Author's Note: Hey, guys! I'm back with…CHAPTER 14! So…we officially might have about 5 more chapters to go in this story (it might be expanded a little but we will have to see), and things are heating up! Now we are going to dive further into what Jack and North just discovered in the Warren! Before we get to that…REVIEW REPLIES!

KitoH: Ahhhh! OMG thank you so much for your reviews on all 13 chapters! I really appreciate it, and I hope you continue to like the story! Also thanks for leaving my 50th review on this story on Chapter 10.

PhoenixFirre: Thank you so so much! I always try to keep them in character as much as possible, especially when it comes to their bond as a family. I'm really glad you enjoy it, and really hope you continue to enjoy the rest of it.

FrostedDragonHeart: You'll have to read the next chapter to find out! Lol! Thank you so much for understanding! And I really hope you like what comes next!

Sofie Rose: AHHHH YOU'RE SO WELCOME! Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you continue to like what comes next!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter 14

"This doesn't make sense!" Jack exclaimed as he paced back and forth while North watched. "Why would Bunny do this to his own home? That's like you doing damage to the Pole or Tooth destroying her palace! It's just not right!"

Once again, North knew that the boy was right. This didn't make any sense at all. The egglet certainly wouldn't lie and wrongfully accuse its own master, but Bunny wouldn't just go on a rampage in his Warren and then pretend that it didn't happen. However, that still didn't explain the events that just unfolded. Something was very wrong with Bunny.

"I know," he replied, "but I don't think anyone can make this stuff up, Jack. We didn't find anything that could prove it was someone else, and this egg made it clear he saw Bunny."

"But…something's still not adding up, North," the Guardian of Fun replied as he stopped pacing to look at his adoptive father. "What could possibly drive him to do something like this? What could possibly drive him to act the way he's been acting?"

"I don't know, my boy," North said walking over to Jack, "but I do know that we will get to the bottom of this. If I was able to save you from Pitch's influence, I'm pretty sure we can figure what's running through ol' Bunny's head."

Jack smiled at his adoptive father, and he was about to respond with some newfound confidence in his voice when suddenly…the egglet began to run away back into the bushes. "Hey, where are you going, little guy?!"

"It saw something," North whispered as he surveyed the surrounding area.

"What?" Jack asked.

"I'm not sure," the Guardian of Wonder replied, "but he clearly saw something in this direction."

"Maybe, it's another egg wandering around," Jack said as he looked around.

"I don't think so, Jack," North replied as he readied his swords again still looking around. He himself was getting a feeling that they were being watched. "Show yourself!"

Both Guardians got into their stances, ready to face whoever it was approaching them. Within seconds, a blue and grey blur emerged from behind the trees right in front of North and Jack. Thankfully, North and Jack immediately recognized who it was and relaxed.

"Oh, is just you, Bunny," North said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Phew! You gave us a bit of a scare there, Cottontail," Jack added with a smile. "What are you doing here? You should be resting at the Pole."

However…Bunny did not answer them. Instead, he remained in a crouching position snarling at his fellow Guardians like a wild animal about to attack. North furrowed his eyebrows together when he noticed this, and the uneasiness returned.

"Uh…Bunny?" he asked carefully. "Are you alright?"

Bunny did not answer as he continued to snarl at North and Jack.

"Look, if you're mad that we're here, we're sorry," Jack finally said as he himself became a little wary of Bunny's odd behavior. "We're just trying to figure out what's been going on with you."

Bunny stared at the two shadow figures…the Nightmare Men as Pitch called them…and growled at them. These creatures were responsible for killing his little brother, and now they were going to pay dearly…

"Cottontail, can you stop looking at us like you're going to attack us?" Jack asked as he took a step back. "You're really freaking me out right now."

"Get…out of my…home!" Bunny growled before pouncing.

"Jack, move!" North shouted as he quickly pulled his boy out of the way causing Bunny to land on the grass completely missing them.

"What the heck was that for?!" Jack shouted at Bunny once North released him from his grip. "We're trying to help you!"

Bunny turned to face them again snarling still. "You blokes and your master are finished!" he shouted.

"What?" Jack asked as he gripped onto his staff. He couldn't help but feel that Bunny's words sounded all too familiar to him. However, it was hard to figure out why when one of their fellow Guardians was looking like he was ready to attack them again. "Bunny, it's just us! North and Jack! We're your friends!"

"Jack, he can't be reasoned with right now!" North shouted as he readied his swords again. "We must fight! We can solve this later!" If they could find a way to subdue the Pooka, they could snap him out of this and find out what was going on with him.

