Here is another chapter. Bunnymund does what the others couldn't. :)
Jack looked around. He'd forgotten how beautiful the Warren was. Bunnymund was humming as he did a little…
"Gardening? You garden?" Jack asked in amusement.
The Pooka nearly jumped out of his skin. "Crikey, Jack!" he gasped as he turned.
Jack laughed, idly waving his staff. "Sorry, Bunny."
"No yer not, stupid little bogan," Bunnymund said fondly, and a little cautiously. He was relieved when Jack smiled.
"Yeah, well, you're a bludger," Jack teased back.
"Oh ho, so ya know a little bit of Aussie speak, do ya?"
"I've been there a few times. Snow does fall on occasion," Jack said with a grin.
Bunnymund laughed, turning back to finish up his work.
"What do you say, Snowflake. It's a pretty day. What say we take a little rinse off?"
"Well, you do need one," Jack snickered.
Bunnymund looked down at himself then nodded. "Pool's over there," he said, pointing.
Jack turned and had taken three steps when something rather warm settled on his head. He yelped and shook his head to get it off only to see dirt flying off. Jack spun around.
"Hey!"
Bunnymund laughed heartily. "Now you need a rinse off, Snowflake!"
Jack harrumphed and stormed over to the pool, stripping off jerkily only to plunge into the warm depths. He smirked with his back to the Pooka, letting his winter chill seep into the pool. It was made all the better because Bunnymund didn't even check the temperature, just jumped in. He screamed and launched himself out, shivering.
"What in the hell, Jack!"
"That's for dumping dirt on my head," Jack laughed.
Bunnymund looked displeased, so Jack drew the cold back into himself, a little known trick. He patted the surface of the water.
"Here. Get in. It's better now." Bunnymund gave him a dark look. "I promise, Bunny!"
The Pooka hesitantly dipped his foot in the water then slipped in with a sigh. "Mm, this feels much better."
"Don't get near me," Jack warned.
"Why not?"
Jack took his paw and dipped it into the water right next to his body. Bunnymund hissed and drew back, shivering.
"That's cold."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jack teased.
Jack scrubbed the dirt out of his hair. Bunnymund did the same, but on a larger scale. Jack got out and froze the water off of him when the Pooka only had one towel available. He grabbed his pants, but felt a hard stare.
"Yes?" Jack asked, feeling shy again, covering himself with his pants.
"Relax, Frostbite. I've seen more people naked then you can imagine."
"Why are you staring?"
"Where did they go?"
Jack flushed. "Nowhere."
"I don't see 'em."
"On purpose."
Bunnymund got a funny look on his face. "Ya can hide 'em?"
"Yes!" Jack spat. "Drop it."
A light flashed in the Pooka's eyes. "Tha's it, ain't it? That's what Autumn picks at ya about. Or one of 'em at least."
"I'm leaving!"
Bunnymund snapped his fingers and the Warrior Eggs hurried forward. "No, ya ain't."
Jack panicked then ran for his staff. A tunnel sucked in it before Jack could reach it. He looked around, realizing something. Bunnymund had just done what the other Guardians couldn't. He had effectively trapped him. With Sandy and Toothiana, he could fly away. North's door had been right behind him. But Jack heard earth filling in tunnels, which meant even if he did fly away, there was no 'away', no way out, no little hole he could hide in where Bunnymund couldn't find him. He was well and truly trapped.
Jack collapsed and began to cry. The Warrior Eggs backed off a little, but stayed in defensive mode. Bunnymund embraced him, stroking him gently. He cried for ten minutes before calming down. Bunnymund watched him carefully, and sucked in a breath when those designs that Jack was so ashamed of came out.
They were shimmering silver, standing out on his paler-than-normal skin. Long, delicate curls of what appeared to be air swirled down his arms and legs, curling around the limbs gracefully. A large snowflake was on his chest, and smaller snowflakes cascaded down the rest of his form, arms, too. On the tops of his feet and on the back of each hand were snowflakes as well. On his right hand, in the center of the snowflake was an 'E'. His left had a 'W'. His right foot had an 'N', his left a 'S'.
"The four winds," Bunnymund whispered, holding his right hand and tenderly observing the 'E'.
"Yeah. The four winds. They all listen to me. Northern especially seems to like me."
"Wow. That's…I don't know what to say. Mine aren't nearly as…wow, as this."
"Yours?"
Bunnymund pressed his hand on a patch of pale blue. "This. Right here, mate. I have 'em, too. All the seasons do."
"Yeah. Summer's are nice," Jack said, sitting up. "Fiery orange, yellow, and red. Sunrays beating down across her skin."
"Everywhere."
"Yeah. Everywhere."
"Ha! Ya've seen her naked!"
"Yes."
"Just yes?"
"Bunny, my relationship with Summer is far different from any relationship you have with any person, living or dead. Trust me."
