literature

ROTG - The Legend of Cold and Dark ch1

Deviation Actions

merrypaws's avatar
By
Published:
8.2K Views

Literature Text

ROTG/Legend crossover. (Eventual Bunnymund/Jack, one-sided Pitch/Jack)

Pitch Black, the lord of nightmares, is set on creating a world ruled by fear, and possessing the young ice prince Jack Frost. But Jack is no helpless maiden, and most of all, he has friends that are more than a bunch of bumbling forest creatures.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack hummed happily as he floated under the canopy of the forest. He smiled at a pair of little birds that took advantage of the wind carrying him, chattering all the way. Terrible little gossips they were, birds. Or so he had been told. But since it seemed that the whole forest always knew he was here within minutes of his arrival, he wasn’t inclined to doubt it. In fact, it was downright convenient, since it meant that he rarely had to look for the person he came to see.

And, speak of the devil…

Feigning nonchalance, the frost spirit landed lightly in the middle of an opening, smiling a little at the delicate whorls of frost that formed on the moss as soon as his bare toes brushed it. He had again abandoned the ugly, pinchy shoes the servants always tried to force on him as soon as he was able to evade his tutors, but otherwise, he was dressed for a day at the court. The flowing sleeves of his pale blue tunic hung almost to his knees, and the snowflake motif on his midnight blue vest was stitched in what might’ve as well been real silver spun into thread.

Something moved in the undergrowth, darting between the trees in a blur of grey. Once, Jack had been alarmed, remembering his nanny’s stories of wolves that roamed the wild. But when he had first seen this particular woodland creature face to face, his fear had died away to make way for curiosity and fascination.

Since the other seemed to be content to play cat and mouse for a while longer, Jack skipped over to a small stream that ran through the trees, leaving a trail of sparkling white footprints on the green. With a wave of his staff he conjured a light snowfall to dust the ferns that spread their feathery fronds over the water, and laughed as they dipped under the extra weight.

“Hey, hey, knock it off!”

Eyes far too wide and innocent, but his grin full of mischief, the white haired boy turned around and smiled up at the creature that was glaring at him from its perch on the high roots of a great old tree, furred fists set on his hips and long ears twitching.

"I'll have you know, that we're just wrapping up spring here, so you just keep all that snow to yourself, mate."

"Always the spoilsport, eh Bunny?"

The pooka rolled his eyes, but there was no denying the tug at the corner of his lips. The younger spirit seemed to have that effect on people. Or perhaps it was just him. He leaped down onto the rocks beside the stream in one bound, and jabbed a finger at the winter spirit.

“Oh, rack off, you show pony. I just spent three months coaxing all the plants into full bloom, and I’m not having you undo all my hard work.”

Jack stuck his lip out, pretending to be hurt.

“But you like your work! So shouldn’t me freezing a few acres so you can do it all over again be just a plus?”

Bunnymund’s eyes widened and his ears folded back. “You wouldn’t d-“

But before he could finish the sentence, his field of vision was filled with a bright grin and even brighter blue eyes, and a chilly fingertip poked his nose.

“Gotcha.”

The pooka stepped back with a huff, running the back of one paw over his nose to dispel the tingle left by the cold contact.

“Don’t you have people to torment at the castle, Frostbite? Do you have to come all the way here just to have someone to annoy?” he muttered grumpily.

Jack’s eyes took on a softer light and he looked at Bunnymund very earnestly.

“Bunny, this place holds more magic for me than any palace in the world. I would never do anything to endanger it.”

Bunnymund arched a brow, his sour mood easing and some playfulness returning at the honesty he could see in the snow sprite’s eyes. “Is that a fact?”

Jack took to the air, hovering so that he was level with the pooka, his head tilted coyly. “Don’t you trust me, Bunny?”

The other was so close that Bunnymund could see the slight dusting of frost that clung to his eyelashes, and the guardian of spring felt no trouble at answering: “I trust you, Jack.”

The blue and white apparition held the eye contact a moment longer, before he turned away, fiddling with his staff with a light coat of frost on his cheeks.

“Besides, here I can learn all sorts of things that in the town many people don’t even believe.” he quickly turned back to the previous subject. He shot the furry guardian a sly grin. “Maybe you’ll teach me to speak rabbit next.”

“Not today.” the spring spirit smiled. “Today, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

________________________________________

Somewhere, in a place wrapped in the darkness, footsteps like hooves wrapped in silk approached a lone figure on a throne. A grey skinned hand extended out of the mass of blackness and stroked the back of one finger over the nightmare’s muzzle.

