Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Frost, Bunnymund or any other characters from the Rise of the Guardians universe; I just love them a lot!

The Easter Bunny stood on the balcony of Santa's Workshop, looking out over the vast white expanse of the North Pole. The cold wind whiped his fur around, the thin layer doing nothing to protect him from its biting chill. He shivered in spite of himself, he wasn't used to cold like this, his brow furrowed as he tried to remember the last time he had felt this cold. It had been just over one hundred and four years ago, just before- "No." E. Aster Bunnymund said out loud, cutting the thought off right there.

He heard the sound of the door behind him opening a moment before the voice reached him "Bunnymund, what happened?" Said the Russian accented voice of Santa as he walked over to stand next to the rabbit. With no response forthcoming North continued "You need to talk. You show up in middle of workshop, carrying an unconscious Jack who is barely clinging to life, bring him to hospital, then lock yourself here for nearly 3 hours, refusing to see anybody. Tooth and Sandy are here, we need to know what happened." He said, putting a hand on the rabbit's shoulder.

"It was my fault." Aster said his voice flat. He didn't move, or take his gaze off the blank white span of the Pole.

"What?" North said, confusion coloring his voice.

"It my bloody fault!" Aster yelled, turning to face the red clad Russian "It's my fault that-" The rabbit cut himself off, clenching his fist and hitting it against his leg. Looking closer at the rabbit Santa noticed the fur under his eye was darker, the patches unmoving in the wind, frozen in place.

"What happened old friend? Tell me so I can help." North said, has hand still on the rabbits shoulder.

Aster sagged, his expression shifting from one of stoic indifference, to one of defeat. The cold suddenly felt unbearable, and he shivered, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Come on," North said "Let's get you inside and warmed up, then you tell us what happened."

Aster followed him through the doors and into the warmth of the workshop, sighing in spite of himself as the warm air rushed over him. North led him to his private workshop, sitting him down in a large chair next to the fire roaring in the fireplace. Sandy was sitting in another chair, having dozed off in the warmth of the fire, his dreams dancing above his head as he slept. Tooth was there too, fluttering several feet in the air, giving orders to the small army of fairies that followed her around at all times. Noticing their entry, Tooth stopped talking and turned to look at them, her eyes looking at Aster, questions and concern showing evenly in their reflections.

"Sandy, get up" North said as he walked over to close the door, shacking the smaller man as he passed "We're going to hear what happened to our friend Frost."

Sandy opened his eyes just in time to see Aster flinch at Norths mention of Jack. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he looked at the rabbit, his eyes showing concern as well. Three images flashed above his head in quick succession, Jack's staff, a hospital bed and a question mark.

"Hold your horses Sandy" North said "He will tell us when ready." Walking over to another chair by the fire, North took a seat, and Tooth fluttered over, alighting so that she was sitting on the back of Sandy's chair.

Aster took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He brought the events of that day to his mind once again, probably for the thousandth time. Slowly he began to speak, talking his friends through what had happened.

Aster felt a cold breeze nipping at his nose as his dreams faded, his mind returning to the waking world. Feeling the cold breeze again he opened his eyes, his mouth spreading into a wide grin as they met the ice blue eyes of Jack Frost. The spirit of winter was floating about a foot above Aster's bed, blowing lightly on his nose. "Jack!" He exclaimed happily, grinning up at the pale face which mirrored his own expression. Aster's Australian accent showed through even in the single word.

"Hey Bunny" Jack said as he dropped down, eliciting a muffled *oof* from the rabbit, smiling as he felt the familiar strong arms wrapping around him. He buried his face in the broad furry chest in front of him, the same large grin spread across his face. "I missed you." he whispered into the soft gray-white fur, knowing the rabbit's large ears would hear him with no problem.

