My Christmas Star ( A Santa Clause Story Ft Bernard x OC)

Chapter 3: The Fortress

Santa immediately headed for the stables and grabbed Comet.
"Come on, Comet. We need to catch Stella before she gets through the hole. Ha!" Santa whipped the reins and the two of them flew off. Stella was already so much far ahead of them.
"Come on, Comet! Hyah!" Santa whipped the reins once more. Comet went faster and started to catch up to Stella.
"Stella! Get back here!" Santa yelled. Stella whipped her head around and smirked.
"You can't tell me what to do, old man!" Stella yelled before she let out a cackle and flew more upwards. Santa and Comet followed in pursuit. "Catch me if you can, fat man!" Stella yelled as she flew faster.
"Jeez, who does she think she is? Peter Pan?" Santa yelled as he and Comet tried to catch up to her. But as soon as Stella reached the peak of the whole, she turned around and fired an orb at Santa and Comet, causing them to go flying back. Stella laughed an evil laugh and flew out of the hole, headed to who knows where.
Santa tried to regain control of himself and Comet as they started to fall downwards but they were both still stunned by the power from the orb. They fell further and further down back towards the town.
"Someone catch Santa and Comet!" an elf yelled as Santa and Comet fell closer and closer to the ground. Bernard used his elf magic to create a cushion for Santa and Comet to land on. They eventually landed on the cushion and bounced off, landing in a pile of snow. Bernard, Carol and a large group of elves went to go check on them.
"Oh, Scott! Are you alright?" Carol asked as she went to go help her husband up.
"No, I'm not alright. Ow," Santa winced as he got up. "Those orbs hurt a lot more than I thought they would," Scott hissed as he brushed himself off. Curtis and Bernard helped up Comet.
"She hit you with an orb?" Bernard asked in disbelief.
"Yeah and now she's gone and I don't know where she could've gone," Santa said, glumly.
"Wait!" Curtis yelled in realization. "Didn't we put a tracker in her necklace?" asked Curtis. Everyone looked over at Curtis.
"Curtis, you're right! I did put a tracker in the necklace!" Bernard said in realization. "To the Control room!" he yelled.

Santa, Carol, and Curtis followed Bernard to the control room. Bernard tapped into one of the computers in the room and typed in a bunch of nonsense.
"Ah-ha! Found it!" Bernard yelled as he pointed to a little red dot on the radar.
"Fantastic job, Bernard," Santa said as he patted Bernard on the shoulder. Santa squinted his eyes at the locator. "Looks like she's heading South," he mumbled.
"South? Why would she be heading South?" asked Carol. Everyone thought for a second before Santa and Bernard widened their eyes in realization.
"Oh no," the two said in unison.
"Oh no, what?" asked Carol.
"She's headed towards–" Santa began.
"--The Snow Queen," Bernard interjected.
"The Snow Queen? Why would she be heading there?" asked Carol.
"Hell if I know. But it can't be for a good reason," Santa replied as he scooted out of the Control Room. "Someone needs to go after her and it should be me," Santa said as he headed out into the hallway.
"Santa, wait!" called Bernard as he, Carol and Curtis caught up with Santa. Santa kept walking. "Santa, wait. I should go!" Bernard said. Santa stopped and turned his head back at Bernard. "I should go. Mostly because I know how I can cure her of shattered sight," Bernard said.
"I think I should go too," said Carol.
"Carol," Santa sighed. "It makes sense for Bernard to go, but why you?" asked Santa.
"Because, Scott. As her stepmother I feel like I should make an effort to show that I care about her. Especially now when she needs our help," Carol said as she placed a hand on her husband's cheek.
"But–"
"--You've done what you can. And the elves still need you here. If Bernard and I are going to go and save Stella, you should stay here and make sure everything stays in good shape," Carol reassured her husband. Santa looked between Carol and Bernard.
"Oh. Alright. But, you–" Santa pointed at Bernard. "You get my daughter back and make sure that not a finger is laid on my wife," Santa said sternly.
"I'll protect her with my life, Santa. And I will cure Stella of shattered sight and bring her home," Bernard said in reassurance. Sant pointed at Bernard.
"You better."

The next thing they knew, Bernard and Carol prepared to go out into the outside world.
"You know, I haven't been in the outside world for quite some time," Bernard told Carol as he put on a coat and gloves.
"Oh yeah? How long has it been?" asked Carol.
"Almost ten years. Christmas Eve 1995," Bernard replied.
"Why hasn't Stella taken you?" asked Bernard.
"She said she will. She never said when, though," Bernard said glumly.
"Sound familiar?" asked Carol. Bernard looked at Carol who pursed his lips at him.
"Hey, the proposal thing is different, okay? It's a lot harder to plan than a vacation around the world," Bernard replied.
"Hmm. Maybe if you propose, she'll take you on a trip around the world. Sounds like a good compromise to me," said Carol. Bernard gave Carol a bewildered look and Carol gave a mischievous look before chuckling. Bernard shook his head.
"Come on. We need to go get some protection," Bernard said as he fixed his coat.
"Protection?" asked Carol as she followed Bernard out of the room they were in. Bernard headed to the armory, which was only ever used if there was an extreme emergency. In this case, it was.
"We need to protect ourselves from the Snow Queen and most likely Stella, so we need to make sure we prepare and prepare correctly," Bernard said as he grabbed a few ornaments and placed them in his satchel.
"Ornaments? What are those for?" asked Carol.
"They're a type of grenade," Bernard replied.
"Oh," Carol replied as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Bernard then grabbed a couple of decorative candy canes.
"Okay, what are the candy canes for?" asked Carol. Bernard tapped the candy cane on the ground and it turned into a sharp weapon.
"Oh, okayyyy," Carol said as she took a few steps back. Bernard took another one and tapped the handle which reduced the size so he could fit it in his satchel.
"And most importantly. This," Bernard said as he held up a GPS in the shape of a star. "It'll help us keep track of Stella in case she decides to move around," Bernard replied as he placed it in his satchel.
"Okay great, we have ornaments, candy canes, a GPS, what else? Some milk and cookies?" Carol asked, jokingly.
"Hey, not a bad idea. We're going to need some food for our travels," Bernard said as he wagged his finger at Carol. He then headed to the kitchen and stocked up on some cookies and hot cocoa in two thermoses. He then returned to Carol.
"Okay, now we're prepared," Bernard said. Carol looked down at Bernard's satchel, which was almost protruding cookies.
"Jeez, Bernard. How many cookies did you pack?" Carol asked with a giggle.
"Not enough, but it'll have to do. Come on. Dasher and Dancer are waiting for us," Bernard said as he started to lead Carol away from the armory.
"Dasher and Dancer? We're not going to ride them, are we?" asked Carol.
"No, we're taking the sleigh," Bernard said in a 'duh' tone.