Disclaimer: I own nothing but Clover

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Clover didn't wake up again until late the next day, the red mark around her neck having faded a little, but was still very noticeable. Sandy did worry that the mark might have been infected and did check to make sure, but nothing really came up.

So all the guardian could do was wait for Clover to wake up herself. The red haired spirit was left to sleep in her bed, Sandy not really wanting to leave her behind but he did have work to do, so he left Bunny to watch her while he delivered his dreams across the world for the children.

Naturally Bunny was not really up for it.

"Sandy you said I had to come over for the day, not that I had to watch the kid."

Exactly, now I have to go, make sure Clover doesn't run away again The other guardian twitched notably at his words and sent a light hearted, but still irritated glare at the Sandman.

"You're enjoying this aren't ya?"

Maybe...

And then he was gone, leaving the poor bunny to wait for the probably really rabbit-hating Clover to waken from her sleep. The guardian decided it best to take a walk before she came to, not wanting to be there when she woke up.

This had to be one of the strangest mornings I have gone through yet. Yeah it could really contend with the time I fell asleep while rainbowing my way across the sky (How I did it I still have to figure out.) My head felt like it had been bashed against a wall at least a hundred times, which as far as I remembered I most likely did.

There was a little surprise to see that Sandy wasn't there, but I knew he had a job to do and wasn't going to wait on me all day. Anyway I walked through the house and into the bathroom, taking a moment to gasp at my reflection, my face looking a lot more beaten up than it felt, a deep red scar marking my neck, more scars practically covering all my arms and legs.

I briefly touched the scar on my neck but pulled back, hissing in pain. A few moments passed as I checked to see if I was bleeding from anywhere before shrugging and washing up the best that I could, trying not to get any water on the scars that already felt as though I had seared them with acid.

The sun didn't seem that far up in the sky so I decided to look around outside, hoping that Jack would be there to go on some kind of adventure that wouldn't include him asking after the injuries that were really starting to sting around my legs.

Seeing my pot on the bedside table I quickly grabbed it, taking a moment to hug it (wonder if I'm too attached to it...) before walking outside, ready to enjoy what should be a rather uncomfortable day. I walked around on the beach for a bit before finally deciding that Jack wasn't going to show up so I might as well take a stroll through the sand forest.

The sand forest had always interested me, even after all these years. Why? Because it was always changing, there was always a new type of flower that sandy had created or a new species of animal that I'm pretty sure could never exist outside the island.

But as I strolled through the forest I started to hear strange noise. At first I just categorized it as merely another new type of animal that I would eventually run into someday.

Then I heard the breathing.

I instantly froze in my tracks, none of the sand animals could breath, they had no real lungs to do so. So what was that?

Moving seemed like an impossibility for the next few seconds, a strange sense of déjà vu flooding through my brain as I tried to listen out for how close the breathing was, my pot at the ready to swing at the mysterious perpetrator.

Of course it wasn't until a little too late that I realized that the other was standing right behind me and my memories of yesterday kicked in.

The cave, the laughter, the figure in the shadows.

Pitch...

"Stay away from me!" Screaming I quickly turned, slamming the figure full force in the face with my pot, but for some reason not knocking them down as they continued to stand there, not moving at all as I realized my mistake.

I had hit the Easter Bunny.

What the two of them are currently thinking:

Clover:

Oh god I hit him in the face, what am I supposed to do now? I can't tell him I thought he was Pitch, he'll think I'm crazy. What do I do? What should I say? Oh god, oh god, OH GOD!

Bunny:

'Stay away from me?' Does that mean she hates me now?

Now back to your scheduled programming:

Well we just stood there for felt like forever until finally Bunny turned to leave.

"No wait, I'm-" he cut me off.

"No it's fine, I'll just go." Ah guilt, haven't felt that in a while.

"Wait, please I didn't mean it." I run after him as he starts to exit the forest, quickly standing in front of him, desperate for not to think that I didn't hate him, but sadly I never really got the chance to say so at the time as he cut me off again, which really wasn't helping in the whole 'Don't hate him even though he insulted Jack thing.'

