Alaia Skyhawk: Well now... it's here!
Those of you who have been reading my Merlin stuff, will be familiar with the format I've switched to here with naming the chapters as 'parts', and that it itself gives a clue as to how the film will be handled. Just like how I re-wrote Merlin seasons 3, 4, & 5, keeping the key events of the episodes the same while at the same time adding or removing things, or changing the context, I will be doing the same thing with ROTG.
The difference being? In Merlin, the alterations came about because Arthur knew about Merlin's magic. In this, they come about from Jack remembering his past and already being a Guardian... Time to see how much detail I can get out of and add to the film, and how much context I can twist! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
~(-)~
Chapter 53: Rise of the Guardians ~Part 1~
Snow still lingered on the ground in the village, while a little more dusted down over the branches of Big Root from above. One final snowfall for the area, to end off Northern Winter, for this region of Siberia was due a slightly early spring, even if other parts of the north were going to be less fortunate.
Of course, Jack considered those other places to actually be rather fortunate, because longer winter meant more snowballs and fun times for the children... even if their parents were far less pleased.
But here for now, the hour was late and the children of Santoff Clausen were in bed. Only Ombric was still awake, and stood in the doorway of his home as Jack glided up into the air.
The Spirit of Winter glanced back at him, grinning.
"I'll bring Jamie and Sophie over to visit after the egg hunt in Burgess is finished. They'll want to show you the eggs again, or at least Sophie will really want to show the eggs." He laughed. "Jamie, hands down, likes winter way more than his sister, but Sophie definitely lives up to her near-spring birthday. Right now, she's completely obsessed with the Easter Bunny."
Ombric chuckled, pulling his dressing gown a little tighter around him to ward off the night-time chill.
"I shall endeavour to get Aster to visit the village, once his Easter Sunday work is done. I can't make any promises, but I shall try. It has been a number of years now since any of the Guardians except Sandy and-" he paused meaningfully. "It's been a while since any of the others have visited. They all seem so absorbed in their work these days, that by the time they remember an invite it's already past the time. Thus they simply make excuses about being too busy, and do not come."
Jack sighed at that, and shrugged.
"Then I guess I won't tell Sophie she might get to see him. It's better not to get her hopes up, and instead hope that you can surprise her. I'll bring her and Jamie here about mid-morning your time."
"I'll look forward to seeing you then."
Jack flew off, shaking his head to himself as he headed for St Petersberg, which was due a sudden cold-snap tonight that the weather didn't seem inclined to do on its own. One of these days, once he was openly a Guardian, he was going to make sure the others got out and saw children more often. Or at the very least, get them to visit Santoff Clausen. They'd left Ombric and Katherine almost completely by the wayside for over two centuries, without even realising how long it had been.
Jack sighed and continued his flight, passing the edge of night and into the region presently lit by dusk. The same time-zone where, far to the north, work was being wound down for the end of the day in all but one room. There in the vast workshop and village that was home to Nicholas St North, his elves, and the yetis who helped him...
The fiery Russian tune playing from the old gramophone in the corner, emerged as a muted and crackling affair, but that was of no matter to the man who listened to it. For he hummed along with it, quite jolly, emphasising every big chord with a louder note of his own. Working in time with it as he cut a chunk from a large block of ice, using a chainsaw one might add, before then switching to a hammer and chisel so dainty as to be dwarfed by his large hands.
"Still waiting for cookies."
It was the smallest pause in his singing, but his words had an immediate effect on the trio of elves near the door. The tiny little fellows, in their outfits that served as both clothing and hat, freezing midway through munching on or licking the cookies in question.
They scrambled into motion, piling the cookies back onto the nearby plate, and carried it over and up to the large desk where North worked. Arriving with it just as he'd set a steam-train crafted of ice, upon the looping track made of the same, and the man laughed to himself happily as it came to life and began chugging along the track.
The one of the elves watched the train in intrigue, before noticing his compatriot was still chewing on something. He then pointed sharply to the plate in silent command, prompting his fellow elf to reluctantly let a mouthful of soggy cookie to roll down his tongue and onto the plate.
North didn't notice, that or he was so used to it that he didn't care, as he noticed the plate and exclaimed cheerily.
