A town covered in darkness. Young children sleeping in their beds, granted sweet dreams by the ever watching Sandman, Guardian of Dreams. The golden man had already done his rounds in the small town of Windsor, Connecticut, every child asleep with gold sand dancing above their heads. All except for one child.

A sleeping child was an easy target for the feared Nightmare King. Especially one with a druggie mother, a father who is never there, and living in the oldest, rundown house in the whole town. No protector to run to during the middle of the night when fear strikes the child's heart. The only comfort a raggedy teddy bear and a thin blanket to huddle under during the cold nights.

The giver of fear chuckled at the thought of easy prey. He traveled quickly through the shadows, appearing in the corner of the attic the child called her bedroom. Pitch Black looked around and his eyes widened at the sight before him. The room was small but big enough for a simple dresser, a small metal framed bed, and a tall coat rack, a black men's hooded coat hanging from it. The walls were faded, wood details made large squares on the walls, making the appearance of a invisible window when there was in fact a small one on the wall to the right.

Why the hell would you put that on a wall? Stupid humans...And so outdated. Pitch sneered at the tacky decor until he saw the child sleeping on the tiny bed, shivering under the thin threadbare blanket, the worn bear clutched to her chest in the search for warmth. Sparkling good sand danced above her head as she dreamed. Pitch saw the girl with two adult figures, her parents, the three of them laughing and playing as a family.

"And look. At. Her. Precious child. So sweet, so full of hope and wonder despite her hideous living arrangement. Why, there's only one thing missing... a touch of fear." He grinned at the potential of regaining his lost power. He touched the gold dreamsand with a long grey finger and watched as the sand turned black under his touch. He withdrew his hand and watched it the dream change. The mother was now yelling at the child, the father gone, and the dream girl shaking with tears. The sleeping child whimpered in her sleep and clutched the teddy bear tighter.

Pitch was reaching out his hands to make it into a Nightmare when he paused and his grin dropped. The sand had changed again to something that even the King of All Things Bad found unpleasant. The mother in the dream was now beating the child. Kicking. Slapping. Pitch's eyes widened when the older woman took out a knife and started to approach the child curled on the ground. He had enough. He didn't create this! Even though he wanted to give the entire world nights filled with nightmares and this was just a dream, this was just barbaric.

He swiped his hand through the dream, startling the child awake, gasping for breath, tears running down her pale cheeks. Bright brown eyes slowly opened as if afraid to see her dream become reality once again. Pitch was still standing beside her bed, feeling… concern? Pitch grimaced at that thought. Why would I be concerned for the safety of one merger child? How absurd.

The immortal was turning to leave when he felt a tug on his cloak. That stopped him in his tracks.

Pitch turned his head to see the child staring at him with pleading brown eyes, a look that immediately caused a feeling to rise in his chest. He stared at those bright brown eyes, so full of fear, begging him to stay and protect her like no one has ever had. He almost said no when a small voice spoke up, followed by a sniffle. "Stay. Pwease. I'm scared."

His eyes grew, surprised that the girl could see him and would want him to stay, the man responsible for her nightmare. The weight in his chest grew until he couldn't take it anymore. So he did what he had to do. What any dark spirit facing the puppy dog eyes would do.

He sat down on the bed right next to her and pulled her in his arms. It felt like he had done this before. It felt so familiar. But no, that couldn't be right… Could it?

Pitch pushed those confusing thoughts aside and held the shaking girl in his thin arms, rocking her back and forth whispering sweet nothings, just trying to calm the poor creature down. Even when her shaking stopped, all the tears dry, her breathing slow, he still held her as she slept until dawn.

Sandy, the Guardian of Dreams, quickly floated to the old building on the edge of the small town. There was a child having a nightmare, a terrible one. He was determined to get to the child, beat Pitch up, and give her sweet dreams again. He knew which child it was too. He has watched her dreams for a while and has noticed a pattern. All her dreams were about a family. Her family. All together and happy.

His face set in determination; he flew outside her small window and almost fell out of the sky in shock. Pitch was there but not grinning like the Boogeyman he was. No, he was sitting on the tiny bed as he held the five year old girl in his arms, petting her blond hair in a smoothing motion as she slept peacefully. The little girl in question, Maia he remembered to be her name, was curled into a ball onto the Boogeyman's chest, her breathing deep as her tiny hands clutched onto the man's cloak.

Sandy smiled as he looked at Pitch, a familiar small smile on his face as he looked down at the child but instead of hatred and wickedness, it was caring and soft. The golden man left before Pitch could see him and floated away as he thought. Should he tell the other Guardians about this? They didn't know about Pitch's past so they would understand why he had left without doing anything. They would rush into a battle that had no purpose. Sandy's face fell as he remembered Pitch Black's tragic past and nodded to himself.

He would not tell them.

Well Well. Would ya look at this? Another story that will cause me to panic to finish on my own inflicted due date? Why, yes.

So yes, there will be more and there will be a Darkest Day chapter. I hope. Message me if you don't see it in the next couple days. Please.

I have no idea when I'll update this. Probably in between Darkest Day updates.

So message me/comment if you want to see more! Please. I beg of you.