A/N: Thank you so much for your kind reviews. I love this pairing and have been trying to bring something a little different to the table with this story. Please read and review if you are so inclined. They are very encouraging!

Elsa was understandably nervous when Thursday afternoon came around. It wasn't that she didn't believe that her piece was good enough but she knew well that different writers had different tastes. Ultimately she wanted to make a good first impression. No matter what Jack said, Mr Black was a good connection to have, especially if she wanted to try and get her work published in the future.

'No point in burning any bridges,' she thought to herself. 'Besides there's every chance Jack is wrong about him, or at least that he's different now.' If Elsa was honest with herself she had been thinking about Jack's story and the more she pondered, the more she realised Jack was probably exaggerating. It was very like him to be over the top about something, and while Elsa would be the first one to say Pitch Black didn't seem like the friendliest person in the world she couldn't make judgements until she had met him properly.

The Writers Room was a pleasantly bright, informal space with a few sofas and an entire wall dedicated to books from all sorts of different writers and poets. There were even some pieces from former students available to flick through. It was a room Elsa enjoyed spending time in when it wasn't being used for seminars, especially over the holidays when her friends went home.

Smiling at the other people who were already there, Elsa settled into a corner of the sofa and pulled out her raggedy notebook and a pen. Jack had told her he was going to be a little bit late for the first seminar and she wasn't sure if it really was because his lecture was on the other side of campus or whether Jack was doing his best to avoid Pitch Black. She rarely questioned her friends but this seemed like a fairly petty course of action.

Everyone else had arrived at least five minutes before the class was due to start and Elsa could feel a certain amount of trepidation in the room. No one really knew what to expect from this stranger but they all knew that the first impression they had received hadn't been the most positive. Small groups of friends discussed the new tutor and how he might conduct the class. Finally, almost exactly as the minute hand ticked on to the hour, Pitch Black pushed open the door.

He didn't say a word as he pulled out a chair from one of the writing desks and settled himself separately from the rest of the group. Just like the first time they all met, Pitch Black looked around the room with thinly disguised disgust on his face. Elsa could tell he would rather be anywhere else but in that room.

"So, you are the students I have for the next term?" The man pursed his lips together tightly before continuing, a small smirk creeping into his lips as he lent back in his chair casually. "If you were listening in Mondays lecture you will remember my name is Pitch Black and I am taking your seminars for this first term. As a guest lecturer it's my job to help answer any questions you might have about the writing or publishing industry, and also to 'nurture' your writing style as best as I can."

He stopped for a brief pause as he looked about the room. Elsa felt more than saw his eyes fall upon her and was thankful that it was only for a moment before he continued his introduction.

"Be aware that I am volunteering my time and receive no benefit in helping you beyond that of assisting those of you who are worthy enough into the realms of writing. If you slack off and fail this term, it has no effect on me. And this is where the first writing task came into practice…"

Elsa felt apprehension bubble up inside her. She loved writing but panic always set in when she had to read out to her peers. They were all so very talented and she had great difficulty in not comparing herself to them. She shuffled a little further back into her seat. The movement seemed to catch the older mans eye and he smiled at her. Elsa had to suppress a shiver. There was nothing kind about that smile.

"Ah ah, no shrinking back." His face seemed to light up as Elsa become more uncomfortable. "Thank you for volunteering, Miss…?"

"Elsa Telvi."

"Miss Telvi. Could you please read what you wrote for this session? And stand up to read," he spoke to the whole classroom, "if you don't respect your work enough to stand to read it, why should anyone respect it enough to listen?"

Swallowing down the flickers of panic which had crawled their way up Elsas throat, she stood to read out her poem.

"Erm, this is about my-"

"No! Don't tell us, let us tell you. Just read your piece."

"Oh okay, sorry!" The panic rose again. Elsa couldn't remember a time when she had been so worried about reading in front of people. She know that the only reason she was so worried was the new presence of one Pitch Black, but she didn't have time to query the feeling. The class was waiting for her to read.

"It wasn't until I was looking through the rear view mirror. Until I was on the I was stood at the sink, up to my elbows in bubbles with no one to dry whilst I washed. Until that first phone call that I felt the distance between us. And I knew you'd never really come back home."

"Title?"

"Pardon?"

"Your poem, does it have a title?"

"Oh, no I left it untitled. Is that a bad thing?"

"It was a creative decision, even if it was an unconscious one."

