Love Predator

Chapter 2

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"North, why did you take me away?!" I yelled at him while he had this somber look on his face. "Why did you leave him there?!"

"He told us to leave." Santa sat on his desk. Sandy and Tooth floated behind me, exchanging looks. "What else could we have done?"

"Yeah, Jack, we need a plan to get Bunny back." Tooth chimed in.

"We need to remove the darkness from him before bringing him home." North said. "And we are not sure how to do that, exactly."

"Oh God, this is all my fault!" I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling at it. "Why do I always have to screw up his life?!"

"Jack, please don't go there." Tooth put her tiny hand on my shoulder. Sandy shook his head. "The one to blame is Pitch."

"Tooth is right. Bunny saved you because he loves you." North stood up, smiling. "And we have time to save him. Pitch has no intention to destroy our friend."

"But… the things he's gonna make Bunny do…" I didn't want to think of the Easter Bunny ruining children's hopes and dreams with fear, and worse, coming back to his senses and realizing what he'd done; he would never recover from that. "We don't have any time! The darkness inside him could become irreversible!"

"I thought about that…" North rubbed his chin, and then smirked. "But then I thought, 'Nah, this is Bunny we're talking about!'" He gave a little laugh. "He'll be fine, Jack." I thought about it and lightly nodded, silently agreeing with him. I needed to believe in Bunny.

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We came up with a plan, though it was kind of vague. We would wait for more lights to start flickering, indicating where either Bunny or Pitch would be. Hopefully, Bunny would be alone so we could try to get him back to normal. How exactly was still the question. Sandy suggested he use his Dream-sand as a counterbalance against the darkness inside Bunny, but he never did that before and wasn't sure it would work. We seemed to be waiting forever for a disturbance on the globe.

"Jack, look!" Tooth pointed to the globe, finally seeing something. I followed her finger and found she was pointing to a small town in Iraq. "Bunny's there."

"And Pitch?" North asked.

"Don't see him anywhere." She looked around quickly.

"Well, let's go!" I picked myself up with the wind.

"Wait, it might be trap!" North's brows furrowed.

"Who cares?" I already knew that possibility, but there was no time to think about that. "Hurry!"

"Jack, don't you see?" Tooth flew in front of me, blocking my way. "He's using Bunny as a shield, a hostage!"

"Do you have any other ideas?" I said that a little too harshly, but at the time I was fed up with all the stalling. "I'm going."

"Wait!" Tooth called out to me as I flew past her and out the sky window. I needed to find Bunny, and bring him home, whether the others helped me or not.

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I don't like Iraq all that much. It was a terrible place full of war and fear; it was a perfect place for Pitch to power up. It was going to be hard to pinpoint the children who were frightened of Bunny, since most every kid is afraid here. And damn, was it scorching. Contrary to popular belief I don't melt and die in extreme heat, but it's still uncomfortable and doesn't do too much for my powers since the effects don't last long. Maybe coming here alone wasn't such a good idea. I hoped that at least one of my friends would come help me out…

I heard a roar and screams further away. I flew over to where they were coming from, finding deeply traumatized children huddled in a shack, screaming for no reason. The roaring noise had to have come from Bunny, but I didn't see him anywhere. I tried talking to them but they wouldn't stop screaming. I couldn't make any snow or ice to do that 'nipping at your nose' thing, so I just tried touching all their noses with my finger. I sighed happily, hearing their screams turning into laughs.

"There you go." I said to them. They smiled at me (it's still amazing to me that kids see me now). "Go back home. Please be careful." I watched them run home for a moment before hearing that roar again. "Bunny?" I looked around carefully, but I didn't see him here. I heard it again, further away. "He's running." I flew quickly to that noise, needing to catch up with the fast rabbit. I ended up in a small palm tree forest, not hearing the roar for a while. I stopped to look around, but I was violently tackled to the ground by a dark figure. It was none other than Bunny; no… this wasn't him, at least not yet. It turned out he was the one hunting me.

He had me pinned tight between his legs and held onto my wrists with brute strength. He roared in my face, and I could see his teeth; they were no longer flat and buck-toothed, they were sharply pointed with longer canines like a wolf. His neon green beast-like eyes were painful to look into. This gross, shadowy mist emitted from his black fur. He was getting worse by the minute. A low growl came deep from his throat and leaned down, trying to scare me; and it was working.

"Bunny, please don't." I tried getting out of his grip, but that just made him angrier. My staff had been knocked out of my hand. I was sweating now in all this heat. Shit, I screwed up again. I should have listened to the others. "Bunny, it's me, it's Jack… your beloved pain-in-the-ass!" I laughed nervously. He just roared at me again, making my ears pop. "Can't you talk?" He only answered with a snort. He's been reduced to a pure beast form. I wonder if he can even understand me. "Bunny, snap out of it! You're scaring me!" That's probably what he wanted to hear. He clenched his fangs before opening his mouth wide, like he was going to bite me. I winced but kept looking in his eyes, just hoping that he would remember how much he said he loved them.

