This is a continuation of You Will Fear Me and Fallen
As soon as he had received Jamie's letter, North had called the other Guardians. Jamie did not specify who was responsible for this, but he could take a guess. He had thought they had more time before Pitch tried anything. But at least, that meant he should be easy to handle when they found him.
"When the others come, tell them I went to Cupcake's house. They can join us there," he told a nearby Yeti.
North didn't have time to wait for them. He could not simply leave Jack alone with two human teenagers who could not even see the Boogeyman. Not without any way to defend himself. The disappearance of Jack's staff worried him. North could not say he understood too well its significance to the Spirit of Winter, but he knew Jack was much weaker without it.
The sleigh was ready to leave and North had just taken his place at the front when Bunnymund bounded into the room.
"What's happening, mate? Why did you call us? Where are you going?"
North just grabbed Bunny and pulled him in the sleigh. He didn't wait for him to be settled in before starting them on their way. The Easter Bunny stayed huddled on the back seat until they were out of the complex. Once the flying had gotten a bit smoother, Bunny dared speak again.
"North, what's going on? Where are the others?"
"The others will join us there. We have emergency."
He gave Jamie's letter to Bunny and took out a snow globe as he read. He gave it a good shake before whispering one word to it.
"Cupcake."
Jack sighed as the two teens tried to place some more ice cubes on his forehead. He felt quite ridiculous and he couldn't move without them slipping off. He would not deny they felt good on warming skin, though. He needed to get somewhere cold and soon. They had tried fanning him with a piece of paper, but all that did was blowing hot air onto his skin.
He was starting to wonder if Pitch was not simply trying to hide until Jack melted like snow in the heat. The only time his staff had ever been broken, it had been repaired soon and he had been in Antarctica at the time. It was becoming obvious that the general feeling of exhaustion was not the only thing he was going to suffer. He hoped North got the letter and would come soon.
The ice soon melted in the heat of the room and all Jack was left with was wet hair. He still felt too warm. With another sigh, he crawled under the blankets, trying to keep what little cold his body was still emitting trapped around him. He curled up in a ball in the center of the bed, surrounded by pink.
"What are you doing? I thought you said you were too warm?" Jamie asked, puzzled.
"I am."
"Then why are you bundling up in warm blankets?"
"The blankets aren't warm."
He was saved from further discussions about things he did not really understand himself when he heard a sound of bells outside. North had come. He peeked out of the blankets just as Bunny bounded into the room through the open window. Jack could not keep the relieved smile off his face.
"What happened to you, Snowflake?"
Bunny looked shaken to see him like this. Jack withdrew back under the covers. He didn't feel up to explaining right now.
"Can we go somewhere colder?"
"You came, you really came!" Jamie shouted as North noisily climbed through the window.
"North! Back to the Pole, before our Snowflake melts."
"Right away! If Tooth or Sandy comes here, tell them we went back."
Bunny barely noticed as they took off, the wild rocking motion of the sleigh not bothering him nearly as much as the small form huddled beneath North's large fur coat. It was not before the cold air of the North Pole hit them full in the face that Jack pushed the coat away with a relieved look. Even then, he just laid there with his eyes closed, letting the freezing temperature cool him. With his cheeks flushed pink from the heat, he looked... not like Jack Frost.
It was bothering Bunny more than he cared to admit. He realized that, unless they did something about it, Frostbite wasn't going to be able to go anywhere that wasn't freezing cold again. That meant no visiting him in his Warrens, which should make him happy, really, as the winter spirit only ever came when he wanted to bother him, but somehow it didn't.
"Bunny. I don't want to bring him inside through the workshop. It's too warm. I'm going to stop by his bedroom's window. Can you help him get in?"
Bunnymund nodded and picked Jack up from the ground, preparing to jump through the open window with the white-haired teen. He gulped as he stood near the side of the sleigh.
"Don't look down, don't look do—hey! What are you snickering at, Frosty?"
Jack shifted in his grip, wrapping his arms around Bunny's neck and batting his eyelashes at him.
"Nothing. You are just so heroic!"
Bunny didn't have time to reply as the sleigh briefly paused outside of Jack's window. He tightened his hold on the boy as he jumped in.
"Thank you, my hero—ow!"
The pooka gave a satisfied smile to the young Guardian, now on the ground where he had just been unceremoniously dropped. Jack glared at him for a moment before breaking into a grin. Bunny was relieved to see that grin, and that his skin had returned to its usual deathly pallor. He looked much better, if still tired. The Easter Bunny held out a hand to help the winter spirit up to his feet.
"How're you feeling, mate?"
Jack sat down on the windowsill and ran a hand through his hair. He let the mischievous facade drop, for the moment.
"Tired. Drained. Worried. And a little scared."
Bunnymund placed a furry hand on the boy's bony shoulder. The look Jack sent his way, as if looking for some reassurance that everything would be alright, broke his heart. The boy had never looked so frail before. So young.
"We're here to help you, Jack."
As he said this, the door slammed opened, North and Tooth hurrying inside. The fairy fluttered to Jack's side, placing a hand on his forehead. She winced when he shied away from the direct contact of her warm skin on his own. He gave her a small, apologetic smile.
"I was about to leave to join you at Cupcake's house when you returned. The Yeti told me that Sandy left already."
"He'll be back when she tells him we're not there." North said, shrugging. "Now, Jack, tell us what happened."
They listened with mounting anger as Jack told them about Pitch's attack, his accusations and how he had broken his staff.
"Last time he did that, he threw both halves back at me to taunt me. I was able to repair it."
"Last time?" Bunny asked testily. "What last time?"
"Oh... I never told you guys about that? Well... remind me to, when this is over."
"I will, Snowflake. But now, we need to find Pitch."
"Let's go, then!" North shouted, raising a sword above his head. "To Pitch's lair!"
"Wait, what about Sandy?" Tooth asked him.
"Jack, you stay here. If Sandy comes back, tell him we left."
As much as Bunny thought that waiting for Sandy would be smarter, he wanted to put his fist in the Boogeyman's face right now. He ruffled the worried looking young Guardian's hair before following North out.
Next chapter should be the last part of this story. I'll be glad to finish it and go back to writing shorter stories.
I did a little experiment while writing this. I made two snowballs and left one exposed to the air while wrapping the other in a towel. Right now, my exposed snowball is fully melted while the other one still looks fine. I just wanted to make sure that something cold would actually stayed cold longer when wrapped up in something. I don't know why it wouldn't, but I figured I could do my research for once.
Also, I know for having tried it as a homemade air conditioning system, ice in front of a fan melt much faster (but it does send cool air through the room).
