Ok, here is the next installment of Human Bunny…

To those who feel the story is going too slowly, please understand, plot development is key, and this story requires it LOL! I'm sorry that it feels like it's going nowhere quickly, but I wanted to make sure that all the loose ends are tied up.

Plus…I want to expound on the emotional deliciousness that is Bunny melting down over his current problem…and surely you wouldn't want me to skip over that, would you?!

Disclaimer: No…I do not own ROTG

"Oh God…Oh man…this is bad…this is so…SO…BAD!"

Jack threw his head back, a loud laugh flinging behind him as they rode in the sleigh, Bunny holding on for dear life. "Come on Bunny," the winter spirit chuckled "it ain't that bad!"

"No…" Aster hyperventilated "It's worse…MUCH worse!"

"How?" The winter spirit chuckled incredulously.

"Because," suddenly the former Pooka's face turned somber "what if I fade out again? What if I disappear and fall hundreds of thousands of feet and splat on the ground?"

At that disturbing thought, Aster clenched his teeth, sinking down as low as he could possibly go while Jack scooted closer to pat his shoulder consolingly "I don't get it Kangaroo…"

"You don't get what?" Bunny growled at the nickname.

"Why you freak out," Jack shrugged "you freak out every time we're in this thing, but when we were fighting Pitch, you were cool as a cucumber and even would jump out of the sleigh hundreds of feet up in the air. So what's the difference?"

Bunny opened his mouth, then closed it, the gears in his mind going into over drive as he processed Jack's question "I…" he spluttered "I don't know."

Jack nodded sagely as he pursed his lips in pensive silence "That's very interesting."

"Why?" Bunny asked his green eyes looking at the kid suspiciously.

"Because," Jack smiled brightly "the things you think are scary…really aren't that frightening, especially if you are fighting for something important. If you can fling yourself off a sleigh over seven hundred feet off the ground, and fight Nightmares with nothing more than a stick…then why wouldn't you be able to turn back into a Pooka and teach Pitch a lesson?"

Aster jerked back, his eyes wide as he stared at the boy "Y-You…really think so?"

"Yeah," Jack gave an enthusiastic nod "why wouldn't you? Sophie thinks you're amazing, Jaime never stops talking about how cool you are, and I think you're really brave and strong. Pitch is a jerk for pulling this on you, but he won't win, we won't let him."

Aster looked down, his throat constricting, and a small grateful smile playing on the edges of his mouth "Thanks Snowflake," he said in a voice hoarse with emotion but quickly cleared his throat and giving a playful glare at the winter sprite "but don't think I'm gonna let ya get away with callin' me kangaroo again."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Jack shrugged with a mischievous grin.

"Bunny," North shouted from the front "we are at good altitude, come prepare snow globe for departure."

"Right," Aster said quickly as he stood up.

Walking across the wooden boards running across the sleigh, Bunny marveled at how Jack's words afforded him a new courage, but that thought was quickly squashed with a firm face palm "Man, I getting' soft." He grumbled.

"You say something?" North asked as he clapped the reins urging the reindeer to maintain their current altitude.

"Nope," Aster replied quickly before taking the Snow Globe and whispering the name of his home planet into it.

Rearing his arm back, Bunny chucked the snow globe out in front of them, causing Jack to whistle and Sandy to clap his hands in impressed awe at the former rabbit's prowess. Bunny turned around to cast a self satisfied smirk in their direction just as they entered through the portal, and came out on the other side, the terrain underneath not so much alien as it was completely decimated. Jack leaned over the side of the railing, his gaze troubled as he absorbed the sight of so many buildings, gardens, and plazas laying in ruin underneath.

"What…" he croaked "What happened here?"

Aster heaved a sigh, his emerald eyes staring out as both anger and grief took residence in his embattled gaze "Pitch."

"When?" the winter spirit asked quietly.

"Many years ago," Tooth replied "Pitch was far more evil than he is today, and MiM has even hoped that maybe the passage of time would soften him, but in the end he still has a past full of darkness and pain."

Jack fell silent, not wishing to know any more, and merely continued to stare out at the planet "So," he said after a few moments "where is this temple?"

"I don't know," Aster said in nervous embarrassment.

"Wait…WHAT?!" Tooth burst out causing all four males to flinch at her shriek.

"Well," Bunny shrugged as he scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably "I've never really been there…and as far as I know, it may only exist in legend…"

"You're wasting valuable time," Tooth huffed her angry words escalating into furious screams "for a legendary temple, that may not even EXIST?!"

Aster weighed his words carefully before sending a bashful grin and pleading eyes over to the fuming fairy "…Maybe…?"

