sakon76

Scenes From the Life and Death of Jackson Overland Frost
Part 7: Egg Hunting and Trapping, Redux
by K. Stonham
first released 16th December, 2012

March 31st, 2013

Bunnymund popped out of his hole, looking around Burgess suspiciously. But the air was mild. He sniffed. No scent of snow. A few bounds took him deeper into the park.

Jack's pond was thawed. Not even the slightest skim of ice drifted on its surface; instead, a few early ducks bobbled there. As Bunnymund watched, one disappeared beneath the surface, tail feathers alone remaining visible, as it hunted for something in the mud near the edge.

Bit by bit, Bunnymund relaxed. "Looks like Frostbite kept his word," he murmured to himself. He spared a moment to wonder where the kid was - up north, bothering North, maybe? - but then shook the thought off and got to work.

He had eggs to hide.

* * *

Jamie resisted the urge to giggle. He was going to get in so much trouble for this! Maybe even on North's Naughty List. But some things, as Jack said, were worth it.

"Shh," Jack breathed in his ear from their hiding place. "He'll hear you, with those long ears. Breathe quiet."

Jamie tried to obey, keeping himself still and camouflaged and trying not even to twitch. And, of course, as soon as he thought that, his nose started itching. He tried to ignore the itch, and mostly failed.

Jack saw the way Jamie was contorting his face, trying to deal with the itch without moving to scratch it, and grinned widely, his expression one of hilarity. He looked like he was barely keeping himself from laughing aloud. Jamie glared.

Shrugging apologetically, though he didn't stop smiling, Jack nudged his staff into range, and took his hand off it. Jamie gratefully rubbed the side of his nose against the gnarled wood, relieving the itch.

All of a sudden, Jack tensed. Jamie stilled, and followed Jack's gaze.

He saw nothing at first, but then, after a moment, he saw movement in the shadows.

Their quarry bounded into the park.

Be still, Jamie thought to himself. Be still!

He kept his mouth shut, hardly dared breathe as the Easter Bunny paused, looking around suspiciously.

Bunnymund took a step forward. He leaned down and a couple eggs hopped out of his basket and scurried into the grass under a tree. He took another step. Then another.

Come on, Jamie thought. One more step. Just one more. Please!

He looked at Jack, whose gaze was locked on those furry gray ankles. Blue eyes sparkled.

Then Bunnymund took that last step.

* * *

"Crikey!" Bunnymund was hauled into the air by his left hind paw. Eggs pattered to the ground. They stood in a circle, looking up at him as he swayed in the air, upside down and ten feet above the ground.

Boyish, childish laughter pealed through the park.

Twisting in the wind, Bunnymund glared down at the pair of figures that scrambled out from under concealing bushes.

"Frost..." he growled.

Jack took a bow. "And that, Jamie," he said cheerfully, "is how you catch a rabbit."

"You'd better start running now," Bunnymund warned the winter spirit. "Because when I catch you...."

"Oh, come on." Jack leaned on his staff. "You weren't this pissed last time, were you?"

Bunnymund blinked. "Last time?"

"Last time?" Jamie echoed, looking up to the older child.

Jack smirked. "Unless you want to claim that was some other rabbit that cut my snare, three-hundred-some-odd years ago?"

Three hundred...?

Bunnymund's eyes widened.

"I mean, you got away before we even got out of the prayer meeting and came looking, right?" Jack continued.

"That was you?" Bunnymund asked. Not possible. He couldn't believe it. Except....

He craned his neck, looked up at the snare.

Identical to the one that had caught him, all those years ago.

He dropped his head again, eyes closed, and groaned.

"Bunny?" Jamie's voice was worried.

He opened his eyes again. "Don't start taking after him," he warned the upside-down child. "Nothing good comes of hero-worshiping someone like Frost."

"Hey!" Jack sounded offended. Good.

With a narrow twist, Bunnymund cut through the rope and fell to the ground, landing upright in the middle of the circle of his eggs. He lowered his basket; one after another, the eggs scurried to jump back in. "So," he asked Jack conversationally, "how old were you?"

Jack grinned. "Ten."

Ten?! Bunny mentally groaned again.

"You tell North," he warned, "and I'll make sure you never have another peaceful night again. Either of you."

Jack hissed. "Bringing Sandy into this is low."

Bunny smirked. "So is bringing in North." With a nod, he directed one of the eggs back out of the basket. The blue egg, decorated with fern-like patterns that Bunny would never admit had been inspired by Jack's frost, ran over to Jamie and hopped up and down. The boy, still dusty, with bits of bracken clinging to his sweatshirt, picked it up. "Happy Easter," Bunnymund said, and tapped his foot on the ground, opening a tunnel. He had a schedule to keep, and a lot more places to hide some eggs.

As he jumped down into the tunnel, he heard Jamie Bennett calling after him "Thank you! Happy Easter!", together with Jack's "Happy Easter, Bunnymund!" before the tunnel closed back up.

As he bounded on to his next stop, Bunny couldn't help but keep thinking, Ten.

No wonder the Man in the Moon had his eye on Jack....

*~*~*

Author's Note: This chapter is thanks to the Guest on ff.net who left a comment on chapter three saying they could see Jack replicating his Bunny-trap post movie. So could I, so here it is! :) As for timeline, my headcanon is that though the movie was released in November 2012, it actually depicts the events of April 2012. And, from this point out, the chapters aren't necessarily going to be linear anymore.