Happy Easter, everyone! :) Sadly I'm still at home with a bug so I can't go out to Easter dinner with my extended family but at least I'll be home working on more chapters in bed (and doing homework I missed).

Looks like Pitch here is finally getting serious about the relationship. ;) You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Thinking gets me places I don't prefer to trespass. Thinking is when you let your brain wander at it's own leisure, sometimes against your will or you allow it to happen. Thinking could be simple and by your command, like plotting how to destroy the Guardians like I once did, or thinking of something basic like how to get the girls home without shadow traveling into the wrong area. Other times, thinking could be worrying...and those worries turning into literal thoughts that made you question what you've been doing wrong and what you should do instead.

It's hard to explain this thoroughly, so I shall try my best. The following days after our little break at the quarry, my mind clicked back into the darkness that it once was buried in. Not permanently, no, of course not. Just visiting, so to speak. I wondered...because I've been away from my home, my real home, for so long. Were the nightmares doing their duty without my command? They were trained to do so when I wasn't around, but after that incident where they turned on me, such trainings could've been forgotten. I missed the darkness, the feeling of shadow-traveling and being away from total light. I've gotten so used to bright lights, I felt the yearning for darkness become stronger.

But how were Sadie and Alice supposed to understand that? They understood my duties as the Boogeyman, but I don't think they really grasped the concept that I put fear in children. Not just children, everyone. I made people realize their fear and cower at the thought. I am naturally a man of the dark. Alice nor Sadie has ever seen me in action, where I sneak into a child's room as they sleep soundly, taint their dreamsand with my own creation of their fear, and see them wake up spooked and shaking. It was amusing for me, pleasing. But for them? Alice would hate it. She's too good natured, she'd feel guilty that she couldn't stop it.

Not that there's anything wrong with her being good natured, but that blinded her at times when I needed her to see who I really was.

But nonetheless, the withdrawal of darkness and the lair I once revelled in started to physically make me fidgit. I couldn't sit still. Sadie noticed how I would avoid the brightest lights in the house and immediately turn them off when they were done using them. Alice even walked into a dark living room only to see a pair of eyes watching her, and to my own fault it scared her half to death. Though it makes me laugh to this day, she doesn't find it amusing one bit. She still thinks I was playing a trick on her despite numerous apologies.

Regardless of that scare, I didn't notice how Alice had growing curiosity. I must've let the fact that I wanted to go back to the lair slip through my mouth, because she came in one Friday night with determination on her face.

"Could you take me with you?"

I turned to her, confused at her question. "To where?"

"Your...um, the dark lair. Whatever you call it." she timidly looked away, crushing her fingers in her left hand.

That surprised me. Alice normally wasn't a very surprising person-no offense-but that question threw me off guard. I had mixed feelings about this. I felt both honored and concerned. Honored because she wanted to see my world like she has generously shown me hers, but concerned on how she would take it. Alice wasn't a very….dark person. You know, she's not a person that would become instantly at ease to the dark. When I was just starting to get to know her, she used to jump at every move I made in the shadows and always cautiously looked over her shoulder as if my nightmares would pop out and scare her at any second. But now that she's grown more accustomed to it by having me around...maybe she earned the right to see the lair.

I touched her cheek gently, looking into her eyes seriously, "Are you sure? It's not...a location you would find comfort in."

She shyly smiled in reply, "I'm comfortable with you around."

"What if the nightmares attack you?" I asked without thinking, and that made her eyes widen in fear.

"Will they?"

My hand glided down from her cheek to the back of her neck, pressing her forehead to mine, "Only if you're afraid."

"Then I won't be if you're there." she whispered, her hand touching my free one.

She sounded serious enough for me to allow her to trespass into the lair. Still, a feeling that we shouldn't leave crept into my mind, some sort of warning that what I was about to do was something regrettable. Maybe it was just my worries, one could never know. But keeping that thought in mind, I bidded her to close her eyes tightly and relax. She did just so, appearing as if she slept standing up. The shadows swallowed us quickly, and we were whipped through the shadows of the world towards the lair. Images flipped behind her and her hair flung back from her neck from the impact once we landed in the center of the lair.

