AU in which Kozmotis Pitchiner has returned, and North is the first to find him.
I don't own anything.
When he fell into darkness, it was the Golden Age.
When he returned, it was the Age of Technology in a world he only knew of from Pitch's memories.
Lost, confused, and racked with guilt, the fallen general spent many a day hiding from the humans that he had spent so long terrifying- that Pitch had terrified.
They were one in the same, though, were they not?
Pitch's cruelty was Kozmotis'.
Kozmotis' humility was... nowhere to be found within the Nightmare King.
The Nightmare King. No more. Defeated forever, the creature feared by all. The darkness seeped into the ground, waiting for another vessel.
A worthy vessel.
Not what Kozmotis Pitchiner was. A fool. A whimsical fool that believed against all else that his daughter found a way into the prison-
Tricked, corrupted, broken.
Not the treasure he was cracked up to be, hm?
The general kept himself away from everyone else for a while, but a certain Guardian knew just where to find him.
"I've heard of you, General." The voice startled Pitchiner, who whipped around, only to let out a ragged sigh upon seeing North. "Took you long enough to join us; we could have used your return much sooner. Centuries ago. Do you remember the Dark Ages-?"
"Please." Arm outstretched, palm facing the spirit of wonder, Pitchiner stared towards him with utter desperation. The man, once so full of pride, was fully prepared to go on bended knee to beg that the past would stay where it belonged. In conversation, at least; his mind would not give him rest, refused to acknowledge that what's done is done and he was never fully to blame.
"Where did the hero run to?"
"He's dead. They got revenge for their imprisonment."
"No, no. You only wish that were true. The hero of the Golden Age is hidden away, within you. Just as you were hidden within the darkness. Free him, General." The former bandit stepped forward as Kozmotis stumbled back. "Calm down." Again, he moved toward the general, placing a hand on either shoulder- North was all but certain that the man was going to crumble beneath him. A sad sight, indeed. "You rose from corruption. Broken, weary, guilty- perhaps. The world's still here, and for the better. We exist and thrive. We make the world better and children happier because of you... or what you were."
"I destroyed an entire age. I existed to plague horror and pain-"
"Not you. Pitch."
"WE'RE THE SAME PERSON!" He did not mean to scream, to roar with the ferocity that Kozmotis himself had not exhibited since he fought the onslaught of darkness. North only smiled.
"Possessed and maddened. That doesn't count." His blue eyes twinkled as his hold on the general tightened before he let go. "He'll come back, the hero, and you're going to come when he does." Placing in Kozmotis' quivering hand a snowglobe, North couldn't help but chuckle. "Throw it, and you'll be at the North Pole. Don't let Jack know I lent you this. He'll never stop nagging."
And just as suddenly as he appeared, North left the entirely confused general's poor hideaway.
Tossing the globe between his hands, Kozmotis felt a very faint smile cross his features.
"Completely erratic."