Secretly Pooka Chapter 3: The Sun's Demise, a rise of the guardians fanfic

Secretly Pooka

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians

Author's notes: Thank you Cat Girl 1995 for reminding me to explain why Rhododendron Thistle Frostfall is called Jack.

The meeting between Jack and Aster is going to be a while in the future. The beginning seems to be growing slowly. The 'action' is slow to come it seems.

And underlining Pookan words was beginning to irritate me so I bolded the words instead.

Chapter 3: The Sun's Demise

The jump out of the atmosphere of the soon to be destroyed unnamed planet was more than rough, but Jack found it thrillingly relieving. Aloe did not. Finding it hard to calm his brother from the drivers, seat, Jack put the escape-ship into auto pilot as soon as he could, springing out of his seat to comfort his brother, "Shh, Aloe it's okay. Just a little bumpy ride, that's all. See, everything's smooth up here." Jack cooed as he rubbed circles on Aloe's back. Hearing his caretaker's pumping heart did a lot to soothe Aloe's ruffled nerves.

In the first couple of weeks Jack wouldn't have known what to do to calm Aloe down, but he quickly picked up some tricks that did the job. (It also helped that there was a "Guide to Kits" in the library, more specifically in the mechanic section, which was odd to Jack's mind. Kit's weren't built like engines or machines... were they? But then how did they get in their mother's stomach? Anyway it wasn't an important question to Jack, quickly forgetting his previous queries as he read the section for more tricks to either calm kits down or put them to sleep faster).

While the stardust fuel made the escape-ship fly super fast, fast to the point where their journey to the new planet would only take months instead of years and years, that was still months stuck in a tiny tuna can. It was a foregone conclusion that Jack would get bored, let alone Aloe. So Jack came up with games and stories when Aloe looked like he was going to fuss over the limited space to run around in.

"Hey, hey don't cry... I've got a story from mom about our names." As Aloe peered inquisitively up at Jack, Jack gently rocked the younger kit, "So...

"It was a tradition in Jack's mother's maiden clan to give their child a dual flower based name with meaning from the impressions they received. The first name was from feelings before the child was even 'made' and the second name was from the emotional impressions while the kit was in the womb. From the plentiful options available, Jack's mother picked his name to be Rhododendron for forewarning feelings of caution, beware and Thistle for the impressions of pain, protection and pride.

In a planet a few solar systems away from Gallifrey, there was a planet known as Schtroumpf. On that planet there lived different species and one of those species was known as Jackalopes. Almost immediately after watching the antlered rabbits for the first time, Rhododendron Thistle Frostfall went around to each of his family members and insisted his name was now Jack. He went as far as to debate with the elders that Jack was easier to say than Rhododendron each time they wanted his attention. The nickname stuck."

Aloe brightened as Jack revealed a rediscovered stuffed toy. It was a well-loved jackalope. Aloe stretched out his arms for the plushy animal. Jack smiled and continued the story as Aloe babbled happily.

"Already knowing what Jack's mother wanted to name his next sibling (if the baby was male) due to the earlier explained tradition, Rhododendron named the stuffed toy Jack-Aloe, vowing to share his beloved toy with his future baby brother. But it was still Jack's first, Rhododendron explained seriously to his amused mother.

But then the Fearling War started and Aloe was the only baby born in the clan after the war started.

You were named Aloe Pine for the symbolic meanings of first: healing, protection, grief, bitterness, and affection. For your second name, pine was equated to creativity, life, and longevity. You were the clan's hope to survive the war based on mom's impressions. Long life is hard to have when you're no longer alive.

...And I guess that's the end because you are asleep." Placing the toy in Aloe's lax arms, Jack choked as he realized the Jackalopes were in all likelihood now gone and wiped out. After all, they weren't as advanced as the Pooka, mainly remaining on their home world. That home world was no longer intact.

Now that Aloe was asleep, Jack brooded on the fact that the other Pooka had yet to show up on the scanner again. Jack had set up the computer in the cockpit to automatically scan Earth for a Pookan signature once every earth day. (Since the scanners were specifically targeting Earth for information anyway and not the rest of the universe, the search results came back quicker than they had before- about once an Earth day.) Was the possibility of the other Pooka real? If he/ she was real, how were Jack and Aloe going to find him or her? What if he or she didn't want Jack or Aloe? And why weren't the scanner's finding him or her? Jack paced, fretting anxiety into the floor boards. Or ceiling boards, it didn't matter.

