Hey there! I'd now like to thank Nico's Girlfriend1 and TooMuchSarcasm for favouriting the story!
I think we're going to need some more cookies. (::) (::)
There we go, welcome to the party!
Now on to the story, just to let you know we are now at the halfway point.
I looked at my fellow Descendants and saw the same hard expression on their faces, even Alice.
"We should fight." Said Mary.
"Aye." Agreed Alfred with a thick Scottish accent. "They should pay for what they've done!"
That was general agreement with the rest of the group. Only Stephen seemed unsure.
"We shouldn't just rush into this decision; we don't know the number of their force. What do you reckon?"
He turned his face towards me, which was eerie since I thought that he was blind.
I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it, for I didn't really have an answer. My hand crept to my arm where I had been sliced, the stitches had come out already, but it had left a scar.
I knew that something had to be done about them, but every time I thought about it, I heard Penelope's scream.
I couldn't put my finger on it, but I just couldn't bring myself to hate her, it was just how she acted... And I was getting far off course with my train of thought.
"I don't know. As Stephen says, we can't just rush into this."
"But they're mean and scary!" cried Alice, "We need to make them stop being mean!" She stomped her foot and sent ice spiralling out from her foot.
We backed off slightly. "Take it easy Alice." Said Rachel, leaning down to pick up Alice.
I quickly got the impression that they were mother and daughter, or at least had that kind of relationship.
The noise from the rest of the Descendants had begun to grow as people started to shout, but I tried to ignore it as we continued to discuss, not noticing that the roar was getting louder than it really should be.
At that moment the wall to my right exploded open, sending me staggering back from the noise and debris.
The other Descendants hadn't noticed it; but my lot did though as black sand began to pour towards us.
"Get a barrier up!" Yelled Chris and I, then we rushed forward and drew our hands up to get a wall of ice.
The rest of the Jack Frost Descendants, even Alice ran up in a line and we pulled up a barrier that spanned the whole room and reached the ceiling. Each of us easily covered a distance of 20 metres or more each.
Stephen and Rachel had stepped back, realising that their wind powers weren't suited to this situation.
Silence fell as the rest of the Descendants quickly saw what was happening.
Jacob and James yelled back at them simultaneously. "Don't just stand there! Give us a hand!"
About fifty Descendants of Bunnymund ran over and raised their hands. Just in front of us a wall of earth formed, taking the pressure of us.
I relaxed a bit.
"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder.
Because there were more Descendants of Bunnymund that could control earth than there were Jack Frost Descendants that could control ice, they had an easier time keeping the barrier in place.
However, I noticed that some of them had begun to strain, looking over at their barrier, I saw to my horror that black sand was leaking through the earth barrier.
"Heads up!" I yelled, my lot quickly saw what was happening and braced themselves to pick up the slack.
More sand began leaking through the earth, quickly filling up the space between the two walls.
I braced myself in a steady stance and steadied my part of the barrier. The space between the two walls made it harder for the sand to force its way through, but I quickly noticed parts of the earth wall crumble and the person who had been holding that portion collapsed from exhaustion.
The earth wall in front of me slowly cracked, then exploded and chunks of earth hit my barrier, cracking it in places. I held tight and quickly repaired the cracks before the rush of sand hit it.
I grunted and held my ground as the sand swarmed the wall, trying to find weak spots. My arms remained strong as the sand continued to batter the barrier, but it wasn't the same the whole way down.
The earth moving Descendants were down, now we were only stalling, but we couldn't let the sand in. However, someone had to cave.
And that someone was Alice.
Her inexperience caught her off guard, and her scream echoed through the now silent hall as black sand trickled through the barrier.
I stamped my foot and sent some ice her way to block the hole, but she had completely let go in her panic and her part of the barrier was crumbling.
I spread my stance wider and tried to compensate by spreading my barrier into the gap, covering it. It felt like I was trying to hold up a car.
Sweat broke out on my forehead and I strained to hold the two parts of the barrier up.
"Look out!"
I looked over to see that Graham was the next to go and he fell over in exhaustion.
"Someone take up his barrier!" I said as loud as I could, but Graham's exhaustion was the
final straw. The sand flowed through his part of the barrier and the others backed off in horror as I took up his barrier as well, my arms and shoulders screaming in protest.
One by one my fellow Descendants gave up, almost collapsing, each time I took up the slack. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep it up as my arms began shaking uncontrollably.
Behind me I could hear the other Descendants fighting off the sand that had gotten through, with Stephen and Rachel using wind to blow it back, but it slowly and surely made its way through the crowd.
I could hear voices barking orders, but couldn't hear what they were saying, my concentration was solely on the barrier.
To my horror I felt myself begin to weaken and the ice in front of me cracked, the cracks slowly spider webbing their way across the ice.
"No, come on." I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and kept at it, not willing to give up just yet.
I didn't need my eyes to tell me that my barrier was about to go.
The ice audibly cracked, then shattered with a sound like breaking glass. Sand shot through where the barrier used to be and cannoned into my chest, sending me flying backwards.
I rolled and skidded to the feet of the other Descendants, who tried to help me to my feet.
I quickly got myself out of their grip and went forward to try and hold it off again at the barrier, still not willing to give up. Behind me I could hear shouts, people telling me to come back or asking if I was crazy.
At that point what remained of the barrier went with a loud crack and black sand flooded in faster than anyone could hold it back.
It rushed over the hundreds in attendance and swamped them. I fell on my back from the strength of it and tried to stay awake as exhaustion and the Nightmare Sand did its work.
Like a tide I could feel the sand receding, taking me with it. I started to scramble up, to get away from it, but it sucked at me, holding me down as I was pulled across the rocky ground.
I clenched my fist and drew it back, throwing a weak punch, sending ice spreading throughout the sand, which got replaced by more sand.
I began to pass into unconsciousness when I felt someone grab me under the armpits and pull me up out of the sand's pull. The sand had already done its work and my head flopped into my chest before I could see who it was.