AN: I wrote two different chapters, this one, and one that takes place before this one. Which was a complete accident, I was thinking that this chapter wouldn't have much and so I added a little Pitch Black bit a the beginning and that turned into a whole other chapter and . . . yeah. I didn't post that one first because for one, I promised this one and for another, it was unplanned, thus giving you guys a 'BONUS' chapter.

So expect a quick update in a couple of days! And be sure to review and tell me what you like, what you dislike, you know the like. Hahaha (see what I did there?)

Special Thanks To:

Huddybuddy

Snickerdoodle22

FearlessAndRed: Why thank you! I'm glad this story is addictive as you say! xD

Frost (Chapters 5&6)

The One Named MoonLight: I don't think anyone could keep their sanity if they were to enter a child's dreamworld, hahaha

Mystichawk: Honestly, that was sort of a last minute add-in as I thought about what to write next. The entire idea was inspired by an episode of American Dragon: Jake Long (which I hadn't seen in such a long time!) But as you think about it, your mind sort of has a guardian in real life, especially for children and creates defense mechanisms to deal with traumas :)

Abby-Flourite

MoonPie

Guest

muggleborn. dragon. ryder (Had to put the spaces because the Doc Manager kept reading it as a spam link)

Tierny Greyleaf

Ryuzuki Junrei (Chapter 1)

D.D. Natanya


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The Meaning of Fear

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Anger

Like mother like daughter.

April was the spitting image of her mother; with short, honey blonde hair and a rounded face. Her age was the cause of her pointed chin, but she had daughter's high cheekbones and button nose. The one thing Pitch guessed April inherited from her father was her eyes - instead of the bright fern green, it was a dull greyish blue.

He wasn't surprised when he found the woman handing April over to a daycare that Wednesday morning, a necessary thing since she had to work from eight to three. Though she couldn't afford a baby sitter, April's mother had a friend in the daycare business that gave her a generous discount.

And so, Pitch spent half of the day away from the holding place of tons of other screaming, snot-nosed children, and instead used it to patrol the area of White Plains, which was very different compared to April's father's beautiful home in Sleepy Hollow.


I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!

April stomped her food and held her ground, staring up the big bully in front of her as he continued to laugh at her bunny shirt.

April never liked daycare on Wednesdays. Wednesdays were always the days the evil Jacob Anderson came and he was just the meanest, most biggest, pig-headed and loud-mouthed dummy in all of the planet! He always picked on her! Like pulling her pigtails or knocking down the buildings she made from building blocks.

And now he was making fun of her easter bunny shirt!

Her mommy gave her this shirt as a special present after coming back home, and he was laughing at it! Saying it was a 'ragged hand-me-down' that belonged in the garbage.

Jacob Anderson was a bigger than big, brown-haired six-year-old who thought he was the king of Sunnybee Daycare just because his daddy owned it. He did what he wanted and bullied the other kids for the fun of it. His target was always April though whenever he had the chance, because she was just a 'little insect' who didn't know when she needed to get squished. But April wasn't scared, of course. She just got very, very angry when he was around.

And did the grown ups do anything about it? Oh, no. And not because they were scared of him, because he can put on a big, innocent smile and charm them with his large blue eyes.

"You shut up you ob-no-scious butt-head!" she yelled as she tried to hold back her tears. The word 'obnoxious' was what she was trying to pronounce, but at the moment she was too upset to try to say the big word correctly.

"Why don't you make me, April Fool?" Jacob said with a sneer.

"I hope the Easter Bunny puts rotten eggs in your shoes next year!" Oooh, if her Nightlight were here she would tell him to beat this boy up!

"The Easter Bunny isn't real, DOI!"

That's it! Make fun of her shirt, FINE! Make fun of her mommy, oh she'll get angry! But tell her the Easter Bunny isn't real?

BIG mistake.

April deadpanned, her entire body straightening as her eyes narrowed in a way much like her Nightlight did the other day he scolded her for her bad behavior.

"The Easter Bunny IS real!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is NOT!"

"IS TOO!"

Jacob began to dance foolishly around her, putting his hands up on the sides of her head as if mocking the look of a bunny as he hopped from leg to leg. "The Easter Bunny isn't real~! The Easter Bunny isn't real~!" he sang.

April took a deep breath and grunted angrily as she began to cry from the frustration.

"And you want to know something else?" Jacob laughed. "You're friend Nightlight isn't real either! I heard you talk about him earlier to your stupid stuffed animal friends. A man who can make horses ride in the sky? You're a big, fat liar!"

Finally, April snapped her head to the boy, her tears stopping abruptly. "Only I'M allowed to call him Nightlight! His name is PITCH BLACK and I can ask him to beat you up if you don't stop it RIGHT NOW!"

Jacob stepped into her face with a devilish grin. "Ooooh, is that so? Well what is he gonna do to me?" he paused, "That's right, NOTHING! Because Nightlight isn't real either!"

"Take. That. Back."

"Or what?" Jacob challenged.

April looked up at the boys face. "My mommy said I shouldn't hit people."

"Too bad," Jacob said before shoving her shoulder.

Smiling innocently, as if the offending action didn't bother her, she drew her leg back and swung it up.

"MOMMY NEVER SAID I COULDN'T KICK YOU!"


When Pitch arrived back at the apartment, the sun had already set. He slipped through the window to April's room and saw her sitting on her bed; arms folded, legs crossed. And a very un-cute expression on her face that involved her glaring at the spot where the small tv was supposed to be.

