A/N: I don't believe I have properly thanked everyone who has favorited/followed or reviewed this story. Be sure that all your support is greatly appreciated! My roommates were laughing at me last night as I did a little happy dance when I found out I had two more people who have favorited The Sides of Winter. Thank you so much for all your support and don't forget to leave a review on the way out!
A/N 2: Neither dialogue or action scenes are in any way close to my comfort zone. And this entire chapter is either dialogue or action. So please let me know what you think.
Chapter 6: Battle Plans
"This has to stop," the large, Pookan warrior snarled as he glared at the raging storm outside.
The Guardians had gathered at the North Pole again for the fourth time in as many weeks for yet another winter storm that was sweeping across western America. Most of the Northern Hemisphere was by now covered in snow. In the middle of May. And there seemed to be no way of stopping the next storm from happening.
This "Old Man Winter" or whatever the spirit was called was wreaking havoc on the mortal and immortal worlds alike. Mortals were locked indoors to keep out of the cold and snow, terrified of the next storm to hit their area. Immortals, although not necessarily threatened by the cold, were having a hard time doing their jobs, putting them in danger of fading.
Easter was apparently only the beginning. The Spirit of Winter had covered half the world in snow, garnering new believers in children and adults. With each new storm the winter spirit gained more believers, becoming more and more powerful. Because he wasn't limited to only the belief of children, like the Guardians were, his power was growing much more rapidly than they ever expected.
Across the room from where Bunny was pacing in front of the window, North sat forlornly in front of the fireplace staring into the flames with his head in his hands. He had been going over there latest battle's details, which really hadn't been a battle at all. The Guardians had gone out during the last blizzard to force the winter elemental to put a stop to the storms, but his power had grown too great for them to get close enough. Sandy got closest, and even he was only able to make out a faint blue glow from the eye of the storm before he had had to turn back.
North sighed in response to Bunny's anger. He had been saying the same thing for the past few days, but they couldn't do anything by themselves.
"There is nothing we can do Bunny. He is too powerful for us to handle on our own and the other immortals are too scared of him," North said, finally raising his head from his hands. He looked around at his companions, as Tooth sat still and silent next to him and Sandy watched Bunny sadly.
"We've tried," Tooth moaned. "Over and over. But it's getting worse." Sandy nodded his agreement.
Bunny whirled around to face the other three members of the Guardians, anger lacing his features.
"Well we have to try something else! He can't get away with this!" Bunny yelled back. He stomped over to the others, waving his arms around, wild-eyed. "We have to stop him! No one else will!"
"You think I don't want this to stop?!" Tooth screamed as her wings took her off her chair to be eye to eye with the tall Pooka. "My girls are out there every night trying to get the children's teeth! Every night I'm afraid they won't come back."
She fell back to the floor, hands hiding her face and tears forming in her eyes, as she remembered the feeling of losing the connection to one of her girls. She had tried to find her missing fairy after the first storm, but something was blocking the connection so much so that she couldn't locate her. And then, one week later, during the second storm, the connection ceased altogether.
"I already lost one," Tooth cried into her hands. Bunny's ears fell back on his head, hunching over in pain, as he watched his teammate crying over her lost fairy. They were basically children to the Tooth Fairy.
"I'm sorry Tooth," Bunny said quietly, resting his paw on her shoulder. "I didn't mean that you weren't trying your best."
North watched sadly as the Fairy Queen broke down for what felt like the hundredth time since this whole nightmare started. Sighing, he stood and waived to one of the passing yetis to get some food for his companions.
"Come my friends, yetis bring us meal and we get back to planning later."
As North and Sandy turned to the door and Bunny helped Tooth up, one of the yeti in charge of security ran in waving his arms about.
"Grugadaba!" The yeti shouted, confusing all in the room but North.
"What? We have visitors?" North asked in curiosity. There was a storm raging outside the Pole, courtesy of the Spirit of Winter. Few immortals would be able to make it through the howling winds and white-out snow.
Bunny, thinking along the same lines, looked dumbfounded. "Who would go through that storm to come here?"
Tooth and Sandy looked at each other, shrugging in their confusion.
"Well," North said. "I guess we shall have to go greet our guests."
With that, the Guardians made their way towards the front hallway near the main entrance, not at all expecting who awaited them.
"Hello Guardians," came the voice of the Spirit of Summer, Adeen. "I do believe we are in a position to aid each other."
