Slang:

Bloody Oath = An expression for certainty. In this chapter I've used it as a "mark-my-words" equivalent.

Reviews:

Crossover Junkie: I don't know where you're digging this stuff up from but it's great, and giving me plenty of ideas for later on! I have some ideas for a backstory, but I'm definitely keeping that one close to my chest. Thanks for keeping on believing in me :)
AngelaLove072101: You. Are. Awesome. I hope this packs enough of a punch for you.

It was an ambitious decision to attempt taking the girl with him, but her fear had become so potent that a successful transition into the shadow realm for both of them became a non-issue. Pitch was growing more powerful by the second and could only thank whatever good fortune had brought her his way. When they reformed in the deep underground he still had a secure hold on her, soon realising there was no need for it. She looked petrified; the girl wasn't going anywhere. Pitch relinquished his grip with contemptuous disregard and started to pace in deep contemplation. Admittedly, he'd been hasty in snatching the newest Guardian. What did she say her name was? No matter, it was irrelevant. The real question was what to do next. The Night-Mares were still lurking, though mercifully they weren't near by. Still, it wouldn't be long.

As his back was turned, Valentina had been gradually coming to her senses, still very much afraid given her strange and potentially dangerous situation, but she had mostly recovered from the shock. The Guardians failed to mention that Pitch would be capable of whatever just happened, which hadn't been helpful in the slightest. She had no clue what the plan was now. That had been derailed the moment he showed up. The Spirit of Nightmares didn't appear intent on harming her, not for the moment at least. She couldn't say the feeling was mutual. Resentment welled up inside of her as she located a sizeable chunk of rubble and lobbed it at the dark figure ahead with a grunt and deadly good aim.

Pitch's hearing, however, was just as sharp as his quick reflexes, and both saved him from a nasty blow to the head. He whipped around and, without even touching it, crushed the rock into powder that settled anticlimactically at his feet. With an enraged scream, Valentina ran at Pitch and threw punch after punch, with sparks of magic flying at uncontrollable intervals. Unfortunately, maintaining her balance proved an oddly difficult task and as a result he managed to block most of the attacks, save for one final kick that caught him in the ribs and winded him. He glared at her as he buckled, clutching his chest.

"I can see you're going to be far more trouble than you're worth," he hissed through clenched teeth.

"You're very observant," she retaliated, albeit rather breathlessly, refusing to back down now that he'd decided to make her his problem for the foreseeable future. She was looking around the space, noticeably in ruins. It could have once been a grand hall with numerous passages leading off it, but was instead decorated with a solitary globe and crumbling debris. One thing was apparent: she wasn't getting out of the labyrinth any time soon by herself. "Why have you brought me here?"

"Since you claim to know so much about me, and you're affiliated with the Guardians, I couldn't take any chances, could I?" He revealed as he straightened himself, wincing slightly.

"What does that mean?" She couldn't quite keep a nervous tremor from tarnishing her harsh tone.

"It means you're a threat, and as such, will remain here with me," he commanded as a menacing grin formed upon his thin lips.

"You can't keep me here!" She cried. Can he?

"That's for me to know and you to find out," he taunted, seeming to read her mind, "regardless, they most certainly will."

"Who are 'they'?" she demanded angrily. As if on cue, a chilling bray echoed from one of the nearby passages, resembling more of a black hole the harder Valentina tried to peer into it.

"They are not something you'll want to run into. So I'm afraid, for better or worse, you're stuck here," he concluded smugly.

"You sick Son of a-"

"Now, now," he chided with a mocking, wagging finger, "keep shouting and you'll regret it." He tilted his head in the direction of the tunnel with mirth etched on his pointed features.

She pursed her lips, thoroughly displeased with the entire predicament.

"You realise I'm not exactly thrilled about this either," he suddenly was scowling.

"How?" She snapped while trying to keep her volume at a minimum. "How could you possibly not be thrilled about this?"

"Because now I have a hostage to deal with on top of everything else."

The unexpected contradiction left Valentina extremely puzzled and her quizzical glance betrayed as much.

