Bunny and the Guardians tumbled out of the portal, barely avoiding bumping into the corpse. They stumbled into a scene of chaos.

There were fae everywhere, winter and summer both, and Bunny swore he could see a couple who weren't affiliated with either court. They were flitting about, slicing, stabbing, freezing, melting. The north pole was a battleground.

North caught a winter fae by the arm as it passed. "What is going on here?" He boomed at it above the chaos. It chittered to itself frantically, then caught sight of the corpse still held aloft by the wind. It shook North's hand off and flew off into the crowd immediately, panicked chatters floating back to them for an instant before Bunny couldn't hear it above the din.

"What's happening?" Tooth asked another, but it too fled. Soon the winter fae had made a wide berth around the Guardians. But there was something odd about the avoidance-there were no fire fae anywhere near the Guardians, either. In fact, the winter fae seemed to be fighting them off of the Guardians. But why would they do that? Unless...

"They're still protectin' their old king," Bunny realized. The faerie that had been there earlier must have been spreading the news that the Guardians had the old king with them!

Tooth looked around. "We need to get the summer fae out of the pole, first of all. The winter fae must be defending it so they'll get their artifacts back," she decided.

"Nah, the king said he needed this cloak because they didn't respect him yet. Why would he tell them that we're getting the thing for him if he wants them to respect him? It's kind of a bad move as it is." Bunny refuted, glancing at the half-dead king and-more specifically-the cloak he still wore.

"Either way, we must defeat fae and then get Jack back! Then we will do fae politics," North grinned. Then, with a nod from each of the remaining Guardians, he ran past the dead space they occupied and into battle.

While fighting, Bunny noticed something odd. The fae had a tendency to get between him and projectiles-even at the cost of their own lives. Bunny was a second too slow ducking a sword strike, and there was a winter faerie tackling him out of the way. If he was waiting for his boomerangs to return, one faerie or another would hover around him, killing anything that dared look too long in his direction.

It appeared that the same applied to the other Guardians, as he watched Sandy and a faerie work together to cleverly trap a summer faerie in an icy block, its insect-like wings wrapped in sand. Tooth lost one of her swords dodging a fireball while stabbing a faerie, and one winter faerie gave her another sword made of ice while another winter faerie dived after the falling fire faerie to retrieve Tooth's sword. North was laughing and jumping around, having the time of his life, but there was never much distance between him and one faerie in particular, who seemed to be acting as his bodyguard. In fact, one of the fae helping Bunny was beginning to look awfully familiar. Did they all have assigned bodyguards, to make sure they survived giving the cloak to the king?

Either way, it was a small army of fire fae and a large army of their icy counterparts, and the enemies were soon driven out. As was usual after a big battle, the Guardians collected just to the side of the battleground to check up on one another and regroup. They met up by the body of the old king.

The first faerie North had grabbed was hovering there, chattering to two others. One was the current king, but the other Bunny didn't recognize. He was tall and platinum blond, with sharp, refined features-basically, he was a carbon copy of every singe other faerie. Bunny was surprised he could even tell one from the next.

The king of the fae turned to face them, dismissing one of the other faeries. "Ah. These are the Guardians. Guardians, this is the Odinson. I trust your mission went well," He greeted politely as the Guardians exchanged nods with the Odinson. He seemed to be directing his question at Bunny, so the Pooka stepped forward in response. He nodded warily.

"Yeah, we got 'im back. The wind wanted to take the body back with us."

The king looked somber from behind his hood. "He and the wind were...very close, I am told. The wind would not have left his body to rot."

North coughed. "We have given you the cloak, have we not? Where is Jack?"

The king shuffled, seeming uncomfortable, and the Odinson shifted the tiniest bit closer-a reassurance, or a preparation for a fight?

"Well?" Tooth asked, hopeful. "Where is he?"

The king shifted one last time before settling and beginning to speak. "I must warn you," he advised. "I guaranteed that your friend wasn't dead. I never promised that he was precisely as you wished him to be, or as you last saw him. I am sorry to have misled you, but...you've already seen him again."

