Disclaimer: I own neither "Rise of the Guardians" nor "The Guardians of Childhood" as those belong to Dreamworks and William Joyce, respectively. I make no money from this fic, and that's saddening.

A Dark Blizzard

Pitch finds the little winter sprite amusing. Jack Frost, he calls himself, and it suits the boy quite nicely. When Frost comes to town, he brings a soft kind of chaos with snow, causing little incidents with icicles, snowballs, and once even a snow man named Frosty. He's a mischievous child, constantly making a mess wherever he goes, often not even trying, like the night Pitch met Jack.

On that December evening, Pitch had been simply walking along the side of a road on that moonless night. Recently, poles with strange strings began appearing along the roads of villages and towns. With the appearance of these poles came a near endless supply of light, impeding Pitch's efforts of striking fear in the dark. As Pitch stood there trying to put two and two together, Jack flew out from the town, giggling like a kid on Christmas.

Pitch only had time to gasp before Jack collided with the odd strings, causing massive sparks and a small explosion on top of one of the poles. Jack fell, smoking, down to earth. Pitch winced at the obviously hard fall. Then, Pitch saw the lights go out all at once down in the town. With a small, "Ah ha!" Pitch summoned his Nightmares to invade the town.

As Jack stood up, he chuckled a little at Pitch. "Well, that was shocking!" Jack grinned, ignoring the comical look of his hair standing straight up.

For the first time in near a century, Pitch truly laughed. And thus, a strange friendship was born.

Every decade or so, Pitch finds Frost and they play. Sometimes, they inflict devilish tricks on some poor townspeople. Other times, they make storms together, covering a city in cold darkness. However, all too soon, Jack leaves on the Wind. Pitch understands that Frost needs winter, but the Boogeyman wishes Jack need only him. For a century, Pitch manages to avoid the eyes of other spirits as he trains Jack in new and terrible ways of playtime. However, Pitch's luck runs out in the winter of 1968.

To be fair, Pitch knows exactly what day it is when he sweetly asks Jack for a horrid blizzard the likes of which America has never seen. Poor, little, ready to please Jack gives Pitch exactly what he wants. Jack laughs with joy up and down the east coast. Pitch follows Jack on a Nightmare, grinning with glee.

At the town of Burgess, Jack really kicks up a storm, covering the entire town in buckets of snow. Up on a Nightmare in the sky, Pitch smirks cruelly as he observes as the little eggs disappearing completely from view. Pitch knows Jack has never met a Guardian or even knows about why holidays are special to them.

In Jack's mind, he is a hero to the children. Everybody from Alabama to Maine will get a snow day tomorrow! Who wouldn't want that? Jack drifts closer, wanting to see his handiwork a little better, excited to see the children's faces as they play in his gift to them.

WHAM! Pain, searing pain!

Blindsided by a boomerang to the face, Jack falls towards the ground with a scream. Pitch shouts, "Frost!" before he quickly dashes his Nightmare forward. Jack lands in Pitch's arms, gripping his staff with ice drops cascading off his face.

Pitch cradles him close. "Jack, I've got you."

"It hurts!" Jack cradles his cheek. "It hurts so much!"

"I know, I know." Pitch hugs Jack tightly. "It'll be alright. The pain will fade."

Below, an irate, Australian accented Easter Bunny calls up, "I should've known you were behind this, Pitch! Come down here so I can give you a beating of a lifetime!"

Pitch glares down at Bunnymund with scathing hatred. "You hurt Jack."

"Jack? You started naming your little minions now?" Bunnymund takes out another boomerang. "Whatever! He's probably a monster just like you!"

Pitch bares his sharp teeth at Bunny in a mockery of a smile. "No, little rabbit, that would be you." Pitch hides Jack's face into his shoulder. "You just don't know it yet." Pitch summons Nightmares to attack Bunnymund so he can flee with Jack somewhere across the sea, deep into a cave.

When they land, Jack pushes and shoves away from Pitch, feeling betrayed. "You tricked me!" Jack's face bears the mark of Bunnymund's wrath. "I don't know why, and I don't know what for, but you tricked me!"

Pitch holds his hands out in a placating gesture. "Now, now, Jack, it was just a little fun!"

"A little fun?" Jack points to his face. "This wasn't fun! It was mean. It was cruel."

Pitch sighs. "Frost, I didn't mean for you to get hurt, I swear." The Boogeyman puts a hand over his empty heart. "I would never hurt you."

"But you did, Pitch." Jack shakes his head. "And I don't want to play with you anymore." Jack shoots up into the sky, leaving a dust of snow in his wake.

Pitch reaches out for the winter wonder, but catches only a tiny snowflake on his finger. When it melts away on his skin, the Nightmare King feels something entirely new to him: Guilt, deep regretful guilt. Pitch knows the boy sees things only with a child's eyes. Black and white, fun or no fun, good or bad, and Pitch just made himself no fun, bad, and certainly black. With a sigh, Pitch turns to the shadows, disappearing from the world to plot the greatest trick of all.

And thus, a strange friendship died.

Review, please! Also, if you get a chance, check out my other fic Hush. It's another Jack/Pitch thing. If you liked this fic you might like Hush as well.