Chapter Six:

Bonds through Tragedy

Night had fallen over the town of Burgess. Jack landed lightly on her feet in the middle of town. She had finished her winter rounds an hour before. North would be expecting her back home at the Pole. She smiled to herself, knowing that the kind and boisterous man she had come to see as a father would have a heart attack if she was even ten minutes late coming home. She imagined that he would dream up wild and ridiculous scenarios explaining why she wasn't home on time. This sort of thing had been going on ever since the winter spirit had started living with him.

"I'm 300 years old, North! I'm not some brainless teenager!" she had cried when she had come home late from her rounds a few nights before. The toy maker gave her a bone crushing hug before asking where she had been. The ice spirit rolled her eyes and said she lost time hanging with Jaime. That had been a lie. No matter how much of a father figure North was to her, she couldn't tell him where she really was going. She remembered every detail of what really did happen though.

She flew through the silent town, and during so she noticed Sandy's dreamsand flowing into houses and forming into small dinosaurs and dolphins above resting children. She laughed gently as one of the dream dolphins flew out of a window and swam through the air next to her, flying around in various loops. The ice spirit sat down next to Sandy on one the chimneys. She dangled her legs over the side and watched the children's dreams start to move out of the houses and begin walking and flying around Burgess.

The little man looked over at his companion. A picture of the North Pole appeared over his head and then a question mark.

"I'm going home in a bit. Don't worry about me."

A clock appeared in the sand along with an image of a worried North not soon after. Jack rolled her eyes and responded, "Yes, I know North's going to be worried, but I have to do something important first before I head back."

Another question mark appeared above the head of the confused little man.

"Sorry Sandy, it's kind of personal."

The man nodded in understanding and went back to his work. Jack watched for a few more moments before getting up and flying to the forest on the outside of town. She finally came upon her pond. Even though she had brought only a light flurry to Burgess this month, the pond remained strongly frozen and became even more sturdy as the ice spirit walked across. As her feet touched it, it sent a sensation to her that had been so long foreign. It made her feel cold.

She was the spirit of winter, feeling as one with the colder temperatures and felt as comfortable in them as someone in sixty degree weather. But this pond, this long-standing symbol of her past, was the only thing that could chill her. She knew why, it was a sign that deep beneath the snow, she was still human. She lifted her feet off the pond and began her decent through the forest.

As Jack walked through, the sky began filling with more stars as time ticked by. Twirling her staff once, an orb of bright blue light filled the space in the curve of the staff. Finally, the spirit stopped walking. The soft glow of the staff fell over smooth gray stone.

Jack knelt and brushed away the thin layer of snow that had covered the front of the grave. When she was done with the dusting, she sat back on her legs. "Hey Jane. Happy first snow. Sorry it wasn't a lot. I didn't want to lose your grave in all of it."

The piece of stone was the only thing that stood out on the floor in the winter forest. The marble had been damaged in many places, due to 300 years of battling weather. Most of the words were faded, but miraculously, three words managed to stay strong and legible:

Jane Rose Overland

"My winter rounds have got a lot better. I've seen a lot of new places that I've never been to," Jack started, "Guardian stuff has gone better too. Bunny and I made up, so we're friends again thankfully. You would have liked him. He can be as stubborn as an ass sometimes, but inside he's pretty soft." The winter spirit's voice suddenly grew quiet. "I... found out why the Man in the Moon turned me into... well, this. I saved you from falling through the pond. He chose me to be a guardian right off the bat. I... I want to say I'm sorry. I saved you... but you suffered in the end when I fell through the ice. It was my fault that I stepped onto it. It was my fault that I didn't test the ice before we went skating. And...," tears started running down her smooth pale cheeks, "and... it's my fault that Dad left. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Oi! Frostitute!"

Jack immediately straightened up and wiped her tears away. She stood in front of the grave and smiled as she caught sight of Bunnymund making his way toward her, shaking his feet out continually to keep them from getting cold as he continued to step on the white powdery floor.

"Kangaroo?! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. North is swearin' up and down that 'uve been kidnapped, and sent me to find you since I was the only one available."

"Oh! Is it that late already?"

"It's past Midnight, stupid."

"Really?" she asked innocently.

The hare rolled his eyes. "Come on. It's getting colder out here and I'm not the biggest fan of having my hide tacked over North's fireplace for havin' you home later than you already are." he started back the way he came a few steps before he noticed the ice spirit wasn't following. He turned around to see her looking down at the ground, shifting her feet uncomfortably. "Jack?"

"I'll never get used to him saying that," she thought to herself. Usually, the pooka would refer to her playfully as "Kid", "Mate", and most often "Frostitute", but these were the rare times when he would use her real name. It sounded foreign on his tongue when he said it. It rolled off his tongue in such an odd way that the sound was odd, yet perfectly crisp and distinguishable.

After a short period of sighing to break the brief yet heavy silence, Jack raised her head, her expression serious and bold, "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not even North."

