This Chapter was a complete accident. I hadn't planned on doing this introduction until later in the story, but as I was proofreading Chapter 10, I noticed that I had left out an important moment between Jack and Bunny. So... you get an extra chapter because I wasn't going to create a new update for a few hundred words. Consider it a present! :)
Jack and Sandy arrived back at the Workshop without any further incidents. They had decided that they would save telling the others about their encounter with the Shambler, as Sandy didn't see the need to worry Toothiana, North, or Bunny with anything else, especially since they were currently not in any imminent danger.
The Winter spirit had wanted to tell them, and at first he had argued with Sandman. Jack didn't like keeping secrets, but Sandy quickly explained that they weren't keeping it a secret. The Dreamkeeper only wanted to wait until after Christmas, promising Jack that he would bring it up at the next Guardian's meeting before the New Year. That would allow everyone to focus on the task at hand.
"Okay," Jack nodded, "You have a point." He looked around at the demolished Workshop and the sheer amount of work that needed to get underway if they were to be prepared for Christmas Eve.
Nodding silently, Sandy floated over to a group of Yeti and began to help them carry large wooden beams that were meant for repairing the roof. With his dream sand, the golden Guardian was able to create a fork lift, which meant that the large wooden pieces, which were currently requiring five or more Yeti to carry them, now could be maneuvered with speed and very little effort.
Turning his attention elsewhere, Jack's eyes fell on Bunnymund.
The rabbit was milling about in the snow, hopping from one foot to the other and obviously quite uncomfortable. Jack immediately felt guilty for how he had yelled at the rabbit earlier. Bunnymund, while pushy and overprotective, had only been looking out for his best interests. "Oy! Cottontail!" Jack bounded over to the Easter Spirit.
"Oh, so now your talking to me?" Bunny raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, about that," Jack looked sheepish, holding onto his staff with both hands and nudging the snow around nervously with his foot, "Look… I owe you an apology."
"You're darn right you do," Bunny crossed his arms.
"Hey!" Jack bristled, "I'm trying to make peace here! Do you have to be a jerk all the time?"
Bunnymund sighed and ran a paw over his ears, brushing them back, "Sorry, Jackie… I just. I was worried. I get angry when I worry."
"I've noticed," the white-haired youth smirked.
"Anyways," the rabbit coughed, clearing his throat, "I believe you were apologizing?"
The Winter spirit nodded, "Yeah. I didn't mean to bite your head off. I know you were just trying to look out for me." Looking down at his feet, Jack tried to hide his embarrassment, "So, anyway, we good?"
"You bet, Frostbite," Bunny punched the boy playfully, almost knocking him over. "And, hey, even if you bite my head off, I'll always be here to watch out for you."
"See," Jack smirked, "I knew you cared."
"As much as it pains me to admit it," Bunny chuckled, "I guess I do."
"You're just as soft as you look," Jack teased. Poking the Easter Bunny with his staff, causing ice crystals to form on the tips of Bunny's fur.
"Hey! It's cold enough for me as it is," the Easter spirit hopped back, "Don't be doing that!"
There was a rumbling sound, and one of Bunny's tunnels opened up in between them.
"What?" Jack grinned, "You think a hole is going to stop me from getting to you?"
Bunny looked down at the hole in concern, completely ignoring the fact that Jack had been about to instigate a game of tag. "I didn't do that, Mate," Bunnymund frowned, looking down at the hole with caution. There was only one person in the world, as far as the Easter Bunny knew, who could open one of his tunnels besides him. "Oh, god… not her."
There was the sound of flutes and the beating of what sounded like tribal drums, or it could have been the rapid pattering of paws as they hit the ground. Jack wasn't quite certain, but, as soon as the noise started, a blur of dark brown leapt out of the hole. The tunnel closed up and standing in between Bunnymund and Jack was a figure that the Winter spirit had never seen before.
It was an animal, like Bunny, but it had slick, caramel colored fur, a short, thin tail, and small, round ears… well, small compared to the Easter Bunny's kangaroo-like appendages. This creature was thin, lithe, and looked to be built for extreme speed. If Jack was willing to make a bet, and based upon the curvy figure of this new creature it would be a fairly safe bet, the white-haired youth was going to say that their visitor was female. She turned to look at him, smiling and revealing two prominent front teeth the color of ivory. They weren't dirty, but they weren't white either; it was an odd thing to look at. In fact, everything about this creature was foreign and exciting.
