Disclaimer: I do not own ROTG
Riz- Yes, we ALL want a hunk like human bunny in our lives, but for now we can dream about Bunny as a human, and how absolutely gorgeous he would be LOL And yes, I'm planning the Visions arc as we speak, and I'm getting excited about it myself *grins*
Night-fury1- Pitch will be afraid…very afraid LOL
Magiccatprincess-AWWW! Thanks!
Kagirinai-Eternal- Yes, I made Jack psychic, which will be expounded upon in my next arc…VISIONS!
OK guys, the inner of the ONE SHOT GAMES is…..*drum roll* OnyxKozmotis! Congrats, and don't forget to follow the rules and send me your one shot request before we reach 800!
Well, I am so glad with all the positive reviews I have been managing to get, and I am VERY glad about how well everyone has enjoyed reading this drabble thus far. Well here is the switching bodies installment, I hope this goes over as well as the ones before have.
Also, this is sort of set apart from the other chapters. This is a different way that Bunny could have found out about Jack drowning and so on. Hope you enjoy it!
That day had started out so normal. Yetis rushed around, elves electrocuted each other, and the guardians were all enjoying a small respite. It was the day after Easter, and the guardians of Fun, Hope, and Wonder were officially on vacation. Everything could not have been better. North was enjoying carving new ice sculptures, Bunny was curled up by the fire drinking hot chocolate and eating carrots that had been stewed with cinnamon, and even Jack was quietly reading a book up in the rafters. No one could have predicted the mess that would follow.
That was the day many would remember for the rest of their lives, because that was the day that Bunny and Jack actually agreed on something…exploring Santoff Claussen.
Believe it or not, it was Bunny who started the whole thing. Normally Jack would pull the guardian of hope along on one of his many schemes, but this time it was the Pooka who found himself staring dolefully into the flames and sighing in boredom. Now he knew that this was merely post Easter depression, much like some mothers got depressed after giving birth, he would fall into this strange little funk where he would feel bored and frustrated when suddenly faced with the fact that he had nothing to do. It was certainly a shock to one's system to be constantly and hopelessly busy for weeks on end, and then have all that work come to a screeching halt. What was a bunny to do?
And so, dealing with the boredom of suddenly being out of work the day after Easter, Aster decided to seek out a certain troublemaker and see if he could find some mode of entertainment that would distract him. In the past he had had to soldier through his post Easter depression through his own willpower, but now they had a new guardian who protected the spirit of fun. Surely Jack wouldn't be so cruel as to hold back on old Bunny when he actually wanted to have fun, right? So his mind set on finding the winter spirit, Bunny began his search. Little did he know that it was a decision he would come to regret.
Walking around the workshop, Bunny looked for the youngest guardian, his green eyes sweeping the area until he saw a pale foot swinging from a rafter. Climbing the staircase, the rabbit went to the same level where Jack was hanging out, and finally was able to see that the kid was reading a book, and seemed to be pretty addicted to it. Squinting his eyes, Bunny was able to make out the title "Artemis Fowl" on the cover of the book, and then finally called out to the child.
"Oi snowflake"
Jack didn't move, so engrossed in the book, he didn't even twitch.
"Frostbite."
Still nothing, and Bunny groaned in frustration. Leaning over the railing as far as he could, the Pooka yelled "JACK FROST!"
The winter spirit gasped as if he had just surfaced out of water, and his crystal blue eyes tore themselves from off the pages and towards the rabbit. His mouth opened as if to yell at whoever had given him the rude awakening, but upon seeing the humorous state of Bunny hanging over a railing giving him a glare that clearly said 'Entertain me', the sprite couldn't help but laugh.
"Something wrong cotton tail?"
"You could say that…" Bunny grumbled.
Jack shook his head in sympathy, to be perfectly honest he could empathize with the Pooka, now that spring had officially arrived Jack was without work. At least for the most part, there were still areas still in the full swing of winter, but for some reason that year he didn't have to work quite so hard at maintaining them. This had probably been the most stress free winter he had had in a while, which also made it the most boring. Snapping his book closed, Jack turned so that he was sitting cross legged on the rafter facing the Pooka.
"And how may I be of service?" He asked in an over exaggerated British accent.
Bunny pouted then clenched his paws into fists as he yelled out in seeming agony "I'm BOOOORED!"
A huge grin lit up the sprite's face "Really?" he asked as he leaned forward in keen interest "You really actually came all the way up here to ask me to play with you?"
"No" the rabbit replied in a snarky voice "I thought I needed the exercise and decided to stop and chat."
Jack laughed as he flew off the rafter and over to the disconsolate bunny "Well what do you want to do?"
