Chapter 4

Boiling Point

The next morning, North burst through the door of Pitch's room like he had done before, "Rise an' shine, Pitch!" he said cheerily. "Is new day! Time to get up!"

Pitch narrowed his eyes at North, he hadn't gone to sleep, and North's exuberance only served to irritate him, "The sun is just now coming up. Does your day always start at the crack of dawn? I'm not exactly a morning person."

North regarded Pitch a few minutes, and then he smiled. "In that case, I give you another hour. Then I expect you up and starting on work." With that, he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Pitch watched him go the sour look on his face never leaving. The thought to just remain in bed occurred to him, but since North had come in, the thought of him coming back to make sure Pitch was getting going was more unappealing than just getting up to remove himself from any potential conversations. Besides, it seemed like North was busiest in the morning, and Pitch wanted to get his elf crew together and be done with the list well before the big man came lumbering about looking for him.

This time however the elves were scarce learning to avoid Pitch due to previous encounters. Even so, Pitch was able to scare together a crew and doggedly pushed the group he had to finish the chores in three hours leaving the rest of the day for Pitch to do as he pleased. He was quite satisfied that he'd been able to move through the list with such ease even though the little morons had to be corralled and threatened on a constant basis. It was almost more exhausting trailing after them than it would have been to just do the chores himself, but Pith had no intention of getting his hands dirty doing work for North. It was the principle of the matter after all. They were equals, and Pitch refused to lower himself to the level of a servant for that fat man.

Having ample time meant that Pitch could now explore more of the grounds in search of escape routes and an overall understanding of the place's layout. He walked about now casually taking in the sights and mentally taking note of what he saw.

Shortly after North left Pitch's room; he called a meeting of the Guardians. After Toothiana told him she had something important to say, he felt all of them needed to hear it at the same time. North walked around his office, looking from Jack to Sandy and then to Tooth, who was nervously hovering near his desk, "Where is Bunny?" North said aloud. "He's late."

As if hearing his summons, Bunnymund came pouncing in the door that had been opened by one of North's yetis. He was shivering from head to toe giving a quick shake to release the speckled layer of snow that stuck to his fur, "Jeez la wheeze! I'm freezing my tootsies off!" He hoped directly to the fire holding a foot out as he addressed Toothinia, "I REALLY hope you calling us out here was important. I was in the middle of mixing my next year's batch of dye."

"It is," Tooth answered. She glanced around the room to see everyone was present, then looked at North. He nodded, waving for her to continue. She fluttered to the front of the desk. "There's something you should know about Pitch. He told me last night when I visited his room. He said that the Man in the Moon released him from the hole."

North's eyebrows shot upward.

"What?" Jack gasped.

Sandy formed a question mark above his head as he looked around the room.

Bunny waved off the news, "Ya mean you called me here because of something Pitch said? Pfft! He's probably just lying through those pointy teeth of his. Come on, do ya really believe the man in the moon would release him? I mean, why would he?"

"He sounded sincere," said Tooth.

"Practiced liars often do; am I right?" Bunny countered looking around the room to get a gauge on everyone else's opinion on the matter.

Sandy looked up quizzically at the moon, and it seemed to be shining brightly, but offered no answers.

"Now, let's not be hasty," said North, holding his hands up. "What if Pitch is telling truth?"

"If he is telling the truth, then… what does that mean, exactly?" Jack's brow furrowed as he struggled to understand. "Did the moon choose him to be a guardian?"

"Don't know, but it is interesting," said North as he became lost in thought.

Bunny shook his head, "No. No way mate! Manny is not that foolish!" He was looking around the room incredulously, "A guardian! Seriously?! I mean with Jack, I had my doubts," He turned to Jack apologetically, "No offense mate," before turning back to the others, "But Pitch? How can he be a guardian when all he does is try to undue everything we work so hard to uphold?"

"None taken," said Jack, a smirk forming on his lips.

