All the guardians where in Santa's slay, enjoying themselves. Mostly.

They were flying round the north pole, watching the northern lights that Santa had put on; it was just after christmas.

"Woo hoo! This is awesome! " shouted Jack, joyfully, standing up and letting the wind ruffle his hair.
"Come on Kangaroo, even you have to admit that this is fun!" he added, looking at Bunny who was clutching the side of the sleigh.

"I... prefer... both feat... on the ground..." replied Bunny, through clenched teeth, and ignoring the fact that Jack had insulted him.

Suddenly Sandy noticed something black in the distance. He tried to get the others attention, witch was hard, as he could make no noise.

Eventually the tooth fairy noticed it too, and pointed it out tto the others.

"Is vat, Pitch?" asked Santa, squinting.

"If it is then we need to get him further away from your workshop," said Jack, brandishing his staff like a sword. The others also got ready to fight, even Bunny, who momentarily forgot his fear of heights.

The black cloud came closer and closer, and they realised that it wasn't Pitch, just one of the nightmare horse things that smelt fear.

They fought. It was not a hard battle, four guardians against one nightmare, and it was just retreating, when Jack accidentally knocked Bunny with the end of his staff.

Bunny flew of the edge of the sleigh, and only just caught on to one of the ski things.

The nightmare, noticed this and gave him a hard quick in the leg. Bunny yelled in pain, catching the other guardians attention, and let go.

"BUNNY!" screamed Jack in alarm.

" Vot happened?" asked Santa, trying to slow the sleigh down, now that the nightmare was gone.

"Bunny, he fell off the sleigh..." said Tooth, who was close to tears now.

"Ven we must look vor him!" exclaimed Santa, trying not to let his panic show.

Sandy started doing lots of symbols in the air.

"but how can he have survived a fall like that?" asked Tooth, replying to Sandy. She had had a lot of practice at reading Sandy's symbols, and could understand whole strings of them.

"We have to hope, after all isn't that what easter is all about?" said Jack.

"Jack is vight" said Santa, "hopefully he will have landed in zome zoft snow, and ve must find 'im"

Far below beneath them...

Cold. That was all Bunny knew. Cold and the fact that he couldn't breath. So cold.

"Give in..." a nasty voice told him, "give and let the water drown you..."

Water! Of course! He must be in water. He started to swim upwards, each stroke harder than the last. He also found that he couldn't move his right leg. It felt like it was burning and freezing at the same time.

Finally! The surface! He took an enormous painful breath of air, had his head cleared a bit.

He dragged him self out of the water and lay beside a whole in the ice he must have made.

Then the pain hit him.

His leg! The water had nummed it, but now it was agony. He looked at it and was horrified to see his own blood soaking his fur.

Pull yourself together Bunny! He said to himself, it's just a scratch, I'll live.

He tried to get up, before giving a cry of pain and falling over again. The ice beneath him started to crack. He quickly and very painfully pulled himself off the ice and onto the snowy bank at the side.

Each breath was agony, tearing at his chest, with the bitter cold of the North Pole.

He curled himself up into a ball, to conserve body heat. He was shocked to find tears in his eyes. He wiped them away quickly, before they could freeze.

Someone would find him soon, surely? Then it hit him. He was miles from Santa's work shop, in the middle of the arctic, no one knew where he was. If he didn't die of cold, he would of thirst and hunger, or maybe even the horrible pain in his leg.

He gasped again, as another wave of pain hit him. He looked at it and wished he had something to tie round it, to stop the blood flow at least. He knew a bit of first aid, and gently prodded at it, then tried to muffle another cry of pain.

It was definitely broken, even though it stung. Did broken bones sting? Bunny wasn't sure, but his leg certainly did.

He had to have hope,he told himself, like the hope he gave children. The children he might never see again. If he died so would their hope. No hope in all the earth.

He started to cry, pulling hiding his head in his arms so that his tears might not freez. He stayed like that for some time, not knowing what to do. He didn't have the strength to call up a rabbit hole, and even if he did, he doubted he could have climbed down it with his broken leg.

Suddenly he heard a shout,

"he must have fallen somewhere over there!". Voices! He was saved! He had to let them know he was here though, or they might never find him. Gathering the rest of his dwindling strength he let escape from his throat an earpearcing cry.