"OH!" Toothiana practically shrieked "What are you thinking Aster?! You have less than two days to get changed back, how are you going to find a legendary lost temple and figure out a spell in that amount of time?"

"Look," Bunny sighed "I know how much time I have left, trust me I know, but at the same time this IS our best bet and I don't know any other way ta get me back ta my old self."

"Bunny is right," North put in as his eyes scanned the horizon for a proper landing spot "though we are running out of time, I have not found any spell in my library that can change Bunny back to being Pooka. This is best idea, I can feel it, in my belly."

Tooth flopped down on the seats of the sleigh with an unhappy huff, crossing her arms as she sulked. Jack smiled at her, but then cast his own worried gaze at the floor of the sleigh. He too was worried over whether they would make it in time, and it wasn't easy to stay hopeful when their Guardian of Hope was disappearing, taking Hope with him. Heaving a sigh, the winter child lifted his chin and cast determined eyes out onto the planet below them, they would win, all they had to do was keep up the faith. Finally North came to a stop outside of a large ruin of an egg shaped building, and the Guardians stepped off the sleigh, their eyes taking in every nook and cranny visible.

"Alright," Jack said clapping his hands together "you heard the man…er…stomach, so what do you know about this 'legendary temple' Bunny?"

Aster pursed his lips "Where sky and water meet, when the sun is at your feet, walk in the ways of the fleet, and there you will find the treasured seat."

"Charming," Jack groaned "but not very enlightening."

"It's an old nursery rhyme," Aster explained "some say it gives the directions to finding the temple, but everyone who has ever gone in search of it never came back alive…or…at all."

"Fun," Tooth said sarcastically.

"No, not fun," Jack cut in "finding a lost temple, yes that is fun…but dying and never coming back…THAT is not fun."

"Aw come on," Bunny groaned "ya were just sayin' that we would get through this, and that it would all turn out great…and now yer backin' out because of a spooky bed time story?"

"I didn't say I was backing out," Jack said quickly "I was just correcting Tooth on what is and is not Fun."

"Oh for goodness sake," Toothiana burst out "let's just get going."

"Great idea!" North smiled before rolling his eyes "But where exactly are we going?"

Sandy face palmed then went into the cent of the group, and after garnering their attention used his dream sand to create a picture of a river going up a high mountain. Jack grinned, and then pointed at his finger at the scene.

"Oh, I get it," he laughed "where sky and water meet, it means we need to find the highest mountain peak that has a stream going up the side."

Aster nodded his head, smacking his hand with a fist "That would be Mt. Valoren; it's the highest mountain on the whole planet and the only mountain that has a river current strong enough to defy gravity and push itself up the side of it."

"Good, we start there then," North bellowed "where is it located Bunny?"

Aster paused, his gaze going blank and then panicked "I…don't know…"

"WHAT?!"

"Tooth, can you STOP doing THAT?" Bunny yelled "It's been a while since I have been home, and I'm losing my memory every time I fade in and out, so this is a lot harder than you think!"

Tooth backed down, her wings drooping guiltily "I'm sorry Bunny," she sighed "I guess I have just allowed myself to get worked up into a big ball of stress."

Bunny growled before running a frustrated hand through his striped hair and took several breaths to steady his nerves "I's ok Toothy," he finally muttered "I understand that this isn't easy on any of us."

"Hey," Jack stepped in "Why don't Tooth, me, and Sandy take a fly around and we can scout out the mountains and look for one with a stream going up its side?"

"That will take time," North sighed "but it is our only option with Bunny's memory going out, and none of us knowing the area."

"Ok," Jack nodded "let's go do this thing!"

….

Aster sat on the ground, poking at a campfire he and North had put together, waiting for Tooth, Sandy and Jack to come back with news of finding Mt. Valoren. Night had already fallen, and Bunny felt his chest tighten, his fear of disappearing enveloping him in its icy chains. Heaving a heavy sigh, the former Pooka bent low, and rubbed his temple with fingertips. He was desperately trying to remember his home planet, but he could feel an almost palpable fog covering up those memories. It was driving Aster crazy that he couldn't more useful, and every time Tooth had an outburst about how little he actually knew, it only drove the wedge of guilt even farther into his heart.

"Bunny," the sound of North's rumbling baritone broke through his thoughts "you are brooding again."

Aster rolled his eyes "And how would ya know that, mate?"

"Because you are rubbing temples," the large man explained with a teasing smile "and you usually get headache when you spend too long thinking about something."

The newly turned teen blinked at the man's observational skills before turning back to the fire with a huff "So I have a headache, and so I caused it by thinkin' and tryin' ta remember where Mt. Valoren is, who cares?"

