Disclaimer: I don't own anything but I totally own Jane and those other OC's!
Chapter 3: Going to the North Pole? I think not!
Jane looked at Bunnymund then at Jamie, who gave her the most horrendous puppy-face in the world. She looked away then back at Jamie, sighing angrily, "Of course! Why not! There's just one thing…Who else can see Thumper?"
Bunnymund's fur ruffled in response but when Jamie's confused amber eyes met his grass green one's, he just sighed and looked at Jane in annoyance. "Little ankle biters like Jamie here," He rolled his eyes at her blank face, "Children, just children and anyone else who believes in guardians; like you. Let's make this process as quick and painless as possible, I'm all ironed out for the day."
"Well kids are running around right now so I don't think you should be going out into the eyes of the public. Why don't I get your paint and bring it back here to you; its effortless on your behalf." Jane reasoned, crossing her arms with a shrug. No biggy, she's just going to get a small tube of red paint for a giant six foot rabbit. "I'll be right back than…" She said, her voice trailing off as she started to leave the forest.
The pair watched at Jane walked away, almost as if in a daze. Jamie grinned up at Bunnymund, "I told you that I'd get her to believe; a promise is a promise."
"She's just not what I expected...she's…more annoying and…wow" Bunnymund said after a second, staring at where the girl had disappeared. Jamie looked up at him with confused amber eyes. "Do ya wanna know something strange?"
Jamie nodded his head but his eyes still shone with confusion, "It's been almost two hundred years since an adult human s' been able to see a Guardian. Some adult humans have been able to see us, just for a second, but we usually were just blurry and were gone the very second we showed up to them. Only some adults keep a child-like heart and still believe in us, but this Sheila was different somehow. Did ya feel the wind? It was as mad as a cut snake; whipping an' hollering like a banshee!"
"Yeah, she had a force field thing pop off of her! Hey, when you tell North about her, could I come? Jack said he was going to be there for a while learning more Guardian stuff and he hasn't played with me in a while." Jamie asked excitedly, wanting to see his friend more than anything.
Bunnymund sighed, "I don't know, mate. This just seems too serious to bring you along for the ride...but…"
"But I won't be bad! I'll just be with Jack the whole time! I swear; it'll be like I wasn't even there!" Jamie pleaded, clenching his hands together in prayer format. "Please, please, please, oh please!"
Bunnymund sighed, holding his large paw to stop the kid's jabbering, "If ya would just belt up and listen for a second I'd tell you what I think we should do. When the Sheila comes back we're going to ask her if she'll come along to North's. But there are only two problems wrong with that; she'll probably say no, and I can only have one person on my back when I go through my tunnels."
"Can't you carry me and let her ride on your back?" Jamie asked innocently. Bunnymund was the strongest person he'd ever seen, so it was only fair to think that Bunny could do anything; that is, other than North.
"I couldn't go fast enough though the tunnels; no room to maneuver with so much weight on me." Bunnymund said. It wasn't that he didn't want Jamie to come along; he liked Jamie, he was a good kid. But he didn't want to be responsible for two humans; let alone an adult.
"Can't you drop me off there then come back and get her?" Jamie asked; desperation starting to reach his tone.
"What if she runs away?"
"Drop her off first!"
Bunnymund smiled softly at the kid, "You're really hoping that you can go, aren't ya?"
"Yeah…" Jamie's amber orbs shifted to his shoes as they dug into the cold ground.
Bunnymund sighed in slight exasperation but his tone wasn't one of annoyance; more like, defeat. "Lemme see what I can do."
Jamie fist pumped in the air and yelled in happiness; that was, technically, like a yes! Bunnymund pulled one of his enchanted boomerangs from its holder on his back then tapped the ground twice, opening one of his many tunnels. He quickly shot the boomerang into the tunnel before it closed up, leaving a petite flower behind. "North'll hopefully get that message soon."
Jamie was ecstatic to be going to the North Pole, but a small thought sudden popped up. "What is Jane doesn't come back?"
Bunnymund looked at Jamie before his green eyes slid to where Jane had left; it had been about twenty minutes…or thirty, "For the love of Man in the Moon!"
