(A/N: Spoilers for the moive in this chapter)

*Bunnymund's p.o.v*

It had been about twenty minutes sense I came into this area and it was obvious frost bite was moving around trying to find me likely out of concern but, it may be out of loneliness as well. The egglets aren't exactly conversationist as they had no mouths to do so which honestly is a blessing. Just imagined them with mouths was horrifying to think about and I quickly got that image out of my head.

As I left the spot where the pookan memorial and the transport area for the message eggs were I had decided to use one of my tunnels to get to where Jack was. My heat was controlled for now but, I knew It was only a matter of time before it came in another wave which meant I needed to be careful. If Jack finds out I honestly don't know how he'd react. He may be in a pookan form now but, he is still a human first and foremost.

As I showed up Jack's ears honed in instantly and went to my location looking like he had been worried despite us being in the Warren though luckily the fire spirits hadn't gotten in. they would have torched this place in seconds to get us both out much like hunters flushing out prey. Shaking my head to get another image this time from the attack on my kind years ago out of my head I had rubbed at Jack's right ear to show I was ok. The bugger I'm finding out is very clingy to affection and seems reassured each time it's shown. Honestly that fact is painful to think about and knowing we guardians except sanderson were all guilty of neglecting him at his most vulnerable never will sit right.

Jack for his part had a look of relief which concerned me. Did he think I left or was it the fact he was suspicious of what I was doing? Honestly it was likely a little of both judging by the slight look of confusion in his facial expressions when he turned my hand over gently and saw the paint on my paws from me treading through the dye spring's tunnel system to get to Jack's location and quickly thought of a fib to ease his curiosity.

"Hey frostbite, sorry for being gone a bit I was attending to one of the other parts of the Warren doing a check on the googies for the next easter. Was making sure they were doing ok. How are you doing?"

Jack had responded with obvious annoyance but, also relief though soon what he had to say had me trying to think of a truth that would be believable to cover the fact I was in heat as I didn't want to scare him away fully. When jack spoke he said

"Why didn't you tell me which part of the Warren you were cottontail? I was concerned. You've been acting off the last two days and I want to know if I'm the reason. If so I can let you be and go back to my lake. I can defend myself better now. If my presence is making you uncomfortable I don't mind giving you space."

Hearing those words were hard and though my heat had been triggered by Jack's pooka form it was becoming difficult not to blurt what was going on as it made me feel dirty knowing my heat made me desire a literal kid that had been trapped in a teen body for as long as he had been around. He would never grow into an adult body and I was unsure if he would be able to understand the more intimate side of things fully.

Again we guardians don't know what all he's seen though judging by the way he acts sense he seems so carefree more often then not but, he had also shown us he had a vulnerable side which the slime ball pitch started taking advantage of. Making obvious doubts and disbelief run through Jack's mind. We as guardians were able to feel it though we honestly didn't know it was Jack at the time until we heard what happened from baby tooth when everything settled after Pitch's defeat.

She had told us about what she was able to see despite being injured herself. She had said she heard Pitch snapping Jack's staff which elicited a cry of pain from Jack before suddenly he fell into the bottom of the glacier landing fairly close to her. She then meantioned laughter and the sound of wood hitting the ground.

After that she had become more aware of stuff going on and said Jack had tried to hold her to warm her up but, do to being a winter spirit he was unable to and looked clearly guilty about it. From there she said she went into his pocket to grab out his memory box that Pitch had grabbed during the raid on the tooth palace and gave him permission to look at them. After that he had this excitement and clear happiness mentioning he used to have a family and a sister when he was alive and that's where he found out his reason for why he was chosen as a guardian.

From that day on we knew that Jack didn't purposely leave us hanging when the Warren had been attacked. Pitch had distracted him which actually explained quite a bit especially his behavior. Of course Pitch would lure Jack away as he saw him as a threat to his take over as Jack was a newer spirit compared to the rest of us and was more powerful as he died young. Even now his sheer strength when Sandy 'passed' intimidated the rest of us as well but, we also knew that his power depended on his emotional state by then.

All of our hearts had dropped when we had saw Jack falling clearly exhausted and had gone unconscious temporarily. Luckily tooth snapped out of it first catching Jack before he could plummet further down. After that he had been out for about a day then just stayed by the window drawing Sandy in frost. From there north had gotten him out of his depressed state and the rest is history.

