The Guardian of Mischief Meets the Nightmare King

I sit on the bed of one of North's rooms, hugging my knees and resting my forehead on them. What Pitch said before the Guardians checked me over for injuries has been bothering me for the past few hours. I scratch at my ankles and sigh. This was bothering me more than it should. There was a part of Pitch I was attracted to, and a part that scared the absolute shit out of me. Well, he is the King of Nightmares, so I guess that made sense. What didn't make sense was the intense lust I felt when I was with him. Ugh.

    My inner musings were interrupted by a soft knocking on the door. After I flicked my fingers toward it so it unlocked, I see Jack and Toothiana walk in. Jack looked worried and Tooth looked as scared as I felt. I didn't realize I was crying until Tooth reached over and wiped the tears away. She looked like she wanted to cry when I flinched away as soon as her warm little fingers touched my skin. Jack motioned for Tooth to leave and when she did, he sat next to me and put an arm around me in an awkward one-armed hug. When I half launched myself into him and we both fell over was when the hug became less awkward. I look up at him.

    "What was it like for you the first time you met Pitch?" I asked all in one breath. Jack looked away from me, almost in shame. 

    "It was terrifying. I didn't show my fear, but he must have smelled it on me. He . . . He tried to get me on his side, using my fear of not being accepted as bait. I almost fell for it. I wanted to join him until he threatened Babytooth." Jack said hesitantly. My eyes widened and I immediately thought about how Toothiana would be if Jack joined with Pitch. My guess was: horrified. 

    At that moment, North burst into the room and I immediately got off Jack. Jack and I were both blushing madly, a fact that North didn't seem to notice. The worry and horror on North's face made the embarrassment of being caught together fade away. I ask, "What's wrong?" 
He looks at me sadly.

    "Pitch is attacking the warren. If we get there in time, we can save Bunny." He said. I get up and run out. 

    "What are we waiting for? We have to save him and Easter!" I yell back at them. I hear their running footsteps come after me and the flutter of Tooth's wings. We made it to the room where the snow globes are kept and I grabbed one. I think of Bunny and Easter and throw it on the ground. The Guardians and I run through it and appear in the middle of the warren. It was utter chaos. Nightmares were everywhere, smashing eggs and terrorizing the giant statues. A herd was surrounding Bunny, with Pitch in the middle of it all. His horrible laughter was echoing throughout the warren. I drew my obsidian sword and ran into the Nightmare sand mass, slashing expertly at any and all horses who dared come near me. I saw flashes of North's swords, Jack's ice, and Sandman's dream sand whips, smiling. My initial fear melted away and adrenaline took over. The battle seemed to go on forever until all five of us stood in a circle around Bunny, backs to the Hope Guardian. My and North's swords were poised defensively in front of him. Jack and I were staring right into the Boogeyman, no fear showing through. Pitch rolled his eyes at us and smiled smugly. 

    "The big six, all in one place. I must say, I am a little star struck. Never did I suspect I could have Hope, Memories, Wonder, Dreams, Fun and Mischief all to myself. I'm sad to say only half of you will be of use to me." Pitch said, his monotone voice echoing throughout the silent warren. When he said 'half of you', his eyes wandered to Sandy, Jack, and myself. I couldn't repress the shiver than ran through me. My free hand was taken by a rather cold one, and I look at Jack. He smiles reassuringly and squeezes. I squeeze back and look back at Pitch defiantly. He laughs and begins speaking anew. "What's this we have here? A little mischievous fun love? How touching." He sneered. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Jack yelled out, let go of my hand, and launched himself at Pitch. I was the first one to react and pushed Jack out of the way before the Nightmare sand hit him. It hit me square in the back and hurt like hell. Jack and I fell to the ground at the same time. I am screaming in pain as the sand started to cover my body, sinking into my mouth and burying itself within my skin. The pain made my inhuman grip on my sword loosen and the sword fell to the grassy ground in a muted thud. The sand began to bind my limbs together and in doing so I fell next to my sword. The last thing to be covered where my eyes, and I saw the tears off every one of the Guardians, the major amount coming from Jack. I tried to yell for them to go but I only gagged on more sand. The last thing I heard was Pitch's laughter before all was quiet and went black.

    It seemed an eternity has passed before the sand retreated and I could hear anything again. I was lying on my side, one of my arms fully extended above me while the other was curled up by my chest. My legs felt cold and a little numb. I blinked away my confusion and slowly sat up. It took me a minute to remember where I was and why. The warren was empty and deathly quiet. I looked up to see Pitch standing close to me, looking down at me in concern. I stood up and faced him. He cupped my cheek gently.

    "Are you alright, darling? I hope the transformation didn't hurt you too bad." He almost whispered. I nod and hug him. He laughs a little and pushes me away a bit. "Before we can do any of that, I want you to see yourself. The dark suits you much better than the light." He says. I look for a mirror and find it at once, a few paces to my left. I float over and stand firmly in front of it. My once pale skin is now a dull grey, just like Pitch's. My sleeveless green and black shirt was replaced with a long sleeved shirt topped with an old style military vest (Author's Note: kind of like the jacket Gerard Way was wearing in the Welcome to the Black Parade music video) and long pants tucked into what looked like my old boots, minus the green trim and now up to my knees. The trim on the boots as well as the jacket are now the lightest shade of grey I have seen. My hair was down to my butt, silky and pitch black. I no longer had my wrist gauntlets. They were replaced by the long, loose sleeves of the shirt. I nodded in approval and turned back to Pitch. I caught him looking at my body. I laughed sensually and did a pose.

    "See anything you like, my lord?" I say. His cheeks turn a darker shade of grey and he looks away.

    "Enough fooling around. We must now make plans to acquire Jack and the Sandman." He says sternly. I stand normally and nod. Before we leave, I grab my sword and put it back in the sheath on my waist. We leave shortly after, my thoughts filled with my new life and the possibilities ahead of me.