So sweet; so full of hope and wonder. There's only one thing missing—a touch of fear. What goes together better than cold and dark? We could bring fear back into the world! It would be—Pitch Black?—and Jack Frost, too.

I sigh and open my eyes just in time to see my breath fading. I've had this dream off and on for quite some time now, totaling almost half a year since Pitch has been sent back to his realm.

I don't want to feel guilty about what we did to him; we saved the spirit of belief after all. I get to be seen by children around the world now instead of going around and being alone, like I had been for 300 years before that. But I do. I feel terribly guilty. Because Pitch is alone. Not only alone but suffering from his own creations. Not to mention this is again, he'd been alone before, when the Man in the Moon sent the first Guardians down.

Should I feel guilty? It's only human to feel guilt. But I drowned to become Jack Frost. I'm not technically human anymore, I'm a Guardian. Do the others feel guilty? North and Bunnymund might just be relieved, and Sandy is probably overjoyed that he's back with us in one piece. But what about Tooth? She was sympathetic to Pitch. I suppose I'm sympathetic because I know what it's like.

I thought I was the only one who knew what it felt like to be alone… but I was wrong.

"Why won't you get out of my head? Why me? Why not anyone else?" I pinch my nose and sigh again, crawling out of bed. This bed, dare I call it my own, was more a gift than something I earned. I have been given my own house courtesy of North; it's at the North Pole, for convenience sake. Though we haven't all gotten together since we ended Pitch, so really what for? I spend most of my time in Burgess anyways. I sleep in the snow there a lot. But it's nice to have warmth once in a while. The little bit of it that I can feel through a body that's likely made of ice.

I grab my clothes and staff and head out to the ocean side. I spend a lot of time here at the coast, just wandering around on the ice. Sheer cliffs and valleys with thick ice between them and a vast, freezing, dark ocean beneath and stretching beyond as far as the eye can see. I see the darkness and can't help but think of when I first woke up as Jack Frost, the ice cracking above me as I came out of the water. I've thought about drowning again, too. Not that I could for the life of me, it freezes when I walk on it. I couldn't drown no matter how hard I tried. Not that I want to, either. Since becoming an 'official' Guardian, I've had more fun than any of the 300 years of my life before that. It's just what comes to mind. Darkness.

And Pitch.

I stumble where I had been balanced on the edge of a cliff, walking one foot in front of the other with my staff lightly grazing over the snow. I barely catch my balance, almost plummeting over the side. I look down out of habit and for a moment, just a flash, I see the black pit I fell into when Pitch brought me to his realm and revealed to me my fears. My darkest fears.

So then, if I did fall, and the darkness caught me, would that mean…? I groan quietly and shake my head, moving away from the edge. Why the hell would I want to go there anyways? I wouldn't be welcome there. It just burns so much; the guilt hurts.

My feet are off the ground before the thought is fully formed. The next thing I know I'm flying over the ocean and heading to Tooth's Palace. Not that she can help me, but she seems like the only person I could dare trust with something like this.

My feet touch the multicolored tile and I hear it crackle from the cold of my feet as I walk across it. "Tooth?"

"Jack!" I hear a gasp behind me. Possibly a delighted one, it's hard to tell. I turn and offer a smile, kind of automatically, to the one I know will be on her face. "It's been a long time since any of us have seen each other… what's the occasion?"

"I have… I was hoping I could talk to you about something."

Her head tilts with concern. "Of course, Jack. What is it?"

"Could we…" I look around at all of her little helpers. "In private?"

She nods hesitantly and we go to a more secluded place. The sun is in full force on this side of the Palace; I have to shield my eyes from it. But it's free of helpers.

"I have to say this is kind of scaring me, Jack. Please, tell me straight away."

I look away from her to ask the question, and then decide I'm too curious to know what her expression will be. "Do you ever think about Pitch?"

She flinches with shock. "What? Why would I? He's finally gone; we have our powers back."

"I know, but… don't you feel a little guilty?"

"About what?"

"How's he's… stuck down there by himself. That's what caused the whole mess in the first place. How neglected he felt."

"…" She nods solemnly. "I do feel a little guilty, I suppose. But what else were we supposed to do? It was the only way."

"What if there had been another way?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, anything."

"I tried to give him one."

"In the end, I mean. If he'd truly requested redemption, would you have given to him? After all he'd done?"

"I… I don't know, Jack. Why are you so concerned about him?"

"I've just been thinking about it a lot lately. I feel really guilty."

"It's okay to feel guilty, Jack. It means you have feelings. And to have them for someone like Pitch, well, I can only commend you for that. But he was selfish and his intentions were twisted. We did what we had to."

"I know." Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I'm running in circles with this and none of it is helping.

Tooth looks to somewhere behind me. "I should go. Sounds like I'm needed by the little ones. Sorry for not having more time, Jack. You can always come talk to me again." She offers a smile before her wings carry her off and back to her busy life of children's teeth.

I lean against the pillar and sigh. Even if I had the slightest inclination to go and see Pitch, how would I get there? He was completely sealed off from this world. He'd probably be back and causing havoc already if he had a way to get here. I step off of Tooth's Palace and make my way to Burgess.

I hang out with Jamie still, sometimes. Give Burgess the snow days. But it's not as fun. Something's missing from it. I feel alone here again; a void that no child or Guardian could fill. I wondered once if it was my sister; long repressed memories trying to come forward. But it didn't feel like that, either.

I land on the lake that is responsible for my creation but am already walking off the ice and into the trees. I stop at a small clearing where the grass has refused to grow for months. Ever since Pitch's bed was here. I survey the grass, moving it with my feet and my staff, looking for any telltale trace of his black dust. There is not a speck to be found; he has been swallowed so completely. But there has to be something. People still have nightmares, still have fears. Darkness still comes.

Can Guardians have nightmares?

I stop in the center of the dead patch, crouching and brushing a hand over it. This is what Pitch left behind. Death and decay.

"Pitch…" Oh god, what am I doing? It's like I'm talking to a dead person. Which I've never done before anyways. I've seen it in Burgess, for family. Pets. "You got to be here somewhere. It's always night on some side of the planet and there's always someone scared of something."

I give a sigh of frustration and sit on the grass, tossing my staff into the snow in front of me. "What am I even doing? Why do I even care about you?" There's too much going on in my brain for me to really know what my reasoning for any of this is. I've acted on impulse for most of my life anyways, how is this any different?

Because the Guardians taught me restraint. Pitch offered me freedom but the Guardians drew a line that they didn't want me to cross. I look behind me, feeling like I'm watched. That thought hadn't been completely mine. I didn't resent the Guardians for everything they'd done. They didn't do things to me they did things for me. With me. They believed in me when no one else did. Except for maybe Pitch. But he could have been lying when he said that. It might not have been—probably wasn't—heartfelt.

"Pitch." I decide. I'm being reckless, going back to my old self. The Guardians would have a cow if they knew what I was doing. But I can't not do this.

"I want you to give me a nightmare tonight."