Hngh

Requested by Ink

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Bitten

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"I can't believe this! After everything I do for you, this is the thanks I get?! I didn't even touch you!"

The criminal reared up and hissed at him, as if preparing to strike again.

Lleu angrily shook his finger. "Don't you take that tone with me, you… you… you goth spaghetti noodle!"

The snake lunged at him, and this time Lleu, seeing it coming, managed to step back and out of the way in time to avoid it.

"Unbelievable!" he cried. "Just for that I'm going to make the next few days overcast so you'll be slow and sluggish! Try biting innocent passersby when you don't have the energy to move!"

The snake decided it had had enough of him, though, and quickly slithered off in the opposite direction. Lleu scowled after it, indignant.

"That's right, you ingrate! Run!"

With a huff, he plonked himself down on the ground and pulled his shirt off. It had been a long time since he'd been bitten by a snake, but he thought he still remembered what he was supposed to do. Bandage it, for one. His shirt didn't make a great bandage, but he made do, wrapping it as tightly around his leg as he could.

Now what? he wondered. He was in Australia – the Outback, to be precise – so there was probably, like, a 90% chance the criminal snake had been venomous. Which meant he would probably need some medical attention. Soonish. Very soonish. So far the bite wasn't even hurting at all, and there weren't any other symptoms beyond his great annoyance, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

He could try and fly back to Mom's place, he supposed; no doubt she would know exactly what to do. But that would take at least an hour, probably longer, and that was more time than he had to work with. Someone closer, then. Hmm. Who lived in Australia? Well, there were a whole bunch of native spirits that would probably be more than capable of giving him a hand, but he'd have to find them first, and he didn't know them very well. Would it be weird if he just turned up and asked for help? Or would they be chill with it?

Oh, hey, he thought, chill. Jack Frost was chill. Not in Australia though, and probably didn't know anything about snake bites (and honestly if Lleu ever caught that boy daring to go into the Outback there would be hell to pay), but that thought led to another one: Bunnymund. He lived somewhere around there, didn't he? And he was one of those herbal remedy nuts or whatever; he probably had scores of ways to deal with snake bites. And there was the added benefit that they were acquainted, and that Jack would probably freeze his fluffy tail if he refused to help. Win-win.

"Right," he grunted, pulling himself back to his feet and jumping up into the air. "Wind, let's go rabbit hunting."

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Jack thumped the ground with the butt of his staff. The eggs immediately swarmed towards him, and he moved closer to the dye river before repeating the action. Preparations for Easter were well underway, and he'd taken a break from winter to give Bunny a hand when the latter had expressed a concern that, given the population growth in some areas and the subsequent increase in the number of required eggs, he would be hard-pressed to get everything done in time. Bunny had grumbled about not needing help and that he could 'handle it', but it was half-hearted at best, and he ultimately hadn't put up much of a fight.

Which was just as well, Jack thought; they didn't have time to waste arguing over the inevitable.

At the moment, he'd been put on shepherding duty. It was his job to guide the new eggs down to the river where they could get their base coats, before going off to the vines and Bunny for extra detail. It wasn't a particularly complicated job, but it was kind of fun having them flock to him like tiny disfigured sheep.

"Here's another batch," he announced as they reached the bank.

Bunny looked up from the opposite bank where he was working on some already-dyed eggs to watch the new ones dive into the river. "Good job, Frostbite," he said. "Just another couple million or so googies to go."

"Another couple million?!" Jack gaped. "Geez, you really do need all the help you can get." They'd already done a couple million, and it had taken weeks. Thankfully, there was still a month and a bit before Easter.

"There're a lot of kids," Bunny pointed out, returning his focus to the egg in his hand.

Well, he had a point. Jack shrugged and turned, ready to head back to get the next batch of eggs, only to stop when a strong wind blew through the Warren, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Oi, Frostbite!" Bunny yelled. "What have I told ya about–?!"

"It wasn't me!" Jack cut him off, spinning back around to glare at him.

"Who else could it've been?! Wind like that doesn't happen naturally down here, and you're the only one present with that kinda power!"

"Are you dense? Ignoring the fact that I promised not to use my powers while I'm helping, that wind was hot! I'm a winter spirit!"

Bunny huffed angrily, obviously having no retort but not ready to back down.

Neither was Jack. "Either there's a big hole in your Warren or–" He cut himself off as a thought occurred to him. The wind hadn't been natural – that much was obvious. Wind didn't behave like that unless it was being directed, or it was acting on someone else's behalf. His own wind had done similar things on occasion. Which meant…

Bunny was staring at him oddly. His glare had softened into more of a worried frown. "Or what?" he prompted.

Jack's eyes widened as the implications hit him. "Or something's wrong," he said. He took off at a sprint, heading the direction the wind had come from. Behind him, he could hear Bunny chasing after him, calling for him to stop and explain himself. "Direct me," he said aloud. The hot wind surged up again at his prompting, urging him on to the Warren's main entrance and up to the surface.

