End of chapter 2:
"I'm not evil!" he shouted, and ten snowballs rammed into a horse-drawn carriage. "I'm not!" he yelled, and ten more snowballs smacked into people walking by. Jack threw them until he fell down and could hardly feel anything but numbness. In his wake dozens of people were battered by the ice. He took no notice and flew up and away, clutching his staff, his only possession, running back home feeling too warm and too upset.
The people were set on getting rid of this Jack Frost.
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It was easy enough after he'd heard the name spoken several times in a condensed area on the map. Bunnymund rubbed his paws together and grinned.
"Alrighty, Jack Frost," he said, "get ready for a surprise..." He felt strange to be hunting rather than hunted- he was a rabbit, after all. But the trail was so fresh that Bunnymund turned down a pile of carrots in order to find Jack Frost. There was no time to lose.
He'd only been searching for a week, and got closer each day. Jack Frost had to be out there, and where Bunnymund was headed was the most likely place. It was a small village in North America called Burgess.
The town was normal enough. He hid in shadows and watched from corners to see anything strange, anything at all. But no one was talking about Jack Frost, and nothing seemed unusual. The Easter Bunny frowned, and hopped away to look for more evidence. He felt excited. Finding Jack Frost would be great. The other Guardians would be pleased with all that searching- North might even admit to Easter being better than Christmas, however both of which, at the time, were equally celebrated.
"Where are you," Bunnymund breathed, creeping around on the ice with his boomerang ready for battle. "Come out come out, wherever you are... Jack Frost..."
He came across a little path in the snow, big enough only for one person. It stopped dead in the center of the frozen lake, but Bunnymund was set on the direction it led to. He hopped over piles and ran through mounds. It was cold and a little windy but he was determined.
"Jack Frost!" called Bunnymund. "Jack Frost, come 'ere and face me like a man!"
Over the past week, the rabbit had tried to imagine what Jack Frost looked like. He imagined a tall and brooding figure, with sharp features and a scar across one eye. Jack Frost needed to have hands carved from ice and hair made of snow. The Guardians had figured he was a winter creature, and judging by the uncomfortable chills at the mention of his name, they assumed he was not a nice guy. Bunnymund had to get rid of him before the children of the world were threatened by blizzards and hypothermia.
He came across a cave and grinned. This must be where the evil brute lived. Caves were the perfect place to concoct evil plans. Bunnymund shuddered when he thought of Pitch Black- they needed to prevent those sorts of things from happening again.
Bunnymund had light footsteps. He was a rabbit, after all. The snow did not crunch under his feet; it merely sank, quietly as if he were kneading a ball of dough. He entered the cave and warmed up by jumping up to the ceiling a few times; that got his blood running. The depths of the cave were lighted by the shimmering ice and sun. He ventured in.
"Jack Frost?" he hummed. "Are you there?"
Closer, closer- damn! There was nothing. He saw an empty nest of snow in the middle of the floor that had been piled and slept on. Bunnymund refused to give up. He scanned the distorted room and— aha. On the wall, something was spelled out. He jumped closer.
JACK FROST
Jack Frost! Ace! Bunnymund brushed his paw over the carved markings and sniffed them. Fresh. Jack Frost was here last night. Would he come again tonight? The rabbit tapped his feet on the icy ground and sat, ready to wait it out all day.
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Laughter filled the air, bubbling into the snowflakes to spread joy and cheer throughout the village. Children caught snowflakes on their noses and couldn't help but laugh, while adults smiled and passed by. Christmas was on its way, and although the people of Burgess weren't decorating trees or hanging up wreaths, they prepared gifts for one another and baked cakes that were to die for.
Jack crossed his legs in the air and scanned the streets. He saw a boy playing with sticks and floated down to sit across from him.
"Hello," said Jack cheerfully. "What are you doing?" He paused. "My name's Jack Frost. Everyone here thinks I'm some evil... spirit. But truth is, I don't know. What do you think?"
The boy looked up from his game. His eyes bled right through Jack, but he still felt acknowledged. It only lasted half a second.
"I'm Jack Frost, and I'm not evil. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm twenty-eight days old. What d'you expect?"
"Mom?" called the boy. "Can I have the herbs? I think Jack Frost is nearby. I don't want to die!"
Jack bit his lip and shook his head at the child. The misconceptions had spread through the village quicker than poisonous gas. "I'm not going to kill you!" he said indignantly. "I just toldja I'm not evil!"
A woman bent down next to Jack and the boy to pour out a small bag of herbs. She sowed them into the snow like seeds in soil, and Jack laughed because that wouldn't keep him away. A couple of plants? How could that repel something?
"I wish he'd just go to a different village," she muttered. "That would be so much easier..."
Jack's ears perked up. "A different village?" he asked. He thought this was the only town in the world. "There are more people? Will they be able to see me?"
The teenager grabbed his staff and jumped twenty feet into the air- free as the wind, to do as he pleased. "There are more people!" he shouted into the sky, hoping the Moon would hear. "Someone out there will see me! I know it!"
He soared past the houses and over his own cave without looking back, and picked up speed with the wind. He didn't have to worry about running into anything- he flew right through birds and trees and people, laughing as the gusts of cold and wind left everything in a daze.
And so, as Jack Frost flew away from Burgess and away from his cave, he upset a certain large rabbit who would be waiting in the cold for him all night long.
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A/N: Chapters will be posted every Wednesday and Sunday, respectively. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "ace" is Australian slang meaning "awesome" or "great."
Thanks to my betas! xXIchigoAngelXx and The14thMelody.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Thanks for reading!