Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Rise of the Guardians, Tangled, Brave, or How to Train Your Dragon. (Though I wish I created all of them)
Claimer: I do own any and all OC's made in this story aside from Seraphina herself who was already made.
Sorry this took awhile I've had my life run by my three jobs, community service, exams, and school, and hardly had anytime to write! Enjoy!
"Wait, so you're saying your uncle is your enemy?" Hiccup asked confused.
"Yeah." She nodded, watching the dumbfounded looks on their face.
"But he's yer family." Merida said, confused since they were all protecting their families from something evil.
Crystal looked down, fiddling with her hands in her lap. "Well, my uncle and aunt didn't want a kid, so when they got stuck with me because my family's accident, they weren't very happy with having to suddenly raise me."
"So it's like he wasn't even family." Rapunzel said, feeling bad for her fate.
"Basically," Crystal sighed, stretching her arms above her head. She looked up and smiled at them as she kicked her legs out happily. "But Jack is my family. Not like a brother or anything, but I considered him family."
"You see him as a future fam'ly." Merida chuckled, elbowing Rapunzel with a smirk.
Crystal didn't deny it as she smiled wider and leaned against Jack. He chuckled and patted her head with a smile of his own. Toothless looked at Jack and let out a small growl, before moving around Crystal and in between the two of them, pushing Jack away from her territorially.
"Hiccup, your dragon is becoming protective." Crystal laughed, patting Toothless on his head and scratching on his neck, making him purr.
"Even my pet goes to you." Hiccup sighs, putting his chin in his hand.
Crystal looked over at him, feeling bad that his best friend is hanging all over her. She moved her hand down by her side and twirled her fingers, making the wind move strongly and push Hiccup to the right. He grunted in surprise at the sudden strong wind and crashed into Merida who landed backwards on the floor. Hiccup ended up pinning Merida to the floor with his hands on either side of her head, making them both freeze in surprise.
"Toothless!" She gasped fakely, opening her mouth wide in dramatic play. "Hiccup is trying to go after Merida!"
Toothless jerked his head away from Crystal, looking at his friend with wide eyes, before narrowing them and pulling his ears back in irritation. He crawled over to them quickly, before jumping up and landing on top of Hiccup, wanting to be a part of the fun that his friend was doing.
"Toothless!" Hiccup complained, his face now mere centimeters from Merida's who was growing brighter by the second.
"This is so much fun!" Rapunzel said happily, clapping her hands as she jumped up and down.
"Crystal," Tyler said, walking into the room and finding them watching the two on the floor. "You aren't doing anything bad in here are you?"
"He fell, tried to get up, his pet jumped on him." Crystal said simply, explaining everything to him quickly.
"Makes sense," He said, shrugging his shoulders. "Wanted to know if you wanted to come to the house? You can bring your friends if you want to."
"Sure!" She said happily, standing up and pulling Jack with her. "You guys want to…" She started looking around at all of them, stopping as she saw Rapunzel looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Who's that?" Rapunzel asked, clipping onto Crystal's arm.
"My brother," Crystal explained, forgetting if she had explained to them or not about her brother being a guardian too. "Didn't I explain about him?"
"No," She breathed, watching as he looked over at her, smiled, and waved politely.
Crystal smiled, seeing the look in her eye as she watched Tyler. "You want to join us?"
"Yes!" She said with a smile, all but floating towards her brother in excitement.
Crystal giggled and looked over at Hiccup and Merida. "Okay you two, if you want to do anything else you might want to get a room. Toothless!"
The dragon bounded over with a toothless smile sticking to Crystal's side as Hiccup got off Merida and both looked away with red faces. They soon followed after the group, not wanting to be left out with the fun.
"Someone has a fascination," Jack whispered, leaning over into Crystal's ear.
"Seems so," She giggled, whispering back to him.
