Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Easter was ruined in movie, Bunny nearly punched Jack but didn't. What if he had punched Jack? What if he didn't stop at just punching Jack?

Bunny beats Jack, really badly. The other Guardians do nothing to help Jack or stop Bunny. They have essentially lost their last hope of winning and Jack is to blame, so they allow it but don't participate. Jack manages to put some distance between himself and Bunny and runs off to the arctic to recover.

Now Jack fears the Guardians, especially Bunny. He still helps defeat Pitch in the final battle but after that vanishes into the night. Some months afterward, the Guardians realize that they went too far and look for Jack to apologize. Jack runs like the devil himself is nipping at his heels.

Bonuses!
++++Jack has a scar from when Bunny beat him, and its somewhere visible.
++++++When Jack shows up for the final battle, he's recovered from the more serious injuries, but is still covered in bruises.
++++During the final battle, Jack is trembling. Only Pitch realizes that Jack isn't trembling in fear of him, but in fear of the Guardians.
++Jack rejects Guardianship.
++++++++Sandy is the one who kicked the Guardians butts into gear when he learned of what they did to Jack. He's severely disappointed in them.
++++After another failed attempt to catch Jack and talk to him, Pitch appears and taunts Bunny with his mistake.
+++++++In his desperation to escape the Guardians, Jack would do things that could lead to his serious injury(Like fly up into the sun, because they would be blinded and he could slip away in the glare. Get creative) and sometimes actually succeeds in hurting himself.

"No you don't understand! Listen to me!" Jack beseeched. He took in the desolate sight of kids walking through Bunnymund with defeated slumped shoulders and felt the weight of his mistake slam into his chest. "…I'm sorry." Jack breathed.

Bunny didn't take kindly to that. He marched straight up to Jack and punched him in the face. Jack looked stricken and gingerly traced his jaw. Bunny huffed angrily and punched Jack again.

"We should never have trusted you!" He bellowed as Jack tumbled to the ground. "You messed everything up! Easter is new beginnings! New life! Now it's gone because of you!" Bunny continued screaming and ranting as he towered over Jack. Jack was too scared to move; Bunny was scaring him. Jack knew he crossed a line, but even in his wildest dreams Jack never thought Bunny would hurt him. Bicker; sure, maybe even roughhouse a bit, but Jack never thought Bunny would straight up try to kill him.

Jack was horribly wrong. The first few punches Jack took like a man; he screwed up so Bunny was in the right. But Bunny started doing more than punching. He pummeled Jack's face in until it was blacker than Pitch's robes. A few of Jack's teeth got knocked loose and that's when Jack got truly terrified, because while Tooth flinched at the loss of his teeth, she didn't step in to help. Bunny started to forgo punching and started using his teeth and claws—anyone who thought rabbits couldn't out claw a cat was an idiot—and Jack got a few new scars to add to his collection.

Jack pleaded with Bunny to stop, and when that didn't work he turned to the other two guardians. He begged, beseeched, cried for them to help, but North turned his eyes full of wonder away and Tooth fretted more over his teeth than Jack himself. They wouldn't help; they blamed him. Pitch was right; Jack messed everything up.

Now knowing help would not come, Jack realized he had to help himself. He clawed at the ground to find enough purchase to get up and run. Bunny stopped Jack's futile resistance by smashing his delicate hands with his furry fists. With Jack's hands both broken, he abandoned his scramble for freedom and instead used his useless limbs to shield his face. It didn't matter one lick to Bunny; he was too blinded by his rage to realize the Frostbite was dying.

That scared Jack more than anything else in his life. No one cared that Jack was losing blood fast. No one would care if he lived or died. No one would mourn the stupid winter spirit that ruined Easter. If Jack died now, he would be forgotten almost immediately. No one would bat an eyelash. Jack panicked. He didn't want to die! In a surge of adrenaline, he bucked Bunny off of him, grabbed his staff—which had been lost in the scuffle—and bolted out of the glen of broken eggs and shattered hopes.

No one followed him.

Jack rode the wind all the way to Antarctica; not giving any thought to the hotter climates he had to cross to get there. The equator did more damage to his already splitting skin and Jack couldn't find it in himself to care. He absently gazed at his hands—they bore the brunt of Bunny's rage—and noted detachedly that they would scar over. Most of Jack's scars came from his attempts to defend himself—no one else would do it for him apparently—shielding his face saved Jack from more obvious disfiguration. Nevertheless, Jack still sustained heavy injury. Jack lost several teeth—Tooth could have told him which ones—he broke his ribs in five different places, his hands were both bending in unnatural ways, and that didn't account for all the bruising, cuts and bloodohgodsomuchblood! Jack did what he could to stop the bleeding and being in a place of absolute cold helped a great deal. The snow was like clay that he could mold into skin that wasn't there and was also a soothing balm for the pain.

