Tale

Chapter 1 : The Stranger

/!\ I do not own Rise of the Guardians, only my OC.

The boy was walking on a roof, holding his staff in his right hand and using the other one to keep his balance. The moon was full that night and its light made the boy's silver hair shine. He was wearing a blue hoodie and brown trousers. He was bare-foot, too, and his clothes seemed far too light to protect him from the cold air of this autumn night. But Jack Frost wasn't a normal boy; he was a Guardian and a winter spirit. Cold didn't bother him.
That night, he was wandering on the roofs of a town in the northern hemisphere. Winter was coming and he was already preparing to bring it there, and to bring fun along. It had been almost five years since he had defeated Pitch Black with the other Guardians, since he had became a Guardian, and since then he had learnt how to be a good Guardian.

He jumped off the roof and, carried by the wind, landed gracefully on another roof more than ten meters away. He was waiting for Sandy to start his work and send dreams to the children of this town. He had always enjoyed watching the Sandman create fantastical creatures, beautiful flowers and other incredible things to please the children all around the world. But, that night, the Sandman was late. Oh, it happened from time to time, but Jack Frost was beginning to get worried for his friend.
He started to look around, almost running from roof to roof, searching for his friend. But he couldn't find Sandy.

At midnight, he stopped searching and stood on the roof of a small house, very worried. What if Pitch Black was back? What if something had happened to Sandy? He needed to warn the other Guardians! His hand reached for his snow globe in the pocket of his hoodie. North had given him one snow globe, in case of emergency. In four years, he had never used it once. And, that particular night, he had left it home. He sighed. What was the use of an emergency snow globe if he didn't have it during an emergency! He was so stupid!
"It doesn't matter", he then thought.
He would fly as fast as he could to the North Pole to warn the other Guardians. And also ask for another emergency snow globe, just in case.

He was about to jump off the roof to take off, but, as he turned around, he saw something intriguing. Across the dark alley the house overlooked, the window of a taller house was open. It opened on the bedroom of a child, a five or six-years-old boy. He was sitting, using his pillows as a backrest, holding a small lamp shaped to resemble a cute bee, looking completely fascinated. And, at the other end of the bed, a young woman, who looked like she was seventeen or eighteen, was talking to him.

At first, Jack didn't know what had surprised him in that scene. He thought for a second that it was the big sister of the kid, telling him a story to get him to sleep. But he quickly realised it wasn't normal.

The young girl was wearing a white, sleeveless tunic attached to her neck. A short, purple cape with a hood held around her neck thanks to a feather-shaped brooch. Her legs were covered by black trousers that fell bellow her knees. She had a black leather belt around her waist, decorated with purple and blue small crystals. She was bare-foot. Of course, her clothes alone were intriguing, but she also looked strange.
Her hair was darker than night, with purple, blue, green, white, red, orange and pink streaks. She had braided her hair and pulled it up into a tight bun held in place by a sharp, steel pin.
Her skin was originally white, but it had been tanned by the sun and was now amber brown. She also had four tattoos on her: a black crescent moon on her right shoulder, the silhouette of an orca jumping out of the water on her left shoulder, a green feline eye on her left ankle and a wingless dragon forming an eight with its body and biting its tail.
But what Jack Frost had immediately seen, what had really intrigued him, were her eyes. The left one was as green as a leaf during spring, and the right one was icy blue. Her peculiar gaze, her tattoos and her clothing showed him that she wasn't a normal young woman.
She was... different.

Curious, Jack decided he would stay here a bit to try to learn more about this strange young woman. He had completely forgotten about Sandy.

The young woman was speaking softly to the young boy. She was holding what seemed to be a colourful tapestry and was showing it to the boy. It wasn't a big tapestry, probably the size of a standard piece of paper, but Jack could see from his roof that it was filled with details. The weaver who had made it could be proud, because it was beautiful.
Even from a distance, the Guardian of Fun could see that it told the story of a little mermaid. He knew that story, everyone knew that story, and the tapestry was telling it with precision. Words weren't needed to understand what the tapestry was telling. But the young woman was talking, her voice only a bit louder than a whisper, and that whisper was hypnotising the young boy in front of her. He was still, focused on the words of that strange lady.

After a few more minutes, the story was finished. The young woman folded the tapestry and put it away in a pocket inside her cape. The little boy in front of her stayed still for a moment, his eyes staring into space as if he were still looking at the tapestry. Then, suddenly, he blinked multiple times and started readjusting his pillows as if nothing had happened.
The young woman sitting at the end of the bed smiled, but it was a smile filled with pain, sadness and despair. She got up and walked towards the boy, her steps completely silent in the night. She stood by his head, her back to the window, and looked at him. But the boy acted as if she didn't exist, turning his back to her to put his bee-shaped lamp back onto his night table. He then curled up under the cover, his head resting on his pillows, holding a stuffed bear against his heart.

The boy quickly fell asleep and turned during his sleep. He was now facing the young woman, still standing next to his head, her back to the window. Jack noticed for the first time that she had a black leather scabbard attached horizontally to her belt in her back. It contained a dagger with a black handle, a steel pommel shaped like a diamond adorned with a translucent purple crystal, and a steel hilt.
His grip on his staff was immediately stronger and the roof tiles around him became covered in frost. He was ready to react in case anything happened.

