Cold & Dark ⇢ The Big Five Fanfiction

IX

The door open and closes, and Merida turns away from the target she was facing. In walked in three of the Guardians: the Sandman, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
"Guys," Tooth says weakly, beckoning them over. She walks towards them, alongside the other three, including Elsa who had returned moments ago.
"We have a plan," She says, looking between them, before explaining what would happen - they'd lure Jack somewhere, the Guardians would surprise him, Elsa would freeze him from behind. The others would stand watch, and/or fight off Pitch or any shadow creatures that might be sent.
"Seems simple enough," Merida shrugs a little, glancing over at Elsa whose lip is caught under her tooth. "Don't worry. You can do this."
"If we didn't think you could, we wouldn't have asked you too," Tooth smiles comfortingly to the other girl.
Elsa nods a little, "Okay, then. Lets do this." She seems to relax a little at the others' words.
Rapunzel smiles to her too, playing with a strand of her brown hair.
A few seconds of discussion later, North takes Elsa to another room to help her practice the freezing thing.
Hiccup practices sword-fighting wth Sandy, having swapped the axe out for the silver blade.
Rapunzel talks with Tooth about strategy.
Bunny hops towards Merida, holding a quiver of strangely coloured arrows. "You're going to be stranding above the entrance to keep watch, and shooting at anyone or thing that tries to enter. We've had a few specialised arrows made with Sandy's sand, which is a weakness of Pitch. They're the yellow ones. If it's a shadow creature, use the blue ones, since they're prone to freezing. The red ones are fire, orange are explosive, and black are normal." He explained, handing them to her.
Merida nods a little thoughtfully.
"Don't miss," Bunny raises an eyebrow at her expectantly.
"I won't," She rolls her eyes back, slinging it carefully onto her shoulder.
Bunny smirks a little, his eyes flashing with cockiness.
"Prove it."

"So, if the plan is going to work, you're going to need to be able to control your freeze powers. Enough to stop him from moving, but not so much it covers his eyes," North explains, watching her.
Elsa nods a little, "Will it hurt him?" She asks softly.
"The cold won't. If you make it... spiky, it might. But we'll be quick." North turns and nods to a strange dummy that they share a room with, holding a large stick.
Elsa tilts her head a little at it, a slight smile playing at her lips, "Very nice."
"It was the best we could do at short notice," He lays his hand on his hair and chuckles s little.
Elsa notices something and frowns a little, "Why does he have such a... predominant buttocks?"
"Buttocks?" North laughs out a little at her choice of words, before realising the question and turning a soft red. "I don' know. The elves thought it would be funny."
"Oh, alright," She answers sceptically, before stepping towards the dummy at his instruction to attempt to freeze it.
She swallows a little and lifts her hands, watching the pale blue streaks shoot out of them gracefully. She stops after a few seconds, only to see she'd only done his feet. She bites her lip a little.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a figure in the window, and glances over. Nothing there.
"Don't be afraid of your power, Elsa. You must concentrate!" North encourages, not noticing the look in her eyes.
Elsa sighs a little but nods, trying again and closing his eyes. This time when she opens them, she realises the manakin was entirely covered in ice. Quite wide ice, actually.
North sighs a little and runs his fingers across his beard in thought.
Something moves in another window. She whips her head around to it, but there's nothing there.
"Okay. You need to remember you aren't using your powers anymore, though they certainly are still there. You need to call upon the winter to aid you. Er - what bunny said. Think about the snow, and the skating, and the cold weather," North suggests, looking down at her.
Elsa sighs softly, apprehensive. She could feel eyes digging into her, and they weren't North's. But she couldn't see whose. Then she realises North had spoken to her and looks back to him, biting her lip once more.
North suddenly notices her expression. "Elsa? Are you alright, my dear?"
"Y..yeah, it's nothing," Elsa murmurs, looking back at the mannequin, which was now unfrozen again. It's probably nothing.
She does what he instructed, closing her eyes and thinking of the winter time. She thinks of her sister sledging, her sister building Olaf, her sister getting hit by-
"Elsa! Elsa!" North's voice comes urgently.
She opens her eyes, but then covers her mouth.
She'd gone... slightly overboard.
Not only was the mannequin entirely covered once more, but the ice spiked out. It was touching the walls beside it. Not to mention the floor beneath her feet was covered in ice, too.
She glances at the highest window in the room. This time she notices a pair of black eyes, watching her. And then he's gone.
"I.. I'm sorry. I don't think I can do this," She whispers, and hurries to open the door and close it before he can say a word. She travels down the corridor, holding her hands on her shoulders.
She keeps walking, her eyes downcast.
And keeps walking.
And keeps- stops walking.
In her line of vision of the floor, there is a pair of bare feet on the ground. She looks up, her eyes widening a little at the sight.
"Jack..."
A smirk crosses his face and he held his finger to his lips, "Shh." He said quietly, his darkened eyes on hers. He reached forward, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear before taking off into the sky.
Elsa looks around. How did I get outside..?
She goes to look hack to Jack, but the spirit had gone, vanished from sight.
Does he know of the plan?
"Elsa?" A voice calls for her.
She barely hears, her eyes still on the sky.
"Elsa?!" Its louder now.
A hand lowers onto her shoulder.
She flinches, turning around with wide eyes.
Then she lets out a breath she hasn't realised she was holding at the sight of Santa, whom had concern in his eyes.
"What is bothering you, my dear?" He asks gently, watching her still.
The fact that Pitch Black probably already knows the plan, and is probably waiting for me to fail?
"Nothing, sorry.. I just needed some air," she answers, nodding a little.
North clearly didn't believe her, but sighs softly, "Alright, then. We can talk about it later. But for now, you need to practice, okay?" He asks in the gentlest tone a large Russian guy can manage.
She nods a little, having an idea and stepping back from him. She closes her eyes, and flicks her hands downwards alongside her body, before moving them to her hair.
North's eyebrows are raised in surprise.
Her turquoise, purple dress and careful updo of her hair had been replaced. A pale blue dress with a long trail was there instead, and her platinum-white hair is now in a messy plait over her shoulder. She takes a deep breath and manages a smile to him, "Okay. Now I'm ready."