Rise of the Guardians is based on a book series that is definately not mine and also belongs to the writer and Dreamworks. I'm not a boy, let alone William Joyce and I don't even work for Dreamworks. Nope, definately not mine. Fanfiction usually means so.
I raised the rating to T just to be safe. K+ is a little to low for future chapters.
Okay, I wasn't really expecting anyone to get the reference because it is quite vague and I wouldn't be surprised if not that many people knew about it anyway. (That's why it was a challenge.) It was actually based on a real life event, not anything in fiction or RotG. Alright, the last Tsar (or Czar, basically the King) of Russia, Nicholas II, had five children, four older daughters and one younger son. In 1917 the entire family was assasinated. Anyway, the youngest daughter, Anastasia, was said to be the most mischevious of the five (or so I've heard). During one winter she put a rock in a snowball and threw it at her sister during a snowball fight. That's what I was referencing.
Silvia watched the young boy stared at her empty palace halls in amazement. Obviously the shards of the miror hadn't weakened his curiousity or childish attention span. Watching him, Silvia couldn't help but feel bitterness tightening in her chest. She couldn't wait until this entire episode was over. Maybe she should vent her feelings out by freezing over all of Asia or North America for old times' sake... No.
"Don't wander off too far," she warned the child. "You never know what lies around the corner. It would pain me terribly if you got hurt." (Well, it wasn't a complete lie.)
Jamie - or so she heard his name was - nodded engergetically without turning around to face her. "I won't."
"Even if you get bored in these empty halls?"
"I won't, really! I don't want to make you upset." He turned to face her, letting her see his glazed over, hypnotized eyes.
Her chest tightened even more. She smiled gently. "Good. Thank you."
Silvia turned around curtly, the end of her parka billowing after her. As she walked down the corrider her she tried to shove away her bitterness. Now was not the time for emotion.
Oh, that was laughable, she thought after a moment. Not the time for emotion yet the whole situation was based on emotion. Anger, sadness, desperation, fear, want, lust for revenge - Where exactly did emotion not come into play? It had everything to do with the situation at hand. Her own and others'. Right now she was depending on Jack Frost's own anger and fear (how ironic) to bring him here to save his little believer. She would play on his feelings when he arrived, too. That was what the devil's mirror was for.
Several snow bees buzzed into view from around the corner. How she missed her bees while they gone for all those centuries... At times they were truely her only friends. However, they were minions, not companions, and she treated them as such.
"Oh, news," she said quietly to herself. "Well?"
The bees buzzed their message in a language only Silvia understood.
"I see," she said. "Attacking the guardians in the middle of the invitation was unnecessary. However, it can be easily overlooked. Frost has accepted my invitation, then?"
The bees buzzed, confirming her guess.
She nodded once. "Good. You may go now."
The snow bees swarmed away.
Silvia watched them, then took a step forward and stopped. She gazed at the floor for moment, allowing the bitterness to rise and tighten in her chest. Chuckling, Silvia curled her lip in a sick smile.
"I wonder...what Daniel would say if he saw this. Or Davis, Jean, the twins..."
Picking her head up, she headed to her throne room. That would be the only moment she would let herself dwell on her past life; from here on Silvia was going to be very busy. After all, she would have guests to greet soon.
The Ice Queen didn't hear a voice from behind her whisper sadly, "Oh, Silvie."
...
"I can't believe this," Jack said angerly to himself while he waited for Bunny in the Warren.
The rabbit hadn't wanted him anywhere near where he kept his spare boomerangs and stuff; probably didn't trust him in there or even knowing where it was. (Which was probably a smart idea.) But Jack didn't care about that at the moment.
"First she steals my sister's life by taking her away from our parents, then she kidnapps Jamie and threatens to kill him. Kill. She'd murder a kid... When I get on hands on her..." he trailed off. Jack loosened his grip on his staff; if he gripped it any tighter he might break it.
