Author note- Okay, I'm gonna clear up some confusion here:

1. Pitch was the one who killed Bunnymund's family.

2. The mysterious figure in Pitch's lair is NOT Pitch. He's someone different.

Chapter Seven:

"May I Have this Dance?"

"Ah, fine detailin', my old nemesis," Bunny thought to himself as he elegantly moved his paint brush across the finely colored egg that laid in his soft paw. He squinted as carefully placed tiny dots of white along the circumference of the blue egg in even interval. He held his concentration tight as he continued his seemingly never-ending work. Although it seemed as though this work was endless, Bunnymund would always rediscover enjoyment in every part of it, even if it was only tiny. There was always one driving force that propelled Bunny to continue to craft these eggs into back-breaking works of art,...the children. He knew how they all counted on him, even if only slightly, to keep their beliefs strong and their childhood stronger. They would all eventually cease to believe, and Bunny knew this, but also, for every one that stopped believing, there came along two new youths who did. Therefore, Bunny adopted a philosophy of "Let them enjoy it while they can." Bunny smiled and looked down at the egg in his hand, knowing that soon it would bring a child joy, and that, more than anything, made it worth it.

"GODAMMIT, SCREW THESE EGGS!" Jack shouted as she chucked an egg at one of the large stones in the Warren. The pooka's ears flattened against his head and squeezed his eyes shut as the peaceful silence was shattered.

"If ya can't paint a design, please don't try to kill any of the egglets."

"It's not my fault! My hand is just refusing to make a simple swirl!"

Jack had come to the Warren earlier that morning. According to North, the young teen had gotten bored and started freezing elves, not to mention the toy maker's prized fish tank. Easily fed up with her pranks, North had sent her to Bunnymund's place, since the two guardians seemed to get along well them being close in age. The pooka thought that a good way to contain her hyper energy was to teach her the art of how to paint eggs properly. Now, he was slowly regretting that decision. Unlike him, Jack's concentration broke easily and patience lasted briefly. Especially when it came to tiny details.

Bunnymund walked over to the stone table where the winter spirit was working. She was grumbling at the moment while applying sloppy layers of color to her current egglet. The hare shook his head and gently took the offending confection out of her hand. Jack watched curiously as he seated himself next to her.

"You're puttin' too much paint on for the base color. Just put a little on your brush. It'll cover most of the egg before ya 'ave to get more paint." Cleaning off the gobs of paint, the pooka slowly and carefully dipped his brush into a jar of yellow, so the only thing that was covered was the tip. He then proceeded to carefully craft color and substance onto the blank canvas of the egg. Unlike the sloppy mess it had looked a few seconds ago, the careful brush strokes gave it a smoother surface and brilliance of color.

"How do you have the patience?" the winter spirit asked. Her eyes had grown in wonder as she had watched the pooka use his hands masterfully.

Placing the egg back in her hand, Bunny smiled, "Lots of practice, Frostitute. Lots of practice."

The two guardians continued to paint into the early afternoon. Jack was thrilled when she had finally made a presentable batch of eggs. Bunnymund couldn't help but smile softly at the spirit's happiness. Jack had visited the Warren a lot more often than she used to. The pooka, who was used to a secluded life of hard work and loneliness felt his spirits raise every time Jack rode in on the winter winds. She would help him with rounding up the egglets, which would sometimes lead her to freezing some of them, which would always lead to the hare chasing her and throwing boomerangs. But despite all that, Bunnymund still retained his opinion that Jack was a fun person to be around.

Bunnymund's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of Jack's voice, "Oh, Hi Baby Tooth!"

The tiny fairy had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and landed on Jack's work table. She started talking in her cute little squeaks and tiny hand gestures.

"What is she sayin, mate? I still can't speak fairy."

"She's saying that North's having a party tonight. Apparently it's to celebrate me becoming a guardian," the ice spirit translated. She felt a little humbled. Nobody had ever thrown her a party in her honor before.

Baby Tooth continued talking in her "fairy language" with many motions indicating flying, teeth, and other random motions.

