The ice whip cracked and I gave Paura my own mad grin. It wasn't perfect, but it would do.

Ice rushed toward Paura, quickly encasing her feet, and she rushed to try and thaw it, however I wasn't going to give her the chance.

Ice rushed up her body, and within seconds she was frozen solid, a look of terror on her face. A slight twitch of the fingers and less than a second later, she shattered into pieces. That had been surprisingly easy.

My eye turned to the rest of the raging battlefield, seeing how easy that had been, I had to wonder, who else could I do that to?

My boots crunched over the remains of Paura, looking for my next target.

My eyes shot open and I scanned the ceiling, breathing heavily as I remembered the dream. It had been short, but still horrifying. I'd been so close that night, so close to giving in, so close killing her.

I hadn't, but it didn't change the fact that I could have.

I sat up and put my head in my hands. This wasn't going to leave me alone for a while, knowing that I could have done it. I had the power, the skills to do it, I'm glad that I didn't, but the capability, that, mad, mentality, that was still there.

What if I snapped again? What if it did happen again I couldn't snap out of it? What would happen then?

I sighed and pulled my head out of my hands, squinting at my alarm clock. Just before 4AM, wonderful.

I looked at Jamie and Taboo, both of them sleeping and dozing respectively and peacefully. I wasn't going to wake them up.

I got my glasses, got out of bed and grabbed my hoodie from the back of the desk chair, where I'd left it. I pulled it on and pushed my glasses on before stealthily making my way out of the room. I knew what worked when I had a nightmare. I needed to go for a run.

I pulled on my shoes and left via the window, as usual.

I ran around Burgess for about an hour, but it just wasn't working. Running usually cleared my head, but now all I could think of was the nightmare, and the implications.

Eventually I decided enough was enough. I needed to go the place I always went to when I needed to relax. The lake.

I got there easily and sat in a tree with my hood pulled up, watching the lake's frozen surface. Burgess hadn't had snow yet, but I knew that it was on the way. It wasn't in the air, but I knew Jack would be coming by soon.

Speaking of which, if I was being honest, I wanted to talk to him. He'd probably panic a bit, but I wouldn't even go my fellow Descendants about this. I just wanted to know if Jack ever got that, that, madness. Or if it was just me.

It could have been an isolated event. Said one part of me. You were under stress and Penelope was lost, again.

And what if it wasn't? Went another part. What if it's still there?

I thudded the back of my head against the tree trunk to try and shut my brain up. I just wanted to be calm, to relax, to forget it. Except of course my brain wouldn't let me.

"Ya're up early."

I started in surprise and looked out of my tree, to see Bunnymund standing below me.

"...What are you doing here?" I asked. Perhaps I should have been more respectful, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind right now. He probably wouldn't have reacted well to it anyway.

"Lookin' fer Jack," he said plainly. "Ya seen 'im?"

"No," I was now worried, but given how relaxed Bunnymund was, I decided that it wasn't that big a deal. Jack liked his space after all.

"Any idea where 'e might be?"

"Either one of the Poles." I replied.

"We've checked."

"No idea then." I shrugged, looking back up at the sky.

I heard Bunnymund, begin to walk away, then his footsteps stopped and I heard him sigh a little irritably.

"I know Frostbite would kill me if I didn't ask, but are ya okay?"

"Fine."

"Yeah, because sitting in a tree in yer pyjamas at five in the mornin' is the definition of fine."

"You're out at this time," I looked back down at the Guardian.

"I'm doin' something and work all hours, you don't. And I don't know about you, but when Jack has his hood up, it's usually a sign that somethin's botherin' him."

"I'm not Jack. Hadn't you better be looking for him?"

"The others are also lookin', we can talk for a bit."

"There's nothing to talk about," I said, finally deciding to get out of the tree. I lowered myself from my branch and began walking away. "See you around."

There was a sudden rush of air and it was only my reflexes that saved me from getting hit in the head with a boomerang. I waited until the boomerang came back before straightening up and turned to face Bunnymund.

"What was that about?"

"Yer surprisingly similar to Jack. Somethin's buggin' ya," he gestured with his boomerang. "And I have a feelin' you should talk to someone about it."

"No offense, but why do you care? We don't know each other."

"None taken, and no, we don't. But that doesn't stop me from being worried."

"Yeah, you're worried about me," I responded sarcastically before shaking my head. "Why? It doesn't matter anyway."

Bunnymund chuckled. "Ya know, Jack doesn't go on about ya often, but when he does all he ever says that you're really good at what ya do, or that he's worried about ya. So because I know Jack would be worried, I feel like I should make sure."

"Well, you've made sure, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

I paused, then shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket. "Fine, I'm not. Can I go now?"

"Not yet. What's wrong?"

"Doesn't matter." I turned to leave, but this time I didn't have time to react as a boomerang collided with my head.

"Ow!" I turned back to face Bunnymund as he caught the boomerang. "Was that necessary?"

Bunnymund didn't answer, instead he gestured with the boomerang to a point at the base of a tree. "Sit."

I frowned. "No."

"As I understand it, a Descendant can't ignore a direct order from an immortal they share an allegiance with." Bunnymund had an annoyingly smug smirk on his face, which was oddly similar to Billy's. "So, sit down."

I stood in place for a second, so tempted to walk away, but I was tired and I had some Descendant integrity. So I walked over to the section of bank that Bunnymund had pointed to and sat down.

"Okay, I'm sat down."

Bunnymund nodded, walked over and sat down next to me. "Talk."

"About what?"

