(Jack's POV)
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'Thanks' Romanna spoke while shyly looking away from me. My cheeks were still glowing a faint pink and now so were her's.
'You've definitely made me feel betta. I'm sorry for causin ya so much pain. My injures don't really botha me, even when they should. I'm sorry ya had to feel all of that. I'll be more careful from now on, I don't want ya feelin anything you shouldn't.' She said while smiling cutely in a shy childlike fashion at me.
Is she purposely trying to make me melt? Why are you so cute when you act all shy? What happened to that scary "I'll beat anyone up who gets on my bad side" girl?
Oh Romie, you're making my job so much harder. Can you pick an emotion and stick with it? Of coarse not, you're a girl, and apparently girls are always thinking and feeling a hundred emotions per second!
Oh and for the love of the moon, stop looking at me like that and smiling at me like that! You're being so adorable I'm gonna die! I seriously feel like I'm melting or am I just sweating? I can't tell the difference any more.
No no no! Jack stop thinking like that! I am meant to protect her not date her! We will be working together from now on and I can't screw it up by having a crush.
Manny, all I wanted was a friend my age. I know Romanna will be my friend but how am I supposed to be her friend when my stupid brain won't stop thinking about how cute she is and acts?
Woah!!!! Hold up! Romanna, she.... She didn't punch me?
That's when I realised I was still holding both of her warm hands in mine. I thought I had moved away from her, wait I did, so why were we again sitting shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye!?
It was Romanna!!!!!!!
She's shuffled closer to me and I was wrong I'm not holding her hands, she's holding mine!
Hmm... I've got a feeling I might not be the only one who's developing a crush. Maybe my feelings might not go unnoticed. After all, I know exactly how she's feeling and let's just say all of the doubts I had a second ago are long gone. I might actually like this new unplanned hiccup in our friendship and I know she will too.
'Ehem!' Bunny cleared his throat loudly in order to catch our attention.
We immediately jumped apart, still blushing like idiots and avoiding eye contact with everyone including each other.
'Oh sorry did I interrupt you?' Bunny said in a sarcastic, macho tone.
I coughed awkwardly in response.
Oh come on, what was I supposed to say? It was a trick question and I know I would get burned either way, so I'm gonna just keep my mouth shut!
'I know this is all a bit overwhelming for you Romanna, but don't worry because you're one of us now! We are guardians and we stick together no matter what!' North boomed causing Romanna and I to jump out of our thoughts and immediately look over at him.
'Yeah, sounds great to me.' Romanna said sounding absolutely excited.
'That's the spirit!' I said while jumping off the bed and smiling at her. 'I'll be right back!' I say quickly as I dashed out of the room.
I was walking down towards the kitchen, hoping some biscuits or muffins were waiting to be eaten.
Pushing open the large swinging door I stepped into the warm sweet smelling kitchen of the North Pole, only to be met with a very unhappy face.
'Oh hey Phil!' I said while rubbing the top of his head, ignoring his gibberish shouts for me to get out of North's kitchen.
'We have a guest and she's hungry! I've come to get her a snack! Do you have something that I could give to her?' I asked while walking around the large island bench and sitting on one of the high stools that were pushed neatly under it.
The yeti rolled his eyes and walked over to the large rustic styled ovens.
'Soo.... this is where ya ran off to.' I heard a familiar Australian accent.
'Uh huh! I'm hungry and so is Romie.' I said towards the large Pooka while spinning around in circles on the stool like a child.
'Oh, are ya now. Cause from what I saw, it seems someone has a crush on the new girl!' Bunny teased.
I practicality fell off the spinning chair.
'Shut up! No I don't!' I rebutted a little to quickly. Bunny rolled his eyes and shook his head.
'Jack, do ya know what happens when ya play with fire?' Bunny asked while lazily leaning on a wall.
'If you're trying to tell me to stop flirting with her then just come on out and say it. But like normal I'm not going to listen.' I said as I grabbed out a serving tray to put the fresh out-of-the-oven goodies for Romanna.
'Ooo, hot hot!' I exclaimed while juggling a chocolate chip biscuit in my hands before shoving it into my mouth.
'Hmmmm, this is good!' I said with my mouth full while giving Phil the thumbs up.
