Author stuff: So, I got a better paying job (YAY!), but because I'm still in training I don't have consistent hours yet (BOO!). My training should end sometime next week, and I'll know my schedule. But, yay, money!

My computer battery was acting wonky and even though my laptop said it was fully charged, my computer kept turning off while I was writing — at least for the first hour. Talk about frustrating. It's all better now. Found out my battery wasn't hooked up properly.

Sorry that this took a while to get up. I meant to have it posted on Monday, but life got in the way. (Or in other words, I completely blanked on everything that I wanted to do and spent all my time on tumblr and Netflix. I'm terrible, I know.)

Now, back to the story!

THE UGLY DOLL

BY IOC

CHAPTER X

IN WHICH THERE ARE TOO MANY EGGS

"I hope that you are aware," said the person holding the weapon to her throat, "that you are trespassing."

"Are you a Phooka?" Jack said, tilting his head to one side. Katherine's captor tightened his grip on her for an instant before relaxing.

"Depends," he said, "on who's looking for me."

"Jack Frost, Lady Katherine —"

"I'm not a lady," Katherine said, huffed. Jack continued on, as if he hadn't heard her.

"—and her guard, Nightlight. We traveled most of the day to see you and your people."

"There's only me." Her captor released her, lightly nudging her towards the others. Katherine peeked behind and saw a rather large rabbit. His fur was blue-gray — almost purpling in hue — and navy in patterns reminiscent to the ones painted on his weapon. He also had many arms, making him look like a freaking spider. She wondered if all Phooka had six arms. Despite this, he wasn't very intimidating, as one might suppose. There was something… gentle about him.

"What do you mean only you?" she said. The Phooka turned his eyes to her. She couldn't discern the color behind the colored lenses but they eyes were intelligent and kind.

"There's only me. The rest of my kind died out long ago."

"That's sad. You must be awfully lonely."

His long ears and whiskers twitched, in annoyance or amusement she wasn't quite sure, but he relaxed as they chatted.

"I know what it's like," she said, "to be lonely. I live in a very big house on the edges of a small village. Most of the time my uncle is busy working and his apprentice, my brother, is off having adventures."

"That isn't quite the same," the Phooka said.

"Surely you have visitors?"

"Hardly. I'm perfectly content to be by myself."

Katherine frowned. What an odd creature! There was no way he liked being by himself. No one liked to be alone for too long — even the most secluded hermits liked to join civilization from time to time. Intelligent creatures were social creatures, after all.

"Do you have a name?" she said, looking him over. Surely a creature as clever as him had a name. His left ear twitched.

"My name," he said coolly, "is E. Aster Bunnymund."

"What does the 'E' stand for?" Jack said. His right ear twitched.

"You said you traveled a day to see me?" the Phooka said, ignoring Jack's question.

"Yes," Katherine said. "You see, I'm not from this land — Nightlight brought us here through a door in the firebox of my uncle's drawing room after a battle in my bedroom with the Boogeyman. I don't remember what happened after that, but when we woke up we were outside in a snowstorm. We found a little cabin, and we found Jack frozen inside a large thing of ice. He suggested we find you because you might know something… Do you know something?"

"The Boogeyman? Pitch? He's awake? But how…?"

"Pitch?" Nightlight said, trying the name on his tongue. He made a face when he mouthed it, as if saying it brought a disgusting taste to his tongue.

"Pitch Black," Bunnymund said, frowning. "A creature of darkness and nightmares. Rumor had it he made it over into another world. I guess the rumors are true, then. This… isn't good. It'd be best to follow me."

He turned and tapped his long foot on the ground, a hollow thumping reaching Katherine's ears. A hole appeared in the spot he tapped, and he hopped down.

Katherine looked to Nightlight and Jack, who shrugged. Nightlight scooped Katherine up and jumped down after the Phooka. Jack followed in suit. All that was left of their campsite was a smoking fire pit, blown out by a gust of wind — like a candle — and a little daisy that sprouted from when the hole had opened.

Katherine hated the movement of the tunnel. It was like being a rag doll tossed about in a terribly windy storm, unable to up from down and left from right. She was glad to have Nightlight to cling onto — though he wasn't much happier with their situation. He was something solid, and that solidity comforted her.

Behind them, somewhere further back, she could hear Jack's whoops of delight as he tumbled down after them. At least someonewas enjoying themselves.

The journey came to an abrupt halt. Nightlight's feet touched solid ground, sending them heels over head. His hold on her slipped, and she went flying. She was sure a shriek slipped out, but she was paying attention to where she might land. Thankfully, it was on a rather springy bed of moss.

She slowly sat up, her brain still doing circles in her head. Closing her eyes didn't help, it only made her lie back on the moss. The world above her head — a weirdly blue sky behind a beautifully leafy ceiling — tossed and churned as she waited for things to settle.

Jack and Nightlight weren't having it any easier, she heard them crash into one another on more than one occasion. Eventually, they all calmed down and the world stopped dancing.