"But—" Before Jack could add anything, the Guardian of Hope took out some of his trusty egg bombs and threw them at the Guardians of Wonder and Fun causing them to explode thus forcing the two winter Guardians to fall backwards against the trees behind them.

"Nghh…Jack…are you alright?" North asked as he sat up rubbing his back trying to relieve himself of the pain from the impact.

"Never better…agh…" Jack replied as he struggled to sit up as well. He looked up and gasped when he saw Bunny still standing in front of them. The winter teen couldn't help but notice that Bunny's eyes looked lifeless…cloudy, but that thought was also quickly forced out of his mind when he noticed that Bunny picked up one of North's swords after the old man dropped them. "Uhhh…North?"

Bunny smirked to himself as he watched the two Nightmare Men in the red haze fell backwards due to his egg bombs exploding and struggled to get back up. They were weakened. This was it! He finally had them right where he wanted them. He could finally make Pitch and his minions pay for what they had done to his race, friends, and family, especially his little brother. There was no way Pitch could understand the pain of losing a loved one, but he could still hit the Boogeyman where it hurt…his minions.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a sword…one that clearly belonged to them, and his smirk grew wider as he picked it up.

"I'm going to enjoy this!" he said as he began to slowly…walk toward one of the Nightmare Men.

"I'm going to enjoy this!" Bunny suddenly said as he began to walk toward them…with one of North's swords in his hand.

"Bunny…put that sword down…" North said in a warning tone as he slowly tried to stand up with his back against the tree. However, it was hard to do when the pain aggravated the wound in his stomach and when his other sword was still lying down in the grass too far from him to reach. His heart pounded when he realized that Bunny…was walking right toward clearly planning to kill him first. "Bunny…Bunny, stop!"

North's words fell on deaf ears as the Pooka persisted ready to strike against the former Cossack. However…just as Bunny was a few inches away from him, a blur of blue and white suddenly plowed into Bunny forcing him to the ground away from North.

"Jack!" the Guardian of Wonder shouted as he watched his adoptive son and oldest friend tumbling over each other in the grass…until finally…Bunny landed on top of Jack with the sword clutched in his hand. He moved to help Jack, but quickly bent over when the pain in his stomach was aggravated.

"No…NO! Not now…must help Jack!" he thought to himself.

There was a brief moment of shock as Bunny was suddenly tackled to the ground by a blur of black. He didn't have time to berate himself for letting the other minion overcome him when he was so close to eliminating his friend. However, fortunately, for him, he managed to overpower the Nightmare Man and pin him…it to the ground.

"Fine…I'll just finish you first!" he shouted as he brought the sword down toward the shadow creature's chest only to be stopped when his target grabbed his arm trying to fight him. However, Bunny refused to give up. He held down its other arm with his free hand as he struggled with the other hand trying to eliminate the Nightmare Man.

Before Jack could even blink, Bunny was on top of him pinning him to the ground, and he mentally kicked himself for dropping his staff before he tackled the Pooka. It wasn't what he was hoping would happen, but at least, he stopped the Guardian of Hope from killing his adoptive father. However, that didn't change the fact that the Pooka still had one of North's swords in his hand, and he was about to bring it down on Jack.

"Fine…I'll finish you first!" Bunny shouted as he brought the sword down toward Jack.

The Guardian of Fun quickly gripped Bunny's arm to stop him, but the Pooka continued to struggle against him, clearly adamant about finishing the job.

" C-Cottontail…s-stop!" Jack said through clenched teeth as he struggled to keep the sword away from his chest. "I-It's me…Jack!"

Bunny growled as he struggled against the Nightmare Man's cold grip. He refused to stop until the sword went straight through his shadowy body.

"You and your master…are finished!" Bunny said through clenched teeth.

Jack could see their arms shaking from the struggle. Now that he was facing Bunny up close, Jack again noticed how Bunny's eyes looked cloudy…and lifeless. He mentally noted that Bunny couldn't have been acting on his own free will. Something was messing with him mentally. That had to be it. Unfortunately, he had no time to put more thought into it as Bunny made another attempt to bring the sword down on his chest, but thankfully, Jack continued to resist.

"You and your master…are finished!" Bunny said through clenched teeth.

"What…?" Jack whispered.

Bunny gave one last push to try to drive that sword toward Jack's chest, but he refused to let Bunny go through with it. He tried to kick Bunny off him, but the Pooka was too strong and far too heavy.

"BUNNY!" Jack shouted as they struggled. "BUNNY STOP! IT'S ME, JACK! NORTH, HELP ME!"

