Chapter 2: What a sore loser.

Ahhh... nothing like a mid-morning fight to wake him up.

Fighting Bunny was somewhat of a surprise, though in hindsight, it was bound to happen at one point. That whole thing with Slenderman really took a tole on him, and from what he heard from Tooth, he could barely sleep for weeks afterward.

He really had to talk to Slend about scaring people like that; there was no way he was ever going to socialize if he kept dragging people down to the "Eternal Abyss" or whatever the hell he called it.

..huh. Now that he though about it, where did he put all those people he captured over the years? Bunny was the only person he recalled even getting away from Slend, and even then he never said anything about it. Whenever he had Tooth bring it up, he would always shiver and change the subject.

Slend never said anything about it either.

Then again, Slend never says anything period. Just stared at you with his blank, expressionless face.

Jack shuddered.

Even though he loved Slend like a brother, there were times where he really creeped him out.

He sighed, rolling his shoulders as he lazily floated in the air, drifting to wherever the current took him. He looked up at the sun and smiled, closing his eyes, feeling the heat of the sun beat down on his skin.

Contrary to popular belief, Jack actually did like the heat at times. Usually, he could barely feel a thing because his skin was so cold and icy. Out here on a nice, warm summer day, the heat beating down on his skin, sending tingles up and down is spine, made him feel a bit more... human he guessed.

He often wondered what it would be like to be human. Would he feel completely different? Would he feel the same? Would his looks change? Would he be able to feel the cold like everyone else? What did cold feel like when you're human? Everyone told him that being cold was very uncomfortable. Somehow, he just couldn't see it. The cold had always been apart of his life; he could never imagine what he would be like without it.

But still. If it meant that he could be seen, acknowledged, and talked to during those lonely years where he doubted his existence and sanity. If it meant that he didn't have to be alone during those long, long centuries...

Jack shook his head, brushing the thoughts from his mind. There was no need to feel depressed about things that didn't matter. All that was in the past; he had made friends, created his own purpose in life, and managed to have fun even though he wasn't believed in. His life was great, better than it had been a few centuries ago at least.

He shouldn't be using up all his free time worrying about nothing. Right now, he could kick back and re-

There was a bright flash of light beneath his eye-lids and Jack instinctively opened his eyes, shaking his head and slowing his lazy drift to a stop. He looked at the disturbance in the distance with not a small amount of annoyance and felt his eyebrows rise to the top of his head.

Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and an autable aura of darkness hovered over the figure that appeared dramatically in the distance. Surrounded by featureless...things that changed shape and height with every step, the being approached the helpless rabbit that lay passed out in his own bunny shaped crater. His every step blacked the grass beneath him, as what seemed to be black sand orbited around him, twirling and writhing much like a dark mockery of the Sandman's glowing yellow sand. He was tall; freakishly so, and behind him a cloak fluttered and billowed out in the breeze, snapping the air with every step. The spirit-because what else would he be- would have inspired fear and terror in the eyes of anyone he can across.

But it was the beginning of the day, and the stark contrast between the mystery spirits doom-and-gloom attitude and the chirping birds on the bright, shining morning just made him look ridiculous.

Still, no matter how cheesy and melodramatic the spirit was being, he did seem like bad news. And while Jack wasn't the type to judge by appearances- he was Slenderman's friend after all- he knew it was better safe than sorry.

He was about to fly over there and put himself between the pooka and the strange spirit, when a strangled groan emitted from the crater. Bunny's hand raised itself from the hole, latching onto the edge and, with a heave, pulling himself up. It took a surprisingly long time for the Kangaroo to life himself out of the rabbit shaped hole.

Jack didn't think he hit him that hard though, in his defense, he was trying to kill him at the time.

Finally, with a last heave, the rabbit managed to crawl out of the hole and stand to his feet. The poor guy looked like he was going to drop at any moment. Now he really felt bad.

The dark spirit said something to Bunny-though Jack didn't know what- and the pooka answered back, weaving side to side while doing so. The spirit gestured to the craters, pock marks, and broken egg sentinels that littered the clearing around them. Bunny responded back pointing into the distance towards Jack.

The figure turned and locked his eyes on the winter spirit, pinpointing him from where he was clearly hovering in the sky.

Jack waved cheerfully.

The figure turned back to Bunny, but at this point Jack lost all interest in what was going on. It was clear that Bunny and the other spirit knew each other, and were on somewhat normal terms since they weren't fighting.

He never knew Bunny had made friends among some of the more... eccentric spirits out there.

From what Tooth said, the Guardians have had bad experiences with most of the darker spirits, most notably some guy named Ditch or whatever. They apparently had to fight this Ditch guy once every year or something, because he kept reforming after they killed him. Because of that, they assumed that all dark spirits were sent by ditch to kill them, and reacted accordingly.

It actually explains alot now that he thinks about it. He always wondered why Samara and Slend reacted badly when he invited Tooth over for dinner.

She said that while the other Guardians got used to the creepy spirits over time, Bunny never really trusted them and always acted under the belief that they would attack him at any time. And from how he reacted to Slend, Jack was under the impression that he was still openly hostile.

Then again, he IS Slenderman; he's so creepy that he could probably make this Ditch guy shiver in fe-

Jack's eyes widened.

Oh my God.

Slenderman's birthday party! He almost forgot! He still had to set up all those decorations!

With not a moment to lose, Jack blasted off into the distance- absent mindlessly dodging the blast of black sand that almost hit him in the chest- and hoped that he wasn't too late. Slend, though many people didn't know it, was a very sensitive person. If he though that Jack forgot his birthday, he would relapse and start stalking random people again.

Jack dived downward, avoiding the black arrows, twisting and turning around the grasp of the black sand as it twirled around him, looking for purchase. He spun in mid-air, turning like a top, increasing his speed while sending off a large gust of ice with his entire body, freezing the sand that tried to catch him in a tornado of frost.

He hoped Samara didn't ruin another TV while he was gone; she was supposed to be in charge of finding good movies Slend wanted to watch, and she had the bad habit of crawling out of them when she wanted to scare someone.

He picked up on the speed, before banking back, allowing the reaching sand to shoot out in front of him. Raising a hand, he built up a charge of ice, before shooting it at the sand that was just now turning back, freezing it in its tracks.

He shot forward, smashing into the frozen sand and sending pieces hurdling in every direction. Without turning back, he sent a blast of cold air straight at the following figure, forcing him to dodge and giving Jack more distance as he flew away.

The figure would not be discouraged, and sent a wave of sand directly at the fleeing winter spirit. Jack turned around, facing the wall of sand as it shortened the distance between them. Not slowing for a second as he weaved in and out of the black whips, he spun his hand in a circular motion, sending a tornado of ice and snow straight at the wall. the ice froze the black wall and for a brief moment, it hung in the air. Then, with a burst of wind, Jack shattered it, sending the very sharp remains straight at the dark spirit, forcing him to stop his pursuit for a single solitary second. And a second was all he needed.

Jack flew away, rolling his eyes at the sound of the dark spirits enraged yells.

Kangaroo was such a sore loser.

Just because he lost a fight doesn't mean he should send his friend at him.

Sheesh.

And there we go.

To those of you who will no doubt wonder what is going on, yes, there is a reason as to why Pitch was able to go out in sunlight. It was only this one instance, and probably won't be repeated that much throughout the story.

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