"Ah, finally!"
He mummed with pleasure at the sweet snack, his attention then returning to his little ice-train, while in the background the music was rising to a crescendo. North's voice rising in triumphant song once more, as the train reached the end of the track, it's sides unfurled, and little rocket boosters turned on to send it soaring across the room in flight. Right towards the door, where North's magic would make it turn and soar back again... except it didn't get the chance.
The door slammed open, swatting the train from the air and sending it scattering across the floor in pieces. The yeti behind the door then winced as North cried out in almost comical disappointment, before the Russian then brought his hands to his face in frustration.
"How many times have I told you to knock?"
The yeti winced again, yet its manner became serious as it gestured urgently.
"Warga blarghgha!"
North lowered his hands, frowning as he interpreted the seemingly jumbled syllables that were the yeti language.
"What? The Globe?" He got to his feet, hastening towards one of the wooden elevators that linked the levels, and travelled upwards to the top floor. There, gathered around the controls for the globe, was a veritable sea of anxious elves. Enough that he had some trouble getting past them all. "Shoo with your pointy heads. Why are you always under boot?"
He arrived in front of the Globe of Belief, two of the yeti workers stepping aside to allow him forward, even as they gazed up at the lights which flickered erratically across the whole thing. Whole swathes of them blinking out for a moment before they flared up again.
North frowned.
"What is this?" More lights flickered, in even greater numbers, as though something were trying to snuff them out against their will, and he glanced at one of the yetis. "Have you checked the axis? Is rotation balanced?"
The yeti shrugged, at a loss as to what was causing the problem.
"Wardle bawddrel."
It's explanation was interrupted by an equine scream, that echoed hauntingly through the complex. Wind then whipped up out of nowhere, swirling around the room as black sand started to ooze out in tendrils from the top and bottom of the globe, where it then came together in the middle and wrapped the sphere completely in darkness.
North's eyes widened at the sight, the elves behind him all scattering and racing for cover. The sand then exploded outwards, seeming to vanish while the elves cowered... A swathe of it then swept across the floor behind North, where it caused him and the two yeti's to flinch in surprise, and then it rose up through the air above and behind the globe in the form of a evil shadow. One whose familiar laugh of malice filled the air.
It disappeared as North frowned, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Can it be?" He paused, thinking, and then barked out the name of one of the nearby elves. "Dingle!" Four elves stepped forward into various poses of readiness, one even saluting as the real Dingle pointed to himself then blinked in confusion. "Make preparations. We're going to have company."
North reached out for a handle on the control panel, grabbed and twisted the crossbar, and pressed it and the connected crystal down. The globe started to glow, and released across the skies the signal to summon the rest of the Guardians.
~(-)~
The Tooth Palace was bustling with activity, dusk a little more advanced than it was at the Workshop, heralding that in about four hours it would be time for the collections in the time-zone linked to Central Asia. Not that it had much bearing on the chatter that spouted from the individual in charge of this organised chaos. It was as well the Tooth Fairies could sense and find all the teeth for themselves, because Toothiana's directives kept going off at considerable tangents.
"Chicago, Sector six: thirty-seven molars, twenty-two bicuspids, eighteen central incisors... Moscow, Sector nine: twenty-two incisors, eighteen premolars." One of her weather patrol fairies squeaked in her ear. "Uh oh, heavy rain advisory!" There was another pause, and she was off at speed again. "Des Moines: We've got a cuspid at
23 Maple! Head out!"
One of the nearby fairies rolled their eyes, since none of the locations she'd just rattled off were under cover of night yet, while another wearing a bright smile dashed up to Tooth and showed her the tooth she had just brought in.
Tooth saw it and gasped in delight.
"Wait! It's her first tooth!" She held the tooth close, smiling as she showed it to some of the other nearby fairies. "Have you ever seen a more adorable lateral incisor in all of your life?! Look how she flossed!"
Another fairy interrupted her, squeaking urgently, and the little one pointed northwards to the lights now coming over the horizon.
Tooth gasped again, this time in concern, because the call was too early to be for the annual meeting. It was enough to make her hand over the tooth she'd been fawning over, and dash northwards with all haste leaving her fairies to continue their work without her there.
