Yeah, I was really late with this update. In my defense, I didn't think this would reach over 4k words, so there's that. Well, I got this prompt from AyameKitsune like probably 2 years ago. Yeahhhhhhhh, trust me when I say I'm actually attempting to clean up my act. I'm so sorry this took so long to write, *sigh*. Anyway, I got some Guest Reviews to respond to:
GayGirl3: Heh, you're completely right about that! I guess I meant every other year xD
Guest: Thanks. tho you did wait for more if you're even on.
Today, like every other month, was another monthly Guardian meeting. However, unlike every other month, Santa Claus was a tad distressed, enough to be noticed by the winter being known as Jack Frost.
"What's wrong North?"
Santa, North as he liked to be called, looked at the white haired teen and sighed. "Is nothing Jack."
"Oh cut the baloney, North," the 6 ft 1 overgrown rabbit (kangaroo) said as he painted another egg, "It's obvious that yer worried about something. What's going on?"
"Bunny, you must wait till Toothy and Sandy shows."
Jack groaned, twirling his shepherd's staff in his right hand. "The one time I come early to a Guardian Meeting!"
Bunny glared at Jack. "Frostbite, the only reason why you're so early is that I had to drag yer arse here."
Jack had to admit that the Pooka was right. If he wasn't camping out in the Warren for a few days, Jack wouldn't have remembered the meeting day at all.
"Still Kangaroo, that doesn't explain why North's so in the dumps."
Before Bunny had a chance to retort, a shrill voice took away his words, "North's not feeling well?"
Zipping down from the skylight window was none other than Tooth, her green, blue and gold feathers gleaming in the sunlight. Trailing behind was Sandy on his dream cloud along with a group of mini fairies.
The Sandman flashed images made of golden sand above his head, his muteness duly noted. 'Is everything okay?'
North shook his head. "No Sandy, Manny tell me bad news."
"Woah, what's going on?" Jack asked.
"Yeah mate, now we're all here."
The old man closed his eyes. "Manny say two humanoid dragons in danger."
Jack's eyes widened in worry. "What?" Please let it not be them.
"What's got yer pants in a knot, Frostbite?" Bunny remarked.
If only he knew.
"Nothing." Jack internally winced at how quick his reply was. "I just never knew that dragons existed."
Bunny slowly nodded his head, but Jack had no idea if he was suspicious or not. "Okay then, sure." Fortunately, he didn't press on.
"Where are the two humanoid dragons?" Tooth chipped in, "After the genocide, we need to keep the remaining dragons safe."
Jack's normally cheerful face fell into a slight frown, enough that someone who glanced at him would notice. Nobody thought so before. He then sighed, knowing that he shouldn't blame the Guardians for their past mistakes.
"I believe Manny said Burgess," North answered, the group all looking at Jack in worry.
"Do you think Pitch has them?"
He'd better not know, but what if he does? What will he do to them?
"I think Manny say it is Wendigo attack," North stated, unintentionally bringing Jack some relief, "Though, might be worse than Pitch."
Eh, as long it's not him!
The wintry teen must have said his thoughts out loud because the Easter Kangaroo remarked, "What are you so worked up about, Frostbite?"
"I'd just rather have wendigos than the Boogeyman rising and destroying the world again," Jack quickly lied.
He couldn't let anyone know about his true form, especially Bunnymund.
"Jack has point," North said, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder, "but we must focus on the battle plan."
"Well, Jack knows best about Burgess, right?" Tooth claimed, looking at him, "What do you think we should do?"
"Woah, are we actually going to listen to that Bloody Showpony?"
Jack smirked at the Pooka. "Yep, and I say that we don't exactly know the situation, so we can't plan anything. Although, I happen to battle wendigos all the time, and they have one weakness—silver."
"Bloody silver?!" Bunny held his hands up, flabbergasted. "We don't have any silver!"
The wintry teen's smile slowly grew even more. "That's where you're wrong, Kangaroo." Sure he didn't want them to see his horde, but his family was much more important than that. "I happen to have a collection of silver back in Burgess."
Tooth blinked in surprise. "Wow, you're so prepared! Why do you have silver already?"
The teen blushed, he couldn't really explain his hobby without bringing up questions. "Well, I said earlier that I fought wendigos, right? I need to have some silver to kill them."
Bunny rolled his eyes. "Maybe a sword or two, Frostbite, but not a whole stash!"