"Hello," she bat her eyelashes at Jack, "What do we have here? Why I do believe it's Jack Frost!"
"I don't believe we've met," Jack blushed slightly.
"Oh, you probably don't remember it," she chuckled, "But back in '73 you scared me back into my hole three times in one week with the blizzard you sent over Punxsutawney. Winter got to last five extra weeks that year because I couldn't even leave the tunnel to see if I saw my shadow or not."
"Huh?" Jack looked at her in confusion.
"Oh, no you don't, Sheila!" Bunny butted in, stepping between Jack and the mystery creature, whom Jack now was guessing to be a spirit of some kind.
"Aster!" the new creature gave the Easter Bunny a crushing hug, gripping him around his waist and hoisting him into the air. "How have you been!?"
"Put me down! You furry she-devil! And what have I told you about using my tunnels, eh?!" Bunny protested, pushing at the female to try and dislodge himself.
"Oh, you know you don't mean it," she giggled, setting the rabbit down, "Besides, it's the fastest way for me to travel!"
"Why don't you try digging your own?" Aster frowned, smoothing out his fur from where she had disrupted it.
"But yours are already dug," she smiled, "And they go everywhere I need them too."
"Uh, hello," Jack waved a hand between the two of them, "Is someone going to introduce me to the somewhat disturbingly attractive… um… sorry, I have no idea what you are?"
The girl looked at Jack, her eyes wide in astonishment, and she smiled at the flattery.
"Jack, Groundhog," Bunny pointed to the girl, "Groundhog, this is Jack Frost."
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait…" Jack laughed in disbelief, holding his stomach with one arm and clutching his staff with the other to stay upright, "You're telling me that the Groundhog is a girl?"
"You got a problem with that?" she asked, her paws clenching into fists. Her demeanor changed almost instantly. One minute she had been nice and carefree; now she looked positively lethal. Her eyes seemed to glow red with anger, and she managed to pull what appeared to be a hand grenade, in the shape of a pinecone, out of a pack she had strapped on her hip.
"Not at all," Jack started laughing harder. It was one thing that the Easter Bunny had turned out to be a boomarang tossing, Crocodile Dundee imitating warrior bunny, but for Jack to learn that the Groundhog was practically a furry terminator? It was too hilarious for words.
"Why in the hell is he laughing?" The Groundhog turned to Bunnymund in confusion, "Is he broken or something?"
"No," Bunny smiled fondly at the boy, "That's just Jack."
"I see…" the girl looked at the Winter spirit as if he were the most peculiar thing she'd ever experienced.
"Ahem," the Easter Spirit drew her attention back by clearing his throat, "Any specific reason why you raided my tunnels to… drop in?" He made a dipping motion with a paw to illustrate her popping up out of the ground.
"Oh! Right!" the Groundhog chuckled and tucked the grenade back into her back for safekeeping, "I was sent here by Mother Nature! She heard some horrible whispers tonight and wanted someone to check it out. Everyone looks alright."
"Does that look alright to you?" Bunny motioned to the Workshop, or at least the charred, blistered remainder of what was left.
'Holy cow!" she hopped back, her tail jittering nervously, "What the bloody hell happened?"
"Nightmares," Bunny growled, "And something else, though we aren't sure what they were. We're calling them Shamblers for now."
"Geeze," she looked around at the destruction. Darksand littered the snow, broken glass and stray shingles were everywhere, and everything else looked like it had suffered from an aerial bombardment. "Is everyone safe?"
"Luckily, yes," Aster sighed, "Though we're trying to get some of the Workshop repaired tonight, so that the Yeti and elves have somewhere to sleep."
"And if you can't get it fixed?"
"Then they can stay in the warren and come back in the morning," Bunny said finally.
"The Warren is a bit too warm for Yeti," she mused, "But I supposed it could work out in a pinch."
"No! No no no," Bunny held up a hand, "I know that look. Don't even think about talking to North."
"What's going on?" Jack asked, speaking up for the first time, his curiosity getting the better of him. Jack had been content to watch the interaction between Bunny and his self-proclaimed nemesis, but now he wanted to know what was going unsaid between the two. It seemed like they had a level of nonverbal communication that bordered upon telepathy. Even though Jack knew that wasn't the case.
