A Risky Option

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Bunny cursed under his breath as he stepped into the Workshop. He couldn't feel his feet from jumping through the snow to get there. Every time he told himself to make his tunnels closer to the workshop. Every time he forgot to.

A flutter of color flew quickly over to Bunny before he could even get settled into a comfy chair to warm his paws. 

"Bunny!" Tooth shouted urgently. By the tone of her voice, the pooka new right away something was wrong.

"What happened? Is it Pitch? Is it Jack? Did he wake up?" Bunny started asking. 

"He did wake up," Tooth said, almost grimly. "Woke up an hour ago. Sandy went out looking for you and North is in the globe room trying to get something under control with the yetis. But that's a situation for later." She grabbed Bunny's arm and started guiding him to the infirmary. It was still dark outside and was at least one or two in the morning. 

"He woke up?" Bunny asked on their way only to have Tooth shush him and pull him faster. 

They only stopped when they were outside of the infirmary. When Bunny tried to walk in, Tooth stopped him and said, "Just look." 

Bunny poked his head into the door and saw Jack sitting up in bed with pillows supporting his bare back behind him. His legs were covered in blankets so Bunny couldn't tell if any of the bandages needed changing. In Jack's lap was his staff. He traced the wood where his hands touched, making a light blue frost cover the wood. He seemed transfixed by the object, but Bunny couldn't see his whole face. Was he sad? Angry? Happy? Confused?

"He's just been sitting there ever since he woke up," Tooth said quietly. "We tried talking to him but he won't answer us. North thought he went into shock for a little."

Bunny nodded, brow furrowed. "I'll check on him." Then he walked into the room. Tooth didn't follow.

The first thing that Bunny noticed about Jack was that he flinched when Bunny walked past him but remained silent. He saw there were tears in his eyes, too. Some escaped and fell down the sides of Jack's face when he blinked but he didn't try to stop them. 

"Jack?" Bunny asked. 

The teen continued to trail the details in the wood of his staff.

"Are you with me, mate?"

"This means something," Jack said quietly, Bunny had to strain to hear.

"What does?" Bunny asked.

"My staff," Jack clarified. "It...it means something. Something to do with my past life. But I-I don't know what. There's a reason that this is a source of my power. When I found it when Man in Moon made me Jack Frost, it responded to me immediately." He winced and wrapped his arm around his broken rib with his good arm. 

"We'll find out how to get your memories back, Jack," Bunny reassured. 

"It didn't work the first time," Jack said quietly. "Why should it work this time?"

Bunny sat in thought for a moment. "What if...we try and help you remember? Without the teeth?" He suggested. 

Jack raised an eyebrow. 

Bunny took the silence as a sign to continue. "Let me ask questions. You remember that the staff is important, maybe your memories are still there somewhere. We just need to resurface them."

Jack didn't say anything.

"Jamie also told me a couple things," Bunny realized. "I could tell them to you." The scene he saw of Easter of '68 also flashed in Bunny's mind and guilt flooded to the surface. How much he wanted to apologize for getting mad at Jack for starting the blizzard. It all made sense now that the boy's emotions controlled the snowy weather. Bunny wanted Jack to know it wasn't his fault but he couldn't say all of that now. Not with Jack in a state like this, no memories and afraid. It could wait for a good time. 

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