But the young woman didn't pull her dagger out. She just slowly raised her hand and gently stroked the boy's face. Well, at least she tried. Her hand went though his cheek like she was a ghost. Immediately, Jack Frost understood what was happening, and his heart ached for the young woman. She was like him five years ago, before he became a Guardian. People couldn't see him, couldn't hear him, couldn't touch him, because they didn't believe in him. For some reason, when she was telling him a fairytale, the boy could see and hear her, but now that the story was over, it was like she had never existed.

The young woman sighed and turned around. Jack Frost was partially hidden by a chimney, so she didn't notice him at first. She climbed onto the windowsill, closed the window behind her and jumped. She landed gracefully and silently on the roof where Jack was. She stood still for a minute, staring at the moon above her.

"Why?" she whispered. Her voice was deep for a woman, and really soft. You could hear tears in her voice as she continued to speak with the moon.

"Why did you do that? Why me? Why can't they see me? Why can't I be normal? Why?" she screamed the last word, her fists clenched tightly, her muscles tensed.

"Why..." and this time, it was a whisper again.

A single tear fell from her green eye and rolled on her cheek, reflecting the moonlight.

Jack couldn't stay silent and hidden anymore. He wanted to console her, he couldn't stand to see her sad. He felt like he was in front of himself four years and a few months ago, before he became a Guardian, when he was still alone and sad. He had wished, back then, to have someone like him, someone who knew how it felt like to be completely alone, inexistant. Someone to keep him company. But, back then, his wish had remained unfulfilled. And now, he could help someone completely alone to feel better. He could fulfil his own wish.

He walked to the left and left the cover of the chimney. The young woman immediately noticed him and gasped. Her eyes widened with surprise. She stared at him for a second before suddenly turning around. She ran on the roof, jumped high and grabbed the windowsill she was standing on earlier.
"Wait!" shouted Jack Frost as she was climbing on the windowsill, jumping again and pulling herself up onto the roof of the boy's house.
His staff in his right hand, the Guardian of Fun quickly followed the strange girl.

He was fast and quickly got onto the roof, but she was even faster. She was agile, skilled and strong, and she was already at the other end of the roof, turning her back to Jack.

"I just..." said the Guardian, but he couldn't finish his sentence: after a quick glance at him, the young woman jumped off the roof.

Jack ran to the other end of the roof, but when he looked around, the strange girl was nowhere to be seen. He looked down, too, but the street was empty. He was alone. She had... vanished.

On a roof not far from him, a crow was looking at him.

Jack Frost didn't try to find the young woman. After seeing her move, he had understood that, if she wanted to be left alone, he didn't have the slightest chance to find her and, then, catch up with her.

He suddenly remembered, as he was staring at the moon, sitting on the roof from which the young woman had jumped, that Sandy had disappeared. He got up and decided to go to the North Pole. There, he would warn the other Guardians and they would help him find Sandy. And maybe one of them knew something about that strange girl. He had never seen her before, but the other Guardians may have had.
So, he called the Wind and flew to the North Pole.

During the flight, he encountered a hurricane and a lot of rain. When he finally arrived to the North Pole, he was soaked from head to toe. His silver hair fell in front of his glacier-like eyes and sticked to his forehead, and his blue hoodie sticked to his skin due to the water.
He landed in front of the main entrance. A yeti saw him and immediately opened the doors. The tall creature handed a towel to the Guardian, so that he could dry himself, but Jack Frost ran past him and rushed in the multiple corridors of North's home.

He instinctively ran to the room where the Globe was kept. He had a feeling that North would be there. When he entered the room, he saw the silhouette of the huge Russian man and screamed: "Sandy's missing! Sandy's missing!" But then, he froze.

North wasn't alone in the Globe's room. He was sitting in a comfortable red sofa near an elegant wooden coffee table, sipping hot chocolate with... Sandy?

The two Guardians turned to see Jack Frost enter the room, his wet clothes and hair dripping and forming little puddles of water around him, screaming like he was possessed that the Sandman was missing.

"Jack?" exclaimed North. "What is the problem, boy?"

The young Guardian had just noticed Sandy sat in an armchair, next to North, but he still said: "Sandy's... missing?"

"Jack, Sandy's here!" said North.

The Sandman nodded to confirm his own presence.

"Yeah, I see that, but... tonight, the dreams..." stammered Jack Frost.

North got up and walked up to him. He put one huge hand on the Guardian of Fun's wet shoulder and said: "Calm down, boy. You are upset. I see that. You need to sit down, dry yourself and drink some hot chocolate. Then, explain to us what happened."

Jack nodded. He followed North's advice and finally accepted a towel from the yeti who had pursued him down the corridors and thanked him. He dried his hair and froze the puddles of water around him with his staff. He then turned the ice into thin sparkles that would quickly disappear. The yeti, seeing that the damages on the carpet were repaired, sighed with satisfaction and left the room. Jack sat on the sofa next to North, took one sip of hot chocolate and explained what had happened that night.