Some of the fairies watched her go before resuming their work, but they weren't the only ones. For golden eyes gleamed from nearby shadows, accompanied by a very quiet laugh, and Pitch looked to the black sand-horse which concealed itself in the shadows beside him.
"Send word to the others, that it's time to strike. The palace is not to be touched until those that are out collecting have been taken." He smiled in malice. "We wouldn't want the Guardians to realise what's happening too early now, would we?"
~(-)~
Over China, dreamsand streamers filled the skies in their journey to find children, the Sandman seated upon his usual cloud as he worked. His smiled was contented, with so many children's imaginations shaping the dreamsand into dreams of coloured eggs and Easter. Others dreamed of their favourite things, or of great adventures, and many other variations. But all the dreams brought smiles to faces, and kept the smile upon his.
And yet but moments later his smile did face, when he spotted the signal sweeping southwards. His reaction was immediate, his cloud changing shape to form a biplane. Sandy securing goggles of yet more dreamsand, over his eyes, before he turned his craft to proceed with all haste towards the Pole.
More than an hour passed before he reached it, matching about the time the signal would have reached Australia. Sure enough, a burrow opened up below at some distance from the Workshop's entrance, and Sandy saw a rather irritated Pooka start dashing towards those doors to get his feet out of the snow and himself into somewhere warm. North's wards had forced Bunny's tunnel outside yet again.
Sandy sent his plane towards the opening in the dome at the top of the complex, arriving to hear North offering cookies and eggnog to Tooth. Bunny arrived on the top floor at that point, sounding rather aggravated.
"This better be good, North."
Sandy jumped from his plane, letting it disburse as he let loose a flurry of symbols over his head. Too fast for North to even begin to guess what they meant, but the expression on the little man's face was enough to make clear he wondered why he'd been interrupted during his work.
"Sandy, thank you for coming." He saw Sandy repeat the symbols, even as in the background Tooth was giving redundant instructions about avoiding a goose migration to the three fairies with her. "I know, I know. But I wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious."
Sandy held his hands out in an obvious 'What?' gesture, while Tooth's fairies whistled to alert her that North was getting down to business.
The Russian looked at them all, serious.
"The Boogie Man was here... At the Pole!"
Bunny paused, one foot still held up towards the hearth in an attempt to thaw his chilled paws, and Tooth reacted in similar surprise as she fluttered over.
"Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?"
North nodded, gesturing as he described what had happened.
"Yes! There was black sand covering the globe."
Bunny hopped over one one foot for a few steps, his expression becoming even more aggravated as he pulled a paintbrush out from the straps on one of his armbands and seemed to produce and egg from thin air ready to paint.
"What? What do you mean black sand?"
"And then a shadow!"
Raised his paws, frowning.
"Hold on, hold on. I thought you said you saw Pitch."
North shrugged, his expression turning a little sheepish.
"Well, ah, not exactly..."
Bunny stared at him, aggravation turning to resignation.
"'Not exactly'?" He glanced at Sandy. "Can you believe this guy?"
Sandy shrugged, forming a question-mark over his head, his expression wry. He'd been concerned at first, and still was a little, and yet this seemed to be turning into another of North's 'false alarms'.
Bunny huffed in agreement and resumed painting his egg.
"Yeah, you said it, Sandy."
North faced them, earnest, refusing to let the matter drop.
"Look, he is up to something very bad. I feel it... in my belly."
Tooth's trio of escort fairies descended to peer at the Russian's not inconsiderable waistline, while in the meantime Bunny started to lose his temper.
"Hang on, hang on! You mean to say, you summoned me here three days before Easter, because of your
belly?" He went right up to North, right up in his face as Tooth rolled her eyes at their antics and started telling her fairies about a batch of bicuspids in Buenos Aires. "Mate, if I did this to you three days before Christmas!"
North regarded him blandly, both immortals oblivious as Sandy sighed and went to a yeti that carried a tray eggnog. The little golden man helping himself to and drinking two cupfuls before picking up a third to carry off to the side, and then pausing to grab and drink a forth measure of the beverage before actually doing so.
"Please, Bunny. Easter is not Christmas."
