Alaia Skyhawk: (Sorry for chapter up/chapter down, I realised last second I'd left shorthand planning at the start) Time for more heart-warming scenes of discovery and finding oneself :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

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Chapter 70: A Role That Needed Filling

Kosmotis stood at the window of the 'postcard perfect' thatched cottage at the heart of his daughter's domain, gazing out at forests and gardens where all Seasons coexisted together. It had been three days since he was finally set free from the Fearlings, and both his daughter and Sanderson had spent much of that time explaining to him things that had happened and how things were here on this world. But now, with the Golden Age gone and himself now an immortal without a task or purpose, he felt lost. What was he supposed to do with his life now, beyond making up for lost time with his daughter?

"Father, I've made some tea."

Mother Nature entered the room, placing her hand on his shoulder and prompting him to look at her. His smile was sad.

"Thank you, Little Sparrow."

Mother Nature smiled in return at his use of that nickname from childhood, and she insistently tugged him towards the next room.

"Then hurry up, Papa Hawk, before the tea goes cold. We've got a guest too."

Kosmotis hesitated.

"A guest?"

Mother Nature continued to tug at him, until they arrived in the cottage's living room to see none other than Jack Frost sat in one of the chairs.

He waved, smiling.

"Hi. Since I've had three days good sleep, I thought I'd stop by before I head to the Guardians' annual meeting tomorrow. I wanted to make sure you were ok, after... how much I hurt you with my frostdust."

Kosmotis glanced at the white feathery bands of 'frost' encircling his wrists. His memories of when he was possessed were vague, and likely always would be, but he did have a lingering recollection of immense agony... And of someone telling him to hold on for just a bit longer.

He sat down with a sigh.

"There's no need to apologise. In fact, from what my daughter and Sanderson have told me, I owe you a great deal. Were it not for your help, I would still be a slave to the Fearlings."

Jack shrugged.

"Don't mention it. I know how much my family means to me. So when your daughter told me she wanted to try save you someday, I was happy to offer my help."

Kosmotis nodded, but remained solemn.

"For which I am grateful. You've been a good friend to her, and that means a great deal to me." He sighed again. "I'm happy to be free, and yet I now find myself without anything to which to dedicate myself other than her. I am now an immortal without a task, loaned strength by my daughter. I don't know what to do with myself now... With the Golden Age gone, my old role as a general for it no longer exists."

Jack and Mother Nature glanced at each other, before the former picked up and cooled his cup of tea before taking a sip. He then looked at her father with a small smile.

"If you willing to agree to come with me on a quick trip, I've something in mind I think you'll be for perfect for."

When Kosmotis looked to his daughter uncertainly, she nodded.

"Jack and I have discussed it several times in the past, and I agree that it's a role in the Balance of Nature that needs filling. During the Golden Age it was something believed to be unimportant, so it was ignored... To the great folly of all who lived in that era. It's the very reason the Fearlings became so dangerous, and did so much damage when they escaped. It's a mistake we don't intend to repeat."

Kosmotis looked confused, but neither Jack nor his daughter said anything else as they all continued to drink their tea. It was only once they were all finished, that Jack stood up and offered his hand.

"So, do you want to come? It won't take long. There's two places where there are things you need to see." When Kosmotis' eyes flickered with fear, no doubt at going out into the world where a madman had worn his face for so long, Jack grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him upright. "Hiding from your fears doesn't solve them, it just lets them fester. You're going to have to go outside at some point, and sooner is better than later. Don't worry, we won't be going near the territories of any other immortals."

When he continued to hesitate, Mother Nature nodded to her father in support.

"Go on, Papa. Jack knows what he's doing... contrary to what a lot of the other immortals think."

"Hey!"

Jack rolled his eyes after making that protest, and conjured an ice mirror big enough to be stepped through. He didn't give Kosmotis time for second thoughts, tugging him through and dismissing the mirror in the same motion.

They were in a small town, somewhere not that far from Burgess considering the terrain and the distant sight of one of the Great Lakes. It was an area Jack knew well, but in which his numbers of believers were still small and his influence on how kids handled the fears was only minor. The only marginally nearby territory belonging to another immortal, was the one that belonged to Kiyiya.

Kosmotis looked around, uncertain.

"What is this place called?"

Jack patted him on the shoulder and began to lead him towards a nearby house.

"That doesn't matter, it's not what you're here to learn. Tell me, what can you hear right now?"

The fallen general tilted his head, listening, and answered.

"Wind, birdsong, children laughing somewhere nearby, and a dog barking."

