Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

Show Me That Glasgow Smile	By : LuciferDragon Category: +M through R > Rise of the Guardians Views: 1540 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Rise of the Guardians stuff, and I make no money from writing this story. Purely for fun.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
He was more exhausted than I thought. When I woke the next night, he was still out cold. I shifted out of bed carefully, though at that point I doubted much would stir him. As silently as I could, I readied for the outing I needed to make. I slipped through the shadows to the ground level, just to check on the mortal girl. One to make sure she was still there, and two to make sure Drago was not. I wasn’t surprised to see the glow of the television, meaning Evilyn was already awake. I only hoped she hadn’t bothered the girl. Too much, anyway.
I stopped in the doorway, seeing Evilyn perched on the longer side of the couch against the wall. A small stack of movies next to her showed how long she had been awake. “Evilyn!” I whispered.
She looked over and beamed at me. She stopped her movie and ran up to me. “Are you going out, Mommy? I want to come, too.”
I held on to her shoulders as I led her away from the den, closing the door behind me. “You’ve been awake for hours. Aren’t you the least bit tired?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’ve been showing Dusk my favorite movies.” She twirled her fingers in the air, and a small horse slithered up her arm to rest in her palm. “I made him with Daddy; isn’t he neat?”
I hadn’t imagined she would be able to tame one so solid. Especially her first one. “Dusk, you say? Well, I imagine when he’s full grown, Hessian will have some competition for top stallion.”
“I think Hessin is okay for now.” She couldn’t quite say Hessian yet, but she was almost there.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” I led her into her room. “Now you have one of two options. One, you go back to bed, or two, you come with me, but you have to be absolutely sure you’re awake enough.”
“I’m awake, I’m awake!” She ran around, pulling clothes from her drawers. I picked up a few things here and there while she dressed in the bathroom. “Is Daddy coming, too?”
“No, he’s a bit worn out. It’s been awhile since he’s been awake for so long. Just you and me, kiddo.”
“That’s okay. I like time with just you, too.”
Until you grow up on me like your brother. “I like it as well.” I found myself holding on to the black bear she had inherited from Drago. It was well worn by now, almost nineteen years old. But it held together. Time was flying by faster than I wanted it to. And I began to realize why.
Both of my children were aging like mortals. Drago matured just like any other boy, physically. Evilyn was starting to show signs of her own maturity. I was starting to fear if they would continue to age as they were.
No mother ever wants to outlive her children, but watching them age would be even more cruel a fate.
“Mommy?”
I startled a bit as I looked to my daughter, fully dressed and ready to go. I tossed the bear to her bed. “Ready to go?”
She nodded and took my hand. I noticed Dusk nestled on her shoulder. As we slipped through the shadows, Hessian met us and took us through the Void. I kept Evilyn secure in front of me as always. She let out a squeal of delight when we eventually emerged in an alley beside a familiar storefront. “We’re seeing Schulz!” She ran ahead of me and I heard the bell of the store jingle. I always needed a moment to adjust to the severe temperature of South Florida. I overheard a local once say “How do we live in Florida? We live inside, that’s how.” I would hate to live there year-round.
Schulz was already attending to Evilyn by the time I entered the store, welcoming the cool air conditioning. He presented her with her usual cookie to keep her preoccupied. It let me see how tired and pale he had become. When he turned his attention to me, I better saw the circles forming under his eyes. He tilted his head and I followed him to the back of the store, where he could watch who entered. I had Evilyn stay out of earshot.
He leaned on the counter, so I did as well. He kept his voice low. “I do have something for you, but you won’t like it.”
“I don’t like any of this. I’m about to hate it, aren’t I?”
“Drago broke the system. He put up a fight and she lost.”
“Yeah, but by Pitch’s hand, not his. Shouldn’t he be her target?”
He nodded. “You’d think that, but she is a species that can only have one target at a time. She only picks off men on their own for a reason. Less of a fight. Less of a hassle overall. And so she has developed to be blind to outside forces.”
I frowned. I glanced over to Evilyn as she continued to enjoy her cookie. The thing was bigger than her head. I’d probably regret the eventual sugar-rush, but it was a required distraction. I’d be in trouble if her father found out, but I could survive whatever he would say. I couldn’t deal with any repercussions if Evilyn were to hear something was trying to kill her brother. “But that’s good, isn’t it? It means she can be blindsided.”
“Again, you’d think that. When I say solo-target, I mean once she’s started, she will accomplish her end goal.”
“So she’s like one of the revenants?”
“Basically, yeah. Her end goal is the same, so she won’t die. Not if she turns to flames. However, she dissipates her body to shadows if she feels endangered. There’s no way to burn her.”
“So exactly the same. Just her own breed of crazy.”
“Essentially.” He narrowed his eyes to Evilyn. “Is that a tiny Nightmare on my table taking bites of cookie from your daughter?”
“Yes, that story comes later.”
“Right.” He focused again. “She cannot be blindsided. Not anymore. She’s been knocked out of her cycle for the first time. I couldn’t find out if anyone had bothered killing her before. They’re usually too frozen with shock to fight back. However, Drago was her target when Pitch killed her. Since Drago lived, she lived. He is what keeps her to this world now.”
