"Yeah, it's amazing isn't it? I've dreamed of outer space since I could remember...well...as Jack Frost anyway. When I would get sleep that is...which was usually if I came here or Mother forced me." He let out a soft chuckle before he continued. Meanwhile, I will still starin' at the scene above us, which quickly started to encompass the whole room. It was like we were actually in outer space with how it surrounded us. "I told Mother about the dreams I had and she enchanted the room like this to keep me from wanting to stay awake. It's soothing...however, it's always the same area...this one, and it's because I told her about the one I had most often, which was me just floating around the stars, but there was always one planet that was there. It made me feel more peaceful than the other stars and planets did."
"J-Jack...stop t-talkin', mate." My heart felt like it was stabbed but in a good way somehow. My breath was shaky, and the fur on my cheeks was gettin' soaked the more and more I looked around us. My heart was hammerin' away in my chest, and I didn't want to tell him why. I just wanted to lay here and never leave.
However, he couldn't just let me do that apparently. I heard him shift slightly and he must've seen the expression on my face, because I heard him gasp slightly. "Aster...are you okay? What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, no, and certainly not. I just...it's um...it's beautiful...breathtaking...peaceful...yeah..."
"Bunny...please tell me what's wrong?"
Not able to take my eyes off of the planet in front of my vision and the stars that surrounded us, I let out an shaky sigh before swallowin' the lump in my throat. "That um...that planet right there...the one on the ceiling...the one with all of the greens, reds, purples, and blues...that's my home world, Jacky."
"That's..." I didn't have to look to know his eyes had widened.
"Yeah..." I started before he could ask any questions. "That's my home world. The...the last time I saw it...it had...it had been destroyed. Everyone...everyone had...they all..." Suddenly I heard shuffling feet and I was yanked out of my comfortable nest by an icy hand, and yanked into a freezin' yet comfortin' hug.
"It's okay, Aster. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that...you don't have to tell me anything else if you don't want to. You've told me a bit, but if it...if it's painful, you don't have to."
"I..." I couldn't help the choked sob that came out when I tried to speak, and that's when all of my walls had crumbled. I clutched the back of his shirt as tightly as I could as if he were to disappear any moment, and I sobbed into his shoulder as I crouched lower. Once I felt my tears were spent, even though I'm relatively sure they weren't, I slowly pulled myself away from Jack's tight hold on me, and thankfully he relented. I looked up at my home world and I let out a strange sort of cry laugh. "I never thought...I didn't even dare to hope that...that I would ever see it again. I watched it get destroyed, Jack."
"Aster...can I show you something? If I had known it was your home world, I would've shown you sooner, but...just...can I show you?"
"I don't know if it can beat me seeing my home world again, but sure. Go for it, Jacky." I grinned as honestly as I did when Jamie told me that Jack got him to believe in me, and I noticed that Jack was giving me a sheepish yet knowin' smile.
"It will, trust me."
Jack jumped up and touched the ceiling where the planet was, and suddenly we were drawn into the planet. Once we seemed to be on the ground of my home world, I lost it all over again. I instantly became an ugly sobbin' mess as I looked around Jack's room. The enchantment of zoomin' in onto the planet made the furniture disappear, and I noticed somethin' else as well. The grass was warmer than it was earlier. "J-Jack...?" I stuttered out, not darin' to hope that was even within a realm of possibility.
He held his hand out to mine with a friendly smile. "C'mon, Cottontail. Show me around a bit."
I shook my head and staggered back, expectin' to hit a wall, but I didn't. Instead I fell on my butt and just like it would've on my home world, fireflies that glowed many different colors erupted from the grass beneath me. "This can't be...how...what?"
"I had asked Mother Nature if it were possible for me to go to the planet. I was half asleep when I asked, but she said she could do it, but there wouldn't be anyone inhabiting it. She said that it would take a lot of magic and power to do so...and that she would have to go through my dreams, my soul, my magic, and she said she had to look through five different books of the landscape of the planet. She told me that there were many more things involved with creating...this...but she said it was possible. She also said that she always took one seed from every planet she had ever been to...I didn't know...but...she used a seed from this planet. Your planet. I was extremely grateful for the spell and the enchantment, but I felt guilty about it right after. She was down for about a week because of the toll it took on her...but she told me it was very important that she did this. Now I know why...so...you gonna show me around?"