"She also says that I should meet Tooth at her palace. She wants to..." Jack trailed off her face turning slightly pink. "Oh hell no!"

"What?" Bunnymund asked. Baby Tooth was suddenly fluttering in his face giving him a look of warning. "What?!"

"She says I'm not supposed to tell you. But wear something dressy to the party tonight."

"I'm a bloody bunny! I don't wear clothes!"

"Not clothes, just look nice." The ice spirit rolled her eyes before standing up and grabbing her staff. Baby Tooth situated herself on Jack's shoulder.

She turned to Bunnymund. "Thanks for putting up with me today. Will we see you at the party tonight?"

"Course. North would most likely skin me alive if I didn't. And Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever think that I have to 'put up with you'. We're friends, aren't we?"

A few moments of awkward silence passed before the ice spirit's face finally broke out into a big smile and she nodded, "Yeah. We are."

"Hold still!"

"I'm bloody fine!"

"Not when that one piece of fur is still sticking up!" Tooth finally managed to make the one unruly tuft of fur on Bunny's head to stay down. The Big Four were at the North Pole. The last of the party guests were just starting to arrive in North's massive ballroom. Tooth was putting the finishing touches on the other guardians. She then looked over them, like a mother inspecting her family to see if they were decent looking for a family photo. The fairy looked even more beautiful than she usually did. Just for the occasion her feathers had turned from their usual blues and greens to shades of dark purple and pink that matched her eyes perfectly.

North and Sandy were both wearing tuxedos. The little man's was made out of golden dreamsand and he had added a top hat and cane into the mix, while North stuck with classic black with a dark red bow tie and had managed to, somewhat, straighten his long flowing silver hair. He looked like a father going to his child's very first school play. The pooka would never known where the jolly toy maker would get these clothes living in a toy workshop.

Bunnymund had actually decided to listen to Tooth this time about looking dressy. While not the wearing clothes, he had replaced his usual apparel with newly made and polished armor. Golden arm bracers, satchel, and boomerang holder. Not to mention that Tooth mad him bathe and brush down his fur. The pooka's fur was now darker than it usually was. It was also a tad sleeker and had a feathery soft feeling, making him look very handsome. All in all, Bunnymund didn't half mind being primed and pulled like a little kid. He just hoped it would make Jack happy.

"Now, where iz our guest of honor, Tooth?" North asked the fairy, a large sign of anxiety radiant in his voice. Tooth smiled wide and flew out of the room. They listened close as she conversed with Jack.

"Come on you look great!"

"Hell no."

"Stop being such a baby."

"I'm not a baby!"

"Then get out here and show them!"

"Never!"

"Fine...then you don't get to go to the party."

A short silence followed.

"...goddammit, fine."

Tooth flew back into the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Come on in Jack."

An exaggerated sigh was heard before the winter spirit came in. Bunnymund's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

Jack's silver dress shined bright in the light and caused all who looked upon it to feel a sense of awe. Her hair was beautifully curled and draped over left shoulder. Her eyes looked piercing with such a tasteful light blue eye shadow. She started to walk down the steps in expensive blue stilettos. As she began her slow descent down the stairs, all party members slowly stopped their conversations, turned and looked at her. Her snow-white cheeks turned pink as she noticed everyone's eyes all fixed upon her beautiful visage. She found it hard to move, as though she had accidentally frozen herself again. Every male, North excluded, looked longingly at her attractive figure. Sandy had even held up a sign with seven digits and a note above saying "bitches call her for a good time." A dark glare from North made it slowly come down.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, Jack felt like her face was as red as a tomato after literally everyone gazes had fallen upon her and many mouths were on the floor. Before she could even feel even more embarrassment, North had set the party into motion. Realizing he was gawking, Bunnymund quickly shut his mouth and shook his head. "Crikey, what the hell is wrong with me?"

As the party continued on into the night, Jack began to relax more. She chatted with most of the spirits, blushing slightly when they complimented her on her outfit. She had made her way over to the huge buffet table and was about to pour herself some punch when a smooth, cocky voice made her freeze, "Nice party, huh Jackie?"

