Taboo growled to herself as she paddled down as hard as she could, her ice body wanting to float back up to the surface.
Jackie and Jamie had almost gotten themselves killed doing this, and she'd be damned if they were doing that again!
Luckily for Taboo though, she didn't need to breathe, nor did she have any physical muscles, so theoretically, she could keep going for as long as it took.
Finally she got to where Jackie had stopped, and she could see a glimmer in the dirt wall. Using three legs to try and keep her position, she used one front paw to dig at the lake wall, silt floating up and around until it became difficult to see.
Finally the silt settled, and Taboo could see the dagger shining dimly in the hole in the wall, like it was afraid of the ice tiger, or more likely it was covered in dirt and grime from 300 years underground. Behind it she could see a long tunnel behind, like it had bored its way through the earth to get here.
Taboo gripped it carefully with her teeth and pulled it out of the wall. There was a stub of wood attached to the bottom of the dagger, but the rest of the shaft had long rotted away and been eaten by worms.
Once free, Taboo paddled back up, the ascent a lot easier than the descent. She pulled herself onto the shore and shook off the excess water, making sure the dagger was safely between her teeth.
Once she was certain that she was in the clear, she skulked back to the apartment, being careful to avoid any human she came across. She even took the elevator to make sure didn't come across anyone.
As soon as Jamie wondered where she was, Taboo rapped a paw against the door.
Jackie opened it, and looked Taboo over, seeing the dagger in her mouth.
"Taboo, you didn't have to..." she stepped aside to let the tiger in, who growled as she walked past.
"Yes I did, I wasn't going to let you two get killed over this!" Taboo pressed the dagger into Jackie's hand. "Here it is, mission over. I'm going to take a nap."
Jackie spent the rest of the evening cleaning the dirt off the dagger while Jamie recovered and Taboo napped. The dirt was stubborn in places, and Jackie had to make sure she wasn't overheating with the effort, as she refused to turn the heating down yet.
Sometime after midnight Jackie was finally satisfied. She held the dagger up to the light, seeing it glimmer. If she squinted she could the whisp of the moonbeam that slumbered within. Or, at least, she assumed it was asleep, it was moving slightly, but she couldn't hear it. Then again, maybe it didn't want to talk to her.
It didn't really look like a dagger Jackie decided, it looked more like a shard of glass, pulled into a long, sharp tip with the wood that once curled around the base having partially rotted away, and the wood that remained was in surprisingly good condition.
Jackie yawned and looked at the clock. Jamie had gone to bed an hour ago, and Jackie had no plans on joining him. If she had a nightmare, which was likely, she was going to frost the bed clothes. Not a good idea when Jamie almost went down with hypothermia. No, Jackie was sleeping on the couch tonight.
Jackie left the dagger on the coffee table and went to turn out the lights. When she did so she noticed that the dagger let off its own soft light, reminding her of the light she produced when she used Nightlight's power.
Jackie settled on the couch and closed her eyes. At first she found the light annoying, but as she drifted off, she found it comforting. For the first time in a while, she didn't have a nightmare.
A few days later, when she was sure Jamie was okay, Jackie and Taboo found themselves outside the Pole. She could have presented the dagger and what remained of the shaft to Jack, but she didn't know how he'd react. Besides, the Guardians had known Nightlight better, it made more sense for them to get the first.
Also, going to North first felt, right. Out of all the Guardians, North had known Nightlight the longest, excluding the Man in the Moon of course, but Jackie had no way of getting up there.
With the dagger safely stored in her hoodie pocket, and the shaft in a block of ice being carried by Taboo, Jackie knocked on the door.
It was quickly opened by a Yeti, who looked a little confused when they saw Jackie.
"Hi, is North in?" Jackie asked, quickly realising that was a stupid question. It had been less than two weeks since Christmas, of course North was in!
The Yeti blinked, and stepped aside to let Jackie in, burbling something that Jackie didn't understand.
"Is North in his office?"
The Yeti nodded.
