Rise of the Guardians 2: Return of the Nightmare King

Forgiven

                                                                                     Angela's P.O.V

I pulled the blanket around me even tighter and shivered. Tooth walked over to me and handed me a cup of hot tea. I didn't look up at her, but I took the cup. I pulled my knees to my chest and turned my head away from her. I heard her sigh and sit back down next to Jack. I blew on the steaming cup of tea and took a sip. It tasted like mint and ginger. I wasn't going to lie, it tasted delicious, but I wasn't about to let Tooth have that credit.

Yes, I blew up in my room. I was just so blinded by anger that I was breaking things left and right. I knew it wasn't right, but I didn't care. I am still very angry at the Guardians. I don't want to be in the same room as them, but my muscles are weak so I don't have a choice. I close my eyes and took a deep, shaky breath in. I have no idea what is going on with me. At first, I help the Guardians escape and I worry about them. Next, I get extremely angry at them and now I hate them.

I know that all they're doing is trying to help, but that doesn't stop my mind from telling me that they're doing wrong things. They abandoned all the kids. They gave up when they knew that they could've beaten Pitch. They let innocent people get killed. They make too many mistakes to be deemed, Guardians. My eyes watered as I thought of Daisy. They couldn't even save her. Although, that one was kind of on me. Still, Pitch had been responsible and the Guardians hadn't been able to stop him so it was their fault!

I took a deep breath and pulled my blanket tighter around me. I bit down on my lip to try to keep the tears in, but it was getting harder. "Angela," I looked up and saw that Jack was looking at me. His sweatshirt was off and his abdomen was bandaged. His hand covered his wound and I could see the pain in his crystal blue eyes. I stared at him, waiting for him to say something. "Angela, I just want to thank you. If you hadn't rescued us, I would probably be dead right now. You were very brave when you stood up to Pitch."

My eyes widened at his words. Why would he thank me after what I said about him and his friends? I had said that I hated them and called them horrible things! Why would he still be nice to me? Instead of voicing my questions, I nodded curtly and said, "You're welcome." I then picked up my cup and took another sip of tea. I didn't want to meet his eyes, but I could feel all of them staring at me. I cupped my hands around the small cup and stared into my drink. I watched the steam float out of the container and disappear into the air. I sighed and lifted my head, "Look if all you guys are gonna do is stare at me, then just leave me alone."

I heard heavy footsteps approaching me. I looked at North's boots and didn't dare meet his eyes. "Angela, you know that we are all sorry right?" I set down my cup and furrowed my brow. I did not want to have this conversation right now. North knelt on one knee and tried to meet my eyes. I tucked my head away from him.

"We should have never left so many children alone like that. We made a huge mistake and we know that. We left at a time where all the world needed us. We let Pitch take over and all we did was sit in cages watching the world crumble around us. We let innocents get killed, children suffer, and nightmares roam the earth. The worst part was, we couldn't do anything about it." He hung his head and closed his eyes, but I got even angrier.

"Yes, you could've," I whispered.

North looked up, "What?"

"You could have done something. You had plenty of belief when you first got locked up. You could've busted your chains or knocked down the bars to your cages. Jack, you could have frozen the lock so it would be easy to break. You guys literally could've done anything, but instead, you chose to sit there and do absolutely nothing! You could've saved my parents, but instead, you chose to watch Pitch kill people! You did nothing!" I felt a rush of anger and something else flow through me. I realized that I was standing up. I felt a tingling sensation in my arms and hands. North gasped and took a few steps back.

I felt my heartbeat speed up and my breath come in rapid gasps. I looked down and saw that my veins in my arms were slowly turning black and bulging out of my skin. I heard a faint voice call my name, but I couldn't respond. I tried to get words out, but my mouth was so dry that I couldn't even open my mouth. My vision became fuzzy and everything suddenly was too bright. I shut my eyes tightly. I heard a silky voice in my head, telling me terrible things. "You couldn't save your parents. You were too late. You were never in control."

Then, I felt something cold touch my arm. I shivered but didn't flinch away from the touch. The voice in my head disappeared and my heartbeat gradually slowed. "Angela, calm your breath. Focus on something you love. Hold on to that thought and then slowly open your eyes. If you can't, then you have to tell me what's wrong." The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't tell who it was. I did what they told me to do. I thought of the first time I met Daisy. I remember hugging my parents and thanking them. I remember them laughing and Daisy's barking in the background.

Hot tears filled my eyes and all of a sudden, a deep sadness overcame me. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that all of the Guardians were surrounding me. Jack was holding me in his arms. I stared at them with wide eyes and realized something. These people cared about me. They were trying to help me even if they were gravely injured. They wanted to protect me even if Pitch was trying to kill them. These people were the only family I had left and what did I do? I pushed them away, said that I hated them, and blamed them for this whole mess.

This realization washed over me like a wave. I let out a cry and threw myself at Jack. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my head in his shoulder. I clung to his back and sobbed as loud as I could. I felt him tense, but he slowly returned the embrace. My body shook violently with each cry. I started trembling, but not because I was cold. I was shocked that I had behaved so terribly towards them. I wanted to explain everything to them. I wanted to hug each of them and apologize for my actions, but I couldn't speak. I tried to form words, but nothing would come out. Instead, I focused on four words. The words that would fix everything.

I clung tighter to Jack and choked out, "I am so sorry." Suddenly, all of the Guardians came closer and enveloped us in a group hug. I couldn't believe that they were doing this, but it made me happy. I smiled a tiny bit, the first real smile in a long time. I let out a sigh that seemed to release all of the pent up emotions I had been feeling lately. I relaxed into Jack's warm embrace and finally forgave them.