A year passed, and I didn't disappoint him once. I picked up on everything he taught me easily. I learned how to spawn creatures using shadows. He had his own shadow and sand techniques, and we found out I had my own. He could create creatures of Nightmares, I could create things of pure shadows and fear. Bats mainly. I could also control skeletons and ghosts and have them work for me, preparing for the next night that I would be left on my own.

I learned quickly that I couldn't digest food anymore. My cycles were also nonexistent. Everything else worked fine. We both discovered I fed like him. Off of terror of children and adults alike. I found I liked terrorizing them. I never threatened their lives, I just… scared them silly, that's all. I didn't have to defend myself around him. He was the one who encouraged me to be terrifying. He taught me how to read a person's greatest fear and use it to my advantage. While I could create nightmares, my talents were best suited for physical applications.

There was one talent I found that scared the daylights out of me at first.

He had taken me to a graveyard one night, full of raised bodies. It had flooded recently, sending caskets and bodies out into the streets. It wasn't hard to scare many of the people that night. All it took was an effort of will to make the skeletons dance. I think I gave one man such a scare a bit of his hair turned white prematurely. I only laughed as I fed on the fear, still getting accustomed to eating that way. I thought nothing of it as I touched one of the bones of the skeletons.

Immediately I saw images, memories that were not my own. They belonged to a woman in her early sixties. One who died from an unknown illness. She had been alone, widowed without children. No one to mourn her. When I finally came to I had tears on my cheeks and I tossed the bone off as if it were hot. It took some time to get used to, but it seemed he enjoyed hearing the stories of the departed, and so I honed my skills in learning about my so-called coworkers. There was one more thing we learned, one that I should never, ever do.

There are different forms of fear, you know. There is tension, there is fright, horror, terror, dread, and full blown panic. I could feed off of many of those, up until dread. That was the last one I could use.

A man in Germany was on a killing rampage in 1553, and the inhabitants of a recently struck village were growing panicked. Pitch thought, and I did as well, this would be the best place to satiate ourselves for quite some time. Everyone was on the verge of a panic attack. I did as I always did to fill my quota, trying to not go too far overboard. He had told me the fear high was something to not be ashamed of, and it affected everyone differently. When I felt the need to… well, be filled in other ways, I confined myself to my quarters any time I was on the fear high. There was no way I could bring myself to see if he would be receptive to those sorts of advances, and honestly, I wasn't interested at that time.

Regardless, I fed from the panicked villages, but something was wrong. I filled up quickly, yes, but something in me pulsed. I grew dizzy and colors started to blend together. Wicked images flashed before my eyes and I heard distorted laughter, mocking and prodding at me. I quickly understood I could not absorb panic, not of this magnitude. I could make out his concerned features, but even that blended together into nothing as the world began to spin. I remember him bringing me back to his lair and staying by my side the rest of the night, well into the morning. The entire time I had to endure the worst after effect of my life. For eight hours. After that, I never fed off panic again, and he didn't make me. I was afraid I had disappointed him. He said he was just glad I was fine. Apparently I had muttered and cried for most of it, saying things like "don't leave me alone, I don't want to be alone again". I can't recall saying it, and I apologized for my burden. He only prepared me for my next lesson.

After then, I started looking at him differently. I started seeing him as more than a teacher. He didn't seem to look at me like that, but I couldn't tell for sure. As the year passed, I learned everything I could. I even learned to summon my own horse, created from dark thoughts and shadows. He was a magnificent horse, made of pure muscle and strength, with such a gentle heart. He had black fur with a green skeletal pattern stained on it, and his eyes glowed the same green. I named him Hessian. It was a fitting name for a steed like him.