"If the moon didn't choose Pitch to be a guardian, then why was he released?" said Tooth. "Assuming he is telling the truth. It's not like the moon to do something like that without a good reason. I mean, after all this is Pitch we're talking about."

"It is curious," North continued to ponder.

The moon shown brighter now shooting moonbeams in through the skylight that touched each of the guardians. Those beams moved across the floor to depict a silhouette of a heart; the strands of light moved from each direction where it touched the guardians towards the heart that took the shape of Pitch as North had seen him that morning curled in a ball before the light waned and finally faded.

Bunny seemingly confused barked at the sky, "What is that even supposed to mean?"

Jack shook his head, not having a clue. Tooth shrugged.

"What do you make of it?" North said, turning to Sandy.

Sandy looked unsure placing a heart over his head and a question mark before shrugging and depicting a picture of the Guardians giving Pitch a hug.

Bunnymund frowned as his ears laid down, "Love Pitch? As if anyone could love him."

Sandy shook a chiding finger at Bunnymund a look of strong disapproval etched on his face.

A smile played across North's face when he saw Sandy's guess. It seemed like the right interpretation of what the moon was saying, "Perhaps Sandy is right," he said. "Maybe Man in Moon wishes us to love him. It's only explanation that makes sense." he turned a playful look to Bunny. "And you will be first to give him hug."

Bunnymund's eyes went wide jaw dropping as he shook his head vehemently, "Oh no, I don't think so! You can get all lovey dovey with Pitch, but that ain't gonna be me!"

North chuckled.

Jack burst out laughing.

Sandy smiled brightly and dropped down to give Bunny a hug of his own.

Bunnymund accepted the hug and gave one back, "I'll tell you what mate, I'll give you one, and you can pass it on," he sighed slumping a bit, "I guess if Manny wants me to have hope for Pitch, I'll try not to... think so negatively about him."

"It will be rough road for all of us." North nodded. "Pitch is not easy to love, as we well know. But I think we need to keep going with all of this. If Moon wants us to love Pitch, then it reassures me that we are on right track."

Toothiana nodded. "But… what if he doesn't want us to love him? I've tried spending time with him and talking with him, but he has nothing to do with me. He just locks himself up in his room and sulks."

"Give him time," said North. "We must first break walls he has put up. That in itself will take time. Right now it's best we take it slow. We have to keep in mind that Pitch has been alone and kept people away for very long time. All of this is new to him. Yes, he will be rude, he will be hateful. This is Pitch. Just don't let what he says get to you."

Bunny scowled as he huffed, "He'd better not be rude ta me, I can get rude right back. Manny says he needs love, but the majority of it is likely going ta be tough love if'n you ask me. Speaking of," Bunny looked up to North, "how's all, "he held up his paws making quotations, "that going?

North's eyebrows rose and his lips displayed an amused smile. "It is going good." he nodded. "He didn't like the talk we had the first night, but I think I got through to him a little. I don't expect it to be last time. I'm sure he will have to go through more before we are done with all of this."

Toothiana rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning away from the current conversation.

"Sooo… you've actually… done it more than the warning you gave him in front of us?" Jack asked, he was trying hard to hide his amusement.

"Yes," North replied. "He was being difficult during our chat."

Sandy looked curious lifting a brow but otherwise made no further gestures.

Bunnymund however did not hold back as he burst out with a laugh, "Oh man ta have been a fly on the wall for that conversation!" He shook his head still tittering from the hilarity of the thought of North spanking Pitch afforded him.

North cleared his throat. "I should remind you that we are doing this for reason." he turned to look at each Guardian with seriousness in his eyes. "Let us not lose focus or let our amusement show while we are around Pitch. This situation is sensitive. If he knew some of us were laughing over it, it would do great harm."

"I understand," Jack nodded, stifling another giggle. He glanced at Bunny.

"You won't have to worry about that when it comes to me." said Tooth. "I still fail to understand what's so funny."

