The frozen air nipped at the older man's face, his breath coming out in puffs. He was freezing, even though he was covered head to toe in warm winter gear. He shifted to move his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. He was crouched on his skates, sweat appearing on his brow. His focus on a young girl in ice skates just ahead of him. She couldn't have been more than 8 years old, her pink snow suit puffing up around her face. The young girls long strawberry blonde hair almost hid the terror on her face as she stood precariously on the ice. "It's okay, Stacy. Daddy isn't going to let anything bad happen, just don't move, alright?" 'Just great, Darrel. What know, I need to get her off the ice before it breaks. I should have taken her to a real lake another time.' Darrel mentally yelled at himself. He thought it would be a good idea to take her ice skating. This little pond nearby had looked perfect, he didn't think that the ice would be so thin. Darrel gave his daughter a smile to reassure her as another crack could be heard from the ice. "Daddy!" the youngster's voice said with anxiety behind it. 'Think Darrel think!'

Green eyes searched the ice, her green hair drifting in the breeze. Gracefully she walked towards the two on the ice, hesitating for a second before traversing the ice. This was a familiar scene to Muse. Even the way the sun was hitting the lake and the chill in the air, Muse shivered at the cold. Hopefully this would work out; unlike the last time she had tried to help. She crouched down behind the man. "It's alright; your little girl will be okay. Promise…" Muse rolled up her sleeves and placed her hands on the man's back, gently. Muse breathed in and out, trying to channel her creativity into him.

Suddenly an idea came to Darrel. "Alright Stacy, I want to inch closer to me." Darrel beckoned her to scoot closer. "But daddy the ice…" Stacy was on the verge of tears. "It's alright, focus on me and we'll play a game." "A g…g…game?" "Yeah, I want you to pretend that you are trying to sneak up on our dog, Abbey. Gentle, quick, but big steps on the count of three, alright? Don't stop." Stacy nodded her head in understanding, trying to quell her fear. "One, two, …three!" Stacy started to take steps towards her dad, the ice groaning and cracking slightly as she went. "That's great, keep moving. Abbey doesn't suspect a thing!" Darrel kept talk to keep Stacy's focus and encourage her on. Once within his arm's reach, Darrel snagged Stacy up and skated quickly back to solid ground. He jumped onto the slightly inclined hill, falling on to his butt and breathing hard. He heard the ice groan and crack as he huffed heavily. Darrel looked down at Stacy who was crying in his arms. He hugged her close and kissed her forehead. "You are okay. Daddy made sure of it. You caught Abbey." He said, relieved that he got her off the ice. Stacy looked up at her dad. "I..i.i.I Did?" "Yep! You did! She yelped and kissed your face." Darrel yipped and mimed with his hand a dog licking her face, she began to squeal and laugh trying to get away from the dog. Darrel stood up caring Stacy in his arms; she hugged him close as they walked back to the house. He glanced back at the pond, thanking whatever had helped him in his time of need.


Back at the North Pole, The yetis were missing from the workshop. Christmas day was the few days they had off. Most were outside playing around; there were games of ice tag to a snow version of American football. Even some of the elves had decided to join in the fun as well, much to the dismay of the yetis.

Inside a large circular lit room, Sandy and Tooth were hanging out together. Large plush chairs sat sporadically around the room and a massive tree off to the side of the room. Tooth and Sandy were having a conversation, but she had to stop the conversation to tell her helpers where to go every so often. Bunnymund was the first to show up. "Oi, how's it goin' you two?" The pooka greeted the other fellow guardians. Sandy waved a hello to Bunny and mimed a thumbs up. "Glad to see it, sandy." "Bunnymund!" Tooth buzzed over to him. "How'd it go? I wish I wasn't so busy. I would have loved to have joined." She happily fluttered back and forth, then quickly giving some coordinates to the little teeth before returning to Bunnymund. Tooth's eyes sparkling in excitement. "It went well, I beat Jack. But I couldn't defeat the reigning champion of the last 500 years." Bunny said dejected a little. Tooth patted him on the back, she giggled just a bit. "Oh well, you did your best. You'll beat him next year." The pooka perked up a little at her words, the voices of North and Jack coming from the doors of the main room. Both covered head to toe in snow as they entered to round room, laughing at what just happened. "Oh I got Phil so good!" North said, wiping a tear form his eye. "Yeah you did!" Jack agreed with him. After all the times Phil had thrown him out of the North Pole it was good to get him back, thought Jack.

