Bunny gazed blankly out of the window.
He couldn't believe that Sandy was gone. For hundreds of years, Sandy had been a rock. You could always depend on Sandy to be there, whether to listen or offer advice. Sandy had been the one to pull the group together when Manny selected the Big Five to end the Dark Ages.
Now, the rock wasn't there.
Bunny half expected to see Sandy drift through the door at any moment, half asleep, before asking what was wrong and helping them get through it.
But the little golden man didn't float through those doors, simply because he wasn't coming.
In the other room, North was being even more dejected than Bunny was, for reasons no one would explain to him. North was the only one of the remaining Guardians that Bunny would normally look to for information on things like this, as Tooth would most likely have a breakdown of some sort. But even North could not bear to explain what happened to Sandy.
X
With every fiber of his being, Jack Frost hated Pitch Black.
Sort of.
The voice still resisted.
Why, He wondered, can we not be united in this? Are you on my side? Will you really protect me? Or do you lie?
No. This wasn't right. The voice was a friend. The voice had protected him since he arrived. The voice was there for him, always. If it didn't want to pursue the boogeyman then he must not be a threat.
The kangaroo should know.
What? Why?
He deserves to know...
You don't believe in deserving.
No. We don't believe in deserving.
That's right. We don't.
He deserves nothing. But he should understand what happened to the gold man. Who knows? He might leave.
Good idea. We will tell him.
Jack hopped off of his windowsill, but if any one would have looked they would have seen the icy image of a rabbit with a tear inching down its face.
X
Bunny glanced up and saw the cold ice teen's clear blue eyes gazing down at him, a strange half smile on his pale face.
"I know how Sandy died. Want me to tell you?"
"I don't need to find out from you."
"Aww, why ever would you not?" The spirits face split into a playful grin before pouting.
How the hell, Bunny wondered, are we supposed to predict this kids moods? An hour ago he was a dark gloomy sack of violence. Now he's like a five year old with some stupid secret that you kind of want to know but you don't want him to know you want to know.
"Because I don't trust you."
"I speak the truth. You know what? I think I'm gonna tell you any way."
Bunny didn't say anything, partly because he did want to know.
"North did it." Frost said simply.
It took Bunny a moment to process this, but the second he did, he was flooded with unexpected rage.
North!? That's not possible! He wouldn't do anything to hurt Sandy! If he wouldn't lay a finger on this lunatic, why would he kill Sandy? The only reasonable explanation...
Frost would lie. He wants us divided, for me to distrust North. Or maybe...
He was trying to take the blame off of himself.
The kid seemed to read his mind, saying;
"Oh, I assure you, I tell no lies."
What the hell!? Hyper to grave and serious in two seconds!
Bunny realized that he had said these last two thoughts out loud when, once again, Bunny was attacked.
Why me?
X
Bunny's egg bombs proved to be no match against Jack's ice. He launched the bombs at Frost, but a blast of ice destroyed them before they could reach their target.
Bunny drew his boomerangs, and tossed them at the winter spirit. Frost dodged and they slammed harmlessly against the wall.
I need to get some better weapons.
Frost slammed his stick into Bunny's stomach. Bunny leaped up before Frost could land another blow, and he managed to kick the winter spirit in the head with his large and powerful back paws.
Frost fell backwards, landing on the hard ground with a solid thwack. Before Frost could get up, Bunny punched the smaller spirit, keeping him down as Bunny pinned him to the ground, pummeling the spirit until bruises covered every inch of the alabaster skin and Bunny was shocked that there weren't any cracked ribs. Jack could do nothing more than try to protect his stomach, as, although spirits were naturally strong, Bunny was always going to be superior when it came to physical fights.
North seemed to have heard the struggle and sped to the scene, wrenching Bunny off of Jack. Bunny struggled before going still, realizing that he would not be able to escape North's steel like arms.
Jack staggered to his feet, glanced around in apparent panic, and suddenly bolted out of the window.
Tooth materialized in the doorway, concerned. Baby Tooth, the tooth fairy that Jack had saved, flew out with him after a chirp to her mother, who nodded numbly.
X
What do we do what do we do what do we do?
We can get rid of those five- four as potential allies now that we've established that the kangaroo is a threat.
Where can we go? We still don't know the location of the strange voice calling to us, so we can't go to wherever that is. What options do we have?
Letting the wind take him where it would, Jack found himself back in Burgess, Pennsylvania.
He landed on the lake that he found himself drawn to every time he visited this place. He headed towards the middle, dropping his staff gently on the side of the lake. He stood in the lakes center, feeling the oddest sense of deja vu.
The voice chattered, but with no real intelligible words. Jack wasn't sure whether it was excited or anxious.
Anxious, he realized, when he began feeling the strangest sense of urgency as he stepped towards the edge of the lake. This urgency turned quickly to panic, and the voice seemed to change, sounding more, but somehow less, like himself.
Emma, I have to save Emma!
Wait, who's Emma?
The voice returned to normal for a moment, saying,
Where's this other voice coming from! It needs to be destroyed. Threat!
Jack could feel the fear and utter panic rising in his throat, and he realized he was screaming. He decided that he didn't care.
"EMMA!" He felt the cool tears fleeing down his cheeks, and wondered when he last had cried. It didn't matter.
He collapsed to the ground sobbing, for reasons that he did not-could not- understand.
Why?
He didn't know. But moments later, Jack heard the mysterious voice through his wrenching, choked sobs.
He pelted through the woods, ripping apart a old, rotted bed concealing a hole in the ground.
A dark hole, one of fear, and mystery.
Still, Jack flew through without hesitation.
Jack didn't know why. He didn't know this name, and he didn't know why he felt so protective and afraid, of or for the mysterious voice, he didn't know. But for some reason, the only thought crossing his mind was:
Emma!
A/N Question: who do you blame for the fights, Bunny, or Jack. My answer in the next chapter!
I rather felt like this one was at least a little bit excusable, as Bunny was kind of projecting his grief onto another, and changing that grief to anger.
I rather like this chapter. It has angst in the beginning, my sucky type of action, Jack's thought patterns, and a bit of a mental breakdown. My favorite part? I planned nearly none of it XD
So, this is a celebratory chapter for three reasons:
1. I finished the timeline for this story. The entire thing is planned now, so writing for this will become easier and less stressful than before.
2. I decided that there will be a sequel. I can't tell you any more, as it will spoil the end of this one, so the summary will be released in the epilogue.
3. Thanks to KappasRule for being the 100th reviewer! There are ten more chapters planned, and I can feel myself growing as an author. The rest of this fic will be better than the first half (which I will go back and rewrite eventually) so I think we can do it!
Thank you guys do much, I love you all, so keep rockin and don't forget to stay awesome!
Review!