[Well, I edited this entire story of crap, but decided I needed a beta. If anyone wants to be my beta, or recommend someone to be my beta, please leave it in a review. Thanks!]
Regret is a funny thing. You can regret something with all your might, but nothing will ever change.
They all regretted what had happened with Pitch. Up until Manny had explained it all, they had all just assumed that Pitch was who he was because he wanted to be. They had never thought that maybe the villain had a backstory, that maybe the bad guy had feelings, too. They had just assumed that Pitch had started a giant battle so that he could defeat them, and rule the world or something. It had never occurred to them that Pitch might have started the battle because he was lonely.
They had all known lonely. Sandy had been alone for fifty years or so, until North was turned into a Guardian. North had wandered around for three years until Sandy had found him. Tooth had been alone for nearly five years, if you didn't count her fairies (but they were her, so how alone was she really?). Bunnymund had isolated himself from everyone for twenty four years, mourning the deaths of his clan. But none of them knew lonely like Jack. He had been alone and ignored for three hundred years.
Man in moon knew all, saw all. He knew who Pitch used to be, knew who Pitch was still inside, under all those layers. Knew what the Fearlings really were, knew what they had done and still did.
He told the Guardians, explained to them what they did not know. He knew their guilt; he felt it too. But he left the final decision to the Guardians. He said nothing else.
It wasn't all that surprising that Jack was the one to take action.
"Well, what do you want me to do? Drop off the earth and die? Stop fear forever?" Pitch scowled, rubbing at his wounded arm.
"No." Jack shook his head, and traced a line on his staff. "Just do what you do best. Spread fear. You said we couldn't do without you, and we can't. The balance of emotions would be tipped. You can't have fun without fear. I died because I didn't have fear. Children need fear to be safe. People need fear to have wonder, fun, hope, dreams."
And Pitch wasn't an enemy anymore.
Regret is a funny thing. You can regret something with all your might, but unless you do something, nothing will ever change.