So I posted this as the beginning of an arc on my oneshot collection "Brothers", and the response was overwhelming! So many people wanted to see it as a story, so...Here it is! It gets its own story!

Now, this story includes a few details from my oneshots, because it was originally meant to only be an arc in my collection and this is exactly the same thing I posted in my "Brothers" collection. But its only a few small things, so you don't have to read the oneshot collection! I'll just give you the details below!

-Jack lives in the Warren with Bunny!

-War paint is a part of Pookan culture, and at one point Jack came across some war paint in one of the rooms of the den in the Warren and so Jack knows about it!

-Jack and Bunny are as close as brothers, having developed this familial relationship in the past couple of years since the events of the movie!

If you want to know more about the war paint and/or why Jack is living in the Warren, go check out my oneshot collection "Brothers!"

Disclaimer's on my prof.!

Sorry for any spelling errors! My 'B' button is sticky, and it kinda messes with me when I type DX

Enjoy and review!

Jack had never seen Bunny cry. Not that he could remember seeing, at least.

So seeing his friend now, standing stock still with tears trailing over furry cheeks...It was disconcerting.

Jack, so bewildered, was forced to go over everything that had happened in his head.

He and Bunny had been in the Warren - which in and of itself was by no means odd. Jack lived there, after all. And while Jack was a nomadic soul, he would often stick around and hang out with Bunny. Sometimes he'd help plant flowers that could handle the cold of his hands, and there were occasions he and Bunny would simply lounge by one of the dye rivers and just...talk. Talk about whatever came to mind.

And this had been one of those days- er, nights, to be exact. The moon was full, light peeking through the large, ancient branches of the tree that served as the roof of the Warren. It was peaceful, the only sound being the wind brushing through the grass and the trickle of the dye rivers. It had been a perfect night, and Bunny and Jack had decided to take advantage of this and had taken place under one of the arching, gnarled oaks. It had all been perfect...

Then the peace had been shattered when Aster had jumped to his feet, ears erect and eyes sharp as he looked around wildly. Jack didn't even have the chance to ask what was wrong before Bunny was bolting in the direction of one of the entry tunnels. Jack hadn't hesitated to follow, grabbing his staff and summoning the Wind to carry him after his friend.

Was it Pitch? Was it Nightmares? Jack didn't know, but he wasn't about to hang back when there was something possibly dangerous in his home (when had he stopped thinking about this place as just "the Warren" and started thinking about it as "home"? He wasn't sure).

And that led to now. With him and Bunny standing at the entrance of the tunnel...Facing a handful of Pooka.

That led to now, with Jack looking wary and bewildered, while Bunny and the other strange Pooka regarded each other with pure shock. A heavy, deafening silence had fallen upon them, making Jack feel supremely uncomfortable.

Jack glanced at the intruders. All four Pooka were male, one only an inch or so shorter than Aster and the rest as tall or a couple inches taller than Bunny. Two had fur of a rich brown, one was a dark oak brown, and the final Pookan was grey, his fur a few shades darker than Aster's. They were all armed with leather harnesses, much like Bunny's, though they had bits of metal plating protecting them - a shoulder guard on their left shoulders, protecting the strap of their harnesses that went over the same shoulder, and they had some form of metal shin guards. Paint decorated their brows, and Jack recognized it to be the same paint that was in one of the den's storage rooms. The war paint, the one that Jack remembered Bunny saying was used for many things from identifying ones clan to using it in preparation for a festival...

But Jack didn't know what the markings meant. He was in the dark.

Why were these Pooka here? How were they here? They had been massacred, any and every clan destroyed, all except for Bunny, who'd told Jack all this himself...

Jack tensed when one of the strange Pooka, the one at the head of the group with oak-colored fur, moved a few steps forward. Jack lifted his staff a bit, fingers tightening around the frosted wood as he watched the Pooka with wary eyes. The Pooka glanced at him, looking him over appraisingly for the barest of moments with steel-grey eyes, then looked back to Aster. In a deep, rumbling voice, the Pooka spoke foreign words that Jack couldn't even begin to understand.

