Alaia Skyhawk: Here's the next bit :)

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 114: A Momentous Revelation

Wyatt and the others stood in tense and confused silence, alternating between looking at each other and glancing at the Constellation close by. Tsar Lunar hadn't moved at all during the past ten minutes, instead he'd continued to smile in contented patience as he waited.

He might have been completely relaxed about this, but his guests were starting to fidget. It was all and well then, that just after the ten minutes were past there came the sound of many footsteps.

All of them turned to see the crowd of people coming through one of the mirrors, one of whom causing the visitors' eyes to widen. Because he was also wearing the pendant and robes of a Constellation.

Tsar Lunar gestured towards him.

"Allow me to introduce you to James Bennett; Tsar Solus I."

Jakub let out a breath of awe.

"A new Constellation."

Jamie walked forward of the rest of the group, Sophie on his right, and Allienne holding his arm on the left. Outwardly he showed none of the nerves that were tying his insides into knots.

"Welcome to Planet Earth. This is my wife, Allienne, and this is my sister, Sophie."

Sophie smiled and curtseyed.

"I'm formally know as Sophia, the Guardian of Harmony. The immortal my brother created, which marked his ascension as a Constellation." She turned to face the rest of the immortals present. "And these are the Earth's Guardians of Childhood and Spirits of the Seasons."

At that moment Bunny eased his way to the front and into view. He was grinning like an idiot, and there were tears of joy in his eyes when he saw who one of the two other Pookas were.

"Hey there, Wyatt... Long time, no see."

Wyatt exclaimed in shock.

"Aster?!"

Bunny laughed and started towards him.

"You bet it is, mate!"

The two slammed into each other in an enthusiastic hug of joy, and in that moment the weight of years vanished from the weary and war-burdened Wyatt.

"You're alive! Those of us kept back by Father Time, we all thought you were dead!"

Bunny let go of him, on the point of babbling in a similarly elated fashion as he clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well I've spent fifteen thousand years believing you were all dead, and that I was the last Pooka alive. Found out twenty years ago that I wasn't, when Tsar Lunar sent off that message."

Both of them were overcome with happy-tears right now, Ariko, Achieng, Allienne,Tooth, and Sophie were all dabbing at their eyes, and even North was discretely looking through his pockets for a handkerchief.

Wyatt, composing himself somewhat, now pointed out the other Pooka with him.

"This is Jakub S Verdenfell. One of the young'uns born after the Fall. Jakub, this is E. Aster Bunnymund. The Pooka who found a place for the Moon Clipper to hide in secret, then led Tsar Lunar XI to it. He's the only one other than the Tsar who knew the coordinates."

Bunny sighed.

"Fat lot of good it did, but it all turned out for the best in the end. It's great to meet ya."

Jack now called out.

"Hey, are you forgetting someone?"

Bunny favoured him with a mock glare of irritation.

"This white-haired excitable fellow is Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun and Spirit of Winter, which brings me to the rest of our welcome party. Wyatt, you probably know Nightlight, or have at least heard of him. He's the Guardian of the Moon, and Tsar Lunar's assistant. Then we've got someone else you might have heard of from back then. Sanderson Mansnoozie, these days the Guardian of Dreams. Then we have Toothiana, the Guardian of Memories, and Nicholas St North, the Guardian of Wonder." He pointed to himself. "I'm the Guardian of Hope."

Wyatt took a step back, startled.

"You're a Legend Immortal?"

Bunny smiled wryly. Before the Fall of the Golden Age, their people had held a strict abstinence from even considering volunteering to become an immortal. They were self-sustained ones already, and needed to be able to move freely from world-to-world to do their work.

"Aye, and I don't regret it. This is where I was needed, and what I was needed for." He sighed. "Anyways, back to business. We have here Ariko Blossomsinger, the Spirit of Spring, Achieng Sunblessed, the Spirit of Summer, and Oisin Leaffall, the Spirit of Autumn. Jamie already introduced you to Sophie, his and my assistant."

Jakub looked intrigued, what with this being the most immortals he'd ever seen in his life. But one thing puzzled him.

"What of a Mother or Father Nature?"

Tsar Lunar spoke now, calling their attention back to him.

"That leads to where we have some most momentous news for you, which will change the lives of you and everyone in the Silver Allegiance... forever."

At the back of the group of immortals, Mother Nature and Kosmotis had slipped through the mirror hidden behind everyone else. He remained hidden while the group parted to the sides to reveal her. Her smile was radiant as she glided forward.

"I am this world's Mother Nature, and my name is Emily Jane Pitchner."

There were gasps of surprise at the name, which was known as a part of the history of the Fall. Once she was sure that most of them recognised the name as being the daughter of Kosmotis Pitchner, she gestured for her father to come forward. When he did, before she could introduce him, the one person among the visitors who had seen him before reacted... rather loudly.

Wyatt flinched backwards in fright.

"PITCH!"

He started to fumble for the weapons he wasn't carrying, the rest of the crew too terror-stricken to move. But before the situation could explode, Bunny stepped in to stop it.

He casually reached out and thumped a fist down onto the top of Wyatt's head, right between the ears, and heaved a sigh.

"Oi oi, enough of that... He ain't Pitch. That's Kosmotis! You only need to look at him to see that."

