Adventures of John: The Adventurer and the Snow Queen
Chapter 1

For what seemed an eternity, I floated through nothingness. No light, no substance, just me, and that would bot last very long. I could feel myself begin to unravel, my very essence being erased from existence. For a moment, I almost welcomed the end. The end to pain, the end to troubles, the end to everything. But in the last instant I pulled back, remembering myself. I was John the Adventurer! I had traveled to lands beyond man's wildest dreams and face terrors more terrible than man's worst nightmares. I would not end in this way. I would not let everything I had done, and everything I could do, be erased from history! Gathering my strength of will, I forced myself from the nothingness, leaving the darkness and entering the light.

I awoke on a snowy mountaintop overlooking a sea-side port city far below, with the sun setting behind a palace out in the bay, connected to the city by a single bridge. At first, I was simply overjoyed to be alive. Then it settled in that I was no where near my home in Las Vegas. At first I simply thought I must be somewhere in Europe, but I soon realised that I might be even farther from home than that. A lot farther. The city had no electric lights shining despite the coming night, and the port was filled with old-timey sailing ships.
Checking my surroundings, I learned that those were not the only discrepancies. The air was far too clean, and the gravity was wrong. It wasn't off by much, just enough for me to feel far too light. Also, there was this... electricity to the air, an energy that was oh-so familiar, yet I had never felt it on earth.
"No..." I murmured to myself. "It can't be!"
Reaching out my hand and, I imagined a flame, hovering in the air above my hand, and it appeared! I could see the flame's light and feel its heat. For a second I simply stood there, staring at the little flame. I immediately checked for that tug that meant that my body was still at home, waiting for me. I felt nothing. I was actually, physically there. A grin slowly spread across my face. I had my powers. Now to have some fun with them. Laughing, I breathed a gout of flame out into the night sky, a flame which took the shape of a mighty dragon. I leaped on his flaming back, and letting out a mighty roar he flew over the town. The townspeople ran in all directions, shrieking in terror as this fiery beast flew down from the mountains. Then for a brilliant t finale I took a page from the Lord of the Rings playbook, and in a spectacular display much like the one from Bilbo's birthday party, I sent my dragon spiraling upwards into the sky before shattering in an explosion of light and sound, while I materialised in a dark alley, watching the stunned faces of the townsfolk.
Examining the apparel of the various stunned individuals, I molded my face and form to blend in, but in a very conspicuous manner. My t-shirt and sweatpants, which, from what I could see, would be very out of place, transformed into a crimson old-timey coat, the kind with two rows of golden buttons and the weird tasseled shoulder-things, along with crisp dress pants of the same shade as the jacket. My face I aged slightly, changing from that of a boy in his late teens to a man in his early twenties. I also took the liberty of adding a bit of muscle mass to my thin form, just enough to make me look athletic. My height I didn't need to change, as I was already a good six foot four, much taller than anyone around I could see. (Though I did still change it a little. I always wanted to be six foot seven.)By the time I was through, the scrawny, modernized teenager had transformed into well-dressed, athletic nobleman. (Not exactly inconspicuous, but that wasn't what I was going for.)
I immediately assumed my most regal air and walked over to one of the still stupefied townspeople and requested(oh-so regally) that he take me to the city's finest inn. He simply stared at me blankly until the moment I procured a single gold coin. He was then very eager to help. Due to my lack of knowledge of the local currency, the coin was completely blank, but I doubt he either noticed or cared. He led me to an establishment in what I assumed was the better part of town, closer to the palace. I thanked him for his aid and gave him another coin, after which he ran off to wherever it was he came from. I had been interested to note that he had spoken perfect english without a trace of an accent. I was not entirely sure that he was, in fact, speaking english. It was very possible that it was I who was speaking his language, or that we were both speaking our own languages and still somehow magically understood each other.