"I don't know" Aster shrugged "something fun."
"Hmm" The winter spirit folded his hands behind his head as he leaned back and thought about what might be a good game for a guardian of Hope who had zero cold tolerance.
"I got it!" he suddenly exclaimed, almost startling the bunny off the railing "Let's explore a part of Santoff Claussen that neither of us have been to before!"
Bunny felt his ear twitch in interest. This particular game wasn't a contest, but it at least it didn't involve snow, and Jack seemed psyched about it so maybe it could be fun. North probably had multiple century's worth of treasures stashed around in the abandoned castle wings, so the thought of exploration actually made the rabbit curious. A smirk slowly grew on his face as he imagined just what kind of stuff they could find, and the rabbit finally found the strength to stand up.
"A'right Snowflake," he nodded "Sounds like a plan!"
Jack grinned and took off down the hall, a giggle echoing behind him as he flew. Bunny chuckled as he followed the sprite, both of them heading towards the mysterious sections of the castle that no one inhabited anymore.
"Come on Cotton Tail" Jack yelled "If you go any slower, I'll leave you behind!"
"Shut up Frostbite" Bunny snapped "Or I'll show you what it really means to race a rabbit!"
Jack put on the gas, another laugh lilting behind him as he raced ahead, his face firmly set towards the West Wing. Bunny followed him, his paws hitting the ground as he tucked his head under to create less wind resistance. The pair flew through the workshop, Jack whooping in unbridled glee with Bunny right behind him shouting out various insults and challenges. If North noticed their sudden camaraderie, he didn't show it, too engrossed in checking the naughty and nice list of names. Bunny raced ahead of Jack, leaping up onto a nearby wall and using it as a springboard in order to turn a corner, then ran full tilt down the next hall. The winter sprite followed him, his teeth flashing in a happy grin.
"Using walls is cheating, Cottontail!"
"And flying isn't?" Bunny scoffed "Shut yer gob, and take it like a man!"
"I'm not a man," Jack laughed "I'm a teenager, and we don't get mad, we get even!"
Raising his staff, the winter sprite cocked it like a shotgun, and aimed carefully for the wiggling white tail in front of him. With a quick zap, Jack exploded into gales of laughter at the disgruntled and surprised cry of pain from the Pooka as his tail was flash frozen, and then the teen took his opportunity to zip past. The snowy white grin only grew larger when Aster began to shout his displeasure in colorful Australian obscenities. Cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders so to loosen the muscles, his mouth stretched into a wide grin full of mischief, Aster's green eyes focused on the flying figure in front of him.
"Oh it's on now ya bludger!"
With a roar of renewed vigor, plus a healthy dose of intentioned revenge in honor of his poor tail, the Pooka took off down the hall. Leaping off walls, ceilings, elves and yetis Jack and Bunny raced through the workshop, heading for a lower wing that no one used any more. Jack imagined many stories about it, always wanting to go give it a visit, but never having the time to try. Now Bunny was bored, and Jack had free time on his hands, which meant that they were going to be doing a little exploring today. The large door indicating the West wing finally came into view, and Aster slowed down in a graceful skid only to stop in front of its intimidating façade. Green eyes wide with curiosity and wonder, Bunny softly touched the aged wood, his head tilting to the side as he calculated the centuries it had probably stood.
Suddenly a yelp and a long squeal of skin and material sliding along marble flooring sounded behind the Pooka, and Bunny turned just in time to see Jack having accidentally iced the floor and barreling towards him. Blue eyes big as dish plates, and mouth hanging wide as he screamed, the boy slid full speed down the hall and crashed into Bunny before the rabbit could get out of the way. The door shook, and dust flew from its grain at the crash, and the duo lay at the base of it in a tangle of arms and legs. Jack could barely breathe for the laughter currently afflicting him, and Bunny reached over to give the giggling child a firm smack across the back of the head, causing the sprite to dissolve even further into fits of laughter.
"S-sorry Bunny," the pale teen gasped as he struggled to drag himself to his feet "but that was awesome!"
"Says you," Bunny huffed though a glint of amusement shone in his eyes when he turned to face Jack "though I'll never forget how you looked like a wall-eyed bass as you skidded across the floor!"
"Hey!" the winter spirit gave an indignant squawk as he gave a playful punch to Bunny's bicep "I did not look like a fish, especially one as ugly as that!"
"Yes ya did," Aster guffawed as he imitated the look on Jack's face from the incident "yer eyes were all bugged out, and ya were screaming like a girl!"
"Was not," Jack pouted as he stuck his tongue out.
"Whateva' ya brat," Bunny chuckled as he turned back to the door "so how's about we open this here door," the rabbit turned around and made his voice low and spooky "and see what lays beyond, eh?"
