Yesssssssssssssss! It is finished! My magnus opus! The end of the Karma/Gaia arc thing that seems to have consumed the last ten chapters of this story! I hope I did it justice! I hope it was what you were looking for! I shan't bore you any longer!

A shriek echoed over the battle field, like nails on a chalkboard, and for a brief, precious moment the fighting stopped. Then a figure rose atop a rocky outcrop, terrible and beautiful, and Bunny's heart sank as a call resonated around them.

"Kill!" The voice screamed. "Kill! None may leave until they have killed another!" The voice was filled with glee and malice, and as the words sunk in the world exploded around him. Burrowers dived into the ground and the glen watchers surged into the air, darkening the sky like a swarm of bats as they sped away. There were screams and yells as immortals tried to clump in groups of their own, hurling abuse and insults all the while.

"Jack?" said Bunny.

"Yes?" Jack was staring at the sight before him, fear filling his azure eyes.

"What happens if you disobey a command that's not to do with the weather?"

"The pain slowly gets worse and worse until you comply."

"And if you still don't comply."

"Trust me: you comply."

"Good to know." Their voices were low and ragged, too soft for the others. Tooth was fussing over Pierre and his injuries, while Sandy was giving North, who had appeared from the ground just before Gaia began to speak, a once over.

"You need to get out of here." Bunny snorted.

"Not happening, mate. We're not going anywhere without you."

"Did you not hear her?" Jack hissed. "'None may leave until they kill another.' I hate to break the news, Bunny, but the other immortals don't like the guardians. They'll go for you. You have to get out of here."

"We're going to figure out a way around this, mate, one that doesn't involve murder."

"For fuck's sake, Bunny, there is no other way!"

The Pooka opened his mouth to argue, but looking around he had to admit that, even as the guardian of hope, he had very little. They were standing on the edge of the plain; the ground before them was so churned it was a veritable quagmire, blood mixed in. Small fires were burning the scrubby Scandinavian brush, and the few remaining patches of flat ground were charred. The remaining seasonals were huddled in small groups, eyes darting warily as they kept an eye out for attackers- or tried to decide who to attack first.

North seemed to be looking to.

"This is not good," said the Cossack gravely, and Jack barked a laugh.

"You think?"

"What is to be done?"

"I agree with what Jack has doubtless already said," said Pierre, gently brushing Tooth away as she tried to dab at a cut above his eye. "You four need to get out of here: you are not elementals, and this is not your battle." A sudden gleam sparked into Tooth's eye.

"You're right!" she gasped. The other guardians, Jack excluded, stared at her in shock.

"We are not leaving Jack!" snapped Bunny. "Or Pierre," he tacked on as an afterthought. Tooth waved him away.

"No, not about that. Of course we wouldn't leave them; I mean he's right about us not being elementals. We could go and talk to Gaia, try and talk some sense into her!"

"I'm not sure that will-" started Jack, but Tooth had already flown of in a flash of iridescent wings. North, Sandy and Bunny looked at each other and shrugged.

"It is good plan," agreed North. "You two stay here; we will be back shortly, with problem all sorted out." They hopped onto Sandy's dream cloud and floated after Tooth. Pierre and Jack stared after them.

"Clueless," said Pierre finally. "You're family is clueless, and I mean that in the nicest possible way."

"They really are," agreed Jack. He paused. "Can you feel it?" Pierre nodded.

"It is starting; we should get down." Both spirits crouched behind a large rock as a headache began to take hold.

It really had been far too long, Bunny decided, as Gaia rounded on them and he felt his breath hitch while Tooth gasped.

Gaia had been tall, with a great mane of curly, copper hair. One eye had been deep green, the other dark brown. Her skin was a warm bronze, and her dress- made up of leaves of all different stages of growing or dying- had flown out around her like a cape, shimmering with magic. She had been distant and cold, and known for her stubbornness and fiery temper, but now the Pooka really wished they had kept a closer eye on her.

Her eyes were dull, clouded over with grit and dirt the way some eyes clouded over with cataracts. The dress was wilted and dead, cracked grey leaves hanging limply to her puce skin. Large chunks of hair, now muddy brown, had been ripped out, and long scratches had been gouged into her face. Putrid black diesel smoke, like that of old engines or particularly foul factory machines, guttered out of her ears constantly, her nose on every exhale, and her mouth when she opened it to speak. Hacking coughs wracked her small frame, and a manic grin made all the guardians feel very uncomfortable.

