Author's Note: Hello, hello, readers! I have returned with CHAPTER 2 of We're Your Family Too! I'm sorry this took long to update. School and life have been demanding lately. Plus, I'm writing my RTTE fanfic too, so updates will probably take longer than I promised. But don't worry, there is no story left behind! I will do what I can to make sure every story is completed. Also…before we get to the story…REVIEW REPLIES!
To This Day77: Glad you love it! Hope you like what's next!
Guest: YAY! Thank you so much! Hope you continue to enjoy it!
NorthernLight: Interesting prediction! We shall see! Lol
NorthernMage: Yeah, I'm sorry about taking so long to get it up, but please bear with me. I'm doing the best I can. I promise! Well, you'll have to wait and see.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Rise of the Guardians.
Chapter 2
Bunny breathed heavily as he continued to fight the Nightmares flinging his boomerangs and throwing his egg bombs. He slowly began to lose track regarding how many he attacked, but the Guardian of Hope refused to give up. He needed to protect the Guardian of Fun. He couldn't let Pitch take Jack away from the Guardians again, not after all the progress they had been making in welcoming the boy into their group. He threw one last egg bomb at another Nightmare before noticing something out of the corner of his eye. He saw yet another Nightmare slowly creeping behind him and Jack, but he quickly noticed that the sandy stallion wasn't aiming for him. It was sneaking up on…
"Jack, look—" Bunny tried to shout to the boy. However, by the time he did, it was too late.
The black Nightmare crashed into Jack causing him to bang into a nearby tree and to fall to the ground unconscious. As soon as he saw the boy go down, the Pooka ran over to him to check him for injuries.
"Jack!" Bunny shouted as he overlooked the boy and shook the boy to awaken him. "Jack! Come on, ya drongo, wake up! JACK!"
However, the Pooka's calls for the boy to wake up came just a second too late as something grabbed him from behind by the arms. It was two of Pitch's nightmares biting down on his arms holding him back from the winter teen. Bunny then ceased struggling for a moment when he also noticed that the remaining Nightmares suddenly came to a standstill. The Guardian of Hope furrowed his eyebrows together as he was being held captive by two of them. Why did they stop? Before he could say or do anything, he froze when he noticed Pitch…walking over to Jack, who was already to stir. As soon as he noticed the Nightmare King, he struggled yet again trying to pry himself free of the two Nightmares. He had to stop Pitch! He couldn't let Pitch turn Jack back into the Nightmare Prince!
"PITCH!" Bunny shouted at the top of his lungs. "I swear on Manny himself, if you touch one hair on that kid's head, I'm gonna—"
"Shh, Rabbit," the Nightmare King said smirking at Bunny. "We don't want to wake him up, do we? Let's just leave quickly, and I won't be forced to hurt the boy."
However, because Pitch turned his back on the unconscious Guardian, he failed to see that Jack was already beginning to stir. Thankfully, though, Bunny did notice and glared at Pitch realizing what he needed to do. He had to keep the Boogeyman busy for as long as he could…long enough for the Guardian of Fun to attack him from behind.
"What are you talking about, ya ratbag?" the Pookan Guardian asked. "You just said you wanted Jack to be your slave again. Now you're just going to leave him there…when you have the perfect opportunity? What gives? What are you up to?"
Pitch couldn't help but chuckle at the Pooka's question. Despite his glare and brash attitude, he could still feel small traces of fear running through the 6'1" Guardian, but it was overwhelmed by something…something else. The Boogeyman wasn't too sure as to what it was, but he was curious. It wasn't fear from Jack, but it was still very tempting to say the least.
"Oh, don't worry," he finally said. "Once we get back to my lair, everything will fall into—AHH!" He was suddenly interrupted when a blast of frost suddenly knocked him to the ground face first. Once he was down, he quickly turned around glaring only to see that the Guardian of Fun had already come out of his unconscious state and was pointing his staff straight at the Nightmare King.
"Jeez, Pitch," Jack said as he glared daggers at his worst enemy, "you must be really afraid of me if you just go around knocking me out."
"Oh, I'm not afraid of you, Jack," said Pitch. "You're nothing but a thorn in my side!" With that, the Nightmare King conjured up some black sand and flung it at the Guardian of Fun.
However, said Guardian of Fun managed to dodge it and fired yet another frost blast from the staff right at Pitch, but the Boogeyman was just as quick and jumped out of the way only to return the favor by firing back. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't so quick with this one, so the Nightmare sand hit him in the chest causing him to go flying backwards right into a tree and face first onto the ground unconsciousness once again.