Suddenly North burst into laughter making the former Pooka bristle at the sound "And what," Aster snarled "is so funny?"

"Jack is right," North chuckled causing Bunny's indignant look to worsen even further "he said that ever since you became human, you act more like teenager, and less like you. I see that he is right, you are regressing to overdramatic teenager!"

"I am not!" Aster defended his voice cracking on the last word causing him to sound younger than he was.

North only began to shake even more violently as he struggled to keep the chuckles down to a manageable level "Ah Bunny," he sighed as he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes "you must understand that there is no shame in being young, Jack has accepted his age…somewhat… as the older brother, you should lead by example and help him understand that youth is precious and that you should not toss it aside so that you can act like old grumpy bunny."

"It doesn't matter what I think," Bunny pouted "my whole life I've been forced to settle for things that were less than stellar. I watched my kind get destroyed by Pitch, I was chosen to live an immortal life completely alone and living with those memories, and even when I did get a family…I still feel…isolated."

North scrutinized the teenage figure sitting before him, the young face lit only by the flickering light of the campfire "Do you want to be human?"

"What?!" Aster spat "Why would you ask that, North?"

"Do you want to be human?" North repeated softly.

"Of course not!" Aster stammered "No!"

"But," North said gently "If you were human, you would have second chance. You would not be tormented by the memories of the past, and you would be free to be among others like you and not feel so alone."

Bunny opened his mouth to shoot back a retort, but his voice died in his throat, wasn't this what he wanted? Sitting back the former rabbit felt like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, by a bolt of very painful, confusing lightning. "I…" he began quietly in a voice sounding much like a lost child "I don't know."

"Bunny," North said as he clapped a meaty hand on Aster's shoulder "you know as well as I do that magic is created, and controlled by thoughts and emotions. You cannot make spell to change you back to Pooka, if you are not 100% sure that that is what you want to be."

Bunny's head bowed further and further as he felt once again the threatening tears on the edges of his vision "I don't know what ta do." He finally choked out as one solitary tear rolled down "I want ta stay the Easter Bunny, but I'm sick of bein' alone…I don't know what ta do."

"Then it sounds like you have something to think about old friend," North sighed as he stood up and popped his back "and you need to come up with an answer by tomorrow, there is not much time left."

Aster bit his bottom lip, well he knew it too, but the question still remained…what did he want?

Suddenly a breeze of cold air hit them, causing Aster to give a shudder "For heaven's sake," the former Pooka grumbled "someone has got ta teach that kid how ta control his powers ta keep other people from freezin' their tails off."

"Well that shouldn't be a problem for you," Jack voice sounded from the dark as they watched his pale form walk into the circle of firelight "considering you don't have one anymore."

Aster jumped up, ready to fight, but North quickly stepped in by planting his large hand on Bunny's face and shoving him back down to the ground "So," the Russian asked ignoring the Australian profanity being spewed at him from the dirt "Did you find it?"

"Yup!" Jack said proudly "Tooth is even marking the way with her fairies so that we can find it in the morning."

"Good," North nodded "have Tooth and Sandy already left?"

"Yeah," the winter spirit sighed as he sat down on the ground a reasonable distance away from the fire "they will be back as soon as they are done doing their rounds."

"Wonderful!" North laughed.

"Yeah, that sounds just great" Aster sighed.

Come tomorrow they would be making their way to the first part of the riddle Nursery rhyme, and then hopefully they would make it into the temple itself without being maimed…or killed by whatever guarded the place. But the question North asked clamored in the back of Bunny's mind, which did he want? Did he want to stay the Easter Bunny? Or did he want to forfeit his memories, his powers, his immortality, and become a human to live among humans and maybe even have a family of his own? The thought drove Bunny to the brink of a depression and confused sorrow so deep, he did not even notice the looks of concern being cast across the fire from Jack. Wringing his hands, Aster wrapped his arms around his legs, and hugged his knees tightly to his chest. What should he choose, and did he have the strength to make the decision?

Is everyone ready to hear the winner?!

OK! Drum roll please! *waits for you to slap your legs or do a drum roll on whatever you have available* The winner is….Timetrixter22!

Congrats! As per usual, the regular rules apply, if you don't know what they are reference one of the previous chapter, or ask me.

Please have your request in before we get to the next 100th reviewer, and that will be the next chapter.

Ok guys, I need to go because I was literally writing this in an evening gown, while pinning my hair up in curls and putting flowers in it for a big event tonight. So now that I have done my level best to make myself as gorgeous as possible…I must make like Cinderella and ride!

Byes! And just because we are 909 reviews does not mean you guys are on vacation, get those numbers DANCING!