"Gaia," began North. As unofficial leader of the guardians, he felt that it was his sort-of duty to be the first to talk to her. She shuffled towards him, back hunched and arms wrapped around her lithe body protectively. "Please, take back those orders; put an end to this madness."

"Madness?" she barked, and began to laugh. "Madness? Oh, no, this isn't madness! This is right! This is how it's meant to be!" She leaped forward, grabbing North's shoulders, and perched on his chest, leaning forward so that her face was only inches away from his. "There are far too many of those sneaking spirits around, Nicholas; I'm just returning things back to how they should be." She whipped around and pointed an accusing finger at Sandy.

"I need a heat wave in Canada!" The golden man looked at her, puzzled, before turning to the others, large eyes asking them what to do. They shrugged back. "NOW!" she screamed, and he held up his hands in mock surrender and floated a few feet into the air. Seemingly appeased, Gaia now turned to Tooth. "Get your fairies to send a tornado to North Korea in the shape of the American flag."

"But I-" began Tooth helplessly.

"They weren't kidding when they said she was mad," Bunny muttered to North, who nodded back gravely.

"We must try to find way of reasoning with her," he muttered back, as they watched her screaming commands at an ever more panicked Tooth.

"And if we can't?"

"Then... then I do not know."

The plain was a seething, thrumming mass, ready to ignite at any moment. Even the sky was a raging red, a bloodied smear of sunset. Some groups of spirits were spitting abuse, others trying desperately to form alliances against mutual enemies. As the minutes ticked by, the pain within each and every one of them began to intensify, and Pierre groaned softly as he leaned against the rock they were crouching behind.

"Pierre," Jack whispered nervously, "what happens if they can't reason with her?"

"How desperate are you to live, Jack?"

"I'd quite like to; life only got good about three years ago, and I'm still trying to make the most of it." The summer spirit nodded to himself, and both were silent for a moment as another wave of pain engulfed them. As it passed, Jack slumped down next to his almost-but-not-quite friend.

"You have a choice, Jack: you can either kill someone, or be killed yourself. You can either die, or live out the rest of you eternal life as a murderer." The winter spirit chuckled humourlessly.

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't, hey?"

"I believe that is an apt way of describing it, yes." Again, the conversation lulled, the pain even worse this time, and when it finally diminished it still hurt more than before. "What about the Guardians' guardian? Surely you could ask the Man in the Moon to help you?" Jack laughed again, the bitterness apparent in his voice.

"Mim? Yeah, right; Mim doesn't care about me."

"But he chose you to be a guardian."

"No... Sort of... it's complicated."

"I can think of no better time for a character study then when we are potentially minutes away from slaughter."

"Fair point. Gaia agreed to let him choose the winter spirit, as she felt- apparently- that he was good at picking custodians. That's what the groundhog told me, at least. They needed someone who could look after winter responsibly. He chose me, because he thought I would be a good guardian, but that doesn't mean he wanted me as a guardian. Otherwise I would have become a guardian when I was first chosen, and not just when they needed help."

"Is this what you know for certain, or what you assume?"

"What else could there be? Why would he leave me alone for three centuries with only one-" Jack broke off and gestured helplessly at Pierre, who nodded in understanding. Neither of them were quite sure where they stood with their relationship, and though they both knew they had to talk it out sometime, now was not the time nor the place. "Why would he let the whole Karma incident happen? Why would he take away my memories?" Pierre's breath hitched.

"He took away your memories?"

"It wasn't until three years ago that I even knew that I was someone before I was Jack Frost."

"I'm sorry, Jack; I had no idea."

"No;" there it was again, that cold, hard laugh that was so disconsonant with the winter spirit's personality, "no one did." They both groaned, as did most of the other spirits, as the worst pain yet rolled through them. Both spirits found themselves gasping for breath when it passed, but Pierre was determined to see this conversation through.

"So did you get your memories back in the end?"

"Yeah; Tooth still had my baby teeth, and they showed me what happened."

"So why were you chosen?"

"I died."

"I'm sorry?"

"To save my sister. She was on thin ice, and was about to fall through, but I saved her and drowned in her stead."

