Pitch had only ever wanted to keep them safe.
He had been there since the beginning, since small, wriggly things darted away from slightly larger wriggly things. They had feared their predators, and he had been born, a small wisp of a thing, as were those he warned. Those who heeded his warnings survived.
The rest died and disappeared, forgotten.
He changed as they changed, becoming larger as they did. The new beings feared, too, and their fears were just a little more complex.
He saw the light of the moon and swam towards it even as the creatures swam away, fearing the light that would allow larger creatures to find him.
He became a wisp of bright color, in those days.
And things changed again. Larger creatures still feared the darkness again, for they could not see what was coming if there was darkness. They spurned the light of the moon, preferring the hot sun, and he bled back into the shadows.
They crawled onto the land, and evolved, and grew, and he grew with them. Others, like him but creatures of the day, perhaps, or of the cold. Most, like him, warned of the folly of being too brave. Some whispered go out, take risks, but he held many back,powerful as he was, and many of the rest died.
In time, there came a species that seemed to be something more.
They were animals, in those days, very similar to many other species. And Pitch held them back, kept them in dark caves and told them don't play with fire. You'll only get burnt.
And then, when they did not heed his commands, he told them, stay. Stay in the warmth, where it is safe.
There are monsters out there.
I would know.
And they grew, as everything did. He took their form as all the others died, not listening closely enough to him, heeding the words of some other foolish spirit who died with its pet species.
He would never die as long as there was life, for who did not fear?
Surely only the dead.
And then there were others, again, but these were different. They did not warn, and yet they were loved. And the children, they ventured ever farther from the campfire. Come back, he whispered, but they would not hear.
If they did not listen, they would die.
He grasped desperately at them, but they labeled him nightmare, boogie man, only holding you back. He held them back only because the world was dangerous! Did the others not see?
If the humans died, he would not, though he would be less.
But the other spirits would be gone.
They hastened their own destruction.
So he tried to control, to push away the starstruck wonder. In the end, if you were starstruck, you could not see the monsters lurking in the brush. And there was so much to fear, wasn't there?
Pitch had only ever known fear, that most powerful of emotions, hiding in the brush quivering because if you were found... well, he had known death, too. A billion deaths, for all those times they slipped, and didn't fear quite enough.
In the end, scared and safe was better than brave and dead.
So. Yeah. Pitch. Apparently the ultimate overprotective mother?
I actually felt really sorry for him in the movie and I wanted to write an introspective piece, especially after seeing the comic. I wasn't really expecting this, but it does seem likely, no? I was going to include the man in the moon too – they had been the only two constants as everything else died, and then the man in the moon changed, chose these silly new spirits, and it was kinda heartbreaking, but then it didn't really work with the story.
Edit: I went back and read this, for kicks. A few notes: First of all, I am now aware of the books and that fact that this is completely AU. Second of all, I am now *also* aware of the trend of villainizing the Guardians so that Pitch can be more sympathetic, and, well, personally I still feel like he's the villain of the story. A relatable one, perhaps, but a villain still. In this story, please realize that I meant Pitch to be more of a person doing the wrong thing with good intentions than an actual hero. Although I do think movie!Pitch could easily *become* good, with sufficient motivation, I don't really think he *was* at the time, although of course that is a matter of opinion and you may believe what you wish. Anyway. I'm sorry if I offended, but that trend bothers me and I didn't want to contribute to it.