"I missed you too." Aster said as he pressed his nose to the frosty white hair spiking from Jack's head like inverted icicles. His scent was clean and crisp, like a clear winter's day after a blizzard. He held the spirit to him, enjoying the closeness he felt with Jack pressed into his chest. He felt the goose bumps rising along his arms and chest, not the product of the chilly breath blowing on his chest alone. Aster pushed Jack away from him slightly, just enough to bring them face to face. He gazed into the light ice blue eyes, always glinting with a hint of playfulness, and grinned wider, chuckling slightly as he saw Jack mimic himself, his teeth flashing brightly in his broad grin. Jack leaned forward; Aster copied the motion, their lips meeting in the middle. Aster loved the feel of the winter spirit's lips against his, even after over 100 years, they still sent an icy rush through him whenever they met his.

Being the Easter Bunny, Aster was all about rebirth and new beginnings, but he had certainly never thought to find one for himself, least of all in the form of the playful, energetic, kindhearted spirit of winter. Indeed, he had been the most outspoken against Jack becoming a Guardian; of course the man in the moon had chosen him so there wasn't much arguing. He hadn't even liked Jack back then, still holding old grudges about snow-covered Easters and finding him far too irresponsible for a duty as important as being a guardian. To this day he had no idea how or why he had fallen for the winter spirit, but fallen he had, and hard. If that was a mystery to Aster, Jack's miraculous reciprocation of his feelings was even more so.

When they had first realized they had feeling for each other it had been strange, Jack was still Jack and Aster was still Aster. They had fought so often in the first decade of their relationship that North had prepared a guest room in his palace for each of them, meant for whichever of the two had stormed out in a huff that time. Their fighting came to a head on Easter day eve nine years after they first got together, when, after a large fight in which Aster told Jack he never wanted to see him again, Jack proceeded to ice over every Easter celebration in the world. They didn't speak for a year after that, despite several attempts by both North and Tooth to get them to at least talk to each other. By the end of the year Jack was feeling so guilty about what he'd done, and was missing Aster so badly that he went around and ensured each and every Easter celebration was sunny and snow free. Even before Jack's gesture, Aster had been planning to reconcile with the winter spirit. Jack had gone to Aster's Warren to wait for him, planning to apologize. When the rabbit had returned home, much later then Jack had expected him to, it was the happiest moment of Jack's life. The pair had embraced, and through many tears and hugs had agreed that they had both been idiots.

For the next twenty years the pair strove to overcome their differences and live together happily, and they succeeded after a lot of work. Jack was still a prankster, and his pranks still got on Aster's nerves, but the more he got to know Jack, the more his pranks had gone from annoying or aggravating to playful and endearing. He had learned to laugh at the younger spirits antics, and enjoy his playful nature. Jack had learned to be more calm, and when the time for a joke had passed. Somehow they made everything work, and had been happily in love for the last 74, nearly 75, years.

Pulling his head back to the present, Aster looked down at the bright face now laying on his chest. "I wasn't expectin ya back for another week at least." He said, slowly running his fingers through Jack's frosted locks.

"Aww, don't sound so disappointed." Jack said in a mock hurt voice, pushing out his bottom lip in a pout.

"Oh ya know damn well at I'm thrilled yer back." Aster said, squeezing Jack slightly for a second "It's been far too quiet around here without you."

Smiling at Aster's comment Jack said "I'll bet it has, the egglets finally getting some sleep at night?" Jack grinned as Aster's ears went back in embarrassment. "Anyway" he said, sensing no response from the rabbit forthcoming "I finished early, got the wind streams going, the clouds are all on the way to their proper places, and soon there will be snow falling all over."

"Glad to hear it." Aster said with a small grimace, not looking forward to the coming winter.

"No you're not" Jack said with a smile "You hate the cold!"

"I don't hate everything that's cold" Aster said, pulling Jack into another kiss.

"I…suppose…not" Jack said with a grin in his voice in-between kisses.

After several minutes the pair broke apart, both breathing a little harder than usual, "We should really get up and start the day." Aster said, making no move to act on his words.

