I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Frozen!
Chapter 27
Pitch fled into the forest, looking back every now and then. Jack had bested him yet again! This time, the other guardians were just accessories! He hadn't expected Elsa to suddenly find it in herself to accept her powers and be not afraid! Women are supposed to be fragile creatures, Pitch scoffed. How did Elsa suddenly get so powerful? He had been too busy into his thoughts only to smack into the stomach of North who stood in front of him with the other guardians.
"You," he seethed in rage.
"That's enough, Pitch," North folded his arms. "It's time for you to go!"
Pitch shook his head and snarled. "You can't kill me! If you do, there will be no reason for Hope to exist!"
Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "Who said anything about killing you? We're actually just supposed to put you back in the whole where you belong."
"You don't understand," Pitch gasped and glared at Jack. "No matter how you look at it, this victory is mine!"
Jack chuckled and shook his head with a smirk. "Yeah sure, Bunnymund is going to help Elsa and Anna bring back spring. Arendelle is gonna be out of the winter. Hans is probably get carted off to prison and you're going back down to the hole. Tell me how that is your victory."
"For now it's yours," Pitch growled with a cryptic, cruel smirk. "But I win in the long run."
Seeing that devious smile, North grabbed Pitch by his coat and held him a few inches off the ground. "What are you saying?"
"I'm just saying North," Pitch shrugged and smirked. "Happily Ever After usually doesn't end. But believe me… this will…"
Suddenly, Pitch melted into a shadow and zoomed away.
"Get back here," Jack roared and leapt after Pitch's shadow, only for him to be held back by Sandy. "Sandy? Wh-what are you-?"
Sandy shook his head. Let him go. He's probably heading back to his old usual hiding hole. I'll deal with him. After all, he is my responsibility.
"Your responsibility? Since when," Jack gawked.
Sandy floated past him before forming a ball of sand in his hands and revealing a small tableaux performance. Jack gawked and saw how Pitch and Sandy interacted. He saw how the gold sand and the black sand met at one point, swirling around to form the world of Dreams. He saw how Pitch and Sandy stood at two opposite ends of one another as it formed a circle of a gold and black Yin and Yang. It was only then, it hit Jack to what Sandy and Pitch really were.
"You guys are," Jack shook his head.
Sandy hung his head and nodded. Let me be the one, Jack. You should go back to Elsa.
"Sandy's right," Tooth said and placed her hands on Jack's shoulders. "Elsa needs you. She'll need a morale boost in melting the snow off Arendelle."
Bunnymund nodded. "We better go, mate. I might hafta help her little sister before she does something crazy like marry the reindeer or something."
Jack nodded but couldn't help but look back at Sandy. He wondered; did the other guardians know of who Sandy really was? He just knew that Sandy was the oldest guardian living among them. But that would explain why Sandy wasn't killed before even when Pitch shot a Nightmare Arrow into his back. The guardian of fun sighed before flying off with Bunnymund sprinting off behind him. North and Tooth looked back at Sandy who had followed Pitch into the forests.
"Do you think Sandy's gonna be okay," Tooth glanced up at North who shook his head.
"I don't know, Tooth. I really don't know."
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Jack and Bunnymund rushed towards Elsa who was trying to call back the snow. Unfortunately, no matter how much she focused – the snow wouldn't budge! The only thankful thing was that the blizzard and the deathly hail had stopped while things had started warming up a bit. Elsa breathed out slowly while trying to focus the frost on her hands. However, nothing happened which soon had Elsa throwing her hands in the air out of frustration and fold her arms. Bunnymund glanced at Jack, as if telling him to help her. But the guardian of fun didn't budge and instead waited for Elsa to stop trying to control the snow with her mind.
"It won't budge," Elsa groaned. "I've tried everything!"
"Everything? Including callin' in the Easter Bunny, mate," Bunnymund smirked and folded his arms.
She turned around and found Jack and Bunnymund, standing behind her before blushing bright red. "H-how long were you two standing there?"
"Long enough for us to see you trying to control snow with your mind," Jack laughed.
Elsa pouted. "It's not funny! I've been trying to make the snow go away!"
Anna also chimed in the fun. "You have to admit, Elsa. You did look like you were going to fart with all that concentration!"
"Anna, you're not helping!"
