Disclaimer: All rights remain with DreamWorks, Cressida Cowell, and William Joyce.

A/N: Me: Hi y'all! Guess what? It's Christmas Break! Yeshhhhhh!
Thorin: She's been eating nothing but Christmas chocolates this entire week.
Me: I had a legitimate excuse, I had final exams for the semester. Junior year stinks.
Loki: And that gave you the excuse to hoark your face with sweets?
Me: IT WAS JUST CHOCOLATE, SHEESH! Anyyywayyysss, concerning the story...I, personally, was very amused with what y'all thought of the last chapter. I'm sorry to admit it but, I started laughing at some of the reviews. It was like, y'all were being so CUTE! Kawaii ^(*u*)^

It seems that a good number of you forgot that there were two Pitchs. One from the past (still-bad) and then, the present Pitch (the Toothless one). You also seemed to forget that the past-Pitch had run away from the battle, wounded, but yelling something like "It's not over!" And that our beautiful, finally-changed Pitch Black, DIED. So, now that I've explained this, I think you all can divine for yourselves who swore vengeance on the Guardians.
Loki: I will give you a hint, it was past-Pitch.
Me: *smacks him upside the head with a frying pan.
Loki: Owwww...
Thorin: I do believe you were supposed to allow the audience to figure that out...

Me: TWAS A SHORT LITTLE SUCKER, I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT! THERE WILL BE A LONGER CHAPTER TO COME, I PROMISE! AND HOPEFULLY IT WILL MAKE Y'ALL HAPPY!

Chapter 37: Pitch

He looked to his boy excitedly as Valka looked from dragon to boy.

"How about some lunch?"

Hiccup was just as excited Pitch was. It had been a long time since the dragon had met another reasonable human being, and despite the boy's mother being a crazy dragon-saving vigilante—he could smell the sensibility on her. Of course, she'd also stayed away from her home village in hopes that it would be better for them.

How selfless was this woman?

I do believe, the black dragon thought smugly, if I had my original body back; and she was not married to Stoick—I'd take her for my own wife.

Then again, thinking such a thought brought back horrible memories that he fought so hard to keep buried. The Nightmares raging through the night—the Fearlings roaring—and of course, his own blade, hands, arms, shoulders, cloak, and face soaked with the blood of his wife. Where his daughter had gone…he knew not. But the sane part of him, the one that was still barely conscious; Kozmotis, prayed that the evil part of him would not find her. The dragon shivered and tried to force the memory down again; he shoved it into the darker part of his mind—the part where the Darkness laid caged.

The boy looked to Pitch and he shot Hiccup a crooked grin.

"Of course we can go eat with her." Pitch snorted, sticking out his tongue for a moment.

Valka gave a small nervous laugh before looking back at her son.

Hiccup gave a small, anxiously happy smile. "Sure."

Pitch barely gave Hiccup the moment to climb on; the dang Nightmare King was hungry. Of course, falling into a freezing ocean, being carried away by water dragons, and then rendered unconscious for a few minutes can do that to a person.

Hiccup laughed amusedly. "Alright, alright, alright bud! We're getting you some food. Geez, calm down you over grown puppy!"

Pitch bucked again. "Call me a puppy again, and I will incinerate you!"

"Acting like a dog does you no favors."

Pitch rolled his eyes and looked at the Valka-laden Cloudjumper.

"Ah, annoying as ever, Uglaandlit." Pitch chortled, jumping up into the sky.

"You as well," Cloudjumper replied. "Ten years of being separated has done nothing to your irksome personality, Pitch Black."

The Night Fury snarled. "It would have been better if you had been left in the raid, and I had found the woman."

"Why, so you could flirt more with her? You do realize she is familiar to dragon mating performances?"

"Uglaandlit, it would be better if you shut your howling maw."

"Hey Mom, I think Cloudjumper and Toothless aren't getting along very well…"

"Ah so I was correct in my hearing, your rider gave you the name Toothless. How fitting for a cowardly king."

"Shut up. At least my parents did not name me Owlface."

"Hush you."

"I think they're getting to know each other dear." Valka cackled. "Both are such rare dragons, they probably didn't realize either race existed still."

"His race doesn't exist at all." Cloudjumper snapped. "Night Furies are the after-math of punishment. Every dragon knows this."

"Oh how I wish your name was Mállaus." Pitch groaned, lifting him and Hiccup higher into the air.