Jack pointed to one of the houses.

"The dog lives there. A retriever puppy; all paws, tongue, and wagging tail. Very friendly."

"You brought me to see a dog?"

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair in exasperation.

"No, I brought you to see the little girl who lives next door to the house where the dog is."

He leapt into the air, pulling Kosmotis with him, and they landed in the back garden of the house where the girl lived. She was there, playing in a small sand-pit, but every time the puppy barked, she flinched and glanced towards the fence.

Jack sighed again, but this time he was solemn.

"She's scared of dogs, a common phobia, but that's the problem. She so scared of them that even a friendly puppy would make her scream in terror if it came towards her. I'm not saying kids should rush towards dogs expecting them to be nice, that would stupid because not all dogs would react well to that, but they shouldn't be scared of them either. The need to be cautious, to understand they need to see what 'signals' the dog is giving them before they try to pet it. That's what survival instincts are for, Natural Fear, but hers are completely ramped up out of proportion when it comes to dogs. They've become an Unnatural Fear, the kind that Fearlings live off and get their power from."

Jack pointed to a gap under the house's back porch, and only then did Kosmotis see the ragged Fearling lingering there. The Guardian of Fun continued to explain. "The frostdust I scatter each day means Fearlings can't Touch anyone anymore, but I can't send it out at a strength to stop adults and kids from feeling all Unnatural Fear. If I did, everyone would walk around grinning and giggling constantly, and people can't live like that. It wouldn't fix the problem, it would just squash it down where it could blow up in our faces later."

Kosmotis was nodding in understanding, but he still looked a bit puzzled.

"So why then bring me here? What could I possibly do?"

Jack paused at that, considering his words before deciding there was little point in sugar-coating them.

"Um, you're an immortal... Specifically, you're exactly the same Legend you were when you became that kind of immortal just over four-hundred years ago. You're still the 'Boogeyman', you're just not the King of Nightmares anymore. You should still have the same power to manipulate Unnatural Fear that you had while you were possessed, just not anything to do with Fearlings."

Kosmotis actually blanched pale at that, and started to shake.

"You want me to scare her?!"

Jack went still, deadpanning before bringing a hand to his face.

"Uh, no... What I'm saying is that you have the power to take away the Unnatural Fear that's making her miserable. You can snuff it out, and set it back to just being natural caution about dogs. If you do that, she'll calm down enough that she'll give dogs a chance and learn that they're not all out to bite her." He lowered his hand, looking Kosmotis in the eye. "And, incidentally, if you fix the Balance of Natural Fear, in her and in all people everywhere, and keep it fixed... That's the way to keep the Fearlings in line, so they can never be a threat ever again. Sandy and I have them tied down, but there's still a lot of ambient Unnatural Fear hanging around for them to feed on. You can change that, and make it so no one ever has to be afraid of them ever again. That's the real way to deal with fear, not cage it in a prison made of lead."

Kosmotis was staring at him, seeming torn between wanting to agree with Jack's words and being afraid of using the powers that supposedly still resided in him. It was a harsh thing to throw at him, so soon after him being freed, but it would be for the best.

Jack knew that, and knew how important it was for Kosmotis to accept this now. And for that reason he flew over to the fence separating the two gardens, reached down, and yanked one of the boards loose at the bottom.

The noise of it pulling free got the attention of both the girl and the puppy, the latter of which wriggled through the new hole in curiosity as young things do. As soon as the golden-coloured pup saw the girl, it began to bounce towards her excited and wanting to play... And the girl's eyes went wide as she took a deep breath in prelude to a scream.

Kosmotis stared in horror, at the Guardian of Fun deliberately exposing the child to the very thing she was scared of. He felt the surge of terror from her, sensed the wrongness in it, and saw how the Fearling moved in the shadows to get as close to her as it could without coming out into the sunlight.

It was too much, and without conscious thought he reached with his mind and snuffed out the Unnatural Fear like nipping off a too-long wick on a lit candle. A tall 'flame' of fear was reduced to a normal gleam of caution, and the little girl hiccuped as instead of screaming she backed slowly away from the puppy instead.

It bounced around her, never quite touching, inching forward and bounding backwards over and over in what was clearly 'play with me!' The little girl frowned a little, crouched down, and tentatively held out a hand which the puppy licked playfully. The canine rolling over onto it's back, still wriggling and tail-wagging in excitement, as she then began to rub its belly. And then, there was the most wonderful sight and sound...

She smiled and giggled, and picked up a nearby ball to throw it for the pup to fetch.

