The Great Blizzard of 68.
Bunny always thought it was me that caused it. That's my fault. I let him think that.
But you have to understand, it had been two hundred and fifty years since anyone had spoken to me. At that point anything, a kind word or a punch to the face would have been nice.
As long as they SAW me.
But no one ever did.
I had just happened to be riding the wind through North America when I saw everything covered in white.
It was Easter Sunday. It wasn't supposed to be snowing.
I descended through the clouds, and into Central Park in New York City.
I saw colorful eggs half buried in snow, and not a single child anywhere in sight, all probably hiding out in the warmth and comfort of their homes.
I decided that since Mother Nature had decided to throw a ton of snow everywhere, I might as well make sure the place was safe for the kids to play in when they did eventually leave their homes.
I had just reinforced the ice to ensure that no one would fall through, when I was swallowed up by the earth.
I was met with a six foot tall giant bunny rabbit. I knew who he was on sight. The Easter Bunny had decided to pull me down into one of his tunnels.
And he was staring right at me. Not around me, not through me, but straight at me.
"Was that you up there?" He had asked. I didn't pay attention to his tone, and I'll be honest, I didn't think he was talking about the blizzard.
So I told him it was.
I was too busy internally jumping for joy at having my first conversation ever, that I didn't see his fist coming at all.
"That's for my googies." he said as he punched me in the stomach. I bent over at the pain.
"That's for the kids." He kneed me in the face and I was back up, looking into his furious face. Despite the pain I was in, I still couldn't get over the fact that he could SEE me, could TOUCH me. Sure it wasn't a hug, like I had once wished for, but it was something. It let me know that I could be touched, I could be seen and heard.
It gave me hope. Which is funny when I think back on it, what with Bunny being the Guardian of Hope and all.
"And this is for ruinin' Easter" He finished with a punch aimed for directly between my eyes.
It hurt, I won't lie, I was on the ground bent over and clutching my face while I groaned in pain.
"Do ya have any idea what yer blizzard has done?! There is almost no one in all of North America that can 'ave a normal Easter!" He yelled at me. That's when I realized just what had set the Easter Bunny off.
It wasn't me re-freezing a pond, it was the blizzard. The one I had nothing to do with.
I was about to tell him that I had had nothing to do with it, when something stopped me.
If I told him that it wasn't me, then he would leave, and I would be without anyone who could see me again.
So I kept silent on the matter.
He kicked me one last time for good measure, before tossing me back up to the surface and into the snow.
"I catch ya messin' around with spring ever again and I'll do worse than that." He had said before closing the tunnel, leaving a purple flower behind that blew in the wind.
I picked it and held it close, smelling it. Frost covered the petals as soon as I touched it, but I didn't care, I was just so happy that I had actually talked to someone who could hear me.
I checked out my face in the glossed over sheen of the frozen lake to be sure, and sure enough, two black eyes were forming.
I would sit and stare at my reflection for hours, until the bruises faded away, and I held onto the flower until it rotted away in my hands.
Maybe that's why I kept going back for more. I could have easily have avoided Bunny, but I kept deliberately making myself a nuisance, just so I could feel something, could hear my name from another person's voice.
I wanted to know that someone knew who I was. Someone that would talk to me, touch me, hear me, even if the words they spoke were insults, the touches they gave were punches and kicks.
I didn't care if he hurt me. And if I'm being completely honest, even though it's different now, if he went back to trying to hurt me every time we crossed paths, I still wouldn't care.
Does that make me pathetic? That I'm so desperate to have my existence validated, I would stand to be beaten until I was dizzy, and told that I was worthless until I believed it?
V_V_V
Bunny couldn't take it anymore. There was more, oh so much more, but he couldn't stomach it anymore.
He but down the notebook he had given Jack.
It had been something he had decided to try so that Jack could get his thoughts down on paper. He had seen humans do it, and since Jack had once been human, he thought it might help.
Since receiving it, he wrote in it all the time, and it seemed to be helping, Jack was slowly getting back to the fun loving winter spirit that he had always known.
