A/N: Yes, I'm back for more RotG stuff. Yay me.
Anyway, I was talking with my mom, who asked how Bunnymund ended up being a Guardian when he was only a bunny. Jack turned into Jack Frost when he fell into a lake after doing something heroic, so she figured out that Bunnymund would have been one cool bunny.
And yes, he would be a bunny! In his belief-less state, he was reverted back to a freaking bunny, so he is a fuzz-butt by all definition!
This story is my Christmas present to everyone! Jesus is the reason for the season, everyone!
I'm going by the movie's rules, not the books, so the Pooka technically don't exist. And this is a fanfiction, so I do what I want. So this is slightly AU for movie, majorly AU for the book.
Disclaimer: I don't own this.
E. Aster Bunnymund was nothing like your average bunny. Unless your fluffy, adorable pet swore like a sailor when it was mad and carried around explosive eggs, all while standing six feet tall and still keeping the children – the last of the innocents – in mind.
So one could imagine his back story.
Or could they?...
0_0000-0000_0
For a day in the Outback, it sure was bloody hot out.
A small jackrabbit, its gray fur tinged slightly navy with white on the underbelly, was scurrying around, panting as it hid in the shade from the eucalyptus trees.
Thankfully, however, the sun was already beginning to fall behind the mountains in the distance and the harsh light was slowly beginning to fade.
Yet that also meant the dingos would be out...
The small bunny gave a slight shake in fear; it did not know intelligence like a human, yet its thoughts were much more advanced than one would expect.
The rabbit – a male – knew where to go come nightfall and how to get there, plants that his mate liked, and had a basic clock hardwired into his head.
What's so strange about that?
Perhaps it was his ability to understand the more complex signals from other animals, like knowing a kangaroo's annoyed mood from a frustrated one. There was a difference, 'ya know.
This rabbit also understood humans.
He knew that not all humans carried around spears to try and eat his tail for supper, for some were just as innocent as his younger siblings, some of which were no more than a few days old.
The fuzzy animal came to a halt as he dove into one of the entrances to his burrow, only long enough to rake his nails across that dreadfully itchy spot behind his left ear. His mate was doubtlessly in the burrow; the fleas she carried everywhere were climbing all over him.
Though he didn't mind the fleas.
For several minutes, the chubby animal burrowed through the earth, seeing nothing other than the blackness of the tunnel and the dark-red of the inside of his eyelids.
Then he came into the main room of the complex. It was a large, circular room that's ceiling allowed light to drift into the room, namely because of the thin, light soil that was more dust than anything.
Here was where the male bunny and his mate, a light-brown female, always slept.
However, his mate was nowhere to be seen.
A clicking noise sounded within his mouth; he was angrily chattering his teeth together, sensing the presence of another male.
Around his home, around his girl, and around him period.
The creature's nose quirked once more; from the scent of it, the male was nearest the exit that was coming up on the right side.
The bunny began to hop toward the challenge. Out of the room, out into the dimming Australian light.
Standing there, holding his mate in its jaws, was a red-furred animal, a growling dingo with its ears pinned back against its head.
This dingo was a female... so where was that male?
Either way, the small, bluish bunny seized after the dingo, who whimpered as he neared her. His mate swung lifelessly in the carnivore's mouth. The bunny began to think that perhaps she hadn't have survived the bite, which was very unlike her.
She was stubborn, strong-willed, and strong period. She would pull through this... she would always pull through...
The bunny was now charging after the dog with all the speed his tiny jumps could muster. Yet he still wasn't fast enough!
Finally, his four front teeth were sinking into the ankle of the fleeing dingo, who had dropped the dead rabbit onto the ground, as if saying, 'this isn't worth it, I give up!', yet the dog still tried to shake the sharp-toothed creature off her injured heel.
Only that wouldn't work!
The bunny held on with all of his might as he tore his jaws out and bit above the original wound so that he caught more of the muscle this time. Now he jerked and jerked out a mouthful of coppery blood and fleshy fat. The bunny swore he had hit bone on the third bite.
With a defeated whine, the dingo fell to the ground. The dog had sprinted only about fifty feet before the bunny was able to bring her down.
As soon as the carcass hit the earth, the bunny took out his fangs and made a beeline back for his mate.
She was laying limply on the ground, her neck twisted at an awkward angle and blood slowly leaking from a puncture wound in her head. Had the male bunny not been so full of hope, he would have assumed that she was dead – which, unfortunately, she was – and would have simply mourned.
Though the warrior-like bunny just sat there for a moment, clicking his jaws together, his own unique way of trying to rouse the brown-furred rabbit-ess.
After she didn't move, the male gently nosed her neck, yet there was a firmness behind his gentle touch. He was beginning to fear the worst.
The lifeless body of the female never moved other than when it was under the contact of the male.
The bunny let out a whine. He pawed closer to the female, then circled around her, nuzzling against her back one more time.
There would always be one more time.
Always.
0_0000-0000_0
The two bunnies sat there for many minutes before a mirage on the distance alerted the living one. Was that the male that he had smelled earlier?
