Stepping out of the Antarctic climate, Mother Nature lets out a huge breath of relief she didn't even know she was holding. Her body letting go of the unconscious tension that had been weighing her down.
Lucy did much the same as her own shoulders sagged. The odd and strenuous connection between the spirits had drained her more than she thought. But before long she was quickly distracted by the heat enchantment still in effect, making the building far too hot.
Taking off the magic necklace, Lucy turned to Mother Nature for her further direction.
"Whooo! That went, honestly better than I expected," the legend gasped, putting a hand to heart.
"Yeah actually. I didn't think he was going to say yes so easily."
"Me either."
"Are you going to want this back?" Lucy asked, holding out the necklace to her.
"Oh no Lucy, keep it. You're going to need it with how often you'll be visiting. Consider it an unofficial welcome present," Mother Nature musters a kind smile to the girl.
"Yesss!" Lucy exclaimed with one pumped fist in the air, putting the enchanted necklace in her pocket. She has a feeling Buddy and Charlie will find this little trinket cool.
"Come on then, let's get you back home. There's a bit of prep work that has to be done before tomorrow," Mother Nature requests as she guides Lucy along back the way they came. "I'll be sending over some technicians to install a temporary gateway near your home that teleports you right here to The Bypass. Just to make it as easy as possible. Rusty should be a sufficient check in point for you during your training."
"Sure, sounds good," Lucy half-heartedly replied.
As pumped as she was for her little half-baked idea to follow through, it was not what was at the forefront of her mind. Her core vision was still activated and looking around she saw all the cores of the random passersby. A myriad of colors all glowing in the chests of the people carrying them.
But taking another look, Mother Nature's core was still very much broken. Jacks was not, but the way that their essences interacted was feeling more than a little off to the teen. Something here was definitely off balance, she just didn't know what exactly.
She deliberated on whether or not to breach the subject at all, but at this point her curiosity has won the popular vote yet again. The cloud-like presence of the sixth sense making itself known in the back of her mind. She has to know what's going on here.
"Mother Nature?" she politely asks.
"Yes?"
"You know I can see people's cores and auras and all that. And the weird magic vision turned on during the meeting just now. And it all looked and felt very weird in the air, and I just wanna know. Why exactly is your core broken?"
Mother Nature halts in her tracks as her stomach drops. Her eyes look askance towards the tile floor, forlorn written on her features. The kind of look she'd been trying to bury under an air of professionalism the entire visit with Jack.
She gives a sad smile to the bright-eyed girl. She's not dumb, she has the power of the Man in the Moon at her disposal now. This kind of curiosity shouldn't be punished.
"It's a very long story," she began, "How much do you already know?"
"Not a lot. Only that Jack is somehow very involved with it. You two are connected somehow, through your cores? I think? I can't really describe it. I feel like I have it on the tip of my tongue but I'm just not getting the whole picture here."
The legend didn't answer right away, looking off into a far-off horizon that doesn't exist. This gives Lucy pause for doubt and starts backtracking.
"You don't have to if you don't want to. I understand if it's hard to talk about. I've just been," she carefully skips over the use of the word curious, "a little confused is all."
Mother Nature lets out a small and heavy sigh.
"Usually, those with healing magic are the only ones that can use an X-ray effect to properly see people's cores. It must all be very perplexing for you, and I'm sure that my own behavior about all this hasn't put you at any more ease," she expressed. "Would having an explanation about my core qualm some of your doubts? Answer some of your questions?"
Lucy thought about this for the briefest of moments, her magical intuition giving her all the answers she needs.
"It would. But only if you want to! I'm getting the feeling that it's a bit complicated," she said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"More than you know," the legend responds with a heaviness, "But you're a special case. I think you deserve to know the why and the how."
"Really?"
"Yes, I'm certain," Mother Nature gives a gentle hand on Lucy's shoulder, "Slight change of course, we'll go back to my realm for more privacy for such a sensitive topic."
"We're going to your realm next?"
"Precisely."
"The one with the huge tree that Uncle Scott told me about?" her eyes beamed, the apprehension slowly melting away with Mother Nature's assurance.
"You've heard of it? I can't believe my home has its own reputation," Mother Nature giggles, "but yes, that's the one."
"Sick!"
Lucy tried to maintain an air of composure, trying to contain the nerves that had started building again. She felt a little embarrassed for inquiring about what seems to be a sensitive topic for the matriarch. But ultimately, Mother Nature did agree to talk about it in the first place.
And she gets to see a whole magical realm! And a huge magic TREE?! It was an odd mix of being excited for more magic stuff, but also a little embarrassed for intruding on such personal business.
But before either of them could get even a few steps to their new destination, when a voice popped up from right beside them.
"Ladies."
Both women yelped at the sudden intrusion by Father Time, managing to sneak up on them both. For someone so old he is incredibly slippery!
"Snapdragons Horace!" Mother Nature exclaimed with her hand over her heart in surprise, "you scared the pollen off of me!"
His face wrinkles into a well-meaning smile, "Apologies. I've been told I tend to catch people by surprise every so often. How did the visit go?"
"It went great!" Lucy exclaimed, "He said he'll agree to teach me."
"It went better than I expected," Mother Nature added.
Father Time looked taken aback by this information and casted a confused look toward his naturely counterpart.
"He did?"
"He did," Mother Nature tiptoed, "A certain spur of the moment agreement may have been struck in order for him to get there. The council will have to take a look at that later."
Her words were very noncommittal to match the nervous smile on her cheeks. Father Time in response gave her a fittingly parental look of censure.
"You made a deal with him without consulting the council? Terra, you know better than that."
Her skittish smile quickly faded with a long sigh in defeat, "I know, I know! It all got a little away from me. It's been seven years since I last saw him, and I really do want to believe that maybe this will help him."
Lucy looks at the legends skeptically, the scales of her emotions tipping more to doubt than excitement.
"I know. And it's not a bad thing to care either," he reaches a withered hand up to her shoulder. "We'll talk more about it later."
She looks at him with melancholic eyes, and tosses the same expression to the teen to address her.
"Lucy, you have nothing to worry about regarding your training. I assure you the council will have this all figured out by the new year's."
Her uncertainness clears ever so slightly, "Thank you, again Mother Nature. I really do appreciate it. I think this is going to help him too."
"I hope it does," Father Time added keenly, "With Nature and Harmony saying it's so then so it must be.
"Now then, the allotted five minutes and thirty-two seconds of small talk has passed. Mother Nature, there's some colony business that needs your attention."
"It's always something," she says to Lucy before directing her attention to Father Time, "What is it this time?"
"You know the recent debacle with the Blood Gnomes and the stampede of flaming unicorns into the Mauna Loa district?"
"How could I forget? Sending in a stampede of flaming unicorns into a volcano. Violent those guys, but not all that bright it seems," the woman grimaces.
