Rise of the Guardians

Lucky Rabbit

Chapter Fourteen: Lucky Reveals

Jack was silent as the night was ending. He'd been trying to sleep but his dreams were full of hauntings of trolls and people screaming. He wondered just how the Hell he started having such dreams when he never had anything to do with the trolls.

But he'd been watching for months now and he finally found the small tribe. Not the entrance to their own world but what appeared to be the main leader in the trolls around the world. He called himself Trow and was the biggest one in the group of five that he was a part of. Another was Hedge, that Faustine had met previously.

Jack wasn't too sure if there were any females in the group. They all looked like monsters to him. Trow's companion and Jack's impression of being his mate, was called Strife and dressed in more clothes than the others, was thought to be female. The last two seemed to be twins, they looked exactly the same. One was named Doom and the other was named Fear.

"For a group that's never interacted with humanity, they have human words," Jack muttered, confused. "They must've had some way to watch us but why?"

North had been adamant that the trolls lived in a world that was perfect for them, with enough lands and food to sustain them for as long as they lived.

"If he's so sure of it, then why are they wandering? Trying to eat people? What's driven them out?"

Jack's eavesdropping hadn't revealed anything but plans for destruction and pain. He could only think of one solution to find out some answers.

The five were gathered in a dark and damp forest, surrounding a blindingly bright fire as several pigs were roasting.

Jack landed just behind Hedge, resting on a branch just out of their reach.

"Hey there."

Trow stirred slowly and moved upward from his sitting position, in no great hurry. "Who this?" He barked at Hedge whose shoulders hunched in fear.

"I not know!" Hedge wheezed.

"He pretty. I want!" Strife begged. Trow swatted at her angrily as she growled right back at him. "I want! I want!"

"No! You mine!" Trow stomped past the fire for a few steps. "What you?"

"I'm Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun."

Trow's eyes narrowed. "Gu..ardi…an? You are protectors. Trouble for us!"

"No, you're trouble. What's the deal? You're supposed to be in your habitat!"

"Not any more." Doom and Fear slammed their hands together with glee. "We eat humans!"

Trow hissed violently at them, as they all cowered from him. Trow eyed Jack. "Frost, what you want?"

"I'd like you to leave."

"Big wish but no. We stay. Humans worthless now, no need to keep around. We eat, consume all and take world back."

"Really? Conquering?" Jack was stymied. "That's just asinine."

Trow growled. "You big words, Frost. We cut you down with all others. We ruled before Guardians. We feasted in the Plague, the dead. Now we want live."

"You can't do that! That's not how it's done," Jack balanced himself on his heels, preparing to jump. He had feeling that Trow was reaching the tethers of his patience. "Your world is supposed to be perfect! What's wrong with it that you left?"

"We Rogues," Hedge blurted. "We no ties!"

"Hedge!" Trow hefted a stone and threw it between the eyes. "Take him down!"

"I sorry! I sorry!" Hedge screamed as Doom and Fear dragged him away.

Trow turned and found Jack gone.

Strife opened her mouth. "I want, Trow! I eat him?"

"To eat or to be?" Trow stared coldly. "You mine. I own. He nothing but fodder."

Strife lowered her gaze in submission. "I sorry."

"Hedge fool. He punished."

Jack had fled the moment the rage in Trow's eyes had sparked. He knew how to push and how to run when he had to. Now he had a few answers that might be helpful.

"I want to go out and hunt!" Jack came into the Warren to hear Faustine shouting. "E! I don't want to remain here! I need to go do my job!"

"But you can work luck from here, with the children and me.."

"The world needs luck and even if it's missing one of us, there's a place out there facing nothing but despair and pain. I am going and you cannot tell me no!"

Jack finally came into view to see both of their foreheads against each other, both of them determined to win the argument.

Jack's gaze dropped to the children who were all watching with big eyes.

"Ummm… guys? Your kids are getting upset." Jack pointed out.

"What?" Faustine perked up ."Oh, my little dears, it's all right. Mommy and Daddy are just having a.. loud conversation."

"It was an argument," Bunny corrected. "Don't sugar coat it for them! They need to know that it's perfectly healthy to have an argument."

"Just like it's healthy for you to lock me up?" Faustine hissed. "You won't even let me go to my Cat Haven!"

"Just.. Wait until the children are older.."

"They are older! It's time to introduce them to the world we protect. They need to start using their gifts of luck too. How else are we to make this a better place when we can't even leave!"

The two were back at glaring at each other, both of them tense.

The wail startled them as Hop began to cry out loud. Thump followed by Princessa where even the boys howled in tears.

