Once the Heads were out Alfred let out a sigh which echoed throughout the entrance hall. This just made things more complicated, they were asking the people who lived here to go back to a normal society, and some of them couldn't do that. He rubbed his brow, he would just have to work something out with them.
He heard someone clattering down the stairs and opened his eyes to see Jackie running down with a suitcase, followed by Stephen.
Oh yeah, Jackie was going home to Burgess for a couple of weeks, the very place where Battle of Belief took place. Maybe...
"Lass, got a minute?"
She skidded to a halt and smiled at him, with Stephen stopping just behind her. Alfred couldn't help but feel a bit like a proud grandfather whenever he saw her. Whether she knew it or not, he was grooming her to be his successor (although he wouldn't put it past her shrewd, if somewhat naive, brain). She was currently the most powerful Descendant in the castle and if she would calm down on the pranks a bit and started to take things more seriously, he had no doubt she could become a great leader.
"Yeah?" she asked and Alfred continued.
"While yer home, reckon ya could ask around 'bout what happened at Easter. And..." Alfred paused, wondering whether or not this was a good idea. "If ye see Jack Frost at all, try talkin' ta him. Ask 'im about whether or not 'e's a Guardian."
Jackie's eyes widened at this prospect. She'd seen her ancestor from a distance when she was home for the winter months, but because of how being a Descendant worked, she had never approached him. Now she was being told that not only she could, but should!
"Will do!" she said, not wanting to pass up this unique opportunity.
"Good lass. Stephen ye takin' her ta Burgess?"
"Yes." the blind Descendant nodded. "We've got a good wind that should get us across most of the Atlantic."
Alfred nodded. "Good. See ya in a fortnight lass, and don't get inta too much trouble, ya hear?"
Jackie grinned. "I'll try, but no promises!" Alfred sighed, at least she was honest.
"Alright, now off wit ya! I've got work ta do!" he said, smiling and making shooing motions with his hands. He was off before Jackie could ask what the Heads had wanted.
Jackie landed on the outskirts of Burgess with Stephen, suitcase in hand and looking very windswept. She staggered a little as she landed, suddenly no longer able to sense her surroundings as well with less snow around. Waiting for her were her parents and little brother, Daniel.
"Jackie!" he cried, and her eleven year old brother charged forward, wrapping his arms around his big sister as Stephen greeted her parents.
"Hey Danny!" she said with equal enthusiasm, as always taken slightly aback by the warmth of his body. However, she knew better than to mention it.
"How's it been without me?" she asked as they pulled out and Danny pouted.
"Really boring." Danny complained with a whine. "No one's as fun as you."
"Well, we've two weeks together." said Jackie and the two smirked conspiringly, two weeks of pranks, snowball fights and general messing around awaited.
"Danny has school work." reminded their mom, and the sibling's smiles dropped slightly.
"I'll help you with that." Jackie nudged Danny. At the ice fort anyone under eighteen was given as good of an education that was possible in such an isolated place, and it worked pretty well.
"Thanks Jackie."
The group, along with Stephen who was tired after the long trip, walked down into Burgess. They could have driven back to their house, but they knew Jackie would want to re-familiarise herself with the town.
"Too bad I missed Easter." said Jackie, looking around at the banner advertising the Burgess egg hunt.
"It wasn't that great." sighed Danny. "There weren't any eggs."
"Really?" Jackie had heard odd rumours about what happened, but any news that reached their home in Norway wasn't always shared.
"Yeah, makes me wonder if the Easter Bunny, you know, actually exists."
"Of course he does." Jackie instantly, looking down at her brother. "Real and a little full of himself from what I've heard." she added with a smirk.
Danny laughed. "Come on! You didn't think I'd stopped believing did you?"
"I did wonder. I hear belief dropped to an all time low over the Easter weekend."
"Yeah, it did." Danny admitted. "I tried, I really did, but, everyone else had stopped."
"Well, it's back now." Jackie said with a smile. It faltered slightly as she remembered what Alfred had asked her to do, but it was quickly back in place. She started to look around again at Burgess, looking at what had changed since she'd last been up at Christmas.
"Oooh, Bookmark's open!" she cried, looking over at her favourite bookshop. Part of her excitement was that the shop would close at seemingly random points, for even more random periods of time.
"You'll have plenty of time to go in later." chuckled her mom. "Right now, I think you and Stephen need some food."
"If that's not a problem." said Stephen, who did sound pretty tired.
"Of course not."
"We've got enough food for an army, Jackie eats like one." said her dad.
"I do not!" Jackie protested, but started laughing at the overly upset look on her dad's face.
After eating and Stephen had left, Danny and Jackie went out into Burgess to go look around their favourite haunts and show off what was new.
Bookmark was always Jackie's favourite, so that's where they went first. Jackie had always had a sneaking suspicion that the two owners, Sally and Tina, were Descendants, and the feeling was probably mutual, but neither side had worked out who they were Descendants of, or even if they were right. So, they tended to ignore that fact.
Once Jackie had bored Danny silly looking at books, the two headed back out. Not too far away from them was the park, where a group of kids where having a snowball fight. Jackie vaguely recognised some of them, but most of them were a little younger than Danny, so they didn't know them.
Jackie then did a double take, as Jack Frost was in the snowball fight. She cleaned off her glasses and squinted to make extra sure. White hair, blue hoodie, brown threadbare pants, G shaped staff, yep, that was him. He was laughing and playing with the kids, and they could see him.
"Jackie? You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Danny asked, concerned as Jackie stared at Jamie Bennett and his friends, not quite comprehending what she was seeing.
"Do you see anyone, odd, there?"
"Odder than Jamie Bennett?" Danny smirked, but then shook his head. "Nah, Jamie, Monty, Cupcake, Pippa, Claude and Caleb. That's all I see. Why? Can you see an immortal?" Danny was suddenly very excited. "Oh! You can, can't you? Who is it? Someone I know?"
"I'll, um, tell you later."
"Jackie!" Danny whined. "Come on!"
"He might hear us, and I don't want trouble. Come on."
"You're lying." Danny said in a sing song voice. "You're scared, aren't you?"
"I am not scared." Jackie insisted, feeling a grin form on her face anyway as the two walked away.
"Prove it. Go up and say hi."
"I can't." she was allowed now, but old habits die hard.
"Alright, scaredy cat." Danny walked backwards away from her, hands behind his head.
"I am not!" Jackie moved towards him, only for Danny to laugh and start running from here.
"Get back here!" she called, giving chase.
"You're going to have to catch me first!" Danny called back, laughing.
"I've got longer legs than you!"
"I'm fitter than you!"
The two siblings raced off into Burgess, oblivious to the slightly wistful look that Jack Frost had sent their way, before getting hit by a snowball and throwing himself back into the match, forgetting the two.
So, yes, in this AU, Danny is alive. Descendants usually get picked up around 5 years old, Danny died when Jackie was 7, the maths isn't exactly hard.
Danny has always been Jackie's biggest plot point and motivation. His death in the normal story sent her on the path to being a emotionally incompetent loner, who then grows to be a confident/arrogant adult with something of a hero complex and a nagging fear that she needs to always prove that she's worth having around.
With Danny alive, she'll still be over confident perhaps, but she actually had normal childhood social development, so will grow up to be less messed up. On the other hand Taboo isn't likely to exist in this universe, I haven't actually thought that far ahead to be honest.