Chapter Three

Opposition

The next morning, the door to Pitch's room burst open with enough force to rip it off its hinges, the door itself swinging back and banging against the wall, "Good morning!" North bellowed, waving one of his cutlasses around as if fencing with an unseen opponent. "I trust you slept well?"

Pitch's eyes shot open, and he jumped at the sudden intrusion. Remembering where he was, he settled back in to the bed not wanting to rise from the sanctuary that he found under the sheets. He peaked out from the covers scowling at North as he grumbled, "I WAS sleeping well until you so rudely interrupted me."

Sleep was another unnecessary pleasure that Pitch didn't often partake in unless he was extremely bored and in need of an escape from his personal reality. Being the Nightmare King meant that when he did sleep, he was plagued by his own personal fears, so that was typically reason enough to avoid it since it left him feeling more miserable than usual. This was the first time though that he could ever remember waking outside of a cold sweat, and as rude of an awakening as North had given him, he'd definitely felt worse, not that he'd tell North that.

"Ah! That's nice to hear." North said with a grin, not really paying too much attention to what Pitch had said. "Here is list of work I expect you to do." He stopped waving his cutlass around long enough to hand Pitch a piece of paper. "You may begin it any time. If you have questions, one of the yetis will help. Or you can come to me."

Pitch glanced at the long list scowling in distaste with the myriad of items North had listed, tidy up the toy stations, replace burnt out light bulbs, bake cookies… the list went on and on with a number of useless tasks that Pitch saw himself to be well above, but not wishing a confrontation he replied, "I don't think such simple tasks require questioning, but I'll keep that in mind." What Pitch did pick up on was the clause 'you can begin anytime,' to which he planned would be never since there had been no set time limit.

"Good!" North replied cheerily. "Now, if you excuse me, I have great deal to do myself." he said as he exited the room.

Pitch watched North depart, and as soon as the man had lumbered down the hall and out of earshot, he crumpled up and tossed the lengthy list onto the plate from the night before as he threw the blankets back up over his head not wanting to get out of bed.

He lay there under the covers awake for several hours just listening to the bustle of North's manor until finally deciding he was bored and rose from the bed. Might as well take in the grounds and see all points of access for a future escape because although Pitch didn't wish to go back to the nightmare realm, he also had no plans of staying at North's to be his slave. Certainly he couldn't really expect him to do such inane duties to appease some sort of made up balance to make up for his past 'misdeeds.' Preposterous. The elves and yeti tended to eye him warily, their nervousness around him brought a smile to his face as he passed, hands clasped behind his back and head held high. He was tempted to scare them, it would be too easy, but no, that could come later.

Pitch spent several more hours moving about North's premises surprised by the vastness of the place. He was careful though to avoid North's personal offices finally heading back to where he'd been designated a room. He froze though when he realized the tray that had been brought to him last night was now gone… along with the list. That wasn't good. A small panic began to stem within him as he was sure that not having the list at all would denote that he'd had no intention of ever doing any of it, and asking for a new list was out of the question. He had to find out where they would have taken it and fast!

Not looking at where he was going, Pitch backed out of the room and quickly turned around, slamming right into Toothiana, "Oh!" the fairy cried in surprise, regaining her balance and fluttering higher up in the air. "I'm sooo sorry!"

Pitch had jumped nervously thinking he had bumped into North, but upon spinning around and only seeing it was Tooth, he snarled in annoyance, "Watch where you're going." He straightened starting to ignore her and move down the hall when it hit him that the fairy might be of some use as he turned back towards her and asked her pointedly, "Did you see who took away my tray?"

Tooth nodded. "One of the yetis took it. I thought you were done with it."

"Well you shouldn't make assumptions," he huffed his worry starting to build, "I… I left something on top of that plate I need to get back, if I've lost it, it's your fault," he snapped.

"Wait!" Tooth cried out. It was too late, though. Pitch was already halfway down the hallway.

Pitch stormed down the stairs towards the kitchen bursting in through the double doors fuming at the staff as he barked, "Alright, which one of you flea bags cleared my dishes." His eyes shifted around the room as the yetis stared blankly at him and then each other finally shrugging in confusion. A couple of them seemingly taking offense to Pitch's name calling and throwing their arms up growling out their irritation to which Pitch couldn't care less about.