Jack gave a wide grin "YES!"
Bracing his paws against the eroded wood, Bunny gave a small grunt and then pushed, Jack standing behind him in slack jawed wonder. The doors creaked open, cobwebs falling and splitting as they separated, and Jack slowly clapped in impressed awe at the strength the Pooka demonstrated. Aster turned around with a smirk, and flexed his muscles like a body guilder, while Jack hooted and cheered until both doubled over laughing. Reaching over to ruffle the white head currently bobbing as the boy gasped for air, Aster walked through the doorway, only to once again stop his own face becoming slack in shock.
Jack joined him, and soon both were staring in wide eyed shock at the room that lay before them. It looked like a grand neo-gothic library that had various shelves also covered in items and brick-a-brack of all sorts. Within the giant room lay doors of all kinds, leading into separate rooms, each door labeled with a golden label. In its glory day, the wing would have been magnificent as it was lit by the flickering glow of torches, but in its current state, it was covered in cobwebs lit only by moonlight. Slowly walking forward, the duo smiled as they beheld the wealth of treasures lining the walls. Aster and Jack looked at each other, their smiles spreading to wide grins, and they immediately burst forward both running down the shelves occasionally hopping up and down to get a look at items placed higher than eye level.
"Hey Snowflake," Bunny cried waiting for Jack to give him his attention "look at this!"
The winter sprite turned around, his face lighting up as he let out a large guffaw of laughter. Bunny had dressed himself in feudal Japanese Samurai armor, and was holding out a katana at shoulder level, his face split in a wide grin. Jack bounced over, his own features wreathed with a large smile.
"That," he burst out "is SO cool!"
"I know, right?" Bunny whispered in ecstatic glee "I'm a samurai!"
Swishing the sword around, Bunny played warrior while Jack giggled and continued his own exploration when a door suddenly caught his attention "Hey Bunny," the boy called in a voice distracted by the object of his fascination.
"What," Bunny replied whirling around to face Jack, his movement causing the helmet to slip down past his nose "did ya find a ninja outfit? Cause if ya did, then I call first dibs of tryin' it on, seniority rules and all that."
"Nope," Jack smiled maliciously "I think I found something much cooler."
"Somethin' cooler than a ninja outfit?" Bunny's ears twitched in interest "that's somethin' I gotta see."
Hopping over to where Jack stood, the boys found themselves sharing evil smiles full of mischief. The door itself was unremarkable, but the golden plate on it was engraved with the label 'Inventions', and that alone made their fingers twitch to open it. Only one more glance at each other made them make the decision, and both lunged forward, opening the door and crashing through the threshold. Once again they found themselves in a room full of unidentifiable objects, each one unfinished, or in pieces with cobwebs covering the blueprints. Walking within, the two allowed their gazes to rove the shelves and tables covered in mechanical pieces. Leaning close to a statue, Bunny murmured absently to Jack, whom was inspecting a robot.
"Oi Snowflake," the rabbit said softly "what do ya know about this place?"
"Not much," Jack shrugged as he put the robot down and moved on to the next item abandoned by its maker "only that North said he never comes back here anymore, and that he would rather I not come back here either. Every time I asked him about it, North got all quiet, and then would say that there was a reason he left this wing behind."
"I wonder," Aster murmured when suddenly his attention was drawn to something shiney…and egg shaped.
It was a golden egg covered with five gems decorating it. On its four sides were a sapphire, topaz, emerald, and ruby. While on top, was a large chunk of rainbow hued Alexandrite, glimmering with an unseen light. Green eyes lit up, and Bunny heard a long "Ooooooh!" slip from his lips.
Jack heard the sound, and quickly hurried to Bunny's side "Heeeey" he gasped "SHINY….What's it do?"
"Why do ya think it does something?" Bunny asked.
"Becaaaauuuuse…" Jack answered slowly "It's in the inventions room?"
Bunny gave a nod "Good point"
"Look at the size of those gem stones," Jack gasped as he reached forward to touch the emerald.
Bunny ran a thumb over the sapphire, and suddenly a burst of light grew from the egg and blasted outward casting the two to fling apart. Hitting the walls with a large crash, the duo slumped to the ground, until they slowly came around with small groans. Looking up at each other, both felt their jaws drop as they looked down, and back up once again. Aster's chin wobbled as he struggled to form words, but it wasn't Aster, it was Jack stuck in Aster's body. And across the room in the winter spirit's body lay the Easter Bunny, his own mouth hanging open in a comical face of shock and disbelief.
Aster gasped for air as he processed his current predicament "Oh. My…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jack screamed.
