Reminders:
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~Disclaimer (Duh!): I don't own the Characters of Rise of the Guardians. However, I do own Andrea and this stories entire plot (All. Of. It!)
ONWARDS, READERS!
"Jack. I'm scared."
Always the same nightmare.
"Jack, help!"
He had other nightmares but it they always ended up here, at this exact point.
"Ah!"
Why? Why did his newly discovered memories have to be tainted and twisted into terrible nightmares? And, why always this scene? Not any other memory was tainted or affect, only this one.
Jack stared at the little girl trembling on the cracking ice, her ice skates slipping across the small fractures across the frozen water's smooth surface. Her brown eyes looked at Jack, full of terrible fear as the ice continued breaking and weakening.
Jack knew how to stop this, how to stop this repeated nightmare.
He knew that the girl, his sister, was safe. He saved her from drowning and so she lived a long, happy life due to him and that moment of hopscotch he told her to do to save her life.
'You're safe, you lived a long life. This nightmare can't be real because you're safe and had a long, great life of happiness.'
Darkness that had surrounded them, around the nightmare, began to fade faded away. Dulling as his sister began to smile and feel relieved.
Jack posture relaxed, releasing a tense, held breath as he looked down at the ice beneath his feet with relief that his sister was safe and the nightmare was about to end.
"Jack!"
The voice was different, not the childish tone of his little sister, not the high-pitch distress of a small girl. No, It was somebody else, somebody he cared about just as much as his little sister.
He glanced across the ice, seeing black combat boots where his sisters agile, tattered ice skates were.
Oh, now this is just cruel.
Jack snapped his head up, meeting the wide, terrified eyes of Andrea. She was shaking and her boots kept slipping underneath her, releasing a yelp as another near slip caused another major crack to break across the ice.
"Andrea!"
"Jack, help!" She cried, desperation and fear clear in her voice.
"Andrea, it's okay. Everything is gonna be okay."
"I'm gonna fall in!"
"No you're not. Y-You're gonna get out of this." Panic overwhelmed him as he watched Andrea slip on the ice once again.
She yelped as she regained her balance, looking at Jack with watery eyes, "Jack, help! Please!"
"O-Okay. I've got an idea. It's simple. All you have to do is just...tiptoe."
"Tiptoe?" She repeated calmly, as she stared at the cracking ice. She removed a shaking foot from the place she stood and gently moved it to a large piece of uncracked ice. Andrea slowly pressed her weight of her foot on the ice and it stayed intact.
She laughed, a relieved and overjoyed laugh. Jack began to laugh to, though his laugh seemed very restrained in his throat.
Then, her scream echoed through Jack's ears as she fell through the broken ice.
"No!" Jack cried, sprinting towards the hole in the ice in panic. A sudden wall of nightmare sand thrust him back, making him fly through the air and smack against the ice far away from the drowning Andrea.
"Andrea!"
He attempt to move again, but vines of nightmare sand bonded him and restrained him against the ice. Jack thrashed about, kicking and squirming to be free.
No, he can't be trapped. He had to break free! He had to save Andrea!
A chuckle boomed through across the pond, Jack raising his head to see Pitch Black look down at him with his golden, piercing eyes and his corrupt grin.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here! Jack Frost, the free Winter spirit, trapped."
"Let me go, Pitch!" Jack yelled, continuing to yank on his restraints.
"Really, Jack? You think I'd just let you go and save her?" Jack growled at Pitch, "This nightmare is to prove a point, a point you and all the Guardians needed to know. She can't be saved, Jack. Andrea is going to die and you can't do anything about it."
"If you touch her, we'll kill you!"
"I'm not the one that's killing her! God, you Guardians are so blind! She isn't gonna die by me, for she is already dying and so close to death that anybody could sense it from miles away."
"If she dies, if you kill her, I'm-"
"You'll what? You can't kill me for something I haven't done, Jack. Like I said, she is already dying. And, she's being killed by the only thing you can't stop."
"We'll find a way to prevent it!"
"You can't. Because..." Pitch leaned down, his face inches away from Jack as he whispered, "She is killing herself."
Jack suddenly jerked awake, flipping to his side as the thin covers tangled. His breath was rapid and crazy as he gasped for air. Beads of sweat run down his head and wetted his hair, the white strands sticking to his face.
He sat up on his bed, attempting to straighten out the dark blue blankets but to now avail. He groaned, smacking his head on the headboard behind him as he brushed a hand through his hair.
How many nightmares was that, now? Jack couldn't remember but it was beyond 20, he could guarantee that.
And he can defiantly guarantee that the nightmare he just had been, by far, the worst.
He's had that nightmare about his sister, about his memories, many times. Most of them are of him not saving his sister in time, both of them drowning, his sister purposely breaking the ice and blaming him for his death. They bothered him, Oh defiantly, but he's had those nightmares so many times that he's learn to become immune to them, to overcome them.
This is the first time Andrea has got involved.
