Bunny was the first to push the button.

The palace around them fell away, and before them floated Jack.

Oh, man. I never thought the Easter Bunny would turn out to be so cool.

Jack's voice startled Bunny. His lips hadn't been moving...had they? Tooth answered his question before he asked. "We'll be connected to Jack's thoughts and emotions for the duration of the memory, so try not to get too freaked out." But her voice was shaking. She knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience for any of them.

I bet kids would like finding Easter Eggs under the snow as they played! I bet Bunnymund would like to see that, too...

The words made Bunny flinch. He didn't know that's what Jack intended to do. It just made watching him create the snow that much harder...especially when he felt Jack's giddy nervousness turn into panic at the start of the blizzard.

Oh, no... What have I done? It like no time had passed. Suddenly Jack was standing in a clear patch, staring out in horror at his work.

"Well, if it isn't Jack Frost." He was amazed at how angry he sounded to Jack. It certainly hadn't sounded that bad to him when he said it; sarcastic and irritated, maybe.

Whoa...he knows who I am? "You know my name?" I didn't think anyone knew me. Why didn't he ever say something to me before?

"A'course I do. Everyone does. Yer a nuisance to most'a us, at best." As memory-Bunny hopped forward, real Bunny turned his face away from his fellow Guardians as they looked at him. He didn't know if it was more sympathy, knowing he didn't actually mean the words or anger at him for speaking for them (and falsely, at that) he felt a crawling sensation up the back of his neck from their gazes.

I think I'm in trouble... Memory-Jack flinched when Bunny grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the tree. His hands found Bunny's wrists and he grasped onto them, tugging at them lightly.

Bunny saw the quick, automatic glance of his memory form at Jack's wrists to confirm there were no scars on the child - the child, dear MiM, he was still just a child - (he found himself straining out of habit to check them now, even though he knew none were there) before continuing what he was saying. "Lookit what you've done, 'ere! You've screwed up Easter and devastated an entire state! I knew you were annoyin' and irresponsible, but this is downright reckless!"

They all felt the pain swelling slowly in Jack's chest. He wanted to explain himself and apologize, but they felt the words stop in his throat when Bunny started talking again.

"Why don't you stop being such a burden?" A burden? "Do everyone a favor and get lost, you bloody bit'a Frostbite." Bunny barely had time to make a mental note to never ever call Jack by that nickname again before the worst words he had ever said to the boy slipped out of his memory form's mouth. "Yer worse than useless!"

Bunny turned away from his friends even more. He'd been so angry, but that didn't excuse the things he'd said; it wouldn't excuse them even if Jack had done it all on purpose, either. The four of them felt something rush forward from the back of Jack's very soul. Something terrible and pitiful. None of them had expected it, but they felt that Jack had.

They know me? They know who I am and they don't even like me? They've never even met me! They've never even thought to talk to me... Why don't they like me? How dare they ignore me! How dare they not like me without even trying to...to... The sorrow flared up into anger, and Jack started to yell. "Hey! No one got hurt! I just wanted to have a little fun. And you think I'm useless? What do you do for anyone? Leave eggs that rot and stink up the whole town if they're not found? Yeah, I can definitely see the use in that!"

They all knew that Jack didn't mean those words as he said them. Bunny knew that he still deserved them. He knew he always would.

'Yer worse than useless!' If the situation weren't so horrible, it would have been funny hearing Jack's inner dialogue emerge in Bunny's accent as his words were repeated back to him. Am I, really? Flashes of people frozen to death, starved in their cabins having been trapped by storms, people slipping and cracking their heads open on the ice, and so many other tragedies related to his work sped through all of their minds. Tooth let small wail of utter despair. Jack had memorized every detail of their deaths as some sick way of punishment - he hated seeing death and deserved to see every one he caused.

Each of them shuddered as the anger drained and they felt the empty, heavy ache that Jack felt.

Jack hit the ground in front of a hardware store with thoughtless grace. In the background, Bunny could hear workers complaining about the snowstorm, and the slight twinge of guilt that pressed at Jack's mind...but what really hit him hard was how lost the boy felt, so devoid of hope. Not that he needed to feel it for himself to know - it was written all over his face.

A sense of dread filled them all - their own, not Jack's - as he wandered into the building. They watched him aimlessly walk up and down the aisles, not even knowing why he was in there. They watched him crumble a little bit more as someone looked right through him, but he dove out of the way before she could walk through him. They watched him as his eyes fell on the package of industrial razors. Bunny's heart sank as he recognized the fresh, sterile piece of metal as the rusty old thing that had been in Jack's hand when he found him in the snow.

