(EDITED A/N: For easier reading, reviews are now at the after the bottom Author Notes.)
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Reminders (Oh, how much I've missed you):
~Any grammar, spelling or punctuational mistakes, then PM me or mention it in a review.
~Any other problems or confusion, then PM me and I'll reply ASAP
~Disclaimer (Sandy plushies to all who knew already!): I don't own the Characters of Rise of the Guardians. However, I do own Andrea and this stories entire plot (All of it, for it no longer supports on the movie anymore.)
ONWARDS!
It stood there.
A singular NightMare, was standing there by itself while nuzzling and digging through the snow around it.
Andrea found that pretty weird. But, then again, it was a horse and they usually do that if they're hungry or something. Well, that's what Andrea thinks, anyway.
It repeatedly stamped its back leg upon the ground, which seriously irritated Andrea as she could only peer over the snow she was hiding behind as Jack pursued the creature.
The Winter Spirit crept up behind it, staff ready to blast the NightMares into frosted dust.
Jack was almost at shooting distance, when the NightMare's head shot up and turned its bloody crimson eyes at him. Jack froze, staring at the Nightmare, before the creature cried out a horrifying neigh and galloped away.
Andrea leaped out of her hiding spot as Jack began sprinting after it, running close behind as they traveled up the hill where the NightMare galloped away.
The snow clung to her jeans as she ran, the cold substance slowly melting through her clothes and piercing her skin with a bitter touch. Her hair blew about in the winter wind rushing around and the snow made it difficult to see that she only knew where to go due to the brightness of Jack's hoodie within the white wasteland.
Her legs burned with exhaustion and her mind throbbed against her skull, pain rupturing through her head with every thundering beat of her heart.
Then, a terrible feeling went through her spine. She straightened up and it felt like her insides were boiling as her head felt like it was being twisted. She started to hyperventilate in absolute panic.
"Jack." Andrea called, but Jack didn't hear her and was circling about for signs of the disappeared NightMare.
"Jack!" She couldn't breathe and her body was throbbing with terrible agony, "Jack!"
She cried out as her head burst with pure, burning pain, her legs giving out while she collapsed into the snow and tumbled down the hill.
"Andrea!" She heard Jack exclaim, but couldn't hear what else he spoke for her vision clouded and her ears went deaf.
The sight of the fast falling snow and frozen wasteland was replaced with the dark insides of a warehouse. The glass roof was shattered and the fragments were surrounding the floor with scattered piles of Nightmare sand.
"Fear will always be there, Andrea. You can't prevent that."
His voice was so deep, so cold and corrupt, that it made Andrea seized up as she saw herself, bloodied and weak, holding a sword at the throat of Pitch Black, the Nightmare King.
Out of all the things to foresee, why this?
"But I can prevent you." Her past self spat as her face was inches from the Nightmare King's sharp teethed grin and amber, furious eyes.
"That is what you believe." He chuckled as he melted away into scattering shadows, reforming near the exit of the warehouse while he desperately sprinted away.
Her past self turned around, staring at the door and she cried out in anger. She threw the sword she once held, cutting through the air before implanting into the Nightmare King's vulnerable back.
A cry of anguish boomed into her eardrums, as Pitch Black exploded into a millions grains of his black, swarming nightmare sand.
The sight became clouded, and Andrea believed that was the end of her vision.
She was wrong.
The image reformed, the fog around her vision lifting to reveal an underground realm full of shifting, eerie shadows and swallowing darkness.
The shadows swerved, forming and circling until a figure burst out from them and landed on to the floor. His back contained a large, terrible cut that poured out blood. However, the cut slowly healed, the injury sealing itself until only left over blood and a small, white scar remained.
The figure stood and chuckled, circling around the dark, marble floor as the shadows hung around underfoot.
'No.' Andrea thought, 'No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!'
"Stupid Guardians, Stupid Frost, Stupid Mortal!" Pitch yelled, the shadows squirming away from him in fright, "Being defeated by the Guardians is one thing, being defeated by that Winter Spirit is another, but being defeated by an inferior, powerless mortal is a whole new game!"
Pitch continued pacing about. Until he suddenly stopped, straightened up and released a deep, corrupt chuckle, "Oh, and whole new game...means whole new strategies."
