Jamie died in an accident and Jack knows that he has been left with no followers once more, the others having grown up and forgotten the fun they used to have. When Jack returns to North's he simply sits on the globe, staring at the spot where Jamie's light used to shine brightly, with tears in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks until they joined the growing wet patch on his blue hoodie.
"Whatcha doing up there mate?" Jack's back was to the door when Aster walked in so it wasn't until the globe had rotated round that he saw the teen crying silently. "What's wrong snowflake?" asked the bunny in a concerned voice.
"He's gone."
"Who's gone mate?"
"Jamie. He's gone."
"Ahh, I'm sure you can make him believe again just like you did all those years ago."
"NO! YOU DON'T GET IT. HE'S GONE. JAMIE'S GONE, he's dead and he isn't coming back. He's all I had left and he's gone." Jack had been shouting but it quickly turned into whispers as a fresh wave of tears fell.
"Oh mate. It'll be alright."
"It won't though, he was the only person I had left who actually believed in me. I'm nothing anymore, I'm not real to children, I'm not liked by spirits, I'm all alone again. I don't want another 300 years like the last, I don't want another day like those. I wanna be with Jamie but it doesn't work I've tried."
"Tried what Jackie?" Aster asked hoping that his assumptions were wrong.
"Cutting my wrists, freezing myself, drowning like when I was normal, calling the winds to a great height then free falling. Picking fights with other spirits to see if they would do the job. Poison, overdose, hanging myself. Even tried fire, I figured that was sure to do it when, essentially, I am ice. You are the only one who didn't actually try and kill me for ruining your holiday back in '68."
"You mean, you set up that blizzard on Easter Sunday, to try and get me to fight you in hopes I would kill you?" Jack shrugged nonchalantly.
"Didn't work though so I'm sorry for ruining your day."
"I wanted to but you were just a child, you still are, I couldn't hurt you. Do you mean that others did- did try and hurt you?"
"I'm not a child, I'm over 300 years old."
"And I am 2000 years old, Sandy is as old as time himself. You most certainly are still classed as a child, if it makes you feel any better, I'm deemed as being a grumpy teenager."
"Groundhog probably got the closest to being successful."
"Hey, come down here." Jack slowly drifted down until he was stood on the floor, head down rather than looking at Aster which prompted the rabbit to kneel down so he could catch the blue eyes. One paw was lifted to Jack's face, lifting it until the boy looked at him and keeping it there while he spoke. "If he had managed to do what you wanted him to do, that would not have been a success, okay? That would have been a tragedy. You aren't alone okay mate. I know Sandy loves having you around. Tooth, well, she makes it clear that she likes you and your teeth hanging around. North thinks of you like a son so he would definitely hate it if anything happened to you. And Jamie, I'm certain that Jamie wouldn't want you to join him, he'd want you out there having more fun with other children, making more sled tracks through the town like the one he told us about constantly."
"And- and what about you?"
"Me? Well, I'm here, slightly annoyed that you had hoped I would kill you but I am here nonetheless. I am on my knees, a position I have never been in for anyone else, begging you to realise that it would be a shame if you got what you wanted. I'm here telling you that you are not alone in this world because it is the truth. I'm here telling you that I believe in you even if no one else did, I am going to be by your side even if everyone else leaves you, and that I will love you even if you believe that no one ever could, okay? That's what I am."
"I'm sorry."
"What for Jackie?"
"Everything."
"No, don't. Don't say that."
"Love you too Pooka."
"Glad to hear it snowflake." Jack let out a big yawn which he tried to stifle but found himself largely unsuccessful at. "Time for you to go to bed me thinks mate."
"Bunny? Stay with me?"
"I don't know that I should snowflake. The others might take it the wrong way entirely."
"I don't care about the others, please? I just- I don't want to be alone tonight." Bunnymund smiled sadly at the white-haired boy as his eyes began to glisten once more with tears, a single one falling and rolling down his cheek.
"You aren't alone, come on then snowflake, lead the way." Jack leant down and pressed their foreheads together lightly as he squeezed his eyes shut for a couple of seconds and took one of the other's paws to pull him up.
"Thanks Bunny," Jack whispered as the two of them climbed into bed facing one another.
"You don't need to keep thanking me."
"I can never thank you enough. You stayed."
"I could do nothing less snowflake."
"Yeah you could. You could have left me all alone."
"No I couldn't, if I did and anything happened to you I could never forgive myself for it." Jack snuggled closer until he was pressed against Aster's chest, fingers snaking into the fur on his side. He pressed a quick kiss into the other's shoulder before settling back down comfortably in the bed. Jack's eyes closed and a smile appeared on his lips for the first time that day when he felt the kiss returned into his hair.
Jack woke up and found himself surrounded by a comfortable warmth, his eyes gradually fluttered open until he was able to look up and catch the bright green eyes of another.
"Morning Bunny."
"Morning snowflake." Jack nuzzled back into the fur as he was suddenly reminded of the lack of Jamie. Aster seemed to notice the change in the boy and wrapped his arms tightly around the shaking teen, drawing him even closer to comfort him. "Hey, it's okay Jack. It's alright. You'll be fine, I promise."
"How? I've got no one again."
"Not quite true, I'm still here, so are the other guardians."
"But no one that believe in me."
"Look at me. I, for one, will always believe in you snowflake. You got that?" He wiped the tears from Jack's face with a gentle paw. "I realise that it is difficult but you are believed in. We can get you more believers, I'll help, but I need you to stay alive for me, I need you not try- try and hurt yourself again, or try and get yourself killed. Can you do that for me snowflake?"
"You really do care about me, don't you?"
"Of course I do snowflake. I don't want to lose you Jackie. I want you to be happy."
