Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Rise of the Guardians except for any and all OCs.

BEWARE: This may have a TRIGGER (blood, childbirth, miscarriage)! Thought it best to say so now.

Previously on ODF:

Merith was focused so much on the implementation of his plan and the hassle of fighting with North, Tooth, and Bunny simultaneously, he never noticed Sandy forming and aiming a golden whip of sand slightly behind him in his blind spot.

Due to their newly formed bond, Pitch starting to feel Merith's emotions, especially when stressed, frustrated, happy, or scared; a rather annoying thing to have when said pregnant male was also enduring mood swings. Therefore, as Pitch was slipping through the shadows from the Arctic Circle (his husband knew him too well), he could feel a rising sense of panic, anger, and predominantly fear. This pushed him to move faster to where he arrived on the scene of the Guardians attacking his pregnant husband, who was showing strains of exhaustion. Lurking in the corner of his eyes as he lunged toward Merith, Pitch saw a flash of gold aimed directly towards the green eyed man.

"MERITH!"

Pitch was too slow. As time seemed to slow down, Pitch could only watch in horror as the golden whip slipped through Merith's defenses and slashed deeply against his husband's protruding abdomen.

Time stood still as all eyes stared at the alarming amount of blood pooling around Merith's feet, a look of shock and pain adorning the spirit's face.

Merith shrieked, a long unearthly note filled with pain and anguish as he slowly fell to the floor, curling up tightly to his belly. Pitch stumbled towards him, nearly collapsing as he scooped up his heavily sobbing mate, both desperately trying to staunch the bleeding. As he worked Pitch kept his face blank, only inwardly becoming frightened at the amount of blood and the possibility that he might lose his soulmate and child in one fell swoop.

"Ha, good job Sandy, almost got it." North attempted to chuckle merrily, but both his smile and laugh were stiff, his face ashen.

"Th-That serves them right, trying to create something so dark." sneered Tooth, though her sapphire eyes were dull with self-loathing and horror.

Bunny and Sandy didn't even bother trying to say anything, their body language showed all the guilt and self-hatred they were feeling as they averted their eyes from the scene before them, the scene they created. Bunny was hunched over, ears flat against his head, and one move away from showing his belly in apology while Sandy had dropped the now bloody whip, his eyes filled with remorse and not a single picture forming above his head. They all flinched when Pitch set burning eyes upon them from his position near a slowly healing Merith.

"How could you? How could you bastards do this to a pregnant person, male or female? What gives you the right to decide whether we shall live or not, on whatever so called crimes we committed? We haven't done a damn thing against you or anyone else! We just wanted to live in peace and happiness with our child, is that so bad? You could've taken everything from me, and for what, some petty sense of human ideals? You're spirits, chosen by Lunaoff himself to help protect humanity for the sake of the spirit world, and then think that gives you the right to attack a fellow spirit blessed with the ability to bear a child? I should kill you right here, right now, as penalty for your actions against my family. If my family suffers for your actions, then the world will be engulfed in darkness, with only you to blame!"

The shadows within the room were pulsing and writhing from Pitch's rage, quickly spreading and consuming all light in their desperation to reach the Guardians frozen with shock. At this rather terrifying sight, North shook out of his shock and quickly threw one of his newest creations, a magic snow globe, to the ground before shoving the other Guardians through.

Following their departure, Merith choked out a low moan of pain as felt contractions going through his body. Eyes widening in panic looked up at Pitch in the center of the room. Not a single word was spoken, but Pitch understood what was happening as he carefully picked up Merith bridal style and slipped through the shadows into the birthing chamber they'd set up in the lair.

Sending sentient shadows to fetch hot water and extra towels, Pitch continued to comfort and soothe his husband, silently agreeing with the muttered threats made by Merith about the Guardians.

"Pitch, I'm scared, the baby's too early. It hasn't been long enough."

"I know, I know," Pitch said as he quickly cleaned his hands in a nearby basin. "I'm scared as well, but we still have a chance."

As he didn't trust anyone to properly birth his child (even less considering what the Guardians just did), Pitch was going to be doing it. Using all the sources and knowledge he could find about birthing, he successfully helped Merith through the contractions and finally pushing the baby out. Everything seemed to be going smoothly and came out.

She was a beautiful baby, despite all the blood and other birth liquids. She had Merith's eye shape and Pitch's nose and cheekbones; her fair skin emphasized the tuft of black hair that would soon dry fluffy and wild, a sure sign that she had inherited the Potter hair. Her little cheeks we chubby with baby fat and overall, she was a rather healthy baby with no physical defects. Except for the large, deadly slash marring her from the left side of her neck and over her front to end at her right hip, her body cooling down rapidly in their arms.

