[IC] Return of the Guardians

[MegaraFoxfire]

She sat watching the city lights, looking around as the night lights around her blinked and sparkled. She stood up, her black cloak wrapping around her like shadow. She looked up at the moon and said "Where will you send me tonight, Man in the Moon? Who's ready for the next world?" She listened and hear a soft voice in her ear and she nodded. "Very good, they will be protected" She moved her shoulders and huge black wings appeared, her cloak turning into her wings. She jumped into the air and flew above the busy city, heading for a small apartment. A young girl was coughing, her mom checking her temperture. "Oh sweetheart...how are you feeling?" the small girl shook her head and said "Not good momma..." The mother stood up and said "I'm calling the doctor...I'll be right back..." She left the room and the little girl curled up, coughing. The woman appeared at her bedside, resting her hand on the small girls head. "Poor thing...you've had a bad couple of days haven't you?" The little girl looked at her and her eyes got really big. "Are you an angel?" She smiled and said "YEs...I'm your angel...your going to be alright, Cindy..." Her hand glowed and Cindy glowed. A black form came from her and the angel caught it, putting it into her cloak. Then she kissed the girls forehead and said "You will be a great person Cindy..." Then she vanished. Mom came back in to see Cindy sitting up and smiling. "I'm all better mom...an angel came"

The angel landed on the roof, looking at the dark energy floating in her hand. "Well, third case of infected soul this week...odd" Then she looked up at the Moon again and said "What's going on? Something is coming...I can sense it"

Jack Skellingtion was walking up to Santa's workshop, looking around in wonder. He had been here before, but the northpole was still so wonderful to him. He stopped at the doors and knocked, stepping back. After a few moments the door opened and Jack Frost was standing there. He smiled and said "Hey Pumpkin King. Your the first one here. Come on in and take a load off" He pulled the door open more and JAck walked inside, smiling widely. Both Jacks headed to Santa's office, Frost smiling as he watch the bone man look around. "First time in the workshop?" Skellingtion nodded and said "Its very wonderful...I wish Sally could have come with me but she is home with the little ones..." Frost nodded and paused at the office door and knocked. "Santa!? Mr. Skellington is here.! Open the door!"

[Sunflower]

Pulling an arrow from the quiver attached to her back, Valentina Hart, better known to many as Cupid, grinned as she took aim. She wasn’t much for interacting with others; she’d rather sit back and watch the love unfurl; whether it be for a fond childhood memory, first crush (which to her was really important), or activity. The arrow struck the man in the back as he was walking away, he’d rejected a woman in favor of ‘being alone’ as he put it. Valentina couldn’t have that now could she? The fluttering of wings in a hurried frenzy made her scowl. “Hush up Cherub.” She said to the baby-like creature that came to rest on her shoulder. The light of the moon made everything seem so unreal and perfect for love. Children weren’t out this time at night but she didn’t care. Valentina would often spend hours talking to girls, mainly, about love and princes in faraway castles who’d give up anything to save their princess. She’s talk with boys but they rarely seen her anyways.

Looking up at the moon, the very same moon that had spoken her name some time ago, she smiled. “I hope this is what I’m supposed to be doing?” she asked, slipping her bow around her and folding her hands behind her back. The moon had only spoken her name, with no other directions from the mysterious voice; Valentina had been left on her own. She guarded the love, childhood love, to be exact. To some extent she also helped children who recently lost a loved one or a pet that they loved dearly. Valentina still strayed from her duties to aid adults as well; she couldn’t bear to see heartbreak. “Come on Cherub,” she said, “Let’s go find someone else to help.”

--

Bunnymund, the large Australian-accented bunny, was beginning to regret hopping through the snow. “I can’t feel my feet! I can’t feel my feet!” He hated riding in the sleigh, or using other means of transportation aside from his tunnels. After more panicked words and a case of mild frostbite, the bottoms of his unprotected feet were red and cold. The heat of North’s place didn’t help either and soon the bunny was glaring daggers at the door and the snow and ice beyond. Bunnymund still wasn’t used to the cold; he preferred the warmth of the warren any day. He caught sight of Jack Frost and a tall and slender man he knew as Jack Skellington. The six foot and one inch tall rabbit approached the two Jacks and sighed.

