X-x-x

Pitch was quite looking forward to giving a few good scares and nightmares to some children that evening. Pitch's plans, however, were put on temporary hold when he sensed that Jack's fear was diminishing instead of increasing, like it normally had been when the two of them went out at night lately. The expected little inward struggle of Jack hating what was about to happen always amused Pitch. Jack would then resign himself to what would happen when he realized that he could do nothing to stop it, and that resignation would then inevitably spike into fear when the winter spirit actually scared a child. It was twisted of Pitch to enjoy it so much, but if Jack were going to keep being fearful, it was a bit hard to stop.

Pitch turned around, curious as to what had caused the drop in fear. Jack looked weary, like he had been the past few weeks, but this time he looked about ready to topple over. Pitch let out a soft sigh of exasperation. He wasn't in any mood to have to take care of Jack like he had when he had wounded him with his scythe. That had wasted a lot of time, and Pitch had felt slightly lower in power at that time while he waited in the frigid land for Jack to recover. Pitch stalked over toward the winter spirit, wondering if perhaps the spell was finally starting to waver, or if something else was the matter. Pitch didn't think that he had put that much of a strain on Jack just yet.

Pitch moved at a slightly quicker pace when he saw Jack start to tip over, and caught the pale teen before he had the chance to fall to the ground. Pitch scowled down at the winter spirit in his arms, and noticed to his displeasure that Jack appeared to have drifted off into another dream. Pitch tsked in exasperation, as he settled Jack down on the ground on his back. Pitch sat down on the ground next to him with an exhalation of air, and studied the still being beside him. As interesting as Pitch had first found Jack's little retreat to within his mind whenever things became to much to handle, the Nightmare King found that he was growing quite bored of it. He couldn't extract fear from Jack very effectively if Jack continued to do this every time they went out to frighten children. It defeated the whole purpose of putting the spell on him in the first place and making Jack feel helpless as he was forced to help Pitch.

Pitch thought he would just sit there and wait for Jack wake up on his own, but he decided that he would have a little fun instead, and would reveal the winter spirit's misconceptions. A flash of bright light caught the corner of Pitch's eye, and he turned to grin broadly up at the moon in the sky, "Frustrated that you can't do anything from up there? I would appreciate it if you didn't constantly try and get Jack's attention every night. I'm trying to frighten him, and I can't do that very well when you keep trying to reassure him." Pitch turned from the moon, and the Nightmare King could have almost sworn that he had felt what seemed like rage and helplessness coming from the being on the moon. This put Pitch in a better mood, so that the little interruption for his plans that night didn't bother him as much.

Pitch glanced down at Jack again, and waved a hand over the pale teen's head, using nightmare sand to peer into Jack's dream. It was time to let Jack know what was really going on. Pitch saw Jack 'wake' up, and with a little twist of his hand, Pitch turned the dream into one that he could control. Pitch watched in sadistic satisfaction as Jack went to the Guardians homes in an attempt to locate them. The growing unease from the winter spirit was almost as nice as his fear. When Jack arrived back in Burgess, and realized that no one was there, Pitch couldn't help but laugh softly. Even now, Jack still had no idea that he was really in a dream. To Pitch's immense pleasure, Jack seemed to be able to hear him laughing, as the gray skinned man had spotted the pale teen drop into a defensive crouch, staff held out before him.

Pitch let his laughter die down as he spoke, projecting his voice into the dream, "As entertaining as I find it that you created all this to escape from your troubles, I'm going to have to insist that you wake up and stay awake this time. It's rather tiring how you're trying to avoid reality. I didn't quite realize what you were up to for some time."

A laugh sounded from within the dream, "What are you talking about? I already am awake."

Pitch blinked in surprise. Did Jack really honestly have no notion as to what had been happening to him? Oh, this was going to be so much fun to crush the pale teen's hopes. Pitch chuckled delightedly as he spoke, watching the dream Jack carefully, "Are you serious? Did you honestly believe that you were in a nightmare with me pulling the strings the whole time? How mistaken you are, Frost. I didn't realize that you still truly believe that that was only a nightmare."

"Stop it, Pitch. I'm tired of you messing with my head."

The uncomfortable sound in Jack's response to his words pleased the Nightmare King. The denial was such a wonderful thing to hear as well, even in a dream. Pitch was absolutely beside himself with unrestrained mirth, as he just couldn't believe that Jack was still desperately trying to find a way to believe that the dream he was currently in was real. Pitch shook his head as he responded with a note of disbelief in his voice, "Messing with your head? The only thing I've done to you is cast that spell of enslavement. You're the one who has been deluding yourself by running from the truth and burying yourself from facing it head on." Pitch waved a hand over the nightmare sand swirling lazily above Jack's head, and caused shadows to appear within the dream. Pitch watched as the winter spirit tried to retreat, and he smiled pleasantly even though he knew that Jack's dream self couldn't see him, "I won't let you traipse here for respites anymore, Frost. It defeats the whole purpose."

