Q-A: Happy (belated) Birthday Rise of the Guardians! It was actually a month ago, but I forgot and was busy with schoolwork. XP Anyways, here is chapter 37 in the exciting climax for our story. It won't be the final end, but it's getting pretty close. The song that inspired this chapter (and most of the story's plot anyway) is Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars. That music is awesome!

But before we begin, I want to say that this chapter goes to a new reviewer named nekoFlien. :D I appreciate your kind words and hope you like this chapter.

Disclaimer: If I was the owner of this property I would've already made a tv show for the film or a sequel. But I haven't 'cause I don't own it. XP

~Children of a lesser God~

"Please tell me yer almost done freezing my arm off?"

Jack breathed out a great big sigh already shaking his head. "You don't sound very grateful to the only person here actually trying to do something." He added briskly, "And it's not freezing the arm if I'm nowhere near it."

At that moment, his fingers were wrapped around the iron chains that (unfortunately) held the winter spirit together with a snarky attitude and a leprechaun with a Napoleon complex.

"Well that's something I never thought of saying before." Jack thought. He mentally added, sarcastically, "Somebody better phone in a Hollywood director; I just got the best screenplay for a new Buddy Comedy."

Goch chuckled airlessly before making a retort. "Well not every magical creature is blessed like yoo are with not getting weakened by iron."

"Would telling you about how Bunnymund wants me to have more iron in my diet fall as ironic or too soon." Jack suggested, hoping to lighten the mood.

It didn't.

"I hate yoo."

Jack grinned, "No, no you don't. Because, in about three minutes, I'm going to free us from this chains for good."

Eamon grunted in relief. "Finally. Then I can be out of this mess."

"After, we stop the Morrígan yoo mean?" Goch glowered toward the Leprechaun.

"Must yoo speak HER name?"

"It doesn't really matter for her. She'd kill us either way."

"Once I'm done with this chain, no one is going to die today." Jack promised in a serious voice. His eyes stared deeply at the final piece of the chains he was trying to so desperately break away: the lock. Once it broke, Jack and the others would be freed for sure. And MiM willing, they would see the Morrígan defeated before midnight. Hope. So much was relying on that small, frail word. Could it be enough?

MiM willing.

It was always good to travel through a location you've been before; Bridget mused lightly. She and the newly freed children hurried through the tunnel as quietly as they could without drawing attention to themselves. The hardest part for Bridget was checking up on the smaller kids that might have staggered far in the back. While keeping a hold on to the little French boy, Bridget had to step aside and carry a child with them on her back. It wasn't so bad until one child saw it as a pony ride and kept kicking her sides.

"If I ever did this to Bunny back in Santoff Claussen, I'll make a mental note to apologize later."

"How much further until we get out of these tunnels?" Jamie asked Bridget after she finished carrying Sophie.

"Just a little further… I think," Bridget added, feeling nervous for not being entirely truthful. She barely had the faintest idea of how far the tunnel actually went. It wasn't like she had a clock with her anything, or a wristwatch for that matter. It did seem ironic though how everything at that moment was heavily depended on time itself. What could happen if she was too late? How long exactly was it since Bridget and the forty-two children left the cages?

So many questions and yet (literally) so little time to answer them all.

"I promise that we will get out of here safely, Jamie." The redheaded teenager gave a reassuring grin to the brown haired boy. "And it will be soon."

"Eu ver uma luz! É a extremidade do túnel!" The voice of a young girl with caramel skin and black hair pointed ahead. Bridget didn't recognize the language as well as the French boy's, but she certainly heard a word that sounded like tunnel.

Bridget immediately trailed the girl's finger and saw the end of the tunnel, not before her eyes caught one last thing. A lone cell where a melodic, but sorrowful song had sung. Furtively, Bridget let go of the boy's hand and walked over to the cell. With the keys in her left hand, she quickly picked one that she hoped desperately was the one that could unlock that door. She only had a quick second to do this the second was all she needed. Softly she heard a small click, indicating that the key went through the lock without a hitch and she opened the cell.

"Well I guess you're free now. Wish I could say the same for all these kids." Bridget thought sadly. She patted the stone wall for a moment before returning back to the children. "Fly out of here while you still can, Song Bird, because the world might be a very different place by the end of tonight."

Delicately, Bridget maneuvered around the field and small heads of children, while moving back to the front where the whole wise and prevented any children from going out first until she would see that the coast was clear. Naturally there were many great disturbances occurring at that very pocket of time with dozens of crows a very irritated looking Morrígan ordering around while waving Jack Frost's staff like a scepter.