North opened the door quickly, pulling them all inside. “We are waiting for Tooth and Sandy!” He said as the door closed. The Yetis were still at work, their occasional gibberish language filtering through the walls and door. “Cookies, eggnog and hot chocolate?” he asked, gesturing to the tiny elves that held up the cups that had probably been drunk from and the cookies that most likely had been in the mouths of the tiny, ditzy elves. Bunny declined as he looked around. “So why are we here?”

The tall white bearded man sighed, “I have feeling in my belly that something is not right.”
Bunny still couldn’t believe that his ‘belly’ could tell him anything. “Like what?”

North shrugged as he took a cookie for himself, “We wait for others.”

[MegaraFoxfire]

Jack Frost nodded for some while jack was asking the elves what the drinks were. Once the drinks were brought frost said "I've been getting bad feelings too. But the main reason for the meeting was that the man in the moon wanted to call more guardians. Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween, is one of them." Skellington bowed and said "I am happy to be here. Nothing is more important then the protection of the children" jack nodded then said "the other two haven't been picked yet so now we are just waiting for..." Suddenly the window was opened and tooth came flying in with sandy. She landed by bunnymund and said " sorry we are late. We both got caught in a tail wind" jack nodded and looked at Santa. "I believe we can start now. Your the host, Saint Nick. You do the honors of the call"

Angel was watching the city again from the top iof a church building, ever watching when a streak of black past her view. She frowned and said "that's not going to happen" she released her wings and took off after the black form, fighting to catch up. It was like the stuff she had caught earlier that night but before it took a host. She flew a head of it and cut it off, catching it in her wings and both fell onto a rooftop, hitting the stone hard. Angel got back up, reaching for her blade as the black form twisted and turned before her eyes and took on the shape of a tiger, no sound coming from it as it moved towards her. She watched it, unsure what this was. It looked like one of Pitch's creatures, but something was off about it. The tiger jumped at her and she pulled her blade free and cut it right in half. Not that it did any good, simply reforming and facing her again. Angel circled the creature and the tiger suddenly lost it's form and flew straight at her. Angel was caught by surprise and the blackness hit her straight in the chest, going into her body. She cried out and fell to her knees, feeling her powers weaken and almost ending drained from her. Her eyes glowed as she muttered "get....out...." Her black wings suddenly turned pure white along with her clothing, taking her true form that only children could see. The blackness burst out from her and hit the ground, unable to hold it's form as it slowly turned to ash. Angel panted, returning to her hidden form and tried to get up. Then she looked down and saw her body covered in cuts and wounds, a big one right where the blackness burst from. "Darn....well...that's...not good..." And fell to her knees, her head spinning from the wounds and the drain on her powers. She looked up at the moon and said "man...in the moon....a little...help..." Then she hit the stone, blackness taking her.

[Sunflower]

As North began to question Manny, Bunnymund looked around. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be the groundhog, only Bunny could be the fluffy guardian. Chanting ‘please not the groundhog, please not the groundhog’ he watched as a moon beam lit the center of the compass-like structure they had gathered around. As the large crystal on a pillar was revealed the first figure it showed was a girl, about Jack’s age in a sweater, pants and barefoot. The wings and tell-tale wings were easy to identify. “Cupid!” North said, watching as the crystal changed colors—Bunnymund quickly perked up before the image could be revealed.

“Where are you going?” Tooth asked, “We have to see—“

“No time!” Thumping his foot twice on the ground and casually dropping into the hole that appeared Bunnymund was gone faster than Tooth could finish her sentence. There was something wrong…he could feel it. Man in the Moon had told him so. As another hole opened and he jumped out of it, Bunnyund walked around carefully, sniffing the air and listening. His ears twitched ever so slightly with the different sounds. One caught his attention in particular; the labored breathing of someone. Walking towards the sound he found an…angel? Rubbing his eyes to make sure he was in fact seeing an angel, Bunnymund walked over. Seeing the blood pooled around her he began to panic, it never showed on his exterior though. Picking her up and thumping his foot twice, Bunnymund was mindful of her wings as they dropped into the tunnel. North would know what to do.

“North!”

He didn’t pay any attention to the moving sack in the middle of the room. North and Tooth quickly ushered Bunnymund into another room so they could tend to the person in his arms.

