Tale

Chapter 8 : The Sand Castle

/!\ I do not own Rise of the Guardians, only my OC.

Jack Frost

They all climbed aboard the sand-made flying carpet. Sandy sat on the front (do carpets even have a front?) and raised his hands, raising the magic carpet at the same time. They took off. Jack was sitting in the back, behind Bunny and Tooth, next to Lía. The carpet quickly gained altitude, soaring through the skies above the icy sceneries of the North Pole. Soon they were above the clouds, the wind roaring in their ears and sand trailing behind them.
In front of Jack, Bunny was clinging to Tooth's arm like his life depended on it.

"Sandy, are you sure this thing is safe? Are you sure we won't fall though the sand?" Bunny screamed.

Sandy shook his head and North, who was sitting next to him, answered: "Sandy says no."

Bunny closed his eyes and Tooth put a calming hand on his shoulder.

"It will be okay, Bunny. Don't worry. I'll catch you if you fall."

Jack was about to tease the Guardian of Hope, telling him something like "I'm sure Tooth would appreciate keeping her arm", or something about his relationship with the Guardian of Memories. He wanted to get back at the pooka for teasing Lía and him earlier.

But then, he noticed that Lía Tale was leaning closer and closer to the edge of the carpet, trying to see the ground underneath. She was about to fall and he managed to catch her wrist before she would fall to her death.

"Hey, watch out!" he exclaimed, pulling her back.

But he pulled a little too hard and she fell on him. Thankfully, the carpet was large and long enough so that neither of them fell and they just ended up on their backs, Lía on Jack. The carpet was not that large, though, and Jack had dropped his staff when he had grabbed Lía's wrist. The wooden staff fell off the carpet and plummeted toward the ground underneath them.

But Jack didn't notice the fall of his staff. He didn't notice that his head and right shoulder were only a few centimetres away from the edge of the carpet. That, if he just moved a little bit, he would fall right after his staff.
No, the only things he could notice were the eyes of Lía right in front of his, her lips just a millimetre away from his, her body pressed against his as she lied on him... His cheeks turned red when he realised what he was thinking about, and he saw that Lía's face was turning red as well. He immediately thought that he had angered her. But before he could say anything, she rolled on the side and managed to sit. He then exclaimed:

"My staff!"

He had just noticed its fall. He stood up, probably about to do something stupid, when Lía looked at him, sighed, rolled her eyes and jumped off the carpet, following Jack's staff in its fall.

Lía Tale

Why? Why had he done this? Why grab her by the wrist and pull her on his chest? The tale-teller just couldn't understand why the Guardian of Fun had done that. She could still feel his cold breath on her face, even though there was some distance between them now. She was about to ask Jack why he had done such a thing when the immortal teen exclaimed:

"My staff!"

Surely, when he had caught her and pulled her away from the edge of the flying carpet, he had dropped his staff. Lía looked at him for a second. Was she really about to...? Yes, she was. She sighed and rolled her eyes. He had been nice with her, but was it really a reason to...? Yes, her mind answered. So she sighed again, in her head this time, and jumped off the carpet.

The wind howled, pulling on her cloak, playing with her loose hair. She had completely forgotten to tie her hair back into a bun before leaving North's workshop and was now worried that it would fall in front of her eyes at the worst possible moment. But, right now, she had bigger problems, and she focused on her fall.
Jack's staff was nowhere to be seen, though the ground underneath Lía was hidden by the clouds. Maybe it was already on the floor, waiting to be picked up. But then, Lía passed through the cloud, discovering the land underneath... which was an ocean.

"Oh, shoot!" she exclaimed.

She saw the staff hit the water and disappear underneath the surface of the ocean. She waited, making sure that she was right above the spot where the staff had sunk and hoping that the currents weren't too strong there. And, when she was only a few meters above the ocean, she breathed deeply and turned into an orca.