There was no focus to his thoughts. It was only a mysterious attraction to the blade; a sick curiosity that halfway filled the emptiness as he vaguely recalled seeing a news article about self harm. The anticipation as he slipped the thing into his pocket and flew out of the store at a speed that rivaled Tooth's. The growing sense of terrifying excitement as perched on a power line and ripped open the package.

Suddenly, it was no longer watching from third person. It was like they were Jack (which caused a horrible disorientation that made them cry out), as he fondled the sharp piece of steel carefully in his hand. As he tugged up his sleeve and let out a desperate sob at the realization of what he was about to do. As he sobbed again, knowing that he wouldn't stop himself for anything.

Jack's first assault on the flesh hadn't been hesitant at all. In fact, it was more like he was aiming at his wrist with an axe, hoping to chop the appendage off. The sting made all of them cry out in pain, and then shudder in ashamed pleasure at the release of the painful emotions that had been building in their poor little Jack.

Even through the swirling, raging, confusing emotions that plagued them until the light flashed brightly in their eyes, Bunny didn't fail to notice that none of Jack's cuts bled.

"Hello, mate." Memory-Jack spun around in the alleyway, his staff at the ready. "Been a long time. Blizzard of '68, I believe." First came the sense of relief that the figure he'd been chasing was only Bunny, just before the worry and fear took over in his heart. "Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"

"Bunny!" His emotions didn't reflect on his face at all as he smiled teasingly, and they all wondered if it was because they'd all been carved into his arms instead. "You're not still mad about that...are ya?" Through the twinges of guilt, he managed a very convincing innocent look as he leaned on - no, hugged - his staff for support.

"Yes," came the growl. Bunny had never felt more ashamed of himself. He felt the empty hole where Jack's hope should have been grow a little bigger as the light flashed in their eyes again.

"Y'know what I think? I think we just dodged a bullet. I mean, what's this clown know about brinin' joy to children, anyway?" Bunny regretted those words, too. He'd seen first hand how capable Jack was as a Guardian, and even experienced the pure joy of Jack's magic himself in the Warren.

Rage bubbled in Jack's chest. I can't believe him. But he put on a snarky smile and turned to face them. "Uh, you ever hear of a snow day? I know it's no hard boiled egg," the tone was the same from his first words to Bunny in '68, "but kids like what I do."

"But none of them believe in you, do they?" Why did Bunny ever bring that up in an argument with him? He felt Jack's memory of being walked through, not believed in, at the same time as he felt his own. "See, you're invisible, mate. It's like you don't even exist." There was no coherent thought, just pain, and it was all it took for Jack to not cry right then and there.

"Bunny!" Bunny was so glad when memory-Tooth interrupted him. "Enough."

It was automatic. He didn't want to insult Bunny, he really didn't, but if he didn't say something he thought was funny he really would start crying. "No! The kangaroo's right." Why did I just say that?

"Th-the what? What did you call me? I'm not a kangaroo, mate."

"Oh...and this whole time, I thought you were." Once he started, he couldn't stop. "If you're not a kangaroo, what are you?" Somewhere under the guilt and anger Jack felt, it was a legit question, and Bunny might have even been amused if it weren't for for all led to it. The boy honestly could not imagine that he was really a bunny rabbit when he was 6'1.

"I'm a bunny. The Easter Bunny. People believe in me."

Bunny remembered how Jack's eyes had filled with tears right before him, but he'd tried at the time to write it off as something else (but what, he didn't know). But feeling tears stinging his own eyes from the connection with Jack made him finally sink to the ground. Why had he said those things?

Now they have a reason to hate me...

"He has to go." Jack's heart sank. What? "We should never have trusted you!"

Bunny remembered clearly the look of shock on Jack's face when he said that. This was the Easter not two weeks ago that Pitch had ruined. He remembered that, for an instant, he wanted to take it back and even hug the boy he thought had betrayed them because the look was just that heartbreaking. It was nothing compared to the way Jack felt when he said it, though.

The ringing in Jack's ears drowned out Bunny's speech about Easter and hope. The light took them away, back to Tooth Palace.

It was a half an hour before Bunny could finally move again. It was even longer before any of them had the courage to look at the next set of Jack's painful memories.