Author's Note: Augh! I had this all typed up and it got deleted! Anyway, as I said before (not that you'd know) I want to thank my reviewers as they inspired me to write the next chapter of the story right away and post it up quickly. I want to add that this is not a bashing the Guardians fic. Pitch just hasn't had good experiences with them and they have made mistakes. Just ask Jack Frost about his three hundred years! Anyway, for those who are impatiently waiting for the next chapter after you've read this one, the next chapter should be out by the end of the week or on the weekend.
In response to the reviewer who recommended that Lillian meet Jack early, oh it's coming. With him being the bringer of winter and her of spring, it was inevitable. I'm not sure if I want the other Guardians to figure out if she's a season spirit or not though. Jack would know of course, but the others might just see her as a kid running around. I hope you guys like this chapter, it totally ran away on me and turned out differently than I thought it would.
Oh and..
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! Except for Lillian!
Chapter Two: Every Child Needs a Guardian
Pitch stared at the child, wondering what to tell her. Green eyes merely looked back at him curiously.
Pitch cleared his throat.
"You could see me before, surely you must know who I am."
The girl, Lillian, looked confused.
"Before?"
"Before you became a Child of Spring," Pitch said with a bite of impatience in his tone.
Lillian only looked more confused at this.
"I wasn't anyone before I became a Child of Spring," she said as Pitch's eyes widened, "I just woke up."
"You remember nothing," he said flatly with a glance at the moon. It merely glowed back at him innocently.
Lillian's face scrunched as she tried to make sense of this.
"Am I supposed to remember something?"
Pitch hesitated briefly, before he wiped his face of all emotion.
"No, of course not," he lied smoothly.
It was a relief to know that she wouldn't remember her traumatic death or her home life. With her being so afraid of her father, he suspected that she had few happy memories.
He looked at her more closely as she began to stand. Her dress was still very ragged and her flat shoes very inadequate for the snow.
Just as he thought she might freeze again, he heard a strange hissing sound. He glanced down at her feet to see steam actually rising from the ground she was standing on.
As Lillian looked down at her feet too, a stray shaft of moonlight hit her wrist and began to glow. As the glow subsided, a bracelet could be seen. It was made up of gems cut into the shape of flowers. The flowers were rose-red in the center with green on the outer petals.
Feeling the new weight on her wrist, Lillian glanced at it, then looked startled to see the bracelet there and wordlessly held out her hand to Pitch.
He looked from the rapidly melting snow at her feet, to her wrist which he now saw was adorned with a flowery bracelet. He looked at it more closely and recognized the stones as watermelon tourmaline, a stone that often had a rose-red center and green outer layer.
"Pretty," he commented vaguely, wondering where it came from. "As to your earlier question, I am Kozmotis Pitchiner, but you however can call me Pitch."
"I'm Lillian," the girl said unnecessarily.
"I've heard," Pitch said dryly. He glanced around as though expecting to see someone and sighed.
"Well child, I'll stay with you until the Guardians arrive to help you," Pitch said as he fought to keep his face and tone neutral. "Surely even they can tell when a new seasonal spirit is born."
Disappointment flashed across Lillian's face.
"Oh," she said, her voice small. "You aren't going to stay with me?"
"Unfortunately I do have places to be. The Guardians are the Guardians of Childhood, and seeing as you are still a child, you would fall under their jurisdiction," Pitch explained gently to her.
Lillian took a step to the side, watching as more snow began to melt.
"Guardians?" she asked as spring flowers magically grew on the ground she had been previously standing on.
Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose and glared at the moon. Did the man in the moon really think it was amusing to create a new spirit and then abandon it, leaving it very vulnerable and helpless?
The moon seemed to twinkle in response. With an aggravated huff, Pitch turned away from the moon to answer the child.
"There are four Guardians. There is Nicholas St. North or North as he is more commonly referred to, and he is the Guardian of Wonder; Toothiana or Tooth who is the Guardian of Memories; Sanderson Mansnoozie or the Sandman is the Guardian of Dreams; and lastly E. Aster Bunnymund or the Easter Bunny who is the Guardian of Hope."
Lillian nodded, although Pitch could tell that she had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. Holding in another sigh, he elaborated.
"North has a holiday called Christmas where on the night of Christmas Eve or December twenty-fourth, he gives all the good children presents."
"Ohh," Lillian breathed, enraptured by Pitch's explanation. "What do the bad kids get?"
"Nothing of course. Naughty children do not deserve gifts. Tooth has no holiday of her own, but when a child loses a tooth, that child places it under a pillow. One of Tooth's fairies then retrieves it and puts a quarter in its place as a gift."
He paused and swore he could see the child poking around at her own teeth with her tongue.
"Spirits don't lose teeth as human children do," he explained, "nor do they age. As you are a child, you will always have baby teeth."
Lillian looked disappointed to hear that, so he hurried on.
"The Sandman uses golden sand to spread good dreams to the children of the world," Pitch fought a sneer, "He also has no holiday of his own. Lastly that wretched Pooka - "
"Pooka?" Lillian interrupted, not noticing Pitch's angry and bitter tone.
"He is the last of his kind. Imagine a rather tall warrior rabbit with an Australian accent," Pitch said patiently, "His holiday is Easter and he paints eggs and hides them around the world for children to find."
"Wow," Lillian said with a look of awe on her face.
Pitch looked away, turning to stare out at the darkness. No child would ever look at him that way.
"And the Guardians are going to come here? For me?" Lillian asked, not quite believing it.
