So many people in so many countries have looked at the first two chapters already! It's like looking at North's globe and seeing all the believing children—it's wonderful! ^_^ Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think.

Thank you for your reviews, bluefrosty27!

CHAPTER THREE: Sunset In the Morning

Not that everything was about to go wrong, mind you. I actually did find Pitch's teeth. It was uncanny looking at his picture on the end of the case and seeing a boy who looked a lot like the pitiful child I had left underground in my hoodie. OK, that was a weird sentence.

I figured out how to handle taking leave of Tooth. I told her, "Well, I found the teeth I need, so I'll be going..." and then before she could ask what the kid's name was again, or to see the case, I pretended to suddenly get distracted by the jacket they had made. "Oh my gosh, did you make that?" I asked, holding out my hands for the colorful article.

"Yeah..." Tooth giggled. "Well, me and the fairies, of course. We decked it out with actual fairy feathers! Do you think he'll like it?"

We were back on the subject of the kid again, so I had to think fast. "Yeah, it's perfect! I can't wait to get it to him. That and get my hoodie back," I added, giving her a big smile.

Sure enough, she seemed captivated by my teeth again. "OK, well come back any time!" she said. "Oh, and don't forget to return the teeth!"

"I won't," I said quickly. Great. I'd have to somehow keep her from seeing the case again when I brought it back. Well, one issue at a time.

I flew back to Pitch's lair faster than I had flown away. The sun was up now. I think it was mid-morning. If time was the same in both worlds, then Levi and Eren and Vin were probably up and wondering where I was. I should go back soon and let them know I was all right. And maybe brag that I had been right about Pitch's situation.

I hurried back to the little door and opened it awkwardly with the hand holding the tooth case (the other had the jacket and my staff). I had a little spell of déjà vu when I heard whimpering and rushing, but this time there was an unsettling scratching and tapping as well.

As my frost began illuminating the room again, I saw that my ice cylinder, though starting to melt at the edges, was still quite solid. And inside it, swirling over and around the whimpering ball of blue and silver hoodie was a glorified blender full of nightmare smoothie.

"Pitch," I cried involuntarily. I dropped the jacket and tooth case and lifted my staff, not sure what action to take. If I smashed the ice, Pitch might get hurt.

He had heard me and lifted his head a little, though I couldn't see his eyes. "Jack," he called piteously. "I can't fly! I can't fly!"

Of course, he couldn't. He was in such a tender, weakened state, it was amazing he had put up even a normal kid-sized fight for me earlier. I had known he couldn't do anything supernatural, or climb the slick walls. But I hadn't counted on the nightmares going over the top of it. Why hadn't I made the ice go all the way to the ceiling? Well, he had to breathe, after all...

All those thoughts raced through my head in an instant as I said "I know" despairingly. "I'm sorry."

"Do something!"

Again, I raised my staff. This was my ice, after all. I formed it, I could take it down again. I wasn't confident enough to try to melt it all on the spot—that was something I hadn't worked on yet. I could shatter it, but that could easily hurt Pitch, so I decided to split it in two.

It worked... sort of. A crack zigzagged down about two thirds of the way, and a big chunk slid off to the side and thudded on the floor before toppling over and smashing into pieces. Now I could aim at individual nightmares, and I was confident enough from our previous encounter that day that I could hit them accurately with little risk. They came at me, but I took out the ones still afflicting Pitch first. I owed him that. It was my fault he'd been trapped with them in such close quarters.

They didn't really hurt me... it's not easy to describe how they effect you when they attack. I knew they were just leaderless piles of spiteful black sand, but every nip and kick tore at my spirit. My guilt was making me doubt myself. My doubt was making me worry. My worry was making me afraid. My fear was drawing them in. I missed a shot and hit the remaining standing ice, but fortunately this served only to knock another chunk off and it fell harmlessly to the opposite side from the first.

I was angry with myself for missing, and the cycle began all over again. Finally, I decided to risk the unknown and try to melt what was left of Pitch's prison, though I think he could have climbed out of it then, if he would stop cowering long enough to try. I reduced a couple more nightmares to dust and then turned my staff on the ice again. I tried to do almost the opposite of what I had done to form the ice. I guess if you want to get all technical, I was pulling moisture from the air and multiplying it and expanding and freezing it... so I just tried to do whatever that was backward. But there wasn't much technical about it. It's a gut thing.

The good thing is, it worked. Well enough, anyway. The last section of ice turned into a round splash and then leaped up to chase down the nightmares, refreezing on the way and taking them out. Finally we were alone again, with nothing but dust, spangles and some large chunks of ice to show for our trouble. Oh yes, and Pitch was soaked.

He looked around, shaking harder than I'd ever seen anyone shake. I know it was mostly because he was so cold and wet, but he looked terrified and I couldn't stand it. I ran in and put my arms around him.

"Oh, Pitch, I'm so sorry. And I'm so stupid! I can't believe I let this happen."