Jack looked to Bunny, who twitched at the other Pooka's words. Jack got the distinct impression that Bunny understood every word being said.

There was a pause, and then Bunny replied in the same rumbling, growling words. Jack could hear the waver in his friend's voice- the disbelief.

Jack wetted his lips, then,

"Bunny?"

Aster jerked slightly, head whipping around to Jack. It seemed Bunny had forgotten that the young Winter Spirit was there.

Having Aster's attention, Jack asked,

"What's going on? How...How is this possible?"

Bunny shook his head slowly.

"I-I don' know..."

Both Bunny and Jack jumped when the oak-colored Pooka spoke again, still using the odd language Jack didn't recognize. Aster turned back to the Pooka, and for a few moments, the two conversed. Then, a silence fell...

Jack watched, confused and awed, as Bunny and the dark brown Pooka approached each other, clasping arms and embracing. Jack realized that Bunny was murmuring words in that strange language now, the grey Pooka's shoulders wracking with silent sobs.

This was something Bunny had likely dreamed of for many long centuries, but had also believed to be impossible. Jack felt an odd ache in his chest at seeing his friend, his brother, crying with such joy and relief.

The other three Pooka moved forward, all smiling as they too shared embraces with Bunny. Jack hesitantly lowered his staff, hanging back as he watched the group speak in hushed tones and share joyful looks. Then one said something that made Aster's face light up as bright as Sandy's glowing sand.

"Bunny?" Jack called over hesitantly. "What'd he say?"

Aster turned his incredulous, overjoyed face onto Jack.

"He says there's more of us. More Pooka."

Jack fidgeted with his staff, trying to keep himself from creating any noise or form of distraction from where he sat in the higher limbs of the Warren's mother tree. The tree usually gave him comfort, something about its timeless sort of aura and how its roots sheltered the den, it was like a silent watcher. Like the Wind, almost.

But right now he felt no comfort. Not as he stared down upon Bunny and the four other Pooka, who talked far below by the base of the tree.

It had been over two hours since the arrival of the other Pooka, and once Bunny had managed to calm down, he'd invited the other four into his Warren and was now trying to find out just how this was at all possible (it was crazy, how had there been a whole clan on Earth and Bunny had never known?).

They still spoke in that foreign language that Jack couldn't decipher, and it made him edgy. He didn't like being left out of the loop. But he wasn't going to pry. He'd never seen Bunny so...so happy.

Jack tensed when the eyes of one of the light brown Pooka turned up to him. He didn't move, meeting the light blue eyes of the Pooka with his own bright sapphire orbs.

After a long moment, the Pooka looked away. Jack relaxed once more, long fingers fiddling with his ice covered staff. He felt uneasy, but he refused to leave. He wanted to make sure everything was alright, and that this wasn't all just some horrid trick. He had to keep his friend safe.

Jack jumped when Bunny suddenly looked up at him and smiled.

"Frostbite! C'mere!"

Jack hesitantly shifted, moving into a crouch on the branch before dropping. He couldn't help but grin when a couple of the other Pooka gave yelps of alarm at his sudden jump.

The Wind swept down, carefully depositing him on the ground beside Bunny. Jack shifted, glancing at the four other Pooka suspiciously before looking back to Aster.

"Bunny, what's going on? This doesn't make any sense, it-"

"Easy there, Jackie." Bunny soothed, placing a paw on Jack's shoulder. "Jus' hold on a tic an' I'll explain."

Bunny paused when the oak-colored Pooka spoke up, an ear swiveling towards him. Bunny glanced over, offering a short reply before looking back to Jack.

"I've told ya all 'bout what happened, back when..." Bunny paused, having to stop for a moment to swallow down the sorrow that bubbled up. "When my kind was killed." Jack nodded, and Bunny continued, "I thought I was th' only one left. My entire clan was...they were killed. In fact, most clans were. But a few...It turns out a few, jus' like me, escaped."