Once Jack calmed down and broke the haze of shock that descended on him, it dawned on him that Bunny could have—would have—killed him. That shook Jack up in more ways than he would've liked. Jack could feel himself spiraling deeper and deeper into despair; he could see the shadows of insanity creeping in the corners of his eyes. Jack was almost grateful to see Pitch standing there with a sympathetic gaze; it gave him something to focus on other than the dark thoughts swirling in his head.

"I knew they would be angry, but I never expected this." Pitch murmured while tracing the bruises still healing on Jack's face. Jack recoiled back from the touch and attacked Pitch with the fervor of a wounded animal. Pitch used his blackened sand to negate Jack's frost, but did nothing to strike back. Finally Jack wound down from his frenzy, but kept a tight grip on his staff.

"What do you want?" He asked with a quiver. "You proved your point! I mess everything up; I get it! You don't have to stick around anymore!"

Pitch didn't look smug; in fact he looked almost sorry. "What have they done to you, boy?" he whispered. "To make you tremble with fear at their very mention?"

"You know what happened! I ruined Easter and got what was coming!" Jack cried. "Now go away! Leave me alone!"

Pitch looked critically at Jack before sighing. He saw the desperation in Jack's eyes and knew the boy was lashing out to protect himself. Pitch knew that tactic well. He took no offence to Jack's attempts to push the Nightmare King away. Pitch relented with another hefty sigh.

"…Fine. I'll leave you alone. But first let me give you something." Pitch said. He offered Baby Tooth to Jack; she was curled up in a ball and quivering with fear, but otherwise fine.

"Baby Tooth!" Jack gasped. He darted for the little fairy and grabbed her from Pitch. Pitch didn't move to stop him. "…Thanks." Jack begrudgingly muttered.

"Think of it as an apology. The rabbit went too far." Pitch sniffed. "The lights are fading fast, Jack. You might want to decide where your loyalties lie soon."

With that ominous word of advice, Pitch disappeared into the shadows beneath the ice. Now that Pitch was gone, Jack focused his efforts on Baby Tooth. She peered up at him with relief and gratefulness. She twittered about and hovered over him as she checked his injuries. Baby Tooth keened at the absence of Jack's teeth and Jack had a field day keeping her from hunting Pitch down and making him pay for the loss of such perfect bicuspids. Jack assured her Pitch had nothing to do with his beating, but wouldn't say who was.

Jack eventually settled down in the snow again to speed up his recovery. Baby Tooth snuggled up in his hoodie pocket for warmth. She twittered to Jack in soothing tones when he suddenly burst into tears. Baby Tooth saw jack's memory box and thought it would be a great way to distract her new friend. She heaved it out of the pocket and activated the memories inside. Jack was hesitant to look—they were the reason he abandoned Easter after all—but ultimately decided they were his memories and he could look at them if he so skittishly peered inside and was lost in a trance for a few moments.

What he saw was never revealed to Baby Tooth, but she didn't really mind what the memories were if they made Jack smile like that. His smile seemed brighter; like he had a new purpose. Even with the loss of most of his teeth, Jack's smile was the most beautiful thing Baby Tooth had ever seen. His joyous giggling was contagious and soon Baby Tooth was smiling and laughing along with him.

The moment couldn't last forever. Jack knew what he had to do now, so he gingerly placed Baby Tooth back into his hood, grabbed his staff and made his way into Pitch's lair. He had some fairies to rescue.

Unfortunately, the fairies couldn't fly anymore. The rescue attempt was all for naught. Jack nearly gave in to despair, but then he spied the dark globe that was so similar to the one at North's workshop. He floated over to it with a sad look in his eye, until he spotted a lone light shining like a beacon of hope in the small town of Burgess. Jack's smile came back full force and he laughed like a loon when he realized who the last light was.

"Jamie!" Jack cheered. He cheerfully did a back flip in the air for no reason other than he was just so happy. Jack was so proud of his favorite little weirdo who believed in almost anything. That belief would come in really handy right now.

Jack knew he had to protect Jamie. He was the only thing keeping all belief from being snuffed out. The only problem with that plan was if Jack knew who the last light was, everyone knew. If Jack went back to Burgess now, there was a strong chance he'd run into the Guardians again. Jack almost didn't go; The Guardians would handle it, right? It was their job to protect the children of the world. Except Jack need only look at the globe in front of him to know that they weren't doing their job. In the end, Jack pushed his fear aside and bade the wind to take him home.

Having Jamie see him was a welcome surprise. Jack nearly tackled him in his excitement. The last light was Jack's first believer; who would've thought? Jack could almost die again, he was so happy. The meeting could have gone better—Jamie nearly had a conniption when he realized Jack was hurt—but Jack honestly couldn't care less. He was too happy to let anything bring him down.

Or not.

The happiness nearly came undone when the Guardians showed up in North's dilapidated sleigh. He had to consciously tell himself to breathe and remind himself that he was there to save Jamie—his first believer. He couldn't let Jamie's light die. That didn't mean he wasn't scared to death of the inevitable encounter though.

