Chapter 13: Bunny

Once more I wasn't sure when I fell asleep but after talking for hours with Jack once I had finished cleaning him up from his fight with father we somehow fell asleep. When I woke up I found myself engulfed by his arms and smiled softly at his peaceful face. I got up despite wanting to stay and headed to the bathroom. I smiled softly to myself when my reflection showed my natural bright yellow eyes. I was glad that I had enough sense last night after Jack had fallen asleep to take them out. I bit my lip as I stared at my steel-yellow eyes that seemed to pop out from the shadows of dawn. Maybe I should show Jack one day, then I wouldn't have to worry about the contacts all the time. They were a growing pain in my ass because I always had to take care of them. Take them off and night put them in in the morning, clean them, keep them wet. The list goes on and quite frankly, I was becoming annoyed with them.

I put the stupid coloured lenses in and snuck back into the bedroom. I took a moment beside the door to inspect the scene before me. Jack was lying down, sprawled across the bed with one foot dangling off the edge of the bed. He breathing was deep and could be heard from virtually everywhere in the room. The covers were half thrown over his body with his stomach down, so basically his legs and lower back were being covered. It was an adorable sight and I didn't want to disturb it. As quietly as I could , I made my way over to my side of the bed and slipped in. As soon as I had settled, Jack stirred in his sleep, reaching for me and hugging me to his muscular frame. So this must be why we always wake up holding each other.

I smiled and accepted his show of subconscious affection whole heartedly. The cold from his skin was almost addictive to me and I nuzzled into his hoodie. Jack stirred again clutching me closer for a moment before loosening his grip. He groaned and I looked up to see him opening his eyes.

"Good morning," I said softly. He looked down, facing me with a smile.

"Good morning," he said with a smile.

"How are you feeling?" I asked and lightly ran the pads of my fingers over the bruise on his cheek. Jack squirmed under my touch and took my had in his, lacing our fingers together. I let out a chuckle and gave him a soft smile saying, "Sorry."

" It's okay. I guess I could be better," he said with a soft smile that mirrored my own.

"So what adventure are we going on today?" I asked, changing the subject. I didn't want to think about his bruised body because of the guilt of knowing it was my fault would surely surface again if I thought about it too long.

"Well," said Jack, "I could take you to meet the guardians and you can help us search for this mysterious "she"."

I pretended to contemplate it for a moment with a playful grin, "A fun as that might sound, I'm afraid I'll have to decline."

Jack pouted then took his hand to move some hair from my eyes, letting his cold fingers linger on my cheek. I looked up at him through my lashes as he moved his hand to the back of my neck and pulled me forward. His wonderfully cold lips met my forehead for a moment before he pulled away. He gave me one last smile before pulling away and getting out of bed.

"Come on," said Jack with his devilishly handsome smirk. I threw the blankets off of me.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I got out of bed.

"Well, I have to meet up with the easter Kangaroo, you met him yesterday," said Jack.

"Don't you mean Bunny?" I asked, "He looked more like a Bunny."

We exited the room and entered the kitchen. Jack rolled his eyes, "Naw, he's a kangaroo."

"Bunny," I corrected in a sing-song voice. I looked over a Jack and we laughed.

"Your girlfriend's right, Frostbite," said a familiar accented voice. I practically jumped out of my skin and in my momentary shock, took a hold of Jack's hand. I looked around for the voice and saw Bunny occupying a seat on the couch. I looked at Jack for an explanation. How had this guardian- this companion of Jack's get into our home? Jack seemed to have understood my silent question and shrugged and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, encouraging me to speak. So I did.

"We're not dating," I said slowly, choosing my words carefully and pausing slightly between each word. Bunny chuckled and stood.

"Sure you're not," he said sarcastically and made a point to look down at our linked hands. I looked down at our hands and back up to Jack's face. I made a face and shrugged to which he responded with an even more ridiculous face and shrugged. Bunny looked at the two of us in a confused manner and we laughed not only because of the faces we made and the shrugging but Bunny's mouth hanging open, eyebrows knit together confused face. Bunny seemed to regain his composer after a moment and scowled at the two of us.

"So Bunny, sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday," I said as I spoke with more confidence. Bunny smirked and put his hand or pawn out.

"'S alright Sheila. Name's E. Aster Bunnymund. Everyone calls me Bunny," he said as I shock his hand(pawn?). I smiled.

"Scarlett," I said as we let go of each other's hands.

"So," said Jack, dragging out the word, and letting go of my hand to grab his staff by the kitchen table, "You ready to go? And I hope you don't mind Scarlett's coming with us."

"Are ya now, Sheila? I didn't think you'd have the fight in ya," said Bunny.

My brows came together in confusion, "Jack, I thought I said I wasn't coming and as for fight. You haven't been in one until you've faced me."

"Is that so?"said Bunny.

