A/N

Hey guys! I've returned, and this chapter is a just a talkie. We go to the Warren in the next chapter! :)

Enjoy~

Patching Up Wounds

They held a beautiful ceremony for their lost friend. Simple. Small. They all stood around Sandy's portrait on the great stone slab of the Guardians on the floor of the globe room. Tooth knelt down and placed a light at the top of it. Bunny could not move. He was feeling quite numb.

Sandy was gone.

It had sunk in, finally. Here they were, mourning the loss of their great friend. A friend Bunny hadn't seen much of in decades. A friend he had rarely taken the time to visit. A friend he had never quite understood, as many of his symbols did not always compute.

Why did he have to do this? He knew Sandy well enough to know that the little man would hate to see him beating himself up on the things he hadn't done. He needed to stop. He was the Guardian of Hope after all, and it was his job to be there for his friends in this dark time.

But that doesn't mean he still wouldn't be upset about it.

Bunny reached out one of his paws and took Tooth's hand. He kept his eyes lowered, too ashamed and depressed to smile at her weakly. Out of the corner of his lowered gaze, he saw her other hand reach for North's, who took it gently. Bunny could feel tears brimming in his eyes and he swallowed hard in an attempt to hold back his emotions. All around them, the elves gathered and began to play a melancholy tune by swaying the bells on their pointed hats. The tune was both eerie and beautiful, and there they all stood for countless minutes…thoughts of their lost friend coursing through their minds. Everything ranging from sweet memories, to guilty feelings.

Jack had found himself a secluded room with a large window and ledge where he could sit. The Guardians had invited him to the Sandman's funeral, but he could not bring himself to go. He felt like a trespasser. Like he was invading their grieving and that they were only inviting him out of kindness. But he did not belong there. He did not deserve to mourn alongside them. He had known Pitch had planned something terrible, but he had not warned the Guardians in a timely manner, and for that…Sandy has suffered the consequences.

Jack reached his pinky out to the window and created a frosty image of the Sandman. He wished he hadn't been so afraid. If he hadn't been so scared, then maybe he would've confronted the Guardian's, and maybe he would've told them what Pitch was planning, and maybe the others wouldn't be grieving their lost friend.

So many 'maybes'…

"I hope you're not blaming yourself mate."

Jack flinched so hard at the sound of Bunnymund's voice that he actually hit the glass of the window with a loud thud. He turned sharply, pulling down his hood. Pitch had never liked when he wore his hood up, and Bunny probably wouldn't either.

"Woah mate, calm down!" Bunny said, putting his hands out in front of him in a placating gesture. He stayed standing where he was and smiled a little. "Breathe."

Jack took notice of how he was breathing and realize how panicked he sounded. He looked at Bunny, analyzing him for signs of anger or hostility. But the rabbit was calm, and meeting his eyes, Bunny dramatically took a deep breath.

Jack did the same. Surprisingly…he felt calmer.

Bunny nodded, as if he approved of what he saw. "Can I sit with you?" He asked.

Jack blinked, shocked. He was…asking permission? He stared at Bunny, not knowing what to say, and Bunny seemed to take that as a 'no.'

"I'm not going to hurt you, ya know." He said, looking a little sad at Jack's lack of response.

"No!" Jack spoke up, cringing at how horsed his voices sounded and felt. He cleared his throat a little and went on. "I mean…I'm just…you asked if you could sit with me…?"

Bunny's face turned utterly confused. "Yeah…I don't want to make ya uncomfortable."

Jack swallowed and dropped his gaze, hugging his staff, which still remained bound to his right hand. He shrugged. "My master doesn't care if it makes me uncomfortable."

"Your master?!" Bunny said, horror and anger written all over his face. "Pitch isn't your master."

Jack lowered his head more as several moments of tense silence passed between them. After a while, Jack finally said: "Yes."

Bunny snapped up to attention, appearing to come out of some bitter and angry thoughts. He looked at Jack uncomprehendingly. "What?"

Jack glanced up shyly. "You can sit, if you want."

"Oh." Bunny said, huffing out a short laugh. He moved a bit awkwardly over to the window seat with Jack, sitting down and facing him. Bunny looked at Jack's hand, the one that was still tied to the staff with barbed wire. "Can I take that off?" He asked, pulling out a first aid kit that Jack hadn't taken notice of until then.

Locking eyes with Bunny, Jack only saw kindness. He searched him thoroughly, trying to read the tension in his muscle and waiting for the moment when an ulterior motive would flicker across his emerald eyes. But nothing happened. Bunny's gaze met his steadily and unblinkingly. He's posture was relaxed, and Jack felt that he could trust him.

Wordlessly, he extended his bound hand out to the pooka, and with surprising gentleness, Bunny began to unbound it. Jack stared unflinchingly as Bunny gently removed the barbed wire. It had never been removed with such care and patients before.

"Am I hurting ya?" Bunny asked.

Jack looked up at him curiously. Sure, the wire stung a bit as its grip was forced to release him, but no. No, it didn't hurt at all, and so he shook his head no, unable to pull the two lettered word from his dumbstruck mind.

It was so confusing having someone treat him so tenderly. Holding his hand with such carefulness, as if Bunny were afraid he'd shatter it. It was almost overwhelming.

"Are ya sure?" Bunny asked, slowing his pace. "Cause ya look like you're having trouble breathing…"

Again, Jack had to check himself. His breathing had become a little labored, but how was he supposed to explain that he wasn't used to being treated so gently? That he had gone from several decades of total isolation, never knowing the sensation of a kind or a harsh touch, to more than two hundred years of abuse.