Stepping out into the heat of the summer Outback was like throwing himself into a wall of fire, and he staggered slightly at the intensity of it.

"Can't stay out here for long," he muttered. Even under the shade of the tree that marked the tunnel he'd come through wasn't enough to protect him from it, and already he could feel himself starting to sweat. "Which way?"

The summer wind pushed at him, and Jack took off with a gust of his own. It didn't take long to find exactly what he was looking for.

Lleu was lying face-down on the side of a badly corrugated road, shirtless – though Jack quickly realised why; it had been used as a makeshift bandage on his leg.

"Lleu?" Jack called hesitantly. He came to land and gently used the crook of his staff to lift Lleu's head slightly.

"Oh no," Lleu said dazedly. "I'm hallucinating." He then proceeded to roll onto his back. His breathing was laboured, like he couldn't get enough air.

Jack scanned him over briefly, but the only obvious sign of injury was the shirt around his leg. "What's wrong?"

"You already know that, Imaginary Snow Cone," he panted. "Figment of my… of my imagination and all that."

"Humour me."

"Knock knock."

"It's an expression!"

Lleu squinted up at him, face pinched in confusion. "You're supposed to say… 'who's there'." He suddenly groaned, curling in on himself and wrapping his arms around his gut.

"What happened?" Jack pressed. The heat was starting to get to him, and that, alongside Lleu's refusal to be cooperative, was starting to make him frustrated.

"Got bitten," came the quiet response. "The jerk."

Well, suffice to say that this was pretty bad then. Jack crouched down near Lleu's leg, but the shirt blocked any view of the bite and he wasn't prepared to remove it. "Got bitten by what?"

The only reply he received was an incoherent grunt.

"Lleu? Got bitten by what? A snake?" A snake bite was probably the most likely, given where they were, but there were plenty of other things to get bitten by.

"I didn't even touch it!" Lleu cried, which Jack took as confirmation. "I just walked past! And… bit me! Who does it think it is?! King of… of the Outback?! I'm gonna… find… one of those cackle birds. You know the ones. Kooka-thing. And then… we'll see how it likes being bitten!"

"I think you'd better hold off on the revenge plot," Jack told him. "That snake was probably venomous."

Lleu wheezed. It might have been a laugh, but it was hard to say.

Jack didn't know enough about snakes or first aid to know what to do in this situation. Bunny probably would, but he'd have to get Lleu back to the Warren first. "Can you get up?"

Lleu gave it his best effort, but he only managed to stay on his feet for a second before he sagged back down to the ground. "Hey," he said after he'd caught his breath. "Do you think I'll get superpowers out of this?"

"You already have superpowers."

"Yeah but, like… snake powers. Snakeman. The Serpent."

"Moon, I hope not."

Lleu pouted. "You're no fun. Which is weird. Since you're supposed to be Imaginary Jack. And he's… the embodiment of fun."

"Oi, Jack!"

Jack spun on his heel. Bunny had finally caught up to him. "Oh thank Mother Nature," he sighed in relief.

Bunny skidded to a halt beside him, his surprise evident on his face. "What the hell happened here?"

"He said he got bitten by a snake," Jack quickly filled him in.

"What'd it look like?"

"Angry," Lleu supplied unhelpfully. "Oh, hey, Bun. Was lookin' for you."

Bunny scowled at him, in no mood for games. "The snake, mate. What colour was it. Describe it to me."

"Uhhh… long? Dark coloured but kinda lighter in spots? Brown…ish?"

"Any patterns or distinctive markings?"

"No? It was kinda speckled but only a little?"

Bunny's frown deepened as he turned to Jack. "If I were to take a guess," he said, "I'd say it was a taipan."

"Is that bad?" Jack asked, glancing back down at Lleu.

"Yes. Come on, mate," Bunny reached out and scooped Lleu up like he weighed nothing. "Let's get ya to the Warren." He tapped his foot twice and a tunnel opened. At his gesture, Jack jumped down first.

"Wow," he heard Lleu murmur as Bunny quickly followed, "you're really soft."

"If ya start pettin' me I'll drop ya," Bunny warned.

"I think I'm gonna hurl."

"If ya throw up on me, I'll do worse than drop ya."

Fortunately for Bunny, they made it back to his burrow/hut thing without incident. As soon as Lleu was deposited in the nest, Bunny rushed over to a cupboard on the other side of the small space and started rummaging through it until he pulled out a large first aid kit.

"Lucky I still have some antivenom," he said, coming back over and dumping the kit at his side. "I'm gonna set up the drip. Frostbite, I'll get ya to go over that leg with a proper bandage. Make sure it's nice and tight."

"Did you say drip?" Lleu gasped, pushing himself up on his elbows so he could watch Bunny start preparing an IV. "Ah no. I'm totally fine. Don't need that."

