Okay, so I know it has been a while, and I am super sorry. I had like an entire month of exams, SOL's, and Finals, and it totally sucked. I wanted to write, but my mom thought I needed to study. Just let you know, I totally didn't and just kept writing down more ideas for this fic. And even without studying I passed all my courses. So now I am home free, and can post more chapters. So, now onto the long awaited fourth chapter of "Lonesome Winter, Trusting Spring, Bonds That Last Forever."

Chapter 4: If I Fall, Will Someone Catch Me?

~ With Bunnymund ~

He stood on the edge of the cliff, glancing down at the still waters below him. Everything was silent. Everything was calm, and he hated it. He wanted the edge of frost and winter to be lingering in the air, he wanted to hear the loud laughter of the rambunctious child he viewed as a brother, a son, his best friend. The serenity of the landscape was completely despised in his mind. He had been scouring the globe for days, leading into weeks. He had searched every town, every city, every country, every continent, he had to of turned every stone over in the world at least twice.

But… He still could not find Jack. He didn't even have the faintest clue of were the eternal teen was. Pitch had been getting bolder with spreading nightmares, it seemed as though he was flaunting it in their very faces, which was probably exactly what he was doing.

He rubbed a paw down his taunt face. He had barely slept in the past four days. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. His guilt was now embedded into his very soul, as was worry for his young friend. He knew that every moment he was not safely in one of the guardians' presence he was in danger, being tortured, reliving every single nightmare and fear he tried to hide in the past three centuries and so many years.

He turned away from the cliff and started to head back to the Pole. He needed a new plan. He needed a new set of eyes, or at least one of the other guardians to find a new angle to search from.

As his feet ventured away from the highest point of the coast, he caught a faint whiff of the very scent he had been searching aimlessly for, for the past week. His eyes widened. He knew this was the only chance that could even lead him to a simple clue to find the teen. He needed to alert the others, but he needed to stay in range of the scent or else he would lose it. He tapped his paw to the earthy dirt beneath his feet, and called for an egg sentinel, he wrote a message onto its back and sent him to Santoff Clausen. Then he turned his attention towards the lingering smell of pine, vanilla, snow, and frost. He ran towards the source, that was very, very, far off. He hoped, beyond hoped, that he could finally bring Jack home, to be with his awaiting family, and that he wasn't too late and found Jack broken beyond repair…

~ With Jack ~

Darkness… Was what surrounded him, it filled the very air he tried to breathe, emphasis on tried. His head submerged into icy water that threatened to consume him like it did all those centuries ago. He shuddered and tried to fight the need to inhale. He didn't need the air he tried to tell himself, he was immortal, he couldn't die. But his brain refused to listen. The panic was overwhelming. He sucked in the water as his body tried to inhale on instinct. His vision was growing foggy, and dark. But before the welcomed sensation of unconsciousness could be received he was yanked out of the water by his hair, and thrown back onto the hard, stone ground. He sucked the much needed oxygen in. He may have been immortal, and had told himself he didn't need to breathe, but he honestly did. He needed the motion of breathing to remind him that he existed, that even if he was immortal he was still alive.

That may sound contradictory to other people, but in his mind, he needed the normality of the simple intake of breath. His body had done this for three hundred and seventeen years. It had become dependent on the action. It told him that he was real when no one else would.

He blinked back the tears and fog in his vision, and stared up at his captor. Pitch sneered down at him. Jack coughed up some water that had accidentally been inhaled into his lungs, and glared back at him. "Th-that all you g-got?" He tried to sound confident, but his words came out like a hoarse whisper. He had lost track of how long he had been here. It seemed like an eternity, between the torture and nightmares, but he knew it couldn't have been more than a week… He hoped… Everything hurt too much to care. His hope wavered, and started to crumble.

If anyone had cared they would have already come to save him. Right? But now he was questioning… Did anyone care? Why would they? He was death, the harsh winter, the end, the mistake child. Would anyone even want to save him?

He knew now that all he wanted was for it to end…

Okay, so this chapter is shorter than the other ones by about maybe a hundred or so words, but I hope you liked it. And don't worry I'll be updating again soon, and I will be updating my other story soon as well. If you haven't checked it out, it is called "The Time of Gathering". Again I'm super sorry it took so much time to update. But they should be coming more frequently. Love You guys! Don't forget to R&R!

-Smaguire