"What??" Bunny exclaimed, his eyes popping open, temporarily forgetting about his fear of heights.
"Nursery Rhyme Annie!" Sophie said again, giving the globe a little shake. The makeshift snow in the glass ball scattered to give the illusion of a blizzard, then it slowly cleared up to reveal an image of a beautiful meadow filled with butterflies.
Sophie then handed the globe over to North, who cautiously took it into his large hands.
Inspecting it before throwing it in Jack's direction, he inspected the image of the vast and lush land of butterflies. Jack dodged and let the globe soar to the very front of the sleigh, in front of the reindeer. The globe shattered in mid-air, opening up a multicoloured portal, violently sucking them into its stomach-churning void. One minute they were in the night skies of Burgess lingering around. The next, they found themselves in the land of Nursery Rhyme Annie.
The land of Nursery Rhyme Annie. They really didn't know what to expect. So what they saw took away every ounce of air and awe they had in their bodies.
They were greeted by a breath-taking field of lavender, then red, then orange. The colours they saw seemed endless as another different colour replaced the last. Emerald green hills rolled and dipped across the panoramic landscape. Small waterfalls ran into rivers, stopping their soft roars as soon as they meet the fast-flowing bodies of water. The air was warm and inviting, filled with wonderful scents. Bunny sniffed, the aromas filling his nostrils as his pink rabbit nose twitched. Tooth was awestruck by the vibrant colours that ran wild throughout the land. North stared up at the sky, spotting a huge butterfly, though was wondering about the small pouches it carried. Butterflies. There were butterflies everywhere. They saw them in every colour imaginable, in varieties of shapes and sizes.
Landing on a patch of land, they got out of the sleigh, resting their feet on the soft grass. Even Tooth stopped her hovering to feel the seemingly plush carpet of green beneath her feather covered feet.
They swarmed around the group, small butterflies that lacked colour. They all surrounded the Guardians as well as the Bleems, the bookworms. Just imagine Bunny's own little Googies, they were all curious little fellas.
But of course, all good things had to come to an end. And run the heck away from you.
They felt the ground beneath them shake as their little new-found friends scattered, fleeing in their respective directions. They looked up, only to find themselves in the presence of four humongous, over-sized, dark-coloured moths. Each had an intimidating expression plastered across its face, their menacing growls pierced through the sudden silence and the strong flaps of their wings whipped up one hell of a wind storm.
Turning around in attempt to escape, they were faced with four more, who were equally intimidating.
Who would've thought that moths could be so scary?
"Well, well, well. Look who we 'ave 'ere," came a voice behind them, coated in what seemed to be a Brooklyn accent. They whipped their heads around, only to be greeted by a cloaked figure. It jumped down from the back of one of the moths she was on and landed on all fours.
From what they could see, they noticed that her body was clad in white fur, the colour putting the purity of freshly fallen snow to shame. Her long legs that seemed to stretch on forever were in a position that seemed inhuman. Markings and patterns adorned its thighs and its chest while thick, stone embellished leather armbands covered her forearms. The sound of its knuckles cracking brought their attention down to its hands. Only, they weren't the hands of a human. They were paws, wrapped in bandages, or wrist wraps.
"Hey."
A stern, authoritative voice snapped at them, bringing them back to the reality that was standing in front of them.
"No one likes to be stared at, y'know." Came the voice again. They looked up and tried to make out its eyes, but the hood that was pulled over its head blocked their view.
"Lemme guess. Manny sent ya."
"Yes," North finally spoke, clearing his throat. The figure then motioned to the others, commenting "Can you guys at the back talk at all? Or have ya suddenly turned mute?", before it called off the moths. In an instant, the moths turned into one of the butterflies North saw earlier, with the small pouches and everything. It was indeed a beautiful sight, seeing them up close. But after seeing the scarier sides of the seemingly harmless beings, they knew better than to mess with them.
"Look, I told Manny specifically that I didn't wanna join ya little group," it said, tension building in the air. "I don't want anythin' ta do with the children of the world. Y'all can handle whoever you're up against just fine."
"Yea, North. We don't need 'er. Isn't Jack enough?" Bunny asked, annoyed at the whole situation.
"This was a waste of time, I tell ya. If she refused before, what makes ya think she'll accept it this time?"
"Nursery Rhyme Annie-" Tooth started before getting cut off.
"Ammo. Call me Ammo."
Nodding, Tooth flew towards the figure, hand stretched out, "Ammo, we need you for this fight." It pulled back.
"How do you know me? How did you find this place?" it growled. "'Cause I'm pretty sure Manny didn't tell ya." Its gaze swept over everyone, furious that its home had been invaded and suddenly feeling protective of the lives that were living in it.
"We had little help." Came North before a whirlwind of blonde hair ran over to the cloaked figure, pushing through the bodies that were blocking her way.
Sandy was levitating in thin air, a hand over his mouth as he was the one who was supposed to make sure the kids were under control. Especially Sophie.
"What the-" the figure was cut off by the little hyperactive girl latching herself onto her leg. "Story time, Ammo. Story time!!" she exclaimed, looking up excitedly at her. "Wait. You brought a kid into my Burrow?" it asked in a hushed, but obviously annoyed tone. "Yea, we brought a kid n'ta your burrow. We brought 'er brother, too," Bunny said, rolling his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcastic annoyance.
A muffled "It's okay, Sandy. I'll be fine" came from behind them, making his way to the front. His eyes lighted up when they landed on what his little sister was currently attached to.
"Hey! I can see you!! And I can hear you!" he shouted in excitement. "Sophie, this is the one you're always talking about, right?" he asked his sister. She nodded vigorously.
"Story time!" she demanded, pouting.
It turned away from the others and bent down to pull the girl off her leg. What it said to Sophie was barely even audible, even to Bunny's sharp hearing. But one thing managed to make their way to their ears.
"Race you there, Ammo!"
And with that, the little girl took off running in the direction it told her to go.
"Hey! Where did ya tell 'er to go? I swear, mate, if you so much as hurt-" Bunny started, frowning, before being interrupted by a snort. "Of course I wouldn't hurt 'er. Which spirit would be stupid enough to hurt its first believer?"
That shut Bunny up, who was now fuming at it, soft growls vibrating off of his furry chest.
"But aren't you going to go after her?" asked Tooth. "Yea. Didn't the little ankle biter challenge you to a race?" It nodded. "As a matter of fact, she did." "Well, you've given her one hell of a head start," Jack said, smirking. "Aren't you afraid that you're gonna lose to a little girl?"
Soft chuckles escaped her lips as she turned her head back to them. "Oh, I ain't gonna lose."
It looked back to the direction Sophie had gone and pulled off the hood, revealing long white bunny ears. Despite knowing her real form, it still surprised them upon seeing her rabbit ears in person.
"Follow the Bouncers. They'll show you the way," she indicated to the large butterflies.
"And also, aye, Bunnymund," she called out. "Didn't ya ever tell the lass not to race a rabbit?"
This lifted a small hint of a smile on the corners of his mouth, making him forget about his annoyance towards her.
"Especially a large, anthropomorphic rabbit."
And with that, she took off running on all fours.