She loved this form. In the ocean, she felt free, at home. She could spend hours just swimming, playing with the waves and letting the currents carry her to faraway lands. But this time, she couldn't enjoy her time in the ocean. She had to focus on her mission. She used echolocalisation* to find Jack's staff, which was not far from her. She quickly reached it, caught it in her mouth and swam back to the surface. She then spat out the staff and turned back into a human before taking the staff in her hands.
Now, she needed to fly back to the flying carpet. But how? That she hadn't thought through. The staff was too heavy to carry for a crow, but she couldn't just leave it there. She could maybe wait for the Guardians to come pick her up with the carpet, but that would be too humiliating for her.

She sighed. Why did she have to jump?! She could've let Jack handle his own problems! But the truth was that no, she couldn't've had let him jump from the flying carpet. Such a fall from such a height would've broken every bone in his body. After all, he couldn't turn into an orca to break his fall.
She sighed again. Thinking about it now wouldn't do any good.

"What is done is done", she said to herself.

Even if she knew it was pointless, she turned into a crow, caught the staff with her talons and tried to take off. She managed to rise a few inches above the water, but couldn't fly higher. She was about to give up and turn back into a human when she heard a familiar croak.

"Feather!" she thought.

And it was indeed Feather, accompanied by a white owl. The two birds caught up with her and helped her carry her burden.

Jack Frost

He stared at the void beneath them, not really believing what had happened. Lía had jumped. Just like that. The other Guardians had noticed it, but no one said one word. There was nothing to say. The carpet went on flying and no one thought to stop it, to wait for the shapeshifter. Maybe they hadn't noticed. But he knew well that they had, in fact, all noticed that Lía had jumped.
After a few minutes, just when Jack thought that he would jump after Lía, he saw three birds flying toward the carpet : Feather, Ow and Lía. They reached the carpet and Feather and Ow let go of the staff they were carrying. But Lía kept it a few seconds longer to drop it on Jack's head.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, and Ow looked at him, surprised. "What was that for?"

"That, Frosthead, is for dropping your staff out in the open sea!" Lía said after turning back into a human and sitting on the carpet.

She took Feather and put the crow on her lap, gently stroking her black feathers.

"Without those two brave birds, I don't think I would've been able to carry your staff all the way to the carpet.

Ow perched on Jack's shoulder, his new favorite place.

"I'm glad to see them" Jack said with a smile. "And I'm really grateful too. Thank you for jumping off a flying carpet in the middle of the ocean for me."

His smile was for her, and only for her. She blushed lightly, but dismissed the thanks with her hand.

"No big deal."

She focused on the crow on her lap and Jack stroked Ow's tiny head. The Guardian of Fun was about to talk. Say something to her, anything. It just... felt right in the moment. But then North clapped his hands together, attracting everyone's attention.

"We're here. The Sandcastle."

Lía Tale

She had imagined something tiny, maybe a tower next to a mansion. Not... that. The Sandman's castle was huge. Pyramids, towers, lodges, dependancies... surrounded by a huge wall. And everything was made out of sand. Roofs, walls, doors... just golden sand everywhere.

"Sandy, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed, admiring the castle before them. "But I don't see any despairs."

"We should look around", Bunny said. "Pandore and her despairs are sly and don't know the meaning of the word 'honour'. They're probably hidden inside the castle."

Sandy nodded and the flying carpet landed in the middle of a wide courtyard, right in front of the main entrance of the castle. They got up and the carpet vanished under their feet.

"Well, in we go, I guess." said Jack, his staff casually resting on one shoulder.

"Yep." Lía followed him to the main entrance.
Sandy waved his hand and the huge, compact sand door in front of them opened. They entered a hall with high walls, tall windows and a decorated ceiling. The ceiling was supported by columns engraved with geometric motifs.
They didn't have to go any further to find the despairs. They were there, dozens of them hidden behind the columns and lurking in the shadows of the room.

Pandore's pawns didn't wait to attack the Guardians. They rushed toward North, Sandy, Bunny, Tooth, Jack and Lía. The Guardians and Lía fought bravely, defeating despair after despair after despair. But the more despair they would destroy, the more would come and keep them busy.

After fighting for more than ten minutes and defeating thirty despairs, Lía suddenly exclaimed:

"It's a trap! They're keeping us busy while some other despairs steal the dreamsand!"