"Aww, but why would we do that when it's so nice right here?" Jack said, nuzzling his face against the rabbits soft fur.

"Because" said Aster, "If we stay here then I can't give you your surprise"

He chuckled as Jack's head snapped up and he said "Surprise?"

"Yes, I've a surprise for you, and I'll give it to you if we ever get up."

"Alright," Jack said, still a bit reluctant to leave, but the lure of the unknown surprise to much for him to resist.

Pulling himself out of the bed Aster stretched, his hands nearly scraping the 15 foot ceiling. Walking over to the corner of the room he grabbed his harness and strapped it around his chest, taking his boomerangs from their hangers on the wall and holstering them.

"Come on" he said to Jack as he grabbed his hand, leading him from the room.

The pair made their way through the tunnels that made up the rabbits underground home in the Warren. Jack was floating about two feet in the air, fallowing along next to Aster, a habit he had developed in the early stages of their relationship, having grown tired of constantly looking up at the nearly 7 foot rabbit.

"So what's this surprise?" Jack asked, floating closer and draping his arms over Aster's shoulders.

"If I told you that it wouldn't be much of a surprise now would it?" Aster said playfully.

Jack grunted in response, breaking out his pouty face again.

"Oh come on," Aster said, looking at Jack "That hasn't worked in…sixty…years…fine." He conceded, his resolve failing at the pitiful look on Jack's face which immediately split into a grin at his victory "I asked North to start working on it soon as ya left, he just got it to me. I was going to do somethin elaborate when I gave it to ya…"Aster trailed off.

"I'm sure I'll love it no matter how you give it to me." Jack said as the rabbit lead him through the doorway of his tunnels and into the bright morning sun of the Warren.

"I knew I shoulda had North keep it, knew I wouldn't be able to resist giving it to ya early if I had it." Aster said, letting out a high-pitched whistle as he did so.

"Oh?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes," Aster said with a sheepish grin as a small egg ran up to him. Kneeling down he tickled the egg until it opened enough for him to grab something out of it. Turning to face Jack he held his closed fist out, his ears back in the embarrassed, self-conscious look that Jack thought was the cutest thing.

Jack held his hand out, palm up, for whatever Aster was holding in his paw. Jack gasped as Aster opened his paw, dropping a ring into Jacks outstretched hand. Holding the ring closer to his wide eyes Jack saw it was silver, with a heart shaped ruby set into the top of it, two star sapphire rabbit heads flanked it, glinting with the same color as Jack's eyes. "It's beautiful" Jack said, his voice slightly hushed, "but why? I mean what the occasion?"

"Read it." Aster said, pointing to the inside of the ring.

Only then did Jack notice the thin curly inscription on the inside of the ring. He read it out loud "For warming my heart these last seventy five years, I look forward to forever more. Love… E. …Aster… Bunnymund." Jack said past the lump in his throat, his voice thick with emotion. He blinked away tears as he jumped at the giant rabbit, wrapping his arms around his neck in a hug. "I love you." He said into Aster's shoulder,

"I love you too." He said, smiling at the winter spirit. "So I'll take it you like it then?"

"I love it." Jack said as he leaned in to kiss him.

The pair walked for a long time after that, Jack glancing at the ring now firmly in place on his right ring finger every few seconds. They talked as they walked through the Warren, enjoying the warm weather and each other's company. At one point Jack said "I feel guilty now. I don't have anything for you."

"Don't worry" Aster had responded, both his arm draped across Jack's shoulders and chest as they walked "It was early, it's not actually our anniversary for another two and a half months."

"I know" Jack had responded, looking at his ring again "It's just so wonderful, I feel like I should have something to give you."

"I already have everything I could ever want right here," Aster said, hugging Jack close to him.

That caused another speech impeding lump to rise is Jack's throat, so he settled himself with leaning his head back for a kiss from the rabbit, a request Aster happily obliged.

