Disclaimer: I don't own rise of the guardians or guardians of childhood.
Abandoned.
Of course, Sarah wouldn't have wanted to pull the ring right off him while the two were there. If she were going to steal the scythe, it would have to be when she was about to lose the two of them. Not when she didn't know how long they were going to be at her heels.
And then an announcement sounded, which stopped her plans from stealing the scythe in the first place.
They'd found Krampus.
If there was one thing Sarah didn't want to do: it was to deprive Travis or Dylan of their weapon when they were about to fight a literal demon.
"The Denisova caves?" Sarah said with surprise. "Thought he would have gone to one of the deeper caves." She mused. Then she shook her head, "Are you going to fight him now?"
"You're staying here," Dylan said. "Don't be stupid."
Sarah rolled her eyes but didn't refute them. There would have been no point.
Travis' ring vibrated, Travis pulled it off and it grew into a small cellphone, "Yeah, we heard, we're on our way. Front foyer?"
"First send Sarah, into Jane's room. My charges will look after her there."
Sarah groaned… "I don't need a babysitter." She groaned. "How am I going to escape anyway? I don't know where you keep your scythes."
Dylan and Travis stared at her, "Are you going to honestly look us in the face and say that if we left you alone, you wouldn't tear this place apart looking for one?"
Sarah hated the way they were looking at her, it was so hypocritical. "Like you wouldn't." She muttered feeling petulant.
Had Dylan and Travis been older they would have been wise enough to know, not to just push Sarah through the portal and leave her behind. Had they not been pressed for time; they would have tried a small bit of reassurance.
But Dylan and Travis weren't older, and they were pressed for time.
"I'm sorry," Travis told her just before pushing her through a portal that Dylan had opened.
She landed on her back, looking up at Thomas, Ella, and Gretchen.
Gretchen rolled her eyes, but Thomas bent down and smiled at her.
Sarah smiled at Thomas and took his offered hand.
Aging earlier must have triggered something because she felt herself age in front of him. She panicked, and the aging stopped and regressed.
The three young initiates looked at her in surprise. "You can do that?"
Sarah shrugged, "Dylan and Travis think that my abilities mixed with the magic of the gate, and it allowed me to change my form."
At their blank stares, she shrugged. "Yeah, I don't get it either."
"Well, people beyond the gate can change their form if they so desire," Ella said softly.
"You can't."
Ella blinked and she aged, a couple of years in front of Sarah before she regressed. "You transform into the age you feel most yourself. For most of us, that's the age we died." Ella said. "You, being alive, however, …"
"I was on a time-lapsed island for 3 years." Sarah said in realization "When I was cleansed of the dark magic it also magically reset my body to before I was affected by the magic. De-aging me. But those years still passed for me, putting me in a kind of 'weird aging limbo thing'" She shrugged, "At least that's what Jane thinks… it makes about as much sense as anything else. And my grandmother can age and de-age, as well as Jack Frost… so it's not completely unheard of…"
They all looked at her confused. Sarah looked at them surprised at their confused glances before her eyes widened. They hadn't known the exact circumstances regarding Pitch…
Well. Darn.
"It was this whole thing," Sarah said backtracking.
"Cleansed?" Gretchen asked.
"You're grandmother can de-age?"
"Yes," Sarah said for a moment she hesitated then she sighed. Well, I can't bring something like that and not expect questions. "From the dark sand, that my kidnapper had been manipulating me with," Sarah said. "And my adopted grandmother has been able to age and regress at will since she was 16."
"Kidnapper… black sand?" Thomas said. "You mean the boogieman? I heard something about that a few months ago."
"Your grandmother?" Gretchen asked looking at her surprised.
Sarah nodded, "But he was cleansed too, he's not bad anymore."
Ella, Thomas and even Gretchen sat up and stared at her curiously. For a moment Sarah didn't want to talk about this, she hadn't even really meant to reveal it to them. Only talking about it to them because she thought they already knew.
"Can you tell us?" Thomas said looking at Sarah with wide curious eyes.
"This is clearly upsetting." Ella said, "You don't have to." She said with a smile.
And that… that permission to not talk about it… somehow bolstered her confidence. She nodded and sat down.
"It was 3 years ago…" Sarah started. "Jackie Bennett daughter of Jack Frost and I were…"
A/N Hey! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!