Several weeks of 'days', periods of waking and sleeping, later, Jack hit the record button as he watched the destruction behind him with wide eyes. The unnamed planet's sun had finally exploded. Already massive before it even began to devour the closest planets, it had expanded slowly before gaining speed. Then, as Jack watched, Aloe playing with Jack-Aloe, it must have run out of fuel. The sun's core collapsed, setting off a series of nuclear reactions that created an enormous, incandescent, superheated shock wave that pretty much destroyed that galaxy in a blink of time. Jack swallowed, aware that had he been in anything other than his star-powered Pookan spacecraft, the brothers would have become part of the light show. Even at this distance Jack and Aloe would have been blinded by the supernova's brilliance, had not the escape-ship been built by the Pooka. Pookan inventions were automatically built to withstand exceedingly bright lights, as their greatest weapons were made of the raw 'Light' of the Universe.

Subdued by awe, Jack passed the time in between distractions for Aloe watching it, eventually realizing that he was attending the creation of a neutron star.

"Ak-Ao." Jack stirred slowly awake as Aloe nudged him, sounds added, "Ak-Ao,"

Wait a minute, Jack blinked his blue eyes open, "What was that?"

"Ak-Ao!" Aloe shook the ragged Jackalope toy, unintentionally battering it into Jack's face.

Jack gaped, "You can talk!" he blurted in amazement, excitement growing. While Aloe wouldn't be an understandable conversationalist for a while yet, at least it wouldn't seem like Jack was only talking to himself a lot. "You're first word!" Jack cheered, laughing as he picked Aloe up and whirled him around. Before Aloe could become scared, Jack settled down with Aloe in his lap. Tasting the words on his tongue, Jack memorized the sounds, repeating Aloe's first word, "Ak-Ao. Ak-Ao... what does that mean?" Jack was whacked with the stuffed toy again, "Oh! It's Jack-Aloe. Awesome, little brother! Can you say it again?" Jack was thrilled when Aloe babbled the word repeatedly.

The next several 'days' when they weren't eating or sleeping, Jack emphasized activities with picture books and word practice. Jack's face would beam in pride and delight as Aloe's vocabulary expanded word by word.

Within a small thimble of a spaceship, Jack moaned as Aloe once again jostled him awake. "Ack! Ack! Hungey!"

"Can't you get your own food yet?" Jack grumbled as he sat up in the makeshift nest, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Ack! Hungey!" Aloe whimpered with a hooting cry.

"Alright, alright already! Just stop!" Jack stumbled out of bed, hand outstretched for the yellow colored storage capsule for the ready-to-eat 'soft' food. Jack was beginning to allow Aloe some harder foods, keeping a hawk eye out for any signs of Aloe choking. It was times like these where Jack felt the strongest connection to his mother. There was a hollow hole in his heart where Jack hid his longing for his mother, knowing that until they met in the afterlife, Jack would never have a hug from his mom again. It was one of the reasons Jack desperately hoped the hidden Pooka would accept the two boys, wanting a Pookan hug from an older friend or family member again. To be a kit without parental responsibilities.

Jack's ears lowered in fright as the escape-ship brushed by space debris way too close for comfort. Jack knew very little about how to maintain the spacecraft beyond basic computer skills and fueling (when they were on a surface; out in space was a whole new ballgame). Getting the spaceship damaged or 'injured' was the last thing Jack wanted. Before going to sleep in the cryogenic tubes, Jack had only begun to be allowed in the piloting simulator on beginner settings. Taking control away from the computer with Jack's novice piloting skills, would only get them killed. So Jack clung to Aloe tighter like Jack had once held onto the stuffed toy in Aloe's sleeping arms, not daring to look away from the outside windows. He hummed a lullaby to sooth his nerves as the spacecraft passed by more large space 'junk', flinching each time they came close to crashing or being scratched.

Jack made a little celebration dance when the two Pooka's entered the Milky Way galaxy. He laughed cheerfully in amusement as Aloe tried to imitate his movements.

"We'll be at our new home soon!" Jack grinned as he hopped and twisted in the air, crashing into the ceiling with his aerobic maneuvers.

"Home?" Aloe tilted his head.

