Night's Fury

Jade did not make verbal conversation easy.

The Night Fury refused to transform back into peace-form, let alone listen to Bunny, and any attempts to make her ended with Bunny landing on his face.

Settled in the rafters, said dragon snickered at the angry rabbit’s attempts to threaten her into compliance, looking completely satisfied with herself.

Sandman seemed rather amused as well, watching his fellow Guardian work himself up, though Tooth tried fruitlessly to calm him.

With an exaggerated yawn, Jade lay down on the thick wooden beam and closed her eyes, feigning sleep to Bunny’s growing frustration.

“That’s it, ya overgrown lizard! I’m gonna-”

A squeak from Tooth distracted the two from their feud, and Jade looked towards the fairy with obvious concern, ear horns going back as she whined in question.

Poor Tooth’s expression was extremely troubled as she zipped around, as if sensing something amiss in the air, before stopping in shock.

“The Tooth Palace!”

She took off like a shot, mini-fairies at her side, and Jade transformed without a moment’s hesitation, expression deeply troubled.

“Something’s wrong…”

Dropping down from her perch, the dragon-girl ran past a stunned Easter Bunny in her haste to find North, tail whipping the air as she skidded on sharp turns.

“Hurry up, slowpoke! We need to go!”

Bunny sputtered for a moment before Sandman floated past him, shrugging complacently as he followed the strange dragon.

Muttering some choice words, he bounded after them.

There was no time to waste being pissy.

Jumping onto the railing, Jade stretched up and scented the air, trying to pinpoint where her mischievous companion had wandered off to.

Ear horns twitching as she caught hold of it, the dragon-girl jumped.

“WHAT THE-SHEILA!!”

Ignoring the rabbit’s frantic shout, she twisted in the air, wings opening just enough so she could aim for a lower level.

A door opened, and Jack obliviously stepped out-

And got tackled by a teenaged girl.

They stopped rolling after a few feet, Jade perched on his torso and smiling brightly.

“Hi.”

Wheezing slightly, Jack smiled back.

“Miss me?”

“Oh, I just couldn’t live without you for another moment!” She replied with a Southern Bell drawl, jumping to her feet. “Now get up, Jackie! Time to go!”

The winter spirit barely got his footing before being dragged enthusiastically into the hallway as Bunny and Sandman arrived.

“Trouble at the Tooth Palace.” The Australian informed them tersely, still looking rather breathless as he sent a glare Jade’s way.

Blowing a raspberry in response, and giggling at his flabbergasted expression, the dragon-girl followed a purposeful North through the crowded hallways of his workshop.

Jack was not far behind, trying to be heard over the noise.

“North! I’m not going with you guys!” He claimed as two heavy metal doors were opened into an icy tunnel. “There’s no way I’m getting into some rickety old-”

Jade held an arm up to stop him as a bell started to ring.

“Sleigh…?”

Both teenagers watched in awe as the massive reindeer stormed out of their heavily-fortified barricade, snorting steam and bucking violently.

Jerking back to avoid getting hit in the head by an antler, Jade turned her head and openly gaped at the bright red sleigh that followed the beasts.

It certainly was not the rickety old contraption they had been expecting.

Jade felt the scales on her wings ripple in excitement at the sight of it, and turned to Jack with her best Puppy-Dog Eyes.

One look, and he lost.

“…Okay, one ride, but that’s it.”

With a whoop of joy, Jade jumped in with feline grace, looking at everything in awe as Santa chuckled.

“Everyone loves the sleigh…”

She was certainly not going to argue with that!

“Bunny! What are you waiting for?” The Russian wondered, taking up the reins as Sandman took a seat next to Jade on the bench.

“I think my tunnels might be faster, mate…” Bunny replied, pushing the sleigh nervously with one foot. “And, um…And safer.”

“Ah, get in!” North ordered, picking the rabbit up by his scruff and tossing him onto the last free seat. “Buckle up!”

For a moment, the Australian scrambled at the wood, ears folding back in apparent dread.

“Whoa, whoa-Where are the bloody seatbelts?!”

“Ha! That was just expression!”

Jade’s eyes lit up in excitement as adrenaline thundered through her veins, scales rippling along her wings and tail like waves in a stormy sea.

Jack may be the prankster of the two, but she was most certainly the one that enjoyed laughing in the face of Death.

The yeti and elves finished their work quickly before jumping out of the way, and North snapped the reins with a shout.

Reacting with a jerk, the reindeer set off at a thundering pace, and the dragon-girl straightened up at the feel of cold wind rushing over her skin.

The moment they hit ice and entered the actual tunnel, Bunny started screaming and Jade cheered, every flying instinct in her igniting with the feeling that nothing could ever catch her now.

The sleigh curved around icy obstacles, and North seemed happily oblivious to all of the deadly hurdles they avoided with ease.