The time seemed to stop as everyone stopped fighting, realising that the shapeshifter probably was right. Everyone except Jack. He blasted two despairs that were in his way and rushed toward the other end of the hall.

"Sandy!" he screamed. "Where's the dreamsand?"

With sand arrows over his head, the Guardian of Dreams explained were he would store the dreamsand after making it. Jack nodded and went back to running toward the end of the hall. Lía noticed two despairs that were sawing two columns near him. If they managed to completely saw the two columns, the ceiling would likely collapse... and crush Jack under tons of heavy packed sand stronger than normal rock. And apparently, they were about to succeed.
But Jack hadn't noticed them. He kept on running, running toward his death. She screamed:

"Jack!"

But he kept on running.

Lía gasped at the thought of Jack being crushed by the ceiling. She couldn't let it happen. So she turned into a wolf and ran toward the Guardian of Fun.

She turned back into a human right before the ceiling collapsed. She jumped, bumped into Jack and threw him away.

Her head hit the floor and the shock left her a bit dizzy, but she quickly got back on her feet. She looked around and saw Jack, unconscious, lying on his stomach near her. The ceiling had collapsed all around them, and it was really a miracle that they hadn't been crushed by the huge blocks of packed sand that formed a huge, tall circular wall all around the two of them. Lía coughed and squinted, trying to see past the cloud of sand raised by the fall of the ceiling. There was, apparently, no way out. She heard North's loud voice through the thick wall.

"Jack! Tale!"

"We're okay!" she answered. "Well... I think... Frost's unconscious."

"Frost is what?" North asked.

The sound didn't travel well through the thick remains of the ceiling. Lía explained her and Jack's current situation. It took them some time, but the Guardians finally understood that she couldn't get out, let alone carry Jack on her back and climb the wall to get out of this trap. Sandy had been knocked unconscious by the despairs and couldn't help them. And just as the tale-teller thought that things couldn't get any worse, despairs entered the arena they were trapped in.

"Hey, Jack? Think you could wake up right now?" Lía shouted, panicked.

Sadly, shouting on an unconscious person is not enough to wake them up. Jack was still unconscious and didn't look like he was about to wake up anytime soon. Lía sighed and took her dagger out. Her index accidentally slipped and slightly pressed the purple crystal on the handle. Suddenly there was a flash of light and her dagger had become a sword!

"What the..." Lía mumbled.

The shape-shifter took a second to examine the blade of her dagger/sword. The dagger was still the same, but the blade had been extended with what seemed to be purple light. She shyly put a finger on the tip of the blade. It was cold and felt like metal under her skin. Metal that looked like pure light.
Anyone else would've tried to understand what had happened. Not Lía. The tale-teller stood next to Jack, ready to defend the unconscious Guardian against the crowd of despairs surrounding them.

"Come on, don't keep me waiting!" she exclaimed. "I want to test my new sword!"

And the despairs didn't keep her waiting.

How much time had it been since she had started fighting? Five minutes? Twenty? One hour? One day? It felt like a second had passed, but she was so tired that it also felt like it had been days.

"Jack", she panted, "right now would be a good time to wake up!"

He didn't move. She slashed a despair with her sword. Suddenly the new blade blinked. It blinked once, twice, and then disappeared. As if it had never existed. She was now holding her good old dagger, which was not long enough to keep all the despairs at bay. She instinctively knew what it meant. Fighting wasn't an option anymore. She couldn't keep up. She would die and Jack would too. Unless... unless she stopped fighting.

She put her dagger back into its scabbard, grabbed Jack and threw him over her shoulder. She grabbed his staff, which was lying on the ground close to her, and whispered :

"Hold on a bit longer, Frost, alright?"

She was limping because of a long, really deep cut on her left leg, but she couldn't let that stop her. Her back was extremely painful, but she didn't care. The only things she cared about were the unconscious Guardian she was carrying and the huge, insurmontable wall of debris in front of her. She could feel Jack's torso rising as he breathed. That reassured her. The despairs were closing on her, and that made her panic. But between peace and panic, between the strange, tingly feeling she felt whenever Jack was close and the fear the despairs inspired, she chose peace. She breathed in once, to calm her heart down, and started climbing.

