Heyguys, sorry it's been a while since I last updated! I usually like to post a new chapter within the week, but alas with uni and all I have been really busy! I hope you all find it in your hearts to forgive me :) Anywho, just wanted to say thanks for the reviews and PM's you guys are great and I love some of your story ideas, it definitely helps to get the old creative juices flowing! Cheers guys!

Chapter... Seven is it?: Usually I consider a strange dream me taking a bath in spaghetti, but this?

I had never seen the Boogyman before.

I mean sure, I had swapped stories about him with the odd spirit from time to time,overheard the legends parents told their children. He was one of those people who you knew exactly who they were without ever laying eyes on them simply because of their reputation. His clothes, his stance, his expression- everything mapped out perfectly to the mental picture I had in my head.

But never in my over three hundred years of death, had I seen the man in person...

To be honest, if he wasn't the Guardians most wanted at the moment, I would almost feel privileged.

Almost.

I folded my arms and sat cross legged on the bed on top of the covers, leaning back against the head rest, trying to look as bored as I could manage while fighting down the small feeling of fear I felt spark inside me. I just needed to stay calm, stay in control of my emotions... I had heard enough about Pitch Black to know that much.

"So you are the great Pitch Black huh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Must say, I thought you'd be taller..."

Ok, so sometimes I was a fucking idiot, I mean who the hell says that to the one dude the Guardians are afraid of? But a part of me couldn't help it, I guess I always had a knack for pushing buttons. The people who thought they were better than everyone else, thought they superior with no real reason to be, we'll it was those sorts of people that just ticked me off so much that sometimes, I just couldn't help myself but tick them a little back...

He merely smirked and looked me up and down. "It is indeed a pleasure to meet you Cupid, although I couldn't help but picture you with... less clothes."

My eyes widened suddenly, but I quickly recovered, remembering that I had to keep my 'fear-o-meter' to an absolute minimum. I knew he was referring to the nappies thing, how everyone just assumed I was a flying half naked baby... but the way he said it... the way he was looking. Well lets just say that it reminded me too much of a leopard about to pounce...

Plus there was the fact that I was dressed for sleep, my faded red hoodie and shirt thrown haphazardly to the floor at the side of the bed, leaving me in a simple white tank top with no shoes and my jeans.

Lets all take a minute to be thankful of the fact that tonight was one in a million that I left the jeans on...

The tank top was just a comfort thing however. During the day, my wings are usually concealed under my clothing. Although Jack cut slits int my hoodie, and my plain t-shirt already had matching ones, I really tried to get out of the habit of destroying the few pieces of clothing I actually owned! The tank top however allowed my tawny black wings to breath so to speak, there was nothing like the feeling of cramped limbs while you slept!

"The pleasure is all yours Pitch, I can assure you that much." I glanced quickly to the foot of the bed, where my bow and quiver were harmlessly propped up against the side of the enormous bed. I pegged there to be about six meters between the weapon and me, if ever things got ugly...

I was hoping things wouldn't get to that.

To be honest I was entranced by the fact Pitch was here at all, and in an odd way, I was exited almost. It was like that feeling you got when a candle or a lighter was in the room. Sure, the things are dangerous and in hind sight you should stay away. But you just can't help yourself to flick your fingers through the flames quickly... If only just to see what happens...

It was that sudden rush of danger and adrenaline that passed over me now.

"Not to sound rude or anything..." I began, then quickly retracted the statement remembering that it was PITCH who had snuck into my room uninvited and unannounced in the middle of the night! I think if any of us had any rudeness to be pardoned for, it would be him!

"But what do you want Black?" I frowned slightly, generally interested in what he had to say.

"I want you..." He replied, nonchalantly.

Say WHAT?

I recovered my confused look almost immediately and swapped it for a cocked eyebrow and a slight smirk. 'I have to keep my fear under control' I thought to myself. He had no power over my fear, and in turn over me if I kept my emotions in check.

Pitch seemed to notice my moment of weakness, his eyes flashing for no more than a second when I was hit with a pinch of fear.

Time to start back peddling!

"Well, as flattered as I am Black, your not really my type." I joked, "you know, the whole 'scaring kids, killing puppies, creeping into girls rooms at night thing' doesn't really do it for me. So if this late night visit is just you trying to make your move, I must bid you goodnight."

I made my way to standing and began to walk towards the bedroom door. My hand was on the handle and i was seconds away from sprinting out of the room and waking the Guardians, when suddenly we were outside in the snow coved ground of the North Pole. I spun on my heels, my sock covered feet sinking slightly into the frosty ground, the wind whipping at my face.

We were outside.