Even though Elsa and Anna were both laughing with one another, Jack couldn't help but look back at Pitch's haunting words. It didn't make any sense; why would he say something about Happily Ever After? Even he knew those things didn't exist! But it didn't mean he shouldn't stop trying to make things right. To make people hope again, that was what made a guardian – a guardian. He looked at Elsa who started to breathe in deeply while trying focus onto the snow and ice. He walked up to her as Bunnymund patted Anna.
"We better leave these two to take out the snow," Bunnymund tugged Anna away. "Meanwhile, I'm gonna need help from you and the reindeer boy with something."
Anna blinked and cocked her head to the side. "Help with what?"
"It's the end of winter right," Bunnymund smirked as he tapped the floor with his foot. "Since Winter's ending, Spring's gotta come in somehow. And what better way with a couple of hidden eggs?"
Anna gasped and grabbed Bunnymund's shoulders, giggling. "You're the Easter Bunny!"
"I kinda thought you knew that already, mate," Bunnymund rolled his eyes and glanced over her shoulder; how slow could Anna possibly be? "Hey, Reindeer Boy!"
Kristoff frowned and placed his pickaxe back into his rucksack. "The name's Kristoff. I'm not a reindeer."
"I know you ain't, mate," Bunnymund smirked as he gestured to the hole. "I'm gonna need your help distributing some stuff. Yer reindeer may just fit for the job."
Kristoff glanced at Anna as she grinned at him. "C'mon, it's gonna be fun!"
The ice farmer couldn't help but sigh at Anna. As much as she was completely kooky and crazy, she did manage to brighten things up. She did save Arendelle from freezing into an eternal frozen kingdom. Well, she almost did since the kingdom was still drowned in snow. But he knew Jack and Elsa could remove it. He looked at Elsa who sombrely looked at her hands only to have Jack hold hers. She seemed to look up and breathe deeply before pulling her hands away from Jack as the guardian of fun took a step back.
"We're gonna have to get all those people from Arendelle to come back," Anna nodded determinedly and beamed at Kristoff. "And what better more than to entice the idea of spring to them?"
Kristoff nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! But," – he looked at all the snow. "How are we going to get rid of all that snow?"
"We'll leave that to Elsa and Jack, mate," Bunnymund looked at Elsa trying to perform the spell. "They're the only two who could cast ice magic and get this winter to end."
The three of them jumped down through the hole while Jack and Elsa stood in the middle of the snow. The two ice-wielders looked at the frozen destruction they both accidentally wrought on Arendelle and then, they looked at the ice elementals that cracked into many blackened ice shards. Elsa sighed deeply as her breath formed a white cloud while Jack stabbed his shepherd's crook into the ground, facing Elsa. He could see her shoulders shuddering and her hands began to tremble in his own. He saw the remnants of her nightmarish self, running his fingers through some of the black strands. Although it was slowly turning pale blonde again, some of the tips had remained black.
"Happily Ever After usually doesn't end…"
"But it will," Jack suddenly said.
"But it will what," Elsa raised an eyebrow, noticing that Jack had been focusing on something else. "Jack, are you okay?"
Her champion suddenly snapped out of his daze and nodded, beaming. "Yeah, don't worry about me! Let's just get this snow melted."
Elsa wasn't sure if he was lying or telling her the truth. "Okay… let's begin…"
Jack and Elsa held hands as they closed their eyes. The guardian of fun remembered all the good times he had with Elsa in her icy citadel. He remembered how they danced and created little ice sculptures. The throne, the chandelier and, even the ballroom! Everything had become the exact replication of Arendelle's castle – save for the structure. Elsa on the other hand remembered all the times they danced and sung in the snow. He was right; she had to let things go. Not to hold her down anymore. No more hiding, she smiled to herself. When she opened her eyes, her lavender eyes seemed to stare at Jack's as they took deep breaths together. Their hands, open palmed, faced the ground as the snow began to float. The ice swirled around them as the icy winds started taking away the snow from the bridges, the rooftops and, everywhere.
"It's working," Elsa beamed.
Jack nodded as he saw the townspeople returning. "Well, looks like they're just in time."
Elsa looked back when she saw the people removing their heavy coats and mittens. They beamed with amazement and pride as the snow floated up into the air. Bushes became lush green and the snow melted into dew on the leaves and flowers. Kids suddenly noticed something in the bushes only to pull out rainbow coloured eggs. Upon cracking them, there were candies and many goodies inside. Children began to laugh as they grabbed more and more eggs. They began searching the town square as many of the parents stared in amazement at the light show. With a wave of their hands, Jack and Elsa danced together and swirled the snow before melting the fjords and lakes. The lakes had the waters dancing again as the ice flew into the sky to form one big snowflake. Jack and Elsa then looked at each other and nodded. It was time for winter to end.