"Ah, Friends, so glad to see you made it." North greeted the others as him and Jack came into the main room. "You two look like you had fun. Blind side anyone, Frostbite?" Bunnymund asked earning a grumpy look from Jack. "I already told you it was the imaginary friend!" Jack stated, mad that the pooka wouldn't believe him. "Yeah, because imaginary friends just like to throw REAL snowballs for fun…" Bunnymund said rolling his eyes playfully. Jack huffed as Tooth flew over to him and gave him a hug. "What happened?" "Oh, we were leaving gifts at Jamie's house and a snowball hit the Kangaroo. He thinks it was me, but it was Jamie's new friend, Muse. I thought she wasn't real, until she pegged me with a snowball early that week." Jack smiled and hugged Tooth back. "Hmmm...I've never heard of that happening before." Tooth said as she was released from the hug. "I am not a Kangaroo and I think he is just using it as a scapegoat, you got one coming to you for that one." Bunnymund pointed at Jack while eating some carrot cake. Although the elves were kind of special, they sure did know how to cook.

Sandy floated over to the pooka and started to mime with his sand. He mined a figure outlined in a slashed line. Bunnymund could only raise an eyebrow. "Not quite sure what you're saying, Sandy." Sandy just huffed and started to try and mime again. "He meant they might be invisible." North chimed in for Sandy, who smiled and nodded. North handed Sandy a cookie. He took the cookie, silently thanking North.

"So what do you guys do for these Christmas parties?" Jack asked having helped himself to some of the food. "I mean, usually tried to sneak in around this time of the year, but that always failed." Jack laughed nervously. North laughed and patted him on the back. "Well, we normal decorate this room and the tree." North swept his hand around the room. Jack's jaw dropped. "That's a gigantic tree!" Everyone laughed at his reaction. "Its tradition, plus we have another pair of hands to help this year." Tooth said while flying up and placing some feathery green ornaments. "Once the star is on, we will exchange gifts and the like." Bunnymund said, bumping into Jack's shoulder as he brought over some egg ornaments. Sandy tapped Jack's shoulder to gain his attention. "What's up, Sandy." Jack watched as he created a bed out of the dream sand, carefully hardening the sand. "Oh is that a way you guys make ornament." Sandy nodded happily. "Yes we each add our own touch to the tree." North placed some ancient looking toy ornaments on the tree as he beamed at Jack. Jack could only smile as he created snowflakes out of ice and hung them up with the others.


Muse huffed out of exhaustion, her green eyes swimming with different colors. She was on her hands and knees from the whole ordeal. The amount of energy she used to help that man had made her fatigued to the point she almost couldn't move. She looked up and watched the man leave with his daughter. Muse smiled, she could almost laugh at what just happened. She did it, she really did it. No deaths, no sadness, or running home to get help from the others involved. "I can't believe it worked…." Muse breathlessly laughed almost crying from the amount of joy she felt.

"Well what a wonderful and touching moment. I mean really I'm in tears over here." A sinister voice sounded to the left of Muse. Her face fell and Muse's breath caught in her lungs.

"What's the matter, Muse? Forget about your old friend?" The voice said dripping with false sadness and worry. "Vega…What are you?" Muse looked to her left, the cruel smile of Vega greeting her vision. His sharp teeth were mere inches from her face. "What am I doing here you ask? That man and you were both exuding such anxiety; I just had to see what was going on." Vega pulled away a little from Muse, her eyes roaming for second on his crouched form. He hadn't changed at all with his signature dirty red hair that came down to his hips, slicked back with god knows what. His sun kissed skin was hidden by a mangled suit of gladiatorial armor, a single shoulder guard remained of the top armor leaving his chest bare and the skirt looked as though it had been eaten by a lion. Hell who was she kidding; it probably had been eaten by a lion. The gauntlets and shin guards had the same damage to them as well. Muse saw that Vega held his staff, once light blue and elegantly carved, now was nothing more than charred, red pulsing disfigured stick. A loud snap sounded from the ice, drawing Muse's attention back to Vega's face. "You see something you like? You know you could have it all for a nominal fee." Vega leered at Muse. Muse whipped her head away from him. Another crack sounded as a large fissure formed beneath her in the ice. "I suggest you stay real focused on me or your worst fear is about to come true." Vega's voice became cold and full of rage. Muse slowly looked back at him, started to lose her composure, her body beginning to shake uncontrollably, from fear and the cold. Vega hit the staff against the ice again, before she looked up at his swirling red eyes, flecks of purple littering the iris. "Now there's a pretty girl." He cooed at Muse, cupping her face with his left hand.

Green eyes forced themselves open to the still, quiet darkness, the sudden burning need for oxygen… choking. The current took a violent turn for the worse, the form began flailing, struggling to reach the surface. The taste of salt and copper coupled with the dreadful feeling of parts beginning to cease their movements. The being breeched the surface of the water, sputtering and coughing. Unconsciousness seeping into the mind as eyes rolled back and closed.