He turned towards a large archway, the shadows so thick and terrifying that not a single fragment of light shone from beyond the grey, stoned arch.
"Fearlings!" Pitch called, a series of mutterings and glowing red eyes shining at Pitch in response, "I have a plan for you."
Then, her vision was swarmed with fog as the last thing she heard was the echoing laugh of the Nightmare King.
"Andrea! Are you okay!? Andrea!" Jack's cries boomed inside her ears as the bitter cold and harsh winds returned, her suddenly jerking to the side into the freezing snow as her head throbbed terribly that she hissed through her gritted teeth.
Jack was knelt beside her, his face in utter panic until he released a relieved sigh.
"Andrea! Thank god, you're alright! What happened? Are you okay-?" Jack kept blurting out questions, which Andrea interrupted when she started to majorly hyperventilate, "Andrea?" He hesitated as Andrea's heart was thumping against her chest and her breath was racing.
"This was all a trick." Andrea whispered before she jumped on to her feet as she cried, "This is all a trap!"
Andrea started sprinting off, but suddenly halted as Jack clasped her arm as he asked, "A trap? By who?"
Andrea looked at him, her bright hazel eyes clear of all emotion except cold, dark fear as she spoke, "Who do you think?"
Andrea was positive that she had never ran this fast in her life.
She sprint through the snow, ignoring the bitter piecing of ice sticking on to her wet clothes and her mind feeling like it was burning, breaking, twisting and being bashed repeatedly against a concrete wall.
She ignored it all, even Jack's desperate calls as he followed after her. She ignored everything, except for her destination and the new event about to turn on them.
'What's the worst that can happen, Jack?' She thought, 'This, this is the worst that can fucking happen!'
The clashing of hooves and thundering wails made Andrea freeze and look at the sight below the hill she was standing upon.
'Oh, dear god.'
Nightmare sand were everywhere, circling like giant, swirling clouds around all the Guardians with a terrible fury. She heard the clang of North's sword fighting the Nightmares that were overwhelming them, saw the glow of Sandy's whips as he attack anything that advanced, and the bursts of colors of Bunnymund's exploding Easter Eggs of terror. (Which no longer looked to terrifying compared to what was happening)
The cloud of nightmares sand thinned as creatures crawled out from its darkness, they're hands clasping on to the snow as they rose to their full height. Andrea felt woozy as she looked at the things creeping out of the shadows.
They were like the NightMares, created of shining black grains of nightmare sand and had glowing red eyes. But, that is where the similarities ended. They stood straight like a human, but instead of feet they had swirling, misty nightmare sand like a ghostly tail, and had talons on their hands; sharp teeth coming out of their snarling mouths as black liquid dripping from them. The creatures looked humanoid, having a figure similar to one of a strong, horrifying man.
They rushed about as they left the shadows, sprinting straight towards one person.
Tooth screamed as the creatures took her arms, the dagger falling out of her petite hands as their talons clutched on to her feathered limbs. She thrashed about, trying desperately to escape their grasps, but to no avail as they began forcing her towards the swirling cloud of Nightmare sand.
The Guardians were trying to get to Tooth, to stop her from being taken away, but the NightMares attack with more energy and fury so the Guardians remained trapped within the overwhelming animals.
Andrea felt the wind rush past her head as Jack flew into the scene, seeing the sight with horrified eyes.
"Tooth!" Jack cried, before he shot down from the skies and towards the distressed Tooth Fairy.
Instantly as Jack came, the cloud of nightmare sand lashed out with a giant vine. It hit Jack on the side and he fell to the ground with a startled cry. He recovered, but before he can return to the air he got attack by a swarm of NightMares which he was forced to defend from with his staff.
Andrea could only stand in horror, in terrible fear, as she watched the battle continue. The Guardians were overwhelmed, Tooth was being taken away and the NightMares swarmed around them.
She kept whizzing her head about, looking towards each Guardian to see them surrounded by NightMares and humanoid creatures.
They were trapped, and Andrea was just standing there and doing nothing.
'Oh, You're so gonna regret this.' She thought as she gripped her staff tightly with both hands, and rose it from the ground.
