Last time on Perhaps Love

"Who…who am I?"

"I don't think you'll believe me," Jack laughed "that's why you have to come and I'll tell you when we get there!"

"You must come NOW!"

…..

Pitch and Tooth exchanged a look of surprise, baffled curiosity widening their gaze as they slowly stood so to follow the man out of the room and out into the hallway, both struggling to keep up with the man as he strode down the corridor.

"North," Tooth said slowly "what's wrong?"

"It is Manny," North babbled, his beefy hands flying every which way as he spoke "he contacted me out of green,"

"You mean blue," Pitch murmured sending Tooth a subtle wink.

"Yes," The Russian man waved away "details, details, but Manny has spoken to me and said something big!"

"What did he say?" Toothiana asked urgently lavender eyes wide with worried curiosity.

"He said he wanted to make things right with Bunny," North exclaimed looking over his shoulder long enough to give them his own surprised gaze "he said he brought back someone from Aster's past, someone who is…" the man's hands flew even faster as he scrambled for the right words "like him!"

Tooth and Pitch both stopped, their jaws hanging agape as they slowly turned to face one another, each slowly blinking in shock as they struggled to process the large man's words; however they soon found that North was going to leave with or without them, and they stumbled after him, both stammering their replies.

"Wait," Tooth's hands waved in the air, as if she were trying to clear away the confusion surrounding their current conversation "When you say 'like him', do you mean…like him like him, as in, a Pooka?"

"YES!"

"But that's impossible," Pitch spluttered "because they're all gone,"

"Exactly, they're all…dead," Tooth winced looking over at Pitch remembering how he was technically the one who was responsible for their demise.

The Boogeyman shared her grimace, but gave the fairy a weak smile in his attempt to console her, before turning back to Father Christmas "Toothiana makes a fair point, how is it possible that MiM is capable of bringing back one of the Pooka race, and why just one, why not all?"

"Because," North cried as he caught his coat being tossed to him by one of his yetis and shrugged it on "he only has enough power to bring back soul of one person, and it takes long time to recover energy to do it again. The last time he did was three hundred years ago…with Jack."

Grabbing his hat from off a nearby coat rack, the man plopped it onto his head and threw open the doors leading into his sled docking station "I know location; we must go greet and make sure that Bunny is not there. He may not take it well."

The Boogeyman and Tooth fairy scurried after him, jumping into the sled scarce seconds before it took off into the sky. And as the cold wind bit at their cheeks, the trio could only ride in anxious silence, each caught up in their own thoughts on what this might mean and if they would get there before Aster caught wind of what MiM had done.

…

"Hurry Bunny, hurry!"

The Pooka put on an extra burst of speed, running so that he was directly under the flying boy so to send an insolent wink up to his younger brother "Please, like I even have to try all that hard to keep up with you?"

"I was pacing myself so to make sure an old rabbit like you didn't injure yourself," Jack shrugged with a petulant grin.

"HA!"

With that, the Pooka took off, even faster than before, his mighty paws thundering along the tunnel, echoing down the shaft, and his white tail fluttering like a banner as he passed up the frost child. Jack gave a squawk of indignation, and he scrunched his legs underneath him, and shot a bolt of icy energy behind him that shot him down the hole.

"Get back here Cotton Tail!" the frost child laughed "I'm the one who's supposed to be leading you!"

"Then get up here and lead ya slowpoke!"

Jack sped ahead, Bunny moving aside to allow him access ahead, the winter spirit flipping over so to fly backwards and pointed with one pale finger "Hang a left!"

The duo jumped to the left, taking the sharp turn in stride, and continued in their wild sprint until the two popped up into a meadow in the middle of the Austrian Alps. Bunny crawled out of the hole, shaking his head, one paw scrubbing his face in a quick moment of grooming before he turned to his adopted younger brother.

"So," the Aussie drawled "what is it that you wanted me to see so badly?"

