After Jack had accepted North's offer of a room Sandman and the others had dispersed from the Pole. Sandman though did not hurry off right away to begin his work, instead he sent out streams of his dream sand to work on their own. He had someone he needed to see.

So it was that Sandman found himself tracking down the entrance to Pitch's lair. The one near Burgess had collapsed and been sealed but it wasn't the only one and it wasn't the main entrance into the lair. Sandman soon found the place he was looking for and slowly began to enter the dark hole. Honestly, Sandman wasn't worried that Pitch would attack him. Over the past few months Sandman had been frequently coming here to check on Pitch and had seen that he was shifting back to how he was before he became the Boogeyman. It had started with him remembering his daughter in the dream Sandman had given him after the battle in Burgess. It was a trick that Sandman had played using the memories Tooth had knocked loose in Pitch's tooth. His hopes had been to bring Pitch back to the side of good and slowly it was working. Pitch was still distant and quite prickly but he wasn't a danger. Sandman doubted that Pitch would ever be a happy, cuddly man like North, but he hoped that he could get him to at least care for the children instead of being indifferent as he was now.

"Ah, Sandman, visiting again so soon. I don't suppose those friends of yours are aware of these little visits you pay me?"

Sandman sighs and shakes his head.

"So what brings you here this time, trying to convince me to help you and your goody little friends?"

Sandman shakes his head once again but forms a snowflake over his head, his symbol for Jack.

"Hmm, something wrong with Frost?"

Instead of answering Sandman forms the image of an airy castle amongst many clouds. Pitch looks on with confusion as Sandman then forms an image of Jack and the other Guardians but has Jack being pushed/pulled away by swirling sand that represents the Wind.

"I must say, that is rather interesting, but what do you want me to do about it?"

Sandman crosses his arms and frowns at Pitch while tapping his foot impatiently.

"Oh, you want me to tell them about the Wind, don't you? Why not have Frost explain it? The Wind seems to like him so much I'm sure he's aware."

Sandman shakes his head and Pitch seems to frown.

"They don't like me, I doubt they even trust me. Why not ask Manny to explain things to them? He knows more than either of us about Wind."

Sandman let out a silent sigh of frustration and glares up at Pitch.

"Yes, yes, he isn't the most eloquent speaker is he. So you want me to explain this to them since neither you nor Manny are capable?"

An enthusiastic nod of his head and Sandman smiles.

Pitch frowns and turns from Sandman, his hand brought up to his chin as he thinks about the boy, Jack Frost. He had noticed during his encounter in Antarctica that the Wind had gotten rather violent after he had broken Jack's staff, almost as if it was angry. He had left quickly thinking it a backlash from the staff being broken, but now, with Sandman's concern for the boy in regards to the Wind's possessiveness of him, well Pitch was also concerned. Though he would never admit it. The boy was admirable. He had laughed in his face and was always trying to do the right thing and despite his attempts to bring Jack to his side in the last struggle against the Guardians, he had not given in. So while Pitch was loath to admit it to even himself he respected Frost, and learning that the Wind, a being far older and more powerful than the Man in the Moon, was so interested in the boy was concerning to him. Anyone that knew of Wind's true nature knew he was something of a recluse and a hermit. No one had really seen his face save the most ancient of spirits, Mother Nature, Father Time and the Man in the Moon.

"Alright, I will come and explain things to them, but don't think this means I want to join your little club Sandman. I just want to see their reactions when they learn about something they all brush off as little more than air."

xxxxxxxxxxx

The guardians had returned to the Pole once again, though this time by invitation of Sandman and there was a distinct lack of a certain frosty teen. Sandman was the last to arrive and when he walked in with Pitch following him the other's gasped in alarm and readied themselves for a fight.

"Oh put those away before you hurt yourselves. I am not here to fight."

"Then why come at all Pitch?"

Pitch glances to Sandman, receiving a shrug from the much shorter man. He releases a long suffering sigh and clasps his hands behind his back.

"I am here because there is something you need to know about that concerns young Jack Frost."

