Tale
Chapter 7 : Planning... isn't your thing
/!\ I do not own Rise of the Guardians, only my OC.
Jack Frost
The silence was total. No one spoke for more than a minute. Finally, Lía said:
"Oh, so apparently there is no plan, is there?"
"Eh... not yet." answered North.
"You guys were going to plan, right? Or were you about to go head first fight Pandore and cross your fingers?" the tale-teller asked. She paused before answering her own question. "Yeah, you were going to do that, weren't you?"
Jack coughed. He was trying to hide his laughter, to no avail. He had asked the same thing to the other Guardians before they had left to search for Lía. Planning definitely wasn't their strong suit.
"What's so funny, Frostbite?" Bunny asked, annoyed.
"No- nothing", Jack hiccuped, laughing.
"Jack Frost refusing to spread fun and laughter around. Well, ain't that a first." commented the pooka.
"Alright, Kangaroo. You want to know what is so funny?" Jack replied. "The fact that Lía knows you all so well. That she knew that you weren't going to plan. And that you..."
"Know nothing about me" the shape-shifter completed, smiling.
Jack returned her smile. She seemed a bit disappointed by the lack of preparation of the Guardians, but she too could see the irony of the situation. She was a bit like him, less serious and more free-spirited than the Guardians. It was kind of weird, though, that the serious, older Guardians never planned, never thought ahead.
"Well, looks like you two are getting along!" said Bunny. It was obviously his way of getting back at Lía and Jack for laughing at him, but it still made the two immortal teens blush. Lía also frowned and replied sharply:
"He's the nicest and least self-centred of you all. If I have to befriend someone here, it will be the only one who hasn't looked down on me and treated me like I was nothing just because I'm not a Guardian!"
This time, it was the Guardians' turn to blush. They all stared at the ground, ashamed. Jack was looking at them, listening to the discussion without saying a word. He could finally understand what had happened between Lía and the Guardians.
"You", the shape-shifter said, pointing at Bunny. "You refused to even listen to me, to give me one second of your time. You didn't help me when my ankle had been broken by one of your crazy egg golems. Instead, you threw me out of the Warren, saying that you didn't have time for this! Tooth, you act like you're kind and gentle, a good listener who will always help others, but when I tried to talk to you, you said that you were to busy to talk. I was a young immortal then, not even one year old, trying to understand what was happening, what the Man in the Moon wanted from me. You told me to wait for a bit near your palace. You told me that you would come shortly. I waited and entire week before realising that you had completely forgotten about me!"
She took a moment to breathe, to gather her thoughts, letting Jack take it all in. He couldn't believe it. His friends were supposed to be nice, generous people! Not the self-absorbed, mean people that Lía was describing. He could understand that they had been busy, but it was still hard to believe that they had just let Lía down like this. That they had ignored her and refused to talk to her when she needed them the most.
"And the Sandman, who refused to give me dream-sand to ease my sorrow... you weren't mean, just absent. And North? North, do you know how many times I tried to break inside your workshop? Just to see a bit of wonder, to witness the wonder you would bring to the children? But your yeti threw me out, again and again. I tried to speak with you multiple times, but you would never even see me. You just looked at me and acted as if I didn't exist. As if I could just disappear if you all thought that I wasn't real."
Her breath was now unsteady, her voice was trembling. She had tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them run down her cheeks.
"So I too acted as if I didn't exist, for you. Since my existence was inconvenient for all of you, I avoided you. I ignored you. I refused to talk to you. I spent two-hundred-and-eighty years without seeing any Guardian, and my life was just fine. And now, you barge into my life and ask me to become a Guardian, to give up everything I've worked on to fight evil, and expect me to just smile and laugh and hug you all? Well no, it doesn't work that way. Jack Frost was the only one who actually talked to me, who asked me how I was doing, what I was capable of... who helped me. Who showed he cared. He is the nicest of you all."
Jack looked at her, surprised. He didn't expect her to praise him. She hadn't been nice with him. She had tried to kill him a few days ago! But apparently, he was the only one she could stand. He couldn't take in everything that was happening. The Guardians had greatly mistreated Lía, who had reluctantly agreed to help them. But Lía wasn't done.