Jack tried to keep Pippa out of his mind; which was practically impossible. He really hoped the others would get her out of there as soon as possible. The longer she was gone the more danger she could be in.
Attempting to take his mind off of her, he wondered what the box was for. He hadn't opened it yet. Bunny told him not to. Normally he would ignore the rabbit and go right on ahead. Right now though, he had no idea if it was some sort of trap or not. It could blow up his face or send some sort of blizzard (that wouldn't really bother him, but he was sure one wouldn't help them at all; well, not right now, anyway) for all he knew.
One of Bunny's tunnels opened in the ground. Said rabbit hopped out of it, a new boomerang and his smaller ones filling up his holster completely.
"A'right, mate," he said. "Time to go."
"How are we going to find her realm on time?" Jack asked. "If we're late because we can't find it..."
The 'kangaroo' poked him in the chest with a boomerang, giving Jack a hard look. "Don't even think about it. We'll get 'em back. Usually we're able to find her realm in a matter of days but we don't have for that this time. The witch's palace may always be movin', but there's one person who knows where a wintery realm is at all times."
The teenager gave him an odd look for moment. When he realized who he was talking about his shoulders slumped. Not her. On the other hand, Jamie's life was on the line.
"Let's just make this quick."
Bunny's foot thumped and a hole appeared next to them.
...
The storms were just barely kept in the garden. Blizzzards, thunder and lightning storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, even tsunamis roared through the garden, almost utterly destroying it. (The plants definately died.) Imagine if that escaped her realm; her fury would be taken out on the world violently.
At the center of the garden Terra sat, clenching her teeth and hugging her knees. Her appearance changed from her current age to about eleven, five, eighteen, three, seven, fifteen, early twenties, ect. She rarely, if ever, lost control of her emotions. The last time was, oh, maybe a couple thousand years ago? Give or take a few hundred.
Stupid need to vent emotions.
"You're leaving again?"
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I have to."
"But I don't want you to go!"
Little Seraphina stamped her foot definately and crossed her arms, as if a temper tantrum could make her daddy stay home.
Her daddy got on his knees and reached out to hold her. Seraphina dodged his arms.
"Stay home," she demanded.
"I can't," he sighed. "I have to make sure the monsters don't get loose again."
"Don't care." The little girl sat down on her butt, snatched a random piece of paper along with a red and green crayons from the mess scattered around her room. She slammed the end of the green one against the paper, pushing it back and forth roughly, nearly ripping the paper as she tried to draw a flower instead of paying attention to her daddy. "Don't leave."
"You're not even going give me a hug good bye?"
"Nope."
Seraphina dropped the green crayon and picked up the red crayon. She was half-way trough drawing a circle on top of the stem when her daddy picked her up under her arms.
"No!" she screamed and struggled as he carried her downstairs and into the kitchen. Her mommy watched them from the kitchen table, playing with a necklace-thing. "NO! No, no, no, no, NO - "
"Seraphina!"
The protests ended, though the pout didn't. Seraphina stuck her bottom lip out definately, glaring, as she was set down on the table.
"I'll be back soon," he said.
"Liar," she accused, crossing her arms again. "Never home soon enough."
"I know," he sighed again. "It's not that I want to leave - "
"'It's that you have to," the little girl quoted in a bored tone. She'd heard it all before. "Why can't someone else do it?" she whined.
Her mommy muttered something angerly like, 'vol-teer'. Her daddy shot her an exasperated look.
He turned back to Seraphina. Instead of answering the same question for the thousandth time, her daddy took a necklace-thing from inside his shirt. It was a picture of her from when her parents made her dress up and sit still.
"I'll still have you with me, and you'll still have me," he said. He nodded to the necklace in her mommy's hands. It had a a picture of him in it. "See?"
The little girl wasn't impressed. "I don't want pictures," Seraphina said stubbornly. "I want you hoooome!"
"Well, I'm sorry, then," he said, standing up straight. He looked sad. "I'll be home in no time."
"Liar," both she and her mommy said at the same time.