"Well apparently the diplomacy route has not worked out. I'm here at the Mauna Loa city hall where the Blood Gnome representatives have decided to get extreme with their 'negotiations'."
"Oh for Sky's sake."
A lot of what Father Time was saying confused Lucy to no end as she listened. A common remark about the legend from other folklore. Talk about a city in a volcano, blood gnome society and flaming unicorns all blended together in a fantastical image in her head. But one that she doesn't even remotely understand yet.
"I have them paused in a stasis right now, but I need to make good on my threats that I would get you involved if they didn't behave accordingly."
"Oh dear," Mother Nature sighs heavily, "Alright, I'm on my way. I'll bring extra rain in case things really need to cool —"
She stops herself mid-sentence.
Eyes igniting in realization as she glanced down to the redheaded girl, still idly standing next to the pair. Patiently waiting to be led to answers to her burning questions.
"Ah! Right, right, the core business."
Mother Nature addresses her co leader, "Horace, I promised Lucy that I would tell her about my damaged core, but this seems like it needs my immediate attention. And I would never ask this of you if I wasn't completely sure you wouldn't do it justice. But can you take over telling her about all that for me?"
She held both her hands in his, looking at him as if he's the only one there. They have been close friends since they first formed, and they were always each other's closest confidants. He understands that this is a big request, a topic sensitive in nature. But their trust in one another knows no bounds.
"Of course," he squeezes her hands back, he is steadfast and certain in his answer.
"Thank you. Lucy, Father Time will have to take over for me here while I attend to some squabbling factions," she gestures for the girl to take a place closer to the time master.
"I'm sorry I couldn't answer any of your questions myself. But we can't all be in multiple places at once," she playfully taunts Father Time with a wink.
"Now I must be running off. Good work today, Lucy. I do hope your training goes smoothly. Goodbye!" Mother Nature calls after the two as she picks up her skirts and quite literally runs off to the appropriate teleporter.
"See Ya Mother Nature!" Lucy one arm waves with enthusiasm as she watches the legend take her leave.
"So, what did she mean when said in multiple places at once?" Lucy asks Father Time with a raised eyebrow.
"It means exactly what you think it means. Simple duplications, split up amongst the timestream. I am in multiple places at the same time, at this very moment."
"Really!?" Lucy asks in amazement.
"Yep, it's a neat little trick, comes in very handy very often," he answers, already meandering his way to his own teleport point.
"And how does that work exactly?"
"Magic."
He boops his curved wooden staff onto Lucy's nose, a very small poof of sparkle comes off of it, earning a giggle fit from the redhead in return.
Just then her eyes bulged out of her head, struck with a very important realization.
"We're totally staff buddies now!" she dramatically gasps, proudly holding hers out to show him as if he hadn't seen it just yesterday.
Father Time chuckled, "That I suppose we are. Two of a kind you and me."
The conversation drifts as the pair make their way off to Father Time's realm.
The place that Father Time had decided to call home was nothing short of unimaginable. He chose to make his home in a gargantuan wizard's tower. With dark glossy floors and extremely high vaulted ceilings that gave way to the cylindrical view of the whole place from the ground.
Looking upwards the expanse of floor after floor stretches into the stratosphere. An infinite amount of tower beyond the viewing capacity of the human eye. The floors just keep going up forever. In the center of the main tower sat a clock faced platform, magically propelling itself up and down acting as a lift to the other floors.
The whole place was very clean and vast, and ricocheted all noises off of its walls. The saving graces of it being consistently placed decorated columns, clock like swirling patterns on the walls and the occasional dark colored drapery. These touches kept the tower from feeling too empty and sterile.
But the pair of staff buddies found themselves in an offshoot from the main tower space. A still very spacious but more cozy feeling garden like area. An unusually pink colored willow tree sat in the very center of the room.
A gift from Mother Nature, a tree just as immortal as the two of them. The sweeping arches of the glass ceiling give view to what looks like outer space on the outside.
The two made their stay in a smaller alcove on the outskirts of the room. They sit in two wooden benches opposite of each-other, backed by a large circular window with its curtains drawn.
"Alright," Father Time begins, "I suppose that it would be best that we take this all the way from the beginning."
He swipes his staff across the open air between them. Purple mist clouds and swirls in its wake, hanging perpetually in the air. The center of the little cloud glows lighter, and starts displaying images through its violet colored film.
"Mother Nature has already told you before about how the seasons work, yes?"
"She did. Mentioned it in passing a few years after the Escape Clause. But she didn't say a lot. Only that she has three seasons and Jack has the other one."
Lucy recalls asking Mother Nature this question when the council visited for that year's Christmas. She remembers how little she wanted to talk about such a topic, and how quickly the monarch changed the subject to the holiday festivities instead. Being a naive kid, Lucy didn't think too much of it. She didn't see Mother Nature on a regular enough basis to care.
But now knowing just how out of whack her balance is, Lucy listens intently on Father Time as he explains what happened. Kicking her feet up to sit cross legged on her perch.
"Well, it didn't use to be that way. A very very long time ago, exactly 5,625 years ago, Mother Nature had domain over all four seasons. And Jack Frost didn't even exist."
Lucy's attention was captivated by the changing images of the magic cloud in front of her.
A few clips glitched one after another of Mother Nature in her element, doing her job. She didn't look any younger than she did now, but her eyes held a certain shimmer that made her seem younger. She was dressed differently too. In a dress that was much breezier, a lighter skirt of moss and grass instead of her usual leaves. A sleeveless top keeps her arms uninhibited, and her "crown" was only a simple metal sunburst clipped to the back of her head.
Little candid snippets of the woman faded in and out of each other.
One where she was peacefully moving columns of sunlight with her hands in a dappled dense forest. She is silhouetted against the trees as a herd of deer idly passes.
Another shows her in a vast flower field, bending down to some of the blooms to nitpick. Her face scrunches in concentration making sure the hues are just right. Her hands glow around a stray stalk of Bellflower, shifting its color from its original pink to a bright purple.
The next has her on a dirt path, surrounded by dead forest. Warm colored leaves of crimson and honey pile up on the edge of the path. She lightly jogs ahead up the walkway and catches a stray rabbit in her hands. Chidding at it that it can't play anymore games, and that it's time to hibernate.
The last memory that flashes into view is her standing on the edge of a lake, in the middle of a snowy plain. She takes a relaxed sigh, her breath white and cloudy, as she lifts her skirts and steps onto the surface of the water. Said water freezing into sturdy sheets of ice on its surface as she takes a stroll on the lake, light snowfall coming down around her.
Lucy's eyes burned into the display, "Whoa."
Father Time smiled fondly at the girl's attention to his memories.
"What happened then?" she quietly asks, her gaze never leaving the magic cloud.
"That's when He comes into the picture."
Father Time turned wistful. His smile didn't waver but his wrinkles creased in such a way that didn't make him seem happy either.