"May I remind you who decided to set up an ambush in an unprovoked assault? I had no choice but to retaliate! Your lot can never seem to leave well enough alone."

She froze. Something wasn't adding up. "Unprovoked? You're the whole reason why I'm involved in this at all," she shot back.

It was Pitch's turn to falter in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, how about your 'noble steeds' of darkness terrorising innocent children for a start?" she suggested sarcastically and was about go on, but what the Nightmare King said next stopped her dead in her tracks.

"That wasn't me."

Bunny's heart leapt into his mouth as Valentina disappeared from sight in the clutches of Pitch.

"NO!" He cried in anguish. "That bastard!" The Pooka was beside himself in a mixture of shock at the Boogeyman's dastardly actions and shame at his own cowardice when confronted with the nightmare sand.

North could only stare at the spot where Valentina had been standing. The plan had gone so wrong. How could he not have see the flaws? It was all his fault, he'd put her in harms way, and now she could be in grave danger. He snapped into action.

"Bunny, go find the others," North ordered with urgency.

With one final, reluctant look at the clearing, the Pooka sped off toward the lake where Tooth and Jack were waiting. He raced faster than a bullet at speeds that shouldn't have been possible, through trees, shrubbery and precarious piles of snow. Overhead he saw the Sandman, who was peering cautiously through the canopy with a worrisome expression.

"Oi, Sandy!" He skidded to a halt beneath him. "Go find North at the exit point, we've had trouble. Major trouble. He'll explain when you get there. Go now." The Sandman didn't need telling twice. In a bemused state, he flew on a golden cloud towards Pitch's territory while Bunny moved on to find the others. With two sharp raps of his foot on the solid ground, a hole opened up beneath him and he slipped away through the tunnels, emerging on a cliff top to find two startled Guardians. Notably, they were sitting far too close together for the following interaction to not be awkward.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked weakly, being momentarily disarmed.

"What? No. We.. we were just… It's nothing," came the combined stammered reply from Jack and Tooth.

"Yeah, well never mind that. We've got a problem."

...

"What do you mean 'disappeared'?" Jack asked specifically.

"I mean he grabbed hold of her and vanished the way he always does," Bunny explained with increasing agitation.

"No!" came the distressed exclamation from Tooth, "Into the shadows? I had no idea he could take people with him."

"None of us did," admitted North, who was slumped forlornly against one of his swords.

"Hey," Bunny placed a paw on his large shoulder, "it wasn't your fault, ok? None of this is anyone's fault but Pitch's."

"How did it happen?" Jack asked in bewilderment.

"He cornered us," North explained, "we were waiting behind trees ready to take action. But I stepped on branch and was nervous Pitch would hear. I was nervous. ME."

"Turns out he didn't have to hear anything," Bunny continued, "he's just got a nose like a bloodhound."

"Maybe that's a sign to finally take a shower," Jack teased, which earned him an unamused glare from the rabbit.

"Aw rack off, would you? Bloody oath, he's going to pay for this. You don't mess with the Guardians and get away with it."

"But we don't even know where he could've taken her," Jack reasoned.

"Or what he's doing," Tooth added nervously.

"I think I can take a pretty good guess." Bunny stepped toward the former pit of despair and studied it thoughtfully. "Even if he could, what's the bet he didn't want to go further than this dump out of pure convenience?"

"Makes sense, I say we crack it open," Jack decided, "who's with me?" There were murmured responses in halfhearted agreement. "Look, I don't know about you guys, but I have been down there and trust me, the sooner she's out the better. That place does things to your head." He gave a visible shudder. "Now unless someone else has a brilliant idea, we need to find Val as quickly as possible."

"Jack is right," North agreed, "Val put faith in us and we failed her. Is up to us to fix. Bunny, can you get us down there?"

"No can do," he negated, "Pitch's network runs parallel to mine. Whatever I dig up's just gonna take us back to the Warren."

"So how are we doing this?" Tooth asked as their options dwindled into single didgets.

After some consideration Jack said simply: "We blast it."

