Wow. ok so I know its been over a year, but now that I'm officially done with high school I figured I should probably continue this. I'm soooo sorry for the long wait but here you go. I'll try to be quick about these posts. Anyways enjoy!


Jack kept his eyes trained on Pitch, who in turn glared at the winter spirit, his yellow eyes burning with anger and agitation. Jack titled his head slightly, inspecting the boogeyman at a better angle. With his posture as hunched as it was, the Nightmare King didn't look quite as intimidating as he had before, the shadows around him didn't look as dark, but Jack knew not to underestimate Pitch. The dark spirit might look weak and vulnerable, but he would probably not even hesitate to attack if given the chance.

"I see the Guardians have yet to trust you completely."

The comment caught Jack off guard, he blinked in confusion before narrowing his eyes,

"What are you talking about?"

Pitch sneered, "You are as blind as you are foolish." and with that he turned and walked into the woods. Jack, realizing that Pitch was leaving, hurried to catch up with him before he could disappear.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? North said to stay there."

The winter spirit called indignantly. The boogeyman ignored him, and slunk deeper into the woods. Jack moved to block Pitch's path, staff leveled directly at his chest,

"I said stop."

Pitch did stop, but only to glare at the winter spirit blocking his way.

"Well, aren't a good little pet? Heeding to the commands of those Guardians."

The staff glowed blue with power as Jack tightened his grip, he glared at the dark man in front of him trying to ignore his words. He couldn't let Pitch get in his head, not after that time in Antarctica.

"We still have questions for you Pitch." That was plain and simple. Pitch growled,

"I have no answers to offer to you or the other Guardians." he spit out and tried to step around Jack, only to have the staff pushed back into his chest.

"Don't even think about it." Jack kept his staff steady, ready to act in case the boogeyman decided to make a break for it. He didn't like that they were standing in the middle of a dark forest, the moon covered by clouds. Pitch's eyes narrowed dangerously,

"Don't test me, Frost. I may be weak, but I can still-" he trailed off, letting the threat hang in the air.

"You can still what? What you can do, is tell me what's been going on." Jack pushed the subject, trying to squeeze out any information he could.

"I already told you, I do not have anything to do with this scheme!" Pitch hissed and swatted the staff out of his way, wasting no time in walking away from the winter spirit, who -much to the boogeyman's annoyance- followed.

"Ok, so maybe you're not planning anything, but you must know something." Jack stated, determined to stall the Nightmare King long enough for the Guardians to come back, speaking of which where are they? He heard a growled response,

"Don't you have fun to spread?"

"Not until tomorrow, no."

"Go away." the warning did little to sway the winter spirit, it made him even more positive that the dark man knew something.

Jack kept his senses on high alert, in case something other than the two of them happened to be lurking around in the woods. He just hoped that the Guardians managed to catch up with the Groundhog and would get back soon, despite his weakened state Pitch was still very unnerving to be around. The silence of the night was also something that was putting Jack on edge, not even the ever present Wind made a sound.

Jack must have been too caught up in his thoughts to notice that Pitch had stopped and turned until he almost ran straight into him, that would have been a disturbing experience. With a small gasp, the winter spirit broke to a sudden stop, stepping back to see the dark man glaring at him yet again.

"You are really pushing it." he said in a low tone, his patience reaching its end. But the winter spirit was yet to show any sign of leaving him alone, instead he looked even more determined than ever to keep pestering the dark man.

"You shouldn't have left back there, could have avoided all of this if you had just stayed put."

Jack knew he was pushing Pitch's temper, but he just needed to buy a few more minutes, surely the Guardians would be coming back now.

"It was so much better when you weren't in the picture." Pitch was aiming for anything that would get winter spirit to leave him alone, but nothing was working so far

"I could say the same about you."

That was it. With a final growl, Pitch threw a long shadow at the winter spirit. Jack easily evaded the attack, it was really a pathetic attempt at an attack, but the distraction was all Pitch needed to slink into the shadows of the trees and try to get away.

Jack looked around wildly, trying to identify the Nightmare King in the wide expanse of darkness around him. A slight twitch of movement at the corner of his eye caught the winter spirit's attention, he rushed after it, narrowly dodging trees.

He stopped in an area that seemed darker than at any other place in the woods.

"Pitch! I know you know what's going on!" he yelled into the darkness, his voice echoing around him. The smooth voice of the boogeyman resonated through the darkness,

"And what if I do, I surely won't just tell you. What do I owe to the Guardians for putting me in this miserable state?"

Pitch stepped out of the shadows again, his eyes spiteful and angry

"Why should I help you at all?"

Jack gripped his staff tightly, he had to remind himself to keep calm and to keep his mouth shut, the last thing he needed now was to offend the dark spirit.

"Look Pitch, you said it yourself, you would gladly destroy those Nightmares if you had the chance. If you help us, the chance is all yours."

"You really think that will get me to help you?" Pitch scoffed, he gestured around with a sweep of his hand. "Those Guardians would never allow me enough power to destroy those Nightmares. Now I ask again, why should I help you?"

Jack held still for a moment, Pitch watching him with a dark amusement in his gaze. This wasn't good and Jack knew it. It was already hard enough keeping himself from saying too much, and every moment he spent with the Boogeyman he felt more and more confused and willing to speak just to fill the tense silence. He just shrugged at Pitch.

"As I thought," the dark man spoke in a low voice, "pathetic." He made as if to leave, but Jack moved to block his path again.

