"I'm surprised at you, Bunny. You managed not to whine on sleigh." North quipped as the sleigh finally came to a halt. We had just gotten back after defeating Pitch and he's already makin' wise cracks at me.
"Really, North? I've ridden in it a couple times before now." I stated as I hopped out of the demonic flyin' machine. "I still say my tunnels are safer."
"Is matter of opinion, No?" North asked. "Well, no matter old friend. Now, we must celebrate!"
"I agree! Something for Jack! What do ya say Ja..." Tooth's words died off as she noticed Jack was asleep with a pained look. "Um...Sandy?" Sandy shared Tooth's worried expression and gently floated some sand over to Jack. It went into his head and then gracefully floated out. Sandy looked at her and shook his head with a shrug. Meanwhile, I noticed that he was clutchin' his abdomen.
"I don't think it's nightmares, Tooth. I think he's actually in pain." I stated as I stepped closer. Jack was the only one left in the sleigh.
"Nonsense! He fought perfectly well against Pitch and he was fine when we left." North insisted.
I just shook my head at him and looked back at Jack who was startin' to sweat. "North, you should know just as well as I do what adrenaline caused by pain can do to ya. Both while under the effects and after...I think we're seein' the after...and considerin' we don't know what could've caused the injury or where it is exactly..."
"We don't know how bad it will get." North finished with wide and worried eyes. "To the infirmary!"
"Actually...I have some healin' plants in the warren, and considerin' we don't know what exactly is doin' this to him or how it will fully affect him when he wakes up...it might be best if he isn't surrounded by noise, yetis, jingling elves, or hospital looking stuff."
North's eyes went sympathetic and from what it seemed, slightly disappointed. Then, they suddenly turned curious. "Why would you want to heal him? He caused great deal of trouble for you in the past, yeah?"
"Yeah...he has. However, despite how we all treated him when we lost Easter...How I treated him...he still got Jamie to believe in me, resulting in all of our necks gettin' saved and even bringin' Sandy back. Figure it's the least I could do...as a sort of thank you."
"You have debt that needs repaying." North said as he nodded his head. "We all do, but you were the one he got Jamie to believe in." He looked at me for a contemplative minute before lettin' out a sigh. "You will let us know how he is when he wakes, yes?"
"Of course, but um...this might be the one and only time you ever hear me say this...but can I borrow a snow globe?"
"Of course old friend. It is safer than you think." He answered as he took out a globe from his coat and handed it to me.
"Sometimes I wonder..." I said as I took it. "Take me to the warren." I told the magical orb and tossed it against a wall before carefully pickin' up Jack and his staff. "Crikey he's..."
"Cold? We know...that is nothing to be alarmed by Bunny it's..." North trailed off but I quickly shook my head as I looked at Jack in my arms.
"No...he's burnin' up, mate, and he's way too light..."
"Then I suggest you get to work, Bunny." North stated as he gave me a reassurin' smile.
"Right!" I gave him a quick nod before walkin' through the portal. Thankfully, it took me and Jack without any problems, but now I had to think of where exactly I was gonna put Jack. As I was walkin' to my personal home which was quite a ways from the entrance, I felt Jack begin to tense up in my arms. I looked down and his brow was furrowed and sweaty, and there was something strange in his hair. "Hold on, mate. You're gonna be alright." I rushed to my home as fast as I could. Once I stopped in front of it, I was glad to see that Pitch's nightmares hadn't reached it. Not that they would know where to look. My home is actually quite hidden into the larger hills. The door was discreet, lookin' like one of the sentries behind a large arch. To anyone else it would look like one of my sentries keepin' guard.
Once I finally made it up to the door, I placed my paw in the slot that is shaped exactly like my paw, and it opened freely for me. I walked inside, and breathed in the smell of home. It smelled of lavender and lilac. My home is fairly large with tunnels of its own leadin' to various rooms, but my main problem right now was gettin' Jack into one of them. I had a few guest rooms that were originally for guests an extremely long time ago, and I hadn't been in them since, and since Jack is in the condition he's in, I decided to go down the tunnel that was closest to the one that led to my room, which also happened to be next to the library, which could rival North's if I do say so myself.
It wasn't easy gettin' him through the tunnel without him squirmin' in pain, but it was either him on my back and chancin' him fallin' off, or what I did do, which was carry him as I slid down. The door to his room is similar to the front door, except I don't need my paw. I pushed opened the door, and noticed with great surprise that despite all the centuries this room hadn't been used, it hadn't gained a spec of dust. The floor was made of fresh grass that grew naturally with some flowers poking here and there. There were several books in their own book shelf. The large dresser was still contently standin' on the right side of the room. The two nightstands that stood on either side of the queen sized bed both held a lamp in the shape of a blue bonnet. The quilt seemed as if it had just come off of the drying post. "Alright, Jacky boy..." I said to him as I carefully set him down onto the bed. Once I set him down he started clutchin' at his hoodie and I noticed he was sweatin' underneath it as well. "Hold on, Frostbite." I said as I carefully tugged off the hoodie and the shirt that was frozen to it.