"Have ya had sex?"
"Not physically possible."
"Ya can't get it up?"
Jack looked up, frowning deeply. "That isn't the issue, Bunny."
"Then what is?" a female voice asked.
Jack turned to see the rest of the Guardians. He glared at Bunnymund.
"Jack, we're your friends," Toothiana said, flitting over.
"Yes, can't you trust us?" North asked. Sandy floated there, silently watching him.
"I don't know. It's easier not to," Jack answered honestly drawing his knee up partway to his body to let his arm hang over it. "And none of you will ever be able to understand my relationship with her. Except maybe Sandy."
"Why me?"
"Pitch and the nightmare thing. It's the closest thing to polar opposites that any of you get to."
"What do you mean, polar?" North asked.
"Winter. Summer. Cold. Hot. They don't go together. She gave me a kiss once. That year had a cool summer and a warm winter. We just don't mesh. Yeah we can talk for hours on end about this or that, yeah we can hold hands, yeah we can hug. But it doesn't feel right. I stopped trying to date her two months after I met her. We could both tell that it would be catastrophic after she kissed me. So we're just friends. We usually meet in autumn and spring, when it's bearable for both of us without being too extreme."
"What are you sayin', mate?" Bunnymund asked with a frown.
Jack shrugged. "Summer and I have discussed it and come up with many theories. The one that makes the most sense is that there would be no more spring and autumn, no more summer and winter. The entire world's temperature would even out. The ice caps would melt, and the equator would cool down before it was flooded. Once it flooded, the world would drown. The fresh water animals would all die because of the salt, and the salt water animals would die because of the lessening of the salt from the freshwater in the ice caps. All that would be left is water, no earth at all. No animals, no plants, no life at all, besides the spirits, who wouldn't have jobs to do. That's why I won't have sex with her."
The original Guardians stared at him in shock. That explanation…sounded right, actually. The sense in his decision hit them all between the eyes.
"How would there be no spring?" Bunnymund finally asked.
"Without summer and winter, there would be no transitions. You and Autumn would go out of business first. The winters would get hotter, the summers cooler, then it would even out," Jack replied. "I think the world's demise is a good reason to hold back."
"Yes. It certainly sounds like it," Toothiana murmured.
"Let us change the subject," North said, looking disturbed.
"Fine. Autumn keeps calling me a child, and I feel as if I've proved it a thousand times over, especially because of my temperature tantrums and the fact that I hurt Tooth. I couldn't keep my promise to Bunny, I covered all of North America with at least three feet of snow during early spring, including the entirety of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and Florida. I'm a pathetic excuse for a spirit, Manny never should have picked me, and I should have drowned that day. Go."
There was silence for a whole minute before Bunnymund embraced him, cradling him close. Jack began to cry in earnest, burying his face in his friend's chest.
"Yer wrong, Jack," he said seriously. "All spirits have trouble with their powers. There's a reason the warren is always green. Whenever I have excess energy, I use my powers to keep it green, even during snowstorms above. There ain't no sunshine down here. It's all me."
"I spend hours in my workshop trying to get the wonder I see into workable ideas. If I do not do that, I get headaches and something akin to mania and depression at the same time," North said.
"I watch children's memories to ease the pain of not being able to do anything faster or better or just…more," Toothiana added.
"I am the Guardian of Dreams," the Sandman said when he was looked at. "Especially children's, but it is often not enough. I give everybody dreams when it is too much to bear. I am always careful to keep the more mature dreams from children. They do not need that."
Jack was still crying. "Yeah? Well you guys don't kill people when it's 'too much to bear.' What do you have to say to that?"
"Do ya think they wouldn't die if you were gone?" Bunnymund demanded. "Do ya think that an uncontrolled winter wouldn't kill them plus some? Jack, ya might cause damage, sometimes what seems to be irreparable, but ya still control most of the winter. You told us about the kids and adults ya saved? Well, guess what? That matters. Those are lives that were lived out. And ya never told any of 'em who ya were. You were never seen, never heard from. Ya made sure that they survived! That means somethin' Jack. That means so much. Maybe not in the world, but to them. They went back ta their families, their friends. They probably got married and had kids! How does that not matter? Yes, ya do damage, but ya've also done so much good! Ya've got ta believe me, Jack! You meant the world to them, even if they didn't believe in ya. Do ya understand? Do you?"
Jack was crying harder, and they all knew that he needed to hear that. They surrounded him and offered their strength, and he finally accepted it. An hour later, Jack had put on his pants, but had not hidden his designs, and they were talking amicably.
"Why do we not go to the workshop and have pie?" North finally suggested.
"Sounds good, mate," Bunnymund said. "C'mon, Frostbite. We'll take the tunnels."
"Sure," Jack said. He stood and grabbed his shirt and hoodie, Bunnymund gave him his staff, and off they went. He felt as if he had finally found his family.
