Chapter Three:

Aster?

It had been a few months after they had defeated Pitch. Jack had been properly sworn into the Guardians, her poor attitude toward joining them doing a complete 180. Now, The Big Five were busy at work fixing the damage the Nightmare King had done. Luckily for them Christmas came and went without a problem. Tooth and her fairies were collecting teeth like clockwork, and Sandy's dream-making was running smoothly like always. The lights on the globe at North's place seemed to quickly light up by the thousands as each day went by.

Jack was having a grand old time with her new Winter rounds. Each day the Guardian of Fun would head out to bring snow days and early blizzards to the children all over the world. Sure she was still a teenager mentally and physically, but her new position as guardian seemed to bring about a new maturity in her.

All of the guardians duties were going smoothly. Everyone except Bunnymund.

Ever since Pitch had been beaten, the pooka had been working his ass off early for next year's Easter preparations. However, as the other guardians grew stronger with the children starting to believe in them again, he grew weaker and tended to pass out from time to time. He only had next Easter to renew the children's belief in him.

January had fallen over the world. North had called the four other guardians to his workshop. Many of the yetis had fallen ill meaning he was short-handed and needed help to work on next year's Christmas load. Bunnymund was attempting at build a rocking horse while at the same time trying to fight off a nasty headache. They had been coming more frequent lately, which then led to more black outs. He hadn't told anyone of his fainting spells, because in his mind they would go overboard with worry. And he still had 50,000 more eggs, baskets, and other gifts to get ready for Easter.

To add more pain to his throbbing headache, Jack burst into the workshop covered in a light dusting of snow and bright eyes sparkling with bubbliness. She then started babbling away to Tooth, Sandy, North, and anyone who would listen to just about everything that had happened on her Winter rounds, especially the huge snowball fight with Jamie and the other Burgesse kids. The elder guardians enjoyed listening to Jack whenever she had news or stories. Even Bunnymund, who at the beginning never thought that they would ever get along, had to admit he didn't mind the spirit's chatter. But today it was making his head hurt even more.

"Kangaroo!"

The pooka nearly growled as the nickname he detested reached his enlarged eardrums. He turned his head to see Jack standing behind him with a large smile.

"I'm a bunny. Not a damn kangaroo, mate." he growled before turning back to continue work on his failed wooden toy.

"Are you making a rocking horse?" she asked. She walked up next to him, her long hair brushing the side of the rabbit's arm. Bunnymund felt himself blush slightly as a waft of fresh pine and snow met his sharp nose.

"Well, attemptin' to at least," he admitted sheepishly mentally telling his face to stop blushing at the same time.

Jack picked up a few tools the pooka had been using and inspected his work with a careful eye. "Ah, there's the problem. You put a few of these pieces in the wrong spot." Carefully she removed said pieces and used the tools to fit them into their proper places. Bunnymund looked at the toy horse in front of him, jaw hanging open slightly. "How in the bloody hell did you do that?"

The spirit shrugged. "North's been teaching me a few things about toy making for the past month." She then started tinkering with small scraps of metal into what looked like a little windup robot.

Bunnymund inspected the rocking horse amazed at how much skill the young spirit had just shown. "Not too shabby." he thought. He was about to pick up the toy and go bring it to one of the yetis, when his vision started swimming slightly. His paw clutched his forehead and he squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of pain came over him.

"Hey, are you ok?"

His eyes snapped open when he realized Jack was talking to him. He was even more surprised when he realized she had moved slightly closer to him. His face flared up pink once again when he saw worry swimming in her blue eyes. God dammit why did she have to have such pretty eyes?

"F-fine...I'm just fine."

Then the spirit did something that the Guardian of Hope didn't see coming. She floated a little off the ground and placed her cold lips gently to his forehead. His body froze and his face went from pink to tomato red in about three seconds.

It seemed like forever before Jack pulled away. "You feel a little warm. Are you sure you're not coming down with a fever or anything?"

Bunnymund's mind sighed a huge breath of relief. She was just checking his temperature, not kissing his forehead. He nodded his head, not trusting his voice to speak. Jack gave him a little smile before placing her bare feet back down on the floor and getting back to her robot.

After giving the rocking horse to one of the yetis, the pooka returned to his station and Jack. She had made about ten little windup robots if the five seconds he had been gone. "She's almost as good as North" he thought to himself.

The two guardians continued to work together into the afternoon. Unfortunately, the longer he worked, the worse Bunnymund's headache got. He managed to hide it from Jack and the others, though it pained him to do it so. The Winter spirit frequently asked him if he was okay or if he needed anything, which he always responded no. Before they knew it, day had become night and North stopped production for the day. As a thank you to the others for their help, North gave them rooms to stay in for the night. They all dined together before going on their separate ways to their bedrooms.

Bunnymund stumbled down the hallway to his room, clutching his head and moaning softly in pain. He now regretted not asking for any pain medicine. He felt like he was literally going to pass out at any given moment. He leaned against the wall for a moment trying to catch his breath.

"Bunny?"

The pooka nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around quickly to see Jack standing there. She was wearing a long sleeved blue nightshirt and gray sweatpants. Her white hair was in a fishtail braid down her back. Bunnymund was thankful for the darkness. He could swear he felt his face grow red,

"What is it, Jack?"

"There's something wrong with you. You look like you're in pain."

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Bunnymund..."

He turned his head away from her. He hated being caught in this weakened state.

The Winter spirit slowly reached her hand out and gently placed her fingertips on the pooka's arm. He visibly flinched from her cold skin before turning his head back to her.

"Bunnymund, you can tell me what's wrong. We're friends, arn't we?"

The pooka was about to respond, but then he felt his head swim. He heard his name once before his vision went black...

"Bunnymund... Bunnymund... ASTER, WAKE UP!"

Bunnymund's eyes shot open and he sat up quickly, breathing hard. He was still in the middle of the hallway. It hadn't seem like time didn't move forward at all. But...that name...who said that name...?

He turned his head to Jack. She had a scared look in her eyes. "Are you okay? You just dropped to the ground! I thought you had a heart attack or some-"

"What did you say?"

The Winter spirit looked up. Bunnymund wasn't looking at her. But his voice was low when he repeated, "What did you say before I woke up?"

Sensing she was treading on dangerous waters, she replied "Uhm...Aster?"

Silence filled the hallway. The pooka still wouldn't look at her. "Where did you hear that?"

She hesitated before speaking in a soft voice. "...North told me... did I do something wrong?" He still didn't look at her. She reached her hand out. "Ast-"

He caught her hand and held it in a tight grip. She winced as he finally looked at her. His green eyes were filled with so much anger that it made her want to hide in a hole. In a deep, angry voice he said, "Don't you ever, and I mean ever, call me that again. And I'm not you're friend. You're just a stupid, foolish girl who gets a kick out of throwing snowballs and fucking with people's business. Got it!?"

Before she could say anything he released her hand, stood up, and stomped off to his room. He slammed the door leaving a frightened Winter spirit by herself out in the hallway.

Post notes- Ooooooooooo, shit just got real. Sorry Jack fans if I was too mean. I didn't mean to *puppy eyes*. So...what's got the kangaroo all riled up? Oh, and to anyone who doesn't know, Bunny's full real name is E. Aster Bunnymund. Well, review and I'll see ya in Chapter four.

P.S. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS SO FAR! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW HAPPY THIS MAKES ME!