"One day, completely out of the blue. Out of the realm of possibility, Terra's core became unstable. She flickered in and out of existence right in front of me, struggling to keep her form."
The corresponding video followed suit. Showing Father Time supporting a limp Mother Nature, keeping her standing. Her physical form was indeed snapping back and forth from her usual appearance and a vaguely human shaped mass of green magic. Coming and going like playing with a light switch.
"And that's when it happened. Her core never broke per se. It wasn't a snap, it was a drip. A piece of itself melted away."
A collection of blue magic visibly pooled in Mother Nature's chest. It pulled in more and more of its own similar particles before shining brightly, fully condensed. Mother Nature changed into pure magic once again, and lifting what would be her chin, the blue magic escaped through what would be her mouth. Father Time only watches in awe beside her feeling as though maybe he's far too close for what's going on.
With all of the blue magic fully vacated, Mother Nature's form fades back into itself. Realigning into her usual form. Both legends stare wide eyed at the mass of magic power floating in the air, and they watched as it flew off into the horizon. Horace and Terra are left in the lurch.
At this last bit, Lucy abruptly cocked her head around the purple mist to meet Father Time's gaze. Her mouth was agape and her face was alight with realization.
"IS THAT HIM?" she gasped in bewilderment.
Father Time softly laughs at the notion, her enthusiasm truly knows no bounds.
"Not yet. But you're mostly right. About a week later, after doing damage control on Terra's abilities we found out that all her powers were fine and working perfectly. Except for the winter season, which was all but gone."
Lucy starts fidgeting in her seat, hanging onto Father Times every word as if her life depended on it. She knows the part that comes next, and is just waiting for him to confirm it for her.
"And about a week after that, two weeks without winter magic, you wouldn't believe who we ran into in an autumn clearing."
The image in the smoke changed yet again to a clip of Father Time with his back turned to the breezy field.
"Horace!" Mother Nature called out from over the hill.
The old man turns to see his counterpart clearing the edge of the grassy null with one arm obscured by the tall grass, jerking around in an odd manner.
"I've found a breakthrough!"
The woman holds up her hand to the sky, and in her fist is the collar of one Jack Frost. Mother Nature is all smiles as Jack is seen hovering a foot off the ground, kicking and struggling to break free from her, quite literally, legendary grip.
"I knew it!" Lucy exclaimed.
She hopped up from her seat to get a better look at the scene in front of her. Soundless bits of footage played as the three of them talked, trying to figure out what exactly is going on.
Lucy was trained on the images of Jack popping up. He also did not look any younger, but he did look very different.
It was all in his face, while being exactly the same as present day Jack, this past version of him seemed to carry around an alien exuberance. A joy coming from his features that seemed almost warm. The Jack in the mist being a far cry from the current day Jack while looking exactly the same. His warmth is gone.
Suddenly Lucy snorts and chokes back a laugh as a certain memory plays on.
"No wait wait wait! Can you go back like two seconds? Rewind it," she requests.
Father Time looks puzzled but cautiously agrees. With a slow swipe of his hind across the display, the footage slowly rewinds, back to a shot of all of them standing together.
"Right there! Right there!" she manages to get even closer, "Are those elf shoes?"
A stream of giggles leaks out as she points to the paused image of Jack's boots. Ridiculously pointy and very elf-like. She's definitely going to bring that up tomorrow.
"What we figured out was that the winter magic in Terra's core separated and split off from her," Father Time explained with a chuckle. "Nothing even remotely like this has happened before or since then. Because folklore are never biologically birthed, the impossibility of Jack's existence is often regarded as the closest thing to a 'blood' relation in all the realms."
"Huh?" Lucy looks under the mist, her attention ripped away from Jack's silly shoes, "What do you mean, 'not birthed'? How can you not be born?"
"Magic fields," he says.
With a wave of his hand, the memory reel fading away at his command. Instead it was replaced by a clear drawing of a big cloud near the top of the display.
"That is a magic field. Comes in eighteen different types. Love, Belief, Hope, Balance and such of the like. And those fields tend to form clots sometimes."
The illustration then gained three arrows pointing down into three smaller clouds.
"Those clots are called Forge Clusters. And they are what produces all sprites."
Each one of the three clouds then added another three arrows that point downward still to crude stickman drawing representing folklore. Big cloud, three smaller clouds and nine stickmen.
"So that's all the elves and the goblins and the little hoofed guys?"
Father Times nods, "Satyrs, but yes."
"Even the dragons and unicorns?"
"Yep. That's how it works for sprites, and for spirits it isn't much different. We just skip practically all of those steps, and encompass a single magic type in its entirety."
The image on the display erased everything below the big cloud, and replaced it with a single arrow pointing down to a single stickman. Direct cloud to lone stickman illustration.
"Huh. So everyone just kinda pops out of the field then? You guys really aren't born?"
"The only one who got close was Jack."
Father Time finds a spot to stare at on the floor. His expression softened and melted into something like guilt. Lucy can feel the scales tipping.
"Is that why they don't get along? Because he's different like that?" she asks.
Father Time pauses for a moment, "Maybe. Just a little bit. But no, that isn't the reason. There isn't just one reason."
Lucy puts on a more serious demeanor, taking her seat once again, crossing her legs and keeping her hands folded in her lap. She sculpts her anticipation into something oddly business like. Now is the time.
"Father Time, what's going on with Jack and Mother Nature?" she asks, getting straight to the point.
She looks at the old man kindly, encouraging him to go on. Her stare was intense yet soft, the kind of magically easing look he'd only ever seen from Mother Nature before. This relaxes him, and melts away his timidness about the subject.
"She taught him everything she knew. She had the patience of a saint and he was not a very good student," He started, "But with her guidance he took over the last quarter of seasonal duties. She cared about him so much. She tends to regard everyone as her child in one way or another, but. He was different. Fundamentally. She tried very hard."
Father Time then very briefly skims over Jack's downhill decline. He was always in search of the next big thing, whatever that meant. He went in search of Greatness, he went looking for something that was never missing. From determined to delusional, a slow and treacherous fall from grace in the eyes of all who knew him. He made enemies, he broke hearts, burnt bridges in his pursuit.
Mother Nature knew intellectually that none of this was her fault. She knows that. But knowing this didn't stop her heart from beating. They stopped talking like they used to. Things between them became bitter and strained, every conversation eventually devolved into an argument.
They managed to keep their distance at work on the council, but besides the usual beratement he would get about another bout of trouble he had caused; they hardly spoke at all anyway.
His antics came to a head when St. Nicolas passed the coat down to the next Santa. This is when he decided that he needed to take back the season from some low life mortal who has the gall to put his holiday right in the middle of winter. It should be Jack Frost they should all be talking about. And it was him and all the next Santa's after him that he turned his grievances to.
And then of course it all built up to the Escape Clause.
