I haven't finished many of my other fanfics.…One of the chapters is halfway done..I've just gotten out of the groove of writing. This new fanfic however since it wouldn't leave me alone/ RoTG like the movie 9 is inspiring. I know that Pitch is a bad guy who loves doing what he does and that he's seen as a sadistic monster but... I honestly wondered if Pitch had one unconscious weakness towards girls who reminded him of his daughter. Spoilers for the 2nd book within the Guardians of Childhood series.

1: To Protect

Pitch's night had started off great as he left his last victim wailing from a nightmare the he had conjured up. It had been a very good one too; enough so that for the rest of his short life the child would have a deep unsettling fear of clowns. The boy should have listened to his parents warning of no rated R movies.

Transporting from shadow to shadow Pitch stepped out from a open closet; black sand slowly disappearing and mixing with the darkness of the bedroom. His yellow eyes scanned the room, taking in the contrasting difference in interests of the room's occupant. At the opposite end of the closet a little girl slept peacefully with the all too familiar golden glow of Sanderson's dream sand creations above her head. A look of visible disgust at the cute encrusted dream melted into a evil smirk at the idea of what kind of nightmare he decided to give the child.

Silently Pitch reached out to touch the sand puppy above the girl's head only for the silence to be shattered by a group of loud teenagers mixed in with a car's bass roaring down the street. Pitch gritted his sharp teeth in annoyance and made note to hunt them down later.

As silence reigned the room again he leaned forward to continue his work and noticed that the puppy was gone, the girl's eyes were open and staring right at him. He felt his breath hitch in his throat now taking in the girl's features. She looked like an exact copy of his daughter.

Pitch for the first time in a long while stood there frozen, mind blank unable to move back into the shadows.

"Is someone there? If there is.. was there something you wanted?" Asked the child in a curious voice now slowly sitting up. Pitch wore a confused expression. Didn't the girl see him? He stared at the child harder and realization washed over him.

"I know you're there….I can feel you."

The child was blind.

"My name's Sasha what's yours?"

Pitch suddenly found his voice again and straightened up to his full height.

"I am the the Nightmare King; child." He paused for a moment to let the information sink in. Sasha's curious expression didn't change. "Are you not scared of me?" The little girl fidgeted slightly; a triumphant smirk graced Pitch's mouth. Progress.

"A little." Confessed Sasha. His smirk faltered an inch. "But so do some of the others who visit me. Sometimes they have really bad wounds and want me to help them or are just really angry…." Sasha suddenly clenched the comforter in her tiny hands, face turning to focusing at something behind him.

Pitch followed her gaze all too aware of the dark presence behind him. The anger radiating from the ghost felt like needle pricks against his skin while the room's temperature radically dropped. In a flash the angry man's ghost was in front of Sasha, hollowed eye sockets boring into her own. The shadow king enjoyed the child's fear as a small whimper left her, but her distress caused something deep with in him snapped.

Before he could register his actions he grabbed the ghost by the back of his bloodied shirt and flung him across the room. The throw barely did anything to phase the spirit. Instead of attacking the ghost only stared at Pitch; a slow and impossibly wide sharp teethed grin spread across his face. Dark laughter filled Pitch's head until the ghost began to fade away into nothing. Pitch raised a brow. If that was some sort of threat he wasn't impressed.

With the threat gone his mind then replayed what had just happened. Why now of all times did he just do that? He never took pity on anyone no matter what the circumstance. He never intervened in anything before. Because she looks and sounds like her? And instinctively he was protecting her? Pitch mentally shook his head. No. She is not his daughter. She'll never be her. His daughter was gone!

Pitch continued to reason with himself until the sound of sniffling brought him back to reality. Sasha had pulled her legs to her chest, face buried in her knees. She was obviously terrified. The nightmare king basked in the girl's fear. The feeling giving him strength even if he wasn't the one who had caused it.

"Th-Thank you…" She squeaked suddenly, slowly looking up at him even though her milky eyes wasn't focused on him. Pitch's eyes narrowed in frustration and rage and cursed his sudden weakness. The girl saw him as her savior. This wasn't something he wanted.

"Just go back to sleep before I give you a nightmare worse than that ghost" He spat causing her to flinch. Obeying Sasha quietly shifted back under the covers and laid down. As soon as her head hit the pillow a tiny cloud of golden sand sprinkled down and sleep over took her. Knowing who that sand belonged to he snapped his head to the right and glared viciously at the window. " How long have you been there?!" He whispered harshly.

Sanderson only smiled innocently, leaning against the window with his head propped on one of his tiny hands. Pitch had a feeling he just witnessed the entire event. Baring his teeth he shot a single finger out towards his arch enemy.

"Mention a single detail to the others Sanderson and I swear-" The sandman rolled his eyes, and put up a hand cutting off what looked like Pitch's start on a long string of threats. A small finger made a X mark across his the left part of his chest; Indicating he would not tell a soul. Pitch somehow feeling satisfied at their mutual agreement whirled around and walked back into the inky blackness of the girl's closet disappearing and reappearing in the shadows of the darkened street outside.

Now alone he gritted his teeth feeling a headache coming on. He needed to get his mind off of the past few minutes and back to work. Quickly an idea came to mind followed by a dark chuckle. He had some unruly teens to find.