Kind of part of the Prince of the Ice Kingdomarc, but not really. But you do get a glimpse of said Ice Kingdom.


"So? What do you think?"

"It's freezing."

Jack's shoulders slumped a little and he sighed. Bunny didn't know what the kid expected after dragging him to Antarctica to show him his new headquarters. Bunny was so cold he just wanted to return to the Warrens. No doubt the delicate ice buildings were quite beautiful, but he could not really appreciate that right now. All he really noticed was that they had too many arches and windows and must be a poor shelter from the freezing wind.

"We should try moving, then. It should get you warm."

He should have guessed what Jack was planning from the grin on his face, so he would blame the cold for numbing his reflexes and letting the snowball hit him in the face.

"How is throwing snow at me supposed to get me warm?" Bunny grumbled, shaking the snow off his fur.

Jack's grin widened and he held up a new snowball, raising an eyebrow as if to ask him if he was going to just stand there. Bunny went down on all four and bounded away, avoiding the white projectile and throwing his boomerang at the other Guardian. If the kid wanted to throw things at him, he'd soon see that Bunny was good at that game.

Jack laughed and took off, letting the boomerang fly harmlessly under his feet. He swooped back down to grab a new handful of snow. It didn't take Bunny long to realize that all he had to do was keep Jack away from the snow and the winter spirit would have nothing to throw at him. Except for blasts of ice, but that would be taking things a bit far. Soon enough, Bunny was standing on the edge of an icy cliff overlooking the sea, trying to keep Jack over the water where he had no snow to grab.

"You were right, Frostbite, I feel warmer already."

Jack pouted for half a second before diving for the snow to Bunny's right again. The Pooka grinned and tossed his boomerang once more, hoping to actually hit his elusive target this time. He got lucky, catching Jack in the middle of one of his wild tumble through the air. The winter spirit couldn't avoid it in time and Bunny heard the satisfying sound of wood connecting with wood. His victorious grin disappeared pretty quickly when the staff was knocked out of the Guardian's hands, sending him plummeting down to the sea.

"Jack! Oh no. This is bad."

Jack tried to catch his staff, but it had been knocked too far away. The Guardian could do nothing but fall. Bunny wasn't worried about the boy hurting himself falling, he knew he would survive that easily, but he did not have nearly as much confidence in his swimming skills. He had drowned before, after all. He should have known better than to keep him above the water. He shouldn't even let him near water. This might be a little irrational, but this wasn't a time to be rational.

Jack hit the water with a splash. His staff fell nearby, but remained floating on the water, out of reach of its owner. Bunny had no idea if it would have been any use to Jack under the water, where the wind could not reach him, but the Guardian would at least have felt less helpless without it. Now he could only flail in the cold, dark water, alone and without his powers. Bunny stared in horror until his returning boomerang hit him in the forehead. He rubbed the spot with a curse.

"Jack? You better learn to swim right now, because there's no way I'm jumping after you! The water's freezing. It's too cold for me, you hear? Jack? You hear me?"

He was rambling and he knew it. The kid wasn't coming back up and he couldn't count on the penguins wandering around to go save him. Preparing himself for the worst, Bunny took a deep breath and jumped.

The fall was just long enough to give him time to curse himself several time on the way down. For being a fool and jumping into the icy cold water of the Antarctic coast, for letting this happen in the first place, for coming here at all. Then, he hit the water and all he could think of was that he was going to freeze to death. But he had to find Jack, first. He had to at least pull the kid out of the water. But he couldn't even move his own limbs. He was sinking. Even if he found Jack, he wouldn't be any help. That had been a stupid thing to do.

From the corner of his vision, he spotted a tuft of white hair. He reached out to it before everything went dark.


When he woke up, Bunny had no idea where he was. He was wrapped in a blanket on a mattress in what looked like a cave decorated with silver-embroidered blue drapes to make it look like some fancy room. But Bunny could recognized a natural stone cavern when he saw one. A smokeless fire burned in a fake hearth, much like those that kept North's workshop warm.

He wondered if that was where he was. Maybe North had showed up, fished them out of the water and brought Bunny back to the North Pole so he could get warm. In some cavern that looked like it had been decorated by Jack Frost and on a bed that didn't have sheets or an actual blanket. Now that he was a bit more awake, he saw that the thing wrapped around him was the thick blue velvet cloak of Jack's Halloween costume. He must still be in Antarctica.

"Oh, you're awake. I brought you hot cocoa."

Jack stepped from behind a blue drape that likely hid the entrance, carrying a platter with a steaming mug on top. He looked even more frozen than usual, as the water soaking his clothes and hair had turned to ice. He looked worried, but otherwise fine. Bunny fell back against the mattress in relief, holding the cloak close to warm himself up.

"Was it the penguins?"

"What? No, I made the cocoa. Bunny, are you all right?"

"I meant are they the ones who saved us? And I'm fine."

His shivers gave away the lie, but he glared at Jack, challenging him to say anything about that. The boy didn't. He put the platter down on a bedside table and handed him the mug, not letting go until Bunny's hands stopped shaking enough to hold it on his own.

"It wasn't the penguins. I got us out."

"You? You can't swim."

"Of course I can. I'm just not good. It took me a while to figure out which way was up. Even longer to actually get there."

"You drowned before."

"You were drowning, too."

"It was cold, all right?" Bunny answered, defensive.

"And it was cold the day I died."

Jack didn't state the obvious, that he would have been fine without Bunny being an idiot and jumping in freezing water. He would have had an easier time swimming out alone than dragging the unconscious Pooka with him. Bunny felt embarrassed. Not only he had been no help, but he had made it even harder for the one he had been trying to save. He couldn't look Jack in the eyes, so he stared into his mug instead.

"Hey, Bunny?"

"What?"

"Thanks."


I decided to take a break from my all-important work (by which I mean drawing a fanart of Peter Pan) to write this little chapter. Now, I might be taking that little break I talked about yesterday.

Also, while I was drawing fanarts, I changed the cover again. It looks weird at that size, but I was tired of the eye. Full-sized version on my tumblr and deviantart (ok, not really full-sized, since that thing is huge, but bigger).