"I guarantee it," I said. I had no idea if it was pride or competitiveness which had taken control over my mouth and the words that flowed through but I wanted it to stop. If I kept going with the smack talk then I just back myself into a theoretical corner.

"So then you wouldn't mind helping us find this girl then because you're so good," said Jack with a smirk as he toyed with a lock of my hair. And there's the corner. Hello theoretical corner, my name's Scarlett. Thanks for nothing mouth, you're useless.

"Fine, I'll come," I said. If Jack weren't in front of one of his team mates, I'm pretty sure he'd be jumping around with excitement and shoving a coat in my face again as he flew us out the front door. Luckily for me, Bunny was here and therefore it didn't happen and we were still in the living room when I smirk and spoke, "But only to keep this one in line."

Jack smirked as well and took a step closer to me, "Is that so?"

I stood my ground, "Yes, in fact it is."

"I'd like to test that," he said, taking another step closer so that we were standing chest to chest. A look of pure mischief was displayed in his features and I could see in the reflections of his beautiful eyes that determination was what covered my own.

"How about we test it now. Come on, lovebirds. We gotta girl to find," said Bunny. And here comes the lies. Hello lies, my name's Scarlett. I didn't want to lie to the, but if they knew that it was me, well, I wasn't certain what would happen. Whether they would continue to let me live happily with Jack keeping me company or take me away, I didn't know. If they did take me away would it be for ransom(just as father always said)? Never let me see father again? Make me tell them information that could end up hurting father?

Well, regardless of what they would do, I was most likely not going to stand for it. I want my freedom and I liked having the ability to think for myself about what I can and cannot do. With that in mind, that means that lies are a necessity at this point. Thus, I assume that they will be piling up shortly, adding to my already guilty consccious. I hated it but what other choice did I have? It was either lie or have the things I love taken from me and that was not going to happen.

Jack fetched my jacket while I was lost in my thoughts and handed it to me, giving me just enough time to throw it on before he shoved my axe in my face, causing me to say with as much sarcasm that I knew that I had, "Thanks Jack."

"You're slow! Come on," he said as he took my hand and running us out the door. I heard Bunny chuckle behind us. Bunny followed us out, closing the door behind him before hopping in front of Jack and I, causing us to stop. I gave Bunny a questioning look, asking silently why he had stopped us. When my question went unanswered I turned my gaze upon Jack. He was smirking and it wasn't his usual smirk. Oh,no. This smirk was much more devious and overall appeared to be even more menacingly mischievous than his usual smirk. Shit. I turned my gaze back to Bunny to see that he wore a frightening smirk as well. Double shit.

"Buckle up," was all the furry creature said before the ground disappeared from beneath my feet. Triple shit. I screamed from the momentary shock that accompanied the feeling of falling. It took a moment for me to register that I was sliding down an underground tunnel and another moment more to stop my screaming altogether and start laughing.I threw my hands in the air at one point and accepted the adrenaline as it came. I just had to roll with it. A door suddenly came up in front of us and at the speed we were going,we'd plow right through it. I didn't make a sound as we slid closer to the door. At the moment I was trusting in Bunny to do something about this. We were in his tunnels after all. At the last second the stone door opened and we slid out safe and sound in the middle of a green grass land. I looked around in awe, this place was beautiful.

"Where are we?" I asked as I took in a deep breath. This place smelled of oak and honey and it was moderately warm with the sun's rays beating down on us. I did a full three hundred and sixty degree turn as I took everything in. The skys were clear and blue reminding me of the ocean.

"Welcome to the grasslands of Australia," said Bunny as he hopped into view in front of me. The grass lands were beautiful and I noticed for the first time that we were just on the out skirts of a town. Slowly we made our way towards the town while we discussed how this would work.

"Jack, you take Scarlett and look for any girls that might look like they'd have some sort of affiliation with Pitch. I'll look for any women. We meet back here at dusk. Don't get lost," was all the large rabbit said before he hopped of. I was surprised by the amount of speed he had until I remembered that bunnies are suppose to be really fast.

"Don't get lost," Jack mimicked in the worst fake accent I had ever heard as we continued talking.

"It's okay Jack. Come on, we have a job to do," I said in an attempt to lift Jack's sprites and it seemed to work quite well because it only took a couple of seconds before he unexpectedly wrapped his arms around my stomach and rocketed into the air. My eyes were squeezed shut for fear of seeing that we weren't flying and were actually falling.

"Open your eyes," Jack breathed into my ear and slowly, I did. The view was spectacular although I still prefer the one from our home in Canada. We flew for a few minutes as Jack preformed some tricks on our way to the town. I noted that his skin was still blissfully cold and I smiled. We touched down and began our search. Although I knew the girl we were looking for was me, I was still happy to spend time talking with Jack. I found that Bunny was also quite nice despite his rough exterior. Maybe the guardians really weren't so bad after all.