The Guardian of Dreams and the Guardian of Wonder listened carefully to Jack Frost. He had briefly mentioned the stranger he had encountered, but he had just said : "I saw a strange young woman on the roofs. But when I tried to speak to her, she ran away."
North, at the end of Jack's explanations, smiled.
"Sandy sent his dreams early today," he told Jack. "So we could meet and drink hot chocolate. We do that often, right, old friend!"

Sandy nodded. Using shaped made out of dream-sand above his head, he apologised for worrying his friend.

"It's okay, Sandy", Jack assured him. "It's not your fault."

The Sandman nodded again before the silhouette of a young woman appeared above his head, followed by a question mark. He wanted to know more about the stranger Jack had met that night.

"She was young, about my age, I'd say." he described. "She was wearing a white tunic, a short purple cloak, black trousers and no shoes. Her hair was black with colourful streaks, she had four tattoos. Her left eye was green and the other one was blue. She was telling a story to a young boy when I noticed her. She was showing him a tapestry while doing so. But as soon as she finished her story, the boy acted like she was never there. I tried to talk to her, but she ran away. When I caught up with her, she jumped and she just... disappeared."

North nodded, lost in his thought. After staying silent for a moment, he said: "We saw her before, the others and me. She's fast and hard to find. Doesn't talk much. A loner. But she's not evil. I can feel it in my belly."

"Why did I never encounter her before?" Jack asked.

"I told you, Jack, she's fast and discreet. I don't know what she is, but I'm sure she has powers we don't know about. She a mystery."

"Has she been around for a long time?" Jack questioned.

"I don't know. What you think, Sandy?" North turned to the Guardian of Dreams.

He seemed pensive for a minute before answering with multiple shapes above his head.

"A long time", translated North. "Maybe as long as you. Maybe."

"And... do you know her name?"

North shook his head and the Sandman too.

"I don't think so. If I did, can't remember."

"Oh, but I do!" said someone behind them.

They all turned around, startled, and discovered the Easter Bunny standing near the door of the room. His fur was soaked with water and he had snow on his head, between his two long ears.

"So you danced in the rain too, Kangaroo!" teased Jack Frost when he saw the Guardian of Hope.

"Haha, really funny, Frostbite" said Bunny, not amused. He grabbed with a "thank you" the towel a yeti handed him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Jack, intrigued to see Bunny.

"Well, I came for the hot chocolate! Why else would I be here?

"You get to come to this "hot-chocolate-meeting" too?" asked Jack, surprised.

"'Course, mate!" answered Bunny with his usual Aussie accent.

Jack opened his mouth, about to say something, when the Tooth Fairy entered the Globe's room. Her feathers were wet, but she looked happy and energetic, as always.

"So, what did I miss?" she asked, excitement in her voice, surrounded by two mini-fairies.

Jack turned to North while two yetis brought another red sofa for Tooth and Bunny.

"Am I the only one unaware of this little reunion?" he asked, anger in his voice.

The sofa underneath him was starting to freeze. North opened and closed his mouth multiple times like a fish out of water, nervous and unable to answer.

"We, uh, well...I..." he then quickly said something in Russian and bit his lips. "Bunny was telling us something about this mysterious girl!"

Jack sighed, annoyed, but he still wanted to know more about the stranger he had encountered. He turned to Bunny, but the Guardian of Hope wasn't ready to speak yet. He finished drying his fur, sat on the sofa installed by the yetis, grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and took a long, long sip. He took his time to swallow. Jack Frost was about to burst, he couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

"I swear, Kangaroo", he threatened, "If you don't speak now, I will turn you into an icicle!"

"Fine, fine, I'll speak. No need to get all angry and... icicle-y."

Jack's hair had frozen on his head and turned into little icicles due to his anger. The floor underneath his feet and the sofa were completely covered in ice. Lately, Jack's powers had became even more powerful and harder to control. The Guardian of Fun forced himself to breath and un-froze the sofa, the floor and his hair.

"So?" he said, barely controlling himself.

"So I know the name of your mysterious girl." Bunny said. "I met her multiple times in the past three centuries. Not much of a talker, and she never stays for long. She asked me to keep her company once or twice, but I was too busy preparing for Easter. And that was a long time ago. Now I don't see her often."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Tooth, curled around her cup of hot chocolate on the sofa, slowly warming up.

"Y'know, the girl with the purple cloak and white tunic, colourful hair and weird eyes." said Bunny.

Jack frowned. He didn't think the eyes of the stranger were weird. Just... different.

"Oh, I see!" exclaimed Tooth. "She came to see me twice, asking me if she could help me, or if she could be a Guardian, or something. She wanted to be with someone, to not be alone for a while, but I couldn't help her. And that was centuries ago. Now... well, I haven't seen her in a while."

"And do you know if she has special abilities?" asked Jack.

"That I don't know," answered Bunny. "But, as I said before, I do know her name."

"And? What is it?"

Bunny smiled, took another sip of hot chocolate, and finally told them: "It's Lía Tale."