16. Epilogue

Steve Rogers felt the apologies could have been a little more heartfelt. He supposed it was just the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. still didn't fully want to trust the Guardians. Or just the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't like admitting they had been wrong. It was a good thing the Guardians were so unbelievably forgiving. Steve knew that had their roles been reversed, the Avengers might have not let things go so easily. He was sure the Guardians knew that too. Still, the goodbyes they said were relatively free of animosity. Toothiana talked to all of them with respect that betrayed her own nobility. North chatted with Natasha in Russian. Now they at least had the answer to the age-old question of Santa Claus's original nationality. The Easter Bunny was the surliest of them all, but even he granted them a few smiles. The Sandman looked like he had no care in the world, and Jack Frost was... well, Jack Frost. The boy was all smiles and jokes, even though he was still exhausted from the fight.

Steve knew the others still didn't quite believe in the Guardians. Oh, they believed they existed, all right, but they still weren't buying the fact that these beings were actually the real, original children's mascots that had inspired so many stories and Christmas specials. Steve didn't quite get why that particular part was so hard to swallow. One of their own was a Norse god and they had no problems buying that. Maybe it was just how things were supposed to be. Adults were supposed to let go of childish belief and grow up. Well, Steve didn't mind not growing up in this sense. The legends were good people, something worth believing in.

He decided not to push the issue among the others, however. Maybe this was one of those things that everyone had to figure out by themselves.

Once Thor barged into Natasha and North's conversation and started talking loudly to the Russian man, Natasha discreetly backed away. She found Clint sitting on a chair in the corner, silently watching their group of battered weirdos chatting in a surprisingly friendly manner. Natasha sat down next to Clint, who acknowledged her with a nod and a small smile. They sat together in silence, the kind of silence that didn't require anything else to convey understanding. Over the years the two of them had become rather good at that, but only in each other's company.

Natasha leaned her elbows to her knees. Nick Fury was sitting at a desk behind a glass wall, and he didn't look very happy. Natasha figured solving this little incident in a manner that gave people satisfying answers without really giving away much at all was going to be a challenge. The Guardians had promised to do their part in the matter, but they had admitted they couldn't help quite as much as they wanted. Despite all of their powers, the Guardians were apparently very much invisible to the majority of people in the world, or at least to the majority that actually made the decisions.

In another corner of the room, Bruce Banner sat leaning against a wall, wearing ragged trousers and a rather ill-fitting plaid shirt he had borrowed from Steve. To Natasha's surprise, the man was intently following the golden patterns and images the Sandman created above them both. It was a rather strange friendship, but at the same time it made a bizarre amount of sense.

"It has been... interesting," Natasha mused, finally breaking the understanding silence between her and Clint, "All that has happened."

"'Interesting?'" Clint repeated, sounding almost amused by her choice of words, "That's putting it mildly."

"I feel like I've stepped into a children's picture book," Natasha said, "You know, the kind that I've probably never read in my life."

Or maybe she had. Maybe that little girl she had met in her fight with the Tooth Fairy had read a book or two.

"The kind with a moral at the end?" Clint asked, "Yeah, I feel a bit like that too."

"What would the moral in this be, then?" Natasha asked.

"Beats me," Clint shrugged, "I guess we can all figure that out on our own. With time."

Natasha looked at Clint's intense eyes and thought that maybe Clint had already figured something out on his part. As for her... well, she might now say that childish innocence and dreams weren't always bad. Most people just couldn't afford to have any of that.

She was one of them.

Across the room, in the middle of his conversation with North, Thor suddenly broke into loud guffaws.

"Truly!" the man boomed, "I must visit your workshop, Nicholas! I believe we have a lot of catching up to do!"

The Russian man smiled under his beard.

"Of course!" he said, "Once we rest, we can have good old celebration..."

He didn't invite anyone else from the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. to this celebration. The Guardians seemed to be very forgiving, but not completely so. Natasha supposed it was for the best. A flutter of wings caught her attention, and she looked up to see Toothiana lowering herself to the floor in front of her. The miniature fairies that always followed her around chirped their greetings and Toothiana smiled warmly.

"I really do hope there will be no need for more animosity between us," the fairy said, "I really am sorry for attacking you."

"She attacked you?" Clint asked in alarm.

Natasha nodded.

"No harm done," she said, "I would have done the same if I had been in your position, Toothiana."

"Oh, you people can call me Tooth if you wish," Toothiana said cheerfully, "No need to be so formal."