Kosmotis, looking rather uncomfortable at the reaction despite expecting it, hesitated to speak. He only did after his daughter set her arm around him in support, but even so his words were tentative and quiet.

"Pitch Black is no more, and will never be again. My daughter and Jack Frost succeeded in freeing me from the Fearlings' control, and thus the Nightmare King was destroyed." He glanced to the side, when Jack came and slung an arm over his shoulder from the other side. It gave him the strength to lift his chin up and declare proudly. "Let the New Golden Age shine forth, across the Golden Allegiance reborn."

There was silence, all of the resident people smiling and watching the visitors. Wyatt and Jakub were speechless, so were the rest of their crew, the news so unexpected that it was slow to sink in. In fact Wyatt actually sank to his knees in shock, as did several of the others, until he looked to Tsar Lunar for confirmation.

"...Is this real?"

Tsar Lunar nodded.

"Is it, and it is the reason I made no contact for so long. I could not risk Pitch escaping this world, which would have happened if anyone had come here. Not until he was destroyed, and this world ready to become part of the Golden Allegiance, could I send word to guide you to this place."

Jack left Kosmotis' side, moving forward towards the visitors.

"Pitch was destroyed twenty-six years ago, and we've been working hard ever since. There's a lot of things we know, about Natural Fear and Unnatural Fear, that the Silver Allegiance needs to learn so that the mistakes of the past will never be repeated. Never again will the Fearlings be a threat. This world is their prison, and they'll never escape from here."

One of the Evenglade Star's crew piped up hopefully from the back.

"You managed to cage them?"

Mother Nature shook her head.

"They are not caged. They are free to roam as they will."

"You're letting them roam free?"

Jakub's fearful and outraged outburst caused Kosmotis to glance at Jack.

"Perhaps a demonstration is in order?"

Both looked to Tsar Lunar, who nodded.

"Proceed. With all of you here, it's quiet safe."

Kosmotis went back through the mirror and vanished into a shadow within the annexe beyond. A few moments later he returned with something trapped in his cupped hands.

Everyone cleared a space around him, Jack, and Jamie. While Tsar Lunar closed the dome's shutters to block out the sunlight. Only then did Kosmotis reveal he was holding a very ragged and pitiful-looking Fearling.

It was writhing and wailing something terrible, and shrieked when he dropped it in the middle of the open floor.

There was enough Unnatural Fear in the visitors for the Fearling to immediately target them as a source of power. They reacted as expected, scrambling backwards, before they then stopped with the oddest expressions on their faces. Kosmotis had just pulled the Unnatural Fear out of them, and Jack followed up with a light sprinkling of frostdust over the whole group.

The Fearling, now rather confused, milled around in the middle of the floor. Kosmotis started to circle it at a distance.

"Without Unnatural Fear, they are powerless. Not worth even the slightest sliver of concern."

Jack was also circling it, and continued the explanation.

"Like Immortals, they gain strength from people. If you believe they are a threat, they will be a threat. Your over-the-top concern about the danger they pose, is an expression of Unnatural Fear within yourself. You create the power they need, and they take advantage of it. They scare you more, they get even more power, on and on in a cycle."

Jamie started into motion now, the circling trio closing in towards the Fearling.

"But when you break the cycle and disregard them entirely, see them as the pitiful creatures they are, you deny them any power at all. In fact, it is they who come to fear you."

Jamie took a single direct step towards the Fearling, which flinched away. Jack then darted forward to within two feet of it, and it shrieked as it fled several yards from him. Kosmotis now slipped forward and grabbed it, after it also desperately tried to escape from him. In his grip it was wailing once again.

"Right now, being so close to someone who does not fear it, will begin to drain this Fearling of what little strength it still has. It wants nothing more at this moment, than to escape. It will not fight, it will only flee."

He went to the mirror, reached through, and dropped the Fearling on the far side. It vanished into a shadow there, as Tsar Lunar went over to Wyatt and took hold of him by the hand.

"That was our mistake in the Golden Age. By building that prison, by capturing them all and placing them within it, we only made them stronger. We did not understand the importance of Natural Fear, and so we banished all fear from our lives. We deprived ourselves of the understanding that would have saved us."

He looked with pride towards the gathering of immortals and his fellow Constellation. "But here on this world are those who learnt from those failures. The New Golden Age that has started here, is what must now be spread to the Silver Allegiance. And just as every world will be given its Guardians of Childhood, Mother or Father Nature, and Spirits of the Seasons... So will every world also be given a Steward of Natural Fear and a Guardian of Fun; the two most important immortals to protect against Fearlings."

Jack, now stood beside Kosmotis again, smiled.

"That's what he and I am. He's the Steward who ensures the balance of Natural Fear, and I'm the Guardian who wards the people against the Unnatural kind. When the balance is maintained as it should be, the Fearlings are nothing."

Tsar Lunar regarded all of his visitors, who by now were understandably bewildered.

"This is a great deal for you to hear all at once, and you will need time to think on it. I have had rooms prepared for you all, and so perhaps it is time you rest a while. More talk can come tomorrow."

Wyatt and the others were led away by a gaggle of moonbots, while the immortals retreated back through the mirror to return to their duties.

Yes, more talk could come tomorrow.

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Alaia Skyhawk: I have to say my fav bit in this chapter is when Bunny hugged Wyatt... and even North was looking for a handkerchief. I'll see you all soon with the next one :D