Matthew had been enjoying his time since his school broke up for Christmas break. After today's snowball fight with his friends in London, he'd started to head back home to snuggle up in his duvet and read his favourite book about the Guardians: supposed begins that exist to protect the kids around the world. His friends say they don't exist; that they are a bunch of fairy tales. But he didn't stop believing.
Walking down the grassy park path that would quickly take him home, the sky began to turn dark and cloudy which meant one thing: cold. The child began to run, despite how he was always told by his dad to not run, he knew if he wanted to escape the weather's frosty assault he had no choice but to run. Now dark, Matthew was running as fast as he could. He hoped that his dad wouldn't find out, but-
A large blunt object hit the back of Matthew's head, knocking the poor boy to the hard icy grassy ground. The familiar dark figure gathered the boy into his arms and quickly disappeared into a dark portal that looked like it had the consistency of sand. Matthew, now dazed, regained his strength as his head cleared and stopped being as sore as it once was, holding his hurt left shoulder as he was thrown onto the cold floor of a dank dark lair. He felt his hurt shoulder hit first, hearing an ear-wrenching snap as he landed roughly. After the not so graceful landing, his good arm found the way to the floor as he pushed himself up, which then it rubbed its twin slowly. But out of nowhere an evil snicker could be heard slithering behind him.
"So, you have woken up at last"
Matthew turned around to face the mysterious person.
"Who are you? Where are you?" Matthew questioned, knowing that this was the culprit to his kidnapping
"What's the matter, Matthew? Are you frightened?" A pale skinned man, with black clothes, appeared out of the shadows.
"Why? Should I be?" Matthew replied, full of confusion of how he could know who he was. He had never seen this man before.
"Oh? Do you not remember the boogeyman, Matthew? The very thing you fear when you go to bed at night". "For I am him". Pitch was practically moaning in his ear as Matthew felt the large ghostly white hand of the man find its way to Matthew's less hurt arm and shoulder. Gasping, Matthew spun around on a dime, walking backwards to get away from Pitch.
"Who are you?" "I am the boogeyman!" Pitch said as he used his powers to slam the young boy against the far wall, sending a tidal wave of pain over Matthew, and generating a sickening crack from inside his body. "O...Ouch" that's was the only thing Matthew could say. Gasping as he made contact, he slid down the cold stone to the floor. Before he could get back up and regain his composure, Matthew felt the burning darkness slam against his young wrists, holding him against the wall. Matthew thrashed around as he tried to break free, but it was no use he had to save his strength so he could escape.
He managed to pry his teary red eyes open to see the grotesque smirk from the Nightmare King's lips casting a tidal wave of disgust through the boy's body.
"Please let me go" Matthew said through tears as they roll down Matthew's cheeks. Pitch chuckled again, making Matthew give a hard kick outwards, out of anger that replaced his fear, but managed to only kick the air.
"I don't think so". Pitch said as he walked up again to the weak human, who lost all his strength from the unsuccessful kick. He reached with his pale hand for the boy's head. Matthew turned his head and struggled, trying and hoping Pitch didn't find his head.
"What are you doing?" Matthew gasped as Pitch's fingertips glowed with a dark purple light. Pitch smiled creepily as he replied.
"Just a little experiment". Matthew's head exploded in heat, making the child scream in pain as the Nightmare King began to cast his spell. The child suddenly had an image appear in his mind, it was of his hometown and he could see his friends. He could hear them talking about getting him to come out and play. Matthew, his mind still in the vision, called out to them but they couldn't hear him and to his horror his friends began to glow that same purple glow. His friends began to suddenly turn around and walked back down the road, as if they had forgotten what they were doing at the time. Matthew's heart shrunk as a single tear rolled down his cheek "They're forgetting about me? No it can't be"
The vision ended. And as it did darkness entered his mind not long after numbness had reached his head. Pitch, from afar, chuckled as he came up to the now unconscious Matthew and he looked down at his fingertips now glowed a bright green instead of the purple before. Again, like before Pitch touched Matthew's head. Instead of trying to make people forget about him, he was trying to make the child his loyal puppet. With him by Pitch's side, the Guardians would have hesitation to harm a child this innocent and young.
But to Pitch's surprise and anger, the green light that shone around the child suddenly disintegrated harmlessly. "What! It didn't work, I have no use for a child that has no one can remember". Pitch practically picked him up as if he was a disgusting vermin. Upon clicking his fingers on his free hand, the same dark sandy portal appeared once more. And in a flash Pitch threw Matthew into the portal which disappeared in the instant the child got thrown into it. Once the child had left, he sighed and a smirk formed on his lips. "Maybe the Guardians will deal with him".
The Warren
The same dark portal appeared in Bunnymund's Warren and in a matter of moments, Matthew was launched onto the grassy floor, receiving a groan from the youngster. Matthew's eyes opened to see the grassy ground of the field around him. Confused, Matthew sat up and rubbed his aching head. Now that his aching head had stopped hurting he needed to find someone to help his current predicament
Meanwhile, in the centre, there was a large computer table with Bunnymund manning the holographic globe which, like North's globe, showed which children still believed in the Easter Bunny. Suddenly, Bunny got approached by an egglette which told him about the Warren's new guest.
"Wha-what a child here? How did a child end up here" Bunny said with a worried tone, feeling worried for the child, his job as a Guardian kicking in. There had to be a reason how he got here. And he was going to find out.
