Suddenly, a dark storm cloud overcast Storybrooke and the snow stopped coming down at almost an instant. Everyone who was on the streets murmured in confusion and wondered why that happened. Elwin looked curious too until a dark shadow zipped over him suddenly and his eyes lolled back into his skull and he fell in the middle of the road.
"ELWIN!" Elsa cried out in concern.
Everyone else then surrounded the boy and tried to pat his face to wake him up, though Elwin seemed to be out cold. Elsa was the most upset and worried about him of course. Nothing could have prepared them for something like this. Voices murmured all around Elwin's ears and they soon sounded like they were underwater as the dark storm loomed up above. Suddenly, Elwin's icy blue eyes shot open, but he was not where he thought he was.
Elwin sat up and looked around as he appeared to be alone in a dark room with no one else around. He then looked down and saw that he was standing on a stained glass portrait of a certain former fairy tale princess who was also someone he knew from his life in Storybrooke. "Ms. Blanchard?" he then muttered before shaking his head as he walked up to it after putting his hand on it. "No, it can't be. That's Snow White, before here even was a Storybrooke... when Evie's mom was The Evil Queen... where am I and is any of this real or not?" he then wondered.
"So much to do..." A mysterious voice said, causing the boy to look around to see if he could find the voice, but it seemed to be hidden. "So little time... take your time. Don't be afraid. Your door is still shut. Now step forward. Can you do it?" they then added mysteriously.
Elwin shrugged as he looked around and soon stepped forward a little closer. Suddenly, as he came closer to the portrait, three podiums appeared and they seemed to have a shield, some sort of magic wand, and a warrior sword, not too dissimilar from what Mulan and Lonnie would have.
"Power sleeps within you..." The voice told Elwin. "If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well."
Elwin soon looked among the many choices and soon started to come to the sword first. It was up a bit high, so he jumped for it and held it by the end.
"The power of the warrior," The voice advised Elwin. "Invincible courage, a sword of terrible destruction, is this the power you seek?"
Elwin thought about it for a few moments until he nodded. "Yes." he then answered only for the sword to suddenly disappear from his hands which startled him for a moment.
"Your path is set," The voice told Elwin then. "Now, what will you give up in exchange?"
Elwin looked behind him and glanced between the wand and the shield to see which one spoke to him the most. He soon hopped down from one podium and soon headed right for another and picked up the shield as a possibility.
"The power of the guardian," The voice told Elwin which he seemed very happy to hear about since his biggest childhood heroes were guardians, but not just any guardians. "Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You give up this power?"
"Yes." Elwin said softly before the shield disappeared from his hands just like the sword.
"You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the guardian," The voice recollected to Elwin. "Is this the form you choose?"
"Yes." Elwin decided a lot more confidently this time.
Suddenly, the podiums came crashing down in the middle of the floor, making Elwin stumble a bit. He looked around and suddenly the portrait of Snow White shattered and he fell through the invisible floor into another void. He soon found himself in a new room with another stained glass portrait, but this time it was Cinderella instead of Snow White.
"You've gained the power to fight," The voice told Elwin as he suddenly had a sword made out of solid ice that would never melt in his hands and a flurry of snowflakes blew in the wind with his platinum blonde hair. "Try to attack."
Elwin then looked around as he walked about with his sword and waved it around to use it as a potential weapon for future encounters with enemies. He thought about how Jack Frost would use his staff to help bring winter joy to the children all around the world who still believed in him.
"All right! You've got it!" The voice approved. "Use this power to protect yourself and others. There will be times you HAVE to fight. Keep your light burning strong."
Suddenly, Elwin was surrounded by what looked like monsters who came out of random doors to scare him away. Elwin didn't feel scared of them at all and soon used his sword to keep them away and attacked them with his colder than iron blade. Fortunately for him, the enemies went down very easily.
"Behind you!" The voice warned Elwin who luckily saw that and attacked and only got away with a mere scratch on his sleeve that hurt, but nothing to see the doctor about.
