Disclaimer: I do not own ROTG, and I probably won't until I buy the DVD
HI! Ok, I am working on Human Bunny even as I write this believe it or not. So if anyone has any ideas or requests for how they would like to see the brotherly love arc for Jack and Bunnymund play out, feel free to PM me or leave those ideas in a review. I like ideas, opinions, and reviews; they are what keep me writing.
Ok, so this is the request from Elysenjazz, which is Jack and Sandy hanging out, but try as hard as I might, it was really hard for me to make a chapter about them hanging out without some sort of sub-plot. So this chapter is simply about…Appendicitis and Sandy….with some North as well...
The air was crisp as Sandy flew through the city of Burgess, and the small man gave a happy smile as he noticed that the city was spotted with the believers of Jack Frost. How did he know which were which? Well the tell tale sign of them leaving their windows part of the way open in the middle of January was certainly a giveaway. Each child wanted to make Jack feel welcome whenever he felt like crashing in an actual house for a night or so, and so the children of the city had developed a series of secret codes for the winter spirit. A partially open window meant, 'feel free to come inside and stay the night', a flashlight shining out the window meant 'PITCH!', but the best sign for the spirit was that the kids had actually made little flags and painted a snowflake on them.
All believers had made a flag and hung it somewhere in their backyard or out their window as symbol of their belief. Looking down onto the city, Sandman felt proud elation swell his chest as he counted at least twenty flags. The adults thought that kids had made up some kind of club, and thought nothing of it. Sure, they would all ask each other, who was this Jack person the kids never stopped talking about? But in the end, they all just shrugged it off due to the fact that whoever this person was, he was encouraging their kids to play outside and not sit around watching TV which was always a plus, so the parents couldn't complain about the children of the city's newest obsession.
A soft smile accompanying his golden glow, the little man decided that he should visit Jack, and congratulate him on his success in finding even more believers. So, raising himself up above the cityscape, Sandy turned towards Jack Frost's lake.
Jack lay on his side, his once bright crystal blue eyes now dull with fever as he watched through blurred vision the water of the lake lap at the shore. It had begun to thaw just a day or so before, honestly Jack couldn't remember, and as it did the winter spirit realized that he didn't feel that well. It began as just a pain behind his belly button, but soon he found he wasn't able to move, much less walk from the stabbing pain in his right side. Soon that was accompanied by puking his guts out every five or so minutes, which only made him feel ever more weak and shaky. To make matters worse, he had a fever…oh joy.
A wave of nausea knocked his vision into a spinning, whirling mess, and Jack closed his eyes as he breathed in deeply through his nose in an attempt to combat the urge to yet again paint the snow green. But the pain in his right side only continued its torture as it stabbed him, making him choke on his own air, and convulse as his body tried to remember how to breathe. His shoulders shook, and his ribs rattled from the tremors afflicting his body as he tried to drag oxygen into his body in shuddering wheezing gasps, and soon the boy could only lay there and weakly shiver as pain and nausea roiled within. This was how Sandy found him.
Sandman was already shocked at the thawed state of Jack's pond, but no words or pictures could accurately describe the fear and worry that clenched his chest when he saw the winter spirit laying on the ground looking all the world like a pale rag doll thrown on the ground and forgotten. Even from his spot up in the sky, the golden man could make out how badly Jack's body was shaking as he coughed and gagged. Without a second thought, Sandy flew down as fast as he could to land at the ill winter sprite's side. Needless to say it did not take long for the golden man to deduce that Jack was in no shape to remain by himself next to the lake. Jack had tried to protest against Sandy caring for him, but a firm shake of the sandman's head accompanied by a healthy dose of dream sand quickly stifled those complaints.
With a fond yet worried shake of his head, the Sandman created a large pillow of dream sand, and using it to carry the boy to the North Pole and hopefully to medical help.
The entire journey there made Sandy nervous, his head constantly turning to look behind him, and check on the ailing winter spirit. Pitiful moans mixed with pained whimpers filled the night air, making the golden man urge himself to go even faster towards the infirmary at the workshop, his face clenched in a tight grimace of worry. The wind whistled past his ears as he tried to streamline his stocky form into a rocket, his hand clenching the dream sand rope attached to the cloud Jack was currently lounging on. Technically Sandman was able to make it to the North Pole in less than two hours, a miracle in itself, but to the keeper of dreams it felt like an eternity. It was in this urgent and worried fashion that he arrived at Santoff Clausen, winter sprite in tow, and immediately sought out North.
The big man in question was currently busy scratching out blueprints for a young child in Switzerland when Sandy came in, a dream sand flag waving urgently over his head. North looked up over his reading glasses, brow furrowing in confusion as he took in Sandy's looks of fear and concern. Taking off the glasses and putting down the pencil that he had been using to sketch with, Nicholas St. North rose up from his seat and approached the usually calm and happy Guardian of Dreams.