"I deserve it, I shouldn't have said those things and-" I cut him off before thinking, great idea.

"Then why did you?" I cringed slightly after my words, instantly regretting them. Dammit, I'm really not helping in my own cause right now. Bunny looked really hurt then, his long ears were down by his head and everything, really I might have called it cute if I weren't busy being angry at myself at that moment.

"Ah mate I didn't know what I was doing, I just, have a problem controlling what I say and... Ah just hit me again if you're angry!" Now maybe it's just me being new at this kind of situation, but I think Bunny was trying to apologize, either that or he really is into people hitting him.

"I'm sorry," He looked pretty surprised at that was about to say something when I cut him off, hah taste of your own medicine!

"I only hit you over the head because I thought you were Pitch." Two for two another surprised look, though this one seemed a little more directed towards anger than usual. His ears immediately picked up, ready for danger as he reached for looked like a boomerang from his belt.

"Pitch? Where?" I sighed, my hand stopping him from pulling out his choice of weapon, my voice containing maybe a lot more humor than this situation than needed.

"He's not here, don't worry." I said, trying to bite back a chuckle, obviously this was not the best time for laughing. The taller spirit only sniffed, letting go of his weapons before relaxing. It was around this time that our conversation dried out into an awkward silence, maybe it was because bunny had already apologized or it might have something to do with the both of us knowing next to nothing about the other.

So we just stood in the forest, both of us looking in a different direction, to embarrassed for some reason to look each other in the eye. Eventually though, being a hater of awkward silence myself, I spoke up, the bunny nearly jumping in fright from the disturbance.

"Hey, where's Sandy?" I asked curiously as the guardian scratched the back of his head and sat on the ground, not really needing to gesture for me to join him.

"He went to the other part of the world to deliver dreams, leaving me here to look after ya." He sounded a little annoyed as he spoke, a feeling that I could share with him as I felt a little abandoned by the golden guardian. We always went on dream runs together, heck I couldn't even remember the last time he went on his own.

Oh yes you can...

I shake my head a little before turning to bunny, hoping to receive any indication that he had also heard the voice, only to be disappointed as he kept talking about his own problems. I decided to ignore it for now and listen to the helpful distraction.

"I mean it's not as if I don't want to be here, it's just that Easter's coming soon and I have to prepare." Realization slapped me with a decent amount of excitement. Any kind of holiday always got me excited, not really counting exactly which spirit's holiday it was. I remembered the beautiful eggs I had seen in the guardian's warren and grinned, hoping that this year I could convince Sandy into an egg hunt on the island again, the last hunt was the best I had ever been on.

Actually, how long ago was that? I counted back the time in my head before frowning; I was never really good at keeping time. Might actually be a good explanation behind me not even remembering what my age was, even less what day it was, speaking of which...

"Hey what year is it?" I asked the large rabbit sitting next to me, who at first raised an eyebrow in response before answering.

"1768." He said simply as I nodded, before counting on my fingers. A few minutes passed before I groaned unhappily and stood up, unhappy with the result I had received.

"What's wrong?" He asked before standing up after me while I glared daggers at the sand underneath my feet.

"I'm 368." I grumbled as the guardian laughed, I turned and glared at him while he tried to maintain his balance against a sand tree.

"What's so funny?" I growled, feeling more than a little insulted. Obviously this spirit had no idea how to really talk to a woman, the first rule (even in my time) being not to laugh at their age. He eventually got his humor in check and straightened himself, the crooked smile on his face a clear indication to me that he was just holding it in.

"Nothing," He grinned while I sighed in frustration and turned back to the house, a still giggling spirit following after me. I stood on the porch and looked back at him, my serious face causing him to break down again, my angry facade twitched for a second as I smirked, a small giggle slipping out of me as I spoke.

"It's not that funny, why are you laughing?"