"There's no way they could have been doing my bidding, I've been practically comatose for the last… how long has it been?"

"Six years I think-"

"Six Years! And it's hardly my fault you of all people were plucked from obscurity to be one of them."

Pitch was attempting to get to the bottom of this new mystery while the girl (he still couldn't remember her name) was blaming him for her every grievance, resulting in a very trying exchange.

"It wasn't you? Then why have they been active?" Valentina asked more to herself than him.

Pitch was rubbing his temples in frustration. "Ever since… that night… they've been restless, more aggressive. They started to attack me instead." He muddled through what information he had. Obviously the Guardians suspected him, given the presence of his reluctant (and infuriating) companion. And at this stage he was in no shape for another confrontation. He just needed to buy himself some time, or at least fix this mess to get them off his back. He'd keep the girl for as long as necessary of course, that would teach them to finally cease their meddling.

"However," he paused to consider something, "this could work out better than I thought it might. There's a way you could help me."

"What makes you think I would ever want to do that?" she scoffed.

"Because," his mouth quirked as the idea fully formed in his mind, "I think we can help each other."

A thought had struck him; She put up a steely front but her fear was incredibly strong, too strong perhaps. It was almost over powering. It was a renewable resource to him that would be more than enough to draw upon in order to possibly bring the mare-ish beasts under his control again. But he could also sense that it needed to be lessened and he knew how to instruct her so. Of course he never did anything without some sort of gain. In the end he could reduce her fear, but there would still be a normal amount to give him strength. She could be of great value to him and who knew, perhaps he had caught her early enough for her to contemplate being his accomplice.

"I don't want your help," she adamantly refused.

"You haven't even heard my proposal," he chuckled, amused by her haughtiness. It only made her resent him even more.

"I don't need to."

"Would you listen-"

"No, YOU listen!" she snapped, "I am done listening. I am fed up with this, with you, with all of it! In the last thirty-six hours I have been taken from everything I knew, thanks to the Man in the Moon. I have been openly judged for my suitability to a role that I never asked for, I ran from everything that's been thrown at me, but still went back to face it anyway. Now I'm dealing with the fact that not only did North's so-called "foolproof" plan fail, but it could very well be my fault. And to top it all off, I get kidnapped only to be stuck underground with you."

If looks could kill, Valentina's heated glare might have had him burst into flames.

He exhaled slowly, reigning in his temper as it edged closer to reaching the end of its tether. "I think," he said softly, "if you'd just hear me out, you might reconsider."

Now, she was quite aware that Pitch Black was unlikely to be the grovelling type, but there was something in his voice that betrayed desperation. She studied his pale face carefully. He didn't seem to have noticed he'd done it. And that made Valentina actually contemplate listening.

"Okay," she replied cautiously, "What do you propose exactly?"

Pitch couldn't stop the look of surprise that flashed across his face. Only for a brief second. "Like I said," he began, "I need your help because I have an... infestation. Of sorts."

Valentina screwed up her nose in disgust. "Ok, deal's off," she dismissed in a deadpan jest and he groaned inwardly at her impertinence.

"I call them Night-Mares," he continued with thinly wearing patience, his hands held together in a steeple, "perhaps you've heard of them?"

She raised her eyebrows. "That's an understatement," she agreed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I created an army of them years ago, slowly building them up over time with the corrupted dreamsand I stole from that little friend of yours. They were under my command and carried out my orders. I was going to use them to help my cause and I almost succeeded. That is until the Guardians, with their light and wonderment, ended it. I was forced to retreat into this hovel with what was left of them. But in my weakness, my own fear took over. They can smell it too, you know. They're ravenous for it. Even mine. Now they've turned against me and I've been trapped ever since."

"But when I called you-" she started.

"That's where you come in. The only reason I made it to the surface is because of you."

"Brilliant." Valentina didn't bother to hide her displeasure.

"Your fear is what gave me strength," he explained, almost hungrily, "in fact, it's doing that right now."

She tried to ignore how uncomfortable that last piece of information made her. "Well that isn't sadistic at all."