Her hand bumped his on accident, and he took her hand in his quickly, showing she was his already. He thought about all the times they had been together already. So many things have happened already, some good some bad, but no matter what tried to pull them apart they still got back together every time. He felt her hand squeeze his suddenly, making him drag out of his memories and look at her confused.
"I have a sinking feeling somehow." She said, eyebrows furrowed in worry.
Jack chuckled, looking ahead at the two in front of them. "Rapunzel and your brother? I'm sure if anything even happened, it wouldn't be that bad."
Crystal looked at him and slugged his shoulder, relaxing a bit as she sighed and looked ahead again. "I'm not talking about them. I don't know why I'm feeling like this." She told him, confused by her own feelings. "I just get this feeling that something is going to happen."
"Does it have to do with Pitch and his group?" Jack asked, glancing at her worriedly.
"Maybe," She said, still unsure herself about it.
"What are ye talkin 'bout?" Merida asked, walking faster to catch up with them. She stopped teasing as she saw Crystal's face, wondering what she missed. "Did somethin' happen?"
"She has a bad feeling." Jack told her as Hiccup walked up to join the conversation. "I think we need to watch our backs when we get there."
"And your judging this off of 'er gut feelin?" Merida asked, sighing at the prospect.
"You listen to your gut feelings don't you?" Crystal asked her seriously, knowing she did it more often than Crystal did herself.
"You think it's them?" Hiccup asked, the same as Jack.
"She doesn't know," Jack said with a shrug. "But I trust her gut feelings. They've gotten us out of a lot of bad situations."
"I'm not saying I don't believe it." Hiccup defended, putting his hands up with the palms facing up.
They couldn't feel the shadows that were passing behind them in the dark, following them to their destination. Pitch watched with analyzing eyes as they walked into a house similar to the one he burned down that was their parents'.
"Found them," Pitch said with a smirk, knowing where to go now.
"Follow them in!" Gothel commanded, watching the black screen as it swirled with the image before them.
"That's Tyler," Crystal's Uncle said, looking closely at the boy at the front of the group, surprising him. "You didn't tell me he was a guardian."
"Should it matter?" Bor'du growled, glaring at him.
"Not at all. Two for the price of one," He said with a evil laugh.
"Oh Max, such a devious guy," Gothel chuckled to him, finding his ruthless mind interesting.
"Not so bad yourself," He told her with a smirk.
"Ah!" Pitch shouted, holding his head in pain.
The King Dragon growled as it hunkered down and glared at the image, feeling the same force that hit Pitch roughly. They stared at the image in confusion before they saw the shining field that was surrounding the entire house protectively. They wouldn't be able to get any closer to them with the field.
"That damn Man in the Moon." Pitch cursed, knowing it was his doing along with Tyler's in putting up that protective barrier. "Keeping us from getting too close."
"We'll have to wait till they come out." Gothel said with a huff.
"They could be there for days if they needed." Max said with a groan, knowing that it was a necessity to leave the house at all.
"Maybe we should try bringing them out then," Bor'du suggested with a devious smirk.
Dragoon growled in pleasure as his tail twitched in anticipation in the fun they were going to participate in. All of them seemed to like the plan as Pitch twirled his hand and covered them in his shadows, teleporting them to outside the barrier.
Crystal felt a shiver go down her spine as she stopped in the living-room. Trying to sense what she was feeling, and where it was coming from. A dark ominous cloud hit her again, making her wheel around on her heel and look out the window.
"What's wrong?" Hiccup asked, seeing her spin around suddenly.
"They're here," She told him in a whisper, knowing that feeling of dread all too well.
"I'll go tell the others," He whispered back, running quietly towards the kitchen where they were preparing snacks and drinks.
Crystal walked over to the window, keeping herself hidden from view. She leaned out slightly, trying to take a quick glance at the group that was outside watching the house.
"They're here?" Jack asked suddenly by her ear, making her jump and almost scream.
"Dangit, don't do that," She complained, slugging his arm.