'So, ya not goin to listen when I say it's not a good idea to be flirtin with 'er?' Bunny asked after I had swallowed the mouth full of gooey chocolate biscuit.
'Yep' I replied looking at him with a satisfied grin. 'Well then, if I can't stop ya then I might as well help ya. Believe me you'll need it.' Bunny said while stepping forward and also stealing a chocolate chip biscuit from the hot tray.
'Are you serious. Me getting advice about girls from you! Hahaha sorry, not meaning to doubt you or anything but..... yeah no thanks, I think I can handle this on my own.'
'Oh really, well then, I'll leave you to it. I'm just gonna go and return this to Romanna, so don't mind me.' Bunny said while waving her leather cowboy hat in my face.
'Where did you get that!' I practicality squealed. My voice was as high as one of Tooth's mini fairies.
'Well, if you cared enough to listen to me I would have told ya she had dropped it in the field, back when we were fightin. I picked it up in hope of returnin it to 'er ma'self. By the looks of things, this hat seems quite old and must be very precious to 'er. Then when I saw ya make that move on her, I immediately thought, Aw, poor kid he's got no idea what he's gettin himself into, I should help. Here.' Bunny said throwing the hat at me.
I caught it, and carefully sat it down next to me.
'You give it to 'er, tell 'er you found it. It's the perfect thing to win her heart, returnin somethin she's lost. Oh and you're servin her food too! That's anotha win.' He said confidently while picking up the tray of food I was neatly arranging off the bench and shoved it into my arms. He grabbed her hat and pushed me out of the kitchen.
'Anotha tip, don't leave a girl waitin. Come on, walk fasta. Also if you start talkin, don't ask er 'bout 'er fatha' Bunny grabbed the hood on the back of my jumper, forcing me to stop and look up at him, face to face.
'Umm... why?' I asked struggling to keep up with his fast paced tips and instructions that I have to memorize.
'Because I can all ready see she's had some kind of bad experience with 'er fatha and It's scarred her. You heard what that old lady said in the post office, Jessica's fatha isn't Romanna's fatha. Jessica is her step sista. Mate, it doesn't take a mind reada to see she's broken. She's exactly like me. Blocking our emotions because it hurts to much to face the reality of the pain in our pasts.
Pitch killed my entire family, destroyed my entire planet and slaughtered my whole race. I am the last Pooka. That is the very first time I have eva been able to say that. I could neva bring ma'self to admit that it was true. Now I can, thanks to you.
(A/N: That is all true fact! According to the original book series by William Joyce *That I own and read often* E.Aster Bunnymund is an ancient alien from a long dead planet. DreamWorks changed his character around a bit for the movie but in most ways he's the still same.)
'It's takin me over 10 thousand years and a very persistent winter spirit to get me out of that emotionless and lonley depression. The very same depression she's in right now.
I don't know what could have happened that was bad enough for a 16 year old child to do this kind of cruelty to herself, but Jack ya need to tread lightly. She's a bomb that could blow up at any second. I want ya to be there when she does. Romanna needs a friend to lean on, someone who can hold onto her and keep her believin in herself. Even when the whole world seems to turn against 'er ya need to rememba you're her protector. You'll understand what to do when the time comes.
My advice to you is be there for her like you were for me. Give 'er time and lots of it.' Bunny finished while sitting Romanna's hat on top of my head and pushed me into the room we were standing outside of.
It was Romanna's room and she was happy playing with one of the Elves the had wandered in, curious about their new guest.
I just stood there for a moment watching her smile. She really was a lot more than pretty, she was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. It's just so sad she has such a broken heart.
'It that my hat!?' I heard Romie say excitedly at me. 'Umm, yeah. You dropped it, remember? Here' I said as I put the wooden tray down on the end of the bed.
I took the hat off my head and playfully plopped it into her's. 'Perfect fit! It definitely suites you.' I said while watching her giggle at my statement.
'Thanks! Though for a while there, I did enjoy seein ya all country styled. Oooo! Ya got ya hoodie back! Awesome, looks good on you. Hmmm, whats the smell. Oh my.... is that food!? Sorry, you'll find I ramble a lot.'
'Ha ha, don't apologise, I like it.' I said while placing the tray on her lap.
She was about break a muffin in half when she stopped and stared at me.
'What did you say?' Romanna asked.