“What news, my pet?”

No words were given in reply, but still a pair of dimly glowing eyes and a fanged smile separated themselves from the shadows.

“Finally. He’s here.”

________________________________________

“What is this place, Bunny?”

Jack looked around. They were currently standing in a small glade that was perched on a cliff overlooking the river that ran through the forest.

“A place I like to visit sometimes. But the reason I brought you here today is that I know certain someone will be passing through here today. In fact…” Bunnymund peered into the distance, bringing a paw up to shade his eyes.

“Yeap, right on time.” he smirked, pointing somewhere above the trees on the far bank.

Jack squinted against the sun and tried to see what the other was referring to. For a moment, he thought it was a trick of the light, but soon he realized he really was seeing what appeared to be a golden cloud. As the sparkling yellow mass grew closer, he could discern a figure in the middle of the cloud.

When it drew near enough that the winter spirit could clearly see a short, rounded man in the middle of the swirling golden dust, Bunnymund stepped forward and shouted: “Oi! Sandy! C’mon down, I’ve got someone for you to meet!”

The little man looked down and a smile of recognition appeared on his round, smooth face as he spotted the pooka. The cloud started quickly descending, dissolving as it went, until only the little yellow man was left hovering a few inches above the grassy ground.

Bunnymund turned to his younger companion. “Jack, this is an old friend of mine, the Sandman. Just call him Sandy, it’s what he prefers.”

Series of symbols appeared over the Sandman’s head, all formed from the same golden sand he himself appeared to be made of. Bunnymund rolled his eyes good naturedly.

“You’ll have to excuse him, he doesn’t talk much.”

“I… gathered as much.” the frost sprite chuckled.

Jack imagined he could hear little bells as the creature of golden sand turned towards him and smiled.

“I am Jack Frost, a winter spirit. Nice to meet you.”

The small golden man’s eyes widened, and with a quick rustle of sand a question mark appeared over his head, quickly melting into a small crown.

“Uh… Yeah, that’s me, prince Jack Frost, king Lunanoff’s son.”

The snow sprite laughed as the Sandman quickly conjured himself a top hat, which he took off as he bowed deeply.

“Oh, stop that. If I wanted people fawning over me for my title, I would be back at the palace, not mucking about in the woods.”

With a grin and a snap of his fingers, Sandy dispelled the hat.

“I’ve… heard of the Sandman before, but a lot of the stories can’t seem to really agree on what you look like and what exactly you do.” Jack offered, little awkwardly. “Some say you bring good dreams, and some that you fight the dark spirits that bring nightmares.”

Sandy held out both hands, as if weighing two unseen objects, then shrugged. A bit of both.

“He and his work take many forms, but all the same, he is made of dreams, and he makes dreams.” Bunnymund summed up, settling down on the grass.

Jack perched himself on a nearby rock. “Still, it’s an honor to meet the guardian of dreams himself.”

Sandy held out a shushing hand, and then pressed a palm to his chest with a smile while he gave another small bow. The small image of a crown appeared over his head again.

“Well, okay, suppose it’s not exactly everyday occurrence meeting a prince, either. Especially in the middle of the woods.” the frost spirit conceded.

Bunnymund leaned back on his hands with a sly grin. “Are you sure you’re really a prince, Frostbite? Isn’t running off into a magic forest to play with talking animals the kinda thing more suited for princesses from those fancy old storybooks?”

Jack shot a glare at the smirking pooka, but then smoothly picked up the game. “If I was a princess in a story, I would be expected to run into some kind of a nasty thing in the forest, and then be rescued by a handsome woodsman.”

Bunnymund snorted, but his ear gave an interested twitch towards the winter sprite. “A handsome woodsman, eh?”

Jack paused thoughtfully for a moment. “Maybe not a woodsman. I would be a princess, after all.”

Both of the pooka’s brows went up, and it was a near thing that his mouth didn’t fall open. Sandy arched a curious eyebrow at his old friend. He studied the guardian of spring for a moment, then glanced at the frost sprite, then back to the pooka, and his smile turned just a touch sly.

The prince hopped down from his stone, idly pacing back and forth as if in deep thought. “Maybe a noble knight, searching for a beast to slay to prove his worth. Or a lost prince, even. That would be closer to my stature.”

