Hey Guys, here's another chapter!
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"Let go of me!" Jack shouted, sending another wave of frost across the large dragon's black scales. The thin ice was shattered with a clench of the fist, sending the frosted coating fall to the ground in broken chunks, melting to nothing before they even hit the floor of Pitch's tunnels.
The dragon smiled, her scaly lips cracking and stretching to show her pointed teeth as she let out a sound like a mix of a chuckle and a growl that sent shivers up the winter spirits spine as he gasped for breath in the dragon's clutches. Upon seeing the struggling boy, his captor tightened her grasp in amusement, chuckling again with glee when he let out a pained yelp after the satisfying sound of a snapping rib emanated through the large corridors of the bogeyman's lair.
Jack blinked furiously, trying to keep himself awake as black spots blurred his focus and the sound of his struggling lungs fighting for air filled his head as if telling him to focus on simply finding an oxygen source.
The Winter spirit continued to squirm out of the clawed hand wrapped tightly around his thin body, hitting the thick hide fruitlessly while the other hands scraped desperately at the scales with whatever strength he could muster through the pain and the ever multiplying amount of black spots dancing in his now dazed vision. He let out a grunt of defeat when his wavering lack of oxygen induced headache sent a sharp pain through his left temple.
Just when he was sure he was going to pass out entirely, the painful pressure upon his ribcage and crushed lungs disappeared, unfortunately, so did the only forced holding him above ground,
The young guardian fell with a pained grunt before gasping for much needed air. The darkness blurring his vision seemed to melt away instantly as the air came rushing through the boy's lungs between painful coughs that only upsetted his newly broken rib as he curled up on the cold ground, relinquishing in the pleasure of breathing. Right now he couldn't tell what was worse, drowning or choking. At least when he had fallen into the lake the shock of ice cold water had blurred his entire sense of feeling pain. Choking however was still making his lungs feel as though they were on fire.
"Jack!" He heard, although the voice seemed far off. "Jack! Come on buddy, ya gotta get up." The boy finally opened his blue eyes when another force pressed itself onto his shoulder.
"Bunny?" He asked upon seeing the rabbit. Jack's eyes flickered to the scene behind the large Pooka where the other three Guardians were keeping the black dragon at bay. Sandy had two whips out, each wrapped around one of the dragon's arms as she struggled furiously to pull away. North, swords ablaze worked with Tooth, both keeping the large creature distracted enough to not break through her temporary binds.
"Come on mate." Bunny said, his voice becoming clearer as Jack's headache began to dissipate. The boy sat up painfully, cringing as his side burst with pain upon moving the fractured rib. Bunny's face fell and his gaze flew instantly to where the child was clutching his side. "You okay Snowflake?" He asked softly, flinching at the sound of one of Sandy's golden whips snapping as the dragon thrashed violently.
"Broke- something." Jack managed between gasps.
Bunny looked behind him at the other Guardians who were working fiverously to keep the creature distracted. The dragon had snapped Sandy's second bind and was now fighting the others to get jack back in her grasp. Bunny looked back to the winter spirit before making a split-second decision.
"We need to get you back to the Pole." He said.
"NO!" Jack's response was instantaneous. His head snapped up quickly and, despite the sharp pain in his side, tried to stand up only to be pulled back into the Pooka's protective grasp when his knees gave way under him. "Let go of me Bunny!" He shouted angrily, tears beginning to brim his eyes. "I have- to find- Eden!" He gasped, clawing at the rabbit's fur.
"Jack, you're not strong enough right now." The Pooka tried explaining through the spirit's struggling, only letting go when a flailing arm struck his chest, bringing back the faded pain of having initially broken his center. "Jack, we need to get you-"
"No!" Jack interrupted, stumbling under his own weight. "I don't care Bunny! I'm saving her… even if you won't."
Bunny froze, his ears falling back instantly as Jack turned around taking a deep breath before taking a step forward, only to stumble back when a light hand grasped the cuff of his faded blue sweatshirt.
"Jack." Bunny began, a mix of sadness and guilt in his green eyes. "I will."
Jack stared back, shocked. "What?" He managed.
"I will get her, JacK, I'll get Eden back safely, but you need to go back to the Pole before you get more hurt. Do you understand?"
"How do I know you aren't just trying to trick me into going back?" Jack asked.
THe Pooka felt a dull throbbing in his chest, Jack was losing hope. He no longer trusted the Guardian to save his friend or even try and that was what hurt him the most. He had lost Jack's trust.
