Pitch stood in the shadow looking onto the scene like he had for the past three years. Alone, sad, and unwanted, those were the only feelings that he had felt. He had long forgotten the feeling of being believed in, he didn't even believe in himself anymore. What was the point? He was alone, and always would be. None of the guardians cared about it… Well that wasn't true. Jack Frost tried to reach out to Pitch, but he never answered back. He didn't want to be with Jack when only one of them could be seen.

He hated walking through town, being run through, quite literally. Only one child believed in him, the same child that brought his downfall, Jamie Bennett. He made sure to never cross paths with him when he was awake, only watching the boy occasionally as he slept. The Sandman keeping Jamie's dreams happy. It wasn't like he could have done anything. Pitch had nearly lost all of his power when the Guardians defeated him.

He hated himself for what he had done, the reason that he is what he is today. Because he feared, he got turned into the monster that takes a persons fear and silently, slowly makes their life as miserable as possible, enjoying every minute of it. Pitch never longed to be the good guy, he didn't want to be a guardian, and he didn't want to protect children. But he did not want to be alone; he didn't want to be seen by only the guardians and the one child that could ruin him again.

He wanted to be acknowledged. No matter how much happiness there was in the world the darkness had to be there, creeping in the corner and waiting to take over a lost soul, a soul that wanted only to be cured of this world. Those souls became his nightmares. They fed off of the fear of young children, they wanted nothing more than to watch the children suffer.

He was the Nightmare King, he waited in the shadows to catch children off guard and when they were fearful, he struck and made sure that they only knew the darkest fears. Yet it wasn't enough, instilling fear into people wasn't enough to begin being believed in again. Everyone has a fear, but the thought that someone could watch over fears and make them real, no one ever thought that. And yet the old bedtime stories of Sandman made people believe in him. There were stories of the Boogeyman, and his horrible deeds, why wasn't he believed in anymore?

Pitch was tired; he was the weakest he had ever been in years. The only way for him to stand anymore was to prop himself up against walls. Jack noticed, Jack seemed to notice everything. Despite joining the guardians he still actually seemed to care. That was the problem with Jack, his heart was too big and he cared for people that he shouldn't bother with. Pitch didn't like it, he didn't like feeling that people cared, it was far more annoying that he anticipated.

Sinking back into the shadows Pitch made his way slowly back to his cave, trying to ignore everything, and trying to keep himself up right. One of these days he would take back the world. He would bring around another dark ages, and by god if he had to he would make sure that Jamie could do nothing to make the kids believe. Jamie was his problem, if that kid wasn't here, he would be enjoying himself right now. The guardians would have no power anymore; they would feel what it was like to not be acknowledged. They would finally understand the pain and loneliness that goes along with it. And he, he would be on top of the world. Fear on every corner and on every street, nightmares taking over everyone's dreams. The sweet, sweet sound of children's whimpering in the night. He would be believed in and feared, and most of all the guardians could do absolutely nothing to him. With the world full of nightmares, he would be king of it.

But for now he could do nothing but lie in self-loathing. Pitch hated himself, hated the world, hated the guardians, and hated Jamie. And because of the Man in the Moon, he could never die.