Both of the parents went crazy, trying to comfort the children.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Parents." He then turned wistful at a memory that ran through his mind. He made a note to go visit Jaime and his friends. To be sure that they were all right as well as to find some fun to be had.

However, Bunny and Faustine broke apart, all but one child following their mother. Hitch tugged on an arm.

"Daddy. I wanna see the world."

"Not yet, Hitch."

"But Mama's getting anxious. She's feral."

"Feral?"

Hitch chewed his lip. "Luck stalls and she gets anxious. Feral, angry. You don't want her angry."

"I've seen her angry."

"Not full of power," Hitch tugged harder. "Power needs to be shared."

"Don't worry about it, Hitch. Power is shared," Bunny gently pushed him forward to where the rest were going to.

Hitch rolled his eyes. "That's not the only way to share power," He said pointedly as Bunny turned red when he realized his son knew what he meant when talking about sharing power, which was for him to be with Faustine physically. He forced a smile.

"Go on, Hitch."

Hitch mooned him as he stalked off, showing one of his mother's moves to frazzle Bunny.

"Cocky, isn't he?"

"What do you want, Jack?" Bunny said tiredly.

"You really shouldn't be so protective. I've never seen you like this. You're usually intense, yea, but this is just bizarre for you."

"I'm not having this conversation with you," Bunny stalked away only to come back angrily. "I can't let them out! They have to stay here!"

"Why?" Jack balanced on his staff, seemingly not paying attention. He was trying to be as unobtrusive to allow Bunny the feeling and freedom of speech.

"You wouldn't understand."

Bunny walked past him, running his hand through his ears. Jack eyed him and followed with a slight jump.

"So explain it to me. Or explain it to Faustine before she tries to kill you."

"She wouldn't do that."

"She'd deny you attention."

Bunny glared. "She already is!"

"Poor Bunny." Jack rolled his eyes as he twirled the staff. "Soooo?"

"I once had a very large family. With a mate, many children, many sisters and brothers. And in one night, they were taken from me. When I was just starting out as a Guardian. It nearly destroyed me. If it hadn't been for my mate telling me to go on and live, I would not be here. I can't bear the thought of losing everything all over again."

"I think I could understand. I mean, there are times when I miss my family, now that I have my memories. But I am happy that my sister was safe, my family continued to live and go on without me too."

Jack pointed the staff, tapping Bunny's shoulders. "You're not a novice anymore. And your new mate isn't stupid. She's silly, funny, even childish at times, but she's not stupid. Cats are cunning, swift, and fierce. Kind of like how you are. Though she's not full of herself."

Bunny glared at him pointedly.

"Just the truth, man."

Jack scratched his chin. "And your mate has luck on her side. Do you know what that means? She can turn the tides of any fights or battles or dangers to help us! She can protect us, protect you. If you weren't so insistent that you can do everything and she can't, I think you'd both come to a conclusion with this stupid argument."

Jack snorted. "You have changed. You're obsessed with keeping all of them safe but sooner or later, and it's probably going to be sooner, someone's going to snap and she might leave you."

Bunny swiveled on his heel. "Don't you dare suggest that."

"You can't keep her here. And you can't just stay here. I found out a bit about the trolls."

"You did?"

"Yes, I've been eavesdropping and I found the group that seems to be directing the rogue trolls."

"That's great! We can go and kick their butts!"

"They're ten times your size! I think we need to find a better plan than kicking butt."

"I beg to differ, mate. I know I can do it."

"DADDYYYY!" Bunny's ears turned backwards as he tore toward his children. Princessa was crying loudly. "Axel pinched me!"

"I did not! She stomped my foot!" Axel protested.

"I did not! You started it!"

"No fighting! You need to get along… where's your mother?"

"She said she had a job to do and she'd be back tonight."

"FAUSTINE!"

He ran hard toward a rabbit hole.

Jack sighed tiredly. "So I guess I get to baby sit."

He fell to his side as his staff was kicked out by Hop. He was overcome by the hard pitter patter of feet all over his body as he tried to get up and away from the hoard.

"Stop walking all over me!"

"Faustine! Faustine!"

Faustine had landed in her hometown of Pleasant Hill and was quietly working. She had found an elderly lady struggling to get across the street and gently directed a kind teenaged boy to help her to do so.

"Such a good boy," She waved at them despite knowing that they couldn't see her. She was walking down Contra Costa Boulevard with a leisurely step. It was a busy street full of various stores such as Rite Aid and Safeway. She even thought of popping into the movie theater to help a couple get lucky, at least for a kiss.

She walked for a while before finding the small park where she'd met Bunny. Just past the town hall, it was a wide landscape of grass. It was quiet as summer was nearly gone and children were starting school.

