4 - The Warren

You sank in your cage, you sighed as the question of how long you'd been there came unbidden to your mind. Something was poking at you to give in to despair, that the Guardians weren't coming; that Jack... NO! Your heart silenced the doubts. You knew better than anyone what Jack was like. He wouldn't just abandon you here. You closed your eyes, as much as you didn't want to sleep your body was starting to give into exhaustion. To try and keep the Nightmares and their king at bay, you cast your mind back to another memory. It was just after Christmas.

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You felt deliriously happy. Just a few days ago you had kissed Jack and he had kissed you back! There was nothing that could mar this happiness that you felt, even when you were cleaning, one of the chores around the house you hated doing - even in your own home - you couldn't help but hum happily along with the tune that blasted over the speakers. Which was kind of strange because the song you were listening to and humming to was "When You're Evil," definately not a song you wanted to be caught singing along to; but that was the scene that Jack arrived to. He was watching you twirl about with a broom, singing into it, at first he had smiled at hearing your voice and watching you dance - unobserved himself, but then he started to catch some of the lyrics themselves and his eyes went wide. As you sang out.
"And it's so easy when you're evil. This is the life, you see. The Devil tips his hat to me. I do it all because I'm evil and I do it all for free. Your tears are all the pay I'll ever ne-" You stopped, your mouth dropping open when you spotted Jack. The broom clattered to the floor as your eyes went wide even as the song played on.
"Um..." Your face went from red to pale as you suddenly realized how this must look. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights and you went over to the stereo, cutting off the song before it could go further.
"Jack... I..." You fumble, how were you to explain this? Singing a song that sounded a lot like you were cheering on Jack's enemy. You couldn't meet his gaze, he floated from the open window to land in front of you, he gently placed his hand beneath your chin and forced you to look at him. You felt surprise at the delighted smirk on his face. What was he...? Before you could open your mouth to ask he pulled you close, his mouth hungrily seeking yours, leaving you dizzy from his kiss.

"Wha- ..." It's all you manage as you reel from the kiss. He waits for you to compose yourself, a smirk on his face now.
"I didn't know you had such a mischievous streak _." You blinked in confusion a moment before you realized what he meant and a smile slowly bloomed on your face.
"You don't know the half of it Jack." The way you said his name made the smirk on his face become a wide grin.
"That's my girl." You felt a shiver of delight zip through you at the words.
"Shall we go make some mischief for a certain cottontail?" He asked, his eyes alight with humor. You grin back.
"Let's." Embolden by his grin, you feel your mischievous side begin to surface and you actually wanted to do this! You knew Jack and Bunnymund didn't get along very well and you knew why too. It wasn't just because of a harmless prank, Bunny could get irritated at that, but it was deeper than that. Jack's rivalry with Bunny had began when Jack had sent snow on Easter some centuries ago when Bunny had rebuffed his efforts to be friends. They were friends now, of course, as Bunny had accepted Jack as a Guardian before Jack had made it official. He'd proved he could be a loyal friend, even if he made mistakes sometimes... and let's face it, you knew he'd royally screwed up before he was officially a Guardian. Still, Jack loved teasing Bunny and the two were always doing something to "get even" at one another, but there was no malice behind the tricks.
"So what do you have planned?" You ask.
"I'm not sure, I was hoping you could help with that actually. I don't want to pull a trick I've done before... something unexpected is needed..." He said, trailing off; thoughtful.
"Well, let's scope the place out first." Jack nodded a little since you had only met the Guardians once, and not talked with them long enough to get to know them with the exception of Sandy who at least stayed in one place long enough for a decent conversation and Jack had always been happy to help you track down the little Guardian during the night. Sandy had welcomed you both with open arms each time.

So much so that you'd begun to think of Sandy as an older, if shorter, brother to you. He acted it too at times. You'd gotten the dream catcher back from Jack, but sadly there had been nothing special about it and Jack had tried it out, trying to capture a Nightmare he'd spotted, but it hadn't worked in terms of keeping them out, but he'd seemed a little giddy to find out that the Nightmares DID get caught up in them and Jack had dumped them out of a child's bedroom and down into a pile of snow. The Nightmares had NOT been happy about that. It wasn't completely useless, so then the question of why you'd not had Nightmares since you were nine wasn't completely the dream catcher's abilities, though it helped. You actually thought about telling them about the Nightmare you'd had after Jack had left, but you kept forgetting. Jack kept distracting you. Now he'd drawn you into another distraction. The two of you kept to the shadows so not to alert the Pooka that you were there once you reached the Warren. Your eyes got wide as you took in all the colorful sights, it was spring everywhere you looked and you saw the rabbit hand painting an egg at the far end while eggs popped from tulip-like flowers and grew little legs only to get themselves doused with color from more flowers, which you thought might be blue bells but you weren't sure. You really only knew about a handful of flower types. You then saw that there was a colorful river where when the eggs emerged they were multicolored. An idea began to form in your mind and you quietly whispered it to Jack, least the Pooka's sensitive hearing picked it up.

Jack's grin became wider as he heard what you'd come up with. Implementing it though wasn't going to be easy for you. Jack, however, knew just how to get the rabbit in the right spot and motioned for you to hide behind the rock near the colorful river. He soared over to where the Pooka was.
"Hey rabbit!" Bunny straightened immediately, narrowing his eyes at Jack.
"What do ya want mate? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Oh of course, just that I noticed an egg looked a little... Christmasy." This got the Pooka's attention.
"You aren't yankin' my leg are you frostbite?"
"See for yourself." Jack pointed to an egg that was making its way towards him. As planned, you'd captured an egg and painted it red with a Christmas tree on it, using nearby ink you found sitting in pools. Bunny had, conveniently, left brushes for you to use. Bunny's eyes widened as he set down the egg he was working on and lifted the offending egg.
"Crickey! What is going on?!" Without more prompting, the Pooka raced towards the river at top speed, deftly twisting and turning so that he didn't harm a single egg that was walking along the path towards the tunnels. The Pooka let out a few choice words as another egg showed up with snowflakes all over it. Bunny looked up accusingly at Jack, but he realized that the trickster couldn't be responsible for this; a trickster he might be, but Jack couldn't be in two places at once.

Bunny stopped, seeing yet another egg that looked like it was wrapped up like a Christmas gift. Jack did his best to cover his mouth to keep the laughter from escaping lest the unhappy Pooka pick up on it. He needlessly muffled a sound that didn't emerge as he flew back to the river, another egg that was coming from it looked like an elf. Jack laughed at that, he couldn't help it. You grinned from behind your hiding spot.
"Blimey mate... this is ..." As he looked at Jack, who was floating above the bank on the other side of the multicolored river, you moved quickly before the rabbit would notice your scent and you shoved against him roughly, the Pooka was caught off guard and let out a yelp as he tumbled into the river. Standing up, seeing as how it barely came to his midsection, the now-multicolored Pooka was fuming when he saw you and Jack, both on the banks rolling in laughter.
"Crickey, I shoulda known! You just had to involve the sheila in this didn't ya mate?"
"Involve me? It was my idea!" You protest through your laughter. Bunny gave you a funny look before looking to Jack who nodded.
"Yup, she thought it up. I just was along for the ride, and what a ride it was." Bunny shook his fist at both of you, Jack grabbed you and soared up out of reach as the unhappy Pooka emerged, shaking color everywhere.
"When I get my paws on you mates..." He grumbled, but he was no worse for the wear and the two of you flew off, your laughter ringing in the Warren.