I glanced around, somewhat perplexed but entranced by the beautiful surroundings. I guessed it to be a little past midnight, but with the non-existent light pollution out here, the millions of stars shining brightly lit the nights sky, rivalling the light of the suns rays.

Surprisingly though, I was not cold. In fact, I couldn't feel much in the way of my surroundings at all. The ground didn't feel wet, the air didn't feel cool, in fact if I closed my eyes I wouldn't believe I was standing in the tundra at all.

Yet here it was, as clear as it had been when I was flying overhead this morning.

I clenched my fist, testing the ability. I could feel that. So why could I not feel the ground...?

I looked back at Pitch who raised an eyebrow at me, as if daring me to say something out load.

"I'm dreaming. Aren't I?" I asked, watching his sneer widen in confirmation of my thoughts. No wonder the ground didn't feel quite real enough, my body was still in my room, sound asleep in my bed... How my mind got out here was another question.

I folded my arms again, taking on a more defensive position and looked Pitch directly in the eye. I tried to look as intimidating as possible... Which was only possible to a certain degree to be honest, considering I was currently weapon-less, wearing bright yellow socks and had major bed head!

I thought I'd give it a shot none the less!

"Ok Pitch, so what was so god dam important that you chose to visit me in a dream, and drag me outside?" I couldn't contain the twinge of anger and frustration in my voice. What can I say, that bed was dam comfy! And whoever got in between me and sleep deserved what they got!

He merely laughed and stepped closer. "Choice? As if choice played a part in the matter..." He sneered coldly.

"Although I relish the idea of seeing your sleeping form in real life Cupid, this was the only way I could converse with you, if not in person, in mind..." He stepped closer again, but I stood my ground. Retreating now would look like a sign of weakness in his eyes, and I'll be dammed if I play 'damsel' tonight!

"Unfortunately, after my last escapade, The Jolly Fat Man thought it proper to put up some preliminary defence mechanisms, a sort of 'Guardian line of Sanctuary' if you will-"

"He locked you out" I said with a smirk, cutting him off and causing him to narrow his eyes but nod once, so I continued.

"That's why your in my head, there's no way you could get into the Workshop, no way you could get passed whatever North set up." I laughed as it all clicked into place in my mind. "Never thought I'd say this, but good thinking North!"

Pitch ignored me and leaned in closer, his face inched from mine. The warning bells inside me began to blare but I fought away the flight instinct. I held my ground.

"True, I can't step foot inside the workshop, but I must say I think I prefer these visits. They are far more, what's the word..." He reached out and tucked a strand of loose hair back behind my ear "intimate." He finished, grinning in that certain way that held more resemblance to a snarling cat that any form of smile. I decided to change the subject.

"That doesn't answer my question though. What do you want with me Pitch? Why go through so much effort to penetrate my unconscious mind just to chat?" This time I did step back slightly, his nearness impossible to ignore for much longer. I didn't know much about the way dreams were created, but by the way Sandy described it to me once, creating a dream for someone was fairly simple, it only took a handful of dream dust and frankly a toddler could do it, well frankly Jack could do it was how he described it... but to physically put yourself into another persons mind? well that was no easy thing.

He stepped closer again, matching every one of my defensive step backs with his offensive footwork. Eventually I just stood still again and told myself to not be a pansy and suck it up.

It was only a dream after all...

"Like I said Cupid. I want you..." He breathed, his golden eyes completely locked on mine. I stayed silent, willing him to elaborate.

"I want you to join me." He smiled.

Wait. Was he being serious? I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"That's why you are here? That's why the guardians all have their knickers in a twist? Because little old you is looking for recruits, and not just any-" I burst out laughing again, "but me? Seriously dude I am like the worst spirit in the world. And I say that with all honesty!" I laughed again "I mean look, it's Valentines day today! and you see me working? That is just how seriously I take my job! And let's face it, the Guardians are not exactly going to start running for the hills when the spirit of the most pansy ass thing in the world comes running for them." I sighed deeply to try and quell my laughing fits, but honestly was he serious!?

"I'm sorry Pitch, actually no I'm not, I'm really not. But 'love' and fear don't go together. We'd kill each other before we work well together."

I spoke with confidence, my voice strong and steady to the point where even I believed my words... I'm not exactly the best advocate for the positive side of love per say, so I hope Pitch didn't pick up on the lie...

"Ahh, then ask yourself , what goes together better than the dark and the heartbroken? Than fear and hatred, than nightmares and rejection?" His cat like smile returned again.

My smile faded, my eyes narrowing ever so slightly as I stared into his golden cat like eyes.

"And you know I'm right..."He breathed, his head inclined towards mine slightly, his breath tickling my right ear as he whispered his words.

