Chapter Three

The meeting of Bunny and Brian

Jack flew straight to the North Pole, secretly enjoying the other's yells of terror at being so high off the ground.

Bunny had come over to North's that morning for a visit and Jack was banking on him still being there, either though his own chose or because once you got North going it was hard to get away from him.

Jack landed just outside the front door and looked up at the Northern sky that was just beginning to go dark.

"It's freezing out here," Brian complained as he slapped his arms.

"Sorry but it is the North pole," Jack said with a grin then added, "you can borrow my hoddy if you like."

"No thanks," Brian replied, "I've got other means of getting warm.

Jack was about to inquire as to what those means might be when Brian blew a jet of fire out of his mouth and into his paw.

Jack leaped back with a surprised yell.

"What is it? what's wrong?" Brian asked in alarm.

"I didn't know you could do that," Jack replied in shock.

"Well so?" the other teen said.

"Err... so winter spirit and fire, not a good combination,"

"Oh... right...sorry," the pooka apologized and put out the flame before asking, "so are we going in?"

Jack led Brian into the main hall of North's fortress and told him to wait there while he got the Easter Bunny ready for the surprise of his life.

Brian was reluctant to wait any longer then he had to but he agreed to do as Jack told him.

"I'll be back soon," Jack told him as we walked towards the door.

...

Jack wandered though North's factory looking for Bunny without much success. He was just thinking of giving up and flying off to the Warren when he spotted Tooth hovering outside the door to North's inner sanctum.

"Hi Tooth," he called.

"Hi Jack," Tooth said with a smile as she flew over to him, "how's it going?"

"It's going fine," Jack told her then asked, "have you seen Bunny?"

Tooth sighed and pointed to the room behind her.

"In there," she informed him, "with North, arguing."

"Oh I see," Jack said with a grin then opened the door and walked in.

Bunny and North stood in the centre of the room, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Sandy also stood in the room but he was off to one side looking bored stiff, clearly he didn't see why North and Bunny were having a go at each other.
Surprisingly they weren't arguing about their holidays but rather about each other.

"I am better Guardian and you know it," North told the pooka.

Bunny shook his head, "Tut, tut," he said, "and I thought Sandy knew better then to mess with people's heads."

"Sandy?" asked a confused North, "messing with my head?"

Bunny nodded, "Yeah it's the only explanation for your last statement, you must be dreaming."

North chuckled, "You are one who is dreaming if you thing you are better Guardian."

"I am the better Guardian, it's a fact."

"If you are better then why is Christmas bigger then Easter?"

"Sympathy mate," Bunny growled.

North roared with laughter, "Face it rabbit I am just more popular then you."

"Are not"

"You need to count Christmas movies."

"You need to type my name into Tumblr's search engine."

At this point North stamped his foot down on the ground in a fit of fury and yelled, "I am bigger and stronger then you."

Jack decided this was as good a time as any to interfere. Flying over to the two bickering Guardians he pocked North in the chest with a finger and said, "Oh yeah well, Bunny is cuter, cuddlier and fluffier then you'll ever be"

"Yeah," Bunny agreed, "I'm cuter, cuddlier and fluffier then…"

The Easter spirit clamped his mouth shut and turned to Jack with a glare the second it dawned on him what Jack was trying to make him say.

Both Jack and North nearly explored with laughter and even Sandy seemed to have found it funny, judging by the grin on his face.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Bunny said sarcastically then added, "Do you want something Frost or are you just here to cause trouble?"

"Nope," the young winter teen replied with a grin, "I'm not here for trouble. I wanted you three and Tooth to come to the main hall, especially you Cottontail."

"What for?" Bunny demanded.

"I want you to meet someone, a friend of mine. He came here you meet you and to see if you have answers to something's he's confused about"

Bunny scowled, "I'm not too sure if I want to meet a friend of yours Jack," he told the winter guardian somewhat rudely.

"Oh believe me Bunny I think this is one guy you don't want to miss.

…

It wasn't long before all five of them stood in front of the door leading to the main hall.

