Sorry I didn't update yesterday. Sick. Like, REALLY sick. Good news is that I feel better today.
But I didn't have time - or energy - to write the next chapter. So I decided to just post whatever I already had finished. Which just happened to be the next part of Early Bonds. Huh. So I'm breaking pattern, but yay for those of you who were impatient for this! I hope I did it okay. . .
Disclaimer: I don't own.
WARNING: I altered a part of the scene from the movie for my own amusement and means.
"Be careful," a woman said.
The Guardians looked around.
"I know where we are. . ." Bunny murmured.
"We will," a laughing voice replied.
"Oh no," Bunny said. "No, no, no."
He was staring at Jackson, who had grown taller, and was being led away from the house by an impatient girl.
"He's fourteen," Bunny said, horrified. "We're gonna see what happened ta 'im."
Tooth moved closer in comfort.
"Come on, Jackson!" the girl cried, tugging on his arm. "Hurry!"
Jackson laughed. "Calm down, Emma. The ice will wait for us."
Emma pouted but slowed down.
"Jackson," she said quietly. "Do you still believe in the Easter Bunny? And Santa?"
"Yes," he replied firmly. 'And the Tooth Fairy and Sandman.'
"Oh."
"Why? Don't you?"
Emma shrugged. "I've never seen them before."
Jackson snorted and plopped down onto a snow bank, swinging his skates off his shoulder.
"Seeing isn't always believing. Sometimes it's the opposite."
Emma considered this as she struggled to put on her skates.
Jackson abandoned his own skates to help her with her's.
"How about this," he said. "When we get back home, I'll introduce you to the Easter Bunny."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Yes!"
Jackson laughed and shooed her onto the ice. "Hang on for a bit, I gotta get my own skates on."
The memory faded to black, but none others appeared and no white light covered them.
"Tooth?" North asked in confusion. "What is happening?"
The fairy looked around and shrugged. "I don't know. This has never happened before."
"Well tha' can't be the last memory," Bunny said. "Where did he go?"
Tooth opened her mouth to speak, but a scene slowly came into view. It was tinged a light blue, which confused the Guardians.
Jackson was kneeling on the ice a few feet away from his sister. He had one arm outstretched to her, and was searching the ground for something.
"Wha - ?" North began.
Tooth gasped. "The ice!"
That's when they all got a good look at what was happening.
"It's okay," Jackson assured his sister. "It's okay. Don't look down, just look at me."
"Jack," Emma said shakily. "I'm scared!"
Jackson's attention instantly snapped back to her.
"I-I know," he stammered. "But you're gonna be alright. You're not gonna fall in."
He looked around the ice again, seemingly spotting what he was looking for, because he exhaled and looked back up to his sister.
"Uh, we're gonna have a little fun instead!" he said desperately, sounding as though he knew the chances of both of them getting off the ice were slim.
North shared a significant look with Tooth, before sending a sad look at Bunny. "Bunny?" he said. "Do you know what happens?"
Bunny shook his head, not looking away from the siblings.
"No, we're not!" Emma cried.
Jackson forced out a laugh. "Would I trick you?" He took a cautious step forwards, as if contemplating leaping to his sister.
"Yes! You always play tricks!"
Jackson winced as the ice cracked under his foot. "Alright," he chuckled. "Well, not - not this time, okay? I promise - I promise, you're gonna be. . . you're gonna be fine. You just have to believe in me."
Emma still looked skeptical, but she was willing to place her trust in her brother. She nodded stiffly, avoiding glancing at the death trap she was standing on.
"We're gonna play hopscotch," Jackson decided. He shrugged. "Like we do everyday."
He glanced at Emma briefly before preparing to take a step. "It's as easy as one," he said as he carefully took a step forward. He cringed as the ice cracked under his slight weight. He shot another look at his sister before pretending to lose his balance. "Woah!"
Emma laughed and tilted forwards, using her arms to help stand her up straight again.
Tooth smiled slightly, loving how Jackson was keeping his sister's mind off of the ice.
Bunny straightened a little bit. He knew Jackson wouldn't ever have allowed anything to harm Emma, so the girl was obviously going to be safe, because it seemed like Jackson already had an idea on how to save her.
"Two," Jackson said as he quickly stepped onto semi safer ice. "Three!" He landed lightly beside a shepherd's staff.
Quite like Jack's staff, North thought.
Jackson picked up the staff and crouched down, holding it out to Emma. He nodded to her. "Now your turn."
Emma looked down nervously before taking a miniscule step forward. "One," Jackson counted for her. She took another step and gasped as a faint cracking noise was heard. "Two," Jackson said more urgently, tightening his hold on the staff. The ice was visibly breaking under Emma, so he lunged forward and hooked the staff around Emma's waist, yelling out: "Three!"
He tossed her onto the safer ice, where she skidded before looking up in amazement. She smiled and exhaled in relief.
Jackson had slid back as he was ensuring her safety, but now he straightened and smiled back. He attempted to take a step towards her, but with a horrifying crack! the ice gave out.
"Jack!'"Emma screamed in horror as he disappeared.
She wasn't alone; Tooth had screamed too. North was gaping wide mouthed and eyed at the jagged hole where Jackson had vanished. Sandy was also wide eyed and staring.
Bunny was finding it difficult to breathe. He had suspected that something bad had happened to Jackson; why else would he have disappeared? But it was different to suspect something and then have it shown right before your eyes.
"Wait," Tooth said suddenly. "T-There's more!"
As the Guardians focused back on the memory, they could feel all their hearts break, but none so much as Bunny. His eyes grew wide as he watched Jackson - completely submerged - struggle in the water.
