Playground

(Updated: 2/23/21; Grammar, spelling, cohesiveness )

Week 3, Day 1 Cavity: Playground


The moon was full enough that night that Tooth didn't need the streetlamps to see by as she flew away from the home where she just retrieved two front teeth. She flew over the playground across the street and paused when movement in the shadows caught her eye. She couldn't help the scowl that flit across her face as she realized that Pitch stood in the shadows of the play equipment. It took her a moment longer to hear the soft crying coming from a huddled shape on the play equipment, and her anger ignited.

"PITCH!" she called out in fury as she suddenly zoomed towards him. She faltered when the Nightmare King's only response to her was to lift his hand up to her, palm outward, in a 'stop' gesture, as if trying to halt her advance. His eyes never left the huddled shape on the floor. As she drew closer, Tooth realized that the shape on the ground was a sleeping teen wearing tattered clothing. The boy had shaggy black hair, and had seemed to have been crying for a long while. Tooth hovered at Pitch's side, her ire focused wholly on him. "Pitch! He's done nothing to deserve your nightmares! Leave him alone!" she scolded, but again, Pitch practically ignored her.

"Tooth, do us both a favor and just leave. I'm busy here, can't you see? You can bother me another time," he told her simply, his gaze leaving the teen for a moment to lock eyes with her before turning his attention back to the huddled form on the ground. Tooth froze for a moment at the intensity of his gaze. Once that moment passed in silence, Tooth's scowl came back in full force before she flew up a bit to sit on top of the tallest slide, where she could see both the sleeping teen and the Nightmare King. Crossing her arms, she settled herself in to wait.

"Don't think anything of this, Pitch," she warned him as she settled in for what she assumed would be a long wait. "I'm merely staying here to keep an eye on you!" He merely shrugged her off, keeping his gaze on the sleeping form between them.

It was less than an hour later when a new dark figure slunk through the playground before stopping at the playground equipment the teen hid in. In the forty minutes the supernatural duo waited, clouds had begun to cover the moon, allowing this new figure's identity to be obscured. Tooth immediately noticed when Pitch tensed up, and his attention focused even more so on the sleeping teen as the dark figure woke the teen up.

The boy sat up with a jerk, and Tooth didn't need to have Pitch's powers to feel the fear pouring off of the boy as he stared up into the face of the figure before him.

"Boy, come with me! You're not safe here!" a harsh voice ordered urgently and the figure tightly grasped the teen's upper arm in what seemed like a bruising grasp. Before Tooth could react, Pitch finally made his move and swooped forward, hovering over the teen's shoulder and whispering into his ear.

"Don't even think about it," Pitch whispered, and yet Tooth felt like he shouted, her blood freezing in her veins at the power veiled in his voice. "This man is the one causing all of the disappearances in the neighborhood...you have no reason to go with him. You are not safe with him." His whispers seemed to ignite a strength inside the teen, and as the man began to pull the teen forward, the boy was able to struggle against him. "You are stronger than him! Fight!" Pitch demanded, and the teen did as he was commanded, pulling away from the stranger with a shout and dashing away towards the slide that Tooth sat on. She fluttered up in surprise, whirling about to see the teen leap off of the edge of the plastic slide and land heavily on his feet before sprinting off to one of the houses that bordered the playground. As the man made to chase after the teen, Pitch gave a low chuckle, drawing Tooth's attention back to the Nightmare King. He grinned widely, his form seeming to grow as he stalked after the would-be kidnapper.

"I will deal with you in a moment, scourge!" he called out before throwing a shadow at the man that swallowed him almost instantly. Tooth froze for a moment too long, allowing Pitch to go after the teen that had run, and she had to fly her fastest to nearly catch up. She discovered Pitch standing behind the teen as the boy tried a few windows to a house that looked obscenely well taken care of, as if it were a model house, and people didn't live there. She was about to berate Pitch again when she noticed a shadow covering a window, making it look like it was open.

"Pitch...what are you doing?" she asked cautiously, her entire view of the man skewing as events continued to unfold.

"Just watch," he replied, and he gestured to the teen who found the 'opened' window and crawled through it. He held out his hand towards Tooth and she hesitated for a moment. When he leveled his gaze at her with a raised brow, she scowled at him once more before taking his hand. Almost immediately his shadows swarmed them and they were inside the room the teen had just crawled into. The boy in question had collapsed onto the bed without even changing his clothes, his exhaustion completely taking over. Pitch released Tooth's hand in order to tuck the boy in, drawing the covers up to his chin. Movement from the corner of her eye caught Tooth's attention and she turned to look at a few shadow creatures dropping clothes onto a chair, which looked strikingly like the clothes the teen had been wearing that night. Pitch's hand on her elbow startled her, and they were suddenly outside again. He released her without a word and turned to leave.

She didn't know why she did it, but she reached out and grabbed Pitch's elbow with a called out "wait!"

He stilled in her grasp, and it gave her the courage to go on.

"What...what just happened?" she asked, cursing how weak her voice sounded.

"You know, I just don't understand why you and the rest of the Guardians always insist on seeing and expecting the worst in me-" he started but Tooth cut him off, pulling on his elbow and making him turn to look at her. Pitch averted his gaze.

"Why would you help that child? I thought you hated children?" she asked, deciding to go a more direct route. Pitch stayed quiet for a moment, prompting Tooth to ask, "Pitch?"

"He is no longer a child. In the eyes of the mortals, he is an adult, and has been punished as such. To me," he said flatly, still averting his eyes, "he is neither child, nor man, and so needs guidance, especially in the unknown...I help where I can," he explained.

"What...what happened?" she couldn't help but ask, causing Pitch to sigh.

"The teen got home from work late, and was locked out of the house. His guardians refuse to give him a house key, and he would often get beaten if he tried waking them up to be let inside the house. Unfortunately, this is not the first time he has been locked out, and it most likely will not be the last," Pitch explained.

"And...the man?" Tooth was almost afraid to ask.

"A monster...and a pedophile. Several children and teens have gone missing from this playground because of him, and none of them have been found alive...he will no longer pose any threat to the children of the world…" Silence followed his words, and Tooth felt her grip on his elbow tighten. Her thoughts whirled a mile a minute, and she hovered closer to him as she processed everything, her hand curling around his bicep. He stilled once more, as if afraid his movement would set her off again.

"What happened to him?" Her voice was flat, nearly emotionless as she tried to contain her rage that welled up at the thought of what could have happened to the teen had Pitch not been there.

"I sent him to a place to wait until I could deal with him," Pitch replied nearly instantly before wincing as her nails dug into his arm. Tooth turned her burning gaze onto him and their eyes locked together, the Nightmare King taken aback at the fury in her eyes.

"Take me to him," she demanded, the rage in her voice now palpable. Pitch couldn't help the small smirk that lifted his lips.

"As m'lady demands," he replied before bowing slightly and stepping forward, shadows swallowing them whole as she stepped with him.


A/N: soooooooo, I forget when I started this, but I ended it literally one minute before midnight on July 23rd lol

I suddenly got inspiration and just went with it. It is assumed that Pitch ends up torturing the man for his crimes and Tooth getting some good jabs in too for hurting children. Not entirely sure if I'm going to continue this world or not. Lemme know what you think! I am accepting prompts for more Cavity one-shots! And as always, fave, follow, and review!

Until next time, my Lovelies!

MWAH!