"Well, if you came here looking for a frightened kid to scare, you're outta luck. I'm not scared of you and I get the feeling I'm a couple hundred years too old to be considered a child, so, better luck next time, huh?"

I will have better luck next time, but I'm beginning to think this is exactly where I needed to be. I lean forward, stopping only inches from his face. "Not scared of me, are you? Then...why exactly do you look like you're about to fly away in terror? " He looks away, avoiding my gaze as much as he can in this position. Ah, there that scent is. How very pleasant, that's a nice little change of pace. Although, I can't say I enjoy that he's trying to protect me like I'm one of the defenseless children he supposedly guards. He fears his power.

"I-I-.I was just thinking that there was a snowless city with my name on it in California, and, you know, I hardly ever go there, so the kids would just love it."

I suppose that mystery is solved, then. I back off and give him the space he wants. I could probably tell him why his powers acted up against his will, but it wouldn't help him stop it from happening, and I rather enjoy the scent, so there's no need to mention it. There is, however, still the matter of his seemingly never ending pit of fear that he will forever be doomed to be ignored, and that is not a fear I have a taste for, it's a bit too close to my own for comfort. It sets me on edge. "I'm sure. That's not why I'm here. You can't hide it for long, so just tell me, why are you so very, very afraid? I haven't sensed this kind of fear from you in a long time, why waver now?"

Jack gives up his humorous facade, having realized what brought me here. "It's no big deal. This happens all the time. Kids stop believing when they get older, that's how it is...I just thought that Jamie, somehow, that he would at least hold onto it for a bit longer, y'know?"

He looks at me pleadingly as though I would understand, but I don't. I've never connected with any of the people I've scared, and I don't plan to. I'm old enough to have seen the rise and fall of more than one Golden Age, I'm old enough to know not to get emotionally involved with those doomed to die without a moment's notice.

After a few seconds of waiting for me to respond, he drops his expression. "You don't. Why am I even telling you this? You don't even care. You just want to know my fears, so you can exploit them later. That's not helpful, and I don't need to deal with you right now. Leave me alone." He turns around and sits down, letting his legs dangle off the edge of the iceberg's cliff as he puts up his hood. How childish.

"I don't understand." I startle as Pitch speaks from his seat right next to me. I hadn't heard him sitting down or even approaching in the first place. I kinda thought he left through the shadows or something. "This is the second time you have told me to leave you alone when you fear actually being left alone. The fear I felt from you after I did just what you asked back then was so intense and revolting that I was glad my lair was underground where your fears were nothing but a distant ache compared to the millions upon millions of children who were in terror at my power. I'd rather not deal with that again until I have more children's fears to hide behind first, but I appreciate the offer."

"What, like my fear is any more disgusting than their's?" I don't look at him. I don't want him to see my face right now.

"It is. Their fears are pure and beautifully fleeting, but your fear of being alone and ignored has been nurtured by your experiences over time, and morphed into a more long term fear that doesn't bode well with me. Your fear is old and bitter and I find that it's even more revolting now than it was before the fearlings left me. Perhaps they were feeding on it and giving me the remains, perhaps you simply fear more now than you did before because of your own experience with the shadows. I don't know."

I do feel different. I have since that...thing, whatever, shadow collective left me. Just a little thing, I can't even tell what it is, but it's weird that I haven't noticed it until now. "Do the shadows change you?" I ask, curious when I hear the strangest sound I think I will ever hear. Pitch laughs, and it doesn't even sound malicious. He sounds like he honestly thinks what I just said was the funniest thing. I can't help but turn my head and stare in amazement as he quickly calms down and goes back to his usual gloomy demeanor.

"They seemed to change Kozmotis, but he's gone now so there's no telling what that time in the darkness felt like for him. I, on the other hand, was created as a manifestation of the fearlings and Kozmotis' body combining. The fearlings used me as a medium between their malicious will and the parts of Kozmotis' mind that were left empty when he retreated into the subconscious in order to survive. So, I cannot have been changed by the shadows. That's not what you're really asking, though. You want to know if you're affected, so let me ease your mind on that one thing. You are."

Oh. "How much? What does that mean? Care to elaborate on this very upsetting revelation you've given me?"

