I recently found out that guardians actually cry, so ignore everything I said before about Ema being the only one who can cry. Still she can use her illusions to hide it. Speaking of which, you might need tissues for this scene. Completely Angsty. Enjoy.


Going to go see the groundhog is difficult, because nowadays there are so many that you never know who the real groundhog is. How does he do his job, you ask? He's mostly retired now, and is believed in by the kids who do not yet know there is more than one groundhog. Of course, he does influence their decision at times. It's like they have their own little Com site so they can stay in touch. Sometimes he would tell a groundhog to act scared, so there would be 6 more weeks of winter, even if they did not see their shadow. It's mostly based on what he sees and if he thinks the others should respond that way as well.

Apparently the groundhog's home is always in a different place. We had to ask the nearby about what country he was in. Good news is with groundhogs, they will tell you anything, doesn't matter who you are. So, we found out the groundhog was residing in England right now.

When we reached England after a half hour flight, we still didn't know where he was. We had to ask the residing groundhogs where he might be in England. So, after an hour of asking questions, we arrived at the Groundhog's place; there was one problem, it seemed like he wasn't there. The door was locked, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to open.


"Blast this door!" I started turning red.

"Ema, calm down; I'm sure the groundhog will be back soon. We'll just wait here until he gets back."

"Another moment without my memories, another moment I don't know who I am; and another moment I don't know who I am…" I couldn't finish that sentence, but there were so many things I could've said. A single tear came out of my eye, and I wiped it away. I sat down, defeated. Jack sat down next to me.

"I feel like something is eating at you," said Jack.

"Many things have been eating at me for 25 years."

"Is it because of the whole guardian thing?"

"Sort of," I shrugged.

"You can tell me about it."

"No I can't. It won't change anything; it will just make things awkward."

"You could be wrong." I sighed, defeated once again.

"One thing is, you're never around. You're always doing something else, and you barely have time for me. That makes me lonely, because not a lot of people want to come and visit me or see me at all." I started to turn blue.

"You know I rather not be busy."

"I know, and you knew what you were signing up for. I'm okay with you being a guardian; it means the kids have a great protector." There was silence, as I tried to hold in my tears.

"Are you Jealous of me, Ema?"

"No, I'm not jealous, because it's you; you're meant to be great."

"You're meant to be great too, Ema, someday at least, if not you already are."

"You don't get it," I said, wiping away the water in my eyes. "Another thing that's been eating me is our contrast."

"What?"

"See, you don't get it."

"I would if you would explain." I sighed.

"When I first met you, it's like there was a spark. I knew you were going to be great. Of course, it wasn't just then. Every time I saw you, heard you, said your name, heard your name, and saw your powers at work I knew you would be great. Then you became a guardian, one who took the boogeyman head on and won more than once. As for me, I never felt truly great about myself. When I first woke up, I thought I was an ordinary person. After that I realized I was invisible and I thought I was being punished. I was lonely. I thought I would wander making illusions forever, until I met you. I made a friend; a friend who was better than me. I kept meeting other people, and I realized I'm on a small scale compared to them. Every time I looked at myself, heard myself, said my name, heard my name, and used my powers, I kept realizing people only see me as a liar and a trickster, and won't be great."

"Ema how can you think that about yourself?"

"I always have been thinking it, even if it was really small. Even if I think my powers are awesome, they can only lie."

"You don't think you'd be a good guardian," said Jack, coming to a deduction.

"Exactly." For some reason, my rain illusion did not act up. Maybe it was because Jack was here listening to what I had to say for years.

'I see someone is doing my job again.'

'Quiet Mini-me, at least with you I don't cry.'

'So you're not comfortable enough to cry around me, thanks.'

'I don't want to talk to you right now.' There was silence for a bit. No one had anything to say. Jack then spoke up.

"Do you know what your center is?"

"My center?"

"You know, it's what you bring into the world and what you…"

"I know what a center is; you told me about it. Why do you want to know about it now?"

"I truly knew who I was after I found out my center; it's what makes you special, because no other guardian has it."

"Does any other immortal have it?"

"If you want we'll go through all the other immortal's centers and see if you match."

"Okay," I said laughing a little.

"Mother Nature, what do you think hers is?"

"Nature?"

"Ema, it's not what they do, it's what they revolve around, otherwise, mine would be snow."

That made me think; what is Mother Nature about? She likes order, but what does that have to do with kids?

"I think she's all about being neutral, neither good nor bad. Kids don't really have sides themselves; So, Neutrality."

"I never thought about that, so you think you match?"

"Uhh…" I didn't know if I was neutral. I wanted to be good, but I might be unintentionally bad. I pull tricks all the time, and I don't know how that helps people.

"I actually do think kids can choose sides, so maybe it's not for me."

"Moving on then; how about the Leprechauns?"

"Luck; I don't think it's for me, seeing as I had 275 years without memories and we're still looking for them."

"You found out about them younger than me."

"I think I would be closer to finding them if I was luck."

"Moving on; the Demons?" I had to think. Those guys were stupid; could they have the center of dimwittedness? That didn't scream Halloween though.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think they're security." Jack looked at me with a weird look.

"I know they're scary, but it's a fun scary. You feel safe when they're around."

"Okay, do you match?"

"People don't feel safe around me, they feel tricked."

"So, I guess it's not for you, how about Cupid?" Something tells me he was saving her for last because I hated her so much."

"Pig-headedness," I said with distaste.

"Ema, be serious."

"Fine, it's probably infatuation; kids feel that all the time with crushes. No, I'm not about infatuation, at all!"

"Fine, you don't match any of the immortals, but you can't match us or the man in the moon wouldn't have chosen you. So, do you have an idea of what your center is?"

I tried to think of what qualities I would have to differ me from other guardians and why the man in the moon would choose me, but all I could think of was lying.

"I don't know," I said simply. Jack gave me a look of sympathy as I started to turn blue. He reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a small little nesting doll that looked like him. It had smile of joy on its face.

"What's that," I asked Jack.

"It's what North gave me after I discovered my center. I was all about having fun. I want you to have it."

"Why?"

"Well, when I told North I didn't know my center, he gave me his wonder doll. Probably to help me find my center in some way; I would've kept it, but I dropped it before I flew to Antarctica 25 years ago. I'm guessing North got it back. Anyway, you can keep it. It might help you find your center."

"Jack, I can't accept this."

"Sure you can."

"It's yours, North gave it to you."

"It was probably going to fall out someday. Besides I could have North make me a new one. How he had time to make it back then still leaves me scratching my head, and if he made it before, how'd he know my center was going to be fun?"

I laughed a little.

"Thanks Jack." Just then, a crow flew into the clearing and landed right on my knees squawking 'DANGER, DANGER!' at me several times.

"What was that," questioned Jack.

"That was one of my illusions I set up to warn me of danger, like it did 25 years ago."

We looked up, and saw an army of nightmares coming straight toward our clearing.


DUN DUN DUN! How was that little surprise in the end? What did you think of the chapter? Tell me in reviews and stay tuned!