Jack listened to the Wind as he leaned against a glacier wall. She sang for him as she surged across the tundra, begging him to forgive and return to the others.
It wasn't going to happen, and the Wind knew it.
Jack wasn't even talking to her, and he usually never shut up. A crystalline film covered his clothes and hair, giving him a beautiful but dangerous gleam. Dark blue eyes stared blankly over the barren landscape. It absorbed him into its cold, hard lifelessness. He closed his eyes.
"Mind if I join you?"
Jack growled, and his eyes flicked open to glare at the slender black demon only a few yards away. His knuckles cracked audibly as his hands into fists. Pitch flinched at the reaction.
"Just a thought," he said as he sat down. "We're both alone. May as well be alone together."
"You're alone. I'm with a friend."
Pitch made a show of looking around. "Really? Who might that be?"
"The Wind. Now buzz off before I make you," Jack rumbled.
Pitch laughed. "Oh, that fickle, old girl? You may want to put her on a leash. The Wind is a free spirit, Jack, and she'll abandon you when it best suits her."
The Wind whipped around wildly, and Jack nodded.
"She's never let me down," he said. "Not in 300 years."
"Is that so? She's never dropped you?"
"We were playing."
She's never argued with you?"
"We disagree, but-."
"And I'm sure she didn't tell Tooth about your little hiding spot."
Jack's heart sank as the Wind fell silent and still.
"You told her?" Jack hissed softly.
A soft apologetic breeze brushed his cheek, telling him it was for his own good. He punched the side of the glacier.
"It wasn't your decision!" he shouted. "That was my lake, and now I can never go back there!"
"For shame, Wind," said Pitch with a tsk.
"You stay out of this! This whole thing is your fault," screamed Jack.
"My fault? I saved you from an eternity being Mim's puppet."
Jack returned to growling, saying, "It wasn't that bad."
"'Not that bad?' Please," Pitch said as he rose. "If you think I'm a nightmare, you can't imagine what he's like. I've met him, and, believe me, he's pretentious and naïve. You would have been miserable."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because I was."
Jack narrowed his eyes at Pitch, who sighed and began to pace around the ice shelf.
"Jack, if anyone can understand me, it's you. I used to be just like you. Brave. Adventurous. Reckless. Stupid. I let my guard down for one moment, and lost everything. I have been alone for six thousand years. Three hundred is nothing. The minute I wasn't useful, I was cast aside. It isn't worth it, Jack."
Jack clutched his head in pain. A pulsing in his brain filled his mind like poison. Every rude word from Bunnymund echoed in his ears. Every frustrated glance from North surfaced in his thoughts. Every night spent staring at the moon, wondering what he was doing wrong, punched him in the stomach. Something hot ran down his cheeks.
Pitch smiled. It took longer than anticipated, but the charcoal tears streaking Jack's face confirmed his corruption. Pitch examined his own nails, still stained black from his own 'moment of weakness.' Oh, the power and freedom that came after, though! Sure, it was difficult to keep people believing, but every so often, a gem like Isabella came along to keep him strong. Oh, how he missed her…
His reminiscing stopped as Jack straightened up again. His skin looked slightly blue against white clothes. Solid black eyes replaced his former blues. The waves of cold that rolled off of Jack forced a shiver out of Pitch as he extended a hand.
"To whom do I owe the pleasure?" he asked.
The boy formerly called Jack thought for a moment, then took Pitch's hand.
"Call me Vortex."
"Love it. It gives me chills."
"You ain't seen nothing yet."
Leah Mary Fischer