"What have you done to him Pitch?" Tooth seems to be nearly livid as Pitch turns to her, bringing his hands up in a shrug of feigned innocence.

"I have done nothing to him. I am only here because between Sandman and Manny they would never be able to explain things to you about the nature of this, how we say, problem."

"So what, Sandy brought you in as a translator then?"

"Something like that." Pitch had brought his hands behind himself once again.

"And how do we know we can trust you?"

"I suppose you can't, but I suggest you hear me out before dismissing what I have to say."

The other three Guardians seem to glance nervously at one another before looking at Sandman, who gives them a big thumbs up.

"Alright, we will hear you out. Now what is wrong with Jack?"

"Nothing is really wrong with him, but I heard about your little encounter with Wind."

"The Wind, what's it got to do with it?"

Pitch seems to look down his nose at Bunny before responding. "His interest in Jack, more precisely. The Wind, you see, is something of a hermit. He doesn't like to leave his castle made of clouds and it is rather shocking and a bit unnerving how he seems to not want to share Jack, not even with you."

"Wait, so what is it you are getting at?"

"What relationship does Jack Frost have with the Wind?"

"Uh, well..."

"Jack controls it, sort of like one does with a large playful pup. It may have a mind of its own, but it seems to more or less listen to him."

"And that is why Sandman had me come to explain things. If anyone is doing the controlling it is the Wind. To describe him as a large puppy is just asking for trouble. As I said the Wind is more or less a hermit. He is ancient, more so than even the Man in the Moon. And his interest in Jack is unusual and unsettling, this coming from me. No if I had to hazard a guess, it only appears the Wind listens to Jack because he wants him happy."

"So, is why Wind tried to take Jack away when we offered room."

"I would assume so. He probably didn't like that Jack could be locked away from him."

"But why?"

"That is something you will need to ask Jack, though I doubt even he would know. Wind is the only one that truly knows, and I doubt he'd be willing to talk to any of you."

It was at this moment that Jack came in, his smile dropping when he notices Pitch is there. He brings up his staff in a fighting position and narrows his eyes at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, do put that away. I'm not here to cause you any trouble. I was just explaining some things to your new friends here."

"Really, last I checked they didn't like you very much either."

"Jack, is alright. Sandman brought him here to explain some things to us about Wind."

"What do you know about Wind?"

"A surprising amount actually. But what I can't figure out is his interest in you."

Jack clutches his staff and pinches his mouth into a thin line. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well for one he rarely leaves his castle of clouds, if he ever even has. And two, he is something of a hermit."

"The Wind doesn't have a castle, it travels with me."

"You keep believing that. Sandman and I have both been to the castle, though we didn't stay long. As I said he is a hermit and doesn't like company. Though I suppose we were somewhat uninvited at the time."

Jack frowns, but stays silent.

"I suppose he's never taken you there, has he?"

"That's enough Pitch. No need to bring up things we can't explain."

"But he's right." All eyes turn to Jack, who is now looking down at the ground, clearly upset. "If the Wind had some fancy place to stay why does it hang around me all the time? Why doesn't it take me there?"

Pitch rolls his eyes, "Frost, the Wind that you have spent so much time with is just his power. His actual self, his body if you will has not left his castle in millenia. Honestly with as much as he seems to want to keep you to himself, its a wonder he never showed himself to you."

Jack looked panicked, like his whole world had just been destroyed. And one might argue that it just had been. The Wind had been his constant companion for the last three hundred years, but now he was learning that the one that carried him around the world, played with him when no one else seemed to care and had taught him everything he knew about the world and his powers, was little more than a shut in. He suddenly felt cheated by all those years thinking the Wind cared about him, but if it had cared why hadn't it ever shown itself?

Dropping his staff, more like throwing it aside, Jack runs out of the room and up to his room. He makes sure all the windows are locked tight before curling up onto his bed and crying. Outside the Wind is howling.

So yeah Pitch is a bit of a jerk, isn't he? Please review.