To bluefrosty27: To clear up your confusion, this story takes place shortly after the events of the movie—a few months, I think. I came to this world and met Levi and Eren and Vin, who are Mairead's alters, and Mairead and Eren's interest in Pitch is what got me wondering if Pitch had been destroyed by his own nightmares, or if he was still down in his lair. I remembered how the Easter Bunny had turned into a cute little fluff ball when people stopped believing in him, and I thought something similar might have happened to Pitch. That's what I went to find out. As for the memories Pitch saw, those were from his actual childhood, shortly before he died and got his powers. Kind of like how I got mine when I fell through the ice. He got lost in the woods and fell asleep in the snow (which you should never, ever do—you will most likely never wake up!). Then as the Boogeyman, he became an adult. He's not actually a child again; he just has a lot more child-like qualities, including appearance. I hope that all makes sense. ^_^

CHAPTER FIVE: What the Tooth Fairy Learned

After Pitch explained what he had seen to me, he said, "If I had understood what my powers were meant for... maybe I could have become a Guardian eventually. After all, I used to be the one who made sure children went to bed on time, ate their vegetables, didn't talk to strangers... all the things parents couldn't explain to children, but enforced for their own good—that was me!"

"Yeah, you're on to something," I agreed. "Honestly, this is better than I hoped." I was pretty proud of myself again. My original idea was that Pitch could work with Sandy to help kids sort out real-life problems through dreams, and maybe that was still a good idea, but in light of what I now knew, Pitch had already done a lot to keep children safe. It wasn't nice to scare them, but who knew how many people had lived healthier and avoided trouble because of him?

"Do you think it's enough?" he asked.

"For what?"

"To tell the others?"

Before I could answer, a familiar voice said, "Tell the others what?"

I looked up to see Tooth in the passage outside the door.

Pitch looked up at me, blank despair in his eyes, silently asking if I had brought her with me.

"She must have followed me," I said. "I never told her it was your teeth I was after."

"I didn't follow you," Tooth corrected. "After you were gone, I started to think your visit was a little weird, and I was wondering who the little boy was that you were helping, so finally I sent Baby Tooth to find out which teeth you'd taken. Well, she was gone a long time, because she started looking in the seven-year-olds. She hadn't figured it out, even after zipping around the catalogue for a good half hour. When she gave me an update, she said she thought she had probably overlooked it. And then I remembered our odd conversation. About how old everyone was."

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "So, I wasn't as subtle as I thought."

"Jack," Pitch whined.

"You didn't tell anyone else, did you?" I asked.

She hesitated, then said, "Not yet. Maybe I won't if you're planning to do that yourself. Will you explain what's going on here?"

I reached back to pull a pillow off Pitch's bed and tossed it on the floor in front of us. "Have a seat."

"I don't trust her," Pitch said, tugging at my sleeve as Tooth settled on the pillow. "She's thick as thieves with all the others."

"It's OK," I told him. "We don't have to keep this a secret."

"Oh, my gosh," Tooth said, leaning toward Pitch. "I couldn't really see him before... he's so..."

Pitch glared at her.

"...angry," Tooth finished, covering her mouth to hide a smile. "But seriously... oh, and he's wearing the jacket! It's so... so..."

She was trying really hard to hold back, but she just couldn't. It finally burst out of her.

"...CUTE! Did you really loan him your hoodie because you made him cold? Awww..."

"Stop it!" Pitch shouted in what was probably supposed to be an intimidating voice, but it came out a little whiny and defensive. Hearing the failure in his tone, Pitch angrily tore off the jacket and threw it at Tooth. "Take it back," he spat. "You never would have made it if you'd known it was for me!"

Tooth sobered and picked up the jacket from where it had landed half in her lap. "I didn't mean to upset you," she said.

He burrowed against me. "Don't let her knock out any more of my teeth," he hissed.

"She won't," I said firmly. "Tell her what you told me. About your memories."

He peeked at Tooth before burrowing into my shoulder again. "You tell her," he said.

I could understand why he wouldn't want to go through relating the scenes again, especially to someone he didn't trust, so I outlined the important points for Tooth while Pitch made a few whispered prompts and corrections.