Bunnymund frowned losing all his mirth as his ears laid flat in his shame, "Alright, alright, I get it. It's hard not to find it funny imagining it, but I suppose it isn't going to be helping the cause and all." He straightened now ears shooting up right as he gave a curt nod, "No more funny business from this point on."

An awkward silence followed. Then North clapped his hands once, "Well! If no one has anything more to say, I think this meeting is over."

Bunny seemed to sigh in relief, "Glad that's all settled; I've got to get back to my dye project. If it doesn't keep flowing properly, it'll cover me eggs with a horrible consistency come next Easter." He gave a wave, "I'll see myself out," as he left, Bunny was muttering to himself about not wanting to brave the snow again anytime soon.

Sandy's eyes were starting to droop now that the seriousness had left the conversation and giving a yawn, he stretched giving a small wave as he floated towards the skylight to depart himself.

North smiled as he watched Sandy leave, and then he turned to open the door. Without saying a word, Jack Frost and Tooth exited the room to go about their own business, "Hm," North said to himself as he hesitated at the door. "I think I shall look in on Pitch. See how he is doing."

Pitch had made his way to the upper deck where it seemed industrial sized windmills generated the power structure of North's shop. He studied the construction of them quite in awe of their massiveness and power. This must have taken years to perfect he thought admiringly. Of course he did have a veritable army Pitch thought sourly. If he'd had so many minions, he was more than sure that he'd have snuffed out the guardians by now, but his minions had taken centuries to construct and gather through tiresome nightly efforts of gathering small bits of Sandy's dreamsand. Everything had to be so much more difficult for him he though a pout forming on his face.

Moving back to regain focus on the windmills, Pitch studied their structures trying to grasp how they generated the power supply and more so when the time was right, how he could disable them long enough to form a distraction to aide in his escape. It was obvious that Frost would be of no help and that North had no intentions of setting him free any time soon, and this was simply unacceptable.

As North walked down the hall, he came upon a curious sloshing sound, and upon further inspection one of his elves was seen bobbing on a sponge tiredly holding on for dear life having obviously been bobbing for quite some time.

North's brow furrowed. "What IS this?" he said.

The elf splashed about lifting his arms as North pulled him out of the bucket and the little elf panted in exhaustion before sitting up and grumbled out a string of obvious irritation.

"Calm down, calm down." North said as he grabbed a towel to dry the elf off. "Who did this to you?"

The elf made a theatrical show of imitating Pitch scaring them and then cracking a whip before pointing at the bucket and pressing his hands against his back as he pouted at Santa in an obvious show of being sore.

"I see…" North said, a spark of anger showing in his eyes. "Worry not, the problem shall be dealt with." he put the elf down on the floor and stormed out of the room and down the hallway. "Pitch! Where are you?" he bellowed as loud as he could, looking down one side of the hall and then the other before he continued walking in the direction he had been headed in. "Pitch!" he again shouted.

Pitch had been moving back down the stairs when he heard North bellowing for him. He rolled his eyes letting out a sigh. "Oh what on Earth do you want now?" Pitch muttered in agitation as he made his way slowly down the hall rounding the bend casually where North came into view. "No need to shout, I'm right here North," Pitch stated dryly as he glided towards North with his hands clasped behind his back and his chin held high.

North stopped in front of Pitch. He glared at him and struggled to keep his temper under control, trying to act as casual as he could under the circumstance, "Where have you been?" he asked, calmly.

Pitch frowned, "I was walking about the grounds in my free time. You did say that getting your list finished meant I could do as I wished, so that was what I was doing."

"Is that so?" North looked at Pitch skeptically, knowing full well he was lying. "Then why did I just see elf in one of the rooms down hall doing a job I assigned to you?"

Registered shock played across Pitch's face momentarily, as he was quite sure they had finished all the chores before moving on to another one. Looking back to North, he forced a strained smile pulling out the list, "I… I don't know what you're talking about. The list has been finished! If there was an elf doing one of them, he must have been doing it of his own accord. They're not very bright after all." Pitch had grown tense and rigid now as he watched North carefully.