And that's how Sandy found us a few hours later, me leaning against the front door while I laughed, the rabbit trying to pick himself off the floor. The look he gave us, he must have thought we were insane. I tried to explain why we were laughing but every time I did I just start laughing again, Bunny left a short while afterwards, taking a moment to actually tell me his full name, after Sandy pointed out that I didn't actually know it.

"E. Aster Bunnymund." He said briefly as I smiled, taking his hand (paw?) and shaking it.

"Clover L. Eprachuan." Sandy grinned, hoping that the strange disconnection between us was now resolved.

...Sandy has way to much hope in this guy.

A few days passed and suddenly it was the day before Easter. I hadn't really seen Aster after that day, Jack either, which really got me to worrying as I hadn't really seen him in a month, an occurrence that never really happens. While the month passed I would stand out on the beach in the mornings, hoping and waiting for him to arrive and assure me that nothing had happened to him, only to be disappointed every time.

Sandy was also starting to worry, but about me. I laughed away his concern whenever he brought it up, saying that I was fine, it was Jack that needed help. The sand spirit never really understood the friendship we had but decided not to question it, and would even help me look for him when I went with him on the dream runs when he was finished.

The voice that had appeared those few days ago had sadly not disappeared; in fact it had grown in reappearance over the month, as if it were feeding off my fear of Jack being missing.

He left you behind, he doesn't care, he's grown bored of you and left. You name it, the voice had said it. I hadn't brought it up with Sandy so far as I didn't want to add to his already rather over protective attitude towards me. I would like to say that I didn't believe the voice, that I had more faith in Jack than that. But then again, I hadn't seen Jack in so long and the last I saw him we didn't really go on any adventures like we use to.

Was the voice right? Had Jack really gotten bored of me and found someone else to be his friend?

These thoughts burrowed themselves into my thoughts as I flew through a particular town that night; Sandy was still miles above me, delivering his dreams like he did every night. All the towns' people by this point had gone to sleep and there was barley even a soul out. Not that I could blame them, the temperature was really starting to drop.

I shivered as I hugged myself, rubbing my arms in an attempt to keep in some warmth, the cold only reminding me even more of how much I missed my frosty friend. Deciding that since there wasn't really anyone around to give any luck to, I went back up into the sky were Sandy was waiting.

But as soon as I reached the dream cloud were my friend sat the temperature really dropped to the extreme, even Sandy was shivering, and the cold barley ever affected him. I on the other hand, was practically frozen stiff, the tips of my fingers and lips turning a shade of purple.

I think it's time to leave.

"Y-you t-think-k?" I whispered, my teeth chattering a thousand times per minute, only stopping every once in a while as I had accidentally bit my tongue. The golden spirit gave me a worried look before pulling me into his embrace, manipulating some of the warm sand into a blanket for me, his own shivering form left uncovered. I held him closer as I began feel better, not wanting him to freeze while he helped me.

We stayed there for a few minutes longer before I saw something in the town below, a small shine of light blue amongst the white storm that was quickly covering it. Fear hit me faster than lightening as I quickly stood up, Sandman quickly trying to pull me back into the warmth of the sand but I shook my head.

"I-I saw s-something d-down there, I t-think it might have been J-jack." I said through my chattering teeth while I prepared to go down there and check things out, hoping that he wasn't really there and was safe.

Sandy quickly took my hand, shaking his head as he tried to pull me back down.

Don't go down there, you're already freezing up here, if you go down there you could get hurt.

"I'll b-be fine, but I-I have to m-make sure t-that Jack is okay." I walked closer to the edge, my decision only confirmed as I saw the flash of blue light again. Sandy still hadn't let go of my hand, I smiled reassuringly at him as I slowly moved my hand from his grip, taking another moment to make sure that he wasn't trying to hold me back anymore as I then stood up and ran off the cloud, letting myself fall for a good few minutes before creating a rainbow path, sliding my way quickly down to the ground below, trying to go with the wind as I went, not really wanting to take my chances going against it.