'Umm... I said don't apologise and that I liked hearing you ramble and talk about things you like.' I replied while giving her my signature smile. 'Why? What's up?' I ask her.
'Oh it's nothing.' She said while looking away from me.
'No, what is it? What were you going to say?' I asked, now very curious.
'Oh, it's just no one has ever said that to me' She said while biting a mouthful of cinnamon the and apple muffin she had broken in half.
'What do you mean?' I asked confused while accepting the other half of the muffin she was offering to share with me.
That was sweet of her. Actually now looking at her plate, she's cut everything in half to share with me. Even the small biscuits. Why did she do that?
Awww, she must have worked out that link would have been making me hungry because she was and so she sharing with me.
'Oh sorry, it's nothin really, don't stress 'bout it'. She said while taking a sip out of the hot chocolate I had tried to make. I'm not good with hot stuff so I'm not sure how it tastes. Though she seems to like it.
'Why are you apologising? What did you do wrong?' I asked with my mouth full of muffin. She rolled her eyes at me, watching me chew and swallow the delicious treat.
'It's just something I do. I obsessively apologise for everything that way if something happens I can never really be hurt by it because I've already said I'm sorry over a hundred times. Also I don't want to accidentally upset or annoy people, so I apologise for that too. Sorry I shouldn't be talkin like this. But it's ok, really! I'm ok, and there's nothin to worry about. I'm sorry if I've done anythin negative to you. I'm sorry I hurt you, I know how much you must hurt at the moment and it all my fault. I'm sorr-' I cut Romanna off by quickly pulling her into a tight hug. The more she talked, the more she became upset. I needed to stop her from stressing and calm her down before she really does blow up.
This is what Bunny meant when he said she needed some one to lean on, some one to hold her and make everything alright.
What the hell did her father do to make her so broken. She sounded like a broken record, repeatedly apologising for meaningless things she didn't do.
It hurts me as much as it hurts her. I pulled her up into my lap, while lightly rocking back and forth, shhing her as she silently sobs in an attempt to sooth her.
This time I'm not going to sugar coat her feelings and make her feel better. She's opening up to me and in order for me to truly help I need to know what happened.
'Romie, please don't cry. I can't help you to stop crying and hurting if I don't know what's causing you pain. I promise whatever you tell me will be 100% secret, between you and me only. Ok?' I told her softly while rubbing her back.
She sniffled loudly and sat upright on, still my lap. Romanna had her hands in her hair, again.
Gosh! She just won't stop touching her fringe. I've worked out what it is now, her hair is a security blanket. Like what little kids have to make themselves feel better when they're scared or sad. But kids grow out of needing that security item quite fast, so why does she still have her's. I can tell it's a new development, caused by the stress she's put herself under. She need something to help ease the pain, yeah I don't blame her. Her head is a jumbled mess.
But she's not going to move forward if she's holding herself back. I am going to help her break that habit of hers and she'll be a lot happier in the long run.
'Romanna, please talk to me.' I said kindly while taking a hold of her fumbling hands and holding them still in her lap. She turned slightly to look at me. We were eye to eye, and she nodded her head. Agreeing to explain.
'Thank you' I said while reaching up and running my thumb across her cheeks, wiping away all of her tears. I then softly brushed her hair behind her ears where it belonged.
'I was born in the city. I spent most of my early years in the city. That to me was home. I had a lovely motha and a lovely fatha. Even a pretty house next a nice school. I had good little friends who lived next door that I would play with. My life was perfect. Until I turned five. I know what you're thinkin, there is no way I can rememba somethin from when I was five years old, well shut up because I can and I wish every day of my life that I couldn't.'
A/N
Hello my awesome readers!
Oooo how exciting we are finally getting into the depths of Romanna's past!
Aww Jack you're such a sweetheart! I could just gobble you up!
For those of you who haven't read the Guardians of Childhood book series by William Joyce I suggest you go and read them! They are amazing!!!!!! There are 4 separate books and they are sometimes hard to find in book shops but lucky for modern technology it's available as a download on Kindle for under $10 each.
I'll be making a few references from the books but DON'T WORRY I will not spoil anything! Well, not anything important anyway.
But I will be including random info about the guardians and the man in the moon in my story from what I've read in the books.
Thank you so much for reading and Voting!!!!
Xoxo I'll update really soon!