Meanwhile, Jane was having a small panic attack.
"Holy fucking…what did I do to deserve this! I-I must be crazy! Like, completely bonkers! The Easter Bunny doesn't exist; especially a six foot something bunny with boomerangs! What the hell do I do?" Jane mumbled to herself as she paced about her room; red paint clenched tightly in her hand. So maybe she was having a mild panic attack.
She had walked numbly back to the park where the adults were pulling out beer. Navigating her way through the crowd, she had been able to find her father to tell him that she was going home early; she was starting to get a splitting headache. The moment she had walked through the front door, she sprinted up the stairs to stare at the red paint tube on her bed table. She told herself over and over; this isn't real, this can't be real, it's not possible! But her head was talking, not her heart.
Her heart was singing joyously in her chest; the Easter Bunny was freaking real! Her inner-child was screaming with excitement while her rational adult side was staring wide eyed at her, wondering if reality would ever reach normalcy. Jane knew, somewhere deep down, that life would never be normal ever again and a domino effect would start to commence. But it would only commence if she wanted it to, she had told herself firmly, all she had to do was bring the paint back and her adventure was sure to start. But if she didn't take the paint back…could she just ignore and continue to live in blissful ignorance?
"No, no that's not possible...is it?" She asked herself quietly, stopping in the middle of the room with her eyes still locked onto the tube in her hand. All Jane would have to do is throw the paint out in the trash…or out the window…
Clink.
Jane's head snapped to her window.
Clink.
Clink.
Clink.
She walked slowly to her window and peaked out from behind the white drapes, "Shit…the window idea is out," She whispered to herself, letting her body sag against the wall next to her. The amber eyed kid, Jamie, was throwing tiny pebbles at her window in a sad, but effective, way to get her attention. She sighed while cursing under her breath as she stepped out into view of her window. Jamie smiled and waved at her enthusiastically. Jane waved back but with much less enthusiasm.
After holding her finger up to him to tell him to wait she turned on her sock covered heal and started downstairs; paint in hand. When she had come home, she immediately slipped out of her green Easter dress and into her thigh length grey Julliard sweatshirt and black leggings. She would rather have sweatpants or yoga pants on instead, but beggars can't be choosers.
Jane hastily opened the backdoor and stepped onto the cold stone of her back porch. She didn't bother to slip shoes on since all she was doing was giving the paint back, or at least she thought so. She held out the paint as Jamie made her way over to him, Bunnymund following closely behind.
"It was taking me a little bit longer to find; I forgot where I put it last night…" Jane lied; wary grey eyes following Bunnymund's every move. Bunnymund did the same but his eyes were sharper than Jane's. If Jane had the same eyes as Bunny did, then she'd be able to see that her hands were shaking slightly and small beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. Now if Jane had Bunnymund's nose…well…let's just say 'smelling fear' was taken to a whole new level.
"At least you weren't bailing on us!" Jamie laughed, innocently overlooking Jane's obvious intentions. "I thought you were going to just leave us in that forest! So we decided to just come to your house to make sure."
"I'm glad you did that then...here's the paint," Jane said, hesitantly handing Jamie the red paint. Jamie took it from her hand before a shiver suddenly climbed its way up his back. He grinned as Jane shuffling from one sock covered foot to the next; trying to heat up her coldish body. "Is it getting colder outside or is it just me?" Jane asked, rubbing her pale hands together then blowing hot air on them.
Jamie's smile seemed to grow as he looked from Jane to Bunnymund, "He's coming!"
"W-who's coming…Damn…why is it so cold?!" Jane shuddered, suddenly able to see her breath. Her eyes narrowed as small snowflakes started to descend from the air; some bits of snow were clinging to her crazed mane. Her grey eyes crossed as they followed a snowflake, watching as it floated onto her nose, melting instantly.
"Frostbite's here," Bunnymund grumbled as he crossed his strong arms resentfully.
