Disclaimer: DreamWorks owns RotG, not me.

Bunny trudged through the snow, stopping on the mostly clear road where he'd agreed to meet the others should they split up. He grunted at the extra weight he'd stuffed in his pack. North may have enchanted the bags to hold extra objects without betraying their whole weight, but still. Bunny had just added one of his spare bags, a garishly red sack big enough to contain a small person (or a very skinny one, as it was) to his pack, and its contents weighed about as much as his pack did already.

North stomped up to Bunny, looking disappointed. "Did not find him. You?"

Bunny glanced to the side. If Tooth found out what he'd done to catch the little bugger before they reached Santoff Claussen there was no telling what she'd do. "I caught 'im," he whispered, after being absolutely certain that Tooth wouldn't hear. Or Sandy, for that matter. At North's ecstatic look he clamped a hand over North's mouth. "Don't tell," he hissed. "We gotta get 'im back home first,"

North smiled. "That is easy," He said when Bunny took his hand away, not bothering to whisper. "Just have to wait for others," an exaggerated wink, "and see if they have found Jack!"

Sandy seemed to materialize behind North, though in reality he'd simply strolled up the path. He shook his head, squinting suspiciously at Bunny and North. A golden figure of a skinny teen with a hooked staff appeared above his outstretched hands, replaced by two eyes that were crossed out.

Tooth flit onto the path, words already pouring out of her mouth. "I haven't seen him either, Sandy. Darn! We were so close this time!" she took a quick breath in, then, slightly calmer, she said, "What now? Do we just… give up? Go back home?"

Exchanging a glance with Bunny, North nodded. "Have snow globe. Not necessarily give up, but…"

"Re-group. Now that we've lost 'im for the time being, it might be a good idea to come up with a better plan."

Tooth bobbed her head thoughtfully. "We could do with a bit of advice." Nodding again, though much more firmly, she said, "Alright!"

A large smile on his face, North open his bag, pulling out a round globe that was almost completely made of glass and contained a white grainy substance. Bringing the globe to his mouth, North whispered "Santoff Claussen," before throwing the snow globe on the path in front of them. It exploded in a spiral of color, a portal opening in the air. North was the first one to go through, Sandy stepping in immediately after. Tooth shot Bunny a look, and he reluctantly hopped through, though not without several muttered complaints. Glancing around the snowy forest as though she would spot the elusive teen peering from behind the trees, she shrugged and walked through. The bright portal shut with a snap, and the woods were quiet save for the whistling of the wind.

In fact, the forest soon became alarmingly silent, even the wind stilling as the area seemed to darken, shadows growing longer then they ought to be with the sun high in the sky, despite the clouds blocking it out.

A blackened hand reached for an abandoned stick. It was a strange stick, really more of a staff with its length, an angular hook at one end. It almost seemed to twitch before the hand took hold of it, as though trying to get away from the presence. The staff was examined carefully, the weight, size, and faint light that seeped from the cracks all taken note of.

"…Interesting."

It was very dark.

It was also very cramped. Jack did not like it. He did not like being beaten in this game of cat and mouse (in which he was the mouse), being captured, or shoved in this sack. But most of all, he hated that the horrible pressure in his fingertips had increased, and he was too squished to reach his pack and do anything about it.

He was curled up inside the sack, not that he could see it, but he could feel objects pressing against him, sharp edges poking into his legs and head and a few curved items that were wrapped around his elbows, which were awkwardly stuck at painful angles. He shifted once, attempting to pull his elbows in and maybe manage to reach his bag- and the praesidium. Instead, he found the sack he was stuck inside pitched forwards, as though off- balance, and Jack realized that he was being carried. Duh, he thought to himself. What exactly did I expect would happen if I were thrown in a sack? To be thrown into a river? Granted, considering some of Jack's recent nightmares, that wouldn't be too unexpected.

There were muffled voices, though Jack couldn't make out what they were saying or who they were (Gee, who could possibly have kidnapped him?), and he was thrown backwards, as though the person carrying him had righted themselves. The teen found some of the pressure released from his fingers in his surprise, and he shivered. He was slowly rocked as the person carrying him began to walk, though he was rigid with alarm.

What happened? The feeling in his fingers returned rapidly, although this time the pressure almost itched, tickling his senses. Jack tried to shove down the panic that was bubbling up in his chest. He struggled frantically against the confines of the sack, desperate to reach his bag. The tickling spread down his fingers, infecting his hands as he found the top of the sack- where the opening should be, making it very hard to pull the sack open.

