Disclaimer: I do not own "Rise of the Guardians" nor any of the characters who appear in "Rise of the Guardians," I just like to play with 'em every once in a while. Bunny and all "Rise of the Guardians" characters belong to William Joyce and DreamWorks Animation.
A/N: Hello! Gosh, I feel like it's been forever since I've updated and I feel just terrible about it, but the last month or two was my busiest time of the season and unfortunately, I don't get to have fun until I get my work done first. Fortunately, that season has passed and I'm looking at a few good months of naught but rest, relaxation and writing. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited about it.
Anyways, enough about me! Here's the newest chapter in this little tale. It takes place back in our 'present day' continuity, which is, in other words, a little while after the events of Chapter Six.
I very much hope you enjoy it!
Gifts
In which gifts come in many forms
A pale sliver of yellow light slipped through the tiny opening between Aster's curtains and spilled tentatively into the room. The delicate rays were the sun's first offerings of the morning and they were by custom and by practice the means by which Aster Bunnymund traditionally arose to greet the day. Today however, like most days in recent memory, those gentle rays did not succeed in rousing Aster from a deep and restful sleep. Instead, those timid rays of morning succeeded only illuminating the tired, troubled features of a still restlessly slumbering Aster Bunnymund. After a quarter of an hour, the tiny sliver of light began to transform into a tiny sliver of warmth and after another, into an uncomfortable band of lingering heat which grew both wider and hotter with every passing minute.
And after a solid hour, Aster's exhausted body was no longer capable of ignoring the presence of the light. So, with his eyes still firmly closed and his mind still deeply immersed in sleep, he gave an irritated, throaty little growl and rolled his head petulantly away from the offending heat.
When another twenty minutes had passed, the little swath of light had expanded to engulf his entire pillow and no matter how Bunny turned his head, he was unable to escape it.
Finally, after attempting to the evade the light in every possible way his still sleeping body could conceive of, the stubbornness of the little rays began to pay off and Aster Bunnymund slowly and begrudgingly began to rouse himself from the stupor of sleep.
At first the excessive warmth on his face and the brightness in his eyes was mistaken for the fires that burned and blazed within his nightmares but eventually, his muddled brain began to understand that one was real and one was not and soon thereafter his eyes were open and wild and he laid panting for breath, waiting for the screams and fires of his nightmares to recede back into the darkness of sleep. It took more than a few moments for the nightmares to retreat and his breathing to steady and only once this had occurred, did Aster finally realize that it was morning. The second his brain reached that realization, he groaned miserably and burrowed his head deeper into his pillow.
He couldn't believe it was morning already. It seemed like only minutes ago, he had been collapsing wearily on top of his covers and now, already he was being summoned to start another day.
Aster buried his face desperately into his pillow and the tiniest of whimpers sounded from the back of his throat.
He found it thoroughly impossible to believe that the morning could have possibly arrived already. It just couldn't have. Not yet. Not when he'd only just gotten to sleep and not when what precious little sleep he had gotten had been restless and thin and haunted by nightmares.
It just couldn't be morning yet.
Surely it was a trick of the light. Surely, it couldn't possibly be as late as it felt.
Hoping against hope that it was so, he rolled onto his back with a grunt and not without a great deal of effort, he lifted his head slightly off the pillow and squinted irritably into the cheerful light of the sun. A moment later, he dropped his head dejectedly back down and whimpered sadly.
It was no trick of the light. It really was as late as he'd thought and maybe even later.
Great, that was just what he needed, another late start in a disturbingly frequent string of them, great, just wonderful.
Running a wide palm across his face, Aster groaned one last time and pulled himself into a sitting position on the side of his bed. He was irritated at another night of lousy sleep and cutting nightmares and he was even more irritated that his troubles in the night were constantly bleeding into his days. If he had still been trying to get his crops planted and the chocolate room back up to snuff it would have been entirely unacceptable. As it was, it was still completely and unequivocally galling, especially on this particular day when he was expecting company and had more than a few errands to complete before he could settle down to enjoy that happy visit.