That didn't answer Elsas' question but she didn't want to press further. The entire class had changed from watching Elsa read to watching Pitch as he stared at the blonde woman. She realised she was still stood up and hurriedly sat back down. Pitch continued to watch her for a beat longer before turning to the rest of the class.

"I will tell you what I think after you have aired your own thoughts. Was it affective, first of all?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement and eventually the class managed to warm up into a small discussion over the length of the piece.

"I just feel like there was a lot left unsaid, you know?"

"Yeah but don't you reckon that's part of it? She didn't know it herself so how was she meant to convey it to us as a reader?"

It was a strange feeling for people to be discussing such a personal piece of writing right in front of her but Elsa supposed that she ought to get used to critics if she wanted to write full time.

"If it had been longer the bittersweet element would have been lost."

"But something else could have come from it! You can't tell me that The Iliad should've been shorter to add more bitterness?!"

"Enough!" Pitch's smooth voice cut through the chatter and everyone's focus was instantly on him. "I agree that it was the right length. Anymore would have become boring and repetitive." Elsa looked at him and the tiniest hint of a smile tugged at her lips. She was proud and relived, but she didn't want to celebrate until he was done with her piece. She felt like there might be a-

"But-"

Ah, there it was.

"- I feel as though your writing is too simple. It's clear, sure, but there's no real emotion to it. It's clean, clinical and clear. No if or buts, no messy tear. You're telling us you just lost your sister to the big bad world of university. How does that actually make you feel?"

There was silence in the room. Elsa could feel everyone's eyes on her but she couldn't bring herself to consider anyone else in the room but Pitch. He was radiating some sort of charisma and it was addictive. She wanted him to tear her work apart and piece it together because she knew it was absolutely true. She was cold and clinical and it made her written work the same. She couldn't project feelings onto the paper because she had spent so long having to rein them in that Elsa just didn't know how to describe them all anymore. She concealed all her thoughts and emotions, knowing that if she didn't let them show that she would be stronger, for Anna.

And now she was looking at a man who she knew could help her. In just ten minutes he had found and revealed to her to core problem in not only her writing, but her life, and saw no harm in stating it outright to her and everyone in the class. This man, this Pitch Black could help Elsa make her writing publishable, and she wasn't going to let it slip out of her hands.

The two hour long seminar passed in a vaguely pleasant manner. Not a single piece of writing escaped Pitchs' wrath entirely, some getting it worse than others but by the end it seemed that the elder man hadn't completely lost faith in the students. Jack did arrive late by about half an hour and Elsa could have sworn the temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees when the two men made eye contact.

"Sorry, sir. I had a lecture in the West building which ran over. I did send you an email about it yesterday." There was unrestrained venom in Jacks voice, though he chose his words carefully.

"Yes Frost, I recall. Don't let it happen again."

Jack had sat down next to Elsa and she could feel the young man bristling next to her. In an attempt to calm him she placed a gentle hand on his arm when Pitch had launched into an eloquent tirade about over use of alliteration. Jack looked at her and smiled thankfully, giving Elsa a little nod to let her know he was okay.

When the seminar finally came to a close it had seemed that everyone bar Jack felt a little more at ease with Pitch. Even Elsa, knowing that she would never say it to her friend, was beginning to understand why Professor North was so proud of the recent graduate. He was truly skilled at both writing and editing, and she was very happy that they had the opportunity to work with him. Elsa knew that she wanted to take advantage of having such a person available but was also aware of her best friends feelings for him. As they left the room she hesitated, quickly deciding to tell a couple of white lies to cover her tracks. She felt like she was going behind jacks back but reasoned with herself that there was nothing wrong with asking a tutor for help… right?

"I'll meet you at the front of the building, Jack. I need to sort some things out."

"S'okay, I'll wait here for you."

She inwardly grimaced before pushing it further.

"I just figured that you might be gagging for a cigarette after that."

"…I'll see you in five."

Celebrating her little victory, she turned back into the room where Pitch was talking to another student. She hung back awkwardly, waiting for them to leave before approaching Pitch herself. It was dark outside, the winter sun having set early, and all the windows in the room were acting like mirrors. Only now could she see just how tall Pitch was in comparison to her meagre five feet and 3 inches. She had always been the smaller of the two sisters, the petite waif to Annas tall, athletic build. She cursed her height as she faced the intimidating figure of Pitch Black.

"Erm, sir?"

"Please call me Pitch. And you were Miss Elsa Telvi, if I remember correctly?"

"Yes, sorry. Pitch." She swallowed. It had never been part of her plan to ramble and she calmed her thoughts before she continued. "What you said before, about my piece of writing? That I didn't put enough, or any, emotion into it. I was just wondering if you would be able to give me some advice about that?"

