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Summary:

Things only get worse, and Bunny tells his tale.

Bunny almost dropped Jack as he stumbled into the Workshop, his eyes wide with panic. Jack just groaned, screwing his eyes up tight.

"It's alrigh', almost there…" Bunny gave a quick reassurance to the younger one. "North! Tooth! Sandy! Ya gotta come quick!" He shouted and Jack wailed slightly in his arms.

"Bunny! What –" North came striding in first, holding out one of his swords. It took one look of the state of Jack for him to pale slightly. "Put him on that sofa, quickly." Bunny obeyed, gently lowering the spirit onto the soft cushions. Jack opened his eyes a crack, blearily taking in his surroundings.

"What is wrong with him?" North asked as Tooth and Sandy entered the room, gasping at what they saw. Bunny didn't take his eyes off the spirit when he replied.

"He's Infected, Nick – just like the Dark Ages." He whispered. North swore in Russian, running a hand down his face.

"How much longer has he got?" The Cossack asked, dropping his sword.

"Not long – we need to fix him up quick, or we're gonna loose him."

Meanwhile, Sandy had detached himself from the conversation as soon as the word Infected hit his ears. He was now standing at Jack's side, gently sprinkling some dream sand over his trembling figure. Jack didn't seem to react, but the sandman continued regardless, hoping to ease the child's suffering.

"Infected?" Tooth's shocked voice rang out, pulling Sandy back into the conversation. "When? How? Something like that hasn't been seen in –"

"Thousands – if not millions – of years, I know." Bunny absentmindedly tranced the scar running down his arm. "I thought that it wasn't possible anymore."

A harsh, dry coughing sound broke the conversation, and all the guardians moved immediately to Jack's side. The spirit had curled in on himself as coughs ripped from his body, leaving him gasping. A black substance began to leak from the young EE's mouth, and North cursed again.

"Sandy!" He yelled; the sandman was already in action, placing his hands on Jack's forehead. Closing his eyes, a pulse of bright light was created in the palm of his hands, and, when it made contact with Jack's skin, the spirit visibly relaxed, sighing quietly. Tooth carefully wiped the black liquid from his mouth.

"Jack?" The fairy asked. Jack stirred and opened his eyes, looking around slowly.

"How are you feeling?" North asked once the spirit settled, staring up at the guardians. They watched as the younger weighed up the question, closing his eyes in thought.

"Not that great." Jack replied quietly. More awake now, he tilted his head to look at the room they were in. "How…what happened?" He whispered. Bunny stepped in.

"What do ya remember?" He asked. Jack furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"I wasn't feeling great…and…then I think I passed out? Fell asleep? I dunno…" Jack nestled further into the cushions, letting his eyes close. "Then…I woke up somewhere else. And Bunny was there." Bunny gave the spirit a light pinch on the arm to keep him awake.

"Do you mind if we see your injury?" North asked, making a mental note of the information. Jack nodded slightly, swallowing thickly.

Slowly, North rolled up Jack's hoodie (under Bunny's instructions) and stared in shock at the injury.

"It's got bigger." Bunny said into the silence.

"We need to destroy it immediately." North rolled up his sleeves, jumping into action. "Tooth, will you prepare him a bed in the infirmary?"

"Right away." Tooth replied, already halfway across the room.

"Sandy, will you help me make the…equipment?" North said grimly. Sandy nodded. "Thank you."

"I'll stay with the li'l bugga." Bunny volunteered, watching Jack shift and open his once more. "Someone's gotta hell him what's goin' on." North nodded in approval and headed out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Bunny perched at the end of the sofa, running a hand down his face. His scar began to itch annoyingly beneath his fur, and he was about to scratch it when Jack spoke.

"What's going on?" He whispered, his eyes clouded with confusion and fever. "What are they talking about?"

"We're gonna fix ya – make ya back to ya frosty self again." Bunny forced his voice to sound carefree.

"Oh." Jack closed his eyes again, breathing unevenly. "How?"

"Sorry?"

"How are they going to fix me?"

"With equipment, and dream sand." Bunny hoped Jack didn't see him flinch as he remembered all too well his experience.

"Will it hurt?" Jack asked. Bunny looked away.

"Err…a little." That was an understatement.

"Why do I need to be fixed?" Jack asked, voice growing quieter as he grew more exhausted.

"You have some dark sand inside of ya." Bunny explained. Jack's eyes grew wide.

"Inside of me?"

"Yeah…Pitch did it to ya when he hit ya."

"Oh." Jack repeated, coughing again slightly. He bit his lip, looking away from Bunny.

"It happened to me too, ya know." Bunny said, noticing the spirit's fright. Heck, he had every reason to be scared. "Way back in the dark ages." Bunny began. Jack, despite his weakened state, turned to face him more, groaning as it irritated his injured side.

"You got hurt?"

"Yeah…like you, I didn't tell anyone – I figured it was just a normal injury, y'know? Ya see, in the dark ages, we didn't have enough time to relax and rest. Pitch was takin' over the world, and we were fightin' for our lives.

North saw me in pain though, and took me to the infirmary in here, an' we saw tha' I had a big mark, similar to yours, goin' up my arm. I still got the scar," The Pooka traced his fingers along his arm, all the way down to his wrist. "Tha' stays forever, which is a bugger." Bunny paused as he recalled the next events.

"Ya see, the purpose of an Infection, as me an' North eventually called it, is to break up ya mind an' take ya over."

"Take…over?" Jack breathed. Bunny nodded grimly.

"Ya become a puppet. Anyway, I was treated before that could happen, and ya are gonna be too." The Pooka reassured when Jack looked unsure. "But ya have to stay strong, an' don't let the shadows win. Promise me?"

Jack blinked at the sudden fierceness in Bunny's words. He nodded slowly, too tired to say anything.

"How are ya feelin'?" Bunny picked up on the spirit's behaviour and bent slightly over him to check his temperature. Jack groaned.

"Worse…" he muttered, closing his eyes.

"Worse how?" Bunny asked sharply. Jack moaned again.

"My side really hurts…I feel sick…my head hurts…and I'm hot…" Jack said slowly, curling up again. "I'm pretty thirsty…"

"I'll get ya some water." Bunny said, rising from the sofa. Jack didn't acknowledge him, but screwed his eyes up tightly, breathing quickly. The Pooka took one more fleeting glance at the spirit before dashing out of the room, not liking leaving him unsupervised. In truth, Jack had already had the Infection much longer than Bunny ever had – it had only been a few hours before North had discovered his injury. But Jack?

Probably days – even maybe a week.

The dark sand would already be trying to corrupt his mind, and trying to weaken the spirit by making him sick. Bunny just hoped that they could still save Jack before the dark sand took him over completely.

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