She saw that everyone was hiding behind the wall like she was, wondering what to do next. Crystal sighed, and leaned back against the wall, before opening her eyes again and raising an eyebrow.
"Why haven't they come towards the house yet?" Crystal asked, seeing they weren't moving beyond the tree line.
"Because they can't," Tyler told her as he stood plainly in front of the window for them to see.
"Brother!" Crystal complained, grabbing his arm roughly and trying to pull away from sight.
"Me and Manny put up a barrier around this house so Pitch wouldn't be able to take you or me again." He explained to her, holding his ground where he was. "It was a preventive maneuver that we both saw fit to use."
"So they can't get too close to the house." Merida said, stepping into sight too. "What re they doin'?"
Everyone seemed to look out the window then as they watched Pitch whisper to Gothel, making her smile and nod her head before disappearing from sight. Crystal's heart thumped dangerously in her chest, giving her another sign of dread of what was to come. Her necklace flashed brightly at her, making her eyes go wide and for her to grab Jack's jacket tightly.
"What?" He asked, seeing the panic on her face, then spotting her necklace losing control.
She looked up at him with horror all over her face, placing her hand over the necklace. "Jamie," She whispered, watching as realization hit Jack hard, making him jerk his head to the window.
Just as she said, there Jamie was looking at Gothel in confusion and looking around at his surrounds just as they appeared. His eyebrows furrowed in anger as he saw Pitch and tried to run, but Bor'du grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him up into the air.
Crystal turned on her foot to run out the door to him, when Tyler grabs the back of her dress and pulls her back, keeping a tight hold on her wrist.
"Let me go!" She yelled at her brother, trying to jerk it out of his grasp.
"This is what they want us to do." He told her sternly, making her look at him in the eye.
"We can't just leave Jamie out there!" Jack argued with him, narrowing his eyes at her older brother as well.
A three way glare off was happening between them as Rapunzel looked back and forth, conflicted on whose side to go on.
"Enough!" Merida shouted, pushing Tyler away from Crystal and Jack and making him let her wrist go finally. "This is not the time to be fightin'!"
"We need to think of how to get him away from them." Hiccup said, helping Merida calm the group.
Crystal breathed in deeply before letting it out and looking outside the window. She looked at her brother with stern eyes.
"I have a plan, but I'll need your help." She told him, indecisiveness conflicting her mind. "I'll need you to distract them while I grab Jamie."
"That's what they want! For us to go out there to them!" Tyler argued again, throwing his hands up with a sigh.
"Well, what else are we going to do?" She said, panic hitting her nerves.
"Not that!" He shouted at her.
"I won't let Jamie to get hurt!" She shouted louder, fists clenched at her sides. She ignored her brother and stormed towards the door, slamming it open and standing outside, but still inside the barrier.
Everyone followed after her in worry and stood around her, not quite sure what they were going to do now that they fell right into what the darkness wanted.
"We were waiting for you." Pitch said with a smirk, glad they finally came out.
"We knew you couldn't have possibly left Jamie out here with us." Max said with a laugh, glaring at Crystal with hard eyes.
"Let him go," She said through gritted teeth, her anger growing inside of her already.
"Oh, but we were just having fun with him." Gothel said deviously.
"Getting lil kids in this is dirty." Merida said irritated, finding it wrong to bring him into it.
Toothless growled at Dragoon as he growled back predatorily. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.
"Crystal!" Jamie shouted, looking at her with desperate eyes.
"We can't have poor Jamie ending up like your little brother, now can we?" Max said, hitting a nerve.
She took a step forward ready to inflict some damage upon them.
"Uh uh," Pitch said, wiggling a finger at her. "If you try to attack us, we'll harm him. But if you stay in there, he'll still be harmed."
"What you gonna do?" Bor'du asked, knowing there was only one thing to do in their situation.
Crystal stepped out of the barrier, despite her brother reaching out to stop her. She held her hands up for them to see. Jamie whimpered scared as he watched her stop in the middle between them and the barrier.