"The whole purpose of what?"

Pitch sent the shadows to surround Jack, and knew that it would be enough to wake the the pale teen from his mini retreat from reality. And once Jack was awake, Pitch would reveal to him that everything he had thought had been a nightmare was in fact reality, and what he had thought was reality was really just a dream his mind had made for him to try and protect himself from facing the truth.

But Pitch would make Jack face that truth, whether the winter spirit wanted to or not.

X-x-x

Pitch was delighted that Jack had all but lost the will to fight once he finally realized the truth, so the next several years were simply wonderful. The feeling of power was strong within the Nightmare King, and forcing the pale teen to help him scare the children always brought forth such delicious fear from Jack. Pitch really couldn't remember sensing a fear so potent in all of the years he had been around, and by telling that to Jack, the winter spirit's fear had increased substantially. For the Boogeyman telling him that meant that Jack wouldn't be leaving his control anytime soon. Not while Pitch could amuse himself with drawing on Jack's fears.

One night Pitch was studying a group of children seated around a campfire, all of whom were hanging on to every word their camp leader was telling them. Pitch thought that it was a rather good scary story, and he listened to the ending to see the children's reactions. One child in particular looked about ready to run away screaming. After a quick glance in Jack's direction to assure himself that the other was there, Pitch transferred his gaze back to the children as the camp leader finished his story.

"...and so, after that, no one walked these woods alone. It has even been said that you can feel an icy wind, or the touch of something unseen. So people that come here are warned to never be alone, because that is when this force of darkness strikes, to drag an individual off to be...devoured."

The children shrieked with fright at the conclusion of the tale, before they all started to laugh nervously as they bid the camp leader good night and headed back to their cabins in a close-knit group.

Pitch's golden gaze followed the children briefly, before he turned to Jack with a faint smile, pleased when he saw resignation in the winter spirit's eyes, instead of the usual disgust that was usually there when they frightened the children directly. Pitch inclined his head in the direction of the children, and started to walk off, knowing that Jack would follow soon after.

But what Pitch didn't know was that things were about to change, and he would have no one to blame but himself as that change came to pass.

Pitch never gave much thought to what would happen to Jack once the children stopped believing in the Guardians completely. Nor did Pitch consider the repercussions of not giving Jack a chance to recuperate from that loss. Pitch only realized that something was amiss with Jack when, instead of following after him, Jack had collapsed to the ground after taking only a few steps.

Pitch changed direction mid-step, and approached the fallen winter spirit, lifting a foot to nudged him lightly in the side, "Frost? I don't ever recall telling you to take a break. Did you find some resistance in you after all these years? Even after learning the truth? It seems a little too late for that, don't you think?" Pitch scowled down at Jack now, disappointed that he'd have to break the spell he'd had on Jack for the past many years, to see what was going on. Had Jack gotten injured and he hadn't noticed? The Nightmare King could just wait here the night for Jack to stir, but Pitch knelt next to Jack as he decided to check the other for any obvious sign of injury to move things along.

As Pitch's hand hovered over Jack's shoulder, the Boogeyman suddenly noticed a loss of fear amongst the fear he could already sense from the children nearby. Pitch dismissed it, thinking someone had just gone to sleep and therefore had stopped being fearful. Nothing to worry about. It wasn't like there were any Guardians around to disrupt things. Pitch ran a hand along Jack's shoulder, frowning. That was strange. Why wasn't he sensing any fear from Jack? It had been there until just moments ago. Ah, there, a tiny bit of a feeling, sadness, however, instead of fear. Pitch tilted his head, and cautiously shook Jack's shoulder, "What are you up to, Frost?" There was no menace behind the Nightmare King's words, but what almost could be considered a twinge of concern. Not for Jack's well-being, but for the fact that Pitch wasn't ready to let go of his enemy quite yet.

Pitch frowned down at Jack as he tried to figure out what was going on with the other. Pitch had thought that, after maybe another year or two of dragging Jack around to help him scare the children around the world, that he would release Jack from the spell. Another year or two would guarantee Pitch's hold on the grip of fear that he had caused throughout the world. After that, Pitch had planned to leave Jack alone to let him attempt to recover from what had been done to him. Pitch assumed that Jack would want to lash out at him for doing such an evil thing to him, and the two of them would eventually battle.