"Sandy," his Russian accent rumbled "is something wrong?"
Sandy nodded as his dream sand whirled to form a large 'YES!'
"What happened old friend?" North asked his voice low with concern.
Sandy began making pictures of Jack flying, then falling down and clutching his stomach shaking hard, and lastly a picture of a band aid.
North let out a sigh, and then once again turned blue eyes now dark with worry at his friend "Let me see him, and I will do what I can."
Sandy cast a grateful smile at North and eventually followed the large man out of the door and towards the infirmary where he had left Jack.
North expected things to be bad, judging from how worried Sandy looked and the mere fact that Jack even let the guardian of dreams bring him here for help, but he wasn't quite prepared for what he found. Jack lay on the bed, his body shaking with shivers running up and down his spine, and his white hair was plastered to his forehead or sticking up in awkward spikes from the sweat rolling off his face. Pitiful little whimpers rode on each breath as the winter child curled into himself, his shoulders shaking from the force of the tremors rattling his thin frame, and the usually pale face was now a flushed pink from the fever ravaging the poor child.
"Oh Jack," North sighed as he knelt down to ruffle the damp sweaty head.
Sandy gave a silent sigh of his own, glowing golden eyes downcast as he looked on the tortured form of their youngest member. Once again standing to his feet, Santa began a perfunctory examination, his keen eyes taking in every detail as he poked and prodded. Jack would occasionally moan with each time he was jostled so that North could check another spot, but it wasn't until the man checked his abdomen that the problem became clear. North had noticed that Jack's arms were firmly wrapped around his stomach, and his face was in a sharp grimace of pain. With gentle hands, the keeper of Wonder detached the trembling arms and gently pressed down on the right side of Jack's stomach. The winter teen jolted awake with a yelp, his blue eyes wide with shock and pain.
"H-hurts!" he whimpered through chattering teeth.
"It hurts on right side?" North looked down at the boy with concerned eyes "Tell me Jack, have you been throwing up?"
The boy gave a weak nod while the large man placed a gentle hand on Jack's forehead, his usually jolly features scrunching into a grimace of worry as he felt the fever burn against his skin. Once again turning to the trembling winter spirit, the man heaved a long sigh.
"Jack," North said softly but with a stern no nonsense look "how long have you been feeling this way?"
Jack looked away from the concerned faces of Wonder and Dreams, his flushed face becoming even more pronounced as he blushed in discomfort and embarrassment "…few days…" he muttered quietly.
"A few DAYS?!" North bellowed in surprise but quickly quieted down when Jack winced at the yell "Jack, I think you may have appendicitis, had Sandy not have found you it could have been fatal."
"Not true," Jack whispered with a snarky tone to his voice "immortals can't die."
"No Jack," North replied firmly "immortals do not die of old age, but we can die should we get sick or gravely injured. We may be immortal, but that does not excuse for not taking care of yourself."
Jack bit the bottom of his lip as his blue eyes fell to the floor in ashamed silence "…Sorry…" the winter murmured softly.
North sighed then ruffled the white head currently lying on the pillow "Do not worry Jack, though I am disappointed that you did not come to me for help, I am relieved that it is not too late to do the surgery needed to make you well again."
"Surgery?" Jack bolted upright, wincing at the pain in his stomach before once again turning fearful eyes onto the guardian of Wonder "What do you mean surgery?"
"Jack, do you not know what Appendicitis is?" the large man asked hesitantly.
"Uh…" the blue eyes once again fell as the boy looked down in embarrassment "Not really, I mean I never hung around hospitals much, and I was never around children who had it. So when it comes to medical stuff, the most I know is just the basics, like setting broken bones and getting over a cold…but anything beyond that…" a pale hand waved in the air as if he were struggling to catch any other information other than his current knowledge "Beyond that, I'm pretty much clueless."
Sandy shook his head, shrugging helplessly at his old friend when Santa shot a look at him in silent helplessness. Dragging a weary hand down his face, the man looked once again at the child who was still staring at the floor in an embarrassed silence, and proceeded to explain what Appendicitis was.
"Appendicitis is when an organ in your body, your Appendix, becomes infected and starts to swell up, like balloon," North explained his hands reaching in front of him as if they were holding an invisible balloon that was slowly inflating "then when it can no longer stretch…BOOM! It bursts, and spreads infection to entire body, which can cause death if not taken care of immediately."
Blue eyes widened with fear at the enactment of his Appendix exploding and Jack gave a heavy swallow "…Oh…" he squeaked "Is that all?"
"Yes," North nodded firmly "but is ok, I will do surgery myself and take out Appendix so that it does not explode all over your insides."