I tried to disguise my sharp intake of breath for a yawn. I had to fake ignorance right now. I could feel my heart rate increasing, and my ability to lie, something I usually pride myself on, I could feel slowly slipping away...

No matter how much I tried, how much I desperately thought and believed that his words held no ounce of truth in them... the back of my mind knew better. Deep down, further than I would ever care to let myself admit, a small part of me knew he was not lying.

And the worst part?

He could see that I was.

I remained silent, not trusting my voice to get me out of this situation, to which Pitch took as an invitation to continue.

He walked while he talked, taking small circles around my body, his black boots sinking slightly into the snow covered ground. He circled me like a vulture three times before he spoke, his eyes roaming my body, as if hearing everything my silent demeanour screamed.

"You can try and hide it from the crowds, from everyone's prying eyes. You can try to hide it from the Guardians, hell you can even try and hide it from yourself. Go on, go ahead, I won't stop you..." He began to circle me again, his words and movements wrapping tightly around me, preventing me from escaping.

... Not like I could anyway, being trapped inside my own mind and all...

"But I am afraid, dear Cupid... You will never be able to hide it from me." He paused briefly, holding my eyes with his gaze too long and too intense and too close for comfort.

"And what would that be?" I asked, mentally slapping myself when my voice came out quiet and wreak rather than the strong and uninterested sound I was going for.

He chuckled slightly, a deep and velvety sound. To be honest, if he wasn't the king of nightmares, nor invading my mind while I slept nor had the reputation for being a 'shoot first ask questions later' kind of guy, his laugh may actually be something people enjoy hearing...
It was deep and rich and hummed with a feeling i couldnt quite put my finger on. it was the sort of laugh you would expect to come from your friend or relative, and so the fact that it was coming from the Boogyman himself was just...wrong.

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"The truth." He whispered. My heart sunk. Whatever it was the thought he knew, I was sure no good would come of hearing it.

" You can claim that your cause is just, that love is a cause worth fighting for, that it can and will always prevail" he paused for a moment, taking his time to smirk meaningfully at me. "Or. You can accept the fact that we both know that is a work of fiction, crafted by The Man in the Moon himself to delude humans..."

I stilled my mouth into alight line, staring into Pitch's eyes with a mixed look of anger and intrigue.

" For years, many years I thought I was alone. I thought no one else must feel like this." His eyes softened slightly, as if general sorrow and pain was hidden behind them. His hands clutched hopelessly at his chest, in attempt to 'air his poor wounded heart' I guessed. I scoffed at the idea. Like Pitch Black even had one.

"But then I heard of you, my dear Cupid. The only one who could understand what I went through, what we both went through, and I thought that I didn't have to be alone. That there was a girl, so surrounded by the love of others that she was almost drowning in it, but never fully being consumed..."

I tried my best to keep my face passive, to remain unfazed by his words, but the tears threatening to fall from my eyes were not listening. Flashes of my past blurred my vision for a second, and I shook them away forcefully. I couldn't let him believe that there was truth to his words, I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"You think I don't know what it feels like? To be battered and bruised and cast aside? You think I don't know how it feels to try and empty yourself so that you feel nothing, because nothing is better than any of the feelings that plague you when your heart lives in hope!" His voice rose suddenly, almost to the point of yelling, but his eyes still contained that trace of genuine sadness. He stepped closer, his jaw clenching and his golden eyes glowering at mine, however his words were barley whispered.

"For years I have lived with this pain in my chest. A pain so deep that it physically hurts to breath, although we still do. We fight the urge to rip it out, to scrub it clean but still it remains, because we must keep it there. We must. Because the pain is a reminder of once was. We are the same, you and I."

I hated how his words rung with so much truth, and a small part of me actually felt sorry for Pitch.

I knew what it was like.

To not want to wake up in the mornings. To not want to wake up at all in fact. To stay still under the comforts of a blanket and believe that the world outside didn't exist. But still we always do. Because we always must. No matter the pain, I knew the feeling of putting on a brave face and pretending that my problems went real, that they were left behind along with the bed we were so desperate not to leave...

It was in that moment I realised that Pitch and I were more alike than I originally thought.

'Inside every villain lies the soul of a heartbroken hero...' The words rang in my head.

He was right. We were the same, not that I'd ever care to admit it.

Love and hate.

The two sides of the same blade.

The increasing sound of Pitch's voice drew me out of my thoughts, and it was then that I realised he had been talking this whole time.

"You can hide behind your jokes and your quips. You can pretend that you know nothing about what I am talking of. You can put on a brave face pretend that it doesn't get to you. But what's the use when I can see you? The very heart of you. The p of yourself that you show only to your nightmares. The part of yourself that not even you fully trust or understand."