Her daddy rolled his eyes and hugged both of them (though they stood/sat stiffly, still angery at him) before making his way out the door. As soon as the door shut her mommy started crying. Seraphina stared at the door, thinking of how she would throw a real tantrum next time he tried to leave home.
Unfortunately, he never came home again in the first place.
...
"AAAHHHH!"
Jack narrowly avoided being struck by lightning. Bunny had been swept away by the strong winds. Seriously, those had to be going over a hundred miles per hour! Miraculously, Jack had avoided it by staying in the blizzardy area (not even five feet from where the rabbit had been previously standing), where the winds were more mild.
Somehow, he hadn't imagined Mother Nature's home to be like this. Seriously, how could anyone live here?
Hail literally the size of snowballs suddenly rained down. Several hit Jack on the head, forcing him to sheild it with his arms. They were hard as rocks. "Ow!"
Lightning struck a nearby tree. Blackened, a particularly large branch broke off
Jack couldn't hear the loud snap over the rushing winds, thunder, and blood pounding in his ears. He did see, however, the growing shadow surrounding him. He looked up, saw the branch a several feet above his head, and jumped away. Balls of hail flew directly into his right side and ribcage before he could land safely on the ground. Jack lost what little footing he had and fell flat on his face. The ground beneath him began shaking violently.
Okay, really?
Jack struggled to feet.
"Wind!"
The wind picked up around him. The teenager was lifted from the ground. He breathed out in relief. At least the wind was still on his s-
Nevermind.
The wind picked up speed twice as fast, knocking Jack off guard. He hurtled through the air, screaming, as he was thrown into a tornado. Several objects smashed into Jack. He was positive half those objects were thorny plants. At one point he saw Bunny in the tornado; he was being tossed around, covering his mouth protectively, until he was thrown out of sight.
Then, suddenly, everything stopped. The lightning quit striking, the thunder stopped pounding, the ground wasn't trembling anymore, and every trace of the blizzard disappeared. Even the wind went away, which meant the tornado did, too.
Again, Jack fell flat on the ground. He groaned and waited until the sound of falling objects stopped to raise his head.
To find Terra glaring at him, arms crossed.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped.
Jack sat up. The thorns had cut up his feet and left cheek and his torso was sore, but otherwise he was fine. "What am I - ? What was THAT all about?" He spread out his arms, gesturing to the large mess of land. "And where's Bunny at?"
Terra pointed her middle and forefinger to the left. Bunny was attempting to pull his head out of the ground.
Despite himself, the teenager laughed.
Terra snapped her fingers. The ground shook once again. It split where the unfornate bunny was, letting him pull his head out. Another snap closed the crevice.
"Now what do you two want?" she demanded again.
Bunny stumbled over to them dizzily, holding his head in his paws as Jack told her the story. "I think I lost my lunch somewhere," he muttered.
The girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ew. Did you lose the box during the storms?"
Jack hadn't thought of that. He hurridly dug into his hoodie pocket and pulled it out. Phew.
"That's your gateway to her realm," Terra explained. "Since her realm is no longer a part of this world and in Spitsbergen, that's the only way to get into her realm quickly. Unless you're with her yourself. Honestly, I'm not sure how it works myself."
"Really?" Jack asked. "I would'a thought you did." He glanced at Bunny, who was still a bit disoriented.
"I've never been invited to her realm after she lost her powers, nor have I ever WANTED to go there," Terra said. She sighed as if she was extremely annoyed. "Alright, this is partly my fault. So, I suppose I can help out a little more."
Storm clouds gathered in the sky.
"I'll help find the location of the enterance to Black's realm and show the other guardians," she explained. "Also, get out of my realm. I don't want any portals to her place in my garden."
The wind pulled the three of three into the clouds. The next thing Jack knew, he and Bunny were falling out of the sky over a city. They landed in the middle of a street, cars driving right through them.
A couple of kids on the sidewalk yelled things in a different language that roughly translated to:
"There's a giant rabbit in the road!"