To her credit, Tooth listened quietly until I finished. "Well..." she said slowly. "I have to admit, I never really stopped to consider that Pitch could use his power for anything good." She bit her lip. "Mm... I'll have to give this a lot of serious thought."

"You won't tell the others, will you?" I asked. "I want to eventually, but I don't want them to do anything rash. If they hear that Pitch is still down here and trying to figure out how to use his power again, they might not wait to hear any more. I don't want them to hurt him."

"They are bound to be very wary," she agreed. "After all, he's attacked all of us. Kidnapped my fairies. Not to mention what he did to Sandy."

Pitch made a muffled sound and clung to my arm. He mumbled something I couldn't understand.

"What?" I asked.

He lifted his head slightly, most of his face still obscured. "I said... I'm sorry." He hid again.

I lifted the arm he wasn't attached to and patted his head as I looked appealingly at Tooth.

"That's a start, I guess," she said. She looked at the floor a while and then sighed. "Give me a day or two to think all of this over, all right? Then we can talk again and decide what to do."

"That's fair, isn't it?" I asked Pitch.

Pitch shrugged.

"Come on, I think it's good that she wants to think about it. At least she's not freaking out, right?"

He nodded.

"Pitch," said Tooth, "I hope you'll keep this jacket. Whether we knew it or not, we did make it for you. Consider it a peace offering?"

He peeked at her again and finally reached out to take the jacket from her. "Fine."

"I need to get back now," she said, getting up. "Will I find you here, Jack?"

I shook my head. "I've been visiting another... land," I said, deciding to be evasive at the last moment. I didn't feel like trying to explain this world at the time; she needed to focus on Pitch. "I'll hang out there for a day or two and then come find you."

"All right. That's good. I don't like to be away for long. We're very busy."

"Yeah, I know. Just promise you won't say anything to North and the others before we talk again."

"I won't."

"Promise," Pitch ordered, sounding very serious in spite of his childish voice.

"I promise," Tooth said.

I stood up, and rather than lose his grip on my arm, Pitch stood up, too. "Thanks, Tooth," I said. "I really appreciate it. Pitch, can she take your teeth back now?"

Pitch had left the tooth case on the floor, so now he let go of me with one hand to stoop and pick it up. He looked at it a little while before holding it out towards Tooth, cringing like someone holding out a fish for a shark.

"Thank you," Tooth said warmly as she took it from him. "I guess I'll see you two soon."

"Bye," I said. I waited until I was sure she was gone and then looked down at Pitch. "Think you'll be OK here by yourself?" I asked.

"How long?"

"Until Tooth's had a chance to think things over."

He was still holding on to my wrist with one hand. "I guess," he said sullenly.

"Are you still scared of the nightmares?"

He shrugged.

"Come on... you're Pitch Black. You're bigger and scarier than anything, right?"

He finally let go of me and stooped again to pick up his jacket. He shrugged it on, took a deep breath, walked purposefully to the closet and flung it open.

A single nightmare exited the closet, about two feet tall at the head, or perhaps I should say four and a half hands at the withers. It cantered around Pitch, snorting with menace, and he looked about to lose his nerve for a moment. Then he drew back his little arm and threw a punch that landed squarely on the nightmare's muzzle. It exploded into a shower of black dust and Pitch brushed his hands against each other as if to clean them off.

"I'll be all right," he said.

I grinned. "Yeah, you will." I went to him and gave him a hug, probably more for my own sake than his. "Stay out of trouble until I get back."

"Mhm."

I felt a lot better about leaving that time. When I got back, I put up the previous chapter as quickly as I could and then slept the morning away, and part of the afternoon, too. Then I went outside and played around a bit until the others got back from Mairead's day job. Then the pestering from Eren began, and I settled down with some supper to write this chapter. I got interrupted a bit, so it took longer than planned, but here it is. Now I have to give Tooth a little more time to think, but I'll be sure to let you know what happens next.

I'm as curious as you to know what happens next this time! Questions and comments still welcome. ~Jack