Chapter Text
Jack whipped down the street, cool wind blowing through his frost white hair, bright blue eyes weaving to and fro, assessing every obstacle, avoiding every eye as he ducked and bobbed through mid day traffic. It was cold sure, but not cold enough, that breeze carrying a mildness to it that told him without a doubt his time of year was coming to an end. Jack took a sharp left, nearly knocking over a pedestrian business man right into the road, but with a quick hook of his staff and a winded twirl, he spun the man backwards and back onto the side walk before zipping off, never to be seen by the eyes of an adult.
It wasn't as if the Guardians didn't care for adults, but since they were fueled by belief, and adults tend to lose that heart as they grew up, they all decided it best to only reveal themselves to the children, and only in emergency situations. Revealing themselves tended to upset the balance of their worlds and the modern one. For no matter how hard little Jamie Bennett tried to tell his parents about the guardians, to get them to believe, he only ended up the time that should be spent, sledding afterschool, and having snow ball fights, in a small third floor office building, reflecting to another non-believing grown up, how things like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, were not anything a boy his age should be believing in anymore.
Adults just didn't have the heart children did, so they would protect them, in the best way they could, from afar. North had his poles, expanding business by building another workshop in the south, Tooth had her tooth palace, a pantheon of children’s memories stored away and cataloged in velvet cushioned cases, in a golden laced atrium high above the ground. The Kangaroo had his tunnels, a network of underground paths and portals all leading to the Warren in the center where flowers bloomed everywhere, and eggs rolled every which way into rivers of multicolored dyes and paint. Sandy kept to the dreams of children, flowing from one to another like the sands of time. It was always night time somewhere, and Jack, picked up the same habit. When winter left the eastern side of the world, he migrated to the west, and then back again.
As of now, the weather was reaching a balmy 55 and the snow and ice he tried to lay down just wasn't sticking, all melting into rain and slush. If it was earlier in the season he would have enough magic to conjure up a great nor’easter for Easter, but two major things were stopping him. One, he had promised the Jack Rabbit that he would stop snowing over his holiday. Sure he was , usually, a man of his word, but what really kept him from bringing back the cold was the children. When Easter and spring crept closer, no one wanted snow anymore. Jack Frost was lost in thought as all the children became eager to hunt eggs in the newly growing grass and flower bushes. His powers depleted, and he didn't fight it, so instead he was making a few more rounds around town before Spring settled in.
Jack reached the end of town where the park was, a place that used to be covered in snow, now blossoming with color after all that rainfall. He hovered down until pale bare feet met the soft new blades of grass. He wasn't a man of warm weather but it was a nice change of pace before it got too hot for him to handle. Sleeves rolled up he ran through the place, the children long gone home for dinner and home work, the sun setting in the distance, every place his feet touched down left a small layer of ice than thinned away as he gained distance. After a few laps around the newly budding trees, he reached the end of park where the woods began, chuckling to himself as he slowed to a stop and looked around for the last time before next winter. He remembered the woods in the winter, his favorite place to go when they were covered in snow. Everything was still and silent, and now that his life was filled with the laughter of children, he didn't fear it anymore.
Jack lowered his staff to his side, and began to move into the woods, hovering slightly with each step, preventing stray branches from scraping his feet. The ground was stripped with the spots the sun leaked through, and the elongated shadow the trees cast onto the ground. The woods in the winter was a magical place, but it was a bit more eerie the way it was now. The animals hadn't returned just yet so the only thing he heard was the sound of twigs horse hooves in the distance.
"Wait....what?" He quipped to himself, looking around the woods.
Spring wasn't exactly his time of year but he did know that hearing horses wasn't exactly a spring time tradition. Light brown brows furrowed together as he narrowed his eyes. It wasn't just hooves and neighs anymore, he caught the faint sound of a weak moan and was moving further into the trees, the shadows growing thicker as the number of evergreens increased. Jack skidded to a halt in mid air as a much louder neigh came screeching through the foliage, followed by a loud yell that trailed off to incoherent shouts he couldn't quite make out.
"Who's there-?!" He shouted, but getting no response back, only peaked his concern and encouraged him to follow the sounds. It sounded like trouble, and kicking up the speed, lashed forward with the winds helping his velocity until he saw something that caused him to stop again. In the middle of the woods, thrashing around the bottom of a tree base was dark horse, wide yellow eyes, strands of black sand trailing everywhere it romped, and Jack immediately pointed his staff at it, remembering all too well what they were, and what they caused.
"Hey!" He shouted stepping out from behind a large tree as he caught the steed's attention. The beast turned his head and snorted, almost as if to scoff him off and went back to slamming into the tree, raising its front legs and slamming its sharpened hooves into that bark, vibrating the tree and scrapping off bark in broken chunks.
"I said- Hey!" Jack shouted again, firing a burst of ice at it, hitting the creature broad side and knocking it away from its target. Jack took a quick glance at the trashed bark before the dark steed caught his attention again. Sticks broke under dragged hooves, the animal posed in a threatening stance. Jack glared the nightmare down, staff at the ready, meeting those glowing eyes.