"I...I must be asleep...that's the only thing that could..." Before I could finish I felt something cold and powdery hit my face. I wiped it off my nose and it was snow. Jack had thrown a snowball at me. I looked around and I was still in the warm grass.
"This is real, Aster. We're really here...well...sort of...considering your planet is gone...this is apparently a perfect replica...at least that's what Mother Nature said."
"Wait...a perfect replica?" I quickly asked as I hopped to my feet. "And...and I can actually move around yeah? Like...we're not actually confined in your room...I can run about?"
"Yeah...although I thought you would've realized that when you fell on your butt." As the tears continued to fall freely from my eyes, and my heart began poundin' away with a new found joy and hope, I immediately took off to a place I knew wasn't far because of the landscape. "Aster! Wait!" I heard him shout from behind me, but my heart wouldn't let me turn around. I ran faster than my legs had ever carried me, and soon, I was where I wanted to be. I heard Jack rush up behind me, out of breath from the strain of havin' to keep up with me, but right now I could care less. "Aster...what is...this...place?"
"It...It's...It's where I called home. The one that I loved...we weren't just plannin' to have kits...the day...the very day that she told me...the day she told me we were expectin'...was the same day that I lost everything. Pitch took out everyone, but he didn't stop there...he obliterated my entire planet. I was to be a father...and I..."
"Aster...I'm so sorry...I can't even imagine...I am sorry if this upsets you."
"Oh...trust me, Jack...this hurts more than you can ever imagine...but you unwittingly gave me something that practically washes away the pain like waves on sand."
"What would that be?"
"Ya gave me Hope, but ya gave me so much more than that, and in fact...ya may have just put the other guardians out of a job in my book. I've dreamed of my home world, but I never thought I would ever see it again, and because of how devastating the loss was...it was hard to remember what the world looked like. I remembered vaguely of the plant life...and my home...there's also the fact that this is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen with my own eyes in a very long time. So, Jack...ya gave this old Bunny Hope, a dream come true, Wonder, and you brought forth the happiest of memories that I thought were long gone over time."
"Wow...I think you're giving me too much credit there..."
"No, Jack...I'm not givin' ya enough credit. I don't know why you had dreamed of my home world or why it gave ya such peace, but I am...glad doesn't even begin to describe it. I don't even think there's a word for how grateful in my own native language."
"Y-You're welcome..." His eyes looked at me with astonishment and his own happy tears that shed slowly. I could tell they were there because he was happy for me...but it still unsettled me a bit.
"Do you...do you want to see the inside?"
"I...I don't really think I should...I mean...I..."
"Jack, I trust you, and I will likely never find a way to thank you. Even if you didn't know it was my world...you still dreamed it up, and because you mentioned it to Mother Nature, she decided that she would give this to you, more than likely knowin' which planet you were talkin' about. Even with all that...you, Jack Frost, gave me somethin' I could have never dreamed to hope for. I...there's not words...Let me show you who I was before my planet was destroyed." My heart was so full of Hope, Wonder, and Joy I almost couldn't contain it, and on any other givin' day I would've hated how I sounded, but my heart wouldn't let me feel anything else but the resounding Hope and Joy.
He nodded his head hesitantly, and I opened my door to my home. I took in a gasp of shock as everything was exactly how it was left. It was as if I was walkin' into my home while she was out workin' in the fields. The furniture was still in their very spots. The chair made out of willow wood, fresh moss, grass, lavender, and lilac still sat peacefully near the fire place. "That...that was her chair. I...when I courted her...I made her things. I made her that chair, and even though I didn't think much of it, I thought I had done a poor job of it...she said it was the best gift I had ever given her. It made the burrow smell like lavender and lilac."
"Like your home in the warren?"
"Exactly like my home in the warren, but that was a happy accident. I didn't actually force that smell into my home. I dug this burrow out myself just a few months before courtin' her. I wanted her to have a place to live if she accepted...and honestly...I didn't expect her to, but I wanted everythin' to be perfect. We had known each other since we were five. She was a bit taller than me, but I didn't care about that at all."
"Wow...you were completely smitten with her, weren't you."