However Bunny couldn't deny that he was curious about what Jack had been writing about all this time.
Jack had gone to visit Jamie and had left the book out. Bunny had debated it for a while before finally deciding that he would only read one entry, and that it would be the first one he turned the book to.
It just happened to turn to that one, and the more Bunny read, the worse he felt.
All the boy had wanted was attention, and Bunny had given it to him, in all the wrong ways.
Bunny put the book back exactly as he had found it, and decided to go for a run to clear his head.
By the time he had come back, Jack was laying down looking up at the ceiling of his Warren, and chewing on a blade of grass.
He looked up as Bunny approached and smiled wide.
"Hey there Cottontail, what's up?" He greeted.
"Nothin'" Bunny smiled back at Jack as he walked over and laid down beside Jack.
They sat in for what seemed like an eternity to Bunny, until he couldn't take it anymore. He had to say something.
"Hey Jack, ya know that were pals now... right? The stuff that happened between us in the past is all behind us an all that, right?" Bunny said, turning his head to look at the boy beside him.
Jack looked over at him and smiled brightly.
"Course it is Bunny, You only remind me like, every other day," Jack joked.
Bunny felt a bit sheepish about it. He did tend to tell Jack that they were friends and that he could come to him with any problem quite frequently, but he just wanted to be sure that Jack knew he was there for him, like he should have been all along.
Bunny knew he did it because he felt guilty for all those years he could have helped Jack instead of hurt him.
Jack laughed. "It's cool, I don't mind at all, it's nice to know someone cares, ya know?" Jack asked, getting that look that he always had when he was lost in his thoughts.
Bunny watched him for a bit, pondering the words.
"You know that the others would care too if you told them." Bunny reminded him.
"I don't know about that." Jack replied.
That caught Bunny's attention.
"What do ya mean?" He asked.
"Well... it's not like they seemed overly worried that they didn't see me for two months while I was down here with you. I don't know... They just don't seem to care..." Jack trailed off.
"You and I both know that ain't true mate." Bunny told him.
Jack just sighed, and with the amount of time that the bringer of spring had spent with the snow sprite, he knew that Jack didn't believe him.
"Sure Bunny, Sure" Jack lied to him, and Bunny let him. He would push the matter another time.
Jack got up and made up an excuse to leave, no longer comfortable talking to Bunny about the matter and left.
Bunny knew that it would be a long time before he trusted the others with his secrets like he had with Bunny.
All Bunny could do was watch and wait, and make sure that Jack never again knew the kind of loneliness that had driven him to willingly be beaten just to know someone else knew he existed.
And when the time came, Jack would tell the others on his own, and Bunny would be right there, supporting him the entire time.
V_V_V
I know it's been forever since I've uploaded anything, and to make up for that I decided to make a new installment to this arc.
So many of you wanted to see another, and as a way to make up for my long absence I decided to make a gift to all my lovely supporters.
You guys are truly amazing, there isn't a day that goes by that an email doesn't show up telling me that I, or at least one of my stories has been favorited or is now being followed.
Gives me warm fuzzies and all that.
In other semi related news, just so I can keep everyone informed, I have moved back to the States, and I currently have no internet, so it will continue to be a while before anyone hears from me, but I will try to get to a wifi hotspot and upload new stories as often as I can.
Also, I have quite a few stories I'm working on, including some chapter stories, but I want to actually finish those before I start, simply because every other long story I start I end up abandoning, and that would be unfair to you, the readers.
As always, PM me with any requests, questions, or just to chat. I will try to answer you as soon as I can.
I think that's about all I have, I would like to thank my new 72 ounce coffee mug for keeping me awake at all hours of the night so I could finish this, and I would also like to thank all of my lovely readers. You guys inspire me(and guilt me, lol) to keep writing.
Please review, and let me know what you think. I love getting feedback, and love hearing about where you guys want to see this story go.
As always, thank you for reading, and have a great day.