The ride to the pole back from Antarctica was quieter then the ride to the woods. But that didn't matter. What was there to say anyway?

When the sleigh landed the Guardians soon found themselves sitting silently in the Workshops living room by the fire. Each one of them were still shaken by the battle with Ice Shadowfrost. Each one of them were still hurt by Ice's cruel words…

Finally, North couldn't take the hurt or silence anymore and stood up.

"I need to check on toys" he said, his voice shaking ever so slightly. "Want to come?"

Tooth, who desperately needed to get her mind off of the battle stood up. "I'll go."

Sandy stood up too and walked over to North. He pointed too himself (Which is Sandy for me too)

Everyone looked at Bunny, who was staring off into space outside the window. "Are you coming?" Tooth asked.

Bunny snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "What? Oh! Uh, I think I'll just stay here if that's alright."

North gave him a small smile. "It's ok my friend. We'll be back in a few minutes."

Bunny nodded. "Alright"

When the Guardians left, Bunny sighed. He was still taking in what happened at Antarctica. He had no idea what motivated him to go over to Ice. Maybe it was because he wanted Jack to know they still cared even if he didn't?

Realizing this wouldn't help his nerves or the terrible sadness and guilt in his chest, he stood up. As he stretched, something caught his eye. It was a picture of him and all the other Guardians- including Jack- in the Burgess Forest. Everyone in the picture had large smiles. Sandy was in the front, Jack was behind him, Tooth sitting in front of Jack next to Sandy, Bunny was mostly next to Jack, and North was behind him with his hands on Jack's shoulders.

"Well, this was a good lunch." Bunny said. He and the Guardians were having a picnic at his Warren.

"Jack certainly thinks so" Tooth giggled. Bunny turned to Jacks direction to see the winter spirit fast asleep.

"Let him rest." North said. He yawned. "Maybe good idea for us all to take nap?"

Bunny let out a quiet laugh. "Yeah. Yeah all right."

He didn't know when or how he fell asleep, but he did. He didn't know how much time had passed before he was woken up by a freezing cold substance.

Bunny woke up with a yelp. "COLD" he shrieked unnaturally "COLD, COLD, SO BLOODY COLD"

His soaked form turned to a certain laughing winter spirit.

"FROSTBITE!"

"What?" Jack asked, still laughing. "You were asleep! This was way too good to pass up!"

Bunny glared at him. He looked at his fellow Guardians to see them struggling to hold back laughter. Actually, Tooth and Sandy had their hands over their mouths in an (failed) attempt to hold back, while North was laughing out loud with no attempt of restraining.

Bunny rolled his eyes. "You all have five seconds mates."

The other Guardians stopped laughing. Jack smirked.

"You're on"

With that, him and the other Guardians ran off in different directions until Bunny was by himself with a picnic basket and blanket.

"Never race a rabbit mates." he whispered. "Five, four, three, two, one, let's do this." He used his hearing to detect a slight sound of wings beating. For anyone else, it would've been impossible to hear. But with Pooka-strong hearing, Bunny was able to hear it and find where it was coming from.

He ran towards the sound as quickly and quietly as he could go. Soon, he was in a rather clear area. Tooth was flying in place, keeping a look out. When she turned dangerously close to his direction, Bunny quickly dodged behind an egg golem.

"Not. A. Word." He whispered to it, quiet enough for Tooth not to hear him.

Bunny sighed in relief when Tooth turned away. "Thanks mate." He whispered to the golem.

He then carefully crept out from behind the golem and brought out his boomerang. He angled it so it would fly by her, but not hit.

When he was sure his calculations were correct, he tossed his boomerang. As he hoped, the boomerang went around Tooth but did not hit her.

She yelped in surprise and turned to look at him. "Bunny!"

Bunny chuckled. "Never race a rabbit." He repeated. With that, he summoned a tunnel leading back to the picnic spot. Avoiding Tooth's razor sharp wings, he jumped up, grabbed her, and tossed her in the tunnel where the egg golems would guard her to make sure she doesn't escape.

Then he head off to find the other three guardians.

Finding North was relatively easy. The smell of cookies was hard to miss and he found North pretty quickly. However, this time he decided to have a little fun.

Bunny set up a trip wire made out of leaves and grass. Then, he summoned an egg golem to chase North, until he tripped over the hand-made trip wire and fell right into a large rabbit hole.

Sandy was tricky. It was by pure luck and randomness that Bunny found him.

Sandy was even harder to catch, but with a few good leaps, and runs, Bunny had managed to round Sandy to the picnic area where the egg golems, North, and Tooth were waiting.

The look on the little man's face was comedy gold.

Finally, Jack. Finding Jack was pretty hard. Not as hard as Sandy was but still pretty tricky. Luckily, Bunny was able to catch a whiff of Jack's sent and a quick flash of a blue hoodie.

Soon, Bunny was almost right behind Jack getting extremely close to catching him a few times. Unfortunately, Jack had a few tricks up his sleeve. Jack had made a road of ice and Bunny slipped on it.

