Chapter Three:
The first time Bunny had seen him, it was 1632. He was going about his business checking good egg hiding locations when he felt that something was not right with one of the the small homes he was crouched outside.
He hesitated, not wanting to barge into someone's home when there could be nothing wrong. So instead he waited outside, straining to hear if anything was wrong. There was... crying. A woman was sobbing and that definitely spelled "Wrong" in his book. Daring to peek in a window, there was a young woman crouched over the unmoving body of her small son. The breath froze in Bunny's lungs and he almost teared up.
Winter was always harsh in this new land, and many children had lost their lives because of it, but it never became any easier. He was about to back away and give the women her privacy to grieve when he saw it, standing as still and dark as a shadow, watching the spectacle in front of it unemotionally. It wore a long black tattered cloak with a hood so deep he couldn't see the creature's face and it carried a scythe.
Though Bunny had never seen a Reaper before, but North had warned him about the Grim Reaper. So, it was only natural that he would assume this was dark being standing in the corner.
As the thing started to move away from the scene of the crime towards the window, Bunny hid around the corner of the cottage and watched the shadow creature slip out the window. Slowly the rage started to build up in his heart and the moment the child killer was out in the open, he struck.
He caught the creature off guard with a boomerang. It dodged the blow, but not without stumbling. Two huge black wings, easily 10 feet long each, sprung from behind it and it took to the safety of the skies, looking down at him.
"Yah stay away from the children yah hear! I am a Guardian of Childhood, and I WILL do my job!"
The creature continued to hover there for a moment before turning away and disappearing into the inky black sky.
The second time he saw the creature was when it was creeping out of the bedroom of Christopher Robin. He watched as it slipped out the window, shut it firmly behind it, and stood there for a moment as if it was pondering something.
Bunny was well aware that Christopher Robin was a very special little boy. He could see all spirits, lunar or otherwise, with or without believing in them. North suspected that it had something to do with his overgrown imagination. North had also said that other, less friendly, spirits might take an unhealthy interest in the boy. So, without warning, Bunny had attacked. The Reaper was swift in evading his boomerangs.
Again Bunny had shouted a warning at the beast before it had flown off. Just to be safe though, he had come back the next night right on time to see the Reaper exiting the very same window again.
It had dodged his boomerangs before, so this time he went started for a full body tackle. Down it went and he landed right on top of it. It was... smaller than he had imagined. He figured it must be mostly bones underneath the cloak, but he couldn't tell because it had somehow managed to cover its face to conceal its identity during the fall from the second story window. That was the first time he heard it speak.
"Get... off..." It said in a shaky, rattling voice.
It had struggled until it made a lucky hit and jumped away. Bunny wasn't done yet though. He couldn't bare the thought of this THING taking the life of another child.
The Reaper pulled a glittering scythe from seemingly nowhere and held it at the ready, in the perfect position to chop off his head if it wanted to, but then it hesitated. It made the stupid mistake of swinging wide and turning tail to retreat just as it had the night before.
Before it could get away, Bunny threw one last boomerang in its direction and it made perfect contact with one of its wing joints. It plummeted back down to the earth where it stayed, unmoving.
Bunny was approaching it to make sure it had finally gotten the message when the skies lit up in a florescent show of the night rainbows- a sure sign that North was calling an emergency Guardians meeting.
"Looks like yah get off easy this time bloke, but don't ever let me see you sneakin' in or out of any kids bedrooms, ya hear?" He said to the unmoving mass at his feet. It didn't respond. Still, he had other things to do so, he summoned a tunnel and off went...
... Only to find out that the Man in the Moon wanted to turn the very thing he had just fought into another new guardian.
"WHAT!" He was fuming, raging mad. There was no way they had gotten the right message. No way he wanted a child killer as a Guardian of Childhood. Still, there was an uneasiness growing in the pit of his stomach trying to tell him that there was something he was missing, like he didn't know the whole story. Still, he stubbornly pushed it away.
Presently, he was pacing angrily in front of Sandy (who was playing tug-of-war with an elf over a cup of eggnog), Tooth (who was squinting at the ice sculpture of Grim Reaper like if she did it would suddenly change shape), Jack (who leaned over to Tooth to ask, "Was he this mad when the moon chose me?" to which she shook her head), Animalia (who was staring at him as if he had finally lost his marbles) and North who almost seemed unaffected by the announcement.
"We cannot let that THING in 'ere after what it's done! Reapers have no soul- you said it yerself North! It's gone after Christopher Robin twice now-"
"And little boy was just fine," North interrupted. Bunny paused to consider but shook it off.
"We don' know what he was plannin though," Bunny insisted. "It could be gatherin' intelligence for a later time. It could be workin' for Pitch!"
"Come on Cotton Tail, it's a Lunar Spirit," Jack said, trying to lighten the already dark atmosphere. "If the Man in the Moon made him, he can't be that bad."
Bunny shook his head adamantly. "Oh no Frost. You don' get it. Reapers don't think like you an' me; they don't FEEL like you an' me. All they concern themselves with is killin'- no matter the age of their victims. I've seen wha' they do mate. It isn't pretty." Jack shifted uncomfortably under Bunny's intense gaze and looked at the ice sculpture in the middle of the room. It really didn't look all that scary. Just a petite figure wearing a cloak with a deep cowl and carrying a scythe in its hands. The figure looked weary, but not violent.
"Maybe he's not a Grim Reaper at all," Animalia said softly. "He could be something else completely. The Man in the Moon didn't make the Reapers. Why would he make this one to do the same things?"
Bunny paused to consider her words carefully. It had become a very well known fact that Animalia was Bunny's voice of reason; his best friend. If anyone could get him to listen, it was her. The other Guardians figured it must be another one of her animal related powers.
"Bunny," North said softly. "Manny knows what he iz doing. We must trust him." Bunny looked from North, to the rest of the Guardians, who were nodding in agreement, then back at North.
"Fine," Bunny sighed. "But the moment that bloke starts acting fishy, I'm makin' him leave no matta what the Moon says."
North clapped his hands together and got to his feet. "Good! Then you can take yeti and bring back Reaper." Immediately Bunny began to bristle again.
"What!? North I-"
"You are the only one who knows where to find him" North interrupted once more. "You were last to see him."
"I'm probably also the last person he wants to see," Bunny muttered.
"Aw, buck up Kangaroo. You can take this as your chance to apologize to him for attacking him earlier."
Bunny glared at him, making sure that the teen Guardian of Fun knew his comments were not appreciated.
"Better get moving Bunny," Tooth giggled. "Or you won't find him on time."
Knowing he was fighting a losing battle, Bunny threw his hands up in surrender and started marching toward the door.
"Fine then. I'll get the bloody Reaper myself and when everything starts fallin' to pieces I will sit back an' laugh."
He slammed the door behind him and the remaining five Guardians sat in awkward silence. Jack was the first to break the tension.
"Well he was in a good mood today."