"Aintín or no Aintín, she is going to get her butt whopped by me." On her right, Bridget felt her well intact sleeve being tugged on by Danny.

"Now what are we gonna do?" The boy asked rather impatiently.

Bridget suppressed a sigh as she also tried to prevent herself from smiling sheepishly. If she were going to be honest with herself, Brigid wasn't really sure that she wouldn't have survived before reaching the kids, let alone free them from their prisons. But that was an important right now, now she needed to find a safe way to move the kids out before the Morrígan could get her hands on them.

"Well, first things first, I will go out first to see my friends and show them the signal." Bridget told directly at Danny and her friends as she took a deep breath and did what she told them. Carefully Bridget placed one foot forward, and the other followed. Her back foot wasn't the only one that followed this motion as the children still didn't understand English made the assumption that it was already safe to step out of the hole in the wall.

"No, wait-" Bridget tried to call, but was too late. The added sounds of their pattering feet resonated across the large room. No sounds could be heard except for the faint flapping of wings.

The Morrígan was an inch away from squashing the slimy little creature that was delaying her plans when she heard noises coming from the opposite direction. She turned around fast to see the Blessed Child with all the False God worshipers out and about in the former great Earthmound.

The Phantom Queen pulled a sinister smile. "I must say, for someone who is aligned with that Fiery Arrow you seem to be helping me a lot lately. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I hope this is not an attempt to be joining my side…" She trailed off before her red eyes glowed like the very element she despised. "But you are too late for that chance."

Protectively, the Blessed Child tried feebly to protect the small sacrifices with her body shielding in front of most of them. A gesture that was truly futile.

"I won't let you hurt them. You might feast upon their despair, but you'll see that I'll not be affected by it. Ever again, as long as I'm keeping these kids safe."

The Morrígan let out one snort of amusement. "Your empty threat is anything, but intimidating for me. If you haven't already noticed I have all the Treasures, I have placed nearly all of your allies in stone prisons, which I will do the same to those three pack there, and I was the one that succeeded in eliminating any opponents to vie for my throne. Once the Dark One is freed, this world will be purged from all its impurities and its true reality will spread." To add more to the atmosphere, the Morrígan cackled maniacally toward her next victims.

"Yeah, this is not going according to plan." Bridget thought as the blood drained from her face once more. "Then again no one else knew that the Morrígan would be crazy enough to unleash the very horrors of the Otherworld itself."

What could she do now? When Bridget slightly glanced over to where Jack and the others were she was sad to note they were still chained together. Silently, Bridget berated herself for not melting down their restraints like she did for her own. If anything, all she could do was blame herself. The plan she and the others collaborated on wasn't truly foolproof; there were plenty of holes in it or something to squeeze in to make things go from bad to worse and something to slip out when things would fall apart. In truth, Bridget felt terrible for getting into this mess and now dragging all these innocent children to their early deaths.

As Bridget bemoaned her failure, she failed to recognize at her young friend, Jamie, along with the rest the children were looking very grief stricken in the situation they were all forced in too. Tentatively the boy tugged at the hem of Bridget's coat and said;

"Bridget," Jamie gazed at his older friend with true fear in his eyes. "We're not gonna get out of this, are we?"

"Of course we will," Bridget answered breathlessly. "I know you're scared right now I promise everything's going to be okay."

"But there's no way out of this-!"

"There's always a way out," Bridget reinforced with determination. "Don't worry, Jamie. I'll find a way. Even if I can't see the end of the road or if nothing's there at all… I'll just… make it up." Her mind briefly retreated back to the moment her old self had shared with her weeping son one cold night. A night that enveloped around dark fortress no warmth I can only burn a precious toy, but not the imagination of a bright woman.

"Make it up? Could I really do it? But in front the children? I was lucky that they didn't see me conjuring the fire before, if they found out, if Jamie found out, will it become of-"

"Quit your whispering and have it at thy self!" The Morrígan shouted angrily before summoning a large wave of black feathers straight toward the cowering coterie.

"…no."

"No~!" Jack shouted in absolute shock when he saw the Morrígan, barely ten feet away from Bridget and Jamie. Goch and Eamon were at a loss the words at that moment as they only gaped, they barely even noticed the chains that were slowly falling from their wrists and clattering to the floor. At the very moment, Jack made movement to try reaching out, until a great blast of light blazed forward and struck the crazy Crow-Lady directly at her chest.

"What…?" Jack only had five seconds to see Bridget step toward her supposed aunt and then swatting her away like a housefly.

