Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians

*Denied Fantasy*

Scarlett's POV

Bonnie and I laughed as she tossed a handful of popcorn at me. It was movie night and the two of us were taking a well-deserved break from our high school work. Yeah, you heard me. My best friend and I were juniors and preparing our lives to be filled with the hell that was college applications and all that jazz. Bonnie's parents had mustered a way to prolong their move, so we could at least get through most of our academic years together. I'm so glad that they did.

I recall how beyond devastated I was when they first told me they would have to move to London in order for Bonnie to receive the proper treatment needed for her leukemia. It hasn't been easy for her, but she's been bucking through as best as she always has been. Her hair was really thinning out and she often wore bandanas to cover it, yet she always put on as brave of a face as she can. But, I'm not gonna talk much about that. For now, I just want to have a great time kicking back and relaxing with my best friend in the entire world, watching movies all night long in our PJs.

I popped in The Avengers while she was in the bathroom and kept the screen blackened until she came back out.

"You put a movie in?" She asked.

"Yup." I replied with the bowl of buttery popcorn in my lap as I sat with my knees to my chest. Smiling up at her with a glint in my holly green eyes, I patted the couch cushion to my left. "Pop a squat, my dear."

She stared at me for a moment, before a smile stretched across her own face. "Oh no. What did you do, Lett?"

I just grinned back. "You'll see, and you'll thank me for it later."

She sat down beside me and I clicked play. The sci-fi sounds began playing and she tilted her head back with a brief laugh. "Ah, I should've known you'd do this to me."

"Ha ha!" I announced victoriously, waving the black remote in her face. "'Cause I know everything about you."

She looked at me and chuckled a little. "Mm-hm. Now sh! The best part of the intro's comin' up!"

And she was right, in her opinion, because a flash of blue took over the scene and the camera panned to reveal a man wearing a green and black-leather suit. I looked over to her and saw that she had a pillow clutched to her chest, her face half-hidden, so only her blue eyes peeped out.

The man lifted his head and she instantly squealed, flailing her mostly bare legs about in a frenzy. I bust out laughing. Her love for Loki and Tom Hiddleston always amused me.

Her faced was buried into the pillow now and she was still making sounds like that of a kitten. It was pretty freaking adorable and I patted her on the back. "Are you all right, love?"

"Mm-hm." She mumbled, nodding into the pillow.

Now me being the wonderful friend that I am, I leaned close to her ear. "What if you ever met him?" I flinched back right away, because she started giggling, squealing, and spazzing even more than before. She was fangirling so hard that she actually rolled off of the couch and onto the beige carpet. "Woah." I chuckled, my face expressing my amusement. "You okay there, tex mex?"

"Ugh! Why do you do this to me?" She cried, hugging the pillow, as she lay in fetal position on the floor.

I laughed. "Because I can, sweetheart. Because I can."

She looked at me, puckering her lips a little, and narrowed her eyes in a scowl. "I hate you."

"Love you, too!" I said giving a proud grin and a thumbs up.

We finally finished the movie roughly two and a half hours later, since we had to pause it a few times for Bonnie to rush to the bathroom and get sick. But, she returned with a bright a face as she could muster. Of course, I stared at her with worry, though.

"All right, now it's my turn to surprise you."

"Oh no." I said, rolling my eyes and trying to force a smile.

She discreetly took a new DVD out of its case, "Hey, you'll thank me for it later!" Once the movie had been inserted, she pranced over to join me on the couch.

"God damn it!" I shouted when I saw Jack Frost sitting on the DreamWorks' moon. "No!" My hands flew to my flushed face. "Why!"

"Because you need to be happy, that's why!" She wrapped her arms around me.

"Ugh!" I groaned behind my hands and tipped over into her embrace, my head fitting perfectly into the crook of her neck as she pressed her cheek against my head and kissed the top of it.

"Don't worry so much about me." She soothed, rubbing my arm with her hand. "Just watch your precious baby and squeal like I did. Take in the beauty you see in the one and only Chris Pine."

I buried my face again with a tiny squeal and we commenced watching the movie.

A while had passed, and I had calmed down now, but we remained cuddling like that for pretty much the entire film. And, just as she did during The Avengers, I fangirled during The Rise of the Guardians.