I was left on my own that All Hallows Eve. I held nothing back. My powers were at their peak, and I enjoyed myself fully. Everyone ran in fright as things started to go bump in the night. My Shadowbats helped corral the spirits of the dead through towns all over the world, sending just enough fear through the earth. I felt power I had never felt before. I was stronger, and I filled dreams with nightmares through the nights. As the day after rose, as All Hallows came to a close, I looked over my work, seeing the spirits return to their graves, watching the skeletons return to where I had summoned them. Each Shadowbat dispersed until I would call for them again. I leaned against Hessian's shoulder, smiling at my work.

"I see you won't need me anymore."

I looked to my left, seeing Pitch standing there, admiring the work as well. "I wouldn't say that. I'm sure there are a few more things I can learn."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing that I could teach you." He turned away from the rising sun. "You never disappointed me. For the past three hundred and sixty five days you have done every task I gave you without complaint, and without issue. That is quite remarkable." He glanced at me. "You are a talented woman. I wish you well in your work."

I frowned. "What do you mean? Are you leaving me on my own?"

"There is nothing more you can learn from me. It's time you set off on your own. Though I must admit, you do have a knack for immersing yourself in the darkness."

I slowly absorbed what he was saying, and I could feel my heart breaking. I had loved him for some time, two months now, but I knew he never would return the feeling. I was still sentimental, and I hated it. Over the year I had grown patient, calculating. I didn't show fear or trepidation while in the field. I showed no weaknesses. I doubt he even knew how I felt. "I see."

I was clinging to the only thing I could. The first person I had ever seen after my rebirth. The first person to ever accept the fact I was different. That I did ask questions. That I wasn't an ordinary silent woman. I had thoughts, and he seemed to value those thoughts. I cleared my throat and kept my face neutral. "If that is what you believe… Will I see you again?"

"Here and there, I suppose. If you continue to spread nightmares to the children, I'm sure our paths will cross again. Farewell, Hana. It's been… interesting."

I could only nod and turn my head to Hessian's shoulder, hiding my face from view. I wouldn't let him see me cry. I wouldn't let him know he had broken my heart.

"Then again…"

My head snapped in the direction of his voice, seeing him still standing there. He stared at his staff, twirling it in his fingers.

"You could stay in Venice. The lair is awfully large for just myself. And I'm sure there are some things I could still teach you."

I stared at him incredulously before I broke out into a grin. "Admit it. You'd miss me."

A smirk emerged on his face and he looked to me, still twirling his staff. "You keep things interesting, to say the least." He held up a finger. "There is one trick I didn't teach you."

Before I could ask he slipped into the shadows, disappearing altogether. I looked around, finding no trace of him in the rising sun. "Pitch?"

"I've gone nowhere."

I twirled around, finding him directly behind me. "What did you do?"

"Shadow stalking. I travel through the Void in two ways. Long distance, and short. I can travel all over, or just move out of the way." He grinned. "Flight or fight, remember that, Hana." I nodded and watched him disappear again. I froze as I felt him press against my back, his lips against my ear. "Something like this takes time to learn, even with your prowess. I think you should come back with me."

Who was I to argue? I nodded.

"There's something else you need to learn."

Now I was confused. What else was I missing?

"You need to learn to control those dreams of yours. They're dark thoughts. I can see them when I'm asleep as well."

My nerves seized. How the hell… It was then I remembered, nightmares were dark thoughts. Fears were dark thoughts. He could read dark thoughts. I bit my lip. "Are you cross with me?"

"Of course not." He moved from behind me, only making it worse as he forced me to look at him. "Something needs to be done about them though." He took my wrist and brought me through the Void. "And I know what to do."

What was it he would do? What could he possibly do to rid myself of such perverse dreams? I couldn't help them. They were subconscious thoughts brought to the surface. Did he know of a way to stifle the subconscious for good? Before I knew it we left the Void, bringing us back to Italy. However, it was a part of it I hadn't seen before. I saw a fireplace in the corner, with a comfortable looking chair sitting in front of it. In front of that was a grand bed, covered in red sheets.

I was in his bedroom.

I was in the Boogieman's bedroom.