When Jack was caught, Mother Nature managed to keep her temper in check in the presence of the entire north pole. She went through the entire trial process with a manicured exterior, calm and cold in the face of reprimanding Jack and sentencing him to banishment for his crimes.
"But it wasn't until the day he was placed in the south pole that both of them had reached their boiling points," Father Time explained.
By the hands of two burly looking dwarves in uniform, Jack was roughly tossed into the threshold of Antarctica. Nearly falling over he barely manages to catch himself from the fall, before straightening himself out.
He faces the open expanse of nothingness ahead of him. The air is eerily still and calm. No wind, just bitterly cold. He scowls at the landscape, and turns on his heels to face Mother Nature standing just in front of the doorway.
She despondent looks down at him, anger simmering just underneath a thin layer of grief. Grief for someone who is standing right in front of her, but is all but gone.
"A rotating staff of attendants will bring you three meals a day," she explains robotically, "Anyone is allowed to visit should they so choose. The barrier enchantment has been tweaked to give you an alarm for when someone comes through the door. You have the whole continent to roam around in."
"Is this how you get your sick kicks Mother Nature? Stripping a spirit of his dignity and freedom all in one fell swoop?"
"Jack I don't want to argue with you—"
"Would you just let me talk for once!"
"I have done nothing but allow you to run your mouth for the past 5,600 years! You will consider yourself lucky that this is the punishment that you're receiving."
"Lucky? LUCKY?! This is not luck, this is nothing! How can you possibly bring me lower than this?! What more can you take away from me?!"
Much like his tone, Jack's posture shifted into something more dangerous. Aggressive. Thousands of years of grievances made themselves known on his knitted brows and rigid stance. This does not go unnoticed by Mother Nature, who mirrors his intimation attempts back at him. She doesn't like what he's silently insinuating.
"Jack, if you are still upset about the holiday business, I honestly don't know what else you want from me!"
"What do I want?! What I wanted was a chance! I wanted you on my side! I could've been something great if you had just let me prove it to you! But when the council, no, when all the REALMS ganged up on me countless times, what did you do? You gave me what you're giving me now! NOTHING!"
"You were not meant to have a holiday, that is not my fault!"
"Not your fault!? You, out of everyone else in the world, you were supposed to believe in me!"
With a minute twist of his foot, a large icicle forms out of the floor and hurls itself directly at Mother Nature. Catching her off guard, the woman tried side stepping the projectile but wasn't as quick as she would have liked. She steps, but earns a small cut on her cheek from the grazing icicle. Said ice shooting through the doorway, no doubt injuring other innocents in the bypass.
Mother Nature doesn't look at him, she doesn't have to. The tension in the air climbs, one that you hardly need a magic sixth sense to feel. Thick enough to cut with a knife.
Jack's stare is unwavering and cold. He watches with piercing calculation as Mother Nature lightly pats the cut with the pads of her fingers. Blood now staining them. She shoots back a glare to him that could kill any mortal man in seconds.
"That was a mistake. And it will not happen again," she sneered. Every word crawled out of the legend slowly and clearly enunciated, warning Jack that the proverbial ice was thinning.
"You are absolutely right. It wont," Jack stated calmly as his scowl twisted further.
"Because I won't miss this time."
Flicking one arm up and an open palm towards his target, a barrage of icicles rose to the air and launched themselves at Mother Nature. The legend, quick and light on her feet, dogged several feet to the left and with one swift sweeping motion from her hands summoned a large rocky outcropping from the ground beneath her. Effectively blocking the icicles path as they shattered on impact with the stone.
Mother Nature made her way out from behind the stone barrier, "Jack Frost I swear to the skies if you even THINK about taking one more swing at me—!"
"Or what!? What can you possibly do to me now that I HAVE NOTHING LEFT!?"
With the shout from Jack another barrage of icicles instantly formed in the air and tried to attack Mother Nature as well. Her palms shot up straight ahead of her, summoning a blinding column of sunlight. The light catches Jack off guard, and without his focus the icicles melt in its heat, giving Mother Nature nothing more than a light splash on the face and a puddle at her feet.
While Jack tries to get his vision back, he feels a gripping pressure on both wrists and ankles. The grip grows incredibly tight as his feet are pulled out from under him as he lands with a thud on the icy ground.
Mother Nature's vines keep him on the floor as more tendrils grow over both of his hands in thick overlapping knots, the vines start quickly pulling him in toward the woman. Thrashing and struggling and nearly at Mother Nature's feet already, Jack improvises. He strains his foot to contort in just the correct way (rolling the ankle in the process) and when he reaches Mother Nature he slams his foot down on the attached vine pinning it to the ground.
A line of ice shoots through the vine, freezing it as it went, and crashed into Mother Nature's hand in a sharp explosion. Far closer to her face than what Jack was aiming for.
When the monarch instinctively puts her arms over her head the vines pulling him in come undone. Jack kicks away the frozen leverage and freezes the other bound foot with his free one. He also tries making quick work of the vines on his hands, systematically freezing them through the layers until they're brittle enough to break open.
"JACK FROST SO HELP ME GOD—!"
Mother Nature's scream cuts through the chaos as she stomps her way over to him, recovering in record time. This voice level and tone is unheard of by anyone else but her enemies. This is the part where she's done holding back, she's properly warmed up, and ready to own his ass.
As they both continuously tried reaching for the upper hand, the sky above them darkened and clouded over her head. The winds became bruisingly forceful, violently and unnaturally jerking in every which way matching the movements of their wielders. Snow, sleet and rain all mixed together as the tiny razors of nature sliced through the air on their descent.
A legendary storm in the making.
Both Mother Nature and Jack are trying to use the precipitation to their advantage. Both trying to keep this fight at arms length, neither one wanting it to come to direct blows.
Jack's movements were sharp and calculated, often using grand sweeping gestures to conduct the onslaught and periodically dematerializing into a snowy wind to move around the legend more quickly.
Mother Nature also moved in wide stretches but with far more organic flow, giving her more flexibility. She tanks most of the hits she receives and dishes them back out tenfold.
Ice walls were made and melted away, projectiles were dodged, containment schemes were rapidly broken out of. Vines, stone, thorns, ice, hail, wind. It call comes crashing together here and now.
Their struggle drags on, draining them both of their stamina and patience. Blunt force trauma here, narrowly dodged projectile there, cut, bruise, scrape, hit, flee. It all comes at them hard and fast, the longer the fight drags out the slower they become, the more blows land, more energy spent.
Until it all comes to a breaking point when Mother Nature decides to try and put an end to it. Jack rematerializing from winds to solid form, both feet hitting the ground for the briefest of moments before he was trapped yet again.
With her glowing hands aggressively collapsing together, two shells of solid rock form out of the ground and encase both legs before he has a moment to think.
And then everything stops for a moment.
