A/N

Look who's back so early!

So, this kind of pick up towards the beginning of the movie, when we first meet the Guardians!

Thank you and I hope you enjoy!~

A New Guardian

Bunny woke with a jolt, the pads of his paws were wet with perspiration. The rest of him felt hot, like he was getting a fever. Looking around and seeing that he was in his little cove, he relaxed and buried his face in his hands. His couple hours of sleep had not been restful in the least. He'd had that dream again. The same dream about Jack.

Jack's eyes had been accusing. Bunny had dreamt it so much, that he wasn't sure if that had been how it really happened or not. In the last moments, before Bunny lost his grip…before he could feel Jack slipping away, as it all had slowed in his dreams, or-or memory… Jack's eyes. They had gone from terrified to accusing. They took on a look of complete betrayal, emphasizing Bunny's failure in the most hurtful way. In this dream, or memory, or whatever it was…Jack had been accusing Bunny for not trying harder. For failing him. For letting go. For not being fast enough.

Bunny had already found himself at guilt for all of these things, but it was different seeing that hurt and spiteful look in the young spirits eyes.

Bunny rubbed his eyes tiredly, squeezing the bridge of his nose and emitting a deep sigh. This dream had been haunting him for decades now, and it was always the same. But he couldn't think about that now. It was only three days until Easter, the anniversary of when he failed Jack, and he had to pull himself together. He had many eggs to finish preparing over the course of the next three days. It was time to crank it into over drive.

Gathering his paint brushes, he headed out into the warren. Many of his little googies were already lined up and ready for their personal designs. Bunny started directing them, sending several of them to the dye river and tulips to get their designs, and selecting a few for himself to paint. He didn't have to paint the eggs by hand at all, because the vegetation and rivers could quickly take care of the task, but it was something he really enjoyed, and he loved knowing that a few children would be getting one of his special googies.

As he quickly whipped a coat of bright paint and a pattern on about a dozen eggs, the sky unexpectedly burst to life with color and light.

"The Arora Borealis?" Bunny asked himself. He sighed in frustration. "Really North!? Three days before Easter!?" Bunny picked himself up off the ground and packed a couple of eggs in his holsters. He might as well get a little work done while he was there. "This better be good, crinkle sack."

Choosing the correct tunnel, Bunny ran through his underground network with ease, dodging some of his stray eggs scattered about here and there. Soon, he opened a hole directly above himself, twitching his ears to get a feel for his surrounding and leaping out. For a moment, he brought himself to his full height standing at 6"1' but then-

"Ugh, it's freezing!" He complained, wrapping his arms around himself. He huffed a moment, hating that North wouldn't let him open his tunnels directly into the workshop. But he did understand why. He could accidentally incapacitate a yeti and damage a lot of toys. Shaking that off, he sprinted towards the workshop. But no matter how fast he went, his poor paws still froze in the powdery snow. "Ma feet! I can't feel ma feet!"

Bursting through the front doors, Bunny quickly ran to the globe room and stretched one of his numb feet out to the welcoming fire, mumbling under his breath about how this impromptu meeting had better be for something good. He rubbed his poor paw, trying to get some life back into it. He was barely aware of the hustle and bustle around him, and didn't tune in until he heard North exclaim:

"The Boogieman was here! At the pole."

Tooth shushed her mini fairies, and gasped. "Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?"

"Yes!" North exclaimed, throwing his arms wide. "There was black sand, covering the globe!"

"What do ya mean 'black sand'?" Bunny asked, fully skeptical and only halfway listening as he divided his attention between the burly man and one of his half painted egg.

North's gesturing only got more theatrical as he went on to explain. "And then, a shadow-"

"Hold on, hold on!" Bunny interrupted. "A shadow? I thought you said you saw Pitch?

"Well, uh, not exactly…"

"'Not exactly'!" Bunny was fed up. A shadow was why he had been interrupted in the middle of his preparations?! But he played off his irked nerves light-heartedly, turning to Sandy and asking. "Can you believe this guy?" The golden man only signed a question mark, but still…"Yeah, you said it Sandy."

"Look, he's up to something very bad. I can feel it!" North's theatrics were really starting to get on Bunny's nerves. The Cossack crouched down, looking them each over, and patted his stomach. "In my belly."

"Hang on, hang on." Now his irritation was starting to show, and he didn't care. Bunny had a lot of work ahead of him, and after the very few, restless hours he'd had of sleep, that were full of vivid, piercing images of accusing eyes staring him down for his failure!? Well, you could say he was not feeling up to North's antics. "You mean to say, you summoned me here three days before Easter," On the anniversary of the day he had failed to save a child. "because of your belly? Look mate, if I had done this to you three days before Christmas-"

"Listen Bunny," North interrupted, patting Bunny's head and taking the half painted egg out of his grip. "Easter is not Christmas."

"Here we go. North, look, I don't have time for this! I've still got two million eggs to finish up!" And snow storms to keep a look out for, because Jack might try to reach out to him again…

North smirked. "No matter how much you paint it, it's still egg."

"Look mate! I'm dealing with perishables! Right, you've got all year to prepare!" Bunny really didn't want to be here anymore. Why was North provoking him so much? He knew that this time of year had brought Bunny conflicting feelings for more than four decades now. What was he trying to do? It was all pointless banter; why did he keep picking at him?

