When Jack woke up from his slumber, he saw darkness.

Cold, unwelcoming darkness.

He struggled to get up as soon as he could, but the chains around his wrists pulled him back. His breathing slowly became erratic- he was panicking. Where was he? How did he get here? Was he alone?

Alone? No. No, no, no, no….

"Calm down, Jack." A sinister voice echoes in the dark. Jack knew who that was. It was Pitch, the king of nightmares. His eyes narrowed, and he forced himself to swallow the fear about to overcome him. "Come out, Nightmare King! Once I break free from here, you're so gonna get it!"

But Pitch only chuckled at Jack's half-baked attempt to threaten him. It was no use. Pitch could smell his fear- and to the boogeyman, it was absolutely delightful.

"Even if you do escape those restraints, what are you going to do, winter spirit? Tackle me like any reckless child would?" From the dark, Jack could see the most frightening image ever. Pitch's golden eyes glowed in the dark, and Jack could see his sinister grin. A shiver ran down his spine.

Despite being a spirit of winter, Jack found the cold air very uncomfortable. Before he knew it, Pitch was right in front of him. He froze, and he found himself unable to hide his fear. Pitch smiled, caressing the boy's face until his hand was wrapped around the other's throat. "You won't be able to escape me this time. You got lucky once. It won't happen again." The dark spirit whispered into Jack's ear. Jack's eyes narrowed slightly. He continued struggling while Pitch just watched him with a bored expression on his face. "Do you really think you can get out of those chains, child? Without this annoying staff of yours," Pitch held out his hand. Not too long after, black sand gathered around it, only to reveal Jack's staff getting into Pitch's hands. Jack gasped. The boogeyman only stared at him with amusement. "You're nothing." With a single snap, Pitch broke the staff in half. Having learnt from the past, he threw the staff where Jack couldn't reach it.

Jack screamed out in pain when the staff broke. The source of his power was gone. When it broke, it was as if someone had stabbed him with a rusty knife in the chest. It hurt so much, and now, he was defenseless against Pitch. Whatever he had planned, Jack was not going to be ready for it.

"The Guardians will find me. The wind will take them here." He spat bravely. Jack smirked despite the fear growing within himself. "When they get here, they'll make sure you never come back. For good."

"Oh, such courage." Pitch said mockingly. "How are you so sure they will, when they're the ones who willingly gave you up in the first place?"

Jack's eyes widened. Before he could even process that thought, he found himself shouting. "No. You're lying. As if the Guardians would leave me here without hesitation. I trust them. I trust them!"

However, even Jack wasn't convinced by his own words. The Guardians could leave him to Pitch if they wanted to. Jack was only a recent member. Just because the Man in The Moon appointed him as a guardian did not mean he could easily gain the others' trust.

Maybe they did leave him.

"You don't sound sure, yourself, Jack." Pitch said lowly. "Betrayal is such a painful thing, no? It's more painful than anything, especially if it comes from people you trust."

Jack refused to listen to him. He absolutely did, but he could not help but consider Pitch's words.

"I warned you the first time. And what did you do?" Pitch leaned down to look at Jack in the eye. "You still trusted them. Now, you must suffer the consequences."

Jack could feel his resolve quiver. He shouldn't listen to this villain's words so easily. He should be stronger than that. But what if Pitch was telling the truth? What if they did leave him alone to suffer under Pitch's control?

They couldn't be that dumb… But then again, one good thing that Jack has done cannot possibly erase all the bad things he's done to the other Guardians in the past.

"You're so young, Jack Frost. So brave, but so naïve."

Jack let out a choked sob. So pathetic. Pitch smiled. He had won.

"Because of that, you will suffer."

That day, the Guardian of Fun's spirit broke.

OK SO

UM

THAT WAS SHORT AF

BUT I TRIED MY BEST

This might become multi-chaptered soon ;;

Jack is also still a kid at heart, so maybe his reactions to everything here won't be so unreasonable after all ;-;