We were still erecting statues when Jack and Tara came in to the Cavern of the Dead. All of the Descendants of Bunnymund and Sandman there pulling them up stopped what they doing and saluted to me and Jack as we entered.

"At ease." I said before Jack could get too uncomfortable. "As you were."

"It's so busy." Commented Tara as she looked around.

"There's a lot more of us down here than there would normally be." I said nonchalantly.

"Why?"

"...We're at war."

"What!?" Jack whirled around to face me and I looked him dead in the eye.

"They killed fifty of us Jack. Fifty! We can't let that slide."

I started walking again, making it clear that the matter was closed. However, Jack wasn't quite ready to let it drop.

"If you're at war, why were you in the shop?"

"I was waiting for Tara to show up. I was still doing my duties when I wasn't in the shop."

Taboo now padded alongside us as I showed Jack and Tara around the Cavern of the Dead, for some reason Marty was down here. Jack frowned in confusion as we passed him.

"Who's he?"

"Marty, Descendant of Daniel Moon."

Both and Jack and Tara blinked in surprise. "They have Descendants?"

"Yes." I said, quickly understanding who they were talking about. "I've had the pleasure of meeting their leaders. We're currently negotiating a future partnership."

"Providing Leonardo doesn't freak out Jackie with his fire."

"Taboo!"

"I'm not the one who fell over her chair when his fingers went alight."

I gave the tiger a shove as we came to a halt, I felt my half decent mood fade.

We were in front of Alice's statue.

It was made of everlasting ice, the kind that I struggled to make. Alice was holding her rounders bat, forever immortalising the moment when she hit a ball of Nightmare Sand at Pitch. She was grinning her stupid and infectious grin and in her free hand hovered a snowflake.

"She looks nice." Commented Tara as I felt the back of throat burn.

"Yeah." Was all I could say, sounding croaky.

"She was cool." Was all Taboo had to say.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Marty coming over to look, but he didn't seem to have anything to say.

Jack had moved on to Greg Bergland, and once again I was struck by the similarity of the pair. Greg had filled out a bit over six years, so he was no longer as skinny as Jack. However the facial features were almost identical.

"Wow." Said Tara looking over, "You'd think they were brothers."

"I thought the same thing when they met."

"When did that happen?"

"It's a long story." I said, feeling that ache in my heart again.

Taboo nudged Tara in the back gently. "I don't think she wants to talk about it just yet."

"He was one of the ones who went down to Morte Pavidum." I said and Tara winced.

"Horrible way to go."

"Yeah."

My eyes went further down the cavern, landing on an old friend.

"I want to show you something."

Before Tara gave a response I was walking down.

I stopped in front of Penelope's statue and looked back at Tara, who had used her wings to make her way down the soft incline.

"Who's that?" She asked, looking up at the black rock.

"This is an old friend of mine; Penelope."

I felt a small gust of wind as Tara took to the air, looking closely at the statue. "She's so young."

I nodded sadly. "Can't have been older than sixteen when she died."

"You mean you don't know?"

"She was never one for talking about who she was. I'm not even entirely sure Penelope was her real name."

"The poor girl..."

"Anyway, the reason I wanted to introduce you was because Penelope is not a Descendant of the Guardians."

"She wasn't?" Tara asked landing, looking confused. I pointed to the lump of black rock above Penelope's free hand.

"She was a Descendant of Pitch, and died a hero to us."

I looked at Tara. "What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter who you're Descended from, or who you're related to, your actions are what defines who you are."

Tara looked from to Penelope and back again. "I don't know if that helps."

I frowned in confusion, then remembered the reports, Tara had landed the final blow, effectively killing Pitch.

"Hey, if it helps, that's not the worst anyone in this room has done."

"Huh?"

I sighed and tapped my foot against the ground, unsure as of what to say.

"What... What you did was incredible. I've fought Pitch in the past, and came out only just alive. No one is going to look down on you for what you did, in fact there will be many who consider you a hero."

If anything, that didn't seem to help.

"I know that you'll feel like you won't deserve it, but it's better than looking back and regretting it. In the long run, you did a good thing."

Tara still didn't look all that convinced.

"Here's something that's helped me. It's like when someone has carved something into the bark of a tree. Yes it hurts, and yes it will scar, and that scar won't get any smaller."

I tilted my head to the side, still looking up at the newly appointed Guardian. "But you will get bigger around it, and after a while, that scar won't seem so big anymore."

