Okay, this one was getting really long so I decided to split it up. Also I'm running low on ideas for it so if you've got any, please let me know!
I hope it's up to standard, SanctuaryInMusic.
Disclaimer: I don't own RotG or Slenderman.
...
At War Part I
...
How had it come to this, Jack wondered as he dove behind a tree for cover, barely managing to dodge the paint bomb thrown in his direction. A simple visit to the warren had somehow blown into a game of cat and mouse between him and Bunny (although he wasn't entirely sure who was who), and all because he'd accidentally knocked the Pooka into the dye river. And it had been an accident. It had. That didn't mean he hadn't enjoyed it, though.
Looking up, Jack quickly judged the distance between himself and the tree's lowest branch before jumping and hauling himself up without the wind's aid. If he was going to stand a chance against the hyper-speed, overgrown rabbit and his enhanced senses, he needed to be clever; and getting behind his assailant without being noticed was definitely the way to go.
Jack could see Bunny stalking towards the tree he was in through a gap in the leaves. He had one boomerang in hand, the other paw hovering over his egg bombs, ready to let one fly at the shortest notice. Jack nimbly darted to another branch, making almost no noise at all.
"Alright, Frostbite, I know you're there," Bunny said with a conversational tone that didn't match his (dye-splattered) expression. "Why not make things easy and just come out?"
Yeah, not likely, Jack silently snorted, clearing the distance between his branch and one on the next tree with ease. He halted as soon as he was balanced, looking back at the Easter Bunny to ensure he hadn't been found out. But Bunny was still focused on the other tree. Smirking to himself, he continued to move around the clearing.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," the rabbit continued, oblivious that Jack was now almost directly behind him.
Or, we could do it my way, Jack gave a wry smile, a snowball forming in his hand. In one fluid movement, he pulled back his arm and threw the icy projectile with alarming accuracy, where it smacked dead into the back of Bunny's head. Jack fought to keep himself from laughing as Bunny froze (pun not intended… or was it?), ears swivelling around in Jack's general direction.
Raising one paw, he wiped the lingering snowflakes from his fur. "Oh, it is on." And he promptly disappeared down a tunnel.
Jack blinked at the sudden development, twisting his head in all directions to try and catch a glimpse of Bunny, but as the minutes ticked by and he saw neither hide nor hair of the Pooka, he was forced to conclude that the rabbit was gone.
Normally, one would be relieved that their assailant had vanished. This was not the case for Jack. Bunny, he knew, would never give up without a fight. And he never backed down from a challenge. Jack would have to be on high alert for quite a while.
...
...
Jack could tell the exact moment their game turned from one of cat and mouse to a full-scale war. It was precisely the exact moment when he jumped down from a tree by his lake and ended up falling into a hole. And then had a trip wire go off, releasing a bucket of dye that had been concealed in the branches to fall on his head.
"You want to play, Cottontail?" Jack asked, wiping the ink from his face. "We can play. But I don't think you're going to like the game."
Too bad Bunny wasn't there to see the slightly evil expression slowly forming on his face, he thought. Maybe he would quit while he was ahead. As it was he would just have to endure or outsmart every plot Jack could come up with. And he had a lot.
...
...
It had been a quiet week. Too quiet, if you asked E. Aster Bunnymund. Especially after the stunt he'd pulled on Jack. And if there was one thing he knew about Jack it was that he always had to have the last laugh. So it was safe to say Bunny was on high alert pretty much 24/7. He'd almost taken to sleeping with his eyes open. Almost.
So when he caught sign of some kind of revenge in his Warren he was ready.
"You'll have to do better than that, Frostbite," he said to himself as he stepped around a patch of branches and leaves – a poorly concealed hole – only to gasp in shock as the ground suddenly disappeared and he found himself swinging in a net attached to the branch of a tree.
A clicking sound that was alarmingly reminiscent of a camera caught Bunny's attention and he looked down to see Jack staring up at him smugly. And probably just to add insult to injury, the winter spirit moved to stand on the patch he'd avoided. Clearly not a hole, then.
"Fancy meeting you here," Jack called, letting the camera in his hands fall against his chest.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. This isn't over, Frost."
"I hope not. I've still got a bunch of ideas I'd like to use," with a farewell wave he turned on his heel and walked off.
Bunny watched him go for a moment. "Oi! How am I gonna get down from 'ere?!"
The only response he got was the winter spirit's fading laughter.
...
...
Riiing. Ring.
Jack paused, halfway to upright on the tree branch he'd been sleeping on. He remained that way in silence for a moment or too but when the strange ringing sound didn't come back he shrugged it off and let himself fall down to the ground.