"S-sorry." He stuttered out, mentally slapping himself. Pitch hated it when he stuttered. He breathed in deeply, regaining his composure and continued. "I'm just not use to being treated so…kindly."

Bunny nodded, and Jack didn't miss the tightening of his jaw.

Soon, Bunny was finished with unwinding the barbed wire, and he threw the matted stuff to his feet and sat the staff aside, leaning it against the wall. Jack watched his gaze as it shifted back to his hand, and saw the pooka's shoulders slump.

Jack flinched his hand away, and retreated into a small ball. Slumped shoulders were not a good thing. Whenever Pitch had slumped his shoulders, it meant that Jack had said or done something wrong and that his master was annoyed with him and that a punishment was soon to follow.

Bunny looked up, and his shocked emerald eyes met Jack's fearful blue ones.

"What's wrong?" Bunny asked, and Jack heard the genuine curiosity in his voice, and that only confused the winter child further. What did he mean 'what's wrong'? He had disappointed him, hadn't he? He was in trouble, wasn't he? But…he looked so concern. He didn't look angry, he just looked worried and confused.

Jack uncurled a bit from his balled position. "You…You aren't upset with me?" He asked, genuinely curious himself.

Bunny physically recoiled form the question, shaking his head as if Jack had spoken in an alien language. "No. Why would I be upset with ya?"

Jack fully uncurled himself and looked down at his lap. His hands rested limply, fresh wounds bleeding freely on his right hand. He did not know what to say. He had no idea how to explain the way he could read body language, and how it was the only warning he had gotten for years while living under his master's charge. What could he say?

Jack's head shot up as Bunny sighed. "Let me just…fix your hand, okay?" The pooka said, extending his hand and waiting for Jack to reach out.

Hesitating only slightly, Jack gave Bunny his hand and he went to work, gently cleaning the fresh and matted blood and applying a foul smelling ointment to the wounds. Jack waited patiently in silence. Bunny worked gently in silence.

Until…

"Do you remember me?" Bunny asked suddenly and with such urgency that Jack's heart skipped a beat. He looked up and met Bunny's eyes. Jack knew what he was referring to.

Clenching his teeth, Jack nodded, unwavering in his gaze. "I don't think I could ever forget."

Bunny's ears drooped and Jack saw the moment when deep sadness, guilt and regret lit his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Jack blinked and furrowed his brows. "…Why?" He asked, not understanding the emotions raking Bunny's form. If he was reading him correctly, it looked as if he would burst into tears at any moment.

Bunny met his gaze, looking deeply into him. The raw emotions shining in his eyes nearly struck Jack breathless "For…for not saving you. I-I failed you. That blizzard was meant to get my attention, wasn't it?"

Jack nodded sadly. He knew it was terrible to reach out to Bunny with a blizzard on his holiday. He knew it had ruined the celebrations in the area, and had, basically, canceled Easter for many children and families. But he had been so scared and desperate that he had thought the troubles to be worth it. It was selfish of course, but it was his last chance. His last hope.

"And I didn't save you." Jack tuned back into the present as Bunny went on. "You…you were calling out for help, but I didn't save you. I'm a Guardian Jack, and Guardian's protect children, and I didn't protect you." Bunny paused, capturing Jack's eye sight. "How long have you been with Pitch?"

Jack dropped his gaze. "At that point," he began, referring to the events of 1968. "I had been with Pitch for about two centuries…now it's more."

Bunny shut his eyes, looking as if he had been physically struck. "That was your last escape attempt, wasn't it?"

Jack looked back up at him, baffled that he had known that. Bunny read the wordless confirmation in Jack's eyes and went on to explain: "Jack, I'm the Guardian of Hope. I can sense hope in people, similar to how Pitch can sense fear. That day, I-I had seen hope within you. At the Tooth Palace…there was nothing. Nothing but contentment."

Jack looked out the window, an odd sense of shame washing over him, as if he had somehow disappointed Bunny.

"I'm sorry."

Jack looked back at the pooka, who again seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Don't be." Jack said, and Bunny looked up as if Jack had cursed at him. "You tried." Jack continued. "You came, and you tried to help. It's not your fault."

"I still wish I had tried harder." Bunny admitted.

"I don't blame you though." Jack said, saying what was simply true. "I wish it had ended differently too, but I don't blame you."

Bunny nodded, and Jack could see that the blatant honesty had struck an appreciative cord within him. Bunny looked back down at Jack's hand, and decided to finish patching it up. He took out some gauze and started wrapping it around Jack's mutilated hand.

"There." He said when had finished. "Feel any better."

But Jack paid no mind to his hand. Instead, he looked up at Bunny, catching and holding his gaze. "I never blamed you, you know…"

Bunny clenched his jaw and Jack could see him swallowing thickly. He could tell these words weighed down heavily on the pooka, and so he felt he really need him to know the simple truth. Jack had never once blamed Bunny for what had happened. His master had been to determined and that was not Bunny's fault.

Bunny took a deep breath, but before he could get out whatever sentence he had prepared, a gentle, but disruptive knocked, cut in before he could speak.

Looking to the door, they could see North, peeking his head in. His eyes were a bit red, Jack noticed. A mark of his mourning.

"The globe lights." North said, his expression grim. "Pitch has tipped the balance."

A/N

Guest Review Response

DH: I'm so glad you have enjoyed reading it, and yes the story will continue to go through the movie, but it will change most of the events to fit the new concept, but the plot will ultimately be the same. :) Thanks for reviewing!

And thank you all for reading! I hope you have enjoyed and feel free to comment or leave questions! I'll see you soon!