The final time was on a hill when Bunny had gotten too close to Jack and was able to grab him right before he slipped. The next few seconds was a blur. All Bunny could remember was tumbling down the hill, rolling what was most likely a few more meters and stopping only few yards from the picnic spot.

Soon everyone, excluding Bunny, was laughing. Let's just say, it wasn't one of his proudest moments. Soon however, he joined in the laughter.

After everyone had settled back down, Jack had asked if they could go to the Burgess woods. After a while, and a pushing from Tooth, Bunny had agreed.

When they got to the snowy place, nobody's sure who started it (but Bunny assumes it was Jack), but three minutes later, the Guardians were all in a full blown snowball fight.

Bunny's not sure how long they were playing, could have been one to five hours, but then out of the blue, Jack asked a question nobody saw coming.

"Uh, you guys would never leave me… would you?"

Almost immediately, the fun stopped. Bunny and the other Guardians looked at him in shock.

Tooth recovered first. "What? Of course not. Where would you get that?"

Jacks face was uneasy "Just… wondering."

"Never мой мальчик" North said, placing a hand on Jacks back.

Sandy gave a bright smile. Pointing to him and the Guardians, he made a sand heart above his head and pointed to Jack.

Translation: We love you.

Then he made five sand Guardians with a heart around all of them

We're family

Bunny walked up to Jack and ruffled his hair. "Yep. And get used to it. You're stuck with us for the rest of eternity."

Jack grinned. "great. And, um… I… I love you guys too."

Tooth smiled. "You won't soon." She said teasingly "When you get yourself hurt you'll probably hate us."

Jack laughed. "Like Bunny did when he broke his leg?"

Tooth, Sandy, and North laughed along with him. "Yes." North laughed, "just like Bunny."

Bunny, who was highly annoyed, defended himself. "Hey! I didn't hate ya. I was just annoyed. Ya were all being overprotective!"

Everyone just laughed.

"Alright." Jack said, when the laughter had calmed down. "I rephrase my sentence. I will always love you guys. Better?"

The Guardians just looked at him with raised eyebrows or mock-unsure faces.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Always." He repeated. "…No matter what."

Tooth sighed, her mock unsure face turning into a smile. "There it is." She said.

Bunny ruffled Jack's hair again. "Who knew you could be so affectionate Frostbite?" he stated.

Jack made a mock- hurt face. "I'm always affectionate Cottontail. Haven't you noticed?"

Bunny just rolled his eyes.

"So…" Jack said. "Sandy do you happen to have your camera?"

Sandy grinned and nodded.

Jack masked his grin. "Great! Who's up for a photo?"

Sandys grin widened, and he raised his hand. Tooth smiled "Sure." North nodded.

Bunny didn't say anything.

"Oh, come on Cottontail!" Jack said.

Bunny sighed "I don't have a choice, do I?"

Jack kept his grin. "Nope."

With another sigh, Bunny sat down next to Jack in the cold snow. Sandy used his sand to hold the camera back by a little, so everyone could get in the picture.

Sandy held up his fingers and Jack counted down.

"Alright Sandy says

Three…

Two…

One…

Smile!"

Let's just say, the last word wasn't needed.

Bunny let out a small gasp as he was brought back from the memory.

He felt his heart sink at the memory. It felt so weird because even though he knew he cared for the kid, Bunny never knew how much until Jack was gone.

He closed his eyes and Ice's words echoed through his head.

"Don't even get me started on you. Worst. Brother. Ever. You were a fail even as a family member…."

"You never cared. If you had, you would have made a good family… But you didn't. Worst decades ever"

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU ALL SO MUCH"

Bunny's eyes snapped open. He took a deep breath. Not the best idea. He felt a sob come from his mouth and quickly slapped a hand over it. He took several calming breaths to try to keep himself together, but the tears were already making their way down his face. Bunny was scarcely aware of himself when he fell to his knees from sadness and holding back.

It soon became too much for him and he did something he hadn't done in centuries.

He cried.

Now let's make one thing clear, E. Aster Bunnymund DID NOT cry. He hadn't cried ever since the annihilation of his race. Ever since then, he covered himself with walls and shells when needed. To him, crying was a sign of weakness and by gosh he was NOT weak. He was a tough, proud, Pooka Warrior. He was not supposed to cry.

But here he was now, on his knees, and tears cascading down his face. Yet, even then he was only letting out about a small piece of what was in him.

The Guardians had just finished checking on the toys, (most were working slower than usual, especially Phil, but all in all, things were pretty good) and you could just imagine how shocked they were to see their toughest, most stubborn member on his knees quietly sobbing.

Tooth acted first. She quietly flew over to Bunnymund and gently put her fingers under his chin to lift up his lowered head to meet her eye.

Bunny never felt so embarrassed. He was always so strong against this kind of stuff but here he was now, crying. He blinked rapidly to stop the tears, but it was in vain. He tried to lower his head in an attempt to at least hide, but Tooth was gently keeping his head in place.

