Snow Globes - Chapter 8
Bunny tore through the Claussen like a madman, shouting the whole way for any offenders to move while he ran for Jack's bedroom. He fought for speed as he stumbled in his combat boots, clunking heavily on the hard wood. They managed to catch holds on the ice that littered the hallway, the blazing sunlight reflecting into Bunny's eyes in blinding flashes of white and yellow against his emerald green. But he didn't care, all of his thoughts on the urgent chase to find Jack.
He tore up the side staircase from before, tripping over the ledges of the shaft. He fell roughly on the ledges, landing on his side with a grunt. The narrow, unlit space began to fill him, and he cried out.
"Jack!"
A large, hunkering figure appeared in the doorway above, blocking the only source of light in the stairwell. Bunny yelped, lurching away, and fell the rest of the way down the stairs. The heap of fur at the top grunted in surprise and rushed down to help the aching Bunny.
"Phil," the Australian spat, "Get out of my way! Jack – Jack, he…"
"Arblaghraba?"
"I don't know where he is! I was on my way to his room when I fell down these bloody stairs! Get off of me, stupid furball!"
Phil crossed his arms, offended. "Gjubragra moruof!"
Bunny stood. "No, Phil – I, I didn't mean it like that. It's just," he fumbled with his hands, before continuing, "He just… left. He's just – What kind of bloody wanker does that, anyway? He didn't even say anything, just bloody necked me and then left!"
Bunny froze when the words left him, looking to the yeti. Phil stared at him with wide eyes, and held his hands up, taking a step back.
"Phil," Bunny started, "Don't you dare." But the creature already turned and fled up the stairs. "Phil! Phil, get back here you bloody furball! Phil!"
Bunny chased him to the landing, only to find it empty. The living quarters all lay deserted. Silence rang through the halls, only broken by the occasional, scenic wind through the icy windows.
"Damn, they clear out fast."
Bunny shivered, leaning back against one of the crème-colored walls, flinching away when his back met ice. His eyes swept over the burgundy borders that joined with the rafters above, supporting the peaked ceiling. Icicles hung from the ledges, small and decorative, a nice seasonal touch, despite it being near the end of spring.
He smiled at the small points, his thoughts turning to their creator. The ice became clear blue, like the shimmering lakes that shone against the pale snow, bright orbs in a sea of pale white. Snow fluttered through the open rafters, creating the soft hair that wavered above the boy's brow. Bunny closed his eyes, falling back against the wall, ignoring the shock of numb cold that met his back.
Did he even like Jack?
He'd never stopped to actually think about it, not in the past few days. The memories of his affection only consisted of the white Pooka he searched for now. The sparkling fur that glinted in the light through Tooth's glass ceiling, so reminiscent of the own youths chilly bedroom, and the warmth of fur against his tanned skin. But the fur began to fade behind Bunny's eyelids, melting away into pale skin. He felt the soft, pink flesh against his own, and then against his fur. Bunny felt human Jack; the real Jack, the Jack that he loved as any being in the world, no matter what form he took, in his Pooka arms. He kept the boy safe, protecting him from all the dangers. Except from each other.
The ice on his back bit through his green shirt, and Bunny leapt away again. He rubbed his shoulder gingerly, sending the ice a dirty look. How he wished for his fur now. He sighed, walking away through the empty halls, his panic lost within his mental debate.
Jack, the winter sprite, and the Guardian of Fun; the boy sent his mind into a whirl. Thoughts of the past few days flew through his memories. He held the shivering Pooka in his arms, shielding the attack of the sand globe from him. He comforted him, holding his as he dried him off; Bunny cursed himself for pushing the boy into the water back at Tooth's Palace, guilt rushing through him at the sheer panic that he caused. He remembered the paint, the only playful fight out of hundreds of others, all of which Bunny wanted to take back.
His memories dived deeper. He remembered the playful smirk Jack held, not impaired by the rabbit teeth and flat nose. How that smirk annoyed Bunny. But it held certain affection, a cute quirk that made the Australian yearn to see it. With every passing step into his thoughts, Bunny fell more into – nothingness, without any harness to keep him under control.
Bunny pushed open the red door quietly, the wood creaking, scraping gently against the bedroom floor. He closed it behind him, his tanned fingers brushing over the light blue paint on the interior. It closed with a soft click, and Bunny turned to face the open room.
"Jack? Are you here?"
As he expected, no answer replied to his call.
Bunny sighed, walking over to the bed, and sitting on its edge. He set his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands. He raised his head to look at the bookshelves lining the room.
"Three hundred years… of books," Bunny murmured. "Never took Snowflake as the kind to read."
His feet moved across the carpet, making their way to the paper-clad walls. His hands latched onto a ladder, feeling the smooth wood beneath his fingers, polished to a shine. The shelves towered, high above, but he began to climb anyway, just to look at the comforts given to three centuries of isolation.
