Hiya all! It's soo good to be back!

Here is the next chapter, as promised! Enjoy :)

P.S.- everyone go see HTTYD2. Do it. DO IT. EVERYONE.

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DISCLAIMER: Jack Frost, Pitch, and the other Guardians belong to DreamWorks

Lyra

As a new fully-fledged Guardian, I can't say I felt any different.

I didn't instantly become more powerful or start glowing or anything, no. I was still Lyra Light. When no one was paying attention, I gently touched the area of my stomach infected with Pitch's darkness. My ability to sense light sensed the darkness still there- I was still dying. Not that I expected my new status of Guardian to change that.

Our discussions swiftly moved from topic to topic, with so much to discuss and so little time to discuss them.

However, no matter what we discussed, our conversations always seemed to return to one thing: forming a plan.

Bunny and Jack were the best at strategic planning, and their abilities to work together pleasantly surprised me once more. It took several hours and many rounds of hot chocolate to work out all the kinks, but finally all the papers, notes and diagrams strewn across the table and all the arguments and discussions had produced a plan that not even the Man in the Moon could top. I was proud of it, as I'm sure the others were too; my only remaining fear was whether or not it would actually work.

But it had to. There was no other way.

"Lyra's gonna need some sort of weapon if this is going to work," Jack commented.

I looked at the other Guardians cautiously. I automatically disagreed with Jack, but as the thought sunk in... I wasn't entirely convinced he was wrong. Every other Guardian had some sort of 'choice tool' to fight the Nightmares with, even dainty Tooth, whose wings were sharp as razors, had an army of tiny fairies and wasn't afraid to use her fists when push came to shove.

Seeing my expression, North smiled kindly. "That is for Lyra to decide."

Tsar wanted to make me a Guardian. I didn't want to let him down. I didn't want to let anyone down. If I was a Guardian, I had to start acting like one.

"Jack's right," I decided. "Only, I have no idea what to use or even where to get it..." I said apologetically.

Sandy held his finger up with an "aha!" moment look, and floated over to the side of the table on which I stood. Standing next to me, he drizzled golden sand from clenched fists on the wooden table surface in intricate patterns. Then, with a wave of his hand, the sand rose up into the air and spun into the shape of a delicate bow with a set of golden sand arrows. They floated back down to the table and landed with a soft clink.

Amazed, I leaned down to examine the bow. It was beautiful, with intricate swirling designs etched into the handle- the same designs, I noticed, that Sandy had just drawn on the table only moments before. The matching quiver and arrows bore the designs, too.

They were beautiful. Bunny whistled in appreciation. He carefully picked up the quiver and began to examine the arrows.

"Clever thinkin' Sandy," he said. "She does have bloody good aim."

I smiled at the compliment. "Of course," he continued with a slight smirk, "she 'ad a bloody good teacher."

Jack snorted from the other side of the table, to which he then proceeded to pass off as a 'spontaneous coughing fit'. North looked potentially concerned, but no one else bought it.

I rolled my eyes as Bunny replaced the quiver and arrows back on the table. Jack shot me an apologetic look, which I plainly ignored.

"What do you think, then?" North asked me, gesturing to the weapon on the table. I grinned and reached out to take the bow in my hand, but before I could touch it, something stopped me.

I stared at the golden instrument, and I realized what bothered me so. I frowned and turned to Sandy.

"I think they're beautiful..." I told him.

"But...?" Jack prompted.

"But..." I started, subconsciously placing a hand over my side- the side that contained the swirling black mark that no one but Tsar and myself knew about. "But I can't use these."

"An' why not Sheila?" Bunny asked, astonished at my refusal.

I looked at Sandy, and a light appeared in his eyes, telling me that he understood. I turned to the rest of the group. "It wouldn't be right- how can I hold a weapon so similar to the one that killed me? The one that almost killed Sandy, and that could've killed Jack?"

Solemn looks fell upon the other Guardians. "I know it's silly," I continued, "but it just wouldn't feel right to me."

"Of course not," Tooth said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Swords are out, so what else?" Jack asked, fiddling with his staff as he thought. I smiled as I watched and thought about the ease and confidence he held when he carried his wooden stick.

"What about a staff- like Jack's?" I asked Sandy, knowing without a doubt that was what I wanted. It was a weapon that at the same time wasn't necessarily a weapon, one that I could still use to put my talents with aim to good use.

Jack was surprised at my request, and the curve of his swinging staff whacked him in the head.

"Ow," he complained when he recovered, rubbing his temples. I giggled and added to Sandy, "But let's scratch the shepherd's crook."

Everyone laughed excepted Jack, who scowled, annoyed.

Sandy waved his tiny hands once more and the bow and arrows dissolved and the golden sand spun through the air once more, this time shaping into a long staff. It was straight, thankfully lacking the shepherd's curve, instead adorned with a tiny diamond shaped cap. Swirls cut through the sand in an intricate overlapping design. On the whole, it was not as thick as Jack's, and the ends were a tiny bit thinner than the middle.

When the last sand particle fell into place, I reached out and gingerly took hold of the sand-staff. From the moment my hand touched it, a sharp burst of light erupted between my fingers, then flowed through the indented swirls like water in tiny canals. The entire staff pulsed with golden light, until the rod itself was no longer visible, and everyone but me had to avert their eyes. A tiny flame danced along the diamond-tipped top, though I was the only one to see it. Then the light vanished, as quickly as it started.

