Aster stumbled back to the sleigh in a numb daze. He avoided the gazes of North and Tooth as they looked up at his late arrival, words far beyond his capability even if he'd wanted them. The other Guardians thankfully recognized the signs of his need for privacy: Bunny was just as secretive of his thoughts and feelings as Jack was at times. As it was, they were much too caught up in their own guilt to pay attention to Bunny's. North and Tooth were lost in their own thoughts, trying to decide how to divulge what they'd learned to their new member and how to help him.

Bunny was trapped in a sea of his own memories. Clips of past interactions with Jack. Haunting words…'burned'….'beaten'….'babbling like crazy''1968'…. An Easter filled with biting cold and swirling snow.

The blizzard hit ravage most of the eastern United States and even traveled across the Atlantic to parts of Europe. When Aster tracked the source of the storm to the small town of Burgess, he'd pinned the blame on a certain winter spirit. Had it been any other day, Bunny might have thought things out more. He might have thought more about how strange it was for Jack to do something so destructive; the boy was always pining for attention when they'd crossed paths before. Any other day, and he would have thought of those things. But it was Easter, and Aster couldn't think of anything past his anger.

So, he hunted the boy down. And when he found him at his lake, Bunny was cold, tired, and still seething. He was not in the listening mood.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" He stormed up to the smaller spirit, boomerang in hand. He paid no mind to how Jack stumbled away from him, wary with a deep frown marring his usually bright face.

"I'm sorry….it's just…I need help." Jack's voice was soft, heavy with tears. He looked up at the rabbit, hugging his staff to his chest like a beloved stuffed animal. Bunny refused to see the vulnerability of the stance.

"Ya need help. You've ruined my holiday an' yer askin' me fer help?!" Jack flinched back, and thinking back on the moment, Bunny couldn't believe he ignored how small Jack looked. How young.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't think of anything else to do. Please, you have to—"

"I don' have to do anythin'!" Bunny stormed forward, shoving his weapon under the child's nose. The wide, terrified eyes that swam with tears as he starred up at him did nothing to curb the Easter Guardian's rage.

"Just listen please—"

"I don' care what ya have to say! But ya best listen ta me: if ya ever, ever mess with my Easter again, I will end you. Understand?" Tears spilt over bruised and cut cheeks, oh god had the boy really looked like that? Bunny took no notice at the time. He blatantly ignored the way Jack trembled and sobbed. Refused to see the yellowing bruises, the healing split lip or the cuts the littered his face. He could still smell freshly burned skin on the child, but he ignored it all in favor of his anger. He just snorted and walked off, leaving Jack alone and sobbing in the middle of his blizzard.

Bunny brought his head to his knees, running his paws over his ears, trying to separate what were his true memories and what were effects of his guilty imagination. But as he went through the memories over and over again, Aster found that it was not only impossible to do so, but worthless to try. Jack had been hurt, deeply, physically and psychologically, and he'd come to Bunny for help. And he'd done nothing to help. Aster felt all the air being crushed out of his lungs as tears slipped out of his closed eyes. Oh god. Oh god….

-Line Break – Line Break—Line Break-

The flight back to the Pole was quiet and tense. There was not a dry eye among the three; Tooth sobbed openly, hugging herself as she flew into the workshop, North and Bunny holding back from doing the same through sheer force of stubborn male pride. Jack and Sandy had not yet returned, and for that they were grateful.

"What are we going to say to him?" The question was so littered with sobs, it was almost impossible to understand it. "What are we going to say?" Even when Tooth got her breathing under control to ask again, there was no answer. What could they say in the face of this failure? Sorry we left you vulnerable and alone, an easy target to a monster that tormented you for a year? That we didn't even know for fifty years after the fact? What could be said to all that?

"We tell him he iz not alone. And that we will help him." It wasn't much, but it was a start.

It was hours before the final two Guardians arrived, and even then North, Bunny and Tooth had no idea what they were going to say. Tooth volunteered to fill Sandy in, leaving a confused Jack alone with North and Bunny. "What's going on guys?" Bunny wanted to speak, should have been the one to speak, but the words refused to flow through the dam of his guilt.

"We spoke to Adam." North knelt to Jack's level, large hands swallowing the boy's stiffened shoulders. "And we know…we know what happened. About what happened with Kyden." North tightened his hold as Jack jerked to run. "Iz alright, son, iz alright!"