Pitch began scanning the kitchen over now looking for the specified plate and cup he'd used, but there were so many dishes that it was an impossible task. Grabbing up one of the elves by their pointy hat, Pitch held it up to eye level giving it a look of disdain as he brought the elf to the big trash bin where all the plates looked to be dumped before getting washed, "You there; sift around for a crumpled piece of paper, and don't stop until you find it." With that said, Pitch tossed the elf none to nicely into the bin standing over the bin as he watched on impatiently.

Toothiana finally caught up with Pitch, stopping outside the kitchen door and looking inside. She was both horrified and puzzled when she saw what the nightmare king was doing, "Pitch," she cried out, "what are you doing?" she fluttered up behind him, her eyes darting between Pitch and the elf.

Not really seeing Toothinia as a threat he replied dryly, "I'm making use of the help. It's not like these nitwits are good for much else."

Tooth continued to look gravely worried, apparently thinking Pitch had gone madder than he already was. "But… what are you looking for?"

He narrowed his eyes as the elf stopped to look up at her pitifully, and Pitch growled making the little elf jump, "Get back to looking!" He then turned to Toothinia annoyed with her interference, "What business is it of yours?"

Tooth looked from the elf to Pitch. "Well, I found this on your plate right before the yeti took it away." She pulled out a piece of crumpled paper that had been smoothed out and folded over. "Is this what you're looking for? It looks like North's handwriting, so I was going to give it to him."

Pitch's eyes widened as he snatched the paper from her, "You had it all along and didn't tell me?" He scowled at her as if she'd done so on purpose to vex him.

"I was going to tell you, but you ran off before I could." she scowled back. She nodded at the elf. "Now, get him out of there."

Pitch gave a sidelong look at the elf sneering at the thought of putting his hands in there before smirking at Toothinia, "No. They're spry, he can get out on his own, and if you're so concerned, you can do it yourself." Taking his list and tucking it in his robe, Pitch started towards the double doors to leave the kitchen.

Huffing, Toothiana flew over and grabbed hold of Pitch's shoulder and pulled him back, "No, you put him in there, so you take him out." she said, turning him around to face the bin.

Pitch prickled at the suddenness of her twisting him bodily back to face the bin, he brushed her off, "Don't touch me." Looking at the elf scrambling ineffectively to get out of the bin brought a smile to his face as he turned back to Toothinia a glint in his eye as his smile broadened. He reached out for the bin tipping it over violently which sent it rolling across the floor to hit the wall across the room where the elf that had been trapped inside tumbled out stepping in dizzy circles, "Done. Now leave me alone," Pitch remarked coldly as he proceeded to once more leave the kitchen.

"Hey, that wasn't nice." said Tooth, flying over to once more grab hold of Pitch. The yetis watched as she pulled him over to an empty corner of the kitchen. Here she shoved him forward so that his face was pushed into the corner. "You stay there until you learn to behave."

It took a moment for her action to truly register to him as he was pushed into the corner, and then the brimming irritation he had had turned to white hot anger as he whipped back around looking positively livid, "I'm not nice in case you haven't realized! I'm the boogeyman! And you," he pointed at her heatedly, "will back away, or so help me, I'll make you regret it!" as he said this, he lunged forward to intimidate her.

Toothiana flew backwards, almost bumping into a table. She was about to say something to Pitch when another voice filled the room, "What goes on in here?" North's booming voice came from the doorway of the kitchen. All of the yetis immediately pointed to Pitch.

Hearing the bellowing man quelled Pitch's anger in short order knowing this wasn't going to go over well with the big man. He glowered at the pointing fingers, but recovered quickly as his face paled at being caught like this. He cleared his throat kneading his hands in his nervousness, "It's nothing. We… just had a bit of a disagreement, but everything has been worked out now… isn't that right Toothinia," he gave her a strained smile now hoping that she'd stick to her earlier stance surely knowing what North would do to him from last night's group discussion.

North studied Pitch a few moments, and then turned to Tooth. "Is this true?"