Merith sobbed as he clung to Pitch, woozily transporting them both to the Netherworld despite his exhaustion. They found a brand new soul shade, their baby's soul, being comforted by a gloomy Myst whose ears didn't even perk up at the sight of her master and his mate, knowing that the young soul cuddled between her paws was their cub.

Despite the fatigue and pain from the earlier fight, childbirth and transporting Pitch to the Netherworld, Merith forced himself off the ground aided by Pitch and delicately picked up his baby. Because she was now part of the Netherworld, she was pale and transparent, her baby soft skin nearly gray in the glowing mist. Following one of the many paths, the former parents despondently headed towards the Gate of Rebirth, the sleeping shade held tightly against her bearer's chest.

"Koz."

Dull golden eyes looked at empty green eyes as they started to overflow with tears.

"I-I don't…. I don't think I can do this-I can't. She's our child. Our beautiful baby girl!" sobbed Merith as they finally stood before the Gate waiting for the approaching spirit to float closer to them. It was one of the spirits whose sole job was to guide young souls through the gate. Silently beckoning for the sleeping child almost hidden in Merith's embrace, he hesitantly placed his daughter within its glowing arms.

"Name?"

"Jamie Black. Jamie Fosse Black."

A numb feeling was slowly creeping throughout his body as he and Pitch watched the spirit pass through the Gate, lost from their sight. His baby girl was lost to him, forever. Something within him, deep in his soul, cracked.

Pitch seemed to be carved from stone as he sat upon his throne in silence, grief emanating from every pore in his body. Merith had been closed off in their room curled up in the middle of the bed clutching a baby blanket designed with intricate swirls of black, green, and gold. Any efforts Pitch made to get through to his love seemed only to push Merith within himself, leaving Pitch to be alone and think about the "what if's" and "if only's".

'When did it all go so wrong? What did we do to deserve this agony? Why? Our only child. If only I had been faster, if they hadn't attacked!'

Pitch leapt out of his throne and started to pace furiously.

'It's all the damn Guardians' fault that my baby girl is DEAD! It's their fault that they've destroyed the one thing that has ever truly given me happiness by hurting Merith and my child. It's their fault. It's ALL their FAULT!'

Shadows within the room darkened ominously as his nightmares circled around Pitch, jostling into him as their whispers polluted the air and his mind with their devious desires.

'Make them PAY! Make them suffer, they deserve it. Get revenge. Get revenge. Get revenge. Get REVENGE!'

Thoughts revolving around revenge, Pitch didn't notice as the shadows began to converge upon him as they slowly consumed him. His mind was solely fixated on images of his dead daughter and the gaunt, grieving face of his husband as his sight became enveloped in darkness.

"Brother Merith."

Silence filled the room as the figure on the bed remained motionless. He was curled up in the middle of the bed, sheets wrapped around him like a cocoon; shielding him from the harsh reality. Pillows and stuffing were strewn around the room as if the owner, in a fit of fury, decided to wreck the closest thing available.

The young displacer leapt onto the bed, gently butting the male.

"Brother Merith, please get up, Pitchy isn't acting normal and everywhere is dark. Fear hurting children Brother Merith."

Slowly, as if heavy weights were attached to every muscle, Merith lifted his head just enough to stare at Myst. Dead eyes stared blankly at the young beast where once vibrant green ones belonged.

"Bro-"

"So?"

"Brother Merith? What you mean? Children hurt from Pitch's shadow. Need your help."

"Where was help when my daughter was killed? It's all my fault, I should've known better than to leave myself alone. Alone, alone, alone. Always alone. My own husband can't stand the sight of me, the one who lost his child. I deserve it though, I can't do anything right, I'm a horrible, nasty little freak that deserves punishment. But why my baby! Why not me instead? Why Fate?" Merith screeched hysterically as he furiously tugged on his hair.

A blast of magic violently ripped throughout the room and hit Myst, causing her to fly across the room into the stone wall with a sickening thud and a large slash across her flank, nearly severing a tentacle. She slumped to the ground whimpering and barely conscious. Looking back at her master and big brother who hadn't even noticed what he'd done, Myst slunk back to the Netherworld to meet with the other familiars.

Collapsing from pain and exhaustion, Myst barely brought up the energy to growl at a fussy Soreth licking her wounds as Toreth came over and looked at her. He grumbled and she answered back in a soft mewl, shaking her head defeated. Each of the familiars knew that the loss of their hatchling/ cub had driven their master's mate off into insanity, but they had desperately prayed, in vain it seems, for their beloved master to not follow.

Alas, it seems their master was loyal to the end, even in the lowest of depression he followed his mate into possible insanity, no longer feeling or caring about the well-being of the children and their souls. Now, they couldn't do anything but protect as many souls as possible and hope that Manny would be able to fix things.

AN: Self-edited 9 July 2016