I don't own the copyright to Captain America or Rise of the Guardians. This is purely a fan story for the enjoyment of fans of both series. Spoilers for the content of both movies. No romance except for Steve missing Agent Carter. Rated T for World War II fighting. Posted June 10, 2016, written by NursingStudent.
Chapter One: Chosen and Frozen
(Pretend Comic Cover Image: Captain America and the moon.)
Steve Rogers began as what some might call less than a man. He grew up with the empty plate of the Great Depression and by the time the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor he still hadn't made up the difference. Although some would say Steve had many reasons to be disgruntled with Uncle Sam, the courage he learned as a poor kid in New York City propelled him to something greater. Every day, his fellows were drafted into the armed services and many were terrified of the War. But Steve believed in giving freedom to all, and his courage and belief in something greater than himself drove him to the nearest army recruiting station.
The first man he saw was an army doctor. Steve's manners seemed to impress the man until he asked Steve to remove his shirt. One look at the sunken ribs together with the lack of height branded Steve's file with: "REJECTED."
But Steve didn't give up; he had a strong will. One morning, after applying under fake names at three Army recruitment stations and being rejected by all of them, he returned home. His mom and the neighbors across the street were waiting on him and his sister to get back for dinner. The evening's conversation centered on his sister's achievements in the recycling projects she had begun with her pupils at school to help the war effort. One neighbor joked that his sister was helping fight Hitler more than he was and everyone, except Steve, laughed. For unknown reasons, even though Steve had a job and had worked hard in school, especially in history, people thought his skinniness must result from laziness.
Then came that fine day when Steve Rogers was finally recruited by the army, experimented upon, and transformed into the muscular war hero: Captain America. The weak made strong. The poor with fame. A man whom Hitler would have called unfit to live made into iron.
And Steve fought well, he formed a team with another soldier, Bucky Barnes, and they stormed the European Continent, fighting Nazis and bringing courage to the hearts of worn-out soldiers. Back home his sister, mother, and even his neighbor couldn't be more proud. Then came that twisted day when Cap and Bucky had attempted to stop a booby-trapped plane, and Bucky had been killed in the explosion. Steve felt he had failed, but his Commander told him there was nothing he could've done and sent him a man who looked sort of like Bucky to take his sidekick position next to the "Symbol of Victory" that people insisted Captain America was.
Soon, Steve was forced to pretend this stranger was Bucky and everything was back to business as usual. Then a missile screamed over the horizon and the only way to stop it was to drive it into the depths of the arctic, regrettably carrying Steve with it. Steve had thought that was it.
"You are Captain America." A voice stated, sounding like a mirror. Steve Rogers found himself with ice caked on his uniform beside a very large hole in the ice sheet he lay stiffly upon. He realized his soaked clothes had frozen to the ice. He would have to be careful not to tear his clothes if he was going to get up. He couldn't see the man who had spoken to him anywhere, it would have been dark since it was now evening except that he was clearly north of the Arctic Circle. Just as he started to pick up his wrist, a glowing concentrated shaft of moonlight washed over him, warming him and dissolving the ice that stuck him to the ground. He stood and shielded his eyes.
"You now be legend." The strange voice began again. It had a very unusual accent, one that Steve could only describe as silver.
"Where are you?" Steve asked.
"Up."
Steve Rogers looked to the starry heavens, but he only saw the stars and the moon. "I can't see you."
"I Man in Moon." Said, apparently, the moon.
Steve ran his gloved hand through his hair. What was happening? Maybe the Nazis had caught him and were trying to make him insane. He had crashed, what if they'd found him? Just then, a paper airplane dropped through the sky. It was written in broken English.
"U Captan America. Brave sol. Deefend ov Freedom. I hav 2 choise. 1 U for get this meeting and wake up in 70 year. 2. U turn lejend and wake up in 70 year no remembering ov tyme of lejend. Pick."
It was tricky for the Moon to speak or write English; that was why he never told Jack Frost much.
Now normally, most people have a problem with being talked to by the moon. The last couple of humans the moon spoke to screamed like banshees. Captain America did not, though.
Steve looked at the paper, crumpling it in his hand and stuffing it into his pocket as an afterthought. No. This must be in his head: hypothermia could give people hallucinations and it could cause them to feel paradoxically warm. His enhanced physiology could keep his brain going longer than normal below the icy water, this was why the moon was talking to him. He hoisted his shield, trudged to the side of the chasm in the ice, and saw the metal wreckage underneath the water. He then walked south, toward the place the missile had been headed. To Washington D.C. His dream could take him there before he died and maybe he would be able to relive his old memories of the city in the time left. He had always liked history.
Now, before it is said that Steve must not care about his family, he did, but he was certain they would've gotten the knock on the door by now, and even if this was a hallucination, he didn't want to see them grieve. He would see them again in Heaven anyway, even if it took one-hundred years for them to catch up to him.
After a couple of miles he began to wonder why the time was passing so evenly; if this was a dream, he should be skipping the boring parts. He began to run, he found he could run faster than before – he must have been going two-hundred miles per hour. The wind whistled in his ears as his red boots pounded the powdery snow peppering the ice, sending up a backlash of snow.
He barely noticed the edge of the icecap he was coming to. He immediately tried to stop, falling sideways on the ice to break his slide, but at two-hundred miles per hour it is hard to brake and with his gloves tearing grooves in the ice, he sailed into the frigid waters.
"Ho, there!" A Russian voice sounded from the sky, and the jingling of bells and clipping of cloven hoofs hit the icecap with a spritely air. A sleigh followed the reindeer's landing and screeched to a halt as the driver put on the ice pick brakes. A huge man leaped out, steadying himself with a sword stabbed into the icy ground. With a rope attaching him to his sword hilt, he lay flat on the edge of the ice and held out a hand to Captain America. "Grab hold, I know you see me."
Steve grabbed the strange man's hand as he helped him out of the Arctic Ocean. He coughed and shivered as the big man in the red coat with brown bear fur trimmings brought him over to his sleigh. He dazedly stepped in before nodding off; he didn't even notice when the sleigh began to fly.
The big man in the sleigh was North, known to many as Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, or Father Christmas. He was a couple thousand years old and had a ton of experience. For example: though most grown-ups couldn't see him normally, he knew they usually saw him if they were in dire need and he was the only helper available. North was a Guardian and a Legend. He never aged and he dedicated his life to serving children, sporadic superheroing, and international air mail. Today taking his reindeer up for exercise had resulted in the unusual occurrence of the last two. But he knew it would not be good to take an ordinary human to the North Pole, so with an apology to Dasher, he jingled the reins, and on they soared, to New York City, which he assumed was the Capitol of the United States since he made so many deliveries there every Christmas.
A/N: I found it interesting how Captain America and Jack Frost have similar points in their backstories and thought, "What if Captain America wasn't just under the ice all those years, what if he had another job, like Jack Frost? What if Jack looked up to him as this unattainable example of bravery and sacrifice?
The summary of Steve's actions is for this story, it does not completely correspond to the movie or comics.