Jack however had scrambled across the grass and hunkered down behind a fallen log, one pale hand beckoned the rabbit over, and the Pooka quickly joined the frost child in his hiding spot. Aster raised an eyebrow at the boy, but was immediately shushed by a slender finger hovering over white lips. Bunny rolled emerald green eyes before giving a smirk and peeking over the rugged bark of the fallen tree.

Scanning the meadow, Aster attempted seriousness, but his attention span was draining quickly when nothing of interest came up. Finally giving an exasperated sigh, the Pooka pinned the frost child with a soft glare "Kid," he whispered "just what am I lookin' at here?"

Jack's blue eyes were bouncing erratically, searching for something "I saw it in this exact spot last time," he muttered unhappily "hopefully it's still here."

"What's still here?"

Jack sighed, "I didn't want to tell you I wanted to show you, just in case I was wrong." He murmured "Then I could play it off as a joke if I was."

"What is it?" Bunny persisted, dread curling in his stomach.

"Well," Jack paused, hesitation causing him to bite his bottom lip in indecision.

Aster leaned forward, his brow furrowed and serious "Jack, tell me now,"

The frost child ducked his head, pale cheeks flushing red as anxiety caused his gut to clench "I thought I saw…a Pooka."

Aster reeled back like he had been slapped, his eyes becoming a pale icy green as fury swept through his frame and caused his veins to freeze "You…what?!" he snarled.

Fear flashed across Jack's face and he flew up into the air, hugging his staff to his chest "I'm sorry Bunny, but that's why I wanted to show you, I didn't want you to freak out and get mad."

"Oh I'm more than mad," Bunny growled standing up so to pin Jack more fully with a venomous glare "I'm downrigh' furious! How dare you?!"

"Bunny, no," Jack stretched out one pale arm waving it in a soothing gesture "please don't blow your top, you'll just regret it later!"

"I mean, I know tha' yer the Guardian o' fun," Aster continued to rant, eyes flashing with emerald lightening and his entire frame quivering with barely suppressed anger "and I know tha' yer allowed ta pull pranks 'cuz that's what ya do, but this?! This goes too far!"

"This isn't a prank Bunny!"

"Then what is it?!" the Pooka screamed tears beginning to stream down furry cheeks and his angry cries starting to become broken by sobs "I thought we had an understandin'" he croaked "I told ya about my people, and we said we were family, but family don't pull stunts like this one! Family doesn't take the single most painful event of my life, and use it as fodder for a joke!"

"I told you, it's not a joke!"

"I trusted ya Jack," Bunny gasped "I trusted ya…and ya broke my heart."

With one last heart wrenching sob, the rabbit turned around and sprinted down the hill, leaping over brush and fallen logs disappearing into the trees leaving Jack floating in the air.

The frost child drifted down to the ground, gently coming to rest on top of the log, and drawing his legs up to his chest so to hug his knees. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and stained his hoodie an even darker shade of blue. "I'm sorry Bunny," he whispered "I didn't mean to hurt you, I promise I didn't."

"JACK!"

The frost child looked up to see the sleigh descending and he wiped the remaining tears away as he leapt into Toothiana's arms "I did something really stupid," he wept.

"What?!" the fairy exchanged a worried look with her traveling companions before returning the child's hug "What happened?"

"I thought I saw a Pooka here, and I brought Bunny to see," Jack recounted miserably.

"You WHAT?!" North exploded, meaty hands flying up to his head to grip silvery white hair.

Jack winced at North's yell and sighed "I brought Bunny here, because I thought he would be happy to see another Pooka, but when we got here, I couldn't find it, and Bunny exploded thinking I was using that excuse to prank him, and now he's gone!"

"Oh dear," Tooth sighed "this isn't good,"

….

Aster ran further and further into the woods, his jaw clenched hard enough to cause his teeth to creak, and he could feel hot liquid burning its way down his face as he ran "Stupid," he choked "stupid Jack, and his stupid pranks, and stupid me!"

