Ma Bella Amour

"Bunny, I know you like me, but…I only think of you as un amigo y un hermano. But we can still be friends…right?"

"…Yeah. Friends."

No matter how tough a person is or claims to be, or how much they say nothing brings them down, the rejection of the person they're in love with hurts; even was E. Aster Bunnymund, the Australian Easter Bunny.

He wasn't exactly sure when he fell in love with Haley O' Eve, the Spirit of Halloween. Perhaps it was a slow process, rather than the popular love-at-first-sight shtick. But it didn't matter whether he fell for her slowly or right away. All that mattered was that he was in love with her.

She was what humans call anthropomorphic cat, meaning that she was a humanoid-looking cat. He himself was considered an anthropomorphic rabbit, though he was technically called a Pooka. He was over six feet in height, and she was four foot eleven. Her short height was one of the things he liked about her. He also liked her grass-green eyes, her round cheeks, her Cheshire Cat grin, her love for candy, her tendency to use a Spanish word or two in a sentence, even her chubby figure from eating many of her sweets.

But, sadly, she didn't feel the same way towards him. She only thought of him as a brother; a friend. Now he knew what teenagers dreaded about when they talked about being "Friend-Zoned." It added insult to injury when Haley seemed to be falling for Pitch Black. The Boogie Man. The Guardians' former enemy. And now Guardian of Fear.

Needless to say, Bunnymund and Pitch still got along as well as rabbits and greyhounds, no pun intended.

At the New Year's Eve party at North's, Haley had willingly danced with Pitch, something she hadn't done in the past. It only furthered Bunnymund's suspicions of her falling for the dark man. He only stared at them in jealousy and slight sadness as the other guardians tapped their feet and bobbed their heads to the music.

Then, Pitch dipped Haley low, making her ever-present black and purple witch hat fall off. Gold and gray eyes gazed into light-green ones. Then, Haley lifted her head and kissed Pitch. He held her closer, closing his previously-surprised eyes, and kissed her back.

It was too much. Gulping down his glass of eggnog, Bunnymund tapped his foot on the floor—a little harder than necessary—and left the workshop, deaf to the Guardians' protests.

He didn't have a set place in mind. He just let his feet lead the way until he leapt out of the hole, finding himself near a big, bright city. He saw a tall tower reaching for the sky. "The Eiffel Tower." He mumbled. "I'm near Paris."

How ironic that his tunnel lead him near the City of Love.

Bunnymund was about to open a tunnel somewhere else when he heard whimpering. Perking his long ears up, he stood on all fours, sniffing for what ever was making the sound. He followed his nose and ears to a large brush. On the other side, to his surprise, he found a small reddish-orange and light-peach fawn with white spots, red hooves, a red heart-shaped nose, and big brown eyes. On its back, like a Pegasus, was a pair of pure-white, dove wings.

The fawn stared up at the blue-gray Pooka with wide, frightened eyes. He saw that its left wing was bent in an awkward way, hinting it was broken.

Since it was a winged fawn, and an unnatural color, Bunnymund figured it belonged to a spirit. As he racked his brain for what spirit would have winged fawns, he approached it, crouched down. It leaned back, ears bent down. "Hey, I ain't gonna hurtcha." He whispered, slowly scooping the fawn into his arms. As he stood up, holding the fawn to his chest, he saw on its right ear was a red heart-shaped tag, with the black symbols, "#09 Ambre M. Amour France"

"Okay, so yer name's Ambre?" Bunnymund asked. The fawn nuzzled its nose against his furry arm. "I s'pose so. But who's M. Amour?"

"That would be moi."

Bunnymund jumped around, startled. He blinked in surprise at the figure standing behind him. It was a tall, willowy, beautiful woman, almost as tall as the Pooka himself. She had curly red hair that fell past her shoulders, purple eyes, fuchsia eye shadow, and red lips. She wore a short, pink, billowing top, a purple shirt, a short red skirt, and red stockings. Her gloves and knee-high boots were dark green, she had thick gold bands on her upper arms and wrists, and small gray wings on her back. He could also see a golden bow and arrows poking out behind her head and wings as well.