"They might not be bright, but they are still smart enough to know when they are being used." North leaned forward, and grabbed a hold of Pitch's arm, and dragged him down the hallway to the room where the elf was still standing in the middle of the floor looking quite grumpy. Stopping in the doorway, North pointed to Pitch as he addressed the elf, "Is this him?"

"Wait!" Pitch called out lamely and was ignored as North grabbed him. Pitch grew more nervous by the second as he was tugged down the hallway, and when he saw the drenched elf he gave it a menacing glare in hopes of intimidating it into silence, but the fact that he was being hauled along by the bicep did nothing for this attempt as the elf glared right back shaking his head vigorously as the bell jingled enthusiastically.

Pitch's throat went dry as he stumbled to stand, "Now wait a minute! You're just going to blindly take his word? How do you know he's not just trying to get you upset with me?"

North turned an angry face to Pitch. "I know my own elves, Pitch. They would not do such thing." he turned to address the elf. "You may go." When the elf walked past them and disappeared down the hallway, North turned his attention back to Pitch. "Now, I want you to go to your room. I will be there shortly to deal with you. And remember... no tricks. You had better be in room when I get there." He let go of Pitch's arm.

Pitch just stared dumbfounded at first as the implications of what North stated sunk in. He of course kept his mouth shut as the big man trundled off, but he most certainly had no plans of 'going to his room' to await punishment. Was the man insane? He had to be insane, but where was he going to go? Without any of his powers, there was nowhere to hide, and he hadn't seen enough of the grounds to have a solid idea of where he could even attempt to escape. This was looking grim, but then he saw a flash of green zip down the corridor. It was Toothinia! Knowing that she was against the idea, Pitch hoped to persuade her to help him as he quickly moved towards her, "Toothinia!"

Tooth stopped abruptly at hearing her name being called and looked around to see who it was. She flew back down the hall she had come from and turned the corner to see Pitch running toward her. She looked on with concern, wondering what had happened to make Pitch so frantic, "What is it? What happened?" she asked.

Pitch licked his lips all of a sudden having second thoughts as to whether involving Toothinia was a good idea, but at this juncture he didn't have many options, so it was a risk worth taking. Hopefully her convictions on the matter would save him from North's fury. "It... It's North, I think he plans to do me bodily harm," he swallowed, "Perhaps I can go to the tooth palace with you until he calms down enough to see reason?" he gave her pleading eyes hoping that she would take him away from the Pole and get him far away from North before the burly man could get a hold of him again. Pitch did not want to go through that unpleasantness ever again, and from North's tone, he had a feeling it might be worse than the previous time. These thoughts left him with a sinking feeling in his gut like a swarm of butterflies were nesting there.

Tooth studied Pitch as she contemplated his words, "I don't know if that's such a good idea." she mused. "Even though I don't agree with the method of punishment North has chosen to use, he must have his reasons for doing it. If I took you to my place to hide you it would mean I agree with whatever you did and make me just as guilty. What have you done, Pitch?"

Pitch seemed a bit panicked that she hadn't readily agreed as he took a glance around making sure North wasn't in sight before he continued, "That's just it, North called me over to him on a mere accusation without proof. One of his elves told him I'd done something, and without hesitation, he believed the little cretin. I'm not asking you to hide me, all I'm asking is that you give me sanctuary until North and I can speak with level heads as all he wants to do right now is beat me. Won't you help me? Please Toothinia, I need you." He let his fear show to her in hopes that it would play on her already set ideals towards the matter, and seeing him so distraught would make her finally acquiesce to his plea. Of course once there, Pitch hoped to have a chance of escape in the open terrain that was Tooth's palace although the height of it might be something to contend with.