Bunny's nose twitched as North plucked the egg from his grasp and walked off, the Pooka laughed sarcastically, and then his ears flattened back in annoyance.
"Oh. Here we go... North, I, I don't have time for this. I've still got two million eggs to finish up!"
Sandy watched the scene, with the manner of one sat down with a bucket of popcorn in front of a movie, only to notice that an elf which had crept up onto the adjacent shelf had managed to reach the cup he held and was noisily licking the eggnog out of it.
Sandy yanked his cup away from the shelf, the elf plummeting to the floor with a single jingle of impact from its bell. But his frown at the drink being contaminated with elf drool, was quickly replaced by surprise when a ray of silver light caught his eyes.
The moon's light shone down from that pale sphere, right through the opening in the dome up above.
"No matter how much you paint, is still egg!"
Sandy dropped his mostly empty cup and pointed urgently at the moon, trying to get the attention of arguing pair in front of him without any success.
"Look, mate, I'm dealing with perishables. Right. You've got all year to prepare!"
"Pittsburgh, boy eight: two molars. Salt-water taffy."
Sandy's shoulders slumped in frustration, before putting two fingers to his mouth in a silent whistle. A large musical note conjured above his head to replace the absent sound while Bunny snatched back his egg.
"Why are rabbits always so nervous."
Bunny fumbled to catch the egg after North had tapped it up into the air, and scowled.
"And why are you always such a blowhard!"
Sandy jumped higher into the air, a sand-flag waving above his head while Tooth fluttered past their peers.
"Ontario, sector nine: five canines, two molars, and fourteen incisors. Is that all in one house?"
North turned to her.
"Tooth! Can't you see we're trying to argue."
She paused in her drifting. Her head-feathers fluffing out in emphasis to her sarcastic reply.
"Sorry, not all of us get to work one night a year. Am I right, Sandy?" With her now looking at him, Sandy drew an arrow pointing upwards toward the moon. For a moment it seemed as if she would turn, but then she was distracted once again by teeth and began to chatter to her fairies again. "San Diego, sector two! Five incisors, a bicuspid and a really loose molar on stand-by."
Still oblivious to the fact Sandy was trying to get their attention, Bunny resumed his spat with North. This time turning back to the topic of why they'd been called here.
"Come on, mate, Pitch went out with the dark ages. We made sure of that. Remember?"
Reminded of why he'd called them, North pointed sharply at the floor in emphasis.
"I know it was him. We have serious situation!"
"Well, I've got a serious situation with some eggs."
Tooth, shaking her head in exasperation, fluttered over to them as Sandy watched them at the end of his patience. He then floated over to where he' dropped his cup, to the elf that had recovered from its fall and was now eagerly clicking the container clean of eggnog, and landed beside it tapping his foot in irritation... Making the elf pause in what it was doing, and glance at him uncertainly.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt the, 'We work so hard once a year club' but could we concentrate on the matter-"
Sandy grabbed the elf by its hat, hauled it up into the air, and proceeded to shake it rapidly. The resulting racket then silencing the other three Guardians who stared at him.
He dropped the elf, which landed and flopped over in dizziness, before he frowned deeply and drew a crescent moon over his head. He then pointed sharply at real moon up above.
They all turned, and North exclaimed once he saw what Sandy was pointing at.
"Aah! Man in Moon!" He glanced at the Guardian of Dreams. "Sandy, why didn't you say something?" Sandy gave him a deadpan stare, huffing as dreamsand smoke shot out of his ears, while the Russian then faced the moonlight again. "It's been a long time old friend! What is big news?"
The moonbeams focused in on the area of floor near the globe, which had a picture of each of the Guardians present set into the pattern there, and a shadow formed a silhouette of a familiar enemy. It was a sight enough to make the Pooka fold his ears back and glance at North.
"It is Pitch."
North patted his belly in a 'told you so' gesture, and and then looked back up at the moon.
"Manny...what must we do?"
The moonlight focused further, until it shone upon nothing but the 'G' symbol at the centre of the floor pattern. It was an action that caused that circle to recess downwards and part to the sides, permitting a massive crystal set into a moon-rock meteorite to rise out of the floor on a pedestal.
