Jack really wants to trust Pitch.

And he does! Really! Pitch believes in him. Pitch saw him when no one else would, took him in, showed him how to get people's attention. He didn't have many believers but there were stories about him now. The name "Jack Frost" was becoming known and it was because of Pitch.

So he really wants to just trust Pitch and his plans.

But he's having trouble following this current idea.

"The…teeth?" Jack adjusts the grip on his staff nervously. Pitch is practically vibrating with excitement and keeps pacing back and forth, hands gesturing wildly.

"The teeth, Jack! Oh it's perfect! Absolutely perfect! I'm amazed I didn't think of it sooner! This is our chance, our chance to make the whole WORLD see us! Both of us!"

Jack still isn't following. It sounds great, really, but…

"…but why the teeth? I mean, they're teeth!" If Jack thinks about it too much it's actually pretty gross. Really. Teeth.

Pitch spins to face him, grin almost wide enough to split his face and eyes gleaming grey and gold. "Oh they're more than that Jack! They're memories." He laughs in delight and sweeps in to put a hand on Jacks shoulder, voice lowering like he's telling a delightful secret. "Every happy little memory from a child's life is in those teeth the fairies collect. That's why they take them! It's all the perfect and delightful memories of childhood that stop them from being afraid!"

Jack tenses, partially from how searingly hot Pitch's hand feels and partially because he's liking the sound of this plan less and less. "And we're….going to take them?"

Pitch's grin somehow grows wider and he laughs again as he pulls away, leaving Jack's shoulder feeling over-warm from where he had gripped it.

"Exactly! WE take them and then there won't be anything, ANYTHING, keeping their fears at bay! Oh it's perfect! And with you I can do it! On my own I don't have nearly enough Nightmares! It would take centuries to find enough. I'd probably have to try and find a new way to make more on my own. But together we can do this!"

Jack tightens his grip on his staff and frowns. He…doesn't like this. He doesn't really WANT to take away the happy memories of a bunch of kids. From what he's seen that's all some kids even have. He knows Pitch's purpose is fear, to make people afraid of the dark. And Jack is alright with that! It's what they do! Sometimes he'll even help because making people jump is fun.

But Jack likes kids best when they're laughing and playing in his snow. He likes to think that he made some of those happy memories. And he doesn't have too many of his own, he doesn't really want to take that away from kids.

Pitch is still talking, still almost dancing with excitement and petting his favorite nightmare as he laughs. Jack doesn't want to take that away either. Pitch smiles a little more lately but it's still not often, and Jack likes how Pitch looks when his shoulders aren't bowed like they're carrying the weight of millions.

But…

"Jack this is brilliant! The little brats will know us before the month is through! I couldn't do this without you, we're perfect! I'll need a little time to prepare the Nightmares but we should be able to-"

Jack closes his eyes, grips his staff so hard he can feel the wood biting into his palm. He takes a deep breath and holds it for a second before he lets it out, slow and steady and calm.
"No."

There's a pause, where Jack can only hear his own breathing and his own heartbeat. The silence is thick and suffocating and tense. Pitch is facing away from him, still as stone, the hand on the nose of his nightmare tensing as he turns his head just enough to look over his shoulder. The sharp shadows of his face are deeper than usual and his eye gleams silver as it focuses on Jack.

"No what, Jack?"

Jack braces himself and takes another slow breath, it feels like there's not enough air in the room and the shadows are growing darker. He doesn't look down because he knows they're all creeping toward him, sliding and curling to focus on where he's standing.

"No. I'm not going to do it. I won't help you. Not this time."

There's a low hissing filling the air as Pitch calmly pulls away from the Nightmare to face Jack. His face is carefully blank but his eyes are burning as he slowly stalks towards him. "This is our chance, Jack. You can't back away now. Not after all this time."

Jack clenches his jaw, stands his ground, and refuses to let the growing shadows intimidate him. "I won't do it Pitch! I'm not going to take away the memories of a bunch of kids! I don't care if it'll help us I won't do it!"

The hissing is suddenly a shrieking in the air and the Pitch's face breaks, distorting in rage. All the careful calm is gone as he bares razor teeth and his eyes turn into two glowing points of brimstone in pits of black. Jack doesn't see the hand that whips out to grabs his throat and he finds himself hoisted up like a rag, gasping for air.

