My Guardian

Chapter 17 - Residual Anguish

"What do you want Pitch?!" I yelled at him. Just seeing him made me angry. Everything he had done made me angry. All of the lies and tricks and threats. The Guardians readied their weapons and scowled at him. I could see the fury blazing in their eyes, but Pitch seemed unphased by it. Jack stood in front of me to protect me. A black cloud of sand hovered beneath Pitch as he slowly descended towards me. I watched as Jack held his stance and gripped his staff tighter.

"I don't want to hurt you," Pitch said.

"Yeah sure," I huffed at him.

"Well then what is it you want?!" Bunny asked, angry too.

"It's the thirteenth of February today," Pitch said, eyeing me and clasping his hands together.

"So? What is so special about thirteenth of February?" North questioned. Pitch didn't move his eyes from mine.

"It's not today that is so special, but tomorrow," he said, half smirking at me. What was he trying to gesture to?

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Didn't you know?! I'm shocked you didn't tell them Belle!" Pitch replied holding a hand to his heart almost as if he was offended. Why would I tell them? It doesn't matter.

"Get on with it!" Tooth threatened.

"It's Belle's birthday. Seventeen isn't it?" Pitch replied, squinting a little and raising an eye brow. What's so special about tomorrow being my birthday? It's just a birthday. Everyone gasped in shock and Jack half turned to me.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked.

"I didn't think it was important! I mean, it's just a birthday!" I exclaimed, rubbing my arm awkwardly. Why was Pitch making such a big deal about it?

"It's not just a birthday! It marks one year until your mum might return to you." My heart dropped. How did he know mum promised to return when I turned eighteen? I stormed around Jack, under the cloud and over to the other Guardians.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother," I said, my eyes becoming watery. I missed her so much.

"Hm. You miss her don't you? Did you think that maybe she's moved on and she won't visit?" Pitch asked. That was going over the line. I stopped in front of Bunny and stared at the ground, my fists clenching.

"I mean... it has been almost seven years since she left, hasn't it?" That was it. I snapped. Within a second, I reached out, grabbed one of Bunny's exploding eggs and threw it at him. He quickly dodged it in shock, as it exploded behind him in a pink puff of smoke, and I grabbed Bunny's boomerang and threw it. Pitch wasn't expecting that and it hit his feet as I had aimed it to. He tripped and fell off the cloud, causing it to disappear. The boomerang returned to me and I caught it, sliding it back into Bunny's holder without looking. I stormed up to where Pitch lay on the ground and couldn't stop a tear from falling down my cheek.

"My mother loves me!" I yelled at him. He carefully picked himself up so he at least had his torso and head off the ground. He turned his head towards me with shock in his eyes.

"Then why did she leave?" he questioned. I threatened to punch him but couldn't do it. I can't punch him. So I stopped myself from hitting him, but I couldn't stop myself from crying. I fell to my knees and burst into tears.

"You don't think she left you just because she got sick of your father, do you? It must be more than that. But what else could it be? Maybe you were the reason she left?" He was taunting me but I couldn't fight those questions from rattling in my head. My fault? Was it my fault she left? What did I do? I could feel my hands shaking and clenching up.