Jack gasped and sat up, but was pushed back down by steady hands.
"Woah, take it easy there, mate. You're safe." The rough voice of Bunny soothed. Jack stared up into the open sky above him, watching a lazy cloud drift by. He flinched when a sharp stab seemed to attack his arm and he tried to pull it away, but Bunny had a firm grip on it.
"Don't wanna do that 'til I'm done. Gonna rip the stitches out. Only a few more should do it." Bunny said as Jack relaxed in his grip. He felt comfortable in this position, not being too cold, but not surrounded by heat, either. With his other hand, Jack reached up and gingerly touched the top of his head, where a nice bump had formed.
"Hit yer head pretty hard. North told me about the accident. Nearly gave us all a heart attack. Gotta be more careful next time, Sunburn." Bunny pulled the last stitch through and cut the end off. "There. All done. North wants to see you back at the pole-"
"I'm not going back there." Jack mumbled, trying to make his request sound more forceful, but his energy still felt drained.
"No, you don't seem to understand. This was not a request. We are going back to the North Pole whether you like it or not."
"And why should I? I just left the dinner to get right… where are we, by the way?" Jack asked as he sat up and looked around. He noticed a lake off in the distance and his heart stopped for a moment when he recognized the area.
"Burgess. Must have crashed here after your little outburst tired ya out. North needs you back there because those potions-"
"Wait wait wait. Hold on a second. Let me think. How did I get here? I wouldn't come here unless I had a damn good reason. And what's this about potions?"
"If you would let me finish, ya numbskull, I'm trying to tell you that North tested the bottles that fell on you and he believes they are-"
"What bottles? What are you talking about?"
"You mean you don't remember?" Bunny asked, almost in surprise, but took a second to ponder. "You did hit yer head pretty hard. Might've caused your memory to blank. Either way, we need to head back to the Pole." Bunny grabbed Jack's arm and helped him off of the ground. Jack stood on his legs unsteadily at first, wincing as blood rushed into his head and caused his vision to fuzz for a moment, then stepped away from Bunny.
"Sorry, Kangaroo, but I'm needed elsewhere. Things to see, places to be, the usual. But thanks for stitching up my arm and stuff. And tell North that I-"
"Tell North what, exactly?" North's booming voice asked from directly behind Jack. Jack jumped and turned to see the large Russian man standing behind him, a look of concern and no nonsense written across his face.
"I told you he wouldn't listen." Bunny grumbled.
"Just wanted tell you that I am glad you came. So, what was it you wanted?" Jack asked, picking up his staff from the grass and leaning forward on it. North cleared his throat and pulled out a book. He flipped through a few pages and stopped halfway through. "Ah, here we are. The master list of potions and spells, by Ombric himself. Good thing I took the time to read it. Apparently his old book keeping skills are still useful after all this time." North smiled at the warm memories of his former mentor, then began tracing his finger through the page he was on. Jack began tapping his foot impatiently, not wanting to be in this area any longer; needing to be somewhere to release the tension that was steadily growing in his body.
"Ah, here we are. Now, let us see…" North scanned over the section he was on and tapped his finger a few times on certain words, as if for clarification. "This is the potion that is possibly in your bloodstream at the moment. It is-"
"Hold it! What did you say? In my blood? First of all, how did it get there, and second, why do you have these things?"
"I was a wizard back in the day, do you not remember Jack?"
"Of course not. But that doesn't-"
"Is in your blood from when you ran into yetis and potions spilled into your cut. The specific potion that broke over your cut is an experimental one I have been working on to connect dimensions. I have not tested it, and I did not think to ingest it as a means of testing, but, seeing as it is in you now-"
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You are still wizarding and stuff, and you have a bunch of voodoo magic potions just lying around. Not just that, ones that can let someone communicate with other dimensions?" Jack seemed appalled and fascinated with the idea, and North was nodding as Jack spoke. "And I have this potion in my blood right now." Another nod from North. "So… how do we get it out?"
"This is where problem comes. Is experimental, as I said, so I do not know how to fix. I am very sorry, Jack, but you have to ride out what happens next. I want you in Pole so I can keep close watch on you. It can be very dangerous. I need you to tell me everything that has happened so far so I can-"
"No no no no no no no no." Jack shook his head quickly and began backing away from North and Bunny. "I am not, no. You are not taking me back there. I have this… this, I don't know, time and space warping drug in me and you just expect me to go with you so I can be a guinea pig for you stupid little experiment?" Jack tightened his grip on his staff and began floating an inch above the ground. The air became electrified and the surrounding area began to heat up from the sudden rush of emotions.
"You are not taking me with you, and that is final."
"Jack, you have to listen-"
"I have waited three hundred years for you to listen! I do not need your input now, thanks." Jack spat. "And don't come after me! I'll handle whatever this is on my own." And with that Jack flew into the air, leaving the sky rumbling with an oncoming storm.
"This is not going to end well." Bunny commented and North could do nothing but agree.