He could sense the baby-rage rolling off of her in waves and looked at her pointedly. He considered just slipping back out the window, not wishing to have a repeat of the last time this particular child threw a hissy fit in his company.

"Meanie-head Jacob Anderson, the Easter Bunny is real . . ." She muttered, stopping Pitch from backing out the way he came.

Ahh. She was a believer in ol'Bunnymund, was she?

Another chance had been presented to Pitch Black, and for a moment, as the child pouted and occasionally kicked out into the thin air, he started thinking. The child practically believed everything she was told without question, and as he taught her who the Boogeyman was, why not take away her belief in the giant, leaping puffball while he was at it?

And maybe, just maybe, that disbelief will spread. And soon there will be no Christmas or Easter, and as she grew older the Tooth Fairy would have a chance at her at all!

"What happened, little one?" he said, doing his best to use a soft tone that was more fake than he realized. April jumped at his voice and twisted around to face Pitch, his arms crossed as he gave her a small, sly grin.

She sniffed and rubbed her red nose. "I got gwounded, so Mommy took away my tv."

"Oh, no!" Feigning sympathy, Pitch sat next to the little girl and patted her shoulder lightly. "Why ever would she do that?"

Slamming a fist down on her bed, April felt angry just thinking about what had happened earlier that day and huffed, as if giving herself time to scream. "Because that big, dum, dummy head Jacob said the Easter Bunny isn't real! SO I KICKED HIM AND I'M NOT SORRY!"

This girl never ceased to amaze him sometimes. To think that this flower child could do harm to someone was borderline ridiculous. But Pitch knew better than to underestimate his opponent.

"The Easter Bunny," he said with disdain, not being able to help the face he made at the name, "Is not real. This Jacob is right."

He did not just say that! April thought in a nutshell as she stared at her Nightlight in absolute shock. "NO!" she shouted. "HE IS TOO REAL! YOU'RE A LIAR!"

Offended at her tone, Pitch stood tall to his feet and stared down the lip-quivering four-year old.

"I am not lying. The Easter Bunny is like a character in a storybook. He. Is not. REAL."

Nearly slipping as she too stood, bouncing slightly on top of her bed, April clenched her fist and pointed at Pitch with her other hand.

"HE IS TOO REAL!"

"He is NOT. Now sit down you foolish child and believe what I have to say! I am right, and you are wrong."

April swallowed hard, her eyes full of hurt as tears spilt over her cheeks. They looked completely betrayed.

In that split second, a flicker of something burned inside of Pitch black. He couldn't place the foreign feeling, but he didn't like it. The way April was looking at him, as if he had told her he slaughtered the giant rabbit himself, felt . . .

He shook his head, his lips tightening into a thin line as he towered over the small youth.

"No. I know your lying! You and Stupid Jacob Anderson are lying!"

"What do you know?" Pitch argued. "Have you seen the real Easter Bunny? Have you?"

She paused, her body shaking as she hiccupped. "N-No."

"Than how could you possibly know he exists!"

"Because I just do!"

He stepped back at the outburst. The child hadn't missed a beat in her answer as she looked at him with an expression he had never seen before. His mouth parted, but he couldn't speak.

"I loves the Easter Bunny because he gives me my daddy and then daddy takes me to all the bestest places in the world!"

Pitch didn't expect it to turn out this way. To be tongue-tied and outspoken by a mere four-year old. But he wouldn't back down. He couldn't. Not after he had gotten this far. He had to, he had to convince this girl that the Easter Bunny wasn't real. Because if she stopped believing in him, then she'll stop believing in Santa Clause, and then the Tooth Fairy, and so on.

She'll only believe in him, the one and only Pitch Black.

He stared her down, lowering his face to her level and looked her straight in the eye.

"Believe me when I say this: The Easter Bunny. Isn't. Real."

With a deep intake of breath, April climbed down from her bed and ran to her bedroom door. Pitch figured that she would leave to go cry away from him, but she stopped, looked back, and ran back up to him. She glared at him and stuck out her tongue.

And before Pitch could react, April swung her little foot and kicked him right in the shin.

Not expecting the violent action, and more surprised than actually being hurt, Pitch fell over as a small sting made its way up his leg. He held the sore spot, looking up at the child in absolute shock as she stuck her little reddened nose in the air.

"YOU'RE A WEENIE!"

And so, not for the first time, Pitch Black left with the bitter taste of failure. The kicked shin was new though.


A/N: Good luck to all of those going back to school! I still have some extra classes to finish up before I officially graduate (I'm very disappointed with myself for not getting it done over the summer). Hopefully you guys don't get so swamped with work and get some free time to read, play, write, yadda, yadda!

*Oh! And because I forgot to put this note at the end of the last chapter, the Nain Rouge(sp?) is a mythical being (usually a red dwarf or a child-form) who is compelled to witness major events in time - mainly, disasters. So when April's conscience called Pitch a 'messenger of disaster' he pointed out that he wasn't the Nain Rouge (who witnesses disasters in comparison to him who supposedly causes disasters)

And be sure to review~ You know you want tooooooo!

Next Time in our Bonus Chapter: Contempt
Pitch takes a trip to his old lair in Burgess to think deeply about what he had learned after visiting April's dream world. While there, he runs into our beloved guest star Jack Frost, and the two have a conversation about what it means to be the spirits they are. (Another sort of serious chapter, don't worry we get some cute bonding after this one! :)