The guilt had been gnawing at him for months and was close to driving him insane. Ever since he saw Pitch Black get dragged into the hole under the old bed that used to be the entrance to his lair, clawing at the ground, screaming, reaching out to them, to him, he'd been feeling terrible. The other Guardians were fine, they seemed to be at least. He thought he'd seen Bunny flinch when Jamie walked through Pitch. Maybe he'd been reminded of the few days he himself had been unable to interact with the children he'd been protecting for so long, when he wasn't believed in. But Aster probably hated him the most, considering Pitch was responsible for that in the first place. Tooth was still fussing over some of her faeries while North acted as though nothing had happened. Sandy seemed a little sad, even disappointed, after Pitch was gone but his job kept him preoccupied. All their jobs kept them from thinking so much on it, leaving Jack the only one that'd think, that'd regretted every once in a while in the silent ride home with the Wind.

Finally, he stopped halfway to the Pole where North had given him a place to stay. "Wind… take me... home" He whispered softly before the wind changed direction and brought him to the familiar town of Burgess, and the lake where his 'life' as a spirit started. It's just checking up on the place. Of course I missed this lake… And it wouldn't be wrong of me to just happen to pass by where the bed was…

The Guardian glided down slowly and through the forest. He could feel memories coming back, of him playing around with his sister and cousins, of the time he played hero and tried to find the sheep that had scattered when his village's sheepherder was attacked by wolves, of almost dieing to the same wolves, of the walk to the lake the fateful day of his death. But he also remembered rising out of the water, of watching kids of Burgess skate on the lake, and , he cringed a little, when he jumped into Pitch's lair after hearing his sister's voice and finally, when he stood with the Guardians here and watched the Boogeyman get dragged away. He'd arrived. This was where the broken bed had been, it was still not there, and the entrance wasn't either. Of course, he snorted a little to himself, Pitch was gone, dragged off into the darkness like he did with kids in all those stories. Jack couldn't understand why he almost wished that the entrance would be there.

Jack should've been glad, like the others, like the kids, but he could only chalk it up to how similar they were, it was so much easier for Jack to empathise with Pitch. Jack admitted that he'd gotten depressed many times during the 300 years he spent alone, ignored. Sure, he always got better, telling himself nothing would change if he moped. But Pitch was an old enemy of the other Guardians, whom existed long before he was born! He'd probably been alone, not believed in, since he was banished, and was probably alone before the Dark Ages as well! That was thousands of years! Jack couldn't blame him for what he did. Behind it all, Pitch couldn't control what he needed to exist, didn't control what he was. Jack was lucky that he didn't go down the same path and he'd come close to snapping after 300 years. He sighed, no use mulling over the past, Pitch was gone.

With that thought he shot back into the air and continued on to the Pole. But the Wind was acting strange, it didn't listen to him. He never truly controlled the Wind, it was more his friend, his ally. But today it was fighting back, urging him away from the Pole. " What is wrong with you today!?" He struggled, spinning a few times, trying to right himself. "HeeeEEEEY!" With a giant gust of wind he span head over heels in the air, being catapulted South, to Antarctica.

Jack finally righted himself where the ocean ended and Antarctica started. Only to see something that he dreaded with all his heart. Towering above the cliffs was the monument created when pure Cold Frost and Pitch Black clashed. It glistened impressively and got larger as Jack got closer. He'd been so entranced by it he didn't have time to react when the Wind threw him at its base. Digging himself out of the snow he looked up at the thing. "Wind! Bring be back to the Pole!" When he wasn't lifted into the air he yelled out again. "I meant the NORTH POLE!" Still, no answer. With a huff he got up and trudged his way to the base of the giant spike. He decided to head to where the curve of it was and was startled to find a hole there. "…What?" It couldn't be, could it? It was here, where Pitch probably figured no one would search. The Guardians didn't know where their meeting had taken place, and he didn't like this place at all, the memories of his encounter with Pitch repulsed him. Jack could almost smile. Pitch was clever, no one could deny that. With a last glance around, Jack tightened his grip on his staff before jumping down, much like the first time he entered Pitch's lair.

