Tooth heard the noise of smashing glass and looked up startled.
She could see the crystalline fragments raining down from high above and made to fly out of the way of the falling debris.
Until she caught sight of a plummeting dark figure.
Bending her knees, she flew upwards and caught Pitch as he fell.
The sudden weight took her by surprise and her arms were yanked painfully as she temporarily lost altitude.
Correcting her flight path, she managed to glide down to behind a decorative stone wall. She dropped Pitch before she could stop herself from coming to a staggering landing.
She quickly straightened up and ran to his hunched form.

'Pitch! Let me see-' she began, trying to stand him up.

'No!' Pitch gasped, covering his face with his arm. Black sand like granules dripped from tears in his skin which was an unusual colour. They were knitting slowly together.

'Are you hurt?' Tooth asked, 'What happened to you?!'

'I'm fine!' Pitch snarled, trying to rise.
Giving a brief gasp, he stumbled and keeping his face turned from Tooth, he commanded, 'Help me up!'

Pitch's own loss of composure was making Tooth nervous but she slipped under his arm nonetheless, supporting him.

'Heavy!' Tooth groaned, 'Wait a minute! You're heavy?! How can you be heavy?!'

It was a fact Pitch had barely any body weight: he was practically darkness wearing a thin skin of flesh after all. But to Tooth, his body felt too solid. She hadn't gotten a good look at his face yet but she could feel an unusual rhythm when her fingers clenched around his wrist.
It couldn't be! Pitch didn't have a pulse!

'It doesn't matter!' Pitch shouted frantically, 'Just get us out of here!'

'Okay! Okay! What is wrong with you Pitch?!'

'I don't know!'

Tooth's lips tightened at the fear in Pitch's voice.
Pitch pursed his lips together and whistled. A thin, menacing looking horse materialized from a nearby alleyway and cantered towards them. Tooth recognised it as one of Pitch's Nightmares.

'Take us home Onyx', Pitch commanded the approaching creature.

Onyx snarled when she spotted Tooth and cocked her head at the order.

'Yes her too! Now!' her master commanded.

It made no sense to Onyx: why would her master want a Guardian brought back to the lair? And there was something different about him. It was definitely her master but he smelled funny. Onyx didn't like it but she obeyed.
Pitch kept his face turned from Tooth as Onyx stamped a hoof. Slightly ahead of them, the shadows seemed to pool together, forming an inky disk on the parking lot. Onyx moved forward and stood waiting for the duo to join her.
Swallowing nervously, Tooth helped Pitch limp inside the swirling portal to the waiting darkness of his lair.

Candy watched them go from the destroyed window, immensely pleased with herself.
How had the boogeyman struggled to beat these guys?
That was the second retreat in as many hours.
Not to mention another interloper put out of commission.
But her work wasn't finished yet.
She turned to Jack.
The Winter spirit stood attentive and ready to obey.
'Get me Sandy', Candy commanded, 'I have a job for him'.
'Your wish is my command', Jack said enthusiastically.
'It is isn't it?' Cupid beamed, stroking the stained black arrow with a perfectly manicured fingernail.
'Not bad', she thought, 'For a dress rehearsal'.

The trio materialized in an area of the lair unfamiliar to Tooth.
Her eyes adapted instantly to the gloom, helping her lower Pitch into a sitting position on a nearby bed. It was a four poster made of dark wood. The room was cold and had stone walls. There was a large wardrobe and a chest of drawers against one wall and an armchair beside a disused fireplace against the other.
She realized the room must be Pitch's bedroom.

'Why is it so dark?' Pitch asked.

He moved slowly to a standing position. His joints were aching. Summoning Onyx had taken gargantuan effort.

'It's always dark here Pitch', Tooth said, trying to keep him calm as well as herself.

Tooth knew she coped better than most in Pitch's lair: a lifetime of nocturnal employment had seen to that. The darkness however should have been nothing to Pitch.
The same Pitch who had just bumped his leg on the side of the bed. He cursed as he staggered about, squinting desperately.

'Not to me!' he snapped, 'That witch! She'll pay for this!'

