Cupid's Rising

What Is My Center?

North walked us to the elevator. He was showing us the factory for the North Pole. The Cherubs I had told to go back to what they were doing before I called them. They didn't listen, of course, and instead decided to fly around behind me.

Gotta admit the place didn't look half bad. Sure it was rustic, but a charming familiar rustic. Reminded me of a cabin in the woods without all the dying.

"It's nothing personal, North. What you all do, it's just, it's not my thing." Jack excused.

I nervously flew off the ground. All the while trying to float down enough so I kept up with the elevator. Once they reached the ground I happily flew out.

"Man in Moon says it is your thing. We will see!" North argued. I kept up behind him, ignoring the chaos around us.

"Slow down, wouldja? I've been trying to bust in here for years, I want a good look." Jack requested.

"What do you mean, 'bust in'?" North pointed out.

"Oh, don't worry, I never got past the yetis." Jack assured.

"It's not that hard." I mused, flying in a loop around North's head. He glared up at me. The Yetis too. "I mean- oh yeah. It was...so, so hard breaking- I mean, yeah. A real- difficulty- I'll just shut up."

A yeti growled beside us.

"Hey Phil." Jack and I greeted.

Phil huffed in our directions.

"Keep up, Jack and Cupid! Keep up!" North marched ahead.

So I flew to catch up with him. There was a lot going on in the factory. Too much for me to really care about. A basic summary was that the Yetis were building all of the toys.

"Whoa!" I flew down lower to Jack. He was still staring at the factory in awe. "I always thought the elves made the toys." He pointed out.

"We just let them believe that." North whispered.

After seeing how stupid these elves were, I don't blame him.

"Very nice!" North praised a group of nearby elves. He really shouldn't, they're being peak stupid right now. One was wrapped up in Christmas light! "Keep up good work!"

The elves turned on the lights. The elf clinched, before rotating on the record players.

"I don't like it. Paint it red." North instructed a yeti.

After seeing all the toys already painted blue, I felt bad for him.

Not enough to help obviously.

"Step it up, everybody." North called out to the factory.

He showed us the way into his office.

Honestly, compared to the rest of the factory, his office was tiny and dull. There were some ice sculptures that looked cool. He had blueprints for a few hanging up on the walls.

North walked further in, dusting off his hands. He grabbed a plate of cake from an elf. "Fruit cake?" He offered.

"Ah, no, thanks." Jack declined.

"Cupid?" North offered.

I glanced at the cake. "Is it the good kind?" I asked.

North beamed. "This is North Pole, of course it is good kind!"

"Not if that elf made it." I pointed out.

North blinked. "Good point." He flung The plate away. It crashed (conveniently) inside the trash can. "Now we get down to tacks of brass!"

"Tacks of brass?" Jack whispered.

North cracked his knuckles.

Okay now I'm concerned.

The door behind us slammed shut. The lock clicked with a freaking echo.

I jumped back in mid air.

North marched up to our faces. I was so startled I nearly stood on the ground.

"Who are you, Jack Frost?" He narrowed his eyes on me. "And you, Cupid? Who are you? What are your centers?" He poked us in the chests.

"Gah!" I yelped. "My center is soft and squishable! Don't do that!"

"M-My center?" Jack asked.

"If Man in Moon chose you both to be Guardians, you must have something very special inside." North stated. He stroked his beard in thought. He was giving us odd looks.

He walked away.

I let myself exhale. That entire exchange made me feel like an ant under a boot.

'An ant has no quarrel with a boot.'

'...why does that make me want to laugh at the joke but cry for...for someone?'

North walked over with a Russian Nesting doll. He held it up for us. "Here. This is how you see me, no? Very big, intimidating. But if you get to know me a little-" He handed the doll to Jack. "Well, go on."

Jack raised an eyebrow at North. He turned to me, seeing a matching look of confusion on my face. So seeing that we might as well play along with the insanity, he opened the doll. The next face was what most people expected Santa to be like- happy and jolly.

"You are downright jolly." Jack deadpanned.

"Ah, but not just jolly..." North encouraged us to open the doll again. Jack did so. "I am also mysterious. And fearless. And caring. And at my center..."

Jack opened the last doll. The doll was falling out of the smaller doll so I grabbed it.

"You're a baby?" I slowly guessed. Jack rubbed at his foreheads frustration.

"Look closer. What do you see?" North encouraged.

"You have big eyes?" Jack guessed.

"Yes!" North stretched out his eyes to match the doll. When he finished doing that he grabbed Jack and I by the shoulder. He smushed us together, so that we could see his big eyes. "Big eyes. Very big. Because they are full! Of wonder! That is my center." He let us go, walking further into his office to show off all the toys he had inside. "It is what I was born with. Eyes that have always seen the wonder in everything!"

He pointed at a flying airplane. It flew by the tree as the lights lit up. "Eyes that see lights in the trees, and magic in the air!"

North guided us to follow the office. We showed us his factory, and for a second it was like I could see it the way he did.

"This wonder is what I put into the world, and what I protect in children." North explained. "It is what makes me a Guardian." He turned to us, the question on his face again. "It is my center. What is yours?"

My expression fell.

"I don't know." We both answered.

I looked down at the ground, fluttering over to the bannister. Sitting down I thought about the past three months.

What was I guarding that Manny saw? The obvious answers would be to do with hearts, except I break them more than anything.

But North said he protected because that's what he saw in the world. What do I see in it?

'Who am I?'

Something flew past the window in North's office. I looked up in time to see something green.

Bunnymund and Sandy dashed up to us.

"We have a problem, mate!" Bunnymund hopped up to North. "Trouble at the Tooth Palace."

My hands tightened to fists. My wings extended, while my legs took a fighting stance on the bannister.

'CHERUBS! ALL OF YOU! TO THE TOOTH PALACE! PROTECT THE FAIRIES!'

==CR==

AN: This was supposed to be an update for Halloween. Whoopsie.