A/N: Finally getting around to updating all my stories! :3 Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to run and hide before someone shoots me for taking so long. *flees*

"Perhaps you and your guardians may have forgotten, but I was only ever beaten for the moment," the figure continued. As he stepped out into the moonlight, Jack's horrible suspicions were confirmed. There stood Pitch, glowering in the darkness with an expression of pure and unrivaled smugness.

Shaking his head profusely, Jack finally managed to get over his initial shock. The bit of fear which still remained in his heart, he tried his best to bury. "We never expected you to come back. It's true we can't really be killed, but we didn't think even you would try striking out a third time."

Pitch laughed heartily, clearly amused by the winter spirit's attempts at standing strong. "Oh, Jack… you have so much to learn." A pause ensued as the darker figure looked up at the moon; surely the man on the moon was watching, though they both knew there was no chance for intervention – or at least directly. Sandy hadn't seen Jack go down. He wasn't sure whether he had even noticed before getting to North's place. Though surely they'd know something was up if anything happened, right? Jack could only hope…

Before the young guardian could continue his train of thought, Pitch's voice came creeping into the air once more. It was a calculating voice, lush with the sound of unknown triumph, as if the Boogeyman knew full well a secret which he never intended to share. Something that could turn the tide in his favor, and something that made him truly believe that he had never lost in the first place.

"You may be right in terms of our ability to avoid death, but do you know why that is?"

Jack's eyebrows furrowed, knowing the answer but refusing to say it. He looked away from the darker figure, not meeting his eyes.

"You do, don't you?" continued Pitch mercilessly, though not harshly. He delved further into his own monologue, as if his voice were a crawling mist. A subtle wind which carried with it a sense of cold and irrational worry. An oncoming storm. "We cannot be killed… because we have already died. We are but ghosts if not for the children's beliefs. And though I am invisible once more, there still remains that ever-present question." The smirk on his face was anything but invisible now, and Jack still refused to meet Pitch's eyes, unsure of why he wasn't fighting back but not liking where this conversation was going even without his input.

"I'm sure you remember clearly the disappearance of the Sandman. Would I be correct?" When Jack looked back at those deadly golden eyes, his face contorted into one of anger and irritability. "That's the point, Pitch. You can't ever win. We'll always be there to stop you, no matter what 'genius' plans you may think you have. Fear never conquers. How can I be the one who has so much to learn, when you can't even take so much as a hint?"

Though that last comment caused a pinch of a break in Pitch's composure, soon enough he had his annoyed emotions under control. He forced a smile instead, and he faked it very well. "Oh, but I can Jack… Because I've got a secret to tell you. Would you like to know what it is?" When Jack didn't verbally answer, Pitch finally whispered in the dead silence, "The word is not to kill; the word is to snuff out."

Jack's eyes widened harshly, as his whole body immediately and in spite of himself snapped towards the Boogeyman's smug figure. "Wha- What did you just say?" he nearly gasped out.

Pitch seemed calm, yet that smirk never left his face. It was annoying Jack to no end. "Perhaps I cannot kill you or your guardians, for we are all technically dead besides. But just as we can become invisible like the spirit of a ghost, so can we be snuffed out and expelled from existence, like the spirit of a ghost." Continuing even though Pitch so enjoyed the look of pure and unbridled shock on Jack's face, he finished spitefully, "We're all just ghosts, Jack. And a ghost can be removed from this realm." A pause, and then, "The only difference between a ghost and a guardian, is that a guardian is harder to make extinct. But I shall see to it that this contrast is liberated."

Jack's shock still held in place, though he managed to turn most of it towards his frustrations towards Pitch. "I said it once and I'll say it again. You can't win, Pitch. The kids don't fear you anymore. You're more of a 'ghost' than any of us, and that means you're weak. How can you possibly hope to even put up a fight if you have no real plans?"

"Oh, but I do Jack," replied Pitch, practically unmoved by the winter spirit's comments. He seemed way too calm for Jack's liking, and soon that suspicion became apparent in importance, as the embodiment of fear itself finished off his end of the conversation. "You see… my plan, well… My plan is you, Jack."

Jack barely had time to make a quick expression of confusion before an overwhelming and searing pain crept into his system. It was as if his entire body was burning, and though the young guardian could handle cold temperatures, fire was never something he had been fond of. Because it was the exact opposite of his nature.

He fell to his knees on the cold snow below, and though for a moment he craved the icy chill of it, the feeling subsided and his blood continued to burn. Pitch was just in front of him, laughing victoriously as he held both his hands out and extended. The air itself seemed to leak dark substances, as a black mist circled around Pitch's palms and found its way towards Jack's figure. The mist seeped through his skin, tainting his blood and marring his bones. His icy blue eyes started to lighten, making them appear colder than they really were. The light escaped them, too, as instead of the happiness he usually held, a sense of darkness overcame Jack's features. His jacket's colors seemed to leak as well, the ice that covered it all too often contrasting greatly with the blackness that engulfed the fabric. Even Jack's staff creaked, as if it was protesting against the darkness that threatened to destroy it if it did not comply.

And then there was Jack himself, who was nearly yelling in agony. He couldn't do anything but. All he could do was lay on the snow as his entire being changed. And a horrifying amount of time passed before his breaths became less frequent, and his screams eventually died. Pitch kneeled down beside him, grinning all the while, as the last of the black mist finally disappeared into Jack's system. "You see, you can never truly escape the darkness. Everyone holds fear close to their hearts, and though they keep it hidden from the eyes of others, it's still there. And that's where I draw my strength from. And that's why I shall always, inevitably, win. All it takes to awaken the darkness, Jack, is a little bit of influence…"

He cackled darkly, the confidence in the sound too pertinent not to catch. Pitch finally looked at the moon once more, as if daring it to try and defeat him. "I asked you a while ago whether your guardians were ready, and it seemed – at the moment – they were. But what shall you do now? I'm in control; Jack' Frost's darkness shall consume him, and I'll use every last ounce of it to destroy everything you and your guardians hold precious. The world shall know fear. Or fear shall tear it apart."

Tbc... Sorry again that it took so long to update, guys ;n; I was (and still am) paranoid that I was getting the characters' personalities wrong. But any reviews or thoughts are welcome and appreciated. Thanks guys!