The Great Gatsby
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Annabel Lee
Frankenstein
The Thief Lord
A Wrinkle in Time
The Republic
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Almost haphazardly, Bunny dropped the books down onto the bed below, tossing them over his shoulder. He knew of their soft landing, but only looked through the literature to distract his thoughts.
Gulliver's Travels
The Tempest
Dante's Divine Comedy
White Fang
Robinson Crusoe
The Tale of Despereaux
Pride and Prejudice
The Catcher in the Rye
Dracula
The Count of Monte Cristo
Wuthering Heights
A Tale of Two Cities
A Christmas Carol
Bunny stopped, letting the final book fall from his hands. So many papers surrounded him, stories that gave Jack joy. Even the dark ones, the scary stories, he loved enough to shelve for keepsake. All different genres, throughout all the ages of history, even before he rose from the ice, collected on the wooden shelves.
He looked onto Jack's life; in the books he saw the fragments of Jack's being. The center of the boy that he now loved, latched onto every word that peeled away from the pages, into the open air. They fell softly, creating a world to which Jack escaped; all of the pain, the loneliness. The ink flew into the sky. They fell like snowflakes.
Bunny blinked as a flake of snow landed on his nose, and he wrinkled it in annoyance. His necked snapped back, and he gazed up beyond the balcony to the glass dome. The vents rested open, unlike the view from moments ago. It took a moment to register.
A loud thump rang through the room as Bunny's boots hit the floor. He ran past the mess of literature, leather, and paper that lay on the bed, dashing to the stairs. The wall rushed past, the gentle lanterns flickering in the breeze that Bunny created in his hurry. He huffed his air in as he emerged onto the glass balcony. He pounded across, ignoring the fragile floor, trusting North to keep it sturdy through the architecture. Cement floor met rubber sole, and Bunny slid to a stop, almost crashing into the glass. He stepped around the vent, out onto the balcony surrounding the observatory.
Cold, bitter wind bit at his bare arms, snow dashing across his face despite the clear sky. It blew from the icecap below, sending flurries of frigid crystal into the air. The wind picked up, whipping Bunny's slate blue hair away from his forehead, bearing the tanned face for the world to see. The Australian turned in a slow circle, taking in the surroundings, looking for any sign of Jack. The bronze frame of the observatory windows glinted harshly in the sunlight, sending golden beams glowing across the surface. Icicles hung from the metal banister surrounding the balcony, wickedly sharper than the decorative points on the jolly red rafters inside the Claussen. The metal twisted at some intervals, torn away from their position by the tempest winds that often racked the Pole.
The white expanse of glacier spread out in front of Bunny. The ice cliffs that mounted the Claussen barely peaked the horizon. Bunny lifted his arms, on top of the world. He clutched his hands into fists, before bringing them in to cup his mouth.
"JACK!" he screamed, his voice ripping across the chaotic serenity of ice. "JAAAAAAAAACK!"
In answer, a bright, multicolored light burst into existence above Bunny's head. A loud boom sounded, rushing with a gust to pitch Bunny over the edge. He clutched tightly to the railing, ignoring the frostbite that sank into his fingers. The man stared up in awe at the Aurora, trailing it to its source. The waves of color radiated from the tallest tower, high above the observatory. They spread out in webs of wavering curtain, alighting the bright sky with wonder. But with every wonder came a danger, and Bunny's senses went on high alert, already weakened by his human form.
"Tooth!" he cried, racing indoors.
He didn't bother to take the stairs, rushing the glass platform's railing and launching himself over. A feeling of weightless bliss filled his chest, while his stomach dropped. He plummeted to the ground below, aiming for the bed. His limbs fell separate from each other, creating a sense of relief, before Bunny leapt into action. He saw the pile of books stacked from his mess, and aimed for a clear patch. The landing enveloped him in sheets and hardcover books, but he bounced out of the bed, with barely a bruise on his skin. Millennia of training allowed impossible feats, even in a less tolerant body.
He strode purposely through the barren hallways, hurrying for the Command Room. He took the main staircase this time, loading himself into one of the many lifts lining the edge of the floor. The gate rattled closed, and he pulled the lever. With a lurch, the gears worked to move the metal container, bringing him across the inner workings of the workshop. He peered through the grating at the empty workstations he passed, and the lack of activity throughout the entire building. The eerie silence filled the lift, and he began to bounce on the balls of his feet, restless in discomfort. As it climbed higher, a dull roar reached Bunny's ears, growing with each passing moment. He looked up, reaching a hand to the ceiling of the chamber, feeling the cool metal on his palm, vibrations of sound coursing through it. He shifted his weight, reaching behind himself for a boomerang. Emerald eyes locked on the door before him, ready to attack the oncoming storm.