She stood on the ground, smiling with an arched eyebrow. Ambre the fawn leapt out of Bunnymund's arms, bleating happily. "Ambre, where have you been?" The winged woman cooed in a French accent, cupping the fawn's cheeks in her hands and kissing its nose. "Mama Mabella has been so worried about you!"

Bunnymund scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "So…you're the fawn's owner?"

"Oui." She nodded. "I am Mabella Amour, the Spirit of Love. Most humans refer to me as my real name, Cupid."

Bunnymund's ears perked up. "Ah, I guess I shoulda guessed, what with the fawn havin' the heart-shaped tag, and 'amour' bein' French for 'love'."

"Quite all right." She said, taking Ambre in her arms. "Merci for finding Ambre. She has been wanting to see the outside world. She slipped away from me a few hours ago, and have been looking everywhere for her."

"I found her lyin' in the brush. Her wing looks like it was broken."

"Oui," Mabella agreed, gingerly fingering the fawn's broken wing.

"If you'd like, I could come with you an' help." Bunnymund offered. "I have a bit of knowledge about settin' broken bones."

"Oh, I couldn't trouble you like that. I'm sure you wish to be with your friends on this night."

"To tell the truth…I came here to be alone."

Mabella cocked her head, gazing at the Pooka with a thoughtful expression. Then, she smiled, "Perhaps I'll take you up on your offer to help Monsieur…?"

"Bunnymund. E. Aster Bunnymund, Spirit an' Guardian of Hope. The humans call me the Easter Bunny."

"Well then, Monsieur Bunnymund, allow me," Holding Ambre in one arm, she took Bunnymund's large paw her smaller, gloved hand. Flapping her wings, she spun the both of them in place. They disappeared in a swirl of red, pink, and white heart-shaped bubbles.

They reappeared in thick gray clouds. Bunnymund jumped slightly, gripping Mabella's hand tighter. "Relax," She smiled. "You won't fall. Trust me."

Bunnymund let her hand go, looking around some more. He saw that they were in clouds on top of a mountain. He could see the lights of Paris far away in the distanc. Looking back, he saw Mabella approaching a tall, large swirl of clouds that looked like soft serve ice cream. He bounded after her through a doorway.

Inside, the walls and stairs leading to a second level were made of clouds. The furniture, however, looked like normal furniture. It seemed to be French-themed, and was rich and beautiful-looking.

Mabella coughed politely, saying, "The fawns are in the back room," She gesture at a wooden door with a heart and winged-fawn design on it. "The restroom and medical room are upstairs. And, not that you'd be interested, but my bedroom is at the top." She winked and smiled coyly.

Bunnymund grimaced, coughing into his fist. "Er, shall we tend to Ambre?"

"Oui. Follow me." Mabella led Bunnymund upstairs into a room that looked like a medical room at a hospital. She set Ambre on a metallic table. "Could you hold Ambre down? She dislikes her medical checkups as is, and won't be trés heureux about having her wing messed with."

Nodding, Bunnymund held the fawn down firmly, wrapping an arm around her chest, and leaving her broken wing loose. Mabella gathered a splint, gauze wrappings, and a couple of safety pins. "Keep a tight hold of her. She likes to struggle."

Bunnymund gripped Ambre tighter just in time. As soon as the love spirit set her tools on the table behind the fawn, Ambre began to struggle, tossing her head around, bleating. "Oh étouffer! I haven't even touched you yet." Mabella gripped the joint of the wing in one hand, and set the broken bone with the other, making the fawn squeal loudly. Bunnymund flinched, but didn't loosen his grip.

"I need you to hold the end of the wing while I splint it." Mabella said.

Bunnymund loosened his right-paw grip on Ambre's rump, and held the fawn down with his elbow. He held the wing bone still. Nodding in thanks, Mabella held the splint against the wing. Bunnymund shifted his paw so he was holding both the wing and the end of the splint. Mabella wrapped the gauze around the wing and splint, folding the feathers down. All the while, Ambre continued to bleat and thrash her head around.