Bunny screeched to a halt, skidding across the forest floor, stopping only to slam his fist into a tree hard enough to make a sizable hole and cause a torrent of leaves to fall to the ground "I'm pathetic," he ground out feeling a torrent of depression laced fury cause his knees to buckle, and the Pooka slid down to curl up on the grass.

"God, I miss my family," Aster gasped as his frame shook violently causing him to descend further into his emotional meltdown "I was so stupid to think that I'll ever have a real family, I'm gonna be alone…forever."

Wracking sobs shook the furry body, and for a few minutes the only thing on Aster's mind was to wallow in his misery, however fate would not allow him that luxury.

"A-Are you ok?"

Bunny grit his teeth, his hackles rising at the feminine voice "Yeah, I'm fine,"

"Are you sure?" the female voice continued "Because that looked pretty ugly back there."

"Doesn't mean it's your business,"

"Oh, you're one of those types,"

Bunny felt his brow furrow, still refusing to look up at the person addressing him (who could be a human for all he knew) "What do you mean 'one of those types'?" he pouted turning his face further away from the girl.

"You know," the rabbit could almost sense her shrug "the over masculine 'do it on my own' types, who refuse help from anyone because they're afraid it will ruin their image."

Bunny sat up with an indignant squawk, keeping his back turned just to annoy the girl (or so he hoped) and crossed his arms with a huff "I'm not one a those," he barked.

"You're not?" the voice teased growing playful "Prove it."

"I don't need ta prove nothin' ta you,"

"That," the female snickered "was a double negative, meaning that you do feel a need to prove yourself, a rather deep seeded one by my understanding."

Paws clenched into tight fists over biceps, and Bunny felt a snarl escape his lips "and what do you know about me, huh?!"

"Not much," another shrug no doubt "but I do know that you view that poor boy who's currently crying on the hillside as family, and basically smashed his heart into hundreds of itty bitty pieces. I don't know what he said that made you so upset, I was a little too far away for that, but I heard everything you said and that makes me think that you are very loyal to family and have had major hurt in your past."

Bunny pursed his lips unhappily, uncomfortable with the open, frank assessment of his character "But you're also pretty stubborn, and prone to losing your temper" the voice continued "especially considering how many times you rebuffed the kid's apologies because you were bound and determined to get upset and leave him hurting all by himself."

Bunny ground his teeth together, his temper once again sizzling to a boil but was forestalled by the female sighing out one last observation "However, for all your rippling muscles and tough façade, you are very sensitive on the inside which leads me to believe you have a very tender heart to be broken, and each time it breaks, it is more agony than you're willing to admit feeling."

"How on earth can you possibly know this," Aster snarled his ears lowering to plaster themselves to his skull as his fur fluffed out angrily "as far as I know we've never met, and I don't need some stranger telling me what I think or how I feel!"

An exasperated sigh echoed out behind him "Typical male Pooka," she huffed "all brawn and little brains when they get their emotions riled up, assuming they even admit to having feelings!"

Emerald eyes snapped open wide and Aster whirled around to face the voice, his ears raised high as furious indignation emanated from his very core "What did you say?!" he snarled as he finally got his first look at the figure "How dare you insult my-!"

All other words died in his throat in that second though, for as soon as the Pooka turned around and saw to whom he was speaking, he felt his world tilt, and reality crumbled all around him. Because standing before him was a snow white female Pooka with soft purple striped crisscrossing her pelt in elegant vines, looking much like a rose bush. Lavender eyes watched him with calculating curiosity, and elegant ears swept down her head.

Aster felt himself sink back to the forest floor, his frame shaking with a new wave of trembling, this time in shock, and his ears lowered as he took on an almost submissive form "Oh Manny," he murmured "I've snapped…"

Sorry! I have been writing this for so long, and let me tell you I've been BUSY!

We've been to so many places in the past three months, Wales, Ireland, and soon probably even Scotland. I have been running around like a madwoman trying to do the endless list of things needed to be done, and so a day to sit down and write is honestly rather rare.

Hope you enjoyed and please,

REVIEW!