Tooth raced back up the tunnel.
She was keen to be out in the open air, free of the grasping underground roots and creeping shadows of Pitch's lair. She hated the dark tunnels and dank soil.
She hated the idea of being in Pitch's debt more.
There had been no other option to secure his help but her stomach turned when she thought about what he may ask for.
Would it be the screams of a hundred children or something spitefully petty like a back massage?
Tooth hoped she hadn't made things worse.
It was not the actual request that worried her: it was Pitch's mercurial nature.
He was unpredictable and calculating, like a riled serpent.
His eyes told her all she needed to know. Yellow and cold, they pierced the heart of anyone who looked into them.
Tooth shivered just thinking about how close he had been to her and the surprisingly smooth touch of his hand. She had been startled to realise he smelt of jasmine. Probably an unpleasant sensory trick on his part to confuse her. She loved the smell of jasmine.
She smoothed her feathers down in an attempt to appear unflustered for her return home.
As long as she remembered who she was dealing with and didn't let her guard down she was confident the operation would go smoothly. If Pitch wanted to cash in the reward, he had to fulfil his part of the bargain first.
Then again maybe she was overreacting.
Hadn't Jack's travails with him at Halloween proven that there was more to the boogeyman? Apparently Pitch had pushed Cupcake out of the way of an attack by a creature called the Nightmare Man, suffering the blow himself and had departed Burgess peacefully the next morning without any fuss. He had even returned his teeth: willingly giving up what he had bargained for even though all the Guardians had agreed it had been fairly earned.
Who knows? Maybe he would surprise her as well.
Hadn't she (to her shame) once doubted Jack the same way? She had mistakenly believed he had traded Baby Tooth to Pitch for his memories at Easter.
That was another thing.
When Pitch had taken her fairies, not a single one had been harmed when they were contained and when they had brought the stolen teeth back to the palace, every tooth was still in its assigned place within their boxes. Pitch could've been cruel or destructive but hadn't been.
Maybe she was reading too much into things. Pitch had probably kept the fairies around to 'witness his triumph' or something melodramatic like that.
Still…
As she took to the air, luxuriating in the warm thermals beneath her wings she made a decision.
Everyone, even Pitch, deserved a second chance.
His trial period would begin tomorrow night at the record store in Burgess Mall where Candy Heart was going to be signing copies of her CD for her adoring fans.

As Pitch watched Tooth fly back up the tunnel to give her fairies a status report, he finally released the laughter he had painstakingly been holding in.
It was hilarious!
Who knew the male Guardians were so gullible?!
A few pretty words in their ears and they forgot all about their highly vaunted ideals of protecting the world! It was such a disgustingly mortal weakness.
And now Tooth was reduced to practically begging for his help.
He threw himself back down into his throne.
It was just too delicious: he almost felt sorry for her.
As his cackling segued to a more restrained smirk, he drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.
What would he ask for?
An all access pass to North's workshop?
Being allowed to scratch the rabbit's ear just to see him squirm?
A visit to the Tooth Palace?
He shook his head at that last thought.
Where had that come from?
The towers were fascinating yes but it was so bright and open. Too exposed to facilitate lurking or jumping out at the locals. As well as the temperature being too humid and sticky for his liking.
In the end, what was the point?
He'd seen it once and didn't much care for the thought of thousands of beady, resentful eyes watching his every move.
Then again the thought of the look on Tooth's face as she would be forced to treat him as a guest in her home was tempting.
The way her violet eyes shone when she was angry was quite enchanting.
He lay on his back, folding his arms beneath his head.
He imagined her flying home like a frightened bird, sunlight catching on her gossamer wings.
Upon reflection, maybe she wasn't the worst Guardian to work with.
She was feisty and her feathers had taken on such interesting colours against the shadows of the lair. Pitch liked to think of himself as an artist. He had a certain appreciation for beauty.
He shook his head suddenly.
What was he thinking?!
It was her fault he still wasn't up to his full strength! Halloween had been a pleasant diversion but it would take years for his power levels to be restored to what they had been before she and the Man in the Moon had started their annual collections. Taking little pieces of his power like magpies eating crumbs!
Just like that, the usual bitter feeling eclipsed the worrying creeping warmth he had been starting to feel. It had been disturbingly familiar and wholly unwelcome.
Helping Tooth was a diverting distraction to tedium, nothing more. He certainly wasn't doing it out of the goodness of his non-existent heart!
If Tooth wanted him to help, he would make sure she paid a heavy price for his services.
Looking at a seemingly broken clock hanging in midair to his left, Pitch made a mental note of the time he was due to meet Tooth tomorrow to form a plan of attack.
'It's a date', he growled, deciding that, even though he would have to wait for his payback, there was no harm enjoying the ride in the meantime.