Jack grinned, both at Bunny’s obvious panic and at Jade’s unrestrained joy.

She was never happier than when they were flying.

With the pull of a lever, the sleigh climbed up a wall to avoid stalagmites in the area ahead, and Santa laughed uproariously.

“I hope you like the loop-de-loops!” He shouted, gleeful.

“I hope you like carrots!” Bunny grumbled back, though barely loud enough for even Jade’s sensitive hearing to catch.

Sandman and her raised their arms as if on a rollercoaster, the latter letting out a shriek of laughter at the weightless feeling.

Then they were outside, racing up a wooden ramp before taking off into the clear Arctic sky.

Jade relaxed with a sigh, wings going slack against the sleigh in obvious disappointment, and Jack would not let that stand.

“Jade.”

Green met blue, and her ear horns perked up in interest.

Grinning, the winter spirit jumped onto the back rim of the sleigh.

“Hey, Bunny, you’ve got to check out this view-”

It seemed as if the wind had shoved him overboard, and Jade could barely suppress her laughter as the Easter Bunny had a panic attack.

“He just-North-He just fell-”

When the rabbit got up the courage to check, Jade nearly fell over in hysterics as Jack’s words floated up to them.

“Aw, you do care.”

“Oh, get off it, ya bloody show pony!”

Sandman tried to admonish the giggling dragon-child, but could not quite keep a straight face and ended up joining in silently.

Floating down next to his friend, Jack smirked as North pulled out a snow globe and tossed it, opening a portal.

In a rush of magic, the laughter was left behind as they transported and realized something was dangerously amiss.

Dark forms flashed through the air far ahead, near the mountain that held the Tooth Palace, and her ear horns perked up at the high-pitched cries that echoed to them.

Her pupils retracted, and the two teenagers shared a glance that conveyed her suspicions.

Something’s attacking the mini-fairies.

Then the sleigh entered a cloud of shadowy horses and fleeing little fairies, rocking it like a rowboat in an ocean storm.

“They’re taking the fairies!” Jack shouted, shooting up in a move learned from years of watching a Night Fury use their unique vertical take-off.

He caught one of the fairies just before one of the shadowy beasts, and landed back in the sleigh, hands curled around the poor little hummingbird-like creature.

Spreading her wings, Jade shielded most of the sleigh’s occupants from the strange horses, wincing slightly as they struck the taut skin and dissipated.

“Hold on!” North bellowed, steering his reindeer into the mountain itself, which still teemed with shadowy horses.

Pulling her wings in, Jade hissed at a horse that got too close, seeming to scare it off.

The reins were shoved into Jack’s hands, and North jumped up onto the lip of the sleigh, swords drawn.

One of the horses was foolish enough to get within range, and burst into a cloud of black sand when the blades cut through.

Something hard bounced off Jade’s chest, and she winced at the suddenness of it before noticing it was some kind of container.

Her quick mind connected the dots easily.

They’re stealing the teeth?

Looking up, she figured there were more urgent things to worry about.

“JACK!”

The sleigh barely avoided slamming into one of the Tooth Palace’s many spires, and they skidded to a halt on a lower level.

Heart pounding, Jade shoved herself upright, tail wrapped tightly around her waist.

“I’m never letting you drive anything ever again…”

“Oh come on!” Jack replied, grinning. “Where’s the daredevil I know and love?”

Ignoring the sharp flare of her spark, Jade gave him a deadpan look.

“She’s wondering why she wasn’t the one driving.”

Rolling his eyes, and trying to pretend he had not noticed anything, Jack jumped out of the sleigh after the Guardians, looking around in amazement as the air emptied.

The entire mountain was full of spires and towers, each uniquely structured and colored, but Jade only spared them a glance.

Tooth was fluttering around above them, clearly having a panic attack about the sudden attack on her fairies and the teeth.

North, Bunny and Sandy rushed to her side as the female Guardian sank to the floor, expression heartbroken.

Wings flexing outward, Jade hesitated, tail fins opening and closing nervously.

There was nothing she could say to make everything okay, anyway…

The mini-fairy Jack dubbed Baby Tooth crawled out of the boy’s hoodie, chirping joyously as she rushed to her ‘mother’.

Jack smiled sheepishly at the grateful look he received, but there was not long for that to sink in.

“Well, isn’t that just sweet…”

The voice was dark, echoing, as if coming from everywhere at once.

In a flash of bright magic, Jade transformed, cat-like green eyes scanning the shadows as a growl rumbled from her chest.

“Honestly, I’m a little star-struck.” The voice continued, and everyone spun to see a figure standing on one of the top levels, looking rather smug from his high vantage points. “The Big Four, all together…I see you got my message, North.”

Ear horns back, Jade hissed as she realized what the man had done.

