Warnings: There is mention of self harm and suicid attempts and a bit of blood too so if you don't think you can handle that just message me or something and I'll give you the gist of what happened. It was Warnings: There is mention of self harm and suicide attempts and a bit of blood too so if you don't think you can handle that just message me or something and I'll give you the gist of what happened. It was sadly easy to write this since I've been through something like this before, so this chapter hits a sore spot slightly for me. So be nice~
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Silence.
The quiet was just as loud as it would have been if they would have started screaming. In a way, Edgar would have preffered that. He had a long time to get over what happened and prevent such a thing from ever happening again. He remembered the pain in Joyice's voice and the tears falling like rivers from those large green orbs. The pain in his own chest from the mere memory of that night still had his heart twisting, her cries to be loved and her begging them to take her away and live together as a family still as fresh as the time it had happened. Edgar chanced a glance around the table, seeing their shocked faces would have been funny if it weren't for the secret he just told them. Then there was Jack's face, poor thing looked like a deer in the head lights, fear and horror merring such a pretty face was not attractive.
Oh Jack.
Since the boy was sitting across from him, Edgar reached out and patted his limp hand to break him from whatever thoughts that were running through his pretty little head, this didn't go unnoticed by Bunny whom had the hardest time of his life trying to surpress the growl bubbling up in his throat. "I know it's a shock to hear Snowball, but these things happen." The winter boy shook his head and carefully pulled his hand away to rest on his staff. "What do you mean, 'these things happen'? I've never heard of something like that!" Jacks voice was full of child like confusion. It was endearing, if not a little funny and sad at the same time, given that he was a 300 plus year old spirit.
"Jack." The boys name rolling off of Edgars tongue made Bunny grind his teeth. Ever since he met this spirit all he's wanted to do was snatch Jack up and take off with him, and that made no sense to the Pooka! Jack pressed all his buttons and pushed him to a point that he would grind his claws into the nearest tree just so he wouldn't dig them into the Winter Spirit's perfect skin. Wait... Perfect?! Where had that come from?! That was another thing about Jack that Bunny couldn't figure out, why, in all his centuries of being a guardian, did Jack Frost of all spirits rise instincts in him that he thought had been long since buried? But, ever since they put that shadow sneaking rat bag Pitch Black out of commission, Jack had been trying anything and everything he could think of to get on Bunny's good side. From helping out with his Warren to repair the damage done to it, or to helping with Easter by painting eggs till he couldn't move his wrist anymore and/or leading the eggs to each continent till he couldn't even ride the wind anymore and just flopped wherever he seemed to land at the time.
Such things were very sweet and filled Bunny with pride to know that Jack wanted him to, at the very least, accept him in whatever way he could get. To get a smile out of him or some sort of praise for his hard work, even a reprimand for being too careless or loud. Bunny almost purred at the thought of Jack wanting his attention. Ever since Jack became a Guardian Bunny has done his best to endure his childish pranking and such and, after a time, had come to find him endearing in his own way and started to enjoy their little moments of calm bits of happiness that Bunny hasn't felt in a long time... Geez, such things really made Bunny feel his age sometimes. Wait, Jacks talking again. Damn, what was he saying?
"I don't get it! There had to have been a better way then for her to want to die like that!" Poor Jack was still trying to wrap his head around the girl wanting to die, it seemed to strike a bit of fear in the poor boys heart. "Jack, there are some kids out there that would rather die alone then be where they are now." Edgar sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. "You just don't understand when you yourself are so strong willed. It's harder for a child to be alone, with the promise of a loving family he or she can never have, it takes its toll on their fragile minds." He looked over at the quivering girl on the couch as Cupid tried her best to sooth her nightmare. He refused to think of what might have happened that night, of what they would have lost if it had happened. "Haven't you ever felt so lonely that you just wished for it to end? Felt so lonely that the thought of someone actually caring for you was nothing more then a silly dream? A lie, even?" All eyes at the table trained in on Jack, since the question was targeted at him, as he carefully moved his ever present staff to the crook of his left arm so he could shove his hands into his hoodie pockets.
"Yeah, I have.. So? I never thought of killing myself!" Bunny's shoulders tensed, he couldn't help but think that most of it was because of him. He never did learn what really happened back in '68 fully, every time it was brought up Jack would shy away from the subject or change it completely, for either fear of making Bunny mad or just not wanting to talk about it, Bunny didn't know. The thought of Jack so low as to think of ending his own life, however hard for a spirit it would be, made his chest twist in a very familiar way that he hoped to never feel again. There's no way Jack didn't feel that way from time to time, even now with his new string of believers and the big four at his side, it would be hard to wash away all that loneliness. Bunny wanted to whine at the thought, not only for how bad he made Jack feel for most of those years, but also because there was a chance that he wasn't enough to make that hole of loneliness fade. There go his instincts again!