He supposed he could just call the visit off. That way he could catch a few more hours of sleep and still have more than enough time to complete his work. But then again….it did seem terribly rude to cancel so suddenly….and he had really been looking forward to it….
In fact, he'd been looking forward to this particular visit for weeks. So, instead of calling it off, he decided that maybe he'd just work doubly hard and keep his engagement anyway. After all, it had been weeks since he'd last seen Jack and though he'd have thought it crazy to propose a few months ago, he had a feeling that seeing his friend might help him overcome the foul mood that had settled over him in recent weeks.
Besides, he had a surprise for the kid and it would be a shame to postpone that.
So, using the prospect of seeing Jack's face when he showed him his surprise as his new motivation, Aster summoned every last scrap of his will, restrained himself from flopping backwards onto to the bed for a few more precious hours of sleep and set out to begin his day.
The day had had a rocky start and his morning routine was pursued far more irritably than usual, with his movements becoming jerky and rough and his temper hovering perpetually on the edge of fraying, but by the time mid-day (and Jack's visit) came around, his nerves had smoothed themselves out and he found, much to his surprise that he was in remarkably fine spirits.
The horrors of the past, which had seemed so fresh and vivid that morning, had finally begun to fade into mere shadows and as Aster had prepared a neat little meal of the crispest vegetables from his garden, he was feeling far better than he had in days.
On other days the nightmares of his uneasy sleep had lingered well into his waking hours and it had taken everything he had to go about his business as if those horrors were not continuously being played out against the sun-drenched backdrop of his Warren and as if he could not hear the screams of his family echoing relentlessly throughout his cottage. It was a somber and nearly impossible task on most days and Aster was relieved beyond measure that on this day, the happy anticipation of seeing a friend had successfully chased those demons back into the corners of his mind and away from the present. Otherwise, he might have spent another day miserably shutting his eyes against visions of tragedies long past or mindlessly filling the air with pointless music in a desperate attempt to pretend that he could not still hear their screams. This disparity was made all the sweeter by his awareness of it and in response, his spirits climbed even higher. And so, as he waited rather eagerly for Jack beside the lonely little pond in Burgess, he found, to his great surprise that he was barely able to contain his excitement.
It was going to be the first time that Aster had seen Jack since Toothiana had revealed to him the great esteem with which Jack apparently held him and Aster, who had been immeasurably touched by this revelation, was eager to show the boy that he held his friendship in similar regard. Indeed, he had been so very touched by the boy's esteem that he had decided to impart upon him a small gift, which he was certain could articulate his affection for the boy far more clearly than his own heartfelt yet simple words.
He only wished Jack would turn up already though, because truly, the anticipation was killing him. Almost at the exact moment that the thought flitted through his mind, he felt a nearly imperceptible change in the winds and knew without a doubt that Jack was on his way. Peering up curiously at the sky, Aster shifted on his long wide feet and awaited Jack's arrival. He had a bit longer to wait, for his sensitive senses could detect a shift in the wind far sooner and with greater accuracy than most, but after a few more long moments, an unmistakable chill cut sharply through the air and seconds later, he spotted the small, silvery form of Jack Frost flitting recklessly through the sky and straight towards him.
"Bunny!" cried Jack when he caught sight of the older Guardian.
"Heya Frostbite," Bunny greeted, "how ya doin?"
"Oh pretty good," replied Jack as he landed gracefully beside Aster, "Just got back from South America, you know how Tierra del Fuego gets!"
Aster's nose scrunched involuntarily with distaste because, yes, he did in fact know how it got in Tierra del Fuego and frankly, he didn't much care for it.
At his obvious distaste, Jack sniggered and elbowed Bunny good-naturedly in the ribs.
"Oh, come on Bunny! It's not that cold, at least not yet anyway. Why don't you come down with me tomorrow and I'll show you-."
Bunny laughed and playfully swatted Jack's sharp little elbow away from him.
"Oh, no ya' don't. Yer not dragging me down to that iceberg they're calling a country. I do perfectly fine where it's warm and dry."
Jack rolled his eyes and snorted.
"You're such a wimp."
Aster stood a little straighter and puffed his chest out in mock indignation.
