"My fairies…" Tooth said, only just above a whimper. "We know, Tooth," Bunny replied, slightly irritated. She'd kind of been moping a bit. Understandable, obviously, but Bunny had an undeniable temper that needed some answering to every once in a while. "We're gonna get Pitch back for that, you know we will. But we've gotta get goin'. We don't know how much more damage Pitch is gonna do." He said firmly, turning to North for reinforcement. "Let her have her time, Bunny," North said, secretly just as irritated as Bunnymund. "You know how you'd feel if you lost your warren." Sandy nodded, thousands of undecipherable images appearing above his head in obvious agreement. It must've been sort of unnerving to have a sort of… alter-ego.
Jack just watched them, though. Did they even… did they even understand? He was pretty sure that they'd never experienced a time in their life when they weren't believed in. It was three hundred years and counting for Jack. Three hundred years of being unseen, unheard, and (most importantly) unappreciated.
"Y'know, he's got a point," Jack murmured. "No he doesn't," North said, looking down at Jack. "Give Tooth another minute, we'll be out any time now." "Not Bunny," Jack said, casting his gaze down. "Pitch."
Every Guardian, including Tooth, turned towards him in disbelief. "Pitch, the Boogeyman. As in, Pitch Black?" said Bunnymund, staring incredulously. "Has a POINT? What're you talking about, mate?" "Haven't you guys always been believed in?" Jack responded immediately. "You've got no idea what it's like, to walk around, and help people, and make people smile and laugh, and the whole planet thinks you're just a figure of speech? Just an expression? In Pitch's case, the personification of fear?" he said, patting himself on the back for saying "personification". Generally, he wasn't huge on using big words. This seemed to be a case which called for such things, though. Jack mentally made an exception.
"Are you crazy?" the Tooth Fairy lashed out. Jack practically flinched. Tooth hardly ever was anything but nice. "Whose side are you on, ours, or his? He took all my fairies, Jack," she said, tears rimming her eyes. "And everyone's memories. That's everything I've got. Do you know what it's like to have that taken away?" "I knew he would never be a real Guardian," Bunny muttered.
"As I said," Jack repeated. "How do you think it would feel to not be believed in for hundreds of years? And for Pitch, it's been THOUSANDS. Thousands of years with no one believing in you, just being a sort of thing to keep your kids in bed at night. The childish reason behind nightmares. I know, firsthand, that it doesn't feel good." Jack said firmly, eyes flashing. "I know you guys might not, but I do. I'm not saying I support him. God, no," he mused on that thought for a second before continuing. "But think of it. Really, really think of it."
"…We've got to get going." Said North, cutting the blanket of silence that had fallen over them.
Jack rested his staff on his shoulder and started to follow behind the other Guardians. The silence was uncomfortable. Unbearable, even. But this was something to be sorted out later.