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Language:
English
Series:
Part 32 of Bye Bye Birdy
Stats:
Published:
2014-05-16
Completed:
2014-05-23
Words:
1,459
Chapters:
4/4
Comments:
79
Kudos:
517
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15
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4,079

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Summary:

Autumn is coming! What could go wrong?

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

"Wow that smells good. What're you drinking?"

"Pumpkin Spice Latte, wanna try?"

Jack took the cardboard cup and sipped. "...that's really good."

"It only comes out in the fall, so it's like my calling card. Halloween is on it's way when the pumpkins come rolling out!"

Jack grinned, taking another sip as Hollow rambled on about pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pudding.

"Huh. Hey Hollow? Your dad's head is a pumpkin right?"

"Uhuh."

"And for Halloween, you carve pumpkins into lanterns."

"Uhuh."

"Soooo... Do you get to stab your dad in the head and scoop out his brains?"

"You are one sick bastard Jack."

"Just asking!"

"No, we carve pumpkins and then he chooses the best for his head for the year. First the carving THEN the heading. ...you drank all my coffee."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Nah, we can get more. Come on!"

 

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Pitch's shadow senses were tingling.

Even the Nightmares seemed nervous, sliding into the room's darkness and hiding behind book-cases and between book-covers.

And then he heard it.

The sound of children hyped up on sugar and caffeine and no shame echoing down the tunnels.

Pitch very quietly closed the library doors and locked them.

Tomorrow he would find ice and candy wrappers in all corners of his great hall. Nightmares tied up with ribbons and costume jewelry.

Tomorrow he'd find his throne sticky with melted sugar, the bathroom flooded with mounds of soggy towels, and the kitchen left devoid of anything that even hinted of food.

Tonight, he was hiding.

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Bunny’s ears were standing upright and swiveling around in all directions, trying to locate why he felt threatened.

His whiskers quivered as he tried to scent out the danger.

The fur across his shoulders and down his back bristled and a paw strayed towards his favorite boomerang hooked to his belt.

Something… was out there. Something was coming. Bunny didn’t know what it was but he was filled with dread.

…was that giggling? Did Evil giggle?

He spotted something white dart behind a tree. Bunny squinted and took a small step forward… and got nailed right in the back of the head with a snowball.

“JACK!”

“Wasn’t me!”

 

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Bunny had to admit it. He had been defeated. It was truly embarrassing, but he had been felled by a horde of creatures (half of whom barely came up to his waist) bearing snowballs and water-pistols and manic grins.

Face down on the green grass he had been so happily relaxing on before the attack, Bunny tried to bargain his way out.

“Chocolate for the first tot who unties the rope.”

Nope. The long sash used to tie his paws together was untouched.

He tried threats.

“I’M GOING TO DUNK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IN MY COLORING RIVER!”

Nope, that just gave them ideas. Eight pairs of small hands started to drag the rabbit towards the river. He could squirm and flail around to stall the process, but found himself hesitating doing so too much in fear of hurting one of the tiny, precious, devious children.

Even if he could only name a couple.

Jack, of course, and his friend Hollow. The blonde with the feathered cloak was Jill, he’d heard about her. Baby Tooth was directing from above, too small to do much herself. By the tail, the girl in the elaborate robes was a Kitsune child, and the boy with the yellow eyes and fuzzy ears had to be Coyote. The last two… Bunny was not sure. The boy looked of Asian descent, and dead to boot, and the girl was painted with Hindu designs on her forehead.

Bunny gave up all pretense of dignity, and begged. “Okay, okay, what do you insane hooligans want? Candy? Eggs? WHAT?!”

He was never going to live this down.

Notes:

Sooo there's going to be a set now, as they rampage through the Guardians. It's a -good- thing, the Guardians need to be around more children! Happy children! VERY HAPPY ENERGETIC CHILDREN.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

It was not often that Bunny came for a visit, but instead of being worried about it North was thrilled. Door thrown wide and arms outstretched for a hug, "BUNNY! WEL-" North paused, and then much more slowly "...come."

