In the end, they all stop believing

Slowly the sun started to sink towards the horizon and with it another successful Easter.

The sounds of the excited little ankle-biters from all over the world was still ringing merrily in his ears as Bunny disappeared silently from the world above for another year.

Normally he would be bouncing off the walls in a rare exhibit of childlike glee. Completing a successful Easter always put him in a good mood and why wouldn't it. Ever since that disaster thirteen years ago, belief in him has never been stronger.

However, for every up, there was a down and this year there was no celebration for another Easter passed.

Sullenly Bunny retuned home, silently greeting the ever-watchful stone golems that waited impatiently for his return. They had their smiling face on when he appeared, happy to see him return safely and just generally pleased to see him. However, Bunny didn't have it in him to muster a smile for the welcoming committee. His mind was too distracted and his heart too heavy.

Disheartened by their master's solemn mood the guardian eggs expression shifted, revealing a sad hollow face.

A perfect reflection of his mood.

Bunny felt bad for giving them all the cold shoulder but right now, he needed time to think and reflect. They would understand later after he explained to them but for now, he carried on walking.

He wasn't quite sure how far or long he had travelled through his underground kingdom before finally dropping down to sit beneath a magnificent cherry blossom tree but once he found himself seated, it was difficult to get back up.

His mind was swept away through a flurry of thought and memories, both good and bad. It had been a long time since he allowed himself to become completely lost in his own thoughts. Too long, he realised.

"Hell~o Bunny!"

Bunny's ears snapped to attention and his nose twitched furiously as the familiar scent of fresh snow and mint hit him. Against his back a light friendly breezed sent a chill running though him, ruffling the shaggy fur around his shoulders in an invisible embrace.

There could be no mistaking his visitor. It had come to be expected over the years and on most occasions, he looked forward to it. This year however Bunny found himself forcing a smile as his eyes landed upon the hyperactive young child of winter.

"Heya Bunny. Thought I'd come and celebrate another successful Easter with ya. I kept the skies clear for you just like I promise."

Despite himself, Bunny found it within him to turn his fake smile into a genuine one. Since the whole Pitch incident, Jack has kept all his Easters snow free, not a small feat for such a young and overly excitable sprite. At first it had just been a peaceful gesture, something to make up for ruining Easter (something Bunny had longed forgiven him for) but as the years rolled on and their friendship become more and more brotherly the winter teen did whatever he could to make each Easter a snow free one.

He was very grateful for that. It was tough on the little nippers to have to dig their eggs out from under two foot of snowfall. Though Jack insisted it made it more fun and interesting for the kids and he loved watching Bunny get all riled up.

"So how'd it go?" Jack asked as he sat himself down beside his furry friend on the grassy bank. Small streaks of ice radiated out from him like ripples on water, lightly dusting the blades of grass around him in a fine coat of frost.

Usually he would have made a playful threat about the ice but instead be barely acknowledged it. This lack of interest in the frozen grass didn't go unnoticed by his guest.

"Bunny what's the matter? Did Easter not go well this year?" Jack asked feeling a little worried and concerned at the pooka's slumped posture and glum expression. It wasn't like him to look this down after returning from the surface. It worried him.

"Nah mate, Easter when great as usual." Bunny sighed with uncharacteristic sadness. "I saw Sophie while I was up there."

"Oh, how is she? Jamie says she becoming a real night owl these days. Apparently, her mum got her a new laptop for her birthday and she's been on it none stop, chatting away on one of those online chat room things. It's been driving her parents mad but I suppose she's told you all that hasn't she."

Bunny grinned fondly but it quickly disappeared.

"She didn't see me" he muttered quietly.

"Oh, Well that's alright. You can go back up there tomorrow and see her. I bet she'll show you her new laptop and-"

"No Frostbite." he interrupted gently. He could feel a lump starting to form in the back of his throat and the very first traces of tears building up in the corners of his eyes.

"She didn't see me"

Jack looked at him puzzled, not yet grasping what he meant. Then his expression quickly changed and his eyes grew wide as the realisation struck him.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry Bunny. I… I didn't know."

Bunny shrugged and turned his head to gaze at the rolling hills before him. "Not your fault Snowflake. It's just one of those things.

"But still, I never thought Sophie would stop believing. She believed in you for so long."

"Maybe now was the right time for her to let go. She's growing up so fast, taking those first shaky steps towards adulthood. She couldn't believe forever."

Jack scooted closer to his downhearted friend. Bunny could feel all the warm air around him seeping away and being replaced by coldness but he didn't move. Tenderly he felt a light, cool touch on his shoulder.

"I'll talk to Jamie, he'll make her believe again"

Bunny wished he could hold on to the hopefulness in the teen's voice, take it and never let it go, keep it with him forever.

But he couldn't.

It wouldn't be right.

"No mate. If she's stopped believing then it's time to let her go. I've done what I was supposed to do. I gave her hope and with that, she's ready to take the next step in her life. It wouldn't be fair on her or me to make her believe again." The first tears started to fall from his eyes, mingling with the fur and disappearing.