Once it was finally off, he seemed to stop strugglin' as much. I set his staff against one of the nightstands and checked for any wounds, which unfortunately, I didn't have to look very far. It seemed like at some point he may have hurt his ribs somehow. It was inflamed on the right side. "You're lucky I know a bit of healing magic." I walked into the bathroom that was connected to his room and pulled out one of the potions I had made for emergencies from the spare medicine cabinet. "You're not gonna like the taste of it, mate, but it'll go straight to the problem and I can fix it from there." I pinched his nose so he would be forced to open his mouth, and I poured the liquid down. Once I was sure he swallowed at least most of it, I set the vial down on the left nightstand and held my paws over his wound. Once I felt the potion's own powers underneath my paws I focused on affects it should have on his body. Unfortunately, it became very painful for Jack very quickly. My ears laid flat against my head as I winced at the painful cries he was makin'. It only took about five minutes for it to fix whatever was wrong with his ribs, but it felt more like five hours.
He seemed to calm some, but whatever was causin' him to sweat was still happening, and he still wore a face of pain. Upon further inspection I quickly noticed that the somethin' strange that I noticed in his hair, was in fact his hair. It was small maple brown tufts seepin' through snow white hair. "Jacky, what's happening to you, mate...?" I asked with wide eyes, knowin' he wouldn't answer.
"Ngh..."
"Jack?" I asked quickly as it seemed he was startin' to wake up.
"S...Sarah..."
"Sarah?" I questioned with shocked eyes. "You got a sheila, mate?" I had hoped he was wakin' up, but now he was havin' fever dreams, and I had never heard of him mentioning a Sarah person nor have I seen him hangin' out with many women other than Tooth, and that was only just recently. I had known him for almost a century now, and granted, not a lot of those memories are pleasant ones, but he didn't have the look of someone in a relationship, and whether you were pissed off or completely depressed, there was always a small glint in the eyes that said you had someone you could think about.
Once he seemed to fall further into sleep, I chanced a glance at his staff. "Seems like it's only frosted when ya hold it, eh Frostbite?" I chuckled to myself as I grabbed the staff. "Maybe if ya hold it..." I placed it in the hand he usually held it with, and quickly noticed it wasn't frostin' like it usually did. "Jack?" I asked as somethin' uneasy started to make its way into my chest. His breathin' had slowed, but he was still breathing'. I held my ear against his chest to see how fast or slow his heart was beatin' and...it wasn't beatin' at all. I stood up, alarmed at the fact that he had no heartbeat, and checked again to see if I was seein' things, but I wasn't. His pale moon chest was still risin' and fallin'. "I got to get to North! Ya better hold on, Frostbite!" I tapped the ground twice and made my way straight into North's office.
Once I was in, I was glad that he was at his desk. "North...we got a problem, mate."
At my words his eyes filled with worry and concern as he stood from his chair immediately. "Is it Jack? What is wrong, Bunny?"
"Jack he...he doesn't have a heartbeat, North!"
"No..." He whispered out as he staggered back into his chair. "You said...you said you could heal him!" He shouted at me with pure pain in his eyes.
"I...I know what I said..." I breathed out, still out of breath from the lengthy tunnel journey. "He's still breathin' though..."
"He what? That's not possible, Bunny."
"I know, but I checked twice. Also...his hair is changing color. It's going from his usual snow white to a maple brown."
"What?" He asked me with widened eyes.
"Yeah, ya heard me...look, I could really use a second pair of eyes, just don't mess up anythin' alright...oh...and there's one more thing...Usually when he holds his staff it frosts wherever he touches it...but I put it in his hand, and not even so much as a snowflake appeared on the it."
North's eyes widened considerably if that was even possible and he immediately grabbed a snow globe. "Bunny's Warren!" He threw it against the wall and grabbed me like I was a damn doll as he dragged me threw the portal. "Bunny, where is he?" He demanded, and honestly, I can't remember the last time I had seen him this worried.
"He's...he's in my home. He has his own room for right now."
"Lead the way, Bunny. I need to see him."
I did as he asked, and led him directly to Jack's room. I pushed the door open and noticed that Jack was exactly as I left, except the staff wasn't in his hands. "Hold on...that's not right...I put the staff in his hands, but I didn't take it from him."
"Perhaps he woke up briefly?"
"I don't know, North. Can you..." I twirled my paw towards Jack, hintin' that I wanted him to confirm what I had heard, or well...what I hadn't heard.
North nodded at me and slowly as he approached Jack, and he placed his own ear against his chest. He closed his eyes, seemingly trying to focus, when suddenly they shot wide. "You are right, Bunny...he has no heart beat, but I can hear him breathing. This is not possible."
"Look! more of his hair is changing to a maple color."
North looked to Jack's hair and cautiously ran his hand through the mixed colored tufts of hair in a fatherly manner, his frown deepening. "I'm not entirely sure...but I believe he is turning into a human...however...he has no heart beat..."
"Wait...are you sayin' he's dying?" I questioned as my whole body suddenly went colder than Jack's snow at the possibility. We had just started to get along, and surely Manny hadn't meant for him to become a guardian only to have him die right after takin' the oath.
"I am not entirely sure...but...is possibility. We should not move him."
"Could this have happened while he wasn't with us?"
"That is highly possible. He wasn't like this when he joined us. Which means this may be Pitch's doing. We need to somehow figure out what happened."
"What about Tooth?" I suggested quickly. "She's the guardian of memories and Jack is stuck as a child since Manny decided to make him a winter spirit."
"That is very good idea, Bunny. I will be right back."