The Four Seasons

Part One: To Seek A Sister

"And I was running far away
Would I run off the world someday?
Nobody knows, nobody knows
And I was dancing in the rain
I felt alive and I can't complain
But now take me home
Take me home where I belong."
-Runaway, Aurora

"I have been the DO-GOODER of this family my whole life!!!" Spring screamed, "Well, I've had enough of it! It's MY TURN to be the bad guy!"
Autumn, Summer, and Winter just stared as their sister stormed out the front door. Autumn tried to go after her, to convince her to come back, but Spring wouldn't budge. She was too angry and too upset to be swayed.
Then Summer pulled aside their parents to explain, leaving Winter standing there alone. Winter gazed down at her shoes and thought. She hadn't realized that Spring wasn't being treated equally. Spring IS always doing the right thing, she thought. But is she treated THAT badly? However, the more Winter pondered, the more it dawned on her that Spring was often excluded. Their family, being guardians of the earth, was supposed to be isolated from the world, shut off from humans, so all they had was each other...Spring had been robbed of even that.
All of a sudden Summer walked over, their worried looking parents trailing behind her.
"Get Autumn," their mother demanded.
Winter nodded and came back a minute later with Autumn, who looked defeated. The look on Autumn's face told the family everything.
That night during their dinner, it rained. And rained. And rained. It rained because Spring wanted to make them all feel bad. In fact, it poured so hard during the usually so dry season, that, in the middle of dinner, Summer sulkily retreated into her room. Of course, her mother followed. Their mother, who was considered Mother Nature, as is her husband was Father Time, was always protectively looking after all four of her daughters, as mothers do, so it was only natural that she helped her Summer through the situation. After all, the girl had a hot temper.
As their mom walked into Summer's room, she looked at Summer with eyes full of pity.
"She's ruining my season!" Summer whined.
"Let her make it rain, just for tonight, so she can get what she wants. Maybe then things will go back to normal," her mother assured her.
"All she's doing is having a big tantrum! You of all people should stop her!"
"Sometimes, people need to let out all their feelings, even if it means making it rain, or having tantrums. Spring rarely gets to do that because she thinks she's expected to be the good child. So just for tonight, please, let it rain."
Summer hesitated as she thought but agreed. "Just for tonight though," she mumbled, ending the conversation by exiting the room.
When the two got back to the dinner table, Winter, Autumn, and their father, were all talking about ways to get Spring back on their side.
"We'll go out and look for her tomorrow," their father announced as Summer and her mom sat down. Summer just nodded and continued eating her dinner. Their mother, on the other hand, cleared her plate, rubbed her temples, and stalked off into her own bedroom.
The three girls and their father ate the rest of their dinner in silence. Then they cleared their plates, and the girls made their way into Autumn's room. Once they were in there, they closed the door and sat down on Autumn's bed.
Things were pretty awkward until Winter murmured something. "Maybe she HAS been treated a bit unfairly over the years."
"I feel so bad..." Autumn started.
Summer just frowned and said, "But isn't running away a little overly dramatic?"
The girls considered this, and silence fell over them once again. Then Summer stood up and announced that she was going to bed.
Autumn looked at Winter for a second before remarking, "It's a shame. They usually get along so well."
Winter nodded. "We'll look for Spring in the morning."

Summer woke up especially early and stepped out their front door into the mountains. Although, instead of the usual Summer weather, it was raining. Hard. Summer glared up at the gray clouds, as if that would stop the storm. But she knew who was behind all this, and it wasn't the clouds.
So she slowly lifted her hand into the air, and forced her fingers toward the gray sky. She kept doing that until the rain stopped. That was when she let her hand fall to her side. But the dark clouds were still there, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the rain started up again.
After staying out a little longer, Summer came back inside where her parents were having a heated discussion, and Autumn was cooking eggs and bacon.
"I thought she'd come back during the night!" her mother blurted, clearly agitated, and now feeling the weight of what was at stake.
"She was obviously upset! Why would she just come on back in like nothing ever happened?!" their father shot back.
"She can't make it on her own! She needs us, even if she's mad, she's out there somewhere, and she's just a little girl!" their mother sobbed.
"Don't worry," her husband said, sounding gentler, "we'll go and find her, and we'll bring her back home, where she belongs."
Right then, Winter came out of her room, walking right between her parents, and peering into the plate of eggs and bacon on the counter. She carefully took a scoop of eggs and laid it on her plate, took two pieces of bacon, and walked over to the table.
Summer listened to her stomach growl, and realized that she was hungry as well, so she did the same, joining Autumn and Winter at the table.
Their mom ran a hand through her hair, sighing.
Their father shrugged, and said, "Well I guess to conduct a good search, it would help to have a proper breakfast."
So they ate.
After the meal, their mother instructed each of them to grab a bag and pack a lunch. This was going to be a long search. The mountains are a big place, and Spring could be anywhere among them. So without further distractions, the girls packed their bags.
Autumn's leather shoulder bag consisted of a flashlight, a climbing rope, a sandwich with juice and some carrots, a water bottle, some shears, for the plants Spring would certainly grow, and an umbrella, which was very, very much needed. After she packed all this, she met the family in the foyer, so they could begin to search...