Mabella pushed the tail under some of the wrappings and safety-pinned the gauze wrapping. Then, she petted and cooed to Ambre, calming her down. As she did so, Bunnymund took another long strip of gauze and wrapped it around the broken wing, pinning it against the fawn's body. He tied it in a tight knot, and scratched Ambre behind her ears. "All finished, sheila." He said to both Ambre and Mabella.

"Bonne idée," Mabella complimented, lifting the fawn and setting her on her feet on the ground. Ambre looked back at her wing and began to try and chew on the gauze. "Oh, no, you don't!" Mabella exclaimed, holding the fawn's head. "Bunnymund, could you get a cone, plaire?"

Bunnymund grabbed a plastic white cone with straps, and tie it around Ambre's head so she couldn't chew or lick her wrappings. "Merci." Mabella nodded, lifting the Ambre again. "Shall we take Ambre back with the other faons?"

"All right." Bunnymund nodded, letting Mabella walk by him. As he followed her downstairs and to the fawn arena, he couldn't help but compare her to Haley: English was both their second language, they spoke occasional words in their first languages, and they both had animals as pets.

Outside, nine other fawns were in a large paddock with a small barn. They were various shades of orange and pink, but they all had white dove wings, red heart-shaped noses, large brown eyes, and red heart-shaped tags on their right ears. Five of them had budding brown antlers.

Mabella set Ambre down, smiling as she stood up and bounded back to her friends, trying to glance back at her wrapped wing. The other fawns shied away from her, eyeing her cone suspiciously. "Merci for helping me with Ambre." Mabella said to Bunnymund.

"It was no trouble." He shook his head. "I needed a breath of fresh air anyway."

Cocking her head slightly, Mabella gestured for the Pooka to follow her into the dining room. As she made a pot of tea, she asked Bunnymund why he came to France in such a hurry. He hesitantly told her about meeting and falling in love with Haley, having to team up with Pitch to destroy the Rogue Nightmares, and Haley choosing Pitch over himself. "I loved her." He whispered, clutching his half-drunk cup of tea. "An' she chose that…that spirit," He spat. "Over me! I could love her more an' better than he could!"

Mabella was sitting opposite from the rambling Guardian of Hope, fingers stapled under her chin. "Y-you're the spirit of love," Bunnymund suddenly said. "Why couldn't you have made Haley fall in love with me?"

"Are you really that selfish?"

He blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I do disperse love, yes. But it's more than that. Every person has their significant other. Sometimes, though, they don't find them. Even if they love someone, or someone is in love with them, they have their significant other; their true love, if you will. That is the person they are the most happy with. It is that person they are comfortable and happy to spend the rest of their life with. Sometimes they can be the last person you expect. My fawns and I help those who want to find their significant other."

"What do the fawns do?"

"Their wings have special dust that when flapped just right, it acts as a non-drinkable love potion."

"No arrows?" Bunnymund cocked an eyebrow.

Mabella laughed. "Actually, the love dust is brief infatuation. Something like puppy love, I suppose. My arrows are only used when one person realizes the other is their significant other." Her purple eyes narrowed, and she leaned close to Bunnymund. "And I do not appreciate my arrows being stolen and used. Besides, they can be dangerous to use. Love is a delicate subject, and mustn't be tampered with. So, don't get any ideas, Monsieur Bunnymund."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Ms. Amour." He shook his head quickly.

"Good. If you were to go through with your plan—don't think I didn't know about it, I can read people easily—do you think you and Haley would really be happy? You may love her, but who's to say you would continue to love her? And what about Haley? How do you think she would feel?"

Bunnymund's ears slowly drooped. Mabella was right. He was in love with Haley now, and he was sure he would stay in love with her, but it may not last forever. And he knew Haley didn't love him the way he loved her. Even if she fell in love with him via love arrow, it wouldn't be real. Or fair.

"What did Haley say when you told her you loved her?" Mabella asked.