"Well I do, okay?" Jack irritably responded, slightly regretting mentioning it, "Don't question the hand that's feeding you."
With that, Jack flew off to the reindeer chambers but soon turned around. "What are you waiting for?"
o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o
Aster's stomach churned with fear as they flew across the skies in the rickety old sleigh, but his head churned with thoughts. What is Jack hiding?
Speaking of the devil himself, Jack nudged the furball. "What up, Kangaroo?"
Aster huffed; he should have scooted away when Jack moved beside him, yet a part of him decided to be with the wintry teen. "Nothin' Frostbite, but I can't say the same for ya."
Jack faltered slightly, causing Bunny to smirk. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you're obviously hiding something." Bunny casually looked ahead, trying to quell his anxiety by looking at North's red coat. "I won't ask about it if ya don't annoy meh."
Aster was surprised when he saw a frown on the other's typically cheerful face. "Do I actually annoy you?"
"Not really," Bunny reassured, not wanting to see that frown ever again, "More like a little ankle-biter."
Jack gave him a flat smile. "Ahh, okay then."
Aster was about to comment when the sleigh came to a jarring stop, rocking its passengers as it slid across the green grass.
"We are here in Burgess!" North announced once everyone straightened themselves.
"No kidding, mate!" Bunny shouted, quickly hopping out of the death trap.
Though, he didn't realize he hadn't gotten his bearings till he face-planted onto the ground. It didn't help that Frostbite was in front of him, laughing as he stretched out a hand.
He grabbed the hand and jerked Jack down with him, chuckling. The boy merely got up, promptly froze Aster's ears and ran off.
Bunny immediately chased him once he stood up. "Bloody show pony!"
He fell once more as he ran, this time slipping on a thin sheet of ice. Looking afar, he could see Jack gliding across like an Olympic ice skater: ice blue eyes twinkling in excitement, snow white hair rippling in the wind.
He swore he saw sparks of ice glittering around him.
"Thought you were faster than that Kangaroo!"
Shaking his head, Aster pursued the hellion, making sure to dodge the blotches of ice in his path. Just as he thought he'd catch the boy, Jack quickly popped into some sort of alcove beside his lake. Luckily for him, Aster managed to stop in time, strolling into the cavern.
Before he could call out Jack's name, a sudden flash of blue rippled through the room, allowing Aster to see the marvels inside.
Caged by thick, glowing walls of translucent ice were waves of silver, swirls of intricate frost dusting each piece. Said walls gave room to a large inner circle, bookshelves filled to the brim lining the circumference. Past those were icy racks containing all sorts of trinkets, from shining blades to prized ornaments. Set in the center, surrounded by its own arc of ice, was a nest of blankets over a poorly thatched bed frame.
Aster stood at the other end of the hallway that disrupted the two arcs from forming complete circles. He gently placed a paw on one of the two shapeless yet stunning statues, examining its pristine surface.
"What are you waiting for?"
Bunny blinked, startled when he saw Jack looking at him from the bed. How long had he been there? "Where did ya show up from?"
Jack just jumped off the bed, landing gently with the balls of his feet. "I was just enjoying your reaction from above. Do you like my horde?"
"Like?" Bunny gestured around the room. "Snowflake, this is absolutely gorgeous!"
The frosty teen narrowed his eyes as he neared. "Are you alright? I didn't break you, did I?"
"Naw, just in awe," Bunny replied as he took a few steps into the hall, paw running along the ice, "It must've taken you such a long time to build this."
"Yeah, a few years give it or take," Jack added, "Though, digging the tunnel to this pocket of air was what took the most effort."
"What?"
"Yeah, the path you went through wasn't here before. I found the entrance on the other side of the pond, but I decided to make another one," Jack explained to the distraught Bunnymund, "It doesn't help that the pond is literally above us."
Bunny quickly glanced upwards, sight meeting an extremely thick block of ice that protected them from the water above. "What happened?"
"Oh, just natural erosion." The teen moved towards the path Bunny came from. "Now, we should go before the others—"
"Jack! Bunny! Where are you?" North's voice echoed across the room.
"—get worried."
o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o
After the initial shock factor Jack placed specifically to amaze others, he was glad to see that everyone soon snapped out of their trances. At least, everyone but Bunny.
Sure Jack wanted him to be wooed by his horde, but not this bad. It was weird seeing the Pooka being so entranced by something he did.
