There's something wrong with the children.
When they leave their houses to play in the snow with Jack, they leave their coats and shoes inside. When Tooth comes to collect their teeth, she finds that they've been losing them earlier than they're supposed to. When searching for hidden eggs on Easter, they look in dangerous places. When they fight with the toy swords they got from Christmas, they're just a little too violent, as though they don't realize that they could get hurt.
The Guardians consulted Manny about it, but all they got was that they needed to focus on Pitch.
This was why Jack had to keep an eye on him. Everyone thought that Pitch must be doing something shady (he usually was, being a shade himself), but after that episode last week, Jack was confident that Pitch was not to blame.
Jack has visited the hole in the ground once a day, and every day, he thought think back to the thing that had been clawing at Pitch. He needed a plan before he went in again. He didn't want a repeat of his first day going down there.
Sandy was the oldest of the Guardians. If there was any information about what that lump of darkness that had been hurting Pitch was, Sandy would have it. Probably.
Today, instead of having another pointless visit to Pitch's lair, Jack had gone to find Sandy. It wasn't difficult. Any strand of dream sand could be traced back to him, so Jack had no trouble finding him standing in the calm night skies of a small town in North America, dancing about melodically as he wove dreams together, sending streams of golden sand through the sky and into the minds of children.
The sandman soon noticed Jack's presence, smiling and waving as he continued with his work.
"Hey sandman. I have to talk to you about something. Do you have second?"
Sandy focused on finishing the set of dreams he'd been working on, and sent them on their ways before giving Jack his full attention, raising a question mark in the sand above his head.
"I need to know if there might be another spirit at work or something." Jack began, "'See, when I went to visit Pitch, there was something else there in the darkness, and this time I know it wasn't Pitch. I think it was hurting him." Sandy looked unimpressed, obviously not particularly concerned with the safety of a spirit who has nearly killed him twice.
"Look, I just need to know what it was. If I knew what that dark, red-eyed blob of darkness was, maybe I could get a bit closer to finding out what's going on with the kids. That's what matters, right?"
Sandy nodded, creating a picture book out of dream sand and handing it to Jack, who looked down at the man in puzzlement. Sandy motioned to the book again before getting back to creating dreams, leaving Jack to his business.
Jack flew down to a rooftop to begin flipping through the pages with great interest. The book was titled "The Golden Age", and told of demons, fearlings, and other dark creatures from all over the universe being trapped in a cage, protected by a brave guard that the king had trusted.
It doesn't say exactly how the Golden Age ended, only that it didn't end well.
So, the thing that attacked Pitch wasn't a creature, but creatures? Fearlings, demons? What would they want with Pitch?
Jack got up to return to his frozen lake, needing time to think this out.
Pitch rarely slept. That wasn't anything new. Being the king of nightmares tended to lend yourself to having said nightmares. Today, he'd been able to fall asleep, but that was not something he appreciated. The dream was vivid, and he'd had it before.
He was somewhere dark, which should have been comforting, but it wasn't. There was a cage, or many cages, with horrible things locked inside of them, and he wasn't sure whether he was scared of them escaping, or if he was a creature that was scared of not being able to escape. He was tired. He wanted to go home to his dark, comforting lair and stay with his locket, but his fears were soon realized when the creatures escaped their cages and flew at him in waves.
He opened his eyes, panting. He stared intensely at the cages hanging from the top of the cave in an attempt to reassure himself that the only nightmarish creature in his lair was himself. He nearly calmed down until he realized that he wasn't alone.
He knew who it was before he even bothered to look, so he just closed his eyes and scowled in annoyance from his place laying on the stone ground. "Jack Frost."
Jack tried his best to keep a light atmosphere. Or, make one, rather. Seeing as there is never a light atmosphere around Pitch naturally. "Pitch Black." He mocked the shade's voice playfully as he replied.
Pitch's scowl only grew in disgust. "You couldn't sound as terrifying as I, even if your soul depended on it." He commented in a growl. "On 'Official Guardian Business' again, Jack?"
"No." Jack replied sarcastically, perching on the top of his staff. "I just love coming to visit you, because you're such good company." Pitch gave a resigned sigh, lazily opening his eyes to stare blankly at the ceiling of the cave. "What do you want?"
Jack hopped off his staff, leaning against the wall and putting his free hand in his hoodie pocket absentmindedly as he dodged the question. "Having bad dreams? Y'know...-" Pitch interrupted before Jack could finish. "If you've come to play therapist, then I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you. I'm not going to play any of your silly games."
There was a pause in which Jack didn't know how to reply, so Pitch took the opportunity. "If that's all you came to do, I strongly suggest you leave, for your own benefit."
Jack walked over to Pitch's laying form, sitting down next to him as though he hadn't heard a word he'd just said. "Did you know that you talk in your sleep? So,...who's Emily?" Pitch's eyes widened a little at the mention of the name, it sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"I...don't know any 'Emily', now please leave." He grumbled in response, unconsciously gripping the locket tighter. "I have plenty things pestering me already without your help." Jack raised an eyebrow, making no move to get up. "You mean the fearlings? They're not here now, are they? They disappeared when you woke up."
Pitch snapped at Jack, turning his face to the guardian in a threatening snarl, the grip on his locket loosening intentionally, to avoid cracking it further. "They are always here, Jack. They never leave." Jack glanced nervously at the empty cages as the realization dawned on him.
He had to be sure.
He had to be completely certain. Before Pitch even knew what was happening, Jack reached out and took the locket straight from Pitch's hand, quickly opening it to look at the picture inside before Pitch snatched it back. It was true.
It was the same girl from the story. The guard's daughter that had been left behind so that he could protect the Golden Age.
That was Emily.