The tale-teller had reached the top of the wall. She almost couldn't believe it. The despairs had cut her multiple times during her climb, but she had just focused on her climb and tried to ignore them. And now she was at the top.

She didn't take time to admire the view, though. She made sure that Jack was still well-adjusted on her shoulder, tightened her grip on him and started jumping from debris to debris, quickly climbing down the wall in a dangerous, neck-breaking way. It was a miracle if she hadn't fell and broke a bone during the few seconds that it had taken her to go down the wall.

"Guys!" she screamed when she saw the Guardians, all bleeding and panting, reunited in a small circle around Sandy, trying to protect him from the despairs. "Guys, we have to go! It's too late anyway, they have the dreamsand!"

"Guardians don't flee!" North answered.

"So you would rather flee from a fight, or lose two Guardians?" she replied sharply.

North didn't answer for a second, shocked, and a despair took advantage of his shock to cut him on the cheek.

"Face it, North, this fight is desperate! We can't win!" the shape-shifter insisted. "We have to go while we still can!"

He took a second before finally giving in.

"Alright. Wait a minute while I call the sleigh."

North whistled and took Sandy in his arms.

"Bunny, Tooth, protect the two!"

Everyone knew what he meant by "the two".

"We will walk to the front door. The sleigh is coming."

The walk to exit the main hall of the sandcastle, main hall that was still falling apart, felt like the longest walk ever to Lía. Jack felt heavier and heavier on her shoulder. The pain in her back was unbearable. But she kept on walking.

"Jack, I swear", she whispered through gritted teeth, "next time we do this, you are carrying me!"

Bunny heard her whisper thanks to his sharp sens of hearing and smiled while pushing a despair back. At the last second, he refrained from teasing her. "Now is not the time", he thought. "but later... maybe."

The Guardians exited the hall right before the entire structure collapsed. The sleigh was there, waiting for them. They all climbed aboard, North the last to make sure that everyone was there, and the sleigh took off.

As soon as they were up in the air, Lía laid Jack down on the sleigh's bench and sat next to him, holding his head in her lap to make sure he wouldn't swallow his tongue. Tooth checked on him and told her :

"He's fine. The shock knocked him out, but he'll wake up soon. He has some minor cuts and..."

The tale-teller didn't hear the rest of the Guardian of Memories' diagnosis. Her eyes closed and her brain shut down. The next second, she was out.

Jack Frost

He opened his eyes and quickly closed them again. He had a horrible headache and the light only made it worse. He waited a few seconds, until he couldn't hear his heartbeat under his skull, and tried to open one eye. The pain was bearable. He opened his other eye and looked around.

He was in his room in North's workshop. The window was open and the cold air soothed his pain a little. His arms and legs were painful. He had multiple cuts that had been bandaged all over his body. He raised a hand and touched the side of his head. He had a big bump which was causing the pain in his head.

"What happened?" Jack whispered to himself. He tried to recall what had happened. The Sandcastle, the despairs, the dreamsand... and then nothing. No, not nothing. A voice that had become familiar over the past few days. Lía Tale's voice. She had screamed his name. And then, nothing.

"I have to find out what happened after I lost consciousness." he thought.

He got up and slowly walked to the window. Outside, the sky of the North Pole was clear and blue. The Guardian of Fun grabbed his staff, which was resting against the window frame, and left his room.

The corridor that led to the guests' rooms was empty and silent. But as he walked past Lía Tale's room, he heard some music. Lía was apparently playing the piano. The music that she played was familiar. It was sad, yet beautiful. Before he could even realise what he was doing, Jack had opened the door to the shape-shifter's room and entered the room.

She was sitting on the piano bench, her fingers flying over the keys. She was wearing her usual white tunic and black trousers, her hair was pulled up into her usual bun held by a pin and her shoulders were covered by her purple cloak. Since her trousers only reached her knees, he could see the bandage on her left leg.
The tale-teller stopped playing when he entered the room. She raised her head and looked at him before immediately blushing and turning her eyes away.

"I-I'm glad to see that you're okay, Jack", she said. "but I didn't need to see that much."