"He has white hair!"
"I saw him last winter!"
"Get out of the road before a car hits you!"
Jack smiled weakly and waved at them, trying to signal they were okay. Bunny grabbed him by the hood, opened one of his tunnels, and dragged him down it. They re-surfaced in an almost empty park. The only people Jack could see was an old couple sitting on a bench a few dozen yards away.
"Alright, no one's around and nothin's running through us every other second," Bunny said. "I missed half of what Terra said while gathering my wits. Mind telling me what the box is for?"
"It's a gate to her realm," Jack said. "She didn't really know how it works, though."
The 'kangaroo' raised an eyebrow. "That thing's small enough to hold a piece of jewelry only; how're we supposed to use it as a gate?"
"I dunno," he answered, holding it up. "Maybe what's inside is the gate? Or leads to it?"
"Maybe. Open it up, then."
Jack lifted the lid. A blizzard of snow jumped out of the box, enveloping both guardians. They could barely see anything but white flurries.
"FROST!" Bunny roared over the wind.
"IT'S NOT ME!" Jack screamed back.
He squinted his eyes, looking in every direction. There had to be something around here somewhere! He swung his staff, trying to clear the storm away. It didn't work. The blizzard continued.
"This is not your domain," a young-sounding male voice said in Jack's ear. "You may be able to control winter elements but you're in Silvie's world now. Find the outline of her palace and you find your way out of the storm. But be prepared for Silvie's wrath."
"WHAT?" he yelled. "WHO'S THERE?"
"WHAT?" Bunny yelled back, thinking Jack was talking to him.
Outline of her palace. Right. As if it were possible to see anything out here. Jack took a step forward, then another.
"You have to look for it," the voice came back. "If you don't you'll be trapped here. Just concentrate on finding it."
"This is annoying," Jack mumbled to himself.
"Hey, who said it wouldn't be? I mean, you're practically in a lose-lose situation."
"'Lose-lose'?" Jack repeated.
The voice didn't answer.
Jack searched for an outline in the snow that looked like a palace. All he managed to find was Bunny. He wondered around for what seemed like both hours and seconds (how was that possible?), shouting out every now and then to make sure Bunny was still close by.
"WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" Bunny shouted back at one point. "WE AREN'T GOING TO FIND IT HERE. YOU MAY BE OKAY BUT I'M FREEZING MY TAIL OFF!"
"ANY IDEAS ON HOW WE LEAVE?" Jack shouted back once he realized the box had vanished. "I DROPPED THE BOX SOMEWHERE!"
"FROSTBITE!"
"LIKE I WAS TRYING TO LOSE IT!"
Jack tried again to force the storm to calm down. Again, it didn't work.
"Hey, weird voice," he called, not really expecting an answer. "Any more great advice?"
"Yes," the voice said, just as sarcastic as Jack had been. "You're an idiot. Try telling you're friend to look for a PALACE. He's blind as a bat and looking for a gate. He doesn't listen to me. Thinks I'm just one of Silvie's tricks. Blocking me out."
By Silvie, Jack assumsed it meant the Ice Queen.
"How do I know you're not a trick?" he asked. "Bunny has a point."
"You know," the voice said snidely, "Silvie's not that patient. It'd be shame if that poor kid died because you're acting stupid. Look, I'm on you're side. Now hurry it up! Silvie's losing her patience and her temper."
What other choice did he have to go with? Jack tried for a third time to stop the blizzard. When that failed again, he yelled, "BUNNY! I THINK THIS IS HER REALM! LOOK FOR HER PALACE!"
"NO!" came his sarcastic response. "I THOUGHT WE WERE IN THE WARREN!"
"WHAT?"
Whatever Bunny thought he heard, Jack thought he saw a large object in the distance. He squinted, walking forward. As he did the shape became more clear. It looked like a castle made out of glass.
"DO YOU SEE that?" Bunny asked, coming closer. The wind died down more and more as they advanced.
"Yeah," Jack replied. "This it?"