Unknown to Pitch, Toothiana was wise to him. Even though she felt sorry for the guy, she still knew how he worked, and thus was determined that she wasn't going to give in to his pleading. She could tell, by the way he was acting that he had done something wrong. Not only that, but she knew North. She knew he wouldn't punish anyone without a good reason. What's more, he would never falsely accuse anyone of wrongdoing. He was, after all, Santa Claus. He categorized good and bad kids all the time, so he had a lot of experience with the job. She also wasn't about to let Pitch loose in her realm. Maybe North didn't mind him hanging around the Pole, but after the whole incident of him stealing her teeth and fairies, there was a part of her that still didn't fully trust him, "Come with me," she finally said, leading Pitch down the hallway and glancing back to make sure North wasn't around.

Pitch's heart leaped; she was going to help him after all! He visibly relaxed a small smirk playing across his face as he followed her eagerly.

Tooth led Pitch to an empty room and shut the door before she turned on him, "Do you think I'm stupid?" she said angrily. "I'm not about to take you into my realm. You stole my teeth and fairies the last time you were there, remember?"

Pitch seemed genuinely surprised by her outburst, but upon hearing she wasn't going to help him, he glowered at her, "I remember well enough, but I thought we were moving past that… if you weren't planning on helping me, why bring me here?" He motioned to the empty room in obvious annoyance before adding snappishly, "You could have just said your peace in the hallway instead of wasting my time."

Tooth sighed and rolled her eyes, not exactly sure what to do with Pitch. Then she got an idea. She'd just punish him a different way and tell North she took care of it already, "We are moving past it, but you've got a long way to go before you earn back our trust." she said irritably. "That's why you're here, going through rehabilitation." she sighed again. "Now tell me. What did you do?"

It was Pitch's turn to roll his eyes, "Yes, I know, forced rehabilitation." He straightened now rolling his shoulders as he gave her a spiteful grin, "What did I do? Of course you would side with North, I don't know why I even bothered talking to you." He leaned closer to her now trying to bully her, "Even if I did do something, you'd be the last to hear about it. Now do us both a favor and move out of my way."

"Okay, fine. Be that way then." she huffed. She was about to tell him she was planning on helping him, but decided not to. He'd never allow it anyway, so why bother?

Seeming appeased he pushed past her opening the door as previous worry returned on how exactly he was going to avoid North. The thought of going back to his room to face the man made him gulp. No, he couldn't do that. He had to try and escape this place, and until he could find a way to escape he needed to hide now before North came looking for him. He darted further down this corridor, this place was huge, he was sure that he could find somewhere to hide until nightfall where he could move about without detection far easier than now in the mid-morning.

"Hey, what's the hurry?" Jack said as Pitch pushed past him.

A thrill of fear moved up the boogeyman's spine as Jack bumped his shoulder. Seeing Jack he sighed pushing past the boy without looking at him further, "I don't have time for you right now." Pitch stated flatly starting walking faster trying to think of where he could go to ditch Jack now that he'd gotten rid of Toothinia.

"Whoa! Hold up." Jack grinned, running after Pitch.

His apprehension began to coalesce with his agitation as he finally stopped with a start snapping at Jack with tightly balled fists at his side, "I want to be alone!" he stamped his foot angrily, "Now Shoo!"

"Okay, okay," Jack held up both hands. "I get it. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Pitch looked nervously behind him before glancing at Jack a hint of fear seen there before he bounded forward again. He knew by now that North would likely be looking for him, and that thought had his heartbeat quicken. Why did he bother trying to get help from that air-headed hummingbird! It had cost him valuable time, and bumping into Jack now only served to slow his progress further.

Jack chuckled as he ran along beside the nightmare king. "What's wrong, Pitch? You look as though one of those nightmares of yours were chasing after you."

Pitch glanced over to him giving him a look that was a mixture of uneasiness and contemplation. It was clear Jack wasn't going to leave him be, and maybe as a last ditch effort, Frost might decide to help him. It was unlikely he knew, but it was worth a shot, so he confessed his voice tinged with a waver, "I… may have angered North a little, and I really would rather not see him anytime soon. I… I need to get away from here."