Plus, it didn't help that his frosted blush started to grow even larger.
"Jack, what can we take out of collection?"
The teen looked away from Bunny to North. "Eh, I don't really care."
"But Sweet Tooth, how are North and Bunny going to get up there?" Tooth asked.
"Oh shoot, I didn't think about that." He never really expected anyone to come in here, so he hadn't made anything to help groundlings. "Maybe Sandy can carry them on a dream cloud?"
With a nod from Sandy, he created a cloud made of dreamsand beside him, patting it for the two to get on. North immediately stepped onto it, but Jack had to get Bunny's attention for him to get on.
As the four scavenged through his horde, Jack scanned through his collection of weapons. While a majority of them were either made of ice or abandoned by humans, some were crafted by Jack's few friends.
He just had to find them.
Holding the blade of a katana with his palm, he tested its silver content before looking for its sheath. Finding it, he then grabbed a sword belt from a shelf above the weapons and attached the sword to his hips.
"Hey, did you guys find something?" Jack called out.
Tooth landed next to him, holding two curved daggers. "Yep! These remind me of my old weapons, actually!"
"That's nice!" Please tell me those aren't hers. "Sandy, North, Bunny, have you found anything?"
Sandy nodded his head, holding up a whip with sewn bits of silver within its leather. He then shook his head when he pointed behind him at North and Bunny.
Jack rolled his eyes, of course, the two combatants would take so long. "Just choose one, you two!"
A beat later, North held a pair of shashkas that looked similar to his own. "Ahh, these are perfect!"
Jack just bobbed his head, full attention on the knightly sword Bunny wielded.
The Pookan swung it around before casually placing the edge on his shoulder. "Not the swords I used as a Pookan knight, but ya can't have them all."
Pookan knight? He had a crush on a knight?
"Wait, what?" Jack stuttered out.
Bunny gave him a lazy smirk as they landed on the ground. "Pookas had a different ranking system, but scientists like myself later fought in combat."
Jack chortled when an image of an army of Pookan scientists, with beards and lab coats, waved around scalpels and scoopulas as they squealed battle cries.
However, Bunnymund scowled. "I saw waves of fearlings infect my own friends, Frostbite."
That quickly sobered him. "Oh…"
The room fell into silence, but soon North broke it, "Well, we should find the wendigos!"
Shoot, he completely forgot! "Right, c'mon guys!"
Jack immediately zipped away, slowing down once he reached the exit. As soon as the other guardians walked out, the winter spirit sealed the opening with a thick slab of ice.
"Alright, where did Manny say they were?" Jack looked at North, who was already slowly approaching the woods. "North?"
"I think I saw something dash into bush," North responded, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, "Who is there?!"
Jack followed the man's line of sight, blinking in surprise when he saw a familiar pair of brown eyes peer back at him.
However, North was still suspicious it was a Wendigo. Raising his sword, the Cossack brought it down in a wide arc, only to be stopped mid swing by an ice blast.
Jack, panting, flew up between North and the bush, except he wasn't looking at his comrade. "Emma, is that you?"
"Jack?" A voice squeaked out, making Jack's eyes water in joy.
"Yep, it's me, Little Lady."
A young woman rolled out, ankle-low, brown dress and silky, chocolate brown hair covered in leaves. Even though she was much older, Jack recognized the figure immediately and helped her up. The two then embraced one another, brother and sister finally reuniting after three hundred years.
"Oh Em, it's been so long," Jack whispered as frozen tears leaked onto his cheeks, "I wish I had remembered you sooner."
Emma shook her head. "It doesn't matter; you're here now."
Letting her go, Jack placed his hands over her shoulders. "Yeah, but you're taller now."
His remark caused the two of them to start laughing as they turned around to face the other Guardians, which caused even more giggles. While Sandy had a graceful smile, Tooth was practically cooing as she stood, mini fairies fainting. Of course, both North and Bunny were just purely confused.
"Tooth, North, Sandy, Kangaroo, this is Emma Overland," Jack introduced, nudging his sister with his elbow, "She's a friend of mine back when I was a human. Emma, meet the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause, the Sandman, and the Easter Kangaroo."
"Easter Kangaroo?" Emma's voice held a teasing tone, but her glance at him clearly yelled, "Friend?!"
Jack gave an eye twitch back, "I haven't told them yet."