As soon as the doors screeched open, ran out onto the main floor of the Command Room, only to be stopped by the large, impossible crowd surrounding the Globe of Belief. Scores of yetis piled into the room, some leaking out into the corridors beyond and pushing into the extreme chaos that persisted. Bunny nearly dropped the boomerang in his fist as he pushed through the crowd, the creatures jostling him from every angle. He received an elbow in the ribs, another in the back, and then dodged a third, potentially vitally dangerous one aimed lower. Towering above the rest on top of the control panel stood Phil, who caught sight of Bunny with a slight smirk in his beard, crossing his arms smugly.
"Phil! The hell is all this?" Bunny shouted over the mob.
Phil raised his large, lumbering hands to cup his mouth, shouting out for silence in his language of vague grunts and garbles. The room fell quiet immediately, all eyes fixated on Bunny. The Australian shifted uncomfortably as the crowd parted around him, creating a clear path to Phil. He trudged forward, sheathing his boomerang for the moment, and crossed his arms self-consciously across his chest.
He reached the foot of the control panel, and glanced up briefly at the large yeti. "Mate, what's going on here?"
A light fluttering filled the air, darting in the extreme speed of a hummingbird. Bunny whipped around to only see a flash of teal blue feathers, dashed with streaks of yellow and purple, before a force of a giant brick smashed into him, pulling him into a deadly embrace.
"Oh, Bunny, I heard!" twittered Tooth's excited voice from somewhere above his ear. "I'm so happy for you! But more for him, of course. You have no idea how long he's been pining over you, coming to me with all of his issues about 'Bunny this' and 'Bunny that'. I'm honestly surprised that it took this long, with how much he talks about you. But he's finally told you!"
"T-told me what?" Bunny protested through the feathers in his mouth. He shoved the fairy off of him in a huff, his hand twitching to pull his boomerang out again. But he restrained himself, and instead continued calmly, "I don't know what this furball here told you, but Jack didn't do anything except cause trouble." He winced at his words, remembering Jack's and the guilt that accompanied them.
Tooth visibly deflated, hovering closer to the ground, her legs pulled up under her. "W-what? But I thought – I thought he kissed you!"
Bunny folded his arms, suddenly aware of the surrounding crowd. A blush began to spread on his cheeks, and he huffed, "He did." Before Tooth could exclaim, he cut her off, "But then he left."
Tooth's crown of feathers stood at serious attention, annoyed rage coursing though her veins after a short bout of confusion. "He did what?"
"He left, saying something about how he didn't hope for things because the bloke's got a head too big for his age," Bunny said nonchalantly, gazing around the room before glancing back at the woman in front of him. The sight made him cringe.
Tooth's nailed fingers curled into claws, shaking with the need to rip something. Teeth gritted, she turned away, fluttering madly in place, seething with annoyance.
"I swear, when I see that boy I'm going to knock his pearly whites down his throat…" she muttered darkly. Bunny cowered from her, trying to shrink his large form into his overlarge boots. But Tooth returned to reality, a sickly sweet smile on her face. "Bunny, do you know where he is?" she asked in a voice far too innocent, even for her.
"No, like I said, he just left."
Tooth's smile dropped. She whipped around to the yeti, who leapt down from the control panel to accommodate the intimidating fairy's height. "Phil, go get me North's prototype transportation globe, now."
Phil grumbled frantically, nodding as he ran to the lifts.
Bunny stared after him, before rounding on the woman. "What, are you crazy? Another bloody prototype globe, and you think it's safe?"
"No, but it's the only option we have."
"Like hell it is! I can find the Ice Block with my tunnels!"
"Not if he's flying, you can't."
"Tooth–"
The fairy turned her murderous gaze on him, and he fell silent. "Bunny, I am doing this to help you. I was with North when he made this globe. I know what it does. And I know that only one malfunction could possibly happen with it, but it's not deadly. This globe has been tested: on me. It's no more a prototype than his regular snow globes."
Bunny stared at her, his black eyebrows darting up into his short bangs. "And when were you planning on telling me this?"
"It never came up; North's creations don't usually concern you," Tooth said simply, lighting down to sit on the control panel, facing the yetis. "Bunny, just go with it."
"Why should I do this, when I can do it myself?" Bunny countered, leaning against the panel, ignoring the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him from the crowd.
Tooth sighed, her feathers falling back onto her head. "How long have you liked Jack, Bunny?"
"W-what?" stuttered the Australian, "Who said anything about liking? I-I never said that."
His words met with a knowing smile. "Jack has liked you for a really long time, Bunny, and we've all wanted him to be happy. North only found out a few weeks ago, but him and I have been talking for months, and you've come up a number of times."