He stopped.

Something flickered across his eyes, but the eerie glow didn't diminish. He just seemed… curious? I sure as hell was. He sniffed the air, his nose wiggling, his brow relaxed. He studied me carefully, as if… as if trying to remember who I was. "Bunny?" I said his name again, smiling brightly. "Yes, it's me, it's me!" I wanted to touch him, but he still had an iron grip on my wrists. He felt that slight struggle, and he wasn't happy about it. He growled at me, warning me not to do it again.

Then he went back to sniffing. He leaned in closer still, smelling my face. He sniffed around to my neck, taking a big whiff of my hair. "Ha-ha, that tickles!" I said. He snorted, not wanting me to speak, either. His ears perked up as if discovering something. He removed his paw from my wrist and yanked at the collar of my shirt, tearing it slightly. "Hey!" I said, wondering why he did that all of a sudden. He was staring at my shoulder in confusion. Oh yeah, the bite mark he gave me yesterday was still there. I lightly smiled at him. "This is yours." I whispered. "You made this." He looked at me in some kind of realization. I just smiled, going along with his good mood.

"My, Bunny, what have you got there?" I heard Pitch's slimy voice above us. Bunny hopped off of me and I took the chance to get up and grab my staff, put Pitch was faster, holding his scythe to my neck. I stopped and put my hands up, silently cursing to myself. "Honestly Jack, you make it so easy." Pitch laughed. Bunny sat at Pitch's side like an obedient pet. "My plan was to use you as a slave to my work. The Guardians would have never killed you because they love you so much, even if you were destroying the hearts of children." His long fingers ran themselves along Bunny's ears. I did not like that at all. "But I'm actually glad that it's Bunny and not you. This is much better revenge, don't you think?" He scratched behind Bunny's ears. He cooed and started thumping his foot. "And he's such a good boy, too…"

"Don't touch him!" I said fiercely, almost growling like an animal myself. Bunny looked at me in surprise and awe.

"See? So easy." He snickered. "Now then, back to business. What should I do with you?" The scythe got closer to my neck. "The Guardians will be here any minute. I could let you go and make you watch some more… then again, this is a rare opportunity, I could kill you now and save myself some time." The cold scythe touched my skin. While Pitch was pondering over what to do with me, Bunny was looking back and forth between Pitch and me. When the weapon touched me Bunny growled and pulled it away from me. He jumped over top of me and held me to his chest, but not in such a loving way.

"What?" I said, and I think I heard Pitch say too. Bunny was actually growling at Pitch, his 'master', and protecting me. "Bunny…"

"You're saying he's yours?" Pitch translated the grunting and snorting.

"You can understand him?" I blinked. "Why am I not surprised?" Bunny continued 'talking', and Pitch looked mad at first, but it slowly turned into a maddening smile.

"Oh, I understand. He smells his essence on you, so he concludes that you're his mate, whether he remembers how that scent got on you or not." Pitch explained.

"Wait, you're saying he doesn't remember me?"

"Of course not." Pitch grinned. "Your scent is probably familiar, but he can't place it in his brain where he remembers it from. He's just a beast securing his prize." I wanted to yell out that it wasn't true, but I realized he was right. Bunny was protecting me, but it was more territorial than loving. His eyes weren't kind and caring but primal and possessive. He didn't remember me, he just sees me as a fuck toy in this form. "Damn, they're getting closer. Hm…" Pitch put his scythe away. "Very well, bring him with us, Bunny. You deserve a treat after being a good rabbit."

"Wait, seriously?" This could be my chance to get Bunny back to normal if Pitch let me be alone with him.

"Don't think of this as some benefit for you, Frost." The Nightmare King snarled. "This too will be part of my vengeance."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." He had a creepy smile on his face. "Oh, before I forget…" He took my staff and broke it in half, just like he did fifty years ago. It felt like a breathe-ripping kick in the stomach. I felt weak and limp. "I'm not leaving it with you this time. Come, Bunny." He disappeared into a tree's shadow. Bunny grunted in response, flinging me over his shoulder and creating a tunnel with his foot. The tunnel was very dark inside.

"Jack!" I heard North call out to me. It was too late; Bunny and I went through the hole, leaving my broken staff with the other Guardians as a crude parting gift.

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A/N: Have I ever told you all how much I love you?! As of now, I have 31 follows, 23 faves and 10 reviews for this fic! I can only hope for more (especially reviews cuz that's the number that shows up under the summary lolz). Yeah, this one's short and not so smutty, but next time there will be. It's slightly non-con too, just a warning.

Oh, and who bought the Blu-ray/DVD? If not, then go out and get it so they'll make a sequel or a TV special or a TV show! PLEASE!

Taru-chan