The words were said with such finality that Bunny almost wanted to turn and leave. What could be so wrong that the king of the uncaring, cruel fae would flinch from saying it aloud?

Bunny's eyes lit on the figure behind the king, propped up by the wind.

He had even noted it when he first saw the old king of the fae-even if he'd known him for all of his life, he wouldn't have recognized him behind all the abuse he'd been through.

And technically, the old king of the fae wasn't dead. The current king could guarantee that he was alive, and guarantee that he would be returned to the Guardians, without lying.

The fae had panicked when their king had disappeared, only a little after Jack had been made a Guardian. Jack had pointed features and spent all his time flying. Jack was reluctant to talk about how he had been made into Jack Frost. Jack had insisted on going with Bunny to get the crown, citing the fact that being surrounded by winter would probably give him a boost. Was there another reason for that insistence? Had Bunny never noticed that there was another reason for all of these things?

North must have some to the same conclusion as Bunny did. "Jack would have told us...if he were the king of the fae...he trusted us," he whispered hoarsely.

"I'm sorry," murmured the king, backing away from the Guardians like they were hurting him. Bunny hoped they were hurting him. He'd made them think that they were getting Jack back. He'd lied.

"Why did he never tell us? We would have accepted that he was a faerie! We would have understood that he needed to get back to his people! Why would he have let them start kidnaping children if they were panicking over his disappearance? Why wouldn't he just go home and be safe? Why did he have to...why did he get caught? Why didn't the fae just let him take his own crown back?"

The king had been doing a fairly good impression of being utterly gobsmacked, considering they couldn't see his face. "No, no! That's not it, you're leaping to conclusions! I was never the fae king before now, I just-" the fae king took off his hood, flipping it down to reveal those bright-blue eyes Bunny remembered. There was a pale face there, with familiar pointed features and unruly white hair and a frustrated, expressive face with dark eyebrows.

"Jack?" Tooth gasped.

"...Hi." Jack giggled, giving an awkward little wave. "I'm...I'm kind of the fae king now. A little." He shrunk back under their gazes until he was almost hiding behind the other faerie. The Odinson frowned and stepped forward a bit, putting himself between Jack and the Guardians.

Nope. Not happening.

Bunny walked forward, reaching around the Odinson to grab Jack by the shoulder. The Odinson tensed and almost knocked his paw away, but at a motion from Jack he stepped aside.

Jack looked at Bunny, his posture closed and anxious.

"Why? We thought you died, and you were living it up like a king? What were you thinking?!" Bunny demanded.

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to, alright? But fifteen people tried to assassinate me in a single month before I heard about the summer court's attack, I couldn't let you guys get yourselves killed!"

"You could have told us! We can take care of ourselves!" Bunny argued. Jack flinched and Bunny realized just how hard he was gripping the boy's shoulder. Still, Jack fought back.

"I was doing my best, alright? I did some things I'm not proud of, and not telling you guys was one of those things, but I needed you to be safe! You would have tried to get me to leave the fae forever, and they needed me-still do need me!"

Why would Jack mention that the fae still needed him? Unless..."You're...not coming home?" Bunny asked, bewildered.

Jack looked grim. "My people need me. If I disappear, it'll be just like when the old king died. Chaos and death. I don't want that for the mortal plane or for my fae. I have to keep doing my duties." Jack's eyes pleaded with Bunny to understand.

Bunny suddenly felt very cold. He understood, alright.

"You chose the fae over us? Jack, they kidnaped you! They turned you into something else! No, you're not going back there. I won't let you!" Bunny snarled, catching Jack by the front of his cloak and bringing him right up to look him in the eye.

"Who are you to stop me? Besides, I'm not choosing anything over anything! I'm going home to take care of the people who need me!"