It charged after the ball, her laughter rising in volume enough to bring her mother to the back door. Where the woman then stood in stunned silence upon seeing her daughter playing happily with the neighbour's puppy, which just a short while before she'd been terrified of.

Jack landed beside Kosmotis, even as they both saw the Fearling vanish through the shadows to seek another source of fear.

"And how do you feel about it now? Look how happy you just made her, by helping her overcome her fear."

Kosmotis glanced at him.

"I didn't take away her fear of dogs. It's still there."

Jack smiled.

"Yeah, but now it's no stronger that it should be. To make sure she doesn't blindly go up to a dog which obviously wants nothing to do with her. Natural Fear is important; that's what was wrong with the Golden Age. The people didn't understand how much it was needed, so they tried to wipe out all fear. But if someone hasn't experience proper fear, for survival, then the terrors of Unnatural Fear are all the greater for them. That's part of what made the Fearlings so strong, and led to the mistake of imprisoning them."

He put his hand on Kosmotis' shoulder.

"You feel guilty for letting them out, for the fall of the Golden Age that followed? Well this is a way you could make up for it, by making sure it can never happen again." He moved his hand, this time bringing it to bear as a firm slap on the arm. "Come on, enough of this serious stuff. Time for another lesson."

He conjured a new ice mirror and yanked Kosmotis through it, the girl's laughter replaced by the raucous noises of an amusement park. The two immortals had arrived on top of the kiosk for one of the roller-coasters, to which Jack pointed with a wicked grin.

"Feel like giving them the biggest thrill-ride of their lives? Natural Fear giving caution against heights and falling, combining to give a rush of adrenaline from experiencing yet not being hurt by 'falling' from said heights. Toss in some 'fun', and well... Care to join me?"

Jack leapt to the back of the front car which was filling up with the next batch of eager riders, taking firm hold of the back of the seats in complete confidence of being able to hang on through the whole ride.

This time Kosmotis only hesitated for a moment before joining him there, aware of what Jack couldn't sense. The background buzz of Natural Fear, the sound of pounding hearts, and yet all of the people clambering aboard the ride were grinning in anticipation.

And then the ride started forward, heading for the long climb to the top of the first huge plummet in the track.

~(-)~

When an ice mirror opened up into the living room of the cottage again, barely twenty minutes after Jack and Kosmotis had left, it was a loudly-laughing Guardian of Fun who came tumbling through it with the other immortal following in his wake. The sight made Mother Nature smile, even as her father was, and that was when Jack straightened up and grinned at her in success.

"I think I got my point across... And I think he's going to like his new job. You should have seen it!"

She raised her eyebrows.

"Seen what?"

Behind Jack, Kosmotis had the grace to look just a little embarrassed. And yet there was a hint of new confidence in him now that hadn't been there when they'd left.

"I helped a little girl overcome her phobia of dogs. Gave two dozen people on a 'roller-coaster' as Jack called it, the 'thrill of their lives' as he also called it. He then suggested we 'spice up' the experience for several punters at the 'haunted house'." He smiled. "And through it all, any nearby Fearlings just left. As soon as I tempered the Natural Fear in the nearby people, back to the proper levels."

His daughter's face lit up as she went to hug him, proud of him despite knowing that this was just the first step on a long hard road to being accepted by the majority of immortals. But right now it was enough, more than enough, to see him regain a purpose he could believe in.

She pulled back, still smiling, and gestured to a large package waiting on the table.

"I think Tsar Lunar was watching, because Nightlight brought this while you were out. And I think he knew Jack would succeed in convincing you."

Kosmotis reacted in surprise, glancing at her before lifting the lid from the waiting box. What was inside caused a surge of emotions in his expression, as he lifted out an ornate robe of dappled dusky silvers and gold. Patterned with swirls and whorls nostalgically similar to certain patterns that had been on the armour of a certain General from the Golden Age.

As her father gazed at it, Mother Nature hugged him around the shoulders as with her other hand she touched the insignias on the robe's shoulders that marked the wearer as one who worked for her. Yet it was Jack who chuckled upon seeing that addition.

"Congratulations on your appointment as the Steward of Natural Fear. I wouldn't worry about any of the other immortals trying to hurt you while you're out doing your work. There isn't a single one that would dare touch you while you're wearing that... Your daughter has a reputation."

When Kosmotis blinked at that, his daughter burst out into peals of happy laughter. Because that statement was more than certainly true.

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Alaia Skyhawk: Next chapter, Guardian Meeting! And before you ask... Yes, Jack is planning to bring Kosmotis :D