Bunny looked decidedly unconvinced.

"Really! It's not even as bad as that one time with the scarecrow and the cats! I'm fine. Totally fine. Definitely do not need an IV."

"I don't even want to know," Jack declared. He grabbed the first bandage he found and, pulling his sleeves down over his hands, started winding it around the shirt already tied to Lleu's leg. Lleu winced, but otherwise made no indication that he even knew what Jack was doing.

"Scared of needles?" Bunny guessed. He emptied a small vial of antivenom into the saline and grabbed the needle.

"I'm not scared," Lleu countered in a way that completely contradicted his words.

"Don't worry, mate. It'll only pinch for a sec."

Lleu groaned dramatically but didn't put up much of a fight when Bunny grabbed his arm. "OW!"

"I haven't even started yet!"

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"He'll be okay, right?" Jack asked an hour later.

Lleu had dozed off not long after the IV had been inserted (either that or he'd fainted), which was probably for the best. As soon as Jack had finished rebandaging the leg, Bunny had sent him off to the Pole to get a couple of yetis. Apparently organ problems like kidney failure were a possibility, and Bunny didn't have the equipment to deal with that at the Warren.

So now he was in the Pole's infirmary, North standing to his right while one of the yeti nurses checked Lleu over. Bunny had only stayed long enough to make sure they had everything handled before heading back to the Warren. Nobody faulted him for it; Easter was looming, after all. Jack would go back and give him a hand again once he was sure Lleu was on the mend.

"He will be fine," North assured him. "Leg will likely hurt for few weeks, but I do not think there will be any serious lasting effects."

He'd no doubt complain about it like it was the end of the world, but lucky for Jack he'd be far away and wouldn't have to listen to it. "Bunny wants to know as soon as he's coherent again so he can yell at him for antagonising a snake."

North nodded sagely. "He is foolish to not show snake proper respect. They do not attack without reason."

"He probably didn't see it," Jack defended, though whether or not that was actually true was up for debate. Lleu didn't seem the type to go out of his way to harass a snake, but at the same time Jack wouldn't put it past him to have a go at one if he felt it justified.

"I didn't," came a slurred voice from the bed.

The yeti stepped back out of the way, giving Jack and North full view of Lleu's grumpy, disorientated expression. He looked so indignant at the possibility that they doubted him that Jack was inclined to believe him.

"Of course," North agreed amiably. "But does not matter now. Rest, my friend. You will start to feel better in a few days."

"A few days?!" Lleu let his head fall back against the pillow with a self-pitying huff. "Stupid snake," he grumbled. "Stupid venom. Stupid body. If I hadn't let Mom bribe me into being a spirit this never would have happened."

"Get some rest," North told him, placing a comforting hand on Lleu's shoulder. "We will be here if you need us."

Lleu grumbled some more, but it wasn't long until his tiredness won out over his stubbornness and he was once again dead to the world.

Jack turned to North after a short moment. "I'd better let Mom know, in case there was anything important he was supposed to do." She'd probably fret like all hell when he told her, but it was better than risking her being angry if some storm or something got missed. Lleu would probably enjoy the attention, too.

North nodded in agreement, and together they headed back out of the room, leaving the yeti with their patient. "Make sure she knows she is welcome to come if she would like."

Jack seriously doubted anyone could stop her, but the thought was appreciated. "Shall do," he said, though he figured North would quickly come to regret the offer when he realised just how imposing Mother Nature could be when she was worried. Or angry. Or both.

Oh well, he thought, jumping out the first window he came across. Live and learn.

Kids, leave snakes alone

Guest Review Responses:

DaisySullivan: And I am too lazy to search for your profile to reply as a PM so here we are haha The penguins will be back again before the end :) Your request was submitted in time, so it's on the list! Thank you!

popadoop: There's actually a really similar request already on the list so I've made a note to mix them together :)

maybear: I'll see what I can do!

I'm A Fan: Thank you! Lleu probably does enough on his own that Jack wouldn't have to haha but I'll see if I can sneak it in somewhere

ImAFanana: While it would be fun, I think this close to the end it might be better to stick with some more original chapters rather than revisiting old ones, you know? ^^;

Crazy Fan: Creo que sería un poco diferente para ella ver a Jack de lo que sería ver a otros, como North; En la película, ella dice que Jack Frost es solo una expresión, así que está claro que ella nunca pensó en él como algo más que eso. Mientras que con North, él es alguien en quien ella habría creído cuando era niño. Entonces, básicamente, se encuentra cara a cara con sus creencias infantiles, en lugar de formar nuevas. ¿Eso tiene sentido?

EriTheBear: Merry (very belated) Christmas to you too! Hope you had a good one :3

Iloveanimals: I'm not sure who'd freak out more, to be honest hahaha

Painapple: yesssss