Pitch would never had admitted it aloud to anyone, but he missed their mock battles when they had crossed paths over the years. And if they did have a battle, if Jack recovered even the slightest bit, Pitch was uncertain whether he would win the fight or not. Either way, Pitch would again back off, and maybe in the time that followed the Man in the Moon would help Jack in his recovery by naming new Guardians to help Jack struggle out of his emotional trauma. Pitch could use some new opponents. Someone to clash with other than Jack Frost. Pitch had found, over the past many years that no competition, while initially fun, had become quite boring. It had been far too easy to draw all the children into fear after the Guardians had been destroyed and to make Jack basically into a puppet for him to order around. It had been enjoyable while it lasted, but now Pitch was starting to finally realize something. That with no one to foil his plans, things just weren't as challenging anymore.

Pitch turned his attention back to the still form of Jack, beginning to feel a little prickle of anxiety. He'd worry about things like that later. At the moment, Pitch didn't even want to entertain the notion that Jack was dying. It was the only possible explanation as to why the spell had wavered in the first place. The strain of the spell, and scaring the children had taken more of a toll on Jack than Pitch had initially realized. Pitch supposed that the late Guardians didn't exactly die so much as fade away from existence, but to Pitch, it seemed basically the same thing. An end to the supposed immortality given to them, and perhaps himself. Pitch wasn't sure how long he'd be around, considering the shadows had possessed him in the first place. Pitch shook his head. Something to think about another time.

Pitch would find himself waiting on the snowy ground by Jack for quite a long while, but nothing he could do would change what he had done. The Nightmare Kings's idea for the future would never come to pass, no matter how much he willed it.

"Jack?"

Pitch was soon to find himself alone in the world, and he would be at a loss of what to do for a long time.

X-x-x

Jack couldn't see anything, and while the darkness that now surrounded him had initially scared him, Jack found that it didn't feel as threatening as Pitch's shadows. This fact relaxed Jack the tiniest amount. He could still hear the jingling from before, when he had first begun to see the darkness cross his vision. Jack strained to keep his failing attention on the clear sound, until he recognized it to be the jingling from a sleigh. Something that he hadn't heard in years. Jack felt himself relax further as he listened to the soothing chime of the bells. Jack's whole concentration was focused on that sound, and he soon began to hear something within the ringing of the bells. It was almost as if...as if something were calling out. Several voices, in fact, and Jack realized with a jolt that those voices were calling out to him specifically. The voices became a little clearer, like the bells, and soon words could be heard, laced with sadness, but with an underlying note of hope beneath it.

"Jack? Is that you?"

"Jack? You there, mate?"

"You hear us, no?"

Since Jack had previous bad experience in following disembodied voices, he hesitated. He wondered if this was some sick trick of Pitch's, to further distress and scare him. The darkness all around the winter spirit made him think so, but Jack couldn't sense Pitch's presence here at all. So...did that mean that it wasn't a trick? Jack felt a presence suddenly appear near him, and a voice spoke, sounding close to him, this one recognizable.

"Jack?"

Jamie…Jack wanted to see the boy, to apologize for failing to protect him. Instead, Jack felt a calm fall over him, and he heard Jamie speak again.

"I knew you tried to help, Jack. It's okay, me and my friends aren't mad at you." Jack felt a ghosting of hands against his back, and felt himself being guided gently in the direction of the ringing sleigh bells and the voices, "Jack, go on, they're waiting for you. Listen, can't you hear them?"

Jack tuned back into the ringing bells and the voices that mixed in with it. Somehow, the longer Jack listened to them, the more relief he felt, as if he was finally out of Pitch's reach for good. The idea that Pitch couldn't harm him any more emboldened Jack, and he allowed himself to drift away from Jamie's fading presence, and toward the voices, where they became even clearer and more recognizable.

"Everything will be all right."

"We're here."

"Is okay, Jack. We wait for you. You let go now."

Jack's heart rose in happiness as he finally recognized the voices and just who they belonged to. It was the Guardians. Tooth. Bunnymund. North. And though he couldn't see them, Jack could almost feel the beaming smile of Sandy, and a little chirp from Baby Tooth, further comforting him as he drifted along in the darkness. Jack gave a little smile, or at least he thought he did, as he listened to the voices of his friends calling him to them. Then, Jack did as North had told him to. He let go, and it was a wonderful feeling of freedom as all of the remaining pain and fear inside of him vanished.

Then Jack Frost knew no more.

X-x-x

Since I've been getting really honest reviews, I would appreciate some opinions on how this story turned out as a whole.

I did say in the very beginning that this was not going to be a happy fanfic. I actually wrote the very last bit of this epilogue a few months ago as an ending for this fanfic that I never thought I would actually post. How depressing is that?

And on that note, I'm going to go curl up in a corner and think about what I've done (while at the same time thinking I really want to write another psychological mindf*ck story in the future).