--

The forgotten sack in the middle of the room began to move around, profanities were being yelled as she struggled with getting out of the sack. Valentina had been less-than-willing to go with Tooth when she had been found. “Let me out!” the girl growled. Sandy opened the sack and smiled before waving and moving aside so she could climb out of the sack. “You!” Valentina screeched at the yeti who was standing nearby, “What did you do with my cherub?!”

The yeti blinked at the burgundy haired girl as she searched frantically for the tiny flying creature. She found her beloved cherub with an elf. If one looked closely they could see the resemblance between Valentina and the little cherub. Both had round faces with wide pink eyes. The cherub was a boy and his burgundy hair was kept short and curly where hers was long and swept into a messy bun. Their skin was pale with a tinge of pink along their cheek bones and the bridge of their nose.

“Where am I?” she asked, looking around at the two Jacks and Sandy.

[MegaraFoxfire]

Jack Frost moved forward and said "calm down, it's alright. Sorry about this, but. We had to find you quickly. I'm Jack Frost, this is Santa and this tall fellow is Jack Skellington. We are the guardians. And you were called as the newest guardian. The man in the moon called you...." Akelliton tapped frost on the shoulder and said " the other image...isn't that the ms. Bunnymund just brought?" And sure enough the second member was the angel, wearing black with black wings. Skellington moved forward, studying the figure then said "it's angel....the guardian angel of the children's souls....we have met before..." Frost looked at the others and asked "then what attacked her?"

Tooth was flying around nervously as bunnymund set the angel down on the table. "Who is she? Who is she? Bunnymund how did you know she was in danger ?" Sandy had followed them in and was looking at the girls wounds, looking at north and looking worried. Angel groaned in pain, fighting to open her eyes.

[Sunflower]

“You’ve talked to the moon too?” she asked, wide eyed. She thought that she had been the only one. Valentina liked to keep to herself more than one would think. The tiny cherub that rested on her shoulder sighed softly. Sandy, who barely came past her knees, began making symbols in his golden sand above his head. Valentina nodded, sitting on her knees as she leaned closer to Sandy. It seemed that she ignored the two Jacks for a moment, which was true. The little yellow man was giving her a few answers. “The boogey man?” she asked, “I don’t think I remember meeting him.”

Looking over her shoulder Valentina glanced at the room that Bunnymund, North, Tooth and their new guest was in. It seemed that having wings was fairly popular among the female guardians; Valentina only hoped that the woman in black didn’t have her wings damaged. Sandy tugged gently on her pants before asking, via his sand, who she was. “My name is Valentina Hart; pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sandman.” She bowed at the waist quickly before straightening her back and looking at the other two.

Bunnymund called the burgundy haired girl into the room where their new and injured guest was. “You ‘ave wings, can ya help us?” he asked, gesturing to the black wings. “We don’t know if she lost any feathers.”

Bunnymund called for the two Jacks as well to gather supplies such as gauze and hot water as well as a few cloths. He didn’t answer Tooth beyond how he found her. “Man in the Moon told me.” There wasn’t much more to explain and he was worried that whatever attacked her was much stronger than they realized. North shot Bunnymund a sorrow-filled look but kept quiet as he gently washed a few of the cuts.

Valentina’s own wings flinched as she gently checked each of the feathers of the angel. It would be hell if she had lost too many.

[MegaraFoxfire]

Frost went to gather more supplies as Skellington moved forward to study the wounds. He said after a few moments "angel put up a fight....whatever got her I bet didn't walk away from the fight" tooth was tending to the wound on her chest when she paused, looking at the wound. " this looks like pitch's magic...but it's different....it's not as strong as his is..." Suddenly Angel moaned, her wings flinching as she opened her eyes and looked around. Suddenly her eyes were wide open and jack grabbed Valentina quickly and pulled her out of the way as Angel jumped and tried to get away. "Who are you!? Why am I here?! I hand me at once!" She tried to use her wings but they failed and she fell to the floor, fighting to get back up. Jack put Valentina behind him as Jack Frost came back in, holding his staff. "Easy Angel we are not going to hurt you" he said but angel looked at him and she grabbed him and threw him away from her, Jack hitting the wall hard and sliding to the ground. Skellington moved to protect the others and said "Ms. Angel calm yourself. I know you are in pain and it is messing with your senses but you must calm down" tooth flew behind north and said "we can't let her move, she'll open up her wounds..,,and her wings are damaged."