The wind around them slowly dies and neither spirit moves. They both stand a good thirty feet away from each other, the eerie silence only being broken by both of them trying to catch their breaths. A moment of calm amidst the raging storm. Grace.
And that's when he decided to strike. While her guard was down.
Breaking the calm, Jack leans forward as much as the stone will provide and with an upward swing of his left arm he sends a barrage of sharp icicles to his opponent.
She doesn't have enough time to fully move out of the way, and her leg gets caught in the onslaught. The icicles tear and shred her dark skin through her skirt as they pass by. The smaller ones, needle-like, end up going right through her skirt and flesh. The next smallest ones do end up impaled in her leg, the biggest somehow managing to only further rip and tear the surface. Bruising whatever skin they don't rip apart along the way.
A horrible and damned scream escapes from the council head, circling herself inward toward the major injuries. Her dress was torn and with sizable holes in it, giving view to her equally butchered leg. Blood seeped from the cuts and stabs and pooled from under her tattered hem.
With her mind fogged over with the pain, the stones keeping Jack in place crumbled the same as their master, falling into two piles of pebbles. Jack, while free, did not move. His body ached, heavier to move than before and his breath still escapes him. He merely watches what Mother Nature does next.
Emotion is all there is left. Instinct takes over. She has to shift all her weight to her other leg to get the form just right. She fights her body's desire to tremble. She feels warm all over, the wrong kind of warm, the acidic kind.
The deadly kind.
The hot boiling rage that seeps into every pore, the kind that allows you to fight, to live another day. Born of sorrow and regret, she meets the icy gaze of the man ahead of her. He is unrecognizable.
The emotion builds in her deepest core, overwhelming her rational thought.
Such a waste!
Her arm shoots out like a bullet, sending one last attack hurtling toward Jack.
And she instantly regrets it. She knows what she just summoned and her eyes go wide with the realization.
"She didn't mean to. It was an accident," Father Time said in a hushed tone.
Lucy was aghast listening to the tragic tale, leaning onto Father Times every syllable. Her stare bores into him as she gathers what's about to happen next will be bad.
"But by then it was already too late."
Father time manages to skate by the more gruesome details of what's to come next, in the effort to spare Lucy its truest violent nature. But the old man's memory remains as sharp as ever, and he himself knows these details in their full depth.
In a bust of green magic, out from her palm came a tiny, toothpick looking object containing just one enchantment. It sliced through the air and embedded itself into Jack's left shoulder. Seamless and almost painless.
But from the little piece of wood, out bursted a horrid bundle of honey locust thorns from Jack's flesh.
The thorns violently excavating themselves from within him, Jack is thrown almost completely off balance from the recoil. Blood geysers out of each puncture wound.
Mother Nature's mouth is agape as she listens to Jack's horrendous scream in pain. A blood curdling scream that makes her stomach drop, makes her throat close up and makes it even more difficult to stand. The kind of scream that would torture the ears of any mother.
After such a shriek, Jack swallows hard as he tries to somehow process his circumstances. He starts to feel dizzy and he doesn't know if it's from the pain or the blood loss. He can't get air in his lungs fast enough, but if he breathes too deeply it'll only sting that much more.
Both spirits now start to tremble, shaking in their boots as they silently watch the other. Mother Nature wordlessly dissipates the thorns from inside Jack's shoulder. All of them disappearing in trails of green sparkle into the atmosphere.
She places her hands over her mouth as she watches Jack grunt with the release of the thorns, and then immediately fall to his knees.
He keeps himself upright enough by placing his good hand directly on the ground, keeping the other limp by his side. He knows if he fully goes down he won't be getting back up. And he refuses to not get the last word in.
He groans and gasps for air, his face pinched trying to push down the pain. The remaining warmth he had left quickly draining itself from his shoulder now that there was nothing blocking its way. He struggles through his tremor, sitting up just enough to reach his wounds with his good hand.
In his palm he collects a cloud of magic and with another tooth pulling scream he very tightly grips the afflicted shoulder and presses his hand into the swamp of blood and flesh. He thinks that maybe he can freeze the punctures over and stop the bleeding somehow. But it doesn't work. He doesn't have the strength to pull it off.
And this is the part Mother Nature regrets the most.
Of course she feels horrible about doing that to him in the first place. But it's here, where she's paralyzed with fear and she just watches as her former ward yells and screams bloody murder and struggles and writhes on the floor.
And she didn't help. She could only watch.
After the failed attempt at patching the wound, Jack meets Mother Nature's unwavering gaze from the floor. The softness in her eyes contrasted the sharpness in his.
"Some mother you are…!" he bites out through ragged breaths.
The comment hits right where it needed to.
Before she could have any more time to process, Jack freezes. He is encased in a bright purple column, little specks of white gently hovering around him. He doesn't move, not even micro adjustments as he remains statue-like. Paused in a rage filled limbo.
Mother Nature knows whose magic this is but cannot look away from Jack. Father Time with his one eye still glowing rushes to his counterpart's side.
"Terra? How badly are you hurt?" he asks, pleadingly looking up to her for a response.
He gets none as her stare is glued to the ice spirit on the ground ahead of her. Father Time gently brings her hands down from over her mouth, and with a delicate amount of pressure urges her to sit on the ground. Her wounded leg splayed out in front of her.
Father Time joins her on the floor and takes in the sight of his dear friend. She is battered, beaten and bruised, but most of all she was hurt.
"I didn't want this to happen," she whispered.
She finally tore her eyes away, and looked to Father Time. She looked like a ghost of her usual self. She looked tired.
"I didn't want any of this to happen."
No tears were shed from her. She was far too empty for tears now.
All she could do was watch.
Father Time's heart hangs low in his chest as he holds Mother Nature by the shoulders. They sit in grieving silence together, neither finding the words that will somehow make this all better.
"That's when the healers arrived," Father Time muttered, "us spirits are hearty so they both healed just fine. Physically that is."
"Oh…" Lucy looks down at her feet, trying not to make eye contact with Father Time thinking it would be somehow disrespectful. "How do you know about all of this when you weren't there?"
"I watched it back after it happened. I wanted to get Terras full story, to help her in the aftermath as best I could."
She couldn't help but feel awful about what Mother Nature went through. She's always been somewhat of an empath and hearing about what she lost makes Lucy's own heart sink. She couldn't imagine what losing a son must have been like. The air between them lay heavy on both their shoulders.
"I guess the magic of harmony probably can't fix all that huh," she plaintively remarked.
It's a melancholic clarity that clicks into place as the off kilter balance in the air during their visit makes more and more sense. But a very tiny speck in the back of her mind is thinking about Jack's side of the story in all this. As devastated as she is about Mother Nature's journey, she can't help but also be curious about what Jack himself was thinking at the time.
'Probably nothing good,' she reasoned with herself.
