"Excellent swinging arm." Complimented Taboo a she jumped down from the earth wall.

"Taboo says, 'excellent swinging arm'." I passed on, and even beneath her visor I could see Alice's huge grin.

"Anyway, the Nightmares have gone." Taboo stretched and yawned, showing off her canines and from the sudden fracturing of the tarmac, scaring the two Descendants of Bunnymund.

I frowned and went up on an ice pillar to confirm, yes, the Nightmares were nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like that was last attempt." I mused to myself. I looked back over and lifted up my visor to call to the others. "Nightmare's are gone!"

I came down and gave the order to pull down the wall. The two Descendants of Bunnymund pulled their arms down in sync and the wall sank back into the earth and the Nightmare came down to earth. The only thing showing it had even been here at all was cracked and slightly raised tarmac.

I concentrated on the ice wall, and that disappeared too, melting and evaporating into the night air.

No Nightmares, it was as if they'd faded into the ether.

Or so I thought.

I could see streams of black sand moving around, rippling like water. I tensed , my arms still out in case I needed to pull the wall back up.

"What the heck is it doing?" Asked Alice quietly, still holding her ice rounders bat.

"Not sure." I said as the two Descendants of Bunnymund, the Nightmare rider and Taboo came over.

The sand seemed to gather around the various drains and disappear down them, going who knows where.

Before I could check one of the Descendants of Bunnymund said.

"No drains this side."

Alice, Taboo and I looked at each other in confusion, then Taboo turned her gaze to the other side of the street and growled.

I followed her gaze and saw the vague shape of someone against the wall of a house, hidden by shadows.

"Descendant of Pitch."

I looked between Taboo and the Descendant, settling into a defensive stance. The Descendants of Pitch had already surrendered, what was this one doing?

Not much apparently, whoever it was pressed a finger to their lips, and disappeared into the shadows.

"Well, that was a waste of time." Said the Nightmare rider.

"Looks like this is over. They've even called back the sand." I said, relaxing.

As a group we went over to the area where the others where. I couldn't see what was going on, so I went up on a pillar of ice.

Pitch looked honestly terrified, which was an interesting look for the one who known for spreading fear.

He saw me rise up and I think that was the last straw. Whatever North was saying to him was lost as he shot me a glare so intense it could have set me alight, and bolted in a cloud of black sand.

He sped over the streets and disappeared into the shadows, knocking over several Descendants as he went.

"So, what now?" I asked, causing the entire crowd to turn to me. I felt my face burn slightly but I continued.

"He's run off, so shall we give chase or let him be?"

North looked up at where Jack was hovering, and I followed his gaze, glad to see that Jack still had the scythe.

"I think we got what we needed."

"Agreed." Said Alexander. "Now let's get out of here before the police get any closer!"

I could see blue flashing lights not too far away in the barely existent fog. It seems that we'd attracted a lot of attention.

"Agreed." I said at the same time as the other Heads. "Tunnels?"

"Er, aren't we forgetting that we have to return this?" Asked Jack, twirling the scythe for emphasis.

"Who wants to do it?" Asked North, scanned the crowd.

"Not me mate." Said Bunnymund, taking a step back.

I could still my brother's body, a little crumpled now from the Nightmare attack. I skated forward slightly.

"I'll go."

Jason, Claire and Samson looked like they wanted to argue, but Alexander silenced them with a look. He knew why I wanted to do it.

"Sure?" Asked Jack, holding the shaft my way.

"Yeah."

Jack flew closer and passed me the scythe, which I almost dropped with my complaining arms.

"Jackie, catch!"

Jason threw me up something small and purple. "You can use this to get to where you need to go."

I caught it with my free hand and looked it over. It was nothing exciting, a purple orb about the size of a marble. Looking closer, it appeared to full of purple smoke that swirled across the surface. The marble analogy fit with the texture, the surface felt like glass beneath my fingers. As I examined it I saw Alexander getting the rest of HOG to the Tunnels.

"It works in a similar way to a Snow Globe." Explained Jason. That must be what I kept seeing him use. "I call them Smokes."

I nodded my thanks, and skated over to my brother's body, picking him up with the scythe tucked under my arm. "Might as well take him with me." I said, ignoring how morbid my action could be considered.

I saw the faces of those near me softening when they realised why, and they seemed to decide to not protest.

I looked up at Jack as Taboo sauntered over, "See you later?"

"By the lake? See you there."

I nodding again and threw the orb down, thinking about the old graveyard. It burst into purple smoke and the scene before me disappeared. Once the smoke faded I was in the graveyard.

It looked to be mid morning here, the sun not all that high in the sky. The sudden change in day light left me confused for a second as my brain tried to adjust.

Once my brain had got its act together I carefully pulled the scythe out from under my arm and propped it against the grave. I walked over to my brother's grave and looked down, seeing a splintered coffin within. I used ice to remove the destroyed coffin and formed a new one. Using more ice I lowered Daniel back into the grave and put a sheet of ice across the hole.

Taboo had lowered herself near the grave, and watched on calmly, just glad to get a rest.