"Jack!" Bunny shouted as he struggled against the Nightmares holding him. "Jack, are you okay? Talk to me!" No answer came from the boy. "Jack!" No answer came once again.
"Quickly, take the rabbit back to my lair!" Pitch shouted to the black sand horses. '
The Nightmares obeyed their Master's command and within seconds dragged the struggling and screaming Pooka back into the shadows, and Pitch quickly followed them leaving the unconscious Guardian behind in the grass.
The Guardian of Wonder paced back and forth in front of the Globe of Belief for what felt like an eternity. Tooth and Sandy had arrived two hours ago. That was when Jack was supposed to come back with Bunny so that they could start their meeting, but that didn't happen. Jack and Bunny never showed up, and the meeting never began. The Guardians of Wonder, Memories, and Dreams just stayed where they were next to the Globe waiting for the Guardians of Fun and Hope. At first, North, Tooth, and Sandy assumed that Jack and Bunny were just having so much fun in the Warren like always that they simply lost track of time, but as time went on, the three Guardians became more and more worried for their fellow Guardians, especially the leader of the Guardians himself.
Ever since Jack became a Guardian, Nicholas St. North had come to love the boy as an adoptive son just as Jack had come to love him as an adoptive father. So, it was no wonder that the Guardian of Wonder was about ready to pull his hair out trying to figure out where his adoptive son and fellow Guardian were and why they were so late.
"I don't like this," Tooth finally said aloud. "It's not like them to be so late."
"Something's wrong," North said as he continued to pace. "I can feel it," he moved his hands to his stomach, "in my belly."
Sandy suddenly floated up to North stopping him from pacing and creating sandy images of the three of them standing there with an "X" through it and a magnifying glass over Jack and Bunny.
"Sandy's right!" Tooth said firmly. "We can't just stand here any longer! We have to find them!"
"I agree!" North replied. He then turned to Phil. "Phil, get one of my snow globes!" As soon as Phil ran out of the room, North turned back to his fellow Guardians. "Let's stop by the Warren first. That's where Jack was heading this morning."
Tooth and Sandy eagerly nodded in reply just as Phil came back with another one of North's snow globes. North gratefully took the small orb, whispered their intended location into it, and threw it to the ground creating a large, colorful portal for the three of the five Guardians. Without much hesitation, North jumped through the portal followed by Tooth and Sandy before the portal disappeared behind them.
The silence of the Warren was suddenly interrupted when North's portal appeared allowing the Guardians to emerge. As soon as North, Tooth, and Sandy emerged from the portal, they surveyed the center of the Warren. All seemed quiet, but something still didn't feel right. There were hardly any of the eggs running around, and the golems were nowhere to be found.
"It's quiet…too quiet," Tooth said nervously with her wings fluttering faster and faster by the second.
"Yes…this is very unsettling," North said as he surveyed the area. "Perhaps, we could…" He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of huge feet approaching them. The Guardian of Wonder looked, and sure enough, it was one of Bunny's egg golems. North studied how panicked and jumpy the golem looked. "What is it?"
Instead of verbally answering, the golem suddenly ran in the opposite direction, but thankfully, North quickly understood what it tried to tell him. "Come!" he said to Tooth and Sandy. "Follow the golem! Maybe it will take us to Jack and Bunny!"
"Oh, I hope they're all right," Tooth said before flying after North with Sandy beside her.
Tooth and Sandy followed their leader and the egg golem to one of the deeper areas of the Warren in hopes to find a certain winter teen and Pooka. Within minutes, the golem led the three veteran Guardians to a clearing among the trees, and as soon as they came into the clearing, all three of them gasped when they saw…
"Jack!" North and Tooth shouted in unison as they all ran over to the boy lying down face first in the grass.
The Guardian of Wonder felt his heart pound as he ran over to his unconscious adoptive son and got down on his knees while Tooth and Sandy gathered around him. North quickly picked up Jack in his arms to get a better look at the Guardian of Fun. The boy didn't seem to be badly injured, but North did notice that he had a small bump on the back of his head. He had to have bumped his head on something hard knocking him unconscious.
Tooth scooted up closer to North and Jack and running a small hand through the boy's white hair. She didn't need to ask if he was breathing as she saw his chest rising and falling, but that still wasn't enough to shake the worry she was feeling at the moment, and from the looks of it…North felt the same. "Jack...?" she finally said.
No answer.
"Jack…?" North repeated hopefully. When no answer came again, he tried again. "Wake up, son."
After a few agonizing minutes, Jack's eyes slowly opened allowing North, Tooth, and Sandy to see his blue eyes allowing them to internally sigh in relief. However, when he did, he could only see blurred figures and a mixture of colors above him. He blinked a few times allowing his sight to come back into focus, and when he did, he looked up at the worried faces of North, Tooth, and Sandy. The boy furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. Wasn't he just with Bunny?