"…She said she only liked me as a friend…and a brother…"

Mabella cupped the Pooka's cheeks in her hands and tilted his face up, smiling softly. "There is another great love than just romantic love: familial love. It is the love between a mother/father to a son/daughter, sibling love; basically, love between family members. That is one of the strongest loves in the world. You may not have romantic love between you and Haley, but you do have a stronger love relationship: familial love." She leaned on her elbows on the table, bringing her and Bunnymund's faces close together. She gazed kindly into his green eyes. "Everyone has their significant other."

"Are you sayin' Pitch is Haley's?"

"I can't tell you that." Mabella shook her head, smiling slightly at the Pooka's pout. "Don't take it too personal, darling. It's just business. But, as I said, everyone has their significant other."

Bunnymund slowly picked up on what the love spirit was hinting at. "So…you're sayin' Haley isn't my significant other?"

"It appears not, Lapin." Mabella smiled sadly. "But you'll find her someday." She kissed his nose and sat back, letting his face go. "Go back to your friends. I'm sure they are worried about you. I'll take you back down to the ground." She took her paw in his, and in a swirl of heart-shaped red, pink, and white bubbles, they disappeared from the cloud house.

When they reappeared on the ground, Bunnymund stepped back away from Mabella. "Will I…can I see you again soon? Perhaps intr'duce you to the other Guardians?"

Mabella slowly smiled. "I think I would like that. It tends to obtenir solitaire in the clouds. Come any time you wish to talk, or simply have a cup of tea."

Nodding, Bunnymund tapped the ground twice with his foot, and jumped down into the opened tunnel. The tunnel closed up, and a purple iris and yellow rose grew in its place.

Mabella smiled softly, gently plucking the flowers. She twirled them in her fingers, smelling their sweet scent. "The iris, the Emblem of France. 'Your friendship means so much to me.' The yellow rose, meaning friendship." She teleported back into her house, still holding the flowers.

When Bunnymund returned to North's Workshop, everyone was concerned that he had left so quickly. He apologized for leaving so quickly, and explained he needed a breath of fresh air. He didn't tell them that he was upset upon seeing Haley and Pitch dancing and sharing a kiss. But he knew that Tooth, North, Jack, and Sandy suspected it, as they were witnesses to Haley and Pitch dancing and kissing, and Bunnymund leaving afterwards.

When they asked him where he went, Bunnymund told the truth. "I randomly went to France. I met Mabella Amour, the Spirit of Love. Essentially, Cupid."

"How'd you meet Cupid?" Tooth asked, cocking her head.

"I found one of 'er injured winged fawns. Mabella found us, an' I went with 'er to 'er house to fix up the fawn. We talked for a few minutes over a cup of tea before I came back."

"What'd you talk about?"

"None of yer business, Frost." Bunnymund scowled.

But Jack felt it was his business. For weeks after, and into the new year, he kept pestering Bunnymund about his meeting Mabella Amour, and what they talked about. Every time, Bunnymund told the winter spirit that it was none of his business about what he talked to Mabella about.

He would also make trips to see Mabella. He told her about the Guardians' jobs, of Pitch slowly getting used to his duties as Guardian of Fear, Haley creating new weapons and getting new small articles of clothing, and Jack pestering the Pooka himself about what he was doing with the love spirit. Mabella simply laughed at the spirit's curiosity, and told Bunnymund he was also trying to push his buttons.

Mabella told Bunnymund about the cultures of France, the most interesting couples she brought together, and they even took walks around Paris, with her showing him the many different sights.

Children were eager to see the Easter Bunny and Cupid walking around France, but kept quiet when Mabella and Bunnymund held a finger to their lips, winking and smiling. But one child tugged on his mother's hand and told her, "Cupid and the Easter Bunny are on a date!"

The child's mother just smiled and told the child he had a great imagination.

Bunnymund, however, blushed under his thick fur. He hardly noticed that his paw was entwined with Mabella's hand. Mabella herself didn't bring it up either, not even as her cheeks were tinted red as well.

Bunnymund introduced Mabella to Sophie one day. The four-year-old was giddy to meet her, and said that she was very pretty. "You're like an angel, but without a halo." She said.

"Oh, you're so sweet." Mabella smiled. "Would you like to see one of my fawns?"