"Ahhhhh," Jack nodded, smirking. "That explains it. Judging by your reaction, I'm guessing he's going to tan your hide pretty good if he catches up with you."

Jack's words stopped Pitch in his tracks like a slap to the face. His eyes widened, and his cheeks flushed at the mention of the act on the boy's lips. Not taking too kindly to Frost making light of his situation his face took on an angry pout, "You think getting a beating is funny?" Growing frustrated he sneered as he started moving at a faster pace, "Just go away already!"

Jack shrugged, pulling himself to a stop, and looked down the hallway where the sound of heavy feet was fast approaching.

"You'd better run faster, because I think North's coming this way." Jack called to Pitch. He couldn't help but smile. This was the most excitement one of their realms had had in years, except for that one year where something went wonky with one of Bunny's new egg coloring machines and he had come to them for help while being colored head to toe in bright pink dye. It had taken a long time before it finally wore off.

"Where is he?" North's booming voice called. Jack leaned against the hall wall and pointed in Pitch's direction.

Pitch's face reflected utter horror as he gasped, his terror now taking hold as the loud heavy footsteps grew closer and North's voice thundered down the hall. He all out ran now looking behind him to see how fast North was gaining on him.

"Pitch! Stop!" North called, not really caring who was within earshot. "I told you to go to your room! The longer you run, the worse your punishment will be!"

Pitch had been so busy staring behind him that he ran smack into one of North's yetis that hearing North call angrily down the hallway triggered its defenses as it now laid heavy hands on the light frame trapping Pitch. The yeti held Pitch with his arms to his sides as the creature lumbered forward towards North while yelling out a string of garbled barks to let North know he'd caught Pitch.

"No! Let me go you hairy ape!" Pitch all but screamed kicking at the yeti ineffectively as his attacks seemed to bounce harmlessly off the creatures thighs.

"Ah, thank you!" said North, coming to a halt in front of the yeti. "I will take him now." He latched onto Pitch and pulled him up to standing, keeping a firm grip on both of his arms, pinning them to his sides. "That is enough!" he gave Pitch a firm shake.

Pitch was almost hyperventilating staring wide eyed at North's dark expression. His mouth moved to reply coming up short as he was shaken. He croaked, "Okay, okay! I'll… I was going to go back to my room. I… I… just wanted to wait long enough for you to calm down." His forehead broke out in a beaded sweat as his fear of the man culminated with his capture, "Co… come on North… Please…" he couldn't say it out loud especially seeing both Jack and Toothinia watching the scene as his face flushed in embarrassment.

"I sent you to room so I COULD calm down! Now you anger me more!" North glared down at Pitch. Not bothering to say anything else since the hallway was fast filling up with curious onlookers, North turned and stormed past Tooth and Jack, dragging Pitch along with him. When North arrived at Pitch's room, he opened the door and pushed the nightmare king inside. "I am too flustered to deal with you properly now. You will stay here until I return later. And don't even think 'bout escape. You will not get past yetis." With this, North slammed the door shut.

Pitch shrank away from the door his fear had escalated to the point his heart felt like it was in his throat and his stomach was in tight knots. Once he'd heard North's heavy footfall disappear down the hall, his hand hovered over the door knob shuddering as a wave of cold ran through him like an ice river. He leaned lightly against the door listening intently, and he could hear the soft grunts shared between the yetis that now stood guard in front of his door now. So, we're back to this he thought worriedly thinking back on his first night. He'd only been here two nights and already North was finding a reason to punish him in this way again.

There was nowhere to go other than to just sit and wait for him to return Pitch realized as he backed timidly away from the door feeling an overwhelming sense of dread taking hold of him. North's face was livid he remembered acutely being the last thing he saw before the door slammed closed, and it caused a shiver to course through Pitch knowing this most certainly was heading towards a very distasteful outcome.