Jack gritted his teeth; his palms itched, as though he'd been clapping far too long, and shoved the top of the sack, jamming his fingers through the small opening he found (not that he could really feel his fingers anymore) and tugging at the edges. The opening widened a fraction, so Jack tugged harder, and something gave.

Well.

Several somethings.

One was the edges of the sack, drawstrings loosening and allowing it to open. Jack used the opportunity to pull his own bag off his back, untangling it from his cloak and reaching in for the praesidium, the cure, but-

Another something was a different bag, one that Jack's sack had been inside. This one had a little light, and Jack could make out vague outlines of the objects that poked his sides. The whole bag had lurched, and Jack remembered that he was being carried so-

The last something was the itching, it had flown from his hands and subsided at an alarming rate. Jack couldn't see what had happened, but the temperature had dropped and there was something rough on the inside of the sack and-

For a single moment, everything seemed to be still, and Jack uncorked the praesidium, taking a sip directly from the bottle, recorking it and pulling the bag closed, mouth burning body burning nerves on fire then-

Time leapt forward, the lurching continued and became one continuous motion, a fall, and his already bruised head took another beating as he hit a hard surface, and he managed to send an exasperated thought at his luck before being drawn under once more.

"Bunny, are you okay?"

Bunny huffed from his new position on the forest floor just inside Santoff Claussen boundaries. "M' fine," he mumbled, starting to pull himself up. Darn kid, must have woken up and tried to throw Bunny off-balance. He accepted North's hand (not that he had a choice, the large man had more or less grabbed him) and steadied himself, adjusting to the different weight on his back.

"Are you sure? Because I know you don't like portals but you shouldn't have lost your balance like that! Oh! Maybe you've been running too much trying to find Jack! You should…"

North raised an eyebrow at Bunny, who was ignoring the still-twittering-away Tooth. Bunny nodded to the swordsman and began navigating his way to the village center. Once there, they could deal with the pest that was Jack Overland.

The other three followed suit, Tooth fretting over Bunny's health, North being unusually silent, and Sandy suspiciously eyeing Bunny's sack.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach the heart of Santoff Claussen, could have taken less if there wasn't all this snow blanketing everything and making it hard to keep up the pace, not to mention the snow that was falling from the sky and obstructing their vision.

It would have been strange that there were no children around (Santoff Claussen children are very curious, after all), but it was almost dark out. The children were concealing themselves from something dreadful. An absolutely terrible thing that wished to take them away from their fun and games.

Bedtime.

As such, all the children were hiding and their parents searching for them, so there was no one to question the group's early arrival home.

"We might be able to see Ombric now; I mean there's maybe an hour before it's too dark, right?" Tooth said, turning to the rest of the group.

Bunny was about to answer, but he felt a weight shifting in his bag once more. "Actually, I might crash soon; we can wait 'till morning." He looked pointedly at North.

North cleared his throat, exclaiming, "Of course, comrade! It would be wise to think with well-rested thoughts, no?"

Tooth sighed, obviously not wanting to wait but seeing the sensibility behind her friends' suggestion (that and she was worried about Bunny, he needs his rest after a tumble the likes of which he had taken earlier when coming out of the portal). "Alright,"

Sandy was already leaving, tossing a sleepy wave over his shoulder.

"Ah! Do not forget that you can let the enchantment fall off now, no need to be sneaky anymore!" North called after them, heading for his own home.

Bunny sighed in relief as he took his bag off his back (he should really think about inventing packs specially to carry on your back, the weight was distributed terribly when using these sacks). It was nice to be back underground. It was even nicer, he mused as bones shifted and grew, to be back in his own form.

After stretching, he began the tedious task of unloading his bag and putting things back in their proper space, grumbling to himself the whole time.

(He gave up halfway through and decided that hey, that wasn't a bad area for those objects, he could just leave them there.)

Everything back where it should be (mostly), Bunny tried to decide what to do with the kid still tied up in a sack.

…It'd be fine if he hit him over the head a few times and left it to the others in the morning, right?

A/N: *skis in a month and a half later than wanted with a too-short chapter* How 'bout them Olympics, huh?

Hal: Thanks, dude.

ImAGuest: Better late than never? Yeah, they'll probably confiscate the other stuff.

You may have noticed I've switched to replying to user reviews via pm (Thanks, Fun Filled Frost!). So, uh, don't expect anything else anytime soon, it's way too late (which is why some of this may seem off) and I'm still having massive writer's block for this story.

I want to give you all cake or something for keeping up with this story, despite my chaotic bouts of not existing. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, followed, and favorited. For those of you who are new, welcome aboard this crazy train-wreck of a fic.

Until next time!