Giving Way to the Light

Chapter Five

I eyed the new comer carefully and immediately knew it would be hard not to like the guy. He was very large, as was expected, and apparently Russian. Swirling tattoos decorated both of his arms spelling out the words 'Naughty' and 'Nice'. His beard was neatly groomed and not nearly as bushy as most stories and movies made it out to be, but it was certainly long. He gave me a huge, startlingly bright smile that almost made me feel like he actually wanted me there.

"Welcome, Ms. Reaper, to da North Pole!" He said with a great sweep of his arms. "I trust you know who I am?"

I stared in shocked silence for probably five awkward seconds before I finally found my voice.

"Uh... Santa Claus?" He chuckled at my response, somehow finding humor in the tense situation.

"Please, call me North."

"Okay... North... what am I really doing here? Other than recovering from getting attacked by your rabbid guard bunny?"

Tooth sent Bunny a disapproving glare and he raised his hands in surrender.

"Yeah, well I was goin' easy on 'er so I dunno what she's complainin' 'bout."

"Bull dust!" I snapped and Bunny straightened in alarm. "You hit me so hard I lost three teeth and dislocated my wing! Do you have any idea how painful that is? Or how hard it is to grow back teeth? And for what? Because I was doing my job!" 

"Your teeth!" Toothania screeched, looking horrified at the very thought. "Bunny how dare you!"

Bunny shifted and took a few uneasy steps away from the angry fairy.

"And anyway, I'm still waiting to find out why I'm here," I snapped, arms crossed and quickly becoming impatient.

"The Man in the Moon chose you to be a Guardian of Children."  North declared loudly. I stared at him. He smile back at me, and for a second I entertained the idea that this was all a big joke, but he didn't seem much like the pranking type. Bunny definitely didn't seem the type.

I tried to come up with something intelligent to say, but all that would come out of my mouth was, "What?"

"Well, the Man in the Moon chose you to be a Guardian like the rest of us," Tooth explained carefully.

"Hurray," Bunny muttered dryly, but everyone ignored him.

North must have read correctly into my blank expression as he felt the need to explain it to me.

"Many, many years ago, Man in Moon created you knowing that you had something very special inside. So, now you have been chosen to join us and—"

"No."

He stopped and stared at me, but it wasn't him who questioned me.

"No?" Asked Bunny. I couldn't tell if that tone in his voice was honest surprise or hope.

"No," I said again, firmly. "Just because you decide to act nice to me after centuries of bullying and judging me, or that because the Man in the Moon suddenly decides that he's not going to ignore my existence, doesn't mean I want anything to do with any of you."

They all looked decidedly guilty then, and I was about to take my leave and magically find my way back to a considerably warmer climate, when North said, "Ms. Reaper, a word please?" He gestured to the door and I gritted my teeth as he once more called me a Reaper, but followed him all the same.

  His workshop was beyond anything my own imagination could have cooked up. It was buzzing with lights and life, and everything was in constant motion. I was then able to see the yeti that Tooth had been speaking about, and man were there a lot of them. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them, hustling around, making toys, making deliveries, making cookies, cakes, and coco. More elves were running around underfoot, but as far as I could tell, they weren't doing much of anything to actually contribute.  

"So, you guys are the Big Four, huh?" I asked after a bit.

He laughed. "Oh no, we are five now. Six if you join us. Jack and Sandy are busy with jobs."

I perked up instantly at the thought of a familiar face, and thought that maybe Guardianship wouldn't be so bad if Jack was a Guardian too.

"Jack?" I asked.

"Jack Frost," he clarified, unknowingly bursting my bubble. Honestly, I had never met Jack Frost, so I couldn't say if I liked him or not. He hadn't ever done anything particularly wrong, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Still, I'd rather been hoping for the more skeletal of the two immortal Jacks.

I must not have hid my disappointment very well, because North glanced down at me and raised on big, bushy eyebrow. "Were you expecting a different Jack?"

I almost chose to ignore him (offer him some of the treatment he'd been giving me the last millennia), but rather begrudgingly I admitted that I had a friend by the same name in Halloween Town. Suddenly North looked a bit ill.

"Ah," he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Yes, ve are... acquainted." He waved me into what I assumed was his office, and I quickly took in the magnificent ice carvings (did he really use ice carvings as blueprints for his toys? So cool...)

"So," North said, eyeing me curiously and stroking his beard. (Was this guy for real? I was a getting a serious Russian Dumbledore feel from him.) "You Reaper, are very curious to me."

"My name isn't Reaper," I snapped angrily. He didn't seemed fazed in the slightest, simply nodding as if he had come to this conclusion already.

"Dah, but you have not said vhat Man in Moon calls you."

"He doesn't call me anything," I said, scowling. "Not once in the last 1003 years and eight months has he spoken to me." I hesitated and reeled my temper back in. "But he did give me a name. He told me my name is Vera Night."

"Very curious indeed," he said, his eyes twinkling and I had to again remind myself that I was not supposed to like him. "You know vhat Vera means in Russian, dah?"

I shook my head and he leaned down uncomfortably close to my face and squeezed my shoulder with a hand the size of my face.

"Vera means 'Faith'."

  ****I DO NOT OWN DREAMWORKS, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, DISNEY, WINNIE THE POOH, SLENDERMAN, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA OR ANYTHING ELSE!!!!! JUST THE STORY PLOT! ****

Last Edited 2/28/19