They had just reached the edge of the Warren when Aster stiffened, the hair on his neck and face sticking up slightly.

"Bunny?" Jack asked with a touch of apprehension, his eyes darting around looking for whatever the rabbit's keener scenes had picked up on.

"I'm not sure, somethin is just…off," Aster said, straining his ears to pick up anything out of place.

Jack turned around inside the rabbit's strong embrace so that he was facing Aster. He wrapped his arms around Aster, locking him in a brief embrace, and then slipped out of the rabbit's arms. "I'll go and get a better view, see if I spot anything from the sky," Jack said as he took off, letting his hand trail along Aster's face as he did so.

Aster watched Jack's progress for a brief moment, smiling at his ever present playful side, showing itself in the loops and spins he did while ascending to a good height. Tearing his eyes away from the ever shrinking form of the winter spirit, Aster focused his attention on his surroundings. Something had sent a tingle through his whiskers, and he needed to find out what. After several moments of walking and listening, having turned up nothing, Aster began to wonder if he wasn't just being paranoid. "What's wrong with you Bunnymund, jumping at your own shadow." Aster said to himself with a self-deprecating grin.

"Oh, but you never know what might be lurking within that shadow" said a soft voice, like the sound of silk rubbing against silk, right behind Aster.

The rabbit whipped around, his hands flying to his boomerangs. He was too slow. Halfway through his turn he felt an ice cold hand clamp onto his arm, the chill immediately spreading through his body and freezing him in place.

"Uh uh uh" scolded Pitch, lowering Aster to the ground, the rabbit's legs giving out beneath him as the freezing touch sapped his strength. "One would think you would be more used to the cold, shacking up with Frost all these years." He hissed as he released Aster. "What has it been now, over a century?" Pitch said, walking into Aster's line of sight "Happy belated anniversary, sorry I didn't get you anything, but I've been very busy being relegated to the shadows, cast off by the world!" Pitch shouted the last part, his face twisting into an angry scowl.

"Well I hate to think you left where ya belong on my account," Aster said, his tone displaying a lot more confidence then he felt.

"Not for much longer!" Pitch said with a vicious sneer, reaching into a pocket of his robe. "Let's see how well the children of the world get along with no Easter! And once you're gone, the others will soon follow. Then fear will cover the planet once again!"

"You've lost it Pitch," Aster said, trying to buy time. His strength was returning, but not fast enough. "You know as well as I do there's no prison in the bloody world that can hold me. How do you plan to keep me from bringin Easter?"

"Oh, I don't have any intention of capturing you; I believe it will be much more convenient to just kill you." Pitch said with an evil smirk, pulling a dagger from his robes, its blade such a pure black that its presence was only defined by its edges. "Any last words you over sized dust mop?" Pitch asked, starting toward Aster, the dagger held in front of him.

"Just one" Aster said with a grin "Duck."

Pitch's eyes widened just as Jack slammed into him at full speed. The two went flying through the air, coming to a skidding stop several yards away. Pitch wrestled himself free of the winter spirit, stumbling several feet away before glaring at Aster "Don't think you've escaped rabbit!" He said, then added with a truly evil smile "Do say goodbye to dear Frost for me." With that he sank down into the shadow of a nearby tree and was gone.

Aster felt a cold hand grip his heart at Pitch's parting words. Panic was starting to set in as Aster ran to the unmoving blue clad form lying on the ground. He arrived at Jack's side, finding him doubled over, clutching his stomach. "It hurts" He groaned as Aster knelt down, moving his arms out of the way to see the hilt of Pitch's dagger sticking out of Jack's stomach, the blade buried deep inside him.

