anything to say his name, to sing to him, to whisper; but she couldn't, and so she didn't. But a terrible thing happened that night, the princess awoke the next morning, and found their baby missing. The princess didn't know where the baby was, and could not speak, nor could she do what she wanted to do so dearly and go ask the witch where her son was.
That night, the princess, went into the garden and dug a small hole. Bending low to the earth, the princess screamed into the Earth, screamed all her pain and sorrow into the dirt.
The prince became worried, and whispers sounded within the halls of the castle, until news came that the princess was pregnant again. This time, the joy was muted, and the whispers became rumors. Once again, as soon as the baby was born, the princess struggled to remain awake, but to no avail. Once again, she woke, only to find her baby boy missing, and the evil witch smiled wickedly. She fed the rumors, encouraging the prince and the rest of the castle to believe that the princess didn't want the baby, and was killing them.
A third son came, and this time the prince stayed with her, they both struggling to stay awake as they guarded their child. They sat in silence, their hearts full to bursting, watching their little one move his fingers like stars. But eventually the emotional strain, and the physical pain of the birth washed over them, causing them to slip into a deep slumber. The prince woke first, his voice ringing out in a moan of anguish, and the castle gathered, taking the princess to burn her as a witch. Three years, three months, three weeks and three days, mere hours from the time of her release, the princess wept silently, keeping her promise despite the danger, and soon they had tied her to a pole, and bundled wood around her, with the witch herself coming to light the fire.
But then three ravens dived out of the clouds, pecking and jabbing, until the witch dropped the torch and caught on fire herself. With a bone numbing shriek the evil witch exploded into a cloud of ash and smoke, and the princess smiled, tears streaming down her face "My brothers," she wept with a voice unused to speaking "My BROTHERS!"
Suddenly the ravens had once again became their proper selves, and what was more, they had saved the babies from the evil witch catching them even as she had dropped them down a well. Soon the princess was rewarded for keeping her promise through the reuniting of her with her babies, he brothers, her sweetheart and her crown. Unfortunately she had spoken three minutes too soon, and so her youngest brother had kept one arm as a black ravens wing, but he didn't mind, and neither did she. And so they lived happily ever after, and the princess practiced her smile until it was perfect.
…
Jack shifted in his bed, a small smile playing on the corners of his mouth as visions of a happy family hugging each other sparkled over his head in gold. Sandy gave a soft smile, reaching down to stroke the soft white hair of the sprite, his heart bursting with both worry and love for their youngest member. Jack was a son to North, and a brother to bunny, but to Sandman who had watched him his entire life, Jack was like a grandson. Sandy was already so old, and wise, childish in nature only because he understood the importance of having fun and never allowing your childish innocence to never truly fade, but he saw Jack as family, and he was fiercely protective of the boy. The fact that Pitch was somehow still affecting him made the Sand master angry beyond mere words or pictures, but for now, he was content helping Jack sleep. Looking out to the worried howling of the North Wind, Sandman placed a finger to his lips, and then flew off into the night sky, his face a happy smile that Jack was soundly sleeping.
See? I didn't forget about you guys…really I didn't…and I promise that Human!Bunny is DEFINITELY next! I just really needed to take care of this chapter because it wasn't very fair to keep updating my other arcs and forget about this one.
THANKS!