"Andrea! Don't!" She heard Jack cry and she struck her staff down into the ground.
A blast of silver shot out from her staff, alighting the white wasteland with a blinding light. The shocked wails of NightMares was heard and a foreign, high-pitch shrieking sound thundered as the humanoid creatures thrashed about within the light. The cloud of nightmare sand dispersed and scattered across the snow, the wails and shrieks fading away as the creatures flew into the closest shadows.
The light dimmed, and Andrea felt like a terrible weight just land on top of her as her leg wobbled. She lent against her staff as she gasped for needed air. Her head was spinning, her body was aching and she felt herself slowly lose the energy to stand.
'Told you that you'll regret it.'
Her knees buckled and she slipped away from her staff, about to collapse on to the snow.
A sudden arm round her waist stopped her from falling, the arm pulling her upwards and making her support on them. "It's okay, I've got you." Jack spoke before Andrea could react, which might have been her attacking in him in shock.
"I-I'm s-sorry." Andrea replied between breathes, before the Winter Spirit hushed her.
"Don't, just don't." Jack warned, his tone tense and restrained.
Oh, she was so gonna get an earful after all this.
Jack lifted her up, gently picking her up and carrying her in his arms as she clutched on to her staff. He sprinted towards the sleigh and jumped in with the assistance of the wind giving them velocity. Andrea was settled down on the wooden board a second before the sleigh launched into the skies with incredible force, blasting away the piercing snowflakes around them.
She hurt and the exhaustion wouldn't die away, her eyelids continually falling and almost falling into deep slumber. Andrea kept glancing at Jack with her tired eyes, seeing his angered expression and tenseness that it made her stomach churn.
"You're mad-" She rasped through her dry, aching throat
"Later." Jack spat, the anger so clear in his voice that Andrea winced.
She turned towards North, who was rushing about round the controls with Bunny and Sandy, "What happened?" Andrea asked as North shared a quick glance at her.
North sighed, "You two chased after NightMare, then the nightmare sand reformed and fearlings ambushed us from the shadows."
"Those are fearlings?" Andrea eyes widened as she remember the image of those dark, ghostly like creatures with their sharp talons and pointed, deadly teeth.
North gave her a questioning look, wondering why she didn't ask about the fearlings or how she could know about them, but he didn't speak his mind and only continued, "They attacked us while we were apart, searching for more NightMares. They took us by surprise, we thought we destroyed them all..."
"They haven't been seen from since the Dark ages, when Pitch was strongest." Bunnymund added, "Which means, Pitch is stronger then ever before...and I believe he had this plan for a long time, before everything that has happened a few months ago."
That made Andrea feel ill, a feeling of sick and dizziness washing over her as she let those words set in.
"But that's not all." North continued, "They...they grabbed hold of Tooth, and..."
Andrea looked away from North, searching around the sleigh to see no energetic feathered Sprite mother over Andrea and scroll her for what she did to help them and then give her a warm hug.
"The fearlings..." Andrea began, "They took her, didn't they?"
"Yes." North answered, turning back towards the controls as he spoke, "They have Tooth."
Alright, the first chapter was long and this one is short.
Don't-Remind-Me.
Also, I've had this idea.
I've got dozens of miniature stories and one-shot related to this series, so I'm thinking about making a story designed for all these one-shots and stories. However, I don't know whether to write them right now or after this story.
So, I'm gonna let you guys decide!
And, I've posted a poll on my profile about if I should let John Smith, a character from my other RotG fanfiction 'Fear within the Battlefield', get involved with this story. He won't be a big character, he'll only be in a few scenes. I would be so grateful if you guys answer it.
Anyway, you guys know what to do! Go ahead then Rate and Review!
...
Wow, three reviews already! Woohoo!
Nanu Kitty: Forever? It's only been around 2 weeks! It would of been quicker, but my mate forced me to stay away from for a week and afterward I got bombarded with homework. But, I get your point and it's very sweet.
And, yes, Andrea is a boss.
CrystalxRose: Good to see you back, Crystal!
"Update soon." You know I update quickly, Crystal. The longest I haven't updated was 10 days, and that was torture for me!
DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympian s: Gotta love a bunch of friendly competition. XD
Thanks for the review!