Tooth huddled beneath the bus stop outside the mall, wings tucked up to stop them getting wet.
The rain was an unpleasant surprise for a creature so accustomed to warmer climes. Thanks to the huge backlog developing in the Tooth Palace, the usual air traffic controller fairies and weather spotter fairies had been reassigned to cataloguing duties. Otherwise she would've been well warned about the miserable rain that pooled around her dainty feet.
She shook her feathers, letting droplets fall to the ground, only to have them replaced anew within minutes.
Somewhere close by, a clock struck five.
Tooth sneezed.
'Bless you', came a voice from her right.
Mentally congratulating herself on resisting the instinct to jump, Tooth watched as Pitch slid from the shadows like a snake. His boots and robe were virtually indistinguishable from the puddles on the ground and they made no sound as he walked through the water.
He nodded in acknowledgement and joined her under the shelter.
Across the road, they could see the long line of people stretching out the front door and around the side of the large building. The mall had hung a huge banner up above the automatic doors to the place advertising Candy Heart's presence there that night. By the looks of some abandoned, sodden folding chairs near the doors, some patrons had decided to make the wait in line a social affair.

'So what is your grand plan anyway?' Pitch asked.

'I'm going to talk to her', Tooth said, 'Find out why she's doing this and get her to stop'.

'Of course!' Pitch sighed, 'It all sounds so simple! Save for the fact we're dealing with a manipulative, ego driven maniac'.

'Well, you know what they say: 'fight fire with fire'', Tooth shrugged.

She winked at Pitch's scowl and flew across the road, gesturing for him to follow.
Tooth darted behind a bay of bright flowers nestled within decorative rocks and gravel, halting beneath an awning close to the doors.
As expected nobody in the queue, not even the children, paid her any attention.
Cupid's hold on them was too strong for the crowd to notice anything but the fact they were about to meet her.
As Tooth noticed Pitch arrive beside her, she prepared to step onto one of the pressure plates that would open the doors.

'What do you think you're doing?' Pitch asked.

'Going into the mall?' Tooth said.

That sigh Pitch kept making was starting to bug her. The sigh that suggested 'I'm surrounded by idiots'.

'For someone who used to spend a lot of time sneaking into children's bedrooms, you've rather lost your touch', Pitch stated, 'I suppose that's what outsourcing does to you'.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean: we are here to technically infiltrate an enemy stronghold and you want to walk through the front door'.

Tooth grimaced. That had been the plan.
Cupid wasn't likely to try anything since she was visible in front of so many people. That said, would they even notice if she did? They were already hanging on her every word.
They were so far under her control they weren't likely to question her if she started attacking the empty air that Tooth and Pitch would be occupying.

'You know another way in?' Tooth conceded.

'There's always another way in', Pitch smirked, pointing to a nearby manhole.

Tooth wrinkled her nose. Pitch chuckled.

'Very restrained reaction. I'm impressed', Pitch commented, 'Don't worry. I don't fancy wringing out my robe'.
Tooth resisted the urge to throw one of the decorative rocks at Pitch's withdrawing back.

A few seconds later, Pitch had located the service entrance to the mall. The security guard inside his cubicle was not a concern.
Pitch simply ducked beneath the barrier and Tooth hopped over it lightly as she followed.
The door for employees to enter the mall was controlled by a buzzer inside the cubicle reinforcing the security of the heavy door. Such precautions were no impediment to Pitch and the door could easily be unlocked manually from the other side.
Tooth watched as Pitch began to slip like oil beneath the crack of the door.
After a brief moment, she heard the door unlock from the other side and the door swung open.
Pitch waved a hand, inviting her in.
She hastened inside and Pitch closed the door behind her.
A corridor stretched ahead of them and a staircase led up to the right.
Tooth fluttered over to the railing, checking the directory sign posted to the wall.

'The record store's on the fifth floor', Tooth said, 'Let's go!'

'You don't have any fairy dust for weary pedestrians by any chance?' Pitch quipped, eyeing the amount of stairs with distaste.
Even in his shadow form this was going to be tiring. He wasn't out of shape, simply irritated at the obstacles that insisted on presenting themselves.
Why wasn't anything ever easy where the Guardians were concerned?!
To help them build character?!

'Sorry sour puss', Tooth said, flying ahead, 'You need happy thoughts to make it work. See you up there!'

Pitch's muttered curses were lost as Tooth ascended the stairs effortlessly.
Jack was right: if you gave as good as you got, Pitch was just about manageable.