Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians

"Why. Why didn't you save him?"

It was a week later, a week into the reign of the Big Five. A week after the defeat of Darkness. A week after Jack Frost's death.

The funeral had been large. Children, warriors, parents, grandparents came to pay their respects. For the battle was not won by them, but by Jack Frost. They'd called upon each other to pray for him, to thank him, to love and to hate him.

Loved by all, hated by many.

And so when Pitch stood there, stood there with tears running down his face, he bowed his head. "Ironic, isn't it, that the enemy from my first battle holds me in my last."

Pitch stood there and shed the tears he hadn't been able to. Because he'd wanted Jack to see him as strong, hopeful [even when Hope was indeed lost], but Pitch knew better than that. Jack had seen through him, straight through him. Despite being fear, he couldn't hide his own.

His emotions were crystal clear. They sparkled on his skin and colored his yellow eyes. And so Pitch had begun to talk to the gravestone [but really, it is much more than a gravestone].

"You would find your death funny. You would make a joke and point out the strangest of things in your last moments. That's just you, Jack. But… I can't blame you. I can relate to you.

"The last time I said that sentence was when I was trying to break you. To get you to join me. You and your wit got through the truth, and now, six-hundred years later, I'm relieved you could be that strong. But I say it now because I understand Manny. Despite hating him for the first seven hundred years of my life, I could sympathize with him. I understood him."

The wind howled, ruffling his robes.

"Manny… he told me yesterday. How you were born. I stood there in shock because… because… he wasn't ready. You weren't a mistake. You were a split-second decision. You came into this strange world too fast, too young. You were premature. And as he said millions of times, you weren't ready.

"He saw you. He wanted to speak, to talk, to scream back at you, but he couldn't find the words. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to fix a broken child. He didn't want to screw up, he didn't want to hurt you anymore."

Pitch took a deep breath.

"I'm not here to apologize for him. But… but now I understand why you laughed. Why you laughed in Death's face. And I want to say that I'm sorry for holding you back for so long. You are a strong man, Jackson Overland. Let your soul be free."

"Manny, why didn't you save him?" Bunny turned, scowling, letting it all out. In a sense. "Why?"

"He was too young, Bunny."

"What the hell is that supposed to even mean?" he growled, throwing his hands in the air. "You just let him die. He was bloody well immortal!"

"Bunny—" Tooth tried to intervene.

"Aster, he wasn't ready! He was never ready!" Pitch snapped, whipping around. "From the moment he was chosen, he was too young. He popped into this world too fast!" he was repeating himself.

"He was just a kid!"

"That is my point, Aster!" Pitch yelled, eyes ablaze.

Silence. North watched from a distance, curious.

"Do you all know how Jack became Jack Frost? By drowning." Pitch let loose, storming around the room. "He saved his sister and died, and Manny wasn't ready. He made Jackson Overland Jack Frost, but he wasn't ready.

"He was too young to go through everything he did. His sister Elia," Pitch gave a pointed look at Tooth, who froze, "was kidnapped and never seen again. He lived through Jamie's crash. He sat by Pippa's bedside. He holed himself up in his room when Claude and Caleb didn't come home. Cupcake and Monty gave him silence, and he held Sophie's frail hand! You may have also lived through that, but he watched them closer than anybody. He watched them grow up.

"Then there's memories he'd received, memories that he couldn't believe or begin to understand. He lived through horror, happiness, sadness and grievances. And to top it all off, he had three hundred years of solitude to begin with!"

Bunny gaped slightly, while Tooth sat on the couch and brought her knees up to her chest. North stared off through a window and Sandy breathed calmly. Their inner turmoil was so loud it hurt Pitch's ears. Manny cleared his throat.

"He was a wonderful boy. He was no mistake. But made the mistake of putting him through nine hundred years of… this. He met many people and learned to love, but he wasn't prepared for such a life. He was premature, too damn young. I can't stress this enough: he was not ready."

"You all have fears. Every immortal does. And they fear dying, because while they can't, there's a nagging voice in their heads that tells them you are still who you once were. But Jack didn't fear death, not after a while. He feared what death would do to those around him. He feared breaking you, hurting you. That's why, even if he wanted death upon himself, he prevented it until he couldn't." Pitch bit his lip, looking away. "R-Right before he died, he told me, 'Ironic, isn't it, that the enemy from my first battle holds me in my last.' And he laughed."

Bunny's bottom lip was quivering as he looked at Pitch, sadness in his eyes.

"He changed me. Me, the Boogeyman, the Nightmare King, the Killer of Dreams. He made me a Guardian, he convinced you, because he forgives. And so he laughed in the face of death. And so I held him, because his eyes held such a kindness that I could not compare with, and…." Pitch sighed.

"I knew I couldn't keep it alive without hurting him."