The wind lashed against her, rapid and fierce, the powerful gusts nearly throwing her off her feet. She could barely see what was in front of her, the dust and dirt that had been stirred by the wind making it difficult for her to see even her own hands. She stumbled forward, one foot before the other, again and again, a repetitive action that she had seemingly done for hours already. She coughed, a dry, painful sound.

Hunger. Pain. Anger. Fear.

Fear.

The shouts that echoed up the mountain were getting closer. She staggered forward, then fell, her ankle giving out under her. Desperately, she held her hands to the ground, trying to summon a yeti, a snowman, a wall of ice, anything that could buy her time to get away. But the ground remained warm to the touch, the grass yellow and dying, no hint of the ice-white hues that accompanied her powers.

She sobbed, a cracked, wretched sound.

The footsteps came closer, louder, again and again, the steady beat reminding her of a drum. She turned in the direction of the footsteps, holding her hands out defensively.

There was a sudden smell of burning - and before she knew what was happening, flames lunged at her, snapping at her hands, burning the edges of her fingers. She cried out, throwing herself backwards, her breathing becoming shallow as she trembled. "No."

The fire curled around her, flames surrounding her in a circle, trapping her in. The heat became unbearable, the smoke overwhelming her, making it difficult for her to breathe. She crumpled to the ground, fear plain in her eyes. Again and again, she held her hands out, trying to summon ice, snow, anything that could quench the blaze that inched ever closer towards her, but nothing worked. She cast her gaze about, searching for something, anything that could save her - but what she saw only chilled her heart.

Through the flames, a distant figure with turquoise eyes, the same eyes she saw every morning when she looked into the mirror, gazing at her with a remote, cruel coldness.

The flames shot upwards, thirty feet high, a towering inferno. For a moment, the fire seemed to have a life of its own; it seemed to laugh at her, a cruel, taunting laugh as the flames loomed over her. And then the blaze shot forward like an arrow, an impeccable aim that launched itself straight at her. The girl screamed, terror and rage melding together into one desperate cry, her arms reaching out for the figure on the other side of the flames.

"Anna!"

The red-haired girl struggled to pin her thrashing sister down on the bed, flinching as Elsa kicked her right in the gut. She doubled over, but maintained her iron-grip on Elsa's arms, yelling to the blonde-haired man who stood at the end of the bed, blinking blearily, confused and clearly frightened by the screaming queen, "Hold onto her legs!"

Kristoff hesitated, wondering if that would be impolite - he may have been courting her sister, but Elsa was still rather distant towards him, the same way she was to everyone except Anna. But Elsa let out another cry, writhing in the bed, her arms twisting and struggling to escape Anna's hold, and Kristoff knew the princess was going to need help to wake Elsa up from her - what was it? A fit? A nightmare? So he threw himself forward, pinning Elsa's kicking legs to the bed with all the force he could muster.

Anna tried to hold onto Elsa's face, yelling to drown out the screams of her sister, "Elsa, Elsa wake up! Wake up, please!" She shook her sister, dodging to avoid the wild lashes that Elsa struck out with her hands.

Gradually, Elsa's thrashing seemed to weaken, her movements slowing, becoming weaker as she registered Anna's panicked cries. As Elsa's screams faded into silence, Kristoff dared to glance up, wondering if Queen Elsa was awake.

Anna looked down at her sister; Elsa was lying on the bed, her eyes gazing upwards, her body trembling uncontrollably. Softly, the Queen spoke. "It's okay, Anna. I'm all right now. You can let me go."

Warily, Anna climbed off Elsa, indicating to Kristoff that he could let go too. Softly, she asked. "Elsa, what's going on? This is the fourth night in a row you've woken up screaming - are you all right?"

Elsa rubbed her hands against her eyes, pretending to wipe the sleep from her eyes, but in reality not sleepy at all. "Like I told you, it's just nightmares. They're getting more and more vivid, but they can't hurt me."

Anna frowned. "I don't like it, Elsa. I don't like it when you wake up screaming like something's killing you in your sleep. Maybe you should visit the trolls, just to make sure you're all right."

Elsa flinched. She drew away from Anna's touch. "I'll be fine. If this problem persists, I'll visit the trolls, but I don't want to make a big fuss out of nothing."

Anna nodded. "If you say so, sis. Come on, Kristoff, let's go. We're going out for a picnic." She told Elsa, who only nodded in response, still staring at her hands.

Kristoff bowed to Elsa before making his way out of the room after Anna.

You see? Again, she wants you to visit the trolls; every single day she presses you to do that. She just wants the people to find out about your nightmares, to see your problems, to think that you're unstable. She wants them to fear you again, Elsa, like they feared you two years ago.

She wants your power, Elsa. Are you just going to let her manipulate you like that?

Elsa shook her head, her fists clenching and unclenching. The snowflakes tumbled down from the ceiling, covering her in seconds. Now her powers came back - but Elsa remembered her dream vividly, remembered the way her powers seemed to have abandoned her. She bit her lip, curling up into a ball. Just what was happening to her?

