A/n: This chapter contains no bacon.

Also, I have been trying for a number of months to write this on my phone, and that plan failed horribly. I shall never try it again. Have you ever tried typing a full-length chapter on an iPhone? It doesn't work so well in theory. Especially less so in practice. I owe everyone a very deep apology. I didn't mean to not update this story for six or so months, it just kinda happened like that. I have every intention of finishing this story soon. And hopefully not in the way you expect, you death loving, hero-reborn fanatics. I assure you, no death occurs in this fic.

.:25:.

"Sophie..."

Breath tickled against the girl's ear, and reluctantly she stirred. Her green eyes slid open to peer into the darkness of her bedroom, and she caught sight of a shadowy form hovering near the bed.

"Sophie." The voice came more urgently, and Sophie sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Hmm..?" Sophie hummed wearily, then blinked up at the Tooth Fairy.

"Sophie, what on Earth is this?" Tooth demanded.

Bright purple eyes met hers, and she was jolted awake by the sudden understanding. Tooth obviously knew what the two teeth resting in her palm were, Sophie understood that she needed to know what they'd been doing under her pillow. She sat up in the bed and let her feet thump tiredly onto the floor.

"Jack got in a fight with Pitch…" She started slowly, letting Tooth absorb her words.

The Tooth Fairy gazed at her with worry, but nodded and urged her to continue. Sophie sighed.

"Jack… Well, Pitch was outside the house, and Jack went after him. He was behind what happened with Jamie, but when I asked him about it he just said he only did what Jamie had wanted. It didn't seem like he had really meant to hurt anybody…" Sophie's voice was rushed and unsure, and Tooth narrowed her eyes a little as thoughts of Pitch rose in her mind.

"Jack knocked out his teeth, then he just left. I want to know what Pitch was up to, and you're the only one that can see." Sophie gestured towards the teeth in Tooth's hands, and the fairy looked down at them with distaste.

"I didn't even know I could see him until I noticed him outside in the street. He didn't look anything like what I thought he would. No one ever wants to talk about him, but the man I saw didn't look like he was bent on destruction. Tooth, he looked… beaten." Sophie's voice was soft, and Tooth sighed heavily.

"Sophie, I-" Tooth's voice faltered.

"Please. If nothing else, we need to know what he's done to Jamie." Sophie sounded so sure, Tooth bit her lip and stared down at the teeth.

Tooth didn't want to see Pitch's memories. She didn't want to know what it felt like to be him. She wanted to fly home and put the teeth in the deepest, darkest corner of her palace and forget they were there, but she knew Sophie was right. Tooth loved this family too much to ignore it, and if Pitch had done something to Jamie, she had an obligation to do whatever she could to help them.

Tooth closed her eyes and tried to fight back the growing knot of dread in her stomach. Her fingers tightened around the teeth, and she turned slowly to sit on the bed beside Sophie, her gossamer wings coming to a stop as she focused on the task at hand.

Tooth let out a shaky breath and opened her eyes. She was standing in Pitch's dark underground lair. Water dripped from somewhere high above her, and the thick droplets hit the floor with a heavy plop. It was the only sound she heard, and her feathers ruffled a little as her discomfort. It was the most miserable place in the world, as far as she cared to know, and she'd be glad to escape these memories.

Tooth took a few steps forward, then realized in sudden shock that Pitch was laying on the floor at her feet. She had nearly stepped on him in the darkness, and she paused as she eyed his still form. She was well aware that he couldn't see her there, being in his memories was like watching a movie of the events. Still, being so close to any form of him made her uncomfortable.

Curiosity tugged her toward him, and she leaned forward to see what he was doing just laying on the floor. He was on his side, his eyes open and peering sightlessly into the darkness. Tooth thought at first that he might be dead, but then he let out a long, weary breath.

Tooth stepped back and shivered. The scene before her wasn't exactly helpful, she'd always known Pitch was miserably lonely. Willing the memory forward, she looked for something that could give her a clue as to what had happened with Jamie. Pitch's memories flew by before her as she shuffled through them, and she stopped when she saw Jack Frost. Any memory having to do with Jack was an interesting one, and she watched curiously.

Jack was floating a little aimlessly along the sidewalk, taking a lazy moment to touch something and watch it freeze solid. A giggle sounded behind him, and he glanced back to smile happily at Sophie. Tooth drew her hands to her chest almost defensively when she realize Pitch had been watching them from the shadows of a house.

She turned very slowly to see Pitch standing beside her, his face twisted with a mixture of pain and longing. He leaned heavily against the siding of the house and stared at the two teenagers with unblinking eyes.

Tooth looked back up to see Jack land soundlessly on the icy sidewalk, then dart forward to wrap one arm around behind Sophie's back and pull her close. Pitch sneered at the young couple and turned to vanish into the shadows. Tooth hugged herself uncomfortably, but moved the memory forward as the horribly dark lair appeared again.

She shuffled further through the memories, growing more and more worried at the number of memories she found where Pitch seemed to be lurking and watching Jack. She let the memories play out for a moment as she studied Pitch's face. He looked like he was in real pain, like the very sight of Jack was killing him. Tooth tried to make sense of it, but Jack's voice interrupted her thoughts.

She turned to see him standing in the backyard of Sophie's house. He was talking to Jamie, who appeared to be trying to get Jack to follow him. Jack gave Jamie a helpless little shrug, said something, then turned to meet Sophie as she bounded out the backdoor of the house. Jack put an arm around her shoulders, then they walked off down the street. Tooth put a hand to her mouth in concern as her eyes darted back to Jamie. He looked hurt, and put his headphones on rather stiffly as he stared after the young couple.