"Ready," Jack smiled at the queen.
His queen could not be any more ready. "Ready."
With one wave of their hands, they dismissed the snowflake as it returned into the air as water for the clouds. Elsa smiled and looked at Jack as they found a withering body. Elsa gasped in surprise and began walking to it, only to be stopped by Jack. She looked at him, bewildered. Why did he suddenly just stop her? Was that Hans? If so, Hans was already completely harmless. He couldn't do anything but groan in agony. However, instead of Elsa approaching him – Anna walked over to a withering Hans instead and crouched in front of him. The withering prince could do nothing but look up in shock.
"A… Anna…," he groaned while weakly lifting his hand.
"I'm sorry, Hans," Anna shook her head. "You let this happen to you. But let me try to help you at least."
Hans grunted and groaned, trying to move closer to Anna. If there was anything he knew, a true love's kiss could save him! If Anna did love him, he would be saved! All he had to do was kiss her! He crawled and inched closer, slowly. He gasped for air, struggling with every effort that he had. His legs had been reduced to withering skinny sticks and his arms were the only thing that had the strength to pull him forward. He had never expected himself to grovel for love. It was pathetic, he scolded himself. His brothers would have been ashamed to see him like this. He struggled to push himself off the floor to kiss Anna and closed his eyes, puckering his lips. As he was inches away, it was then his body started turning into dust. He gasped and struggled to reach only to fade away a few centimetres before he was about to kiss her. Anna watched his withered body break into black dust before flying into the wind. The townspeople gasped as the council members rushed to Anna and Elsa.
"Your Highnesses, are you," they began asking until they saw Jack emerge from behind. "Who…?"
Elsa looked back when she saw not only Jack but the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and, the Tooth Fairy standing behind her. She saw their eyes widen to the size of dinner plates before realizing that they could see them. Nobody had seen a man as big as North with the tattoos "naughty" and "nice" on one arm each. The Tooth Fairy was in a rainbow coloured suit and most of all, the Easter Bunny was bigger than an average bunny.
"What's their problem, mate," Bunnymund whispered to Jack.
"I think it's because they never thought that the Easter Bunny could be tall and Australian sounding," Jack snickered.
"Heeeey, watch it mate!"
The councilmen freaked out as Anna tried to calm them down. "No, no, it's okay. They're harmless. Right?"
The guardians exchanged glances with one another and smiled with their big pearly white teeth. "Yeap!"
The townspeople warily looked at one another as Elsa slowly stepped forward. She inhaled deeply, knowing what she did. She saw the times when she was not herself; the legion of dark ice elementals marched across the field and tore through the city. Although she was not there to witness all the chaos, she could only imagine how terrified the children and people were. She hugged herself bitterly before dropping down onto her knees, hanging her head in shame. She had promised to rule the kingdom with kindness and compassion, while keeping her powers hidden. She had never expected her powers to spiral out of control.
"I," Elsa began. "I'm so sorry… for all the trouble I've caused. For all the pain, damage and, destruction, that I have inflicted on your lives…"
The people of Arendelle could see tears forming in her eyes.
"In hopes of rebuilding what you have lost, I have decided to dedicate the royal treasury to rebuilding what you have lost," Elsa looked up at them in determination. "I hope that I may one day be able to repair the damage and atone…"
Before she could continue, a little girl walked up to her. Elsa gawked in surprise as the little girl opened her palm to reveal a pendant with the symbol of Arendelle on it. However, the pendant was not the shape of a snowflake but instead of a flower crafted out of gold. What surprised her even more was the little girl tip-toed and hung the necklace over her neck. Elsa looked up in surprise as the townspeople gathered around her and helped her up. She saw the smiles on their faces and smiled herself only to suddenly feel a nauseating feeling fill her mind. Everything started to swoon as she staggered back.
"Your Highness," the people gasped in fear.
Jack rushed forward to catch her, managing to slide and catch her. "Elsa!"
Unfortunately for Jack and the concerned townspeople, everything had faded into darkness by then for the queen.
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Oh no! What could have possibly happened to Elsa? Find out in the next chapter! Please don't forget to review!