He nodded. "Silvia has a lot of tricks, Jack. I don't know what her game is, but she'll probably try to get in your head."
"Get in my head?" He gave Bunnny an odd look. Not because he didn't believe it. It was just that he expected a real fight, not mind games.
"Yup. She's not into physical fighting, which puts her at a disadvantage. Somewhere along the way, I guess, she picked up some tricks to mess with yer mind. She'll try illusions, sweet talking, setting traps, ect. All meant to distract you and that's when she goes in for the kill."
They came upon a bridge. The two didn't stop walking.
"Like what?" Jack asked. "What did she do the other times you came here?"
Bunny hesitated. "She...brought back some terrible memories for me," he vaguely answered. "You just have to remind yourself of the situation, remember it's not real if you can."
"Why can I already tell this won't be fun?" Jack wondered aloud.
Bunny didn't respond. He just went ahead faster.
"Trust me," the voice suddenly spoke up again. "Silvie's got a few traps hanging around. You're in for a real joy ride."
"Who are you?" the teenager asked.
"Huh? Oh, you mean my name. It's Daniel."
Jack glanced around. "Why can't I see you?"
"It's difficult to explain. It sort of, kind of, not really, but somewhat like why those kids could hear yet couldn't see your sister."
"Did the Ice Queen take you?"
Daniel didn't reply.
"Are you coming or not, Frostbite?" Bunny yelled. He was already at the door.
Jack ran the rest of the way across the bridge. He was about to ask how they got in when the large doors opened, revealing a shiny, white, empty entrance hall.
...
"My baby!" her mother cried, covering her tear-streaked face.
Her father put an arm around her mother, glaring at his daughter.
"It's your fault I'm dead," her brother's voice rang out.
Pippa lowered her head in grief. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get stuck on thin ice."
"Jackson! - He's gone!" her mother hiccuped.
Her father continued to glare.
"Everyone's upset that you killed me," Jack's voice echoed cruelly.
Pippa's head snapped up. "I did not! I didn't want you to die!"
"So why did go out on thin ice?"
"I didn't know it would crack!" she cried.
"You're my little sister - I played tricks and jokes on you, yeah. But I still loved you." Jack appeared in front of their parents, looking just as he did the morning before he died. Except instead of laughing and teasing her for her excitement, he was scowling. "And you got me killed. I drowned, I froze to death. Because. Of. You."
"No!" she cried.
"It's all your fault. You think I'll save from the boogieman after that? No thanks, you deserve to rot."
"Jack! Stop being so mean! I know it's my fault! But I didn't mean it really!"
Jack's lip curled in disgust. "And you're a liar at that. You admit it was your fault and still say it was an accident. Honestly, how do you live with yourself!"
"My poor baby...!"
"..."
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"
Pippa's brother shook his head in disbelief. "Yeah, right." He disappeared, leaving her alone with their parents.
"Jackson... No... Why weren't you more careful!" her mother shrieked. "This is your fault!"
"He's dead because of you," her father agreed.
Pippa's whole world fell apart.
Pitch chuckled at the little girl's nightmare. This was too rich! Not only that, his power was returning. With the strength he had he gave hundreds of other children nightmares, increasing his power even more! It wouldn't be long now before he could go against of the guardians one more time.
For the final time.
...
Again, I cut the chapter short. I really want to get to the next part but then I decide to put it in the next chapter after the current one. Which makes it a longer wait to see how certain things connect. I can say, though, that the next chapter is when Silvia's backstory comes into play and readers will find out just who Daniel (and the others Silvia mentioned) is. I'm hoping to get it out before/by Tuesday but I can't promise I will!
storygirl99210: Yes, she can. :) We'll get to that later.
AgentBugs: Thanks! And yeah, I didn't think anyone would really get it, as stated above. Yes, she was. :p
Immortal Bubblewrap: Thank you! :D Yeah, you're right about getting irritated. I just wasn't sure her being that angery was in character. Haha, sorry I made it that hard.