I do not own Rise of the Guardians, or its characters..

A/N: I SHARE MY ACCOUNT WITH A FRIEND.
She's never reviewed as me before, but she's moved away and we message back and fourth using my account. That's why it seems as though I wrote a review to my own story. I'm not sure how to delete her review and will do so as soon as I can.

He floated in a sea of twisting blackness, of screams and cries, of hatred and despair. It choked his very soul, dragging it down deeper into the thick sand. He tried to break through the surface, but the darkness was as thick as blood, cloaking his fur and blinding him. His arms moved, his legs strained, but he couldn't move. His lungs burned, his body felt cold and he couldn't seem to connect anything as to what had happened. Where was he? Who was he? What was going on?

A sudden red light appeared before him, and for a moment he could breath, and he gulped the air greedily.

He was hit by the stench rot and decay and death, no doubt from a place where things went to die without fighting back. The smell was so clogging that he gagged as his eyes jeweled with sharp tears. He tried to rear away from it, to rip his body from the clutches of what held him, but it held him firm, somehow forcing his eyes to stay wide open as the scene began to play out before him, in black and red.

Then the screams began anew. Much louder. Raw. More agonized.

.X.

"North!" Jack cried as Bunny suddenly jerked, body trembling, his whole body locking before it began thrashing. They were on their way back to the Pole, Sandy and Tooth already out and making rounds to try to bring back the children's belief in them. Bunny had been hit with a massive amount of Nightmare Sand before the kids had somehow changed the sand back to its usual golden color.

Bunny had fought in a way that Jack had never before seen, going and slashing through Nightmare after Nightmare, keeping the kids behind him. He had been a physical shield for almost everyone - especially Jamie. The monsters had made it their mission to grab the kid, but Bunny kept that from happening, even though they had gotten separated for several long minutes. He had even taken several hits from those beasts for both Tooth and Jack, and the frost spirit knew that if he had been hit by the sand, he would have succumbed to the fear. How Bunny had kept it together for so long before his body just shut down was incredible, but when it happened, it frightened him.

All that Nightmare Sand that had crashed down upon him, after all those bows...He could have broken bones, cuts and bruises and internal bleeding; infection and sickness could be spreading...and the Nightmare Sand itself...

The sleighed sped up as the Russian glanced over his shoulder. "Keep him still! We arrive shortly!"

Jack jumped to command, wrestling to tie Bunny down. Just a few more minutes, he knew, before they would get there. But Bunny was larger, stronger and bucking, managing to get the upper hand for a moment. The frosty spirit was thrown back and Bunny almost fell off the stair-like benches but Jack was able to grab him. Jack knew that the rabbit was going to hurt himself, and he feared for that. Jack locked his arms around the Pooka as they landed. North was beside him in a second, yelling hoarsely for the Yetis.

North scooped the thrashing Pooka and needed several Yetis - including Phil - to restrain their friend as his limbs snapped sharply in different directions in random patterns. His ears were curled close to his scalp, his fur turned to a dark black-blue that had sand falling from his form. He kicked out, effectively taking out a Yeti because his powerful foot connected with the Yeti's face, sending him crumpling to the ground with a thud, and no other sound. But it was the sound Bunny was making that terrified Jack even more.

There were no words to describe the noise.

They rushed through the massive work station, Yetis jumping out of the way and elves gathering small clusters under the tables, all staring as the group rushed Bunny towards the infirmary. They took the stairs two at a time, Bunny held tightly between them and still jerking, fighting to free himself as his face contorted in agonized fear and desperation. His eyes were screwed shut tightly, his paws shaking and whimpers coming from deep in his throat. He then did something completely unexpected.

He let out a scream so horrifying, so totally shocking, that the entire Pole went deathly silent, and they stumbled to a stop tow thirds of the way up the spiral staircase. It echoed and resounded, making Jack tremble violently, before Bunny's throat seemed to have closed off all noise but the rapid fall and rise of his chest told there was no problem with his breathing.

After that dizzying second of utter fearful shock, North said, "We must hurry. Wash off all sand and get him awake."

"What-What if we can't wake him?" Jack choked out as they made it to the landing, running down a side hall and entering the infirmary. What if Bunny never woke up? They had no prior experience with this Nightmare Sand. What if this was permanent?

"We will wake him." North said forcefully, but even Jack saw the doubt in his eyes.

Like every other room in the Pole, the medical room was overly huge. Beds lined the one wall, medical supplies in cabinets ran along the back wall while there was a medium sized room off to the side. The room shone of polished wood and startling white privacy curtains. They took him into it, but had trouble getting him into the tub. He slammed his fist into the side, barely missing North's face, and cracking the porcelain.

"Hold him down," North commanded as he turned on the water, spraying them all with the cold that slowly worked its way warm. Bunny let out a few more blind punches, his legs breaking the back end of the tub and sending shards of it flying. His whole body shook, and he writhed, his body bucking and twisting, trying to break their hold. Black sand and dried blood washed down his fur, which was plastering itself to his body.

Cold fear washed down North's back at the sight of all the blood; he had not realized that Bunny had been so badly injured.

He locked eyes with Jack.

Bothe he and Aster were in need of him. He had to keep calm, had to keep a level head. First thing they needed to do was to get the sand off of their friend and clean his wounds, bandaged them and re-set his dislocated shoulder. From there, he'd work on the information he would gather by checking their friend's wounds. "Phil, start washing Bunny's head. You, start washing his feet. Jack, Randy, Ken, Mindy and I will hold him. Be sure to clean everywhere, but be quick."

Jack's face was increasingly paling, but North only noticed when Aster was able to wrench his arm - which was attached to his dislocated shoulder - from the young man's grasp. The young spirit was staring at all of the black and red, just pouring down the drain, mixing with the bubbles of the soap.

"Jack. Jack," North said. "Go wait in infirmary. We take care of this, da?"