"Thank you," Jackie stepped past, followed by Taboo. The Yeti stared at what the ice tiger was carrying, before deciding that it wasn't worth asking.
The Pole was a lot quieter than at the last meeting. Work was still underway, but there wasn't the same level of manic frenzy as a week and a half ago. More than one pair of Yetis would just be hanging around, talking with each other and comparing toys.
Jackie and Taboo got several odd stares, but since she wasn't Jack, the Yeti's had no reason to think that she was up to no good. The elves did try though, their jingling bells desperately trying to get under her feet.
Jackie tried not to get too annoyed by them, but it was difficult.
"I'm going to eat one," Taboo growled, baring her fangs at one elf, who ran off in terror.
You will do no such thing.
"They're annoying! North won't miss one, right?"
You don't know that, plus, you don't have a digestive system. How would you eat them?
"I could chew 'em up a bit and spit them back out."
Still no.
"You're no fun!"
I think your perception of fun is skewed.
Taboo rumbled a laugh as they reached North's office, and Jackie rapped her knuckles on the door.
"Come in!" called North, and Jackie pushed open the door, revealing the Russian carving some ice at his desk.
He looked up and his face split into a confused smile at the sight of Jackie and Taboo.
"Ah, Jackie, what brings you here my friend? Nothing serious I hope?"
"Thankfully no," Jackie stepped in, but stayed by the door. "Remember when I mentioned Nightlight?"
"Da, at the last meeting," North nodded, then waved his hand to call Jackie over. "Come my friend, no need to stand at door, sit down. Cookie?" he offered as Jackie drew closer, unfortunately, it looked like an elf had already gotten to it.
"No, thank you," Jackie pulled up a chair that she was sure hadn't been there before and sat down in it. "Anyway. I heard from the Descendants of Ombric that Nightlight had fallen into the lake in Burgess, which is partially how we got Jack Frost."
North nodded to show that he was listening.
"So, I thought, what if Nightlight's spear had fallen in there as well? It was a long shot, but it paid off," Jackie gestured to the block of ice Taboo was carrying. "I think we found the remains of the shaft, unfortunately severely water damaged, to the point where I don't dare thaw it out.
"However," Jackie put a hand in her pocket and gripped the dagger, "I think we found the jackpot."
Without much ceremony, Jackie placed the diamond dagger on North's desk, and the Guardian of Wonder's eyes widened in shock.
"Is that...?"
"I think so, I was hoping you could confirm, I've never seen it before."
North gingerly picked up the dagger and examined it with a critical eye. The diamond was a little damaged, a few scuffs and scrapes, but he could see the moonbeam slumbering inside. All in all, more or less exactly how he remembered it.
"This is right dagger," North confirmed. "How did you find it?"
"Nearly drowning," Taboo commented dryly as she dropped the frozen staff onto the floor. "Don't deny it," she added when Jackie glared at her, "Jamie nearly got hypothermia trying to save you!"
"It wasn't that bad," Jackie lied, shifting uncomfortably under North's shocked gaze.
"Jackie, I appreciate what you did, but you didn't have to go to such extremes," North said solemnly, causing Jackie to squirm more.
"I didn't intend to," Jackie defended, "It just, happened that way."
North let out a rumbling chuckle, "you sound so much like Jack," he said fondly, "thank you Jackie, for doing this, but next time you feel like doing something like this, do not feel the need to risk your life, hmm?"
"I promise nothing," Jackie smirked, and North blinked, suddenly being reminded of both Jack's and Nightlight's mischievous grins.
North quickly recovered and chuckled again. "Of course you don't," he then leaned back in his seat, placing the dagger on the desk. "I will pass this to Jack later, now, we have not talked before, have we?" North saw an opportunity, and he wasn't going to waste it.
Jackie was confused. "Of course we've talked to each other before. What else are those meetings about?"
"Da, we have talked about work," North agreed, "but not as friends, and, I am not blind Jackie. I know you do not see us like that. Colleagues at best, no?"
Jackie was really not expecting North to see straight through her like that. The overly enthusiastic Russian was more observant than she thought.