Underground he flinched at every movement, at every shadow, even if it was his own. Finally the tunnel led to the main chamber and he stuck to the side of the tunnel to peer out at the cavern. The entrance tunnel was pretty high up and on the far side of the cavern was the throne and the metal globe, shining brightly. As he stepped out to look at it all, his foot brushed against some pebbles, sending them tumbling down into the main cavern. He froze and the hair on the back of his neck stood when he heard a far off whinny. "Oh boy…" He gripped his staff even tighter, knuckles turning white as blue sparks flared off the staff. Soon he saw a herd of Nightmares coming straight at him which he shot at quickly in short bursts of ice. After the first three fell the others hung back and flew around the cages suspended from the ceiling, staring at him. This was weird, the Nightmares were cunning, but they were still beasts, they should have lunged at him. Instead he watched them pace some more in the air before one threw its head back to screech out before it ran off, the others following. That… That was a tactical retreat. Jack let it sink in slowly before he grinned. That was the work of Pitch! He was alive! Jack couldn't stop himself from being glad and gave up questioning himself, just relishing the utter joy. He whooped a little and followed the Nightmares, swerving through the tunnels.

Finally he spotted giant ebony doors, gold embedded in spirals and sharp sweeping arrows around the borders and handles. They slammed shut just as Jack rounded the corner and he slowed down and crept towards it. When he got to the door he could hear the whinnying inside quiet. He reached for the door handle but paused. What could be on the other side? For all I know, Pitch probably has some sort of guillotine blade ready to come down on me. Jack shrugged it off, telling himself he'd just have to be ready for anything and turned the handle, pushing the door open slightly. The Nightmares had come here, most likely to tell Pitch, what was the use in sneaking around, Pitch must know he'd been right behind the mares. With that he opened the door wide to see Pitch rising from an armchair, leaning on it and glaring at him, eyes ablaze. The Nightmares were lined up on both sides, creating a neat path straight to Pitch.

"What are you doing here Guardian", The last word was growled low and Jack backed up when another Nightmare screeched, trotting over to Pitch, who gripped a rein that appeared. Jack thought Pitch would've refused any sort of help but it seemed Pitch really had been beaten. "Leave or I will make you leave," That was a barely audible hiss from Pitch and Jack looked back at him to see him cough softly.

"I doubt you can, Pitch" That was bad, Jack winced, I shouldn't have said that… If only I would think before spouting nonsense like that! He could see Pitch flex his fist around the reins, growling, but he could see he was nervous, strangely the Nightmares didn't seem to lunge for it. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean that…"

"Oh you meant that in a nice way. Apologies but it didn't seem so." Jack bowed his head a little.

"No, I'm sorry!" The winter spirit looked up, straight into the Boogeyman's eyes. "Pitch.." he reached out to him, like you would to a doe. "Are you… okay?" Pitch flinched and backed away a step, causing Jack to quickly pull his hand back, keeping the fist close to his chest and loosened his grip on his staff, trying to seem unthreatening.

"Leave."

"Pitch… You-"

"LEAVE" Jack ducked when a Nightmare's jaws snapped at his ear.

"Pitch… You" Jack had to say it, Pitch had to see! "You need help Pitch, come with me, the others can help you!" He watched Pitch for a second before he said softly. "Please"

"Leave, Guardian. Do not return, ever." Jack's eyes softened before the Nightmares slammed their hooves on the ground, screeching. Jack was going to say more but decided against it, leaving.

A/N: Okay erm, ah fk it. HEYLO ALL. This is gonna be a kind of drabble thing, all those ridiculous 'If Pitch made nice' little ideas in my head will get thrown now I'm setting up the part where he makes nice, but after that, ALL HELL IS RELEASED.

I'm accepting prompts and the like.

Random AUs I come up with go here too, so this is basically the nursery for them plot bunnies, with an adult watching over them. I loved MiraEyeteeth's "A Home for Fear" so you could say this entire thing is dedicated to her :D Keep in mind for most of my stories I don't follow the books for Pitch's backstory, not because I don't like the books, I've never read them and I don't want to disgrace it. But you can take his backstory as something similar I suppose, a HUMAN general that was killed by the enemy side. (Suddenly thinking about jabberjays... OOOOH CROSSOVER IDEA)