Riiiiiiiiing. Riing.
He stilled again, and again there was no sound when he was listening for it. Experimentally he shifted slightly.
Ring.
Jack's eyes narrowed in suspicion. He glanced over himself, failing to locate the source while the ringing continued with each movement he made.
"Where is that coming from?" he asked himself, looking back over his shoulder in an attempt to see his back.
Riiiiiing.
Jack pulled his arm back as far as he could, eventually managing to feel something cold and round attached to his hood. With a firm tug he pulled it free, revealing the object to be a little bell. Blue eyes narrowed as a fist curled around the ringing golden ball.
...
...
"Jack what are you doing?" North asked with a small frown as he watched the winter spirit trying to subtly pass unidentified objects to the elves.
"Nothing," Jack smiled innocently, his hands behind his back.
North wasn't buying that for a second. "Should I be worried?"
"No," and this time it was the truth.
North decided to leave him to it. As long as whatever the boy was planning had nothing to do with him, he wouldn't get involved.
...
North jumped nearly a foot in the air when the first of many air horns went off, echoing loudly off the walls of the Workshop. Tooth, who had been hovering in place a few feet away actually faltered in her flight, touching down on the ground in shock. Sandy, who had been dozing, was startled into wakefulness.
The three of them looked towards the window as snickering laughter reached their ears, watching as Jack Frost flew in to join them.
Three more air horns went off in quick succession and their attention was once more drawn towards the door, not that any of them could see what was going on deeper in the Workshop through the thick oak.
"FROSTBITE!" a familiar voice growled, quickly followed by the door slamming open and bouncing off the wall. Bunny was clearly not happy as he bounded towards them, looming over Jack threateningly.
"Hey, Bunny," Jack smiled at him, not intimidated in the slightest. "About time you showed up."
"That was dirty."
"What? I don't remember writing down any rules. Can't handle a few elves, Cottontail?"
"A few? A few? All the bloomin' elves in this joint have bloody air horns! Do you even realise how much louder those things are when you have sensitive ears?!"
"That's what I was counting on."
"Um, what's going on?" Tooth interjected, gaining their attention.
"We're at war," Jack told her with a face completely void of expression.
"…Why?"
"I'll tell you why," Bunny crossed his arms. "It's because this little show pony decided to push me into the bloody dye river!"
"It was an accident," Jack rolled his eyes.
"Sure it was, mate."
"Will you two leave your bickering until later?" North cut across, looking slightly annoyed. "We have meeting, yes?"
Bunny and Jack exchanged a glare but consented. They had all the time in the world, after all.
...
...
When Jack woke up in a sack, he knew immediately that Bunny had gotten him back for the elf thing. There was still one question on his mind, though. Why a sack? And a very familiar sack at that. The top of the bag was sealed tight and no matter what he did he couldn't managed to get it open. Which really only left him with two options: wait until someone came and released him, or break out the old fashioned way. Seeing as it was unlikely anyone would help him, it was easy enough to come to a decision.
It took only a moment for him to create a sharp enough icicle, and mere seconds to use it to create a tear in the sack big enough for him to haul himself out. But now he was faced with a new problem.
"Damn you, rabbit," Jack mumbled, looking down at the expanse of water below him. It didn't look very deep – probably only about his height – but it was still water, and even if he had managed to push that particular fear aside it didn't mean he wanted to deliberately submerse himself in it.
There was, thankfully, a little sandbank, that he could probably reach if he angled himself perfectly, with his staff sticking up in the centre like a flagpole. Actually, now that he thought about it, he appeared to be in the middle of nowhere; how on earth was he being suspended like he was?
Curiosity overrunning annoyance (temporarily) Jack tilted his gaze upwards. And then the annoyance was back again. A strange hovering toy shaped like a bird had the end of the sack clasped firmly in its talons, a distinct air of magic surrounding it.
"You brought North into this? And using my fears, really?" Jack asked Bunny, even though the Pooka was nowhere in sight. "Hmm… well, if that's how you want to play…" He gracefully threw himself out of the bag, easily managing to land with both feet dry and on the sandbank, before grabbing his staff and flying off, trying to figure out where he was so he knew which direction to go in.
...
...
Something was off in the Warren. He knew it from the second he jumped out of his tunnel. It was like when Sophie had suddenly appeared there all over again, except this time he was certain it wouldn't be such a good thing. Especially since North's bird thing had flown back to the Pole – a sign Jack had freed himself from the latest 'attack'.
It had been a low blow, he knew, but the blighter could use a knock down or two. Except now Bunny knew he would be paying for it. Big time. He liked to think it had been worth it, though, especially once they'd gotten the photos that the bird had taken.
