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The sequel "What a sight we make" is up and running, for those interested.

Chapter twenty two: To sleep again

"The somnolent skies have ceased seething, for day's nearly through
And the winds echo whispering thoughts of returning to you.
The heavens throb, pulsing and bleeding in crimsons, once blue,
Their passions, like flames, fill my veins as you pass into view;
The breeze holds its breath as you touch and embrace me anew
And smouldering clouds withdraw, blushing, and paling their hue.

The twilight is painted with wandering dreams of your charms
So close your eyes slowly and slip into sleep in my arms.

The pendulous moon appears, sweeping the fog from up high
Distilling the drops into notes of a hushed lullaby,
The quivering tunes unfold tales which amaze, mystify,
The stories they tell reflect love as revealed by your sighs,
And tremulous stars fling a fire that fevers the skies,
Their fury is burning, alive in the depths of your eyes.

The twilight is painted with wandering dreams of your charms
So close your eyes slowly and slip into sleep in my arms.

The desolate shores moan, seduced by tempestuous tides
Which flow in the rhythm of flesh as our senses collide,
A quiet explodes from the stillness of night amplified,
A lingering kiss bids adieu till the morning breaks wide
When roosters come conjuring dawn with voluptuous pride
Enticing the sun into scything the night, starry-eyed.

The twilight is painted with wandering dreams of your charms
So close your eyes slowly and slip into sleep in my arms."

-Sleep In My Arms Lullaby by Terry O'Leary, peomhunter

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"What!" Cried the Guardians, ex-Guardian, and humans (minus one Mrs. Bennett) as one; staring up at the moon, jaws dropped and eyes wide.

MiM laughed at the scene, silently asking the mother to snap a quick picture, which she did, unnoticed by all but the chuckling Songstress.

You heard correctly, MiM replied, tossing a moon beam into Bunny's face before he could interrupt, Jamie is now immortal.

"But how?" pleaded the one in question, torn between dancing in glee and smacking his head into a wall at the shear randomness of the declaration—which was done ten minutes into the feast.

Old winter's successor is an anomaly in the system, all the Guardians scoffed at that, leaving Jack slightly annoyed—which thus resulted in thrown snowballs and a slight scuffle before MiM continued, as such, his voice boomed, causing all fighting participants to shyly glance away from each other and float, walk, or hop to other sides of the room. His chosen is also an anomaly, even more so with some of the predecessor's lingering influence.

"Lingering influence?" Cried Tooth, anger and fear in her eyes, "But I killed him!"

Indeed you have, but no one can live that long with someone of such power without absorbing some of it. It was a necessary event; otherwise Jamie's body would have rejected the foreign energy and wound up killing itself…

"Well, isn't that a cheerful image," Jack scowled, icicles forming on the ceiling and frost spreading on the floor before Jamie's comforting hand was placed on his shoulder and a light peck delivered to his lips.

"So he now has power?" North asked in confusion, pointedly ignoring the sight while Tooth fainted, Mrs. Bennett cheered, and Cupcake smirked. "Do you mean his body has adjusted to powers of Old winter so much that it's become immortal?"

A small smile was felt, something like that, though, mainly, the only reason why such a thing was possible was because of Jack's subconscious protection. For each Winter Bringer gives a piece of themselves to their successor.

You're making this confusing on purpose, Sandy, floating around, accused with a small smile of his own.

"Does sound difficult to explain," North said with a nod, "but not impossible."

"What does it matter?" Bunny grumped from a corner of the room, "Jamie's stuck with us forever weather we know the reason or not."

"Agreed," declared Cupcake, before almost shrinking under the stares, "well, he's stuck with you lot forever, so you have an eternity to figure it out on your own. Right now don't you think we have better things to do?"

"Like eat?"

"Celebrate?"

"Watch the two make out?"

The last one earned several stares, each directed at a slightly sheepish Tooth—who had just woke up-"what? They're cute!"

"There is something seriously wrong with ya Sheila."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

While the rest bickered and fought the laughing lovers walked back to their room (of course, not before they snatched up a cake or two), ignoring how the moon smiled knowingly at their backs, or the wind whooped.

"So," Jack declared after they closed the door, placing the stolen treats on the table, "let's test out these supposed powers."

Jamie blinked, "you're not mad?"

"Mad?" Jack asked with a tilt of his head, "why on earth would I be mad with you? All you did was live, if you gained immortality and some powers off from that, well, all the better."

"It's still rather confusing," Jamie sighed, allowing his head to droop, "does this mean I still have a little of Old winter left inside me? Does it mean that I can still harm you?"

"Oh, little one," the Snow Prince sighed, cupping the others jaw and forcing him to look into ice-cavern eyes, "confusing it may be, but the Guardians themselves are a rather confusing existence, don't ya think? Besides, as MiM said, each predecessor gives the successor a bit of themselves, which means I'm the one with some of Old winter left, you—" Jack emphasized with a poke to the chest, "-however, have an eternal part of me. Which, of course, means you can indeed harm me; but you won't, we both know it would break your heart."

With a huff, a jerk of the head, and some rather teary eyes Jamie moved back a little, raising his hand over Jack's head and retorted, "I'm taller then you."

"Oh," came a rather sinister grin, a sparkling of eyes, "well if that's how you want to do this…"

His reply was a rather girlish squeal as Jamie was suddenly assaulted by Iceling teddy bears, before the now immortal jumped out the window and into the snow bellow, if Jack noticed how the wind caught Jamie and softened his fall, he didn't let it stop him from giving chase. If Jamie noticed how by his feet small snowman formed and tackled the approaching Icelings, he never allowed it to show in his steady run. And if either noticed how Jamie was running around the North Pole in only a t-shirt and thin jeans, neither commented.

Only when Jack tackled Jamie from behind, sending them both tumbling down a small hill, laughing and giggling as they clutched at each other and tickled and pocked, did they pause for a breath, fingers intertwined as they stared up into the midnight sky.

"Jack?"

"hhmm?"

"Do you think the others will be worried?"

"Nah, they're probably too tipsy to notice."

"Tipsy?"

"You'll see."

"Why does that make me have a bad feeling?"

"…don't know."

"…"

"…"

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"What about Mom and Cupcake?"

"…we'll handle that problem when it hit's us."

"But I—"

"Enjoy them while you can, spend time with them, make sure you mom doesn't go about bringing her mace to a retirement home…"

"I'm more worried about Cupcake beating up any old geezer who tries to tell her their life story…"

With a shared laugh at the produced images, the two curled towards each other, eyes meeting and hands clasping before they whispered tiredly, eyes drooping together, "I love you, till the last fallen snowflake, and the first chill in the air."

Smiles alighting their faces, the two snuggled close, forgetting all the previous worries and troubles…and fell asleep in each other's arms…

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A/N: And we have finally reached the end. Thank you all for sticking with me for so long and enjoying this fic, otherwise it would have never reached this point. Thank you all so very, very, much. And I'm sorry if MiM explanation wasn't all that good, as you can probably see, that was the point, after all, if he explained everything, then everyone would know the extent of his meddling, which he doesn't want. I'm also sorry if the ending sucked…but I couldn't find any way to make it better…and if I continued it would lose the general feeling.