Brightest {A RotG Fanfic}

Chapter 19 - Seasons' Greetings

Chapter 19

SEASONS' GREETINGS 

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    Wow. She sounds like Karee after a late-night party, Clara thought, and then remembered sweet Mother Nature. She turned white like a chameleon. "I-I mean... I don't mean to say... think... that as a bad thing. I-I-I just..." 

    Bunny interrupted her, saying, "Mother Nature, we need you. The Guardians... We need your help. A new enemy, the Chaos, has been tormenting the humans and their children. It took my eggs away, and Toothiana's and North's helpers. Please, Nature, we came to ask for your assistance." 

    Clara couldn't help it, but she spoke in her mind, Isn't that a bit demanding? We basically just barged into an old woman's home and demanded her help.

    "SILENCE, RABBIT! It would have done you no good to make me help humans, let alone disturb my Sanctuary," Nature's voice echoed in their minds.  

    Clara saw Jack flinch. She moved towards him. 

    "I want nothing to do with your predicaments, Guardian. You should know that I have an immense aversion to wars. I may 'find a way', but I prefer to keep to my own self these times." When Nature spoke, it was like Clara's brain had turned into a seed, and her words were like water flowing around her, embracing her consciousness with a chilly sensation. "I do not care if you have suffered so much injuries because of the Chaos you have encountered. You are not welcome here." 

    Clara can see Jack's discomfort: eyes shut really tight that they crinkled at the corners, hands so cold that Clara can almost feel the coolness of the frost while he gripped his staff, and toes wiggling to keep a constant but nervous motion. 

    "Are you okay, Jack?" she whispered, inching closer. 

    He shook his head. His messy hair nearly hit Clara in the face. 

    Bunny spoke, "But... Mother Nature, I... We..." Clara heard him trail off. He gave up, just as Clara had guessed Mother Nature wouldn't be easily swayed by Bunny's arguments. She felt sorry for him and for the Guardians as well. They need Nature, after all, and she was their only chance of beating Chaos. 

    She looked around at the glade, expecting something such a woman's figure to come out of the moss in the clearing like an unusual kind of plant, Nature finally answering their call with her presence. But no one came. 

    When Nature spoke next, the wind -- warm and surprisingly damp -- picked up. Clara smelled the fragrance of exotic flowers she had never smelt before. "You have some nerve showing your face here, Snow Miser, after that 'proposal' you made." 

    "That was one question! I didn't know that I would offend you," Jack snapped at the greenery. 

    The wind bit at their noses when Nature spoke, "Offend... Offend? That was not any simple offensive inquiry, Winter. I am still not tolerant of your detestable musings." 

    Wow, that's a lot of big words, Clara said mentally. 

    "And you have made matters far worse than you can imagine by bringing that here." 

    "She's my friend!" Jack said. His staff glowed, his emotions affecting his powers. "She's just --" 

    "Human! YOU, Jack Frost, brought a creature of destruction, of hatred, and of devastation to the Sanctuary. They are ungrateful and merciless and ignorant!" The glade started to smell like ozone, like an electric current of a sort was travelling through the particles in the air. "They endanger hundreds of species, and drove thousands to EXTINCTION! I had saved these animals so that the last of their kind may live forever, safe from perishing upon the hands of her species.