Bunny ran down a tunnel as fast as he could while holding Jack to him with one arm and using the other to help propel his body forward. Jack's arms had wriggled out of his blanket cocoon and wrapped themselves around the Pooka's neck, weakly holding on to aid the arm wrapped around his back. They were heading towards the North Pole, at first Bunny had considered taking Jack back to the Warren to let him recover and then decided against it. Even though he would have preferred to look after the young Winter Spirit in his home where he could take care of him and not let anyone hurt him anymore Jack would most likely be more comfortable in the room he had gotten used to calling home since he had first become a Guardian and Bunny feared that the Warren would prove to be too uncomfortably warm for the cold loving boy. That and he figured Jack wouldn't want to be near anything Spring related at the moment anyway.
Jack had been drifting in and out of consciousness as they traveled but at the moment seemed a little more lucid than before, which Bunny had taken as only a good sign. The boy's arms tightened around the Pooka's neck "Stop, put me down" he gurgled, his face pressed tight to Bunny's throat and puffing out icy breaths.
Bunny quickly came to a halt and adjusted his hold to lower Jack to the soft earthen ground of the tunnel "What's the matter?" he demanded as his paw fluttered nervously over the boy's frame, unsure of what to do, he tugged the blanket down to view the injury in Jack's chest. The gouge glistened up at him in the dim light of the tunnel, drops of frosted blood sluggishly trailed down the youth's torso. Jack twisted his body to lay on his side with the blanket wrapped around his lower body, his hands clawing at the dark warm earth and coming away with handfuls of the stuff. He choked out a rough cough and then a mix of icy slush and water erupted from his pale lips pooling in front of his face. Bunny rubbed his back soothingly as he continued to heave, his body shaking until he had finished leaving him weak and out of breath. The Pooka's paw gently stroked through his snow white hair the moved down his face to carefully lift his chin so he could see the boy, handling him as if he was made of the delicate frost he made.
Jack's eyes glanced to his briefly "Mmm... Bunny I don't... I don't feel good" he uttered as his eyes slipping closed from pure exhaustion.
"I know Frostbite. Yer gunna be fine, we'll get ya ta somewhere safe and you can sleep" Bunny soothed, his thumb softly stroking the young boy's cheek where his paw was curled loosely around his jaw. "Gettin' ya back home ta the Pole" he added. Jack hummed and in agreement without any other comment and the lack of any smart retort was alone enough to make the older Guardian feel uncomfortable. He rearranged the blanket to fully cover him again before lifting the boy back into his arms and once again began traveling down the tunnel.
What would the others say when they saw Jack? Of course they would be concerned for the new Guardian but Bunny couldn't stop the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, what if they were mad at him? What if they hated him for what he had done to Jack? He was almost positive that once Jack had recovered and could think straight again he would be fearful of him but Bunny didn't know if he could bare it if his other friends hated him too. The Guardians were the first people that Bunny cared about since his race was destroyed and if they didn't want him with them anymore he wasn't sure what he would do. He'd be alone again.
Pushing back those thoughts in aid of focusing on Jack he continued running, the tunnel now climbing up and finally the darkness gave way to light as a hole formed. He leaped out of the newly appeared hole in the ground, clutching desperately to the limp body in his arms and he peered around at his surroundings. Damn, he had been slightly off with his calculations again and had remerged just down the hill from Santoff Clasen instead of inside of Jack's room as he had been aiming for.
"Nearly there, Jackie" he said softly to the mostly unresponsive Spirit in his arms and quickly made way towards the home of the Guardian of Wonder, all the while holding back loud curses as the deep snow froze his feet as not to discomfort Jack anymore.
On reaching the front entrance the Yeti standing guard took one look at the two Guardians before quickly opening the door and granting them access, she then yelled something down the hall to someone else who yelled back in equally confusing Yettis.
Bunny turned back to her once he had entered "North in his office?" he asked and she replied something he couldn't understand but made a show of nodding enthusiastically to make herself clear, he supposed he should really one day try to learn Yettish, but it was one of those things that he never saw the need for until it came to times like this and the same went for Tooth's little fairies.
Jack had once again gone worryingly silent although Bunny refused to think on that as he quickly made his way through the workshop and moved along in to North's residential wing where the jolly man's office was located.
Without a word of warning he barged open the heavy wooden door and came to a still in the centre of the office. North turned away from his latest ice toy he had been working on to most likely have to tell Phil once again about knocking but on seeing the Pooka all words that may of been died in his throat, deep blue eyes glanced down to the small form in the older Guardian's arms.