"C'mon dark stuff. Let's see what you've got" he growled snarkily as the horse shook its head and charged at him. Jack quickly flew up into the air, firing several bolts of ice at it, but the nightmare evaded and screamed out a neigh as it circle around and ran back at him. Frost shot back down to the ground, holding his position at the beast ran at him, twirling his staff in one hand, the other posed out in front of him. That twisted wood lit up with a bright blue, and as the horse came into striking distance Jack swung, hard and fast, and drove that dark sand up into the air, encasing it in ice as it left a rather large trail of spiked shards.
"Not that much apparently" Jack grinned smugly, twirling his staff and striding up to the ice, bits of black sand engrained into it. Now that the ground was safe again, the white haired man strode off, and up to the target of the nightmares vicious attacks. He put out a hand and let it slide over stripped off shards of wood. "What in Mim's name were you trying to do?" He breathed to himself. Jack circled around the tree a bit, stopping again. He didn't see anything particularly out of the ordinary, cocking his head slightly, until he felt something hit his shoulder. He jumped a bit as he whipped around on guard, staff up. His brows relaxed however, staff lowering as he peered out into a horizon of empty trees. "Huh." He huffed quizzically before he felt something hit his shoulder again. "What-?" He said, brows knitting again, until he looked over his shoulder, and noticed a sort of black goop running down it. "What in the- ...?" He started, dipping his fingers into it and rubbing them together, feeling that grainy sand slide betwixt his index finger and thumb. Jack looked up and saw the section of pine needles covered in the stuff, and dripping down onto him. He moved aside to avoid the next drop, and shifted around the tree, moving closer to look up into the tower of branches, and that when he saw him. Clad in the shadows and clinging to the tree several feet up "Black!" Jack grit starring up at the man who looked back down at him without response. Instead he stood, arm clung to his side and began climbing higher.
"Oh no you don't nightmare-!" He shouted and was flying up that tree in a heartbeat.
"Get away-!" Pitch shouted in that familiar voice he hadn't heard in years. Gritting out a grunt of pain as he scrapped to get to the next branch.
"What are you doing back here Black-!?" Jack growled, stopping a branch up from where Pitch was and jumping down to branch he stood on. Pitch backed up, holding out one hand poised to attack as he backed up until his back hit the tree trunk. It was then that Jack noticed how the man was holding himself and his head turned slightly in confusion.
"Stay away from me, Frost-!" Pitch spat the name disgustingly as black sand formed around his hand. Jack flinched defensively himself but as that black sand twitched and sputtered out, it dropped from those grey finger tips and dissipated as Pitch let out a groan through barred teeth and a seethe as he gripped his side. "Ah-" Pitch moaned weakly before his foot slipped and he was falling down. He slammed into several branches on the way down, and landed in a heap onto the wood's floor. The setting sun burned a bright orange as it began to set and he hissed at the intensity of it, clawing and pulling himself into the shadows of the large evergreen. Jack watched in, he didn't want to say concern but he did follow the man, floating back down to the ground, standing in the sun light Pitch so obviously couldn't handle.
"You look awful" He quipped in a tone of cruel irony that reflected the similar sentiment Pitch tried to hand him and the other Guardians the last they met.
"Oh- Shut up!" Pitch spat, that English accented voice cracking a high tone as he winced in pain.
"I thought we got rid of you the last time you tried to take over the world." Jack huffed, pacing slightly in the sun.
"You-" Pitch began, gritting through his teeth "You can't kill- fear- Frost!" The man letting out another groan as he attempted to shift himself back, away from that winter waste.
"Yeah yeah yeah." Jack chided as he moved closer, full of bravado as always. "Well it looks like you can wound it at least. That's one heck of a scrape you've got there." Pointing at the trail of black sand Pitch was leaving behind.
"Just go away-!" Black grit. "You're not even supposed to be in this hemisphere-!" Still clawing at the dirt to drag himself away.
Jack looked up to the distance and saw an old bed frame. No mattress, just a pillow on top and a shadowed square beneath, despite the space in the frame. He had only seen it once before, the last time he saw the boogeyman, when Pitch was dragged off by the steeds of fear.
"So that's how you got here" He said, still continuing after the man at a slow pace.
"No." Pitch said, stopping his mad scrapping. "I'm here because yo-"
"Cahn't kell feah" Jack mocked, in a poor accent and a deepened voice.
Pitch glared at him disgustedly as the Frosted fool just laughed at him. "People will always have fear-! I'm not just the boogeyman." He spat. "I'm the terror in your closet! The bump under your bed! I will never- be gone!"
Jack caught up to the nightmare and bent down, staff dropped over his shoulders as he held it in both hands behind his head. "But that doesn't mean people believe in you either." He said proudly, as Pitch stiffened his lip and glowered at Frost.
Jack's eyes did drop to the man's hand, and that smirk faded slightly. "Looks like fears been getting the best of, you."
