Chapter Four:

Darkness

and

Awkwardness

The lair looked like it had been abandoned for centuries even though it had been only a few months. Stone was crumbling down everywhere. Empty cages lay at the base of the large chasm. Their past was littered with the suffering of the small innocents imprisoned for the soul purpose to aid in the dark goal. Now all that laid in their future was nothing but cold and unending uselessness, doomed to rust, untouched forever. No sounds pervade the large cave, signifying the lack of even a mouse, for the acoustics of the large cavern would have exposed the insignificant sound of a simple pin falling against the unforgiving stone slabs. However, the silence became soon broken, like glass being crushed by a large boulder. The sound of shoes tapping against the cold ground rang through the forgotten lair like recurring nightmare.

The shallow and dying light of the room, that being all that was left to show it as it was, was suddenly blocked by a single figure whose shadow grew increasingly bigger as it moved forward into the dark cavern of despair. The figure slowly moved forward, passing old pieces of Sanskrit that lay tossed about on the floor, each containing intricate plans and procedures, and all of which had failed their creator.

The figure took his time as he scanned the dark and cold stone mineral by mineral as he walked by, etching every image with detail into his mind. With a movement like flowing liquid, he outstretched his arm and brought the tips of his thin bony fingers to the stone wall and proceeded to keep moving forward. As he continued along his path, the area that his fingers had touched soon became a sickening green and proceeded to corrode and fall apart in a matter of mere seconds. The man casually turned his head to look behind him and saw the crumbling wall, the image brought a dark and eerie smirk to his thin lips.

He moved ever-forward along his path until he had reached a dark globe that lay, like the cages, withered and barely clinging to existence on the ground. The only thing that could make it even seem like a globe was that the only iron that formed it was separated into pieces representing the seven continents. Usually, one would have dozens of lights sprinkled throughout it, however, this globe had lost any and all connection to the outside world and the young children who inhabit it.

"Oh my dear Pitch," the figure said as his index finger slowly drew up a dab of dust from the globe "defeat has gone so far as to affect your cleaning skills. Tttt. I always knew you were a horrible housekeeper."

The figure walked toward the edge of the high rock he occupied himself on. He looked down below at the cache of empty cases, tools, plans, and other fragile objects, and only saw twisted and sick ideas that could complement every square inch of the ground below him. His smile grew wild and his fists slowly tightened.

"Guardians, your death has already begun."

It had been two days after Bunnymund snapped on Jack in the hallway, and he was starting to feel incredibly guilty. The Winter spirit had been avoiding him like the plague. It seemed like she was out on her rounds longer than usual, and whenever North needed someone to go with him on traveling errands, Jack was always the first to volunteer every time. At first the pooka suspected that she wanted to spend more time with North, since she saw the jolly toy-maker as a father, but he soon came to realize that that wasn't the case.

Whenever he would enter a room or walk by her, Jack would say she had to help North out with something and leave or would immediately avoid looking him in the eye. Bunnymund had shrugged when Tooth, being the maternal mother figure that she was to all the guardians, had asked him if he knew if anything was wrong with Jack. He honestly didn't know what was up until one day when he was walking down one of North's many hallways to Central Command. He was painting an egg, which of course meant he wasn't watching where he was going. Next thing he knew something flew by him making him almost lose his balance. He whirled around to yell at whoever that was to watch where they were going, but stopped when he saw Jack floating there looking like a little kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The Winter spirit apologized three times while avoiding his eyes before racing back down the hallway before the pooka could even utter a syllable.

The others seemed to pick up on the awkwardness between the two, but they never really approached and asked them about it. It was North who finally did.

The pooka was relaxing by the color dye river in his Warren. He had finally taken Tooth's advice about giving himself some breaks between work so he wouldn't black out. He was grateful for the rests. The headaches had passed and he could feel himself getting stronger. However, just as he closed his eyes, something cold hit him in the face.

"BLOODY HELL!" an enraged Bunnymund lept to his feet, boomerangs in paws, and ready to fight. He relaxed slightly when he saw a small snow mound slowly melting at his feet. A pristine, ivory letter appeared from it. On the crease was North's seal.

This was odd of the fat man. He would always call the guardians by using the Northern Lights (1), almost never by letter. Shrugging, the pooka bent down, picked up the letter, and opened it. Inside there was a note that said:

Bunny,

Meet me at the Pole ASAP. There's something we need to discuss.

-North

"What the bloody hell does he need to talk to me about?" Bunnymund shook his head, deciding it was not worth questioning it. With a quick glance around to check that his egglets weren't going to be assaulted any time soon, he summoned a rabbit hole and made his way to the workshop.

