Chapter 6

Aster was just beginning to begin his preparations for next Easter. He had just gotten back from the vacation that he allowed himself after every Easter that was successfully pulled off.

The Pooka rolled his shoulder—it was still stiff from the arrow wound, making his work a little bit more difficult then necessary. He was checking the dye plants, making note of which colors he needed to seed when his security measures alerted him there was an intruder in the tunnels.

Aster had designed the warren's security to recognize the other guardians and if it was another legend or seasonal spirit they knew to enter through the Easter Island entrance, not his tunnels. Whoever was invading his warren wasn't coming for a friendly visit.

The pooka raced across the warren, his stone guardians falling in behind him as he passed. He scrambled to a stop the moment the tunnel entrances came into view.

The sight that greeted him was a chilling one. Shadows streamed out of the tunnels spreading across the hollow, blotting out the light. The shrieks of fearlings echoed out of the gapping darkness before being overshadowed by the Nightmare King's laughter.

Aster stumbled to halt before the growing darkness, as his warren was cloaked in shadows. He didn't have to wait long before the owner of the chilling laughter revealed himself to the pooka, striding out regally from swarming void.

"What's this? Is a little bunny afraid of the dark?" The boogieman sneered, his ashen-pale fangs flashing against the dark.

The pooka didn't hesitate to fling a boomerang at the wraith-like figure, only for it to dissolve on contact, causing his weapon to sail through harmlessly.

"Pitch! What are you doing here!" Aster snarled.

"Oh, nothing much; I was just hoping to see if it was true." Pitch hummed, his voice echoing from one of the ledges above the warren.

Aster felt a deep bolt of pain sear through his bad shoulder as a fearling knocked into it from behind him, hard. He bit back the cry of pain, refusing to give his enemy that satisfaction.

"Seeing how stiff you are it seems it was." The boogieman's voice was filled with glee.

"What are you talking about?" the Guardian barked, peripherally glimpsing Pitch's silhouette to his right.

"What can I say? I ran across the most interesting little nightmare the other night… a poor little boy dreaming about the Easter Bunny hating him because he shot him with an arrow… Terrified that he had ruined Easter for his little sister." The Nightmare King drawled innocently, his voice sounding softly to Aster's left.

"I of course didn't believe it at first when my fearlings told me about the dream, but it was so odd I decided to take a look for myself and well, an ordinary little boy wouldn't have known what you looked like. So I came here to confirm it." Pitch's voice came from directly behind Aster.

Aster whipped around and punched at the smug face of the nightmare king, only for Pitch to vanish before it landed.

The pooka felt his stomach churn violently at the thought. It was his fault that a child was suffering nightmares? Even if he wasn't exactly fond of the kid, it went against his nature to be the cause of a child's fear.

The former general gripped where the arrow had pierced him. "Oh how a warrior like you has fallen! Getting shot by a child!" he chuckled darkly as the pooka winced. Aster ripped his shoulder out of Pitch's grip.

"I should be congratulating you! Scaring a child? You're almost becoming my ally!" The boogieman crowed.

"You don't go near that child! Ya hear me Pitch!? Ya don't touch him! Not a piece of him!" He took another swipe at the nightmare king but his target vanished once again before contact.

"And who is going to keep me away? You?!" Pitch sneered. "No no no, you are going to have enough troubles of your own without protecting one little boy out of thousands from his fears."

"Oi! The only one who's going to be having any kind of trouble is you, when I'm through!" Aster snapped, waving his boomerang threateningly.

"As entertaining as your proposition sounds, I'm afraid that I have other places to be."

The fearlings swirled out of the warren as abruptly as they came. Above the roar of the shadows Aster could hear the sound of Pitch's laughter.

"Happy Easter, Bunny."

In the wake of the Nightmare King's visit, the warren was left in shambles.

Aster snuck around the woods on the outskirts of the small village. The scarf was cleaned and balled up tightly in his fist as he crept closer to the settlement. He didn't know where the boy lived, but in a small place like this, it shouldn't be too hard.

The pooka dropped down, crouching closely to the ground, the hand with the scarf clutched to his chest as his other paws rested on the ground. His nose twitched as he observed the children playing through the foliage that he was hiding behind. Aster assessed the children, looking for the boy. He spotted a young girl with similar features shrieking with laughter as she chased the other children around. That must be the sister that Pitch had mentioned, the Easter Bunny noted. Yet the boy was nowhere to be seen.

The whistling sound was all the warning that Aster had before his body was thrown into shock, the world taking on a surreal sheen.

He let out a loud cry as his mind scrambled, trying to discern what had just happened. That's when the pain started. Aster glanced over to the source of the lancing pain that radiated out of his bad shoulder… only to see another arrow buried in it. The small part of him that wasn't caught up in pain and shock twitched with annoyance.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! I thought you were a wolf! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to shoot you again!" an unfortunately familiar voice registered through the clearing haze as the shock began to give way to pain.

The boy skidded to a halt beside him, the child-sized hands immediately sizing up the state of Aster's shoulder.

"We—" Aster grunted "Have got—to stop meeting like this!"

"I'm so so so sorry!" the boy cried out. Aster stared at the boy incredulously.

"You don't say." he hissed back.

"Will you please forgive me?" the boy stared at him with a pitiful look on his face.

Aster was about to snap back at him but hesitated—"a poor little boy dreaming about the Easter Bunny hating him…" — Pitch's words came back to him.

"Let's deal with this arrow first and talk about apologies after."

A/N: Hello Everyone! So sorry this chapter took a while to come out! Sandy and I attend a school that goes year around and this has been a very crazy quarter!

Incidentally! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, it really brightens up the day for the both of us! Special shoutout to the guest who sent us a review about Telugu culture! It was super fascinating and if you're reading this, please come back and message us! I would love to hear more about your culture!

Heads for everyone reading this, I know this story is coming off to a slow start but there is a reason for this! I promise! Sandy and I have this whole story mapped out and we are in it for the long run! It will probably be on the slower, fluffy track its on right now for a little bit longer. I believe that there will be some larger time skips in the future chapters which should bring us up to some action!

~The Nightmare Queen~