How long had it been since his defeat? He didn't recall and he didn't care. Or at least thats what he kept telling himself. Pitch walked across on of the many twisting walk ways of his lair. It was silent and still. No nightmares to be seen. They'd long since staved and faded away. While it was true that any fear can generate a nightmare only the fear of a child could sustain a nightmares form. Without the fear of children the nightmares lost shape and form and slowly but surely they faded. Now Pitch was left to himself. Well mostly to himself. He still had a small number of fearlings to serve him. But these days even they were unlikely to listen to him. They needed a ruler who was visible and feared, and he wasn't either of those things.

Pitch stopped by the globe He glared at it's millions of lights, millions of children who believed in them, in the guardians he so despised. He glared at it for a long moment it was then that he saw it. A single light flickering. He smiled. Perhaps this was an opportunity to regain at least some small fraction of his power. He took to the shadows happily.

The home he arrived at was small, and very run down. It showed no signs of a child living there and yet he could feel the child's terror. It was the that he heard the scream.

"Leave me alone!" a young girl screamed, followed by the sound of a loud crash.

Pitch felt his spine stiffen in alarm. The girl was scared of a nightmare or some imagined terror. She was scared of a person. He entered the house through a broken window making his way to the room where the girls crying could still be heard.

"Stop! Please! Don't!" begged the girl.

Pitch slid under the door easily. What he saw on the other side sickened him. On the bed was a little girl face down on the bed held with her lower half off the bed tattered sundress pulled up and underwear on the ground. He reformed quickly snarling. The girl looked in his direction. "Help me please!" She screamed. The man holding her laughed darkly. "Ain't no one here to help you now quit screaming and... " he didn't have time to finish his statement as Pitch much to his own surprise pulled the man away from the girl who ran to the door yanking the it open. Pitch threw the man across the room easily before following after the girl she was in the kitchen crouched beside the stove. He thought she might be trying to hide until he noticed she was pulling on something. Finally it gave way and he heard the hiss of gas flooding the room. He raced over to the girl grabbing her and taking to the shadows. When they reappeared they were outside. The girl tugged at his robe. "Go turn off the breaker." she said.

He looked down at her. "The what?" He asked in confusion. She pointed to a rusty box. "Open the box and flip the switch inside."

He went over to the box and flipped the switch inside as asked. Immediately the light in the house cut off. He hurried over to the shadows when he heard movement inside. The girl looked back at the house. "I wonder if he'll light a match?" He looked at her confused. She looked at him with an unimpressed look. "If he lights a match it might light the gas..." An explosion rocked the ground as the house erupted into flames. "Which will make the house blow up." She finished with a smile that was far to happy for a child that had just been within mere moments of… Pitch stopped himself right there. He looked at the girl in his arms. she was wearing a tattered sundress, her skin was almost gray with dirt and grime, and her hair was matted and dirty. She looked like any given child from back in the dark age. He thought over what he had seen. It made even him sick to think of what she had nearly endured. He put her down. She looked up at him her eyes were dull and her face was expressionless. She simply stared at him. "Do you know who I am child?" He asked.

She nodded. "You came from the shadows and according to the stories my mom used to tell me that means you're the boogeyman."

Pitch nodded. "That's right. Now if you know that why aren't you scared?"

The girl looked toward the burning remnants of the house. "Because I knew a scarrier monster that didn't hide in the shadows."

Pitch understood that answer. In all his centuries he'd definitely seen humans much worse than himself. "Do you have any family I can take you to?" The girl shook her head. "It's just me now."

He frowned. Well then. What to do now. The girl was alone. He could just leave her there. No that wouldn't work he'd seen how some orphaned children were treated she'd likely be in just as much danger as she'd just gotten out of. He looked down at her again. Perhaps he could take her. No no absolutely not, the fearlings… barely listened to him anymore. Another glance at the girl. She didn't fear the things a child would fear, should fear. Even if his minions did take an interest in her they'd have no influence over her. He sighed. "Would you like to come with me then?"

The girl looked up at him an eyebrow raised in suspicion. "You do realize how that sounds coming from the boogeyman, right? For all I know you just wanna take me back to your lair so you can eat me or something." She said flatly.

Pitch couldn't help but let out an amused huff. "Not at all. I'm merely offering you a way to escape this. If you stay you're going to spend the next few years of your life trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of different people and different houses, with no real place to call home. I'm offering you the stability that I'm sure you've more than likely lacked since your birth."

The girl looked back towards the burning house and twisted her dress in her hands. "It wasn't so bad when mom was here. But then she got sick and died. The monster got really mad at me after that." She looked up at Pitch. "I want a home again."

Pitch could feel his nonexistent heart breaking for the girl. He knelt, pulling her close and holding her tightly. "Then that is what you shall have." He said as he picked her up carrying her into the shadows unaware of the tiny golden guardian watching them from the distance.

The Sandman sat on his golden cloud of dream sand thinking about what he'd seen. Pitch had sounded almost like he cared about the girl. And he could touch her yet she was not afraid of him. She believed in him for a different reason than most children, but what was it? His gaze shifted to the burning house. What exactly had the boogeyman done to earn a fearless believer? He shrugged. Perhaps it wasn't for him to know. He'd merely watched the end of the exchange between the girl and Pitch. With no clue of the beginning proper judgement was impossible. He sighed softly to himself deciding that he'd keep an eye on them by himself for now and if needed he'd alert the Guardians if he found the child to actually be in any danger.