"Oh, Jacky...you don't know the half of it. I would often trip over my own tongue just tryin' to talk to her, and Moon knows I didn't deserve her. I wasn't really known for my good attitude or patience. Yet...she seemed to be able to have enough patience for the both of us...and she made me a better Pooka."
"She sounds like she was a wonderful Pooka herself."
"Oh she was. Look here..." I pointed at the painting next to the fireplace. "I painted that for her when she accepted me courtin' her. That's her standin' next to me in the paintin'." We both looked at the paintin' which had me wearin' a black undershirt that was mostly covered by a long emerald green over coat that went down to my thighs. It had swirling yellow embroidery around where the egg shaped buttons rested, and it was trimmed with golden fabric on the outer edges. I didn't paint pants, because it was a waist up portrait, but I was wearin' black pants when I painted this. My fur was darker, and younger at the time.
"Wow...her fur is really blue."
"Yeah...Her fur was a midnight blue, her eyes were cerulean blue, and the markings on her fur were like white and light blue stardust that was sprinkled across her arms. The dress in the painting was her favorite. I almost didn't get the color right, but it was a beautiful lavender colored dress with loose frills as sleeves."
"Yeah, she does look beautiful. I gotta admit."
"Oh, she was more than beautiful, mate. The paintin' does her no justice. She was...she was miraculous and wonderful...and she was kind, and patient. She was more than what I deserved. I loved her so much...when I found out how much I loved her, I practically panicked." I laughed at the memory of it all. "I thought that it would be impossible for someone like her to return the feelin's of someone like me...and then when she allowed me to court her...I thought that surely no one was allowed to be allotted that much happiness and hope all at once. Then...I asked her to be mine officially once the courtin' was complete, and she said yes. I..." I chuckled slightly at the fond memory, and looked up to Jack expectin' a patient look or a rollin' of the eyes, but no...he stood there with pure fascination and sympathy in his eyes. So, I continued. "I actually fainted out of pure joy. When I came to, she had brought me some warm tea, and she was laughin' at me. We had a good laugh about it, and sometimes she would bring it up if I was ever gettin' too full of myself...but yeah...she was amazin'." I looked back at the paintin' and sighed heavily. I missed her. I missed my family and friends, but more than anythin' I missed her, and my heart ached. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at Jack and almost as if he could read my emotions plain as day he gave a sympathetic smile to me and looked back at the paintin'.
"Aster...we can come here whenever you like. I know it may be painful, but at least in a way, this place still exists. I can't give you back the Pookas...and if I had known it was your world I had been seeing for so long, then I would've told you...but...this way, you can come back to your home world...in a way.
I was speechless at the offer, and really I should've expected somethin' like that from Jack, but at the same time I didn't. "Thank you, Jack." Was all I could voice, and he gave me a nod. I looked around my old home and smiled fondly at it all. "So...you've seen the livin' room, you want to see the rest of the burrow?"
"Only if you want to."
"Yeah...I really do."
"Then lead the way, Aster."
I beamed brightly as I took him to the kitchen. "I made everythin' in this house by hand. Every piece of furniture, every wall, every paintin', and I made everythin' that works. The kitchen included."
I showed him the kitchen and the look on his face was priceless. It looked like his jaw was about to fall off. "This..."
"Yup, all of this space was for cookin'." I opened my arms wide and gestured to the very large room that was a thousand square feet. I gestured towards the sink, the eight foot tall coolin' cell where we held things that needed to be cooled or kept cool. Then, there were the counters that went about twelve feet from left to right, the stove and oven I had carved myself was made out of a special type of stone that naturally held the heat of our sun.
"This is a huge kitchen, Aster."
"I know...but when your species' minimum height is six feet tall and the maximum height is seven feet...and you eventually plan to have kits...you need a large kitchen. Actually, this is fairly small compared to most other burrows, but she never complained." I looked around, feelin' once again proud of the hard work I put into my home.
"How um...how long were the two of you...married?"
"The year that I lost everythin'...we would've been married for ninety-two years."
"NINETY-TWO YEARS!?"
"Yeah...what's wrong with that?"
"Well...some couples are lucky to see sixty or seventy years...but ninety-two!? And that's when you decided to have kits?"
"No, we had decided to have kits ten years into bein' married...we had been tryin' since then. Then, she tells me she's expectin' and she's three months along."
