Yey! Who would be the 200th review?!
Tooth was getting tired. There were so many fearlings and they seemed to be getting stronger. At this pace she would never get to Jack, he may already be...
"Tooth!" yelled North "you have to calm down! It is you! Your fear is making them stronger!"
Tooth gasped. Of course North was right. By worrying about Jack she was stupidly enough making it more difficult to get to him.
"I love Jack too, no? Give Bunny and Gretchen some credit, for all you know they are at the pole eating ice cream with the elves!" he yelled again, as he sliced a fearling with his blades.
Tooth smiled. She knew that eating ice cream was a stretch, but she also knew that the pookas had just survived the impossible, that Gretchen was also a fairy and that Bunny would never let anything bad happen to Jack.
Bunny was running down his tunnel as fast as he could. It would have been faster hopping but he needed to carry Jack. Gretchen was running just behind him, holding her side.
"Sheila, are you OK?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"I'm fine." she dismissed him.
"I know you're not..." he said just before he felt the boy's head fall backwards.
"Jack... stay awake, mate. We're almost there. As fast as we can. You're gonna be in the snow real soon."
Jack didn't open his eyes this time. He was giving up.
"Tooth! I'll tell you what's the deal with her if you stay awake! You really have to hear this, snowflake!" there was panic in his voice. Tooth would kill him if he let anything happen to Jack.
The winter boy gave him the tiniest of smiles. His eyes fluttered, but he didn't open them.
"You of all people are going to laugh so much!" continued the pooka, even though he knew that Jack couldn't hear him anymore.
The tunnel took them to the nearest white mountain top. A soon as they came out, Aster placed the boy's lifeless body in the snow and started convering him with it, until Gretchen's hand stopped him. She lifted the boy's hoodie up, careful not to touch his skin, afraid of transferring even more heat into him. She knew that the ride in Bunny's arms may have made it worse for the winter spirit. The Groundhog inspected Jack's skin and was glad to find that only his hands and legs were burned. His clothes seemed to have somehow protected him from the heat, trapping his natural cold inside.
"It's only his hands and legs. He'll be fine." she said, covering him with snow.
Bunny's stomach flinched. He hadn't seen Jack's legs until Gretchen mentioned it. Little blisters covered the now very red skin of his calves, ankles and feet. It looked really painful.
"The fire never touched him, it was just from the heat." said Bunny.
Gretchen caressed the ends of Jack's white hair, tears menacing to fall from her eyes as she studied the boy. He was strong, but skinny, his arms and legs somewhat still a little too long for his body. Without the light from his mischievous eyes, his face was so innocent, so young. He was just a kid.
"Hey" said Bunny, sitting by her side. He knew what she was thinking, he was thinking it too. But he also knew that frostbite was not as fragile as he looked. "He'll be fine. He just looks like a kid, you know? You should have seen him when he was possessed!" He added with a forced smile, trying to cheer her up.
"He certainly scares Pitch enough to order Gaia to kill him. What I can't explain is why would she risk herself. That was the only setting in which I could have won. She knew I would have a good chance, why would she even try?" asked Gretchen, holding Jack's jaw in her hands, forcing his mouth open to put a little bit of snow inside. The boy seemed to savor it, but he was still unconscious.
"Maybe she's got the same ego problem as her daddy. She knew you could do that, but she didn't think you could beat her." he added thoughtful.
"She does have an ego problem, but who wouldn't? She's freaking Mother Nature after all" she offered, putting more snow into Jack's mouth.
Bunny smiled at her. He could not believe he had been so blind for four hundred years. She was so beautiful, so strong, so brave, so caring...
"You were amazing back there. Why didn't you tell us you could defeat Gaia?" he asked, still trying to take in the wonder that was this girl. His girl...?
"I never imagined she would give me a chance like that. And I doubt we'll have another one." she said, disappointed. She was angry that they had wasted their best shot.
"How can you do that? I mean, why does Jack loose his powers to Gaia but you don't?" Bunny asked, holding her hand. Suddenly it felt so natural to do so, as if they had been together for years.
"Gaia and Jack, and you too for that matter, are nature spirits. You have a connection with the Earth that allows you to command nature. But you can only ask it to do things it would normally do. You can make plants grow, because that's what plants do. Jack can make it snow in winter but not in summer. Gaia couldn't create a tornado in the fire pit because there was no cold air to form one." she stopped to make sure Bunny was following. He nodded. She continued diligently giving snow to the winter boy.
"What I have is magic. The nature of my powers is different. I can make trees grow, but I can also make them move. I can make animals do my will as well. The idea is to help the Forest survive, to somewhat counteract Gaia's excesses." she said, looking at Jack. His face was slowly returning to his normal ghostly pale.
"We fairies don't work against Mother Nature, we work with her, we ensure that the balance is kept, that only that which should be destroyed would be destr..." her words trailed away as his eyes found hers. She smiled nervously, as they stared at each other for a century.
"I'm sorry for being overprotective, love." Bunny broke the silence, their previous conversation forgotten long time ago "I know you can look after yourself, I just... I'm scared of loosing you." he said, his forehead touching hers.
Her chest was about to explode. The warm feeling was almost painful. Her lips seemed to be finding their way to his on their own accord.
"I don't want to loose you eith..." started Gretchen.
"Ouch!" yelled Jack. He tried to get up using his right hand for support. He gasped loudly as his eyes examined the damage. It looked bad.
"Don't worry handsome" said Gretchen smiling as she took his hand and buried it back in the white snow "it's just your hands and legs. It's superficial, you'll be fine."
Jack stared at her for a moment, then at Bunny. This two people had just risked their lives to save his.
"Thank you" he said.
"No worries, mate. You would've done the same." smiled Bunny. The boy smiled back. Of course he would have.
"Hey! I'm sure I remember you saying something about Tooth!" the winter spirit said, winking.
"Oh, frostbite, you won't believe this! She wants to... wait for it... she wants to get married!" Bunny chuckled almost uncontrollably. He was expecting Jack to laugh but the boy didn't. Instead, he looked confused and angry.
"What?!" asked the winter spirit surprised.
That didn't make any sense at all. Spirits didn't get married. Unlike humans, spirits knew that every God, every creature, every myth was real, and so there were no religions. Who would they believe in? There were no laws either. Without laws or religions the institution of marriage couldn't really exist.
"But... I was sure spirits don't get married..." said Jack, more to himself than to Bunny.
"We don't, mate. That's what makes this so funny!" Bunny was still chuckling.
"But... I gave her a diamond... I told her I wanted to be with her forever... isn't that the same thing?" Jack was looking at Gretchen for answers now.
"It... kind of... I don't know handsome, I think little miss sunshine has a loose screw." said Gretchen obviously suppressing a laugh. "A friend of mine did it, though. Get married. As in, throwing a wedding party."
"But it was not a wedding, was it?" Jack asked again. It seemed that thinking about this was more painful than his injuries.
"Well... no. I mean, they had vows and all... but... it was just a party." she replied.
"So, if I get this straight" said Jack "Tooth just wants us to throw a party to let everyone know that we'll be having sex now." the winter boy looked like he was back in the fire pit.
Gretchen couldn't contain her laughter anymore.
"When you put it that way..." she chuckled, holding her side "ouch... I was thinking more about celebrating your love... oh, no..." she couldn't continue. Tears started falling down her cheeks.
"Gretchen..." Bunny looked at her, studying her. She was still smiling but she was obviously in pain, lots of pain "why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"
