Revenge on Frost - Rise of the Guardians Fanfiction

Jamie's Worry

By the time Bunny finally got to Jamie's house, it was midnight. Manny sat high in the sky and brightened the streets along with the lamp posts that tower high above Bunny. The last time he had been in that street was to fight Pitch. And ever since leaving the lake, Bunny was more jumpy than he wanted to admit. 

Bunny stood at Jamie's house. Every light off except for something in Jamie's room.  A small light that was moving slightly, and he could just make out the window was open. Maybe Bunny would luck out and Jamie would be awake. 

With a big hop, Bunny grabbed onto the roof of the house and swung himself on top. His paws scratched against the ruff material that patted the house. Jamie's window was just in sight and Bunny hopped over to the window cell.

"Where have you gone, Jack?" Jamie's broken voice spoke inside. 

Bunny crept along quietly to avoid startling the kid, his ears pricked up every time Jamie spoke.

"You promise you'd never leave me..."

Now, the pooka was able to look through the window slightly. Jamie sat awake on his bed. Bags under his eyes were visible in the light of a lamp that took the form of what looked like a robot. It sat on his bed as Jamie looked at the ceiling and window repeatedly.

He's waiting for Jack to show up. Bunny realized to himself, still out of view of Jamie.

"Can...can you just give me a sign?" the little boy asked with hope. Being the spirit of hope, Bunny's heart fluttered and broke at the same time to hear Jamie's words. So much hope filled him, only to find out Jack wasn't coming.

"I'm sorry, mate," Bunny finally said, showing himself and pushing the window open to come inside.

Jamie yelped at the noise and jumped into alert as he spun to see Bunny. His face lit up instantly and he ran up to hug him. "I knew I wasn't dreaming!" Jamie yelled.

Bunny shushed him but his face held a small smile. "Of course not, you little ankle biter. We're always here."

"Where's Jack?" Jamie asked, pulling away from the hug. 

Bunny's face fell slightly and Jamie noticed something was wrong.

"Did Pitch take him?" Jamie asked. "What happened? It's been so long since any of us have seen him." 

The Spirit of Hope realized that Jamie was talking about the other precious and brave kids that believed in Jack as well as Jamie. The same kids that helped defeat Pitch last year and bring Sandy back. 

"Jack..." Bunny started but hesitated, trying to find the best way to tell Jamie what happened without scaring him. "Pitch came back for revenge," Bunny said. "He did take Jack, but we were able to get him back...but he was really hurt. Pitch hurt him badly. At first we didn't know, but Pitch also took Jack's memories about his past life away."

Jamie looked shocked. "Oh no..."

"What is it, mate?"

"It's just, Jack sometimes would tell me about his memories. He had a little sister like me," Jamie said. "He also told me that he was alone for 300 years without them and you guys kinda..." Jamie winced. "kinda excluded him, I guess."

Now Bunny was really curious. "What else did he tell you?" He asked.

Jamie hesitated. "He lived in a cottage in Burgess long ago with his family. He never talked about his dad. That was one of the things Jack never really talked about."

Bunny waited patiently for Jamie to go on. Jamie sat back down on his bed, his feet kicking out in front of him.

"He said when the Man in the Moon made him a Guardian, he was born from the lake," Jamie explained. "But that part of the story was shaded, too. There's something he wouldn't tell me about that lake...every time I talked about it, he was sad and full of fear, even though he hung out there all the time." Jamie looked through the window absent minded. "Don't tell him I told you this, but sometimes, he'd come here at night just to talk to me. Sometimes...he'd be crying. He didn't have to tell me why, I knew it was because he was remembering those years of being all alone."

"How often?" Bunny asked slowly. He was concerned that Jack would leave the pole and North wouldn't notice.

"I don't really know," Jamie confessed. "But I felt bad. At first it was weird to see Jack so broken. But I guess there was a side I never knew about him." He glanced at Bunny and spoke softly. "A side none of us knew."

Bunny nodded. "He's kept things from us, too."

"I learned something from him," Jamie said. "When I'd watch his protective walls crumble and he'd break down? I realized something." He paused for a second. "I always saw Jack as a strong Guardian that never cried. Never was sad. But I learned that sometimes people don't cry because they're weak. They cry because they had to be strong for so long." He looked at Bunny. "I probably aren't making any sense."

"No, I kinda get it," Bunny said. 

"Jack just had to pretend to be fine for so long that it was hard to keep up the act." Jamie smiled sadly. "I was just happy that he felt like he could trust me to tell me. No offence." He added.

The sentence bothered Bunny. How much were they missing about their newest member? How much did they not see? It made Bunny feel sad for Jack that he didn't trust the Guardians to tell them anything about what was going on with him and what was bothering him.

"He was scared," Jamie said.

"Huh?"

"Scared that you would find him weak," Jamie clarified, as if reading Bunny's thoughts. "He didn't want you guys to kick him out for being so weak."

It broke Bunny's heart even further.

"But...I'm just scared for him," Jamie said, looking at the ground. "I saw the second side of him. The part where those 300 years scarred him on the inside. If I know anything about Jack, is that he's strong. But he can't go without knowing anything again. It may be the final breaking point for him."

"He won't be alone," Bunny said with confidence. "This time, he has you kids. And he has the Guardians, us. He has a family now. And even if he doesn't see it yet, he'll learn that we care for him more than anything."

Jamie smiled, Bunny could feel Jamie's hope growing.

"Just...promise me something?" Jamie asked. 

Bunny waited for him to continue.

"Just try to help Jack as best you can. This will be hard for him and if there's any time where he'll need someone, it'll be now," Jamie said. "And also, tell him I said hi. Tell him we all said hi."

"Of course, kid," Bunny said and ruffled Jamie's brown hair. "I promise." Then he hopped out the window and prepared to make a tunnel back to the North Pole. 

.....

It wasn't that Jack knew he was asleep. But he knew he wasn't awake either. Once and a while, he felt the pain radiating off of his body even in darkness. 

Yeah, he couldn't really see anything. He drifted through the abyss of black. Maybe he wasn't really drifting at all, but there was a muffled sound filling his ears sometimes. Voices that he couldn't make out.

He may not have known everything as he stayed still, eyes closed as he drifted. But he knew it was dark, it was cold, and he was scared. There was nothing in sight. Not above not below. Someone, or multiple others were waiting outside for him. He felt a powerful energy above him, somewhere out of reach that tried to chase all the bad things away. It was so close, yet fell too far away.

"You were never alone, Jack." 

If he could move, he would have done something. His staff wasn't anywhere near him. No ground greeted him below. But where was he?

"I was always here." The voice said again.

Suddenly, everything seemed like deja vu and Jack felt like he was about to remember something before a white hot pain shot in his arm and his body seized. It was as if you remembered you had to do something but could reach it. 

And with another pulse of agony, it slipped from his mind completely and Jack faded back into reality.