Deep in the forest of the small town of Burgess, that the world has forgotten, sat, nestled among the trees, a small orphanage but not any ordinary orphanage, oh no. This was one who sheltered those children, and even adults, who are different and thus feared by the rest of the world and this is where my story begins, settle my children and I shall tell you the story of the Lunar Orphanage.
The year was seventeen-ninety eight and our country was in a state of turmoil as different religions raged war against each other.
A teen girl, whose body was covered with feathers instead of skin, stared out the window of the orphanage that she was forced to hide in from those who would kill her on sight. As she did this a small sigh escaped her lips before she pulled away from the window and closed it.
"The hunters are in the forest again. Looks like we're trapped inside the wall today." She announced to the other three in the room as she turned around to face them.
The faces of the other three fell in disappointment at her words but they accepted that couldn't go outside the wall again and the four of them were soon in discussion on what they could do instead when the door to the room burst open and quite a few of the younger children swarmed them begging for them to play with them.
Unknown to the children in the orphanage, their lives were about to become more interesting as two, newly orphaned, children made their way to the the orphanage in search of safety.
The white haired teen clutched his younger sister's arm as they trudged through the snow as more came down around them. "Jack, please, make it stop snowing." The girl begged as she nearly lost her balance.
The now named Jack sighed as he kept his hand on his sister's arm so she didn't fall over. "I'm sorry Emily, I just let my emotions get the better of me again." As he let his sorrow and anger towards the villagers, and what they did, go the snow stopped.
Jack knelt down, his back to Emily. "Hop on, I'll give you a ride until we get out of this deep snow." He told her, as he felt bad for causing the deep snow in the first place, which made it hard for her to walk. Without a word she shook her head before she melted the snow and flowers sprung up around them.
"Show off." Jack teased as they continued on their way. As they walked, Jack couldn't help but remember what happened at the last village they passed through, or at least Emily did as she was more normal looking then her older brother.
While Emily was in the village to get herself some food, Jack scouted out the nearby forest and soon came across a wall that surrounded a mansion with several groups of children playing in the yard, the biggest group gathered around four teens.
After he took as close a look as he dared, Jack quickly turned and flew off to find Emily, to let her know that he had finally found a place for them to stay and not have to worry about being different. Once Emily heard that she was excited, though she knew better then to react to Jack's words as she was the only one in the village that could see him.
Just as they were leaving Emily accidentally brushed against a near-by dying plant and caused it to blossom once more right when a group of woman drew with-in their line of sight. "Witch!" They shrieked which Emily to jump with fright and both of them ran into the woods to hide.
The orphanage's caretaker, Mr. Mim, stood at the window in his office, watching over his charges, when he noticed a quick flash of blue and white and knew there would soon be one more child for him to look after. He left his office to prepare one of the still empty rooms, making sure that the room held more then a single bed, just in case.
After he had chosen a room, Mr. Mim went outside and called some of the older children to come help him clean the room. The four called waded out of the middle of the younger children that surrounded them and went over to their caretaker.
Without a word he turned and led them inside to the bedroom. "Are we getting another one?" The only female of the four asked once she realized what was going on.
"Yes, but I think there will be more then one child coming so we need to make sure at least one other bed is made with clean sheets and blankets. Toothiana, you can help me with the beds. Nicolas, you can dust the high places, Sanderson I want you to dust the lower parts as well as clean the floor and Aster, you can do the windows."
The four teens nodded and quickly began their jobs so that by the time Jack and Emily showed up the room was spotless and ready for them to move into. Just as they were finishing up one of the younger children came running into the room and made his way over to Mr. Mim.
"Mr. Mim, Mr. Mim, there are two new ones outside! The boy flew into the yard with a younger girl on his back!" He exclaimed in excitement as he tugged on Mr. Mim's sleeve.
"Well take me to them so I can bring them inside and get them settled. Once they're settled you can see if the girl will play with you and the others while I talk to the boy." Mr. Mim chuckled as he exited the room behind the boy.
Mr. Mim strolled over the group of children, who surrounded the two new comers, and gently parted the crowd until he was at the center of the children, getting his first proper look at the pair. THe boy was tall and slender with hair as white as snow and eyes blue like ice, his iris's shaped like snowflakes. He woe a white shirt, brown cloak and brown pants with string tied around his legs.
The girl was half his height but just as slender, she had brown hair with red streaks running through it and brown eyes with hints of several other colors speckled among the brown, making them look like a rainbow. She wore a simple brown dress with a flower pattern along the bottom hem of it.
He blinked once he realized the boy was talking to him. "...The men from the closet village are hunting for us like we're animals because a group of woman saw my sister use her powers to make things grow." Mr. Mim scowled at his words.
"You two will just have to stay here from now on then, can't have you be killed because of how you look or what you can do. Come, I have a room already ready for you both."