North blinked, arms sort of just hanging in the air.

It was one dejected looking rabbit knocking on his inner-workshop door.

His ears were green. His hands were blue. A pink hand-print was squarely fixed over one eye, and a yellow smiley on the opposite cheek. Someone had played a game of tic-tac-toe in green and red on Bunny's stomach and everywhere else were random spots and stripes and more hand-prints. A ribbon strung with bells was tied around an ankle, and a red silk sash was draped over his shoulder to his hip. His arm-guards and leathers were glittery as a disco ball and strung with flowers, many flowers.

Distantly, North realized there was a lot of yelling going on, the familiar howls of his Yeti and the squeaks of the elves and the very, very unfamiliar shrieks of children.

Arms still raised in the air, North cautiously asked "...has something happened?"

"North, you have no idea."

CRASH. And the many sounds of small objects hitting the floor.

"WASN'T ME!"

"CATCH IT CATCH IT CATCH IT!"

"AHHHHHH IT'S GOT ME! HELP!"

"I'LL SAVE YOU KITTY!"

"I FOUND THE COOKIES!"

North found he had the oddest urge to retreat into his workroom with Bunny and carve some ice until it all went away. But that was silly. It was only Jack and some friends!

He patted Bunny on the shoulder. "Is good you come to me. You are not used to the small children like I am, you have to be firm with them, or else they run rampant."

Bunny stared at him with haunted eyes. "Yeah... firm... you do that North. They're all yours." He thumped the floor and vanished through the hole.

North laughed as he strode out to greet his guests. A couple cookies, a toy or two, everyone would calm down!

And that was why North had no one but himself to blame when he was bound with holiday ribbon to a pole and decorated like some sort of bizarre christmas tree. He should have realized Bunny was a warning of things to come. North had not been prepared for the diabolical plotting a horde of energetic children could get up to.

With the yeti in hiding and unable to come to the rescue, while the elves pranced around in frilly doll clothes and not too unhappy about it, as 8 shrieking children of various sizes took over the main floor- North found himself muttering quietly "...evil should not giggle."

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Some would cry foul, saying that Sandy had cheated by getting inside-information. That he should have been forced to suffer as they had suffered.

Sandy would just smile brightly and blow them a cheeky kiss. Just because THEY could not handle a few guests...

Jill and Toshio, the youngest of the pack, took one look at the sleeping-bags Sandy had set up in the largest room on the ground floor- and collapsed to sleep with the delighted exhaustion of the triumphant.

Two down.

The other six pounced upon the offerings of pizza and popcorn and pretzels, temptingly laid out so as to soak up all the sugar they had eaten at North's. And children with full bellies were more likely to pass out after so long a day.

That knocked off two more, Malini and Coyote surprisingly enough. He would have thought Coyote to have more stamina than that.

Four to go.

Sandy eyed the eldest children, Jack and Hollow and Kitty and... no that was it. Baby Tooth was sleeping in the bowl of popcorn. Sandy delicately removed her to her own tiny sleeping bag set up on a low table.

The last two boys and Kitsune were yawning but stubbornly refusing to give up just yet, and it was time for Sandy's secret weapon.

Now, the falling star could have just used his sand to knock all of them out at once and send them home in the morning but... where was the fun in that? The children had worked hard on their day out, he was not going to end it before they did.

That did not mean however he wouldn't rig things in his favor either, and what was better to send children into a peaceful sleep than a long, cleverly mimed bed-time story?

The eight brightly colored sleeping bags were soon full with snoozing occupants, and Sandy beamed around the room.

He should recommend for Tooth to hold the sleep-over next time. She was far too busy for the chaotic antics of the day, but she'd enjoy having a herd of sleepy children to coo over and coddle when evening fell.

Now, he just had to make sure Bunny never found out how the children got into the Warren.

Notes:

Sooo there's going to be a set now, as they rampage through the Guardians. It's a -good- thing, the Guardians need to be around more children! Happy children! VERY HAPPY ENERGETIC CHILDREN.

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