Helen hadn't been sure what happened. One moment she was in the dark, and then the next, her entire being was glowing and she was firing an arrow into the darkness above her. She closed her eyes in order to shield herself...and when she opened them, the Guardians were staring at her with looks of shock.

"What?" she asked them. "What's wrong?"

The arrow she fired came back to her, and Helen instinctively held up her hand to catch it. She did so without effort, and when she looked down at it, she realized it was no longer made of dream-sand, but of wood. Just like the bow that was in her other hand. But while looking down at them she realized she was wearing golden arm guards and her jumper was gone.

"I have new accessories?" she asked.

The other Guardians made their way towards her. "That's not all what's new," said Jack.

Helen gasped when she looked down at her feet and found a new pair of white boot covering them, along with a white skirt hanging down from her waist. The white top she wore was loose, and Helen could feel a cool breeze on her back. "Is this one of those tops with no back...?" But as she raised her hands to check, they came in contact with something she didn't expect at all.

The bow and arrow dropped to the ground when she felt the wings.

They were large, and feeling them Helen saw how they were covered in blonde hair instead of the usual feathers. "But why blonde hair? My hair's..." She trailed off when a loose strand of hair fell across her eyes, and she grabbed it with a gasp. She felt the plait behind and also the headband. "I've...I've changed. Is there anything else I missed?"

North held out one of his swords, and Helen looked at her reflection...to see that her eyes were blue.

She stepped back, eyes wide, unable to believe what had happened to her. "But...how...when..."

"The transformation usually changes you," said Tooth. "I guess when you refused to kill Pitch, Manny though you deserved to be...well..."

"Guardian," North finished.

Nearby a portal opened, and out came Phil carrying a large book, followed by the Bennetts; they looked around wildly before spotting the Guardians. They hurried over, but froze when they saw Helen.

"Oh my..." Bernadette gasped. Lowell ran a hand through his hair.

"Whoa..." Jamie slowly approached his sister, looking her up and down. "What happened to you, sis? You look awesome!"

Sophie ran up to her as well. "Hely! Hely!" She wrapped her arms around her, before pulling away and jumping up and down with excitement. "Pretty! Pretty! Hely a fairy!"

Helen laughed. "I think I might be some sort of Angel, actually."

"A Guardian Angel." When Helen raised an eyebrow, Jack shrugged. "Well, you're a Guardian now, and you're an Angel. It makes sense."

Jamie gasped. "You're a Guardian now?" When Helen nodded, Jamie leapt at her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "That's so cool!" Helen only laughed as she pulled him off her.

Her adoptive parents approached her. "So I guess this means you won't be coming home now," said Lowell. "I mean, this would be very hard to explain..."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best." She then hugged both her parents. "But that doesn't mean I won't visit." Tears suddenly filled her eyes, and she pulled away from the shock. "What the...? I don't cry that easily."

"It's those heightened emotions I told you about," said Jack.

North chuckled. "We can give you practise on how to control them. It's very easy."

"Sure thing," said Helen. "But before you do..." She suddenly grabbed Jack's hoody before bringing him in and giving him a kiss on the lips. Bunny whistled while North and Katherine chuckled, and Tooth gazed dreamily at them while a heart appeared in the sand above Sandy's head. Jamie and Sophie just gagged at the grown-up show of affection, and Bernadette and Lowell looked at each other knowingly.

When the two pulled away, Jack blinked in surprise at the...sudden show of emotions. "Wow," was all he could say. "I wouldn't mind if you...take your time with that practise, HB."

Helen rolled her eyes and gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "I knew all boys are the same, Frostbite."

Jamie then bent down and picked up Helen's new bow and arrow, which he held out to her. "Is this yours?"

"Yeah." She took it from him.

Phil approached North and gave him the book, which he opened. "Do you want to make it official?" Helen nodded, and her family and the other Guardians formed a circle around her as North began to read. "Do you, Helen Bennett – Helenka Pitchiner, Guardian Angel, Guardian of Light – vow to watch over the children of Earth? Guide them safely from the ways of harm, guard with your life their hopes and dreams? For they are all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be."

Helen looked around the circle; at the other Guardians, at her family... Finally her eyes rested upon Jack, who nodded his head. With a smile, Helen turned back to North. "I will."

"Then you are now, and forever more...a Guardian."

Jamie and Sophie cheered, and Jack quickly leaned in to kiss her. It didn't last very long, and he smirked when he saw Helen raising an eyebrow at him. "It's only fair. You got one out of me."