But then there was the second problem he was now facing. It was dark, almost completely pitch black (not the Boogieman), as though it was the middle of the night. His superior senses meant he could still navigate the place with ease but it was disconcerting none the less. It was never dark in the Warren.
A note pinned to a tree caught his attention and he wandered over, snatching it. There was just enough light filtering through what was probably a thick layer of cloud cover to make out what was on it. It was a crudely drawn (or rather, scribbled) picture of a group of trees and what appeared to be a stick figure animal – a dog, maybe.
Bunny was pretty sure this was Jack's doing, but as to what purpose it served he had yet to figure out. How was darkness and a drawing tacked to a tree a prank?
Figuring Jack was probably around somewhere (he did seem to like witnessing his work), Bunny decided to keep heading through the Warren in search of him. A quick sniff of the air confirmed his suspicions – Jack was here somewhere – but also brought on wariness. Jack wasn't the only visitor in the Warren. There were two more, if he correctly identified.
"Alright, Frostbite," he said, tucking the drawing into a pouch on his sash. "I'll humour you." And he stepped off into the darkness.
...
He managed to walk for maybe five minutes before the stomping began. He easily picked up the sound with his sensitive hearing, but what unnerved him was the fact that he couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. He silently told himself it was just Jack and his two unidentified companions, but the sound still set his fur on edge.
The second page he found was stuck on one of his sentinel eggs, which was surprisingly still, as if it were nothing more than a statue. Pushing the matter to the back of his mind, Bunny squinted his eyes at the piece of paper, trying to make out what was scrawled on it.
The words 'can't run' and a few scribbles glared back at him. Bunny rolled his eyes and stuffed the page in with the other one. While he'd been distracted, he hadn't noticed the thin layer of fog setting in and he frowned at it in confusion. Since when was there ever fog in his Warren? Jack had really pulled out all the stops with this one.
It wasn't until he found the third page – one that had 'don't look or it takes you' written on it – that the droning started. That coupled with the stomping was making it harder to hear for any other, more sinister sounds, such as someone sneaking up on him. It was also doing wonders to frazzle his nerves; not that he'd ever admit it. Not to mention it looked as though the fog had gotten thicker.
Running a paw down his face, Bunny sighed, turning to the right to continue in that direction. All thoughts fled from his mind, however, as he caught sight of a tall, bulky silhouette standing in the shadows. It was too built and large to have been Jack – one of his plus two then.
"Oi!" he called out to it. "Who the bloody hell gave ya permission to come in 'ere?!" Jack had, obviously, but it felt good to yell out his frustration.
The almost inaudible snapping of a twig had him spinning around, but there was nothing behind him except the trees and another statuesque sentinel egg. Frowning, he returned his attention to the first figure he'd spotted, only to find it was gone. No matter where he looked in the darkness around him, there was no sign that anyone had been there at all. Only the stomping and the low droning in the background.
Shaking off the chill that ran down his spine, Bunny continued on in his quest to find the ones responsible, still not entirely sure what Jack hoped to gain from this. He stopped, though, when a loud piano-slamming noise boomed louder than the background sounds and warm breath trickled on the back of his neck.
Before he could even fully comprehend what he was reacting to, Bunny jumped forward and spun around, boomerangs in hand and at the ready.
The huge, almost bipedal wolf was taller than him, even hunched over as it was. Its lips were drawn back into a snarl and saliva dripped from its frighteningly large fangs as it growled at him, a hunger in its eyes that Bunny really didn't like. His heart was practically pounding in his chest against his will and North's words echoed in his head.
"Why are rabbits always so nervous?"
The answer was staring him right in the face. Because there were predators.
Taking on a greyhound when surrounded by his fellow Guardians was one thing. But facing a beast like this that looked as though it would like nothing more than to swallow him whole was another. Making a quick decision that he would later deny with every fibre of his being, Bunny bolted like a bat out of hell.
The further away he got, the more the piano music faded until it was gone entirely, leaving him alone with the stomping (which had increased in pace), the droning and the ever-thicker fog. Figuring he was far enough away from the wolf-thing by now, Bunny leant against a tree, panting heavily.
"Bloody hell," he breathed. "You'd better hope I don't catch ya, Frostbite." Letting a predator into his home was definitely where he drew the line.
He looked around the area he'd stopped in, trying to recognise it as part of his Warren. His eyes stopped their roving when they landed on another piece of paper stuck to a tree. The drawings had proven to be of no help whatsoever, apparently only serving to increase the amount of weirdness that was going on.
"Nice try, mate," he smirked, deciding against grabbing this one, which had 'help me' written on it.