"Jack? Why are you here?" North asked disbelievingly. Jack didn't miss how North crouched lower over his saber at the sight of Jack; a purely defensive move. Jack had to wince at the thought of North considering him an enemy. Jack hated himself for being relieved that none of the Guardians were strong enough to do any harm to him just then.

"Same reason you are." Jack congratulated himself on how he kept his voice from wavering. He motioned for Jamie to join them and he did so with a wondrous look on his face.

"I knew it! You are real!" He gushed. Jamie's happiness dimmed when he noticed how weak they all were. "What happened to you guys? Where's the Easter Bunny?" He questioned.

"When we lost Easter, it took a toll on all of us; Bunny most of all." North sighed gravely. Jack's eyes immediately darted to the sleigh; he hadn't really thought about how he would handle seeing Bunny so soon. Jack was almost hyperventilating until he realized Bunnymund wasn't… scary. Even when he wasn't gunning for Jack's blood, Bunny was an intimidating sight. Six feet of muscled rabbit with a mastery of Tai Chi and a permanent scowl would be horrifying if he didn't bring kids chocolate and goodies every year. But the little puffball with big green eyes staring up at Jack with guilt and fear wasn't what pummeled Jack into a bloody mess earlier that day. Bunnymund was now—dare he say it—cute. He was in no way threatening and that somehow pissed Jack off; if he was gonna be scared of the Easter Bunny, he could at least look frightening. Jack tightened his grip on his staff and unintentionally drew North's attention to his hands.

"! Jack, your hands!" He exclaimed. Tooth and Bunnymund whipped their gazes to Jack's hands and caught a glimpse of angry red scars before Jack shoved them farther in his sleeves.

"I'm fine. We got more important things to worry about." Jack hissed. He was shaking; barely repressing his fight of flight instinct.

"But you aren't fine, are you Jack?" Pitch suddenly purred from the shadows. Everyone startled into battle stances in anticipation for a fight. "Considering the Easter rodent almost killed you today, I'd be worried if you were."

Bunnymund winced when he looked up at Jack. He knew he crossed a line. He was just so hopeless and angry and dare he say it scared when he felt the little anklebiters walk right through him. Jack was just a convenient outlet for his rage. It was not an excuse and it wasn't right; Bunny knew that. It hurt to see Jack's obvious terror of them, but Bunny knew he deserved every skittish glance, every foot of space between them, and every rebuke of contact.

Jack was shaking and clutching his staff so hard that his knuckles went from pale to bone white. Bunny was horrified to note that no matter how tight Jack's grip became, the marks on his hands stayed that same ugly red. If Bunny tried hard enough, he could delude himself into mistaking the cuts for cat scratches. But Bunny had morals and he would not forget a slight against a child. And dammit, Jack was a child, wasn't he? Three hundred years with the face and heart of a child and they abandoned him. The Guardians were supposed to protect children, but they failed their child so horribly. Like it or not; Manny chose Jack Frost to be a Guardian. That made him family.

"Jack, what is he talking about?" Jamie asked with the innocence only a child could have. "Bunny didn't really hurt you, did he?"

"Aw poor Jack. You put on such a brave face… and for what? You can't even defend yourself from a wee rabbit!" Pitch's shadows mocked them by playing with Bunny like a shadow puppet. "Such an adorable bunny rabbit… Would you like a scratch behind the ear?" Bunnymund flinched away from the shadows and hopped away.

"Don't you touch me!" He snarled.

"But I thought you liked a good scratch? You certainly scratched Jack up well enough." Jack listened to the taunts frozen in terror. He was hugging himself and desperately trying to hide the scratches.

"Stop it…" Jack whispered. "Please just stop…!"

"You want to forget, don't you Jack? You just want to live your life as you had been, and forget that you even met the Guardians don't you?" The soothing, seductive purr sounded really close. Jack shivered at the closeness; especially when the smooth honey turned to jagged knives as Pitch hissed in his ear. "It doesn't work that way, Jack. The Guardians hurt you and they need to be punished. You can't allow them to walk away without any consequence!" When Jack started to cry, the knives went away and the soothing tones returned. "I'm trying to help you, Jack. You may think my methods are harsh, but this is a harsh world. I am fear, Jack; fear protects you from the things you should fear. At my center, I only wish to protect the children as you do." Pitch mentioning his center hit Jack with all sorts of conflicted feelings.

"Jack, don't listen to him! He doesn't care about the children! He's just trying to manipulate you!" Bunny cried from the safety of the light. Pitch couldn't help but laugh.

"Manipulate, you say? Isn't that what you were doing, Aster?" Bunny shivered at the use of his real name. Pitch made it sound like a curse with the way he rolled it in his mouth. "Letting him spend 300 years alone with no one to see or hear him suffer… letting him stew in the notion of loneliness… Letting him cry and scream and beg for any kind of friendship before suddenly calling for his aid… befriending him like he always wanted… I dare say that is a most perfect example of manipulation."

Jack's eyes were wide with fear. He looked to the Guardians for any hint that what Pitch said was a lie. They all winced; they knew how it sounded.

