A/N:
This little maniacal incoherent gem was born from two hours of reading American McGee's Alice fanfiction.
I don't even play American McGee's Alice...
Disclaimer: Don't own!
"Into the hole again, we hurried along our way, into a once-glorious garden now steeped in dark decay."-Alice, from American McGee's Alice
It was supposed to be simple.
Get in, grab the moon crystal, get out.
Except it wasn't.
By E. Aster Bunnymund's estimate, it had taken approximately thirteen minutes for what was once a carefully controlled operation to turn into Hell.
It was so quick. One moment, the five Guardians were fleeing from the Maniae, casually exchanging banter and jokes as they fled towards freedom; The next, Jack had been hurt.
It was quick, the sickly green blast of magic coming out of nowhere and hitting Jack square in the chest. There was one, terrifying moment where the frost child had simply frozen, mouth and eyes wide open in shock, and then he had fallen.
Right in the middle of the crowd of bloodthirsty Maniae.
For approximately thirteen minutes, Jack had been hidden from view by a swirl of bodies, surrounding and overwhelming him. There had been a few, weak blue pulses of energy at first as he attempted to fight them, but those soon faded away. And the Guardians could only watch in horror as their youngest fell prey to the Maniae.
Slowly, so slowly, the cloud had dissipated, until there were only a few demons surrounding their winter child. But the Guardian's relief was short-lived, for as they rushed towards their youngest, a surprising and concerning sight met their eyes.
His hair was no longer white, but instead a muddy brown, while his formerly cerulean eyes had been changed to the same color. His skin no longer held a deathly pallor, but was the healthy pink of a human child.
But what was most concerning was the frantic gleam of madness in his chocolate-brown eyes. It danced in those brown orbs like a dangerous spark, at risk of starting a blazing inferno at any moment.
And as a manic giggle suddenly escaped the lips of their youngest, the Guardians realized something:
The assault may have lasted only thirteen minutes, but they were thirteen minutes too many.
They had tried everything.
Everything under the sun. Spells, magic, herbs, heck, even his memory toothbox.
But nothing had helped. His mind was still shattered, like a ship dashed against the rocks.
He remembered little of the Guardians, instead ranting about "Emma", "ice cracking", and "drowning". He was becoming more violent as well, thrashing randomly whenever one of them touched him.
Then, he crossed the line.
It was a memory that each of the Guardians would carry to their dying day. Jack had been in a rare moment of relative calm, staring catatonically at the ceiling as he lay limp in his infirmary bed. Suddenly, with a single fluid movement, he had grabbed a spoon and, wielding it like a dagger, stabbed Tooth in the shoulder with it. There had been no emotion on his youthful face, not even when Tooth gave a scream of pain as her ruby-red blood splattered on the white tiled floor.
After that, they had to put him in a straitjacket.
Three months, and still no improvement. Their Jack (for he was still theirs, even if his mind was broken and his reason fried) was still violent and unpredictable.
He had taken to talking to himself. Most of his talk was mere gibberish, the subject bouncing around like Tooth on a sugar-high, but occasionally a few moments of clarity shone through the darkness.
He was in one of those moments of lucidity when Bunny was on watch.
"Hey, Kangaroo!"
It took no other prompt for Bunny to rush to his little brother's bedside. For a brilliant, shining second the Pooka felt a faint ray of hope…
Hope that was swiftly dashed when the older Guardian saw the tell-tale glint of madness in the boy's eyes.
"Hey, Kangaroo, wanna hear a story?"
The warrior bit back a caustic comment, instead deciding to humor the kid. "Sure, Jackie. Let's hear that story of yers."
"Well then, you'd better sit down. It's a long one."
Bunny did so.
The brown-haired imp breathed in deeply, as though steeling himself for a painful task, before a sudden manic smile grew on his face. He giggled lightly before beginning to speak.
"Once upon a time, there was a boy and his younger sister."
He coughed.
"They were as close as close could be, always together and carefree."
A slight giggle.
"They loved each other like no one else, their love a legend in itself."
Outside, the wind howled.
"One day on a frozen lake, they both went out to skate."
Was Bunny imagining it, or was there a faint sound of cracking…?
"The ice cracked beneath their feet, speaking a tale of harsh defeat."
The windows rattled as the wind blew all the harder.
"The boy didn't want his sister to die, so he decided to tell a lie."
There was that cracking noise again…
"He told her they would be fine, even though shivers went up his spine."
Jack, I'm scared…
"He pushed her off the ice, she was safe, but at a price."
Jack!
"The ice broke underneath him, but he didn't know how to swim."
Jack! I'm scared!
"He thrashed in dark blue water, like a lamb brought to the slaughter."
JACK!
"His struggles slowly ceased, he was finally deceased."
JACK! NO!
"But this was not the end, no, far from it, my friend!"
JACK! COME BACK!
"For the moon then brought him back...and told him his name was Jack."
All was quiet at the Pole.
Even the rail-thin figure creeping through the hallways was quiet.
He made his way carefully through the passageways, hardly daring to make a sound, the ripped remnants of a bloodstained straitjacket hanging limply off his slender frame. Silently, he sneaked into the Globe Room.
From there, it was simplicity itself to climb onto one of the windowsills and open the window. For what seemed like an eternity, the figure simply stood there, staring blankly into the white void as the wind whipped around him and the Moon bathed him in its rays.
Then, with a swift, decisive moment, the figure stepped off the windowsill into the void.
And as he fell, he shouted a final request to an old friend.
"Wind, take me home!"
A/N:
Maniae are ancient Greek spirits that personify madness and insanity.
Also, I'm leaving it up to you as to what exactly happened to Jack and Bunny.
...Review?