"You're wrong." I managed to say, my voice trembling slightly, betraying me and practically shouting 'I AM LYING' at him. He smiled cruelly. "No." He sneered. "No, I'm not, and you know how I know?" He asked, looking just over my right shoulder to the snow covered ground behind me.

"Because of them."

I turned slowly, my eyes widening and my breath catching in my throat when I caught site of what he was looking at. There, on the ridge no further than one hundred feet away, stood little more than three dozen smoke like horse.

My fear.

Shit! This was not good.

The beasts swung their heads aggressively, their piercing yellow eyes locking onto my figure, refusing to look at anything else, their hooves trampling the ground impatiently where they stood, waiting for orders from their master. They were large, larger than any living horse I had ever seen by far, and more lethal too.

The fearlings, as I had heard from the stories of passers by, manifested from fear and the darkest secrets one kept hidden in their hearts. I tried to slow my heart rate again, repeating chants in my head,

'I'm only dreaming',

'I am calm',

'They have no power over me'.

By my third round of chanting and envisioning a clam, placid blue ocean, two of the horses at the flanks of the herd melted into puffs of smoke in the air, disappearing as the fear inside me did. I relaxed slightly, before Pitch spoke again, his voice much softer this time, quieter,more genuine.

"Why do you defend love when you yourself are so opposed to it? What favour do you owe it for what it has done to you? They don't understand people like us you know, they don't understand what we have been through. What we have sacrificed! What we have lost! Love is not meant for people like us Cue... so why should it be for everyone else..."

I was confused slightly when he chose to use my nickname, something that only the Guardians did really when I tried to distance myself from the nappy wearing baby 'Cupid'. I knew what he was trying to do, it was something I had done on many occasions to prove my point. He was trying to insinuate the fact we were friends, to plant some connection in my head that I could trust him, that we could trust each other, something that didn't come easily for me. I knew what he was doing, trying to sympathise, going for the empathy tactic. If you want someone to agree with you, you try to convince them that you are on their side, that you are both fighting for the same thing, when in reality, they a just using you...

His eyes bore into mine, his gaze strong and unyielding, however there was a tough of desperation hidden deep within them.

"Join me Cue. And you will never, never have to feel that way again... The way you have been for all these years." His sympathetic look suddenly changed into a vicious snarl.

"Look at you. The forgotten echo of the once broken hearted. I know what it's like Cue. To watch them, day after day. Watch them live their lives, waste their lives! Never knowing what a privilege it really is to love, to be loved! And who rolls the dice and decides who should be given what hmm!? Who decided that we are to be the ones to be denied!"

He strode closer, his face merely inches from mine, his breath coming out short and heavy, his words slicing through the winter air around us. His eyes were wide and almost, well... pleading. Almost.

"What if we could control it Cue? What if we called the shots. You wouldn't have to feel alone anymore, you wouldn't have to feel unloved. You could have everything you have ever wanted. To BE wanted! All you have to do... is take my hand..."

His arm outstretched before me, his hand ready to receive my confirmation.

"I... I can't, this is... I mean..." I was lost for words. I couldn't do this!

...could I?

NO!

I tried to fight the inner turmoil within myself. And as much as I hated to admit it, a small part of me was actually contemplating the idea. If only to make the pain stop.

But an end to my suffering was in no way a reason to inflict it on others, and I had no doubts that Pitch's plan held some hidden one. There was no way he was in this purely because he cared... Was there?

I tried to back peddle.

"Even if I did Pitch... I can't, it's just..." I took a deep breath. "I can only give people the idea of love, I don't control it! If I did do you think we would be having this conversation? Do you think that the world wouldn't be at bloody peace by now if I had the power to MAKE people fall in love!" I had not even realised that I was yelling.

"I'm a fucking SPIRIT for Mims sake! One who was unlucky enough to be plagued in death by the one thing in my life that never worked out! You think I don't get the irony in that! But that's the way it is... and maybe... that's the way it's support to be."

My last line was barley a whisper "We live out our lives punishment in death..."

I reverted my eyes to the floor, hating myself for how weak and defeated I sounded.

Pitch shot out his hand carefully, placing his fingers under my chin and tilting it until my reluctant eyes met his. His words were strong, but quiet and gentle.

"What if I told you I could teach you how to control it?" His toothy smile returned, but this time it was more gentle, more genuine somewhat.

"What if I told you I could teach you how to inflict love. And most importantly... how to take it away..."

He held out his hand again.

"What do you say?"

Okie dokie, another chapter down WOOOOO! As always thanks to all who have reviewed and fav/followed this story, I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! :) if there is anything you would like to see/can't stand/or simply just want to comment, please by all means feel free to message floor leave some more of your lovely reviews!

Thanks guys!