"Jack, that's not how it is." Bunny denied. "We had no idea you were—"

"—alone. Was that what you were going to say, rabbit? Of course you knew he was alone! He's Jack Frost; everyone knows who he is! They see him laughing and throwing snowballs and not once did anyone stop and think where does this child go when there's no one else around? You knew he had nowhere to go, but you didn't care because oh the little frostbite made it snow on Easter so he must be bad!" Pitch mocked Bunnymund by mimicking his voice.

"Shut yer lying mouth, Pitch!" Bunny snarled.

"It's no lie, Peter Cottontail. You know that better than anyone." Pitch hissed. "Just look at what your inaction has done to Jack." Pitch's shadow motioned to Jack's shivering frame and all of the Guardians felt the weight of their sins slamming into their cores.

Jack was crying. That was the worst part of this whole thing. No one had ever actually seen Jack cry before; maybe he'd get a little misty-eyed, but he never actually cried. He was clutching his ears trying to block out Pitch's words and trying to quiet his sobbing. Jamie was hugging his waist and looking at Jack with concern in his big brown eyes. A child comforting a child; it was a heartbreaking sight.

"Stop it please!" Jamie cried. "Can't you see you're making him cry?"

"Oh sweet innocent child… you're not old enough to know that crying is a good thing sometimes. If Jack's crying now, it just means he knows that he was right to fear the Guardians. He sees the truth about them and it hurts, but he'll be better off for it latter on. Isn't that right, Jack?" Pitch cooed.

Jack shook his head; vehemently denying what Pitch was saying. He refused to believe such an ugly truth. But when no other protests came from the Guardians themselves, Jack had to think that maybe the Nightmare King had a point.

If it weren't for Sandy suddenly reappearing in a swirl of golden sand, Jack was sure he would've ran away again with his tail between his legs. He would have taken Jamie with him of course; he couldn't forget his mission, but he wouldn't have been able to stay in Burgess any longer.

It turns out, Sandy wasn't actually dead. He was biding his time slumbering in the Nightmare Sand and waiting for a touch from a child with genuine belief. Jamie wasn't aware he had triggered Sandy's return when he brushed past a Nightmare earlier in the night. Either way, it was troubling for Jack to see the ex-wishing star again. Sandy wasn't there for Easter, but Jack was unsure if he blamed him for his death. He put aside all doubts and fears that Pitch had planted in his head and helped the Sand Man defeat his opposite.

Sandy thrashed the Nightmare King with the grace of a ballerina. Jack took care of his Nightmare hoard. In hindsight, it was almost an anticlimactic battle. If Jack thought about it too much, he would think Pitch threw the fight. It was too easy for them to wrangle Pitch into submission and when they finally did, he didn't even bother to struggle. All he did was give Jack a strange look and say,

"In the end, you know I'm right." It was strange, but the newly revived Sand Man thought nothing of it. Knowing that Pitch was no longer an issue, Sandy sent his dream sand to the children who needed them. One by one, nightmares turned into dreams of bunnies, fairies, Santa Claus, and snow. Subtly, the Sandman restored the belief once lost through sweet dreams.

Everything was alright in the end. The peaceful lull of golden sand seemed to put everyone at ease. Jack could almost forget that Bunnymund was back to his normal size and standing not too far away from him. All too soon, Jamie had to go home and back to bed and the fear growing in the pit of Jack's belly could no longer be ignored. The Guardians approached him with a familiar thick tome. The Guardian's Oath was still left unsaid by Jack. Jack couldn't believe his eyes; they still wanted him to be Guardian after all that? They thought Jack would go along with it?

"Jack. The offer is still on table." North murmured with a gleam in his eye. "You are worthy of being Guardian. You have proven as much today." North gave a meaningful side-glance to Bunnymund, who nodded his head with a sorrowful gaze.

Jack's eyes darted between all of them. Though he was mostly patched up by his stay in the Arctic, Jack could still feel the hollow twinge of newly mended bones. Jack hadn't even had time to properly heal from the beat-down Bunny gave him and they had the gall to offer him Guardianship? No. That wasn't going to happen. Not ever. Jack's flighty gaze settled on Bunnymund. Suddenly all the hurt, fear, and stress that Jack had been pushing aside came flooding back. Just looking at Bunny made Jack's hands sting with the fresh memory of bitingscratchingPOUNDING.

"NO!" Jack blurted out. When he received strange looks for his trouble, Jack tried again. "I mean uh, no thanks. I'm grateful for the offer, really!"—not really, his mind supplied. "But I'm gonna have to pass on this one. See ya!" Jack was gone before anyone had the chance to protest.

