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"Naughty or Nice"

The wind whipping past Bunnymund's whiskers was ice cold as he grappled the side of North's sleigh as it made a maneuver that nearly rolled its occupants out of the vehicle. Above all the whistling winds though, he could only hear the spirit of Santa Claus laughing in delight as it dove straight into a descent toward the city streets below.

"North! Please! I kinda like my stomach on the inside, mate!" He shouted above the roaring winds that nearly sent Jack Frost out of the cab; thinking quickly, the bunny grabbed the teen by the hood and he returned to his seat, his legs still flapping about on the wind. He too was laughing, howling, having a good time. "Blluuugh!" He made a retching noise but nothing came out as he grabbed his mouth.

"You are too sensitive, Bunnymund! Learn to live a little!" North guffawed as the sleigh entered another spiral and suddenly returned upright, now gliding only a few feet above the neighborhood rooftops.

"Too bloody sensitive, my ass." He snorted. "You're just plain insane!"

"Look, we're on a mission here." Jack explained. "You gotta lighten up a little."

"You're one to talk mister spirit-of-fun." The rabbit snorted. "You fall outta this thing and you can just float down to the ground. I go splat. You can see where I'm goin with this right?"

Jack rolled his eyes.

The moon was full and glowing across the snow-covered rooftops; they had detected the presence on this nippy winter's night, that of North's alternate representation: Krampus himself. He didn't only scold the naughty children of the world, he had a tenancy to--devour them, or torture them for their misbehavior; and in this day and age, it was simply not acceptable as a Guardian to allow this to go on. As he blinked, Bunnymund caught a flicker several rooftops down. "There!" He shouted, standing up and pointing to the figure shrouded in darkness bolting along the rooftops.

North made a sudden swerve with the sleigh that slumped Jack into the side and Bunnymund on top of him. As Jack pushed the rabbit off of him he clambered over the side and into the night air, flying around. "I'll cut him off!" He said as he vanished into the darkness.

Bunnymund got to his feet and hopped out too, landing on the rooftop below with a loud thud and he rolled, bursting into a sprint as soon as his feet touched the ground again. Pulling the boomerangs out of the holsters on his back he broke into a hard run as the shadowy figure suddenly vanished down a chimney. As he approached, he noticed that the opening was much, much smaller than he could fit; even smaller than Krampus could have fit at his size. "Looks like he pulled one of your tricks, North. Got any suggestions?"

North, who had landed a few yards away was laughing as he made his approach. "Sure. Just go inside." He stated as he then broke into a run and leaped into the air, somehow vanishing down the small stack as easily as Krampus had. Bunnymund rolled his eyes. "Of course. How silly of me." He said sarcastically.

Thinking quickly, Bunnymund ran to the edge of the rooftop and dropped down to the balcony below.The sliding door he encountered was unlocked and he slipped inside.

The house was dark, and it was quiet. The sound of a clock chiming in the living room down below became the only sound that accompanied the bunny into the house. "Don't know what the big fuss is about." He whispered to himself. "I'm the Easter bunny, why'm I always the one that ends up mixed in these messes?" He approached the kid's bedroom. Lizzy, he recalled her name; had been on not only North's proclaimed "Naughty" list, but has been an outright terror around all the holidays. Playing pranks on her relatives, pulling teeth and giving Tooth a lot of extra work. Lying and stealing from her parents; she was an outright brat, but she didn't deserve the kind of torture and torment that Krampus would bring her and after hearing about him in school, Lizzy had developed a strong belief in him and what he could do.

As he opened her door, the looming shadow on the other side nearly froze Bunnymund's blood as the massive creature's red eyes locked in with his. The cold air brushing against his fur reminded him that it was the only thing keeping him from completely freezing in place, and roughly he leaped forward and grabbed the beast around the mouth. Noticing that Jack had been protecting Lizzy from being woken, the ensuing struggle came close to rousing the girl. Jack and North both quickly helped Bunnymund grab Krampus and together, they managed to drag him out of the bedroom and Jack quickly closed the door behind them.

"Release me, I must punish the wicked!" Krampus hissed at the trio.

"We protect the children. All children; naughty or nice." North said. "Your age has come to an end, Krampus."

Krampus glared at North, his eyes flickering between a crimson color a hard golden glow. He exhaled a gruff growl and with a forceful expansion of his shoulders, separated Bunnymund's hold on his back. "So long as naughty children of the world believe in me, I seek to punish them. You cannot protect every child in this world..." He took a few steps back before hopping down to the ground level of the house and he approached the chimney, the fires suddenly growing lower as his chilled presence began to kill off the flames.

"We can try." North said, crossing his arms stalwartly.

Krampus' eyes flicked to Bunnymund, then one winked. He placed a clawed finger on the left side of his nose before suddenly blinking into a column of smoke before vanishing up the chimney and into the night. The room immediately grew ten degrees warmer and the fire returned to its place.

"Well, that is that." North said.

"He's right though." Bunnymund said. "We can't protect all the kids of the world."

"No." Jack admitted. "But we can protect the ones who still believe."

The trip back to North's workshop was par for the course. Bunnymund didn't feel like taking the sleigh ride back to headquarters and instead used his holes to slip between his world and that of the humans, finally popping out not long before North and Jack's arrival. Krampus was definitely a clone of North's general body type, though a little taller and leaner in the hips it was not hard to imagine how people couldn't tell the two of them apart. He waited through their debriefing; meeting with Sandy the Sandman and Tooth before each went their own separate ways in wait for the next threat to come to the children of the world. After all, that's what the Guardians are for; to protect the children that still believed.

As Bunnymund opened the doorway back into his realm and climbed down through it, he glanced up and as his hole vanished from above, he formed another one; this one creeping with shadows and darkness, and a soft moaning noise that sent chills down the rabbit's spine. He'd uncovered this portal by accident a few months ago, and had been keeping it secret from the others. As he slipped through, the cold on the other side was fleeting as he emerged into a realm that looked like the headquarters at the north pole, but definitely was not the same place. As the hole closed behind the rabbit, he brushed the soot off his shoulders and watched the ashen-snowfall coming down around him. "Oi, Kramp. Ya there mate?"