A certain scene was edited out of the chapter due to its graphic nature and can only be viewed on AO3 site.

Flicker Chapter 9: Burn Beneath My Touch

The first thing that Jack was aware of when he regained consciousness was the unbelievable pain dancing throughout his entire body. It felt like he was literally on fire, from his nervous system to his blood stream. His entire head was swimming and he could feel pain pounding behind his eyes. When he forced his eyes open, there were no red flames in his vision, just a blur of black and grey.

That was when his other senses began to register. He could hear heavy breathing, but otherwise the place was completely silent.

…Wherever this place was, that is.

There was something hard underneath him and he weakly grazed a hand over it. The texture felt smooth like granite but the coolness of the surface did nothing to help with the unbearable heat wave in his body. Jack moved his fingers while focusing very hard on the feeling. Despite the pain, he could feel every tiny crevice and crack going through the stone's surface. He shuddered hard before drawing his fingers away. His body suddenly felt every sensitive to touch all of the sudden.

Could it be because of that flower that he swallowed?

"Jack…"

He heard Bunny's voice gently call out his name, his heart swelling with relief that someone familiar is here with him.

"B-Bunny?" Jack noticed how hoarse and faint his own voice sounded. He squinted and let his eyes searched the area around him, trying to make sense of his blurry surroundings.

"Yeah, I'm right here, Mate." He noticed that there was a desolate tone in the Pooka's voice, including the fact that he was whispering. Jack reached a shaky hand out in front of him, trying to feel the familiar soft bluish grey fur of his best friend's body. Then everything finally came into focus.

It was some sort of circular stone cavern. The walls were decorated with strange orange etchings of the Sun and symbols forming some sort of language that was forgotten by time. The rocky surroundings created a dome around them with a gaping hole at the top, allowing sunlight to illuminate the surroundings. There were the same stone soldiers that he had seen from the clearing, but this time lined up against the wall in different positions other than praying. Luckily, none of them were mobile or glowing. Each one remained by the wall as…well, statues.

Nothing more…

Then Jack managed to spot Bunny.

The Pooka was standing a few feet away from where he was lying; his body appeared to be hunched over with his back pressed firmly against the stone wall behind him. Bunny's arms were pinned to the wall by two giant statues standing on each side of him.

What shocked Jack the most was the Pooka's face.

The closest thing that he could describe the way Bunny was staring down at him was sorrowful, almost as if he was about to cry. The other time that Jack had seen such a look was during the battle with Pitch, when Easter had been destroyed and the children had stopped believing in him.

"B…Bunny?" his voice was barely audible.

Bunny felt like his heart was being ripped asunder as he stared at the boy in front of him. Jack's body was lying limp on some sort of smooth platform table in the center of the cavern. He was taking in air with deep gasps while his body trembled uncontrollably. His blue eyes looked fades and his former moonlit skin was tinted pink. Jack was looking around and squinting like he was having a hard time seeing as drops of sweat trickled down his forehead.

Jack Frost was not supposed to sweat, he couldn't! He was a winter spirit, for MiM's sake!

The very sight of him looked terrible and intense pain was evident in his face. As much as Bunny wanted to scoop him up into his arms to shower him all the comfort that he needed, he couldn't due to the fact that he was pinned to the wall by these damned statues.

"Jack…listen to me, you have to get out of here." Bunny's tone was still soft but there was a sense of urgency in his tone but Jack's mind was having a hard time keeping up.

"Huh…what about you?" he tried to sit up but his body was stuck to the platform beneath him.

"I don't matter. You're the one that Flicker wants. You have to leave, hide….something!" Bunny's whispers became louder and more desperate at each word as he stared pleadingly at Jack.

Why wasn't he moving?

"But…I-I'm stuck…" Jack then strained his neck so that he could actually look down at himself, what he saw made his brow furrowed in confusion.

There was practically nothing holding him down to the platform. No straps…no iron bars…nothing.

His body was completely untouched.

So why can't I move?

He took a deep breath then pushed back against the platform with his arms while trying to lift his chest into a sitting position. Jack let out a cry when burning pain shot up his spine and he fell back down with a thud. He groaned when he felt the back of his head throb from making a rough contact with the stone beneath him.

Bunny had been watching him the whole time; he could see his green eyes were wide with worry.

"Jack…ya really can't move?"

His labored breathing answered his question, and that was enough.

Jack lazily turned his head to the side to stare at him. Green eyes looked back into hazy blue orbs and both of their faces held the same expression.

A mixture of panic and horror.