"After all I've done for you!? THIS is your answer! I MADE you what you are! I saw you when no one else would! I BELIEVE in you Jack!" Jack chokes and scrambles desperately at Pitch's arm before he remembers his staff and swings wildly. There's a sharp crack and he falls hard to the ground, wincing on impact.

"I won't do it Pitch! I want to trust you but I can't do this!" He pulls himself up and looks up into an endless chasm of roiling shadow. Pitch's voice is deafening and Jack tries to cover his ears against the harsh shrieking crash of it coming from every angle.

"TRUST!? TRUST! WE WERE IN THIS TOGETHER BOY! YOU AND ME! I GIVE YOU THIS CHANCE FOR US TO TAKE THE WORLD AND YOU TELL ME NO!? YOU CAN GO BACK TO BEING ALONE! GO BACK TO YOUR PALE, SAD, PATHETIC EXISTENCE TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE SEE YOUR LITTLE SNOWBALLS AND FLURRIES!"

"Pitch we were doing fine! We were getting believers again! We don't have to throw everything into some stupid-"

"STUPID?" Pitch dives in at him, voice lowering back down to a hiss as claws dig into Jacks clothes from all sides. "Fine!? You don't understand the meaning of belief! You think a couple people telling hushed stories around the fire is fine!? Are you really satisfied with the little songs they make about you!? You're a fool, Jack! And you haven't even begun to know the meaning of nightmares! You won't be able to THINK when I'm done with your mind!"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

Everything goes quiet again. Pitch freezes, face melting back into his features and the rage fades into something more guarded. His hands slowly unclench from where they were fisted in Jack's shirt and Pitch carefully eases away, eyes flicking over Jack like he's something new and dangerous.

"No…" He says softly "No you're not. Not really, anyway." He stands and carefully straightens out his robe and gives Jack a long, searching look before turning away.

"Get out, Jack."

Jack blinks at him, staring in disbelief at the retreating form. "What? You can't just-"

"I said get out! I don't need your help for this!" Pitch goes back to his Nightmare and runs a hand along her neck, pointedly looking at only her. "I don't need YOU for anything!"

Jack finds his mouth falling open because really? Pitch is actually going to go through with this still... "You're going to try? You said you couldn't do it on your own!"

"I lied!" Pitch snaps. "If you really think YOU could make that big of a difference in my plans then you're more stupid than I thought! Really, what would you do? Throw a snowball at Toothiana? Honestly it's better this way without your nagging distracting me."

Jack snorts. "You're an idiot. Fine. I'm leaving then. Just don't expect to see me again if you do this."

"That's my intention." Pitch hisses.

There's something hot and sick and roiling clenching up inside Jack. He stands for a few moments longer, fighting it down and staring at Pitch's back, willing him to turn around and FACE him. But Pitch continues to ignore him and Jack deflates, huffing out a short puff of frost.

"Yeah. Whatever." He mutters, calling the wind around him and letting it pull him away. There are some things he needs to do if Pitch is actually going to go for this stupid plan.

He flies out, and doesn't see Pitch whip around to stare at him as he leaves.

"Just come HERE you little bug!"

This may not have been Jack's best idea. It had seemed straight forward enough! He didn't know where the Tooth Fairy's home was so all he had to do was wait around at night, catch one of the little helper fairies and get one of THEM to tell him.

He hadn't anticipated how FAST the tiny things were.

"Look I'm sorry about using you guys as target practice before but that's in the past right?! I'm not going to hurt you I promise ok I just need to- WOAH!" The little creature he'd been chasing had decided that she was tired of this game and apparently figured it'd be more fun to try and peck out Jack's eyes.

"Stop that! I said I was sorry! Ow! Hey!" He has to dodge the sharp beak and is pretty sure that the angry squeaks translate into something just rude. "Stop Ok!? I just have a question! Would you just-"
Jack flails at her and actually manages to grab a hold, gripping the tiny body before she can fly off.

"HAH! Got ya! Aahhh no stop-" The air is filled with angry shrieking and Jack has to stop himself from dropping her to put his hands over his ears. How can such a tiny thing make that much NOISE. The fairy only gets louder when he tries to shush her, squealing out into the night like she's trying to get something's attention.

"Look would you SHUSH!? Oh my God I won't be able to hear for a week! I just need to ask you something! It's not like anything is going to hear you any-OOF."