Tooth glanced over to see Pitch sneering after Jack, then the man turned his gaze toward Jamie with slight interest. His sneer faded away to a disapproving frown, then went blank for a few moments as something about Jamie seemed to catch his attention. Tooth realized she was watching Pitch read Jamie's fear, and apparently Jamie was afraid of something that Pitch thought was intriguing.

"Oh, Jack…" Tooth sighed sadly.

The next few memories seemed to be of Pitch watching Jamie go about his day. Tooth was disappointed to see how miserable Jamie looked, and Pitch had an unreadable expression on his face as he observed the boy. Tooth stared at the man for a few minutes before it finally clicked, and she realized Pitch was feeling pity for Jamie.

Of course, now that she thought about, it made sense. Jack had hardly had time to do his Guardian duties, much less juggle spending time with Sophie and hanging out with Jamie. Things might have been different if Jack and Sophie hadn't been a couple, but with the way things were even if the three teens spent time together, Jamie would still feel like a third wheel.

Tooth suddenly realized what Pitch was doing. He was lonely, and he knew Jack was the only Guardian that knew what it was like to be alone. He was watching Jack because for so long, he had been just as alone and miserable as Pitch, and now he had a family and friends. He had become a Guardian and everything had changed for him, and Pitch wanted that too. He wanted companionship, he wanted to know what it was like to have a friend. And here he was watching Jack turn away from his best friend because of a girl.

Tooth shuddered and smoothed her feathers down a bit. She wasn't done yet, and she jumped forward to a scene where Jamie was walking home. His phone rang, and this time she was close enough to hear him speak.

"Hey!" He stopped walking and pressed the phone to his ear, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.

"Um, well I had plans tonight. I was gonna take my friend out to that old haunted mill." His smile slowly fell and he actually glanced around for a moment, then scoffed in fake disbelief.

"Of course I don't believe in ghosts, that's stupid." His voice sounded confident, but he looked crestfallen.

Tooth turned sadly to gaze up at Pitch, and something in his eyes told her he was disappointed in something he felt in Jamie.

Jamie mumbled a goodbye, then shoved his phone in his pocket and stared down at the sidewalk. He was thinking hard about something, and Tooth noticed Pitch narrowing his eyes at the boy. The Nightmare King abruptly turned and melded into the shadows, and Tooth waded through more thick memories.

She stopped suddenly on a peaceful view of a meadow. She gazed out at a sparkling, half-frozen river, then her eyes fell on two children laughing and playing together. Tooth's gaze softened as she watched the children. Something caught her eye, and she turned toward the river in time to see a toddler wandering dangerously close to the water's icy edge.

The tiny girl wobbled slightly on her young, unsure feet, and Tooth cried out in fear as she rushed forward reflexively to stop the girl from tumbling into the water. Before she could reach her, a shadowy figure began to emerge from the water, the Tooth stared in horror as Pitch rose up and gave the small girl a wicked grin.

"Boo." He murmured in a vicious hiss, and the small child shrieked in terror and fell back on her tiny butt.

Pitch let out a laugh as the girl shrieked in fear and stumbled to her feet to run back into the meadow toward her siblings. Tooth's hands flew to her mouth in shock, and though disgust roiled inside her, she was thankful for what he'd done. He sank back below the water's surface as the little girl screamed and sobbed incoherently about the Boogeyman. Tooth hugged herself as she was pulled into the next memory.

Wanting to end this as quickly as possible, Tooth sped things up and found another scene in which Jamie was sleeping in his room. Pushing aside the slight nausea, Tooth looked over at Pitch. He seemed to be deep in thought, and was watching the young man with a mixture of pity and regret. He let out a rather shaky sigh, then stepped forward from the deep shadows of the room to stand beside the bed.

"So much fear of the future. I thought you'd never be afraid of anything." Pitch's silky voice drifted along Tooth's spine like ice, and she shivered violently.

"The boy who brought about my downfall… Perhaps tonight, this fear is a gift." Pitch murmured almost thoughtfully to himself, then reached forward and brushed his fingertips through Jamie's hair.

The boy immediately grimaced in his sleep, his grip tightening on the covers as he twisted in the bed. He cried out in a sleep-muffled voice, and Tooth shook her head and turned away, refusing to watch.

"I can't take any more." She breathed, then pulled herself free of Pitch's memories.

Sophie was watching Tooth with worry when she returned to herself. Breathing deeply, Tooth fought back the shiver lingering along her skin and turned to give Sophie a rather empty smile of reassurance. The girl didn't push for answers, she simply waited patiently as Tooth gathered herself and carefully set the teeth down on Sophie's nightstand.

"I think… I think Jamie did want to forget about us." Tooth said a little shakily. Sophie's gaze drifted down to her hands folded neatly in her lap and she nodded in understanding.

"It wasn't exactly clear, it would have been better to see Jamie's memories. But… from what I saw, Pitch seemed to want to help him. I think Jamie got to the point where he wanted to grow up and move on, but his belief was too strong to let him. It seems to me that Pitch gave him the push of fear he needed to convince himself we weren't real… so he could grow up." Tooth's voice softened sadly, and Sophie leaned over to rest her head on the fairy's shoulder.

Tooth reached over to wrap her arms around the girl affectionately, but as her fingers touched the thick blue fabric of the hoodie Tooth sat back and stared at Sophie in surprise.

"Is that Jack's hoodie?" Tooth asked in sudden alarm. Sophie blushed and nodded.

"Uh, yeah… I asked him if I could wear it and he tossed it at me." Sophie said sheepishly.

"So, wherever he is…" Tooth's voice trailed off and she couldn't help the amused smile.

"He's shirtless." Sophie finished for her, looking a little guilty.