It was a talent that all rabbits possed and the only noise he could muster at that time. He had only shouted like that once before in his life, and had very embarrased afterwoulds, but now he was glad he could.

Suddenly he felt warm hands touching him, and someone or something picked him up. He was vaigly aware of a voice saying

" vank goodvess ve av found im" before passing out.

Bunny was warm, he could feel a lovely soft blanket on top of him. He also headed voices next to him.

Then he remembered everything, including the pain in his leg. Now that he was no longer cold he was able to feel his leg more. It wasn't just agony, it was torture. He let go of a small grunt of pain, before realising his throat hurt.

Suddenly the voices next to him went quiet.

"Bunny?" asked Jack tentavely. Bunny forced himself to open his eyes. He was in the room he usually stayed in at Santa's work shop. Tooth and Jack were standing next to him.

"Bunny, your awake!" shouted Jack happily.

"Did someone say that Bunny's finnaly awake?" asked Santa happily, coming in through the door, closely followed by Sandy.

"What do you mean finnaly?" croaked Bunny, "how long was I out for?"

" It vos about 2 days an an aff," said Santa. Jack carefully handed Bunny a glass of water, then helped him guide it to his mouth. Bunny winced at the soreness of his arm muscles. They didn't hurt unless he moved them.

" You really gave us a scare Bunny," said Tooth. Sandy nodded. Bunny coghed slightly, and tried to sit up. He was embarrassed when Santa had to help him.

" you are still zuffering from hyperthermia, zat you almost got in ze cold," stated Santa, apologetically.

"It could have been much verse if Jack ad not spotted you so quickly,"

Bunny tried to get up, but Tooth exclaimed:

"Woh woh woh, slow down Bunny, you mustn't get up yet; you haven't eaten for 2 days, and you have a broken leg. No walking till your leg heals,"

"So I'm stuck here till it heals? How long will that take?" asked Bunny.

All the others looked at each other sadly, and uncomfortably. Sandy tried to break the news to Bunny but he didn't understand.

" I'm really really sorry Bunny," started Jack,

"Don't call me Bunny," interrupted Bunny, " call me Kangaroo, or hoppety, or spring or anything, but don't try to comfort me by calling me by my name. It makes me think something bad has happened, " he finished almost choking on his words, trying not to cry, as he had guessed what was coming next from everyone's expression.

"When the horse kicked you, it must had some poison on it's shoo," explained Tooth quietly, "And when you fell, you scraped your broken leg on the ice, giving the poison a point to infect you,"

"But that doesn't matter right? Won't that just make it sting? " Bunny's ears went down and he looked at his friends pleadingly, hoping he was right.

" Zo far it stopped you leg from 'ealing, and we don't know if your leg will ever..." Santa tried off.

Bunny cried. He didn't care if his friends could see him anymore, what use was he as guardian if he couldn't hop or jump any more? How could he bring hope if it took him ages to move about? How could he hide eggs? He couldn't bear it.

He felt Jack put his arm round his shoulders, and sit down on the bed next to him.

"There's still hope though," he said.

"What's the good of hope if it's a lie!?" answered Bunny, tears pouring down his cheeks. It was a heartbreaking scene, Bunny, the strong brave easter bunny, crying. Jack hugged him, the the tooth fairy joined in, followed by Sandy and Santa. The fact that his friends were there to help him, comforted Bunny somewhat. But he couldn't get rid of the fact that he might never hop again. Eventually Sand man put him to sleep, as it was the only way to calm him down.

Sadly, one by one, the Guardians left the room. Except Jack. He felt responsible for accidentally knocking Bunny off the slay.

"I'm sorry Bunny" Jack whispered. It had been decided that someone needed to be close to Bunny at all times, just in case. So Jack stayed.

They were in the sleigh again, only this time it was a whole army of nightmares. The sleigh flipped. Bunny fell out. As he was falking to his death, he saw the sleigh explode with all his friends still inside. "Noooo!" he shouted, before blacking out.

Bunny woke up, panting and crying. He quickly wiped his tears away and tried to sit up. After about five minutes, he had painfully managed to prop his back against the wall at the top of his bed. It was just a bad dream, he told himself. Nothing to worry about.