"I suppose so, yes,"
"Then, let us talk!" North beamed before standing up, "how about we go to meeting room, more comfortable?"
"Okay," Jackie stood up as well, quickly joined by Taboo as they followed North. "So, what will we be talking about?"
"Not work!" North declared as if that explained everything.
"That's, all we do," Jackie brought up, "we're both workaholics,"
"Nonsense!" North cried as he pushed open the door to the meeting room. "We both have stories to tell, do we not?"
"I suppose; some of our stories overlap though,"
"No matter my friend," North settled in his large armchair while Jackie and Taboo took up their normal seats, "we will compare!"
"Okay, so who's going to start?"
North's smile didn't diminish, "I would guess that you know some of my old stories, from those files of yours, no?"
"I know some things, it mostly goes into your time in Santoff Claussen and fighting Pitch."
"Bah! There is more to story!" declared North, and he began to tell it, and Jackie didn't have the heart to tell him that she already knew that used to the King of Bandits.
North was an excellent story teller though, and Jackie and Taboo found themselves drawn into his boisterous yarns, with North acting a couple of scenes. He leapt around the room, jumping on the furniture and drawing and swinging his weapons wildly. Instead of being concerned, Jackie was laughing at North's antics, which seemed to egg the ex-Cossack on.
Finally he stopped, and sat back in his seat panting for air.
"Now, is your turn my friend, what stories do you have to tell?"
Jackie paused in her laughter, quickly calming down. "I really don't think I can top your stories."
"Not to worry my friend, just start talking," North settled down, and Jackie thought.
"I suppose, you won't know what happened when Lupine worked with Pitch," she thought out loud, and North shook his head.
"I do not know what happened your end, and when you tell your side, I will tell you mine, yes?"
"Sounds good," Jackie agreed, getting comfortable, "it started with a call from Jason..."
Jackie went on to describe her checking Pitch's lair, her flight through Burgess, trying to find the rest of the Burgess Branch with no luck, her mom suggesting to go to the Pole and her journey through the States, Canada and finally the Arctic.
Once she had caught up to North's version of events, he took over. He told with her great enthusiasm how Lupine broke into the Pole with his shadow wolves, and how the Guardians had been summoned to fight, but all had fallen to the unexpected attack. Although the last part took a back seat to the actual fight, which North described in great detail.
Jackie had to check her watch though, and quickly found that it was later than she thought, and she was behind on her paperwork.
"Sorry North, I have to go. Work."
"Of course," North calmed down, "it was good to talk, we should do this again."
"Yeah," Jackie agreed, standing up. "Shall I leave the shaft with you?" she asked, remembering that Taboo had left it in his office.
"If you would like, I might be able to restore it."
"Good luck with that," Jackie sighed, "it was falling apart when I pulled it out."
"Have faith my friend," North smiled, "I'm afraid your ice can only do so much."
"Come on," Taboo groaned, standing up and stretching before giving her limbs a shake. "I think my napping spot by your desk is getting warm without me."
"Of course that's what you care about," Jackie rolled her eyes. "See for the Spring Equinox North,"
"See you then," North beamed again, and Jackie had wonder whether or not that smile ever really disappeared.
Surprise! This turned into a North bonding one shot! Jackie's been getting along well with Jack and Tooth, Bunny will be later, so North decided to give it try when he had time.
So, why Taboo went after the dagger. Despite being called a familiar, she is in fact a golem, with a purpose. That purpose is to protect Jamie and to fight alongside and protect Jackie. That's what she was originally created to do and it's hardwired into her. Jackie and Jamie could have died getting this, therefore Taboo is going to protect them by not letting them do that again!
Also, a word on the Moonbeam. It would have exhausted itself from dragging it and the dagger through the earth to Jackie, so would have gone into a slumber. Once awake, it quickly realises that it's not been found by it's Nightlight Boy, who it's been waiting for for so long, but an imposter. So, it refuses to acknowledge her, pretty pissed off about the whole thing.