Bunny hated himself for getting captured so easily.

He had ran head first into the portal like a maniac but just as he made it through to the other side, something hard had slammed into the back of his head and knocked him out cold. When he woke up, he found himself being held against the wall by two of the lifeless statues that surrounded the cavern. He had tried to handle the situation calmly at first but when he noticed Jack's motionless body in front of him, Bunny started kicking away from the wall and flailing around for hours in an attempt to slip out of the statues' grasp and reach Jack until he eventually wore himself out.

Usually he was good at slipping out of situations like this, but these stone hands were gripping his arms down to the bone. And what is even worse was that the ground seemed to be possessed by some kind of magic that he wasn't familiar with because no matter how many times that Bunny stomped his feet would never open up for him. All he could do was hang from the wall in defeat as he waited for Jack to wake up.

Jack closed his eyes and lay limp against the stone. His energy was completely drained and the pain was making him tired, both physically and emotionally. After a moment, an odd thought occurred to him and he couldn't help but let out a single faint laugh.

In spite all of this pain, and the fact that he was trapped and helpless, Jack felt strangely at ease knowing that Bunny was at his side; even if the fact that said Pooka was stuck to the wall and couldn't help him.

But having his best friend near him made all the difference.

"I'm glad you're here, Bunny." Jack whispered, managing to smile.

Bunny sadly returned the smile, silently telling him the same.

Suddenly a deep chuckle echoed from above them, causing Bunny to look up in surprise, his ears were standing tall. Jack's breath hitched once he heard the familiar voice but wished he hadn't. There, up above them, was Flicker beaming down at his prisoners from the hole at the top of the done before dropping down into the center of the cavern with ease. Bunny glared hard at him, his ears were shot back and his head was lowered like a cornered beast ready to strike at any moment.

Flicker was twirling Jack's staff around in his right hand as he observed the Pooka, like he was having a merry day. He then placed the bottom of the staff onto the stone floor and leaned against it, all a while examining Bunny's face with an amused yet curious expression. He then straightened himself up, still wearing a wicked grin that Bunny wanted so desperately to wipe off of his face.

"Sorry that the place is so messy, I haven't had a chance to clean up." He chuckled at his joke as he looked around, seeing nothing but the large carving of the sun upon the bare floor.

Bunny said nothing, only letting out a low growl in the back of his throat.

This only made Flicker smirk wider before turning his attention to Jack, who squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to black out the heat that was slowly eating him from the inside out. The flame spirit leaned against the staff and sighed dreamily while peering down at Jack. There was only one thing to describe his little winter spirit.

Stunning…

His body was laid out for him upon the platform table, like an offering. Those pretty lips were already moist with sweat as Jack gasped out each breath.

Beautiful…he mentally purred, licking his lips before stepping closer to the platform.

Bunny's eyes widened with horror, feeling his blood ran cold when he realized that there was practically nothing separating Jack's weak and helpless body from Flicker as the latter stepped closer to him.

"Graah! Stay away from him, ya basket case bugger!"

Bunny had been growling and screaming out curses at Flicker, all the while struggling wildly against the statues' grip. He brought his feet up and kicked about at the stone statues, hoping that they would come alive and react so that he could distract them and slip away. Flicker only chuckled as he watched the so-called legendary Easter Bunny struggling against his currently deactivated warriors. All this time, he thought of him as some badass fighter who brings hope to little children around the world, among other things. Now, he was nothing more than just a trapped rabbit that was fighting to escape a predator in the wild.

He turned away to lean over and whisper oh-so lovingly into Jack's ear.

"I'm back, darling." He purred.

Jack groaned out in a mixture of pain and horror, the only thing he could do was to turn his face away.

"Hey, Flicker!" Bunny stated loudly.

Flicker straightened and looked up at him with a curious smile. What he didn't expect was the said Pooka spitting across the room, effectively shooting saliva into the flame spirit's eye. Flicker grimaced as a result, his skin made a soft sizzling sound while the liquid dripped down his cheek.

Then his smile fell and formed into a look that would fit the saying "looks can kill" as yellow eyes glared at the captured Pooka. Bunny felt relief from stealing the attention away from Jack, and a bit of a thrill that he managed to wipe that damned smirk off of the fire demon's face, so that was considered a bonus. Flicker turned away from Jack and walked a few feet in front of the Pooka while rubbing the offensive liquid out of his eye. Bunny paused in his struggling to glare back into the spirit's angry gaze.

"Nice aim," Flicker spoke, just before grabbing the end of Jack's staff and struck Bunny hard across the face.