As soon as he heard his boy's cries for help, North wasted no time in running over to the struggling Guardians. He grabbed Bunny by the arm that held the sword and around the waist trying to pull the Pooka off Jack without causing Jack harm. "BUNNY, GET OFF HIM!" he shouted in his Russian accent as the Pooka struggled in his grip. "STOP THIS!"

"BUNNY, STOP!" Jack continued. "SNAP OUT OF IT! BUNNY!"

Within seconds, Bunny blinked, and his arm froze in Jack and North's grip. Jack watched as the Pooka's eyes cleared from the cloudiness, and he couldn't help but feel confused, as Bunny seemed to actually snap out of it.

"Frostbite?" Bunny asked as he noticed that he was on top of Jack with a sword in his hand…one of North's swords. It didn't take him much longer to realize that someone was grabbing him from behind and holding him tightly. "North…w-what's going on?"

"You tell us," North replied as he slowly pulled Bunny away from Jack allowing the boy to stand up and slowly releasing the Pooka when he was assured that Bunny wouldn't try to attack them. "You follow us here and just attacked us. You were about to kill Jack!"

"What?" Bunny asked in shock as he absentmindedly dropped North's sword. "No…no, I wasn't! I would never do that to you blokes! Why would you think that?!"

"Well, when someone usually holds a sword over you trying to stab you," North began as he subtly held out his arm in front of Jack, "it usually doesn't mean that they want to play, especially when they just destroyed their own home!"

Bunny's green eyes widened in shock as he took another step back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his fellow Guardians…his friends. Within a minute, the winter guardians had accused him of attacking them…and destroying his home. He looked around his beloved Warren surveying the damage, and his heart immediately broke. The Pooka was unconscious and therefore did not get to see the damage that Jack and North initially claimed had been done, and now that he was seeing all of it for the first time—the broken eggs, the sliced off branches, the overturned cans of paint—he couldn't believe it… It was Easter Sunday all over again, but now…his own friends were accusing him of causing it.

He finally turned back to North and Jack glaring at them. "Y-You think…you think I did this?" he asked.

Jack's face fell. He knew all too well what it felt like to have someone to accuse you of something, so he hated that they were even having this conversation with the Guardian of Hope. "Well…" he sighed scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, "…okay, look, it's not that we think—I mean…" he sighed again running a hand through his white hair.

"Spit it out, Frost!" Bunny suddenly shouted making Jack jump.

"One of your eggs…told us that they saw you do this," North said trying to take some of the pressure off his boy.

Bunny scoffed. "So that's it," he said. "You're just going to believe whatever a little egg tells you?!"

"Well…Bunny, w-we wouldn't have believed it," North replied, "but…we…we couldn't find any evidence of anyone else, who might've been here."

"Look we know you wouldn't do this on purpose," Jack added, "but there's obviously something going on with you, especially with the way you just acted right now."

"Yeah, well, guess what, Jack!" Bunny retorted. "There's nothing going on with me, so you can just end your little investigation and go."

"But, Bunny—" North tried to say.

"LEAVE! GET OUT! NOW!" the Pooka shouted causing both North and Jack to jump from his outburst.

"Cottontail…" Jack tried to say.

"DON'T COTTONTAIL ME! JUST GO! NOW!"

Before either of the winter guardians could say any more, the Pookan guardian hopped away without looking at either of them leaving them in a stunned silence.

As much as it pained North to leave their fellow Guardian, he took out his snowglobe and whispered their intended destination and throwing it creating a portal to appear.

"Come, Jack," North finally said. "Let's go home."

Instead of answering, Jack looked in the direction in which Bunny went. He wanted more than anything to go find the Pooka and to talk to him, but…after what just happened, he silently agreed with North. Bunny needed some time alone to cool off, and as the youngest Guardian stepped through the portal, he could only hope that Bunny would do just that.

Author's Note: Well…that didn't go very well…at all… Don't worry, North and Jack aren't admitting defeat yet. Be on the look out for CHAPTER 15 to see how they handle this! Don't forget to leave review/follow/favorite!

I was originally going to have North act a little more aggressive toward Bunny once he snapped out of his episode as he defended Jack from Bunny to the point where he yelled at him and pointed a sword at him, but thinking back on how he reacted when Jack told him about what happened before they left, I kind of felt that would've been a little OOC for him seeing as how he was aware of Bunny's behavior and is very concerned for him. He loves Jack as a son and wants to protect him, but he also wants to help Bunny.

Anyway, that's all for now! Really hoped you liked this chapter! See you in the next one, guys!