"Don't worry about any of that Lucy," Father time stands up from his seat, "You're a child. I understand that you're intrigued by the balance of the matter. And it's good you're taking an interest in your magic so early on."
Lucy grabs her staff that's been leaning against the bench and stands up to match Father Time as he continues.
"But it's not your job to worry about thousands of years of baggage. Mother Nature just wanted to give you some context about her core. It is such a special circumstance after all. But hopefully this will give you some context for Jack's behavior in the future. Easier to navigate."
"But can't anything be done?" she pleads to the legend.
"Maybe someday. When the time is right," he said with a wink, trying to lighten the mood.
It worked somewhat as Lucy returned it with her own dim smile, "You think so?"
"I know so. There's exactly 1,584 alternative timelines where they manage to patch things up."
"Is…is that a good ratio?"
"It's better than nothing, isn't it?" he chuckles.
Lucy smiles back.
Back at the North Pole, Carol waits patiently by the open double doors of the mostly full stables. She looks out onto the forested landscape of the rest of the pole. She came prepared for her afternoon watch, wearing the thickest most wool lined parka she could find. She never disliked the cold, but north pole temperatures were another beast on their own.
And right on cue, the hatch opening at the top of the dome lowered, allowing the sleigh to glide through. Just the people she's been waiting for. The wind from the descent kicked up into the stable as the sleigh came down for a smooth landing on the runway. And not a moment too soon, because Carol was getting a little sick of the surrounding reindeer smell.
The sleigh, pulled by Comet and Dasher and piloted by Scott, gently ushered itself into the warm confines of the stable. The reindeer were briskly unhooked from the reins by a few elf attendants and both Scott and Charlie hopped their way out.
"Charlie! It's so good to see you," Carol lights up as she and Charlie come together for a warm embrace.
"It's good to see you too Carol," Charlie smiled.
Scott watches the two fondly, it's always such a treat to have Charlie visit. Even under more concerning circumstances.
"Is it all true? Dad filled me in on the way here. She has magic?" he asks quizzically.
"I'm afraid it is," Carol replies, "I don't know too much about it myself, but apparently it just kind of happened out of the blue yesterday."
"Right. And this all works like how your coat works dad?"
"That's what we're thinking," Scott explains, saddling up beside the two, "She's got a cool looking stick now that we think acts as her red coat. But she can't pass the title on for another ten years."
"Huh. Seems weird and convoluted," Charlie playfully remarked.
"Oh don't worry, all magic stuff like that," Scott said, "You'll learn one of these days just how crazy it can get."
The family continues the debriefing as they make their way out of the stables and into the greater workshop. No real destination in mind, other than the goal to keep Scott away from his responsibilities for another moment longer.
"I can't believe it. I turn my back for one second, posit the idea of a teenage rebellion and then she goes and starts talking to magical criminals," Charlie pauses for a bit of dramatic effect. "That's better than I would've thought! She's really out done me this time."
"Charlie!" Scott reprimands as Carol chuckles at the comment.
"What? Seeking out help from criminals is a big step from spray painting gym walls I would think," Charlie defends.
"I just hope nothing happens to her," Scott expressed, "Laura and Neil are already worried half to death."
"She just went to ask him a question, Scott. Not even close to any actual illegal activity," Carol reassured, giving Charlie a sarcastic look.
"It would be different if it was anyone else she was seeing. But Jack Frost has never been trustworthy in the slightest." Scott worries as the family swerves out of the pathways of various elves.
"If anyone can handle him it would be Lucy. And besides she's never had magic before, this must all be a lot for her. You struggled through the same thing as an adult. Imagine how confusing it must be for a seventeen year old. I don't blame her for seeking out a more unorthodox opinion." Carol noted.
"Unorthodox would be going to the easter bunny," Scott said derogatorily, "This is just plainly a bad idea."
Charlie chimed in politely avoiding a fast paced elf on the way, "She'll be fine Dad. She has Mother Nature with her right? She's going to be just fine for a quick visit."
"For now maybe. But everything is still so up in the air. What if he agrees and he does something to her? I couldn't live with myself if I let anything bad happen while she's here."
Carol, sensing Scotts building guilt, hooks her arms around one of his, pulling him off to the adjacent candy cane colored wall.
"Dad, Lucy, apart from being responsible and knowing when to get out of dodge, is also a tough cookie! A very colorful, sprinkle covered cookie." Charlie musters a reassuring grin.
"And those are always the best ones!" Carol added with an agreeing nod.
"We're all just trying to look out for her here. But I really don't think that anything too bad will happen. Not on such a short visit anyway." Charlie said.
Scott's eyes find a place on the floor, placing his free hand on top of Carols. He wants to think that they're both right, that he'll be proven wrong and that everything will work out.
He sighs, looking up at the two, "If you guys say so. But I might need some extra Christmas magic to fully believe that."
But before any other assurances were to be made, Buddy comes loudly bounding into the corridor with Bernard in tow. Singing a very out of tune rendition of Jingle Bells and the head elf trails behind the kid in silent misery at the tones.
The seven year old locks eyes with his parents for a brief moment before seeing Charlie standing with them. Recognizing the rare face, he excitedly sprints the rest of the way over to the group.
"Charlie!"
He clumsily runs up to Charlie landing in his outstretched arms as his older half brother hoists him up to carry him.
"Hey Buddy! How's it going little dude?"
"Is it Christmas already?" the seven year old inquires, confused by Charlie's presence.
"Nope. Just came by for a special extra visit with Luce."
"She has a cool stick!" Buddy happily explains.
"I know right? I haven't seen it yet, so I'll have to wait until she comes back."
Having no concept of conversation social cues, Buddy abruptly switches topics taking up conversation with his parents just beside him.
"Mommy! Daddy! I got to find the green tinsel today. Bernard needed a whole box of it, and then I went looking for it. But when I found it, I fell into the box and got lost in the tinsel," Buddy rambles.
"Oh wow! That sounds like a fun trip," Carol replied.
"Yeah! And it smelled like gingerbread in there. It was like being in a forest!"
In the middle of Buddies ramblings is when Charlie finally acknowledges Bernard finally catching up the group from his leisurely pace. The elfs face also brightens at the sight of the oldest Calvin kid.
"Bernard. Good to see you again," Charlie leans in for a side hug with the elf while still holding Buddy.
"It's good to see you too, sport. How's life treating ya?" He asks in his usual slightly boston drawl.
"Not too bad, all things considered. But can you believe the stuff happening with Lucy?"
"Honestly? Yeah I can. Magic is always working in strange ways like that."
"Ah, right. I keep forgetting you're so old, of course you would know," Charlie teases.
"Much older than all of you combined," Bernard remarked.
Bernard ceases the more casual attitude when his walkie talkie on his hip starts to beep. The head elf persona quickly regained as he signals in on the transmission.
"Elf number one. Come in Number one," another elfs voice crinkles from the speaker.