'What exactly has she done?'

Pitch spat a string of what could only have been curse words in some form of foreign language. Then he took a deep breath and looked at her. Tooth could barely make out his face and realized his eyes were not glowing as they should have been.

'Turn on the light', Pitch said, indicating a candelabra sitting on the dusty table.

'Light?'

'There are some matches', he said in a defeated tone as he retook his seat at the foot of his bed.
Onyx gave a small nicker and Pitch stroked her nose. The gentle movement surprised Tooth.
She did as Pitch said and lit each candle. Blowing the match out when she had finished, she moved so Pitch was bathed in the light.
Tooth gasped involuntarily and Pitch sarcastically waved a hand.

'Pitch, you're-'

'I know', he interrupted sourly.

Tooth knew it was Pitch Black. The Boogeyman. The Nightmare King. The creature who had destroyed Sandy. But he had tried to help her and now he had suffered for it. It was her responsibility to help him in turn. It didn't matter what he had done in the past, this was her fault and she was sorry to see him like this.
Or was she?
There was just something oddly intriguing about seeing him in this form. She had heard from Sandy about Pitch's past as a glorious hero of the Lunar Empire but according to Sandy, Pitch remembered nothing of it. Had this been what he had once looked like? Despite the gravity of the situation and her previous experiences with Pitch, she actually found herself liking it.
He had increased slightly in bulk: his wasted look replaced with defined, lean muscle. His hair looked softer and had a healthy sheen despite being so black. His eyes were dark but appeared to have gold in the centre thanks to the candlelight.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice those same eyes were narrowed at her searching stare.

'What? Is there something on my face?' Pitch asked.

'No. It's perfect. Oh! That's not what I- I mean-um- you're fine! Fine as in okay, not as in…'

She trailed off. Pitch looked at her quizzically. She cleared her throat and started again.

'So…Candy did this huh?'

'This charming little makeover certainly wasn't my idea', Pitch said, examining his new flesh tone, 'No doubt a cheap glamour of some sort'.

'Well a glamour wouldn't affect your powers', Tooth theorised, 'Glamour just makes something look like something else. It'd be like making an apple look like an orange; it'd still taste like an apple. I have no idea what she's done to you'.

'That's reassuring. Also please stop staring'.

'Well it's just…'

'What?!'

'Your clothes…' Tooth trailed off.

Looking down, Pitch quickly identified the source of her discomfort.
His robe was disintegrating, the black material flaking off like ash. It only made sense; it wasn't real material. More like a manifestation of his power. Now that the power was diminishing, his clothes were literally following suit.

'Ah', he concurred but then scowled at her, 'You're still staring'.

Tooth gave a start and swivelled on the spot.

'What exactly happened?' she asked neutrally, her cheeks blushing scarlet.
She could hear Pitch moving behind her. A creak signalled he had opened the large wardrobe and there were shuffling noises as he rummaged inside.

'She hit me with one of her arrows. Apparently it's her magic combined with dreamsand'.

'Any wound?' Tooth asked, rubbing her hands together. God this was uncomfortable!

'I can't see. It's on my back'.

'Oh'.

'Would you take a look?'

'I am not turning round again 'til you're dressed!' Tooth cried.

'I am dressed!' Pitch snapped, 'Do you think I want you seeing me naked?!'

Tooth turned slowly, fully aware that Pitch would probably abuse the opportunity for a bit of mischief.
She mentally kicked herself when she felt slightly disappointed at the sight that greeted her.
Pitch had procured a long pale blue robe and black trousers from the large wardrobe in the room. In the candlelight, she could see silver embroidery tracing its way across the smooth fabric of the robe.
Pitch had slipped his arms into the sleeves but had not pulled the robe up to his shoulders yet. Seeing she had turned around, he turned his back to her.
Tooth could clearly see the wound in the light. A dark mark at the centre of a golden spiral tracing its way over Pitch's pale flesh. There was no blood or bruising. She moved closer. Pitch craned his head over his neck when he noticed her approach. Tooth gently touched the mark with the palm of her hand and Pitch gave a start.
Tooth pulled her hand back quickly.