"You're abandoning us! What about everything we all went through together? What about Pitch, and every time you helped with Easter? Are you just going to forget all of that? You're just leaving, without a real reason! You're just turning your back on us as soon as someone offers you a little power!" Bunny knew that was cruel to say, but it was true. Jack was leaving them behind for the fae. He couldn't understand why someone would leave family and comrades behind for ruthless kidnapers and murderers.

"I would never abandon what we worked for! But my people need me!" Jack insisted, trying to disengage Bunny's grip on his collar.

"Your people need you? The fae are monsters! They're cruel and heartless, and everyone knows it! Those aren't people!"

Bunny knew he'd hit a nerve when Jack's eyes narrowed in true fury and the king's entire body trembled. But before Jack could do anything, he was taken from Bunny's grip by the Odinaon, and Bunny remembered that the other fae and the Guardians had been there the whole time. There was a ring of fae watching silently around them.

The Odinson freed Jack from Bunny's grip with unimaginable speed, seeming to disappear one moment and reappear next to Jack a few meters away in the next. He stood protectively in front of Jack. "That is enough! The king has proven his kingship and we will not tolerate this atrocious behavior towards the leader of all of the court! Am I understood?"

Bunny sneered. "And why should I care what you tolerate? You're just-"

Jack interrupted him, gently pushing the Odinson to the side once more. "I won't have you speak badly of my fae. Twice you have committed transgressions that I could rightfully have killed you for in insulting my race, and I won't have you do it a third time!" Jack slashed once through the air with his new staff-which looked nothing like his old one-and a portal opened. He said something in the language of the fae to the Odinson, who yelled it to the other fae surrounding them before leading Jack through the portal, giving a cold look to the Guardians.

The other fae gave deep bows to Bunny and pricked their hands with their swords at the other Guardians as they followed the two through the portal. Soon, drops of faerie blood littered the ground near the Guardians and the fae were gone.

Ignoring the odd behavior of the fae, Tooth whirled to face Bunny.

"Why did you do that? We just got him back, and now he's going to head off to sulk for another century!" She scolded him.

Bunny frowned. He would have though Tooth would understand. "Don't you see? He chose to stay with the fae when he could just come home! Of course I wasn't happy with him!"

North frowned. "Did Jack choose? He was saying that his people are needing him, not that he would not come back."

"But he can't..." Bunny paused. Actually, if he was the king, Jack could probably move between planes as much as he wanted. He'd said that he had to prove his kingship, and the Odinson had mentioned something along those lines, but now that he had everything he'd said he needed, maybe he could come back without jeopardizing his position.

In fact, when he'd asked them to get the cloak for him, he'd said that once he'd gotten it, he'd be able to see his family again. Jack didn't have a human family anymore, so logically that could mean that either he had a family on the fae plane before becoming king-unlikely, he probably would have been made king immediately after being captured or never been made king at all-or the Guardians.

Jack had intended to come back. Not permanently, but he had intended to...visit or something, Bunny didn't know. He hadn't wanted this to be a permanent separation.

Well, now Bunny felt like a jerk.

"We have to get him back. Bunny, you have to apologize." Tooth ordered.

He hung his head, cowed. "Yeah."

"He'll be back soon, he's only making sure none of his subjects are present for it. He would have a hard time explaining what had happened while preventing your atrocious cultural missteps." A voice explained from directly behind the Guardians.

They whirled to face him at once, and saw the Odinson standing behind them, giving them each individually the driest look they'd ever seen.

"When will he come to here?" North asked of the Odinson.

The Odinson got a vacant look on his face for a moment. When he refocused, he replied, "He'll be here soon. He's sorting out the fae, and he has to get the grapevine going-we don't gather everyone togther to make announcements. We just spread rumors and everyone knows what's going on."

That was...strange, and seemed inefficient, but the Guardians let it slide-there were more important things to know than the fae's methods of spreading information.

"Why did everyone bow at Bunny and bleed at the rest of us as they left? It seems like they would be angrier that we were fighting against Jack, if he was their king." Tooth asked. "And why did they follow us around during the fight? For that matter, why were you even here in the first place? And can't you just...revive the old king and have him rule instead?"