"And then Pitch happened..."
"Yeah...he did...but I kept movin' forward."
"So...I know it's a bit personal but..."
"Frostbite, this whole trip has been personal."
"Right." He chuckled out nervously. "Well...why did it take you two so long to get pregnant?"
"Pookas aren't like humans. There's a lot more that factors in. Two Pooka have to be compatible in not only a physical aspect, but in an emotional aspect. There's also the fact that Kits are rare anyway, because Pooka only court and mate once every millennia. So...it actually takes a rather long time before a mated couple can expect a kit or kits."
"So...basically...you had to prove to each other after so many years that it was the right decision...and kits are rare so...is there such a thing as a mated couple not having any kits?"
"Oh...it happens. Sometimes they can try for five hundred years before havin' just one kit. She was pregnant with triplets. Someone havin' twins is somethin' to truly be in awe about...it's rare...even rarer than kits in general...but triplets...well...if there was more than two kits at a time, then the leaders would deem that as perfect proof at a perfect bond."
"Perfect bond?"
"Yeah...you see...you can court and mate someone...but if ya ain't a perfect bond...well..."
"So...do all Pookas who have kits have a perfect bond?"
"Essentially yes. However, there are three things that can determine if you don't have a perfect bond. Usually it would be decided that the bond isn't perfect after a full millennia. One, you don't have any kits after a millennia. Two, if you fight or argue with your mate more often than you show everyone that you love and care for them, and three...if they are still able to be attracted to another Pooka."
"So...no room for cheating, huh?"
"No...if your bond is perfect with your mate, you would never even entertain the idea. It happened with my father though. My mother and Father had been together for nine hundred years and he was still able to be attracted to another Pooka. I was barely three years old. Now...when somethin' like that happens, a Pooka that is able to have a kit, but can still be attracted to another Pooka...that means that their bond with their mate was very strong, but not perfect. I know that my Father loved my Mother, but the bond just wasn't strong enough. It happens and it isn't entirely frowned upon, but if he had ever acted on his wantin' for another Pooka, then it would've been frowned upon."
"So...because your mate was pregnant with triplets...that meant the two of you had a perfect bond before a thousand years."
"That's correct. It meant that our compatibility, our love, our trust, and our bond with one another was so perfect and in sync that she was able to be pregnant with triplets."
"Aster...are you alright?"
My head shot up to look at Jack. I hadn't realized that I had lowered my head, nor did I realize that I had started cryin'. "I..." I wiped away a stray tear and shook my head. "I don't think I'm gonna be alright for the rest of my life. I had healed somewhat from my race being destroyed...but every year on our anniversary, I mourn and I don't do anything for Easter that day. I set the table for two, but no one sits there. I loved her more than words could ever say. I loved her more than the whole of the planet and the stars that surrounded it...It has been well past millennia and I still love her as if she were here."
"Huh...I believe you're gettin' soft, Cottontail."
"Always for her. I was never really all that pleasant before her...but she...she made me a better Pooka."
"Have you told the others this?"
"No...but tellin' you is the least I could do for you showin' this to me. You didn't have to. Ya could've just let me continue to gaze at my home world...but you allowed me to see it once more...and I'm even allowed to see it any time I wish. I truly couldn't ask anythin' better than this." Suddenly, a brighter light started to shine, and I found myself turnin' to Jack for answers.
He gave a sigh and a remorseful smile. "Seems like we've been here all night. It's time to leave."
"Really...we can't stay for just a bit longer?"
"I can only come here at night...we can come again, don't worry."
"Alright." He grabbed my paw and held it in his hand as the light began to get brighter and brighter until I saw nothin' but white. Soon the white faded and we were back in Jack's room, and I was breathless by everythin' that just happened. "Thank you, Jack."
"Y-You're...you're...Ast...Ast..." Before I could react Jack fell against the floor of his room and he glowed brightly for a split second before openin' his eyes again, which were ice blue and maple brown.
"JACK! Are ya alright, mate?"
"W...Who are you? Where am I...where is Sarah? I was on the ice and I fell in...and I woke up here...How do you know my name? W-What are you?"
"Oh no..." My heart which was filled with Joy and Hope crashed into dispair and worry.