She kept her eyes closed until she felt my hand slip away from hers, and immediately I saw the look of awe cross her chocolate brown orbs. I stepped a bit back from her a few paces, letting her get the full view of the place. As her eyes trailed over the many black cages that hung from the ceiling, I allowed myself to really soak in the darkness this place held. I felt like I was being wrapped in a blanket, cozy and snug. Safe...but not at home like I thought I would feel. My mind slipped back to Alice's home...why couldn't I just make up my mind? One minute I'm missing my beloved lair and now I yearn to go back to Alice's home. I was conflicted, found in a tough spot once more.

Still, I did in fact miss the comforting shade and the minimal dashes of light. The soft creaking of the cages above reminded me of the ticking of a grandfather clock, steady and in rhythm. Everything was clean and tidy, well, besides the few crumbling pillars here and there. Let's just call that decoration. Everything was at a cool temperature away from the blazing sun, it felt so nice resting one's back against the smooth surface of a stone wall to feel a chill lovingly run up one's spine, and not in the fearful way.

"It's like the ancient ruins of Italian churches…" her soft voice echoed throughout the lair as she walked around, staying within the area where she could see better but nonetheless getting a good look of the place.

I smirked at that as I freely shadow-traveled around, letting my voice bounce off the walls in response, "We're located under Venice, that's why. Fascinating, isn't it?"

"Yeah...what are the cages for?" she pointed to the lowest hanging one with the cage door still swinging open.

"Well, they originally housed things I used to capture in order to get the Guardians back, but...the last time I used them was holding the tooth fairy's helpers hostage."

Alice's wondrous smile fell at that, looking in the direction where my voice came. My eyes locked with hers, and I could see the disappointment in her dark orbs. "That's horrible."

"I never said it was a smart move, Alice. I was desperate...enough said." I made it clear it wasn't to be discussed again.

She made a low noise of discomfort as she glanced back at the cages, and then her eyes caught onto something else that drew out her breath. The look of wonder returned to her eyes as she quickly walked over to the bronze globe of the world, tiny lights flickering all over the many countries. She touched the surface, grimy and rough to the touch. Still, despite it being covered in a light layer of dust, it still shone in the minimal sunlight.

"What's this?" she asked, not jumping at my sudden appearance by her side.

I softly smiled as I watched her brush away the dust over the European continent, trying to get it to sparkle more along with the miniscule lights that clustered in certain areas. She looked up at me, a curious grin on her face.

"The lights represent a child that believes in the Guardians. Back when I was trying to destroy them, I wanted all of them gone."

"Then if they only represent the Guardian's believers, why don't you have one for yourself?"

Good question. An inquisitive one, she is. That was one of my favorite things about her, one of many to say the least.

Unable to directly look her in the eye, I responded lowly, "Because I knew I would have less than theirs...far less...close to none."

Her hand found mine, fingers lacing with my own in encouragement and comfort. She knew how to lift me up from thinking sourly like that, I give her full credit. "To be honest...I probably would, too. I don't blame you."

I softly chuckled at that, grinning at her. She cocked an eyebrow, "What?"

"I was just thinking...what it would be like if you lived here with me...you know, as my queen."

Alice laughed at that, releasing my hand, "Ooh, like a Queen of Darkness? That has a nice ring to it."

I smiled and gently held her shoulders, "Think about it, though. Just you and me, all I could ever want. I'd give you everything you've ever asked for, and the world could be your oyster. The nighttime would be our time, and your loyal subjects would take the form of fearlings and nightmares to do your bidding."

Alice lightly laughed at that, bowing her head a bit. I took her hand and twirled her around, allowing the nightmare sand to curl around her and form a dress of darkness, glittering in the dim light in tones of black and purple. Her eyes widened at the sudden magic, and touched it gently.