Once those enemies were gone, a black hole appeared and swallowed up Elwin, taking him from this room instantly. He seemed to be swallowed up by some sort of darkness and he soon woke up in yet another room with a stained glass portrait of a fairy tale princess from another life before he and the other descendants were born, though Elwin wasn't sure which one this was as she had strawberry blonde hair and a pink dress, surrounded by many creatures of the forest almost like Snow White was labeled to be as a fairy tale princess predecessor and possibly having Emma take her place since she was a descendant too technically.
There was a door there and Elwin ran up to it, but it seemed to just phase right through him, much to his confusion. "I can't open it." he then frowned before he turned around and saw a bright light which showed a treasure chest behind him, so he came over to see it and tapped it with his sword until it opened up, but disappeared until it disappeared and a large crate was in its place.
"You can push large crates." The voice told Elwin.
"That's great, but how about the door?" Elwin scoffed as he began to push around the crate, not really seeing a point to any of this until he decided to use his sword on the door and it shattered, revealing a key. "Now that's more like it." he then smirked as the door changed slightly.
Suddenly, a barrel appeared.
Elwin then shrugged as he picked it up or a moment and walked around until more of the door appeared. "Aha." he then smirked as he went over to the doors and tried to push them open.
The door didn't open at first and soon, the doors came wide open with a bright light inside. He wasn't sure what else to do, but only walk through it and suddenly, he was somewhere else that was a lot different than what he had faced before. It almost looked like a tropical island on a boardwalk with people that hadn't been seen in Storybrooke before.
"Hold on. Your door won't open just yet," The voice said to Elwin from nowhere again while a few people were there in his company. "First, tell me more about yourself."
A young girl with brunette pigtails was shown first and she had glasses on. She then looked up at Elwin as she put her rather colorful headphones around her neck and looked up at the boy curiously. "What's most important to you? Being #1? Friendship? Or prized possessions?" she then prompted.
"I guess friendship since I wasn't very outgoing back then." Elwin decided.
"Is friendship such a big deal?" The young girl asked.
Elwin blinked with wide eyes as that surprised him and he soon approached someone else who appeared to be a dark-haired boy in dark clothing, almost in a gothic/Middle Ages sort of way.
"What are you so afraid of?" The mysterious boy asked Elwin.
"Getting old." Elwin admitted as being elderly seemed like a burden in one's lifespan even if most of the adults in Storybrooke were now immortal because of Evie's mother.
"Gettin' old?" The boy asked. "Is that really so scary?"
"Well, I guess there's that and being different." Elwin then added.
"Being different?" The boy replied. "Is that really so scary?"
Elwin glanced at the boy strangely for how he answered and then came up to someone else who was there.
"What do you want outta life?" A Middle Eastern girl who resembled Jay but in pink clothing asked. "To see whole new worlds like rare sights, to broaden your horizons, or to be strong?" she then added.
"To broaden my horizons." Elwin decided.
"To broaden your horizons, huh?" The girl replied curiously.
"You want friendship. You're afraid of getting old and being different. You want to broaden your horizons," The first mysterious voice remarked to Elwin after that was said and done. "Your adventure begins very soon. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one."
"Sounds good." Elwin said with a shrug.
"The day you will open the door is both far off and very near," The voice told Elwin. "You are one of the fortunate ones."
Elwin looked curious about that and soon he was somewhere else once more and ended up where there was a portrait of Audrey's mother and daughter of the first Sleeping Beauty, Aurora. He stepped up to the picture while looking all around for what more had to be done around here, though some black sand surrounded him which made him wide-eyed and wondered if that could be what he thought it probably was. He brought out his ice sword and was surrounded by those awful monsters from earlier before attacking them once he felt motivated enough by the disembodied voice that helped aid him this far.
A bright light came down from high above and down right next to the portrait of Aurora to show some sort of glowing white portal. He soon walked over to it and it shined all around him and a spotlight came down, passing by the portrait and then showed a colorful path just after the portrait. Elwin shrugged at that and soon walked along the path which turned out to be an ascending bridge of some sort and down below appeared to be what looked like the convent of Storybrooke, but images of a gypsy woman who resembled the boy Zephyr from school and even had his emerald green eye color.