Back in the present Jack was still waiting for a response and was getting concerned. Relizing this I had decided to let him know the truth instead of lying. Jack deserved to know. Building a friendship or partnership on fibs and lies never ended well. It ruins trust and he's already weary as it is and insecure so I started speaking "Jack you know how I said I was the last pookan warrior?" I get a nod from him and so I countinued "what I'm about to go through is called a heat. Basically its when I seek a partner to hopefully make a future family however it makes me rather let's say irritable and makes me want to mount and have the dirty with them.."

Jack looked a bit confused at first but, soon seemed to put the pieces together and a look of understanding was on his face which surprised me before he started telling me what was on his mind.

"I'm guessing this pookan form is triggering your instincts then. I'm sorry that I didn't relize you were suffering this sooner Aster. The signs were there and yet I ignored them thinking you were just getting sick from being between the north and here constantly. I also thought being near me who despite being in said pookan form still had the coldness that comes with being a winter spirit was effecting you too. I've been rather clingy to you especially because I actually feel a comfort amount of warmth from you unlike those fire spirits hunting me down..."

Hearing about the fire spirits again from Jack definitely did not sit well but, I had tried keeping my cool knowing Jack could tell my emotional state currently as my body became more stiff in anger and protectiveness though my mind reminded me that I had sent out messages to the others to try getting Jack to safety before my heat fully hits.

I didn't want to hurt Jack as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep control. If Jack stayed he would get hurt and that was not what I wanted. He's been hurt enough and with me being the guardian of easter and spring my holiday represented new beginnings and new life which is what I wanted for Jack. Soon enough I had meantioned that the fire spirits wouldn't be able to get him again if we could avoid it though I kept the part where we were going to talk to mother nature about it and see if she could do anything about them out of the conversation knowing Jack would instantly bolt and hide for who knows how long. The sheer terror coming off Jack wherever we meantion that we would try to get the fire spirits to back off nearly sends him into a full blown panic attack which despite being near immortal was never good.

Jack for his part comes forward cautiously before hugging me being careful not to get too close knowing now what was going on. It surprised me he knew about heats at all but, then I remembered he had occasionally glimpsed at books that kids and likely some adults were reading along the way learning to read from that and I remember a few easters where he lingered to watch not interfereing at all except to grab an egg that I left for him despite having a bit of a grudge at the time. Writing was another story which we guardians were helping him with. As we lined up everything from his time alive and as a spirit Jack had been born in a time where reading and writing wasn't necessarily around as he and his mom worked to provide for his sister as his dad from what he remembered had passed when he was rather young.

His maturity level was that of one much older even at the age he passed which became very apparent as we got to know him better. He knew some medical knowledge ranging from mild injury to injuries requiring a splint or stitches likely from his multiple encounters with angry spirits and he didn't mess around when there was something serious going on. He stopped goofing off immediately when that happened and was on equal ground with the rest of us.

The kid was impressive in several regards but, those were the main ones. It didn't surprise me that he acted more like an adult then a kid because he had to defend himself that whole time he was alone. The kid had experienced that for so long that he didn't trust easily, even now he still kept to himself most of the time. Jack was someone to be protected by all of us as we owned it to him for what we did towards him up to now.

I had responded after what was likely a good ten minutes or so with "we will keep you safe from them Jack. Those spirits are actually going against what mother nature has told them. They are not supposed to attack you and you're not supposed to attack them which you never had accept for self defense. When you and Sandy arrived about two weeks ago at Santa Clausen we dreaded the worse as you were in very bad shape. Sandy himself blamed himself for you being in that condition and had actually kept constant watch when he wasn't busy delivering dreams."

Jack had looked to me with a look that showed he was unaware of what I had just told him before he got a look that showed he genuinely wanted to reassure sandy that he didn't blame him for what happened though Jack knew sandy was across the world delivering dreams to the kids in the northern hemisphere currently. With that in mind he had asked me if we could work on more abilities of the pooka and despite knowing I had to wait on a response to see if one of the others could watch over Jack during my heat I had nodded and went to the obstacle course in the middle of the Warren along the outskirts of the paint springs making sure Jack followed.