Chapter 1 - the prince in the tomb

A long time ago, before the attack of the flame, the ice people lived on Mount inhabited the kingdom of ice and in the centre of the kingdom was the proud castle itself, the Kanki palace.

The ice's power was rare but used harshly. They worked tirelessly at their jobs and because it was so rare they had to work twice as hard to get everything done up to everyone else's standards. Among these people was the prince of ice himself, Toshiro Hitsugaya. His hair was white like the snow itself and his eyes pale blue like the sky. He was a petite young boy but always put all his effort into everything he did and gave everyone respect. He was praised greatly because of his potential, but he was loved most of all by his mother, Sode no Hitsugaya. Even so the young boy hardly ever smiled, cried or felt anything. He was empty.

Toshiro's father was proud of his son and thought that someday he could train him himself. His name was Joshiro Hitsugaya. Toshiro began to receive training from his learned many great skills and developed the potential everyone had talked about. Toshiro was at the peak of his abilities, but in the midst of his training, the flame attacked. They wanted to obtain the prince's tenacious power and use it against all the other powers.

Twenty minutes before the attack, Toshiro's mother made her son a cup of ice tea. she had slipped a tasteless sleeping agent into it. once the drowsiness overtook him, a guard carried him downstairs and placed him in an icy tomb in the palace's catacombs. The mother also brought along her most trusted nurse and priest to be there for when her son awoke. The priest cast an enchantment over the sleeping boy so only one of the nine guardians could wake him. The priest also put the enchantment over him and the nurse so they would be able to see to the prince when he awoke.

During the attack, the flame destroyed the ice kingdom, leaving behind nothing. The king of fire vowed that that was the day the ice kingdom fell and that and form of ice magic was illegal and punishable by death. He ordered the guardians killed.

And so, it is believed that the ice prince still slumbers in the ice kingdoms catacombs. People believe that the guardians were resurrected in different bodies. Nobody knows.

Luppi's cough grew chesty, so I tucked him in.

"big brother, I think he's real." he whispered

I chuckled subconsciously.

"well, I hope that one day he'll wake up so he can make the flame guard go away."

I sighed. It had been 10 years since the flame guard attacked. We lost our parents in a raid. We lost a third of our cities population that day. All our friends and family, gone. Fire was everywhere, destroying buildings and our way of life. I was seven; my little sister, Nel, was six and our little brother Luppi was four.

Mum hid me, Luppi and Nel in a shelter, but it was wasn't enough. A tree crashed through the door, crushing her. Nel broke down and Luppi didn't understand what was going on. We were devastated. When my father came back from the army and found out, he took his own life. When he did that I hated him, he left his children to fend for themselves. By the Time I was thirteen, I had a job at a paper shop and Matha looking after us too.

I looked at my wristwatch, it was 8:15. The normal time Luppi goes to sleep. Looking down my arm I noticed the mark. A small swirl starting at the base of my hand, its tail going down my forearm and connecting to a much larger swirl. I never knew what it was or what it meant. Mum said it was probably from my old parents as their backgrounds were...dark. I tried not to ponder on if it for too long and decided to leave Luppi's bedroom.

I closed his door to see my sister holding her hands together. Her long green hair covering her face, sadly.

"nel, what's up?" I asked her.

At first she didn't say anything. She whimpered a little like a puppy. After a few seconds she looked at me with a determined look, turning her hands into fists.

"We need to find him Grimmjow, the ice prince." she said

"Nel, we don't even know if he's real, never mind alive." I replied

"He doesn't need to be, we can just go there, come back and tell Luppi he's alive." She said argumentatively.

"And what happens if you get hurt?" I said, powerfully.

"Grimmjow, please. Martha can look after Luppi while we're gone. We need to do this. For Luppi."

I sighed. She was right. If anything was going to give him hope it was that kid. Luppi had become ill over the last few weeks so all me, Nel and Martha did was take care of him, still he seemed to deteriorate.

"Fine but if anything bad happens I'm holding you responsible." I said happily.

Nel dived on me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Thanks so much Grimmy." She said before running off to go and pack her essentials.

The next day me and Nel hired a cheap carriage to take us to Mount Koori. It was old and damp. The wheels looked like they were about to snap. The horse looked old and weak, like he'd been worked from the day he was born. Nel still insisted I get in it.

Luppi was awake but lying in bed. Martha kissed Nel on the forehead and ruffled my hair.

"Now I want you two back in one piece, okay? she said.