Bunny's head was slammed back into the wall behind him, leaving him dazed for a moment. There was a sharp throbbing pain on the side of his skull but he ignored it. This was nothing compared to what Jack was going through right now. Flicker smiled with satisfaction with his work before returning to Jack's side. He reached out and slipped a flaming hand underneath Jack's sweater, gently stroking his chest and stomach. The movements made Jack's eyes fly open, making him cry out in pain as the flaming hand added the intense burning sensation throughout his body.

"Stop it!" Bunny yelled out, vainly pulling against his restrained.

Flicker looked his lips again as the flames upon his hand faded. He met Bunny's green eyes from the corner of his own while swirling a warm finger around Jack's chest.

"You wish you could touch him like this."

It was a statement of fact rather than a question. Almost as if he was pointing out the truth…

Bunny's brow furrowed before shooting a nervous glance towards Jack. But he didn't seem like paying attention to Flicker's words.

"I don't." It somehow didn't sound convincing to Bunny's ears, but he said it nonetheless.

Flicker then threw his head back and laughed loudly before leaping forward, standing in front of Bunny once again, making sure that he had a good distance from the Pooka's long feet yet have a close enough range to stare into his eyes.

"Oh, you do. You desire him," he smirked before he continued. "You want to run your furry paws all over his body, do unspeakable things…"

"Shut up!" Bunny shouted, cutting him off because it became unbearable to hear. Flicker laughed once again at the result.

"There's no point in denying it. I can see everyone's lusts and desires…no matter how hard they try and hide them…no matter how much they are ashamed." He chuckled as the Pooka stared back at him with a look of surprise and hatred. "But…here's a little advice, Mr. Easter Bunny…" He twirled Jack's staff once more before raising the hook end of it to circle around Bunny's neck to pull his head forward slightly.

"Forget those stupid feelings of yours…because they will never be returned."

His voice was dropped into a whisper, completely void of the playful cockiness and arrogance that he displayed earlier. The way the words sounded was serious and foreboding and they strike a chord within Bunny as they reached his ears. He blinked and glared down at the flame spirit before him in defiance.

Flicker frowned but then threw his head back into a fit of laughter, hunching over and grabbed his heaving sides with each bellow as they echo throughout the cavern room.

"Oh, really!? You think you have a better chance at being with Jack than I do?"

The demonic man wiped the sizzling tears of laughter from his eyes before leaning over to stare into the Pooka's face. His smile was so wide it would split his face and gave him a rather manic expression.

"Look at you, you're an animal!"

Bunny's ears fell flat against the back of his head and his eyes were widened in shock. As much as he hated too admit it, that statement hurt…a lot. Not to mention it held some truth to it, while he wouldn't deny that he have some feelings for Jack, Bunny actually feared something more than just being disbelieved by children.

It was the possibility of Jack turning him down because of the differences in race.

He never doubted the kindness that the winter spirit possess, he made that obvious on how much he cared for Sophie, despite not being seen by her while she accidentally stumbled into his Warren. But that doesn't change the fact that even if Bunny would look for a mate (which is unlikely), there was no way that Jack would accept him. He was fine with the friendship they have…the last thing he wanted was heartbreak.

Flicker released Bunny's neck from the staff and leaned against it. "You have long and whiskers…you're entire body was covered in fur…" he listed off, not quite done with taunting him. "You're a rabbit!"

It really irked him at the fact that beings like him compared him to a common rodent, North and that ginger-haired time traveler for example. But he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to show that what Flicker had said was really getting under his skin. The flaming man looked at him before shaking his head, still wielding a smile of amusement and pity.

"And you think Jack will look at you like you're attractive?" He then barked out another round of laughter once more, his hollers that echoed off the walls seemed to get louder.

Bunny's brow furrowed before shifting his green eyes towards Jack. He had his eyes shut again as he tossed his head around, trying to fend off the sound of yelling that was mixing together and bouncing off of his aching skull. He couldn't make sense of the loud statements but he wished they would stop.

Soon, Flicker finally found the time to calm down and let out a deep sigh before tossing Jack's staff to the side, watching it clatter towards the edge of the cave.

"I suppose you're aren't the only one, Rabbit." he stated while scratching the back of his head as he made his way to the platform and made a seat for himself next to Jack on the platform. "That little boy I snatched up was lusting for Jack as well…what was his name again? Jared…Jake?"

Bunny ignored his rambling for the time being to focus on the fact that Flicker was only a few inches away from Jack's prone body.

