Almighty Therianthropy
Chapter 9
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"Jack, get out of here." Bunnymund bared his claws.
"Bunny… are you seriously thinking about fighting this guy yourself?" Jack asked, keeping his eyes on Betzalel's nine-foot-tall werewolf form. The Pooka looked back at him, silently telling him that it'll be alright. "You don't even have your weapons."
"That's right, rabbit." Betzalel growled. "I threw your guns away. But I'll gladly let you have your bandolier… if you can live long enough to find it." He leaped towards the rabbit as the rabbit made two tunnels in the ground, one for Jack to get out of here safety and one to take him down to the next floor of the church. Unfortunately, the werewolf had jumped through his hole and was now viciously trying to cut him down. He saw that this was the dungeon he was being kept in before. Bunnymund kept dodging Betzalel as he ran down the hall, trying to sniff out his own scent on the bandolier.
Over there! He thought, bursting through a door and finding his strap hanging on the wall. Hopefully they didn't check inside it. He grabbed it, but not before Betzalel pounced on him from behind.
"Oh good, you found it."
"You weren't exactly hiding it, mate."
"I forgot about your tunnels."
"You forgot about this one, too." Bunny tapped his foot on the floor and the two went through the tunnel, returning to the top floor of the church. They stood and stared each other down, Bunny putting on his bandolier and taking out his boomerangs. "Let's go."
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Meanwhile, Jack had gone through the tunnel and simply came up outside the church about ten yards away. He looked at his left shoulder and made a grossed-out noise; it was pretty torn up and still bleeding. His sweatshirt was all ripped up, too, so he just took it off and ripped off the sleeve, tying it around his shoulder to make a bandage/tourniquet. He looked around and found the others; they were still fighting. He flew over to July, the two back to back, ready for incoming were-beasts.
"Hey, you're alive! And shirtless!" July handed Jack his gun. "Is Bunny…?"
"He's back to normal." Jack explained. "But now he's fighting Betzalel. We need to help him!"
"Did he ask for help?"
"No, but…"
"Then he doesn't need it." July had a smile in her voice. "He's got it this time."
"… Fine." Jack whined, really wanting to help him but knowing full well that he could handle himself.
"Besides, we're still busy out here, if you haven't noticed. So start shootin'!"
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Bunny's boomerangs weren't very much help, as it turned out. Betzalel kept dodging them before trying to strike him. Bunny put the rangs away and tried using his martial arts skills instead. Betzalel had skills of his own, and the two sparred for a while before the Pooka found an opening, ducking under the werewolf's arm and jumping onto his hairy back.
Now, now…! Bunnymund thought this would be a good time to carry out his plan, but he needed to hurry. He had a magazine of bullets in the pouch of his bandolier, and what he was going to do was make him swallow the bullets. But he couldn't reach the pouch in time and the werewolf grabbed Bunny by the scruff of his neck and threw him across the room and into a wall. Damn… He groaned in pain.
"Maybe if you kept the glorious form I gave you, you could have a chance of winning." Betzalel said. "But now… you are just prey." Bunny didn't respond. He knew that prey were always born with features to help them escape from predators, like brains for example. He eyed the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the giant crucifix propped up behind the priest's chair.
That looks like a good way to get up there. Bunny smirked, throwing egg bombs towards the werewolf. He dodged them, but it didn't matter, as long as he was out of the Pooka's way. Bunny started climbing up the crucifix, leaving scratches and dirt marks along the way. "'Scuse me, mate, mind if I use your arms for a sec?" He mockingly asked the statue of Jesus.
"How DARE you?!" Betzalel looked in horror. "You are going to HELL when I kill you!"
"There were so many things wrong with that sentence." Bunny said, jumping from the crucifix onto the first chandelier. Betzalel roared and leaped across the room, able to grab onto the chandelier the Pooka was on. He jumped to the next one and the werewolf followed. Bunny expected that and went to the next one, climbing up the chain. Betzalel followed, and the rabbit smirked, cutting the chain with his sharp rang. He hung on the remaining chain while he watched the stupid wolf fall to the ground, the chandelier landing on top of him. Bunny threw an egg grenade down there for good measure before landing on the ground himself, quickly getting the magazine out of his pouch and removing the copper shells. Bunny held on tight to the three silver bullets he managed to get.
"You infidel!" Betzalel recovered quicker than the rabbit thought, pushing the fixture off and pouncing on him. "Don't you know what Easter truly is about? It's about Jesus dying for our sins! It's a time when we must all reflect and repent; a tradition that has been around much longer than your ridiculous rituals!"
"At least my rituals make the holiday brighter." That earned Bunny a punch across the face and a choked neck with very strong paws.
"My Lord has spoken to me." Betzalel whispered. "And now you will listen! You will burn in hell for your sins against Go-!" He was cut off by a furry paw being shoved far down his throat. He felt a horrible burning go down his esophagus and into his stomach… No… He thought. S-Silver…
"I'm afraid it was the Devil who spoke with you, mate." Bunny grunted, getting air back in his lungs. Betzalel wanted to bite down on the Pooka's arm, but his jaw was locked in shock. Even if he did bite down, the gauntlets would have prevented any damage. Bunny felt the werewolf's body convulse from the inside out, slowly dying from the reaction to the silver. He pulled his paw out of its mouth, getting out from under the dying wolf.
