Chioniphobia

Goodbye

Bunny watched Grim sip daintily from a black mug.

"What's that you got there?"

"Rabbit stew," she answered, and flashed her pointy-toothed grin.

He scoffed and grabbed the mug from her, taking a slurp. "That summer squash in there?"

"Yes, and zucchini squash."

Bunny snorted. "Rabbit stew, eh?"

"I wasn't lying, Pookie. It's rabbit stew- stew for a rabbit."

"Mm-hm."

"Well, what did you think I meant, dear?"

"Don't try to be cute, Grimace."

She sighed dramatically. "Can't help it. I'm just so adorable that it can't be contained."

"You, adorable? Could've fooled me."

Grim swatted his arm as he took another swig of stew. "Be nice."

"I'll start when you start," he replied, handing her back the mug.

She casually gulped down the last of the stew and dropped the mug. It touched the ground and promptly vanished into the shadows. "So we've agreed to live in a state of mutual antagonism for the rest of our lives?"

"I think that's called marriage."

Grim tapped her cheek thoughtfully. "Are we married? Hm. I doubt my husband will approve of that."

"Still don't know why you married that shadow-sneaking ratbag. He's prolly just using you for your powers," Bunny commented.

She laughed, putting a hand underneath his chin. Their shadows stretched around them, twisting, shifting. The Guardian of Hope glanced behind his companion and glimpsed the silhouette of feathered wings beneath Grim's skeletal ones.

"And who says I'm not doing the same with him?" she purred, a Cheshire Cat grin splitting her face.

Bunny smiled resignedly. "We won't be go any easier on him because you're married, you know."

"Mim forbid," she said, and disappeared.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jack ducked as Sandy's whip sliced the air above his head, hearing the snap of dreamsand hitting bone behind him.

"An undead army? Seriously, Pitch? The Nightmares might've been a dark army prepared to take over the world, but they weren't this cliché."

A chain hooked around his ankle. Before Jack could free himself, he was yanked to the ground, and the Boogeyman was sneering down at him with the other end of the chain in one hand and a blacksand blade in the other.

"And yet the plucky team of heroes fights on to keep the darkness at bay. Pot and kettle, Frost."

Jack shrugged and shot a stream of ice at the Nightmare King's chest as he unhooked his foot from the loop of chain. Pitch dodged, though he wasn't quite quick enough to keep his blade arm from being frozen. "We'd be calling you Black either way. Hey, does Grim know about them?"

He indicated the unliving army charging at the Guardians, blacksand and shadows swirling through amalgamations of tangled bone and metal.

"She's aware of their existence," Pitch answered shortly, swinging the chain at Jack's head.

Jack ducked and froze a length of the weapon to the ground. "I'm guessing she didn't approve your little craft project."

"She didn't stop me from making them, either," Pitch replied, yanking the chain free of the ice with one swift movement.