A spiteful smile graced Vega's features at the haunted look in Muse's eyes. The tremors only spurring him on, his left hand moved down around Muse's neck. The sudden hitch in breath and the panic rising in her face, only made him grip her neck firmly so she wouldn't move. "Ah, ah, ah calm down, pet." His sharp nails pressing against her throat, her heart racing and the ragged breaths felt under his hand.


The room was filled with laughter as Bunnymund was telling a story. "So you are telling me, you woke up to your fur the color of a greeny-yellow." Jack asked, finding this hard to believe and trying not to laugh. "He showed up blaming me, like I would dye him that color. I would have dyed him pink." North said, a grin growing wide as the pooka approached him. "And I would have made sure you got a colored explosive egg as a gift." Bunnymund said smiling rather puckishly. Sandy mimed an arrow at North's right forearm. "You are right, my friend. He would be on the naughty list." North crossed his arms across his chest. Jack couldn't help but laugh. "Man, I wish I could have seen that." He held his head, laughing at the image of Bunnymund that color. "Yeah, well. Hopefully it won't happen again." The pooka never wanted that to be that color again.

Tooth giggled at the group as she unpacked some decorations. "Hey Jack and Sandy, care to give me a hand with this tinsel?" They both flew up to Tooth helping her hang the tinsel and other decorations. "It is looking wonderful, my friends!" North exclaimed as he took the whole room in. It was the picture of the perfect Christmas. He watched as the others laid out the tinsel around the room. "It does look pretty good, eh?" Bunnymund said looking around the room as well. The other joined them once they were done with the decorations. Sandy stood in front of everyone miming a star above his head. "You are right, we still need the star." North retrieved a crystal star and walked over to Jack. "Since it's you first Christmas, you get to place the star." North held out the star to Jack. "Really, are you sure?" Jack said unsure as he looked to the others. "Go on Jack, you are a part of this family." Bunnymund ruffled his snow white hair. "Yeah, go on Jack." Tooth moved some of her feathers away from her face. Jack took the Star from North, Sandy pushing him towards the tree a little. Jack jumped into the air, floating to the top of the tree. He held the star carefully as he placed it. It seemed to glow without any source of power. "Wow…" Was all Jack could muster as he drifted back down to the floor, awe-struck. He turned to see the others, most of them smiling at him. After being alone for three hundred years, he finally found a place to belong.


"My offer still stands…" Vega removed his right hand from his staff; it standing on its own accord. Muse's eyes rapidly moved, she was thinking. It was a habit; she was looking for a way out, if his staff was a good bludgeoning device or could she run away before he could stop her or if she even had enough energy to pull any of this off. She didn't, he knew it and so did she. "Tick tock… Malachite…" Muse's face was priceless; any control over her emotions was gone. The corner of her eyes filling with tears as anger accompanying her terror and panic. "I've told you my answer. Fuck off." Her hatred barely covering over the tremors of fright in her voice, Vega's grin disappeared and was replace by a sneer. "Well now that wasn't not very nice, Mal." His grip tightened around her throat, Muse grabbing onto his arm, weakly trying to pull him off of her. Vega grabbed one of her hands pulling it away from him. He lifted her up into the air as he stood up from his crouched position.

A quiet form watched the small group as they went through their normal tradition. Tooth's feathers, Bunny's Eggs, Sandy's dream sand, North's old wooden toys and now Jack's ice ornaments adored the tree. It was quite the sight. A smile gracing his lips as Bunnymund ranted and raved about the chartreuse incident. The unknown being remembering the event, he hadn't seen Muse smile like that in years. He sighed, seeing that everything was coming together in the room. The tree was trimmed properly, tinsel shimmering. It was just missing one thing. He walked over to the group as Jack was asked to place the star. The way Jack looked from the others to the star was quite adorable. Jack finally had found his place with the Guardians and even had a few believers to boot. The figure watched Jack hover up to the top of the tree. As Jack carefully placed the star, the being aimed a beam of moon light at the star, making it shine brilliantly. The way Jack's eyes brighten made the act worthwhile. The Guardians were happily together for the holiday, just as it was intended. He couldn't have been more content then this exact moment. He felt something was missing.

Muse

Muse was always here to watch the group; it was their one unbroken tradition. They would hide the gifts for the guardians under the Christmas tree and enjoy watching the assembly. He always looked forward to it, to seeing her. The way she would glide and prance around the room, Muse's antics of making unwrapping gifts harder, even the small smiles she would send his way. It was strange for her to not be around. He wondered what would make her miss such an important ritual for them.

As Muse's feet left the ground, her struggling became more intense as the flight or fight response kicked into full gear. She gasped as the hold became tight enough to bruise. The tears that had been threatening to spill ran freely down her cheeks. "S..ss...st…stop…. "She stuttered; most of the hate gone from her voice as she began to lose color in face. Her only free hand clawed at Vega's hand, in hopes she might be able to tear the hand away. "tsk, tsk…calm down." He gripped with even more force, a final gasp and Muse stopped her struggling, seeming to have been subdued. The hold released enough to let her only just breathe. She breathed in as much as she could, the corner of her lips beginning to turn blue.

