Light in the Black

maras

Blizzards were not an uncommon circumstance to have to encounter in Russia. But Katya had to admit that even the madness swirling outside was not normal. Her parents stood at the window, watching and whispering in hushed voices so as not to worry their two children occupying themselves with toys by the fireplace. Sergei was unbothered by the events unfolding around him, happy with babbling thoughts of the train he hoped to receive from Santa to be run by the instructor doll his parents had surprised him with earlier in the night.

But as Katya pretended to continue to play pretend with her brother, she knew something was amiss. She was getting big, almost ten now, and she spotted abnormalities a lot easier than others gave her credit for. The cases of the disease that everyone was fearful of were spiking in Russia now, and Katya's parents pulled her and Sergei from school, worried their entire family might become infected. Her parents tried to say they simply wanted to make sure the family was together for the holidays, but Katya knew the truth. She had only played along for her little brother's sake.

Katya wondered if her parents would believe her when last night, she had seen two figures walking along the street in the calm before the storm, speaking in tongues she could not recognize. An old woman and an old man, the former dressed in all black as if she were mourning and the latter dressed in the most luxurious furs and pelts she had ever seen. She had watched in awe as the old man had raised his hand to the sky and without any words, the storm began and they disappeared from view.

But Katya knew her parents would just think her imagination was running wild with her again. She had always been an imaginative child, ever since she first saw Santa Claus running around with the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman when she was but a toddler. She had excitedly screamed at her window as she saw them go by, only for her parents to come in and tuck her back into bed, telling her that her dream sounded wonderful and she should return to it.

And as her parents sent her to bed and went to tuck her little brother in, Katya once again looked out her window, hoping to see the old man and woman again to ask them why they wanted to scare her parents so. From the shadows across her room, she saw the smallest of movements, and she turned to see a familiar figure standing in the shadows that she befriended eight years ago as she started to lose her fear of the night.

"Buka."

He nodded, and Katya knew he understood her fears. He always knew what she feared, and like always, he would urge her into bed and sit with her until she fell asleep, chasing the nightmares away and allowing the good dreams to come through.

Buka would set it right. She knew he would.

XXX

"I don't understand why we're still standing here talking about it," Jack growled in frustration. Bunny watched as he paced back and forth, his agitation causing small sparks of frost to shoot from his staff at random intervals. Bunny had half a mind to take his staff from him, but he didn't want to get frozen for trying. "There's a snowstorm that I didn't create causing havoc and I should be there taming it instead of twiddling my thumbs here!"

"And potentially send you barreling into who knows what?" Seraphina protested. "We must find out more. No one has gotten hurt yet. We have the time to gather information."

Seraphina turned to where Johanna stood, surveying the portrait that had been shown to the others earlier. Her eyes held a fire within them, as if she was about to burn the book itself for holding a simple portrait of her greatest enemy.

"What good could it do Yersinia to do such a thing as this? She never bothered with the weather before. Not even during the Black Death."

"It must come from whomever is aiding her," Johanna suggested, looking up to her mother. "Unless there are any lesser sprites of winter that have escaped your notice, I can only think of one person who might aid such a monster."

Mother Nature's expression grew grim as she turned to the Guardians and her children. Before she could speak, a familiar black horse neighed loudly and rushed into the room straight to Seraphina, where it knelt and offered its mane towards her. Stroking the horse, the others all watched in silent. Bunny had learned in recent years that Pitch could send messages via his horses, but that only his daughter or grandchildren were able to access them. And as she listened, her expression grew far more concerned.

"Tell him to join us."

The horse seemingly dissolved itself to go through the floor as Seraphina turned back to the other occupants of the room.

"North, call to Manny. He must come here at once. Alexander, retrieve Father Time. Tell him we will need his help in punishing two unforgivable spirits."

"Mum?"

Seraphina did not turn to regard Daisy, only deepening the concern growing in Bunny's stomach as the other two spirits quickly departed without question. She instead acknowledged Johanna once more, both of their expressions completely filled with tension and finality.

"Does he harbor anything against the Guardians?" Johanna questioned.

"He was angered by Jack's raise of status," Seraphina confessed. "Attempted to remove my child from existence. We stopped him, and he had promised revenge. How he has returned, I do not know. But my father just confirmed seeing them together in Russia. Father Winter is aiding Yersinia in this."

"Father Winter?" Bunny caught on, tightening his grip on his boomerangs. "He was banished. He can't be back."

"Yet Yersinia and I were somehow awoken," Johanna countered, looking to meet Bunny in the eyes. "The impossible has been happening, Bunnymund. It seems we may all be prepping to face round two."

"But how do we defeat two spirits like Yersinia and Old Man Winter?" Chris questioned.

"We burn the pest."

"And we turn winter against its maker."