Huffing, Bunnymund turned to the Sandman. “Stature? Can you believe this guy?”

Sandy only shrugged and then quickly turned to fluffing up his sandy sleeves so that the forest guardian wouldn’t see him smiling.

Jack twirled his staff mock innocently, and stole a glance at Bunny, who appeared to be singularly unimpressed. Sandy on the other hand looked like if he’d had a voice, he’d be having a hard time holding in his laughter. But never mind that, he was on a roll:

“Either way, he would of course be immediately enthralled by me. But as a princess, I would have the right to set a challenge for my suitors.”

Bunnymund was fairly sure that at this point it was only morbid curiosity that made him open his mouth. “Oh? What sorta challenge are we talking, here?”

“Why, I’d send them on a quest. Something doable, I wouldn’t want them getting hurt or failing if I genuinely liked the guy, of course. Like… Like…”

The prince trailed off, trying to quickly come up with some suitably princess-y task he would set a suitor on. He tapped his forehead with his staff, and when the wood gave a sharp tap against something solid, an inspiration struck. He brought a hand up and removed the diadem on his head. It was what he referred to as his ‘off-duty crown’. A simple hoop of silver that sat comfortably on his head, unlike the heavy ornamental thing he was forced to endure for formal occasions. Everyone in his family had one, each done with a unique design to suit its carrier. Like Jack’s, which sported a single, intricately carved snowflake that sat in the middle of the young spirit’s forehead.

Jack turned back to the other two with a smirk.

“Like that I will marry whoever finds and brings me back this circlet.” he said, idly twirling the headpiece on one finger.

Sandy stole a quick glance at the pooka, and then collapsed with silent laughter. Bunny stared at the piece of spinning silver intently for a moment, but then seemed to shake himself out of whatever had crossed his mind.

“Bad idea, mate. You know your father would have fourteen kinds of a fit if y-“

A simple flick of Jack’s wrist, a move that looked so natural it could’ve been perfectly involuntary, sent the circlet sailing through the air. It bounced once, with a happy metallic ‘ting’, rolled, and just as Bunnymund lunged forward, tipped over the edge of the cliff and into the river below.

“Oh, such a bad luck! I know how you hate water.” the frost sprite grinned unrepentant.

The pooka shot a glare at the princeling, then turned back to stare down at the river as he climbed back on his feet. Then Bunnymund turned to Jack again, and now it was the pooka’s turn to smirk. Jack had just enough time to wonder what he was up to, when the powerful grey furred legs bunched and then sent the forest dweller into the air.

“BUNNY!” Jack screamed as he saw the pooka plummet towards the water far below and disappear in a huge splash.

Jack turned to Sandy, who had also floated over to the edge of the cliff. The Sandman arched a brow at the prince, who could feel frost collecting on his cheeks.

“I didn’t think he would really do it.”

The golden man simply rolled his eyes, but when he returned his gaze at the younger spirit, his eyes suddenly went wide in alarm. Jack spun around, heard the hiss of sand behind him –

And then everything went black.

________________________________________

Dripping but with a triumphant grin, Bunnymund hauled himself up the hill, the diadem held in his hand. He probably wasn’t going to hear the end of this if lived to be million, but DAMN if he wasn’t going to enjoy the look on Frostbite’s face as he handed him back his stupid crown-thingy.

“Jack!” he called out as the cliff from where he had jumped came into sight. With a last burst of speed, Bunnymund crashed through the underbrush into the opening with a laugh.

“Jack, looks like you need a better challenge if you want to weed out the commoners, ‘cause it sure didn’t take a prince to… to…”

But the glade was empty.
ROTG kink meme fill, cross-posted from AO3. The requester wanted a re-telling of Ridley Scott's 1985 fairytale fantasy 'Legend' with ROTG characters. I was only too glad to mix an old favorite with a new one.

You don't need to have seen the movie to read this, but I wager you'll get more out of it if you have. I'll be using a lot of lines straight from the film, but the story won't follow the movie script exactly.

Chapter 1: You're here!
Chapter 2: merrypaws.deviantart.com/art/R…
Chapter 3: merrypaws.deviantart.com/art/R…
Chapter 4: merrypaws.deviantart.com/art/R…
Chapter 5: merrypaws.deviantart.com/art/R…
Chapter 6: merrypaws.deviantart.com/art/R…
© 2013 - 2024 merrypaws
Comments2
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Bluerosethehedgehog's avatar
Ooh I'm liking this story good job! :)