Pitch sat on his ice cold throne, surrounded by the dark comforts of his lair. Tapping his fingertips together, he contemplated his plan once again.

As far as he could tell, the guardians were alarmed. Perfect. He needed his grand arrival after his long dreaded hibernation. Let the world know that he's back, teach them to chant his name in fear and hide in the darkest corners of their homes. Let their hopes perish.

Oh what precious moments those would be.

"Ah, you've returned, my black beauties." Noticing the creatures of fear creeping out from the shadows towards him, Pitched raised a hand and motioned for the dark horses to come closer.

One of them trotted up to him and nudged at his shoulder with its head, trying to get his attention. As pitched turned to look at his prized pet, the creature stopped and with its dark sand, weaved a black and white image above its head.

It was a simple outline of a person, but what the image represented was nothing close to simple. Pitch pursed his lips as details were added to the figure. The figure was no doubt a male judging from the facial features; a teen perhaps. The teen's hair was covered by the hoodie he was wearing, but Pitch didn't have to see it to know what colour the hair was. All he needed to see to know the teen's identity was the staff he was holding. A simple wooden staff with a moon shaped curve at the very top.

"Jack Frost," were the only words he was able to manage as he promptly stood up from his throne, dismayed. "The moon man chose him? As a guardian?" He pointed a finger at the figure and looked at his black beauties with wide questioning eyes before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Of course, the horses remained silent. There was no need of an answer.

"Let us be on our way then, mustn't be rude to our new recruit." Resuming to his cold and composed self, he clapped his hands together and settled himself on one of the horses.

"Of course, finders keepers. The guardians only have themselves to blame." He grinned as the new plan formulated in his head. "How delightful, I really do enjoy company."

Jack stood on the base of a statue, leaning against the statue itself as he looked down at the bunch of excited kids, listening to their heated conversation with a satisfied grin on his face.

He sure showed them fun.

"Did you see that? Did you? I literally flew in the air! It's like 'whoosh!' and then 'zoom!' and then 'ka-bam!'" the boy exclaimed with animated tone and gestures, his cheeks red from both the cold and the thrill ride on a sled. Curtest of Jack, of course.

"You are very much welcomed." Jack laughed, contented to see the kids enjoying themselves.

"And the best part? I even got a tooth knocked out! See?" The boy held out his fisted hand, opening it to show off his tooth; knocked out by a flying sofa. Again, Jack proudly took the credit of that.

"Oh yeah, flying sofas. Everyone loves them." Jack nodded with a smile as he toyed with his staff.

"Cool! It's like you get paid for having fun!" One of the boy's friends pointed out.

"Yeah! I just can't wait for the tooth fairy to see this." The boy nodded in agreement as he held the white tooth to the sun. He had been flossing and brushing his teeth like a good boy should, just so the tooth fairy would be happy to get his pearl white tooth.

"Huh? Wait. What? Tooth fairy? What's that got to do with her? Hello? Did everyone forget that I gave you all the fun and the snow?" Jack's grin dropped as he helplessly watched the kids continue their conversation, changing the topic to something else.

It's like all of a sudden, he was being completely forgotten.

"I wonder how she looks like."

"I heard she's got wings!"

"And, and big eyes!"

The kids discussed as they started walking home, leaving Jack to his unheard words.

"… And I don't even get a thanks?" Jack sighed as he watched the kids walked further away and dropped his shoulders.

There's no use. They won't hear him, they won't see him, and they won't even know who he was. To them, he's just another gust of chilling wind, another snow day, and another frosted glass for them to draw on. He's a nobody, and it looked like he was going to stay that way.

Once again, Jack found himself wondering why he existed.

By the time Pitch was able to track Jack's location, night had already fallen. Silently following Jack in the shadows, he found himself smiling when he noticed Jack having a low mood.

Darkness always had a way with low moods.

Sending one of his horses to lure Jack over, he patiently waited in a dark quiet corner of the city for Jack's arrival. Sure enough, in a bone chilling gust of wind, Jack arrived behind him.

Curious creatures, always such easy preys.

"Ahh, Jack Frost, is it?" Turning around, Pitch asked as he looked at the teen in front of him. He still couldn't understand why the boy didn't wear shoes, but that question will have to wait.

"And you are…" Jack raised a brow at the person in front of him.

