Secret of Frost and Moon

A Nightmare's End

Alaia Skyhawk: Back into serious stuff now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 69: A Nightmare's End

The melting chunks of ice in the pond, crackled as the hint of warm spring air blew across their surface. The sound like a last sigh from winter before it left the town of Burgess, much like the Spirit of Winter would soon depart from his perch within one of the surrounding trees.

Jack gazed out across Burgess, his eyes catching a passing glimpse of Ariko as she flew west. She'd stopped by out of courtesy, and to confirm with him the patten of retreat that Northern Winter would make this year. He still found it odd for her to be so civil with him, even now after four years.

Time was passing by like always, with his life as it now was being much the same as it was that first year. The only changes were ones that most immortals wouldn't notice, that being the passing of mortal lives.

Jack sighed to himself, remembering the funeral just a few weeks ago. Jamie's great-grandmother, Claire, had died shortly before Northern Winter had begun, and her husband Andrew had followed just two months later. Both had been old, and have lived long lives, yet such passings would always pain Jack.

David was head of the family now, and their routine had returned to normal, and yet things would always be different in that one small way.

Jack stood up on his perch, preparing to leave as he glanced one last time towards the house at the top of the slope. Jamie was twelve now, and Sophie was seven, and the three of them had gotten up to some real hi-jinx this winter. But now he'd have to wait for summer break before he could hang out with them again, when it was time for them to spend their usual three weeks at Santoff Claussen.

Jack took to the air, flying north away from Burgess to reach the retreating edge of winter. Another couple of weeks of monitoring things, and he could head home to the Sanctuary for his annual rest. Before the lazy days of Southern Winter would roll around and he'd have to amuse himself with the winds' gossip about the latest 'seen by an adult' stories.

That thought made him laugh, at how there wasn't an immortal anywhere now who doubted what was going on. Most were still unnerved by it, and naturally he'd kept his mouth shut about his power's involvement in triggering it. But it was still funny when the winds brought him stories of how mortals were reacting... So far the gossip on the sightings was limited to conspiracy forums, of both the ghost and alien kinds. Jack had borrowed Jamie's computer one afternoon to check some of them out, and had been found that same evening laid out on the floor of the boy's room doubled up with laughter.

But as he headed north, Jack had to admit to himself that all-in-all everything was going well. Fearlings had become creatures of scorn among the Immortals, all fear of them now gone to the point that none of the immortals would even acknowledge their presence if they saw one. It was the ultimate denial of power to creatures that had once brought terror across untold numbers of worlds. And once the Immortals had learnt just how simple it was to deny them that power, not a single one of them had wasted time in taking up that line of thinking.

The Unnatural Fear only has power over you if you allow it.

Jack landed north of the Great Lakes, pausing on a cliff-top to watch the sun set. It was there that a strange breeze brushed by him carrying whispered words.

'Jack... Come to me, Jack...'

He flinched, leaping up into the air in search of the voice's source, and the breeze brushed by again.