The great thing about week-ends is that I get to stay in bed and staying in bed helps me think of story ideas. This one just randomly came to me while being too lazy to get up. It's based on a big cliché, but I hope I manage to do something interesting with it. It's going to be in three parts.

I want to thank everyone who left suggestions. I've noted down several of them and I hope to manage to work them into stories. And, since I've been neglecting my art lately, I just might illustrate chapter 30. I'll post a link on my profile if I do.


Bunny wasn't sure why he was racing around the warrens to catch the annoying winter spirit this time. The reason had lost its significance at some point during the chase. What mattered was that, when he caught him, he would make him pay. For whatever it was he had done this time.

Frostbite had a head start, but Bunny was catching up. The young Guardian's speed was impressive, but he couldn't outrace a rabbit. He felt a triumphant smile tugging at his lips. The long chase would simply make his victory that much sweeter. Jack looked back at him and his eyes widened when he saw how closed he was, but the mischievous twinkle did not leave his eyes. He threw Bunny a lopsided grin.

The pooka prepared to bound on him, to tackle him to the ground and knock that grin from his face, when he noticed something ahead, something that the winter spirit was clearly not paying attention to.

"Look out!"

His warning came too late. Jack could only manage to somewhat lessen the impact with the tall rock platform rising in front of him. He still rammed straight into it at impressive speed. Bunny winced as he saw Jack's body limply bounce against the rocky wall several time on its way down. He skidded to a halt at the base of the rock, catching the boy before he hit the ground. He could at least avoid him a few more bruises. Jack's staff clattered to the ground next to them.

He gently lowered the boy to the ground to do some damage evaluation. That kind of crash could hurt even a Guardian. The skin above his left eyebrow was torn where it had hit the rock, but it wasn't bleeding much and Bunny didn't worry about it for now. He tried to feel around the scrape for potential damage to the skull and was relieved to find nothing. He was even more relieved when the boy's eyes fluttered open.

"That'll teach you to come here and be an annoying little brat. Are you even listening to me?"

Jack just blinked at him with unfocused eyes. Bunny held up two fingers and waved them in front of those eyes. They made a rather pathetic attempt to follow. At least he wasn't completely out of it.

"How many fingers do you see, Snowflake?"

"Fingers?"

His voice was weak and confused, which wasn't exactly unexpected after crashing headfirst into a wall. It was still painful to hear. Bunny grabbed his chin and tried to make eye contact.

"Jack, look at me, will you?"

"Jack?"

"Okay, this isn't getting us anywhere."

He scooped up the boy. He could patch up that scrape first. If he wasn't responding any more coherently after that, then he would start worrying. After a moment of hesitation, he gingerly picked up the staff as well. Jack barely even reacted. Bunny pretended he wasn't already worrying.


By the time Bunny was done wrapping gauze around his head, Jack was actually looking at him. That was good. He was holding his staff once more, distractedly turning it between his fingers. Several bruises were now visible on his too pale skin. Bunny hoped none of the others saw him before they had faded. He looked like a kid who just got beaten up and the wide-eyed way he was staring at him wasn't helping.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Jack nodded before wincing. He raised a hand to his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Hey, don't try moving your head too fast, Snowflake. Now, how many fingers?"

He waved the two fingers in front of Jack's face again once he opened his eyes. This time, the icy blue eyes followed them, if with a bit of a delay. Jack gave him a big, proud smile, so different from his usual grin.

"Two."

Bunny was worried. Even if Jack was clearly doing better than he had been right after the crash, he felt like he was talking to a child. More specifically, he felt like he was trying to talk to a child that wasn't Jack.

"Be more careful next time, alright?"

The young Guardian just stared blankly at him, the smile still on his lips.

"Careful?"

"Yes. Careful. So you don't fly headfirst into walls again."

Bunny was starting to strongly suspect that Jack was a little fuzzy on the details of how he had gotten hurt. He shouldn't be surprised. He had hit his head pretty hard, after all. It was no wonder that he might have forgotten how it happened. What he did not understand was why Jack was giving him such a big smile, his eyes lighting up as if he had just gotten the most wonderful news in his life.

"I can fly?"

Bunny took a slow, steadying breath.


I was originally going to make this only two parts, but this one would have gotten pretty long if I had taken it as far as I wanted to. And this felt like a good place to stop. You're just going to have to thrust me that this cliché story is actually going somewhere.