"Will you be leaving soon?" Natasha asked.

"Do you want us to leave?"

"I'm not meaning to be rude, but we all have a lot of recovering to do."

Toothiana smiled again.

"Yes, we do. We shall return to our homes soon enough. Don't worry. And Natasha?"

Natasha looked questioningly at the strange woman.

"Yes?"

"It's all right to remember."

Natasha didn't reply to that. In a swish of feathers, Toothiana had flown away. The Easter Bunny hopped to compliment Clint on his aim soon after that. Natasha watched with amusement when the warrior-rabbit and Clint found something to talk about with surprising ease. She smiled and even allowed herself to laugh a little at the sight. And for a second she heard a small trace of the little girl in the tooth box in her laughter.

Nick Fury leaned back in his chair, sighing and staring at the ceiling to let his eye rest after staring at computer screens for so long. It had been a very busy few months after the defeat of the Boogeyman. There had been a lot of explaining to do, and a lot to cover up. The Avengers and the Guardians had done a great job in kicking the crap out of the Boogeyman, and to their credit they had also done their best to help with the aftermath. Still, most of that work had fallen on Fury.

The people of the world and especially New York had been calmed about the matter through a hefty dose of barely plausible lies and an extra helping of dreamsand. The Guardians had been quick to point out that a human mind could be easily manipulated into forgetting things and believing even more far-fetched explanations, especially if believing those explanations gave people some peace of mind. It had been rather twisted to hear someone who was supposed to be Santa Claus say that. Then again, said Santa was apparently an ex-Cossack and an ex-bandit king. Fury wasn't sure if that made things better or even more twisted.

In the end, people would never really forget the strange phenomena in the sky or the attack of the unknown. Of course, that was the point. People needed to remember, and they needed to live with that. At least they would also live with the knowledge that there was a group of extraordinary people watching over them.

The involvement of the Guardians had been left out of any reports Fury had had to fill in. The Guardians had been okay with that. When Fury had pointed out that stating that he had warded off an attack by the Boogeyman with the help of holiday mascots would have utterly destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D's credibility, they had agreed. For them, it seemed enough to know that the kids believed in their involvement. And in their existence. Fury still wasn't sure what to make of that.

The Guardians hadn't held a grudge against S.H.I.E.L.D., which was good to hear. The Guardians were a powerful force to be reckoned with, and Fury was glad he didn't have to deal with their wrath in the midst of all the other crazy things that were going on in his life. They had parted with a tenuous agreement of keeping in touch in case other supernatural threats came up. The Guardians assured they would find ways of contacting S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers if needed. Fury believed that.

The Avengers had again separated. Thor had returned to Asgard, but not after apparently visiting the North Pole. Romanoff and Barton had resumed their work, and Banner had disappeared again. Fury was sure the scientist was out of the continent by now. Rogers and Stark had both stayed in New York, continuing their lives as they saw fit as well. Fury was sure they would be needed again. But hopefully not for a little while at least. Not before he had dealt with the fallout of this particular mess first.

When the next Christmas rolled in and Fury found a neatly wrapped present on his desk with no indication of who had put it there, he wasn't quite as irritated as one might have thought.

The weather had been getting cold quicker than usual. It was nearing October, and Tony could already catch sight of frost on the windowpanes. Most people said it was just normal fluctuations in weather and perhaps blamed global warming for messing up the seasons, but in this case Tony could guess it was because a certain sub-zero hellion was probably flying around in the city. The Guardians had promised to keep an extra careful watch over New York after the attack, after all. As much as they could, seeing how New York definitely wasn't the only place with problems. Hell, globally thinking it barely had any problems at all. But the Guardians seemed to specialize in fighting supernatural threats and especially the Boogeyman, so it made sense they would need to monitor the effects of this particular attack on the people.

Tony for his part had spent most of his time in his lab. He had had a lot to build. A rational part of his brain told him that he was overreacting. That he definitely didn't need dozens of different Iron Man suits to do his job. But that part was always quickly silenced by panic attacks and nightmares. As much as Tony hated to admit it, the Boogeyman had managed to dig up a lot of insecurities, some of which Tony had been aware of even before the whole incident.

He sat down on his couch in his living room and closed his eyes. He had to fight to keep the image of him lost in the vacuum of space from his mind. It had started with the Chitauri, he knew. Chucking the missile to their mothership, ready to die for it... It had done more than just made Tony realize he was more altruistic than he had thought before.