I gripped the counter a little too hard. “Don’t.”
“Hana, I’m sorry.”
I fought putting attention on the rapid increase of my heart. “She can still be burned, can’t she?”
“Yes, but she always vanishes.”
I swallowed and rolled my neck a bit. “But she can still be touched. She can physically be harmed.”
“Yes. If she is caught unaware.”
I got up from the counter, unable to overcome a feeling to move. I stopped by Evilyn’s table. She wordlessly got up, unable to speak through a current mouthful of cookie, fortunately.
“Hana, she’s old. Old things survive for a reason. You of all people should know that, given your husband’s lifespan.”
“I am well aware.” I held on to Evilyn’s shoulder as Dusk nestled in her hair.
“So what will you do?”
I led her to the door. “What I have to. I hope you like the heat, Schulz.”
He crossed his arms. “Have you seen where I live?”
I smiled. “Goodbye, Schulz. And thank you.”
“Bye Mr. Schulz! Thank you!” She waved and I brought her outside.
I was nauseated by the sudden murky heat. The residents of the state weren’t even well-adapted to the sickening temperatures. “Let’s get home, Lyn. Mommy can’t take much of this heat.”
She only held on to her cookie so Dusk could also nibble the sides. I was happy it was sugar. Sort of. At least it was at a reasonable time for her to be overactive. I whistled for Hessian and he appeared in the shadows of the alley. I helped Evilyn up and hauled myself into the saddle behind her. I opened a path to the Void and we leapt into it. Soon I was able to breathe again. I hated that state. And, from what I understood, so did most of the locals.

I had holed myself up in my office a few hours after returning. Drago and Chloe were keeping Evilyn busy while she worked off the sugar high. I figured teenagers could use a reminder that there were consequences to certain choices. I watched the globe from the window of my office, trying to find a surge in fear. For an hour, there were only small pulses. Those were normal from the Nightmares out gathering fear, playing their required roles. Then, something made my heart surge.
I threw the curtains closed and took a globe too hastily from the shelf. I ignored one that fell to the carpet with a dull thud. I put it in the holder on my desk and activated the shadows resting in the glass. News reports in Venice appeared. A man’s mouth had been cut, and then he was stabbed in the gut. My door opened and I hastily let the shadows rest.
Pitch entered, rubbing at his eyes with two fingers. “I didn’t expect to be out that long.”
“Not too bad, considering what you did while you were conscious last.” I hid my shaking fingers under my desk. That crazy bitch was miles above our heads. She wouldn’t find a way in, but just knowing where she was…
“How long have you been awake?”
“A few hours.” I stood and picked up the globe. “I went to see Schulz.”
“Did he have an answer?”
“Somewhat of one.”
He frowned and closed the door behind him while I put the globe back on its shelf. “Care to elaborate?”
I leaned back on the edge of my desk. “He says she’s like the revenants. But a special breed. She was always stopped mid-cycle of her pattern, and so never completed her goal. And no one has done what you did.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“What do you do if your record skips?”
“That’s going back a ways, Hana.”
“I’ve seen your collection, and you’ve seen mine.”
He crossed his arms. “You reset the needle.” He seemed to put it together. “So by breaking her routine, she was able to reset.”
I nodded, just noticing the fallen globe. I went and picked it up. “She is a solo-target hunter. One that will not stop until her prey is dead. And you didn’t kill her. She has a sort of defense mechanism. She disperses to nothing. By being nothing, she can’t be killed. But it still would throw her from her routine to be brought close to death.”
He also pieced that information in. “So she is still hunting him down.”
I said nothing. Instead, I put the globe to the stand, and ran my hand over the surface. The shadows quivered and stretched to fine mist. It translated the Italian news feed. He didn’t need them. He saw the location of the newsfeed and walked around my desk, leaning over the feed.
“There’s hope. She can be attacked physically. She is different, but she is still a revenant. She needs to be burned.”
He remained quiet, listening to the feed. I took the hint and stood in front of him, barely taking in the report. I knew the face he held. It was one I learned early on, and it translated easily. He needed time to process the information in silence. I saw his fists clench tighter. He stilled the shadows inside and returned his fist to the desk. “What now?”
“We will need help. The more eyes we have, the better.”
He nodded, his attention still on the quiet globe.
“I was going to send a bat to Clara once we spoke.” I stepped away from the desk. “If that’s fine with you.”
He nodded again. “It’s fine.”
“Alright. I’ll be back.” I opened the door and shrieked. On the other side, Jack stood, his fist held ready to knock.
“Sorry! I was going to knock this time, I swear.”
“Jack!” I hissed. “Not a good time.” I felt a lick of cold shadows race up my spine. Not good at all.
“Frost.” I hadn’t heard him so flatly calm in a long time. For some reason, it was more unnerving than anything he could do. I stood in the doorway, just in case. “This is twice now you’ve barged into my home. What is stopping me from reminding you of a very important lesson?”
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” I said, still standing in the doorway. “What does North want?”
“Not just him. Everyone. They want to see you. All of you.”
- 13
- 14
- 15
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Show Me That Glasgow Smile