"My dear, that's just the way it is," he said smoothly. "That is why I need you."

Valentina gave this some momentary thought. Negotiating with terrorists was never a good idea, but there was something about this pitiful creature that compelled her to hear what he had to say. As yet, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. But for the second time since they'd met she decided to take a risk.

"And what am I supposed to get out of all of this?" She asked with growing suspicions. "You said you could help me. How?"

"Ah, now this is where things become interesting," he paused with a hint of theatricality "I can help you become the most powerful Guardian to walk this Earth. I can teach you things that those others can only dream of."

"In their worst nightmares, I'm sure," she noted thickly.

"I've seen your fears."

Valentina looked at him sharply.

"There are a number of them which, I must say, I find completely fascinating." His voice had become silky, seductive almost. "I can help you overcome them, to unlock your full potential, because, to be frank, I don't think you'd reach it if you stayed with North and his band of merry men. I mean, just now they set you up as cannon fodder. Bait, even. You were used expendably, which is just so wasteful," he criticised.

This hurt, more than Valentina would have liked to admit, and it only confirmed what she had been thinking all along.

"But, if you were to stay here with me, you wouldn't ever have to doubt yourself. I guarantee there would always be a place of importance for your powers."

Alarm bells were ringing in the Guardian's ears. It didn't make sense to her why the Boogeyman, who presumably needed her scared just to function, would help her get rid of her fears. There was too much at stake to try and outsmart him so she made her decision.

"I'm afraid you've tried to con the wrong person," she lashed out in defiance. "There's nothing you can teach me about being a Guardian, did you really think I'd be fooled that easily?" She laughed slightly manically, and much too loudly. Pitch was finally ready to unleash his fury upon being shown such disrespect when a disturbing shriek was heard from the passage, much closer than before. A pair of yellow eyes glowed from it's depths. The Boogeyman glowered at her.

"Now you've done it."

Within seconds they were surrounded by a stampede of thundering hooves. Back to back, they faced four large, black, skeleton-esque horses that stared them down aggressively as they circled. There was no reasoning in their eyes, only hunger. She attempted to stand her ground as one came dangerously close to her. She was uncertain of how to defend herself, but decided to call upon a fragment of her soul and helper, aptly named Cupid, taking the form of a soft pink gaseous cloud. She didn't know if it would help, but it did make her feel more in control of the situation. It wavered in front of her, creating a shield between her and the Night-Mare. In the end though, despite her efforts to keep her terror under control, she felt it bubble up from her subconscious until it blocked out rational thought entirely. They were making it worse, every small insecurity. And the bitterness she had found herself increasingly prone to finally reared its ugly head and transformed into seething hatred. She hadn't noticed, but Cupid flickered grey and then faded to black before disappearing all together. Her heart raced until she thought it would explode and her lungs would collapse. She fell before the beast, willing for it to take her then, wishing for it to be over.

"GET AWAY FROM HER"

Pitch's roar thundered louder than the commotion in her mind that threatened to consume her sanity. She dared to look up. The Night-Mare was miraculously backing off.

"None of you touch her, you hear me!?" he commanded, incurring a wrath upon them unlike any Valentina had ever seen. They seemed unsure whether to listen or disregard their former master. It appeared to be the latter. They started towards her again. With a startling howl, Pitch summoned a storm of nightmare sand that flushed the Night-Mares out of the vicinity and forced them to retreat back into the tunnels from whence they came.

Finally being able to catch their breath, Pitch's stance relaxed somewhat and Valentina got to her feet when her strength had returned. She turned to him in awe.

"You… You saved me from them."

She peered at the face of the Nightmare King, which was set in a hardened expression. His breathing was heavy and he dared not meet her eyes.

"Thank you," she said quietly. When he made no reply she made to walk away, giving him some space, but was halted.

'No one deserves what those things can do to you," she heard from behind her. Valentina turned around to see Pitch in the middle of a revelation.

"I was a fool. I should never have…" he trailed off. "Just leave. You're free to go."

There was a long silence.

"No."