Sophie clapped her hands and nodded. Mabella tossed her hair back and whistled sharply. Out of the clouds came a familiar fawn. Bunnymund recognized her as Ambre, the fawn he originally found several weeks prior. Her wing was healed, and the cone was gone.

Ambre landed on the ground by the love spirit and sniffed curiously at Sophie, who giggled. "You can pet her." Mabella encouraged. "Just be gentle. A fawn is a baby deer, after all."

Sophie patted Ambre's head and ran her hand over her soft feathers. "She's like Bambi, but with wings." She smiled, laughing when Ambre licked her hand. "What's her name?"

"Ambre." Bunnymund answered, scratching behind the fawn's ears. She bleated happily, remembering the large rabbit.

"She sounds like a lamb!" Sophie explained, copying her favorite spirit. She turned to him and asked innocently, "Is Mabella your girlfriend?"

Bunnymund's eyes widened in shock at the question. "Wh-what makes ya ask that, ankle-biter?"

"I dunno." She shrugged. "I like her."

"I like her too." He chuckled lightly, ruffling the child's stringy blonde hair.

He hadn't noticed Mabella looking surprised at Sophie's question as well, or her smile when Bunnymund said he liked her. It gave her a strange warm sensation in her heart.

As February rolled in, Mabella told Bunnymund that she was holding a Valentine's Day party at her house. "I usually don't do this, but I just felt like it, having made a new friend." She explained. "And I'd like to meet your friends."

Bunnymund nodded, "I think they'd like that. They're eager to meet you. When'll the part be?"

"Valentine's Day, of course." She giggled, tapping the Pooka's nose with a finger.

When Bunnymund told the Guardians, most of them were eager to attend. "I…I doubt I'd be invited." Pitch said, crossing his arms. He still wasn't used to being with other people, having been alone for thousands of years.

Haley patted his arm kindly. "Did she invite us all?" She asked Bunnymund.

"Yeah." He nodded. "She's real eager t'meet you all. Even Pitch." He wisely held his tongue about him thinking it was strange that anyone would be eager to meet Pitch.

"When's the party?" Jack asked.

"Valentine's Day. I'll be takin' us there."

Valentine's Day came a week later. Everyone met at Haley's house on the front porch. North and Tooth were talking, with Tooth berating the Russian man about his cookies having "too much sugar." Jack was making random snowflakes and letting them fall and melt on the ground, sometimes catching them with his staff. Sandy was dozing on the ground, leaning back against the house. Pitch was sitting on the porch steps. Haley was on her back next to him, with her head on his lap. Her light-green eyes were closed, and she was smiling, purring, as Pitch scratched behind her ears.

Finally, Bunnymund leapt out of the hole in the ground. Everyone sat up immediately; Jack nudged Sandy awake. "Everyone ready?" The Pooka asked.

Everyone nodded in confirmation. "All right, hop on in." Bunnymund tapped the ground twice with his foot, and jumped in the hole. Everyone leapt in. Haley ran along the ground, Tooth and Jack flew through the tunnels, Pitch melted into the shadows, and North and Sandy simply slid along the ground in the tunnels.

Soon, the tunnel ended, and the Guardians and Halloween spirit leapt out into the clouds. They cried out in surprise, and Tooth, Jack, and Sandy hovered in the air up above the clouds. Haley leapt up and grabbed onto Pitch. "It's fine," Bunnymund chuckled, standing a distance away. "You won't fall through. Trust me."

They slowly relaxed, and the hovering Guardians sunk down to the clouds. Haley climbed down as well, smiling bashfully.

Mabella flew out of her house, smiling widely. "Ah, bonjour! You must be Bunnymund's friends." She greeted, standing in the clouds. "I am Mabella Amour, the Spirit of Love. The children call me Cupid. Come inside, we have much to talk about."

