The Greatest Fear of the Nightmare King

Chapter 2

Pitch's lair was much bigger and far more empty than Jack remembered.

It was taking quite a while to find the spirit of darkness, especially when already surrounded by shadow. The lack of happenings left room for thought, he supposed.

In all honesty, there were a lot of reasons why Jack wanted to visit Pitch. He'd wanted to ask him about Antarctica and often wondered how sincere Pitch's offer to him had been. He wanted to know if Pitch truly longed for a family like he did, or if it had all been just a ruse to get him to betray the Guardians, and, although he would not admit this, he wanted to be sure that Pitch was alive after what had happened. Since he hadn't heard anything of him since, who knows if he exists anymore? Schrodinger's Bogeyman.

Jack was worried.

As much as he knew Pitch wasn't good, he still felt as though he had something good in him somewhere. There were too many times he'd seen something flash over Pitch's face that would give way to his humanity. He couldn't help but think back to the look Pitch had given when he discovered the kids couldn't see him anymore, or to the expression he'd had when he'd been chased into his lair by his own nightmares.

That kind of sorrow and mortification cannot be faked, can it?

Before he could answer that thought, he heard a pained whimper from the darkest corner of the room, echoing ever so slightly in the stone walls throughout the cave. Pitch, maybe? He squinted, taking a step closer to get a better look.

It didn't appear to be Pitch, for all he could see was a pile of darkness and an occasional flash of...something. Red eyes? Pitch doesn't have red eyes...

He took another step closer, poking his staff at it until the swirl stopped what it had been doing and dissipated to leave Pitch alone, some bits of it seeming to flow into Pitch's skin and meld with it as though it had always been a part of him.

Jack was taken aback by what was left. Pitch looked as though he hadn't slept in a very long time, and some areas of his skin and clothing appeared to have been clawed at. Out of all the things that Jack had imagined seeing when he found Pitch, this certainly was not one of the top 5 most anticipated.

What was that thing? Why would it do this to Pitch when he was already harmless and defenseless? How long had this been going on before he got there? Was this his fault in the first place?

He got on his knees immediately and cupped Pitch's face, trying to shake him into reality. "Pitch? Pitch! Wake up!" He dropped the temperature drastically, hoping it would be cold enough to wake the king of nightmares.

Pitch's eyes opened and he immediately shoved Jack off him as though he thought he was still in a nightmare, trying to get away from something before he realized who it was. His face softened for a small moment in apparent relief that it wasn't something worse, but the expression didn't last long. "Frost." He snarled, his momentary appreciation having been forgotten. Jack ignored this, standing up to lean against the wall to watch him carefully. "Pitch."

Jack sighed and sat cross-legged on the ground by the wall in order to be on level with Pitch, who was currently still balled up in the corner. For a long while, they just sat there, both having a lot to say, but neither feeling ready to speak yet.

When someone finally did speak, of course it was Jack who'd let his curiosity get the better of himself first. He looked over at Pitch's broken sort of state pensively as he spoke. "So... what did that to you?"

Pitch's mood and demeanor did not change as he replied, resigned and purposefully resentful to cover up his fear. "Me. I did this."

Jack didn't know what to say to that, so he just kept silent. He thought that it'd been those nightmares that did it, but apparently not. After a couple more minutes of really uncomfortable silence, Pitch spoke again. "Leave."

Jack only chuckled at this good-naturedly, his eyes looking up from the ground to meet the shadows. As if he'd just leave Pitch alone like that. "Um,...I'm gonna go with no. Not gonna happen. You have some explaining to do, so I have important Guardian business down here with you."

Pitch glared as menacingly as he could manage in that moment, but finding that it was a little weak. "I'd rather not explain anything to you. So, what is it that's so important that you would come off your high horse to visit what remains of the nightmare king? Come to finish the job? Have the Guardians sent their favorite new toy to avoid soiling their hands?" He sneered.

Oddly enough and despite his unfriendly attitude, Pitch had actually been quite relieved to see Jack again. He couldn't sense any fear coming off the boy, but the Guardian of frost was a good distraction nonetheless. He gripped the chain of the locket in his hands absentmindedly. He knew Jack would not have come to kill him, but he also had to use something to distract Jack from his current state of emotional vulnerability.

While Pitch was lost in thought, Jack took the opportunity to lean over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Nah. I think I came here because you needed my help."

Pitch scoffed at this, brushing off Jack's hand like it was offensive. "Help? And why exactly would I need your help?"

"Because you look like you need some fun in your daily routine." Jack casually smirked, motioning down to Pitch's unseemly form. "Besides, someone needs to keep you from summoning hordes of evil and taking over the world." He summoned a few snowflakes, purposefully landing them on Pitch, who tried to swat them away, growling unhappily.

"So you're my keeper, then? You know the other Guardians have no further use for you when they can't think of anything better for you to do than babysit a completely powerless spirit."

Pitch stood, wobbling a bit, but trying his best to seem like he has it together. "I'll know I have sunken low when I accept help from a Guardian who intends to keep me like a pet." He began walking out of the room, keeping one hand on the wall at all times to stop himself from falling, only turning back for a moment to speak as he left.

"You gave up your chance to help at Antarctica. Do not think I will make the mistake of thinking of you as a companion again."

With that, he faded into the shadows. Jack tried to follow him out, but Pitch was nowhere to be seen. Well, that was that.

He'd just have to come back on a better day.