"A wimp? Hey, I can handle the cold," he paused and flashed Jack a crooked smile, "I just don't like to."
Again, Jack rolled his eyes, but just as before, there was no malice in it and instead of taking offence at the action, Bunny chuckled lightly and nudged his shoulder into Jack's with just enough force to knock him slightly off balance. Jack giggled and shifted his weight to steady himself against his staff, then with a smile still firmly plastered across his features he righted himself and ran a pale hand through his tousled hair.
"So how've you been doin,' Bunny, how are the crops?"
Bunny smiled proudly and answered with considerable enthusiasm.
"Oh, they're doin' fine, mate. Really fine, you wouldn't believe how far they've come since ya' last saw 'em."
Jack wrapped both hands around the neck of his staff and leaned forward eagerly.
"Really! They're growing?"
"Oooh, like beauties."
The younger Guardian positively beamed with delight and Aster decided that he'd probably never have a more perfect opportunity to gracefully segue into his big surprise.
"In fact," he continued, "they're growing so well that not only are they are on track for next Easter, but I think they're gonna be one of my best harvests yet."
Jack's eyes grew wide and dazzled.
"Really?"
Aster chuckled.
"Yeah, mate, really and….I think...that I've got you to thank for that."
Jack's lower jaw dropped a little and he seemed taken aback, so Aster smiled softly and forged ahead.
"If it weren't for you, instead of being ahead a' the game, I'd probably still be playin' catch up and I just want ya' to know that I really appreciate everything ya' did. You didn't have to offer to help me along, but ya' did and…you really came through….again," he paused a little and pawed at the bandolier across his chest.
There, in the place of his usual explosives was a small circular something wrapped all around in verdant silk and golden ribbon. He pulled this object from its leather casing and placing it within the palm of his own hand, offered it to Jack.
"This is for you, to say thanks, for everything."
For a beat or two, Jack simply stared, stunned and wondering, at the proffered little object and it was only when Bunny had extended his hand slightly further towards him with a nervous little smile that Jack finally took up the silken object from Bunny's palm.
Suddenly, inexplicably nervous, Bunny shifted his weight from foot to foot and anxiously ran one fuzzy hand across the gems of his bracers.
"Open it, mate," Aster urged, "It won't bite."
Turning the little gift over in his hands, Jack looked up briefly and asked, "What is it?"
Aster laughed and smiled crookedly, "It's a surprise, ya' gumby—open it and find out."
Chuckling a bit at his friend's uniquely gruff version of sentimentality, Jack began to pull the golden ribbon away from the silk covered object. After only a moment's fumbling, both the golden ribbon and the verdant silk had fallen away to reveal a flat, circular little stone that looked as if it belonged on the bottom of a riverbed. An unusually lovely specimen of what appeared to be some kind of granite; the heavy little stone was absolutely perfect on one side, with a fine, barely grainy texture and a soft almost heather grey coloration. On the opposite side, the evenness of its coloring was the same but the smoothness of its surface was marred by deep, black-filled engravings of a striking and oddly familiar set of markings. There were three main figures, each one sharp and almost diamond shaped, with one standing upright between the others and the others lying slightly angled from the middle one's base so that the effect was remarkably similar to that of the petals of a flower. Tracing the dark black engravings with one finger as if to jog his memory, Jack suddenly looked up at Bunny and realized why these particular markings had seemed so infuriatingly familiar; they were the exact same markings that adorned the fur of Bunny's forehead.
Unfortunately, the identification of these markings gave Jack very little insight into the mystery of Bunny's gift and so, he gaped up at Bunny with a quizzical look and asked, "Bunny, what is this?"
Having grown more anxious the longer it had taken Jack to inspect his surprise, Aster cleared his throat and fiddled slightly with the bandolier across his chest.
"It's a summoning stone."
Jack's eyebrows crinkled in confusion.
"A summoning stone? For what?"
Aster licked his lips.
"For tunnels, mate. Specifically, for tunnels to the Warren."
Jack's bright eyes narrowed in thought. He seemed to be putting the pieces together, but Bunny couldn't bear to draw the thing out any longer.