"This is number one, come in portal runner."
"Lucy just came back out. I've sent her on her way back to the workshop, in bound sir."
"Alright, thank you Dottie. Over and out."
Bernard puts the device back in its holder, "Lucy just came back. She's on her way."
"Oh good," Scott breathes out a big sigh in relief, "Boys can you go meet her halfway? I'll try to find Laura and Neil and bring them back to the sitting room. I'm sure they'd wanna know all about every footstep of the visit."
"No problem dad. Me and Buddy will interrogate her to no end!"
Buddy squirms excitedly in Charlie's grasp, "Yeah! Whatever intargrate means!"
"Interrogate. It means we're gonna ask her a lot of hard hitting questions!"
"Ohhh. Mommy can you come too! Ask a lot of questions with us," the child asks.
Carol smiles fondly at the two boys, decades apart from each other in age but with the same carefree expression that reminds her of Scott to no end.
"I won't bug her with questions right out the gate, but I would love to go with you boys. We haven't told Lucy that you'd be coming. This will be a good surprise for sure."
"Yay!" Buddy exclaims.
The group all split up for their separate missions post haste!
By the time the mother and sons intercept Lucy, she was already most of the way back to the workshop. Meandering a little ways past the front plaza.
A thoughtful trek if there ever was one, she isn't looking directly ahead of her and marches in a slow step. Trying to digest all the new information she just received. Her sixth sense annoyingly flutters trying to find the possible equilibrium in such a sticky situation.
But her thoughts slow down to a halt, and she immediately lights up seeing Charlie standing out in the distance. She books it across the snow and nearly tackles him to the ground in her pursuit. Her hug was just as bone crushing as he remembers.
"CHARLES!" Lucy practically shouts while squeezing her older brother.
"That's not my name!" he shouts back.
Charlie returns the hug with vigor, squeezing his sister back. Then tighter. Then tighter still as he has a good full body grip on her and picks her up off of the ground. With her legs dangling in the air he promptly shuffles over a few steps and drops her into the nearest snow bank.
Laughter erupts from participants and onlookers alike.
"What are you doing here? It is Christmas yet," Lucy asks, shaking off the remaining snow from her coat as she emerges from the snow pile.
"I came to see what all the fuss has been about. Magic powers!? Are you kidding me!"
"I'm not! I got a magic stick too!" The girl holds out the staff to show her brother.
He carefully looks it over as it switches hands between them. Like most magical items he doesn't know exactly what it does but it looks awesome either way. He found the way the little sprouts of plants bloomed at the hilt was the most interesting.
"That's sick! This thing is awesome," Charlie comments, feeling the weight of it in both of his hands, "Way heavier than it looks. How are you carrying this around all the time?"
"Heavy? That thing is not heavy, it's like holding a chunk of balsa wood," Lucy corrects.
"Let me see!" Buddy palms in the air between his family members, motioning for the staff.
"Alright, but it's very heavy," Charlie cautions as he gently sets the staff into Buddy's waiting hands.
He then very quickly folded under the weight and was knocked to the ground with a thud. Both Lucy and Carol go in to try and help. Carol gets just a little taste of the weight of the thing before the redhead pulls the staff out of Buddy's hands like nothing.
"Maybe we'll try holding it a little later, Bud," Lucy says.
Charlie suddenly lights up with a realization, you could practically see the lightbulb above his head.
"Lucy! Sibling stack the way back!"
The girl's face matched the one of her brother, equally as excited, "Sibling stack!"
"Aunt Carol, can you hold this?" Lucy barely waited for an answer before dropping the staff into her hands with a huff.
Carol was also taken aback by how hefty the thing was, and had to adjust her stance accordingly.
Lucy was quick to pick up an unsuspecting Buddy, who giggled the entire way up onto her shoulders. Charlie was quick to follow, shuffling himself under Lucy and quickly hoisting her up onto his shoulders as well.
"SIBLING STACK!" Charlie and Lucy shouted in unison.
Buddy and Lucy were laughing up a storm perched all the way on top of the stack. Carol was laughing nervously along with them as the stack started walking toward the workshop.
"Oh goodness please be careful you guys!" she warned, keeping watchful pace with the half siblings.
"I'm always careful, Aunt Carol!" Charlie assured.
Carol kept a close eye on the siblings as they walked their way back. But of course the stack tipped over along the way when Charlie decided to get bold and start sprinting. Charlie, Lucy and Buddy returned with red noses and cheeks, and with snow covered heads of hair from their tumble.
After everyone was found and gathered, between open slots in Scotts busy schedule, the family were seated in Scott's main office in the workshop. The enchanted stone fireplace in the visage of Santa's face held a roaring fire in its mouth.
Mid day snacking food and drinks were brought to the family as they all exchanged pleasantries with Charlie. Even taking a few extra minutes for polite small talk with one another before the Miller parents started growing antsy. With drinks and food thoroughly passed around, and with everyone settled, now is the time for the moment of truth.
"So how did the meeting go sweetie," Laura asks, sitting beside her daughter.
"It went really well actually. The heat enchantment helped a lot," she explained, gesturing to the fire in a bottle that currently held Buddy's attention.
"And there wasn't any snow business going on right?" Scott asks from his desk, half heartedly looking over the naughty and nice lists.
"No Uncle Scott. He did rudely pull out my chair while I was still using it though. Grade school type of stuff," she chuckles at her own comment, taking a sip of her cider drink in her hand.
Her parents and Scott remained unmoved.
"Him and Mother Nature don't seem to get along though," Lucy continues, "They have a weird dynamic going on."
"That wouldn't surprise me," Scott interjected, "Jack was rarely at any council meetings, but when he was, he and Mother Nature, and even Father Time, argued a lot."
"When I was there in his banishment they didn't say a whole lot to each other," Lucy cut off the thought there, not wanting to start airing out the legends dirty laundry to her family.
"And what did he say about teaching you?" Carol asked, from the seat on the other side of the girl.
The million dollar question. Everyone grinds whatever menial task they were doing to a halt. Scott, Lucy's parents, Carol and Charlie waited patiently and silently for the answer. The dead air clinging to them like a weighted blanket. Most of them secretly hoping for a no.
But Lucy held her chin high, and answered with great confidence and certainty.
"He said yes. He agreed to teach me until new years."
Everyone went into a stunned silence at the response, almost afraid to move.
"He did?" Scott, Laura and Neil all ask simultaneously.
"He did," Lucy answers confidently, "It took a little…convincing but he was quick to agree otherwise. We agreed that I start tomorrow."
The rest of the awkward silence that follows is particularly deafening. The adults most against this idea take their time compartmentalizing this new development in their own heads. Laura and Neil shared an almost panicked look between them, as they started barely whispering their grievances to each other. Scott stared off into a meaningless direction, leaving his lists unchecked and leaving himself listless.