The bridge almost seemed endless until he made it to the edge where there was a portrait of Belle. "Ben's mom..." he then murmured. "She's a princess too?"
"The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes." The voice advised Elwin.
Elwin soon looked behind himself to see the shadow before it suddenly came to life. This startled the boy and he stepped back as this just reminded him of when Storybrooke nearly became the new Neverland because of the immature and insane imbecile that came into their hometown.
"Don't be afraid. You hold the mightiest weapon of all..." The voice told Elwin as he backed away slowly from the shadow monster that approached him with beady eyes and he tried to run away, but there didn't seem to be any way out of this one other than fighting with his ice sword to the best of his newfound abilities.
Elwin occasionally tried to throw snowballs or anything else winter related from his hands since he was born with Elsa's curse due to being her direct descendant who seemed to inherit them from Ingrid. Eventually, the big and bad enemy of Elwin's subconscious slowly backed down, but then Elwin's sword disappeared again and so did his own winter magic until the darkness began to swallow him up.
"So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door," The voice soon concluded and the final words echoed through Elwin's mind. "...Elwin."
"Elwin? Elwin, you there? Come in, Elwin..." A voice echoed and started to sound different.
Elwin's eyes slowly opened and he found himself in the company of his estranged, long-lost mother. "Mama?" he then murmured softly as his eyes were bleary for a moment until he realized that it was her. "Is that you?"
"Yes, my little Snow Prince, thank goodness you're okay," Elsa beamed and hugged the teenage boy suddenly. "We were so worried. Dr. Whale said he wanted to be alone with you, but I refused to leave your side."
"She was insistent about it and if I didn't comply she said she would make me listen to a snowman sing about how he can't wait for summer." Dr. Whale added, slightly bitter.
Elsa flashed him a bit of a look. "You okay, Elwin? You kinda scared us back there after the snowfall and that storm suddenly came in." she then said softly.
"I remember seeing that storm..." Elwin admitted as he rubbed his head before sitting up a little.
"Here, sweetie, have some ice water." Elsa suggested as she brought out a paper cup for him.
"Thanks, Mama..." Elwin said before he took a quick drink to replenish himself a bit. "That was so weird... that dream... if it even was a dream."
"It wasn't a coma, was it?" Elsa asked Dr. Whale.
"No, thankfully it wasn't, just seems to be a dizzy spell that could've been brought up from dehydration, flashing lights, or extreme heat, though I'm not sure what it could've done with Elwin." Dr. Whale explained.
"Well, don't scare us like that again, Elwin." Elsa told her son firmly.
"Yes, ma'am, I'll try..." Elwin nodded as he took another drink. "The Spell of Shattered Sight. Is it over?" he then wondered.
"Yes, it is, everyone should be reuniting with their families again very soon," Elsa informed him. "What did you see in your dream though?"
"This voice was just telling me it was my duty to help with something, I'm not fully sure what..." Elwin said thoughtfully. "Something with black sand."
Elsa looked wide-eyed at that detail. "Did you say black sand?" she then asked nervously.
"Yeah, I just can't imagine why," Elwin nodded before seeing her face and frowned in concern. "Mama, what is it? What's wrong?" he then suddenly asked.
"I haven't seen anyone involved with black sand since, well, Pitch Black..." Elsa said softly. "Surely you know who that is." she then added since her son was a huge fan of The Guardians of Childhood.
"Yes, I do," Elwin replied. "They say he came from The Holiday Forest from Halloween Town specifically and after a disaster that almost ruined Christmas for everyone in The Land Without Magic after the downfall of his father, the original Boogeyman."
"You know your history... That's good..." Elsa nodded in approval.
"Well, he's one of The Guardians' worst enemies and apparently I have to stop him from doing something around here tonight, but I don't know what," Elwin said softly. "Do you know him too?"
"Yes, Elwin, as a matter of fact I do," Elsa sighed softly and nodded. "He did something very unforgiving that made me feel jaded, especially when your Aunt Anna tried to marry a man she just met when I just met a fellow lover of winter only to have him taken away from me."