Tooth had joined the other four and was now waiting impatiently for Jack to open the door, as were they all.

"Alright Jack let's see this friend of yours," Bunny said with a strong hint of, 'If he's even there', in his voice.

"Alright here he is," Jack said as he turned the handle.

Pausing in the doorway he turned to Bunny and said, "Oh did I forget to mention that he's a pooka?"

"What?" Bunny said, confused, but his fellow guardian was already pushing him into the room.

Bunnymund stumbled into the room, fell, picked himself back up then froze for standing in front of him was another pooka.

The Guardian of hope just stood there with his mouth open and stared. The person in front of him was shorter, thinner and much younger then he was but the impotent thing was that he was a pooka, a real live pooka.

"I…I…I'm Bunny," Bunnymund managed to stammer out in a horse whisper.

"I'm Brian," the other replied and stuck out his paw.

Bunnymund grasped Brian's paw and pulled him into a hug.

"It's great to see you mate," Bunnymund yelled happily, "I just can't believe I'm actually meeting another pooka after so many years."

"Years?" Brian said in surprise, "What are you talking about? It's only been a few months."

"Few months?" Bunny replied, giving him a funny look, "It's been over a millennium since our people were destroyed."

"What?" Brian gasped in shock and pulled himself out of Bunny's hug, "but …but that's impossible. It can't have been that long, it can't."

As this moment two bright flames ignited in the young pooka's paws, brought on by his confusion and anger.

All of the guardians, other than Jack, stared at him is astonishment, none more so then Bunny.

"I don't remember our people being able to do that," he gasped.

"I know," Brian replied, "I mean you're right we couldn't, I think it's unique to me."

"But then how come you can do it?" Bunny asked.

"I don't know. I just found myself here on this planet and I could control fire even though I couldn't before. I don't understand it."

Brian's eyes fixed onto the guardian of Hope, "I thought maybe you would," he finished.

"I'm sorry but I don't," Bunnymund confessed.

Brian's face fell, "Brilliant," he sighed.

"Maybe if we knew a bit more about you we could figure it out," Tooth suggested.

"Is good thinking," North told her then turning to Brian he added, "You, tell us what you know."

"Well," Brian began, "the last thing I remember happening was my village burning around me. Everyone was in a panic, running and screaming. My parents were there, they told me to get away, to run as fast as I could. I did as they said. I was running but then I heard a child screaming."

Brian squeezed his eyes tightly shut, clearly not enjoying the memory.

"There was a house," he continued, "it was burning; a small pooka was trapped inside, a girl I think. I ran to save her. There was a plank of wood on top of her but I pulled it off. She ran out. I was about but I took a blow to the head and was knocked to the ground. I tried to get up but I couldn't think straight and there was smock everywhere, getting in my mouth and chocking me, then I blacked out."

That's it?" Tooth asked, "there's nothing more?"

"As a matter of face there is but I can't make sense of it," the pooka teen replied before continuing.

"When I woke up after blacking out I was floating in a sea of fire but the funny thing is it didn't burn me."

He stopped and gave a week smile, "Well other then this he added and removed his glove.

His paw were horribly burn, the fur was missing and the skin beneath was blacken and scared; only his fingers were undamaged.

Bunny took a shape intake of breath, "Ow, he said, "that look bad, let me see them."

Brian nodded and let the other pooka examine his paws.

"Like I said I didn't get burnt by the fire," Brian when on, "and after my initial surprise I swam to show and began looking for the rest of my village but of cause I didn't find them."

"And that's the end of the story?" Bunny asked.

"Not quite. As I was standing on the show I thought I heard a voice calling my name."

"Who was it?" asked North.

Brian rubbed the back of his neck with a paw.

"I know this is going to sound crazy," he said "but it…it sounded like it was coming from the moon."

All five Guardians stood stark still and stared straight at him.

Brian gave an embarrassed laugh, "like I said crazy right?"

"No," Bunny replied, "no it's not crazy at all. In fact I think I know what happened to you."

Brian's face lit up, "You do? What?"

"Well," the other pooka said, "to start with you're dead."