When Toothiana gathered herself together again, she cleared her throat. "Uh… No, not exactly. I mean, yes, we did have a disagreement. But he started it when he put one of the elves in that bin of trash and refused to take him out. When I told him to do it, he turned it over. So I put him in the corner, and... then you came in."

North turned a scowl to Pitch. "And why did you put elf in trash bin?"

Pitch cringed when Toothinia gave North all the details especially the corner bit which made him flush in humiliation, at least she told the story mildly, he could recover from this. He let out a small tense laugh, "Uh, the little guy was helping was all… I… thought it would have been more fun for him to roll out of the trash… like a roller coaster or some other amusing ride you people seem to enjoy so much." He wondered if it sounded as lame to North as it did to his own ears, but he didn't really have any other excuse on such short notice.

"He's lying," Tooth said, shaking her head. "He put the elf in there because he was looking for…"

He spun in front of Toothinia, so that his face was hidden from North as he grabbed her hands giving her a nervous smile, "…For my list! I misplaced it, but I found it with Toothinia's help. Thank you my dear, I'm quite grateful."

Toothiana looked momentarily confused, then she smiled and nodded her head. She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't resist responding to Pitch's sudden gratitude, not to mention change in attitude.

"You're welcome," she said, patting Pitch's cheek. "That's it, North, he was looking for the list. But I had it. Pitch didn't know that."

North looked at Pitch suspiciously, stroking his beard.

"I am glad you found it again." he said with a smile. "Speaking of which. You should be almost halfway done with work, yes?"

Pitch visibly relaxed when he heard her going along with him grateful that she hadn't fed him to the wolves, although his relief was short lived when North questioned about the status of the chore list. He swallowed hard turning back to North with an air of surprise, "Actually I… was thinking about asking Toothinia about baking those same cookies from last night." He wasn't about to admit he'd never even started on the list. He supposed that he was going to have to bully some of those ankle biters to do the chores for him when none of the Guardians were there to rat him out or get in his way.

North's face relaxed and a large smile spread across his lips. "Ah! That is good. When you finish list, you come to my office." With that, North turned and left the kitchen.

Pitch let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he watched North leave. Good riddance he thought as the scowl returned to his face. He pulled out the wrinkled list looking over the contents once more; he had to make progress on that list especially if North expected it to be halfway done and report back to him after its completion. It was already early afternoon now as he'd squandered most of the day doing nothing.

He would work to get the elves going as soon as he got Toothinia making the cookies. He turned to Toothinia now expectantly, "You do know how to bake cookies I hope."

"No, I'm afraid not." Tooth replied, shaking her head sadly. "The yetis do. But... aren't you supposed to do it yourself? That IS a list of work North gave you to do, isn't it?"

He gave her a withering glare, "I don't speak gibberish. Besides, there was never any stipulation I couldn't get help." He didn't add that he had no intention of doing any of them but just delegating the task to someone else.

"Why don't you do the other things on the list first and come back to the cookies?" Tooth suggested, smiling.

Looking down his nose at her, Pitch gave Toothinia a side long glance without remarking further before turning to leave. Pitch moved towards the kitchen door as the wheels in his head began to turn on how he was going to get North's list done. He'd just have to come back later when Toothinia had left to intimidate one of these ingrates to make the cookies for him, in fact, he needed to lose the fairy quickly if he was going to make any progress on this list. Pitch was sure that she would get in his way actually expecting him to do the chores himself, as if that was going to happen!

Toothiana flew up beside Pitch, still smiling. She followed him down the hallway, hovering at eye level, "So what are you going to do first? I mean, instead of the cookies." she gave him a big grin. "You know, you might want to think about tidying up the toy stations. I'm pretty sure they could use your help over there right now."

Pitch cut eyes at her glowering at the fairy's persistence, and when she was still following him by the end of the hallway, he stopped addressing her coolly, "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Some teeth to collect perhaps?"

Tooth shook her head, "No. It's day right now. We finished collecting teeth early this morning." she flew in front of him. "I have the whole day to do whatever. Isn't that great? I can spend it with you! We could chat, or something. After you get done with the work North gave you to do. So how far along are you?"