After these contemplations I entered the inn and bought myself the best room they had using more unmarked coins i conjured up. I felt a little guilty as I did so, knowing that due to them being nothing more than constructs formed by my magic, they probably would not last that long after I had left. I then went to my room, turning down the innkeeper's offer of dinner. Of course, once he left I immediately conjured up a three-course turkey dinner. Not only did I not trust the food to be sanitary, but the last time I ate the food on one of my adventures, I spent the next three hours stuck in the body of a rat. It was not a pleasant experience. (Of course, I was at a faerie ball at the time, and everyone knows that you should never eat faerie food, but the point still stands.) After my feast I conjured myself a memory foam bed, knowing that the one available was most probably littered with bedbugs.
Why choose the best inn possible if I was just going to conjure up everything I needed in the first place? Why not pick somewhere less conspicuous, or maybe even conjure myself up a palace in the sky? Well, for one thing, palaces are much more difficult than food or bedding. But it was mostly for the image. If I was stuck here for the time being, I might as well have as impressive persona as possible without arising too much suspicion. So, if I wanted to be a noble, I had to pick the best inn in town. (Teehee. Inn, In.) And so, I took my noble self and lay down in my bed, thinking of all the things I could do now that I had my powers.

I awoke to the sound of the innkeeper's heavy fist slamming against the door and deep voice shouting through it. "I know your beauty sleep must be important to you milord," he called, "but I don't think you'd like to miss the event!"
I, of course, had no idea what this event was, but it sounded interesting. So I opened the door, watching the shocked face of the innkeeper as he took in my immaculate appearance and the perfect condition of my room. He obviously expected me to look like I had just gotten out of bed and for my bed to be a mess. Of course, I couldn't have that, or him seeing the remains of my feast and my memory foam bed, so with a bit of magic I cleaned both myself and the room up in the time it took me to reach the door. Magic is fun isn't it?
I walked past the stunned innkeeper, forcing him to run to catch up to me. "Will you be requiring any help, sir?"
"No thank you," I told him. "I think I can find the way myself." I was, of course, lying through my teethS I had no idea where I was going, so I simply followed the crowd.
While I was walking, I heard snippets of conversation, from excitement over the upcoming event, to gossip about some incident during the queen's coronation, to talk about my spectacle the night before(the last of which made me quite proud). I soon became bored of eavesdropping and used this time to think. This realm was obviously magical, what with me being able to use my abilities, but other than myself and the energy in the air I could find no evidence of magic anywhere. Almost more shocking was the people. They were all human! In my experience, humans were not all that common in the magical realms. Those that were there were not there naturally, or willingly. Many were stolen from their homes, to be used as playthings for the Fae. Those that weren't are usually lost, having accidently made their way there, which is how you get such stories as Alice in Wonderland an the Wizard of Oz. But they are never there naturally. Or, at least, that was what I had been led to believe from my previous adventures. I suppose no matter how much you know there will always be something waiting around the corner to surprise you.
I was awakened from my thoughts as I bumped into the person before me, causing me to realise that we had reached our destination, which appeared to be the palace courtyard. Due to my lack of attention, I had unfortunately ended up in the back of the crowd, but my magic-enhanced height was more than enough to see over the heads of the crowd. The crowd had formed a wide ring around the center of the courtyard, where stood a regal, beautiful woman who I could only assume was the queen between a pair of fountains. Before I could see more though, I felt a tug on my sleeve, and turned around to see a pretty young woman about my (real) age, followed by a not-so-pretty man, who looked very uncomfortable in his fancy suit, about my (fake) age. (Though I guess girls might find the guy somewhat handsome. I've never been a good judge on such things.)
"Hello," the woman said timidly, nervously tucking a strand of short brown hair behind her ear. "I'm Rapunzel, and this is Eugene. We ran a bit later than expected, and we couldn't help but notice your slight, um, hight advantage. Could you help us out?"
Today was full of surprises, apparently. My spell fails, I almost cease to exist, I drop into a magical world where I can use my powers, and now I was face-to-face with a Disney princess. I knew, of course, that all fairytales where actual events that had happened in the past, but this was not the fairytale Rapunzel(plus, if it was, she would have to several centuries old). The dark, shorn-off hair, the bright, curious green eyes, the timid, awkward way she asked the question, it all pointed to the same impossible answer. Even her companion, Eugene was the same. The way he squirmed uncomfortably in his suit, the darting of his eyes. I was standing directly in front of Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert, aka Flynn Rider, formerly a wanted thief.
Butt what was I doing talking to the protagonists of a Disney movie?
And what sort of event was I attending?
I turned back toward the center courtyard, back to where the queen stood. She was the picture of beauty, with skin of ivory, eyes of brilliant sapphire, and hair of platnium, in a lovely braid adorned with snowflake designs across her left shoulder. She wore an elegant, shimmering gown that appeared to be made of thousands of tiny sapphire crystals, with a long, transparent cape covered with more snowflake designs. Her fair skin was complemented by her delicate figure, but despite that figure, all one had to do was look in her eyes to see there was nothing delicate about her. There was a strength in her eyes that I had not seen in anyone for a very long time.
But more shocking by far than either her beauty or her hidden strength was the fact that I knew her. In fact, I had seen her only a little over a month earlier, a few days after Thanksgiving. She was none other than Queen Elsa, one of the major characters of the most recent Disney movie, Frozen. But this was impossible! They were just Disney characters! I knew, of course, that fairytales were things that actually happened once upon a time, but have you read the Snow Queen? Frozen is barely even loosely based on that tale.
"Are you okay?" Rapunzel asked, taking me away from my thoughts.
"Yes," I answered. "Perfectly alright. I just get lost in thought sometimes."
So, turning once again back to the courtyard, I relayed to her what I saw. "The queen has just turned around, and appears to be speaking to someone who I believe is her sister, the princess Anna." It was in fact Anna, the white streak in her otherwise red-blonde hair noticeably absent. I then had an extreme moment of déjà vu, as Elsa stamped her foot against the ground, ice spreading from the time of impact, freezing the two fountains and creating elaborate icy arches around the perimeter of the courtyard. She then finished it all off with a burst of icy magic straight up in the air, exploding in a manner quite similar to my dragon the night before.
"Well," I said, turning to Rapunzel, who was now trying to keep herself from slipping on the fresh ice. "I don't think you need me to tell you what just happened there."
"I think I might have something of an idea," she replied, laughing.
"Good then," I answered, smiling myself. "We wouldn't want you to be clueless, now would we?"
"Eugene, did you remember the skates?" she asked, turning to Eugene, who was conspicuously skate-less. "Pascal?" The chameleon in question was also without skates, and was, at the time, trying without success to keep from sliding away.
"Here," I said laughing, picking up Pascal and putting him on Rapunzel's shoulders. "Let me help with that." With a wave of my hand, Rapunzel's and Eugene's shoes where replaced by ice skates, eliciting a shriek of joy from Rapunzel and a yelp of surprise from Eugene, as he tumpled to the ground.
"But how-" Rapunzel asked, cut off by my finger on her lips.
"Don't mention it," I told her, removing the finger. "Its our little secret. Now you lovebirds go have fun!"
And so Rapunzel clumsily led an even clumsier Eugene across the ice, Pascal clinging on to her shoulder for dear life. On the other side of the courtyard, Elsa led Anna across the ice, the riendeer Sven and Olaf the snowman close behind. I meanwhile, sat back and smiled, watching the happiness in everyone's faces.
"Now this," I said, "is a happy ending." That was, of course, when everything went wrong. A shadow passed over the sun, plunging the courtyard into darkness. A chill, joyless laugh went through the air. "What a merry gathering!" the voice proclaimed. "Mind if I join in?" Around the courtyard the shadows shifted, condensing in the center, where the queen had stood, into the shape of a faceless man dressed in black Victorian finery, complete with tophat and cane. The man looked around the courtyard, and the laugh split the air again, despite there being no mouth from it to emerge from. "We are going to have so much fun!"
I had no idea what this thing was doing here, or how it got here, but I knew it. I had faced this creature before, heard that spine-tingling voice. I knew its name.
"Shadow Trickster!"

Note: If I decide to tell the tales of any more of my adventures, they will not be in order. This is, in fact, the most recent of my adventures. Also, while Rapunzel and Eugene are in this tale, they are not the focus of it. That is why I have not put this is the crossover section.