He gritted his teeth as he racked his brain for a plan. I can't let Flicker get the best of me…I need to find a way to help Jack, but how? I can't even…

"However!" Flicker spoke very loudly in order to get his attention as well as place an emphasis.

Bunny's head was snapped up with a glare.

"People like you…or rather, animals like you, need to learn something." Flicker crossed his legs, causing them to bump into Jack while the latter shook weakly against the stone surface. Bunny's flicked his eyes from Jack's body and back to Flicker's golden gaze. He could feel his heart beating in a rapid speed against his chest as the demonic being moved even closer to Jack, who was too helpless to even move.

"Jack belongs to me." Flicker stated while pointing a thumb back at himself.

Then he grinned wickedly.

"And to prove it, I'm going to claim him right now…and you're going to watch."

"Hyah!" North yelled out as he snapped the reigns, causing his reindeer to fly faster.

The former bandit king was holding the frozen bird in his other hand, looking back at the small creature for guidance every time they pass over another mountain. If they veered off course, the bird would flutter its wings wildly until North changed direction. But as of right now, they seemed to be headed in the right path as they flew higher above the trial of mountains. The little bird worked just as good as a compass! It even helped when Jack is their homing beacon.

Meanwhile, Sandy was sitting at the back of the sleigh, gently stroking Jamie's hair while he slept with his head upon the sandman's lap. A small golden version of Jack was swirling above his head. He knew that it was Jamie's favorite thing to dream about, it was understandable since he is Jack's first believer.

As he watched his creation fly around, he couldn't help but feel worry for his friend. Jack was undoubtedly strong, but he is probably the gentlest soul that he had ever come across in all of his centuries. Sandy had witnessed the winter spirit's empathy on more than one occasion. For example, he witnessed Jack standing by to comfort Cupcake when she had her heart broken for the first time, despite the fact that she could no longer see him after junior high.

It wasn't fair that Jack had to suffer like this, to be injured and harassed by demons that fell from the sun. He was such a kind being…how could anyone even think about hurting him after seeing him smile or the way he played with children in the snow?

How could someone like Flicker be such a monster?

Sandy suddenly jumped in surprise when he saw something bluish green shoot past the sleigh. North noticed it as well, pulling back in the reigns in order to slow them down in midair.

"Whoa!" he called out to his reindeer as they bucked in protest.

Sandy turned his head and looked back as Tooth quickly zipped back to catch up with them before gently fluttering down into the sleigh.

"There you guys are! I went back to the Warren and everyone was…" then she stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed that there was someone with them in the sleigh, her purple eyes widened with shock. "I-is that Jamie?!"

Tooth flew forward and peered down at the sleeping face that rested upon Sandy's lap.

"What is he doing here?" she asked while setting a gentle hand upon the human teenager's arm. While he had a dosage of Sandy's dreamsand, there were signs of distress upon his face. Just what happened while she was gone?

"Tooth, glad you could make it!" She heard North bellowed, resuming the pace on their path. "We need favor!"

Tooth looked around them in confusion. Something was wrong…

"What's going on? Where are Jack and Bunny?" she questioned them, her feathers ruffled with concern. They made her a bit poofy, poofier than the time when her fairies were kidnapped.

"No time for explanation!" North yelled back, pulling up hard on the reigns in order to avoid the peak of a mountain. "Take the boy back to the Workshop and guard him like you guard teeth!"

"Wait a second, you haven't told me what's going on!" Tooth looked pleadingly down at Sandy, who was trying to explain everything with rapidly changing images over his head as he animatedly moved his hands.

"Take the boy, Toothiana!" It was an order, not a suggestion. And also, the only time when North showed that he was serious was when he used Tooth's full name. The fairy queen let out a sigh before carefully lifting Jamie's sleeping form into her arms. Sandy helped lift him up until he was cradled comfortably against Tooth, who seemed to be struggling a bit.

Geez, he was getting heavy! Was the first thing that she noticed before looking up at North.

"Alright, but promise me that Jack and Bunny will be safe."

North looked back at her and gave her a thumb-up.

"It's a deal!"

NO! Bunny mentally screamed out, his eyes widening in panic.

He couldn't let this happen, not while he is here and can do something to stop it. Bunny growled loudly through the cloth and brought his large feet up behind him to push against the wall with all his might. A muffled cry of effort escaped him as he tugged against the stone hands, trying desperately to break away from them. But suddenly…he heard something.

Thud.