The Guardians' gazes slowly turned away from the floor and looked back up, a few of them blinking repeatedly. Then, before anyone could comment on what had just happened, I doubled over in pain and fell to the floor.

"LYRA!" Jack yelled, at my side in an instant. "What's wrong!" He asked, panicked. I shook my head, trying to tell him I was fine, but obviously he didn't accept that for an answer.

"Lyra..." He asked again, this time more sternly and grasping my arm to help support me. "Tell me." We stayed in silence for a few moments, none of the other Guardians moving or making a sound. No one knew what to do to help. Slowly, the pain faded away, and I relaxed in Jack's grasp, breathing heavily but no longer in pain.

"I'm," I breathed, "I'm fine," I assured Jack, who was watching my every movement closely.

"No, you clearly aren't," he responded with a dry laugh that contained no humor at all. "Tell me what in the moon just happened."

I grasped my side tightly with my hand, feeling a small burning sensation. "Jack please-"

He shook his head. "Lyra tell me. I get that you're dying but you can't just hide something as serious like that from me! Put yourself in my place- how do you think I feel right now?"

I gulped. He was right. Closing my eyes, I gently removed my hand from his squeezing grasp and lifted the side of my shirt, revealing to all the black darkness that stained and poisoned my skin.

I could hear and sense the shocked expressions more than I could see them. I deliberately looked at the floor in silence.

"Lyra... this is how he poisoned you?" Jack asked. I nodded before looking at the dark spot myself. I cringed when I saw that in that pain episode, the darkness had once again increased in size- tremendously. I whimpered slightly. I'm running out of time, I thought in a half-panic.

"How could you not have told me about this?" Jack asked, incredulous, not relenting his hold on me.

"Well I did tell you I was dying and that Pitch had poisoned me," I argued.

He sucked in a breath. "This is a pretty big thing to leave out. And that pain seizure you just had? Has that happened before? Did you just forget to tell me about that as well?"

I wiggled out of his grasp. "Look, it doesn't matter now- we have to focus on the plan-"

"Lyra," North interrupted. "Jack is right to be concerned. This is important. Can you still fight? Do you have enough power?"

"Of course!" I cried, exasperated.

"Sheila, we know you care about your brother- we all want to save him and stop Pitch," Bunny intervened. "But the last thing we want is for you to put yourself in danger if you can't handle it-"

"I'm fine," I interrupted calmly. "I have to do this. Besides, you need me for this plan to work, and there's not enough time to start over from scratch. We have to go through with this plan."

No one seemed convinced.

"Manny chose me to be a Guardian for a reason. He chose all of us for a reason. If he thinks I can do it, then we have to trust his judgment, right?"

That seemed to reassure them- everyone relaxed and began nodding their heads in agreement.

"Then it's time we start moving," North said after a period of silence, clapping his hands together. "Is everybody clear on plan?" he asked to everyone in the room. Everyone nodded. "Any last questions?" No one spoke up. "Ok then, let us begin. Phil!" he called, and the yeti came into the meeting room. "Prepare the sleigh. It's Christmas time!"

The yeti growled and left to room to follow his orders.

"Good luck, all of ya," Bunny said, thumping his foot on the ground and disappearing through the floor with a final slightly-concerned glance in my direction. Tooth began to give orders to groups of her mini fairies, who in turn flew off to give the orders to other fairies.

The plan had begun to be set in motion.

"Ready?" Jack asked me, still eying my side cautiously. I kissed his cheek.

"Absolutely."

I walked over to the table to retrieve my staff. I gasped when I saw the transformation it had gone under.

No longer made of sand, the staff was glittering and iridescent. Both it and its tiny diamond-like shaped tip glistened with light, light that refracted through its like-glass appearance, bouncing off the walls and ceiling in rainbow colors.

I picked it up and immediately felt a warmth between my fingers, like it was meant to be there.

"Snowflake," Jack began, looking around to make sure we wouldn't be overheard, "about earlier, when North announced that Manny wanted to make you a Guardian and asked you to take the oath, and again just now, when you said there was a reason Manny wanted you. There's something more to it, isn't there? Something you haven't told us?"

I gazed into his eyes and knew I couldn't lie to him. I slowly nodded my head. He took my free hand into his own and squeezed it tight. "Tell me. Please?"

I let go of his hand and instead cupped his cheek. I smiled sadly.

"I can't. Not yet, I'm sorry." I felt even worse when I saw his hopeful expression fall. "But I promise I will tell you. Soon."

"I'll hold you to that," he told me.

"I know you will."

He broke away and led me to the open window. "Let's do this," he said, jumping up to the sill and pulling me up after him. I felt the wind increase in strength as Jack prepared to jump.

"Light 'em up," I said, following his lead as we leaped into the sky.

Reminder: ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED: I WILL BE HAVING A SORT OF... CONTEST.

IF THERE ARE ANY ARTISTS out there on DeviantArt or another website who want to (cough) make a fan art for this story... I kinda want to have a contest or something... if you are interested AT ALL PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PM me! I will tell you more about my idea there! (Rules of the contest, etc, etc, etc)- I can answer any questions regarding the technicalities of the contest too.

! Just PM with directions on how to view the fan art when you are done. !

IF YOU WIN- I will write a one-shot for you on anything you like (within reason haha) and dedicate it to you, put you in it, or absolutely whatever you want! AND the winning drawing will become the COVER ART for this story!

ALSO I'm not setting a date for a deadline- let's just say the contest will run until the story is complete! Potentially a little longer, depending on how fast I type up the chapters..haha :)

THANKS GUYS!