Giving Way to the Light

Chapter Three

The first time Bunny had seen him, it was 1632. He was going about his business, checking good egg hiding locations, when he felt that something wasn't quite right with one of the the small homes he was crouched outside.

He hesitated, not wanted to barge into someone's home when there could be nothing wrong. So instead he waited outside, straining to hear if anything was wrong. There was... crying. A woman was sobbing and that definitely spelled "wrong" in his book. Daring to peek in a window, there was a young woman crouched over the unmoving body of her small son. The breath froze in Bunny's lungs and everything went numb.

Winter was always harsh in this new land, and many children had lost their lives because of it, but it never became any easier. He was about to back away and give the women her privacy to grieve when he saw it, standing as still and dark as a shadow, watching the spectacle in front of it unemotionally. It wore a long black tattered cloak with a hood so deep he couldn't see the creature's face.

And it carried a scythe.

Though Bunny had never seen a Reaper before, North had warned him about them. So, it was only natural that he would assume this was the dark being standing in the corner.

As the shadow creature started to move away from the scene of the crime towards the window, Bunny hid around the corner of the cottage and watched it slip out the window. Slowly the rage started to build, and the moment the murderer was out in the open, he struck.

He caught the creature off guard with a boomerang. It dodged the blow, but not without stumbling. Two huge black wings, easily 10 feet long each, sprung from behind it, and it took to the safety of the skies, looking down at him.

"Yah stay away from the children yah hear! I am a Guardian of Childhood, and I will do my job!"

The creature continued to hover there for a moment before turning away and disappearing into the inky black sky.

The second time he saw the creature was when it was creeping out of the bedroom of Christopher Robin. He watched as it slipped out the window, shut it firmly behind it, and stood there for a moment as if it was pondering something.

Bunny was well aware that Christopher Robin was a very special little boy. He could see all spirits, Lunar or otherwise, with or without believing in them. North suspected that it had something to do with his overgrown imagination. North had also said that other, less friendly, spirits might take an unhealthy interest in the boy. So, without warning, Bunny had attacked. The Reaper had been swift in evading his boomerangs though. Again Bunny had shouted a warning at the beast before it had flown off. He ran to check on the boy but... he was fine. Sleeping safe and sound, tucked into his bed. He counted the boy lucky.

Just to be safe though, he had come back the next night right on time to see the Reaper exiting the very same window again. It had dodged his boomerangs before, so this time he went for a full body tackle. Down it went and he landed right on top of it. It was... smaller than he had imagined. He figured it must be mostly bones underneath the cloak, but he couldn't tell because it had somehow managed to cover it's face to conceal it's identity during the fall from the second story window. That was the first time he heard it speak.

"Get... off..." It said in a shaky, rattling voice.

It had struggled until it made a lucky hit and jumped away. Bunny wasn't done yet though. He couldn't bare the thought of this thing taking the life of another child.

The Reaper pulled a glittering scythe from seemingly nowhere and held it at the ready, in the perfect position to chop off his head if it wanted to, but then it hesitated. It made the stupid mistake of swinging wide and turning tail to retreat just as it had the night before.