By warning North and having him gather everyone, he had caused Tooth to leave her fairies and the teeth unprotected for a rampage.

He was much smarter than she had thought.

“Pitch!” Tooth shouted, charging. “You have thirty seconds to return my fairies, or I’ll-”

The Boogeyman disappeared into the shadows, reappearing in time to cut off her threat.

“Or what? You’ll put a quarter under my pillow?”

Pupils narrowing, Jade crouched down, ready to pounce.

Tooth had been so kind to her…

The fairy did not deserve this.

With a battle cry, Tooth charged, scrambling to a halt when one of those horses reared up, nearly striking her in the face with it’s front hooves.

“Look familiar, Sandman? It took a while to turn your dreams into Nightmares, but it was worth it.” Pitch stated conversationally. “Oh, don’t be nervous. They can smell fear, you know.”

“What do you want, Pitch?” North demanded, swords held at the ready.

“What do I want?” He replied, voice pure restrained fury at the audacity. “Maybe I want what you have! To be believed in! Maybe I’m tired of hiding under beds!”

“Maybe that’s where ya belong!” Bunnymund retorted.

Pitch disappeared into the shadows, reappearing below the Guardians with a sigh.

“Oh, go suck an egg, rabbit.”

He disappeared again before said rabbit could get a hold of him, his laugh echoing menacingly off the air.

“And who is this? Jack Frost? Since when are you all so chummy?”

“We’re not.” Jack replied, grip tight on his staff as he scanned the area.

“Oh, good.”

Both whipped around, Jade hissing, to see Pitch behind them, seemingly bored.

“A neutral party. So, I’m just going to ignore you…though, you must be used to that by now.”

With a roar, a blue fireball crashed into the masonry, exploding on impact.

Pitch barely avoided it, or the angry Night Fury that lunged at him, fangs snapping for his neck.

Claws gouging into the floor as she skidded, Jade roared a second time, bristling menacingly.

Bunny was rather glad he had not been given the same treatment earlier, and silently cheered the dragon on.

If anyone deserved to be roasted, it was Pitch.

The Nightmare King looked the angry reptile over in amazement, as if not quite believing his eyes for a moment, before schooling his features into the default smugness.

“What a pretty little Night Fury…I haven’t seen one of your kind in quite a few centuries. Such fear your kind inspired…”

Her pupils rounded slightly, ear horns pulling back in shame, but Jade shook out her scales and hissed in response.

Pitch sent the assembled Guardians a sideways glance, careful not to take his eyes completely off the angry dragon.

“I’m surprised a bunch of do-gooders like you would have one with you. Don’t you know that Night Furies are the unholy offspring of lightning and death?”

He transported before a blast of ice struck him in the face, courtesy of a visibly upset Jack Frost.

“Shut up! You don’t know her at all!”

“Do you?” Pitch wondered, hidden in the shadows. “Perhaps you need a demonstration on how destruction a Night Fury can be.”

Her ear horn twitched, but before Jade could do more, a weight suddenly landed on her back and dark sand formed over her head like horse’s reins.

Jerking against the restraints, she hacked at the grains that entered her windpipe and flared her wings like a startled bird.

“Hey! Get offa her!” Bunny growled, keeping himself from throwing a boomerang in case it struck the struggling dragon instead.

Suddenly, she went still, breathing heavily but no longer fighting.

Pitch thought he had won.

Jack knew she was only just getting started.

Her feline green eyes flashed, and then Jade took off.

It was a vertical shot straight up, faster than the eye could follow, and she spun in a tight circle that cut through the air as surely as an arrow.

If Pitch wanted to ride a Night Fury, he was going to.

Twisting inches from the ceiling, Jade allowed herself to fall into a dive, weaving away from a spire with barely centimeters to spare.

With a sharp turn, she unseated her unwanted rider by slamming the Nightmare King into the corner of a wall as she flew away unscathed.

Landing near Jack, the Night Fury coughed up the last remnants of dark sand in her mouth before shaking her scales free of the irritant.

The Guardians watched her, completely speechless, and Jack could only grin.

And they thought he was a handful…

In a flash, Jade was in peace-form, sending a rather dumbstruck Pitch an irritated glance.

“Do I look domesticated to you?” She growled, rather insulted. “No one rides me.”

It was a fact, a challenge, and Pitch stood with a smirk.

Challenge accepted.

The entire palace quaked underfoot, and Tooth gasped as she saw the walls begin to crumble.

“Didn’t they tell you? It’s wonderful to be a Guardian, but if enough children stop believing…”

Pitch trailed off, another tremor finishing the sentence ominously.

That was more than Bunny could take, and the Guardians charged.

Running to the edge, Jade watched some colored eggs explode as the Nightmare King escaped through a shadowy gap between the rocks, gone within moments.

Jack caught her gaze, and both knew things were only just beginning.