Author's Notes:

Here it is, my first story having to do with Rise of the Guardians- -with a twist! In this story, I'm combining the brilliant Dreamworks film with my favorite movie Watership Down (also contains hints of the novel and of the TV series of the same name). I'll say more later. Enjoy and please R&R...

Midnight crept noiselessly over the warren of Watership Down. All was calm and peaceful in the burrows.

The atmosphere outside of them, however, was the complete opposite.

Armies of strange black rabbits charged up the hill, bulling over the native rabbits standing in their paths in hopes of stopping them. But the downed rabbits sprang back up at their adversaries with rage, aiming directly at their throats. Most of the intruders were slain, but those who were not slew their attackers and moved on with double the speed and strength they had before.

All of them bumping right into the toughest warrior of the Watership Down warren: Thlayli.

Commonly known to his friends as "Bigwig," Thlayli was a rabbit who took no nonsense and was ready to put his life on the line if it meant saving his fellow rabbits. Just a year earlier he had defeated the much larger and stronger General Woundwort, although it almost killed him in the process and caused him to resign from his duties as Owsla officer for a little while. He was only back on duty now because the seer, Fiver, foretold this attack happening.

Bigwig attacked the oncoming rabbits without hesitation. Jumping back and forth, he slashed his powerful claws across the invaders' throats until the last one was slain. Expecting to see blood and flesh on his claws, he was surprised to see black sand turn to gold sand instead. "What in Frith's name is all this?" he wondered aloud.

Shadows surrounded the confused officer. "Just a little something that will bring an end to your pathetic race!" a sinister voice answered.

A rabbit with a crippled right leg came back up the hill, carrying himself with dignity despite his limp. He stopped next to Bigwig. "Who are you?" he demanded to know, his voice calm yet assertive.

"Let's just say that I'm your worst nightmare coming back to haunt you," the voice replied venomously. "And you must be Hazel-rah, the leader of this petty warren."

"That's right," the rabbit replied, a bit surprised but still collected. "Is there some way we can come to terms?" he asked. "We do not wish you or your people any trouble."

"My people?" The voice chuckled wickedly. "Oh, that's funny. These are not my people, they are merely my servants. As for not wishing us any trouble, you should: we wish trouble against all of you." With one more sound of laughter, the shadows and the black sand floated into the air and vanished.

Thlayli turned to the lame* rabbit. "What do we do now, Hazel?" he asked, clearly shaken by the events.

Hazel looked at his old friend solemnly. "I don't know, Bigwig," he said gravely. "Something tells me we are about to be held under siege, and for quite a while." He looked around the top of the hill, where his surviving rabbits were standing. "Holly, assign patrols to take turns on lookout for the night," he instructed a gray rabbit.

"Yes, Hazel-rah," Holly saluted.

The chief rabbit turned his attention to Bigwig. "Come with me, old friend. We need to talk to Fiver about this... shadowy fellow," he said, unsure of what to call their new foe.

"Alright, Hazel," said Bigwig dutifully. If what Hazel says about the siege is true, he thought grimly, then Frith help us!

~!~

"Come on, Bunny! You've gotta move faster than that to beat me!"

E. Aster Bunnymund glared at the speaker as they both dashed through the forest. "I already told you, mite," he snarled in his Australian accent, "I'm just warmin' up."

Jack Frost grinned challengingly. "To go even faster? Not likely to work. I tried it myself once, but all it did was slow me down."

"You're made of ice, you ninny," Bunny pointed out. "Of course warmin' up would slow you down."

The winter spirit frowned. "Oh yeah." His smile immediately returned. "I see the finish line up ahead!" he said playfully. "Eat my frost!" His form sped ahead of his companion, whooping joyously as it did.

"Not on my watch, mite," Bunny muttered. His long, powerful legs sprang across the ground and bounced him off the trees, immediately surpassing Jack. Before long the rabbit felt his powerful chest break through the plastic ribbon that indicated the finish line- -at least he thought so. He stood on his hind legs victoriously. "Beat ya, frost-bite!"

To his amazement, however, Jack suddenly sped past him, not seeming to notice Bunny's achievement. "Come on Jack, you've got him!" a female voice whooped.

It was then Bunnymund realized he had been tricked. He quickly dashed after the winter spirit—but found he was too late: Jack had already crossed the real finish line. "Crikey!" he cursed.

Jack and three others—whom Bunny recognized as Santa Claus (known to the others as North), the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman—were rolling on the ground with laughter. "You fell for the oldest trick in the book!" North cackled.

"Don't talk to me about tricks!" Bunny snapped.

"Why not?" Jack inquired, almost out of breath from laughing so hard. "Weren't you a normal rabbit in your past life? They pull tricks all the time, don't they?"

The rabbit glared dangerously at the Guardian of Fun, causing him and the other Guardians to stop laughing. "I was more than a normal rabbit," Bunny growled. "I was their leader. They depended on me to save them, an' I failed 'em." Bunny looked down shamefully. "I failed to save 'em with my tricks, as I always had." He sadly walked away from the group. "I have nothing left for tricks," he said over his shoulder in a barely audible whisper, "an' tricks have nothing left for me." He thumped on the ground three times with his right hind foot. A large hole opened in the ground next to him. Without further ado, he jumped into the hole, which immediately closed behind him.

The four remaining Guardians stood in guilty silence for a few minutes. None of them was feeling more guilty than Jack, whose idea it was to prank Bunnymund. The winter spirit walked towards where the hole had been. "What are you doing, Jack?" North asked in his thick, Russian accent at last.

"I'm gonna apologize to him, North," Jack replied. "As soon as I figure out how to get there, that is."

North shook his head despairingly. "You'd better wait a few minutes for him to cool off," he advised. "Besides, there's no way to reach him when the holes are closed."

With a glimmer of remembrance and playfulness in his ice blue eyes, Jack held up a familiar sphere. North recognized it immediately and felt his cloak for something, realizing then that the ball Jack held was indeed what he was looking for. "I don't like it, Jack," the big man said cautiously. "Give me my globe back."

"I will, after I apologize to Bunny," Jack stated flatly, seriousness filling his eyes once more. Without waiting for his friends to object, he threw the globe to the ground. A portal opened in the ground, and Jack immediately jumped through it.

Tooth was unusually grave. "I hope he knows what he's doing," she murmured.

A small hummingbird-like figure squeaked in solemn agreement.

"I agree with you on that, Tooth," North said gravely. "Who knows exactly how upset Bunny will be?"

Sandman shrugged, although he knew what was troubling Bunny. The Guardian of Dreams recalled the previous night when he failed to give pleasant dreams to the Guardian of Hope. As much as Sandman wanted to tell his friends this, he knew it would be useless to try to without a voice. It was, after all, hard to get their attention when the Man in the Moon, another silent Guardian, was trying to tell them about recruiting Jack Frost when the Boogeyman (known to them as "Pitch") had returned just a year ago.

To the silent, golden Guardian, it seemed Pitch had returned once more.

*=lame: crippled