(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: none)

--Ranya--

I just had to get the Guardians away from Isabelle and tell them what her first Guardian Angel had told me. Simple.

But then my worries about my sister washed away as if from a tide coming in at the beach. I would be able to do this by myself just fine. A soothing peace lay over each limb, and I breathed deeply.

I turned to stumble upstairs to plan as my dad turned on the heat. My parents' eyes stared at nothing, glazed over as their bodies sagged and they sighed. But nothing was the matter here. Everything was fine. I would defeat Pitch without the help of the Guardians, and join them in my sister's place.

Even the colors of the Watcher's hallucinations relaxed. The neons dimmed to pastels, and their glows were softer and slower. The tilting was more of a gentle rocking. The house warmed.

When I reached my room, I breathed in the scents of my flowers. So much life. It was beautiful.

Then I shook my head and refocused on the danger. I had to take Isabelle's place as a Guardian. The soothing faded, and the thought of telling the Guardians about what was going on settled into the very back of my mind.

"Let's see…" I mumbled to myself, looking around the room as if the plants would write me an answer on their full leaves. "Hmm…" I stumbled over to my desk and looked through the outlines of my latest fanfictions. What did all successful plans in the RotG and/or GoC universes have in common? Well, they played to the characters' strengths, for one. What are my strengths?

I wasn't very athletic, or smart. I couldn't easily sway people to do what I want, and I wasn't sneaky…

"Oh! My knowledge of the books and the movie!" I said.

"And I'm basically in an RotG fanfiction, so I have to think like it. They defeat Pitch by defeating him, not his creations. You have to take him out, and everything will fall. I have to do that by using my center."

The question every RotG fan had asked themself—What would my center be if I were a Guardian? After I had first watched the movie and begun reading fanfictions, I thought it would be creativity because of my writing. Later I realized a center was more why you were passionate about helping people, so I then thought mine would be determination since I was determined to defend others from mean "friends." But was that really what made me help them?

"Justice," I said. "My center is justice."

I attempted to pace to the other side of the room, but fell right on my face on the stale-smelling scratchy carpet. I crawled to my smooth brown bedpost and pulled myself up. "Then how do I secretly get all the way to Pennsylvania—the lair, where Pitch probably is? Flying a round trip would probably be too expensive for my parents and me to afford. Driving would take a long time. And even once I made it, I'd have to have some way to get down into the cavern…" Maybe… How did characters travel in RotG fanfictions? "Um… a lot of OCs have wings or a power that lets them fly. There are also Bunny's tunnels, North's sleigh, Tooth's wings…" What was here that I didn't need to tell a Guardian where I was going in order to use? "How about… North's Snow Globes. They can create portals to anywhere. The only problem is how to get some… I don't think I could steal any without him noticing, so I'll need to convince him to give me a couple somehow…"

I sat on my creaking bed and tapped my knees. "I need a way to defeat Pitch, too—with my center. How could I use justice to do that? I could… make him pay for his crimes? But how would I do that? I'd need some sort of weapon. A Guardian or spirit's weapon—something designed to fight Pitch and the things he creates. Sandy could probably make one with Dreamsand, or maybe North has an extra sword somewhere. I'll be good, and then ask them both about it tomorrow. The only problem is the Watcher." I wished I'd been able to keep a hold of the weapon Isabelle's first Guardian Angel had given me. It could've been a big help. Maybe it had even had something more to do with justice. My jaw tightened.

"The Watcher is a helper of Pitch, not a creation, so according to the book series, that guy needs to be defeated individually, too." But he wasn't part of the Rise of the Guardians/Guardians of Childhood series franchise. I didn't have endless information about him. I didn't even know all of his powers, or if he really was the one who had soothed Jack. Wait a second… What happened downstairs… Was that what soothing feels like? But the waves lapped over my mind again. What did it matter if I didn't have the Guardians' help? I had a center, and that was all I needed. Jack had even gotten all of the Guardians' powers back at the end of the movie by using that alone.

But how could I defeat a powerful death being I knew next to nothing about?

(A/N: Could you please favorite, comment, and follow if you're enjoying this story)