"I…" Bunny choked on another sob. "I'm sorry."

Through her own unshed tears, Tooth gave Bunny a smile to show him it was okay. He didn't have to feel embarrassed. With her instincts taking over, she pulled Bunny into a motherly embrace.

Bunny was stunned at first, but he soon hugged back, allowing more tears to fall.

Soon, North and Sandy joined in the hug. One of the first ones without Jack. It didn't feel the same, but it still felt nice.

It's safe to say a lot of tears were shed that day.


Shortly after that, the Guardians took off any Picture that had Jack. They also took up anything that had belonged to him. They cleaned up his rooms and placed his pictures and belongings in them. However, they rarely ever entered those rooms. They still loved Jack very much and never forgot him, but it was easier to remember him as a blissful memory then something they had lost.

They also told the spirit world of Jack's corruption, which saddened some of the spirits deeply. Mother Nature agreed to keep hold of winter until they could find a new one.

As time passed, the Guardians returned to their normal behavior. They continued with the family dinners, hang outs, traditions, and the occasional games and food fights. It was fun but… it was never exactly the same.

But Manny was right, they were a family and they always had each other to help. Jack had made them a much closer family, and by loving each other, Jack was indeed in their hearts.


in Antarctica

Ice had long since given up on trying to break out of his bonds. He realized that he was just wasting strength and that he was on his own. He didn't know how long he had been trapped on the blasted continent, but if he had to guess, he would have said at least two hundred years.

During those two hundred years, the only thing he had to keep him company was old memories (which always disgusted him) the occasional artic animal, and sometimes the moon (although its shine never gave him comfort)

Tonight, the moon was shining dimly, very little of its light touching Ice.

Ice glared at it. "What? Not going to say anything?" he asked bitterly, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

He looked away "I was too reckless." He muttered to himself, "like father was. He was too eager to destroy the Guardians, he lost his path. I was too eager and risk-taking. I didn't think it all through. Next time though, I will have everything crafted, every move will be planned, improve will only be used when necessary. I will be patient, unlike Dad was."

He looked back at the moon, his eyes shining with madness and intelligence. Just like they had two hundred years ago.

"You hear that?" he said "You get what you want. I'll stay out of the picture for now. However, tell the Guardians to enjoy their time. Because the may have won the battle…"

The old maniacal smile came across his face once again.

"But I'm winning the war."

Feeling a sudden surge of strength, he put it all in his left hand and gave in a strong push.

And at that moment, a crack…

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a very small…

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barely noticeable crack…

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appeared in the bonds.


Alright, for an epilogue, this was pretty long. But hey, one last fluffy, heartbreaking moment. I may have gotten carried away. Anywho, let's move on to the important stuff.

WARNING: Long Authors note ahead, but it's all important.

First off, I have a poll up! It's about this story. You can vote to see if you want this to be a trilogy :D It's on my profile so please vote! You have until October ;)

Secondly, if you happen to be a fan of my other story, "Love makes us a family" then go check out chapter six! I updated it so now there are a little more insights on future chapters :D

Third... Bad news. Uh... the sequel won't be out soon after all. (PLEASE DON'T KILL ME AND LET ME EXPLAIN) Ok, it'll be coming out late because it will be based off the book, and I need explanations to make everything cannon. The last book comes out on October so the sequel most likely won't be out until then. However, it may come out sooner. Also, there are several of future stories I want to post beforehand, including many oneshots on "Love makes us a Family"\

However, if you like this story, I guarantee you you will like at least one of these future stories so keep an eye out for them ;D

Stand together: stand alone (ADOPTED)

Not Alone (will most likely be a oneshot. Human AU. Mostly about Jack Frost and Bunnymund)

A Special Promise between Brothers (highly recommended by those Jack and Bunny brother fluff lovers out there ;) )

An ill Spirit (Where Jack gets sick. Not 100% sure about that one though)

Untitled (Yeah... I don't know the name to that one yet. When Jack get's kidnapped and is assumed dead. Modern AU)

Alright, I think I'm done with all the important information. I hope you all forgive me and I hope you keep a look out for these future stories! Until next time flowers! :D

Reviews for Reviews

KitoH: R1: heh... I was hoping for a good plot twist. R2: I'm really sorry about your teacher :( I edited the last chapter so now there's a warning. I still hope you like this story. I'm also sorry that I won't be able to update the sequel soon. The "Special Promise between Brothers" is bound to come out soon and I have a feeling you'll really like it. :)

Yellowmiki98: Awww, come on. You loved this whole story. Stay with me now. The sequel is where thing get interesting... also, thanks for your supportive reviews through this whole story. They were all wonderful and kept me going ;)

Kittentje: I do like cookies... the Bunny scene was oddly fun to write. Yes, you will most likely see or at least hear of Pitch in the sequel. (although if ypu want something evil but sweet, keep a lookout for "Not Alone" I'm happy you liked this!

gabriel: (Sorry, this won't let me put in your full username) I'm glad you liked it and will read the sequel. I guess some people did see this ending coming ;)