"I was going to offer that the Yeti could come to Punxsutawney," she shrugged, "It's colder there, and my den is more than large enough."
"You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," Jack mused, "I could probably go swing by and visit Jamie." He also wanted to see if Rustle was doing alright, but Jack knew better than to mention the Summer spirit around Bunny.
"North is going to want to stay here," Bunny insisted, "But if you don't believe me you can ask him yourself."
"Fine!" the Groundhog stuck her nose into the air and let out a "humph!"
"Fine!" Bunny growled in response, watching the female stalk off through the snow.
"So it isn't just me," Jack grinned. "You're like this with everyone."
"I am not!" Aster protested.
Jack Frost gave the Easter Bunny a knowing look, both of his eyebrows raised in skepticism, which pointedly informed the rabbit that he was in denial.
"I'm not," Bunny protested weakly, turning to fiddle with a broken window shutter and refusing to look at Jack's knowing expression.
The Groundhog returned a few minutes later and shrugged, "You were right. He wants to stay. That man is stubborn."
"Says the pot about the kettle," Bunny smirked.
"You do realize that you are the picture of irony at the moment," Jack chuckled, then he realized that he too was basically guilty of the same thing. Wow, wasn't that a vicious circle?
"Ok, well, it's been a blast," Bunny muttered, tapping his foot on the ground and opening up the tunnels, "But… time for you to go!"
"Getting rid of me, eh?" the Groundhog shook her head, "Where are your manners?"
"Dig your own tunnels, and I'll see if I can muster up some common courtesy," the Easter spirit pointed to the hole, as if he could force her to hop inside.
"Wait!" Jack called out, "I still didn't get your name."
"Asteria," the Groundhog winked at him, "After the Amazonian warrior. Mother Earth has a sense of humor."
"Wait," he pointed at Bunnymund, "Aster…" he then pointed at the Groundhog, "Asteria…" Then the world seemed to kind of explode, "You two are related!"
"Nope! Not at all!" Bunny said, a bit too quickly to be believable.
"Oh, you can't hide me from everyone," she sighed, wrapping her arm around Bunnymund's shoulders, "We're practically identical twins. Mother Earth just gave me a better sense of style and direction."
"You use my tunnels for crying out loud!" Bunny groaned, "That's my direction!"
"But I was smart enough to save myself the trouble. Well, I'm off to give my report. I'll tell Mother you said, hi!" Asteria winked, hopping into the hole, "See you around!"
As she vanished from sight, the snowy ground swallowing up the entrance to the tunnel, Jack turned to the Easter Bunny and grinned.
"Don't you even say it…" Bunny warned him.
"Oh, I wasn't going to say a word," Jack's smile was positively gleeful, "Aster."
He left the word just hanging in the air, running off and taunting the Easter spirit with his song-like laughter. Bunny rushed off to try and catch the white-haired spirit, even though time and time again that had been a fruitless endeavor.
Aster hated knowing that Jack had so much knowledge about his personal life. None of the other Guardians were aware of his relationship to the Groundhog. Yes, North and Toothiana understood that he didn't get along well with the other spirit, and Bunny was certain that Sandman had his suspicions. Now? Now, Jack Frost, the one person in the world who irritated Bunnymund more than his own sibling, had information that had been one of the best kept secrets of the last two hundred years.
How was it that the Winter spirit always seemed to be involved in the important events of his life. Was it fate playing a cruel trick on him? Bunnymund wasn't certain, but he wished that the universe would tell him what was going on. He didn't like feeling so helpless around Jack Frost. It made him vulnerable, and when he felt vulnerable, Aster was at a loss. The only thing that seemed to be on his mind recently was that wonderfully playful, white-haired, smiling troublemaker.
Jack Frost had become one of the most important things in the world to the Easter Bunny.
"Huh," he muttered to himself, stopping in the middle of the snow and letting the Winter spirit escape, "When did that happen?"
A/N -
I know, I know! There are probably dozens of questions now! Do not fret! I have answers for them. Most of them won't be answered til later, when we meet Mother Earth, which will happen around New Years. So, please bear with me. We will be having another update tomorrow, since I whipped this chapter up last night. It came out of thin air and kind of screwed up my updating order, so now you are all going to get one chapter a day until Christmas. Aren't I amazing?
*whispers conspiratorially* Leave me a Review to tell me how amazing I am. ;)