I chuckled, "Yes Martha"

Martha was like our mum. After our actual mum died she took us into her house for a few weeks till the builders had repaired it. After the work was finished, she came to visit us everyday with sweets and food she'd cook for us. Martha's son died from a horrible illness when he was very young so she probably just felt very lonely. Without her I don't know where we would be.

We got into the carriage and waved to Martha. Nel seemed excited to be headed to the mountains. She'd always believed in the legend of the ice prince and got excited when ever I told her the story. Mum used to tell her the story too. Every time she went to bed she asked for that story and talked about how one day she would find him and marry him. The memories made me laugh.

We arrived at the foot of the mountain when the carriage driver told us he couldn't go any further up. I grabbed our things, grumpily, and began to head up the icy trail.

It was seven o'clock when the blizzard happened. We couldn't see anything for the pelting snow. We hid in a cave in the side of the mountain. It was dark and gloomy. I had suspected that this would happen so I gathered sticks while heading up it. I grabbed two rocks and caused a spark.

"How could this happen, we have so much further to go!" Shouted Nel.

"Nel calm down, we can carry on tomorrow." I said soothingly.

"NO!" she screamed, kicking the wall.

This, unexpectedly, turned the floor into slope. Nel screamed as we slid down I grabbed hold of her as tightly as I could. We bumped at the bottom. Nel looked confused at first but then burst into a fit of laughter. I did too. I looked back up behind us, seeing that there was no way back out. we headed forward to see what else there was. The inside of the building looked tragic. The pillars and walls had been broken down and shattered.

That was when we saw the door.

A large icy door with an ancient dragon arched around the door frame. Nel touched the door, seeing nothing. she began to kick and yell at it. I put my hand on her shoulder, but she pushed me. I stumbled and landed on the grande door. The mark on my arm began to glow pale blue. I grunted in pain at it. It felt like my arm was on fire.

The eyes and scales of the dragon lit up with an eerie red glow and opened the door. Nel ran in first seeing the huge tomb. I couldn't believe it. He was real. How could he be? We looked at the tomb, seeing the writing:

Only one of the nine guardians can open the tomb.

Nel touched it, but again nothing. She began to punch it screaming swears as she did it. She fell down and began to weep.

"We came so close, we need him Grimmjow." she weeped.

I began to think. The door opened when I fell on it and it looked like it was made using the same policy. I walked up to the tomb and breathing in deeply, I placed my hand directly under the text. My arm glowed again, but this time it really hurt. It felt like someone was injecting melted iron into my veins. I fell on the floor clutching my arm.

A red glow covered the tomb, flashing brightly. Nel gasped and grabbed me. The slab of ice moved off of the sarcophagus. I walked forward slowly, looking in. And there, was the body of the 16 year old himself, Toshiro Hitsugaya. I gasped when I saw it. He had the same mark as me but it was glowing white. Nel began to jump around happily after discovering the prince.

"Grimmjow we found him, do you know what this means?" she asked happily.

"yes but I'm still curious, why does he have the same mark as me and why is it glowing." I asked

"That, my young man, means is because you are one of the nine guardians and so is he." came a voice from the distance.

I pulled out a knife from my pocket and grabbed nel.

"who are you? Show yourself!" I shouted.

Out walked a strange man. He had his eyes closed and a menacing grin on his face.

"I am the priest of the Ice kingdom, and I am here to wake the prince." he said.

He walked forward and placed his hand on the princes chest, chanting words quietly. The princes eyes fluttered open, showing one of the most grotesque things I've ever seen.

The prince's right eye was bloody and dark. blood was trickling down his face like a river. The inner ring of colour was pale white and the rest was a mix of brown and red. It looked like it had decayed while he was in the tomb. The priest tutted and lifted Toshiro out of the tomb. He covered his right eye with his hand and moved it away, looking at his it.

"Gin, I'm bleeding." he said.

"I can see your highness, we will go and see the doctor now." he said, leading the prince into a hall.

When we arrived at the doctors room, she was still in her slumber. The priest chanted again and she awoke.

"your highness, look at your eye." she said.

He nodded," I can't see from it, fix it please?"

"gladly."she said.

She gave him a cup of tea with the powdered sleeping agent mixed into it. He drifted off and the doctor got to work. Me and Nel decided to talk to the priest in the meantime.

"My name is Gin, the kings personal priest and the doctors name is Retsu Unohana but prefers being addressed by her last name. We also agreed to be put into the coma with the prince. I awoke when you opened the door. Thank you for that by the way."

"hehe no problem. But I'm not a guardian, I don't have a elemental power so how can I be?"