"I will find the little ankle-biter mates, make sure those lights stay lit", Bunnymund said, feeling determined. Now outside of the centre, Bunny was searching for any sign of a child. Left, right and all around he searched and finally, after an hour of searching he found him. In front of a purple paint lake, resting in front of a tree was a young human boy with short brown hair, black glasses, wearing a light blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Bunnymund walked closer to the child, wondering what he was doing. A saddened expression appeared on the Guardian's face when he saw a tear fall from the child's left eye onto his cheek, and onto his shirt.
"Somethin' got to be wrong" The bunny said, grabbing a nearby tree trunk as he continued to watch the lone child. He slowly stepped back a single step, just in case he needed to hide if he looked his way. He did wanted to help the child, mind you, but he didn't know how. It's not like he can just walk up and ask him. He's a tall rabbit with boomerangs, the child would be terrified. But Bunny wasn't as careful as he fought, as he stepped on a lone leaf that had fallen from a tree.
Hearing the leaf crumple, Matthew turned his head towards the sound and he walked backwards out of instinct as he as soon as he saw the big rabbit peeking out from behind the tree looking at him. Getting ready to run, the child did not see a giant tree root and tripped onto the ground.
"Are you alright' mate?" Feeling worried for the child he leaped into action, carefully lifting the child up into a sitting position, checking him carefully for any bruises or injuries, breathing a sigh of relief when he found him to be alright.
"Yeah, I'm fine than- whaa". Kneeling in front of him was a big blue rabbit standing on two humongous feet with boomerangs in holsters on his back. Matthew began shaking in fear and Bunnymund caught it, and he knew how to quench the fear.
"Hey there, little guy." Bunnymund spoke, his voice gentle and easy. He'd forgotten when the last time he spoke to anyone like this, but it had been far too long and right now this child needed all the help he could give and he genuinely wanted to show he cared. "Now mate what's yer name"
"Matthew" the child said, his expression not changing still holding that scared feeling. "You?" Bunny smiled "Bunnymund or Bunny for short".
"Now what happened to you?" Matthew was conflicted, he didn't know whenever to tell Bunny about what happened to him but it was the first creature he had met after that incident with Pitch happened, and Bunny did genuinely sound he cared for him.
"I was walking home after playing with my friends in the snow… it was dark and I decided to take a shortcut in the park we were in but after my friends left" Matthew stopped talking for a bit, to hug his legs when remembering the scary memory he knew all too well. Bunny could see him biting his lip, he must have been through something bad, real bad. Something that would scare a kid to the breaking point of tears.
"Listen mate if you wanna' stop I understand it sounds like you been through a lot". Matthew nodded slightly in response, giving a small smile for what seemed like a second.
"No its fine anyway I have tell someone, I was running but someone knocked me out with something hard and he brought me to this room, he tied me up against a wall with this dark magic…
Bunny was shocked, Pitch? Pitch did this to him. He thought he couldn't stoop any lower but he was happy to know that Matthew was now safe in his care. Matthew continued telling Bunny what happened to him.
..and then he", tears now began to flow, a constant stream of the pain and fear he felt.
"He made everyone forget me, my friends my family they don't remember me anymore." Matthew was crying now, tears now staining the blades of grass around him and his jeans below him.
Bunny pulled the young child into his arms and hugged him much like a parent would hug a child who'd just had a scary experience. Matthew broke down even more once he felt Bunny wrapping his arms around him, and he didn't take long to press his face into the larger rabbit's fur.
"It's okay. It's okay. Bunny's here" Bunny reassured as he ran his furry paws over Matthew's soft hair. Matthew let his nearly silent tears spill over his eyelids, gripping the larger rabbit's chest with all of his energy, as if he would vanish if he let go.
"What I am going to do?" Matthew muttered, the feeling of having nowhere to go terrified the boy and that made him cry even harder. Feeling embarrassed of crying in front of a stranger, Matthew hugged Bunnymund even tighter, burying his face into Bunny's fur hoping that the fur would clean his tears.
"It's alright mate. You can stay here with me. Pitch will never get to you, I will protect you no matter what, if you want to" Bunny asked, genuinely concerned for Matthew's wellbeing and the fatherly instinct to protect this child at all costs.
"Are you kidding?" Bunny looked down at the child in his arms, smiling at him. "Of course, I would love to." Matthew looked back up, smiling slightly.
"Glad to hear it you lil' ankle-biter" said Bunny, smiling back. "Hey, ankle-biter? What kind of bunny rabbit are you anyway?" Matthew then closed his eyes, he knew he was still in the rabbit's arms and was still talking to him, but he was tired from all the crying and he knew he would be in safe hands of this giant rabbit.
Bunny smiled "I'm the Easter Bunny mate." Now, if Matthew wasn't sleepy after his recent tear moment, he would have sat up in surprise but he just sat there, now asleep. Bunny wasn't surprised in the least. Bunny picked up the now sleeping human into his arms and watched him snuggle up to him to keep warm. That cute moment couldn't help but make a devious smirk emerge on his face.
"All worn out huh?" Bunny then preceded to carry Matthew back to the Warren centre. The centre would be warmer than the outside and he could watch Matthew a lot easier. He would tell North and the other Guardians tomorrow. Now Matthew was his main priority.
Once Bunny returned to the centre, he explained what happened to the egglettes what had happened, the same one from before that told him about Matthew in the first place. Sitting down on a comfy sofa in the centre, away from the control. Bunny placed his precious cargo besides him so he could rest his head on his lap. And while he continued to sleep, Bunny stroked his hair slowly. Soon enough, sleep took hold of Bunnymund too.