"My-My Lord…" Betzalel coughed. "I'm… coming to see you… I-I hope I… didn't fail… you…" He finally stopped talking and died. Bunny let out a sigh of relief, then looked at his saliva-covered arm and gagged, looking for something to wipe it off with.
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Bunnymund came out of the church, finding his friends still battling were-creatures. However, some of them looked confused, as if they didn't know where they were or what they were doing.
"What's wrong with you?" A werewolf still fighting said. "Kill the Guardians!"
"Wha… What? What's happening?" The confused were-beasts all said similar things to that. Everyone slowly stopped fighting when they realized something was different.
"Your great Leader is gone." Bunny told everyone. "And so is the mind control."
"Mind control?" July thought for a moment. "That explains a few things."
"N-No, Lord Betzalel… is dead?" A were-boar said.
"He didn't need to control all of them." North said.
"You lie!" Another werewolf hissed. "No one can kill our…"
"I just did, mate." Bunny smirked. "The body's in there, if ya wanna check." That set the loyal were-creatures off and they charged toward the Pooka. That just made them easier to tell them apart from the others, and the Guardians shot them all before they could even get close to Bunnymund. The remaining were-creatures became scared, of the gun-slinging Guardians and of themselves.
"Whoa, hey, calm down! We won't hurt you anymore!" Tooth coaxed, dropping her weapon and encouraging the others to do the same. North, Sandy and her went and tried to speak with them. July's phone rang with that Mexican ringtone.
"Hello?" She answered. "… Yeah, the same thing happened to us… really?... okay, so you're good over there?... any word on China?... okay, I'll call him. Bye." She hung up. "Okay, so Maya and the others are dealing with the same shit we are right now, only at a grander scale. I'm calling Radik right now to see if the same thing happened to him in China." She dialed his number.
"So, I guess we need to take these guys home." Jack said.
"And probably to a mental hospital." Bunny said. "Ah well, the worst part is over. No worries."
"None at all." Jack smiled at him.
"Alright." July interrupted them. "My cousins got it covered in Asia. We can clean up here." She picked up a dead werewolf at her feet and flung it over her shoulder. "I'll take care of the bodies."
"How?" The teen had to ask.
"Gonna put them in there…" She pointed to the church. "And burn it all to the ground."
"Sounds like you're gonna enjoy it." Bunny looked at her suspiciously.
"Hey, I enjoy a good victory over the bad guy, like any average American. Right, Jack?"
"Uh, right." Jack said.
"And after a victory come the spoils." She winked at Jack before going to pick up another body. Jack blushed, knowing what she meant. "And we are gonna party after this. I'll provide the entertainment!" She started mumbling a Bon Jovi song as she went to the church. Now Bunny and Jack were left there with each other. Bunny stared at the boy's shoulder; even with the sleeve tied around it, it didn't cover the whole wound.
"We gotta get that fixed up, mate." Bunny sighed, hating himself for what he did.
"It'll be fine for now." The winter spirit smiled. "Let's take care of these guys, first."
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It took a while to get all the were-creatures home and relaxed. Finally, the Guardians, July and her cousins were all at the North Pole getting their injuries patched up. Bunnymund only had a few bruises and cuts, so he took it among himself to bandage Jack. The two just happened to be alone in a spare bedroom since the infirmary was all filled up, and the teen was sitting on the bed – shirtless – waiting for treatment.
"You don't have to do this." Jack watched the rabbit unravel the bandages.
"It's the least I can do." Bunny insisted. "I hurt you pretty bad, Jack. A human would have bled to death."
"Then it's a good thing I'm not." The winter spirit looked at his shoulder; it looked better than it did earlier, but it still looked really bad. It was going to take a while to heal.
"I'm truly so…"
"It's alright, Bunny, you didn't mean it." Jack interrupted. "If you did mean it, then trust me, I'd have a problem." Bunny snickered, picking up a wet towel and going over to the boy and gently cleaning the blood off his left shoulder. "This is kinda familiar, huh?"
"Yeah. Guess we're even, eh mate?" The Pooka whispered. He was so close to the beautiful kid right now, and no, he hadn't forgotten that they almost kissed after Jack turned him back to normal, but he couldn't bring it up. All he was doing right now was trying to avoid dwelling on the wound so much and try to focus on something else, like how the boy craned his elegant neck to the side as he cleaned the bite, or how flawless and white like snow his skin was, or how in-shape he was, but kind of in a feminine way, especially the curve of his hips… oh right, the scratches in his sides. He needed to clean those, too. He reached down to Jack's left side and started cleaning the scratch. Jack needed to move his arm, so he put it around Bunny's shoulder.