"Sounds good," Jack groaned as he flopped his head into the pillow and burrowed deeply into it.
North got up and left, leaving Sandy alone with the forlorn and pained winter spirit. The keeper of dreams drifted over, and patted his shoulder consolingly waiting for Jack to peek up from the pillow before giving the boy a picture of a miniature Jack flying around and happy. Jack smiled up at his friend, giving a weak thumb up at the golden man.
"Don't worry Sandy," the winter spirit said quietly "I'll be fine. I can't say that I'm happy over the fact that I have to have surgery, but I'm sure that I'll be up and around in no time."
Sandy gave a smile and gave Jack's shoulder a reassuring squeeze just as North came in, at the large man's word, the keeper of Dreams sprinkled dream sand over the sprite using all of his gifts to ensure Jack fell into a deep sleep full of sweet dreams.
…
Jack slowly woke up, his blue eyes fluttering open to gaze on the inside of what he assumed was his bedroom. The only reason why he was unsure was due to the fact that his mind felt foggy, and his limbs were heavy, undoubtedly from some kind of medication given to him by North to ensure that he did not feel any pain. Blinking rapidly, the boy lifted his woozy head from the pillow, and struggled to lift himself off the bed and prop himself onto his elbows. Unfortunately that resulted in the room spinning, his abdomen aching, and him falling back onto the bed in a weak trembling heap. Flopping his arms over his throbbing head, the boy let out a groan, and weakly kicked his legs underneath the blankets in a small temper tantrum at being so helpless and unable to do anything.
Suddenly a knock came from the door, and the boy peeked out from under his arm to see Sandy floating into the room, carrying a tray laden with two overflowing ice cream sundaes.
"Sandy," Jack said with a huge grin as he removed his arms from his face and rolled over so that he could look at the guardian more directly "you rock!"
Sandy gave a silent chuckle, nodding his head in understanding at Jack's need for something cold and sweet. Using his dream sand, the dream master propped the winter sprite up on his pillows in a sitting position, and then he reached down and pulled the blankets back up. Giving the winter child his sundae, the golden man created a glittering bean bag chair and sat at the bedside of the boy, his own face lit up with glee over his own icy treat. With much slurping, and licking, the duo tucked in, Sandy giving silent gasps as he clutched his head due to brain freeze, causing Jack to let out a guffaw of laughter and immediately wince as he felt the action pull at his stitches. Sandy gave the winter child a look of concern and made to pull down the blankets to check on his injury, but Jack stopped him with a wave, and a smile.
"It's ok Sandy," he assured "I'm fine, just happy that I don't suffer from brain freeze."
Sandy made a picture of Bunny, and then winked.
Jack giggled "True, Bunny would probably disagree."
Sandy chuckled and then scooped up some more ice cream, but just as Jack was digging back into his, the golden man bent his spoon backwards and flung the glob of frozen dairy across the space between them, punching the air when it hit him square in the nose. Jack felt an undignified yelp burst from his lips when the unexpected wet object hit his face, crossing his eyes to look down at the blob of chocolate, he then sent a playful glare across the bed to his friend. Leaning over, the winter child grabbed some tissues and wiped his face, tossing his head as he gave a regal sniff, and continued eating his sundae.
"I'm not rising to your bait," the sprite said in as dignified a manner that he could muster "this ice cream is too good to waste on a food fight."
But Jack's mature stance against a food fight using ice cream was thwarted when yet another glob of sundae hit his eye. A soft growl of irritation sounded from the pale boy's throat, and as he grabbed more tissues to clean his face, Jack sent a wicked smile across the blankets towards Sandy.
"A'right," he growled in his best imitation of Bunny "this means war, mate."
Plunking his Sundae onto the nightstand, Jack lifted both hands into the air with a war cry, snowballs forming in his palms. Throwing them directly at Sandy, the golden man deflected them with an umbrella, before created a tiny sand cannon with which he scooped bits of ice cream into and shot them across the room towards the bedridden teen. Jack caught them, re freezing them so that they would splatter all over, and then grinned evilly at his friend.
"I'm a winter spirit Sandy," he cackled gleefully "you can't fight ice, with ICE cream!"
Using his powers, Jack brought to life a small plane, which he loaded the stolen ice cream into, and watched clapping his hands in delight as the airplane did loop de loops while shooting ice cream bullets, and dropping ice cream bombs. Sandy, now dressed in military garb complete with battle helmet, commanded a small battalion of miniature soldiers as they marched across the blankets of the bed, each one carrying a spoon laden with the frozen substance. As the plane dived low, Sandy gave a tearful farewell to a portion of his army as they fell from the bullets and bombs being dropped from the ice plane. A few managed to a get a shot off, one soldier assisting another by allowing the miniature GI Joe to kneel down with the spoon over his shoulder, and the second hopping up in order to bend the spoon back and let it loose. Jack lifted his hands, blocking the blobs of frozen dairy flying at him from the army on his sheets, and a loud giggle shrieked from his lips.
