ROTG-Frozen Wonder

13

  (The next chapter and a half follows Jack, though it won't be in his POV)

Jack flies out of Pitch's shadow, ready to strike though suddenly, Jack realizes he's forgotten something.

"Baby Tooth!"

He turns to re-enter the hole in the wall only to find himself face to face with one of Bunny's stone emblems.

"Happy Easter, Jack."

Jack turns around and his eyes fill with dread as he realizes where he is.

Thousands of broken egg shells lay strewn about, forming a path toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

"No."

~

Bunny peaks through the bushes to take in the scene - an Easter Egg hunt.

"There are no eggs. There's none anywhere. I give up. Come on, let's go. I don't understand."

Bunny checks the eggs in his basket, then looks back toward the kids.

"Maybe he just hid them really well this year."

Bunny, egg basket in hand, approaches a group of kids who seem to be wandering around searching halfheartedly, disappointed and listless.

"Kids! Oi!"

"I checked everywhere! There's nothing!"

Bunny steps toward them and he holds out a broken Easter egg.

"Yes there is! There is! I mean these aren't my best lookin' googies, but they'll do in a pinch!"

The kids just stare.

"I can't believe it."

"I know."

"There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny."

The girl turns to leave.

"What?"

"Easter's over. Forget this."

It's only then that he realizes he's too late. The spark of childhood has already been extinguished in all of them.

"No! Wrong! Not-not true! I'm right in front of ya, mate!"

"There's no such thing. I know."

The kids walk through Bunnymund as if he were a ghost. Bunny is stunned by this, and finally realizes...

"They don't see me. They don't see me."

Jack's watching this all unfold and it's heartbreaking, because he knows it's his fault.

Tooth flies to Bunny's side.

Jack hears a rustle in the bushes behind him.

"Jack, where were you?"

Jack sees North, with his scimitars drawn and having just come from battle.

He's exhausted, wild-eyed, distraught.

"The Nightmares attacked the tunnels. They smashed every egg, crushed every basket. Nothing made it to the surface."

"Jack!"

Tooth rejoins the group and gasps.

"Where did you get that?"

Jack looks down at the tooth box in his hand, then back to Tooth.

"I was...it's..."

"Where's Baby Tooth? Natalia? Oh Jack, what have you done?"

"That is why you weren't here?"

North steps forward to confront Jack.

"You were with Pitch?"

"No, listen, listen...I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"He has to go."

Jack turns to see Bunny, disheartened.

"What?"

"We should never have trusted you! Easter is new beginnings, new life. Easter is about hope. And now it's gone."

Bunny turns away and moves toward the park, looking at the sign that reads, 'Easter Egg Hunt.'

This is like a punch in Jack's gut.

He looks back to Tooth and North with a pained expression, both of whom look away, too hurt by Jack.

This is exactly what Pitch said would happen.

Jack reaches into his pocket, pulls out the tiny Russian nesting doll that North had given him, and lets it fall to the ground before he turns to take off.