The Weeping Willow [Rise of the Guardians]

Chapter 6

~Dedicated to pizZiCcato because the first time I published this book Chapter 6 was dedicated to her, and now it always will be~

 ~~~

Jack Frost flew through the air, enjoying the crisp cold against his face as he and Tooth searched for the newest member of the Guardians.

They had searched all over the world. High and low. Places willow trees grew, and places they didn't. But they still had not found her.

Jack smiled lightly as he recognized the town they were flying towards.

Burgess.

 ~~~

Maggie sniffled lightly as Willow rocked back and forth, just comforting the girl. And Maggie was content with that.

In Willow's arms she felt safe, like when she was in her father's arms. She felt protected as she sat with Willow beneath the whimsical branches of the willow tree.

Maggie felt relieved that Willow had not questioned her further on her nightmare. As much as Maggie tried to forget it, it stayed burned into the forefront of her mind. She couldn't forget.

Willow sighed softly as Maggie's tears dried slowly. Her fists clenched as she hugged the younger girl closer to her.

How could he?

She'd never liked him, even slightly. Even all those years ago, she'd still despised him...

 ~~~

 

 

"Willow!" a young boy's voice called out in the dark. She turned her head to see him where he lay on his own cot. His clothes were crinkled and sweat ran down his creased brow as he struggled against the bed linens that had wrapped themselves around his legs. "Willow-w!"

Willow rose from her own bed and ran to the boy. "Henry! Henry, wake up!" she called as his small fists flung out in the dark, colliding with her pale arm. Though he was small, Willow knew that the hit was sure to leave a bruise. Her milky skin was easily bruised, after all.

"Henry!"

Scared green eyes snapped open into her own worried grey ones. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as she pulled him into a hug, sighing.

"Henry."

"W-Willow!" Henry sobbed into his older sister's shoulder. "He-he had you!"

Willow glanced over to her right as she felt another hand lightly grip her own nightgown. A little girl with bright green eyes stood there, lower lip jutted out and trembling lightly. Her blonde braid was coming loose at the ends, her nightgown falling loosely around her five-year-old frame.

"Wiwo," she muttered causing her older sister to sigh.

When one child mentioned him, the other ran to her also. Willow lifted Henry slowly, walking to her bed where she sat, one little sibling on either side of her.

As Henry calmed his sobs down, Willow began speaking, both children clinging to her.

"Henry, Clara, you believe in Santa. You believe in the Tooth Fairy. You believe in Sandman. And you believe in the Easter Bunny, correct?"

Both children nodded their little heads, arms wrapped tightly around their older sister. Their parents told them to grow up, their older cousins mocked them. The adults ignored them, but their sister would tell them what was right.

"Then if you believe, do you trust in them? You trust Santa to arrive Christmas day. You trust the Tooth Fairy to give you gold coins for every lost tooth. You trust Sandman to send you sweet dreams. And you trust the Easter Bunny to hide eggs every Easter Sunday. You trust them, yes?"

"Yes..." Henry sniffled, calming down slowly as he sat next to his sisters. Willow gently brought Clara into her lap, and undid the messed up braid, letting the soft blonde locks slip through her fingers as she re-braided her sisters hair.

"Well, can you trust me?"

Both of her siblings chimed in, "Yes!"

"Then trust me when I tell you that the 'Boogie Man' doesn't exist."

"B-but Andrew Blakely said that he saw the Boogie Man a-and so did Carla Pars-"

"Henry," Willow sighed, cutting her little brother's protest off. She looked at him and said quietly, "Can you trust me?"

This time Henry just nodded to his sister. Of course he trusted her, she was his older sister who loved and cared for him and Clara.

"Let's say, for the moment, that he is real. If the Boogie Man does exist, then can you trust me to protect you? Can you trust me to guard you?"

Hnery nodded slowly, re-wrapping his arms around Willow in a hug. Yes, he trusted her.

Willow smiled lightly, glad that for the moment her siblings had forgotten about the man in black.

Of course, she didn't know that the very same man stood watching, a scowl stretched across his face as gold sand danced above their heads. The dreams forming brightly as the three slept peacefully.

His scowl turned from a scowl to a smirk as he felt fear radiate from outside the calm house. Another child was ready to believe. For now he'd leave these two alone, but he would return.

As soon as their precious sister left he would return.

 ~~~

Bunnymund grumbled, grouchy from falling in the snow so many times and fed up with the freezing temperatures. Why couldn't they postpone this "hunt" till spring?

Jack laughed delightedly as the 6'1" hare came into his sights. Slowly, he knelt in the snow, forming a snowball in his pale hands and blowing fun around it, creating an ice-ball.

As he pulled his hand back to launch it, a larger hand wrapped around his own. Well, more like the hand wrapped around his fore-arm.

Santa's hands were huge.

North chuckled deeply, shaking a finger at Jack before bending into the snow. His snow-ball looked like the base of a snowman. But Santa didn't really think about this when he launched the freezing ball at an unsuspecting Bunny.

"Oi!" Bunny shrieked as the giant snowball collided, the cold getting through his fur easily. He kicked the white powdery stuff away as his body shivered like crazy, his long ears drooped.

Santa spotted the hare glaring at him, and quickly stood up straight, whistling as he watched the sky. My, how interesting it seemed all of a sudden.

~~~

Yay! :D 2 uploads in one day!

I want to thank SunLion, a fellow ROTG writer and fan for her awesome support! [;) see, I didn't forget you!]

And Chapter 6 [this chapter :P] is dedicated to pizZiCcato for all the kind and encouraging comments they left on this story!

I know I've said it a million times before, but you guys have NO CLUE how much your comments mean to me. Every time you comment, I write the comment down in my notebook so that when I'm writing, I have all your encouraging words right in front of me! :D THANK YOU for the COMMENTS!!!

Love ya!

~Xi