"Ok."

"I'm dead serious, Kangaroo."

"Ok! I, Bunnymund, solemnly swear that I will not tell anyone where you, Jack Frost, have been sneakin' off these past few nights, and by extension make your "father" think that you're off smokin' pot with the other delinquent spirits."

"Ok... Wait, what?! He thinks I'm doing that!"

"Kidding, Frosty."

Gritting her teeth, Jack sighed and stepped aside, revealing the aged grave. Bunnymund's eyebrow quirked curiously as he squatted down to get a better look. "Jane Rose Overland. Who's this, mate?"

"...My sister..."

The hare froze staring at the stone. Another long period of silence fell heavy upon the both of them, only ended by Bunny's words, which he was barely able to say with such a constricted mouth, "I'm...I'm sorry, Jack."

"No, it's ok. You didn't know."

Another few minutes of silence followed. Finally, Bunnymund said quietly, "What... happened to her exactly? If ya don't mind me askin'."

"...There...was an epidemic. Scarlet fever I think it was. It spread through our village like wildfire. My mother caught it and I'm guessing that's how Jane caught it. After awhile, the sickness moved on. Everyone got better..., but she was the sickest one in the village. She died shortly after her tenth birthday. This... happened all after I became Jack Frost."

"Christ, I'm real sorry mate. Really, I am."

The winter spirit knelt next to the hare. She cupped her hands and an orb of blue light grew inside of them. It grew bigger until an ice Magnolia appeared in her hands.

"Magnolias were her favorite flower. As long as I keep bringing snow to Burgess, it will stay here for a long time." She placed the small offering in front of the grave. She stood up and picked up her staff. "We better get back to the Pole before North start killing everything in sight out of worry." She walked past the hare but stopped as he started talking. But it wasn't to her.

"'Ello, Jane. My name is Bunnymund. I'm a good friend of your sisters. I'm also one devil of an Easter Bunny."

Jack was suddenly filled with a quiet rage. "Is he teasing me!?" She angrily asked herself over and over. She clenched her fist with such force that a few drops of cool blood dripped and began to stain the pure white snow below. She unclenched her fist and began to form a ball of ice in her hand to throw. Not snow, but solid ice, and made spikes jut out of it, meaning that whoever got hit by it was gonna hurt, bad. However, as Jack began to wind-up a throw that would leave Bunnymund out cold, he said something that stopped her mid-motion.

"Ya must have been a great person, to be so highly praised by Jack, who, to me at least, is one of the kindest and carin' souls in the world."

Jack dropped the ice ball as small tears began to fall down her cheek. Bunny turned, stood up and went over to her and pulled her into a hug. "I miss her so much Bunny..." she said into his chest.

"Get out of here son..."

Bunny shut his eyes tight as his fathers words once more shot through his mind. "I know how ya feel Jack, I know..."

He pulled away from the ice spirit a few moments later. His heart constricted when he saw the red eyes and tears still falling down her face. He bent down and brushed some of the snow away making a small patch of frozen grass visible next to the ice Magnolia. Jack watched in curiosity as the pooka took something out of the satchel on his back. Sticking the object into the ground, Bunnymund's smile grew as a beautiful pink tulip grew from the ground.

"It's a Honey Tulip," he explained standing up his back to Jack. "I grow 'em in the Warren. It has special powers that will make it survive for a long time. Even through snow storms." He said the last sentence with a hint of humor in his tone. His ears perked as Jack walked toward him, her bare feet crunching the snow underneath her. The pooka stiffened as arms wrapped around his middle. Jack pressed her forehead to his back.

"Thank you. For everything." she whispered, her voice shaking.

A small smile formed on the hare's lips. He turned around and pulled the ice spirit into another hug. Jack gripped onto his fur and started crying. Bunnymund held her tight and pressed his pink nose to the top of her head. It was at that moment that he realized something. No matter how much the winter spirit got on his nerves with her pranks and stupid nicknames, their friendship had been deepened forever through bonds of tragedy.

Post Notes- HOORAY! MORE ANGSTYNESS! So, I've been noticing in a lot of fanfics that since Jack's sister doesn't exactly have a name, a lot of people have been calling her Jill since her brother is Jack. I think that's really cute, but after watching a few amvs for Jack and his sister, she seemed more like a Jane to me :). Awww, I loved Bunny's little offering.

Btw I want to thank two people who have helped me out with this story. My boyfriend nighthunter1220 who has helped with editing my ROTG stories, and also TheAlmightyPyro. I was kind of in a writer's block on what to do for chapter six and the chapters after that, but she helped me get through that. She also suggested writing Fem!JackXBunnymund oneshots, and that's exactly what I'm doing now. Keep on the look out for my oneshot "Endlessly" that's coming out soon. Yes, it is going to be Fem!JackXHuman!Bunnymund :D. Once again big thanks to them.

Anyway, review, and I'll see you all in chapter seven ;)