She was scared.

"Snow?" Jack frowned, his brows drawing together as he slung himself around his staff. "But that's my area of expertise, I'm Jack Frost! I control winter!"

"Like I said, I don't think she controls winter, so much as she controls snow. I mean, they call her the Snow Queen." Tooth pointed out.

Jack waved that away. "Semantics! Snow's my area of expertise too!" He leapt off his staff, slinging it over his shoulders. "So she lives in Arendelle?"

"Yep, she's the Queen. At least, that's what my fairies tell me." Tooth answered, as the few fairies that surrounded her chittered away.

Bunnymund turned away from the eggs that he was gingerly painting, pointing a red-dashed paintbrush at Baby Tooth. "A human with such powers? That's not normal, is it?"

The three Guardians exchanged looks and shook their head. "Definitely not."

"But what can we do about it?" Tooth mused. "I mean, she's a human, isn't she? Not to mention a Queen, too. We can't just go up to her and demand to know how she got her powers. Besides, she doesn't seem to be using it for evil. In fact, one of my fairies said she just uses it to create ice rinks for kids to play on."

Bunnymund rolled his eyes. "She sounds as much of a kid as you are, Frost." He turned to look at the door. "Which reminds me - why did Santa call us here in the first place? Where is he?"

The yeti that stood at the doorway shot Bunnymund a puzzled look in response, lifting his shoulders in a shrug - he didn't know either.

Just then, the door opened, and North and Sandy walked in together, their expressions serious. Jack tilted his head to the side. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"You should see this." North replied, leading the way to the ginormous globe that occupied its space in North's main hall. Jack's eyes widened in shock; behind him, Tooth and Bunnymund stopped dead in their tracks, stunned as well.

Tendrils of black and ice-blue were creeping across the globe, a slow, twisted fury casting a shadow over the globe.

"This...it can't be! We defeated Pitch, years ago!" Jack protested, whirling around to look at North. The jolly old man spread his arms helplessly, his expression not jolly at all. "Yes, we defeated him. But we did not destroy him. He can always return, Jack, and it seems now he has. I do not know what he is planning, but I am sure we all remember the chaos he brought along the last time he returned."

There was a moment of silence as all the Guardians recalled how close to destruction they had all come - their failures, the children slowly losing faith in them, slowly losing their shape and form...

"We have to stop him." Jack made a fist. "No matter what. We can't let him hurt the children with his nightmares like he did last time."

"But we don't even know what he's planning." Bunnymund pointed out. "How are we supposed to stop him, then?"

"We'll just have to seek him out first." Jack replied, the determination plainly written on his face. He turned to North and Sandy, one the unofficial leader of the Guardians, the other the oldest and most experienced of all the Guardians. "What do you guys think? Is that all right?"

There was a wisp of golden sand, as a golden thumbs-up formed right above Sandy's head, while North nodded in agreement, clapping Jack on the back. "That is, indeed, the only way we can start off. We should also make sure to prepare ourselves, and guard our realms as well as possible - we cannot let our guard down, or Pitch might attempt to invade our realms again."

Bunnymund and Tooth exchanged a look, the two of them having had first-hand experience of that the last time Pitch invaded their realms.

Jack grinned. "All right then! Let's get to work! Each of us will take one area of the globe and search for Pitch there."

North pointed at the globe. "Remember, if we find him, do not engage, but fall back and return here. So, which areas do each of you want?"

Jack leapt lightly to stand on the globe, using his staff to prod a small, oddly-shaped mass on the globe. "I want this place. Arendelle! I want to check out this Snow Queen dude."

"If she's a Queen, she can't be a dude." Tooth pointed out.

Jack wagged a finger at Tooth. "She can be if I say she can. All right, that's decided. I'll take the area around Arendelle, the rest of you do as you please!" With that, Jack vaulted out of the window, the winter wind carrying him as he jetted off into the distance.

North looked at Bunnymund. "Why do I have a feeling he just wanted an excuse to visit Arendelle?"

Bunnymund rolled his eyes; he'd gotten a lot of practice in that ever since Jack joined the Guardians. "I wouldn't be surprised."

Hey guys! So here's my new story, a Frozen/Rise of the Guardians crossover which I've been planning for quite a while already. Word of warning: while there may be some slight humour and fluff, this fanfic will be darker in tone, more like Frozen than Rise of the Guardians (is RotG darker than Frozen? That's always the impression I got).

So I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue! This is more of a setting-up where all the major players in the story are introduced: Elsa, the Guardians, Pitch and to a lesser extent, Anna and Kristoff. More about Pitch's plans will be revealed in the next chapter, but I think most readers should have been able to guess at least part of his plan already. I'll try to upload the next chapter ASAP, which hopefully should mean in the next week or so, so please anticipate it! And remember guys, review and follow!