Inside, Bunnymund introduced Mabella to everyone. "This is Nicholas St. North, Spirit an' Guardian of Wonder, called Santa Claus by th'children. "Then, this is Toothiana, Spirit an' Guardian of Memories, known to th'kids as the Tooth Fairy. Sanderson Mansnoozie, Spirit an' Guardian of Dreams, and is the Sandman; we just call him Sandy. Jack Frost, Spirit an' Guardian of Fun. He also creates winter." He rolled his eyes. "An' this is our newest Guardian, Pitch Black, Spirit an' Guardian of Fear. Th'kids call him the Boogeyman. An' last, but not least, Haley O' Eve, Spirit of Halloween."

"I don't really have a purpose yet," The cat shrugged. "I'm not a Guardian either, nor do I have a counterpart like you or the others. I don't really mind though."

"Bunnymund told me quite a bit about you." Mabella smiled. "He mentioned we both sometimes speak words in our native language, are spirits of holidays, and have animaux as pets."

"Perhaps we could be buenos amigos."

Tooth suddenly hovered close to Mabella and pried her mouth open. "Oh, your teeth are so bright and beautiful!" She exclaimed. "I'm almost falling in love with them!"

"Tooth," Jack said.

"Right, I know," She flew back, letting Mabella's mouth go. "'Fingers out of mouth.' I just can't resist looking at healthy white teeth." She glanced knowingly at Haley, making the cat roll her eyes.

"I brush them," She said. "And candy isn't my sole food. I eat non-candy too."

Tooth and Haley soon got into a small argument, with North separating them, telling them they weren't to argue during a social event. "Tooth doesn't like that Haley enjoys candy." Pitch explained to the love spirit, hands clasped behind his back. "Haley doesn't seem to care. She has a big sweet tooth."

"I see." Mabella nodded. "Well, it's just as well I have cookies and other such sweet things. I'm an exceptional cook."

The food included hors d'oeuvres, cheese soufflé, crepes, various cheeses, a large plate of candy and cookies, and some fine wine and plain juice. Everyone enjoyed trying the various foods and drinks, and getting to know Mabella Amour. She even let the fawns come in to nibble on the cheeses. Tooth and Haley cooed over the "cute fawns" and gave them cheese, making them bleat happily.

Haley loved the candies Mabella made, and they exchanged recipes. "I may not use them for my Halloween candies," She said, sipping her wine. "But I may make some just to have candy a la mano."

"Moi aussi." Mabella agreed.

Haley stood up, a little shaky on her feet, and bumped into Pitch. "Oopsie, sorry, amor." She giggled, hiccupping once.

"I think you've had enough to drink." He remarked with a soft smile, taking her glass out of her paw. She didn't seem to notice. "Perhaps it would be wise to take you home."

"No, I like it here." She mewed, smiling wider.

"I'll take her home." Pitch said to the others, scooping her up into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed her head against his chest, purring like a kitten.

"Is she drunk?" Jack asked, cocking his head slightly.

"She's only had one glass," Mabella said. "She only has les rires et le hoquet."

At Jack's confused expression, Pitch translated, "'The giggles and hiccups.'" At that, he and Haley disappeared into the shadows of the early evening.

Later, Bunnymund found himself and Mabella sitting out in the fawn pen. The other Guardians had left by then, leaving the two spirits on their own. "The others seemed to enjoy the party." Mabella said.

"They did." Bunnymund nodded. "Haley seemed to like you."

"And I liked her. She's a nice girl. I can see why you liked her before." She left a hidden question.

"I think I've accepted that Haley is in love with Pitch." Bunnymund nodded. "It still kinda hurts…but I'm accepting it. I'm acceptin' that to Haley, I'll just be a good friend an' brother."

"Like I said, familial love is a great love. Even if you're only Haley's surrogate brother, the love is still there."

"You've been a great friend, Mabella." Bunnymund whispered, taking one of her green-gloved hands in his gray-blue paw. From behind his back, he presented a small moss rosebud. The petals were pink. He watched as Mabella took the flower, a smile growing on her red lips. "I assume you know about flower and color meanings?" He asked almost shyly.