It all happened so fast, and yet everything moved in slow motion through Jack's eyes. He witnessed the look enraged look on the Death Goddess' face when she prepared to slash Bridget with her, the Morrígan's, sharp talons. Next he saw Bridget's face twist into anger and resolve when she conjured her fiery fists, pushing the surprised older woman into a wall. Over twenty feet away. Smoke cleared, and a slightly disheveled Bridget could be seen with her hands out and her chest moving forward and back.

The sound of a pin drop would be the only noise heard at that moment.

"Well," Goch wiped her hands of the small frost fractals that remained. "I think we can all be certain that girl really is whom she said she is. Am I right, Shorty?"

Eamon did not have the energy to make an annoyed response, or even a grunt. He was far too busy staring at the smoldering hole that was made by the Morrígan's body.

"Oi, Frosty," Goch pushed Jack's shoulder, removing him from his amazed mien. "I think yoo can go grab yer wacky-stick now." She pointed at only three feet away was the Shepherd's crook and staff Jack so cared for above anything else.

"Well, maybe not anything." Jack thought to himself when his eyes followed two Bridget and Jamie and the rest of the Burgess believers. Without another second to waste, Jack quickly ran over to where his weapon of choice laid and would join the people he cared for the most.

To say Bridget was amazed just as everyone else was would've been the understatement of the millennium. She had been weak from melting the chains around her wrists earlier and yet just now she created a blast strong enough to push the Morrígan away instead of her. Bridget could feel the sides of her mouth yanking upward to form a smile, but the harshness of reality sunk in.

She felt her shoulders drop when her hands fell to her sides. Bridget had done one thing she swore she would never do after moving to Burgess; she showed her fire powers in front a people. And not just regular old adults, no, she did it in front of small children. Most of them probably never being so close to such a dangerous element, yep she was screwed. Definitely screwed.

"Bridget?" Jamie's voice spoke with hardly any air coming out of it.

With a heavy heart, Bridget turned looking directly at the boy she would no longer have as a friend someone would only look at her fear. It pained her more when she realized in the last half-hour this was most she did her best to not appear sad, but she knew what would happen next. It had happened so many times before with classmates and families recoiling away and saying that she was a monster; a fire freak.

"What-what was that?" Jamie asked, his eyes staring wildly at Bridget. The rest of the children held similar looks with a few of them sharing gapping expressions.

"That fire… did fire just-shoot out of your hands Bridget?"

Slowly Bridget breathed out a silent sigh before she answered the distraught boy. She had really hoped that this day would never come. Even worse, this was most likely the last time she would even be allowed to look at him, his sister and the others.

"Yes. I can make fire come out of my hands. I have had this power since I was a little girl. I've been trying very hard to keep it a secret, but I never…" Bridget choked; she could no longer find the right words to say next. Her mouth felt dry; the mind spent, and her heart heavy. She felt completely awful; her life drained from any hope of her ever having a normal life again.

"That's so… Cool!"

Bridget nearly fell. It was her turn to have a slacken jaw while staring in disbelief at Jamie.

"…what?" She started out, almost breathing out the word. "Did you just say…?"

"That's amazing you can do that, Bridget." Jamie added excitedly. "Does this mean you can Firebend like in Avatar?"

"Are you a demigod?!" Monty quickly added sharing the same excitement his friend held.

"Or can fly like the Human Torch can?" Claude jumped in with his brown eyes shined with wonder. His twin brother asked if Bridget was secretly a mutant like Pryo. They both soon got into an argument about how that mutant was technically a villain.

"Wait a second, hold up!" Bridget waved her hands out to signal silence. She stared intently at her young friends while occasionally stealing a few glances to be other children who remained where they stood even after witnessing the blazing event prior.

"Are you trying to tell me that none of you see me as up bad person?"

Pippa smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Why should we? You're our friend. You've always been nice to us and treated us with a lot of kindness. Why would we start thinking badly of you if we just now learned how awesome you really are?"

"They think I'm-they think I'm awesome." Bridget wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, or maybe even both. She was at a loss for words. Eventually she did find the words to speak though her voice did leave a slight higher pitch. "So my firepowers don't even bother you guys?"

Jamie shook his head with a smile. "Nope."

Bridget wasn't completely convinced. "Really?"

"Really, really. What else to do you want me to say?"

"How about a hello?" Jack cut in with his beloved staff finally in hand. The smile on his face never left him, even when Jamie practically tackled him to the ground.

"Hey, kiddo. I'm guessing it's safe to say you missed me?" Jack asked though he had trouble hiding the true joy in his voice.