"You know what's worse?" she asked rhetorically, now standing up. "I tell the children about you every day. I maintain their faith in you, I recite your tales, your stories, so that they will always remember you. So that you are believed in. So that you are seen. They don't see me, but they see you. And you know what, guys? I don't even care! Thanks to you, I'm used to loneliness. And I don't mind keeping you guys visible to the children, because it brings them joy! At the end of the day, it's all about them. And about you. And what you guys did to me? It doesn't matter. You can't get to me. I don't care about all of this. I don't care about you all."
Jack couldn't help but stare at Lía. He could hear the pain in her words, in her voice. The others didn't seem to get it, to see it, but Jack could see that she was hiding a wound deeper and wider than she would ever admit. Being looked down on, ignored by the Guardians, had hurt her badly. It was a big deal, and she would probably never forgive the Guardians for it. But she acted as if it didn't matter. As if she was alright. She was still standing, facing the ones that had hurt her during centuries, helping them, because she wanted to defeat Pandore. To help the children. Lía was putting her feelings aside to ally herself with the Guardians, and that was strength. Bravery. She was stronger than Jack could ever be.
She kept talking, but he didn't listen to a word she said. He just kept staring at her face, her strange yet beautiful eyes and the strength he could see inside.
Lía Tale
She couldn't believe she had just said that. She had told them everything. Now Jack knew how miserable and weak and lonely she was. She frowned. Did it matter? Why would she care what Jack thought of her? It didn't matter and she didn't care. She couldn't care. She had bigger things to worry about. Now that the way she felt about the Guardians was clear, now that they knew that she wasn't here to befriend them, but only to defeat Pandore and preserve balance, now they could really talk. Now they could act, too. She cleared her throat and put her hands on the coffee table, leaning towards the Guardians gathered around it.
"Now that this is clear, might we begin planning? We do have an evil immortal to fight. How do you think we should do this?" she asked.
They all started talking at the same time, making it impossible for her to understand anything they said. She raised her hands, placed one foot on the coffee table and said, using her strong, deep storyteller voice: "Enough! The animals of the forest behave better than you. Express your thoughts one by one!"
North frowned when he saw her take on his role of leader.
"Don't give orders", he answered dryly. "As you said, you're not Guardian, and I'm still leader."
"Well, if the leader doesn't lead, someone has to do it, no?" she replied, one eyebrow raised. "But you're right, I'm no leader of the Guardians. North, please, lead us. Enlighten us with your wisdom as chief and guide us as we plan our response against Pandore."
She perfectly hid the annoyance she felt as she spoke and, with a gesture of the hand, asked North to do his job. He stood up, straightened his shoulders and started talking. Lía listened as he asked the Guardians to express their thoughts about the plan. They all spoke at the same time, arguing over whose idea was best, using their hands to illustrate their thoughts. Again, planning turned into a real disaster.
Lía didn't really mind attention, though. She knew that it was useless. She had understood at the beginning of the discussion that the Guardians were really bad at planning, and asking them to do so was actually pretty stupid of her. She already knew what their plan would be: wait for Pandore to strike first, fight her despairs and, basically, go with the flow.
Instead of focusing on the useless discussion, she turned her attention to Jack and Sandy. Those two weren't participating either.
Jack was... well, apparently, he was staring at her. She frowned a bit, surprised. Did she have something on her face? Was she ugly to him? Or maybe her weird eyes disturbed him? She felt more hurt at that thought that she should've. Caring about what he thought of her was useless and pointless. Nonetheless, she was curious to know what he was thinking about right now, while staring at her and her eyes. Her own eyes got lost in the icy blue depths of Jack Frost's gaze.
Blue and green met blue, and Jack quickly turned his eyes when he noticed that she was staring at him. And also, probably, that she had understood that he was staring at her. His pale cheeks turned pink and he looked away, examining his staff like it was the most incredible thing in the entire world.
Lía smiled slightly, amused, but also a bit embarrassed. He had caught her staring at his -she had to admit, beautiful- eyes. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused on Sandy, the other one who didn't take part in the discussion.
The Sandman was trying to be heard, but the others didn't pay much attention to him. He was frantically drawing images with his sand above his head, to no avail. Then, he noticed that Lía had seen him. She got closer to him and watched his sand-drawings.
"Oh no", she said when she finally understood what he was trying to say. "You have an... alarm, it is? in your home, and it's been triggered, and you think that it's Pandore and her despairs?"
He nodded.