The Spirits of Spring and Autumn, Hanako and Taima, stood behind their leader looking grim. The Guardians looked at them in astonishment. Each had seen the Spirits of the Seasons only a handful of times in the hundreds if not thousands of years each had been around.
"And what can we help you with?" North questioned after pulling himself together and dragging his chin off the floor.
"What do you think?" Adeen said, nearly snarling at their ignorance, small flames igniting at the tips of his fingers.
Taima stepped forward, putting her hand on Adeen's arm placatingly. The Native American immortal had always been the calmest of the group. As she stepped forward to address the Guardians, all eyes turned to her.
"The Spirit of Winter is out of control," the autumn spirit began. "The three of us have already attempted to stop him, as I'm sure you have done as well. He has grown too powerful with all of his new believers and we haven't been able to get close to him during his storms or find him in between. Even Adeen, with all of his fire and heat, has not been able to make a dent in these storms."
At the last comment, the summer spirit looked away in anger, crossing his arms.
"Yes, well, we all know the danger that winter sprite is posing to the world and none of us can defeat him on our own," Adeen said.
"So what?" Bunny said, stepping forward. "We all team up and try to nab the bugger before the next storm?"
"Or we get him right now, during this storm," came Hanako's quiet voice from the back, as she stared out the small window behind her. The prideful young Japanese girl would always believe they could defeat any adversary, no matter the circumstances. "His focus is on creating the storm, keeping it going. He won't see us coming, and certainly not so many of us."
The Guardians all looked at each other, weighing the options. It was their oldest that finally made the decision. At Sandy's nod, North stepped forward to address the seasonals.
"We're in."
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Tooth was not a warrior at heart like North or Bunny. She was more like Sandy, wanting to find a peaceful solution before blades were drawn. But today, as she found herself in North's sleigh flying through an out-of-control winter storm, she was ready to force the Spirit of Winter to end his reign of terror.
The sleigh was protected on all sides by the Spirits of the Seasons. Adeen was riding one of the lead deer with Taima and Hanako flying along beside the sleigh. The three of them were trying to use their control over warmer temperatures to keep some of the snow away and stabilize the Guardians' means of transportation. Already, they had gotten farther than they ever had before. The seasonals were not tiring as quickly as they didn't need to fight the wind for long before resting in the sleigh and the Guardians finally had more protection from the snow and cold than what little protection Sandy was ever able to give.
They had been flying through the storm for hours, North following the directions of Adeen who could feel the location of his counterpart in the air. All their work was finally paying off though, and relief and a battle-ready energy swept through Tooth as she caught sight of the glowing blue orb in front of them. In any other situation, she would have been mesmerized. The wind seemed to swirl around the individual inside, going faster and faster the longer it stayed within his reach. The snowflakes caught in the vortex reflected the light given off by the spirit within, creating a swirling, spinning, glowing orb that looked near impenetrable.
Tooth was brought back from her observations as both Taima and Hanako landed in the sleigh, eyes on the orb.
"He has gotten even more powerful," Hanako yelled over the roaring wind, the slightest sliver of fear in her eyes. "Are we even going to be able to break through to reach him?"
"Maybe we draw his attention away from the storm and the shield will drop?" North voiced from his position at the reigns.
"Can Adeen break through?" Tooth asked of Taima. "He controls fire. Can't he do something?"
Taima shook her head sadly, looking back at Adeen at the front of the sleigh.
"Adeen has always been the strongest of us," she began. "But these storms are draining him. Like the Spirit of Winter cannot be in warm places for too long without losing power, neither can the Spirit of Summer be in cold places for long."
Taima paused here, looking to her older sister to further explain. Hanako looked as though she wouldn't continue, not wanting to show weakness in front of the Guardians.
"We are all most powerful within our own season," Hanako began slowly, not looking away from the glowing orb in front of them. "As such, our power fluctuates from season to season. Taima and I are the least affected as both spring and fall have aspects of the other two seasons. We herald seasons of change, and as such, we can adapt. The boys though have a much harder time being away from their season.
"Because of his age, Adeen has learned to adapt his power so that he does not feel the change of seasons as drastically as he once did. If this had been a normal winter and not weeks of nonstop snow and ice, he would have been able to aid us. But this constant cold has started to affect him. He tries not to show it, but he is tiring rapidly. The only place he is safe right now is near the equator."