"Really?" Bunny questioned, his curiosity getting the better of him. "How many times?"
Tooth giggled, slightly, returning to her calm, controlled self. "Once or twice. Or maybe more. It doesn't matter, though, because you have the same feelings for him, right?"
The man shifted his gaze to his feet. "I-I… I don't know…" he answered quietly. But he steeled himself, and lifted his head to meet Tooth's purple eyes. "But I need to find him."
As if on cue, the lift clattered open, and the crowd parted again, letting Phil through. Elves scattered around dizzily, directed only by the force of momentum as the lead yeti barged through. He held in his hands one of the two remaining globes, the clear one with swirling snow. It appeared as normal as ay snow globe, only bigger, and it radiated with energy.
Bunny eyed it suspiciously, ready to thump his foot at the first sign of danger. "What's so special about this thing anyway?"
Tooth fluttered to take the globe from the creature. "Thank you, Phil. This," she gestured to Bunny, "is more precise than North's regular globe. For that, you have to focus on a specific location to be taken there, but it gets confused with regular ideas. It's like my fairies; because they are a part of me, they already know what I need when I send them out on missions. North's globes connect with his vague thoughts and analyze his most common destinations. This globe, however, is able to focus on a specific living person, instead of a place. It can find an idea, or a memory, even."
"So… it can time travel?" Bunny asked with his eyebrow arched.
"No, that's ridiculous," Tooth said, waving him off. "The only being able to that is Father Time himself, and we haven't seen him since he got sucked into the intergalactic time-space paradox rift. No, this is much safer." Her smile didn't comfort the shape-shifted Pooka at all.
Bunny cocked his chin, nodding at the tool with distaste. "How does it work?"
"Just focus on whom or what you want to go to, and it will open a portal there," Tooth stated, placing the globe in his rough hand. The smooth glass felt cool in his fingers, foreboding, even.
Bunny stared at the swirling snow, thinking hard in concentration. All the yetis crowded in, bating their breath for any sign of a change. Tooth leaned forward, a huge, pearly-white smile plastered on her face, with Baby Tooth fluttering around her excitedly. After an eternity, Bunny gave a groan to the air.
"This is stupid! What the bloody hell am I supposed to do?"
The yetis all groaned, and Baby Tooth fell to rest on Tooth's shoulder. Tooth gave her a reassuring frown, before approaching Bunny cautiously.
"Bunny," she murmured, lifting him from under his chin, "Just think of Jack. Think about everything you know about him, everything you love about him, or hate about him. Don't worry; we'll find him."
Bunny looked at her curiously, the smallest amounts of hope filling his chest. He nodded, turning back to the globe.
The images floated into his mind like fresh snow, white as the fur on Jack's body. He saw the pale skin underneath, shining in the ice and firelight. The ice blue eyes glittered devilishly, infuriating Bunny with the accompanying smirk. His emerald eyes found shape in the snow globe, the whirling flakes creating the picture of mischief. Bubbling laughter filled Bunny's chest, and yet he knew the sense of loneliness, millennia's worth of it pouring from his heart. Through all the sadness, the hopelessness, hope bloomed. And with the flower sprouted Joy, overcoming the obstacles set before it; the jagged ice knives tearing at the sky above. All black sand dispersed, and a single snowflake shattered.
A loud whir began to rattle the globe, shaking in Bunny's fist. With a yelp, he dropped it, and it fell to the ground, shattering into a small twister of magical dust. The pieces came together, creating the mural of Jack's form, the Pooka flying along, oblivious to the portal opening behind him. He flew above an evergreen forest carpeted with snow, and still frozen tears pricked at his eyes. Those beautiful, wonderful ice blue eyes that made Bunny leap for the image immediately, regardless of the workshop around him, not hearing the roaring cheer of the yetis and the triumphant whoop from Tooth.
He passed through the portal with a sickening twist. The air around him compressed with a pop, sending him shooting through.
He barely had time to scream the name, "JACK!" before he crashed into the boy, embracing him as they plummeted to the earth below.
A/N: OMG Sorry for such a late update! D: Umm... My math teacher is kind of evil, and she gave us a ton of homework this week. Also, I had musical rehearsal every day as well, so... But it's here! :D And I hope it's good... It's a little shorter than I thought it would be... but... The next chapter will probably be even shorter, maybe. It's going to be kind of angsty, but I think you'll all like it. I don't know at this point. Anyway, I think I also got Bunny a little OOC, so let me know if he is. But anyway, reviews are always appreciated!
NOW: THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FAR. BECAUSE I LOVE YOU. AND YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME.
I LOVE YOU A LOT.
GOODNIGHT (I have to drive seven hours tomorrow, which mean a lot of time to write! :3 )
~Renoku
