K: kill, kingdom, knowledge
Hidden in the icy depths of Antarctica, there is a large castle made entirely out of ice and snow. Scientists discovered it on their first trip to the desolate continent. It instantly became an enigma among the scientific world and once the internet became common, a large majority of the world soon became enamoured about it.
However, inside the Mysterious Palace of Ice, as it became known as, lived a prince, and this prince did not like how his castle was recognized and famous. He made a blizzard around his palace so it could never be seen and any human who dared to venture into the storm never made it back out again as the storm took them as its own.
The prince inside of it took the corpses inside the palace and gave them a proper funeral. He just wanted privacy and he would go to whatever lengths he could to keep himself isolated.
On the opposite end of the globe, the Guardians were discussing the prince of Antarctica and the best method to deal with him and make him learn that what he is doing is wrong. So far, all they have is to fight him but they don't know the best method to get to him.
"I say, we just go in there and nab him." says the large gray rabbit.
A large man wearing red responds with, "Bunny! Ve can not do that! He has the blizzard remember?"
"I don't remember blizzards affecting the underground where my tunnels are, mate."
"So you believe we should go straight to the palace through your tunnels?"
"Yes."
"Then ve vill go tomorrow through Bunny's tunnels. Is everyvone in agreement?"
A colorful hummingbird-like creature responded with a strong yes while a short golden man nodded his head.
"Then it is decided. We will meet here tomorrow to defeat this prince of Antarctica." Bunny said.
While the four Guardians were discussing the prince, he was creating statues of ice. These statues were recreations of all the people whose lives were claimed by his storm. By creating these replicated statues made him feel less lonely but also served the purpose of a reminder to himself about what he has done.
The prince did not like doing what he did but he believed it was the only thing he could do. He thought of many things but none of them worked. He thought a giant wall might work, but he realized that the humans would be able to climb over it. So, he created the storm and it hasn't stopped since.
The prince grew bored though and flew up to his tower. From there, he could see for miles and he could even see the penguins from the tower. They never got close to his palace because of the storm but Jack was okay with that. If the penguins came near, the humans were bound to follow and he liked it better this way.
The Guardians were preparing to head out and it was chaos at Bunny's home, which he insisted they leave from there so he could grab a few things. While he was grabbing his things, the other three were wandering and making a general mess. Bunny never did figure out how they made one of his stone guards fall into the dye river. Bunny finally returned and he simply sighed upon seeing the mess. He should have known better. He called the other Guardians back and they began laughing at him instantly.
"Bunny, vat coat is huge!"
"I doubt that you really need such a...fluffy coat."
Sandy made pictures of a flock of featherless birds flying around.
Bunny simply responded with, "It is way too cold to not wear this coat."
The tall rabbit then thumped his foot twice on the ground and a large hole opened up.
"Who's going first?" he asked.
The others looked at eachother when Sandy shrugged and jumped in. North followed Sandy and Tooth was right behind him. Bunny jumped last and the hole closed behind him, leaving a small starflower.
Jack was reading in his library when he heard the distant noise of other people. Confused, Jack silently flew into the main entrance and he froze where he stood. In the middle of the room were the four Guardians.
Why were they in his palace? How did they get in? The storm should have prevented them from getting in. Jack watched them from the behind the doorway to discover why they were in his palace.
"Where do you think Frostbite is?" the large rabbit asked.
"I don't know. Let's go find him." responded the colorful bird-person.
After she said this, they all began to wander around before the man wearing the red suit said, "Ve should stick together."
The golden man nodded and they all gathered again before the golden man spotted the boy and pointed in the direction that Jack was. They began walking towards him but Jack ran away before they got too close. The winter prince ran up the stairs and went back to his library. He sat near the window with his knees pulled to his chest and arms wrapped around them. He laid his head on them and watched the door, waiting for the Guardians to find him.
It wasn't long before the door opened and the four spirits wandered in. They did a quick scan of the room and all of their eyes stopped on the boy staring at them.
The Guardians turned to face each other and began whispering furiously. Jack watched with amusement. It appeared they did not know what to do now that they found him. Jack made the decision for them. He stood up and began walking towards them. As he got closer, he asked, "Why did the Guardians decide to grace me with their presence today out of all my 300 years?"
The Guardians quickly glanced at each other before Bunny answered, "We heard reports of a lot of human deaths in this area and we knew you lived around here so we came to investigate."
Jack stared them and waited for them to continue.
"Jack, do you know anything about the deaths?" North asked.
"Yeah."
"Can you tell us anything about them?" Tooth asked.
"Nah."
Then Sandy formed the word please from his sand.
Jack saw and simply shook his head while he began to walk back to where he was sitting when the Guardians came in. He sat and watched them again, waiting to see what they would do. While they Guardians whispered at each other, Jack picked up one of his books and began reading.
Jack was 100 pages into the book when he finally heard the Guardians ask him, "Why won't you tell us anything about the deaths?"
Jack looked at the Guardians with a look of disdain and replied, "It's none of your business."
Bunny responded in a scathing voice, "Oh really. That makes it sound like you are responsible. That you don't want to admit to it because you don't want to get in trouble."
Jack looks shocked at the words Bunny said but with a smile on his face said, "Is thinking all of that what makes your head big, Kangaroo?"
"Do I look like a kangaroo?"
"Yes."
Bunny threw his arms up in exasperation.
Jack watched them cluster together and groaned, saying, "All of those deaths are not my fault. They came too close to my home is all and my protective forces got to them. Now that you have the information you want, you may leave." He turned his back to them and continued reading.
Confused at the sudden change in conversation, the Guardians left Jack with his books in his isolated castle. As they wandered the halls looking for the exit, they found a large room filled with ice statues. They entered it slowly and noticed the likeness of the people whose lives were claimed by the storm.
They were awed by the detail in each statue and how well each one showed the unique person it represented. They finally reached the end of the room but none of them knew what to say. In the unsaid agreement, they left the room and soon found the exit afterwards.
Their flight back to the North's was silent since they were all deep in thought. They were all thinking about the statues made of ice, about the way the boy ran, the way he avoided coming too close them, his facial expressions, everything that happened while they were in Antarctica. They got the answers they needed even though it took them a while to get that information but the way it was given was in the most indirect fashion possible.
Once they arrived at the workshop, they all left to do their jobs all while thinking about the winter boy. But as the days past, they began to forget about the boy and the mysteriousness of the way he did things and in his frozen tundra. The boy smiled as he walked the isolated halls, knowing they would not be back for a long time.
A/N: It is finally out! It only took forever but I got hit by writer's block big time. I had absolutely no idea what to write so naturally, I avoided it. I'll try to write the next chapter quickly which shouldn't be too hard to accomplish because I am excited for the next chapter. Don't forget, you can look at all the review answers on the tumblr for this fanfiction account. I have the link posted in my bio. If you have any questions or prompts, ask/tell me! I'm always open to ideas.
Also, I'm going to try to start answering the reviews sooner, so you can find your answers sooner instead of waiting months for me to answer them.
As always, it was edited by my sister, THE EDITOR!
Read, review, and enjoy!