There was a faint knock on Tony's window. Tony chose to ignore it. It was probably the wind, he decided. The wind had learned how to wield wooden sticks in the last few months, right? The knocking persisted, and Tony kept his eyes stubbornly fixed at the floor.

"Aww, come on, Tony!" said a voice muffled by the bulletproof glass. It was a miracle Tony could hear anything at all. Maybe the wind that seemed to like Jack Frost so much helped carry the boy's voice as well.

Jack knocked again, and Tony rolled his eyes. If he didn't let the kid in, the whole tower might soon be suddenly frozen. That would be annoying, not to mention expensive to fix. Tony opened the window and Jack floated inside, landing lightly on the small table the tooth box had rested on back when they had first met.

"Hi," the boy greeted, leaning to his crooked staff and looking like he didn't have a care in the world. All signs of the battle wounds were gone, and even the kid's blue hoodie had been fixed. It looked as good as new, actually.

"If you have something important to say, then get it over with fast," Tony said, "I don't want Pepper coming in and thinking I've gone crazier than I already am and started talking to air."

"Pepper?" Jack repeated, "Oh, she's your girlfriend, right? Is she here?"

"Not on this floor, but in this tower, yes."

"Okay," Jack nodded, "This won't take long, I guess. I just figured I'd tell you that everything's fine around here."

Tony raised a brow.

"What, you've solved all of the world's problems? Congratulations."

"Well aren't you funny," Jack deadpanned.

"Just admit that you don't really have anything to say," Tony said, "You just wanted to annoy me."

"Actually," Jack crossed his arms, "I came here to make sure you were alright."

Tony hoped his hesitation didn't show in his voice when he replied:
"Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Sandy noticed you've been really stressed," Jack explained, "He knows about these things."

"Great," Tony sighed, "Acquaint yourself with self-proclaimed kids' mascots and say goodbye to your privacy. Fantastic."

"Hey, I'm trying to be serious here!" Jack waved his hands in exasperation, "I'm trying to help!"

His shoulders slumped and he calmed down a little.

"I mean... you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to. We're not exactly that close. But..."

Jack fell silent for a moment, and Tony hoped the kid wouldn't continue at all. Having a frozen teen act as a therapist for him wasn't something he particularly wanted to happen.

"I'm fine," he said firmly, "Was that all?"

"Pitch likes to play mind games," Jack said quietly, "I know: he's targeted me a lot. He's good at them too. He knows what everyone is afraid of and uses that to psyche them out."

"I told you, I'm fine," Tony raised his voice just a bit, hoping it would be enough of a warning for Jack to shut up.

It wasn't.

"You're thinking about what he said, right?" Jack guessed, "About wasted sacrifices."

Tony let his head fall to his hands.

"What part of 'I'm fine' don't you understand?" he growled.

He could practically sense the kid's stare on him. Jack scrutinized him for an uncomfortable while before slipping down from the table. Tony heard the soft thud of the kid's bare feet touching the floor.

"Sorry," Jack said, "It's just... I've thought about that too. A lot."

Tony looked up, and for the first time ever the teen actually looked old. He wasn't even sure why he decided to go along with the conversation.

"Did you come to any conclusions?" he asked.

Jack smiled faintly.

"I decided not to worry about it too much. If something bad happens, all I can do is my best to stop it."

"You know, 'best' is never going to be enough in this world," Tony said, "It's just how it works."

Jack looked at him, icy eyes weary and ancient.

"Yeah. Sometimes I wish that we could do more. We're the Guardians. We have powers most can't even imagine. But still we can do so little in the end. That's just how it is. So I once decided to just be glad of the good things we can do."

"So... happy thoughts?" Tony summarized dryly, "I think I was thinking something along those lines back when I was pushing that missile into a portal. It didn't stop me from being scared shitless, though."

"Yeah, I heard about that. It was a very good thing to do," Jack said quietly, "And I think I know how you feel."

"Huh," Tony just said, "Have you ever flown a missile into the vacuum of space, one-hundred percent sure you're going to die?"

Jack shook his head.

"Not really. But..."

He took a deep breath.

"I did save my sister from drowning once."

There was something about the way he said it. Something that made Tony realize the boy was telling something very private to him.

"It wasn't quite as awesome as saving billions from a nuke," Jack went on, eyes locked somewhere into the past, "But knowing my life was enough to buy a few more decades to my sister is enough for me."

Jack stared at his feet, fists clenched, and suddenly he huffed angrily.