Cloudjumper growled slightly.

Valka laughed and pet the dragon's head. "You calm down now. I understand the two of you are a little tense."

Pitch wanted to snort at the thought that she could recognize their patronizing each other. Her voice was so sarcastic. She knew they were bickering.

The woman stood up and turned cloud jumper around. She held out her hand to stop them. Both Hiccup and Pitch looked at her confusedly.

"I thought we were going to get something to eat…" Hiccup wondered aloud.

Valka grinned before pointed down.

Hiccup and the black dragon looked down into the frothing waves to see several sea dragons circling a school of fish. Pitch recognized this for independent sea dragons. They always hunted alone, no more than pairs if in groups at all.

They barely had time to brace themselves for the giant Bewilderbeast rearing his body out of the ocean. The magnificent dragon sprayed cold foam and water in every direction. He snorted. Out through his nostrils, fish were squirted in a rainbow.

:Feeding frenzy!: The old dragon laughed, enjoying the frantic—yet playful—demeanor of the other dragons as the fluttered about trying to get food.

Before he fell back down into the water, he looked at Pitch. :I wish to speak to you later, Notorious One. There is much to converse about—especially of your banishment from your real world. I wish to help relieve your sentence in any way I can.:

Pitch looked up at Hiccup. "Well, I do believe we can trust him."

Hiccup sniggered before gesturing at the still raining fish.

"Do not mind if I do." The dragon bellowed amusedly before shooting down into the chaos.

Opening his jaws, he allowed every loose fish to enter his mouth. Let it be known, that day, Pitch discovered just how wide he could open his vice-like jaw.

He returned to the level of a giggling Valka and a still sulking Cloudjumper with a mouth full of food.

And then later that day, they'd been reunited with Stoick.

Pitch smiled as he pushed the shy wife towards her sturdy husband. Hiccup looked from them, to Gobber and finally to Pitch. He gave the dragon a heart-breaking smile. The boy had never been happier.

"We can all be a family again." Stoick smiled, his voice thick and full of emotion.

Yes, Pitch thought. We can all be a family.

Stoick looked over at the black dragon and rolled his eyes playfully. "Not ye; yer dead."

And then suddenly he was falling. Memories, gone. Voices, gone. Names, faces, times, lives, lands, days, years, hours—gone.

Black.

Dark.

Black.

Dark.

Cold.

He was alone, curled up in a prison with only Fearlings as his companions. They reached out with their ichor-dark, poised nails. They lashed out at his skin, his grey skin and black robes. He opened his emerald-gold eyes, trying to force the shadows to protect him. They ignored, allowing the Fearlings to continue their onslaught of physical attack.

"Come." They hissed. "This is where you belong."

"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" They mocked and cried. "Save us, we're scared! Daddy, we're scared!"

And then they were gone in a swish of light. Pitch looked up.

There standing in the darkness, in a mob of light, was a man. His tall body seemed to stretch through the abyss, and his eyes glowed emerald like a burning fire. His hands clutched in on themselves, they covered in a brilliant purple light that licked up leather clad arms. The rest of the man's face was shadowed and the black hair on his head billowed behind him with dark medium-long locks and a few tussled braids causing a shadow to fall upon any familiar features.

:Your children are safe.: The man whispered.

Pitch's eyes widened. He knew that voice. Where had he heard that voice before? Where had he heard that voice before? He could remember. He'd just seen the man…boy…the man was a…a…a boy?

The green eyes darkened and the figure began to disappear.

"Wait, don't leave me here!" Pitch shouted, fearing the darkness would awake again.

The man's eyes did not falter. :Do not forget me, and you will have Courage.:

"Do not leave me here!" Pitch shrieked out more forcefully.

The emerald eyes darkened. :Do not forget me, Toothless, and you will have Courage.:

And then it all came back. Rushing over his mind like a furious ocean. Everything that he'd forgotten.

A curse, slavery, Hiccup, the woods, a new tail, a first flight, an amusing but frustrating blonde girl, a fight, a furious Avara, fire, Hiccup, death, Hiccup, Gobber, Stoick's lullaby, a sick Hiccup, a metal foot, a new tail, flying again, Hiccup, Snoggletog, a new tail again, leaving, Hiccup's helmet, Jack Frost, the Great Hall, Hiccup, dragon races, chief speech, Valka, Stoick's death, the Bewilderbeast, Hiccup, Drago, peace, Berk's prosperity, a new era, Hiccup, Erik the Red, Himself, the black ichor, restoring his powers, dying…Hiccup.