"Wha- oh, Moon..." he gasped. He had just realised that he wasn't wearing his usual blue hoodie and that his chest was bare. Thankfully, he was still wearing his trousers. Otherwise, he would've died of embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, Lía... I hadn't noticed... I didn't mean to... I..."

"It's okay", she assured him with a smile. "Though I wouldn't mind you covering up."

"Yeah, I'll just go... grab some clothes and..." he mumbled, his face completely red from embarrassment, before leaving the room.

He ran to his own room, found his hoodie on a chair and quickly put it on. He then went back to Lía's room. She was waiting for him on the piano bench, smiling. She was biting her lip and it wasn't hard to understand that it was to contain her laughter.

"Much better now", she said. She winked at him before resuming playing the piano.

Jack silently closed the door and leans against the wall, his staff resting next to him. He had dozens of questions he wanted to ask, but couldn't interrupt her. Her music was beautiful and he waited until the end of the piece to speak again.

"That was beautiful", the Guardian of Fun said. "Where did you learn to play like that?"

"I watched professional musician playing and I trained at night, when no one could hear me. That's when I found out that there are some advantages to being invisible." she told him.

He let some time pass before asking his next question:

"What happened? I can't remember anything after you screamed my name. Did we win?"

Her small, joyful smile vanished.

"The despairs had set a trap. I had to push you to avoid you being crushed by the ceiling and your head bumped pretty hard on the floor. I had to defend you against the despairs. Sandy was unconscious and couldn't help us. The despairs were... there was so many of them and we were losing. They stole the dreamsand and we had to retreat."

"Oh."

Jack just couldn't believe it. The Guardians had lost the fight...

"And North accepted to retreat? Just like that?" he asked, surprised.

"Not at first", the shape-shifter said with a chuckle. "But I convinced him to. I... it was too dangerous and... I couldn't let you die."

She had whispered the last words.

Jack didn't know what to answer to this. What was he supposed to say? "Thanks?" The word felt too weak, like it wasn't enough. But he couldn't tell her something like "I would never let you die either." It sounded like what a boyfriend would say. He realised that it was true, that he would never let her die, because she mattered too much to the world, too much to him, but he just couldn't. He was too shy, too afraid of her reaction. So instead of answering, he asked something else:

"Why?"

Lía Tale

"Why?"

"Because my heart tells me you need to live!" she wanted to shout. But she didn't. She looked at the Guardian in front of her, then at the piano, then at him again. His eyes, his icy blue eyes were staring at her, waiting for an answer.

"Because you're my ally, and I need you to stay alive to help me defeat our enemy?" no, she couldn't say that either. She would be lying, and she didn't want to lie. Not to him.

She slowly repeated: "Why couldn't I let you die?"

"Yeah, why couldn't you?" he asked.

"Because you're my friend, Jack, and I do my best to keep my friends alive." she finally answered.

For a second, it seemed to the shape-shifter that he was wincing, that he had a disappointed look on his face. For a second. Because a wide, joyful grin appeared on his face the next second and she could only conclude that she had imagined that wince.

"Your friend! I got promoted!" he exclaimed.

She sighed, trying to look annoyed, but she couldn't keep her smile to herself.

"I already regret using that word", she teased.

"And would you also use that word to define the other Guardians?" Jack asked, curious.

"Nope. Still allies to me."

He looked a bit disappointed, but then he repeated "Friend!" with a victorious look on his face and Lía's smile widened.

"Okay, get over it!" she said, still grinning.

"As you wish... friend." he answered before bowing playfully.

She was about to answer when someone knocked on the door. Her smile immediately disappeared and she got on her feet. Jack stopped smiling and went to stand next to her.

"Come in!" Lía said.

Bunny opened the door, Tooth right behind him.

"See, Tooth? Told you the kids would be together!"

Before anyone could say anything, he added:

"C'mon, kids, follow us. North is gathering everyone for a reunion."

Lía sighed, but she followed the two Guardians out of her room along with Jack.

"Okay, reunion it is, then."

*echolocalisation : an ability shared by most sea mammals which allows them to "map" everything around them using ultrasounds.