"A true guardian."

"Not by the end of today, I won't be: I'll either be a dead guardian, or a killer."

"Perhaps we could-" Whatever Pierre had been about to say was abruptly cut off as Jack was slammed out of their hiding place, him and the thing that had hit him sliding into the middle of the field, all eyes locking onto them. Leaping to his feet, Pierre could see the winter spirit sprawled on the ground, Arnold Herbst towering menacingly over him.

"None may leave until they have killed another!" he shouted to the watching immortals. "But who says each kill must be different? I've got Frost, and I say we kill him together!" Murmurs rose up from the clumps of spirits, and to Pierre's horror they weren't murmurs of dissent. Jack's eyes widened, and he began to climb back to his feet, only for Herbst to knock him down again, placing one foot on the immortal child's neck. "Or do you want to be responsible for the death of a real immortal?"

"That's enough!" shouted Bunny, popping up in front of the autumn spirit and snatching him by the front of his shirt. Herbst gave a shout as he was lifted clean off the ground. "Yeh can shut yer mouth right now ya wanker, because if yeh try to lay so much as a finger on Frostbite then I'll hit you so hard yeh'll be walking wrong for a month." The other guardians materialised behind him, as well as Pierre, and Jack thought he might actually have seen Herbst gulp.

"Well, maybe we should kill you instead," shouted one of the lava sprites, Bunny didn't know her name, and shouts of agreement echoed around them.

"The world needs harmony more than little brats need hard boiled eggs," shouted another voice- perhaps a water nymph? Gaia appeared next to Jack, smiling manically, but the guardians didn't notice, focussed as they were on the angry immortals now creeping towards them.

"Lunar bastard," she hissed, eyes glinting behind the grit that clouded them. Pierre noticed and turned, but froze when he realised what was going on, not wanting to make it worse; however, if Jack needed helping, he swore to himself that he would help. "You were never any son of mine. Well let me tell you something," she bent down so that her lips were right next to Jack's ear, and whispered something softly. The spirit's azure eyes widened, and he shook his head slowly.

"No," he murmured; "you're lying." She cackled to herself.

"Oh, no; it's all true. Just like the summer spirit was actually born because-" and suddenly Pierre was there, and he punched her with all his strength. Gaia collapsed to the side, unconscious.

"Um, Jack!" called Tooth nervously, only just dodging a ball of fire. "Pierre! We have a problem!"

"I told you to leave!" Jack swore as he realized his staff was back at the rock they'd been hiding behind. The sun had disappeared entirely now, bathing the ground in the cold grey gleam of darkness, the moonlight bleaching the colour out of everyth... moonlight? "Manny?!" he shouted desperately. "We've got a problem. Manny?"

"Give it up, Frost," snarled a summer sprite who was now entirely too close for his comfort; "you may be a guardian, but you're still an elemental too."

"Oh for Pete's sake," muttered Pierre, "The guardians are in trouble!" he cried to the heavens. "Man in the moon, the guardians are under threat from-"

And a moonbeam shot out, lifting Gaia's unconscious form into the sky, and the snarling mob of immortals froze. You are free from all orders a voice told them. Jack would have recognized it anywhere, despite only having heard it once, three hundred odd years ago. Sanderson knows what to do with her now.

Sandy looked up- he did? But then, visible only to him, a golden 'K' flashed above the limp woman's form, and Sandy realized that, yes, he did know what to do.

For a moment, there was silence, as the events of the last ten seconds slowly sunk in. Then, as abruptly as the battle had ended, the elementals scattered, leaving behind the guardians and Pierre.

"So what are yeh gonna do with her?" asked Bunny, nodding at the limp form of Gaia that had been unceremoniously returned to solid ground, while Jack quickly grabbed his staff. Sandy just shook his head and tapped the side of his nose. The Pooka sighed, knowing he wouldn't get anything more from the little golden man.

"We head back to North pole, da?" asked North, pulling a snow globe out of his jacket. Jack and Pierre stared at it incredulously.

"You've had that this whole time?" asked the winter spirit in disbelief. North nodded. "And you didn't just use it... why?"

"Jack," he replied firmly, "you are family; we will not just be leaving you here."

"Nor you, Pierre," said Tooth kindly. "We wouldn't leave either of you."