"You couldn't possibly have not heard of me, we've met a long, long time ago." Pitch put up the friendliest smile he could manage.

"No I'm pretty sure we've never met before. Either that, or you're not important enough for me to remember you." Jack smiled cheekily as he hugged his staff.

"Still haven't lost your sense of humour, I see." Pitch laughed dryly. "So, how has it been?"

"Oh, you know, just breezing life by." Jack replied with a waving gesture, eyeing his old friend at the same time. Guy's not changed in any way. Still the same old boring clothing and the most peculiar eye colour. Giving his horses a glance, he made a mental note that his friend here at least had an eye for cool pets. Now if only those horses were blue, ice blue…

"I see you're still living the free and rule-less life. Please, have a seat." Pitch offered as he snapped his fingers together. A horse responded to the order as it quickly lost its shape, returning to a pile of black sand. The sand then split into two and swirled to regroup into two chairs.

"No intentions of changing how I live, thank you very much." Jack replied and gladly settled on one of the chairs, a little amazed by how stable it is. "So, what's the Bogey man doing here? You stirring something up again?"

"Nothing much, actually." The latter shrugged. "I'd offer you tea, but as you can see, my resources are rather limited."

"No thanks. No way I'm drinking tea anyway." The white haired teen shook his head and stuck out his tongue in mock disgust.

"I'm looking forward to being seen again." Ending the polite chat, Pitch decided that it was time to get straight to the point.

"Being seen again?" Upon hearing that, Jack almost immediately looked up at Pitch, who was smiling. "How are you planning to do that?"

"I have my ways, of course. Would you consider joining me? It would be delightful if you do."

"Join you in doing what?" He asked, feeling his heart hanging.

"Being believed in. Once the children start believing us, they'll see us. You will no longer be a nobody, isn't that what you've always been hoping for?" Pitch asked as he looked into the boy's ice blue eyes, waiting for an answer.

Jack was never one to be indecisive, and this time wasn't going to be any different. He's been waiting to be seen for as long as he could remember, and here? Here someone's offering him a chance. One that he might never ever have the luck to stumble upon again.

"Any fun guaranteed?" He asked with a grin, showing his snow white teeth.

"Allow me to ask, how did you find the blizzard of 68?" Pitch simply asked, knowing that he's got this one.

"Ahh you know, ice, wind, more ice, crazy Easter and a hopping mad kangaroo." Jack listed with a lazy tone.

"Fun, nonetheless?"

"Wouldn't mind doing it again any other day." After all, playing tricks was something he found worthy living for.

"Then be assured that this won't disappoint you one bit. With the both of us working together, darkness and ice, things would be a breeze." Pitch offered a hand. "Care to join me?"

"For the fun and chaos of it." Jack grinned and gladly took it. "Count me in."

"Brilliant. Let's be on our way then, there's so much to do, and so little time."

"Do I get to ride your horse?" Jack shot up from his seat and pointed to one of the horses, who almost immediately took a step back.

"Take your pick. Though beware, some of them have quite the temper." Pitch simply smiled, and as jack was busily choosing his ride among the group of horses, left a message on the walls.

"Can I paint this one blue?"

"…I don't suppose you can paint them…"

"Ah, details." The teen waved his hands dismissively and clicking at the horse's body with the tip of his staff, the horse was immediately covered in ice spikes- no, every speck of sand that made up the horse had turned into ice, yet the horse remained alive and mobile.

Pitch was speechless.

"See? This is what you call a cool horse." Jack smiled proudly as he settled on his new ride.

"Quite literally, I would say. " A little disappointed with the loss of one of his black beauties, Pitch settled on his horse as well and the two faded into the shadows. Might as well, a horse for a precious companion was more than just a good bargain.

"Do I get to mess with the guardians?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. There's plenty of chances everywhere."

"We're too late." Staring at the writings on the wall, Bunnymund sighed.

Great, now the Santa with tattoos' gonna give him a real earful. Bunnymund rolled his eyes at the thought of North and his nagging. The two Yetis behind him dropped the bag in disappointment. To think they were so excited that they could finally do something that didn't involve toys for a change.

"Pitch's got him now." He turned to face the two yetis as he pointed to the wall.

On the wall, written in black, was a single sentence.

"Finders keeps, guardians. This time, the tide will turn."