Newest chappie :D enjoy

Jack woke with a scream. It took a few moments for him to calm himself down and convince himself that he wasn't melting. The temperature had increased though and now even the slight shade offered by the table wasn't enough and Jack felt a killer of a headache coming on, his belly was turning cartwheels and the bright lights still danced across his vision.

Jack crawled backwards further trying to make the most of the pathetic shade, when Jack was completely under the table he rested his head on his arm only to pull it back with a hiss of pain. Jack stared at the raw pink skin that covered him. Not once in his immortal life had he burnt, not even in Bunny's Warren but now he was sunburnt for head to foot, and every movement caused him agony.

Jack sighed. As if he needed anything else to make this worse.

"Frost, where are you?" Jack tired eyes flickered open as a voice echoed around the room.

"Come on out Frost, I'm not in the mood for playing!"

Jack felt as though he knew the voice but he was unable to put a face to the voice now matter how hard he tried.

"Frost where are you, stop hiding and show yourself." By this point Jack felt that he should make an effort, the familiar but unknown voice was beginning to sound impatient.

Jack prised apart his parched lips and made an effort to speak, but all that emerged from his parched throat was a frog-like croak. It as enough though. Jack saw a tall thin shadow approach his shelter and stop.

A face appeared and Jack remembered who the voice belonged to, and realised he should have remained quiet.

Just now Jack's body decided that it had had enough and his exhausted eyes slipped shut and his body crumpled against the side of the table.

The last thing that Jack was aware of was being cradled by a pair of arms, of being pressed against a chest and hearing the unsteady, stuttering beat of a broken heart.

In all of his life, immortal or not Jack had never been so content. All pain was gone as was all traces of exhaustion.

But he still felt as though he couldn't move on, he wanted to but something pulled him back, a sense of duty, a mission unfulfilled. Just as he was about to ignore the feeling and travel on to wherever a voice called out, penetrating his veil of peace and silence and reminding him of his duty to the children. He protected them and they needed him.

"Wake up Frost, please wake up!"

Jack opened his eyes to find Bunny's furred face closer to his own than he liked, Bunny seemed to realise this and jerked backwards.

"You're alive!" Bunny pulled Jack into a bone-crushing hug and Jack returned until both remembered what they were doing and moved away.

"Well I'm glad you're alive." Bunny awkwardly stated.

"We thought that we had lost you when you stopped breathing but then all of a sudden you just started breathing again and opened your eyes, gave me quite a shock let me tell you!"

Jack noticed Bunny's use of the word 'we' and anxiously looked around for Pitch or Jax.

"Well done kangaroo." Pitch's mocking tones startled Jack and he unconsciously pressed closer to Bunny, seeking comfort and reassurance.

"How sweet!"

At a muffled yelp from Bunny, Jack spun around to see Bunny being dragged away by two of Jax's wolves.

A sharp kick to the rib brought Jack's attention back to Pitch.

"While Jax is away doing whatever it is he is doing, I get to have a bit of fun with you and kangaroo over there." The unadulterated hate in his voice terrified Jack. He had suffered at Pitch's hands twice before and he had no desire to repeat the experience.

Jack longed for his staff, if he had it then his own and Bunny's situations would be very different, but he disk t and there weren't.

Pitch lifted something from the wall but his body blocked he object from Jack view, but judging from the horror on Bunny's face what was to follow would most likely be painful.

It was.

Jack screamed at the first lash of the whip. The whip cut though his blue hoodie and deep into his sunburnt, already painful skin.

The second lash was no less painful; in fact the pain was worse, as it struck the sore skin.

After the fifth lash Jack refused to scream, no matter how many times he was struck, he wouldn't give Pitch the satisfaction of knowing he caused him pain.

Jack endured the agonising pain, past the twentieth blow the pain became numb and he floated in and out of consciousness, but he still refused to scream.

Finally after fifty or so lashes Pitch grew bored of the whip and after cleaning it carefully he placed it back on the shelf, and spared a moment to glance at the bleeding boy on the floor. He admired the spirit and stubbornness of the boy and for a moment he didn't see his enemy, the person who had ruined his plans again and again, instead he saw a small boy who was hurting and scared. Seeing him in this light sparked up something Pitch Black hadn't felt for centuries, a desire to protect. The last time he had felt it was when he had first seen his daughter.

A small baby, barely five minutes old and an immortal, three hundred and seventeen year old boy stirred up protective parental feelings, understandable for his daughter, not so much for the irritating boy. Pitch shook his head to rid it of the memories of his daughter, Katherine.

She was long since dead and in the centuries since her death Pitch had taught himself to ignore any thoughts of her. But this boy had awakened unwanted, bittersweet memories. Memories of a human life.

Pitch replaced the object in his hands in the shelf and left the bleeding boy and the fuming rabbit.

Bunny wriggled frantically. He had to free himself and get to Jack. The poor boy was barely conscious and blood flowed freely down his back, his hoodie was already drenched in blood, but still more blood came.

Bunny screamed in frustration and this sound stirred Jack from his semi-conscious state.

"Bunny?" Jack's voice was weak and confused.

"Yea it's me snowflake, don't worry the others will be here soon and then we will get you fixed up proper. Don't worry."

Bunny felt a rush of pride for the boy; he had refused to show his pain even though he had been in agony.

"Jack you can't go to sleep ok, keep talking to me."

For the next hour Bunny refused to let Jack sleep, knowing that if he did then it could well be the last time he ever went to sleep.

Finally in the small hours of the morning Jax returned.

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