Even though Mabella started out as a friend, especially during a dark time for the Pooka, over the next month and a half, he found himself falling for her. At first, he kept it hidden, thinking it to be silly to fall in love with the Spirit of Love herself. But he remembered the last time he kept his affections for someone else hidden, they fell in love with someone else. Perhaps it would come to that even if he had confessed he liked her, but he didn't wish for it to happen again. Remembering he saw that Mabella kept the iris and rose, from when they first met, in a vase, he decided the perfect way to tell her he was in love with her was through a flower.

The moss rosebud symbolized a confession of love. One of the colors it came in was pink, which was a color of love.

Mabella took the flower and smelled it, smiling wider, as her eyes closed shut. She nodded at Bunnymund's question. He patiently waited for her to say or do something else, with a slight sense of worry in the pit of his stomach.

Finally, tucking the flower into her hair, her purple eyes opened. Still smiling, she laid her free hand on the back of his head, closed her eyes again, and kissed his lips. He blinked in surprise, but closed his eyes as well, and kissed her back, letting her hand go to cup her cheeks in both paws.

Around them, the fawns bounded about, bleating and flapping their wings, though they didn't take flight.

A/N Soon, I'll try and start writing a sequel to my Rise of the Guardians fanfic, The Halloween Cat. But for now, I'm introducing a new character: Mabella Amour.

What I did was I took the usual symbol for love—that being Cupid—and made it different, kind of how Dreamworks did with Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc. in RotG. I know Cupid was a boy, but I think it can be interpreted in any gender. And since there weren't many female characters in RotG (without Haley, Tooth is the only one, if one doesn't count the kids) so I figured another female would help balance it out.

Since France seems to have roots in romance (especially since Paris is famous for being the City of Love) it seemed perfect that the Spirit of Love would be French. Like Haley, Mabella sometimes says words in French, although Mabella's older than Haley, and so has more control of how much French she uses in non-French language conversations. Her picture can be seen on DeviantART in my profile (link in my bio) It was made from a dressup doll game, but that's how I do most, if not all, of my human characters, since I'm bad at mostly clothing designs. I really liked how she turned out.

I looked up animals symbolizing love, and found that deer and doves both fit the category. So, being the smart person I am (:P) I combined the two into a winged deer. I also de-aged them into fawns because they're cuter :3 Plus, cherubs are mostly depicted as naked babies, so it's kinda logical that the winged deer would be babies. I haven't drawn them yet (the legs and wings are giving me the most trouble) but I kinda envision them as looking a bit like Bambi with little dove wings. The ear tags I got the idea from our beef cows sometimes having tags on their ears (luckily, these fawns aren't being sold for food X))

I know Mabella's personality isn't quite fleshed out, but this oneshot was mostly in Bunnymund's POV. I'll try and flesh her out more in the aforementioned pic on DA.

Before writing this oneshot, and even before making Mabella herself (her name was suggested by someone on DeviantART, btw; the surname was my own idea) I knew that I A) Wanted a Cupid-esq character in my RotG universe. And B) Wanted to pair her with Bunnymund. I've seen a couple Bunnymund/Cupid pairings, but they're mostly paired up with Jack. Since Bunnymund's my favorite character, and he didn't end up with Haley (Fun fact: Bunnymund WAS gonna be paired with Haley, but I later thought up an interesting sequel regarding that Haley was with Pitch [sometimes I think up sequels even before the story's done X3] and thought it was more interesting, so the pairing was changed) I decided to give him a girlfriend XD Of course, Mabella will be in my RotG sequel; when I'll write and post it on here, I don't know. I'm still brainstorming the story. Plus, I'm still busy with Toxic Wings.

The title was a combination of Mabella's full name, and kind of inspiration from one of the songs in Princess and the Frog (still haven't seen it)

Translation page:

un amigo y un hermano: a friend and a brother

moi: me

oui: yes

merci: thank you

Monsieur: Mr.

trés heureux: very happy

Oh étouffer!: Oh, hush up!

Bonne idée: Good idea

plaire: please

faons: fawns

Lapin: Bunny

obtenir solitaire: get lonely

bonjour: hello

animaux: animals

buenos amigos: good friends

a la mano: on hand

Moi aussi: Me too

amor: love