"You'd be my queen, the warrior of the night, leading my army into battle against the light-" I started to sing, wrapping her into an embrace as she laughed.

"And we'd dance among the stars, never letting go of each other, just us...just us lovers," she chimed in, much softer than my own voice.

She laughed as we danced around, and after a while I started to feel the eyes of the nightmares watching us. Surprisingly, Alice was very calm and collected around them. When they started to draw out closer to us, smelling their master along with the unknown smell of a stranger in their home, they didn't dare bite her or threaten her with a snarl. They instinctively knew she was mine, or as they would put it, my mate. Alice held her hand out towards one of them, and the nightmare actually licked her hand before nudging it's nose to her palm, a sign of approval of her presence in the lair. Most humans would be frozen with fear at the sight of them, but Alice shockingly took it quite well.

She was right, because as I treated her for dinner there in the lair with the cuisine of Italy I knew so well, she told me that since I was there, she had nothing to be afraid of.

She had that amount of total faith in me? Wow…

I guess...I guess right at that moment something told me that...I wanted to marry her.

Knowing Sadie would be alright at home for the night, Alice and I slept there in the lair. It felt nice returning to the master bedroom I had, the sheets still nice and cool and open for my return. Alice slept soundly once it hit midnight, as did I, but by two in the morning I started having trouble sleeping. That never happened before, at least, not in this way. A bad feeling kept telling me to wake up, that something wasn't right. Thinking someone was in the room besides us, I instantly woke up and surveyed the area. Nothing.

But I couldn't go back to sleep, I just laid there with my eyes open, staring at the rock ceiling. I couldn't shake this feeling of...intuition, for a lack of a better term. Something was just out of place...and I couldn't go to sleep without knowing everything was okay and it was just me worrying myself to death.

I looked over at Alice, her back turned to show off the love marks I gave her hours ago, sprinkled down the back of her neck and all over her back, like stars that make a constellation. She's here...so why would I be so concerned over something that probably doesn't exist? Sadie's safe at home, Alice is fast asleep...why would I be so conflicted right now?

My fingers touched her marks, gently as to not wake her. My mind travelled from wondering what I was awake for, to the thought of marrying her I had during dinner. It's been five years...wouldn't that be long enough? I guess some part of me wanted that to happen sooner than just four years. She mentioned her parents waited a year before getting married, yet I had to drag it out for five. If she was around in the past, with the Kozmotis Pitchiner I used to be, my parents would've been so furious at me for waiting this long. Probably after a couple of months they'd demand we get married.

She'd be beautiful on our wedding day, if we ever got married. It didn't matter if she wore the traditional wedding robes of the Golden Age or what is customary here. In the Golden Age, the bride would be decked out in color, jewels, and flowers. White was only worn during the births and christenings of infants and black at funerals. The future husband would wear his armor, along with the robes passed down from his generations before him…

If I married her, I would always wake up to see her lying there next to me, asleep and happy. If I married her, she'd carry our children, show me how to be a proper father that I've almost forgotten how to be over the centuries...she'd be the world's most wonderful mother and wife…

I licked the back of her shoulder, running my tongue from her love bruise up to the tip of her shoulder. Knowing that she was real...that she was right there and not just a fantasy in my mind...it calmed me down a bit.

She moaned in her sleep, making me grin. She turned over, slightly awake at the disruption.

"What was that for?" she groaned, curling her naked body close to mine.

"Dunno." I chuckled, kissing her forehead.

Her eyes were watching me, looking for something as she stared back. She was wide awake now, and leaned up when she asked, "Are you okay? You look troubled."

"I am."

"You want to talk about it?" Alice rested her head on my chest, her leg wrapping around my hip.

"...No, I think I'll be okay," I murmured, touching her hair, "something just...doesn't seem right."

"I'm getting that feeling, too." she whispered back, before falling asleep once more.

Intuition is a feeling one gets where we think something bad is going to happen, and then it does….

We should've listened to that.