The Odinson laughed. "You're not very familiar with the fae, I see. The king has declared that each of you is to be considered his family, and in fae culture, that means that you're family of everyone with a lower rank than his-which means everyone. They protected you because that is what family does, and we've been keeping our army patrolling your realm since that announcement, to make sure no one attacks your children while you're away.

"Why they said their goodbyes to you in the ways that they did is actually fairly simple. Their blood welcomed you into the family and wished to join you, so they set it free. Bunny showed his closeness with Jack by fighting with him, so they felt they had to respect him more. No one can fight so viciously and not care for each other, somehow.

"Finally, the dead king will never regain his soul. Fae can give up their souls in order to escape when death will not take them, but they can never be revived. Tradition dictates that he will be absorbed for his power into the rest of the fae, and the new king will continue to rule."

One part of that explanation bothered Bunny. Well, many parts, especially the part where it was implied that the fae would use their old king for energy and there was nothing wrong with that, but only one part of the explanation wasn't explainable solely by fae being fae. "We don't have any children," he protested.

The Odinson looked puzzled. "Yes you do, the children you are Guardians of are yours. Jack himself was a child before you made him one of you. I can only suppose that all children are yours, but many of them escape your grasp by growing old before you can take them,"

"Er, no mate, we don't kidnap people. Jack was made a spirit because of...something he did, or his personality or something. I don't know."

"Actually, it was because I saved my sister, but then I died before the transformation was complete. I became a spirit anyway...somehow...I'm not too sure of the details on that." Jack's voice came from behind them.

"Would you stop doing that? Is it a fae thing, you all have to appear behind people and give them a heart attack before any real conversation can happen?!" Bunny exclaimed, frazzled. Just how many times in the past few days had someone just conveniently appeared behind them?

Jack laughed brightly. "Maybe it is. Maybe it should be," he replied, flashing them all a charming grin.

Tooth gave Bunny a Look and he remembered suddenly that he was supposed to be begging forgiveness. "Look, frostbite, I'm sorry about-"

"No, no, it's fine. You thought I was going to leave the Guardians behind for the fae, it was a fair response. Goodness knows if our positions had been reversed I would have frozen you to the ground." Jack swung his new scepter over his shoulder, looking exactly like he always had...but different, somehow. Older. More relaxed, less flighty.

Bunny was confused for just a moment before it dawned on him.

Jack had matured.

He still kept his casual bearing, he still delighted in surprising them, but he was more confident, surer of the world and his place in it. He moved with his usual easy grace, but it was refined now, less of a wild thing that had consented to be tame and more of a man relaxing with friends at the end of the day.

Bunny hated to admit it, hated it with the deepest hate his soul could conjure up, but the fae might have been good for Jack. Perhaps he had needed that time away, surrounded by people who had never abandoned him, to be able to gain this peace with the people who had.

He tugged Jack into a hug anyway. Jack may have needed some time, but Bunny was just happy he'd come home in the end.

"I thought you were dead, mate. Never do that again."

Jack yelped as he stumbled into Bunny, but relaxed and dropped his staff in favor of hugging Bunny back.

"No more dying," he promised. "I'm sticking around for good." Bunny would be damned if either of them ever mentioned the moisture brimming in both of their eyes. He was a warrior and Jack was a king, and warriors and kings did not cry.

Sometimes people did, though, and Jack and Bunny were both people. As Sandy did his absolute best to hug the both of them, and then Tooth, and then North, Bunny felt like that might be okay.

The Odinson let out an indignant squawk as the wind pushed him into the pile of Guardians, and Jack laughed, and Bunny felt like laughing, too.

Finally, everything was perfect.

We won! Good game!

Whew! It's been fun. I hope you guys have enjoyed this as much as I have, because I had so much fun with it. Especially the parts where y'all thought everyone died. Tell me honestly, how many of you thought for a second I actually did make Jack the old fae king?

I've loved the journey, thanks you guys!