She sat up and looked around. The strange place the Phooka had brought them reminded her of spring. How odd that such a place should exist underground — how she knew it was underground, she wasn't sure, but something about the place seemed to tell her as much.

"Are you all steady enough to walk?" Bunnymund said, his left ear twitching.

"Yes," Katherine said, getting to her feet. Her knees didn't feel quite right beneath her, and she stumbled on more than one occasion. Nightlight offered her his arm, but she didn't take it. They followed Bunnymund and Jack, side by side.

"Seriously though, what does the 'e' in your name stand for?" Jack said, right behind the Phooka. He was practically stepping on Bunnymund's fluffy, white tail. Katherine bit back a laugh at the thought.

"It's none of your concern," Bunnymund said.

"Does it stand for Edmund? How about Eduardo? Esfahan?"

"Are you ever not an irritation?"

"Hm… no. Edgar? Edward? Escargot? Wait, that's snails…"

Jack continued to prattle off ridiculous names starting with 'e' — some of them she wasn't even aware were names until he said them. She supposed that he could have been making some of them up, but she wasn't quite sure how to judge them. And Bunnymund seemed to laugh at quite a few, with the way his whiskers twitched.

Their trek down the extraordinarily green path did not take long. Bunnymund stopped in front of a perfectly egg-shaped tunnel entrance. Stamped above the entrance was a few words written in an egg-shaped language. Two monoliths shaped like eggs with smiling faces towered over them.

"Oh," Jack said, "I think I know what your name is. Egbert!"

Bunnymund puffed out his cheeks, clearly flustered, and harrumphed.

"Let's," he said. "Let's just get inside."

.x:X:x.

The tunnel walls were smooth, Katherine noted, and the way was lit by little lights that were held aloft by golden arms. They gave off an eerie green light that cast strange shadows when she and the others walked past.

There were smaller tunnels branching off the main one — still egg-shaped and smooth, though the lighting was much more sparse which made them more intimidating. She wasn't sure where they led to, though she was certain that if she understood the language stamped above them she would know.

The tunnel opened up into a room that was, surprisingly, more circular than egg-shaped. The furniture, however, did not seem to avoid the overall theme. The room was inviting, more cozy with the warm yellows and summer greens and soft pastels. She felt more welcome there then anywhere else.

"Please," Bunnymund said, gesturing to a circle of couches and high-backed chairs, "take a seat. I shall be back in a moment."

Katherine sat down on one of the chairs, making herself quite comfortable in the nook of a wing and its high back. Jack and Nightlight were more cautious, examining everything before they too took spots on a nearby couch.

"How do we know we can trust him?" Nightlight said.

"Egbert did say he was the last of his kind," Jack said, nodding. "Do you think he killed the others?"

"No," Katherine said. "We can trust him. I just know it."

And she did. There was a feeling, something in her stomach, that told her to trust E. Aster Bunnymund. He could help them with… whatever it was they were supposed to do — she still didn't quite know what that was yet, a rather infuriating thought. She had been taught to trust the gut instincts by Nicholas, so that was what she was going to do.

"Are you positive?" Jack said, cocking his brows.

"Quite positive," she said. "I feel it in my belly."

Jack and Nightlight shared a look. Neither of them believed her, but they were willing to trust her instincts over their own.

"What else is your belly telling you?" Nightlight said.

Katherine looked down at the slightly rounded gut, wrinkled and dimpled under the white nightclothes. She willed it to tell her something else, give her some other information — questions, answers, a quest, something.

It growled instead.

"It's time to eat," Bunnymund said, returning with a tray of cut up fruits in pretty bowls and steaming cups of a sweet smelling beverage. He set it down on the little egg-shaped coffee table in the middle of the circle. He passed out cups of hot chocolate — much to Katherine's delight — and the bowls of fruit.

Silence passed between them as they ate. Nightlight and Jack watched the Phooka carefully over the tops of their cups — Nightlight's still steaming and Jack's… not so much. Katherine watched them and waited for someone to speak. Finally deciding he'd had enough quiet, Bunnymund spoke.

"I believe you should tell me," he said, sipping his own cup, "how all of this started."

"Well," Katherine said, "it started the day my brother sent a letter to my uncle's mansion…"

Author stuff cont'd: The ending scene was supposed to be a LOT longer. Be glad I cut over 1k words out. Unbearable descriptions, needless conversation, lots of twitching… it just wasn't healthy.

Anyway, Egbert. That is what I believe Bunny's name to be Egbert Aster Bunnymund. And it doesn't sound terrible. *snorts* I have too much fun with that. Silly rabbit, eggs are for birds and reptiles. (Sort of.)

I have a poll on my profile for you lovely folks. Feel free to answer whenever. (One vote per person, though. Sorry.)

NUTCRACKER FUN FACT

Nutcrackers became very big in America in the 1950s after GIs saw them in Christmas Markets in Germany and brought them to the states. The Nutcracker ballet became very big thereafter and has become a tradition for companies to produce the ballet during Christmastime.