Jane tilted her head in confusion, rubbing her hands over her forearms, but before her mouth voiced her brain, an icy gust of wind cut through her thin cloths. She shivered and her teeth chattered quietly as she turned around; looking at what Jamie and Bunnymund were staring at (well…who Jamie was really looking at; Bunnymund just rolled his eyes).
Jane came nose to nose with a young teenage boy, who looked like he had just died from hypothermia. "Boo!"
"S-shit!" Jane's arms flailed about as her sock covered feet slipped on the smooth patio, she was stumbling backwards when gravity started to take effect. Bunnymund quickly bound forward while muttering curses under his breath, even as he quickly caught the shocked young woman. His large paws had found their way underneath her armpits, but she didn't flinch like he thought she would. No, all her concentration was fixed on the floating hypothermic boy in front of her.
"I seriously scared you that bad? Whoa, sorry," The boy grinned sheepishly, dropping from the air to the ground. He grinned at Jane and Bunnymund while swinging a curved staff upon his shoulder; resting quite comfortably there. "I'm Jack Frost."
It was then that Jane noticed that he had no shoes, well, that and a few things; it was hard to ignore the…other details. Details that made her stare with wide grey eyes; Jack's hair was as spiky as icicles and the white color made the icicle analogy even more likely. He wore a frost covered sweatshirt and brown pants and if she wouldn't have been freaking out then she wouldn't have been rudely staring at him and his bright blue eyes.
Bunnymund, ignoring Jane's eyes ogling the boy, was setting Jane upright when Jamie barreled right between the two, "JACK!"
Jamie's little interpose made Jane spin about on her slippery socks and loose balance again. Bunnymund snatched her flying wrist and grabbed her waist; steading her. Bunnymund glared at the excited boy but Jamie ignored the two, to absorbed in Jack to really care about the other company.
"Ya alright?" Bunny asked casually.
"Yeah but your um…paws…their still—"
"O-oh, yeah, sorry 'bout that," the Easter Bunny quickly removed his paws from her waist. One paw rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, he lifted the paint that she had given back. "Thanks for the paint…"
"Well, yeah! I really am sorry for…you know…running you over." She responded awkwardly. A small silence fell upon the two as Jamie and Jack jabbered to each other; Bunny and Jane looked anywhere but at each other. Talk about uncomfortable. "I'm not too good at this kind of thing…conversing…" Jane muttered; running a hand through her blonde tangled mess.
"Huh? What'd ya say?" Bunny said; attention back on her.
"N-nothing…I…a few hours ago I didn't even think the Easter Bunny was real, or Jack Frost, and now…now you're standing right in front of me. This is just too freaking strange." Jane sighed; all she really wanted to do was curl up in her bed and forget about everything that's happened today.
"I can't even imagine, Sheila." Bunnymund trailed off, this might not have been the best of times but he might as well give it a shot. "So I'm guessing that what I'm gonna tell you, isn't what ya wanna hear."
Jane gave him a curious but tired look, "Do I still have time to back out of this whole believing thing?"
Bunny shook his head, "Sorry mate, but we also have to take you to see North."
"North?"
"Yeah!" Jamie yelled to them enthusiastically, getting a piggy-back ride on Jack. "Jack and Bunny are taking us to North's! Jane, we're going to the North Pole!"
"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean we're going to the North Pole? I didn't agree to anything yet!" Jane said, her ears not really believing what she was hearing.
"You said 'yet' so that technically means yes." Jamie pointed out; Jack grinned at his cunning young friend. "You can't just not go! I mean, who gets to say that they've been to the North Pole and met Santa Clause! Not many, I'm guessing…please Jane, Bunny said I can go if you go! Please!"
"I don't know…" Jane bit her lip; this was already looking like a disaster.
A/N: Okie Dokie! This was the finished piece of Chapter 3! It's almost 9 and I totally feel like crap (along with having a crappy day in general) so this chapter isn't even remotely close to being grammatically correct or what not! I'll do that sometime this week but not tonight! I just wanted to get it up and done for! Sorry that it's another Cliff Hanger but when I wrote this, I wasn't really thinking about where to start and stop but how the story would flow~ Whatever! Peace out and see you guys later!