Bunny's sensitive ears perked up at the noise and looked around. The sound seemed to have vibrated throughout the entire cavern; the only sign of disturbance is the dust from the ceiling. But he wasn't the only one who noticed. Flicker was startled and his first reaction was to look up and out of the hole in the ceiling. He narrowed his golden eyes in suspicion before leaping off of Jack to stand right beneath it, much to the other spirit's relief.

Flicker scratched the back of his head while gazing into the sky above them, searching for the source of the sound.

"Huh…must have been…" But he was cut off as soon as a battle cry echoed throughout the cavern and Bunny shrunk back against the wall in surprise. He recognized that sound from anywhere…

And lo and behold came North's large body literally fell out of the sky and down through the whole with his swords pointed downwards. Flicker was caught completely off-guard at this, letting out a surprised yell as he had the Russian landed on top of him, feeling his weight pinning him to the ground as large boots practically crushed his stomach. A blade sliced down into the granite next to Flicker's head, nearly missing his face. Flicker could only manage to blink as he stared at his own reflection upon the blade before staring up at fierce, angry blue eyes.

He knew that the Guardian of Wonder was daring him to move, if he wanted to slice his head off. Hmm…let's recap what happened so far…he was minding his own business, messing with the Rabbit's head, about to give Jack something nice, and practically cockblocked by a 50 pound Russian man who wasn't afraid to run a blade through him.

What an interesting turn of events…

"Sandy!" North called out, still keeping his gaze upon Flicker. He had to make sure that this…demon, wouldn't get any ideas, he wasn't a former leader of the Cossack bandits for nothing.

Sandy appeared a second later, lightly hovered through the hole before making his descend down the cavern to create a huge wall of golden sand to separate Flicker and North from Jack and Bunny.

"Mmmndee!" Bunny muffled to Sandy, feeling overwhelmed with relief and joy. He'd never thought he would be so happy to see North in his entire life. When this is all over, he swore he would never complain about the cold if he swung over to his workshop again.

Sandy smiled at him momentarily before hovering over to Jack, looking him over with wary eyes. He was partially naked, his staff and sweater lay abandoned upon the concrete floor, and that was not all, he seemed in worse shape than before. Jack gazed back into the sandman's golden face and smiled weakly before allowing his head to fall back against the stone with his eyes closed, exhausted from all the pain and the heat. Sandy instantly conjured up a few golden fans to blow air onto Jack's body in an attempt to cool him off for the time being. He then hover over to Bunny and examined the statues that were holding him. They were the same as the ones that he fought against, only this time they seemed to be deactivated. Now the question was how to remove Bunny from them?

Bunny could hear angry snarls of Flicker and furious battle cries from North and the two battled out from the other side of the golden sand wall. The constant echo of metal blades clanging against stone made the Pooka's heart beat faster. While he knew that North is a capable fighter and mage, there was no way that he could beat them on his own, much less taking Flicker on.

Meanwhile Sandy's brow furrowed as he analyze the situation before summoning a golden whip in his hand and struck it carefully against the stone that was consuming Bunny's right arm. The sand simply dispersed as it met the stone, making the dream spirit frown at this while scratching the back of his head in thought.

This is a conundrum…

Bunny felt some sand untie the cloth from around his head and he spat it out before taking a few deep breaths as he looked up to his comrade.

"Sandy! Forget about me! Just get Jack out of here before…"

Suddenly the statues surrounding the cavern began glowing bright red. Sandy spun around in shock, observing them with wide eyes. As the statues on either side of Bunny shifted, their hands became loose enough for him to slip out. He wasted no time of darting past Sandy and made a direct beeline to the platform where Jack lay motionless, standing over his body protectively while he reached for his boomerangs.

The statues slowly stepped towards the three guardians, their heavy footsteps echoing throughout the cavern. Sandy hovered close to Bunny as he summoned a second whip in his other hand, giving the Pooka a worried glance as the warriors drew even closer. They are now back to back, trapped as the enemy surrounded them.

One of the large stone figures reached a hand out towards Jack, causing Bunny to lean over him and growled threateningly at the statue. Sandy gripped his whips and took a defense stance on the edge of the platform while scanning their enemies, both he and Bunny are ready to take them all on if they had to. They are not taking Jack away from them again.

Then there was a twinkling sound of glass breaking somewhere in the cavern, which they both recognized as a snow globe. Sandy's golden wall suddenly exploded, sending dream sand flying everywhere as three yetis ran through and began throwing large buckets of water at everything in their path. Bunny flinched as he felt his fur becoming drenched while Sandy quickly dodged the water. That was when he noticed that all of the statures halted when they were soaked, causing the glowing red light to fade away from the center of their chests.