Pointedly ignoring her question he clipped, "It's night somewhere; besides, I'm busy. I don't have time for social gatherings, so it'd probably be best if you find somewhere else to be other than bothering me," there was an edge to Pitch's voice now trying his best to drive her away. He wasn't going to make any headway forcing the chores on to Santa's little gophers with her buzzing over his shoulder like this.

"I have my little fairies taking care of that. I do, after all, have to rest sometime." her smile dropped. "Well, if you feel that way about it, I'll leave you to your work. But when you finish, find me," she cautiously leaned forward and lifted Pitch's top lip to look at his teeth again.

Pitch stiffened when she grabbed his lip shaking his head forcefully, "Will you stop that!" He gave her a look of wary annoyance, "What is it with you probing around in my mouth?" He was relieved that she planned to leave him be, and he had no intention of finding her once he'd finished getting North's chores completed.

Sorry," she grinned sheepishly. "I'm the Tooth Fairy. I just… can't help it." Feeling slightly embarrassed, Tooth said nothing more and flew away in the opposite direction.

Pitch took out the list once he was out of line of sight thinking back on what Toothinia said about the toy room. He supposed that would be the most noticeable to North and should be tackled first while North was still quite busy and out of the way. Moving down to the toy room, his lip curled looking about to see stuffing from teddy bears and other stuffed animals littering the floor as well as miscellaneous parts and scraps left over from toy construction. The room bustled with loud noises that struck a chord of irritation to hear them over and over again. How could these creatures stand this level of noise and chaos on a daily basis?

He glided into the room looking about the masses working diligently only glancing up at him but otherwise not deviating from their already set course. He frowned, obviously he couldn't use them, and he was growing frustrated until he saw several elves scampering around one of the work benches chasing each other obviously not of any foreseeable use to the workshop. He stuck his foot out tripping the one in the front, and the three running after him piled up in succession into a heap as they all collided falling into one another and staring up at him curiously. He gave them a malicious smile, and they quailed eyes wide with fear.

It hadn't taken Pitch long to scare the elves into running about picking up all the debris around each of the benches as he watched on diligently, hands clasped behind his back as he paced the length of the room until the task was completed. He shooed the elves out of the room once they'd finished the task panting and bedraggled as Pitch was quite the task master hot on their heels whenever they started to slow or become distracted. They moved along the hallways completing tasks as they went, and when the elves that he was using grew too weary, Pitch intimidated a different set of them to create a refreshed crew as he moved through the list quite pleased with his progress. The added benefit of causing these poor creatures quite a bit of fear just by his imposing nature brought Pitch a little comfort despite the fact that he was effectively still a prisoner.

He was quite pleased that within five hours' time, he'd managed to complete the entirety of the list outside of the cookies, and his success lifted his spirits as he moved back towards the kitchen merely grabbing an assortment of cookies from the cooling pans eating one himself as he made his way to North's office. The door was ajar and the room seemed quiet as he moved to the door to peak his head warily inside North's office, "Hello?"

North turned around in his chair, a wide smile appearing when his eyes landed on Pitch. He set aside the pieces of paper he held and motioned for Pitch to come in. "I was just about to check on you. You have completed your tasks, yes?"

Pitch moved fluidly into the room dumping the plate unceremoniously with a loud thump on the desk in front of North before reaching into his robe to pull out the list as he tossed it with disdain next to the plate, "Everything on your not so little list has been completed." He wrinkled his nose, "Now that your quotas have been met, I trust I can retire to my room to get away from all of…," he motioned with a wide arch of his arms to emphasize the surrounding areas, "this."

North looked at the cookies skeptically, picking up one between his thumb and index finger to put back on the plate. He brushed the crumbs off his desk and reached to pick up the list, looking it over and nodding approvingly, "I am pleased." he said at last. "Yes, you are free to do as you wish, but I think Tooth looks for you."

A streak of nervousness ran through Pitch as North hesitantly examined one of the cookies; could he tell the difference? Or did he just think he'd contaminated them? A small smile tugged at his lips at the thought that North should have been glad Pitch hadn't made him the cookies personally as he'd have had to add a little something extra like yeti hair… for that extra special Christmas flavor.

