Chapter 2

Pitch paced around his lair, darkness creeping in the shadows, the only sounds were chains rattling and nightmares forming. He glared at the dark globe as one tiny little bright light that stood out from the rest burned his eyesight. Every ten years some little brat was chosen to get a gift. Not only spoiling the kid but giving them more reason than most to believe, something Pitch hated.

"Some Hawaiian child." He muttered low to himself in his dark lair, rolling his eyes, "God I hate these stupid little gifts."

The light flickered brightly and he wanted nothing more than to snuff it out, "And those Guardians will be so heroic and talked about for ages to come! But what about me?! When do I get a shot?!" he yelled angrily, swinging at nothing in particular.

He leaned against the globe to pout when he heard the sound of one of his fearlings approaching. He normally spied on the Guardians and though he never interfered, he always found it was nice to be a step ahead of them.

"What is it?" he mumbled.

The fearling spoke in a whispery voice that only Pitch could hear. What he did hear piqued his interest, "A brother? And he may lose her? He's losing hope?!" he cried joyfully, "Now this is a celebration!" he laughed, doing a small dance of victory, "Do you know what that means?" he asked the fearling.

It didn't answer him and he rolled his eyes, "I'm surrounded by morons." He muttered, "It means that by separating them they can't grant her wish."

He thought to himself happily; if the brother and sister were separated, both would lose hope and the girl could not get her wish fulfilled, meaning she too would lose faith in the Guardians and stop believing. Normally these things bored him to tears but for some reason he was feeling antsy and ready to go.

"I say we aid them in their quest, eh boy?" he smiled at his fearling that disappeared into a cloud of dust. He looked up through a hole in his lair to see the moon shining brightly and he grinned up at it mischievously, "My time to shine is now." He hissed.

….

Emma swam as though her life depended on it. Darn her stupid brother for eating all the peanut butter last night! Now she was late to dance class, something she always looked forward to doing.

She got to the beach sopping wet and wiped her long brown hair away from her chocolate eyes. Her leotard clung to her body as she ran to her bag. Picking it up, she pulled out her grass skirt quickly and began putting it on as she ran. She stopped when she noticed a rather strange tourist with an ice cream cone. He was huge! And his sunburn was the worst she'd seen in her time, considering it was also on top of his bald head, not to mention, his shorts were absolutely ridiculous. He stared around him as though bored with where he was. She stared at him for a moment and then pulled out her camera to take a picture, smiling at the man who stared back at her curiously. She looked at his digital watch and shrieked, not realizing just how late she was.

She turned and ran the path to her small little dance studio. It was the only place she felt alive in, besides the ocean. Her mother used to teach at the studio so Emma had been involved in every class be it hula, ballet, hip hop, and interpretive. Her mother loved to dance and it was something she encouraged in Emma every day.

She got to the small little studio surrounded by trees and flora and walked in carefully. She put her bag by the door and heard the music playing; they were in the middle of the routine. She clenched her teeth and crept onto the stage quietly and waited for her chance to enter dramatically. When late, make an entrance, her mother would say, and make it count.

She let the music consume her and moved her body to the rhythm, smiling the entire time.

The music ended and she knew she'd done it all flawlessly…until everyone around her slipped on the puddle of water surrounding her feet.

"Alright, alright!" a booming male voice said, coming up. To be honest, Emma always wondered how and why her dance instructor was even still in the business. He'd lost a hand and a leg to dancing and stunts he'd pull on and off land. And yet he owned the only dance studio on the island.

"Mr. Gobber!" a whiny blonde girl cried angrily, "Emma got me all wet!"

"Taffeta…" Gobber warned, knowing just what was coming. He'd been used to the girls picking on Emma but he always tried to stop it before it got out of hand, "Alright then Miss Emma…why don't you tell us why you are late and why you are wet."

Emma sighed and twiddled her fingers nervously, "It's sandwich day." She said boldly.

"Eh?" he asked.

"Every Thursday I take Pudge the fish a peanut butter sandwich..."

"This "Pudge"…he's a fish?" Gobber asked feeling perplexed.

Emma nodded and continued, "And today we were out of peanut butter. So I asked my brother what I could give him, and he suggested 'a tuna sandwich'. I can't give Pudge tuna!" she yelled exasperatedly, then leaned in and whispered to Gobber, "Do you know what tuna is?"

Gobber smiled in spite of himself, "Aye, that'd be a fish?"