Pitch sighed. He looked condescendingly down at Elsa and she felt herself pull her back straighter, as if it would add some inches to her height.

"It's not just emotion, Elsa. It's that the entire thing, from the writing to your reading of it, was lacking persuasion."

The young woman shook her head.

"Persuasion? But what does that have to do with creative writing?"

That all too familiar smirk reached its way across Pitch's face and Elsa suddenly felt as though he were too close for comfort, though it didn't seem that he had moved at inch from where he had been standing.

"All writers have some darkness hiding in them, some sort of seductive power they use to lull a reader into believing every word. It's that power you lack, Elsa. You are far too... clean. Too innocent."

His words rang out all too clear and true for Elsa, who quickly flushed deep pink and looked away from the older man. In many ways she was a very innocent person. True, she had little experience of the world from outside the bubble she had built around Anna and herself and she was less than inexperienced when it came to a lot of emotional things such as romance. But she had had her fair share of darkness in her short life so far, didn't that count for something?

Pitch had gathered his things and was already heading out of the door, as though his words had finished the conversation. Elsa, however, had other plans.

"Teach me."

He stopped in the doorway. She couldn't see his reaction from here but she thought she could almost feel him bristling with disdain. The words were simple but held within them trust, honesty and the most enticing thing for a man such as Pitch Black; the handing over of power.

"Teach you?" There was a humourless chuckle but he turned to look at the young woman. She felt him looking beyond her outer appearance, looking for a hint of something. Weakness perhaps? Or maybe doubt, but she stood her ground, never letting her eye contact waver. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't give private lessons. Besides, the power of artistic seduction isn't something you can teach."

The way he said that made her shiver, but she pressed on. Elsa didn't want to beg. Beyond her relative innocence she was still a proud woman and had no desire to bow to anybody, but she was at a loss over what else to do. She needed to improve and Pitch was the man who could help her, she knew it. What more could she do but plead with him? As far as she could see, Pitch Black wasn't the sort of person who would do something like this out of the goodness of his heart.

"It'll reflect badly on you if I fail the class."

"I'm a guest lecturer, it is of no consequence to me what marks you all receive."

"Please!" Frenzy had started to work its way into her voice and Elsa did everything she could to push it back. 'Panicking won't make this easier', she reminded herself and took a deep breath before continuing. "Please. It doesn't have to be done for extra credit or anything like that. I'll even come to you out of hours. Mr Black, I'll do anything."

This made the corners of the man's lips twitch in what Elsa could only read as amusement.

"Don't start making promise you can't keep, little one."

"Don't patronise me!" She seethed. Pitchs' eyes widen by a fraction before he closed them entirely, in a mocking act of deep thought. He hummed a little before looking up and striding over to the young woman.

"If it means that much to you, convince me. You have until next week to write something that I might see some sort of promise in." He put one finger under her chin, using it to make Elsas eyes meet his. She froze in place, not knowing what to do. There was malice in his face and a sly grin crept into the corners of his mouth. "Try not to disappoint me, hmm?" With those words he patted her cheek condescendingly and swept out of the room, leaving only shadows to keep Elsa company.

Slowly, without any conscious thought, her hand rose to touch her cheek. A fierce blush was making its way across her face and her stomach twisted in knots. Elsa had never been more mortified in her life. How dare he treat her in such a way? She was a student and he was a-

-A guest lecturer and a former student.

Not an employee of the university by any means. What he did was no worse than if he were in a club, or any other public space in the eyes of the law.

And yet she was livid! How she longed to smack the grin off that face of his. Jack was absolutely right, Pitch Black was a snake who couldn't be trusted. However…

"If it means that much to you, convince me…"

That was a challenge if ever she'd heard one. Still shaking with fury she slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the doorway and straight into the chest of a certain Mr Jack Frost.

"Whoa there Queenie!" He deftly caught her as she stumbled back in shock. "You alright Elsa? I was coming to look for you as you'd been a while." He smiled at her and Elsa felt the mortification and anger drop away. She was in good company, a person who would understand and enjoy a good moan about Pitch.

She wouldn't tell him the truth about her meeting with the new tutor. Jack would probably be more angry that her and maybe try to report Pitch or worse, take matters into her own hands. Elsa couldn't allow that to happen as she needed the older mans help in gaining this so call 'persuasion' in her own writing.

After all she had a challenge to meet and Elsa would hate to disappoint.