"Like I said Snowy, you're far more strong willed then a lot of kids. Joyice was a very, very lonely and neglected kid. Even now, her sister is held on far higher standards then she is and she still loves that little kid to bits." A bit of fondness touched Edgar's words as he thought of Joyice and her sister. The two were polar opposites, the little girl was all color and smiles while her older sister was dark shades and stern faces. it was perfect in a twisted sort of way. The beloved child and the forgotten sister, quite the romantic title eh?
"Her nightmare is not getting any better. Je suis inquiète..." Cupid had floated up to the table and addressed Edgar with worry clearly etched on her delicate face. Edgar looked over at the girl again and saw her tossing and turning with quiet whimpering leaving her lips at every twist. "Should we wake her?" The angel asked worriedly as she eyed the poor girl as well, Edgar nodded to her. "Yeah, it looks like a doozy." With that the two spirits both left the table to the now weeping girl on the couch. She was crying, boarding on screaming, for whatever it was to stop, to leave her alone. She whimpered when Edgar's hand touched her forehead and eased into her hair gently. "Oi, time to wake up Shadow Princess.. C'mon, wakey wakey." Edgar urged her gently as he carded his hands through her hair with one hand and used the other to lightly shake her shoulder.
Jacks head tilted to the side. Who knew a spirit that was meant to spread fear could be so gentle? Maybe he would ask the Halloween Spirit how he came to be a spirit, after all, he knew next to nothing about the man when he bolted from his company those few decades ago. He was also curious as to what such a touch would feel like, since he hadn't had any contact with another person that wasn't violent or misunderstood. He wondered if it was comforting to feel fingers through your hair like that, it must if Edgar was doing it to wake the teen up, right? He half wondered if he could ask one of the other guardians to do something like that to him? No. He wouldn't ask for that. He never asked for anything other then to been seen and he got his wish, he wasn't about to go asking for more then he thought he deserved.
As Jack sorted out his thoughts to get them under control Bunny watched him with a calculating stare. At first his confusing jealousy had risen its ugly head when Jack showed more interest in the Hollows eve spirit, but now that he was watching him and following his line of sight with a centuries old trained eye, Bunny saw that Jack was puzzled by the way edgar caressed the girls hair to calmly pull her from the nightmare. Then a thought hit Bunny like a brick to the face, Jack hasn't had any contact for over 300 years! He didn't understand what Edgar was doing and was trying to figure it out. The spring spirit wanted to jab himself in the ribs for being jealous from Jack's simple curiosity, however painful it was to realize, and just watched the emotions play across face.
Jack was startled into bumping right into Bunny as he sat beside him when Joyice shouted and started flailing about wildly as if something was out to get her. In a way, there was. Edgar didn't seem fazed by it though, he merely took hold of her and held on until she ceased her flailing and relaxed into him and started muttering in French. Cupid was at her side in seconds, speaking softly back at her in French as she too stroked her fingers through her hair and lightly kissed the side of her head. Jacks head tilted once again, after the shock wore off of course, and watched the two spirits intensely. Could such a touch really be that comforting? Jack didn't have time to think on it again as Joyice started yelling again. "Jack! Where's Jack?! Where is he?!" She sounded so panicked that Jack had to look around the room for a minute to make sure nothing was going to pop out at him. After that he slowly moved his way around the table and stood in front of it. "I'm right here Joy." He said a bit shaky from the sudden outburst.
Once the girls eye trained on him it was like she forgot all about her pain and jumped from the loving embrace of her spirit family and over to the frosty teen. She was across the floor in no time and once she reached Jack her arms shot out and hugged him tightly around his waist as she buried her face in his chest, crying out his name again. "Jack! Such a horrible dream... It felt so real!" She let out a choked sob before forcing her head deeper into the teen spirits chest. Jack looked over at Edgar for a hint of what to do, he's never had to comfort someone before or had ever been comforted, he was at a loss for what to do. Edgar rolled his eyes and mimed a hug with his arms and a patting motion with his hands. Slowly, if not awkwardly, Jack wound his arms around Joyice gently and patted her back softly like Edgar had showed him. Looking back up from the girls head and over to Edgar, seeing him nod and making an up and down motion with one hand and pulled his arms in closer to tell him to hug tighter. Jack did just that and was surprised that something so simple could calm the babbling teen so easily, he kept this up for a good few minutes until Joyice felt like she could pull away enough to look at him again.