That is probably what made him panic so much, for wasn't prepared for that to happen, for Andrea to drown. Jack shook his head, trying to forget the breaking of the ice and her scream.
What did Pitch mean, though? Jack kept repeating the question. How is she killing herself?
'You Guardians are so blind! She isn't gonna die by me, for she is already dying.'
Pitch is lying, that could be the only explanation. Well, the only explanation Jack was able to cope with, right now.
'You know what would be a good idea? You stop thinking about it!' Jack thought, trying to use the technique he used for every other nightmare he had.
It didn't work. The nightmare was burnt into his mind and he couldn't help but think about it.
The nightmare kind of reminded him of when himself and Andrea journeyed to Pitch's realm, by themselves and without permission. They had a good reason though, for they believed the Guardians were kidnapped by Pitch and needed help. He remembered when they entered a large room and the marble floor was a trick, a fragile surface cracking under Andrea's feet until it broke and Jack had to clutch on to her before she fell.
Now, he understood why he was so petrified. When he saw the floor cracking he froze, paralyzed, and couldn't do anything. That bothered him for a long time, now he knows why. It was like deja vu, without Jack truly knowing he was having it.
Jack groaned and smack his head on the headboard again.
'Do you really need to think about these things, right now?'
He stayed there for a moment, sitting on his bed as he calmed his senses and his breath eased. Jack looked outside the large, open window by his left to see sunlight shining through the clear glass. It was daytime, maybe even early morning. That made Jack release a sigh of relief, at least he didn't have to fall asleep again.
Jack crawled out of the bed, his limbs stiff and dully aching. He retrieved his staff beside his bed and brushed a hand through his hair once more, before smiling and stepping straight towards the blue door leading to the corridor.
The corridor was empty, which made since because only two people lived in this part of the North Pole. Himself and Andrea, the Guardians had many other rooms to use or they just rested in their realms or, heck, didn't sleep at all!
He twirled his staff in his hand as he walked down the narrow hallway, going past the several other rooms with their unique colors on their doors.
"Well, somebody looks terrible." Jack turned around to see Andrea walked straight towards him, her branch in hand her leather bag strapped round her shoulder.
Damn, did he really look that bad?
"Same for you." Jack replied, receiving an eye roll from Andrea. He was right, though, for dark shadows started to form under her eyes and she looked very pale, almost sickly.
Jack commented on her paleness once, but got a shrug of the shoulders and sarcastic answer of 'Well, that's what I get for hanging about in the North Pole with a Winter Spirit.'
"Didn't sleep?"
"Barely got 6 hours." Andrea answered, walking beside the Winter Spirit, "I mean, who could sleep?"
'Defiantly not me.' "Well, I slept alright." 'Liar.'
"Whatever. Either way, better some sleep then no sleep at all."
'Depends on what's happening during your sleep.' "Yep."
Andrea raised an eyebrow at Jack, "Are you agreeing with me?"
'No.' "Yes."
"Are you okay? You're not sick or anything, are you?"
"What, do I have to be sick to agree with you?"
"That's usually the case."
Jack rolled his eyes, turning away from Andrea towards the red-painted, double doors they were approaching.
"But, seriously," Andrea continued, "Are you okay?"
Jack pushed open the double doors as he looked back at Andrea. He smiled at her and gave a cheerful, "Never better."
Andrea nodded and smiled back, yet continued to keep giving him a worried look as they walked through the twisting and forever turning corridors of the North Pole.
They burst through a set of double doors, entering the large tunnel covered in smooth, glistening ice. The sleigh stood there, in the centre of the tunnel, being crowded by paranoid yetis and dazed elves.
North's booming commands at the yetis caused them to back away from the Christmas Vehicle. The yetis rushed about, standing by the sidelines as Jack hopped into the sleigh with Andrea following behind.
The Guardian of Wonder didn't say a word towards the duo, only nodding at them before he continued to yell commands at the yetis.
Andrea sat down on a bench, brushing hand through her hair and rubbing her tired eyes. Jack couldn't help but stare, look at how pale and sick Andrea seemed and how exhausted she already was.
That worried Jack.
Then again, Jack always worries about Andrea. Since she always buts herself in situations for Jack to worry about.
"Jack." Andrea's voice made him snap on of his thoughts, "You back on planet Earth, yet?"
"What? Oh, Yeah." Jack answered, slightly dazed.
"Well, are you going to sit down? Or just stand there like moron?"
Andrea gave him innocent grin as Jack's eyes narrowed, causing her to lightly giggle. Jack chuckled too, sitting on the bench beside Andrea as they laughed.
They couldn't stop laughing, even as it turned into a large fit that was incredibly loud, but Jack didn't mind. Jack was cherishing the laughter, for he knows it won't happen as often anymore.
"Why is the Dramatic Duo laughing like a bunch of idiots?" The voice of Bunnymund made them hush and look upwards at the Easter Bunny.