"Come again."

"You died mate, you died in the fire that destroyed your village and then The Man in the Moon brought you back."

"Man in the Moon?"

"He's a man that lives in the moon and tells us five, The Guardians, what to do," Tooth explained.

"Okay," Brian responded with a laugh, "I don't know about a man that lives in the moon but as for the idea of me being dead well that's ridiculous, it's just mad."

"No it's not," Jack told him, "the same thing happened to me. I saved my little sister from falling though the ice on a pond and drowning but did so myself, then The Man in the Moon brought me back."

Brian sighed, "Do you really expect me to believe that?

"Why would we lie to you," Jack inquired.
"Think about it," he continued, "it would explain why you aren't hurt by fire and why you can now control it. You saved someone from fire and you were killed by fire, now you're the spirit of fire. The same thing happened with me and ice."

At this point Sandy conjured up a dreamsand paw and pointed at Brian.

"Sandy's right," Jack said, "when I came back my hair had changed from brown to white. My hair was affected by what happened to me and the same thing happened to your paws. Also when I first came back no one could see me because they didn't believe in me. Spirits need to be believed in to be seen. You said so yourself that nobody can see you and that's why. Also it explains why you didn't know it was so long since your people had been destroyed; Man in the Moon must have in kept stasis or something for all those years until he thought it was the right time to wake you."

Brian thought for a moment before saying, "I suppose what you said dose make sense and it does give answers to all my questions but to tell you the truth I though being dead would feel...well...different."
I know what you mean," Jack answered with a grin then asked, "so what now?"
Brian turned to look at Bunny, "I want to see your home," he said, "Your warren. I want to see a pooka house again, that is if you'll let me."
"Let you," Bunny shouted happily, "of cause I'll let you, I'd like nothing more."
"Great!" Brian yelled, "Let's go."
"Not so fast," North told him, "I want to show you something first. Follow me."

They followed North until they reached a door at the very top of his fortress, behind which was a large looking out over the Pole's frozen landscape. Most of the room was taken up by three large tables forming a triangle. On top of them were all manners of glass bottles, some filled with liquids, others with powder.
"This is your laboratory, mate," Bunny said in wonder.
"Yes," North answered and beckoned them over.
"Oh where is it?" he grumbled as he rummaged through the many glass containers.
"Ah here we are," he shouted triumphantly and held up a small bottle containing a bright blue liquid.

"What is it?" Brian asked.

"This," said the big Russian "is the juice from a fruit found deep in the hidden valley of Shan ra Mier in India and it has special healing powers. It is the only one of its kind left in the world. Tooth found it and brought it here. I thought you might like it."

Me?" exclaimed Brian in surprise, "why me?"

"You have burnt paws yes. Maybe it make them better if you drink."

"Maybe it will," the young pooka replied and unscrewed the lid of the bottle.

He was just about to put it to his mouth when he stopped and replaced the lid.

"If this is only one of its kind left in the world then I think we should save it for something major," he told the bewildered North, "my paws don't hurt that much and it seems silly to waste it."

North nodded and took the bottle from the young pooka.

"Okay I keep it for emergency," he said matter-of-factly.

"Thank you," the teen said then added to Bunnymund, "now shall we go see this warren of yours?"

"You bet," the Guardian of Hope replied and opened a tunnel with a tap of the foot.

"After you," he said with a bow.

"Wow," answered Brian and jumped in.

...

Meanwhile far away within his underground lair Pith was stirring.

Two years ago he had suffered defeat at the hands of the Guardians; two years ago children had stopped believing in them and had started believing in him. He had tasted victory only to have it snatched away by those good for nothing, child loving fools. But now he was going to take care of them once and for all.

Pitch raised his hand and conjured up a spiral of nightmaresand.

"It's time foe fear to return to the world," he hissed at it, "go, spy on the Guardian, find me a weakness of theirs that I can penetrate."

The Nightmaresand seemed to hiss in return and then it race up and out of his lair into the warm August air.

"I'm back Guardians," Pitch growled, "I'm back and I'm coming for you."