The second he got there, one of the yetis showed him to North's study. As he closed the door behind him, the pooka saw the toymaker standing at his large window behind his desk. North had his back to him and was busy looking at something small in his hand. After a few moments he pocketed it and turned to the Guardian of Hope.

"Bunny. Please, sit." he said before settling in his own chair. No jolly greeting or pat on the back? This must have been serious.

The pooka sat down in the chair adjacent from the toy-maker's desk before speaking "What's up, North?"

"I was thinking maybe you could answer zat."

A few minutes of silence filled the study. Finally, Bunnymund shrugged. "I got nuthin' for ya mate."

"It's Jack. Zer's something going on with her and I don't know vat. Tooth and I have asked her about it, but she insists zat iz nothing. Since you and her have been getting along vell these past couple of months, I vas hoping that she might have told you something."

A cold feeling filled the pit of the pooka's stomach. He had been dreading this. Sighing, he answered, "Well, I kinda snapped on her a few nights ago..."

The energy in the room seemed to change dramatically. The tension was thick as molasses. Bunnymund could have sworn he could see an angry red aura eminating from North. "Vat did she, an innocent, charming young girl, do to upset you so much?" North was highly protective of the Winter spirit, even more than Tooth. He thought everything Jack did was innocent and good natured...well, most of the time. He was like a loving father looking out for any evil being that would dare harm a hair on his "daughter's" head.

After a few hesitant moments of silence, the pooka looked down at the ground and mumbled, "...She called me Aster..."

The angry look in North's eyes had softened slightly. "Bunny, you have to let zat go."

The last of his words hadn't even left his mouth before Bunnymund sprang up from his chair with a fuming expression. "Don't you dare give me that!"

"Bunny-"

"Do ya know what it's like to see your whole clan, your own family, to be slaughtered in front of you, and you couldn't even help 'em?! To just stand there helplessly..." the hare's voice grew quiet and his angry eyes slowly filled with tears. He turned away so North couldn't see.

The toy-maker got up from his desk and brought his friend to his chest hugging him. Bunnymund didn't hug back but silently cried in the embrace.

"You're right. I have no idea what iz like to lose your family, and I'm very sorry. But zer's one thing you must understand, Bunny. Jack vaz worried sick about you when you passed out. She cares about her friends very much, even if she doesn't say it zat much. She has no clue zat that happened to you."

"My mum called me Aster. They all did." the hare said softly.

"I know. But try to see what happened from Jack's point of view. It vaz an honest mistake. She knows now not to call you zat. The best you can do now iz apologize. I'm positive she'll forgive you."

Bunnymund arrived back at the Warren ten minutes later. He would apologize to Jack. Like North said, it wasn't her fault she didn't know what happened. However, when he stepped out of the rabbit hole and back into his grassy meadows, he was met with a shock. Jack stood a few feet away from him. Her face and clothes were covered with what looked like the color smoke from the paint flowers that he used to decorate eggs. Around her feet the egglets he had been working on that day were running around...but now they were all multicolored.

"What did-" before he could even ask, the Winter spirit interrupted him.

"I'm so sorry, Bunny! I-I came here to apologize for the other night. But, then those big stone egg things with the faces got made that I was here and started chasing me. Then I kind of flew through the paint flowers and then your egglets started following me and-...I'm sorry! Please don't be mad!"

"Kid, I'm not-" the pooka stopped when he noticed sapphire eyes brimming with tears. "Jack?"

"Shit!" the ice spirit quickly wiped away her tears but more kept coming. A soft snowfall started, covering the Warren in a white blanket.

"Damn it! I always make a mess of everything!" with tears flowing down, Jack disappeared from the meadows, leaving Bunnymund standing there in the snow with a shocked expression on his face. Shaking his head to clear it, he tapped his foot before going back down through the tunnels. The egglets could wait. He needed to see if Jack was alright.

Post notes-

(1) I'm pretty sure they were called the Northern Lights in the movie, but I can't exactly remember.

Sorry if Bunny was a little OOC in this chapter. Please don't kill me. And sorry if I ruined the spelling too much for North's accent. I wanted it too sound like it as much as possible.

I hope to all who celebrate Christmas had a merry one the other day! For video games I got Red Dead Redemption (Game of the Year addition) and RISE OF THE GUARDIANS FROM NIGHTHUNTER *fangirl squee*. To all of the other people who celebrate Kwanzaa and Hannakah I wish you happy holidays to those too :D.

*flops down on couch* I'm so sorry this took so long! School's been a bitch winding down to Christmas vacation, not to mention me and Nighthunter (my boyfriend/editor) both have part-time jobs. Any who, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN REVIEWING/AND/OR FAVORITING THIS STORY! It makes me so happy! Oooo, who was that mysterious man in Pitch's old lair? Mwhahahahah! See you next chapter!