Turning slowly around, Jack's good mood immediately flew south. "What the hell do you want, Saben?"

"Now Jackie, is that anyway for a woman to talk to an old friend?"

"Don't ever call me Jackie again."

The summer spirit ran his hand through his spiky dirty blonde hair, as though trying to seem suave, although to Jack, it only reminded her of what kind of scum he really was behind the handsome face. His cocky smile caused her skin to crawl as his intrusive eyes looked her up and down. "You know, that dress looks good on you. It would look even better on the ground."

With that one statement, Jack summoned all of her force into her hand and promptly smacked Saben across the face, leaving a large handmark on his cheek. He quickly regained his sickening smirk and said "Ooooo, chilly kitty's got some fight in her. That's fine, I like it rough. Of course, you wouldn't know that, seeing as how I left you before you could get some of the serpent in your crevas."

Ignoring the chill that ran down her spine, Jack said "Did you? Or did you literally beg me to sleep with you for over a month and a half before you realized that your right hand wasn't a good enough substitute and left me."

By now they had become the center of attention, and this response caused many to snicker and laugh at Saben, whose face started to turn red with a slowly escalating anger. Seeing this, Jack smiled and turned away, thoroughly satisfied. As she began to walk away, Saben reached out his hand trying to grab her ass. He licked his lips and smiled, knowing he could create a complete humiliation for Jack by one single grab. However, before he could grab her, he felt his hand launch in the other direction and searing pain swelled in his wrist. He screeched out and clenched his wrist in agony. He looked down and saw that it was a large boomerang that had caught his hand.

He began to turn his head toward the direction where it came, but before he could say anything, he felt a rabbit's foot firmly slam against his face, and a large crack rang through the large room as his nose broke. He felt himself be propelled several feet and slide hard on the ground. Before he could think about what had just happened to him, the air quickly left his body as a powerful force collided with his chest pinning him to the ground. He looked up into the furious eyes of Bunnymmund.

"Let's play a little game, mate. You be the baby...and I'll be the dingo."

Saben struggled to get himself free, but Bunnymund had put so much pressure on his chest that finding any small snippet of air that could squeeze into his lungs took most of his energy. Bunnymund bit his lip hard just looking at this disgusting excuse for a seasonal spirit. He pushed down as hard as he could without breaking a rib, although god knows if he had a molecule less of restraint they would all be broken. Bunnymund reached behind him and pulled out his other boomerang and raised it high above his head, aiming to bring it down with full force on Saben's head. Before he could though, he felt a soft hand gently place itself on his raised forearm. He felt his anger quell as he turned to face Jack, whose snow-white hand had been the one to stop him.

"Bunny stop, he's not worth it."

Bunnymund quickly regained his composure and removed his foot from Saben's chest and walked away following Jack. He walked down a small hallway and through a set of french style double doors that led to an outdoor balcony. They stepped out into the chilly winter night and Bunny's fur, which had been brushed down, now completely puffed up, due to the change in temperature. He grumbled and smoothed out the fluffiness before slowly walking over to Jack. The winter spirit was over by the railing, arms resting on the polished ivory and looking out at the snowy mountains that surrounded North's workshop. He stopped a few steps behind her before she spoke, "Why did you attack him?"

Her voice was calm, but the pooka sensed anger rising slowly but surely into her tone.

"He was gonna grab your ass, Jack! What the hell would you do in that situation?"

"Did you really have to send him flying across the room?" she continued still calm.

"Was there any other option?"

She turned around and faced him with crossed arms. Her eyebrows were arched down and her eyes were very ablaze with fury. "I could have handled it, I don't need your help."

Bunny took an over-exaggerated look of bewilderment. "Oh I can see that, a random jerk ya don't even know goes to grab ya' ass and u've got it covered."

Jack eased her body slightly as she said, "No, I knew him..."

"Well then who in holy hell was he if just thinks he can grab ya there?!" Bunny demanded. His anger and frustration were only building at this point.