"Why are rabbits always so nervous?"

Bunny wanted to scream! North knew why he was so nervous. He knew about his reoccurring dream, and how his own holiday had muddled his moods ever since 68'! Bunny spit back: "And why are you always such a blowhard?"

Just then, Tooth came into their line of vision, cutting off their argument with her physical interruption and fast paced coordinating.

"Tooth! Can't you see we're trying to argue?" North asked her. Bunny quirked an eyebrow at the Cossack.

"Sorry!" Tooth returned sarcastically. "Not all of us get to work one night a year. Am I right Sandy?

Bunny didn't turn to see what Sandy's response would be. He was looking at North…a revelation had just become clear to him. North was getting him to blow off a little steam. That's why he had acted so light-hearted over their argument. North did remember how conflicting Bunny's own holiday had become to him. North was far more perceptive than Bunny ever gave him credit for. He knew how tense and overwhelmed he was, and all North did was give him an opportunity to get rid of some of that tension.

North must've seen his change in attitude, because as Bunny's shoulder's relaxed and he let a spark of amusement hit his eyes, North winked at him. Yeah, Jolly Ol'Nick knew exactly what he was doing.

Setting the conversation back to its original purpose, Bunny continued with: "C'mon mate. Pitch went out with the Dark Age, huh? We made sure of it."

"I know it was him! We have serious situation!" North did appear to be very genuine in his story.

"Well, I have a serious situation with some eggs!" Bunny smirked, continuing on with their inside joke, when suddenly a high pitched ringing met his sensitive ears harshly.

Turning around, he saw a steamed up Sandy with a dizzy elf gripped tightly in his fist, the bell on the point of creature's hat having been the source of the noise. Sandy dropped the dizzy thing, and pointed at the image he made of a crescent moon over his head, then sharply pointed to the sky visible through the open roof. Directing his attention as he had been beckoned to, Bunny and the others turned to see Manny, shining brightly in the blue sky.

"Ah! Man in Moon!" North boomed cheerily. "Sandy, why didn't you say something?" The golden man literally emitted mushroom clouds from his ears. North turned back to the moon "It's been a long time old friend! What is big news?"

At that moment, Manny sent down a large moonbeam that displayed an eerie and familiar silhouette.

"It' is Pitch." Bunny gasped as it finally sunk in. North was right.

He turned to look at the big man in shock. North only patted his belly and went on to ask: "Manny. What must we do?"

On cue, Manny shined his moonbeam wider and brighter, covering the entirety of the stone emblem of the Guardians that rested beneath their feet. The big 'G' in the center shifted until…the Choosing stone rose from the floor…

"Uh, guy's! You know what this means?" Tooth said excitedly.

"He is choosing a new Guardian." North confirmed in awe.

"What! Why?" Bunny couldn't wrap his mind around it. A new recruit? After all these years?

"Must be big deal." North chimed in to explain. "Manny thinks we need help."

"Since when do we need help?" Bunny didn't really mean if of course…or did he? It didn't make any sense! Why, after all this time, was now supposed to be a good time to select a new Guardian? Who would it be…?

"Oh! I wonder who it's going to be?" Tooth voiced, mirroring Bunny's own thoughts. Sandy created the image of a four leaf clover over his head. "Maybe the Leprechaun?" Tooth translated.

Bunny felt his stomach drop, and he started praying silently under his breath. "Please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog…" He and the Groundhog had never been on the best of terms…

For several long moments, the Guardians held their breath, until Manny finally finished forming the image of-

"…Jack Frost…"

All eyes turned to Bunny.

"Jack?" Bunny stuttered out. He stared vacantly at the floating image of the child he had seen decades ago. That he had lost decades ago. That lurked in his dreams with terrified and accusing eye's.

Bunny found himself laughing hysterically.

His fellow Guardians shifted nervously, concerned for their friend at his odd reaction.

"Bunny…" Tooth tried "What's so funny?"

Bunny continued laughing, and managed to gasp out: "Manny chose a Guardian…who's been missing for decades! How-how are we supposed to find him?" Bunny stopped laughing, bitter sarcasm, and anger stealing over his voice. "What?! Does he expect me to pull some ass backwards magic trick, and pull the kid out of some magic hat I've got lying around?!" He felt his anger cease. How were they going to recruit him? Bunny, and the other Guardians, had searched for the kid sporadically throughout the years, and never had they caught a glimpse of him. "Cause…" Bunny continued quietly. "I would if I could…" He closed his eyes, and once again saw those blue orbs begging him for help. Conveying to him utter terror and desperation, and finally…accusing him as Bunny felt his grip loosen on the staff barbed wire to the kids hand within his memory. Jack was dragged away and left Bunny with the guilt of failure in his wake.

A/N

Alright! That's that! And I was really surprised and impressed with myself at how accurately I got those lines down before I went to go look at a script for the movie XD

Just a little extra info, so you know what your in for. Yes, this is a movie re-write, and not everything will be word for word quoting the movie like it was for much of this chapter. It will change to fit the new concept. Also, it will follow Jack at some point's to. So we'll be going back and forth between Bunny and Jack's experiences.

Well! Now that that is done, thank you for reading! I will likely see you next week and leave a review or send a PM if you have any questions or feedback! For questions, I will do my best to answer them, as long as they don't spoil the story for you ;)

See you soon!~