Chapter Eight-Misunderstood

The question Pitch had been pondering for ages was how to get the guardians to believe in themselves, but that wasn't the question. The real question was, how to get them to know about them. The answer, of course, was to have Jamie suggest the stories. It was simple enough, and giving them dreams every night would help but he really needed Jamie in on this or it would never work. Of course Sandy's believe shone like a star, and that couldn't hurt either.

With Jamie telling them stories he quickly had a problem. He had told them about him as well, but insisted that he was good now. That was problematic. Sandy liked him because he was little, the others might not see it that way.

He entered to pay Jamie a friendly visit and give some good dreams and, regrettably, scare little Anna out of eating raw cookie dough by the pound. Nothing bad, but enough that she shouldn't try it. Instead of a sleeping house he was faced with the sight of little Aster, the oldest of the four kids, staring him down like he was about to murder him. The nine-year-old looked more than unhappy to meet him and before he could worry about what to say he opened his mouth and Pitch didn't need to guess what he'd say.

"JACK!" He called.

"What, what is it?" He asked frantically but as calmly as he could manage. Aster pointed to where Pitch was now standing, looking rather sad.

"It's the Boogeyman!" He insisted.

"Bunny there's nothing there, okay?" He tried to reassure the kid, using his nickname and blocking his view. Pitch took that moment to disappear so that Jack could be right. There was, indeed, nothing there.

"But…but I SAW him!" He insisted, bottom lip shaking more than the boy would have liked.

"Hey buddy, Its alright. Whatever it was it's gone now okay?" Aster nodded, more than happy to go with that. Pitch was gone, Aster was safe, he could live with that.

Sandy came running in at the mention of the Boogeyman. Oddly having the exact opposite reaction to what they expected, he wanted to see him! He wanted his new friend! He clapped happily and looked around but found nothing and looked between them in confusion.

"Why are you so happy? He's the Boogeyman! He's mean, and evil! You aren't friends with him!" Aster chastised angrily. He didn't like the way Jamie talked about him like he could change. If he was so old he'd be who he'd always been. If he was going to be good he'd have done it already.

Sandy's little lower lip started to shake and his eyes started to water. He looked at Jack pleadingly and Jack turned to Aster.

"Aster! That wasn't very nice." Jack crossed his arms sternly, crouching down to meet the boy's eye.

"I'm not sorry." Aster insisted. "The Boogeyman is bad."

"Aster, whatever your opinions are that's fine, you can voice them but you don't get to yell at people or tell them that the opinions they have are just wrong. And you definitely aren't allowed to yell at your little brother." He continued. Aster was chewing his lower lip. Jack opened his arm for Sandy who snuggled into him fearfully.

"Why? He's wrong. The Boogeyman isn't his friend! He's just a little kid! He doesn't know anything!" Aster yelled in frustration loud enough that Anna and Nick were peeking out of their respective rooms in curiosity.

Sandy ripped himself out of Jack's arm and ran crying down the hall into Nick's room, hiding and catching Nick off guard.

"Sandy!" Jack tried, but Sandy wasn't coming back. He set his death-glare on Aster.

"Crybaby." He grumped.

"Aster. What has got you so riled up about this?" Jack asked, sensing a tension he hadn't before. Aster was never this mean or butt-headed without cause.

"I saw him!"

"Alright buddy, alright, but why are you so onto Sandy about it?" He asked knowingly.

"He thinks the Boogeyman is good, like Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fary, but he's not! He's mean! He gives people nightmares and hides under beds! He's scary and evil and Sandy shouldn't like him because he'll get lots of nightmares and the Boogeyman will come and get him!" Aster admitted, getting less surly and more upset as time went on. Jack pulled the boy into a hug and looked over his shoulder to the others, meaning 'back to bed'. They listened much better than you'd expect.

"Now Bunny, Sandy's safe. No one's gonna hurt him, and no one's gonna take him away, alright?" He pulled back and wiped some tears from the poor kid's face. "I know Sandy, and you know Sandy, right?" Aster nodded. "Now I don't know about you, but I think that boy has a super amazing judge of character, better than some adults I know. If Sandy likes someone, they're good. He's not mindless about it." He relaxed when Aster sniffed and nodded his agreement. Maybe if Sandy liked him, the Boogeyman wasn't so bad after all.

Meanwhile Pitch had found the little golden boy curled up on the fire escape outside Nick's window. He knew Jack would have a heart attack if he found him out there, so he decided to try and talk him into going back inside. When he found the boy sobbing a white-hot, protective rage washed over him. His own big brother had made him cry! He deflated quickly and rushed to soothe the toddler.

"Sandy?" He cooed. Little red-rimmed eyes found him and he started to sign like crazy. Thankful he understood sign language Pitch sat down with him.

'They told me you were bad! He said I was just a kid! Am I wrong?' Was the jist of his rant.

"Sandy, come here." Pitch opened his arm for the little blonde to tuck himself into. "I wasn't always who I am right now. Something happened to me a long time ago and I was bad, but now I'm trying to make things better. That's why Aster doesn't like me, you understand?" He asked. Sandy nodded and snuggled in closer, signing 'friend' once more while looking up in question.

"Yes Sandy, we're friends." Pitch assured. "Now let's go inside, Jack will be worried about you when he can't find you." He reminded. Sandy nodded sleepily on his shoulder. He sent a silent prayer to Mani that Aster didn't see him with Sandy again before he got him to bed, or really at all. He got just inside the door when Nick's slack-jawed stare caught his attention and he fought the urge to sigh. He was so screwed and at this point he was waiting for someone to hit him with a baseball bat. Instead of the scream or anger he had come to expect he was met with the wonder he guarded so closely as an adult.

"Wow! You're real!" Nick exclaimed happily. Sandy clapped, happy to share his new friend with his slightly older brother.

"That's right Nick, and I need you to take Sandy to bed now, alright?" He asked, gently handing the semi-lucid boy over to the slightly large-for-his-age Nick who nodded quite seriously as if he had just been given the keys to the city and told to lock the gate. On his way out he saw Aster which was something he had been trying to avoid at all costs. Rather than fear or anger though, he got a small nod in acknowledgement that told him he was willing to give him a shot, likely because of Sandy and Jack. Nodding back on his way out Pitch couldn't help a smile as he realized he might have a knack for this yet.

He made sure everyone, Jack included although it was much more difficult, had wonderful dreams. He pondered on the irony of that as he left for the pole, not looking forward to the chaos that likely awaited him.

"Phil? How is the production going?" He asked calmly as the yeti ran by. A few yittish sentences indicated that production was steadily making its way past schedule and that everything would be ready on time disasters withheld.

He settled back down in front of the globe, ready for the worst should it happen while taking to carving. Although unlike North his way was much calmer, quieter and more meditative. He chipped calmly at the ice in the relative quiet of the globe room, unwilling to invade North's space. Between toys he painted eggs for Easter, just to get the hang of it in case he needed to, and made sure the faries were still working when they would come in with questions. He spent the year getting them to believe and keeping them safe while doing their jobs until he came across an interesting problem.

I was December.

North was six.

Dun DUN DUUUUUUUN! Sorry I almost never leave such a purposeful cliffie but this was too perfect to pass up. It's finals week and believe it or not that leaves me SO much more time! I'll try to move this thing along now!

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