Sandy wasn't stupid; he knew he missed something. Jack's refusal was too weird and too quick not to be worrying. He looked to his fellow Guardians to see if they knew what was wrong, but they too were acting strange. Bunny scoffed and said good riddance—something that would be normal for him if it hadn't been for the genuine hint of sadness in his voice. North looked conflicted about Jack's swift rejection; like he didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. Sandy was shocked; North was the first one to really have faith in Jack, so it was alarming to see North give up on the sprite so quickly. Tooth was flittering about with nervous energy. Sandy could see her guilt miles away. Tooth always wore her heart on her feathered sleeve; this time was no different. She darted to and fro and nibbled her nails. Her legs were tucked up to her belly like a loaded spring.

Sandy stared expectantly at Tooth until she cracked. It wasn't hard to do; she was itching to get everything off her chest. Everything sort of tumbled out in rapid rambling and guilty feather-pulling. She told Sandy everything that happened since his 'death;' especially how Bunny beat Jack up on Easter. She confessed to not helping him out of spite and how she knew it was wrong to blame Jack but with everything going so horribly she was so frustrated and Jack was just there and ohgodSandywhatdidIdo? Bunny flinched like a scolded child when Sandy whipped his incredulous gaze to him.

"Yeah mate, I know I screwed up. I'm so sorry for what I did, you don't even know." Bunny confessed under the heat of Sandy's accusing glare. Sandy shook his head vehemently and showed everyone through his sand that Jack is the one they should all apologize to. Sandy also motioned that he couldn't bear to be around them just then. He only looked back long enough to give them a disapproving look before floating off to give more children sweet dreams.

A/N: Wooooooooooooooooooow I'm such an ANGST whore. XD;;

So I TRIED to format this to make it seem like Jack was panicking even as I was writing him. Did I do okay? ._.; It's kinda hard for me to write out split-second reactions so please forgive any lagging in my writing. I try. *throws sparkles*

If you're wondering why Pitch seemed like a pussy in the final fight, well, you'll find out soon enough. :)

Chapter Text

For Jack, the weeks following Easter were spent in complete denial. He tried his hardest to forget his involvement with the Guardians; Pitch was right about that much at least. He moved through life with the same flighty not-quite-faux-happiness he’d perfected over 300 years. The only difference between now and before—Jack couldn’t bring himself to even think of the holiday in question—was that now Jack had believers. Jamie had somehow convinced his friends that yes Jack Frost was an actual person and no he’s not crazy. Jack had made fast-friends with all of the Burgess kids. He had a special place in his heart for Cupcake though; anyone who loves unicorns as much as she did had to be a good person.

Jack wasn’t quite happy, but he was content. That was way more than he had before. It’s strange to think that someone with joy for his center never actually experienced joy. Jack somehow just knew his center was joy when he regained his memories.

That was another thing that was different from before. Jack now knew why the Moon pulled him back from death and raised him from the lake. He saved his sister from certain death by replacing fear with fun before dying in her stead. The Moon somehow thought that was extraordinary and deigned him worthy of being a—

--No don’t say it! Jack chastised himself. He smacked his head against a tree to bodily remove the traitorous thoughts spiraling through his head. If Jack consciously tried not to look at his hands while doing so, it wasn’t like anyone was around to call him out on it.

“That looks rather painful.” Pitch stated dryly as he materialized from the tree’s shade. Jack nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Don’t do that! Jeez, do you normally pop out of random shadows to scare people?” Jack immediately knew how stupid that sounded as soon as it left his lips. Pitch gave him a dry look as if to say ‘I’m the Boogeyman. Do you honestly need to ask?’ “You know what? Forget I asked. So why’re you here?” Jack switched topics as easily as he switched clothes.

“It won’t work, Jack. I’ve told you before.” Pitch stated with absolute calm. Fear prickled up Jack’s neck, but he played it off with a smile.

“What? You mean your plans for world domination? I could’ve told you that; there’re no zombies involved! Of course it’s not going to work!” He sassed. Even Jack could tell Pitch wasn’t going to fall for it. He was caught and they both knew it. Pitch just gave Jack that dry look until he broke.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Jack said bluntly.

“Of course you don’t; but you have to eventually.” Pitch shrugged.

“Since when are you my therapist?” Jack snapped.

“I’d prefer to be your friend.” Pitch replied.

That caught Jack’s attention. His witty retort died on his tongue as Jack regarded Pitch with both suspicion and curiosity. Jack wrung his hands around his staff; it was a nervous habit Jack had yet to break. Pitch pointedly stared at the web¬-like scars crisscrossing over the top of Jack’s lily-white hands. Jack stopped wringing them and hid them in his sleeves.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you meant ally because there is no way you just said you want me to be your friend.” Jack dismissed airily. “The answer is no, by the way. Even if I wanted to take over the world with you, I’d probably end up screwing up the plan in the name of fun. I have a bit of a short attention span when it comes to boring things.” Jack was just babbling now; buying time so he could come up with a way to elude the Nightmare King. The thought that Pitch Black of all people would want to be his friend was a bit of a shock.

“I mean what I say, Jack. I want to be your friend.” Pitch enunciated slowly and with conviction. “If you end up helping me in my plans for world domination, that’s completely up to you. I for one wouldn’t mind if a Freeze Ray made its way into my plot.”