"Pitch Black took away my dad?" Elwin guessed with wide eyes.
"He tried to and eventually, The Guardians had a super busy and urgent mission when I was pregnant with you," Elsa then told him softly. "We were hoping your father would be back home in time, no one had seen a worse winter than when Stormella tried to cancel Christmas and get a certain red-nosed reindeer out of the way who caused her such grief, but unfortunately..."
Elwin frowned as he leaned in, eager to hear more about his own life story since he didn't know much about it.
"Pitch Black got loose and separated us..." Elsa explained wearily.
"But why?" Elwin wondered.
"I'm afraid we don't know why or how right now, but I haven't seen your father in a very long time since then," Elsa replied. "I fear it may be just because you're your father's son. You've heard the stories, right?"
"Yes, I have," Elwin admitted and nodded. "The Guardians stopped him because his reign was getting worse and he had to live up to the Boogeyman before him who originated in the world of Halloween Town with a few little helpers. The Holiday Forest."
"Yes, my dear, after all, that's where holidays come from and many people have wondered where they come from and that place is the one to begin," Elsa replied softly. "Oogie Boogie came from there and he soon had Pitch Black who would become a great enemy of The Guardians, especially to your father, Jack Frost, who was mostly responsible for his defeat."
Elwin frowned as he felt sad to hear more about his life story and how he got here today, but he was also glad to know more about himself since up until recently he believed that Ingrid was his one and only mother who entertained him with stories about The Guardians and the land of Arendelle like it was all one big fairy tale.
Lotus bit her lip as she looked at the trapped kids in black sand since she hated to see this sight of them. She looked the most concerned about Jay and put her hand over him as she felt very maternal around him and suddenly, her eyes flashed as that reminded her heavily of someone.
"Who are you?" A familiar, but unfamiliar voice demanded through Lotus' mind, but the second voice seemed to be a lot more clear.
"I am Mozenrath..." The mysterious and more familiar voice replied, sounding sinister. "Ruler of the distant land of..."
"Lord of the Black Sand..." Lotus whispered along with the familiar voice. "Mozenrath..." she then realized where and how this felt very familiar to her and she began to feel emotional about that.
Elwin eventually took a walk, deciding to try to clear his head to come into terms with what just happened to him while he was asleep. Elsa decided to walk with him for a little while until they passed the flower shop.
Emma was eventually called over to the flower shop where the sleeping kids once were, but there was a trace of black sand left behind. "So where did this sand come from?" she then wondered.
"I'm not sure actually, it feels familiar to me, but I'm not sure where it came from," Lotus explained. "There's a lot about my past I'm still trying to find out about while everyone else in The Dark Curse knows who they are, but I don't think I came from The Enchanted Forest, otherwise I'd have more answers than questions."
"Understandable." Emma nodded.
"Though it does make me think of Mozenrath, though that's someone I haven't thought about in such a long time." Lotus then said.
"Mozenrath, huh?" Emma asked curiously. "Is that your brother or something?'
"I don't think he's my brother exactly, but I remember him calling himself The Lord of the Black Sand." Lotus said softly as the sand felt familiar even if it looked very different.
"It's not this Mozenrath that you speak of," Elwin said as he examined the sand up close. "This is Pitch Black."
Emma and Lotus looked at him since they didn't know that he was there.
"Well, yeah, it's pitch black, I haven't seen black sand before." Emma remarked.
"No, Miss Swan, not the color, the person," Elwin clarified. "Some call him The Nightmare King or if you really wanna get technical in the world you grew up in, The Boogeyman. His black sand can cause nightmares to those who are influenced by it during their slumber."
"You sure about that, kid?" Emma asked curiously.
"Trust me, I know these things," Elwin replied. "Aunt Ingrid told me everything I needed know about the Guardians and their adventures."
"They did get sleepy at one point, though they seemed to struggle in their sleep," Lotus remarked. "It seemed like I couldn't get them to wake up until after The Spell of Shattered Sight broke."