"It's a summoning stone for my tunnels, Jackie. You just hold onto it, tell it ya' wanna go to the Warren and no matter where you are in the world, a tunnel will open up and take ya' straight to the Warren."
Jack's dark eyebrows flew into his hairline and his features assumed an expression of almost perfect disbelief.
"But that'll mean I can come to the Warren anytime I want!"
It had been a statement, but for some reason that Aster couldn't properly identify, it had sounded like a question and for another reason which Aster couldn't properly identify either, that bothered him greatly.
"Yeah, Jack, I know, that's why I gave it to, ya'."
"Really?!" Jack seemed so surprised by his answer that Bunny's heart gave a funny little lurch and the smile that had previously been gracing his fuzzy whiskered muzzle, faltered just the tiniest bit.
"Yeah, Jack, I know that it means you could drop by the Warren whenever you wanted, that's why I gave it to ya'."
Jack stayed silent and bowed his head to trace the engravings with one slender finger.
"I figured I could trust ya' with it," Aster added.
"You can," Jack burst out suddenly as he jerked his head upwards to meet Bunny's eyes, "You can!"
Aster's brow furrowed for a split second and then he smiled as reassuringly as he knew how and said, "I know, Jackie, really."
And though Aster could not tell if it was because of what he'd said, the way he'd said it, or even how many times he'd said it, Jack finally seemed to understand the implications of the gesture and he grasped the little stone tightly and with eyes glittering with unshed moisture, he smiled and said, "Thank you."
Pleased that his gift had been appreciated but uneasy with the almost tears of the younger Guardian, Bunny smiled sheepishly and clapped Jack warmly on the back.
"Yer welcome, you little imp. Now come on, you wanna head down to the Warren, or you wanna stand about gabbing all day?"
Jack, still over-awed by the whole thing, looked at Bunny with a slightly dazed but thoroughly genuine smile and nodded his agreement. Then only seconds before Bunny could bring his big foot down upon the ground to open up a tunnel, he shot out one hand and yelped, "Wait!"
Startled, Bunny froze immediately and looked questioningly down at Jack.
"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
Jack shook his head and grinned shyly.
"Nothing, it's just….can I try?"
Bunny's long ears twitched in confusion and then he laughed heartily and took one long step back.
"Yeah, course you can Jack," he said obligingly and gestured towards the ground, "have a go."
Jack's smile morphed from bashful to elated more swiftly than Aster had ever thought possible and within seconds Jack was holding his newly acquired summoning stone tightly in one hand and, in surprisingly (and comically) formal terms, was commanding it to create a tunnel by which he and his friend could travel to the Warren. Not wanting to put a damper on Jack's moment, but absolutely tickled by his formality, Aster schooled his features into a mask of earnest approval and waited patiently for the tunnel to open up. Only once the tunnel had appeared and Jack was exuberantly soaring down it towards the Warren, did Aster finally allow the amused grin that he had been studiously holding back to blossom unchecked across his features.
The moment that Jack landed in the Warren, his interest was immediately drawn to the still growing little egg flowers which he had helped to plant.
In his eyes, they were one of the loveliest crops of anything that he had seen in a long time and he was almost as invested in their development as he had been in any of the crops of his former life.
Not wanting to harm them by exposing them overly much to his perennially frigid temperature, Jack hovered nearby and tilted his head this way and that, inspecting the raised little mountains of dirt and nodding in satisfaction at what he saw. There wasn't much visible proof that the googie flowers were coming along nicely but Bunny, who had a much more practiced eye than Jack, had said that they were doing just that and so, Jack had nodded sagely and hummed his agreement.
For the second time in only a spare number of minutes, Aster was forced to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent the burgeoning smile that threatened to betray his amusement. As it was, he was not entirely successful, but because the hint of a smile that did appear was soft and fond and not likely to offend, it was no great disaster.
