There was an insistent chiming, that seemed to almost drill through North's skull, jingling nonstop until the Guardian of Wonder finally opened his eyes. He groaned and pushed himself up in a seated position, looking around to find the source of the noise.

He spotted it fairly quickly though, despite his groggy state. On a nightstand next to his bed, stood what one would first believe was a snow globe. Unlike North's other usual globes however, this one was smaller than the large ones he used for fast travel, and for the moment it was glowing a sharp green, while continuing its insistent chiming. The orb was a kind he had made a while after Jack had been initiated, as a way for the Guardians to communicate in a different way than simply being summoned by the Aurora Signal. But while they certainly were efficient, their way of calling attention was irritating to say the least.

North huffed in irritation and picked the orb up, shaking it slightly. The chiming finally stopped, and the harried looking face of Bunnymund could be seen inside of the orb.

"North, finally!" He exclaimed, "what took ya so long? I've been shakin' this thing so long, my wrist's almost numb!"

The Russian raised a brow. "Was asleep." He responded, "but am awake now. What is the trouble?"

Bunnymund scowled. "The 'trouble', North, is that we think Pitch is back! Jack found th' hole to his place opened up! He an' I checked it out, but there's no sign of 'im!" His scowl grew fiercer. "Which means that mangy rat is out there, causing trouble!"

North just looked at the orb in his hand for a moment. Then he burst into a loud laugh, his whole body shaking so hard that he almost dropped the globe. In the globes image, Bunnymunds expression went from fierce, to confusion, and then an angry scowl.

"Just what is so bloody funny, North?" He demanded. "Pitch is out there, doing who knows what!"

North managed to sit up, wiping his eyes as he had laughed so hard they had watered. "Oh... you don't have to worry about him. Or at least about where he is." He finally said with an amused smile. "You see, Pitch is here, at North Pole."

"WHAT!?" The sheer volume could have cracked the globe, if it had been made of a much more fragile material. As it was, North just grimaced and glowered at the Pooka.

"Would you keep your voice down? Some are trying to sleep."

"HOW CAN- " Bunnymund grimaced, but took a deep breath, before he continued in a more controlled voice. "How can anyone be sleeping, when you got Pitch Black at the bloody North Pole?!"

"I do know it sounds rather... improbable." North replied. "But short of a long story... I found Pitch, in a pretty bad shape at that, and brought him to North Pole-"

"Without telling the rest of us!?" Bunnymund snapped, but North continued, ignoring him.

"- And we had ourselves a talk." The Cossack said. "We are still working out some details, but I can tell you this much: Pitch will not be causing us any problems in the future."

Bunnymund's scowl returned, and judging from his glare, North had no doubt that the Pooka was itching to throw his boomerangs or egg bombs at someone. Particularly North, for doing something as risky as he had.

"And... how exactly do you know that?" He growled dangerously. "How do you know, that he's not going to stab you in the back?"

North snorted. "Because he's been with me for about six months now. He has had plenty of opportunity." He shrugged, "you can even say he's had the opportunity this very moment."

Bunnymund, looking clearly agitated, opened his mouth to demand knowing what the hell the Guardian of Wonder was talking about, when there was a sound of movement, followed by sleepy grumbling from behind North.

A very bed-headed Boogeyman sat up in bed, squinting and grimacing at the light from the globe, and held up a hand to shield his eyes from the light, before he looked sleepily to North.

"Whu's goin' on?" He asked, his voice thick with sleep, "whossat ya talkin' ta?"

"Is nothing important." North said fondly, and of all things leaned over and gave Pitch a kiss on his cheek (which much to Bunnymund's slight horror actually caused a blush to form on the other male's gaunt cheeks). "Go back to sleep, I'll join in a moment."

Pitch squinted a bit, but then just gave a huff before laying back down in bed, burrowing himself under the covers. North watched him do so with a fond expression, before he turned back to the globe.

"Like I said," he told Bunnymund, who was gaping at what he no doubt had seen from his end. "He will not be causing any more trouble. Now," he gave a wide yawn at that, covering his mouth with his free hand as he did so, "if you will excuse me... I am going back to sleep. We will speak later." Before Bunny got a chance to object, North gave the globe a firm shake, until the image of the Pooka disappeared, and the green light faded with it, leaving only what looked like an ordinary snow globe, which then was put back in its holder.

North shook his head with a small smile, knowing he'd be getting hell of a talk from his fellow Guardians for keeping a secret like this for months. But he would worry about that later. He lay back down, pulling some of the covers back over himself. Pitch, having already fallen back asleep, grumbled something in his sleep, but didn't wake again, even as North wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close in a warm hug, before the larger Guardian went back to sleep with a contended sigh.