"Don't you want to know our names?" Jack asked as he and Emily followed Mr. Mim inside and to the room he had cleaned up for them.
"You can tell me once you're both settled and you sister gets acquainted with the other children her age here while you and I chat young man." He replied before he left them alone in their room. The minute he was gone, Emily giggled as she ran to claim her bed by jumping on it.
"I like here already Jack, we have to stay. The other children love my eyes, they're not scared of them like those outside this place." She stated which made Jack chuckle. He walked over to her and ruffled her hair.
"Alright, we'll stay since you insist. Now, why don't you go out and play while I go have a chat with the man letting us stay here." At those words Emily eagerly ran outside to do as Jack told her while he went to find Mr. Mim.
As he wandered around and soon became lost, he heard three voices coming from a room not far ahead on his left. He approached the ajar door, knowing he didn't have a choice if he wanted to become unlost, and pushed it open enough to poke his head into the room.
What he was about to say was lost as he took in the four in the room, they all looked to be his age though one of them could pass for part giant he was so big, another looked like a human/rabbit hybrid a third seemed to glow a golden color and the last one, the only female looked like a human/bird hybrid.
"Does the walking snowman want something or are you going to stand there gaping at us the rest of the day?" The human/rabbit hybrid growled.
Jack shook his head as he snapped out of his daze, "Sorry... um I'm a little lost and could use help finding my way to the um office of the man in charge. He didn't tell me his name."
The biggest boy stood up and made his way over to Jack. "Come, I show you to Mr. Mim's office. My name's Nicolas St. North but my friends all call me North, you may call me that as well." He exclaimed as he clapped Jack on the back, nearly knocking him over.
"Not so hard North, remember to watch you strength." The female scolded him lightly as she fluttered over to the two boys, the other two behind her. "We'll all show the newbie to Mr. Mim's office and give him a tour on the way.
My name is Toothiana but you may call me Tooth, the grump behind me is E. Aster Bunnymund but we call him Bunny and this is Sanderson Mansnoozie, Sandy for short. What's your name?" Tooth introduced as she hovered in front of Jack.
"Uh, my name is Jackson Overland Frost but you may call me Jack Frost, that's what little sister calls me. Her name is Emily Overland Frost though she prefers Emily Rainbow." Jack answered as he followed the four other teens down the hall.
"Why Rainbow?" Tooth asked, curious.
Jack smiled, "You'll figure that out once you see her. She's kinda like me, she has powers over a season, Spring, while I have powers consisting with winter." Eager to meet her Tooth flew off and left Jack with Bunny, North and Sandy.
The three who knew her simply shrugged before they continued the tour. "Is she always like that?" Jack asked, amused.
"Yes, tooth has been like that since she learned to fly, her sister is the same way even though she's way younger. We call her Baby Tooth, she is like a miniature tooth in every way except her eyes. One eye is blue and the other is purple, she also has a little beauty mark under her left eye." Bunny replied, as he had known Tooth and Baby the longest.
"I take it you and Tooth grew up in this place Bunny." Jack stated more then asked and Bunny nodded without a word before he turned a walked off, his ears against his back as he did. "Did I say something wrong?" Jack looked up at North, worry on his face.
"Bunny was abandoned by his mother as soon as he was born because he was born looking like he does now, all of us here have the same story as Bunny, discarded by our families because we'e different in either appearance or having powers no human should have.
Mr. Mim found Bunny first and brought him he, to his home and raised him as his son. He did the same with Tooth when he found her on his travels. Sandy and I found our way to him together after we found each other at young age." North explained while Sandy silently nodded at everything North said.
While Jack was being shown around the orphanage Emily was outside making new friends with the kids her age. Eager to have another playmate the children instantly drew her into their group. The rest of the day she spent playing with the other kids and got to know them better, glad to finally have friends her age to spend time with.
After Jack and Emily showed up Mr. Mim decided to expand the grounds of the orphanage so he bought nearly all the forest, which included a small pond, though he did leave half to the nearby village so the men had a place to hunt during the winter in order to get food for their families.
The years passed and the world outside the walls of the orphanage changed but very little changed inside the walls. The children grew and moved out of the orphanage but they stayed within the walls, a few married and if their children were normal they wee allowed to leave if they chose to.
The only ones who never changed were Jack and Emily, why no-one knew. In the end the only ones who remained were North, Bunny, Tooth, Sandy, Jack, Emily, Katherine and Nightlight. Mr. Mim had passed on twenty years after he had expanded the grounds for the orphanage.
When he had passed on another, a friend of his, took over. His name was Ombric and he cared for them the same as Mr. Mim did.
That is all the time I have for this story, my children. Your parents are calling for you to go eat. Hurry home now, it's getting late and the night is the time for the Nightmare King to make sure all good boys and girls are safely home.