The mention of Tooth made him subconsciously roll his eyes; what was it going to take for her to stop pestering him? He had been quite rude to her, but it served her right for getting in his way. She must have had a laugh at his expense while he'd been frantically looking for that blasted list. This made him frown again ready to depart from North's presence, his oppressor and jailer. He planned to shut himself away in his bedroom that had become his sanctuary from everything else in this wretched place. Seeing North was looking at him as if awaiting a comment, he muttered dryly, "Hmm… yes; well if that will be all, I'll be on my way."

"Ah, ah," said North, picking up and handing Pitch a new piece of paper, "Here,"

Pitch sneered taking the piece of paper, "What's this?" he turned it around to scrutinize it.

"It is your list of work for tomorrow." North replied, pushing the plate of cookies to the side.

Pitch's frown deepened, of course North wanted him to labor away his days here. It was a task in itself to keep those little ignoramus elves on point, and Pitch didn't relish the thought of having to do so daily. His hand gripped the list in barely contained rage as he growled, "So this is to be my life here… daily servitude as if I were one of your underlings?"

North scowled dangerously at Pitch. "I thought we already talked about this and came to understanding. It is punishment set in place to take place of you going back to hole."

Pitch gulped taking a step back at the look North afforded him, "No, I merely meant that every day would be the same... no breaks in the routine... You were perfectly clear." Pitch lowered his eyes not able to meet North's gaze as a spark of last night's humiliating experience flashed through his mind.

"I do not expect you to do same work every day." North waved toward the list. "It is different tasks." he studied Pitch closely. "We all have jobs that are expected of us, Pitch. It is life. Besides, the work you do does not take all day. When you're not working, you are free to do as you wish. If you choose to spend time moping in your room and feeling sorry for self that is your choice."

Pitch narrowed his eyes at the mention of moping, which he'd never see himself as doing, seeing it more as escaping his situation and venting his frustration in private. Feeling on the verge of losing his temper, Pitch spun on his heel growling under his breath as he stormed out the door, "I know what my job is fat man, but it is apparent that you don't."

Quick as a flash, North was on Pitch before he got halfway down the hall. He grabbed onto the other man's arm and dragged him back into the office, slamming the door shut behind them. North pushed Pitch forward into the room and stood motionless between him and the door. It was clear that he was giving himself a few minutes before addressing Pitch.

Pitch was taken off guard by the suddenness that North had grabbed him and the manner in which he'd so quickly dragged him back to his office. When he was released, Pitch stumbled backwards into the heavy desk as North slammed the door. He wore a startled expression as he shrank back further across the length of the desk to put distance between himself and North. He couldn't have possibly heard him could he? Pitch was almost certain he'd said it low enough to keep it to himself. Maybe slamming North's door had been a bit much, and so Pitch held up a hand in supplication, "Now North, I may have gotten a bit carried away with the door, but I didn't mean anything by it!"

"It wasn't door." North shook his head, and pointed at his ears. "This 'fat man' has good hearing."

Pitch quailed letting out a nervous chuckle, "I was just letting off a little steam… it was a hard first day and all. Surely you can cut me a little slack for a bit of venting?"

North remained standing in the same spot, silently regarding Pitch. Finally, he unfolded his arms and pointed a finger in the nightmare lord's direction. "I will let you go this once. But just know you tread very thin line. If I hear more backtalk..." North waggled his finger.

Pitch shook his head straining a smile, "No! No more backtalk!" Pitch was relieved to hear North was going to let his outburst slide, and he made a mental note to keep his thoughts to himself in the vicinity of the Cossack. Smoothing his hair back Pitch cleared his throat as he pushed himself off the desk, "I'll… let you get back to whatever it is you need to be doing now."

North gave a nod, turned, and opened the door for Pitch, waiting to the side for him to pass. Just as Pitch was about to walk out into the hallway, North brought his hand down in a sharp swat across Pitch's backside sending him stumbling forward, "Consider that a reminder of what will happen if you ever forget."