The light refracted through the gem, filling the chamber with shards and streaks of rippling light.
Tooth gasped softly in realisation.
"Ah, guys. You know what this means?"
North nodded in awe, his remark sparking surprise from the nearby Pooka.
"He's choosing a new Guardian."
"What?! Why?"
North's gaze didn't leave the gem.
"Must be big deal! Manny thinks we need help!"
Bunny looked at each of them in turn, trying to make light of things despite a spike of inward annoyance.
"Since when do we need help?!"
Tooth ignored him, too excited by the moment.
"I wonder who it's gonna be? Maybe someone like the Leprechaun?"
Bunny cringed, his mind turning to the memory of the most recent immortal to irritate him as he muttered.
"Please not the Groundhog. Please not the Groundhog."
The light began to brighten, North's face inching closer and closer to the gem in anticipation. All the while Sandy floated off to the side knowing exactly what was coming.
Blue light glittered up from the top of the gem, and formed into an image of a youthful man in a hooded sweater, who carried a staff shaped like a shepherd's crook.
North blinked, only mildly surprised, and tilted his head.
"Jack Frost."
The nearby Tooth Fairies swooned, Tooth included. Meanwhile Bunny gaped.
"Ah, I take it back! The Groundhog's fine!
Tooth jolted, her dreamy expression giving way to a blush as she brought herself back to the matter at hand, and she did her best to hide her embarrassment.
"Well, ah... As long he helps to ah...to protect the children, right?"
Bunny pointed at paw at the image, incredulous.
"Jack Frost!? He's the Spirit of Winter! All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with my egg hunts. Right? He's an irresponsible, selfish-"
"Guardian."
North's statement only served to make Bunny protest more.
"Jack Frost is many things, but he is not a Guardian!"
Sandy floated up behind him, where he then grabbed and tugged on one of the Pooka's ears. It brought all of their attention to him and his wry expression, before he pointed to himself, the image of Jack, and then at them. Grinning before he raised his arms in silent cheer, and then began a 'victory lap' around the upper floor.
North nudged Bunny as he watched Sandy.
"He has every right to say 'I told you so'... He call this two centuries ago, and he was right. He said he believe Jack be Guardian one day, and now... Jack has been chosen. Man in Moon has made his choice, and it not our place to argue against it."
Bunny frowned, his ears folded back.
"Seems to me you're rather pleased about this yourself."
North scratched at the back of his head wryly, and Tooth fluttered over wearing a similar expression.
"Um, well, you see... North has agreed with Sandy, ever since he visited the Winter Sanctuary after the 1901 conference. He told me about it just after you stormed out of here, Easter 1968."
Bunny gaped at her, glancing between the two of them.
"Are you saying you agree with him too?!"
She winced and shrugged.
"Well, not completely, but I've been open to the idea. But this just proves that Sandy did know what he was talking about, back when we all told him he was wrong. Embarrassing for us, right?"
There was a long pause, one that only ended when Sandy came back over and with his miming, asked if he should go find and bring Jack to the Workshop.
That jolted North into action, and he burst into motion.
"No, not yet!" He shouted out at the top of his voice, to the nearby elves and yetis. "Everybody, you know what to do! Make the preparations, and take up your places!"
Bunny stepped in front of him, confused.
"North."
The Russian prodded him with a finger.
"I have waited over four-hundred years for this day, to swear in the next Guardian., and we will do it my way." He smiled. "Besides, best place to find Jack this time of year is to find him in Burgess, but we cannot take him during day. We must wait until children of town are asleep!"
North strode away, calling out more orders even as Tooth glanced at Sandy.
"Did he just say 'take'?"
~(-)~
Alaia Skyhawk: That's part 1 done! I fixed some time-zone issues with this by changing Pitch's first appearance, in preparation for the tooth collection scenes later. Because, if I want to keep the bit with the mouse, Pitch must have had his nightmares ambushing and capturing Tooth Fairies for a few hours before the Guardians set out to the Tooth Palace to find out what was wrong there.
And I have to say, I loved picking out all the little scene details during the argument. There's SO MUCH going on in the background, in loads of places in the film. And, of course, I finally got to have Sandy's "I told you so!" moment. Doing this first part has been great fun! :D