Sandy observed them curiously before creating a giant hand out of dream sand. He maneuvered his creation to poke one of the warrior statues, only to see the said statue to collapse onto the ground, suffering cracks that were deep enough for it to break into a few pieces. Bunny grinned when he watched all of the others soon repeat the same action, each one crumbling to the ground and causing the stone floor to vibrate harshly beneath his feet. The yetis hobbled over the broken remains of the soldiers and waved their empty bucks around proudly as they warbled out in victory, just in time when Sandy floated over to join North on the other side of his dispersing sand wall.

Flicker had his back against the stone wall of the cave, hunched over as the flames on his shoulders were sputtering weakly due to exhaustion. The fat man was rather spritely for his age, the fire spirit was surprised that he somehow managed to keep his head attached to his shoulders. His gaze quickly shifted back and forth between every guardian that was slowly assembling in the crevice, causing him to grit his teeth into an angry snarl. Don't tell him that they somehow beaten his boys…

"Give it up!" North commanded with a smug grin as he held one of his swords just a few inches from the sun demon's nose. "You are no match for us!"

Sandy nodded in agreement and glared at Flicker threateningly as he placed himself in an archer's stance, causing a volley of dream sand arrows appear behind him, eager to turn his body into a pin cushion. The three yetis, including Phil, walked slowly towards Flicker while pounding their large fists into their hands.

Flicker's gaze dashed around them again until it landed on the motionless body of Jack on the other side of the cave. What was worse was the fact that damned rabbit stood over the winter sprite protectively, his green eyes glaring back into his golden ones with determination, daring him to make a move. Flicker blew smoke out of his nose in a frustrated snort before transforming his body into a cloud of smoke, racing past North and the others as he escaped out to the hole in the ceiling.

North attempted to stop the fire demon by slicing the smoke, but the cloudy air flew around his weapon with ease.

"I'll be seeing you again soon, Jack!" Flicker's voice called out angrily before the demon's presence seemed to disappear entirely from the crevice.

North glared upwards at where the demon disappeared as he slowly lowered his swords. The yetis all looked around in confusion while Sandy quickly hovered back over to check on Jack. Bunny sighed in relief but that feeling doesn't last when it was replaced with panic as his foot rubbed against Jack's bare side, feeling searing heat that was emitting from the boy's skin. He was breathing rather heavily now, completely unconscious.

Bunny hopped down from the platform and gently wrapped his arms around Jack's shoulders, propping him up slightly.

"Jack…hey, can ya hear me?" He cooed softly.

Jack's eyes fluttered a bit but groaned in pain and his head fell back against the Pooka's arm weakly. His body was still shaking, whether it was from pain or from the heat, and his breath was now coming in sharp gasps.

"It's alright, mate, we're gonna get ya fixed up," he whispered to him soothingly. "Flicker is long gone, and he won't lay a hand on ya ever again."

Bunny was going to make sure that Flicker never laid a hand on Jack…even if it would mean tearing it out of its socket. Sandy floated up next to them, holding both Jack's sweater and staff in his small hands. He looked at Jack then back to Bunny, his honey-brown eyes were filled with panic and concern. At times like this, even with his sand to communicate, he didn't need to use words.

"Bunny, are you and Jack alright?" North asked as he stepped over the broken statues to get to his friends while the yetis follow.

"I'm fine…North, we need to get Jack out of here." There was a sense of urgency in Bunny's voice as he looked over to him, still holding on to Jack. "We need to get him cooled down right now!"

North took note of the spiraling twist of emotions that arose in the Pooka's eyes. It was a mixture of relief, exhaustion, anger, and…horror?

What had happened while they were trapped here with Flicker? He wondered. The Russian man examined Jack's withering body carefully. He was still drooping limply in Bunny's arms; his eyes were squeezed shut tightly in pain as he turned his head to the side, burying his face in Bunny's chest fur.

"Da…" came an immediate reply with a nod. He gestured to the yetis and Phil walked up to hand North a snow globe that he got stashed in a messenger bag.

"North Pole!" North spoke into the globe before chucking it at the ground. A colorful twister appeared and swirled around the newly made portal leading to the Work Shop. Bunny pulled Jack's body close to his own and slid his other arm beneath his legs to lift him up in bridal style.

"Don't worry, mate, I've got ya." He whispered his promise to him, cradling Jack in his arms as they journeyed back to North's home.