Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Empathy For A Frozen Heart

Empathy for a Frozen Heart

...

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."