"But... no one's there, so it's not that bad, isn't it?" the tale-teller asked. "I mean, it's sad if she destroys some furniture and maybe a wall or two, but other than that... I don't really think that we're ready to go fight her. Maybe we just let her..."
The sandman shook his head, interrupting her. He explained something with his sand.
"Oh Moon!" Lía exclaimed after translating his signs. "This is where you keep your dream-sand? Where you make it and store it to use it at night?"
He nodded again.
"If Pandore finds it, she could use it to inspire despair to everyone! We have to stop her."
Once again, Sandy nodded.
"Hey guys!" Lía said, trying to attract their attention.
But the other Guardians were too focused on their own conversation. And Jack was still examining his staff thoroughly, probably to embarrassed to raise his head and risk to meet the shape-shifter's strange gaze. She sighed.
"Enough is enough!" Lía whispered though gritted teeth, annoyed. They wouldn't listen to her? Very well then, she would make them listen.
Jack Frost
He couldn't even raise his head. He was too embarrassed. Lía had seen him stare at her! What was she thinking about him know? Oh, Moon, if only he could disappear right now! He usually wasn't shy, but with this wild, brave shape-shifter with a sharp tongue, he suddenly was. Why was he staring at her? Why did he have to embarrass himself? She was really beautiful, but it was no reason to stare! He should've participated in the debate of the other Guardians. That way, she wouldn't have caught him staring.
He slightly turned his head and noticed that Lía had moved to get closer to Sandy. She was apparently trying to translate his sand-drawings. He didn't dare to raise his head and look at the Guardian of Dream's drawings, too afraid to meet her beautiful gaze. He then heard her sigh loudly. And then...
He heard the thumps of large paws hitting the wooden coffee table. Startled, he finally dared to look in front of him, only to see a tall, black wolf with two paws on the coffee table and two others on the ground. As if it wasn't enough to attract everyone's attention, the wolf turned its head towards the ceiling and howled loudly.
Jack couldn't hold his smile in. The situation was hilarious. The other Guardians were all extremely surprised, North looking like he was about to have a stroke, and everyone shut up. Oh, the face of the Guardians caught by surprise by the howling wolf! It was priceless!
Lía turned back into her human form and noticed Jack's smile. She smiled too, trying to hold her laughter in and to stay serious. He could see it. He realised that her power was an endless source of pranks. If only he could get her to help him pull a few pranks on the Guardians...
"Guardians! Please, all of you... shut up!" she screamed, interrupting Jack's thoughts.
No one was talking, but it was then sure that no one would until she was done talking.
"Sandy just told me that the alarm in his home has been triggered. It is almost certain that Pandore and her despairs are behind it."
She paused and looked at the others, as if she was waiting for something. Finally, she said: "Well? Isn't anyone going to react?"
North got up and answered. "Yes, we react. We need to go fight Pandore and her despairs, defend the Sand Castle. Sandy, since we're going to your place, can you lead the way?"
The Sandman nodded. With a wave of the hand, he asked the others to follow him. As they were walking down the corridors of North's workshop, Jack manager to get closer to Lía. He whispered to the shape-shifter: "Great job! The expression on their faces when you howled..."
"I know, right?" she answered with a smile. "It's the first time I turn into a wolf to attract people's attention, and it was definitely worth it."
"We could be great partners!" Jack declared. She looked at him, surprised, probably wondering what he meant.
"Uh, pranking partner, I mean.." he quickly added, slightly blushing. "We could definitely pull some great, even legendary pranks! With my staff, your shape-shifting abilities, and your hair-thread thingy..."
"My hair-thread thingy?" she repeated. He could hear amusement in her voice, but he still got embarrassed.
"Like, you know, your hair power? It's great, it's great, it's way better than just a 'thingy', but I don't know how you call it? I... uh..."
He shut his mouth when she put a light hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.
"It's okay", she assured him. "I understand that you didn't want to insult my powers. And actually, I don't even have a name for it. Though I don't really like the 'hair-thread thingy' name. I think we can come up with something better."
He nodded and smiled. She smiled back, but then blushed, frowned and looked away, taking her hand back. The situation was quite awkward.
They were behind the other Guardians, still following Sandy in the corridors of the workshop.
"So..." Jack said, changing the subject, "you've been here before?"
