"So...what's the deal cottontail?" Jack asked, standing in the middle of a crowded food court.

His eyes never left the woman working at the chinese place, sweeping behind the counter during a break between customers. Her blonde hair was hidden beneath a black hairnet, and without the yellow framing her features she looked ten years older.

There was a softening in his stare at the thought. Jack was old, but he wasn't ancient. He had passed through lifetimes and watched children grow and decay, and it always hurt. With Sophie, however, a child he knew who saw him and never stopped believing, the pain was sharpened.

Bunny stood beside him, ducking behind a tall, indoor plant in an attempt to hide. A man pushing a stroller passed, the meaty hands of a toddler reaching for the tall guardian. The father quickly toated the child another way, however, Jack's close proximity chilling the area.

"She's not the same mate." Bunny explained, annoyed as the toddler, now a good distance away, began crying. He loved being a reknowned Guardian, but sometimes he envied Jack's ability to go out in public.

"Whenever I see her, I see the kid she used to be. Her messy hair and those little jumps."

Jack glaced at him quizzedly and said, "That's whats buggin you? That was along time ago Bunny. She's grown up. So has Jamie and all the rest."

"Will ya shut your trap and listen Frostbite? It's not that, it's her belief."

Jack waited for further explaination, the paitence in his eyes making Bunnys fur rise. There was a reason Jack got under his skin, and it was more than the Blizzard of 68'. He had lived too long alone, was too used to waiting.

"She hates kids. Can't stand the sight of em'."

They both looked back at their little girl who wasn't little anymore. One whose youthful beauty was fading as she neglected to take care of herself.

"She told you that?" Jack asked, his words conjuring an anxiety in the pits of their stomachs.

"Yeah...she did."

The room dropped a few degrees as a group of kids, the same age Jamie was when he initally Believed, began ordering food at the Chinese place. They were giggling and grasping their money in their small fists, paying by slowly and carefully counting it out aloud.

Sophie scowled, already impatient and taxed at the exchange.

Frost began to gather on the leaves of the indoor plant, too quick for it to shrivel in retreat.

Bunny frowned, then glanced around at the occupaits of the building, whose moods were turing sour.

"Frostbite," he said, anxiety mixing with an ancient instinct to remain undetected. "Control yourself."

The boy froze, ceasing his trembling that Bunny hadn't before noticed. He nodded slowly, his tense shoulders relaxing. Then he smiled and cockily spun to face his compaion, snickering. "Can't handle the cold cottontail?"

The room gradually warmed, frostmelt dripping onto the floor.

A thought must've occured to him, his expressive face shifting with the tempature. "What about Jamie?" He asked, and Bunny shook his head.

"You'd know better than me mate. He adores you, despite his adulthood."

Jack cracked a grin. The door opened as patrons exited, and the wind swept inwards, breifly filling the room in search of it's Frostchild. Then it shut, and the breeze vanished.

"I should go," Jack said, already walking atop empty and occupied tables and chairs towards to door. Why he wouldn't walk on the ground like a normal person bewildered Bunny, but he followed on the ground just the same. Kack caused chaos in his wake, extinguishing all heat from the meals of tables he crossed, sometimes freezing beverages solid.

"Jamie and I need to talk."