Jack shouted out as he flew forward and reached towards Jamie, hoping to reach him before they did anything. Dragoon jerked to the side and slammed into Jack, pinning him to the floor and snapping his teeth at his face while Jack held his staff up to keep him away. Toothless jumped at Dragoon and the rolled on the ground snapping at one another. Rapunzel whipped her hair out and wrapped it around Gothel's hand pulling her away from Jamie quickly so she didn't try to harm him. Jack leg swept Pitch with his staff, knocking him to the ground, but couldn't dodge in time before the nightmare horses slammed into him hard.
Tyler ran out and helped Jack with Pitch as he took out the horses with Jack and pushed Pitch away from Jamie. Merida acted quickly as she pulled her bow and arrow out, aiming for Bor'du's hand and hitting it painfully, making the bear drop Jamie roughly to the floor. Max hissed as he grabbed Jamie quickly and ran passed everyone, trying to be the only one to get out of there safely.
Crystal wiggled her fingers, making roots come out of the ground and wrap around his ankles, keeping him to his spot, and falling forward with Jamie. Max kneeled on the floor as he put Jamie in front of him, knowing Crystal wouldn't attack if Jamie had a chance of being hit by the attack.
"I'll hurt him!" Max shouted at her over the screams and battle shouts of the others fighting.
"No you won't! You wouldn't be able to kill a child! No matter how much you hate them!" Crystal argued hopeful, trying to convince herself that he wouldn't do it, but her mind saying otherwise.
"Are you so sure?" He asked with a desperate laugh. "If I could have killed you back then, I would have!"
Crystal saw Jack and Tyler being thrown by the horses, leaving Pitch open and able to head towards Max and Jamie. Gothel swiped her knife at Rapunzel, making the girl jump back and trip on her own hair accidentally, letting the woman go. Bor'du clawed at Merida, breaking her bow as he was standing in front of her with his jaw agape and ready to take the killing bite. Finally Dragoon flung his tail, hitting Hiccup and knocking him into a tree nearby where he slid to the ground, before breathing out fire at Toothless who was too focused on Hiccup to see the attack before it slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. Dragoon stood over Hiccup dangerously as he opened his jaw to clamp down on the young boy.
"STOP!" Crystal screamed as she clamped her eyes shut, adrenaline running through her veins, as panic seized her heart and made it pump faster than humanly possible. A burst of energy exploded out of her as all that pent up emotion finally combusted.
Silence filled her ears as she cracked her eyes open, before fully looking around and finding everyone…no everything…frozen in time. Leaves still hung in the air, tree's were still mid sway as the wind blew, and everyone was stopped.
"What?" She whispered, spinning in a circle at all the scenes around her.
"This is what you are capable of."
She swung around to find Father Time standing next to Jamie and Max. He looked down at them, fazing between an old man, a young man, a teenager, and a child. He looked back up at her and stepped towards her with unwavering eyes.
"You are the spirit of spring; of new beginnings; of life." He told her, watching as she watched his hand hit a leaf that instantly fell to the ground. "You can stop a life, just as easy as you can create one. You signal when Winter ends, and when Summer can come along. You signal the start of the year, of flowers, insects, animals, and life."
"That doesn't explain how I could have done this," She said gesturing to the frozen time around her.
"With life and death, there lies time." He told her with a smile. "I told you before who I was. 'I am death. I am life. I am there when time stops.'"
"That's what you said to me in my dream, to try and tell me who you were." She said, finding his riddle's confusing and making her head hurt.
Time sighed as he looked at her helplessly. "I am death. I am life. You are death. You are life. Time listens to both of us. More easily for me than for you."
She saw what he was trying to explain, looking around in surprise once again. "You mean I did this? I thought you did!"
He shook his head, "I am merely here when time stops to make sure you don't get trapped."
"But time should only listen to you." She argued, running a hand down her face.