Joyice's eyes were watery and glassy from her sobbing and her bottom lip trembled slightly. "Jack, I'm scared." She looked it too, Jacks center came out then and he reacted on instinct alone, Jack pulled the girl into a tight hug before pulling her away and kept her at arm's length before speaking. "I know, but it's alright, we're gonna figure this out together, okay? I'm here and so it's all good!" Jack gave his normal crooked smirk before pulling the girl back in for another tight hug. Joyice, along with the rest of the people in the room, were taken aback by Jack's actions. Joyice recovered quickly and returned the hug gladly... Until the pain hit her again. Groaning Joyice crumbled to the ground onto her side in a heap and nearly took Jack down with her. "Ooooooow..." The teen girl whined pitifully as she curled into her body to relieve the pain that coursed through it.
Jack panicked for a split second, thinking he was the cause of her pain, but soon remembered she was a bit worse for wares as it was when she had come into the globe room. Kneeling down to the whining girl he noticed a splotch of red at her hip when her sweater rode up a bit. Fear laced his features at the crimson color before twisting towards the other Guardians. "Guys she's bleeding!" His voice was high pitched and scared, he himself has never bled before so seeing such a thing made that creeping feeling of dread spread through his chest.
Edgar was at her side in just a blink and was lifting Joyice's sweater for a better look. Jack cringed at the sight of her stomach, it was sunken in slightly from lack of food and just as pale as he was, the little bit he could actually see. Joyice's skin on her side was covered in red. Jack was sure she wasn't supposed to lose that much blood. "What happened?" Jack could hear Tooth gasp after asking that question, the others had formed behind him to get a look and try to help. "I think she pulled out her stitches." Edgar sighed and turned his head to Lilliane. "C'mon Angel, I need your help here." Shaken out of her shock the angel woman was at Edgars side in no time, pulling off her long white gloves and tossing them to the side for later she placed her hands on the girls side. It took Jack a moment to realise Cupid was adding pressure to the wound, he'd see that in movies and read it books but had never tried it himself.
"We should move her to infirmary." North stated behind Jack and turned to a yeti just off to the side trying to keep an elf from eating the cookies he'd just brought in. "No, moving her right now is not a good idea. It'll just make it worse." Edgar hissed out as he rummaged through his hoodie pockets for something, letting out a sound of triumph as he pulled out a small glass sphere, much like Norths snowglobes, he tossed it, and lo and behold, a portal opened up and he went through it with a quick, "I'll be right back!"
Five long minutes passed before Edgar came back with an arm full of items and a handful of shadow fairies fluttering in behind him. He gave no clue as to what he was about to do and just set to doing it, leaving the others to watch on as he and Lilliane set to work on the girl. They pulled her sweater up to mid ribcage so Lilliane could clean all the blood on the girls stomach and sides, with items that Edgar and the fairies brought of course. Edgar had brought a first aid kit of sorts, it was a large brown wooden box that looked like it had been polished and smooth to the touch. It also seemed bottomless as Edgar's hand disappeared into it to pull out a bottle of green liquid and, once the girls stomach was clean, he poured the green fluid over a very nasty looking gash he had assumed to be her once stitched up wound.
"Where did she even get a wound like that?" Again, Tooth voiced what everyone wanted to ask but was too stunned to say anything. "It is why we told her not to train with her powers for awhile." Lilliane said as she took a pair of scissors from a fluttering shadow fairy and snipped at the loose thread that still hung to the gash and pulled it from the girls side. Jack cringed and pulled himself away from their work and took up place beside Bunny. He'd never seen something like this up close, he wasn't sure he liked what they were doing to her and was even more upset that she was awake and groaning at every touch and pull they did. But then, Cupids words hit him, she had hurt herself while using her own sand, was that even possible? Could your own power do that to you? Was it because she was human and not a spirit like them? Too many questions and not enough answers filled the teen sprites mind and it made him dizzy, along with the scent of blood and the sound of whimpering.
Bunny was faring no better then Jack, the smell and sound alone brought up bad memories of forgotten times and he really didn't want to be there at them moment. Looking over at Jack, whom had a hand over his mouth and his eyes closed tightly, he thought of maybe taking a break from all that was around them. "Ah think Jack an' Ah need some air." The Aussie stated and placed a paw on Jacks shoulder and, very gently, pushed the frost boy towards the door to leave. When they reached it Bunny opened the door and waited for Jack to walk out first, the boy stopped at looked at him funny but soon a small grin graced his face. "Thanks Cottontail." He said softly and went through the open door and waited for Bunny on the other side. He didn't have to wait long as Bunny went through the door and gave his own grin once it was closed. "No problem, Snowflake."
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Note: So I was trying to delve into Bunny and Jacks relationship a bit more in this chapter. I left it quite non existent in the other chapters and focused more on Joyice, Edgar and Lilliane. So with this one I wanted more Bunny and Jack~ I hope it was served up to your liking! There will be more to come! Promise!
Translations:
Je suis inquiète... : I am worried...