Yes, it was!
The rabbit shot up and began to hastily try to get his female to stand.
Until he remembered her unfortunate end...
Then the male collapsed once more. The blood of the dingo had caked his face, namely his mouth and forehead. Some of the crimson liquid had stained his shoulders.
Normally, he would have a fit about his matted fur, but it wasn't the moment for that.
The creature pitifully whined once more as the bipedal male creature began to dash after them. There was no use.
Without a female to guard, a lover to protect, the male rabbit refused to move, even for a rival male, rabbit or not.
The creature reached such a distance so that the male could see what was approaching his female's grave. It was a human!
That was why the dingo had been so weak...
He, despite himself, let out a frightened squeak. He hadn't killed the dingo, the human had weakened the dog and the rabbit had done nothing more than make the dingo spit out his mate. Just to prove as how puny – how pathetic, even – he truly was.
Yet the human had been no more than a few feet away from the rabbit when he realized that he had to get out of there. The bunny turned tail and began to flee, yet a pair of hands grasped him around the stomach.
He thrashed and flailed as to try and break free of the monster's grasp. Yet then...
"Wabbit!"
That was not the war cry of the vile humans! It was a child! A child had taken his victory of downing the killer of his mate from him!
Yet the rabbit couldn't bite the child's hands as he looked up.
The child had to be no more than four in human years. No where near old enough to be out in the Outback on his own.
The sun had set, there were dingoes afoot!
However, upon observing the kid's face, his opinion drastically changed.
The pudgy, well-rounded face was covered with blood. Only a tiny amount of the blood was his judging by the scent of it, the rest smelling of dog. Had this child truly been the one to murder the dingo?
The bunny cocked his head to the side. The child was a male, had curly, brownish hair, and cream-colored skin. He was not an Aboriginal, as most Aboriginals had black or graying hair, and all Aboriginals of pure Aboriginal descent were much darker than this child, who's green eyes were trained on the curious rabbit.
This child had to be of an explorer's descent, with maybe a drop of Native blood in him.
The child shook him furiously, and the rabbit flattened his ears against his head. He attempted to scratch the child's wrist, but the shaking continued, and, as a last resort, the bunny nipped the pudgy finger that was beginning to poke at his face.
The human instantly dropped him.
The rabbit, determined to get the bloody hell out of there, began to run for the entrance to his burrow, though he really didn't want to leave his mate behind.
However, her spirit would forgive the blue rabbit, since he had nearly been put through torment by the child.
Just as he was about to disappear underground, a loud, heart-breaking wail emanated from the throat of something nearby.
It certainly wasn't rabbit, nor koala nor kangaroo or dingo...
The poor child had began to cry.
Though annoyed, the rabbit wasn't heartless. He slowly began to hop back, and the child was no more than a few feet from the lip of his burrow now.
The child had evidently chased after him, begging for him to stay and be his friend... the child was on his knees, his brown pants serving as a rag as the tears rolled off his face. "Bu-bunny!"
The rabbit's chest sank as he neared. The child had pressed the backs of his hands against his face, trying in a futile attempt to block the tears from coming out, yet to no avail.
The blue bunny nudged the child's knee with his nose. No response, other than the child sniffled loudly and let out another spine-wracking sob.
The rabbit growled inwardly. This child was mighty persistent. He then hopped into the child's lap and poked him in the stomach using his nose. Still no response. The child began to cough violently, and that was when the rabbit began to think.
The child was easily twenty times larger than himself, and he was lost in a sea of tears. There was no way he'd be able to feel him right now!
The rabbit merely began to nose at the child's red jacket, nudging it aside and beginning to sniff at the child's skin. He smelled exactly like what the rabbit had smelled outside his burrow earlier, though there was little anger.
The least he could do for the child was comfort him.
The child continued coughing, and only when the rabbit began to lick his skin to try and get his attention did he stop.
"Bunny! Bunny! Bunnymund!" The child had just used a new term. 'Bunnymund' was apparently the rabbit's new name.
Bunnymund sat back on his haunches and stared up at the child's face, who was now laughing. This child sure was a handful.
In a bloody crying-fit one minute, then nearly in stitches laughing the very next.
"Go home!"
The child then lifted the rabbit by the scruff of the neck and began to carry him off.
The rabbit sighed.
So long, Clarice... The rabbit thought to himself, stealing one last glance at the furry heap of blood and brown fur as the child hoisted him away from his home and his mate.
0_0000-0000_0
Night had just fallen as the child arrived at a cave in the mountain. "Issy! Sissy! I caught a bunny!"
There was no response from within the cave, though the child didn't seem bothered by this. The child continued to carry Bunnymund over to a corner with a burning fire lighting the room.
Sitting there, on a blanket, was a rotting human girl.
Bunnymund nearly shrieked in terror, though the child still continued to talk to the corpse. "His name is Bunnymund! Pet, pet!"
The child reached out for the girl's hand – Bunnymund gagged – and lifted it off the ground, then made the rotting hunk of flesh pat the rabbit's head.
