Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Guardians of Childhood

Freed

"You let your scythe be taken." Jane barely restrained herself from betraying her annoyance.

"I did not let my scythe be stolen." Jane said, "It was stolen from me while I was asleep.

"Because you stayed in the same room as a young thief who was ready and willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her friends." A woman said.

A male: Jacob, who appeared to be in his 30s but had been dead for the past 500; who had always been the most understanding to "You have to admit Jane that wasn't the smartest move."

"I thought it would be better than to leave her alone." Jane said, "She was distraught." Jane argued, "I had hoped that staying with her might alleviate-"

"You shouldn't have brought her here in the first place."

"I believe we all agreed that she did the best she could, with the information provided." Jacob interceded on her behalf. "Sarah was in danger, with Krampus' ability to sense naughty children no matter where they are it would have been better to keep her out of sight."

"We should not have been focused on protecting one girl. Evidence suggests that to prepare himself for the inevitable fight, he gorged himself on three children before coming for Sarah."

Jane stared at them in surprise. "And why am I just hearing about this now?"

"We had our best looking into the matter," Jacob said.

"Best as in…?"

"Our Best reapers." Jacob clarified. "The children's souls were saved last minute."

"And why weren't the rest of us reprised of this information."

"Amelia was, but it was determined due to your closeness with Sarah, and Sarah's emotional state it was determined not to tell you so as not to risk Sarah finding out.

Jane hated it. She understood it. "I know there were 1000 and one way I could have done better." She said, "Please, let me borrow another scythe and I will stop Krampus and bring him in."

"No," Jacob said but before Jane could argue more. "Leaving him alive was a mistake last time. End him, as fast as possible before he has the chance to take another life." He tossed something to her which Jane caught expertly.

Jane stared at what he'd thrown her; a solid black ring, "Leave it to us." She said staring back at him.

Sarah didn't waste any time, though she desperately didn't want to leave Jackie's side she also knew she had only moments to save her brother and friend before Krampus wised up to the fact that Jackie hadn't entered the cavern alone. She shot forward as quietly as she could and made her way into the cavern that Krampus was clearly trying to avoid letting Jackie enter.

She could just barely see them, both seated at the far end of the wall. With what little lighting there was she could just make out the blood that caked Jonathan's face.

She did not dare call out even as her stomach churned with fear. She ran towards her brother and friend. Only barely remembering to remove her cloak just before she touched them.

"Jonathan! Will!" She whispered with excitement.

"Sarah?" They called staring at her fear, or at least based on what little sliver of light allowed her to see.

"What are you doing here?" Will asked, "You shouldn't have come, it's you he wants."

"You didn't think I was just going to stay put, did you?" Sarah said with a raised eyebrow. "What happened to you, Johnny?"

"I put up a hell of a fight." Jonathan said, "Krampus uh… put on a stronger one."

Sarah winced and turned to Will. "And you? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, his captured was so quick that I hadn't had a chance to defend myself," Will said looking as though he felt guilty for not being as injured.

"Good." Sarah said, "My brother being injured was bad enough, I'd hate it if another was hurt too."

She couldn't quite make out the expression she was making, but she could just barely make out Will's mouth dropped open.

"Come on." Sarah said standing, "We're getting you out of here."

"We can't leave." Jonathan said, "The doorway, prohibits us from leaving. There's a barrier of some sort on it, we can enter but we can't exit."

Sarah looked toward the doorway. "Good thing I have this." She said with a grin holding up the hairclip.

"A hair clip?" Jonathan and Will asked.

Sarah rolled her eyes, "You two know better than that." She admonished her voice low and quiet, outside she could hear Jackie and Krampus arguing with each other. She tried not to think about what Krampus would do to Jackie when he grew bored with the conversation. She stood and stepped away and flipped it into the air, and they watched as he lengthened into a scythe.

She slashed the air and created a rift into space she turned to them. "Go."

They looked at her confused, "Go where?"

Sarah stared at them confused before her eyes widened. "Oh," Sarah said. "I forgot." She said, "Come." She transformed her scythe into a pin and started forward.

"Sarah." Jonathan, "I don't feel comfortable leaving you here alone."

"I don't feel comfortable leaving you here." Sarah said, "Can you even fight Jonathan?"

"His leg is broken." Will supplied, Jonathan's head turned toward Will, but Sarah didn't need to see Jonathan's face to know that it looked betrayed., "But I'm fighting fit."

"Our powers were bound," Jonathan said.

"Dude." Will said, "That doesn't mean I can't fight."

"We need help." Sarah whispered, "Right now you're the only ones who can tell the guardians where we are." She didn't believe for a second that these two would get back in time, but if it got them to leave…

"You're full of shit." Jonathan hissed.

Then suddenly what little light there was expanded, Sarah looked beside her to see the little moonbeam moving by her shoulder.

The moonbeam tried to speak but 'Moonbeam' was not a language Sarah learned. Though she could guess the meaning. If this was the same moonbeam that had been in Jack's dagger, then they had even less time than she thought.

She held Jonathan's hand. "Please." She whispered, "Your injured, you need that leg looked at." She said while pricking her brother's finger.

His eyes widened as he finally saw the rift she created. "Sarah…" He shook his head.

"You want to help?" Sarah said whispering furiously, "Get out of here, tell the guardians where we are and get that leg looked at."

She turned to them "We don't have time." She said.

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine," Sarah whispered the moonbeam was starting to grow impatient. If it could have Sarah had no doubt it would have been pushing her toward the cavern entrance. "Please." She said her voice becoming horse and choked up. "Please, you're too injured, and you could get killed." She looked toward the cave, it was too dark to tell what was going on, but she doubted it was anything good. She could hear Krampus saying something menacing to Jackie though the specifics were muffled.

"I'm not that bad," Jonathan said standing, before immediately sitting back down again. "Ow."

"That's what I thought," Sarah said lifting his arm and putting it around her neck. "You're in pain," Sarah said. "It's ok. You were as brave as you could have been, your role is done."

Jonathan looked close to tears. "Come home," Jonathan said. "Please."

"Will help me," Sarah said.

"I know what your planning," Will whispered knowingly. "Don't do it."

Sarah smiled sadly at Will, "He needs someone to help him home. And I can't leave Jackie alone… not when I'm the reason this mess is happening."

Will looked at her brother, then back at her and she knew that she had him. Leaving an injured boy, to crawl home alone was not on his "I'll be back." He promised. "Don't die in the interim."

Sarah didn't argue with him just pricked his finger with the needle-disguised scythe and smiled. "Go."

Will grabbed hold of Jonathan. He looked at the rift in mild surprise before he and Jonathan hobbled through the gate. "I'll be back." He promised. "I swear."

Sarah smiled as the rift closed. Then she looked toward the opening, where she could see Jackie on the floor, glaring up at Krampus defiantly.

The moonbeam flickered with words that were unintelligible but sounded a bit like "Well about time!"

Sarah decided not to argue with Nightlight's most faithful companion, "Let's go." She told the moonbeam.

Sarah flipped the scythe into the air, and slashed at the opening, whatever bubble was there preventing escaping went down in three strokes.

She practically flew toward Krampus and aimed the scythe at his neck.

Jackie's eyes opened to see her.

"Leave her alone." Sarah hissed.