Pitch stood silently at the edge of the ship after the story was done. Tears wound down his thin cheeks just as they had so many millennia before. He couldn't bear to see Lunar's face, to see the hatred and betrayal on his normally kind, jovial features. Nightlight said nothing either, sitting on the railing with his own gleaming tears tracking down his face.

Lunar stood completely still, his cheeks wet, his expression thoughtful. He stared first at Nightlight's pained face, then at Pitch's ramrod-straight back. After a few minutes of quiet, Lunar swallowed.

"So that is what happened," he said.

"Yes, little Lunanoff," Nightlight said thickly. "Your parents died to save the three of us."

Lunar pursed his lips then turned to Pitch. "Prism?" he said gently. "Look at me."

Pitch didn't move except to grit his teeth. Lunar approached and reached for his hand, but Pitch moved away quickly, launching himself up to climb the rigging into the crow's nest. Lunar watched him for a moment, sadness in his eyes.

"Should… should we go up and bring him down?" Bunnymund asked, unsure.

"Give him some time," Lunar said. "He is in pain. He blames himself for their deaths."

"Who's going to steer?" Toothiana asked.

"I can," Jack said. "Or Nightlight can."

Sandy tapped his chin, his eyes bright. "May I steer?" he asked. "I've always wanted to captain a ship like this. Even for a few hours."

Jack looked him over then nodded. "Okay. I'll read the maps. You said you're slow at it, so I'll do it and you can captain the ship."

Nightlight grinned. "For a few hours, at least."

Up above, Pitch ignored everything going on below him. His heart ached so badly. He never liked thinking of the deaths of the only parental figures that he'd really loved. He settled down and stared at the stars. They were nowhere near Earth, so he couldn't even look up at the Tsar and Tsarina's smiling constellations. So he lay back, closed his eyes, and lost himself in his memories, unable to sleep without Sandy's dreamsand, and too angry and afraid to go down and ask.

Two hours later, the ship suddenly groaned so loudly that Pitch sat up. They were no longer going forward. They were going sideways. Heaving himself to his feet, Pitch looked down. Sandy was at the ready, a terrified expression on his face as he fought with the wheel. Jack was demanding to know what was wrong and Nightlight, Lunar, and the others were clutching onto the ship for dear life. The ship groaned again, and Pitch turned to see a dark spot that was drawing them closer.

Pitch leapt from the crow's nest, landing with a grunt on the deck. "Black hole!" he bellowed, and Jack turned to face him, all the color draining from him until his skin was as white as his hair.

Pitch jumped the railing and shoved Sandy out of the way, taking the wheel in his nimble hands. Sandy snagged the railing, looking frightened. He'd had only one experience with a black hole, and he had barely made it out alive. He couldn't even organize his thoughts enough to symbolize. His own ship had been one of the most modern in the Golden Age, but this ship, primitive by Golden Age standards, would not hold up. There was no way.

Pitch turned the wheel to aim directly at the rapidly approaching black hole, and Sandy's eyes widened. He turned to gape at the man.

"I'm not crazy," Pitch replied, a glitter in his eyes. "This is the only way this kind of ship can survive. Trust me, Sanderson. We'll be fine."

But Sandy's golden sand began to turn green with fear. He didn't like this. Not one bit. Jack struggled up to Pitch, the gravity of the black hole stronger than that of the ship.

"Rope, Jack," he ordered.

"W-where?" Jack asked.

The fear coming off of everybody on the ship was almost divine, but Pitch focused on the task at hand. He locked the wheel and scrambled for a box, tearing it open to reveal silver ropes. Without hesitating, he snatched them up and shoved them into Jack's hand.

"Tie everybody to the ship," he commanded. "Sanderson, go help. Quickly!"

"What about you?" Jack asked.

"A captain goes down with his ship," Pitch replied, turning back to unlock the controls.

Jack stared with wide eyes. "Pitch!"

"Leave one with me, Jack!" Pitch snapped. "I have bigger things to worry about than tying myself to the ship!" Jack stood there, terrified, and Pitch glanced over. Only his eyes softened, but he reached into Jack's mind. "I will be fine. Leave me a rope. Tie it off if it makes you feel better."

Jack nodded and tied off a long, thin rope, leaving the other end at Pitch's feet. He trusted Pitch's decision-making, but as he hurried to the others, he couldn't see how such thin ropes could hold against a black hole. But Sandy was tying himself in with expert knots, handing two ropes to Lunar. Immediately, Lunar cinched a rope around Toothiana's waist and turned to the mast.

Within a minute, only Lunar was untied, and he began to knot the rope at his waist. The ship groaned from the pressure of gravity, and he paused for only a moment. His eyes rose up to the helm to see Pitch standing there, his tall, dark frame silhouetted by the stars that were being slowly pulled in. His eyes were bright, and though no rainbow shone from his form, he looked more powerful than ever before facing this destroyer of stars and worlds. Then Pitch jerked the wheel, and the Tsar flew to the side, hitting hard. He grasped at the railing on the side of the ship, but it slipped through his fingers and he was instantly dragged toward the hole.