"Whoa, whoa. You're not going anywhere." Jack felt anger rising in himself, he kept his staff leveled at Pitch's chest.

"You think you can just walk away when you clearly know something about what's going on? No. You're staying." His voice was stern, but much to his indignation, Pitch smirked crudely.

"You think just because you're a Guardian now that you're anymore powerful or important? You're just a child who's been alone and unsupervised for too long." He spat hatefully, his eyes wild. "I will tell you one last time. Let. Me. Leave."

Jack glared at Pitch, the dark spirit's words tumbling around his head. Anger surged in him and before he could stop himself, he sent a blast of ice straight at the Boogeyman. Pitch jerked back and fell to the frozen ground with an angry cry. The dark spirit began to rise to his hands and knees, intent on launching himself at the winter spirit, when he felt the blasted staff push his head back harshly. He met the winter spirit's eyes, burning yellow to ice cold blue.

"Watch yourself Pitch, the Guardians may have just vanished you this time, but I don't think they'd be too happy if you kept important information from them."

Jack's voice was low but strong. His eyes were hard and narrowed. Pitch observed the winter spirit before him. The rigid posture, ready to fight, the cold, determined eyes. This wasn't the childish, immature spirit Jack usually was. This was the side of the winter spirit that had been all alone for the past three hundred years. This was the angry and hurt child that was always buried beneath laughter and glee. Pitch smirked, this side of the winter spirit was much more entertaining.

"I don't think the Guardians would be too happy to see that you lost your temper so easily, now don't you agree?" the dark spirit muttered, noticing how a moderate amount of snow had begun to fall.

"How disappointed would they be to find that you've messed up a simple order to keep an eye on me?"

Pitch's eyes glowed feverishly as he saw the winter spirit tighten his hold on the staff, as the wind picked up a little more. When he got no answer from the winter spirit before him, the dark spirit huffed,

"And I still notice that you call them The Guardians. You still don't consider yourself a Guardian? I don't. I bet you they don't eith-"

Pitch's words were cut off as a blast of ice sealed his mouth shut. The dark spirit's hands flew to his face while he glared fully at the smaller spirit before him. Jack feigned interest,

"Oops. What was that you were saying?"

His anger surged and he forced himself to his feet, only to immediately fall back as a blast force his feet together. His hands were frozen to one another as well, and he glared up at Jack from the ground. The winter spirit looked amused, the storm around them calming down to a light flurry. Jack began to walk slowly around the prone Boogeyman.

"Ok, now that you won't be going anywhere. What do you have to do with what's going on?" Jack asked, mostly just voicing his thoughts. He continued to walk around.

"So we know that the Nightmares aren't just attacking by themselves." Pitch followed the spirit with his eyes, anger radiating off his weakened body.

"Maybe one of the Nightmares became like their leader or something and wants to get rid of all of the other spirits." Jack looked to Pitch for confirmation but only got a steady glare. The winter spirit rolled his eye and continued to talk.

"Hmm, what- or who- can be controlling them? And why take all the spirits..." Jack trailed off as he heard a crash and a shout come from the woods around him.

"Aye Snowflake! Talking to ya'self I see." Bunnymund said as he hoped off the Sleigh as it crashed to the ground. The other Guardians were there too, North untangling his hands from the reins, Tooth and Sandy trying to calm the frantic Groundhog who was shaking in the back.

"Just coming up with ideas of what can possibly be making the Nightmares attack other spirits." Jack said with a shrug. Bunny raised an eyebrow and gestured to the Boogeyman who laid incapacitated on the ground.

"Would'n it be easier if 'e was talkin'?"

"He wasn't being helpful, and he kept trying to get away. You guys did say to keep him here." Jack tried to play off his still present agitation with the dark spirit.

"At least he still here!" North exclaimed as he bounded over. "Hmmm, we take back to the pole now." He said as he rubbed his thick beard. Jack's jaw dropped.

"Wha-what!? Are you seriously suggesting we bring Pitch back to the Workshop?" Jack asked astonished. He couldn't have heard right. They clearly weren't just going to bring-

"Yes! We tie him up and bring back. He has answers and the sun is setting. We must not be out here in dark. More easy for the Nightmares to get us."

Jack stared in shock, he looked down at Pitch and noticed the dark spirit's equal disbelief. The winter spirit shook his head,

"North, you can't just bring him to the pole-"

"Sorry Jack. Is not good idea but leaving him when he have answers is worse idea." The large Russian looked apologetically at the winter spirit. Bunnymund shook his head too,

"North, I gotta agre' with tha snowflake here. This ain't a good idea, mate."

North just shook his head. Going to the sleigh and pulling out some silver chains and bringing them back to where Pitch lay.

"Is the only plan we have so far. We have no other idea." North began to weave the chains around the Boogeyman's arms and legs, immobilizing him for good. When he was done he hauled the dark spirit to his feet.

"Come now, it be getting very dark. To the Pole we must go!" The Russian bellowed and moved to his sleigh.

Jack gripped his staff tightly, frozen to his spot. He felt on edge and the dark woods around him were not helping. He kept feeling as though the shadows by the trees were moving. Something was very wrong, and Jack felt like bringing the spirit of fear to the North Pole would only end badly.

"C'mon Snowflake, we gotta go!" Bunny's voice snapped the winter spirit out of his stupor, and with a hesitant glance around him, Jack got into the sleigh and headed back to the North Pole.