The boy now in the Pooka's body jumped to his feet only to trip over them and fall to the floor. Slowly coming to a stand, Jack shuffled over to his body and grabbed Aster by his now pale thin shoulders and lifted him off the ground "Wha-What do we do?!"
"How should I know?!" Aster screamed in a shrill voice causing Jack to lean back in pain.
"Don't shriek like that," Jack muttered "your hearing is better than I thought, and that hurts."
Giving a huff, Jack set Aster back on his feet, suddenly looking himself up and down "Have I always been so short?"
Bunny sighed giving a sarcastic roll of his eyes "Yes, yer short, and add weak ta that assessment, seriously kid ya need to lift weights…or something."
Jack shuddered "It is so wrong that that accent is coming out of my mouth."
"And it is so wrong that my finely toned body is being used by a brainless kid!" Aster muttered.
"Hey!" Jack shouted "I'm not the one who picked up the golden egg!"
"Nah, but ya were the one who was all 'OOOH SHINEY' and just had ta touch it!" Bunny snarled back.
"Whatever," Jack huffed "North created this thing, so it's logical he would know how to reverse this."
"For once," Bunny exclaimed "a good idea."
Stomping over to where the golden egg had fallen, Aster bent over and scooped it up from the ground, and then stomped out of the room. Jack felt his jaw drop as he saw Bunny walk off without his staff, and ran over to grab it and chase after the Easter Bunny.
"Bunny!" he yelled "you forgot my staff!"
"Oh for…" Aster sighed "what is so important about yer stupid staff anyways?"
"It's more important than you think!" Jack growled.
"Well then," the bunny turned winter spirit huffed "hand it over."
Suddenly Jack found himself unable to let go of his staff, even though he couldn't use it in Bunny's body, he was still bonded to the piece of wood. But a cough from his body reminded him that Aster would need it if he wanted to fly, and so with a great deal of hesitation, Jack tossed his staff to Bunny. Aster caught it, his face suddenly growing slack as he felt the bond with the staff renew and spirals of ice once again cling to its grain.
"Wow," he breathed with a small laugh "I-I never knew."
"Yeah," Jack sighed "just don't let it get hurt."
"Why?" the question was asked without a trace of sarcasm but rather in genuine interest.
"Because," Jack answered with discomfort "let's just say you'll know if it does."
"How?"
"Because," the winter Pooka burst out "it will hurt…A LOT!"
Aster blinked "…oh…"
Jack groaned and walked past Bunny, slightly tumbling forward when he tripped but caught himself and fought his way back to the entrance. After what felt like hours, Jack and Bunny finally found their way back to North's office, the two bursting through the door, and causing yet another of North's creations fell to the floor in shattered pieces. Giving an indignant squawk, North whirled around and wildly gestured at the ice sculpture, his face angry, and sad.
"Must you burst in without knocking?" the large man shouted.
"We've got bigger problems, mate," Bunny growled.
North jerked back, his face screwing up into a look of confusion "Jaaack?" he asked slowly.
"Nope," Bunny sighed "It's Aster, he's Jack"
North looked back and forth between the two before collapsing into a round of giggles and chortles "You…" he snorted while moving his two index fingers back and forth across each other "you two…switched bodies? How?"
"With this thingammie!" Aster sighed in exasperation as he all but threw down the golden egg onto North's desk.
"Oh….oh no…" North gasped "this could be bad."
"WHAT?!" came the unanimous reply.
"It is unfinished," the large man shrugged "I never got had chance to complete."
"But ya can, right?" Aster asked.
North shrugged, his head bobbing as he mentally calculated the chances "….Maybe…"
"Oh Manny," Bunny sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose with pale fingers.
"Look," North attempted to console "I will get back to work on it, and see if I can fix. Till then, you just wait, and find something to…kill time."
"Kill time," Jack moaned "right."
….
North examined the egg after Jack and Bunny left his office, turning it over in his hands. It was a project he was working on when he was living in the West Wing studying under Ombric the sorcerer. It was something they had both begun, Ombric being the one who drew the blueprints and chose the gems, claiming that it would come in handy in the future. North didn't know what it meant then, and had labeled it as unfinished since it had never done anything even remotely useful, or anything at all for that matter. So he had forgotten all about it. But now as he thought about it, the gems almost seemed to correspond with the Guardians. Turning it over again, he read the inscription carved on the bottom in the neat cursive of his old teacher.
See through another's eyes
And understand their pain
Only when the clouds have cleared
Will you be true once again
North shrugged, well, if it was something that could only be fixed by them coming to understand each other then he would let them be and see what happens.
BTW I am going to be posting the second part to this VERY soon… Like within 24 hours…