Jamie response was muffled but just as heartfelt. "I missed you. I'm so happy you're here."

Jack gave his first believer a squeeze around the shoulders, his tone nearly braking, "I'm glad to be here with you too." He eyes trailed off to where the others were and gave them a warm smile. "The same goes for you guys."

"Dog-pile!" Claude shouted excitedly right when all the Burgess children joined in the hug. While not a manly as a tackle to the ground, it still held the same warmth, despite it being shared with the Spirit of Winter.

Bridget watched on with her hands over her mouth, trying meagerly to prevent tears from falling down her eyes. She would never have dreamed of something so wonderful to happen to her. All her life Bridget was use to people running away from her and being treated coldly, once she arrived in Burgess everything changed for her. She finally found friendship with the Bennetts (and later the Guardians), discovered a part of herself she never knew, and that part included her cen-

A noise startled everyone from the happy moment. The cracked wall where the Morrígan crashed into broke even further with her pushing out the small pile of rubble that fell over her. The expression on her face was beyond furious when her gaze fell on the Guardian of Fun and young humans (and one former grand-Child of Danu).

"That is not the ordinary power a Blessed Child possess. " The Morrígan spoke as a matter of fact. "Especially from the Fiery Arrow," she added darkly.

"Well, damn, my cover's blown."

Bridget smiled slightly despite her dour disposition. "You might want to know that most Blessed kids don't usually inherit all of the direct powers from a Tuatha Dé Danann. Perhaps their personally and skills, but I don't remember any of the people ever getting divine powers from the respected deity."

The Morrígan only needed five seconds to make the realization. "YOU… you are the Fiery Arrow, you're her~"

Without a beat, Bridget answered bluntly, "Yes… I am."

For a brief moment, Bridget saw something flicker in the Morrígan's eyes, but just as it appeared, it quickly went away. Her eyes became filled with wickedness in the end.

"This is even more pleasing. I can take out all the False Gods," she took a step forward.

"Sacrifice them, along with their Worshipers," another blackened foot forward.

"And now, the Great Embarrassment will be feasted upon the Dark One… quite fitting for the first night of Winter."

Jack glared at that quip, his hands tightening on his staff, in spite of his bandaged hands. He made a move to strike the woman, but Bridget raised her hand in front of him, blocking his path. She exchanged a quick glance with him before returning their attention back to the Morrígan.

"The only person who's going to feel the wrath from the Winter Solstice will be you, Aintín." Bridget stepped forward with her left hand curled into a tight fist. Jack glanced over for a moment and was surprised to see something very peculiar happening around Bridget's arm.

The Morrígan chuckled in amusement. "You truly think this small group of yours can defeat the Phantom Queen? How very foolish."

"You're the one that's taking us too lightly." Jack goaded his expression surprisingly stony for such a boast. "I know a few of these kids that took on the King of Nightmares early this year."

"Well," the Morrígan began. "If you have your army prepared I shall have mine out as well." She cried out a great huge caw that echoed across the earthen chamber. The few crows that were there, dozens more multiplied out of nowhere and quickly overwhelmed the small rag-tag group of heroes.

"Great job, Frost. You promise a sword for a battle with firearms." Eamon complained after he and Goch quickly joined the others.

"Well you know what they say about fighting fire with fire." Jack smiled knowingly at Bridget.

She flushed.

"You get a bigger flame." Goch said, her green eyes brimming hungrily for the upcoming fight.

"Is that really how it goes?"

"No, Jamie. But if that were a one-liner for a movie trailer that would be pretty cool." Bridget replied, lenient but carried her gaze at the Morrígan, never once looking away.

"North would be so proud of you guys right now." Monty commented startling both teenagers.

"Where are they anyway?" Cupcake asked.

"Easter Bunny, hop, hop, hop!"

Bridget and Jack shared one last look with each other before the first wave of crows flew forward.

"The Age of Man is over."

Q-A: *Bows down in everlasting shame* You all must be so tired with these cliff hangers but I promise that I won't be doing them again in the next chapter. But hey, this is the quickest I've updated in like ever huh? I've been so pumped on big fights sense watching that new HTTYD2 trailer. Sorry if I keep bringing it up but I just LOVE it some much. I can hardly wait for the movie. Anyway back to the story, you all saw how Bridget reacted to Jamie's worried words earlier and her cryptic flashback to when she was Brigit. Could this be a plot point later? You'll just have to wait and see.

Eu ver uma luz! É a extremidade do túnel!- Portuguese for, 'I see a light! It's the end of the tunnel!'

Keep on Writin' and Rockin'