"You can certainly do better, can't you?" Pitch taunted as he parried Mina's sword back with minimal effort.
She twisted sideways, attempting to sneak in an attack while moving around his blade, "Predictable, and here I thought North actually taught you something." Pitch continued, sweeping his foot out in front of the girl, Scout quickly scooted out of harm's way as Mina fell to the ground.
This cycle had continued for quite some time now, Scout watched on the sidelines as Mina would make a valiant effort to disarm the Nightmare King. He knew Pitch let her get close to victory each time before finishing each round off, pushing her to try just a little harder each round. A smile would crawl its way onto his face whenever Mina got a streak of confidence in trying to move in offensively. All of which Pitch would swiftly turn the tables and finish it.
Mina tilted her defeated head to Scout, "How many wins does he have now?"
Scout marked another tally on his paper, "Five, counting this one."
"And what does that leave the score to?" Pitch asked, admiring his nightmare sword as he spoke.
"Well, my King, you have a grand total of five, while Mina, zero."
"Oh did you hear that?" he smirked at the exhausted child laying on the ground, "I think I hear the victory bells."
"Nobody likes braggers." she sat up and held her knees, "Besides I only have to win once."
Pitch disintegrated the sword in hand, "Does this mean you've had your fill for today?"
"For today," she repeated, "We burned enough time." Mina stood up and moved back up the control to the observatory window, opening up the rest of the dome cover for the night's endless stars to peer back them. "I'll be right back," she called down before walking out into the Pole.
Pitch seemed to zone out, eyes locked on the enormous and graceful sky just outside the glass window. "Sir?" Scout asked quietly, breaking the brief moment of serenity.
"What?" he responded with disinterest.
"If you do not mind my asking, is this where you go? When you leave the lair? I swear on my life I will not reveal it to the others if so."
After a quick glance down at the nightmare he turned his full body towards the window, "Most of the time."
"Is the child why you come here?" Scout continued, but this time no response followed. He waited patiently, examining the mystical blue of the night radiate off his King, giving him an otherworldly glow. "Is she of that much significance?"
"This matter is none of your business, continue this and you can wait down in the caverns again."
"Sincerest apologies my lord." Scout babbled.
The glare of light on the window marked the return of Mina, she moved to the center of the floor, spreading out all kinds of papers. All circled around a larger paper that marked constellations and connected the lines between. Pitch turned back and hovered over the variety of papers, he picked up a journal and skimmed through.
"You changed your skin?" Scout asked, tugging at the baggy pants she wore now.
"What?" she laughed, "You mean clothes, right?"
"That is this?" he held up the corner of her pants.
"Yes?" Mina tugged her leg away gently, "These are the clothes I sleep in."
"Humans are strange," he mumbled, stepping away from the map to give her room to sit.
Pitch shut the book in hand, "Did you do all this?"
"Not all of it," Mina spread out the map, flattening out the crinkled edges, "My dad did most of it, he'd track constellations, and took me stargazing with him when I was younger."
"Why is it he stopped?" he feigned ignorance, wondering what information she'd reveal to him.
"Things got complicated." she let out a short sigh, "But it's not important right now. Look." Following her pointing finger, the three watched as a small light sparkled in the dark, then faded into it. "Hold this," Mina held a paper up to Pitch as she searched for another on the ground for another.
He held the paper, but for the first time in a while, got a good look at her arm since the arrow incident. It had healed greatly, but the cut was still tainted with black. Pitch knew that was anything but good, the sand spider-webbed through the veins down her arm, all connecting at the ring fitting snugly on her finger. Thankfully, it didn't look like anything past was black, it faded but ultimately ceased at her elbow.
Mina, too distracted by the papers in front of her to notice Pitch's examination, held up a paper close to her eyes, "I think that was a comet, which one I'm not too sure."
"How has your arm been?" he interrupted.
"My arm…?" she tore herself away from the scattered papers to piece together what he was talking about, "Oh my arm! It's much better, it hardly hurts anymore, see?" she shook it, twirled her wrist and fingers around, "It doesn't really look like it though does it. Do you know if the black will go away?"
"I can't say," he admitted, "This isn't something that occurs on a normal basis."
Sensing a stare, Mina turned to Scout, who leaned back with frightened eyes, covering his mouth with both hands.
"Yoohoo, is anyone home?" she waved a hand in front of him.
He shuffled away as her hand got closer, gibbering something as he rose to his feet, "I'm so sorry." was the only clear sentence made out.
"What's gotten into you?" Pitch inquired, sharing Mina's confusion at the creature.
"No no no. I will not tell." Scout pulled at the shriveled antennas on his head, "Stop talking. No, please."
Mina scooted closer, "Scout? Are you okay?"
Pitch couldn't help but have a horrible feeling about the situation, "I don't think you should-" He stopped as he knew she wasn't listening.
Mina got within arm's reach, his voice was a small whisper, but fast and panicked, "Scout," Mina held out her hand to him.