Pitch had begun walking forward with his head lowered to avoid eye contact and hide the glare he had etched on his face, but when North's hand connected in a stinging slap, his head shot up and his back arched as he jetted forward covering his rear to avoid any more potential swats as he looked over his shoulder mortified. He balled his fists at his side biting back the furious comment he wanted to yell and instead stormed off towards his room wanting to get as far away from Claus as he could manage.

By the time he made it back to his room, he was seething. How dare he treat him like this! He had managed to hold his temper in check when one of the elves passed by although the mental image of punting it across the hall did cross his mind. It didn't do much to quell his anger, and when he'd finally made it back to his room, he slammed the door grabbing one of the wooden ornaments off the dresser and flinging it at the wall. He hadn't expected it to break apart into several pieces of splintered wood, but he supposed the force he threw it at was palpable to the rage he was feeling. His rage quickly dissipated at the sight of the broken object, and he moved over quickly sweeping up the contents into his hands and wildly trying to fit the fragmented pieces back together, but the ornament was not going to comply. Looking around for a trash can and not seeing one, Pitch instead shoved the pieces under the mattress of his bed. He'd have to get rid of them later and try to find a replacement before anyone noticed it was missing.

Pitch leaned against the far wall letting himself sink to the ground now as he pulled his knees to his chest. How did he become this unlucky? He had thought the loss of his powers was bad before, but this was an all-new low even for him. He laid his head on his knees and sighed feeling quite sorry for himself.

A tiny knock sounded on the door.

Pitch raised his head a moment before yelling, "Go away!" He wanted to be left in peace, and these guardians plagued him at every turn. He pulled his knees in tighter resting his chin on his knees as he continued to smolder over his predicament.

"Pitch?" Tooth's voice came from the other side of the door.

It was the annoying fairy, Pitch had assumed from the light tapping it had been her, and as such decidedly ignored her. Maybe if he just stayed silent she'd wander off, and so a long pause ensued.

"Pitch?" Tooth again called. "Are you all right?"

He scowled at her persistence continuing to ignore her. Surely she'd take the hint and finally leave.

Tooth knocked again. "I know you're in there. I saw you walk in."

Letting out a frustrated sigh Pitch stood making his way over to the door and opening it a crack. He peered through the crack with his brow drawn down in frustration, "I don't want any company; this is my time, and I want to be alone, so please flitter off somewhere else because you're not welcome here."

Tooth looked at Pitch with concern, and then without a word she held up a tray of cookies and hot cocoa.

He was about to say another nasty remark, but he hesitated face falling as he regarded her carefully, "Why do you want to be around me so badly? I've been nothing but terse with you. After everything I've done to you in particular, I just don't understand why you're being so nice to me."

She shrugged. "Maybe because you're a guest? Maybe because I feel sorry for you? There are many reasons." She smiled, offering the tray again. "I'll leave you alone, but I just thought you might want this. You were walking down the hall a while ago like something was wrong, so I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Pitch frowned; the last thing he wanted to hear was that she felt sorry for him. He wasn't that pathetic was he? He stiffened, "You don't need to worry about me; I'm just fine! But if you must know, there is something very wrong with you people, you have no right to keep me here like this no matter what you think I might or might not do. Your stupid man in the moon was the one to release me to begin with, so who are you to go back on what your master has already decreed?! Keep your gifts!" He slammed the door in her face breathing heavy with the emotion he felt.

Toothiana looked stunned as she continued to flutter outside Pitch's door. The rudeness she had expected. It was Pitch, after all. But she hadn't expected to hear him say that it had been the moon that released him. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she knew it had to be important. Quickly, she flew off.

Hearing the beat of her wings finally trail off into the distance, Pitch relaxed as he leaned into the door closing his eyes. Finally, he was alone to contemplate. He pushed off the door and began pacing thinking about what he'd do next. There had to be a way to get out of the North Pole as one day of this was enough for him to know there was no way he could deal with this kind of existence. He'd walked quite a bit of the grounds, but the place was a veritable fortress. He'd have to bide his time he knew as they would surely be watching him closely for a while.

Suddenly feeling trapped in the confines of his room, Pitch decided to leave to traverse the area a little more while he could do so without being expected to perform menial tasks. He sneered thinking about the new list to which he wanted to pull out and rip into a million pieces, but he fought the urge after the last fiasco had been more burdensome than the venting had been worth. Besides, he'd need to play along enough to keep North and the others at bay.