"Let go! You don't know anything!" Jack fought like a wild thing in the big man's grasp, slapping and clawing at the arms that kept him in place. Aster moved to North's shoulder, grasping the boy's face and forcing him to look at him.

"We know that he hurt ya, kid. And we know that yer friends asked you ta stop him from hurtin' anyone else." Jack starred wide eyed at the rabbit Guardian. North released the boy's shoulders, leaving him fully in Bunny's hands.

"I don't want to go back." The voice was so small, so scared… so much like the voice in a blizzard on a frozen lake. Bunny's heart gave a squeeze that almost toppled him over. He gave himself a ruthless mental shake. Now was not the time for self-pity and guilt; Jack needed his help.

"We'll help ya, kid. I promise we will."

Tooth interrupted any response from Jack, pulling the boy into a tight hug, running her fingers through his hair as she rocked him. Sandy looked ragged as he followed her in, floating over to North and Bunny with a devastated look. North grasped the golden man's shoulder, expressing his shared sorrow.

"We'll fix it Sandy, we'll fix it," Bunny assured as he hopped over. The three watched as Jack broke down in the fairy's arms, clinging to her back as he sobbed into her shoulder. The boy's cries had Sandy flying across the room to bestow his own comforting hug around Jack's waist. North was only a heart-beat behind, wrapping all three into his large arms. Only Bunny stood back, resisting the urge to join in the hug. He'd had his chance to comfort Jack through this, and he'd blown it. The only thing to be done now was make sure that monster never got his hands on the boy again.

-Line Break – Line Break – Line Break-

Jack refused to tell that the details of what happened to him, or to say much of anything. No matter how much Tooth, or North or even Sandy tried to pry the information out of him, Jack remained stubbornly zip-lipped. The silence in the sleigh was only broken by Jack's occasional command as he directed them to Kyden's Oasis. Bunny didn't know how to deal with this. He'd never seen Jack so subdued; it was unnerving.

"Just keep going straight. You won't be able to miss it," Jack directed as they flew over the blinding sands of the Sahara. Bunny made his way over to the boy, who kept his gaze firmly out on the horizon to his left.

"Jack," the winter boy turned to look at him, looking tired and scared. Aster took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "we're here fer ya. Ya got nothin' ta worry about."

"I don't think I can believe that," Jack said, voice hollow.

"Jack—" Bunny knew, had told himself many times, that Jack had no reason to believe they would take care of him. But to hear the child come to that same decision…. It was devastating.

"Do you even have a plan? Do you have any idea what you're going to do?" Anger seeped into the boy's, lighting them up for the first time in hours.

"Jack—"

"Cause I'll tell you, talking to him isn't going to work! So tell me what are plan is and then assure me that I have nothing to worry about!" The other Guardians starred at the boy in shock at the out-burst. Aster opened his mouth. Closed it.

"We are here," North called, breaking the silence. All the righteous anger that gave life to Jack's face drained away, leaving him sickly pale. He took shuddering breaths as they landed, starring at the tree-line in front of them. The boy's description had been accurate; there was no way to miss the sudden over powering spot of green in the middle of the bland, sun-bleached sand.

"North." Bunny pulled the large spirit back as the others filed toward the trees. "What exactly is the plan?"

"We find spirit and give punishment."

"Alright. Any details to that plan?" North only smiled and walked off to join the others, leaving Aster to conclude there wasn't much of a plan.

The oasis was en-circled in a shimmering dome that gave off a slight pink hue. The others turned to Jack, who was staring deep into the trees with a mix of a kind of horror and weighted acceptance. He turned when he felt the stares of his fellow Guardians.

"It's how Kyden's kept in there. Kind of like a shield," he explained, turning his attention back to the depths of the forest.

"So….now what?" Jack gave Bunny a knowing glance at Tooth's question. Bunny bristled in annoyance.

"We go in there an' find this freak." Bunny marched forward only to be stopped short by Jack as the boy grabbed his arm.

"We can't go in there!" he cried in a panic.