Jack had to take a moment for his brain to catch up with what Pitch just said. Pitch said it almost seriously, but his straight face was belied by a tiny, playful smile tugging at the corner of his ashen lips.

“Did you just joke about Freeze Rays?” Jack gawped. Pitch grinned.

“It was worth a shot.” He shrugged. The grin never left his face and Jack had to laugh because this was actually happening.

“Oh my god you did!” He crowed. “This is a dream isn’t it? Is Sandy fucking around in my head or what?”

Jack suddenly froze when he realized what he said. It just slipped out. He hadn’t meant to mention Sandy, but now that he had, he couldn’t stop the onslaught of repressed thoughts breaking through the fog. He remembered before—

—EASTER his mind screamed at him. Jack remembered Easter bit by agonizing bit. Jack remembered how as soon as he realized Pitch kept him away from the Warren just long enough to destroy all the eggs, he raced to the surface only to see Bunny get walked through by a child. Being walked through was a feeling Jack knew well, so he wanted to comfort the giant rabbit. He made to go over to Aster, but North stopped him in his tracks.

“Jack, where were you?” He demanded. “The Nightmares came. They smashed every egg, every basket… There was nothing left.”

Things escalated quickly from there. Tooth saw Jack’s teeth in his hands, accusations flew, assumptions of Jack’s allegiance with Pitch were made, and Bunny just snapped.

Jack remembered how each hit felt. How each individual bruise was formed. Jack remembered how Bunny not only broke his bones and tenderized his muscles with fists, but also how he gouged strips of skin and sinew from his arms, hands, and chest with his pewter claws. Bunny put out all the stops to make Jack pay for abandoning hope and allowing Nightmares to raid his Warren. It wasn’t Jack’s fault—he didn’t mean to anyway—but Bunny wouldn’t hear it.

Jack remembered screaming. He begged for help from both Tooth and North. “Help me!” He cried. “He’s hurting me!”

North looked away. The man who was almost like a father to Jack turned the other cheek as Bunny clawed him up like a scratching post. North was the first to actually trust Jack. He made moves to include Jack as one of the team before anyone else had the chance to process Manny’s decision. North was the first to abandon him. It hurt. It almost hurt more than having his hands smashed by the enraged Pooka.

Tooth didn’t look away, but that was worse. She watched as Bunny bloodied Jack up and only winced at the loss of his teeth. She made no moves to help. She just stood there and watched. Jack liked to think that he and Tooth were friends—or at least on friendly terms—He could almost picture her becoming like a mother to him. Jack knew better now; she only liked him for his teeth.

Jack remembered becoming hopeless as the Guardian of Hope rained his fury upon his frail body. He remembered how he felt like he was going to die. The thought of dying alone and unwanted scared Jack; enough to give him a surge of adrenaline and use it to escape.

Scared… Fear... Pitch!

“You saved me…!” Jack whispered in hushed awe. “When Bunny was hurting me… I got scared and I… you saved me.”

“No I didn’t.” Pitch quickly denied. “I merely made you see a reason to save yourself. Fear has many uses, Jack; one of which is finding a reason to fight. If fear cannot help you avoid danger, it can help you remember your reason to live.” Pitch delivered this profound news with the reverence and awe it deserved. Jack was stunned to silence by it. Jack never thought of it that way. He always thought fear was something to avoid, but Pitch was saying fear was what helped you avoid danger. Fear wasn’t the problem; it was a helpful hint.

“You feared dying alone; you would have died if Bunny kept going.” Pitch announced. It was a brutal truth that both of them knew. “You would die alone and no one would bat an eyelash. You knew that, so you resolved yourself to live. You would escape and live to continue your search for companionship another day. These thoughts weren’t conscious, Jack. They were taking place in a split second right before you made the decision to fight and flee. That is why I’m here. That is what I put in to the world. That is my center.” Pitch took Jack’s face in his hands and he concluded his fiery speech. “Fear at its center is a way to help people help themselves.” He murmured.

Jack didn’t know when he started crying, but the soft brush of Pitch’s thumbs on his cheeks alerted him to the tears streaming down his face. A choked sob escaped Jack’s lips and he thrust himself into Pitch’s arms. Jack clutched desperately at Pitch’s cloak of shadows and sobbed like he hadn’t since the night he was first walked through. Pitch rested his spindly arms around Jack’s shoulders; a comforting weight, but not a restriction. Jack’s knuckles were bone white with the strain of gripping Pitch’s robes so hard, but the bright red scars stayed the same. They would never heal completely, Jack knew that, but in time they would fade into a soft pink; just like Jack’s heart would be forever scarred by the Guardian’s careless actions. Maybe Pitch could help Jack fade the emotional scars into something less painful too? He seemed to care enough about Jack to help him help himself, so maybe Jack could help Pitch help himself too? It was a nice thought.