"Well, not 'here' here" she answered while looking around. They were walking by a huge pit with thousands of tiny flying toys going up and down, elves jumping from toy to toy and yeti trying to catch them. She admired a mechanical dragon-fly the size of her hand fly next to her before opening her mouth again.
"I tried to break in multiple times, but I never got past the Globe room. Though, once, I managed to slip inside North's office. You know, the place where he designs the toys?"
"Really?" asked Jack, full of admiration. "I tried to break in multiple times as well, before becoming a Guardian, but I only ever reached the second hall, right before the Globe room."
"That's quite far, well done", Lía said. "And how did you get in?"
"Oh, you know the..."
But before Jack could explain anything, they all stopped. Jack, too focused on his discussion with Lía, bumped into Bunny's furry back and the pooka turned around, annoyed.
"Watch it, Frostbite! The lady's lovely, I'll give you that, but it's no reason to..."
The Easter Bunny stopped when he noticed Lía's angry glance. He suddenly remembered the discussion he had had with her earlier and gulped.
"I gotta..." he mumbled before hastily approaching Tooth.
Jack looked at Lía Tale, surprised. What had happened between her and Bunny, to make the fierce pooka so afraid of her?
Lía Tale
She could still feel the freshness of the blue fabric of Jack Frost's hoodie on her hand. She didn't know why she had reacted that way. She usually was nice and compassionate in a discreet way. She wasn't used to physical contact, nice gestures or kind words. So why did she have to put her hand on his shoulder? And why was she still thinking about it? She opened and closed her fist multiple times, trying to erase the feeling of Jack's shoulder under her hand. The situation was awkward and she didn't know how to make it less so.
Thankfully, Jack changed the subject and they discussed a bit. Jack was about to tell her how he had entered North's workshop when he bumped into Bunny. The Guardian of Hope opened his mouth and teased the immortal teen:
"Watch it, Frostbite! The lady's lovely, I'll give you that, but it's no reason to..."
But then, he noticed the dark look in the tale-teller's eyes and shut his mouth. He gulped before saying: "I gotta..." and quickly approaching Tooth.
Lía noticed that Jack was staring at her. He had a questioning look on his face. He was probably wondering what had happened between her and Bunny. He was probably scared of her now. But then, a small smile appeared on his face and he whispered:
"Man, I'm jealous! I've dreamed of making him shut up with just one look! How do you do that?"
Lía opened her mouth, unsure. She couldn't just tell him what had happened between her and Bunny earlier. That would definitely scare him away. And she had to admit that, of all the Guardians, he was the one that she appreciated. The one that made her stay with them bearable.
"Guardians!" North exclaimed, saving her from a weird discussion. "We are taking Sandy's flying carpet to fly to his home. We will fight Pandore and her despair and we will vanquish!
He raised his sword in the air.
"Great pep talk." Lía ironically whispered to herself. But Jack heard her and grinned, amused. She felt heat rushing to her cheeks and turned her head before he could see her blush. She then walked past Bunny and Tooth, who were standing in front of North, facing the main entrance of the workshop.
"Now, this sounds like you are all ready to go fight, but might I remind you that we still don't have a plan?" she asked.
The Guardians all looked at each other. The shape-shifter sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in despair.
"Moon, planning really isn't your thing, is it? Are you guys ever been ready to face a situation, or do you always just go head first and hope for the best? We don't know what's waiting for us out there!"
"It could be dozens of despairs", Jack Frost added, "or maybe it's just a stray cat that triggered the alarm after wandering in Sandy's house!"
Lía turned her head towards him and held her chin with one hand, an 'are-you-seriously-serious?' look on her face.
"I have a feeling it's not a stray cat, Jack." she answered.
The Guardian of Fun blushed. In his head, he thought "Now she thinks I'm stupid!", but he tried to hide his thoughts and smiled sheepishly.
"We don't need planning!" North exclaimed. "We have each other, we have the faith of the children, and the Man in the Moon is with us. We will win! I can feel it in my belly."
"D'you have some kind of magic scanner in your belly?" Lía almost asked. But she kept her cool. She bowed slightly and said:
"Very well. The chief has spoken. I guess it's time to fly now?"
This time, Sandy answered. He stepped out of the workshop and held his hands out. Sand swirled around him and formed a long, golden carpet, big enough to allow all five Guardians plus Lía to sit on it.
"We fly." confirmed North.