'I'm so sorry! Are you in pain?' she asked.

'No'.

'Then why'd you jump?'

Pitch was glad Tooth couldn't see his face as he pulled the robe up fully.
Her touch had been so…warm. He hadn't been touched with that kind of tenderness since-
He snarled at the unwelcome thought.

'Forgive me if I'm just a little on edge right now!' he growled, 'Having a look' means 'look', not 'touch'!'
At the sound of Tooth's apology, he immediately regretted his tone.

'Sorry. Again', Tooth said, 'Good news is it's probably not permanent. Your powers aren't gone. They're just turned off'.

'How do you know?'

'Well I was just thinking if they were gone, the lair wouldn't be here would it? And Onyx still does what you tell her'.

Onyx gave an uncharacteristically happy whinny at the sound of her name. Pitch gave her a sharp look and she pawed the ground, averting her gaze.

'How do I get them back on?' he asked, flexing his fingers.

'Dreamsand fades with time', Tooth shrugged, 'Who knows? Couple of days you could be back to normal'.

'Or as normal as I ever am', Pitch said, 'But that doesn't help us now. Looks like I wasn't as invulnerable as I thought'.

'What?'

'I wasn't as invulnerable as you thought'.

'Maybe not', Tooth said, ignoring the obvious correction between Pitch's statements, 'There's nothing else we can do right now. We have until Friday, so two days, to work something out so we'll just sleep on it and…'

'And what?' Pitch prompted as Tooth trailed off.
He was already wondering where Tooth was going to sleep.
Was she going to sleep in the lair? In his room?
No that would be ridiculous!
She would need her own room.
Was there even a guest bedroom?
If so, when had he last cleaned it?
Why the hell was he even thinking about this?!
The damn sand must be affecting his brain.

'Sleep on it! Like teeth under a pillow!' Tooth laughed, her wings buzzing as she hovered excitedly.

'Are you alright?'

'Don't you get it?! I'll go get your teeth!' Tooth cried, 'They worked at Halloween! They'll work now!'

Pitch jumped up from the bed and started looking for shoes.

'What on earth are we waiting for? Let's go!' he said.

'Um, actually', Tooth said hesitantly, rubbing her hands, 'Maybe it'd be better if maybe I, well-'

Pitch stopped his searching. Tooth noticed the light deflation of his shoulders.

'I understand', he said.

'You're not upset?' Tooth asked.

'Don't be absurd', Pitch stated, opening his arms wide, 'I'm still the Boogeyman. Regardless of appearances'.

'Right. Okay then!'

Tooth left the bedroom and went to the large globe that sat at the centre of Pitch's inner sanctum. Pitch followed, trying not to show how cold his bare feet were on the stone floor.
Tooth reached for one of her earrings and took it out. Breathing gently on it, it enlarged like a bubble until it became identical to one of North's magical snowglobes. It was a lesser known function to make them easier to carry. It was also her last one. She would have to keep the portal back to the lair open when she arrived.
She threw it and it shattered, creating the usual multi-coloured vortex. Inside she could see the tips of the familiar towers of her castle.
She turned to Pitch, ignoring the curl of his lip at the sight of North's wholesome magic.

'Well I'll be back soon', she said, a little too chirpily, 'Just relax. Take it easy. No need to worry'.

'I'm fine!' Pitch snapped but then checked himself, 'Really. Just go'.

Tooth appeared to want to say something more but then simply nodded and vanished into the portal.
Pitch watched her reappear on the other side of the portal and once she was out of sight, he punched the wall in frustration.
It was infuriating! Why should he care what anybody thought of him?!
To his discomfort, he felt bad about how he had spoken to Tooth.
That was another thing!
She had gotten him into this mess! He should be cursing her name!
The throbbing of his knuckles drew his attention and his eyes widened.
Not at the pain but at the crimson liquid dripping from his abused knuckles.
Mortal blood.
He clenched his fist and stalked back to his chambers.
It was time to find more suitable attire.