Alaia Skyhawk: In answer to the guest, who wondered what Pitch was before if he wasn't a Legend. He was sort-of an Unnatural Fear-based self-sustained immortal, whose personality was created by the Fearlings to be their leader and weapon.

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.

~(-)~

Chapter 90: Knowing a Burden, Letting It Go

"...Twenty-three... Twenty-four... Twenty-fi-"

Bunny's voice cut off as he, North, Tooth, and Sandy all twitched. Every one of them, in their mind's eye, seemingly plunged back into memories of the events of the Battle of the Moon and the two weeks before it. Everything at first appearing to be just as they'd always remembered it, until like missing pieces from a jigsaw puzzle, fragments of what had truly happened clicked into place one-by-one.

Jack plummeting into the snow outside the Workshop.

Jack rescuing them when they were attacked while retrieving the fourth Relic.

Jack helping them retrieve the fifth Relic.

Jack isolating himself, intermittently appearing only to give them news of his search.

Jack announcing that the winds had seen Pitch launch the stolen ship.

Jack creating ice mirrors to get everyone to the Moon Clipper.

And the last time they'd see him, stood beside Tsar Lunar after he'd put his power into the Mirror of Wishing Stars... Except that for one of them, that wasn't the last time they saw him.

While North and Tooth began to chatter excitedly about the things they could now remember, Sandy glanced around looking for their absent member, and Bunny had gone eerily silent.

It was the Sandman who nudged North and Tooth to get their attention, before he drew and image of Jack along with a question-mark. That caused Tooth to gasp.

"That's right, where is he? If we remember, then that means he's back here in the future. Right?"

Father Time appeared near the controls for the Globe, startling them before he nodded.

"He is on the Moon Clipper, with Tsar Lunar. I sensed that given the situation when he was pulled from the past, he would need the chance to talk to the one who has always remembered exactly what happened that day."

Sandy blinked, glancing at North who looked surprised.

"Ah yes, Jack would have been in room with Tsar Lunar! He would have been there when Bunny tricked Pitch into becoming a Legend Immortal."

"It wasn't me or the Man in the Moon that tricked him..." Bunny's quiet words made them turn, and when he lifted his head to look at them his expression was torn with guilt. "Tsar Lunar told me I'd taken a hit during the scuffle, convinced me I'd been locked in a nightmare that confused my memories. As revenge by the Fearlings after he and I had tricked Pitch into letting him use his power to make him 'able to walk in sunlight'."

Bunny put his head in his paws, and curled in on himself. "I believed him, that I'd been victim to a nightmare, because the crushed feeling in my heart made no sense otherwise."

At the confused frowns of the other three Guardians, Father Time explained.

"The one who really tricked Pitch, was Jack. He realised that you all were locked into a battle of arms, not of wits, and knew that it couldn't have been any of you that deceived the Nightmare King. Tsar Lunar agreed to the plan. But for good or ill it transpired that Aster, who had chased after Pitch when he got inside the Moon Clipper, burst into the room while the plan was in progress. Jack had no choice but to restrain him, and even go so far as to use him as part of the act to convince Pitch to allow Tsar Lunar to use his power. However, as soon as the act of turning Pitch into a Legend Immortal was done, that was the moment I had to bring Jack back to the future."

Off to the side Bunny lowered his paws, revealing an expression more guilt-stricken than ever.

"The last thing Jack heard from me, before he was gone and I'd forgotten him, was me screaming at him and calling him a traitor. Because the way he tricked Pitch, was to make Pitch think he'd sided with him. Jack had Tsar Lunar trussed up in ice, trapped me in ice too, and not once during the whole thing did I question whether or not it might be a ruse. I believed it just like Pitch did, and that mistrust of Jack has haunted me without me knowing ever since. Making me think the worst of Jack, no matter what good you all kept telling me he'd been seen to do. Right up until the day he saved us in Burgess and proved he was no traitor at all."

"Oh, Bunny."

Tooth had her hands to her mouth, Sandy hovered there in shock, and North had gone white as a sheet. Yet Bunny ignored them all, and tapped his foot twice on the floor.

"You guys can go talk to Ombric and Katherine, and tell them what's been going on since they'll remember now as well. But I'm going to the moon, to set things to rights. I owe Jack that."