But still he wished he could check up on his fellow guardians, just to make sure. He looked around the room, and noticed Jack sleeping on a chair by the door.

"What's that little ankle biter doing here?" he asked himself, though really he was glad of it. It reassured him. If Jack was fine, then the others would be too. He almost called out to him, but he didn't want to wake him. He decided to try and go back to sleep, now that he had calmed himself down. He tried to wriggle back into a lying position, but in doing so he banged his head on the wall.

"Ow!" he exclaimed without thinking. Jack woke up.

"You OK?" he asked groggily.

"Sorry to wake you, I didn't mean to" whispered back Bunny.

"'S fine," replied Jack, keeping his voice low.

"Where you crying...?" asked Jack, once his eyes adjusted to the dark and he could see Bunny propaly. He refrained from saying again.

"Na, it's nothing," answered Bunny, trying to sound less frightened and sad than he was.

"If you tell me it might help," said Jack, walking over.

"I'm fine now," argued Bunny, "you can go back to sleep,"

"you too then," said Jack, going back to his chair, by the door, and pretending to go to sleep.

Bunny closed his eyes, but as soon as he did, the nightmare came back. A few minutes later he was awake again. He didn't bother sitting up this time, as he didn't want to wake Jack up again. He sighed, and since no one could see him, he aloud some tears to fall. His theory was that if he was sad now, he might run out of sadness, and he fine in the morning. He tried to turn over, before giving a muffled yelp. He really couldn't move his leg. It hurt such a lot. Jack got back up, and came and sat down on the floor next to Bunny's bed.

"really, what's the matter?" he asked.

"You.. where... only pre..tending to ... sleep?" said Bunny, trying to steady his voice.

"mhm, I had a feeling that you were only pretending to be fine earlier, " Jack looked at Bunny in the eyes, "and I feel responsible for knocking you off the slay, I'm really sorry,"

Bunny noticed that Jack also had tears in his eyes. He was definitely very sorry.

"It's not your ffault Jack, it was the horse that broke my leg with the poison,"

Jack looked releived that Bunny didn't blame him, but he still refused to leave Bunny's side till he told why he had been crying.

"I had a nightmare, happy now!?" said Bunny crossly, "I had a nightmare where you all died in an exploding sleigh," Bunny chocked on the last words, and started to cry again.

Jack hugged him.

" I know what it's like to have nightmares," he said, allowing Bunny to cry onto his shoulder. Before he became a guardian, Jack hadn't really like Bunny all that much, but now he loved him like a brother, and just wanted to comfort him.

" We can ask Sandy to sort them out for you," he added. Then an odd thought came to him. Hadn't it been Sandy who had put Bunny to sleep in the first place? Then how come he got a nightmare? Weird. But Jack kept these thoughts to himself. He didn't want to scare Bunny any more.

Eventually they both drifted off. Jack had no bad dreams, though Bunny had a bad dream every few minutes. Not a good night.

When Jack woke up in the morning, Bunny was finally resting somewhat peacefully, so Jack left him to go and get breakfast.

"Morning Jack," said Tooth faking happiness, while passing a good of porridge to Jack.

"Did anizing happen during ze night?" asked Santa, not really expecting an answer, just trying to fill the odd awkward silence.

"Actually," said Jack, turning to Sandy, " Bunny had a nightmare..."

"That's horrible!" exclaimed Tooth once Jack had finished explaining. Sandy was thinking hard.

"What are you sinking Sandy?" asked Santa. Sandy just shook his head, though really he was wondering if the poison had countered his magic.

A little while later they all walked up to Bunny's room with a bole of porridge.

Bunny had just woken up and was trying to get into a sitting position position. Santa passed bole of porridge to Sandy, and tried to help Bunny up, but Bunny swated him away.

"I can do it," he said. A few minutes later, he had managed, so Sandy passed him the bole of porridge.

Bunny hadn't realised just how hungry he was till he smelt the food.

"Do you guys know where my boomerangs are? And my extra eggs? I didn't lose them in the lake, did I?" he asked worriedly in-between moufuls of porridge.

"Na, they're down stairs," said Jack ducking under the door, to go get them.

"Why are you all looking me like that?" asked Bunny once he had finished his porridge.

"Jack told us about last night," said Tooth gently.