Something that Jason once said to me regarding my Centre came to mind. "It's easy for you to forgive others, but it seems to be much harder for you to forgive yourself."

"Reminiscing there Jackie?"

Jack flew over, hovering in the air in front of me and Tara.

I gave him a small smile. "Makes me wonder how old I'm getting, given how many times I seem to wander down memory lane."

"You're not old yet, at least compared to me!"

I looked him up and down, seeing his eighteen year old body. "If you say so Snowman."

"Snowman?" Asked Tara, a little confused from the nickname.

"Frosty the Snowman." I explained, and Tara started laughing. I didn't think it was that funny, but Tara had had a rough month, she needed to get it out.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something small and white flying towards me. Without showing any reaction I caught it with my powers, and sent the snowball back at its source.

Jack let out a surprised shout and almost fell out of the air, catching himself before he could hit the floor.

"You're going to have to do better than that Snowman."

"And if we're going to start a snowball fight, can we do somewhere else?"

Jack grinned and flew out of the Cavern of the Dead. Tara flapped her wings and followed him in the air, a grin on her face.

I turned to Taboo, and sighed, opting to walk.

The two of them were waiting for me in the Main Cavern, Jack was hovering in the air, while Tara had landed , still getting used to her wings. It was mainly empty, as everyone else was in the Training Halls. Excluding the Descendants of Sandman.

Two hundred of them were at the far end of the Main Cavern, meditating. However, since the Main Cavern was easily the size of two or three football pitches, we probably weren't going to bother them. Although if one of them was in a mischievous mood I would be willing to be that they might try to join in. I wouldn't put it past a couple of them.

"So..." Said Jack, a grin on his face that I really didn't like. "Has your snow improved?"

"You want me to make it snow?" I asked, folding my arms. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because, I want to see how you're getting on."

"Lazy sod." I muttered, but held my arms out anyway. I just hoped that I could clear this up before the other Heads found out.

The temperature around me dropped and I felt the moisture in the air solidify. Snow was a lot harder to form correctly than ice or frost. I've been able to form snow for a long time, but it can be at different consistencies. Getting it at a specific consistency was the difficult part.

Getting it the right consistency for making and throwing snowballs was particularly difficult.

I closed my eyes and spun my hands, feeling the flurries of snow forming around my fingers. Concentrating hard and with precise fingertip movements I formed snow. When Jack first taught me how to properly make snow it took me an hour to cover the lake's surface. Now it took me less than two minutes to cover the same area with snow.

Ten minutes later and the Main Cavern was coated in the white stuff.

I lowered my arms, which were burning with lactic acid and I felt my bad leg wobble. Taboo shoved her head under my arm to support me as Jackie examined my snow critically.

I felt like I was back in school, having my tests back from being marked.

While Jack was checking the snow Tara was looking at me with her mouth hanging open.

"That was... Wow."

"Learnt from the best." I said, tilting my head towards Jack.

"Jack taught you?"

"Yeah. He stopped when I was about nineteen, not having much else to teach me apparently. We still hung out every now again, but he got busier and I couldn't always make to the lake for my usual practice. What with my new duties as Head."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah, but, nothing lasts forever."

"That's a depressing way of looking at things."

"Comes with being a Descendant."

"What happened to make you like that?"

I shrugged. "Several things. Some happened before I joined HOG."

"The whole 'people don't react well' thing?"

"No, no one outside the people I trusted knew. I was still a nervous wreck about people finding out though, and I was lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Some members of the public do find out, and while we can deal with that, the Descendant on the receiving end comes out... different."

"Is that what I'm going to do to my Descendants?"

"I doubt it, you're a new immortal and Guardian, we should be able to stop the worst from happening. There's no guarantee though."

"I suppose not."

"Hey, don't worry about it." I said. "We're made of stern stuff."

Tara smiled and put her hands in her pockets as we watched Jack assess the snow.

"Nicely done." Said Jack floating back over, "Couldn't have done it better myself."

"Arigato Sensei." I said with a small grin. "Now we're done assessing my snow making skills, how about that snowball fight?"

"No holds barred?" Asked Jack, a grin on his face.

I nodded, grinning, "Just like old times."

"Like old times."

Not quite the end guys. I couldn't quite let this idea go, so I've got a ten years later section where Tara's Descendants start popping up. I think I'll give it a quick break though. First part of the Ten years later will be up on Monday.