Everywhere he searched his memories, that boy was there. Hiccup.

Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup.

What a nuisance.

And he remember one more thing.

He looked up at the man with the emerald eyes hopefully.

The emerald eyes bore into the emerald gold ones.

:Don't forget me Toothless…okay?:

Pitch breathed. "Hiccup the Dragonheart."

҉҉҉

Pitch shot up, his breathing ragged and hollow. His hand flew to his chest in panic as he felt the soreness and pain from his previous dealt wounds. Had he not died? Then why…why was their air flowing through his lungs?

"Whoa, whoa there! I'd take it slow if I were you! Your body's been out of commission for a long time."

Pitch looked up, propping himself up with his arm, horror dawning upon his now non-dragon face.

Jack Frost hovered above him, a large goofy grin spread across his face. Although, in the sprite's defense, his eyes held a good deal of worry. About a century's worth. And a century, for Jack Frost, was a very, very long time.

"Well, if it isn't the same old cranky Pitch Black we all missed, knew and loved!" He teased, before observing him. "Or perhaps not. Our Pitch Black had creepy silvery-gold eyes. Not pretty green and gold ones. What're you trying to do? Be a lady killer?"

The other Guardians in the room—yes, Toothianna, North, Bunnymund, and Sandy were there too—all looked at Jack seriously. The winter spirit held his hands up with no remorse. Bunnymund face-palmed. Sandy looked back to Pitch with a question mark floating above his head. Tooth looked like she was about to flip out. North scratched his beard.

"How do you feel, friend?"

Pitch moaned and flopped back down onto whatever he was laying on.

"I wish I was still dead. Better yet, I wish anyone but you four were here."

"Hey! I'm here too!" Jack shouted upset, after doing a quick head count on his fingers.

Pitch closed his eyes and covered them. "I was going to ignore you."

Bunnymund sighed. "Takin' care o' this wanker's body fer fifty years an' this's what we get. Gratitude, mates."

The Nightmare King growled and squeezed his eyes tighter, trying to reimagine the man-from-the-darkness' face. The image was faint but still somewhat there. He frowned and tried to picture Hiccup's face again. The first thing that came to mind was the nervous face of a young boy holding a knife far over his head.

It took Courage to shoot down a Night Fury; and it took even more than that to befriend the Nightmare King.

It took Love.

I will not forget you, Hiccup. I swear. Pitch promised.

A/N: Me: alright...so if you guys were confused, please read my Author's Note at the beginning of the chapter if you didn't already. It clears up some stuff. And if you are still confused, then...this chapter was supposed to be confusing because it was focused on a near-death experience, and that shit is all confusing and...stuff...
Thorin: Language, dear.
Me: my apologies, younger readers.
Loki: *whispers* I think something is wrong with her.
Thorin: I think she's tired.
Me: I would like to express my supreme gratitude to: Liliana Dragonshard, Moonpie, Britt30, Sapphire Roz, sauara, Saph (THANK YOU FOR GETTING IT!), general zargon, ZARABEARA, lala32903, Pearlness4700, Ivanganev1992, and thedayislippedaway16 for all leaving thoughtful reviews.
Loki: She is broken.
Thorin: I do believe it is fatigue.
Me: *shushes* 'Tis Shakespeare in the Park, my good comrades. *passes out*
Loki: Oh dear...is she dead?
Thorin: Hope not, or else we'll have to finish the story.
Loki: ...mm, true...

IMPORTANT:

Here are the rules for the contest that are coming to a close shortly. Anyone who wants to enter, still can!

1: If you make a fan art to this story THE WINNER will A)have their fanart as the cover for the sequel for a month, B) be able to make their own Guardian for the sequel. [SUGGESTION: I would really love a fanart from this chapter too, sooo...]

2: Make an AMV (FANVID) of the song King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men with clips Hiccup, Toothless (from HTTYD AND HTTYD 2 please), and Pitch for the sequel of this story: King & Dragonheart. The winner will A)have their video posted on my profile. B) I will subscribe to them on YouTube. C) they too will be able to make up a Guardian for the sequel.

PLEASE AND THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING!