Disclaimer: Disclaimed
Spoiler: Spoiled
Chapter 7: (Jack's P.O.V.)
I froze the moment she named herself. Some say names have power. Hers most definitely has strength. Her eyes shined with malice and spite. The flames in place of her pupils flickered dangerously. They looked like at any second, they could pounce out and devour me. Valleria began to sparkle and glow in the same shade of dark purple of Melanie's drapes. I readied my staff keeping an eye on every movement around me.
She lifted her arm and flicked her wrist towards me. Enormous amethyst flames leaped out of her skin in the shape of a menacing dragon. The fire dragon opened its mouth wide as if it was going to swallow me whole. I swished my staff along my body to make an ice shield. My shield encircled me with a large enough space for me to slide around if this were a game. The moment the fire and ice contacted they both negated each other turning them into smithereens.
"Fire and ice are polar opposites, child. Our fight shall depend on our stamina only. Unless I am in the mood of torture." She drones out of her awful voice.
She lifted her other arm and placed her hands side to side. She closed her eyes and murmured, "O Gods of Vengeance and Murder do me your grace. Shower me with your power to dispel the Cold."
She chanted those sentences over and over again. Black fumes exited her body quickly swallowing her up. I knew that there was going to be some serious trouble here if I let her continue her spell. So I did the logical thing. I charged.
I ran towards her circle of fume with my staff aimed high above my head. At the last moment I jumped up and slammed my staff into the air. Ice exploded from the tip of my staff freezing the haze surrounding her and me. It looked exactly like the monument in Antarctica when Pitch and I clashed. His darkness and my ice froze together making that unwanted creation. Instead of blue glazed over black, this time it was blue glazed over violet.
I smiled because I thought I had defeated her. My happiness lasted momentarily. I saw her wicked smile. It showed her crooked chipped yellow teeth. Her arms scaled around mine and pulled me down. I was pulled forcefully against her body, her stench filling my senses. Imagine moldy chicken and cheese, old gym uniforms unwashed for two years and Bunny's lost Easter eggs mixed into one unbearable reek.
"Let me show you your worse nightmares Jack Frost. My Pitch Black showed how to do this. He taught me how to show nightmares through my centers. I'll give you dreams so horrific you'll scream for murder. What is it you don't want to destroy the most? What is it you don't want to be vicious to the most?" she whispered haggardly.
I clamped my mouth shut. I wasn't going to say a thing to Valleria. She isn't going to know who I don't want hurt the most. Jamie. Melanie. Alvin, Cupcake and the twins. Not them. I wouldn't ever want to be violent to anyone. No one.
"You have an old love don't you? And the new potential one matches the old so perfectly. Let's see how cruel you can be to them. Remember, Winter isn't always nice."
Images popped into my mind, occupying every space in my head. I saw pictures of me shoving ice down both Melanies backs separately. I would be ice skating with the old Melanie back in the village when unsuspectingly I break the ice under her. I watch her drown in the pond just as I have. To make someone feel my pain.
I would go over to the present-day Melanie, stay over, sleep with her then slowly freeze her to death. I would smile at her shivering body; she begs to be warm again. Sadly, I wouldn't listen. She would die on her bed.
Stop… stop it! Stop showing me murders I would never commit to either of them! I love the old Melanie too much to ever kill her and the new Melanie hasn't done anything to deserve this! I wouldn't ever use my powers for those reasons! Stop it!
"Now what about the kids you protect? How can their hero hurt them?"
Jamie and the rest have frostbite. I form a snowball for each of them with ice in them and launch them towards their eyes. I blind each and everyone one of them. I make it so cold they can't leave their house. I take one of the children to go flying with me and I "accidentally" drop them. I encase every child in a block of ice.
No! No! I wouldn't ever kill the kids I work so hard to protect after. I treat them too much like family to even think of murdering them. Stop it!
"If you truly loved both of your loves, this will satisfy your season's cold side." She spoke softly echoing through the forest.
I wasn't sure which Melanie I was holding in this vision but I knew I was holding one of them. They were smiling so happily in my arms. I bent down and kissed them on the lips. It wasn't any usual peck on the lips though. Through our lips I shoved ice down their throat. They fought and struggled against me but I held on. I held on to their head against mine making sure they couldn't move. I continued the kiss, the ice traveling down their throats until I felt them go limp. I released the Melanies and allowed them to drop to my feet. I smiled and wiped my lips off with my right hand. I would fly off for others to find their dead corpses.
"No, no! Stop it! I wouldn't ever kill any of them. Release me Valleria! RELEASE ME!" I screamed from the top of my lungs. I twisted and turned in her arms trying to force my way out of her embrace. I could still see my atrocious acts happening before my eyes but I had to remember that they were only hallucinations. Illusions. They haven't occurred and they wouldn't ever.
Valleria smiled a cynical smile her flames burning darkly. She knew the pain she just caused to me. The horrors she showed might just stick with me forever. She was a sadist. She enjoyed the hurt she inflicted to me. You could see it through her attitude, smile and body language.
"I'll let you go for now Frost. Only a part of me is here currently. I come only to give you my signal of war and to show you what violence can do. What violence you can commit. Not all good guys stay good. I will await our next encounter, Winter."
She released me and faded into the fading sunset. How long did she keep me under her spell? It was still daybreak before she forced me to endure the cursed visions. I shivered not from the cold but from terror and dropped to my knees.
Could I really wreak havoc like Valleria showed me? Do I really have the heartlessness to hurt the mortals around me? Man in the Moon, tell me I can't. Tell me I won't for the good of the children. Just give me a sign. For the children the Guardians oath said. That is what you made us promise wasn't it?
"For the children" I whispered out before I fell to ice exhausted from the fight that I lost.