"Frostbite, ya know I'm a bunny, not a kangaroo," Bunny grumbled irritably, Jack mentally sighing in relief.
Jack playfully raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were a Pooka? Plus, I'm not made of Frostbite, am I?"
"You know what I mean," the Pooka shot back.
"Now boys, no bickering," North chided, "Emma, I am sorry for nearly killing you, but we must find a swarm of wendigo."
"Wait a tic, North." Bunny held an open paw before pointing at Emma. "How can this woman see us? How is she even alive?"
"Well if you hadn't interrupted our bantering, I was going to say that my mom and I are shapeshifting dragons," Emma explained, "and we were the ones who are being chased by wendigos. My mom, fortunately, climbed up a tall tree and summoned Manny through a bracelet that he gave us in case of emergencies."
"We must rescue mother then, no?" North proclaimed, "Where is she?"
Emma rolled her brown eyes and walked past them. "Just follow me."
o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o
As the group traversed through the foliage of the Burgess forest, Bunny couldn't help but be slightly suspicious. Things didn't add up— Jack's agitation about dragons being protected after the genocide, Jack's "secret" stash of silver, Jack's exchange of glances with Emma, Jack's serenity when Emma said she was a dragon.
What is Jack hiding? Bunny thought once more.
"Guys, I think I found her!" Jack shouted as he went down the tree he was at, "Though, Em wasn't kidding about the mob of wendigos."
Following the Winter Spirit, they all soon stumbled into a clearing with a large tree in the middle. Truth to be told, a large swarm of carnivorous Wendigos filled a large portion of the field, but what worried Bunny the most was the woman in the branches.
Swinging a flaming branch defensively, her brown eyes glowed a shade brighter than her daughter's as she stared down below. A band of bloody, brown cloth was wrapped around her right knee, her dress missing a sleeve. The tattered hem of the dress gave way to pale legs covered in claw marks and cuts, her sleeveless forearm being the only visible part that had little injuries.
How late were they?
"Hey guys, I'm going to fly up there to get her down," Jack announced before launching in the air, "Bunny, make a dust cloud with your egg bombs so that you guys can slash them away."
With that, the teen whipped off to the tree, Bunny quickly unlatching his egg bomb pouch.
"Wanna do the honors?" Bunny asked Emma as he held out the pouch.
The girl grinned as she took out a pink bomb, throwing the weapon in one of the wendigo's faces and blinding it. Soon, she fired them in rapid succession, hitting each monster to obscure their vision. Bunny blinked in surprise at the girl's enthusiasm, but he soon shook his head and grabbed his sword.
She's Frostbite's friend alright, or at least he says.
Running into the dust cloud, Aster slashed at those near him, making sure to watch out for any of his companions. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but feel uneasy when he heard Jack whispering to the woman he was supposed to save.
"...about my other form, Mom."
Aster yelped when a female wendigo tried to pounce on him, quickly slashing it with his sword.
However, the creature dodged and growled, "Just leave us, Pooka."
It can talk?
"Why would I ever do that?" Bunny replied, holding his blade in a protective stance.
"We only want the dragons, nothing else," the wendigo answered, "I do thank you for bringing the third one."
Third one?
"Oh, you didn't know?" she continued when she saw his confusion, "I thought Pookas had a keen smell like us. Surely you'd notice."
"It doesn't matter," Bunny spat out, "You're not getting any of them."
"Very well."
Before the creature could leap on him, it got decapitated by one of North's swords. Bunny winced at the spray of blood, but he was still grateful for the other's intervention.
"Where is Jack?" North asked.
Bunny gestured to the tree's canopy of branches. "Still up there mate."
The man frowned as he looked up. "What delays him? Most wendigoes are killed."
"I dunno."
"Jack, what takes so long?" North yelled through his cupped hands.
The whispering stopped before Jack responded, "Sorry North, I'm trying to figure out how to bring her down. She's heavy."
Bunny snickered when he heard an indignant squeak from the woman. "Hey, at least I'm not all skin and bones, mister!"
"Whose fault is that, huh Mrs. Overland?" Jack shot back.
Before the two could start quarreling, North interrupted them, "Tooth and Sandy can come up if needed."
"Uhh, that isn't necessary, North," Jack quickly said, "I figured out a way!"
Steadily, the two drifted down to a wendigo-free patch of land as they both held Jack's staff. When the two ran up to greet them, Bunny immediately noticed something was off when he saw Jack's hood shrouding his face from view.