"Betcha wish Jack was real, huh?" She poked my shoulder and I swatted it away.

"Oh, please. There's no way he's real."

"Oh, come on! He could be!" We separated, my left flank feeling cold due to the loss of body heat. "Ya just gotta believe!" She threw her arms in the air.

I raised an eyebrow and chuckled a little. "What're you? The kid from The Polar Express?"

"Hey! Santa's real!" Bonnie exclaimed, pointing her finger at my face.

I cupped my hands around hers and playfully met her blue, jokingly intense gaze. "New flash, honey! He ain't nothin', but a story parents tell their kids!"

As soon as I blurted that out, a loud 'boom' came from the TV, making the two of us jump and stare at the screen, which displayed a close-up of North's fierce face.

"It's almost like he heard us. . ." Bonnie whispered.

I scurried over to the TV and turned it off, chills running up and down my spine. "Man, that was creepy."

"I'll say. . ."

We were quiet for a moment as I ejected the DVD and placed it over the case where it lay in front of the TV.

"Wanna head upstairs?" She and I both thought the same at this point: get out of the basement for a while.

"Yeah." I nodded and we giggled as we raced each other up the stairs to main level and then up to her room.

"Take it easy, girls!" Her mom called from the base of the stairs.

"Okay, Mom!" Bonnie replied before shutting the door.

Normal POV

A figure approached the exposed DVD and stood in front of it for a moment, before taking it in hand and examining it. The flesh upon the disk caused flakes of frost to branch onto it. After, the cold bits had settled, the being set it back down softly and departed from it.

Scarlett's POV

Typical sleepover at your best friend's place: zero sleep, all talk and giggles and deliria from exhaustion. But, with every attempt we made to make our time together as upbeat as possible, there was always a couple of windows where solemnity would seep in.

"So, do you know when you leave?" I reluctantly asked from my place on the floor as I lay on my side, hugging my giant panda plush close.

Bonnie sighed as she reclined on her bed beside me, hugging her giant pink bunny plush and gazing at her ceiling fan spinning slowly. "I think my parents set their minds for the end of junior year . . . which really sucks to me."

"That soon?" My heart broke. "But, that's in, like, a couple of months!"

"Yeah, I know."

I looked down, my groggy mind racing with such gloomy news. "And, we won't be . . ."

"Graduating together." She concluded. Our sad eyes met. Then, I stood and cuddled up next to her and she cuddled into me. "I'm sorry, Lett." She murmured with a sigh as she rubbed my arm with her thumb.

I sniffled and blinked back my tears while I hugged my large panda. "It's not your fault." I choked out. "None of this is in your control. Remember that."

I felt her nod against me and we didn't utter another word until we fell sound asleep. Hugging each other and absolutely terrified to let go.

The next morning, I made my way downstairs to the basement when I recalled The Rise of the Guardians DVD had not been put away. However, I was completely befuddled when I saw the condition it was in. Furrowing my dark eyebrows, I picked it up daintily in my hands. "Hey, Bonnie?" I called and a few moments later, I heard her bare feet pounding on the basement stairs.

"Yeah?"

"Come take a look at this, would ya?"

I angled my body to show her the DVD and she, too, wrinkled her blonde eyebrows. "What in the world . . .?"

"I don't know." I shrugged once I gave it to her.

"That's so strange." She examined it closely, looking at the bits of frost left on the smooth, shiny surface. "There aren't any windows down here. . ."

"Then, what do you think could've . . ." My voice trailed away and my eyes widened slightly when I thought I saw a shadow projected on the wall behind Bonnie. The grey shape was perched on top of something and then quickly hovered towards where the stairs were. But, when I turned to look around, I saw nothing that could have matched that shadow. What in the hell . . . ?

Bonnie noticed that I was distracted. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah." I replied, blinking back into reality for a brief moment, then I started padding my bare feet towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go get some air."

"Okay." She said warily as she watched me turn to head up to the main level.

I must be losing my freaking mind if I'm really thinking what I'm thinking right now. . .

Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or anything of MARVEL's or DreamWorks, and I do not own The Polar Express.

All references belong to their respective owners.

I'm so glad to have some downtime and be back on with this story! Hope you all have a very Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year, too! ^^