The Pooka disappeared down his burrow, to return to the Warren and fly his ship to the moon. Father Time had discretely vanished as well, leaving the remaining three Guardians with little choice but to do as Bunny had suggested.

North reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out a snow-globe.

"Then we will wait for them at Santoff Claussen, and be there to welcome Jack home."

~(-)~

Jack turned slightly, noting that Father Time had left, before walking hesitantly to sit in the chair opposite Tsar Lunar. What was he supposed to say, about something that to the Man in the Moon happened over four hundred years ago? What to ask, except the question that now rose unbidden within?

"When you picked me to be the Spirit of Winter, your 'Guardian of Guardians', was it really because I sacrificed myself to save my sister? You already knew who you were looking for."

Tsar Lunar watched him, sombre in response to the lost sound in Jack's query. He then sighed softly and smiled gently.

"Yes, I knew who I was waiting for, but it would not have influenced my choice. During those two weeks, between the retrieval of the fifth Relic and the battle here, you visited a certain valley several times. Only ever for a few minutes, but the place clearly meant a lot to you. I had refrained from listening to your conversations with the other Guardians, at the warning of Father Time. That the less I knew of the future, the better. But still, I guessed... And one day in the year 1699, a group of people made their way to and settled in that valley. Among them was a six-year-old boy, spirited and playful, who had a talent for making those around him smile no matter how sad or scared they were."

Jack laughed once at that, but not in mirth. Instead he sounded almost bitter.

"So you watched me while I was a child, all the while knowing that I was never going to have the chance to have and raise a family of my own. You just watched and waited for me to die."

Tsar Lunar reached across the space between them, taking hold of Jack's hand. He shook his head firmly.

"I never viewed it as that. I didn't watch to wait for you to die, I watched so I could see you live." There was a glitter of tears in the Tsar's eyes. Of guilt, regret, and pride. "Watching you, seeing you grow and learn, was both a joy and a privilege. Even if I had not known what you would one day be, I saw the potential in you. Even when you first arrived in that valley with your parents. Equally, for that reason, I also dreaded the day of your inevitable death."

He pointed to Jack's staff, presently laying across the Guardian of Fun's lap. "When your father gave you that, when you were fifteen, I feared the time had come. But then one winter passed, you turned sixteen. Another winter came and went, and you turned seventeen. But still it seemed that fate wasn't ready for you yet, much to my relief, and you continued at your sister's side for another year after that. But then the winter after you turned eighteen, and your father went to Kirktown with the village's wagon. When he returned he had a gift for his children. Upon seeing what the gift was, I knew the time was nigh."

Jack bowed his head, pained by the memory.

"The ice skates. He'd been saving in secret for two years, every coin that could be spared, to afford to buy them for us. Emily and I, we couldn't wait to be able to use them. To glide around the pond, having fun on crisp winter days." He clenched his eyes shut. "I should have known better, I should have checked the ice first. But when the pond had been frozen for two weeks, it had been so cold that I thought by then the ice would be more than thick enough to be safe. I was wrong, and my death haunted my father for years afterwards. He only forgave himself when Emily convinced him I wouldn't want him to blame himself. That buying the skates for us didn't make it his fault. The fault was mine, and I died making sure that my sister didn't pay the price for my stupidity."

Tsar Lunar nodded in understanding, his expression pained.

"I too, was haunted by your death for a long time." Jack jolted, looking at him in surprise, and the Man in the Moon continued. "The grief you endured, the agony of separation, and desperate need to know why you had been chosen to be the Spirit of Winter. Your screams of despair that night, when you looked up at the moon demanding answers, stayed with me for years. Adding to the burden of the paradox that Father Time had entrusted me to guide."

The Tsar let go of Jack's hand, and settled back into his chair. Solemn. "I knew I would make you a Guardian one day, but not when. I knew I would give you a belt of moonsilver, but not when. I knew I would give you that cloak, but not when. I knew you would fight and defeat the Nightmare King, but not when. Each was a possibility for me to irreparably damage the paradox, perhaps even break it and erase myself, the Moon Clipper, and your world with everyone on it. Hence my distant ways, infrequent messages, and even more infrequent answers to questions. I could not take the risk."

Jack stared at him, and then let out a deep breath. He understood that very well.

"Just like I stayed away from everyone as much as I could, those two weeks in the past. So that the less I interfered, the less there was that could go wrong."

Tsar Lunar nodded.