"It's going to be ok." Aster said, seeing that the wound, while serious, wasn't fatal. He chastised himself a moment later 'we're immortal, we don't die' he thought to himself, less confidently then he would have previously. Pitch's assurance had shaken him, and it wasn't like the nightmare king to act rashly, he would have thought this plan out carefully… Aster's heart clenched as he looked at Jack's face, twisted in pain. "Come on, let's get you to North's, we'll have one of the medical yetis patch ya up."

Jack groaned as Aster went to pick him up, the movement jostling him slightly. The movement, small as it was, caused the hilt of Pitch's dagger to fall way from Jack, the blade nowhere to be found. Staring at the now bladeless hilt, Aster gently moved his hands to Jack's stomach, feeling the deep, bloody, and clearly empty wound that the missing blade had left, withdrawing his hand quickly as Jack hissed in pain.

"How bad is it?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"I don't know." Aster answered truthfully, the vanishing blade left a bad feeling in his stomach.

"Don't worry, I'll be ok," Jack said, then added with a wink "I still owe you a present."

Aster smiled in spite of himself as he knelt down and lifted Jack into his arms "I love you." He said, looking into the sharp blue eyes that had grown so dear to him.

"I love you too." Jack said, reaching his had up to cup the side of the rabbits face, wrapping his fingers through Aster's thick cheek tuffs. Continuing on Jack said "You remember the last time you carried me like this?"

Aster did remember. It had been nearly 75 years ago, on the day they considered their actual anniversary, when Jack had permanently come to live with him at the Warren. "You made me carry ya over the threshold when I brought ya back to my burrow."

"That's right," Jack said with a playful smirk "though if memory serves, you were far more interested in getting me over a different threshold."

"Let's get ya looked at." Aster said, his ears going back in embarrassment. Grinning, he tapped his foot and jumping down the hole that appeared at his feet, taking care not to jostle Jack too much.

It wasn't until they had nearly reached North's that Aster knew something was wrong. It wasn't a feeling that told him, like when Pitch had appeared. It was the simultaneous thrash and yell from the ice spirit cradles in his arms that made Aster stiffen. "Jack," he yelled "What's wrong?"

"Hurts" Just gasped out through his teeth, his face screwed up in pain.

"Don't worry, we're almost there" Aster said, doubling his speed as he sprinted down the tunnels towards North's workshop, desperate to get help for Jack.

Aster blinked his eyes against fresh tears as he finished his recollection. He had gotten up during the story and was now facing away from the other guardians, staring into the fire.

"Aster, its going-" North began but was cut off as Aster rounded on him, yelling over him.

"DON'T-" Aster stopped himself, taking a deep breath and then continued "Don't tell me it's gonna be ok." He said, taking a step toward North who took a step backwards in response "We have no idea what pitch did to Jack! Don't patronize me!"

"I'm not" said North "There was nothing you could have-"Aster cut him off again, the volume of his voice raising with each word

"He was there for ME!" Aster shouted, annunciating each word "That blade was meant for ME! Now Jack's lying in the medical ward, paying for MY mistake! I let Pitch get passed my guard! I was the one who let myself get attacked! I-" Aster stopped as he voice broke. Continuing in a whisper he said "I wasn't strong enough."

By this point he had walked passed North to face the large bay window that overlooked the Pole, his fellow guardians once again behind him. He spun around as he felt a tap on his shoulder, expecting to see North. Instead he found himself face to face with Sandy, the shorter spirit standing on a small rotating disk of sand. In his hand he held a small ball of sand, a question mark floating above his head.

"Thanks Sandy" Aster said "but I need to be awake right now."

Nodding his understanding Sandy let the ball fall and instead held his arms out wide. Aster accepted the hug, resting his chin on the small man's shoulder "Thanks Sandy" he muttered as the small man rubbed his back gently.

The silence in the room was interrupted by a knock on the door. Moving quickly North went to the door, opening it for a large Yeti who said something to him in their strange language and then departed.

"What was that about?" Aster asked, releasing Sandy and stepping towards North.

"He said they have treated Jack's wound, but he is still unconscious. We can see him now."