They've actually been called the 'Dramatic Duo' several times now, as Jack thought about it. They've also been called many other things that involved 'Duo', 'Partners' and, once, 'Couple', which died the moment it came due to their protests.
Sandy floated into the sleigh, the golden sand around him scattering on to the dark floor of the sleigh. He looked at the controls and gave a wicked grin at them, which caused Andrea to chuckle.
North caught Sandy's expression, "For the last time, Sandy, you're not going to drive the sleigh."
Sandy's eyes narrowed at North, before he floated towards the bench with Jack and Andrea.
"Don't worry, Sandy. You're gonna drive it one day." Andrea spoke, leaning closer to Sandy as she whispered, "I'll help you steal it, if you want."
Sandy looked at Andrea, mischief sparking in his eyes. The Guardian of Dreams placed his hand out to Andrea, which she gladly shook.
Jack loudly groaned, before placing his heads in his hands and spoke, "Oh god, this isn't gonna end well."
"Whatever, Frost."
"Annie."
Andrea's eyes narrowed, "Jackson."
"Tree-hugger."
"Oh, for crying out loud. I fall out of tree one time, and this is what I get."
"Admit it, you find it funny."
"Sure." Andrea replied, irritation in her voice.
"Arh, come on! I can't mock your last name, so you need some sort of nickname."
"F." Andrea replied, making Jack raise an eyebrow, "My last name begins with an F."
"Why did you tell me that?! Now I'm more desperate to find out what it is!"
Andrea chuckled, as did Sandy though it was only portrayed by his expression and swirling dreamsand then his own voice. ('If he even has one.' Jack thought.)
"Bunny, come along!" North spoke to the cautious Bunnymund beside the sleigh.
"Nah, mate, I'm taking the tunnels this time." Bunny replied, making North groan.
"Hurry up and hop in-"
"No, let him go." Andrea entered the argument "Besides, I believe we need somebody to check if the place is currently safe and not surrounded by traps for us."
"Oh great, so I'm the decoy?"
"You wanted to go through your tunnels, so hop along!" Andrea's cheerful tone made Bunny's eyes roll in annoyance, before he tapped his foot against the ground and jump through a hole that appeared beside his feet.
"Okay, are we ready?!" North's question boomed across the ice tunnel, sounding a warning for the yetis to back away from the sleigh and its jerking, irritated reindeers.
"Hell yeah! Let's get this thing going!" Andrea cried a response, making Jack smile.
"Alright, here we go!" North cracked the whips, the reindeers bursting into a sprint through the tunnels as the whip struck.
The sleigh slid across the ice tunnel, going through small ice arches that Jack couldn't help but gape at even though he's seen them many times before. Andrea squealed with adrenaline and joy as the sleigh turn upside-down on an iced loopty-loop.
Wind and light from the incoming exit of the tunnel rushed past Jack's face, and he couldn't help but whoop as the sleigh burst through the tunnels, rocket past the tilted ramp and burst into the skies.
Engines hummed to life as the reindeer and mechanics of the sleigh worked together in harmony within the clouds.
North pulled out a snowglobe and shook it, the glitter within the glass sphere shifting in colours and landscapes as a destination was chosen.
"I say...Tooth Palace." At North's words, he threw the snowglobe and it burst in front of the sleigh into a large, magically portal of swirling, dizzying lights.
They got swallowed by the portal, being overwhelmed by tits bright colours until they were spat out in a place of warm, gentle light and beautiful, towering structures.
I'm being such a cruel, sadistic, torturing bitch.
Anyway, I'm currently sleeping round my best friend's house (Which I haven't seen for like...3 or so months, so before my life went all fucked up by this series.) so I might not be about to post as much as I would like. However, she does have two laptops and she's said I can use one for my own 'personal use' round her house.
See, this is why I love my best friend.
And, her laptop automatically saves work. Whether it's on the internet or not. In my opinion, I already know it's the best laptop ever. Sorry, my laptop, you can go home and cry because I found somebody better then you.
I lying, laptop. I still love you, please don't leave me.
Okay, it's nearly 2 in the morning and I need to get up at around 9. So, good night and remember to Rate and Review! x
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Nanu Kitty: can be difficult at times, which could make anybody scream. Espically me, scream at FF and its inability to save my work! -_-
Yay! Andrea has a personality, thank god! I still worry that she sucks and is slightly Mary Sue like. Thank you for informing me that Andrea doesn't suck! Cookies for you! *Chucks a box of cookies*
FrostyJam (Guest): Yep, you should defiantly make that we. Thanks for the review! :D
CrystalxRose: Free cheers for fluff! *Hazzar!*
Yeah, go hug Andrea, she really needs the love right now *Hugs Andrea*
Screw your brother, no sibling should take one laptop from each other! Shame on him!
I know the chapter is awesome, but...me? I'm awesome? Aw! *Blushes* Thank you! Cookies for you *hands you box of cookies*
I'm trying to update sooner, but life is being a absolute b*tch! XD
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