Another update! Woo!
Alrighty, this is at the request of SonYukiGoku'sSister, who read my mind about the Pitch thing. This is only a beginning - but a change like this isn't something that happens quickly or overnight. So it'll be working progress :P
On a side note, I went and made a change to Mother Nature's description in chapter 15 (Mother's Day - which I'm pretty sure is the only chapter I described her in) to make her resemble the actual Mother Nature who is canon in the book series. (At the time I didn't even know there was a canon MN)
Disclaimer: Don't own
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Empathy for a Frozen Heart
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Jack bit back a sigh as he stared up at the moon from the branch he was lying on. It felt like so long ago now that he'd become a Guardian, and yet the memory was still fresh in his mind. And alongside those memories was the thought that whispered if Pitch hadn't felt the need to strike back, he would still be alone. He'd taken to smothering that voice whenever it felt the need to comment.
But alongside that voice came another one; one that made him wonder what would have happened if Pitch hadn't gone crazy (well, crazier). Because whether he liked it or not, he and the Boogieman weren't so different. They both knew what it was like to be alone, unseen and unable to reach out. And Jack could somehow tell that what Pitch had said down in Antarctica hadn't been the manipulative lies he liked to spill; they had been the truth. He really had longed for a family and really did want Jack to be that family.
So, did that mean that if he'd stayed alone – continued to be ignored and neglected – that he too would have ended up like that? How must it feel to be so alone and unwanted that you felt like you had to attack and degrade others just to make yourself feel better.
Jack was unnerved because it could have been him. He could have been the one to finally snap and attack the very beings who had neglected him; the precious chosen ones of the same moon who had abandoned him for so long. It could have been him. And that was more than a little hard to swallow.
Unbidden, Jack knew he pitied the Boogieman; empathised with him. No one deserved to be alone. Not even Pitch.
"What am I doing?" Jack groaned, pushing himself to his feet and jumping from the branch, letting the wind pick him up and carry him across the sky.
The entrance to Pitch's lair had closed after the events of that fateful Easter, but on his travels, delivering fun and snow, Jack had found it again; identified easily by the rotting bed over its entrance. The new entrance he had used a few times already; mostly to prank the shadow man. This time, it would be for something different.
"Thanks, wind," he whispered as his ever present companion deposited him by the hole. It seemed so… innocuous. It was easy to forget that this spot would lead to someone so malicious.
Biting his lip, Jack held his staff close and stepped forwards, freefalling down into the lair of the Boogieman.
The lair was just as dark and creepy as it had always been. Long shadows stretched across the walls and floors and Jack subconsciously held his staff close and defensively in case of anything that might suddenly decide to jump out at him.
So far no Nightmares or even Pitch had come to greet him, though he doubted it was because they weren't aware of his presence. Maybe he'd gone out somewhere and was just taking a while to get back? Either way he wasn't going to let his guard down.
"Frost?"
Despite being prepared for a confrontation, the sudden voice still made him flinch and he spun around, easily spotting Pitch standing in the shadows on the other side of the room.
"Surprised to see me?" Jack smirked.
"If you're referring to seeing you above water, then no," Pitch sneered, stalking casually, yet carefully towards him. "I was… alerted to that particular failing."
"And if I was referring to right now?"
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I'd been expecting you."
Jack let himself feel a little smug at that.
"The real question is what are you doing here?" Pitch continued, fading into the shadows.
"I came to talk," Jack replied, trying to figure out where the Nightmare King would show up next.
"Did you, now?" the words seemed to echo all around the chamber, coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
"Yes. So would you mind winding up the creepy show and face me?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely," Pitch's voice called from behind him.
Jack spun for what felt like the umpteenth time. Pitch was leaning lazily against the wall, but the wary, yet predatory look in his eyes told a different story. In a show of confidence and, albeit reluctant, trust, Jack lowered his staff. Pitch narrowed his eyes.
"No games, no lies, no tricks," Jack told him. "Just talk."
"What on Earth could the two of us have to talk about?" Pitch asked, his tone mocking but his gaze suspicious.
"You said it yourself; we understand each other better than I think either of us would care to admit."
Pitch stood to his full height, on alert. "The Guardians finally get tired of their new pet?" he sneered.
Jack forced himself to look away as he walked through the chamber, deliberately ignoring the comment. The iron Globe of Belief standing on display with its lights was the only colour in the room (besides him and his hoodie, of course). He stopped before it, feeling Pitch's gaze on his back.