A howl pierced the air, closer than he would have liked, making Bunny flinch. Jack may have been up to harmless fun, but that wolf certainly wasn't. Unless it was all just an act. Which was likely. He sniffed the air again, trying to pinpoint the winter spirit. It was easy enough to locate the kid's unique scent, now all he had to do was follow it.
Leaving the fourth page untouched, he bounded on, letting his nose tell him which way to go. He kept his ears and eyes open for any sign of the wolf but it was too dark to see anything and the consistent background noise managed to block out almost everything else.
He smelt it before he saw it. Just a flicker in the shadows, but when he looked he could have sworn it was in the shape of the wolf. Not wanting to stick around and find out he quickened his pace. As soon as he caught Jack the nightmare would be over. He would make the kid fix whatever he'd done to make it so dark and get rid of the damned wolf that was now hunting him.
Another page turned up on his left, a drawing of a tree, the wolf, and the word 'follows' scrawled down the side but he didn't hang around long enough to give it more than a passing glance.
Bunny skidded to a halt as the wolf suddenly appeared a mere few metres in front of him. Still trying to stop his momentum he made to go the other way but then the wolf was suddenly right behind him, glaring down at him with dark eyes. The Pooka backpedalled frantically until his back hit a tree and he could go no further. His paw brushed against something that wasn't bark and he glanced down only for a second but when he looked up again the wolf was gone.
He remained frozen in place for almost a minute afterwards, senses on high alert, but the wolf didn't come back. Allowing himself a moment's reprieve, Bunny stepped away from the tree, pulling off the page he had accidentally found. It was another drawing of the wolf, still a stick figure but with more detail than the last ones. 'No' was written over and over and over again along the sides of the page.
So, collecting the pages made the wolf go away? But how many were there? If he managed to get them all would it leave him alone for good? His thoughts suddenly fled to the pages he'd left pinned to their trees however far away they were now. He would have to go back for them.
He didn't run this time. The last thing he wanted to do was make a lot of noise and tire himself out when he was being stalked. The feeling of invisible eyes watching him was bad enough as it was. Bunny had no idea where he'd been when he'd found the 'help me' page, but he hoped he was heading in the right direction.
He felt a surge of hope course through him when he came across the 'follows' page he'd run past earlier. He was heading in the right direction, at least. However, the second he tore it off the tree and added it to the other ones a loud wind started howling, blocking out all chances he had of tracking anything by scent or sound and the fog was so thick now he could barely see a few steps in front of him.
"Bloody hell," he cursed, picking a direction and continuing on. Frost was going to pay for this, big time.
He manoeuvred his way through winding paths and thick clumps of trees with neither hide nor hair of the wolf or Jack to be seen and he almost let himself relax a little. All thoughts of things going well ran out the window, however, when he stepped out from behind a tree to find himself standing mere inches away from the menacing jaws of the very creature he'd been trying to avoid, the piano music louder than ever. Before he could even think of running teeth flashed and a sharp pain radiated across the back of his head and he knew no more.
...
Bunny awoke to a killer headache. He was lying on his back in the Warren, the usual cheery warm sunlight pouring down on him. There wasn't a trace of fog or eerie background noise or wind to be seen or heard and he almost let himself think the whole ordeal had been a bad dream. Except for the piece of paper placed neatly on his chest.
As he sat up, Bunny lifted the sheet, getting a good look at it. It was similar to the others he'd come across, 'always watches, no eyes' scribbled on it, but it was the 'PTO' written neatly on the bottom that caught his attention. Doing as instructed, he flipped the page over.
"'Hey, Kangaroo,'" he read aloud. "'That was a rather poor performance; I'd expected you to at least reach seven pages before Hans caught up to you.' Hans? The wolf's name was Hans? 'You don't have to worry about becoming a werewolf… err, wererabbit, though; Hans is a friend of Lleu's and he didn't bite you. The reason you were knocked out was because we whacked you on the back of the head with my staff. Sorry about that.' Yeah right."
Bunny crumpled the note with a sneer. Time for payback.
Just for interest's sake, Hans is not an OC (well, not really). Like most of my other OCs, he's based off an actual guy. A guy called Hans who was killed for being a werewolf in the 1500s. I decided to revive him purely for the purpose of this chapter (although I have made reference to a werewolf before - presumably also Hans)
Guest Review Responses:
Guest: Thank you! Haha that would have been cool, but the aim was to make Jack feel good about his lack of technological ability XD
Shamangirl1: Glad to hear you approve :P
WEast: Heh good to know :D Poor Bunny indeed. And here I am being mean to him again *sigh* oh well.