After Jack's charming, if not entirely effective, inspection of the flowers, Aster waved him over to his side and began to point out all the tell-tale little signs of his crops' successful growth, which to the untrained eye were more than easy to miss. He was careful to phrase his words so that there was never any indication that he did not believe Jack to have already noticed these very same signs and Jack, eyes bright with excitement, never gave him any indication that he had not. Encouraged by Jack's enthusiasm, Aster continued to speak passionately about the state of the crops and before too long, they were sitting side by side upon a pair of good sized boulders and Bunny was dropping handfuls of dirt into Jack's hand so that Jack could feel what dirt felt like when it had achieved the most optimal levels of moisture saturation.
As he did so, little sparkles of memory flashed through Jack's mind and he was reminded of a time from a long time ago when a tall, dark haired man had uttered to him some of the very same words and in the very same way. Whether he was trying to distract himself from the memory or add to it, Jack didn't know, but either way, just as Bunny was taking his next breath, Jack interjected and asked him, "Where did you learn all this."
Bunny barely missed a beat, but the lightness in his voice seemed a little forced when he answered, "My father, mostly."
Jack perked up immediately; he'd never heard Bunny speak about a family.
"Your father?"
Bunny eyed him a little warily, but he answered all the same.
"Yeah, mate, my father, why so surprised?"
Jack backpedalled a little nervously, Bunny seemed edgy and Jack didn't understand why.
"Oh it's nothing, it's just—you've never talked about any family—I—I didn't know…."
Jack wasn't entirely sure how he had intended to finish that sentence but the tense wary expression on Bunny's face dissolved a bit so he figured he'd said something right.
"Anyway," he continued with a nervous clearing of his throat, "you were saying; your father taught you…."
Bunny's bright green eyes lingered heavily upon Jack's for a moment longer, seemingly evaluating the motives of the younger Guardian, but after a moment of careful consideration, he appeared satisfied by whatever it was he had found and he nodded slowly and affirmed his previous answer.
"Uh, yeah, my dad taught me most of this stuff, well and my brothers."
Jack's eyes sparkled in amazement.
"You have brothers?"
Bunny's eyes skittered away from Jack's momentarily and then he smiled a thin consoling smile.
"Well, um, actually, Jack, my brothers have passed on and uh, dad as well."
A blush exploded over Jack's cheeks and mortified, he begged for Bunny's forgiveness.
Waving his hands placatingly in the air, Bunny shook his head and assured Jack that he had totally understood that Jack had meant no offense.
"Jackie—Jackie, don't worry about it, really, I'm not offended, mate, there's absolutely no way you coulda' known any a' that. Seriously, I'm not mad, it's all right."
Inwardly cringing at having brought up not only a dead father but apparently, dead brothers as well, Jack ran a hand nervously through his hair and exhaled loudly.
"I know, Bunny, it's just, I feel rotten about it anyway. I mean….your brothers….and….I understand if you don't wanna…."
Now genuinely upset by Jack's distress, Bunny gave him a reassuring smile and replied, "Seriously, Jack, it's all right. I don't mind talking about 'em." The last part hadn't been completely true, there were definitely some memories of his family which he minded very much to speak about, especially after his current string of troubled nights, but when the scope of the conversation was limited mostly to agriculture and his education therein, Aster found (to his mild surprise) that he honestly didn't mind speaking about them to Jack.
Nevertheless, in spite of his assurances, Jack still seemed a little skeptical, so Aster simply forged ahead and assumed that the sprite would catch up.
"Anyway, like I said, it was my dad who taught me most of what I know about farming. He used to take me out when I wasn't much more than a kit, walk me around the fields explaining this or that, you know, the broad strokes; plowing and planting, and then when I got older he moved on to the more specific stuff like exactly how much sunlight and water the crops oughta get, when to harvest, the best time to plant, you know, specifics."
Nodding his head along with Bunny's explanation, Jack realized that he did know and suddenly he blurted out, "That's what my dad did too."
Bunny smiled, he'd suspected that Jack had come from a farming family; no one was that good with a plow without practice, but this was the first time he'd heard proof of it. Just as eager to hear about Jack's family as Jack was to hear about his, Bunny smiled encouragingly and urged him to continue.