He continued down the hall now pleased that the majority of the noise within the building had been reduced to the chattering of passing elves and a few garbled barks from the yetis who also seemed to be unwinding. Pitch moved to the banister now looking down at the large Christmas tree that grew out of the center of the floor. During the daylight hours, the skylight had made this part of the hallway near unbearable, but now with the starlight shining in, the soft mesmeric glow of fading in and out lights cast shadows on the scene that Pitch found quite lovely to look at. Being in the dark for years and being unable to see anything at all other than sharp contrasts of light and dark bouncing off the walls of his lair made the light harsh and unforgiving. These lights were soft and comforting, and although Pitch would never admit it out loud, he found he could appreciate the beauty in it, if only for the way the shadows added to the scene to blanket the light just enough to remain welcoming.

"Penny for your thoughts."

Pitch was taken out of his momentary trance, "Wha?" He turned to face the voice addressing him.

"Well, actually, Tooth would probably give you a penny for them, but you know what I mean." said Jack Frost, coming out of the shadows to lean against the banister next to Pitch.

Pitch watched the boy following to turn back towards the tree and lean back over the banister, "Hmm; where to begin… nothing good I can say with certainty. You know, you could have not told them about me. Out of all you guardians, I thought if anyone could understand me, it would have been you. How very wrong I was."

"Who says I don't? What did you want me to do?-lie?" said Jack. "Ever since our last run-in with you, North made it mandatory for us to report everything happening out in the real world. Sort of his way of making sure evil didn't raise its head again." he nodded toward Pitch. "No offense,"

Pitch grimaced rolling his eyes, "Well I gather if I've given him any form of discomfort I should be pleased." He sighed, "I don't want to be here Jack," he turned to look at him fully now a look of misery etched on his face, "You know I wasn't causing any harm out there, you could bring me back… no one would have to know. I could make it look like I just escaped; no one would be the wiser." Pitch was hamming it up playing him of course, but he hoped that he seemed sincere enough to touch a chord in Frost.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Really, Pitch? You think you can win me over that easily? I'm a master at trickery."

Pitch looked hurt, "Trick? Does it look like I'm happy here? Would you be if you were me?" Pitch's tone grew volatile, "You're free Jack, I was, and now I'm not because of you! It's your fault that I'm here now! How can you not want to help me?"

Jack thought about Pitch's words for a few minutes, and then he turned to look at the dark man, "Are you sure it's my fault? Or are you just looking to blame someone else because you can't face the fact that you might have put yourself here?"

Pitch bared his teeth, "If memory serves me correctly, you, the jackalope, and the essence drainer threw me into a bag and brought me here!" Pitch's voice raised to a yell, "You gave me no choice!"

"Pffft, join the club," Jack rolled his eyes. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but… weren't you supposed to be in a hole… or something? And we put you there because of your bad choices. Seems to me like you aren't capable of making good ones."

Jack's words gave him pause causing Pitch to blanch as though he had been hit in the face, "Why you…" Pitch narrowed his eyes hatefully at Jack now, "I'm capable of making my own choices, whether you believe they are good or not is not of consequence." He shook his head, "Why am I wasting my time debating my actions to you. I don't really care what you think." As he said this he turned back towards his room deciding he was tired of the scenery and the unwanted interruptions to his peace and quiet.

Jack watched Pitch leave, sighing and shaking his head sadly, "Maybe Bunny was right." he said to himself.

Pitch made his way back to his room feeling worse than when he'd left it. How dare Jack insinuate he was incapable of making good choices! Just because he wasn't a 'guardian' or wasn't falling in line with their ideals didn't mean his choices were wrong, they were just... different.

Pitch had said he hadn't cared what Jack thought, but that wasn't fully true. He had heard what the boy had said as he'd walked away, even though he'd pretended not to. The words had stung since he had seen he and Jack to be kindred spirits, but now he felt more alone than ever.

He made it back to his room and shut the door with a soft click staring around the empty space. Not having anything else better to do, Pitch climbed into his bed curling into a ball as he let the day's events play back through his mind.