The Guardians listened quietly, watching as Adeen started to make his way back to them, jumping from one reindeer to the next, avoiding using the wind to aid him. Now that she was looking closely, Tooth could see that Adeen was shaking slightly from the effort of getting back into the sleigh. Looking at him, she began to feel hopelessness set in. If a wielder of fire could not tame this storm, how much of a chance did the rest of them have?
"Well," Adeen said as he finally made it back to them, trying not to show how tired he was after such a simple exercise. "Did you come up with any plans?"
"We thought that maybe distracting him from the storm might lower whatever shield he has in place," North said over his shoulder.
Sighing, Adeen rubbed his face with his hands. "It's worth a try. Maybe the storm will calm some without his guidance."
"You know that might not work," Taima said patiently. "Once he lets go of the storm, it might develop into something he won't be able to regain control of. We want to force him to stop the storm, not let it go."
"So we have to force our way into the glowing ball of death," Bunny said sarcastically, crossing his arms. "How lovely."
They were, by now, less than twenty yards from the center of this terrible storm. Tooth could now make out the silhouette of a very thin man with a staff in one hand. The staff was where the blue light was coming from. It was glowing brilliantly giving off an unearthly light.
"The staff," Tooth found herself saying. The others turned to her and she knew she had to explain herself. "The staff is where the light is coming from. Is it possible that it is also how he controls the storm?"
The Guardians turned to the seasonals who would know the most about this, but even they looked confused.
"None of us use an object to aid us in our tasks," Adeen stated, looking contemplative. "Although, he has had that staff since he was reborn. I am nearly certain he uses it to fly."
Taima nodded, "But his power does not come from the staff, if he is connected to it at all. The power comes from within, and it may become unpredictable if he is separated from it."
"He is already unpredictable," Bunny nearly yelled.
"I agree with Bunny," Tooth said. "We won't know anything unless we try something."
"And the reindeer are getting tired. We must try something soon," North said from the front of the sleigh.
With that, battle plans were made in earnest. It was decided that Bunny would attempt to distract the Spirit of Winter by throwing some of his egg bombs at the orb while the seasonals tried to wrestle the wind into their control. Sandy would then drive a wedge of his sand into the glowing ball and from there, everything became uncertain.
As the wind calmed slightly due to the work of the Spirits of the Seasons and Bunny got ready to launch his first bomb, Tooth could feel the rage building in her. She would make this spirit pay for what he has done to her girls and the children.
There was an explosion in front of her as the egg bomb released its colorful smoke into the swirling vortex, distorting the beautiful blue coloring it originally held. The next moment, the wind rocked the sleigh as they drew the winter spirit's attention with Sandy driving right through the swirling wind and snow with a sand-made wedge.
Tooth watched as the figure in front of her turned to observe his guests. If she didn't know better, she would have thought the emotions crossing his features stemmed from an innocent confusion. But that couldn't be. This sadistic winter spirit was purposefully covering the world's population in snow so deep that people couldn't leave their homes to find food. She could see the tattered clothing and small cuts along his skin, testament to his past without his protective wind shield.
What really drew her attention, however, was the little blue fairy that hovered around the winter spirit's head. It was the missing fairy that she had been looking for for so long. The fairy that she lost her connection with. But now that Tooth knew she was alive, she looked for that connection again and found a weak thread where there once was a strong bridge. She also found love, and not for any of the other mini-tooth fairies or herself.
Tooth was shocked to find that her little girl loved the Spirit of Winter.
That can't be, she thought viciously. This spirit is evil. There is no way one of my girls could love him like they love me.
Adeen's strong voice brought her out of her musings.
"Jack!" he yelled towards the floating figure. "This has to stop! It's May! Hanako should be starting the transition to summer!"
The voice that responded shocked Tooth. It sounded almost like a child, but that couldn't be right.
"No! They can finally see me! I finally have believers! The children can see me! I can play with them once they come out of their homes."
"Ya gumby!" Bunny shouted, waving his boomerang at the Spirit of Winter. "No one will come out in these storms! Are you daft?! This is going to kill people!"
"No! It won't! I won't let it!" came the reply. It sounded so desperate, that Tooth felt her mothering personality coming to the front and she couldn't understand why she would want to protects such an evil being. It would be like wanting to protect Pitch Black. That thought made her shiver in horror.
"Stop these storms, Jack!" Hanako shouted, her beautiful face contorted into a mask of anger. "Or we will stop them ourselves!"
"Please. They can't stop! They finally see me!"