Black kept that glare for a bit longer before he too looked down, moving his hand slightly, seeing the black gash, his equally black robe ripped and sand seeping out. He let out a seethed hiss of pain and put his hand back, gripping that missing section of robe together to hide it.
"....it looks painful" Jack said, snide tone dropped in lieu of a milder one.
"And you look like an ice covered idiot." Pitch spat shifting back a bit more. Jack just shook his head as he laid down his staff. Black wasn't going to be any kind of threat, not the way he was now.
"All I ever wanted was to exist! All I ever wanted was to be believed in! All I ever wanted-!"
"Was to be feared?" Jack scoffed, finishing that replayed sentiment for him. Pitch stopped, and then pale yellow eyes bore into crystal blue.
"I can't help what I am" Brows furrowed as he spoke. "I exist to be feared. And this-" He lifted his hand again. "Is what happens when nobody fears me! This- is what happens when I lose my powers!" clenching a black sand covered hand into a fist and shaking it before letting out another pained groan and putting his hand immediately back over his wound. "This-....is my-"
"Center." Jack finished, and Pitch looked at him, glare still in place but with a hint of confusion. Jack turned his head away for a moment and Black moved to the tree's trunk. He placed both hands on the ground and with all of his remaining strength, grunted his way to his feet, leaning against the evergreen, thankful he was on the side the sun wasn't hitting. The shadows were his home, he found solace and comfort there, and a slight strength being encased in darkness. His chest heaved as he rested, having exerted too much in the weakened state he was in. "Just go- freeze some poor kid's tongue to a pole and leave me alone!" He demanded. Jack stood up as well, and couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the idea.
"What is it with you and being alone? What is it some shadow thing I'm not getting?" Frost chided twirling his staff off his shoulders and back to standing up straight.
"You, tell me." Pitch sneered. "Little Jack Frost all alone. Just wanting to be 'left alone' " Black mocked.
Jack didn't respond to that, and Pitch continued on. "Last time I saw you, you would rather have been all alone than helping me." Scoffing out contempt as he clung to that tree.
"You mean with a nightmare who wanted to rule the world with darkness and fear-? Of course I did." Jack's tone getting a bit sterner as he defended himself. "You cause nothing but chaos and terror. I wasn't about to help you- while all the other guardians fade away!"
Pitch narrowed his eyes menacingly, but it was about all he could really do to the other.
"But...when I see you, stuck out here, dragging yourself to your death bed over there-" pointing to the bed frame several feet away. "....I don't think anyone deserves to be cast out." For once in a very long time, Jack held a tone of complete sincerity. "Because I know how that feels, not to be believed in." Standing up straight. "And I know, you were put here for a reason."
Pitch looked at Frost as if he had suddenly sprouted another head. "I have no other reason." He hissed. "I exist to bring fear. Or I did. Until you goody goody Guardians- ruined everything!" Shouting the last , clasping both hands to that trunk as he did. Dark sand shot up the tree, spurred on by that rage and raced upwards into the branches. The needles of the tree shook and began to turn black, drying up and falling off. However as they did, the sun shown through more and Black was retracting his hands, letting a quick yelp go as he felt that sun hit him again, shifting back into the now shrunken, shadowed part of the tree, and growling at himself for it.
Jack watched in pity, and a little bit of concern. He had to stop for a moment, gather his thoughts. He tried to think back to what North once told him. "You may be just the boogey man, but, your center is fear." Black just watching him now with a foul look as he spoke.
"Well-" Frost began a little more upbeat. "Who says fear has to be used for bad?"
Black scoffed out a laugh as he listened to the ramblings of a moron. "Fear is at its very core- bad! Fear is what keeps the ignorant in power and the people apart. Fear is the loss of hope and the seed of doubt. I am the manifestation of fear-!" He snapped at the younger. "I have been around for centuries Jack Frost" Spitting the boys name at him. "What would a young fairy tale like you know about what I am" Pitch pushed against that tree, a bit shaky on his feet, and began to limp away.
Jack just stood there. "Pitch" he called, but the other literally turned his back on him.
"Go away- Guardian." He scoffed. "I don't need your pity." Slowly slinking toward that bed frame.
"I don't pity you" Jack said moving closer again. Not ever one to quit on anything.
"People will fear me....children will-" almost tripping, but managing to stay on his feet. "Children will fear me..." he muttered angrily.
Jack just let out a sigh. "I don't think they need to." he said in a softer tone. "If you want to be left alone, fine. But.... we're not only here to help the children. We help each other. Crawl out of your shadows when you want to start being believed in, for better reasons."
And with that, Jack was gone. Flying off on a strong wind gush that carried him out of the woods and back into town. Pitch didn't look, not at first, but after the wind died down and the woods were silent again, he turned to look over his shoulder. Jack was gone, and Black looked down to the dirt and twigs under his feet. After a moment he shook his head, dreams were meant for the sand man, not for him, and he slunk back into the shadows, underneath the bed*