"That's it!" he yelled in unsuppressed glee "No more Mr. Nice Guy!"
Putting his hands together, Jack gently blew, and watched as the ice crept from fingertip to fingertip, until it formed a tank. Quickly creating three more, Jack pointed across the bedspread, and his tanks went forth. The golden GI Joes screamed silently, and ran the other direction, arms waving wildly as they made their retreat. Sandy gave a playful glare at Jack, and fumed with golden sand streaming from his ears, before he to upped the ante. Waving his hands, the man created a small tyrannosaurus-rex, accompanied by Godzilla, which both promptly attacked the tanks. Both grabbing the tank cannons in their jaws and breaking them into pieces. Jack's hands flew up to his hair as he gazed in horror.
"No," he exclaimed "my tanks!"
With a pout of determination, the winter child once again breathed into his hands, but this time he created a robot that looked like something out of a Gundam anime. The robot brandished its oversized sword, and slashed the t-rex into halves, before turning to Godzilla. Leaping forward, the mecha swung its blade in a downward arc, only to have it be caught between the teeth of the legendary monster. Godzilla gave a silent growl before snapping the blade in half, but the robot merely jumped backwards, and opened up various secret doors that revealed missile launchers. Missiles shot from its shoulders, chest, fists, knees, and back, all hitting Godzilla and exploding him. Sandy fell to the floor, banging it with his fist and Jack bounced in his bed giving a joyous whoop at his victory.
Peeking up from where he was sitting, Sandy sent a glare loaded with determination and renewed vengeance, and Jack merely grinned in return.
As one the two prepared for the final clash, Sandy creating a Darth Vader helmet for himself and making hundred of tiny little clone troopers running across the bedspread. Jack made himself an ice lightsaber, and sent his own army of miniature Chewbacca's, Luke Skywalker's, Han Solo's, and various other rebel allies. Both giving their own war cry, the two commanders urged their armies forward until both were on the precipice of an epic clash. But then, North suddenly came bursting into the room, his face red from the length that he had quite obviously ran to get to Jack's room on time.
The large man looked around in confusion, his blue eyes taking in the scene before him. Jack sat in bed, an ice lightsaber in hand and pointed at Sandy, while his hair, face, and shirt were dyed various colors ranging from pink to chocolate obviously from the ice cream that had been dribbling down one ear but froze halfway. Sandy was in equal of a mess from ice cream, and the man was currently dressed as a golden Darth Vader complete with flowing cape, and lightsaber. One white eyebrow shot up and North had to swallow the giggles that so badly wanted to burst out of his mouth. Giving a gruff cough, the man cleared his throat of any laughter that may betray his amusement, and pointed a disciplinary finger at his two family members.
"Sandy," North said in mock anger "I thought you said you were going to cheer Jack up so that he would agree to rest, not rile him up and make him hyper."
Sandy, still dressed in his costume, looked down at the floor like a scolded child, making North have to cough once more. Turning to the winter spirit, North scowled "And Jack," he continued "you should be resting, for all we know, you could have popped stitch. It would have been very uncomfortable for you if I had to close your incision again, yes?"
Jack looked down at the bed sheets in guilt, his lightsaber resting across his knees "Yeah," he sighed "…I guess…"
"Besides," North said finally allowing a small smirk to quirk his mouth and a mischievous gleam to twinkle in his eyes "I find it very rude to have epic star wars battle…without ME!"
Jack and Sandy immediately looked back up, their faced adorned with the brightest of smiles, and North let out a long hard laugh "Next time," he bellowed "we will have battle downstairs in ballroom! Then we can go all out!"
"Yeah!" Jack shouted as he bounced in excitement, Sandy backing him up by flying around the room with two thumbs up.
North waved his hands to calm them down "But," he chuckled "for now…you two get cleaned up, you are covered in ice cream."
Jack giggled as he inspected himself, and then allowed Sandy to help him by crawling into the golden wheelchair the keeper of dreams had created for the boy. Soon both were scrubbing away the sticky mess, each using their own bathroom that was connected to the room North had built just for them. North returned to his study, a happy smile on his face, and sat down in order to create more blueprints for future toys, but for some reason he kept carving out Star wars toys. Oh well, the old man shrugged, at least things are more fun what with their newest guardian, and North expected many more fun time to be had in the future…He couldn't wait!
I hope you like it Elysenjazz, I know it isn't QUITE what you requested, but I did try…
REVIEW!