Yay, next part! I said I would upload the next part soon and here it is. This one is a little longer than the first, so let me know what you all think and more will be coming soon.
(I know Jack isn't really fourteen in the movie, but I lowered his age because I thought it would give the story a little more 'feel'. As more and other stories will be uploaded, Jack's age will shift, just to let you know)
Bunny heard the door quietly click shut and looked over his shoulder, expecting to see the Winter Spirit. But he was met by nothing but an empty spot where Jack should have been.
Blinking a couple of times he looked around in the room, searching for the boy. But he found nothing and it took a moment before it suddenly dawned on him. Jack had left without saying a word, without telling them.
But why? What would cause the boy to leave?
'Don't let the cold in'.
It hit Bunny like a ton of bricks. His ears fell as his eyes widened, his gaze glued on the wooden door. He understood it then. Those words, the words no one had paid close attention to, had made Jack feel like he wasn't welcomed.
They had crushed his heart, his hopes, without even realizing it. They had pushed him away without meaning to, they had made him believe he didn't belong by not reassuring him that he was welcomed, that he was one of them. They take away his hope, and no one could feel worse than the Pooka at that moment.
He was the bringer and keeper of Hope, yet he had failed to bring it to the one that needed it the most. Jack was only a child, he couldn't be more than fourteen years old. A child that had been alone for so long.
Bunny found himself wondering when Jack had first lost his hope, the very hope he protected every day. Was it the first time he was walked through? Or was it when no one came to help him, to explain to him why he was the way he was? Or was it when every other immortal, all of them, had pushed him away, refusing to have anything to do with him?
Bunny felt his heart break when he realized just how lonely the boy was, how broken he really was. He knew how it felt to be alone, he was the last Pooka after all. But he had still had the other Guardians when he had become the last of his kind.
But Jack had had no one, he had really been alone. For three hundred years, he had been alone with no one that care about him.
And it was their fault.
They could, should, have been there for Jack. They should have showed him that he didn't need to be alone, that he had somewhere where he belonged.
But they hadn't. A first, they had at ignored him, acting like the Winter Spirit didn't even exist. But when the other immortals, every other spirit, spoke of how much trouble the Winter Spirit caused, how much life his cold snuffed out, they had shown the boy they wanted nothing to do with him by completely shutting him off when he tried to interact with them.
North had ordered the yetis that the newest spirit wasn't welcome, Tooth had ordered her faeries that they would under no circumstances get close to the boy, Sandy had quickly left when the boy had tried to speak with him and Bunny, oh Bunny had been the worst of them all.
Each time he and Jack had come in contact with each other, he had been sure to show his hate towards the Winter Spirit. He had gone about it by outright ignoring him or screaming at him to get lost, that he wasn't wanted.
Thinking back, Bunny could suddenly remember those ice blue eyes filling with tears each time he had screamed at the small boy. He had crushed the boy over and over again and he never stopped to look at the result of his actions.
Maybe if he had, instead of seeing a trouble making Bringer of Winter, maybe he would had seen the small lost boy that Jack actually was. If he hadn't been so thickheaded maybe he could had saved Jack from the loneliness, from the pain of not being wanted.
Bunny had never felt so ashamed in his whole life, he felt like a monster.
Even after how badly they had treated Jack, he had saved them. He had fought for them while they had never done such a thing for him. He had acted without expecting anything in return and he had continued to fight for them, even when they blamed him for the whole Easter fiasco.
But Jack wasn't to blame, Bunny knew that now.
It had all been Pitch fault, but Bunny had been to blinded by rage to even notice that. Not until it was too late. And the other Guardians had acted none the better. They had all blamed Jack, leaving no room for him to explain what had really happened. They had blamed him, and Jack had suffered for something that wasn't his fault.
Bunny knew they had to mend their mistakes quickly, before it was too late.
Turning back to the other Guardians he realized that they had yet to notice Jack's absence. Were they all really that blind? Were they really unable to notice that their youngest member was missing?
"Oi, mates!"
The three other Guardians immediately stopped their chattering and turned to their furry friend, surprised to see his defeated expression. Tooth immediately flew over to the Pooka with worry shining in her eyes.
"Bunny, what's wrong? Don't you feel well? Are you in pain anywhere?"
Bunny shook his head and sighed. "I'm fine, Tooth. But...Jack left."
