I never went back home after Pitch saved me. I found every excuse I could that would allow me to stay with him a little longer. Eventually he found out the real reason I wanted to stay, and it surprised me that it took him as long as it did to figure it out. I would have to fight not to let my mind wander to thoughts of him when he was around. It had been five years since he found out, and in those five years we had developed a daily routine. He slept most of the day as I did my work, and I slept through the night when he did his, but we had adjusted our sleeping in order to have some time for us. I would wake up just a bit earlier to fix breakfast before he got home, he would go to sleep a little later so we could talk or do whatever we wanted after breakfast, and vice versa so that when I got home we could have some time as well.

Today, however, was different. In the middle of fixing pancakes I felt a huge gust of wind blow through the house and heard the Nightmares snorting and whinnying, which was odd because Pitch never allowed them in the house. I ran to see what was going on, and found that in the middle of our living room, a storm of black sand and Nightmares churned. I looked for Pitch in the swirling chaos, but all I could see of him was a flash of his gray skin here and there. I yelled and waved my arms, attempting to ward off the beasts, and they disappeared.

Pitch lay curled up on the floor, whimpering. I rushed to him, "Pitch! Pitch, what happened?" I took his shaking hands in mine, trying to comfort him. His eyes seemed huge as they were directed my face, and once Pitch realized it was me, tears began to spill from them. I hushed him and pulled him close so that his torso was on my lap and his head on my chest. He was shuddering with sobs, and I kept hushing and telling him it would be okay as they got more violent. At one point he decided that he felt okay enough to explain what had happened, and he lifted his face to look at me.

"The Nightmares… they attacked me. I was afraid, Aleera, I was so afraid. And now no one believes in me anymore. The children, they're not scared of me… Oh Aleera, I was so frightened…" his bottom lip began to quiver and his eyes teared up once again. I pulled him back into my chest and rubbed his back soothingly.

"It's okay, Pitch. It's okay. I promise it'll be okay." I pulled his face up to look him in the eyes, which now looked more bright a gold and less silver and yellow. I flashed him a reassuring smile before I pulled him in for a kiss. He seemed to melt into it, his body relaxing and his sobs lessening. I could taste the salt from his tears and feel the warmth of his lips. He broke it off and smiled, telling me that it was okay now, and planted a small peck on my lips.

Thank you.

I smiled, "I was just making breakfast when you… Come on, sit down at the table and I'll bring it out." I held his hand as I lead him to the dining room and sat him down. When I went to walk away, he didn't let go. Instead he pulled me back onto his lap and wrapped his free arm around my waist, kissing my cheek. I laughed and turned to meet his kisses.

"We really should eat. You need to get your strength back and I need mine for later. Some of us still have to go to work today, you know." I said with a laugh. He let me stand up after he groaned in complaint. I went to go get the food, and Pitch insisted that I sit on his lap as we ate. I obliged, but "only because he's had a rough day". Occasionally he would gently pull my face to his for a quick kiss between bites of his favorite breakfast casserole, a recipe I learned from a friend a long time ago. After we finished eating, we went to cuddle on the couch. I lay next to him on my side, facing him, with him arm slung around my waist. We were silent, and at one point I noticed his breathing had slipped into the deep, steady breathing of someone in a deep sleep. I smiled and looked around to check the grandfather clock on the far wall, which made me jump nearly out of my skin. I quickly escaped his grasp and ran to get out of the house.

It wasn't the first time I'd been late for work, but it had been a long time. I took to the skies, finding the nearest city. As the Spirit of Passion, it's my duty to help people fall in love. Not just with each other, but with hobbies, ideas, and other things like that. I help children and young adults find their calling in life, whether it be science or art or history. I also help adults realize that they need to be doing what they love, not stuck in some cubicle day after boring day.

It was early Spring, one of my favorite times of the year, especially since I helped it be as, well, Spring-y. As I flew through some city in Alabama, I realized it was Easter Sunday. Painted plastic eggs were scattered all over the place, as well as the real ones from Bunny, who I hoped I would run into today. Everyone was dressed in bright colors; hot pinks, lime greens, highlighter yellows, and baby blues. Everything out here was so much different from Pitch's place; things here held color, and beautiful color at that.

A sudden flash of gray and black caught my eye in the woods to my left. It looked as if my wish to see Bunny might come true. I picked up my speed and angled down to where he had stopped, just near a small stream on the outskirts of a clearing where an egg hunt was going on. I landed silently behind him, and if it was anyone other than him he wouldn't have heard me. His ears turned back so I knew he heard me, and I guess when he noticed it who it was, his head whipped around. He grinned and wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug.

I laughed, "Nice to see you too, Bunny. How are things?"

"They're absolutely wonderful now that I've seen you! How are things with you? I haven't seen you in years!"

"They're good, they're good. I've just relocated, you could say." He sensed the meaning behind my words, that I had found a guy and was now living with him.

"Who is it, Aleera? Not a Mortal, I hope, but who then?"

"No, not a Mortal, he's one of us. And I think you'll just have to wait and see. Maybe we can have a little get together soon, just us and the rest of the Guardians."

"Sounds great! Listen, I have to go for now, but just let me know when you want to get together, and I'll make sure everyone's there. Later!" He hopped off and I continued with my work.

I was wandering in the woods, spreading some love to the critters, when I overheard a small boy telling a story to his friends. I decided to take a seat up in the branches of an oak tree and listen, because there was nothing I loved better than a good story.

"… and then Jack told me not to be scared, he told me we were going to have fun. The bad guy was trying real hard to scare me, but I trusted Jack. I knew he would never let anyone hurt me, and then the bad guy started talking to me, asking if I believed in him, but before he could say it, Jack threw a snowball at his face!..." I listened to the boy's story almost to the end, until he said something that made my blood freeze. "…the Nightmares didn't smell the Guardians' fear! They smelled the bad guy's! He tried running away from them but they sucked him up and carried him all the way back to his house under the bed! It was totally awesome!"

So the Guardians were responsible for Pitch's crying earlier. He must have done something absolutely terrible to get all of them together at once, but that was nothing new for Pitch. He wanted so desperately to be believed in that he would do anything, even if it meant tipping the balance of fear and hope in the entire world. Even if it meant keeping something from me. He knew that I would try to talk him out of it; the Balance is the thing that keeps the Earth turning, and if it didn't exist, the Man in the Moon would come down himself to restore it. And none of us wanted that.

I finished up my work and made my way home. I was exhausted when I arrived, too exhausted to even bring up the whole deal with Pitch when he served me dinner. I went to bed right after I finished, leaving Pitch with only a small peck on the cheek. I needed to think later about whether I was mad at him or not before I gave him false hope.

That night I had nightmares.