"Jack!" he shrilled and letting out no less than seven Russian profanities, striding over quickly and looking over the boy in a panicked state. He tilted the boy's head back with a meaty finger from where it was slumped against the furry chest and growling out more profanities seeing him unresponsive. "Vhat happened?" he demanded from the Pooka without looking up at him.
Bunny's ears lowered to rest down on his head "Uh... that is... mate it's a long story... and I" he tripped over his words, holding Jack to him tighter as the man's battle roughened hands stroked the boy's face tenderly.
North's eyes flashed up to his with a dangerous look "Vhat happened Bunny?!" he snapped, his voice just bellow a yell.
"It was the Spring Equinox mate, the passing of the seasons, I knew how it was done but I swear on my best googies I had no idea Frostbite was involved in it"
The anger dulled momentarily "This is vhat you meant by taking pee out of winter? Spirits did this at Spring party?" he asked quietly and Bunny merely nodded in reply.
"Then we vill show them vhat happens when they hurt one of us!" the large man bellowed, one hand snatching one of his swords from his belt "We vill make them regret every tiny thing they have done to Jack, and when we are finished -"
"Stop yelling" a small voice spoke up and both older Guardian's attention was drawn to Jack's face, his expression tightened in discomfort but his eyes still closed.
"Mate, let's just get him taken care of then I'll tell ya everythin'" Bunny pleaded, his ears twitching with worry and holding back the strong urge to touch his nose to the boy's face and snuffle to soothe him.
North's face softened as he looked at Jack and nodded "You are right, Jack will be taken care of first then we go teach Spirits a lesson" he turned and walked towards the door, tucking away his sword and gesturing for Bunny to follow. Walking out into the corridor the large man called out "Dingle!" and from around a turn in the hallway two elves appeared looking eager, the creatures always just seemed to be roaming around the Pole although it was admittedly useful when something was needed. "Find Phil, tell him to send Auroras then come to Jack's room with medical kit" the two elves saluted him and scampered away, nearly tripping over each other in their haste to be useful.
"Yer gettin' Tooth and Sandy?" the Pooka questioned as he followed the once again moving man. He could understand why it was important, they would want to see Jack when they heard that he had been hurt and it was best for all of them to be together so they could plan out their next move but on the other hand Bunny didn't want anyone else knowing, he didn't want them to see what he had done to the boy, especially them out of all people. Sandy who with one stern look could make Bunny feel like a young kit being told off by an elder and Tooth with her large expressive violet eyes that showed so much emotion, he hated seeing her eyes fill up with tears or even worse when they turned into the sharp and unforgiving eyes of a queen.
They would all hate him when they found out what he had done.
"Dah. they must know what has happened" North grunted as he threw open the door to Jack's room and then moved aside to give Bunny room to walk in towards the bed.
"Alright Frosty, just gunna put ya down 'ere" he spoke gently, unsure if Jack was still listening or was unconscious again. When he was laid down on top of the soft duvet Jack gave a whimper and a small hand came out of the blanket cocoon to grasp onto the fur of Bunny's arm, looking down green eyes met glazed over blue "Come on, let go and we'll get yer sorted" he spoke rubbing a thumb on the back of the boy's hand trying to encourage him to release his grip. Jack glanced hazily over at North then hummed, letting go of the fur between his thin fingers and letting out a yawn, seemingly content now that he was somewhere safe he could sleep.
Running his paw over the ice stiff spikes of hair Bunny cooed "That's right, ya can sleep now" and Jack hummed again as he let his body settle down to rest.
The door opened to reveal Phil carrying the medical kit that had been requested, the large creature with no direction from North walked in and placed the kit on the bed beside Jack's still form and began sorting through its contents. North had asked him in not only as he was one of the Yetis with medical training but mostly because he and Jack got on well together and the Winter Spirit would probably feel better knowing a friend was there caring for him rather than an stranger.
Phil called out something over his shoulder while he prepared his equipment "Tooth and Sandy should be here soon" North translated for the Pooka then turned to look at his old friend with grave eyes "Bunny, why is he naked?" he asked, with the expression of a man who could already guess what the answer may be but needing confirmation all the same, no matter how much his heart didn't want to hear it.
so now the guardian's are coming together and Bunny will have to explain what happened, I really didn't like writing this chapter,, it was so hard to get out and hopefully the next will be done much faster although I can't even start until next week after Expo (I'm cosplaying Jack aww yisss) as always please review