"He's an ex-boyfriend, happy now?" Jack said, some of her resentment and anger returning to her. As those words hit him, Bunny felt his anger subside, his fists unclench, his eyes widen, and his ears suddenly drop down to the back of his head. The two stared at each other, Jack looking pissed and Bunny looking slightly hurt, for what felt like hours. It was the ice spirit who finally broke the staring contest and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

She looked at him angrily. "That's your excuse for lashing out at everyone when you don't know the story, isn't it?" Before he could reply, she brushed past him and walked through the doors, leaving the pooka out in the cold.

It was getting later as a few hours past. Jack stifled a yawn and restrained herself from rubbing her eyes. Tooth would be wringing her throat if she smudged even a speck of her makeup. For as much as Tooth's feminine attributes annoyed her, she always did like them, and even found herself influenced by them, despite her better judgement. She looked around and saw that everyone was beginning to slow dance with one another. She saw Tooth dancing in a sickeningly cute fashion with Baby Tooth, North started with an old friend of his, and Sandy was being torn between eight different spirits. Jack snickered lightly and leaned up against a wall and crossed her arms.

As time further pressed on, more and more men asked her to dance. Some would come with great bravado while others would come so shy they could barely speak a word. However, whether shy or brave, she would always give a polite decline. It seemed as though every available man had asked her, even Saben while nursing a broken nose and had walked over, but she give him a firm "Hell no" before words even left his open mouth and he slowly sulked away. Soon enough men stopped coming and she was finally left alone. While a sigh of relief came over her, she began to feel a small sense of loneliness, as though she was cut off from everyone else in the room, in a tiny world where no one could see or hear her, just like it used to be...

"'Ello there mate," Bunny said as he walked up next to her, breaking her solitude, "So hows the party goin for ya?"

Jack simply shrugged and continued to look blankly at the party of dancing men and women. Bunny started to lean against the wall as well, crossing his own arms and trying to match Jack's expression of apathy. He knew what he wanted to say, but he felt his jaw seal itself shut out of pure fear and anxiousness. He focused his sight straightforward on the dancing crowd. He studied almost every couple and tried to commit their movements to memory. If he succeeded in asking Jack to dance, he would need to have some idea of what he was doing.

He summoned a great deal of strength toward to his mouth and barely opened it to let words come out. He cautiously turned his head to Jack and said, with barely any detection of real sound, "Jack, do you wanna...dance?"

"What?"

Bunnymund swallowed hard, as he knew this time he had to speak even louder and risk himself an even larger humiliation. While clenching his fist, he took a deep breath, wiped away all of his nervous and his self-doubt, and returned to his regular determined demeanor. "May I have this dance?"

The silence that followed was slowly killing the pooka on the inside. Jack just kept looking at him with a look of complete surprise. Bunnymund began to panic and quickly considered just turning around and running away, however, those thoughts were suddenly de-railed when Jack's voice softly said, "I'm a horrible dancer."

The pooka's confident smile returned as he took her small hand gently in his soft paw, "If I can teach ya to paint eggs, then I can teach ya how to dance."

He began pulling her toward the dance floor and she very reluctantly followed. He guided her along a seemingly unending maze of spirits until he had brought the both of them to the center. Everyone noticed as they went by and soon all turned and circled around the two of them. Jack found herself hiding her face in Bunnymund's chest, extremely embarrassed and not willing to show her face. Bunnymund smiled down at her, took her hand, and began a waltz.

Jack felt as though she was being strung along as Bunnymund expertly moved up and down, in and around in such a precise and stylistic manner. Multiple times when trying to catch up with him, Jack would accidentally step on one of Bunny's large feet with her stiletto heel. Bunnymund winced slightly to himself when it happened but not loud enough that Jack could hear, he didn't want to ruin this dance with her unhappiness. After awhile, Jack caught on to the movements and was able to match the pooka's steps. She had finally lifted her face up and was smiling brightly. Bunnymund smiled softly, glad that the snow spirit was finally enjoying herself. He caught Saben watching them, his eyes shooting blood soaked daggers at the guardian of Hope. The pooka smirked over Jack's shoulder at the summer spirit. She was safe from the asshole's clutches for another day.