I took off my helmet and tucked it under my arm, feeling a pleasant breeze across my sweaty face. To my surprise black sand poured out of my helmet and was blown away by the wind. I grimaced and banged the top of my helmet to get the rest of it out, no prizes for guessing where that came from.

Taboo growled as I watched the last of the sand disappear and saw for a moment the snarling jaws of a wolf and a flickering flame. I shuddered and looked away, not wanting to relive what happened during that fight.

I composed myself and walked back over to the scythe, picking it up and holding it out.

"Mortimer, I've got it."

"I'm surprised that you got it back so quickly."

I turned around to Mortimer standing behind me. Mortimer took the scythe from me and held it, looking at it critically. Satisfied his normal scythe disappeared and he held the new scythe, which looked exactly the same as his old one.

He looked back over at me, looking at me up and down.

"You look like you've been in a battle."

I looked down at myself and saw that I really didn't look all the great. The armour was holding up just fine, it was just that parts of it were smeared with blood. Probably my own, not to mention un-dead goo.

"Pitch and Lupine had gotten a lot of re-animated corpses, it wasn't easy fighting them off."

"I imagine it wasn't"

"Then we had to get the scythe from Pitch, which wasn't fun either." I tried not to think about the state my chest and back were probably in, or that fact I probably needed more stitches. More scars to add to the collection I suppose.

"Hmmm." Mortimer looked from me, to my brother and back to me again.

"It would be wrong of me to not offer you something in return. You have done me a great favour after all."

He gestured with his scythe to my brother. "If you so wished, I could revive your brother."

I looked down at the grave, and my mind went back to earlier with Jack, and how Pitch had offered a similar thing. I shook my head.

"It is a gracious offer, but I can't accept. It wouldn't be fair to Daniel. We wouldn't be able to say that he was my brother, he'd be living a lie. And you said so yourself that you're out of practice, what if something went wrong?"

Mortimer looked surprised that I'd turned him down, and he nodded.

"A wise decision. Although, as I said, it would be wrong of me not offer something in return."

He paused to think. "Consider this; I could bring your brother's soul back for a short period of time. For you to talk. As I understand, you feel responsible for his death."

I looked down at the grave and nodded, "Yes, it's gotten better over the years, but it still hurts."

"Of course it does. So, what do you say? Would you like to speak with your brother for a short time?"

I finally looked at Mortimer with a smile.

"I would be very grateful for that."

Mortimer nodded and the scythe he was holding disappeared, to be replaced by another one. He pulled out his knife from its sheath, revealing a blade that was a black as night. He slashed at the air with both of them at the same time and small shape began to appear. Within seconds the ghostly form of my brother appeared.

He looked the same as when he died, clothes including, but he seemed to be a little more see through.

"Danny?" I almost didn't want to believe it.

"Jackie!" He ran over to me, but stopped just short and cocked his head to the side, his eyes scanning my up and down.

"You're old."

"It's been a while." I said crouching down to his level and putting down my helmet. "I've missed you."

"What happened? I remember the icicle, then, nothing."

I felt tears forming. "You died Danny, and I'm so sorry."

He took it like any five year old would, surprisingly calmly, "How am I here if I'm dead?"

"I did Death a favour, and he brought you back, so we could talk."

"Why?"

"Because I'm sorry Danny. It was my fault, I shouldn't have panicked, but I did and you... Oh Danny."

I almost wanted to start crying, but I managed to keep it in.

"It's okay." He said, a smile on his face.

"How is it okay?!"

"I wasn't scared. I remember, you were crying and you seemed so afraid, but I wasn't. But I'd never noticed how cold you were before."

"Nobody really mentioned it to me before. So, you weren't scared, at all?"

He shook his head and smiled, "Nope!"

"...Thank you." I choked.

"So, what's happened since I died?"

I thought for a moment, so much had happened, so much I wanted to tell him. In the end I settled on something that would quickly grab his attention.

"I've met Santa Claus."

"WHAT?!"

I looked over at Mortimer, "Do I have time to explain?"

"Hard to say, another spirit seems to be trying to force itself through."

"Do you know who?"

"A... Penelope. I think."

I smiled slightly, there was only one person it could be.

"Can you let her through, please?"

"I'll see what I can do."

Mortimer swept the scythe and knife again, this time in a slightly slower manner. A taller figure emerged and the translucent figure of Penelope formed.

She was in her armour, and like Danny, looked exactly as she did just before she died. It had been less than a couple of hours since I'd seen her essentially die again, and seeing her now both relieved and saddened me.

"J-Jackie? What happened? You're so much older..."

"I'm about to explain, but before I start, Danny, this is Penelope, Penelope, this is Daniel."

Penelope walked over and sat down, "Nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

If a ghost could turn red, then Daniel managed.

"And this is Taboo." I gestured to the tiger, who nodded and lay her head down on her paws in a non threatening manner.

"Cool!" Cried Danny and he ran over to pet Taboo, but his hand passed through her head. Undeterred he sat by Taboo's head.

Penelope managed a smile at Danny's antics, and I smiled fondly. Danny hadn't changed, and Penelope was showing the same lightness she was starting to gain with HOG.

I got into a more comfortable position without aggravating my injuries, and I began the very long story that began twelve years ago.