Apparently, Jack needed very little provocation to expound upon his early life and without further prompting he proceeded to tell Bunny all about how his father had once taught him how to plant and how to plow, how to yoke an ox and how to nurse sickly little seedlings into strong, vibrant crops. And then, wandering away from the topic of agriculture, Jack began to speak excitedly of how his father had taught him other things too; like how to split wood and how to say his prayers and the longer Jack talked, the more Aster began to understand three very important things. One; that Jack missed his father very dearly. Two; that this was likely the most he'd remembered about his beloved 'Pa' in centuries and three; that he'd chosen to share these precious recollections with someone who until fairly recently had only begrudgingly given him the time of day.
Upon realizing these things, Aster was both touched and heartbroken. He couldn't fathom living without the memories of his own family, even the bad ones and he wondered how it was that Jack had been able to survive all those years bereft of even his most basic memories.
Beyond the heartache he felt for Jack, Aster was also struck with a profound feeling of sadness and longing for his own father. He wasn't surprised by it, it was almost expected that any conversation about fathers would inevitably remind Aster of how relatively few years he had been allotted with his father, but knowing it would come didn't make it hurt any less. And as Jack went on and on about how his Pa had once taken him aside and divulged to him the secrets of the delicate and daunting art of conversing properly with a pretty girl, Aster found himself listening with rapt and almost envious attention. He wondered what it might have been like to have such a conversation with his own dear father and not for the first time, he lamented the fact that Abel Bunnymund had died long before his youngest son had reached the age at which such weighty and worldly matters were seen fit to be discussed.
But even as such melancholy and wistful thoughts drifted just beneath the surface, Aster's main attention was kept fully on Jack and Jack's stories, because if the young Guardian was going to do him the honor of sharing with him his long lost memories, then Aster was sure as Hell going to listen.
For his part, Jack was almost unaware that he even remembered all of the stories he was sharing. Rather, it was if the memories were materializing as he spoke them and that the more he talked, the more they came. It was wonderful and beautiful and a little bit scary and a part of him was appalled that he was sharing so much of himself with another living being. But he feared that if the words stopped coming then so too would the memories and so he kept speaking. And besides, Bunny seemed completely enthralled by his stories and if there was one thing that Jack Frost loved, it was an audience.
They continued to talk while sitting on the stones just beyond Aster's fields, while rising and making their way to the cottage and even while they devoured a delicious lunch consisting mostly of cool, sweet foods which Aster had selected specifically because of Jack's fondness for them.
Jack was by far, doing the majority of the talking, but here or there, Aster would throw in a story or two and as a result, the conversation never felt one-sided. Instead, the give and take felt exactly proportional to what each one was capable of giving. Jack, who was naturally loquacious, spoke more and Bunny, who tended to be more reserved, spoke less. The way in which Bunny's father had died was never revealed but from what Jack could piece together, he had died when Bunny had been fairly young. For this, Jack was beyond sorry but he felt an undeniable kinship with Bunny in light of this tragedy and in some small way, the pain of losing his own father felt just a little less overwhelming.
It was with considerable regret that Jack Frost left the Warren that night and if the look on Bunnymund's face as he departed was any indication, the feeling was mutual.
The pair of them agreed to meet again soon and as Bunny waved goodbye from the mouth of a tunnel he was more than a bit surprised to find himself positively flush with a feeling that felt an awful lot like fraternal affection.
And later, as he prepared himself for his daily foray, he wondered if maybe sometime soon, Jack might like to join him on one.
A/N: Well, there it is my lovelies, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and I very sincerely thank all of you for reading! I know the big break between updates can be frustrating, so thanks in advance to any and all of y'all who've stuck with me. Also, a big thanks and hello to any new readers out there and of course a huge thank you to all y'all who've reviewed! I usually try to respond to each and every one of y'all who've taken the time to drop me a note but since the work came a' pouring in, I'm afraid I've gotten a little behind, but that doesn't mean that I don't greatly appreciate each and every one. Seriously, writing is pretty intimidating for me and the kindness and encouragement I've gotten from y'all is beyond exhilarating.
Thank you.
Here's hoping there's still an interest for this little fic and that you'll stay tuned for what's next!
Next time: Jack discovers that there's more to the Easter Bunny than Easter and Aster wonders when he'll ever get a decent night's sleep.