She sat in the grass, enjoying the wind. The scent of autumn was strong in the wind as she laid back, stretching out with a yawn.

She felt it, a tingling in her bell as she watched the blue skies. "What else can I do to bring luck?"

Her vision was blocked by a glaring Bunny.

"Crap. I knew I should've kept moving around."

"I told you not to leave!"

"And I told you I had a job to do." Faustine got up and then stretched her spine, claws dug into the ground. "I'm rusty too so if you don't mind.."

"Please, Faustine. Just.. Stay."

"I can't! None of us can't. Even you have to leave the Warren eventually and it's not fair that you can and I can't."

"I can protect myself!"

"And I'm not incapable of doing such." Faustine pointed to herself. "I've been taking care of myself for a long time. Ever since we mated, you've been soo… afraid. It's not anything I've ever seen of you and I don't know why this is.."

"I've lost everything before, Kit. I wasn't strong enough, fast enough. It was crippling for me and hope dimmed dangerously. I can't face that again."

"But you won't!" She stamped her foot in frustration. "It's not like that anymore! There's no Plague, there's no threat, all that there is is what's around us." She waved an arm to show the park off. "With humans and animals, everything's safer now and it's because it's changed as well as that there are Guardians. As long as we have you and the others, we're all safe."

"And I won't be chained up like a lioness! I need to be free! You don't want me grumpy all the time, do you?"

She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Of course you don't! And I want our children to be well-rounded. They have to see the good and bad in the world and learn their morals and how to do wondrous things with their luck."

They stared at each other.

"I love you, E. And I trust you. I would only hope that you would trust me," She patted his chest with a paw lightly. "After all, I won you over, didn't I?"

"And I suspect you think you'll win this argument?"

"I haven't lost one yet."

"That's because I can't sleep without you by my side!"

She giggled as she nuzzled against him. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then you have to trust that we'll be safe. For the kids, I'll take only one out at a time. It's how my mother did with her last litter."

"And I get the rest of them."

"As long as they stay in the Warren, they don't need a baby sitter."

"They four."

"Five."

He glared at her.

"I guess that is kind of young to be alone. I was alone…oh, wait, no, I wasn't. I was with my Uncle Stephan… who kind of didn't watch me all that well. I remember a lot of escapades."

"There's something else that's bothering me."

"Is it because we haven't had any private time lately because of your arguing?"

"No, " Bunny said dryly. "It's something that I don't know what it is. All I know is it's a terror that haunts my dreams. I relive everything from the last time I had my family, watching them die all over.." His voice trailed off as his eyes grew misty and pained. He was caught in the past again as Faustine held his face to get his attention. "Sorry."

"I'm sorry too. I hope someday I'll be able to heal that part of you," She added softly. "It's something I want to ask about but.. I don't want to get jealous… or feel inadequate.." She trailed off, hands dropping down. "I mean, I'm not like you."

"You're perfect for me."

"Really?"

"Aside from the arguments, the mooning, the hissy fits, and the feline traits, sure!"

She glared at him as he grinned at her.

"E. You're afraid of losing me."

He stilled.

"It's not the same as letting us out, either. I think… you're afraid something will happen and I'll die."

His eyes widened. "That's.. it! That's it! You're not like me in that aspect. Our children are because they have my blood… but you're the only one who isn't immortal. You age very slowly, yes, but there's be a time when you're old and feeble and so close to being away from me…"

"I'm sure things will work out for the better."

"How did Hitch know what I was feeling?" Bunny asked out loud.

"How does Hitch know anything?" Faustine crossed her arms. "I can't wait for him to be taught by Great Uncle Ai."

"I thought you didn't want him to be with him?"

"I changed my mind. I don't know what to do with Hitch and his specialty. He's already discovered his talents and so young too! I had to be around eight, nine?"

"And what is your specialty?"

She opened her mouth and closed it. "Nuts. I haven't yet pinpointed the exact thing that I bring strong luck in. Something about love, I think. I've had great success with it! And you're one of my success stories!"

He rolled his eyes as he pulled her to walk with him. "Come home."

"I have to work."

It was hard for him as he fought his feelings. "All right. I trust you."

"Yea!" She threw up her hands and danced around him as he snickered.

"Who's watching the kids?"

"Oh, I'm sure Jack stuck around."

The Guardian of Fun was glowering as he was used as a Maypole. "This is embarrassing. How is this fun for me?"

"You're the center of attention! I thought you liked that," Axel responded. "All right! Fun's over! Tie him up!"

"WHAT?!"

"Yea!" Came the collective cry as Jack was yet again ambushed.