It was so hard to say it out loud, it made it sound so final. To admit that his little ankle-biter was growing up and no longer needed him. It was so very hard.

Suddenly he felt his body grow cold and two small arms wrap gently around his broad shoulders. The embrace was chilling but comforting and bought more tears to his eyes.

"You think they'll believe forever. That no matter what life throws at them they will always remember the fairy tales that come to life to bring them Hope, Wonder, dreams, memories and fun. But in the end they all stop believing, stop seeing."

The tears were flowing freely now, soaking the fur around his eyes and making him shivers as the frigid air around him froze them. He shouldn't be feeling this upset. They each lost hundreds of believers each year, it was an inevitable part of being a guardian but sometime it was harder to lose some more then others.

They were the ones that really stood out from the rest and grabbed your heart and attention and refused to let go no matter how hard you tried to shake them off. The ones that believed the longest and tried to hold onto that belief as the years slowly worked their terrible magic. They were the ones that made you proud and thankful to be doing the job you were made for and ultimately were the ones who broke your heart.

It had been more then four hundred years since he last let a child capture his heart and even then, few had caught it quite as hard as his little Sophie had. She was one in a million. The only child to have ever infiltrated his warren.

She had certainly left her mark.

And that's what made it all the more difficult to lose her.

"I'm so sorry Bunny. I wish there was something I could do" Jack said softly. His own voice was quite and thoughtful and seemed to share a part of the grief he was feeling.

Jack was still young by Guardian standards and had yet to know the lost of a believer. Even as Jamie now ventured boldly into his early twenties the boy had refused to let Jack go. Bunny wished with all his heart that Jack would never know the grief of losing that all-important first believer. But just like everything in the world things changed and sooner or later Jamie would be forced into that part of his life, where fairy tales and immortal winter sprites were no longer welcome. It would be hard but Bunny would make sure the boy got though it, just like the rest of them had done.

"Its okay Snowflake, really it is. This is just one of the things that you have to learn to deal with. Remember it's our job to protect their childhood and part of that protection is to know when to cut the strings. They can't stay children forever and in adulthood, there is very little room for the likes of us. We serve as a fond memory, a reminder of simpler, happier times and if we truly did our job right they keep us alive though their own children."

"But what about the ones that don't want to stop believing? What about Jamie? He still believes in us"

"And maybe he will be the one who's an exception but remember Jack that there may come a time when Jamie needs more then anything to forget about you and move on. I'm not saying It will happen for sure, the boy might be as stubborn as you but take it from someone who's been there. Losing your first believer will be painful, it'll feel like a part of you has disappeared forever and you'll never be able to care about another child the same way again. But it won't last forever."

Slowly the arms around him retreated, coming to rest on his arm instead. Bunny turned his head and saw tiny tears falling down Jack's pale face. The tears fell for a few seconds before turning onto small glistening crystals.

Bunny's heart sank even lower and with hesitation he pulled the youngster into a comforting warm hug. He hadn't meant to make him sad.

"Hey don't worry about it just yet Frosty. Just because Sophie stopped believing doesn't mean Jamie will. I'm just saying that if and only if the day comes and he no longer sees you, you are not alone and we will do everything to help you get through it okay?"

He felt Jack's head nod in his fur and mutter just loud enough for him to hear.

"I just always assumed Jamie would always believe in me. I never thought that he might have to stop believing in me in order to grow up." slowly he lifted his head out of Bunny's chest and looked at him with shinning blue eyes. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing, letting him still believe in me?"

Bunny smiled sadly at his long time rival and little brother. He still had so much to learn about Guardian-hood and it broke his heart to be the one to tell him all these things but it was something he would have to learn eventually.

Gently using his paw he wiped away the frozen tears and ruffled his snowy white hair.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that one mate. You'll know when your ready to let him go. It might be tomorrow, it might be next week, might be next year or it might never happen. The best you can do is cherish the time you have with him and in the end even if he does forget, that doesn't mean you will. No one ever forgets their first believer."

"Do you remember your first believer?" he asked and flattened his messed up hair.

"Of course I do. She was a little tyke with the craziest brown hair you have ever seen and the biggest blue eyes this side of the northern hemisphere. Her name was Anneliese. She was only four years old and came from a small German village somewhere near Brandenburg. I'll never forget the first time see saw me. You've never heard a child squeal so loudly." he laughed fondly at the memory. Even now after all the centuries he could still hear that sweet innocent sound so clearly.

"She though I was some sort of big dog and ran straight up to me and petted me on the head. Well I was so shocked that someone could actually see me I completely froze to spot. She though it was great and climbed onto my back. Before I knew it she was clinging to my neck and laughing like there was no tomorrow. I was so excited I gave her all my eggs that I had with me. Her little face lit up at that but she was always more interested in me then any amount of eggs or chocolate." He smiled as the memory played over in his head.

Every year after that he had always made sure to bring her specially decorated eggs just for her. She loved each and every one she received but as always her happiness came not in the form of eggs but the giant Bunny who delivered them.