When the boy did that, Bunny couldn't quite see what he was doing, so he moved his head next to Jack's so he could see over the wounded shoulder. Bunny inhaled, taking in the teen's minty-vanilla scent, but could still smell the dried blood from the healing wound. The more animal-like side of his brain remembered how when someone in his tribe was injured, they would lick the wound to disinfect and hope that the wound would get better… without thinking much, he gently licked the shoulder wound with his rough tongue.
"Ah…! Wha…?" Jack felt all the blood leave his head and gripped the rabbit's fur, not being able to believe what he just felt right now. He was even more surprised when he felt it again. Holy shit! What's he doing?! I mean I know what he's doing, but why's he doing it? Jack felt Bunny stiffen; he must've realized what he was doing. No, don't stop…
"Aw crikey, I'm sorry, I…" Bunnymund fumbled for words as he pulled away, his ears down in utter embarrassment. "I just… it's a thing…" He was silenced by lips on his own and cool arms around his neck. Jack was kissing him.
The winter spirit kissed the rabbit, shyly but still with passion. He got a little worried when Bunny stayed frozen like that, so he pulled away slowly, hoping that it was just surprise and not disgust. Almost as soon as Jack pulled away did Bunny put his lips back on his, wrapping his strong arms around the boy's back, carefully so as not to touch the scratches. Bunny's actually kissing me. Jack thought, smiling into the kiss. It was perfect; so gentle but really hot and melting. The rabbit's whiskers tickled his cheeks as he tilted his head to get a better angle, the kiss becoming deeper. They could only sense each other at this moment; everything else around them was gone. They pulled away, both breathless and giddy, staring into each other's eyes. "Jack…"
"Bunny, I need to tell you something." The teen needed to snap out of his daze and just say it already. "I love you. I have for a long time." He grinned awkwardly. "I wanted to tell you a few days ago, but then the war happened…"
"Strewth, I wasn't quite sure, so I didn't want to get my hopes up." Bunny was kind of talking to himself there, so Jack was a little confused. "I love you too, ya little whacker."
"Wh-What? Really?" The winter spirit was honestly surprised. From the kiss, he could simply assume that the rabbit just LIKED him now, but wasn't expecting the word LOVE. "And you… knew?"
"Like I said, not quite. I just kind of… smelled it on you." Bunny grinned. "Guess you couldn't smell it on me."
"N-No, I… I thought you liked July!"
"WHAT?" The Pooka snorted. "No! No way, mate! We're just good friends! I thought that you were startin' to like her!"
"What?" Jack also exclaimed. "As a friend, yeah, but not… no!" The two looked at each other for a second before bursting out into laughter. "Oh, man, now that that's over with…" He kissed Bunny again, a quicker but still hot kiss. "Hey, you need to finish cleaning my wounds." He said suggestively.
"Right." The rabbit smirked before slowly and gently pressing his tongue against the bite. Jack keened quietly, burying his face in his long cheek fur. Bunny licked every inch of the wound, twice for good measure. He stood up and saw that Jack had a lazy smile on his face.
"And what about these?" The eternal teen shifted a little so he could show Bunny the scratches. He could tell that the rabbit was blushing.
"You're a naughty little bugger, you know that?" The Pooka was still willing to do that anyway. He had the boy turn around and sit Indian style on the side of the bed. He got on his knees and leaned in, cleaning the wounds with his tongue. They were both equally embarrassed by this situation, so Bunnymund did it quickly but efficiently. "Alright, that's enough of that for now." He stood up and grabbed the bandages. Jack whined. "We need to wrap you up. They're worried about you, you know. They might come barging in."
"Hmph, alright." The boy pouted cutely. "Hey, Bunny…"
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
"No worries, Frostbite."
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"Hey, you guys!" July, who was all wrapped up in bandages herself, came up to North, Sandy, and Tooth. Revere was right behind her. "I didn't really get to say 'hi' to you because we were busy. So… hi!" She laughed, hugging each one of them. "C'mere, ya little golden pimp." She held Sandy like a teddy bear. He giggled silently.
"Is good to see you, July!" North said smiling.
"It is!" Tooth agreed. "Let's just try to meet in a not-so-serious situation next time."
"Yeah." July nodded. "So, how's Jack and Bunny, huh?"
"They're fine. Bunny's giving Jack first aid." Explained North. "They're in that room over there."
"Wait… they're… in a room… alone, together?" July's voice got higher as she talked. "Really?" She started snickering, her face turning red.
"Uh… is that a problem?" Tooth asked.
"Huh? No! No it's not, in fact it's perfect!" She said nervously. "Maybe something good will happen." The Guardians looked at her quizzically. She put Sandy down and started walking away. "Oh, anyway, let's set up this party! Where's my stage and the lights, and my band… hey Phil! You ready to play bass for me, buddy? Awesome." She kept smiling to herself, having a fangirl moment. North, Sandy and Tooth stared at each other.
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A/N: Hey guys! Here's another chapter! The war's over but the story isn't! I still got one or two chapters left, and there WILL be a lemon, promise! I hardly ever write a story without one!
Taru-chan