"Stop!" he yelled, slapping her hand away.
"Ow," Mina sat upright rubbing her hand from the stinging sensation.
In that moment, Scout realized what he had done, "I am so sorry." he held up his hands, looking behind Mina as Pitch walked over to the two, glaring at the him. Scout shrunk down as Pitch stopped behind Mina, avoiding his deathly gaze.
"You're alright I take it? He can't do much damage." Pitch kept his voice calm, though his eyes said otherwise.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Scout, I believe it's time we take our leave." he said in an far too calm tone.
"Yes, my liege," he whispered. Scout followed behind Pitch as the two walked towards the shadows, not looking up from the ground.
"Well, bye then." Mina said slightly irritated.
Pitch held up a hand before vanishing into the dark. Through the silent trip back, Scout knew he really did it now, the only thing he could hope for is to not be executed. His King didn't even look at him, he kept a solid stare at the sky in front of them.
Mina continued sifting through her papers, trying to focus on decoding the flash of light in the sky. She hoped Pitch would take it easy on the little nightmare, he didn't look like he knew what he was doing. Pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind and forcing herself to focus, she spent the next hour tracing the stars. It was then North made his way into the room, Tooth decided to leave for the evening, their little quest ended in a 'temporary delay' according to North. He promised her he would continue looking, but as of right now, her fairies needed her.
Sitting beside Mina, he watched her organize papers into stacks, "You're a little late." she commented.
"Things took a little longer than expected." North picked up one stack, looking through the mapped our constellations, "You are interested in the stars?"
"I guess it's a hobby." she said flatly.
"How was the caves?" he asked, trying to keep her talking, for he knew she was rather disappointed in his leaving for the majority of the day.
"Fine."
"Even with Pitch? You were not afraid?" he knew he struck a chord that time, she turned to him, slightly surprised by his asking.
"A little, but I was more freaked out by the nightmares than Pitch."
North let out a small laugh, "They were strange weren't they? But what did you think of it overall, would you want to go fight nightmares again?"
"Not really," she sighed, thinking back on her panic from the mere sight of the creatures, "I'll leave that to you guys."
"It is what we do best."
The two sat in silence, watching the endless night twinkle away. Eventually, Mina put aside her maps and papers, choosing to just admire their light from a distance, rather than try to unravel their secrets. North sat beside her, he normally wasn't one for such a calm activity, but the view was undeniable. In all his years of plundering, adventuring, traveling throughout the world, seldom did he take the time to sit back and do something as simple as watch the stars. It gave him time to think, Mina apparently wasn't ready to tell North about Pitch's little visits, which he could respect. He wasn't going to pry, so long as he wasn't doing any harm; North would get to the bottom of things regardless.
"Did I ever tell you about what happened the last time we had a human with us when we fought Pitch?"
Mina sat up to attention, "No as a matter of fact you didn't."
"There was more than one, but one in particular, did something extraordinary." North leaned back, nostalgic in his memories, "She was younger than you, a bright child, excellent storyteller."
"And what did she do?"
"She found an artifact, one that dated back long ago. It belonged to Pitch, and when she returned it to him, his hand refused to let it go."
"What does that mean?"
"His skin," North continued, "Around the artifact, changed." He held out his own hand and outlined a circle in his palm, "It was no longer gray, but skin color. Pitch kidnapped her and planned on making her some sort of nightmare princess, but…"
"But…" Mina pushed on, North, at this point, had her undivided attention.
"A very powerful being intervened, and stopped him, Mother Nature, stepped in and stopped him, she was his real daughter and a very jealous one at that."
"What happened to the girl?" Mina leaned forward, taking in absolutely everything.
"She ended up being okay, but it was the first time Pitch had seen his daughter in thousands of years."
"Well what happened with her? And I don't understand how Mother Nature is his daughter? Who would her mom be then?"
"So many questions, many I can not answer." North smirked at Mina's attentiveness, "But I do not think they talk, she wanted nothing to do with him, not while he is Nightmare King."
"Wow," Mina sat back, staring back up at the stars, "Do you think he misses her?"
"It is not my place to say."
Thousands more questions ran through her head she decided to keep to herself. Instead she asked a simpler one, "Why are you telling me this now?"
"To make up for lost time of course," North looked down at curious eyes. He appreciated her spark of youth, much of it reminded him of his lost friend, this served as his reminder that even Mina would end up just as she did. Not sharing the immortality, she would be destined to grow old and even if her belief didn't waver after everything she had gone through, her eyes would shut one last time. Time had warned him over and over about the dangers of befriending mortals because no matter what he did, death would find his way to her, just as the last.
Wow two weeks already, sorry for the lack of updates but things kinda took a bad turn last week and I just got around to picking myself back up. But I think its just easier to revert to shorter chapters (though i will try for longer ones). Anyways I just thought I'd explain things a little but thanks for reading and whatnot.