I Can See You (A Jack Frost Love Story/Rise of the Guardians Tale)

The North Pole

(Hey guys! So sorry for not updating for the LONGEST time, but to tell you guys the truth I was having a bit of a writers block. Sorry if this chapter is a little short, but now that I'm back in action I'll have another chapter ready very soon! Anyway, enjoy!)

Arabella P.O.V.

We spent exactly four seconds in the portal. To me, however, it seemed like forever. At first there were colors everywhere that would have probably given me either a headache or a seizure if I stayed in there for too long, and the noises were loud and disorienting and seemed to come from everywhere at once. I would have been terrified if Jack hadn't been gripping my hand. I had no idea where Bunny was during those four petrifying seconds.

Then there was an opening at the end of the crazy in-between delirium I was in, and we all quickly tumbled out of it. My eyes were wide, but I couldn't see anything since the colors were still dancing in my eyes. In fact I probably would have fallen flat on my face if Jack hadn't quickly wrapped a cold arm around my waist and pulled me close. I sighed and leaned against him, blinking hard to gain the ability to see, and when I could I looked up at him. The Guardian holding me looked at me with a big smile, assuring me that I was okay.

"Bunny! What took so long?" A loud Russian voice boomed from somewhere in front of me. Bunny rolled his eyes and leaned against a wooden wall, inspecting one of his eggs. "I told you the tunnels would be faster, North, but you had to insist on the globes. Plus, Arabella had some...unfinished business to take care of." He looked up at me and I smiled sadly back at him. Jack squeezed me a little, comfortingly, and I leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Ah, yes, Arabella." The voice said, and then a huge buff man probably three times my height or more stepped in front of us, crossing his arms with a smile. Despite his threatening appearance, his big blue eyes sparkled with kindness. When I noticed the tattoo sleeves on his arms-one arm  with the word "Naughty" and the other with "Nice"-I knew who he was.

"Santa Claus. Though your real name, or at least your real last name, is North." I stated, smiling a little. He chuckled and placed a hand that looked as big as a plate on my shoulder with such force I would have probably been pushed to the floor if Jack hadn't been holding me. "We have been watching you a long time, Arabella. Man in Moon said you were very important, especially since Pitch is back."

I nodded and murmured "So I've heard."

"I assume you know everyone." North said, stepping back a little to let me look around. The room I was in looked sort of like a huge cabin complete with a huge fireplace. But when I looked up I could see other floors, so I assumed I was in the famed Santa's workshop or whatever. I could only imagine how many little kids would kill to be where I was right now.

The only person that was in the large room with us was Sandman, who waved at me, and Bunny was still sulking against the wall. I raised a brow. "Ah, yeah, if this is 'everyone.'"I replied, but when I looked at North he seemed to be confused as he looked around. "Where is Tooth?" He muttered.

"They're here!" I heard a female voice say from behind me. A few seconds later I heard a weird sound, like there were multiple hummingbirds in the room or one huge hummingbird. Then something flew towards me from the corner of my eye, and before I could run for my life the thing hovered in front of me. It took a moment to realize it was a humanoid female figure covered in shimmering multicolored feathers except for her pretty face. Her eyes were a strange shade of pink and they glittered as they stared at me. "Oh, Arabella, you've grown so much! You are as pretty as Jack says!" She looked over at Jack and giggled. "Not that I thought he was lying." Jack smiled and shook his head a little in disbelief.

This new person completely shocked me, but I knew who it was. The little fairy/hummingbird things around her, chittering admiringly as they looked at me, had been in Marc's room one night to collect the tooth he lost that day. "You're...The Tooth Fairy, right? Or the main one, at least." I managed to say once my brain had finished getting over the shock. She nodded quickly, the big smile on her face obviously not enough to express the happiness or joy she was feeling. "I was so excited to meet you! You are so important to us, especially to Jack!" Tooth let a little sigh escape from her lips. "You two make such a cute couple."

"Tooth-not so close! We don't want to scare her away now, do we?" North boomed from behind her, and she said "Sorry!" before flying away with beautiful, delicate pink wings to hover next to Sandy.

I looked around at all of them before detaching myself from Jack, regaining my  balance before I said "So what now? Do we have a plan of attack?"

North's face grew serious. "It is impossible to know where he is now. Last time he attacked us, but I cannot risk that again. And since the only entrance to his lair is sealed, we don't know where he is."

One of my eyebrows rose. "What-you didn't put some special GPS tracker or something on Pitch? You honestly didn't think he'd come back?" I asked, the disbelief and anger clear in my voice. Hadn't they known that Pitch would come back for revenge? Wasn't it predictable from someone as evil as he was?

North sighed at my questions and the rest of them gave me worried looks. "Wasn't it obvious that The Nightmare King would come back? I mean, it's not like he just gave up his dream of taking over the world with his nightmares and darkness-and at some point he was going to conquer the Nightmares and make them his minions again." I continued, frowning. My voice had risen from its usual low pitch, and Jack put a freezing hand on my shoulder. "Enough." He muttered. I brushed him off and sighed.

"Alright, fine. I guess we don't know where he is. And he will probably take you guys by surprise." I huffed a little and ran a hand through my dark hair. "Why don't we do a once-over of Burgess to see if the entrance there is open, and if not we can start searching the world." Jack said, stepping up next to me.

Tooth looked at Jack like he just sprouted horns on his head. "Jack, you know how long that would take? Obviously we're able to search the world, but that might take days, weeks even. We would have to look in every nook and cranny, and by then Pitch might close up an entrance and open more on the opposite side of the world." She said. All of them looked tense now, so I stepped in.

"Look, guys, you both have great arguments, but it doesn't look like we have many options. I mean, if he can really hide in the shadows and in the dark, he can hide anywhere. I think it's our best bet to let him come to us-at least we'll know that he'll be coming and then we can be ready to fight him. Hell, we might even beat him before he even declares war." I said, stepping between the Guardians. By the time I finished North still looked worried, Tooth was looking at me with surprise, Bunny seemed ot think it was a good idea, and Jack and Sandy were serious. I sighed and crossed my arms. "Come on, guys. How hard can that be? We'll be ready wherever he shows up, and then we can defeat him. I mean, it's not like he's going to catch us by surprise if we're ready for it."

There was suddenly a cold, fierce wind that blew right by us, like someone had left the door open. Jack instinctively grabbed my hand, and I gripped his. I knew it couldn't be anything serious-I mean, an open window could have just caused a cold breeze to come through.

And I think everyone would have believed it had been just someone being careless, but then it was suddenly completely silent. All of the Guardians turned around, and I did too, and I suddenly noticed there was a huge detailed globe in the center of the building. Each country was decorated with yellow lights, but right now the lights were flickering and sometimes even turning on and off for a moment before turning back on. "No, it can't be..." Noth whispered behind me, and I thought I could detect fear in his voice. I wanted to ask who it was, but somehow I already knew.

A funnel of black sand formed and spun around at the top of the globe, and I walked closer to see what it was. Jack tried to pull me back but I was insistent, so he went along with me.

Finally the mini tornado cleared and there he stood-Pitch Black, The Nightmare King, in all of his glory. The same black cloak made of shadows, the same lean figure, the same black hair and gray skin and haunting golden/silver eyes, and the same smirk. 

"And what if you aren't ready? What if I have mananged to catch you all by surprise?"