"Please Jack." Bunny pleaded. "Let me do this. Trust me, I will save her, I promise." Jack looked back to where the others were struggling to keep the dragon at bay. "Please Jack." This time it came out more as a whisper.
"Do you promise?"
The question had startled him. "W-what?" He stuttered.
Jack turned back to face him, his tired eyes full of anger. "Do you promise not to leave her again?" He clarified.
Bunny stood there shocked for a moment before nodding furiously, a hopeful smile spreading across his furry face. "Yes, yes I promise." He said, turning around to face the others who were still fighting off the rampaging dragon. "North!" He shouted. THe Cossack swung once more with his twin blades before turning to face the rabbit. Bunny gestured towards the boy. "Jack's hurt, get 'im back to the Pole." He commanded, taking Jack by the crook of his elbow to keep him steady and leading him towards North.
"Da Pole? But Bunny, what about-"
"Just get 'im there alright. Sandy, you and Tooth keep it up." He said, receiving a curt nod from both before Sandy shot out another series of golden whips. "I've got Eden." He finished, gesturing to himself just as North was about to toss another snow-globe.
"You? By yourself, Bunny-" North tried, only to cut himself off upon seeing the rabbit's retreating figure.
…
"Come on, come on." Bunny murmured to himself. He knew it had been only mere minutes since he had left the others back at the fight scene, but the fact that none of the corridors or countless numbers of hallways had lead him to where Eden was being held made it feel like forever. in fact, he wouldn't have been surprised if he were just running in a giant circle this whole time.
"Come on Kid, where are ya?" He whispered. The pain in his chest was now simply a dull throb that refused to go away as if he were slowly choking on something he simply couldn't swallow no matter how hard he tried, as though there were something constricting his heart so that he could feel the rapid pulses rush through his entire body.
Nevertheless, Bunny pressed on, determined not to break his promise to Jack. Just thinking about it made the Pooka's chest well up with pain. Jack made him promise to bring Eden back, he must have known what had happened. Bunny had let his anger get the best of him and had almost lost both Jack and Eden because of it
But he wasn't only doing this in favour of the newest guardian, Bunny needed to make amends. He needed to do this for Daniel, the pure heartbroken look he had given the guardians after finding out his best friend was gone pained him to think of. And he also had to do this for Eden herself. He had left the child that needed him most of all without any encouragement of hope for her entire life.
Never had he thought to hide eggs for the girl just as Tooth had never collected a single molar and North hadn't made a present special for her. Even Sandy's dreamsand hadn't made its way to the girl growing up. But now, now was his chance to take it all back, to make it up to her for a life without someone to lead her through the nightmares. She had to learn it all on her own. And Bunny had blown it. If Jack trusted him so little already, he didn't even want to know what the girl was feeling towards the large rabbit at this point.
"What's taking her so long?"
Bunny froze upon hearing the familiar voice somewhere to his left. He quickly changed direction and raced down the corridors, keeping his large ears perked upward to catch the Bogeyman's voice again.
"Maybe he got away." The rabbit paused briefly when Eden spoke before he took off again, darting around another corner as the voices grew louder.
"Oh now, don't get too hopeful. Your little heroic act can only buy the child so much time." Pitch answered, Bunny took one last sharp turn before he saw it. It was uncanny just how similar the room was to the globe room back at North's place. The only difference was, it was dark. Instead of yetis, there wer nightmares. Instead of a brighty shining globe that took up the majority of the room, the globe was black and hollow, skeleton-like even, the lights shining eerily rather than brightly and it was many sizes smaller than that of North's. And instead of large lights and toys flying about the room, there were black cages hanging from the ceiling.
Bunny gasped as his eyes trailed upon one in particular where a certain redhead was trapped.
The girl was breathing heavily as though she had just down something excruciatingly strenuous. Although, upon seeing the next cage over, fragments of red hot metal bars littered the floor of the lair and a steam was still rising. That must have been how Jack got out. Eden had used up most of her own strength to save him. Bunny took a deep breath before stepping slowly out of his hiding place behind one of the many entrances, waving his furry arms slightly in order to catch the dragon girl's attention whilst the Bogeyman's back was turned.
Eden's arms were folder over her chest in annoyance as though to come off unfazed by the day, but her shaking frame and watering eyes told Bunny otherwise. She was scared and Pitch knew it.
HAHA Cliffie thing maybe!
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