Jack eventually calmed his shuddering sobs into occasional hiccups. Pitch held him through it all and never made any moves to dislodge him. Jack suddenly chuckled wetly and asked in a lighthearted voice,

“You threw the fight, didn’t you?”

Jack couldn’t see it, but he just knew Pitch was smirking. “My reasons for attacking the Guardians in the first place was to gain believers and by extension companionship. Why go through such elaborate means when I already had what I wanted? It’s a waste of effort and I’m not one for frivolousness.” He explained.

“Is that a yes?” Jack asked cheekily.

“Don’t ask questions you know the answer to; it’s not polite.” Pitch snorted.

“Yeah that’s definitely a ‘yes.’” Jack snickered.

It wasn’t the most conventional way to make friends, but it worked. Jack could honestly say he never thought he’d be friends with the Boogeyman, but that was before.

Chapter Text

Aster was practically tugging his ears in frustration. How hard could it possibly be to track down a winter sprite who caused mischief wherever he went? Apparently, it was nigh impossible, because Bunny was the best tracker to ever live and he still couldn’t find Jack Frost.

They tried the obvious places first, of course; Burgess, Russia, Antarctica, and Canada were scoured high and low in case Jack returned to his usual haunts. He had to have been in Burgess at some point because the last light—Jamie was his name—informed them that snow days were in abundance since he first saw Jack. Jack always managed to make himself scarce before Bunny got there, so Bunny went to the next obvious step; keep track of any freak weather patterns and corner the frostbite as he was making his rounds. The thing about that was Jack Frost somehow managed to create illusions like the frost rabbit he made for Jamie to help him spread winter throughout the world. That led to a wild goose chase where they were tracking illusions and not the actual Jack Frost. Bunny pulled out the big guns then. He listened for the wind. The four winds each had their own personal tenor and while Jack could ride all four of them, he frequented the North Wind the most.

Bunny had his ears perked listening to the wind for hours and he still couldn’t detect the tinkling laughter that came with Jack’s joyful rides through the wind. Bunny was tired, sore, and annoyed at his inability to track a simple sprite, but he wouldn’t give up. Sandy was right; he owed Jack Frost an apology. Hell he owed more than that, but an apology was a good start.

Just when Bunny was about to turn in for the night, he heard it. It was faint and if Bunny wasn’t looking so hard for it, he would have missed it. Bunny finally heard Jack’s jingle bell laughter riding the winds. Bunny dashed to the source before Jack could get wise and escape again.

The little hellion was in Burgess! The first place Bunny looked was where he ended up finding Jack weeks after the disastrous Easter Sunday. He was instigating a snowball fight; typical. He fluttered about and hurled snowballs at all the children. No one was safe from Jack’s joy-packed ammo; there was no discrimination in their game. By the time the children were called to come in, every kid in Burgess had snow in their hair and all over their clothes. Bunny couldn’t help but stop and watch from the shadows. It was such a stupid thing; throwing bits of clumped snow at people, but there was no denying the joyful smiles that adorned each and every child’s face as they played and romped through the snow. For such a simple thing, it was fun. It was so simple that most every spirit mistook the importance of it for 300 years; Bunny included.

Jack waved to every child as they left for the comforts of home. He made sure each of them knew he cared. He asked them about their day, laughed at all their inside jokes, and gave them all hugs. It was so simple, but it knocked the breath from Bunny when he realized its importance. Jack had never been touched in all his 300 years of existence. He’d never been seen. Jack never had a friend in the world until the Guardians shoved him in a sack and tossed him through a magic portal. Knowing that made Bunny’s heart clench with tremendous guilt; The Guardians were Jack’s first friends and they betrayed him.

“Jack!” Bunny called out before he could stop himself.

The reaction was instantaneous. Jack gasped and dropped the snow in his hand. He swiveled around in the air and gave Bunny a deer-in-headlights look. Bunny could see the whites of Jack’s eyes even from a distance; that’s how wide they were. A beat passed and then Jack flew away like a startled blue jay.

Bunny gave chase of course; there was no way he was letting the Frostbite get away given how much time he spent tracking him. Jack was a slippery devil, he’d give him that, but there was a reason you didn’t want to race a rabbit. Bunny was fast and he was a trickster. No matter how fast and slippery Jack Frost was, Bunny would be faster and cleverer. Bunny pinned Jack down somewhere in Michigan and it broke his heart when Jack screamed and struggled like his life depended on it.

“Let me go!” Jack cried. “I’m sorry I ruined Easter, just please lemme go!” He was desperate. That much was obvious. Jack was breathing so hard and fast Bunny was worried he’d start hyperventilating. Aster noted the loss of most of Jack’s teeth and winced. Tooth was still pissed at him for knocking them out. Shimmering slate eyes wet with tears stared up at the Easter Bunny with fear. Aster nearly missed Jack’s breathy whisper of,

“I don’t wanna die.”

That did it. That little plea from a child so convinced he was going to die broke the Easter Bunny. Aster keened low and long and he curled over the winter sprite like a wounded animal. Words sometimes hurt more than any weapon ever could. Bunny wept for the child he failed so horribly before he said,

“I’m so sorry Frostbite.”

Jack didn’t relax at all. He stayed tensed like a bowstring the entire time Bunny had him in his grip. Jack stayed perfectly still like a prey animal in a predator’s grip. He listened to Aster’s apology only because he had no choice.

“Please. I don’t wanna die. Let me go.” Jack pleaded softly. Apologies were nice, but Jack couldn’t forget Aster’s face warped with rage as he rained down his twisted justice unto him. Jack was witness to Aster’s anger and he couldn’t help but wonder if it would happen again. Aster wasn’t safe; not for Jack.

Aster stilled and took the time to really look at Jack. Jack was two steps away from fainting in panic. He stared up at Aster with terror written all over his angled face. Jack wouldn’t forgive him; not as long as he feared him.

Aster made a painful decision then; he let Jack go. Aster turned Jack loose from his hold on him. Jack scrambled up and away from Aster before sloppily taking off and banging into a few trees in a hasty escape. If Aster was ever going to make things right for Jack, he would have to let him come to him. Now set in his resolve, Aster turned to walk away and clear his head—

—and ran right into Pitch. Aster cursed and jumped away with boomerangs held tightly in each hand. He should’ve known Pitch was behind Jack’s fears!

“Oh no, Aster, you did that yourself.” Pitch drawled with a razor thin smile.

“You readin’ my mind or something?” Aster growled. Pitch laughed.

“You forget who you’re talking to, rabbit! I don’t read minds; I know fears.” Pitch shifted from shadow to shadow until he was right behind Bunny. “And Jack is terrified of you! Rightly so, of course; it’s not like I’m the one who beat him senseless over a few smashed eggs.” He teased.

Bunny hollered and tried to hit Pitch with his boomerangs, but his shadows were intangible and therefore unhurt by them. “It was more than just a few eggs, don’tcha think?” He hissed.

“Regardless of how many there were, it’s irrelevant isn’t it? You almost killed Jack Frost over eggs. Isn’t that just petty?” Pitch sniffed. He shifted shadows again before Bunny could catch him. “I mean, murder is bad regardless of the reason, but over eggs?” Pitch taunted as he reformed on a nicely shaded branch.

“What did you do, Pitch?” Bunny snarled. “What I did was a right blunder, I get that, but Jack’s no wimp! He wouldn’t act like that if you weren’t involved!”

Pitch sneered and shifted so he came out of Bunny’s shadow. “And how would you know that hm?” He bellowed. “What, are you and Jack suddenly chummy now that the Man in the Moon says he’s a Guardian? You don’t know the first thing about Jack Frost, you fool! You only talked to him for three days! One of which was spent grinding him into powdered snow because ‘Boohoo Eastter’s ruined!’”

“Oh and I suppose you know all there is to know about Jack!” Bunny countered.

“I certainly know more than you do, Aster. I actually took the time to get to know Jack before I befriended him! We’re quite close, you know. You could say we clicked.” Pitch taunted. “And as his friend I’m telling you to stay away from Jack. You’ve done enough, thank you.”

Bunny sucked in a breath. Pitch and Jack? Friends? When did he get knocked over the head?

“You’re friends…?” Bunny tested out the words slowly.

Pitch rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “Yes, you blundering idiot, we’re friends. I know it’s a shock; the big bad Boogeyman has friends. Newsflash Cottontail; The Guardians aren’t the only ones who can have those! In fact, I can happily say War and I are getting married soon. I’d have gotten you an invitation, but you’re so busy with Easter I figured I wouldn’t waste the paper. You understand.” He drawled.

“…What?” Bunny blurted out before his brain could catch up. War and Pitch? Admittedly it made sense but Aster did not need that mental picture in his head.

“God it’s like talking to a three year old…” Pitch huffed. “…Look, just stay away from Jack and I won’t cause any undo trouble for a few thousand years. That’s a fair deal, right?”

“As I recall, we seemed to rough you up pretty good.” Bunny sneered. “What makes you think we won’t do it again?”

Pitch snickered. “You honestly think you won that little skirmish? Oh nononono. I threw the fight; I already had what I was gunning for.” He waved dismissively.

Bunny bristled. “And just what were you after anyway?” He hissed.

“The whole point of that spectacle was for me to gain believers and therefore companionship. It was much easier to befriend Jack than to go through unnecessary plots, so I threw the fight. Everyone’s happy.” Pitch shrugged. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a friend to comfort. Ta.” Pitch said before he was suddenly gone.

Bunny was left in the clearing alone. He blinked away the dumb look on his face and straightened up a bit. He gazed determinedly in the direction Jack Frost flew off in before murmuring,

“Even if Pitch is right, I’m still gonna make it up to you, Frostbite. I promise you that.” And with that, Aster tapped his foot and summoned a tunnel back to the Warren.

He had a proper apology to plan. Maybe a simpler approach would work? Who knew? Nevertheless, Bunny would try everything until it worked.