Jack watched in muted horror as Pitch was dragged underground by his own nightmares, his screams echoing shrilly from under the bed frame. Pitch clawed at the ground, frantically trying to escape. He locked eyes with Jack moments before he lost his grasp and was forced down the hole. Jack shuddered, and took a few hesitant steps forward. A rough paw landed on his shoulder and he flinched away before he could stop himself.
"Time to go, Frostbite," Aster grunted, nodding his head to where the other guardians were already climbing into the slay.
"But what about Pitch?" Jack asked, turning back to the broken bed frame.
"What about him? He's gone for now. He won't be causing any trouble for a while," Aster said with a shrug.
"We're just gonna leave him down there with those nightmares? We aren't gonna help him?" Jack asked softly.
"It's what he deserves, Jack," North's booming voice said solemnly from behind him. Jack turned to see North, and Sandy standing behind him, Tooth hovering in the air by North's shoulder.
"He tried to get rid of us. He hurt the children. This is his punishment," Tooth said fiercely.
"Spending hundreds of years alone with nightmares? That's not punishment, Tooth. That's torture."
"Listen, kid. You don't understand-"
"No, you don't understand," Jack snapped, cutting Bunny off. "Spending years alone, with no one to talk to and no believers, that's what led him to trying to destroy you in the first place. You think he did all of this to spite you? Because he's evil and that's just what he does? No. This was an act of desperation. I know. I've thought of doing something similar."
"You would have hurt us? Hurt the children?" Tooth gasped. Jack looked at them, his blue eyes splintered with grief and loneliness.
"Three hundred years is a long time to be by yourself, Tooth. When other spirits aren't willing to associate with you and the children all walk through you, it messes with your mind. You start wondering if you're real, if you have a purpose. Maybe if you can get one person to respond to you, one child to see you, things will be different but they never do. So you start wondering if you should be here at all, because if no one acknowledges that you exist then what's the point of existing? Eventually you start to hate. You hate Man in the Moon for making you. You hate the other spirits for ignoring you. You hate the children because all you ever wanted was to help them and all they ever did was tear your soul apart every time they passed through you. You hate yourself for not being good enough, because if you were better you'd have believers and you wouldn't be lonely and you wouldn't feel dead inside.
All that hate builds up until you can't keep it in anymore and you need to force everyone to notice you. You need to hurt them, make them bleed, make them feel your pain, make them see. Because that's the only way to prove that you're real and that you exist and that you have a purpose, even if that purpose is to spread fear," Jack spoke softly his voice cracking every few words as he tried to explain Pitch's actions and his own thoughts. He looked up at the silent Guardians and cringed at their horrified expressions.
"I can't leave him down there. I can't. And if you don't want me as a Guardian because of what I just told you then I understand. I won't bother you and I won't cause any trouble for you. You'll never see me again." Jack gave a hollow laugh. "I expect you'll forget all about me soon enough anyway." He turned his back on them and walked towards the edge of the hole Pitch had been dragged down. He clenched his staff tightly and prepared to jump down.
Gold sand glided around him and lifted the bed frame away before descending into the hole, lighting the way down. Jack looked down at Sandy in surprise, his mouth pursed in confusion.
"Sandy? What...Why are you still here?" Jack asked. Sandy crafted a picture of Jack above his head with a picture of Sandy at his back, they were surrounded by nightmares and were fending them off together.
"You're gonna help me help Pitch? Even after what I said about understanding him? About me being just like him?" Sandy shook his head, his expression one of remorse and determination. He patted Jack's hand comfortingly and smiled sadly.
"I, too, will be assisting you. I had no idea that that was what it was like for you, Jack. We have failed you most grievously. And if you think helping Pitch is the right thing to do then I will help you do so," North sighed, pulling out his swords as he walked up beside Jack.
"I'll help, too, Jack. I never thought about you being alone for so long. I always meant to find you to talk to you but I was always so busy and I told myself the other spirits would help you. I should have done more for you and if this is what you need to do then helping you is the least I can do to show you how sorry I am," Tooth spit the words out desperately, as if she was afraid that if she didn't get them out now she never would. Jack turned to Aster who glared at him and huffed in irritation.
"I think this is a stupid idea that will come back and bite us in the ass later and the only reason I'm helping is because I don't want to hear Tooth lecture me later," Aster snapped. "Now let's bloody go be before I freeze my tail off standing out here."
Jack grinned and jumped down the hole, the Guardians jumping down after him. They trusted him. They believed in him. They were fools.
Jack couldn't stop the cruel smirk that flashed across his face. Pitch was right when he'd told Jack about their crippling stupidity. One little sob story and they were willing to trust him implicitly. Someone they'd never interacted with until they'd needed to use him. Too bad for them Pitch had gotten to him first. Pitch had been the only spirit to talk to him since he's been reborn and they'd spent a hundred years planning the Guardians' downfall.
Shouts of surprise and pain echoed around him as nightmares came out of the shadows and captured the Guardians on the way down. Jack landed lightly on his feet and sauntered forward, eyeing the Guardians from the cages that the nightmares had dropped them in.
"Jack? What's going on? What are you doing?" Tooth asked, her voice shrill with fright. Jack smirked at her as a dark chuckle sounded from behind him. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and Jack leaned back against Pitch.
"Oh, this is just delightful. Did you actually think that he would help you? After you've spent years ignoring him? Or, in your case, Bunnymund, harassing and verbally abusing him?" Pitch asked darkly.
"You're all such gullible fools," Jack sneered. "Next time you go to someone for help you might want to do a little background check. I've been with Pitch for years. You thought I would be your saving grace? You only ensured your defeat. And I'm going to enjoy finding out just how far down you can fall."
Jack and Pitch laughed at their enemies shocked expressions. They had won. And soon the whole world would know who they were. And they would be feared.