William and the Dawning, Part 4

"It's cold," she murmured, inspecting my Force Barrier, then looked up at me, "Mister William, are you a Guardian?" "Yes I am," I answered. "BEST TEAMMATE EVER!" She shouted in my face, "Common! Let's win!" "Alright," I laughed and began helping Ashley make more snowballs. I formulated a plan and explained it to Ashley as we made a large mound of ammo. "Ready?" I asked once we finally had a big enough pile. "Yes yes!" Ashley responded, jumping with excitement. "Lets go," I said, then she grabbed a couple of snowballs and I picked her up and put her on my shoulders, then scooped up a bunch of snowballs in my arms. "CHARGE!" Ashley declared, waving her snowballs in the air. I formed a Force Barrier that encompassed both me and Ashley and ran out into the midst of the battle. Ashley threw snowballs almost aimlessly and I handed her more each time she needed a reload, while I just kept pulling snowballs from the store in my arms and throwing them. At first the kids stared in shock and awe, but then as snowballs began flying at them they took back up their weapons and threw them at the two of us. Snowballs tumbled out of my arms and others splattered uselessly against the Force Barrier, but we were now the only target everyone aimed for and snow built up in patches on the Force Barrier, sliping off slowly and clogging my movements. Eventually, one kid ran at me and grabbed my leg, suffering under the barrage of snowballs aimed at me so he could try dragging me down. Then a couple more ran up and grabbed my legs, and I began to tip over, unable to walk anymore. Pulling Ashley off of my head and holding her against my chest, I fell onto my back, then was instantly covered in a mess of snow and little children. I couldn't hold the Force Barrier anymore and it broke, letting could snow fall against my skin and making me shiver. Putting my hands up in surrender and laughing like a lunatic, I sat up, pushing giggling children and snow off of me gently. Snowballs ceased to fly through the air as all the kids all began giggling, laughing, and cheering at their victory. Then I felt eyes on me and looked up to see that all the parents had stopped talking to stare at me amongst their children. They had cautious looks, unsure if they should let someone like me be around their kids. But I simply smiled at them, sitting there in the snow. Before any of the adults thought of something to say to me, the children all rushed out from their little snow forts to surround me. Many questions shot out from the chatter of the children, but eventually they quieted and one boy asked, "Are you a Guardian, mister?" "Yes, I am a Guardian, and my name is William," I answered, and a chorus of "ooh"s and "ah"s rose from the little gathering. "What Class are you?" a little girl asked, and I recognized her as the one who had started the snowball fight, "My ma told me each Guardian has a Class." "Oh I bet he's a Warlock!" one boy shouted. "No way!" another responded, "He's a Hunter, Hunters are the best!" "What if he's a Titan?" yet another pitched in, "Tell us mister Guardian." "Well now," I laughed, "I don't think I'm going to tell you." That was answered with a collective "aww". "But," I continued, "That's because Class doesn't matter. Every Guardian is just a person picked by the Traveler to protect everyone, and their Class doesn't make them any more important, or more cool, than the other Guardians." "But then why are there Classes?" Ashley asked, confused. "Because different Guardians use their Light in different ways," I explained, "So we made Classes to be more organized by grouping up Guardians with others who use Light the same way." "Tell us a story!" a girl shouted. "Well, where to begin," I mused, then went on to tell of my ventures across the solar system, making friends and facing enemies. I would draw in the snow to demonstrate to the children some of what I've done, and eventually some of the parents wandered closer to hear my stories. The children's eyes were riveted to me as they listened with intent interest, and when I looked up to see the Sun well past its zenith through the thin sheet of clouds, they all whined with disappointment as I told them I should get back to the Tower. As I stood up and the children began walking to their parents I felt a gentle tug on my arm, and looked down to see Ashley gazing up at me. "Promise you'll come back tomorrow?" she asked. "I'd be happy to come back tomorrow," I told her, crouching down and ruffling her hair. "I'll make sure he doesn't forget," Rush said, appearing at my shoulder. Ashley's eyes widened in surprise and wonder as she looked at Rush, then another smile split her face, showing off her missing teeth again. "Bye bye," she called as she began running off. "Bye mister Guardian," a child waved, and a chorus of goodbyes rose from the other children as well. "Rush," I said as I stood back up and waved to the kids, "Let's get back to the Tower for a break." A tingle spread through my body as I began to disappear in a transmat, and I heard yells of surprise start to come from the kids and parents before my body found its way to the Tower courtyard. To my surprise, I found a couple of Guardians waiting for me on the steps in front of the transmat zone. "Ugh, finally!" Sierra exclaimed as I appeared in front of them, "I thought you'd never come to the Tower today!" "I was here this morning," I explained. "We must've just missed you then," Drew said as he stood up and came to give me a huge bear hug, making me feel as if my ribs were about to break. "I thought you both had plans," I coughed after Drew put me down, allowing me to breathe again. "Well..." Drew began, "Most of the other guys drank too much eggnog and couldn't even stand up straight, so we canceled our plans to go out and find a fight. "And then he wouldn't stop messaging me to come join him and find you," Sierra complained, "And eventually John decided to give him my location and he dragged me back here." "Yeah, so we can all hang out together for your first Dawning," Drew told me excitedly. "We thought it wouldn't be nice to just leave you alone for the holiday," Sally said quietly, peeking out from behind Drew. "That's great guys, thanks for coming back for me," I told them. "Hey, I'm only here because Drew wouldn't let me be alone," Sierra grunted. "And?" John asked, appearing next to her. "AND because we want to make sure you have a good time during your first Dawning," Sierra sighed. "So we have a few weeks before the Dawning ends, I was thinking we could start it off on the SRL tracks," Drew suggested, "They have enemies on the tracks and I've been DYING to hit something with my Sparrow." "Well," I grinned widely, "What are we waiting for?" ___________________________________ I hope everyone enjoyed this holiday special. Expect more for each holiday that the Tower celebrates ;) Link to part 3:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/220044588/0/0 Link to ToC:https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0