"You are more powerful than you know." He told her gently, hoping to ease her into this knowledge. "Power much greater than mine or even Man in the Moon's."
"But I don't want that much power. Why would he give me that much?" She asked desperately.
"Because both of us, Man in the Moon and I, are running out of power. We are not as strong as we used to be. We needed someone who could help manage our duties with us." Time said sadly, knowing they put a lot on one girl's shoulders.
"But!" She tried to argue again, when a butterfly flapped by with is wings sparkling, leaving a trail of light behind it.
"That is a time butterfly, telling you time is almost back to normal." He told her, showing her the small signs that were a warning. "Soon time will go on as normal, and everyone will be harmed. It is up to you to help them now."
"Time!" She said, just as he disappeared from sight.
She ran to Jamie instantly, pulling him out of Max's arms and placing him inside the barrier quickly. There were slight changes around her from falling leaves and petals, to the wind slightly blowing now. She knew time was going to continue soon. She grabbed Hiccup and threw him next to Toothless, knowing the dragon would help him.
"Get him to the barrier," She whispered in Toothless' ear, knowing he would unconsciously follow her directions when time continued.
Next was Rapunzel as she grabbed Gothel's knife and threw it into the forest away from them, nudging Rapunzel closer to the barrier just in case she needed to run. She ran over to Merida, seeing the hair on Bor'du's back start to fall slowly, animating him. She pushed Bor'du as much as she could, getting him to move an inch slightly enough to have him miss Merida by centimeters. She made roots and rock surround his feet, nailing him to the ground so he couldn't move back towards the red head. She pushed Merida over more and made a new bow out of branches for the girl with some fresh arrows, notching one back for Merida so it would shoot.
She was breathless by the time she reached her brother, grabbing his arm and getting the wind to help her throw him to the barrier where Jamie was. A growl was heard as time suddenly came faster. She grabbed Jack's staff out of his hands, ignoring the icy bite that hit her hands, causing her pain, just as time began again and the horses ran head on towards her.
"ARGH!" She shouted, swinging the staff and slicing through the horses cleaning.
Bor'du growled in pain as an arrow lodged itself into his shoulder, and he couldn't move to attack her again. Dragoon ran his head into the tree as Toothless took no time to grab Hiccup and fly into the barrier. Gothel swiped at Rapunzel again, only to find her knife gone and Rapunzel glaring at her with a skillet in her hand now. Max looked around desperately as Tyler stood in front of Jamie protectively. Finally Pitch was watching Crystal with wide eyes as he saw his nightmare horses diminished into black sand on the ground. The ice and frost was climbing up her arms quickly, freezing her hands to the staff as she held it tightly.
Pitch gritted his teeth in anger and confusion as to how any of this could have happened. He turned his head as the Guardian's flew down in the sleigh and jumped out, ready to help in the fight against them, and Seraphina stood there, hand up and ready to attack her father.
"Sera," He whispered, hurt that his daughter was also against him now. He glared at Crystal, watching as she breathed heavily and glared at him back with stern eyes. "This isn't over,"
He waved his arm, enveloping his group in darkness and whisking them away from the battle. Crystal gulped loudly as she tried to catch her breath, falling to her knees as she felt like her whole body had just drained, and was feeling colder by the minute.
"Crystal! You have to let go of the staff!" Seraphina shouted at her friend, kneeling in front of her.
"My hands are stuck," She whispered, watching as the frost crept up her arms, hitting her shoulders. Her breath was coming out in white puffs now as she tried to unlatch her fingers futilely.
Jack crawled over to her and placed his hand over hers, commanding the frost to come to him and not her, helping as the frost receded to her wrists and stopped.
"Here, I'll thaw it from out here if you thaw it from the inside." Sera told her, hovering her hands over Crystal's.
Crystal concentrated hard on the last of her energy as she thawed her hands from the inside, watching as the last of the frost and ice melted, allowing Jack to pull the staff out of her hands. Her eye's slid shut as she fell to the side and into Jack.