Chapter 10

Jack was thoroughly tired of Pitch. They had destroyed him once, so why couldn't he stay that way? And of course, Jack voiced his frustrations.

"Why don't you just stay dead?" Jack growled, waving his staff around, trying to hit Pitch with a nice blast of jagged ice.

"Because there is always fear," Pitch chuckled deeply, dodging all of Jack's attacks. "And when there is fear, I am king. And Frosty, you should see me in a crown."

"Let's take this up into the sky, why don't we?" Jack taunted, flitting farther and farther up in the air. In truth, Jack just needed Pitch to move further away from Jamie's house. It was the worst thing that could happen to Jack, losing his only best friend in how many centuries? Besides Elsa, of course, but Jack didn't think about that. No, actually, that was a lie, he thought about her all the time.

Pitch took the bait, spiralling up towards Jack as he drew him away from Jamie's hometown. "You might be a king, but you're the king of stupidity," Jack snarked, hoping to rile Pitch up to make a mistake.

But Pitch had learned over the years that becoming angry didn't buy him anything. More often than not, it caused him to lose to this pathetic excuse of a Guardian. And that wasn't a mistake that Pitch was willing to make this time. This time, his teamwork with Elsa would pay off. He was sure of it. Going after all the children in the world by himself last time hadn't worked. The Guardians had a new addition, so it was time to bring out his pet. The Guardians had their dream-team, now it was his turn, a nightmare-team. Jack wouldn't be able to stop him this time.

But could he get Jack to become angry? To become hotheaded and lose his cool?

"You know Jack, for being hundreds of years old, you're still nothing compared to the rest of us. What are you doing, being a Guardian? You're not going to do anything, you just get in the way," Pitch sneered.

"I help people!" Jack gritted his teeth as he barely dodged a fear arrow.

"Hah!" Pitch laughed sardonically. "You help people. How many of them know that you even exist? You'll never be like North, or Tooth. And she's a fairy, for nightmares' sake!"

Jack started to lose his concentration, and Pitch pressed his advantage.

"Oh Jack Frost. No one believes in you."

"That's not true! Jamie believes in me! His sister, Sophie believes in me-"

"You know, knowing the kids' names doesn't help your case at all," Pitch curled his lip as he fired off arrows rapidly towards the irritating teenager. "That tells people that there are only a few people who believe in you - you can remember all their names! With your brain, that's only, what, ten kids? Out of how many millions?"

"Stop it!" Jack cried, his reactions slower and his attacks less frequent. "Stop it now! At least I'm loved, when all anyone ever does is fear you!"

"People fear you, too," Pitch grinned. "I've had a little project going. The kids, the lights that are going out? The ones that stop believing? It's not just the fact that they don't believe in the Guardians anymore, but their hearts are frozen, snapped in two. You know whose name we've done that in?"

"STOP!" Jack said frantically, knowing the answer.

"Yours," Pitch grinned maliciously. "They fear you, Jack Frost. They've been iced. It's your time to be feared."