Accidentally in love

Chapter 17

It had been so long ago. Pitch hadn't even thought about it in thousands of years. He had gotten so used to his new role that he had completely repressed it all, and he didn't want to be reminded of it. He didn't want to be reminded of his ultimate failure.

After a moment of silence during which Pitch tried to compose himself again, Jack continued. "What happened?" The look on his face and the tone in his voice indicated he clearly understood that this conversation was more than just small talk.

However, it was not something Pitch was willing to discuss with him, or anyone else. Ever. "Perhaps I'll tell you some other time."

Of course, that would never happen because sooner or later, the spell would be broken and they would go back to being enemies. And if they were lucky, they would both forget any of this ever happened.
Pitch was suddenly overcome with bitter regret.
What was he doing?
He and Frost were enemies. Frost was a Guardian, and Pitch... Well... Pitch was not a Guardian anymore. He didn't want to be. He didn't want to be reminded of everything that had gone wrong in his life, and he didn't want to think about what if.

Before Jack could keep asking, Pitch suddenly got up and melted into the shadows under the bridge, leaving Jack behind on his own. He couldn't do this anymore; it was a mistake. The past two days had been a mistake. How could he have been so stupid to believe any good would ever come of this?

The shadows carried him across the globe, to the cave on the South Pole where he always hid when he wasn't feeling well. The cold darkness embraced him softly, comforting him like an old friend.
So much had happened in such a short time, he still hadn't fully caught up with it. He was confused, angry, bitter and... scared.
He was scared to lose whatever was happening between him and Jack. Except what they had wasn't real, and he had known that all along. Very soon, the spell would be broken and Jack would see him for what he really was: a fallen Guardian.

How could he have been so stupid as to share that with him? Why wasn't he able to kill Frost? It was the logical and reasonable thing to do – what he should have done two days ago. Was it the potion impeding him?
Was he even affected by the potion...?
Pitch's stomach churned at the thoughts he had been trying to ward off for the past two days. What if he wasn't affected by the potion...? What if...?

Pitch felt like throwing up at the thought. It couldn't be that whatever he was feeling was real. It was too horrible to be real. If his feelings were truly his own, it meant Frost would be liberated tomorrow, whereas Pitch would have to live with it for the rest of forever. How was he supposed to go on? How could he have let himself get involved in all this?
How could he have fallen for Jack Frost?

With a pitiful whine, Pitch dropped down on the old, tattered bed, groaning loudly into the pillows. What was he going to do? How would he ever face the Guardians again after the potion wore off of Jack?

A skin crawling thought suddenly shot through his mind, and he sat upright in bed, staring at the frozen cave wall in horror. What if that had been the Guardians plan all along? What if Tooth had lied, and the potion had been designed for Pitch all along? What if they had intended to use it on him to make him fall for Frost? What if that was the reason Frost had come after him all on his own when he had stolen the potion? It had been obvious Frost knew of the potion and what it would do during their fight, so maybe it had been his intention to grab the potion and use it on Pitch; with the two of them alone in the middle of nowhere, it would be ensured that Pitch would have fallen for Jack if the potion had been used on him.

It was a whole new perspective that he hadn't considered before, and it made him even angrier than he had been a minute ago. How dare they do this to him.
Obviously, the feelings he had for Frost were not real but purely because of that execrated potion. How silly of him to have thought otherwise a moment ago; it was absolutely ridiculous to believe that he would ever fall in love. Least of all with an immature teen like Jack Frost. Simply absurd.
There was no way he would ever let the Guardians win. After all, he knew he was poisoned, so he would also be able to fight it. He would kill Frost and teach those damned Guardians not to mess with him again.