Disclaimer: I don't own RotG but I do own my OCs. At least I have something...
What happened last time: "Insanity, coated in the guts of his insects, drives a clawed hand into Jack's throat. Jack screams as red slithers into him. Insanity withdraws his hand and vanishes, leaving the insects left alive writhing and screeching in green fire."
Let's get on with Jack's suffering, shall we?
Jack's throat hurts. It is burning. He is a winter spirit, his neck should not burn. Yet it does. He has no bearings, disorientated and confused. It is cold and it is dark. That's it. Where is he? His sister appears, smiling. Smiling at him. The burning of his throat fades to nothing but an itch in the presence of his sister. His heart fills with love for her, overflowing. He may not remember her name or his parents or friends but he remembers her and loves her.
His sister waves at him and when he takes a step forward she runs to him. And she runs through him. That terrible feeling of coldness and emptiness mocks the love in his heart as she goes right through him like he does not exist. She does not see him. She does not believe in him. Then the ice cracks under his feet.
Jack falls through, landing in the middle of the Workshop with no staff and no sister. "North, Bunny, Tooth, Sandy! What's going on?" The Guardians turn to look at him but their expressions are ones of pure contempt and hatred.
"What are you doing here?" North booms, pulling out a sabre and aiming it at Jack.
"Yer not welcome here, ya bloody pest," Bunny snaps.
"Get lost!" the Tooth Fairy shrieks. "You make a mess of everything!" Baby Tooth pops out from behind Tooth and nods her feathery head in agreement, glaring angrily. Sandy does the same and makes a Dreamsand whip. Jack backs into a corner under the Guardians fiery rage, tears in his eyes.
"Please! What did I do?" Jack begs. "You're my family!"
"LEAVE!" North shouts and the moon, shining through the skylight, turns away from Jack as though MiM is disgusted by the winter spirit. Jack gets up to approach the Guardians but they walk straight through him, casually discussing how glad they are that the annoying thing they cannot remember left. They do not believe in him either. Jack sobs as he begins to drown. Not in ice-cold water but in loneliness. He will always, always be alone. No one loves him. No one believes in him. Always alone.
The loneliness is so suffocating Jack cannot breathe. He really is drowning. As darkness swallows him all he can think is that he won't die, that he will be forced to live like this forever. Forever unseen, alone and drowning. Something breaks inside him as he thinks this, still choking and gasping for air and affection and belief.
A voice breaks through the haze; "Wake up Jack. Wake up." The darkness splinters and finally Jack can take a breath. It is a dream.
Jack wakes up. His eyes open to find himself in the Globe Room with the Guardians, cradled by two burly arms. He flails in panic, so very afraid that he will drown again, alone. The arms tighten around him. "Jack, calm down!" someone – North – says. Jack flinches away, remembering the hatred and glinting point of the sabre.
"Well, it worked," Reshma announces from somewhere nearby. "No turning back."
"Whadda ya mean 'it worked'?" Bunny growls. "This isn't some game, sheila. Frostbite's hurt!" Jack, still partially stuck in his dream, is confused by Bunny's concern. He… cares?
"I told you in the beginning, a fight with Virhorann is never physical," Reshma responds, "it is mental. I am aware that Jack is hurt but that was going to happen either way. We just took away his element of suspense."
"Couldn't ya at least pretend to care 'bout Jack!" Bunny roars.
Reshma's eyes flash dangerously. "I do care. However, eventually we will all succumb to Insanity. That was the purpose of tracking him down, to speed up the process. I simply have no time to lie about crying and complaining for Jack. He is the most vulnerable of the group, in case you did not notice. You may not know the full extent of his suffering but surely you know that he spent three hundred years alone and unbelieved in?" Bunny's ears flatten against his skull.
"You," Reshma continues, "ignored him until the Man in the Moon told you to bring him into your little group and then you rejected him with little to no evidence and you are lecturing me about caring? I had my reasons for separating myself from the world. What about you, who supposedly protects children? We are at war, a war I have been in my entire life. Jack has always been hurt. You have just been too blind to notice. You don't even know, do you? How he became a spirit? So don't you dare believe for a second you have any right to tell me to pretend to care!"
Groggily, Jack sits up in North's arms. Though he is caught up in sleep's hold his gaze is frightened and sad. "Don't- don't tell them how I died," he stutters. Too late, Jack realises what he revealed.
"Wait, died?" Bunny's ears, if possible, droop even further. Jack jumps out of North's hold, the wind catching him none too gracefully. His wide, scared eyes are those of a wild animal about to be killed. He flees the Globe Room, leaving the Guardians behind.
Sandy points to Reshma, forms a little sand person in a dress above his head and the person falls down, with a golden X crossed through it. "Reshma died as well?" Tooth puts his sand images into words. Sandy nods and Reshma bristles.
"I don't need your pity," she barks. "I've never needed anyone's pity! Don't think you can pretend to care now." Reshma stalks away, the four eldest Guardians left with more questions than before.
She expected Sandy, not Bunny. Of course she imagined Bunny could come but logically he was the least likely. Imagination is a useful tool for deductive reasoning. Bunny's pride and distrust, she thought they would prevent him seeking her out for a while. Yet he came anyway to her hiding place.
"I'm sorry, Resh," Bunny declares, albeit reluctantly. "Yer right. I dunno Frostbite as well as I should and we should've been there for the ankle biter. I shouldn't have told ya to care when for three hundred bloody years I didn't."
Reshma is surprised he is so ready to admit his mistakes. He truly does care for the youngest Guardian. "I am also sorry," Reshma replies. "I temporarily lost my head. Virhorann's powers can have adverse effects and I allowed it to get the better of me. It was not my place to reprimand you. Sometimes those that appear happiest need help the most."
Awkwardly, as the pair descend into silence, Bunny's whiskers twitch. Tactfully (in other words: not at all) Bunny says; "You died."
She sighs. "Yes, I died."
"Do ya wanna, uh, talk about it?" Reshma peers at the Pooka. Again, unexpected.
"Not much to talk about really," Reshma shrugs. "My mortal brain could not take the pressure my mind put on it so several blood vessels swelled and popped. It was almost instantaneous. I suppose I was not able to stay dead," she mentions this with a hint of wistfulness, like she regrets her ascension into a spirit. Just as tactfully as Bunny (read: absolutely not) Reshma adds; "Virhorann will target you next."
Bunny wants to protest but he cannot find reason to. He is the last of his kind, watched as his race was exterminated by Pitch and like Jack, he spent centuries alone before becoming a Guardian and the Easter Bunny. He may act tough, and most of the time it is not an act, but there is a vulnerability in him that he would rather forget. So instead he huffs; "Figures."
Both become consumed in their own thoughts, Bunny thinking about his past and Reshma thinking about who knows what. Which is why, when a hand is placed on Bunny's fur he almost flinches. It is only Reshma. Wait, Reshma?
She is gazing at some distant point, distractedly running her hand over Bunny's back, even scratching his ears. Bunny is shocked, too shocked to do anything other than be stroked. It takes a whole minute or two before Reshma realises what she is doing. As if burned she pulls her hand away. Her dark skin nearly hides her blush but Bunny sees it and smirks. "Having fun there, Resh?"
Reshma's blush darkens. "I apologize. I wasn't thinking and um… I best go and check on Jack." Bunny chuckles as she leaves. It's nice to see her flustered for once, he thinks privately. And a petting wasn't half bad either.
A/N: Maybe Bunny and Reshma will go somewhere, maybe they won't. Honestly, I have no clue.
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