"The truth is you don't have to be alone any more than I did."
"Oh really?" it was easy to tell from the Boogieman's tone that he was getting irritated. "Then care to explain why I've been driven to living underground, to hiding under beds and scavenging what fear I can get without you and your precious Guardians fighting me like your personal punching bag?"
Jack tilted his head to the side, glancing slightly over his shoulder. Pitch hadn't moved from his spot. "Hiding under beds is your thing, though, isn't it? That and closets – they're the darkest places in a room at night; what better place for you to sneak up on them from?" He returned his attention to the lights. "Fear isn't something that needs to be eradicated."
"Have you told this to the Guardians?" Pitch asked venomously. "I highly doubt they'd agree."
"Then they're wrong."
Three little words. And suddenly Pitch found himself without any. Jack stepped back to face the man.
"Fear is important, especially for kids. You're just too ambitious. Instead of trying to make the world a place where only fear and darkness exists, you should help the kids with it. Fear keeps them from doing things that could hurt them; it's what stops them from running out onto the road, or climbing a tree that's too tall, or getting into a car with strangers, or… or going onto a frozen lake before checking how thick the ice is."
Pitch's face was unreadable, but he wasn't rebuking what he was saying and didn't look like he was going to attack, so Jack took the opportunity to continue.
"This," he waved a hand at the Globe, "is proof that you can be so much more than what you're limiting yourself to. All Guardians have a Globe of Belief," in proof he pulled his own from around his neck. "So I think that means you were at least offered the chance to be one."
Pitch's emotionless face snapped to anger. "I am not one of those do-gooder–"
"I used to think the same thing," Jack cut across. "I'm not like them – I don't work to short deadlines and my work is more fun than hard. Not to mention back then there wasn't even a single person who could see me. But because of you I realised something. I realised that just because I'm not like them, doesn't mean I'm not a Guardian." He paused. "A Guardian is someone who protects kids, who only wants the best for them, and no matter what your centre is, as long as you strive for that you're doing a good job. Success is relative."
"I couldn't care less about those brats!" Pitch snapped, something more than irritation colouring his tone.
"I said no lies," Jack raised a brow. "That whole 'take over the world thing' was because you wanted kids to believe in you. But you don't have to take away all the good things to achieve that. You can use fear to create those good things. How do you think courage is born? Or bravery? It's by overcoming fear."
He took slow, deliberate steps towards the Boogieman.
"At the Tooth Palace you said you didn't want to be hated. So why don't you become someone who helps them grow? All you have to do is tone it down on the nightmares, and only let them fear the things that truly deserve to be."
He stopped barely metres away from the man he had once considered an enemy.
"You can still be a Guardian. You can still have a family."
The somewhat longing look in Pitch's eyes vanished and his face screwed up in anger. "Get out!" he snapped, sending a blast of nightmare sand at the younger spirit. "You don't understand anything!"
They both froze at the words, identical to the ones Jack had yelled in a similar situation what felt like a millennia ago.
"But I do," Jack whispered. "And I'm offering you the chance to understand, too. We can make them believe," he raised a hand in gesture for a handshake. "But the world doesn't have to be pitch black. It's enough for you to just be a part of it. Let me help you like you helped me."
Pitch stared at the proffered hand for a long moment before he curled his lip and battered it away, slipping into the shadows.
"I don't need your help and I don't want your pity," his voice echoed. "You have twenty seconds to get out before I set my Nightmares on you."
"I'm not giving up on you, Pitch," Jack told him, relenting and heading back towards the entrance. "Just… just think about it." With one final look at the Boogieman's lair he let the wind pick him up and carry him back to the surface.
Guest Review Responses:
Guest: (The one who requested) I found the review! So I have the whole request now :) Is there somewhere I could contact you when I start writing the chapter to develop it further if I need to? Like dA?
Guest: (who may or may not be the same Guest as before... honestly I have no idea) (Ch.17:) Well, I figured he couldn't have been shunned by everbody, right? (Ch.23:) Hahaha figured you'd like that one if the response to 'Adopted' was anything to go by XD (Ch.25:) :P
WEast: Me too, man. Those doctored photos are freaky. You'll be right. But probably for the best. You may not have to worry about Slender Man, but he's not the only nasty that crawls around in the dark. Haha well, At War Part I was a pretty good preparation XD