Lucy looked around at the speechless group and sank lower into her seat. She feels as though she just upset everyone, like she made a mistake. Her confidence wavers, and nearly crumbles under the scrutiny of her guardians.
Carol and Charlie gave each other a confirming glance at one another before deciding to swoop in themselves to salvage the conversation.
"And that's what you wanted right?" Carol kindly asks.
Lucy turns to her, masking her dejected state, "Yes?"
"Then that's good," Charlie chimes in, "I'm glad that he wants to go through with your idea."
"Exactly. This will be an interesting experience for you for sure. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say," Carol said.
The more skeptical ones of the group softened their gaze to Lucy sitting in her seat. Carol and Charlie's efforts were only slightly helpful so far.
"Are you…absolutely sure about this sweetie?" Laura finally pipes up, holding onto Neils hand in her lap.
"It's not too late to change your mind," Neil adds in much the same apprehensive tone, "There are other options we can explore here."
"Yes, I'm sure. This feels like the right thing to do," Lucy firmly sets her cup down on the coffee table.
"But how can you know?" Laura pleads.
"Because it's the magic talking," Lucy pauses at the statement, "Well it's not talking talking, but I can feel it. It's hard to explain but it's just in the air. I just know that this will help. Uncle Scott you have magic. You gotta know what I'm talking about when I say that the feeling is there."
All eyes turn to Scott sitting at his desk. His eyebrows knit together in thought, at her words. He thinks back to his first few years as Santa, how much he learned and how little he knew what he was actually doing. He takes another moment to best articulate his response.
"Believing is seeing," he quietly says to himself, "I get what you mean kiddo."
"Scott," Laura warns.
"Laura, nobody can dictate how the magic works. It always runs its own play. And if her new magic senses are going off, then I am inclined to take her word for it."
"Usually I would be all for letting Lucy express herself and have an outlet as a coping mechanism," Neil interjects, "But I don't trust Jack within an inch of my life. And Lucy is definitely in danger with him around."
"Why would he try anything? He's already in what's basically prison. What would he have to gain by doing anything to me?" Lucy asks.
"He's crafty, Luce. He's tricky. You gotta understand that your parents just don't wanna see you get hurt. No one here does," Scott reasons, trying to play both fields.
"Why don't you guys trust me to make the right call?"
"We do trust you, hon," Neil says.
"Then let me do this. I get it that you guys don't trust him. And neither do I! He still has to earn that from me. But I am affording him something that everyone should be able to get. Kindness. Uncle Scott I know you've given him all your chances, but I haven't given him any of my own. And it's only for two weeks anyway, and after that I will never see him again. Pinky promise!"
The adults in the room all share unsure looks to each other once again. Charlie makes his way over to Lucy, placing himself behind the couch and playfully ruffles her hair.
"Please mom?" he addresses, "I think you should let her do it. He's basically in jail, she'll be looked after and she has her own magic to blast him with. Healthy teenage rebellion and all that."
His last comment makes Lucy grin a bit.
The rest of the family wait on the edge of their seats for the Millers to decide. Laura and Neil start the indistinct whispering again. Barely audible despite the hefty quietness of the room. Between deliberations they share a look with each other that says a million words. They find their conclusion that neither were not expecting to come to.
They soften. And they concede.
"Alright," Neil defeatedly starts, "Two weeks exactly, and then you're out of there."
"We will have another family meeting about this later for more details. But, as it stands right now, we will trust you on this," Laura finished the sentiment.
Lucy, Carol, Charlie and Scott breathe out a collective sigh of relief, smiles return to their faces at the decision.
The teen kicks up out of her seat with vigor, "Thank you! Thank you guys!"
Her parents stand in response and collect their daughter for a group hug, a hug twinged with a hint of uncertainty. The collective hearts of the other onlookers melt at the sight, relieved to have this mess mostly figured out for the time being. The atmosphere around them sheds its tension as a result.
Until Buddy randomly jumps up from his place playing on the floor, and runs over to the Millers, hugging whichever legs are closest.
"What are we hugging about?" he innocently asks.
Everyone gets a good chuckle out of this as Lucy breaks from the hug and picks him up.
"We're hugging because I have a new teacher. I'm gonna learn how to do magic just like your dad!"
"Really!?"
"Yep! I'll tell you about all the new stuff I've learned when we come back for christmas."
"If you're learning magic, does that mean you're going to school?"
It takes a second for the remark to register in Lucy's head, and when it does her face falls with the realization.
"Oh what! Man! I am going to school! Over winter break even!"
The rest of the group laughs at Lucy's epiphany.
"Buddy these are tough times we live in," she says, giving him a faux look of dissertation.
And just as Mother Nature planned, later that same night, two magical technicians found their way to the pole. A rather stout, bearded dwarf woman and an even smaller, oddly clean shaven gnome. Both clad in their pressed uniforms with badges reading "Head Transport Officer" and "Transportation Technician" respectively.
And after saying their casual goodbyes, knowing that they would be back for Christmas, the Miller family joined the odd pair of fae and were once again manually teleported back to their Illinois home.
And safe to say after three times of teleporting so far, the trio were getting more used to it. And they all let out a weighted sigh when finding themselves back home.
Once returning back to familiar territory, Lucy immediately went on the hunt for Tulip. She gave that dog more cuddles than she knew what to do with. Which Tulip herself didn't mind, but served as an excellent distraction away from the supernatural company they had brought with them.
It was difficult finding a place in the house to set up a temporary doorway to an endless sea of other dimensions. Somewhere that wouldn't mess with the feng shui.
Lucy was first to suggest somewhere in her room for simplicity's sake, but her parents were not as on board with the request. Ideas of the laundry room, the guest bedroom, the random wall of the stairs and even the attic were all tossed around and eventually tossed into the trash.
Until eventually it was decided that the door would take the place of the rarely used hallway linen closet. Tucked away from any prying eyes of surprise guests, but in the hallway where all the bedrooms are situated as to keep a closer eye on Lucy's comings and goings.
The teleporter technicians quickly got to work as they devolved into a flurry of action.
Using the crystal they teleported to the house with, they draw out the dimensions for the doorway onto the wall in blue glowing lines. And more lines still etched onto the floor in a half circle, strange runic shapes speckled across the design in a seemingly random fashion.
The gnome jumps on top of the dwarf woman's shoulders and adhears said crystal to the top of the door frame. And with that addition the glowing lines of the frame and the design on the floor brightened and came to life in a wave of magic, kicking up a light breeze in the hallway in the process. The blue enchanted lines disappeared as the doorway formed a soft glowing film over its threshold.
The dwarf woman, with her hand on the surface of the magic, channels her own power to inscribe the door with more specific instructions.
And with these last touches it was now fully installed. Lucy may now come and go to the bypass as she pleases, but for everyone else it's practically inoperable. Heavily safeguarded per Mother Nature's request.
One door down, still one to go.