She had been the first of a small group of children he had ever allowed himself to get deeply attached to. Then of course came that evitable day that all new guardians dread.

"So what happened to her" Jack asked out of interest. This was the first time Bunny had even told him about his first believer. He found it very interesting to learn that Bunny had once been like him, just finding his feet and realising the joy of belief aster being invisible for so long.

Bunny shrugged his shoulders and his expression once again become sad and distant.

"She grew up. I went to her village with the eggs I had painted just for her, but she wasn't where we normally met up. I didn't understand why she didn't show up so I went looking for her. After an hour of searching around the town I stumbled onto her house and saw her inside. By that time she must have been around thirteen years old. Her parents were talking to her, telling her how important it was for her to take more responsibility and to stop going on about silly fairy tales.

"I tried to get her attention but nothing I did made he look my way. What I didn't know at the time was that her parents were planning on moving to try and start a better life away from the troubles that were brewing. That year Anneliese had been forced to grow up quickly and prepare for what lay ahead. Her parents convinced her that everything she saw all those times we were together was nothing more then make believe and that it was high time she buckled down and started concentrating on the real world. Within one short year all her belief had disappeared."

Jack was listening silently, absorbing everything that he was saying and nodding slowly.

Bunny felt fresh tears trying to work their way out of his eyes. He wiped them away quickly before they could take hold. He had done his crying for Anneliese years ago. He wouldn't go there again.

"You must have really loved her"

Bunny nodded quickly. He was losing his battle against the tears. He chocked back a sob and said quietly. "I did. She was my little believer and they went and made her stop seeing me. It must have been hard for her to accept but it was even harder for me. Before I left and snuck into her room and hide the eggs under her pillow. I never went back after that." he couldn't stop the tears from falling any longer.

Anneliese had been so special to him, a bright-eyed little girl who was full of wonder and hope. He remembered how devastated he had been at losing her. He locked himself away from the other guardians for two weeks and refused to eat, drink or sleep. Eventually Sandy had had to come down into the warren and knock him out so North could carry him to the Pole and force a feeding tube down his throat.

And now he had gone and done the same thing over again.

He had let another child slip through the net and gotten emotionally attached. Sometimes he though maybe life would have been simpler if he just didn't give a damn but of course he knew, just like the rest of them knew, that that was simply not an option.

He could no sooner stop caring about the children anymore then he could stop having long ears. It just wasn't possible.

A few moment of silence passed as the pair sat and thought about things. Neither sure where to go from here.

"It's not fair." he heard Jack whisper next to him after another minute of silence.

"Huh?"

"It's not fair that they have to stop believing in us. Why can't they be adults and still believe? It's not hurting anyone."

"If only it was that simple mate. The world is a strange place that runs on facts. Seeing is believing and for most if they can't see or feel it, it's not real and for anyone that says otherwise is branded an idiot. We just have to deal and get on with it. For every child that stops believing there is one that starts and that's what you've got to keep in mind.

"Sophie was the latest in the few ankle-biters that I've taken a special likening too and I'll be damned if she's the last. It hurts now but one day there'll be another that I can't help but grow attached to. The same will go for you too Jackie boy. You might not feel it now but one day you will find another child that makes you feel over the moon and happy to be what you are. And as far as I can tell as long as you don't forget the ones that made you feel believed in and loved then there is nothing wrong with getting attached to another. It'll always be okay to love em, even after you've long become just a happy childhood dream."

Silence fell over the two again as Bunny finished. He felt a little better now that he had said his piece and it helped to straighten things out in his head.

Sophie was an angle and he would never forget her for as long a he lived. In an ideal world she would see him for the rest of her life, eagerly searching for the eggs he hides and begging to come and play with him in the warren. But this was not an ideal world so all he could do was pray she had a happy long life filled with all the wonder, hope, dreams, memories and fun that she deserved.

And who knows, one day she might have children of her own who are just as eager to meet the Easter Bunny. That thought put a small smile on his face and put a stop to the steady stream of tears running from his eyes.

His little ankle-biter would be alright and it's not like he would never see her again. This was just another chapter in her life, one that he sadly couldn't be part off and… he felt alright about it.

"Bunny?"

"Hmm?"

He felt Jack's cold body lean against his and his slim arms wrap loosely and his own arm comfortingly.

"If it helps Sophie loved you very much, she loved you like you were one of her family She told me so herself a few years ago. Sorry I forgot to mention it to you before but I just thought that you needed to know how much you meant to her."

A few seconds of silence went by. Bunny wrapped a strong arm around his little brother and rested his head against his and in a calm quite voice whispered.

"Thank you Jack. It does help… it helps a lot"

Oh my fluff this was so cheesy but great fun to write XD

Poor Bunny loves his little ankle-biters so much but as they say, if you love them you've got to let them go.

Anyway thank you very much for reading and if you enjoyed it please leave me a review, I would love to know what you think. This only a one shot so don't follow because there is no more to this.