"Oh," was Bunny's only reply. Of course, he ought to have told Jack to keep it a secret. Sandy did some symbols in the air.

"That is weird," replied Bunny, "I hadn't realised that you had tried to make sure I got bad dreams, something must have gone wrong with your magic,"

Sandy made an arrow pointing at Bunny's leg. Bunny winced at the reminder of the poison, determined not to cry, in pain, and sadness. This time he prevailed. On closer inspection, Tooth noted that the corners of the dressing on Bunny's leg were turning red.

Just then they herd a clatter down stairs.

"I' ll just go zee vot Jack is up to, come on Sandy," said Santa. They (Sandy and Santa) left.

"That dressing needs changing," said Tooth.

"How are you going to do that without me losing all my blood?" asked Bunny.

"I don't know, really you need to go to a hospital to get a proper cast,"

"That's out of the question," replied Bunny.

"I know," said Tooth, sadly,

"But I don't want to change it without giving you a pain killer, though I think I'll have to,"

" we don't have a painkiller " finished Bunny, "Just put another layer on it," he said.

Tooth sighed. Jack came back up with Bunny's Boomerangs, and extra eggs. He gave them to Bunny.

Then Tooth motioned that she wanted to talk to Jack outside. That made Bunny slightly suspicious.

Then they came back in, and Jack sat on the bed, and started telling Bunny about how he (Bunny) was Sophie's favourite. Bunny's leg grew slightly cold. Suddenly it hurt even more. Bunny yelped, as tears of pain formed in his eyes. Jack put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him in the eyes, preventing Bunny from seeing what Tooth was doing.

"Look at me Bunny, it's gonna be fine, we'll find a way to make you hop again, I promise," Noticing that Bunny was crying (again) now, Jack hugged him. All done, said Tooth, a few moments later.

"Just tell me next time," said Bunny, faking annoyance,and pulling himself together.

Bunny spent the rest of the day painting eggs, and chatting with his friends, trying to keep his mind of his leg. When it was time to go to sleep, Jack and Tooth came and sat in the room to watch Sandy do his magic.

First Sandy made a small ball of sand and knocked Bunny out, then he sent a thin string of it, to give Bunny a dream. A first the dream was good, Jack and Tooth could see a small miniature yellow version of Bunny hoping in a field. Then, from what seemed to be out of nowhere, a black sleigh appeared, and four black miniature figures dumped out.

"It's us!" whispered Jack worriedly.

Sandy pushed more magic into the dream, trying to make it all yellow and good. A black shadow appeared and all the mini blackguardians fell down as if dead.

The real Bunny muttered: "No!"

In his sleep, and Sandy pushed even more magic into the dream. It all turned black. Jack noticed tears forming in the real Bunny's eyes. He lept up and rushed over.

" Bunny, wake up!" he practically shouted shaking his shoulders. Bunny opened his eyes.

"Your alive?!" exclaimed happily, and found himself smothered in Jack's hug.

"Sandy?" Tooth asked worriedly, looking at the little yellow man who had blacked out on the floor.

Bunny ( with Jacks help) sat up quickly to see what the matter was.

"Sandy? " he asked, very worriedly.

"It' s all right, I think his magic back fired on him," Tooth smiled in releif.

"Yeah," said Bunny also smiling for the first time in days, "Jack can you turn the light on please,"

" aren't you gonna sleep?"

"Na, not when I see you all, I mean not when I keep getting nightmares, you guys sleep, I'll stay up and paint,"

"Bunny you need your sleep," Tooth turned to him and looked at him sternly.

"I won't get any if I try, so I might as well stay up," countered Bunny. "I'll be fine, you guys sleep,"

Tooth was too tired to argue so she went and slept out side his door, making Jack go to bed (and put Sandy in Sandy's bed while he was at it).

So that night Bunny stayed up, painting eggs, and trying not to think about his leg. Around midnight, just when he had finished a particularly good egg, he felt a spark of hope in the room. That hope became a flame, and Bunny looked round curiously trying to work out who it belonged to. Suddenly he realised that it was his own hope. That was why he had been so sad, upset and edgy. He had lost his hope, but now he had it back again. He smiled, a real warm true smile. It was a nice feeling, having his center, his meaning, his true self back.