The Ties of Family (RotG Fanfic)

Chapter 16

"So how was your first day at work?" asked Sophie, with a little smirk. "About time you got independent, don't you think?"

Jamie rolled his eyes as he thundered up the stairs, ignoring his sister's remark. She had changed a lot, he realised. Her attitude, her ways, her perspective of life, and so on and so forth. If she were to just change her appearance and name, she could go about the world as a different person.

But then again, times change, people change. But he, Jamie, had not.

His spirits were lifted as he entered his bedroom and spied the complete manuscript on his desk. He had stayed up late with the winter spirit to complete it and had had troubled waking up that morning. But it was all worth it.

Jack had his own story, just like the other Guardians, but his began much later than any of the other Guardians, only about 300 years back. Wouldn't that be during the time if the colonials? Jack had left out information about the settings of 17th-century Burgess, deeming them to be of little importance. Jamie had a feeling he was leaving out a lot, for he only told the 16-year old about his sister and how he had died saving her. Nothing else besides.

"And then there was the part where he relived his memories," Jamie muttered to himself, flipping through the manuscript to that particular chapter. "Memories of childhood. The teeth contains memories of childhood. There has to be more to Jack's childhood than him going ice-skating with his sister and falling into an icy lake, right?"

Jamie pushed that out of his mind for a moment as once again, he flipped through the manuscript. He would have to try to fix it, there was no doubt. He had read once that a manuscript had to be improved till it could no longer be improved before he sought out an agent or a publisher. Jamie actually knew nothing about the publishing industry.

There was a knock in the door. Without waiting for an answer, Sophie entered and leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, a smug look on her face. There were times when Jamie almost forgot that she was only about 11; she tend to look too grown-up for her age.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I see you wrote a novel."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. It's just that... I realise there's a part in it where I'm like the protagonist. With a big, tall, furry rabbit."

"Oh, it's in there because it really did happen and you did travel to the Easter Bunny's Warren," Jamie replied, nonchalantly.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "The Easter Bunny brings hope, right?" she said.

Jamie turned, not expecting that. He had braced himself for a torrent of sarcastic remarks. "Yeah. Why?"

Sophie's hands fell to her sides. "If you believe in him and his hope-bringing scheme so much, why is it that mom looks like she has lost all hope every night? But anyway, that's not the main reason why I came here."

"What is it, then?"

Sophie ran out of the room and returned a few moments later, with one of her paintings in her hand. "What do you think of this?"

Jamie glanced briefly at the painting before turning back to his manuscript, before he realised what Sophie had actually painted. He turned again and stared at it.

It was a painting of Bunnymund's Warren. There was no doubt about it. Jamie had never been to the Warren before, but Jack had described it to him, and Jamie had even sketched it out from his imagery and Jack had corrected several parts, so Jamie had an idea what the Warren looked like.

And now, looking at the painting in Sophie's hands, he was very sure it was the Warren, despite the absence of the egg sentinels and tiny walking eggs. The painting even had an opening to one of Bunnymund's tunnels.

"What... reference..." Jamie found it a little hard to get the words out.

"Reference?" Sophie asked, raising her eyebrows, before letting them drop into a frown. "How insulting! The only reference I used for this was my imagination! And of course... a dream..." The last part was spoken in an undertone, almost like she was saying it to herself.

"Don't you think there's actually more to it?" Jamie couldn't help asking. "It isn't like you to not add people and animals to your paintings."

Sophie glared at Jamie. "Well, the only things were eggs with tiny feet and a six feet rabbit which couldn't possibly exist in this world..." Sophie trailed off. Jamie raised an eyebrow.

"I don't believe you don't believe," Jamie said, with a small smirk.

"Ha ha. Try saying that five times really fast. Anyway, I think I'm gonna be driven mad if I stay here too long, so I'll just be going." With that, Sophie pivoted on her heel and left the room with her painting in hand.

"Sophie, wait up!" Jamie called, a thought striking him. He ran out onto the second floor landing after his sister, who halted in her tracks.

"What?"

"I know someone who'll really love that painting of yours, so if you'll just permit me to take a picture of it..."

"No deal."

"Come on, it's just a picture!"

"Who is this someone?"

"Why are you always so full of questions?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Who is this someone?"

"Just a friend. Erm... Pippa."

"Fine."

"Thanks, Soph," Jamie responded, grinning. "Oh, and there's something else..."

"What now?"

"Just follow me."