"Now," smirked the Cossack, "I say Santoff Clausen." He smashed the snow globe and they disappeared through the portal, with a quick call of 'See you at the Pole!' to Sandy.

The oldest guardian eyed the prone figure before him and bit back a sigh- he hadn't wanted to do this ever again, and yet here he was, barely three days later.

"Jack?"

Bunny lay slumped over one of the armchairs. North had collapsed, snoring softly, into an armchair, and Tooth was curled up on the sofa. Jack and Pierre were the only two still awake. They were perched on the other sofa, one leaning against each arm and facing each other. It was as close as they could ever come without causing injury.

"Yeah?"

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what Gaia said to you."

"Maybe one day."

"The day you tell the guardians about your wrists?"

"Yeah; the day I just stop lying and tell everyone everything."

"I have the feeling that day will a long time coming."

"You're probably right." The winter spirit paused for a second, wondering if he should ask. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you knocked Gaia out?"

"If all goes well, you'll never have to know that story."

"Damn."

"I should go." The summer spirit began to get up, yawning.

"You don't have to: North would be more than happy for you to sleep here tonight."

"Thank you, Jack, but I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome. Besides, if we were to fall asleep where we sat, we'd run the risk of our feet touching." Jack sucked in a breath, and Pierre smirked. "Indeed. But give my thanks, for everything they did."

"I'm going to be honest, they didn't really do anything. It was MiM who saved our necks."

"Yes, but would the man in the moon have helped if they were not there?"

"Point made; goodnight, Pierre."

"Goodnight, Jack."

"Hopefully we'll see each other within the next two decades" Pierre's teeth flashed in the dark as he chuckled quietly.

"I hope so too." And the summer spirit was gone.

Jack was saddened by the departure of his... whatever Pierre was. They had spent so much time together the past few days that he had almost hoped the summer spirit could...

No. MiM had no love for elementals, that much was certainly clear. Jack wondered if, if they ever knew what he knew, the guardians would love him as much as they did.

In the bowels of the earth, in one of the deepest caves that Sandy could find, three coffins lay next to each other. They were made of clear dream sand, and inside each lay a motionless inhabitant, not dead, but deep in a coma.

Was it irony that Karma had gotten what was coming to her?

Sandy didn't know: he'd never been good with the subtle art of the ironic, but he could definitely see there being something ultimately cruel and good in the spirit's ending. He didn't know if he'd ever release the one who had tormented the youngest guardian so, but if he did it would not be for a long while.

As for Gaia... well, the past decade or so humans seemed to have been getting quite into 'going green.' So perhaps she could be released before too long. The third inhabitant had been there so long that Sandy barely paid him any heed. He hated his unofficial title of jailer, and avoided dwelling on it. The third man

For now though, they slumbered on, dreamless sleep protecting the rest of the world from these three.

It was a pity, he though, that nightmare sand didn't work on Pitch.

So, yeah. Just a few loose points I'm going to tie up:

1. Everyone ended up at the battle because of the Glen Watchers, who are little shit stirrers.

2. No, you will not be finding out about Jack or Pierre's secrets for at least thirty chapters. I want to go back to writing some actual drabbles first.

3. I don't know if anyone notices this (I'll keep doing it regardless) but I love interlinking all the chapters, and leaving sippets that lead on to things later. The most obvious is definitely the scars on Jack's wrists, but did anyone pick up on a few chapters ago, when I said that Sandy went to do something but never said what? Yeah, it was imprisoning Karma. And in the chapter that details the culmination, Jack things to himself that Bunny, as a guardian, would never hurt another spirit- this is set ten years before '68, when Bunny half beats him up. There's loads of them, some more obvious than others.

I hope you liked this conclusion! I'm on summer holiday from next week (2 months off! WHOO!) so I'll be able to update far more often. If you have a request, feel free to ask me in a review or in a private message. And, as always, all reviews are read and much appreciated!

Oh, and thank you to those who have gone and read 'Abandoned in Antarctica' I never expected such a huge response, and I'm really flattered! I will continue on with it, with two or three more long chapters, but don't worry- it shall not get more attention than this! Sorry for the shameless bit of self promotion last chapter (and the depression), but I thought you- being the little angst-mongers that you are- would like it (hoped).

Love you all!

xxx