I figured he'd be mad, or maybe just numb, but his little arms came up around me. Well, that about broke me. I had keep very busy to avoid making it obvious that I was crying. Yeah, it happens. How would you feel? You've got this great idea and you go to set things in motion and someone ends up getting hurt... then they don't even yell at you for it. You'd feel terrible, that's how.

Anyway, I hauled the wet hoodie off him and wrapped a blanket around him and told him to take off his wet clothes. I checked the ugly green dresser and found that for some reason there actually was another pint-sized pair of pants and evil-looking tunic for him to wear, so I got them out for him and he changed awkwardly through his shivering under the blanket.

"Hey, I forgot," I said, going to retrieve the jacket off the floor. "I brought this for you from Tooth and the fairies."

"I'm not wearing that!" he exclaimed, as soon as he saw it.

In a way, I was relieved, because it was the first thing he'd said since the nightmares were gone, and he sounded more like his old self. "But these are real fairy feathers," I protested. "They worked hard on it. They literally put themselves into it!"

Pitch stumbled closer in his blanket-cloak and reached out to touch the soft feathers. "They made this for me?" he whispered.

I felt guilty, because I hadn't ended up telling Tooth who it was for, so strictly speaking, they hadn't made it for him specifically. But I didn't have the heart to tell him.

He sighed. "Well, if I'd had that before, maybe I could have flown out."

And I felt guilty all over again.

"I'm really sorry, Pitch. It's all my fault..."

"Save it." His eyes fell on the tooth case. "So... you really got them."

"Yeah." I retrieved the case and held it out to him.

He shook his head. "I told you, I don't want to know."

"But... it's OK. Whatever's in there, I won't abandon you. I won't be able to see it anyway, so you don't even have to let me know."

"But I wouldn't want to remember alone..." Pitch sounded wistful for a moment before recovering himself. "Anyway, you don't know the future. It's better not to know. Maybe... you might be right. Maybe things can work out after all. But maybe remembering would spoil it. What's the point?"

"Do you at least believe that I'm trying to help you at this point?" I asked, pretty frustrated after all that I'd been through.

"I think... maybe you are. And maybe Tooth isn't so bad. But she did punch me."

"Well, you held her fairies prisoner and you hurt Baby Tooth. I think she was holding back."

Pitch sighed again and sat on the edge of his bed, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "I suppose." After a moment, he said, "They can't ever really forgive me, can they? I couldn't ever look Sandman in the eye. None of them. They don't understand."

I sat beside him and put my hand on his shoulder. "One step at a time. Remember what you told me? You don't have to be alone—I believe in you."

He peeked up at me as if checking to make sure I wasn't making fun of him. Then he all but slammed his forehead against my collarbone and started shaking again, but this time it had nothing to do with the cold. "I... I'm so lonely," he choked.

I knew exactly how he felt. It made my throat close up like someone stuffed a paper cup down it. I swallowed hard and patted his back for a minute. "Listen... I need to go. Some friends are going to be worried if I don't go back soon. But I'll come back tonight, all right? It's daytime now, so the nightmares won't be as strong, right?"

"No," he agreed sullenly. "They won't."

"You keep your teeth here. If you want, you can get your memories back without me, or wait until I come back."

"You're not afraid I'll remember something that will make me want to hurt you?"

I shook my head, though honestly, I wasn't a hundred percent sure. "I think I can trust you this much," I said.

"You will come back, though?"

"Yeah. I promise." I winced. I had promised him everything would be all right, and then he'd gotten attacked again. "I will."

"All right, then... I guess I'll go to bed."

With that, he slid onto the floor and rolled under the bed.

"Hey..." I got down on my hands and knees, propping my staff against the bed and lifting up the covers again. "Don't you ever sleep in the bed?"

He shuddered. "No. No, it's not safe up there."

"Isn't it kind of creepy down here?"

He shook his head vigorously. "Up there, you don't know what's hiding down here."

"Well, yeah, but..." I wanted to say, "When you're down here, anything could be on top of the bed, too," but I decided if Pitch felt safer down here I should just drop it. "If you're sure," I said. "You should really brush your teeth, though."

"I'll do it when I get up."

"OK. You need anything?"

"No."

"Then I'll see you—"

"Wait. Can I have that jacket?"

I reached up for the jacket, which I had left on the bed. "Here."

"Thanks." He looked at the feathers hanging off the seams and a funny little smirk came over his face. "It's kind of like a sunset, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling. I set the tooth case beside him. "See you tonight."

"Good day, Jack."

So, after that I hurried back to this world, expecting Eren to be up and worried sick over me... but only Vin was at home. Levi and Eren had had to leave in the middle of the night. So in the end I was the one waiting for Eren to get home, and since he was the one interested in seeing me put what happened into writing, I made him wait until he could read it for himself instead of telling him the story.

Whew. Now that I've finished this chapter I can go back to the other world and check on Pitch. I hope you leave some feedback while I'm gone. Remember to try to have fun if you get scared! ~Jack