Jackson flailed around, attempting to swim back up to the surface, where he could vaguely here his sister desperately calling for him. As his hands anxiously searched through the water above his head, his fingers suddenly scraped against something. He squinted through the water and could see the distorted image of a white circle through the ice. He was trapped under the ice! He couldn't find the jagged hole he had fallen through.
Jackson scraped his nails against the ice futilely, feeling his lungs scream for air. He could see an outline of someone - someone small - through the ice, leaning over the spot he was, banging against the ice.
"Jack!. . . . Jack!. . . " The voice floated through the ice, and Jackson was horrified to learn that it was Emma. He stopped fighting against the ice when he felt something cold wrap around his leg. The water hindered his movements as he slowly brought his head round to see what had trapped him, but the water was too dark to see.
Jackson curled downward, reaching for his leg, trying to tug it away from whatever it was that was starting to drag him down. As he pulled on his leg, Jackson caught a brief glimpse of what had him. He didn't recognize it.
But the Guardians did. Tooth gasped, seemingly not noticing the tears running down her face as she let out a furious cry. Sandy jumped back in shock, eyes wide as saucers.
"'Tis one of Pitch's shadows," North said hoarsely. "Pitch is behind it. . ."
Bunny couldn't speak. He couldn't think. Jackson was drowning. Right in front of him. It absolutely killed Bunny that he couldn't do anything to help him, reach him. It was a memory. As much as he hated it, he could only watch as Jackson's struggles got weaker and weaker. Bunny didn't realize that he must of let out a sound of despair until Tooth looked at him with tear-filled eyes and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.
One thought managed to penetrate the fog of almost grief surrounding his brain. Pitch. This is - was - Pitch's fault. But no matter how much this thought circulated his mind, Bunny couldn't find it in him to blame the Nightmare King. It was Bunny's fault; he should've been there. He should've saved Jackson. But had he? No. Because he was too busy collecting more paint. If he had been there, Jackson wouldn't have been dragged down to the bottom of the pond by one of Pitch's shadows.
A small part of him knew that he wasn't at fault. But Bunny shoved this thought aside. Bunny was supposed to protect children from people like Pitch! From things like this! But he hadn't even been able to protect his strongest believer. . . What kind of Guardians was he?
His self blame wasn't helped by the fact that if Jackson hadn't been his favorite believer, then Pitch would never have had a reason to target him. It really had been Bunny's fault.
Despite knowing the inevitable tragedy that was about to occur, Bunny couldn't help but hope that. . . maybe it wouldn't end this way. Maybe it hadn't ended this way. Maybe Jackson had. . .
Jackson's hands slipped from his leg to float uselessly in the water beside him. He dragged his head up to stare at the distorted white circle once more, before his eyes slid shut and the last of his stored air passed through his lips.
Bunny cried out quietly and fell to his knees. He closed his eyes and lowered his face to the floor, unconsciously mirroring the same position he had been in when those children had walked through him last Easter.
Because of this, he missed the hesitant, yet knowing looks shared between the other three. He barely twitched as he felt Tooth's small hand on his upper arm. He could tell that she was kneeling beside him, but Bunny didn't have it in him to look at her.
"Bunny," she finally got out. "I know this is hard, but. . . remember why we're here. To see if Jack truly is Jackson. And. . . well, we saw - "
Bunny cut her off.
"He drowned, Tooth. Y-Ya saw that. We all did. He. . . . he died." Bunny's voice broke. "Jack can't be Jackson. Don't ya see? He can't."
Tooth's voice was soft. "But think of the staff, Bunny. Jackson used his staff to save his sister, and it's. . . it looks like Jack's staff. That can't just be coincidence, can it?"
Before Bunny could reply, both of their attention was brought to Sandy, who was waving his arms franticly. Once he was satisfied that they were watching him, Sandy indicated the memory. Tooth exhaled quietly and Bunny's eyes grew wide as he slowly got back to his feet.
The slight moonlight that managed to seep through the ice wrapped around Jackson's still form and weaved through his hair. Jackson had yet to move, but slowly - ever so slowly - his skin lost its colour and his hair seemed to begin to reflect the moonlight.
Bunny gasped softly, his paws clenching into fists. It couldn't be. . .
All at once, Jackson's eyes fluttered open - only now they were the pale blue of Jack's. His hair was as white as Frost. And he stared up at the faint image of the moon through the ice.
Bunny made a strangled sound. It was true. Jackson was alive! The thought ignited undeniable happiness in Bunny, but at the same time. . . Jackson was Jack Frost.
Jackson had endured three hundred years of loneliness. Of being walked through. Being ignored by the only people that could see him. Bunny had been cruel to Jack. He had yelled at him. Snarled at him. Fought with him. Said terrible, unforgivable things to him. Only, he hadn't just done those things to Jack. He had done them to Jackson. His favorite believer. His ankle-biter. His friend. His. . . family. It was almost ironic. When Bunny had first met Jack, he had been awful to him because he was grieving Jackson. How unfair!
How could he have done that to Jackson?
How could he have done that to Jack?
I had to put the last line cuz, even if Jack HADN'T been Bunny's favorite believer, Bunny should never have treated him like he did. Bully.
I'm not sure if I did the part where Bunny watches Jackson drown sad enough. . . I'm not really good at writing grief. Which is weird since I know perfectly well what's it's like. Eh, guess it's just hard to get into words. That and the fact that it isn't real grief. Whatever. All I know is that it didn't come out as sad as I wanted it.
My eyes hurt and I'm still a little sick, so I'm gonna go now.
Don't forget to review!