Eventually after a good few scares of the wind changing and trying, for some reason, to knock me off my path, I reached the ground. No matter how much I tried to readjust my eyes, the world in front of me completely smothered in white snow. I ran quickly and blindly through the storm, knowing better than to stay still in one place.

You're going to die out here if you don't leave now.

Really? What makes you say that oh so mysterious voice that I might just be considering on telling Sandy about?

Honestly I thought I was going to be completely toasty and everything. Oh wait, no I didn't, you know why? CAUSE I'M IN A BLOODY SNOW STORM LOOKING FOR A FROST SPIRIT, yeah maybe this just might not work out but I think I'd prefer dying slowly in the snow than arguing with a non existing entity.

And it's gone again, typical. As soon as it feels that it was losing an argument, it would just leave.

I had yet to feel the cold, as if my fear and adrenaline was keeping me from freezing in my tracks. Unfortunately my adrenaline was really doing terribly for my eyes as I ran into more than one wall or pole on my venture to find Jack. Which of course was not really a problem in comparison to me trying to keep my dress from flying all over the place, which would have caused me to blush if there wasn't already a decent blood supply there to stop my face from freezing up.

"Jack!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my throat feeling as though it was being ripped from the inside out as I did so. However, the cold was starting to get to me as my legs were nearly frozen stiff.

I wasn't sure after a while exactly how long I had been running, or rather, walking as my legs were turning numb. But eventually, I did manage to find someone; unfortunately it was not really the person I was looking for.

"Aster?" I whispered meekly as my throat was burning like acid. There was no mistake; it had to be the bunny. I mean I didn't really know anyone else with a silhouette of a full grown rabbit.

"Clover? What are you doin' here?" He quickly hopped over to me, my appearance apparently very frightening to him as he looked incredibly shocked. I guess it might have something to do with the bruises from walking into those walls and poles, that only appeared to be worse thanks to the cold, the blood that had turned purple making the bruises seem that much bigger.

"Are ya alrigh'?" I nodded meekly as he led me over to a small alleyway in between two buildings while we waited for the storm to blow over. Aster tried his best to keep me warm while he spoke, his words nearly flying past in the wind.

"W-what?" I whispered hoarsely, trying to listen through the roaring wind as he spoke again.

"I said where's Sandy?" Oh great, of course Aster isn't affected by the cold. Because that would be fair.

"He's up in the air, s-safe." I said, luckily not having repeat myself as Aster heard me with his long ears. We stayed in that alleyway for hours, possibly a whole day, I wasn't really sure. Aster left me alone for a few minutes to, as he stated:

"Check on the little ankle biter's." He came back after a few minutes, telling me that they were safe. After that nothing else really happened until hours later when the storm finally died down. I waited for a few more seconds, the wind was clam but the snow still remained, before I went out, Aster following me not that long afterwards.

We walked through the snow for a few minutes before I finally caught sight of a familiar form through the white. I ran towards it, my breath caught in my throat and the scars on my legs stinging from the cold as I ran.

"Jack?" I walked towards the frosted teen, he was lying on the frosted ground, his cane held tightly in his hands, his face tightened in fear. I crouched next to him, shaking the boy's shoulders for a few seconds as he began to stir.

"Jack are you okay?" I whispered as he opened his blue eyes and stared up at me, confusion flitting through them as he quickly stood up, brushing dirt that wasn't really there off his clothes.

"Jack?" I repeated softly, my hand clasping his shoulder as he looked at me again, his face just made of unsure emotions.

"Where am I?" Jack asked curiously, looking all around him before back to me, his eyes finally taking in my full appearance, and frowned. I sighed, he must have fallen asleep and caused the storm by accident, there was really no other answer I could think of. I caught his worried look and massaged my temples, really not in the mood for the third guy today to be worried about me, I mean it is flattering but it gets annoying after a while.

"Just don't ask, it's a really, long story." I smiled at him, trying my best to reassure him that I was fine, but he was having none of it.