At that, Bunny had finally heard enough. He threw his boomerang with as much strength as he could muster. The winter spirit only just dodged it, only to have to quickly duck under a line of flames coming from Adeen's hands.
Tooth flew forward with Sandy, both having fought side by side in the air before. As Sandy distracted the spirit with his quickly appearing weapons, Tooth flew at him with her sword drawn ready to grab the glowing staff.
She got within two feet of the spirit before he saw her and whipped his staff in her direction, directing a line of ice shards towards her. She screamed in pain as the sharp edges bit through her wings.
"Tooth!" North yelled from the sleigh, bringing it around so that he could pick her up. She landed with difficulty.
"I'm fine, North," she said. "Help the others."
Tooth looked up just as Adeen and Taima combined their elements into a single powerful force of fire and lightening. But the Spirit of Winter was able to block the attack that could have brought down even some of the most powerful immortals with only a swing of his staff, commanding the wind to bounce the attack right back.
This battle was not going the way they all wanted. Tooth watched as Adeen tired in the cold. She watched as Bunny got hurled towards the ground, who knew how far away. Sandy had been impaled by a giant icicle and was slowly trying to remove it while doing his best to protect the still fighting seasonals. She watched as Hanako and Taima tried one last attack on their fellow seasonal spirit, only to be met with a wall of ice and wind.
And then the wind stopped listening to the seasonal spirits altogether and they dropped like stones towards the ground.
"North!" Tooth screamed as four of their companions sailed towards pain and injury at the grounds surface.
"On it!" North cried as he directed the reindeer down towards their falling teammates. Sandy landed just in time to help Tooth pull Hanako into the sleigh, then Taima and Adeen. Bunny was getting far too close to ground for comfort.
"Sandy! Cushion his fall!" North yelled out. He was having a hard time keeping the reindeer from bolting in fear from the ice and an even harder time keeping them in a straight line.
Sandy just nodded and stepped forward to weave a cloud of sand and sent it after Bunny. It caught up just in time, stopping Bunny's fall and cushioned him as much as possible. When he was brought back onto the sleigh, Tooth felt tears in her eyes as she saw the large cut on his forehead and his closed eyes. The ice blast that pushed him towards the ground must have done more damage than they originally thought.
"We still can't beat him," Tooth cried. The others around her all looked down sadly. This had been their one chance, and they had failed. There was nothing they could do anymore.
"We get out of this snow then," North said as he slowly turned the sleigh around to head back to the North Pole.
Tooth looked back at the Spirit of Winter one last time. He floated there surrounded by his storm. Her little fairy nearly glowed blue in the white background as she circled the spirit's head excitedly. They looked so happy it made her sick. How could someone enjoy such devastation?
Her last thought as the pair disappeared from view was that the Guardians were going to have to work extra hard in order to keep any of the children safe from this sadist. And hopefully the fear theses storms caused won't bring back Pitch.
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"…seems to be no end to these storms…most of the world covered…keep indoors and stay warm…government issued emergency protocol…wait for assistance before moving…people saying storms caused by the Spirit of Winter…"
The radio had been saying the same things for the past week at least. Mr. Bennett couldn't wait for whatever government aid decided to finally show up. A few days ago, his second son, little Michael, had developed a cough and fever. The family had done what they could to break the fever and keep Michael comfortable, but nothing was working anymore. He needed a hospital.
Sighing, Mr. Bennett looked out the crack in the wood covering one of the windows. He could only just peak over the top of the snow. It had stopped falling in their area for almost a week before it started back up again. The Spirit of Winter had not taken them up on their offer for aid and had decided to punish humanity for whatever slights he has imagined.
He turned back to look at his wife who was holding their boys close in sleep. They were all covered in blankets with a small fire going nearby. He was going to have to check on their food stores again soon. They were starting to run terrifyingly low, and there wasn't much he could do to stop it.
A strange noise from outside drew his attention back to the window. He tried to see through the snow coming down, much lighter than normal, but his visibility of the outside world was limited at best.
He tried not to raise his hopes too much, but it almost sounded like a helicopter.
As the sound got louder, Mr. Bennett couldn't hold in his excitement anymore. Whatever emergency protocol the radio had been talking about must finally be here. Michael was going to get the medical attention he desperately needed. He looked back at his waking family with a large smile on his face.
"We are getting out of here."
So there. A little foreshadowing mixed in. Remember, reviews are the writer's sustenance. Without them, how am I to know if you actually like it or not?