"Jack, how else do ya think—"The rustling of approaching footsteps cut him off. Bunny crouched into a defensive position, pushing Jack behind him. The others followed suit, prepared to fight the spirit that had tormented Jack. What burst from the bushes was a scared girl not much older than the winter boy, dark hair matted with twigs and leaves, tanned face burned and cut, the remains of her clothes so tattered there was no telling what they'd once been. Her frightened eyes widened when she caught sight of them, relief shinning. She pushed toward them, babbling pleas rapidly in a foreign language. Tooth gave a cry of distress and made to fly forward and help the girl, only to be stopped by Jack in the same manner as Bunny had.

"Jack, honey—"

"There's nothing you can do, Tooth," he told her solemnly. Tooth gave him a confused look, turning back to the spirit making her way toward them. The girl was within touching distance of the barrier when a column of flames engulfed her. The relief in her eyes turned to utter terror and pain as she gave a shrilled scream that echoed in the air even as she was reduced to ash. The Guardians stood in shock, staring at the smoldering remains.

"Yes! The crowd goes crazy!" The voice came from a spirit perched in the tree at the left of what remained of the girl. His voice was low and scratchy, like someone who hadn't had anything to drink in days. He stopped his cheering laughter when he caught sight of the spirits looking in at him from the shield. A smile nearly split his face as he jumped down as he made his way toward them. "Hello there. Don't get visitors often; what do I owe the pleasure." His smile faded for a moment as he caught sight of Jack, creeping back in an unsettling grin when the boy's gaze locked with his.

The fire spirit was a good head taller than Jack, and had the physical appearance of someone in their late twenties. He had a muscular build rather than the lithe figure common among elementals. The spirit had a tanned, ragged face framed by chopped fire-red hair and a set of molten eyes that stayed fixated on Jack's face. Volcanic red met winter blue.

"What did you….why would you do that?" Tooth asked, eyes darting from the ashes to the fire man.

"Hmmm?" The spirit dragged his eyes away from Jack, and over to Tooth. "Oh, I was finishing the game."

"What game?" North spoke this time, bringing the fired gaze over to the big man. But, Bunny noticed, those eyes never stayed off of Jack for more than a second.

"Hide and seek. She was good, took me almost three months to get her. Nowhere near the record," eyes fell on Jack again, "but good."

"Why?" The question was laced with disgust and horror. That finally snapped the spirit's gaze firmly from Jack.

"Why? I was lonely. I was bored. She was stupid enough to wander in here. But, really just," he waltzed up, the barrier the only thing that separated him from theP fairy, "why not?"

"Yer Kyden." It was statement, but Kyden still turned to answer; ignoring Tooth, who looked on the edge of crying or losing her lunch, in favor of Bunny.

"I am. And you brought me back my lost bird." Jack gave a shutter behind Bunny as Kyden's gaze fell on him again. That grin crawled up the spirit's face again, and Bunny felt a strong urge to march forward and smack it off his face. He settled for keeping a tighter grip on Jack and pushing the boy further behind him.

"Yer gonna pay fer what ya did."

"Am I? You see, I have to disagree with that."

It happened fast. One moment Jack was behind him, and the next he was slipping down and out of his grasp. Bunny whipped around, just in time to see Jack fall through the earth. The boy landed at Kyden's feet on the other side of the barrier, trying to scramble away as the fire spirit lifted him to his feet. "Yes, afraid I have to disagree. No more visitors now, bye-bye." Kyden twirled his fingers in dismissal, eyes never leaving Jack's frightened blues.

The shield's shimmering surface seemed to freeze, pink hue growing more solid and spreading rapidly toward the ground. Realizing the barrier was solidifying, Bunny charged forward. He'd promised Jack – and himself – that Kyden wouldn't get his hands on the boy again. And, by hell or high water, he was not going to break that promise. Aster sprang forward with a cry, jumping through the shimmering barrier just before it froze shut, leaving the remaining Guardians trapped on the other side, banging against the wall. Bunny felt lightheaded and empty, like something had been ripped out of him in pasting through. The rabbit looked up at Kyden, who was holding a struggling Jack against his chest while the boy looked down at his fellow Guardian in open terror.

"Well now," the spirit said with the look of someone who'd found a bothersome animal in their kitchen, "this changes things." A foot connected hard with his temple before Bunny could respond, sending him instantly into the darkness of unconsciousness.

And now things get real. Let me know what you think.