At this point Emma was hysterical, "IT'S FISH! If I give Pudge tuna, I'd be an abomination! I'm late because I had to go to the store and get peanut butter 'cause all we have is... is... stinkin' tuna!" she cried, stomping her feet angrily.

"Emma love!" Gobber stopped her, "Why is this so important to yeh?"

Emma looked at him calmly, "Pudge controls the weather." She said simply.

Gobber stared at her but his face grew concerned.

"You're such a lunatic." Taffeta joked.

Emma had had it and turned around to sock the girl in the face right where her brother had taught her. But that didn't stop her as she jumped on the girl and tried beating her to kingdom come.

Gobber intervened and picked up Emma with his hooked hand, "Emma! That is no way to behave in this class!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry!" she shrieked, realizing what she'd done, "I'm sorry!"

He put her down and knelt before her, "I think I ought to call your brother and-"

"NO! Please!" she cried, "I'll be good, I just wanna dance!"

"Oh my God!" Taffeta yelled, "The freak bit me!"

"Eww!" everyone else yelled as they gathered around Taffeta's arm.

Emma's face turned red and she looked away, knowing at this point, her fate was sealed.

…

Jack could officially say that he was freaking out. He'd had it all planned out the minute he got the call that a new social worker was coming; make a good meal, clean the house, pick up his sister and show off how amazing things were at home. But…no!

He'd woken up to his sister freaking out about peanut butter and that started it all. He was out of food, so he had to run to the store. Not only that, he was so caught up in cleaning he'd started dinner late and was cursing a storm as it burned before his very eyes. And to top it all off, his sister was late to dance and had gotten into a fight. Now he had to rush to pick her up and pray that the social worker didn't come early.

He ran quickly and panted as he stared at his watch. He was so distracted he turned a corner and bumped into someone, falling back onto his butt.

"Jack!" a kind male voice said happily, reaching out to help him up, "You okay?"

"Hi Hiccup." Jack gasped, getting up and wiping dust off his blue trunks, "Sorry." He said, chocolate eyes looking into bright green ones.

"Where you headed in a hurry?" Hiccup asked kindly, freckled hands resting on his hips.

"Oh…" Jack mumbled, feeling flustered, "I gotta go get my sister." He admitted as he ruffled his spiky brown hair around. He and Hiccup had similar hair color, but Hiccup's hair was much shaggier and went past his ears to hide a dragon tooth earring (at least that's what he liked to call it).

"She okay?" Hiccup asked with concern.

"Yeah, look…" Jack said, feeling panicky, "I really need to go, I'll see you at work tomorrow, okay?"

Hiccup frowned sadly but nodded, "I'll see you Jack."

Before he could even say another word, Jack was speeding around the corner towards Gobber's dance studio.

Hiccup sighed as he watched Jack leave. He knew, hell, everyone on the island knew about Jack's situation. To be honest he never expected to see Jack again. Right after high school, Jack was on a plane to a college in New York City to study Psychology. Unfortunately only a year after he'd enrolled, did his parents die in a car accident when a storm had hit the island. Jack came back immediately, dropped out of school, and took charge of Emma's care. Many social workers had come by threatening to take her away, but Jack always managed to ward them off and make a good impression. Lately however, things had been taking a turn for the worse with Emma's attitude in school and that got Jack and Emma unwanted attention, meaning he was back at square one with her.

Hiccup knew how much Jack loved Emma and had seen how great he was with her, and it broke his heart that people would try to separate them just because they assumed Jack couldn't take care of her.

He walked a ways down the path towards his dad's store and heard a honk, so he knew to get out of the way. He turned and saw a sleek black vehicle behind him pull up. The tinted windows rolled down and Hiccup began sweating nervously remembering those mafia movies he'd watched ages ago.

A burly black man rolled down the windows, wearing a tight suit and sunglasses that hid his eyes, giving him a sinister look.

"Do I owe someone money?" Hiccup asked nervously.

"Do you know where the Overland household is?" the man in black asked him in a low voice, ignoring his comment.

"Uh…" Hiccup started and realized that this must be a social worker. Shoot! Jack was in a frenzy right now and if he gave this guy the right directions he could get there before Jack did.

"Yeah, keep going down that road for about a mile and turn right." Hiccup said quickly.

"Thanks." The man said, rolling his window back up and driving off.

Hiccup smiled to himself and did a silent cheer for Jack to get home before that guy did.