"Not really. Do you care to elaborate on why we're here?"

I sigh and turn back to the endless white snow, away from Pitch. "You'll tell me if I tell you, is that it? ...Jamie can't see me anymore. I don't know what happened...I..." This is stupid. I don't get why he's even still here, much less listening to me as though it matters what I say. It doesn't. Telling him about it, crying, getting angry, nothing will bring back Jamie's belief in me. There's no point.

Pitch didn't say anything, and for a bit, I was hoping he was gonna just walk away. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with not knowing how to tell him that I'm just so tired of going through everyone, of being unseen, of being ignored like I don't matter. I want to exist. Can't I exist? Don't I have a right to that, at least? It feels like I don't, considering that hardly anyone ever acts like I do.

But instead of disappearing through the shadows, Pitch awkwardly puts his hand on my back in a gesture that was more awkward than actually comforting.

Well, that was unexpected. It takes me a moment to even process it, I'm not used to being touched and it's pretty obvious that this isn't a common thing for him, either. Does he even realize what he's doing? Is this really Pitch Black, or is Koz somehow back from the dead?

I wait a beat. The hand is still there. As weird a thing this is, it's nice. For a moment, I just let myself soak it in, but then I get the best idea ever. Or the worst idea ever, depending on who you're talking to, but I just can't resist pushing his boundaries I mean he's totally asking to be taken advantage of. Totally.

Jack abruptly stands up and out of my gesture of comfort. And just when I was starting to get used to it. Oh well, saves me the trouble. I wasn't that into the idea of trying to comfort him anyway. I was just trying to make his fear stop and I know that's what usually works for parents and their kids, though Jack is hardly a child.

"Hug."

I blink in confusion. Hug. Hug? Is he- he's asking me to hug him. Is he serious? He's serious. This is way beyond my comforting ability. "Go find North, I'm sure he'd be delighted."

He frowns. "C'mon, Pitch. That's like forever away. Don't tell me you're gonna make me fly all that way."

"I could bring you with me and shadow travel."

"But I don't want a hug from North. He's way too big, he crushes my bones."

"No."

He sighs in frustration and I can feel his fear of being alone spike up. Is he seriously using his fears to manipulate me into hugging him? I'm the boogeyman, I'm the one who uses fear to manipulate, not him. What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this? Does he even realize that's what he's doing?

This feels horrible. I have to either leave now, or do as he asks. If I leave, his fear will only get stronger.

As much as I really don't care, I do. Blasted Frost. I glare at him in silence for a good ten seconds before shadow travelling behind him and wrapping my arms around his chest. He tries to turn around to hug back, but I pull him in tighter to prevent it.

"Don't you dare."

"What, so you can hug me, but I can't return it? That isn't fair."

"No, it isn't. That's the way it is."

"Why?"

"I can't stand hugs, they're far too mushy. I have a reputation to uphold."

"What do you call what you're doing, then?"

"As long as you don't wrap your arms around me, I'm just holding you. Prisoner. I'm holding you prisoner until further notice. I'll send my ransom note to the other guardians when I'm not busy ensuring you don't escape."

"I guess that's as good an excuse as any." He leans back, pressing himself into me as he raises his hand to hold onto the only part of me he can reach, my arm. "Works for me."

For a while, we just stand there like that, not saying a word. I'm not sure how long exactly, but enough that I can feel Jack's temperature rising to meet my own. He's probably burning up, but he doesn't seem to care.

I'm the first to break the silence. "The fearlings will come back some day, you know. As powerful as the rabbit's magic is, the fearlings will come back alive. They always do. They'll look for you. For both of us. They're not the kind to just let things go. We'll have to be ready for them."

"Has anyone ever told you that you suck at being comforting?"

"I'm the bogeyman, I don't do comfort. I'm not comforting you." I let him go and he holds on to my sleeve for a bit, reluctant to end it. I feel his fear spike as I step away and towards the shadows and I sigh in resignation. "Are you coming? I assume you'll be wanting to be there to comfort him after I scare the pants off your first believer."

His fear calms down as he looks at me in confusion. "But, I told you, he can't see me anymo-"

Before he can finish his sentence, we're racing through the shadows.