"But staying distant, keeping silent, can be just as damaging. In 1812, Sanderson asked me to make you a Guardian because he believed you should be, yet I remained silent. I hesitated. He kept watch over you, and many more times asked me to chose you, and still I remained silent. He began to beg me to choose you, and still I hesitated fearing that was it was too soon. He then retreated into solitude and depression, still I hesitated, until I at last realised that my indecision was destroying the most long-serving of my Guardians, my oldest friend. I made him wait, and plead, and question me for thirteen years before I had you take the Tome of the Guardians from North's Workshop. After that day I vowed not to hesitate again, but trust that I would know the right times when they came."

Jack sighed.

"And later, I guess I didn't help your guilt when I kept asking 'how much longer?' would I have to wait. Nightlight spotting the signs of activity from Pitch, must have been a huge relief."

Tsar Lunar nodded.

"It was. By then, even I was beginning to wonder. Father Time knew as little about what was ahead as I did. He can calculate the most probable futures, but he cannot truly foresee them. He knew he would send you back, but not the 'when' from which you would be sent. He'd created a paradox, of which he had no way of knowing the duration. Nightlight's news of sightings at least gave me an estimated time-frame for one of the events I knew was to come. But first I noted the perfect time for another of them. Your three-hundred and first birthday, that a certain girl called Laura insisted you hold a party for."

Jack laughed at that, remembering.

"You sent Nightlight with a gift. The moonsilver belt to go under my clothing, to hang my staff on and free up both my hands."

Tsar Lunar also chuckled, the tension between them now starting to ebb away.

"Deciding on when to give the cloak was much more difficult. Right after the 'Easter Fiasco' as you have called it, didn't feel right. So I waited and watched, guessing that something else significant would happen. Four years later, something did. You helped save Kosmotis, freed him from the Fearlings, and in doing so also enabled the absolute certainty that the Fearlings would never be a threat ever again. I knew then that the time was right, for the revival of that Golden Age Tradition. I made the emblems for the Guardians, the robes for Kosmotis, and gifted them to you with joy at what they represented. All that was left to do then, was wait for you to turn up with that bit of blue hair." He smiled. "I will admit to having predicted that Aster would be behind it in some way. I was correct."

Jack grinned.

"I still need to get him back for that. I might freeze his ears together next Easter, for old time's sake." He paused, his smile softening. "And I think it's time that you stopped isolating yourself so much. The paradox is over now, you don't have to calculate your every move anymore. So I'm going to make a permanent ice mirror for you, to Santoff Claussen. So that you can visit, and we can all get together there from time-to-time."

Tsar Lunar glanced at his screens, at the views of the world he had never set foot on despite over fifteen thousand years of watching it from above. His expression was wistful.

"I would like that, very much. Even with the relatively recent addition of Nightlight, and the long-term present of the moonmice, moonbots, and lunar moths, I have had a lonely existence up here. It will be good to live for the first time in a long time. To at last be able to set aside my duties for a few hours now and then." There was a soft chime, and one of the screens changed to show a tiny craft with a trio of sails approaching the moon. "Aster, coming to look for you no doubt. Do you feel ready to face him, now that he remembers what really transpired in this room all those years ago?"

Jack, also looking at the view of the Starlit Tide, took a deep breath.

"Yeah, thanks to you. I can accept what happened, the knowing I've lived my entire life until now within the grip of a paradox, because I know you've had things much harder than what I went through. I had my friends beside me, supporting me. You faced your task all alone, unable to confide in anyone. But now we're free to walk forward into the New Golden Age, without worrying about the past anymore."

Tsar Lunar once again regarded Jack with pride, before the two of them headed for the main dome to wait for Bunny to arrive.

When he did, and emerged from his ship, the Pooka kept his head low and his gaze fixed on the floor. He couldn't even bring himself to look at Jack, never mind talk. Not until a snowball slammed into his head.

Jack laughed at Bunny's resulting expression, and hefted another snowball.

"I know what you want to say, Bunny, but you don't need to. There's nothing to forgive, because it's all in the past." He glanced at Tsar Lunar before regarding Bunny again. "We've got the future to look forward to now, all bright and shiny with possibility. And I think the best way to start it, will be with a party at Santoff Claussen."

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Alaia Skyhawk: Yep, best way to stop a Bunny Guilt Trip... Smack him in the face with a snowball :)