Chapter One: Accusation and Newbies
"Jack!" Bunny's voice rings clear across the globe room, echoing off the walls. The Pooka starts towards the Ice Spirit, but is stopped with a small hand on his shoulder.
"Bunny, don't make this worse than it already is." Tooth whispers. When they heard about Blizzard Nemo, they couldn't believe Jack had caused it. So, North did what he thought best. He called Jack here, and they would talk about why he did it. They would explain to him that his blizzard killed people.
"Guys, what's going on?" Jack asks when he has reached them. He looks pretty confused.
"You know bloody well what is goin' on!" Bunny yells. Jack takes a few steps back, a slight look of wariness crossing his face.
"Nooo," he says, drawing out the word as if talking to a little kid. (Which makes Bunny even madder than before.) "I don't. So why don't you tell me? I promised Jamie that we would go sledding." North steps forward, earning another step back from Jack.
"Jack, ve heard about ze blizzard Nemo, and, vell, you know zat it killed people, yes?" The large toymaker says. Jack nods, then his eyes get wide.
"Wait, no! You guys I-" Bunny suddenly cuts him off.
"Do not try to make excuses, Jack! This has your name written all over it! At least four people are dead! Wha', did you get upset about somethin'? Because it seems to me like your pretty unstable! Every time a kid walks through you it starts snowin'! Did a bunch of kids go through you? Is that why you decided to make a huge storm? You know wha', why don't you do us all a favor and leave? It's starting to feel like a hazard to have you around." He shouts in the white-haired boys face. Jack stumbles back, eyes wide.
"Bunny!" Tooth cries. Bunny suddenly realizes what he had just said, but Jack is already flying towards the large window in the Globe Room.
"Jack, I'm sorry!" Bunny calls after him, but the Winter Spirit is gone. Bunny turns around to face the other Guardians, and is met with three glares. He doesn't look any of them in the eye, simply shrugs past them and walks out the door to the "living room" where he collapses on a couch in front of the fireplace. After about two hours, the others finally come to talk to him. His head is hidden in his paws, his ears laid flat against his head.
"I shouldn't 'ave said tha'. I don' even know why I did." He mumbles, accent getting a lot thicker. North sits next to him, filling the rest of the couch.
"I agree, you should not have said it. But, when Jack comes back, which I know he vill, we are going to talk about vat happened with ze blizzard." The large Russian says loudly. Bunny brings his head out of his paws.
"Yeah, you're right. Kid's probably just blowin' off steam in Antarctica right now. Let's just-what is it, Sandy?" Sandman's frantic waving and sand signals interrupt Bunny. A wave of relief smashes into the dream maker's face, and he points to the globe room, where moonlight is shining through the window Jack had used as an escape route.
The four Guardians rush to the beam of light, eager yet terrified of what the Man in the Moon has to say. When they get there, a silhouette is already forming in the spotlight on the floor. With a collective gasp, the four recognize the image.
"Pitch," North whispers, "but how? Ve defeated him only five years ago! Dis is too soon for him to come back!" At this, a new image takes up the spotlight. Creatures, adorned with long, curved-back heads, long claws, many tails, an animals hindquarters, and human bodies, are sprinting on all fours. Everyone stares in horror at the new beings. Bunny finally asks the question on everyone's mind.
"Wha' the bloody hell are those things?" the frightening image disappears, and the moonbeam shifts to the small circle on the floor.
"He's choosing a new Guardian! You guys, this must be pretty bad!" Tooth cries. The crystal rises from the ground, and the image of the new guardian is-
Nothing.
The moonbeam flickers, trying to find an image, but none shows up. Finally, the Man in the Moon gives up, and the moonbeam disappears, followed by an echoed voice that resonates in the Guardians heads.
Merlin.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Bunny says. "Merlin? As in, Arthur and Merlin, Merlin? Sword in the Stone Merlin? Didn't he die, like, a long time ago? I 'avn't 'eard of 'im since! Are you tellin' me this guy is a Guardian? He was jus' as much of a troublemaker as jack is! I can't 'ave two of those here!" North laughs at Bunny's distress.
"Ahh, Bunny! You need to calm your nerves! How about I make some Hot Chocolate, no? Bunny? Bunny?" North tries to capture Bunny's attention, but something else has it in its grasp. His ears are perked up and his nose is slightly twitching in concentration. Slowly, he turns to North.
"Someone jus' knocked on a tree three times in Burgess. Only Sophie and Jack know to do tha' and Jack should be in Antarctica." He states. North and Sandy look at him in shock. The frantic squeaking of Tooth's mini-fairies suddenly interrupts the quiet. She nods and quickly darts to the other Guardians small circle.
"A huge blizzard just hit Burgess." She whispers, her voice shaking. Bunny roars and punches the wall.
"I knew that kid was unstable! We shouldn't 'ave let 'im run off like tha'! He doesn't know 'ow to control 'is emotions and now look what 'appened! Sophie might be hurt because 'e didn't even go somewhere 'e won't hurt no one," Bunny yells. "I'm gonna go find 'im." He starts to tap the ground with his foot, but is stopped by North.
"Bunny, do not do anything you vill regret." He says warily.
"I'll just bring 'im here when I find 'im. An' trust me, I will find 'im." With that, Bunnymund drops down the tunnel, traveling to the forest of Burgess.