"MiM!" North bellowed, but he couldn't go after him. The rope was tied short, and he had no length to move around.

For one moment, everybody watched in horror as the Tsar was sucked toward what was surely to be his death. Then a flash of movement brought their gazed to Pitch. In one smooth movement, Pitch slammed the controls into a locked position, grabbed the rope at his feet, and launched himself over the edge of the ship. The others ran for the edge, wondering how this could possibly end well.

Pitch soared toward Lunar, as unafraid as Lunar was terrified. He snagged the untied rope, pulled it hard, and neatly tied a knot to the one in his hand. Lunar yelped as he was stopped by the rope. Pitch released the rope and flew toward him, stopping himself with ease at Lunar's side, his hand on the rope.

"Want to see something cool?" Pitch asked, his eyes sparkling.

Lunar, fascinated by the calmness of the man in front of him as they flew to their deaths, nodded. Pitch materialized a bag in his hand and handed it to Lunar.

"Hold it out and brace yourself."

Lunar obeyed and Pitch reached out to Jack with his mind. "Ring the bell three times in rapid succession. Now!"

There were three seconds of nothing then the ship burst forward like a shooting star. Lunar cried out, clutching at Pitch with one hand with the bag held tightly in his hand, terror keeping his grip solid. Then he heard Pitch laughing like a child, and rainbow light surrounded him. After a few seconds of the wild, light-filled ride, Pitch said a strange word and the rope recoiled back to the ship with rapid speed. They hit the deck with great force, and the ropes coiled on the boards, gleaming silver. Lunar couldn't speak as he looked up at the still grinning Nightmare King, who still had no rope around his waist and who had saved the Tsar's life with ease.

Pitch strode calmly over to Jack, who stood gaping at him by the wheel. "Good job, Jack. Step aside."

Jack blinked. "How did we get out of that?" he asked dazedly.

"Because I knew what to do. It's not my first black hole. I've faced hundreds, some in much smaller ships."

Everybody stared at him as he stepped up to the wheel and readjusted the controls.

"You must have guided us to Ultren-7. Too far to the naughts, Jack. Go and see how we need to get back on course for the Stargazer Port."

Jack unglued his feet from the deck and slowly walked down the stairs. He paused at the bottom and looked at the others. Without warning, he burst out laughing. It was frantic and slightly hysterical. Within a second, everybody was laughing except for Pitch, who stood at the wheel and felt the fear dissipating. He glanced at Lunar, who was calming down quickly. When he relaxed, he met Pitch's eyes then smiled. Then he looked down at the bag at his feet.

"What are they?" he asked, his calm voice cutting through the noise effortlessly.

The bag contained a dark, slippery mass of what appeared to be paint. How the bag had been filled with it, Lunar didn't know. He could remember nothing but terror as they flew toward the black hole. It was Jack that answered, sounding gleeful.

"Black hole shadows!"

Sandy scurried over and dipped his hand into it. It came out black, and Sandy grinned, wiggling his fingers. Jack approached and knelt down then splashed some all over Sandy. Within seconds, they all devolved into children, having a splash fight with the dark liquid. Pitch watched, a small smile on his face. Then Lunar broke away, smeared with black, and walked over to him. At the top step, he paused and gazed intently at Pitch.

"Oh, if you must," Pitch grumbled.

Lunar strode over and reached out to pull one of Pitch's hands off the wheel. He gripped it tightly, staring up with solemn eyes. Pitch flinched and tried to tug his hand away, as he had done when they were children. But once again, Lunar refused to let go.

"I don't hate you, Prism," he said firmly. "Mama and Papa gave their lives to save all three of us. I don't blame you. I don't reject you. You're my friend, Prism. You believe that, right?"

Pitch stared at their hands, his face pinching with pain. "It was my fault Obscurus hunted us down. It was my fault that they had to defend us. If I hadn't been there, you would still have your parents."

"Our parents," Lunar said. He turned and used his free hand to point at Nightlight. "He wasn't their son either, not biologically, but he was still their son. And so were you, Prism. A parent is to protect their children. And they protected all of us. They are heroes, Prism. And we are all still here, still alive. And I would like us all to be together still. Is that possible?"

"Why don't you hate me?" Pitch asked in exasperation.

"I don't want to," Lunar replied, smiling. He reached up and grabbed a splatter of shadows then tugged Pitch down and smeared it all over the grey face. "Oh, much better," Lunar teased. "Black as pitch."

Pitch snorted. "If I were mature, I would say that I have light inside of me that would dazzle the best and brightest in the galaxy."

"If you were mature," Lunar replied. "I'm sure you would realize that it doesn't matter what Guardian of Childhood looks like on the outside. It is what is on the inside that counts."

"And since I am not mature," Pitch responded. "I have no qualms saying that I still don't believe that I am a Guardian because I don't know what use I am to children."

Lunar paused. "We should explore that before we swear you in. But we will figure it out."

Pitch smiled, squeezed Lunar's hand, the let go to grasp the whee again. He knew that if Lunar couldn't blame him for his parents' deaths, then there was nothing that would make Lunar despise him. And it made him smile a little brighter as he guided the ship toward the port.