The teen normally wore it when he was afraid or upset, so why was he having it on now?
"Why don't cha take off the hood, Frostbite?" Bunny suggested as he stepped closer to take it off.
Jack just backed away from his reach. "Where's Emma and the others?"
"Emma's back up on the hill," Aster stated, "I dunno where Tooth and Sandy are though."
"You just left her alone?!" Jack shrieked in frustration, "Hold on Mo—Mrs. Overland."
With that, the two took off towards the hill, leaving North and Bunny alone to fend for themselves.
"You know what to do," North told Bunny.
Nodding to each other, the duo ran back into the dust storm of wendigos. However, not long after they split up did Bunny hear a ferocious roar coming from the hill. Worried, he looked around to find one of his comrades, only to see three of them running to where they heard the noise. Following suit, Aster was surprised, to say the least, when they reached the mound.
Standing at the pike was none other than a magnificent dragon, its ice blue and snow white scales gleaming in the sunlight. Its maw was wide open as small blasts of ice shot from it, freezing only the wendigo within the clearing and not any other inhabitants. The most shocking part was that Emma and Mrs. Overland were riding the beast, meaning that the dragon came from somewhere else.
When they saw the familiar wooden staff the young woman held onto, all of them knew who the dragon was.
Jack.
As if sensing their arrival, the dragon gave them a semblance of a smirk and gestured to get on his back. Not knowing what else to do, Tooth, Sandy, North, and even Bunny climbed on. Once the Pooka got on, Jack took off.
o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o-o(0)o
Jack sighed as he stretched over on his bed, already in his human form. He knew he had to explain some things, but he really wanted to sleep. After all, he never morphed into his other form, so that was a startling discovery.
"Why are you able to transform and not me!"
The frosty teen rolled his eyes once he heard his sister's while, playfully poking her with her staff. "Oh come on, at least you don't have to explain yourself once the others clean up their weapons and put them back."
"I'm just astonished you didn't tell them before," Jack's mom commented bemusedly before scowling, "Not only that but why hadn't you sought to find us? You know dragons are ageless after a certain development point. How are we to know you were alive?"
"Well, I kinda didn't remember you guys till now," Jack defended himself, "Manny just made me the Guardian of Fun last year, and that was when I found my memories. Yes, Little Lady, I'm a 300-year-old amnesiac."
Emma just chuckled as she went back to bandaging her mother's wounds. "I wasn't going to comment, but I sense your friends are coming."
Truth to be told, the Big Four entered the icy room, Tooth flying ahead to deliver the sparkling weapons to their owner. Said owner took them graciously, setting them up in his weapons rack since he could actually use them against any other mythical being. Once he sat down on the bed, twelve sets of eyes peered at him in silence.
Fortunately, Bunny broke the tension in the atmosphere. "Well mate? Gonna spill the beans or no?"
Okay, maybe he didn't break it yet. "Sure."
With that, he dove into his explanation of how he acquired his memories and found out his family was dragons. He mentioned the fact that he had no clue how he shapeshifted, considering his own parents couldn't. Other than his death, Jack also omitted the fact that he had an interest in a certain lagomorph.
That is, until Emma pointed it out, "Forgetting something, Jackie?"
The teen glowered at his sibling's Cheshire smirk. "We literally rejoiced a few hours ago, and you've already caught on that?"
"You're forgetting she's your sister," Mrs. Overland scoffed, "and I'm your mother. Of course, we'd notice."
"Notice what?" the Kangaroo questioned, glancing at the duo before locking eyes with the pale teen.
Looking off to the side, Jack muttered, "I—I may or may not love you, Bun Bun."
"You hate me?" Bunny was even more puzzled when everyone else groaned. "Huh?"
"I'm in love with you, you overgrown plushie!" Jack admitted, raising his hands in the air, "I don't even know why with how dense you are."
"Oh…" Bunny trailed off when he rubbed the back of his head, "I thought my love was unrequited."
"Wow, that actually worked!" Emma proclaimed, "I mean, what are the odds of a knight in love with a dragon?"
Once they all understood the irony of the situation, the room burst in laughter as the two sweethearts blushed, Jack leaning against Bunny.
The odds were high enough.
Yeah, I hated the POV changes. I swear, I just bombed it in the end and made up shit. Idk what else to do. I do have another prompt from AyameKitsune to work on, that's for sure!