"Don't ask? You're covered in bruises and nearly the same temperature as me, there's seems to be allot to worry about." He gestured at my full form as he spoke, his eyes mainly focusing on the deep red mark on my neck. I was about to half heartedly assure him again when I was interrupted.

"Yeah and we all know the cause behind most of it, now don't we." Aster appeared from out of the trees and glared completely at the teen in front of him, his expression clearly stating that he was not in the mood for the frosted spirit's usual banter, but then again, neither was Jack.

"What do you mean?" He sounded so confused, so lost. That seemed to completely assure me that there was no way he would do this intentionally, it had to have been an accident. But apparently, the same revelation had not been realized by Aster, who was still glaring intently at him. I walked a little closer to the situation, hoping that this wasn't going where I thought.

"You caused this mess ya little brat, and now Easter's ruined, because of you." He seethed while I took this opportunity to step in, making sure that I was standing directly in front of the small spirit.

"Aster it was an accident, Jack was asleep the whole time. He didn't mean to do this." I said firmly, the bunny just glaring at me before continuing, the younger spirit behind me only growing even more upset as he continued.

"So? It still happened because of him. I mean look at you Clover; you're covered in bruises and frozen stiff thanks to this little nuisance." He pointed past me at the boy, who looked rather heartbroken as I made the mistake of looking back at him, the new and old black bruises on my face being just that more apparent in the light that was finally shinning through the settling white snow, my skin now frozen pale and lips blue as his eyes.

Hidden tears swelled up in his eyes as my heart broke; I walked a little closer to him in order to comfort him. Only to be more upset when he backed away. Unfortunately it seemed that Bunnymund didn't want to stop there and just kept at it, his words only tearing the poor boy up even more.

"And you wonder why no one believes in ya, maybe if you didn't cause things like this, hurt people like Clover, you would be believed in." That shocked me the most, so much that it left me speechless for the longest time. How dare he, that was all I could think, how dare he say that.

I knew his story. Sandy had told me, I knew that he had always been believed in; he had never been unfortunate enough to have someone walk right through him. And yet he stands here and says these things, without a care in the world.

The thought of beating the living life out of him for saying such things seemed to irresistible at that moment, but Jack was thankfully taking up a good portion of my attention. He was just standing there against a tree, obviously leaning against it for support as frost quickly building around it, his shoulders notably shaking. I walked closer to him, trying to get him to look at me, but he pushed me away and walked past me, not wanting to look me in the eyes.

"Jack you didn't- it's not your fault, it was an accident!" I spoke calmly before finally yelling as the frosted boy shot up into the air, not wanting Aster and I to see the tears slipping past his eyes and down his face. I closed my eyes, trying to hold back some tears of guilt myself before turning around and glaring fiercely at the rabbit, I walked quickly back to him and pushed with as much force as my frozen, tired arms could muster. Which wasn't much, but it's the thought that counts.

"What is wrong with you?" I shouted, my voice bouncing off the empty streets and alleyways, Aster wincing at the decimal in which I had delivered it, but was still glaring at the retreating speck that was Jack Frost. Eventually he did glare back at me before walking off in an attempt to walk away from a fight. But I followed him, not ready to let this go.

"Me? What did I do wrong, Frostbite's the one who ruined Easter, created a hurricane and nearly killed us both, yet I'm getting shredded out for yelling at 'im like he deserved?" He calmly retorted, leaning back on a now frozen tree, his calm demeanor doing nothing for my growing rage.

What was with this guy? He says just about the same things about me yet apologizes afterwards, but when it comes to Jack suddenly he doesn't regret a damn thing? No, you know what? I won't allow any double standards with how I'm treated from my friends, and right now, with that annoying, contradicting rabbit leaning against that tree like he's in the right, I really wanted to bap him one, friend of Sandy's or not it no longer mattered. He was no friend of mine, and I was really starting to hate his attitude.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"I screamed as I clenched my fists, briefly cursing myself for leaving my pot at home for the first time, which had been an attempt to keep it safe and to not lose it in the night. He turned his head away from me and I went to strike.