Bunnymund was tempted to bite, though he didn't, namely for the sake of the child's sanity. If the bugger had any left, that was.
"My name Eddy!" The child said.
For two years, the two lived together in perfect harmony, Bunnymund slowly growing closer to the child, and he figured out that the corpse's name had once been Lucille, the child's older sister.
0_0000-0000_0
However, Bunnymund also learned of Eddy's mental handicaps. The child had trouble seeing out of his left eye, talked to the spirit of Lucille on a daily basis, and talked to Bunnymund as if he was a real human.
Bunnymund also learned of Eddy's sicknesses.
Everyday, Bunnymund would set out into the Outback and carry back an egg in Eddy's tiny, hand-woven basket (of which Bunnymund carried with his teeth) for breakfast.
At noon, Bunnymund would fetch a boomerang for Eddy, then bring it back to the wailing child when the stick wasn't thrown right and it didn't come back to the human in an arc. Every day at night, Bunnymund help the child grow and harvest flowers for Lucille's hair, which was black and stringy, though vibrantly colored with the exotic plants Eddy had taken from his father's house, presumably after the old man of his had died.
The child's life was at stake, and Bunnymund knew this.
If he was to leave, he would have to leave the child to fend for himself again. If he was to stay, he was to endanger Eddy's health, which took a severe dip when he was around Bunnymund too long.
0_0000-0000_0
Bunnymund had to admit; he loved this child with every fiber in his being. He missed Clarrise as well, yet the child's joy helped him overcome his heartache.
One day, when the sun was just beginning to set, as the rabbit was gnawing on a leaf of a weed in the calla garden, he heard Eddy begin to cough.
The bunny's ears cocked forward as he hopped over to the child who was lying on a makeshift bed of thick blankets and a small rock of a pillow.
His nose twitched.
Eddy hacked violently once more. "Bunny... sick..."
The child, who was previously resting on his side, rolled over onto his back. "Get... Papa! Papa! Need medicine..."
Bunnymund let out a slight whimper. He never knew that the child knew of his father, nor of his medicine.
It was a given that he had no clue that Eddy knew he was sick.
Question was, how did he know? Bunnymund clacked his teeth together.
"Right. Papa's gone," Eddy sighed, then shivered. "Bunny, go back. I can't get better."
The rabbit refused to believe this. He hopped over, then pounced onto the child's stomach. Eddy did not respond.
Bunnymund began to paw at his protruding ribs. Eddy still did not move, though he did – finally, it seemed – make another noise. "Bunnymund, no no! Go get something to eat."
At last, the rabbit let out a rabbit-sigh, then hopped off the child and over to the corner. There were more weeds drying there, though many were either bitter or tasteless or spiny.
The child hacked once more and Bunny cringed. He rooted through the weeds and withdrew a brown root of a thistle plant, which was surprisingly delectable. He chewed off one of the tips of the snack and then hopped back to Eddy, making sure that the root still hung out of his mouth so that Eddy could see that he was eating.
"Good bunny," he said, then began to pat the creature on the head. "I will be fine, you're right."
Eddy took in a breath. His chest rose and Bunnymund smiled victoriously.
But his chest would not fall back down. Bunnymund nosed his arm, but the child still did not move. Nor let out his breath.
A series of chills attacked his nervous system. Come on, you teasing little bugger!
Eddy still wouldn't move.
The rabbit squeaked. No! Get your lil' arse up, it's time to go and get the flowers! Come on, come on!
The child still did not let out his breath.
Bunnymund felt his eyes begin to sting. Wha' in the bloody hell? Imma rabbit, I'm not supposed to cry!
A tear rolled off his whisker and plopped onto the ground.
There sat the dead child and the rabbit. He felt his nose begin to quiver violently and he knocked his teeth together once more before cuddling up under the child's stilled arm.
0_0000-0000_0
Bunnymund's first waking thought was that he had to go and collect the eggs.
Yet then...
"Ah, that's right! You had'ta go and die on me, 'ya lil' brat!" The rabbit, at first, did not recognize what he was doing.
A few moments later...
"Wha' in the blazes!?" Bunnymund glanced down. He was towering over the dead child, and he was standing in a bipedal manner.
He held out his arms to examine them. They were long and muscular. He glanced down; he was no longer chubby, but skinny, and laced over with a thick padding of muscle.
Bunnymund hopped – no, for the first time, walked like a human – over to the water puddle by the entrance to examine himself.
Tall, humanoid. Unusual.
The bunny sighed. "So long, lil' one," Bunnymund said over his shoulder at the entryway. "Time for me to head back home..."
With a flick from his tail, the bunny set off back to his home.
Back in the cave, the ghosts of Eddy and Lucille smiled at the disappearing figure.
A:N: Thanks for reading!
Eddy has Asburger's, by the way. It was the best way I can describe his illness, other than a severe allergy to rabbits. Just tied into the plot.
R&R before you favorite this, drat it.
Merry Christmas to everyone once more!
Would stay to chat, but I hear my cousins at the door. *shudders, slams Netbook shut, then hides it inside a safe*.