WHAT GOES TOGETHER BETTER THAN COLD AND DARK? - PART 2
Jack was sitting on a bare branch with his legs hanging from the tree and thoughtfully sweeping with his eyes the landscape: a small village in the countryside, sleeping under a full moon that lit the snow-covered rooves, so small in the distance they looked gingerbread and icing decorations like the ones the children are used to do for Christmas Eve. After all Christmas was few days away, he knew it very well: Frost was thrown out of the Palace of North exactly for that, because the preparations were in full swing and his permanent and insolent curiosity slowed the yetis in their incessant work. And children could not absolutely be denied another new beautiful Christmas, especially after the risks due to Pitch's attack and the efforts made to defeat him.
In the end the Guardians won thanks to Tooth, the only one who had understood, in the big drama of the Boogeyman's threat, the little drama of Jack, who could not find a place for himself in the world. Bravely, although she had been weakened, she had looked for him: she had borrowed a snowglobe from Santa and whispered the name of Frost before throwing it in front of herself. When she had reached the wasteland of the South Pole and found his staff shattered, she had feared the worst. Wild, she had looked for him and at last she found him curled up in the bottom of the cleft: she had went down to him, comforted him and made him pull out of his pocket the casket of the teeth. Using her power, she had helped him to remember his past and so given him a task for the future; and after this new infusion of will, Jack had found the strength to stand up and fight again.
However, the victory had left a sour taste in the boy's mouth: he would never, ever forget in his life the incredulous expression of Pitch when the children had stopped believing in him, ceasing to see him and even walking through him as they played; and most of all, he would never forget his eyes wide open with sheer terror when the Pureblood Nightmares had dragged him in his lair.
Jack knew he had done the right thing, that day, when he defeated him: the other Guardians had praised him and celebrated the victory, and they had even officially appointed him as one of them. Yet, a shade of sadness had clouded the happiness of the moment, a shade which smacked of betrayal.
While he was thinking about it for the umpteenth time, as always unable to solve the problem, Frost saw a movement in front of him: a shadow, darker than the night, was moving silently, wandering sinuously among the houses, and then it disappeared into a gloomy window. Without further ado, the boy acted: he jumped down from the branch where he had perched, and relying on the icy wind he flew over the village, landing in a bare courtyard.
Peering into the darkness he saw exactly what he expected: Pitch, sitting on a barrel, had his back on him and was carefully modeling some magic sand with his skinny fingers.
Jack could perfectly imagine the sneer on his face: a wicked smile which showed his sharp teeth, and a look of malicious pleasure in knowing he was making someone suffer.
Immediately the boy wielded his trusty staff and threw a cold beam in the direction of the enemy. The Boogeyman was hit fully and thrown against the wall of the house next door, then flung on the ground, where he laid motionless as an inanimate puppet. He barely moved an arm and leaned on his elbow, his head still bowed; at last, almost trembling, he managed to raise his eyes and stare at Jack, and he simply asked: «Why?».
Frost was literally petrified: the man's voice was weak and uncertain, cracked with pain, and his eyes - those beautiful eyes - were filled with sadness and dreadful suffering, and made up to show a look so tired to seem resigned. Pitch Black had changed so much that Frost couldn't believe it: the lively, evil and cunning man had turned into an exhausted, apathetic creature, lacking in will to do anything. The worst thing was that he seemed to have lost not only the desire to frighten and conquer the world, but even to live.
Trying to stay focused and detached, the boy harshly replied: «You were harassing another child, weren't you?».
«Oh Jack, was this the only reason?» said Pitch, raising a hand to him while still lying on the ground. Frost raised his staff to threaten him, but soon he realized that the other was not going to attack him; from the window of the house behind him it came out a little Nightmare: galloping in the night he docilely landed on the palm of the Boogeyman, who hastened to clench his fist, reducing it to dust in his fingers.
«You just needed to ask, Jack...» he said, leaning with much effort on his elbows and knees and then standing against the wall beside him, sighing.
Stunned, Frost dared to ask: «Pitch, what... what happened to you?».
«Are you asking what happened to me?» he answered the other, sarcastic and disenchanted, «Do you want to know why I called back the Nightmare? Why don't I show interest in terrorizing children? What difference would it make, can you tell me? The more I work and the more my efforts seem useless: the best I can get is a night of screams, but in the morning comes the sun, the wonderful sun that takes away all the darkness and fear! You know what it means to do everything to make people believe in you and not even be seen! Do you know what it feels like when a person ignores you so much to run through you!». The tone of his voice increased as the speech went on, but his tired expression had not changed, looking like the frustration was so great to leave him with no hope.
«Pitch, I...».
«You what, Jack?» asked Pitch, more resigned than resentful, «You got what you wanted, Jack: you have kids who believe in you, and who whisper your name in the cold winter nights and when the school is closed for snow, you're even a Guardian, what do you want more? But I have nothing, I reverted to what I was before, a shadow that lurks under the beds».
«Pitch, I'm sorry, I would...» whispered Jack.
«What do you want, Jack? Go away, go and have fun with your new friends, or snowball, I do not care. I want to be alone» the man rounded off, turning his back to the boy, covering his face and making a gesture to drive him away.
Frost could not help but being upset by that gesture, but he immediately walked after the other, determined to try, if not alleviate, at least to understand the excruciating pain.
However, as soon as he moved his right foot, he saw the Boogeyman disappearing into a stream of sparkling black sand with an angry snarl and quickly fly away from the courtyard; the boy though about what to do next for a moment before summoning the cold northern wind.