"Who all fell asleep under your watch?" Elwin then asked Lotus.
"They all did," Lotus explained softly in concern. "I can't imagine why though, but it seems like Carlos and Carla needed each other the most and even Jay was trying to protect Enid."
"I had a feeling about those two," Elwin smirked about Jay and Enid being involved in something like that until he got back to focus. "I wonder if anyone else fell asleep during the spell?" he then pondered.
"I guess you'll send a group text or something?" Emma suggested.
"That's the best thing our generation does in these times," Elwin nodded as he took out his phone and sent a group text to everyone he went to school with. "Just to be on the safe side."
And so, when the group text was sent, there were eventually responses from the other descendants who had been under the dark nightmare spell while the adults were going through The Spell of Shattered Sight. The responses came from the ones with Lotus definitely, so Carla, Carlos, Jay, Enid, and Gil. However, not only that, but there were answers from Ben, Evie, and Harry as well as they were trapped in a deep sleep as well during the spell casting over all of Storybrooke while the kids all had to be locked away for their own protection. Elwin sensed a pattern and then nodded as he felt like that this had Pitch Black written all over it. Everyone had a story to follow in this town and now it was finally his turn, as a Guardian-in-training and The Snow Prince of Arendelle.
"I know what I have to do." Elwin said with determination.
"What're you gonna do about this, kid?" Emma wondered.
Elwin faced her with a small, determined smirked. "I'm having a slumber party." he then said.
Eventually, Elwin gathered his friends around in a big room together and there were eight beds lying all around in a big circle while there was a bigger and more grand bed in the corner of the room.
"We've prepared everything exactly as you requested." Ben said to Elwin kindly.
"Good," Elwin nodded. "As you eight slumber here, I will pursue Pitch Black into whichever of your dreams it infests." he then instructed to the friends he invited over just for this.
"Ooh! It'll be like a fairy tale sleepover!" Gil beamed hopefully.
"Gotta love that enthusiasm." Carlos commented as Carla giggled a little.
"Speaking of fairy tales, aren't you gonna ask Elsa for her help as well?" Ben then asked Elwin.
"There is nothing my mother can do. She has no power in the realm of sleep and since Jack Frost was the one majorly involved with Pitch Black, it's up to me as the descendant of Jack Frost," Elwin explained as maturely as he could. "I am afraid nobody can help me tonight."
"Even us?" Evie asked softly.
"Especially you. You have all suffered so much because of me," Elwin explained softly. "You need only slumber while I hunt Pitch Black in your dreams."
"And I'm here to watch you all sleep and be there if you really need it," Lotus spoke up as she put her hand on Jay's shoulder. "Especially to those of you who don't really have families around Storybrooke for help."
Jay looked a little soft at Lotus' touch, but didn't say anything about it. "Thanks, Miss Lotus." he then said to her softly.
"Well, at least there's one good thing about not sleeping well last night," Harry remarked with a bit of a yawn. "It shouldn't be too hard to fall asleep right now."
"Are you kidding?!" Gil gushed and beamed. "This is so exciting, I don't know how I'm ever going to-" he then suddenly stopped and collapsed as he fell into a deep sleep.
The others chuckled a bit as they soon went to get into their own beds to begin the biggest slumber party of all time for the greater good.
"Good luck, Elwin," Enid said softly as she took the boy's hands in a kind way and smiled warmly at him. "I know you can do this."
"Thanks, Enid," Elwin smiled warmly. "You really are a good friend."
"Could I maybe hug you?" Enid then asked. "Just a friendly hug of course."
"Well, all right... I do like a nice warm hug every now and again." Elwin admitted.
And so, the two shared a friendly hug with each other for a few moments and soon broke apart. Enid then went to go to the bed that was chosen for her, deciding to stay closer beside Jay. Elwin watched them all sleep and soon took a deep breath before he climbed into his own bed and started to get to sleep, hoping that the core of his power would help him through this and soon he snored a bit before his eyes opened slightly and they were wide as he ended up in what looked like a very long and dark hallway.