Before he could answer, the prince walked out. His right eye was fixed and looked as blue as before.

"All sorted out now. Good thing I was here." she said.

"Now that's over with, you three come with me please."

Gin took us into a big room. It had nine multi-coloured handprints all over it, with words under them:

Handprint of light: The guardian of innocence

Handprint of flame: The guardian of anger

Handprint of earth: The guardian of silence

Handprint of water: The guardian of kindness

Handprint of ice: The guardian of guidance

Handprint of energy: The guardian of faith

Handprint of Sand: The guardian of honesty

Handprint of air: The guardian of protection

Handprint of Darkness: The guardian of solitude

This was all new to me. I knew of the Guardians and how they were rumored save the world but I never knew that they were real. They were a myth, a legend, a fairy tale. The prints colours symbolized which element belonged to who. I felt honored to be in there but I didn't believe I was a guardian.

"Boy show me your arm." Said the priest.

I did as he said. I cautious at first, I didn't know what he was going to do. Nel stood behind me, looking at the icy prince. The man looked at my mark, he chuckled.

"Well theres your proof, your definatly a guardian." He said.

I never realized what it meant. All my life I belived it was a scar from my old parents but it was my identity. I was a guardian. Still, I didn't know which power belonged to me. I knew it couldn't be ice because Toshiro was, so I could be any other one. Toshiro walked towards me.

"What power do you have?" he asked

"I-I don't know." I replied. I didn't have a clue. I never expected this and I'd never used any form of elemental power in my life.

The priest walked forward and grabbed my arm again.

" secret symbol, show me your power" He chanted

The light glowed again and I felt the fire. I grunted in pain causing him to stop.

"Boy, you are air." He said.

Nel wrapped her arms around me and cheered.

"Grimmy, your magic. Luppi will be so happy." She cheered.

"We need to find the other seven guardians, we'll train our bodies to get used to our powers and then we will challenge the flame king himself." said Toshiro "Will you join me?"

I needed time to think. I couldn't leave. I needed to protect Nel and Luppi. I couldn't just abandon them.

"I'm sorry Toshiro, but I need to protect my family." I said sternly.

"Grimmy. No, you are going and you are going to learn air magic. You are an idiot if you don't take this opportunity. Me and Martha will take care of Luppi and if we have any trouble then we'll protect ourselves." she said gruffly.

"And how do I talk to you?" I asked.

"We have communicator crystals, you can keep in contact with your loved ones while we are away." Said Toshiro

"But sti-"

"GRIMMJOW JEAGERJAQUES SO HELP ME IF YOU DO NOT GO I WILL BEAT YOU TO A PULP" shouted Nel.

I jumped slightly when she shouted but I got the message. I had to go. For Nel. For Martha For everyone.

"Fine but I want to explain everything to Luppi first." I said.

Everyone agreed and we set off.

We got home a few hours later. An old farmer drove us home in his cart. We escaped the catacombs through a secret stairway made by the ice people. I'd never been so glad to be home in my life. I hugged Martha as soon as I got in. After explaining and being slapped in the face by the women herself, she understood and agreed to let me go. Now was the difficult part.

I walked to Luppi's room to see him tucked in bed. We expressed pleasantries before getting down to business

"Luppi...I'm going away for a while." I said.

"Why Grimmjow. I want you to stay." He said tearfully.

"When we looked for, Toshiro we found him .We brought him here so I could say goodbye. I found out I'm one of the nine guardians Luppi. I'm going top find the others, then we're going to get the flame king. Luppi, I'm going to save the world." I said enthusiastically.

"Then..You can go but I want to here from you everyday... I'll miss you." he said

I hugged him

"I'll miss you too, Luppi."

We decided to spend the night there. Before leaving we discussed bringing the nurse with us. She said she would be a burden by not walking fast enough. Eventually, we found a small locket in which we put her in. I don't even know how that worked, Toshiro explained it but I didn't get a word of it. Gin stayed there as he wasn't necessary anymore. We said goodbye before heading back to the village.

We woke up the following morning. I knew it would be the last time I'd see my family in a long time so we had breakfast together. just before we left I grabbed everything I needed and decided I was finally ready. I promised Martha that I'd be okay and hugged her. Nel cried when I left shouting goodbye. I told her I'd talk to her everyday through the crystals.

And that morning, we set off on our quest.

Hey guys. That is my longest chapter. It took the piss to write but It's probably my best. Please review and comment nicely.

And I'll show you a sweet dream, the next night