"About why yer out here so late."

I didn't say anything for a bit, hoping that I might be able to wait out the Pooka, but it was soon clear that that wasn't going to work.

"I had a nightmare."

A normal person would brush that off, but as a Guardian, Bunnymund knew about how bad nightmares could be.

"Pitch?"

"Doubt it."

"What was it about?"

"Doesn't matter," I poked the ice with my foot, watching it crack and freezing it again.

"Jackie..." Bunnymund almost growled warningly.

I didn't answer for a bit.

"The battle in Melbourne."

"The whole thing?"

"No, just, one bit," my mouth just started going without me wanting it to, but I just went with it.

"There was a part when I got pulled away from the main fight. A Descendant of Pitch, Paura," the name sent shivers down my spine. I didn't want to remember her.

"She seems to have something against me, although given my record I'm not surprised. We fought, and then something happened. I, I just..."

Bunnymund waited patiently as I fumbled for the words.

"I...I don't know. It was like a switch had been flicked. I wanted to freeze her solid, I wanted to kill her, I was going to! I...I never..."

"Breathe," said Bunnymund and I stopped talking, breathing in through the nose, and out through the mouth. I finally noticed that my hands had been shaking and that frost was curling from where I had been sitting.

Once I'd calmed down a bit I continued.

"I didn't. I got snapped out of it by her screaming. A scream of pain..." I looked down at my feet and shook my head. "In the nightmare, I didn't stop. I froze, then shattered her, and it seemed so easy in the dream, horribly easy."

I just looked at my hands, finding it way too easy to imagine freezing someone solid with them. "I don't want that to happen."

"It was probably a one off," said Bunnymund, trying to calm me down.

"And if it isn't?" my head snapped towards him. "What if I slip into that state again? What if I can't snap out? What if I kill someone?!"

"Yer not a killer."

"Oh really?!" I cried, getting to my feet and beginning to pace with my arms switching from being folded, hand on my chin and gesturing wildly. "Then you clearly you know nothing of my history!"

Bunnymund was looking at me in clear confusion, so I elaborated. "I've done it before! When I was younger, six people..."

"When ya were younger, ya couldn't control it properly."

"I know, that's what it was at the time, but the point stands. I have done it."

"And ya don't want to do it again?"

"Of course not! I don't get some kind of sick, twisted pleasure out of it! I see their faces when I fall asleep. Even now I see them in my nightmares! I don't... I don't want..."

I paused in my pacing, hand on my chin while the other arm was wrapped around my chest. To my utter horror I found that I was starting to cry. My throat was burning and I could feel early tears freezing just below my eyes as I tried to wipe them away with my finger and thumb.

Bunnymund looked stunned, at what I wasn't sure, but he sort of sat there like he wasn't sure what to do.

"I don't want it to happen again," I tried to get myself under control, but my voice still came out hoarse. "The Descendants of Pitch call me a murderer, and I can't deny that, can I?"

Bunnymund was still just staring, and it was really freaking me out. I sniffed and tried to clear my throat, flicking away any other tears that might have appeared. "Say something dammit!"

Bunnymund stood up and took a step over.

"Alrigh', I'm not good at this," he said, looking awkward. He put a paw on my shoulder and I flinched involuntarily from the heat. Like Toothiana he was warmer than a normal human.

As I flinched I felt his grip relax, but he changed his mind and didn't move his paw. He then stood in front of me with a paw on each shoulder and crouched down a bit, so he could look me in the eye.

"If ya really don't want it to, then it won't happen again. Ya won't let it."

"How do you know that?" I wasn't looking at him, looking at my feet as frost curled up the sides, then retreated again.

"Because ya're horrified by what's already 'appened. Ya won't let it happen again."

"Nice to know you have that kind of faith." I said, smirking slightly, but still not looking up.

"Ya know it's there now, so ya can stop it," Bunnymund reasoned. "Or, you could get help."

"You think I have the money for a psychiatrist?" I asked, looking up now, my smirk becoming amused.

"I dunno how this works anymore!" Bunnymund got a little frustrated and backed off, folding his arms.

I laughed a little, and he smiled a bit, possibly relieved that I wasn't going to explode or cry again.

A thought seemed to occur to him, and he looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, um," he coughed. "I'd 'ppreciate it if ya didn't tell Frostbite that just happened."

"Likewise." I said, I didn't feel like putting up with that kind of teasing. "Thank you, though." I did feel a lot calmer, and a little lighter. Getting that off my chest had in fact helped.

"Welcome." Bunnymund sniffed the air. "I'd better get going now."

"Yeah, so had I." I said, checking for any stray bits of ice on my face. "Thanks again for putting up with that. And, good luck with finding Jack, I'll let you know if I see him."

"Welcome, and thanks," he said, before tapping the ground twice with his foot and disappearing.

The thing with Jack isn't a big deal, don't worry about.

So, this one has been in the works for a while, since it's in 1st Person. It took a while for me to make sure Bunny was in character. This is only a week or so after the events of Don't Fear the Reaper, so the Meetings arc hasn't happened yet, so Jackie and Bunny are still on uncertain terms. Really they stay that way until 'Clearing the Air', but it's a bit more pronounced here.

This is also an issue which hasn't been brought up much. What happened in Don't Fear the Reaper Chapter 31, where Jackie goes a little nuts. It's not really mentioned again, except for a couple of times in Black Sheep and even then it's more implicit than explicit. It would in fact linger in Jackie's mind for a while. It wouldn't happen again, but it doesn't stop her worrying about it.