Pitch looked at her abruptly.

"I want to take up your offer." She surprised both herself and him in saying this. "You were right. I need to overcome my fears, not even just to be a good Guardian, but to be functional when I need to. I was useless just now, but if you can help me, the way you say you can, I would be willing to be your protector."

It was true, Valentina didn't trust Pitch as far as she could throw him. She couldn't be sure that everything he said about the Night-Mares was true, and he had almost managed manipulate her against the Guardians with his sly tactics. But what he had just said, admitting he'd been wrong, there was no deception there. Of course, her instincts, which she was now happy to oblige, told her that Pitch had had an agenda himself at some point and it was important she remained cognisant of that fact. Well two could play that game, Valentina thought. If she stayed, she could keep an eye on his movements from the inside and give the others an advantage. Perhaps she could outsmart Pitch, she just had to remain one step ahead.

"Not for protection," he clarified rather pettily, "I'm the Boogeyman, I don't need a body guard."

"Sure, whatever you say," she shrugged.

And she knew the Guardians had done the best they could under the circumstances. No one had anticipated Pitch to act so brazenly. But now she had the opportunity to make things right. To really prove she was worthy.

"I also think my talents are wasted on the Guardians," she added for good measure.

And even though there was a slimy aura that surrounded him from countless years of misdeeds and selfish behaviour, she had seen something in him that she was certain he had yet to guess at himself.

He examined her in surmise, but Valentina presented her best poker face in this deadly dance with the devil.

"Do we have a deal?" she bartered with her hand reached out to him. Pitch allowed an impressed smirk to make an appearance.

"Deal," he finalised.

It was possible that the deepest desires of the heart could go unrecognised. Indeed, it was rare but with Pitch, Valentina thought it made perfect sense. His passions were buried beneath countless centuries of such hostility and bitterness that she was having trouble getting a clear reading. However with time, perhaps...

"So," she narrowed her gaze challengingly, "you think I might be worth that trouble after all?"

"Perhaps," he replied in a noncommittal manner, "but if you decide to test what little patience I have," he threatened, "your time here can be made very unpleasant, I can assure you."

"You have my word."

Pitch couldn't be sure where this confident change in demeanour had come from, but it most certainly roused his suspicions. He would have to keep a watchful eye on the girl. It was uncanny that she possessed similar reading powers to his, and that would have to be monitored indefinitely. He felt bad for his aggression, he didn't want to hurt her, not really. He hadn't even tried to fight her back. That's not who his true quarrel was with. However, in knowing so little about her, the powers she possessed were completely unpredictable to him. A subtle warning would hopefully keep that in check for the time being, for a delicate power balance had to be maintained. There was just one thing left to be sorted.

"You'll have to forgive me," he started, "I can't quite recall what you said your name was."

The girl stared with bemused amusement at him.

"It's just a formality," he snapped hurriedly, "but I suppose I would prefer to be on a first name basis. Especially if you already know who I am," he justified. She quirked an eyebrow in judgement but told him anyway.

"Valentina," she said.

"Valentina," he tested, tasting the name as it rolled off the tongue, "interesting."

"Well, actually," she corrected, "it's Valentina Cupidonia, Spirit of Love."

"Right," he acknowledged with a quick roll of his eyes, and was about say something else, but it was forgotten as he became aware of a rumbling coming from a far off passage.

"What…?" he breathed.

"What's wrong?"

"Shhh. Listen," he urged. The noise was getting louder, more defined. It sounded like individual explosions coming from the surface. The realisation dawned on him.

"Those Guardians are meddling in things they ought not to," he said darkly. The rhythmic detonations ceased for a second in a deadly quiet. Suddenly a deafening explosion echoed painfully off the stone which gave way to the whinnies and shrieks of the Night-Mares that combined with a thunderous galloping of hooves. But almost as quickly as it began it was over. All around it was quiet, much too quiet.

"What the hell was that?" Valentina exclaimed in a hush.

Pitch had a mixture of anger and concern etched on his face that unnerved her. He cursed under his breath.

"Those wretched idiots."