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Jack glared back into green eyes determinedly, unflinching. The green eyes didn't look away either, but narrowed dangerously.
"No. Not if I'm not comin' with ya."
Jack sighed for the thirteenth time in a minute, followed by an eye roll.
"You know as much as I do that I can't let you." The spirit retorted to the very angry Easter Bunny who was currently growling. "You usually have a full year to prepare for Easter, but not this time. You lot need to keep the believers up." Jack looked away and stroked Raven, who was waiting patiently behind him.
"I mean, I would help if I could, but I don't think anyone actually believes in me anymore." He thought of Jamie. How long had he kept believing in him after that night, when everyone thought he was dead, or stuck in a coma for the rest of time? The spirit pushed the thought out of his head quickly.
"But ya hardly got any rest!" Bunny yelled angrily. Tooth sighed.
"Believe me, I tried persuading him to stay before." The fairy said to Bunny. "He just won't listen."
"No, I won't." Jack said, cutting between Tooth and Bunny with Raven following him close behind. "Besides, I think I know where Pitch has hidden someone else."
"Where?!" The two other guardians asked in sync, forgetting about their previous debate.
"It's gonna be somewhere hot." The spirit replied, turning around to face them. "I mean, I'm Jack Frost."
"But he's pretty sure you're dead, mate." The Pooka pointed out. "Why would he do tha'?"
"Just a hunch." Jack said, swinging his staff. "If I know Pitch, he would hide one there just in case there was a chance of me being alive." He grinned. "Plus, Raven knows the way, so if I'm wrong he can lead me somewhere else."
"Ya can't go in a desert on ya own!" Bunny yelled, resuming the previous argument. "Ya gonna melt!"
"I won't. I'm not ice."
"What about last time ya got sick then?!"
Jack remembered that small too clearly. He just wanted to visit Jamie, even though it was summer.
It didn't end well, in short.
"I'm not going to stay there." Jack replied, sticking his tongue out. "I'm not an idiot."
"Are ya sure about that?"
"Is that a challenge, Cottontail?"
"You bet, Snowflake."
Jack lunged onto Bunny, sending him backwards. Laughing, the two guardians rolled in the grass, wrestling and yelling. Bunny suddenly picked Jack up and held him upside down by his ankles. The spirit screamed in delight, hitting the Pooka with his staff, weak with laughter. Bunny shook him and Jack screamed again, hooking his staff around the older guardian's foot and tugging. The rabbit fell to the floor ungracefully and Jack scrambled onto his stomach, pinning his hands down.
"No ya don't!" Bunny yelled, grinning, and flipped Jack over so the spirit was now the one on the floor. Jack yelled and laughed breathlessly.
"Do ya give up!" Bunny yelled, laughing as Jack struggled beneath him.
"Your- squashing- me…" the spirit wheezed. Bunny grinned.
"Do ya give up?!" He repeated as Tooth laughed behind him. Jack nodded.
"Yeah…I…give…up…"
"Are ya an idiot!"
"YES!" Jack said and Bunny rolled off him, laughing. He forgot how good their play fights were.
"No fair!" Jack said, sticking his tongue out again. "You're bigger than me!"
"Tough." Bunny said, smiling. He ruffled the spirit's hair. "Don't melt, Frostbite."
Jack grinned.
"No fear, Kangaroo." He said, mounting Raven, who had crouched down for him. "Funnily enough, I don't like the heat."
"Be careful." Tooth said, smiling. "And tell me when you actually return this time!"
"Yes, ma'am…" Jack smashed the snow-globe that was in his pocket on the ground. The portal glowed purple and Jack was about to walk through when:
"Oi! Frosty!"
"What is it, Cottontail?" Jack asked, grinning. He turned around and saw that the Pooka was holding a small egg out to him. It was blue with white stripes.
"Got ya somethin'." Bunny said, smiling. He handed Jack the egg, who took it curiously.
"What is it?" He asked, rolling it in his hand.
"It's an everlastin' egg bomb, ya Dill." Bunny rolled his eyes, a smile twitching on his face. "It won't ever run out. Ya might need it for a quick escape, so ya not stuck like ya were last time." Jack grinned, holding the egg tightly in his hand.
"Thanks." He said, tucking the small weapon in his pocket. Bunny smiled back.
"Don't do anythin' stupid." He said. Tooth nodded in agreement. Jack pretended to look offended, wiping a fake, nonexistent tear from his eye.
"Have I ever done anything stupid?" He asked.
"Tha' one time ya tried to paint the whole of England red." Bunny answered immediately.
"Oh, and that time you got one of North's chairs and attached wheels to it and ride it down the stairs and caused that while in the wall." Tooth said after, laughing at the memory.
"They were beautiful ideas." Jack grinned, waving at them. "See ya soon!"
"See ya, Frosty."
"Bye!"
Jack waved until the portal closed behind him, and he was staring into a desert with nothing in sight apart from a few cacti.
—
"You sure we're in the right place, big guy?" Jack asked Raven, knowing they were. Why else would a desert have a giant hole in the ground?
They were staring at the entrance from a few metres away, waiting to see if anything would happen. Jack, after a few minutes in the heat, had coated himself with a few layers of frost to try and stop him from "melting". Luckily, it was nearing night in the desert and the temperature was quickly dropping.
"I think all the nightmares inside." Jack said, narrowing his eyes. There was no way, at this point, that Pitch hadn't guessed that Jack Frost was indeed alive and walking.
"I won't be long." Jack said to Raven, pulling up his hood. He felt the egg move in his pocket, and the feather brush against his cheek. It was strangely reassuring, like Tooth and Bunny themselves were standing next to him.
"You know the usual. Stay safe. Be ready to run." The spirit stroked the stallion's neck. "Thank you."
He changed his staff into a sword quickly and crept forward, sticking close to the shadows. Still, no nightmares came out of the entrance like last time. It was all too easy.
"Ah well." Jack muttered, looking down the hole a few centimetres in front of him. "I guess I shouldn't complain." He smiled. "I wasn't particularly looking forward to fighting again." Pulling his hood up again, the spirit swiftly jumped into the entrance, falling into the dark depths below.
If I get out of this alive, Jack thought randomly as he fell deeper, seemingly forever, then I am going to paint the entire world red. Or maybe just England. He laughed quietly. Hopefully I won't get stopped this time by a very angry Sandman.
Suddenly Jack hit the ground on his side. Luckily, the ground was soft, made out of millions of grains of sand.
"Oh good." Jack muttered, trying to get up. "I'm glad I didn't break my legs."
He managed to stand, but was quickly pulled down again. Jack gasped as he looked down, seeing what had caused him to fall.
The sand underneath him had gripped onto his ankle; it looked like a long, black tentacle.
Jack frantically began to try and break free, but the tentacle clutched him harder. More tentacles began to wrap around his arms, his waist, his neck…they began to pull him under the sand, drowning him…
Jack let out a scream of terror.
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