"Damn it! I was supposed to make you feel better, but now you got me all mopy instead!"

Normally, Tony would have replied with a sarcastic quip, but he was a bit too stunned by the implications of Jack's story, not to mention the fact that the teen had actually shared something like that with him.

"My point is..." Jack said, "That you shouldn't worry too much about it. You're not the only one who's fighting for this world."

Tony looked thoughtfully at the kid who wasn't really a kid. The silence that fell between them stretched until it was so uncomfortable that not even a Finn could have tolerated it.

"No," Tony said at last, "I suppose I'm not."

He laced his fingers under his chin.

"Tell me, why do you care?"

Jack shrugged.

"I just do."

"I think you care a bit too much for your own good."

"I suppose that's what all of us Guardians have in common," Jack said and smiled again, "That's part of what makes us Guardians. And I think you Avengers are similar in that regard."

"It's not just that we care. It's also the fact that we have the resources to do something about things," Tony pointed out.

"Maybe," Jack admitted, "But most of the times, caring is enough."

"Oh, shut up," Tony sighed, "You're getting creepily deep for a kid."

"I'm allowed to be deep," Jack said, "I'm over three hundred years old!"

Tony couldn't help smiling. Jack had that effect on people. Maybe it was a part of his powers or something, but just being around him seemed to make people more cheerful. To have more fun.

"Thanks, Jack," Tony said, "I'll try... not to worry too much."

It was a lie. Maybe. Tony didn't know how hard he could actually try. Jack shifted his weight and looked back outside through the still open window. He seemed to be listening to something. A gust of wind blew some papers from the living room table to the floor.

"You do that," Jack said, "I promise we'll be around. As long as the kids still believe in us."

He paused in mid-step towards the window.

"It wouldn't hurt if you guys would really believe in us too. As in, really believe."

Tony looked at the floor at the kid's feet. It was starting to frost over.

"I personally think that legends are born from true events or true people," he said, "I suppose I could buy that you guys are like that. Or not."

Jack grinned widely.

"Someday you will. I'll make sure of that. Tony Stark: a ground-breaking scientist who still believes in fairy tales. It's way too funny to pass up!"

"Get lost, Brainfreeze!"

With one last mischievous grin, Jack Frost was gone. Tony didn't bother standing up from his seat to clean up the frost that had formed a fern-like cluster to the floor. He just told JARVIS to close the window and turn the heating up. It didn't take long for the temperature to rise slightly above average and the frost to start melting into a puddle of water. Soon it was gone, erasing all the evidence of Jack Frost ever being there. All evidence, except for the memories.

Tony Stark hummed to himself, deep in his thoughts.

Fin.

Author's Note: Well, it's done now, and I even managed to put a corny book-end there. Yay! It's a bit sad that it's over but I think all stories need to come to an end... especially if I write them because I don't really like giving up on projects. When I started this, I didn't really think it would go all that well for reasons I explained back in Chapter 1. This was mostly an experiment, a test to see if I could pull it off. And... yeah, I suppose I could. At least it's finished now, and judging by the awesome reviews it wasn't terrible! There are some parts of this that I can honestly say that I'm rather proud of, and that means a lot coming from a perfectionist... I suppose I could have explored the story's theme of innocence vs. duty/troubles of adulthood and the theme of seeing childish morals from a more cynical perspective a bit better... either a bit less or a bit more depending on the part of the story. But words don't always do what I want them to, especially seeing how I'm writing in a foreign language (even if it is a very familiar foreign language to me). Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this and I'm glad that I started.

I want to say a very big thank you to everyone who read, followed, favourited, and/or reviewed! I am still surprised and very happy about the reception this story got. You guys are too kind! And awesome. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have finished this without all that support.

As for my future regarding fanfiction... I don't think I will be writing or at least publishing any fanfics for a while. I don't really have that many ideas for fanfics and I want to focus on original stuff more. If you still want to read more from me, I do have other RotG-stories I have already uploaded under this very same pen-name. If you have checked those out already, well... then I thank you for reading those too! I joined Fanfiction so I could get over my fear of putting my texts up for people to see and maybe to get some feedback. I've managed both, and for that I am happy. If I get a super special awesome idea for a fanfic that I actually also manage to write, you might be hearing more from me. But if not... well, I do have my older fics for some other fandoms sitting around in my computer and I might see if there's something worth showing in them... if someone wants to see them, that is.

I'll still be reading stuff here and checking my messages. Once again, thank you, and have a nice summer!