"They protect all children," Pitch said, his face unreadable as he stared at the darkness, "This must fall to spirits who are children as well."
Childish laughter rang out at that thought.
"I can't wait! Are they all nice like you, Mr. Pitch?" she asked eagerly.
Pitch froze.
Did a child actually call him nice?
It took him a moment to collect himself.
"It's just Pitch," he finally said not really answering her.
Better let the Guardians explain, he thought to himself. He couldn't bear to see her expression when she found out that he was actually the monster under the bed. The monster that haunted children's nightmares.
"Will we get to see where the Easter Bunny paints his eggs?" she asked, her green eyes sparkling in happiness, unaware of the effect she had on Pitch.
"I'm not certain where they will take you, but as you are the spring seasonal spirit it would seem to be the logical choice."
"Yay!" Lillian exclaimed, jumping up and down in her excitement.
Pitch noticed that her bracelet seemed to be glowing a bit, and he definitely felt a warm spring breeze. The snow also seemed to be rapidly melting.
Two hours later, the little clearing they were in was completely free of snow and had pretty spring flowers growing everywhere. The grass was a vibrant green and Lillian's spring magic seemed to be working overtime as the ground wasn't even muddy.
Lillian was sitting on the ground, unknowingly leaning against the tree she had died on, in a pose very similar to the one Pitch had found her in.
She was wearing a flower crown made from the spring flowers she had accidentally grown and her solemn expression made Pitch frown.
"They're coming, right?" Lillian finally asked hesitantly five minutes later.
"They protect all children, remember," Pitch answered her, keeping his gaze averted from her. It was unnerving to see her like that.
"I hope they come soon," Lillian said, her voice sounding small and uncertain.
Her fear rang out to Pitch in the darkness and he clenched his hands into fists again.
What if they don't want me?
Several hours later, Pitch found himself sitting next to a very distraught Child of Spring.
"Th-they don't w-want me," she sobbed as she leaned against Pitch's arm, her tears soaking his sleeve.
Pitch looked down at the mop of flowers and rich, brown curls as Lillian had hidden her face on his arm. He could feel her shaking as her sobs wracked her frame.
He looked up at the sky where the moon had been. Now it was obscured by the early light of dawn.
Guardians indeed.
All they cared about was collecting teeth, eggs, presents and flying at a distance, spreading dreams. In their haste to "protect" children (mortal children, Pitch reminded himself) they had overlooked one twice in her most desperate time of need.
As the sky grew brighter, Pitch knew he had to go. He glanced down at the child again, wondering what he was going to do.
Back at the North Pole, Bunny was stomping around doing his second most favorite thing, complaining about a certain winter spirit.
"Shoulda seen it, snow everywhere!" Bunny threw up his arms in exasperation.
"Maybe is accident, no?" North said in a placating tone as he supervised the organized chaos that was his workshop.
"A-accident?" Bunny said faintly, shock evident on his face. "That was no accident!" he roared, "How do yeh accidentally make the worst blizzard ever seen for twenty years?!"
"Bunny is only snow!" North exclaimed as he watched a yeti making dolls. "After all, Easter is not Christmas."
Bunny stopped his stomping to glare angrily at North.
"I come here ta tell yeh that Easter was practically ruined and all yeh can say is Easter is not Christmas?!"
"Da," North agreed, oblivious to Bunny's temper.
"Why I oughta.." Bunny continued to glare at North. "Kids coulda been hurt! A lot of 'em weren't dressed for the cold and the temperature dropped fast! Some of 'em coulda died North!"
North looked away from the dolls, all of which had curly hair and wintery blue dresses on.
"Is not girly enough," he said dismissively to the yeti. "Make dresses pink."
The yeti looked at the huge pile of dolls he had already made and cried out in frustration.
North turned to Bunny with a serious expression on his face.
"What do you suggest? We visit winter spirit? Tell him is bad to make blizzard on Easter?"
"Someone has ta," Bunny growled, "I don't think he was listenin' ta me. Kept making up excuses."
North's serious expression melted away into a happy grin and he clapped his hands together.
"Then is settled! Tonight we visit Jack Frost!"
If they had decided to try and find Jack during the day time, they might have arrived in time to see Pitch Black scoop a now sleeping Child of Spring into his arms as he stood up.
He looked down at her with that same odd expression he had when she was dying.
He then looked up at where he could still faintly see the moon.
"Still believe your Guardians will come help her, old friend?" he said softly, his tone accusing.
As he disappeared with her in the fading shadows, the moon seemed to grow a little dimmer in response.
Author's Note: Bet you didn't see that one coming, eh? I have the next chapter more or less figured out. It will mainly feature the little chat the Guardians have planned with Jack and Lillian exploring Pitch's lair. I know in the movie they don't really show too much of it. I'm guessing it's probably just a big cavern or series of underground caves that are shrouded in darkness. I saw a house on a tv show once where a house was literally carved out of rock (like a big cavern it was awesome), so I think I'll borrow some of that for Pitch's place. If you have anything you want to see in the next chapter specifically, just let me know. I'll be working on it throughout the week. I'm also thinking that after this there will be lots of scenes between '68 and the present to show time passing. And yes, Lillian and Jack will have lots of fun.
I also forgot to add that I haven't read the books, so any non-movie info is from Google and just tidbits I picked up from other fics I've read. I'll keep non-movie stuff to a minimum and probably make up things here or there. If you've read the books and my info is way off base, I apologize. There really is a gem called watermelon tourmaline (yay google), I totally stole it and probably used it incorrectly to make Lillian's bracelet.