I screamed out in anger as I felt the familiar feeling of sand wrapping around my arms, keeping me from hitting the self-centered rabbit and only causing me to be even more infuriated as the sand wrapped around my hands, trying to loosen the fists.

"Sandy let go of me." I hissed, my sight focused completely on the spirit in front of me, who looked rather surprised that I was ready to attack him for what he said. I didn't have to look back at the sand spirit to know that he wasn't going to let me go, I struggled then, not ready to let it go or calm down.

The sand guardian moved in front of me, blocking me from any attempt I could make to get to the other guardian as it became clear was he was stating. In order to get to Aster, I'd have to go through him. At that moment I decided it best to swallow my anger and stepped back, but still the hurt remained. He was choosing Aster over me, he believed Aster over me.

I continued walking back, my hands (that were shaking in both cold and anger) were raised in mock surrender as I spoke.

"Fine, fine, be on his side. I'm going to find Jack, you know, the real victim." I hissed before walking off, the sand that bound my wrists having loosened when I stepped back and broke altogether as I shot up into the air, running quickly so the Sandman couldn't stop me.

You're never going to find him, Aster was right, he'll never be accepted and as long as you're with him, neither will you.

"Oh be quiet will you, I'm busy." I hissed to myself as the voice fell silent again, its new attempt to get at me not working out like it did last time. I knew better and I was not going to be fooled.

Was Aster said was wrong, plain and simple. Nobody, not even Jack with his sometimes annoying pranks deserved to hear that.

I soared through the sky on my rainbow path, taking every moment that I could to fly up higher than usual, where Sandy couldn't get to me. I wasn't going to be caught just yet, besides it wasn't as if sandy could tell me not to look for my friend. He wasn't my parent, or my boss. He was my friend that I lived with; therefore he should mind his own business when I want to beat the living life out of that bloody rabbit.

Keep calm, forget about Aster and look for Jack, he needs your help and getting angry at Aster won't change anything.

Oh I don't know about that, I think a good punch in the face is exactly what the rodent needs.

Oh sure mysterious voice that I really hope is an outside influence, I'll just take your advice, especially since you were defending Aster only a few seconds ago.

Now if you don't mind I think I've found my rather upset friend, so could you kindly shove off?

Ah silence, thou were missed.

Anyway, I did actually catch sight of my rather upset friend on the shores of Antarctica, sitting right on the edge of an iceberg and sniffing to himself, his staff lying a few feet away, giving me the sad impression that he had thrown it away from him. I landed near the wooden cane, not alerting my friend of my presence just yet so he wouldn't fly away.

I picked up the staff, feeling the knotted wood in my hands as I walked over to Jack, quietly sitting next to him as I placed the cane in between us. Nothing was said for the longest time, we just sat in silence and looked out at the iceberg infested waters beyond, the world taking a moment to pause and inspect the moment we had right now.

Sure it was cold, but not as cold as the storm had been, so I was okay, Jack on the other hand seemed right at home with this frozen wonderland, the icebergs beyond the one we were sitting on littered the ocean and gave a beautiful scene, the lowering sunlight bouncing off the ice, creating numerous colors for us to take in. In other words, it was a breath taking sight.

After a while I eventually looked away from the scene, reached over and hugged the younger spirit, he wasn't crying anymore, he was just sitting there in my embrace, not saying anything while I spoke, saying one thing that I hoped could make him feel better.

"It was an accident; you were sleeping." Again he didn't say anything in response; he just nodded and kept the silence. And for the first time, I didn't really mind the silence for once, I was content to just sit here until the sun set, knowing that when it did, I'd have to leave Jack on his own, an action I wasn't exactly thrilled to go through with, and face down another bout of disappointed Sandy.

Yippee.

And there we go, the longest chapter of them all, oh and did anyone get the reference I made? No? Okay then I'll just crawl back into the corner...

Oh and please review, constructive criticism welcome!