Helen just shook her head with a smile and looked down at her bow...but as she did the girl noticed a detail she'd missed before. Both the bow and arrow were patterned with small trails of black, bending and twisting as they ran along the wood. It looked pretty...but the black reminded her of someone. "Where's Pitch?"

The others looked around...and found that he was gone.

Pitch walked slowly through the woods until he came to the familiar cliff and saw the familiar broken tree. He sighed, and could do nothing but stare at it and remember how it had played a part in almost taking his daughter from him. Now she's gone completely. I can't see her again now that she's become one of them. He averted his gaze to the frozen ground.

"Wait!"

Pitch looked up into the sky behind him, and flying towards him – or at least struggling to fly – he saw the familiar form of Helen, looking so much different from before; looking so much like her mother, minus the wings. He turned and walked away, not wanting to face her.

But Helen wouldn't give up, and struggled with her flight as she forced her way towards him. "Father, wait!"

Did she just...? That made him pause, and Pitch turned again in time to see Helen crash into the the ground. He winced. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Helen picked herself up before shaking her wings to get rid of the snow. "I just need to get used to these things." She gestured to her wings before walking over to him. "Why did you leave?"

Pitch sighed. "Because it's over; you defeated me. I can't fight the Guardians because now you're a Guardian. I will not fight my own daughter."

Helen blinked in surprise. "So I defeated you by becoming a Guardian?" He nodded. Eartha was right, she realized. "But that doesn't mean you have to go."

"I can no longer fight you," said Pitch. "So what purpose do I have?"

"Use your powers for good?" He frowned. "I know it sounds cliché, but it's like I said before; fear gives people strength to fight it. Maybe you could encourage that?"

Seeing Pitch uncertain, she leaned in to place a hand on his shoulder; it started to burn and she went to take it away again, but Pitch took her hand in his to stop her – and the hand he used turned to its human colour on contact. "It doesn't hurt. Not anymore."

Helen smiled. "I don't want you to just disappear into the shadows and be alone again." After a thought, her eyes brightened up. "You know, I was always worried about my adoptive-father. A subconscious thing, I think. It's the reason why I went with him when he split up with my adoptive-mother. But now that I think about it, it wasn't him I was worried about – it was you."

The thought of his daughter being subconsciously worried about him – even when she had no idea who he was – brought warmth to his heart, and he smiled. Helen smiled back...and after some hesitation, she embraced him in a hug. Pitch's eyes widened; he never thought he would ever experience the joy of his daughter hugging him again. He embraced her back and clutched her tightly.

"But I will warn you," Helen began again, pulling away. "If you ever go near Jamie and Sophie again, you're gonna wake up on fire."

Pitch chuckled...and then suddenly a snowball hit the back of his head, and he turned to see Jack a short distance away. He was leaning against a tree with his staff in hand. "Time to go, HB."

"Sure thing, Frostbite," she said. The girl gave her father one last smile before she walked over to Jack.

Watching the two young Guardians reunite, Pitch noticed the smiles on their faces, and also the necklace Helen wore. So they got together, after all. Beforehand it would have angered him; but that anger had faded, and instead he just felt proud of his daughter. She had found happiness, and he accepted that.

But he was still a father. "Frost!" The boy turned to acknowledge him. "You break her heart, I'll break your leg."

Jack chuckled. "If I'm stupid enough to make a mistake like that, I'll let you do it." He then turned to Helen. "I was never afraid of him before; why is he suddenly so scary?"

Helen laughed. "When you're dating a girl, it's natural to be afraid of the girl's father."

After another thought, Jack took something out of his pocket and turned back to Pitch. "Oh, and North wanted to give you this; something about finding your Center."

He tossed something small at him, and Pitch caught it. Looking down, he recognized it as a Russian doll; specifically, the small doll which was always found in the middle. This one, he realized, was of him. But he was dressed in his Golden Age uniform with his arms crossed defensively in front of him, and his fists clenched.

Pitch found that he knew what the doll meant: Strength. That was his Center. Maybe I'll do as Helen suggested, after all.

"You ready to go, HB?" Jack asked.

Helen stared back at her father. She didn't want to leave him alone so soon...but when another figure entered the area behind him, she smiled. "Father!" He looked up at her. "You might want to look behind you."

Pitch did, and his eyes widened. It was Mother Nature...but to him, it was someone else entirely. "Eartha?"

She smiled.

Knowing that her father was no longer alone, Helen took off into the air after Jack. She had difficulty at first, but with her new friend's help, she was able to fly alongside him as they soared through the air together.

My name is Helen. Helenka Pitchiner. Where do I come from? My mother's love, and my father's strength. So if you want to know where you come from, just look at your parents...and then look inside yourself.