Vega moved her inches in front of his face. "Call For Him…" He hissed as bit into her exposed neck. An inhale, his nails digging into her neck, he felt the sudden surge of energy. Her torment was just what he was missing; humans were a good source of vitality, but nothing compared to the anxiety of their race, Vega was in ecstasy.

Muse felt the blood begin to run down her neck, coloring her tunic dark red. She couldn't stop the shivers of pain, anger and the cold that racked her body. This wasn't the first time they had met like this. She had always got out of this situation one way or another, but this time was different. Vega was done with the cat and mouse games, he meant business this time. "M..M…mmmmmanny!" She tried to yell, but her voice was cracking. A sharp pain in her wrist brought her back to now bloodied face of Vega. "You know he won't respond to that name…." His dark eyes never leaving her tear streaked-face. Muse closed both of her eyes, battling with every emotion possible. The pain getting worse as Vega bent her wrist the wrong direction, intending to snap it. Muse squeeze her eye shut tight, opening her mouth. Muse began emitting a low ghostly cry, trying to shriek through her injured vocal cord the best she could.

The light flickered in the star as it started to vibrate at an unknown frequency. The strange being looked up at the star, unsure of what was causing it quiver. He stilled, the sound was a scream. It was faint and fluxed irregularly, but it was Muse. She never used that cry, not in all years they had been alive. Something was defiantly wrong. He ran to the door, throwing open the door. He didn't care that it freaked the guardians out. All it took was pushing an elf into their line of sight to settle them down. The voices of the Guardians griping at the elf gave him relief that his scapegoat had worked. Quickly the figure arrived at the globe, he placed his has the surface. "Malachite…" The model shuddered as the lights flickered out, leaving only one. It blinked frantically; it was a small town in Pennsylvania. He removed his hands from the sphere the lights blinking back to life, his form seeming to dissolve into thin air.

"Perfect." Vega watched her face contort as she screamed, reducing the strain on her wrist. Only her cry would have Onyx's attention, he had turned his back on their calls over seven hundred years ago. Vega's smile returned as Muse's voice seemed to give out as she opened her eyes; they looked blank, almost detached. Vega knew better, they just gave the appearance of being emotionless; if she was impassive then this next part would be no fun.

Muse didn't want to appear anymore emotional to Vega. It was hard enough to use the call with little to no air, but the fact he wanted her to call Manny made this whole situation worse. Vega had been trying to get him since the stone... Her eyes widened. That what Vega was after, Manny knew where it was. Muse began struggling again, she wouldn't stand for this. If she could only get away from Vega, then Manny wouldn't have to try and save her. Then the hiding place wouldn't be in danger. The pain in her wrist flared and her air supply was cut off again. She couldn't escape; if she hadn't helped in the fight with Pitch and that young man with his daughter then she could have gotten out of this. No, she had to help in the fight. Sandman had tipped the tides. Without Sandy the world would have fallen back into chaos. As for the man, Muse couldn't have lived with herself if anything happened to him and his daughter. It was something she had to do. Muse stilled her thrashing, hating every second that she was in Vega's clutches. She gripped Vega's arm lightly with her free hand. The pressure on her windpipe loosed again, but he hadn't stopped bending her wrist.

"You should have joined us, Mal. This whole situation would have been easier on you." Vega moved his right hand further up her straining wrist. He gently stroked one of his fingers across Muse's hand, still keeping the pressure on Muse's wrist. "You know I hope Onyx doesn't show up." Vega became close to Muse and inhaled her smell. "I haven't been this close to you…what was it seven hundred years or so." Her form shaking worse than before and her eyes looking away, as if ashamed. "Why don't you and me…." Vega pushed harder on her wrist, a gasp of pain, and a toothy leer appeared across his face. "…find someplace…" Vega was cut off as he caught an object thrown at him. "Well now, I see you have as good of manners as Mal here, eh Onyx?" Vega turned his attention to the new presence that had joined them at the lake. The man wore a white tailored suit and a trench coat, his black messy hair falling just past his ears, and he held a rapier pointed at Vega; a dangerous look gracing his silver eyes. "Oh wait you're going by a new name….what was it again? Mammoth or Manfred?" Vega's grin growing sadistically wide, as the sword angled more towards his heart.

"It's MIM or Manny, I suggest you drop, Muse, lest you want me to plunge my sword into your heart." He stalked forward slowly towards the two.


Hey guys, Sorry about the wait. College has been kicking my butt, so hopefully with the approach of summer i will be able to work on this more. So what do you guys think of this so far? Send me a pm or review which ever you want. Thank you all for reading my story and look out for more update in a month or so.