"North…Tooth…Sandy…what are you guys doing here?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Tooth and North looked at each other quickly and then back at Jack who was still in North's arms.
"Don't you remember?" Tooth asked with worry in her voice. "We were supposed to have a meeting today, and you and Bunny never showed up. We knew you were here with him today, and so we came looking for you guys."
Jack quickly remembered what Tooth was talking about. The Guardians were having a meeting today, and Jack and Bunny agreed to spend some time together for a few hours before they were to return to the Pole to meet the others. It looked like they were a tad late based on the worried looks on North, Tooth, and Sandy's faces.
"Oh, that's right," Jack said sitting up in North's arms and rubbing his head. "Well, Bunny and I were—" he suddenly gasped when everything came back to him. Pitch…the Nightmares… "Oh no, Bunny! Wh—Where's Bunny?! Did you see him?!"
All three of the four veteran Guardians furrowed their eyebrows together in confusion. How could Jack not know where Bunny was when they were in the Pooka's Warren? Then again, now that he mentioned it, why was it that they only found Jack…without Bunny?
"What?" Tooth asked the boy. "N-No, we just saw you lying here." She then flew up and looked around the clearing for any signs of their Pookan friend. "Bunny? Bunny, where are you?"
She, North, Sandy, and Jack waited in silence to see if they could hear or see any signs of the 6'1" Guardian of Hope, and so far…there was nothing. No Australian accented voice…no Pooka jumping out of the bushes to greet them or to see if Jack was okay after what happened. Nothing…
Jack widened his blue eyes in absolute fear and even horror. If they didn't see Bunny…and Bunny wasn't answering Tooth's calls, then that meant… "Aw, man…w-we got to find him!" he cried as he tried to stand up. "We got to—" He was about to stand up when North kept him from doing so gently pulling the winter teen back into his lap.
"Jack, calm down," North said in a gentle tone. He smiled as Jack took a few deep breaths. "Good boy. Now, calmly, please tell us what happened."
"Okay, well," Jack began thinking back at the scene that unfolded recently, "Bunny and I were playing for a bit when…Pitch somehow escaped from Sandy's prison and attacked us, and he wasn't alone this time. He called a few of those Nightmares to help him." The Guardian of Fun watched the blue, amethyst, and golden eyes of the Guardians of Wonder, Memories, and Dreams widen at the mention of Pitch's sandy minions, and Jack didn't blame them for being worried. Pitch said so himself that he regained strength, and if he regained enough strength to summon those monster horses, then…they had a very big problem on their hands.
Nevertheless, he continued, "Pitch said that he wanted me to return as his Nightmare Prince, but before I could say something, Bunny defended me against the guy." Jack couldn't help but notice North tensing at the mention of the title Pitch gave his boy when he was under his warped influence. "Then the Nightmares suddenly attacked us. We were doing okay holding them off, but then they just started going after Bunny."
Sandy gave a very confused look as he formed a question mark above his head.
Jack shrugged in reply. "I have no idea, Sandy," he said. "One minute Pitch was set on turning me again but commands his Nightmares to grab Bunny and to knock me out. I woke up in time to try to save him, but I was knocked out again." Jack looked down in despair feeling as though he failed the Guardians. He couldn't save Bunny from being kidnapped not even after Bunny did everything he could to protect him. "They must've taken him while I was unconscious."
"But why would he take Bunny when he said that he was coming after you?" Tooth asked raising an eyebrow.
"I…I don't know…" Jack replied sadly still not looking up at the Guardians until he finally looked up at his adoptive father… "North, I'm really sorry…I should've…"
North started at his adoptive son for a few seconds clearly not understanding why Jack felt the need to apologize, but he quickly hugged the boy close. "No, Jack," he began, "it's alright. It's alright. You have nothing to apologize for. Pitch ambushed you two." He hugged Jack tighter as the thought of Jack almost being taken by Pitch again sent shivers up his spine. "I'm just glad that he didn't take you as well. I can't bear the idea of losing you again to Pitch." He then felt himself fill up with determination at the thought of Bunny now being in Pitch's clutches. There was no need to explain what needed to happen next, so he pulled away to look at Jack, Tooth, and Sandy. "Now, we can just focus on getting Bunny back, and we shall not rest until we do."
Author's Note: Well, that's Chapter 2, boys and girls! Hope you all liked it! Be on the look out for CHAPTER 3! And don't forget to leave a review please! Thanks again you guys!