Judging by the sudden mass slamming into his side, he was wrong. He barely had time to register the whistling in the air before something large and warm sends him tumbling out of the sky.

He finds his staff suddenly yanked out of reach as he goes down and ends up crashing into a roof hard enough that he just lays there groaning. He's still trying to get air back into his lungs when something lands heavy on his chest, his staff is slammed down next to his head, and a gleaming wicked golden blade is held up against his throat.

"What do you think you're doing with my fairies?" Jack coughs and stares up at a pair of jewel-like, glaring eyes. At any other time he'd actually admire how outright PRETTY the Tooth Fairy is. She's all colors and feathers and large, bright eyes and dainty lacy wings.

Right now he is paying far more attention to the sword at his neck.

"Look-" he wheezes. He doesn't get to continue because she suddenly narrows her eyes and the blade presses a little into his skin.

"I recognize you…you're that boy who's been hanging around Pitch Black." She crouches where she's standing on his chest and bares her teeth, the feathers on her head flaring out around her delicate features. "What are you trying to do with my girls?"

"Nothing!" Jack chokes out, still trying to keep his eyes at the sword. "Nothing! Look, I'm not helping Pitch with anything right now! I was trying to find you and thought that the little bu- the fairies would be able to help!"

"And you thought they'd help you if you just grabbed one?"

"Well I had tried asking nicely! And she tried to take my eyes out!" He shoots a quick look at the fairy who's chattering angrily at him from behind Toothiana's shoulder. "Yeah? Well right back at you, bug!"

Tooth glances over at the fairy and she goes quiet with a final angry squeak at Jack. "Why were you trying to find me? Your mentor and I aren't exactly on the best terms."

"Because he's being dumb ok? I was trying to find you to warn you that he's got this big scheme in his head to take all the teeth!" That's got her attention. The feathers all over her body ruffle and the hand on her sword clenches.

"The teeth? Why does he want the teeth?"

"Because he's stupid? He was going on about taking away the memories that keep kids from being afraid and was all convinced that this would put him back in power or something! So I came to warn you!"

She regards him carefully and the sword pulls away just slightly, though it's still trained on his throat. "You're Pitch's lackey, why are you warning me of anything that he does?"

"Ok first of all, partner, not lackey. And I don't like it ok? I don't want to help with anything that would hurt a bunch of kids like taking their good memories away! I told him I wanted nothing to do with it and uh…well he kicked me out but then I came to try and find you. Which I did, I guess."

She narrows her eyes and looks him over for a moment before slowly lifting off of him and taking her sword back. She still keeps a tight grip on his staff though and is looking at him suspiciously.

"You're…worried about the kids?"

Jack carefully pushes himself up onto his elbows, rubbing a hand over the slight nic she left on his neck. "I like kids. " He says carefully. "I mean, I don't want to hurt any of them. I help Pitch with some of his frights because scaring doesn't really hurt anything. Sometimes it helps them be afraid and stay away from what WILL hurt them. And I like Pitch, but I can't let him do this."

The fairy watches him push himself up and frowns in thought for a few seconds. She finally holds his staff out to him saying, "Don't make me regret this. What's your name anyway?"

"Jack." He sighs in relief when his hand touches the cold wood again and frost dances over the old grooves. "I'm uh, Jack Frost."

She suddenly smiles and it's like her entire body lights up. "Well Jack, you can call me Tooth. And I'm not really sure I should, but I'm going to trust you on this."

He grins back, it's hard not to in the face of all that color and light. One of the fairies that have gathered around Tooth makes a weird squealing noise and…faints? The others crowd in close around him with excited chirps.

"Girls, please." Tooth sighs, though she's eyeing Jack's mouth like a shark and it's getting unnerving. "So you'll really help me stop Pitch then?"

"I'm…" Jack pauses and licks his lips, "Look I'm not switching sides or anything ok? I just don't like what he's doing and maybe…I don't know I still hope I can talk some sense into him."

Tooth snorts in disbelief and shrugs with a tired smile at him. "We've tried that Jack, but you can have a go at it if you really must. Come on."

Jack hesitates for just a moment and then flies up to where she's hovering. "This is really going to get ugly."

She just smiles a little sadly at him and leads him away, swords gripped in her delicate hands.

Jack isn't quite sure if this plan is any smarter than Pitch's, but he has to do SOMETHING.