The two guardians had just finished their waltz when a song floated in their ears. Sandy was over at the DJ table, a huge grin forming on his face. A soft, slow song filled the air and the lights dimmed slightly. Jack was thankful that the room was dark. Her face had turned bright red when she realized that the spirits around her were starting to slow dance. She looked to Bunny. He smiled softly at her and held out his paw. Staring at it for a few seconds, Jack shyly took it and let the pooka pull her close to him. He placed his other paw gently on her waist and she tentatively put her hand on his forearm. As they started swaying gently to the music, the ice spirit became more comfortable and rested her head on the pooka's arm. Bunny felt his heartbeat speed up slightly but slowly breathed in and out, allowing the blood to pump at a smooth rhythm, almost matching up with the song.

Well, my girl's in the next room.

Sometimes I wish she was you.

I guess we never really moved on.

It's really good to hear your voice

sayin' my name

it sounds so sweet.

Comin' from the

lips of an angel

hearin' those words it makes me weak.

This song had been Jack's favorite ever since she had heard it a week ago. She had been hanging around Jamie when she had heard it playing from a nearby house. It was beautiful and its lyrics were as sweet as honey as they swam through the air and bounced off the ears. The perfect love song about the perfect guy. It made her think of how her relationship with Saben would have if he wasn't the slimy prick he was. Would she have been happier? Or was there someone else? Someone a little better for her...

However, her reminiscing was cut short as something out of the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. Jack saw a peculiar man who she had never seen before. He was tall and was wearing a long, black cloak. His back was to her, and his hood was pulled over his head, so she couldn't even hazard a guess as to who it was. What she did find, however, was that as the mysterious man passed in front of the dancers, they didn't make any acknowledgement or notice him. "Must be the wine," she thought to herself. Just to make sure, she raised her head to look up at Bunnymund. "Hey, Bunny?"

"What's up, mate?"

"Do you see that guy over there?"

The pooka's eyes roamed over the guests around them. "What guy?"

"Over there with the black hooded cloak," she motioned with her head to the direction she saw him.

Bunnymund looked around before turning his eyes back to the ice spirit. "I think you might be seein' things, Snowflake. There's nobody like that here."

The two continued dancing, but Jack kept her eye on the mysterious stranger over Bunny's shoulder. Her eyebrow quirked curiously as the man walked by two spirits and ran a hand of long, bony fingers along their arms. A scream echoed through the ballroom not a second later. The lights immediately flicked on and everyone turned to where the scream had come from. To everyone's shock, two spirits were laying on their backs on the floor. Their skin was turning an ugly shade of green and looked like it was eroding away. Their blank eyes stared up at the ceiling as the skin on their faces started to decay.

Panic soon had broken out everywhere. North and the other guardians sprang into action and tried to restore order, but that soon proved to be fruitless. Jack started following Bunnymund, but she stopped. She had the strangest feeling she was being watched. Turning slowly around, her heart nearly stopped when she made eye contact with the shadowed man from across the ballroom.

For a split second, she thought she was staring into the face of Pitch Black. The man's skin was ash gray and, in a creepy way, kind of handsome. She could see sharp teeth in his smirk from her location across the room. But on closer observation, she could see spiky blonde hair from under his hood as well as the fact that this man's eyes were acid green while Pitch's had been the color of melted gold. And it was these eyes that felt like they were intrusively staring straight into her soul. The man grinned widely at her and winked in a seductive manner. A cold chill slowly ran down Jack's spine and her skin started crawling.

"Jack?"

She snapped out of her trance and turned to see Bunny looking at her with a worried expression. "Is everything alright?"

The snow spirit looked back to where the man was, but he had vanished without a trace, as though he hadn't even been there at all.

"I...I don't know, Bunny."

Post notes- Yup...I've gone to the level of creepy perv ex-boyfriends. And yes, the mysterious man is the same one from Pitch's lair. Review and I'll see you in Chapter Eight!