"Yeah! Well... home is where family is, but where we are going, there are plenty of outside, outdoor places to run free! No longer living in such tight quarters all the time!"

"Outide?"

"Outside," Jack automatically corrected before continuing, gesturing his arms exuberantly, "Well the natives would probably not understand us, us being Pookas, but there is more places in the 'wilds' where 'humans' don't live than cities or towns."

"Outide," Aloe nodded, "Home?"

"Our new home." Jack agreed, chattering on about the facts he had learned from the Pookan computer, "Earth the third planet from the sun in its solar system. It has one satellite known as the Moon. Humans alternate beliefs between the planet being one of many systems in the Universe and that it was the center of the universe. That would be interesting to see. The computer calculated that the Earth, supposedly named such by a northern group of humans on that continent," Jack pointed to Europe on a pulled up map, "And that continent is known as Europe! Well, in English anyway. I'm not sure if it is the same name everywhere. But it seems to be a similar name everywhere, so I'm not sure if that group really came up with the idea to name their planet a synonym to dirt. Anyway, the computer calculated that seventy one percent of Earth is water! And twenty-nine percent is land! And of all that water, only three percent of the Earth is fresh water, most of it or a little more than two percent is locked away in ice water. Also known as snow, glaciers, and frozen drinkable liquid. Less than one percent of fresh water is actually available for the flora and fawna that use it! And then there are creatures that live in 'salt' water like dolphins..." If any adult had been nearby, they would have been looking for the source of any sugar that Jack could have eaten.

Jack cheered as Earth appeared in the far distance from the view of the cockpit. Soon Jack and Aloe would be free to explore and mix with the natives. Jack had been studying up on the only verbal species (and a few other non-verbal species for fun or out of fascination). He was grateful that within the Frostfall artifacts that there was a single working galactic translating device. Jack would at least be able to speak a few sentences per language (and hadn't that been interesting! One species with multiple patterns of communication. That certainly was unusual).

It wasn't until that Jack and Aloe's escape-ship drew closer to Earth that Jack realized that the satellite around Earth wasn't naturally made at all. From his studies, Jack knew the humans hadn't built it, so... Jack typed in a program to scan the Moon.

Jack was surprised to discover that part of the Moon wasn't the natural rock of the Moon at all. Instead, it was a Lunaroff ship named the Moon Clipper that had somehow become part of Earth's satellite. He was still wary however. With as much time that had passed since the Golden Age, things might have changed. Despite the Moon reflecting the local sun's light back to Earth, there could be shadows lurking in the corners. The Lunaroffs had been the some of leaders of the Golden Age and Pitch had targeted their son. Jack didn't have much time to think it over as a bright beam of light covered and caught the escape-ship, pulling it into the Moon's zone of gravity.

Jack hadn't panicked, but he was still very nervous as a previously unseen docking bay opened its mouth, dragging the escape-ship within. Unsure of their welcome or capture, Jack quickly hid his sleepy brother under some blankets in the small nest and grabbed the red storage capsule, selecting a rather bland-looking steel rod from the supply of weapons.

With the push of a button, the steel rod became a metal pole capable of fending off enemies. Despite its unsharpened appearance, it was Jack's most highly favored weapon, as it could become a spear if truly needed. While Jack wasn't bad with a sword, staffs gave him the most comfort as he was even better at fighting with the long reach of a spear. The war of the Nightmare king had speeded up when a young Pookan kit could learn to fight in the Frostfall clan. Jack had spent the equivalent of many earth years mastering the use of his favored weapon after learning how defend himself with Pookan martial arts. Speaking of which, Jack would need to start teaching Aloe soon.

Ok, he was rambling. Jack took deep breaths to tuck away his fright. The Pookan spacecraft had landed, the docking bay closing. That wasn't comforting. A thought occurred to Jack as he heard the pressurizing outside air adjusting and scrambled for the breathers. Even if they wouldn't be exposed to Outer Space temperature, pressure or lack of air, it wasn't a guaranty that they wouldn't be poisoned. Jack swiftly but gently tied a breather over Aloe's mouth before recovering his baby brother's presence up. As he tied another breather over his own mouth, Jack heard something on the exterior tapping the walls of the Pookan spaceship. Jack stiffened, quickly facing the doors in a warrior's pose. Knees and elbows bent, staff held at attention, waiting.

It wasn't long before Jack watched the tightened Pookan door handle to the outside loosen and twist.