Jack's brow furrowed.

"But if they've been here the whole time, how come you guys never ran into one another?"

"Because they've been livin' in a glade, one tha's hidden by some real powerful, potent power. It kept 'em from bein' found by Pitch or any Nightmares...But it also kept anyone else from findin' in, includin' me."

"You're the Easter Bunny though! How didn't they hear about you?" Jack pressed, still wary and unsure.

The Pooka with dark brown fur chuckled before Bunny could reply, and he finally spoke in English, though his voice still held a thick lilt of an accent. He didn't sound Australian, as Bunny did, but almost African (at least in Jack's ears).

"He is wary of us. Very protective of you."

A smile tilted at Bunny's lips as his eyes turned to the Pooka.

"He's a good friend." He then turned back to Jack, replying to the boy's question. "They never went near humans. They didn' hear anythin' about their holidays, or th' Guardians or anythin'. They never even had t' leave th' Glade, 'cept t' hunt."

Jack turned wary eyes onto the group.

"So...Why are they here? How did they find the Warren?"

"Recently, one of our hunters caught the scent of a foreign Pooka who was not a member of the Glade." The oak-colored Pooka spoke up. "We were sent to follow the scent, and it led us here, to our kin."

Jack shifted from foot to foot, pale toes curling against the dirt, regarding the other Pooka nervously before directing yet another question to Bunny.

"Just...Who are they? You said your whole clan was killed, so that means they're from a different clan then, right?"

One of the light brown Pooka's laughed, nudging Bunny.

"He's a smart one too, huh?"

Bunny waved the other Pooka off with a smirk.

"From what they've told me, they're from differen' clans. Apparently this Glade of their's is home t' Pooka from a few different clans. Summer an' Fall clans, mostly."

"So...They're real?" Jack asked, perking up slightly. "They aren't some sort of illusion, or a trick of Pitch's or-"

"They're real." Aster cut off. He gave a breathy laugh, running a paw over his ears, seeming to still hardly believe it. "By MiM, they're real."

Jack hesitated for a moment, then,

"You should go."

Bunny looked confused.

"Huh?"

"You should go." Jack repeated. "To this Glade thing, I mean. Why're you still here, you should be going with them right now! I mean, c'mon, you've been dreaming about this sort of thing happening for centuries!"

Bunny looked unsure.

"I...I dunno, I'm not a part of their clan, Jackie. I-"

"He is right." The dark grey Pooka beside the dark brown one piped up. He sounded older than the others, but not by much. His voice was like that of a fifty-year-old human, Jack mused. "You may not be officially part of the Glade, but you are one of us. There are still only a very few of us, the rest of the clan would be overjoyed to meet you." The Pooka's eyes softened. "And one who has been alone so long, such as you, should not have to go any longer without seeing their own kind."

Aster hesitated, eyes flickering between Jack and the other Pooka. Jack realized his friend likely felt like he would be deserting him if he just left, so he made an excuse to ease that burden.

"Someone has to go tell the others about this. I'll go let Tooth, Sandy and North know the good news."

The dark brown Pooka frowned.

"We cannot allow others to know of our existence. If that fiend, Pitch, finds out about us-"

"'Ey now." Aster interjected. "They're Guardians, jus' like me. An' they fight Pitch jus' like us Pooka's did. If any'ne can be trusted, its Tooth, North an' Sandy."

The dark brown Pooka appeared suspicious, but didn't protest further.

Jack took off, only sparing a glance back. He caught a glimpse of Aster disappearing into a tunnel, and then he was alone.

Slowing to a stop, Jack's face fell.

He was happy for Bunny, he really was! But now he had his people back...Did that mean he wouldn't spend time with Jack any more? Would he be too busy to come back home often, would he forget about the Warren all together?

Would he forget about Jack?

Feeling his throat constrict and his eyes sting with tears, Jack quickly shook those horrid thoughts away. No! No, that wouldn't happen!

...Right?