Chapter eleven

Memories

Down the hallway, Toothiana flew as fast as she could. "Pitch!" she called out. "Pitch, where are you?" He couldn't have gotten far she thought.

Hearing Tooth call out his name, Pitch raised his head listening to her, but he didn't want her to see him like this, so he sniffled burying his head in his arms and trying his best to remain as quiet and still as he could. Little did he know the indention was not near deep enough, so even though he was tucked in as far as he could manage and quite well hidden as far as he was concerned, a small corner of his robe had managed to protrude from the cubbyhole giving his location away to anyone that was actively searching for him.

"Pitch!" Tooth shouted as she flew close to where Pitch was hiding. She was about to fly on past when the tip of Pitch's robe caught her eyes. Confusion momentarily washed over her face as she tried figuring out if it was Pitch or not. She swooped down, grabbed onto the piece of black cloth, and yanked it hard. Much to her surprise, Pitch came tumbling out with it.

Pitch was too shocked to react as he was pulled inexorably back to land roughly on his rear with an, "Oof!" The surprise left him open as his face jerked up to see his would be assailant. His eyes were still red rimmed and puffy from crying as he stared up at her in first shock and then looked away quickly as he frowned deeply. She kept finding him this way. It was humiliating and made him feel like he must look very weak to her as he spat out angrily, "I want to be alone! Just go away!" He hoped North didn't come out to investigate he considered belatedly since they weren't very far from his office, and he'd yelled a little too loudly in his embarrassment.

Still confused and in shock, Tooth just stared, "What were you doing in there?"

Pitch huffed scrambling to his feet as he made a point to avert his gaze in hopes she hadn't seen the tears in his eyes. Growling angrily in his frustration he seethed, "Nothing! I just wanted to be by myself without getting interrupted by anyone! You people don't know the meaning of privacy after all!"

Tooth lifted an eyebrow. "We do knock before we enter your room. If you wish to be left alone, just say so." she looked closer at him. "Have you been crying?"

Pitch's cheeks burned to know that she had noticed, but he denied it anyway as he looked away from her gaze to stare at the wall, "Of course not! Just... just go back to North or one of your other fellow guardians." The hurt in his voice was evident as he physically withdrew from her now.

"I was looking for you, actually. That's why I was calling your name."

"Well, you found me. What do you want," he muttered tiredly.

She looked down the hall then back to Pitch. "Come with me," she took his hand and started flying toward Pitch's bedroom.

Instinct told him to pull away from her, but unable to resist the gentleness of her hand, he instead followed wordlessly. He was curious as to why she seemed so insistent.

When they arrived at the bedroom, Tooth pulled Pitch inside and shut the door. She turned an excited, smiling face to him, "Listen," she said, "I have a wonderful idea! You know when I punched you in the face and knocked your tooth out?"

He looked at her fully now as if she had gone crazy, "You are getting this excited over having punched out one of my teeth years ago? You're not getting any ideas are you?" He started to look nervous backing away from her warily.

"No, no, no, no! Just hear me out." she took a deep breath. "I kept that tooth. Why don't I go get it and bring it here? Maybe you can unlock some of your memories with it!"

Pitch looked worried now his eyes noting his concern, "I… I don't know. I'm not sure I want to know because all I've ever remembered was an awful feeling of pain. To know fully what that pain is…" he swallowed hard as he wrung his hands nervously.

Tooth's eyes studied Pitch. "Wonder if that pain isn't what you think it is?"

Pitch was afraid, terrified even, as those remnants he'd experienced he knew deep down had to only be the tip of the iceberg, and to open himself fully to it was more than a little overwhelming to consider. Pitch's eyes drifted back to hers now, "What, what if it's not for the best? What if those memories make me unable to change? I… I don't want you to throw me away to the nightmares again," his eyes brimmed with tears now, "Please don't let North give up on me," his lip trembled now as he looked back down again.

"What?" Tooth was confused, then her eyes widened, "Did you overhear our conversation?"

Pitch's voice cracked, "I… maybe. I was waiting for you to come out, but then I heard what you and North… it doesn't matter. I don't want to cause any more trouble for you," he shook his head trying to un-hear the words that were said between them as his mind drifted over the past few days since he'd arrived. It had only been a week's time, and he'd driven most of them to wit's end. If getting his memories back made him worse, then the guardians would surely cast him out.

Tooth put a comforting hand on Pitch's shoulder. "Pitch, no one's going to send you back."

"You say that now, but North might decide to with or without your consent. Maybe he's right." His eyes drifted back to her, and her comfort mixed with his insecurities left the standing tears he held to fall silently now, "Maybe you're wasting your time and there really is no hope for me."

"Don't say that." Tooth scolded. "Let's give the tooth a try. Who knows? It might help. You'll never know until you take a chance."

He nodded then stated softly, "Okay. I'll do it," he agreed although his words sounded hollow and unsure.

Tooth remained silent a few moments, and then spoke. "Get some rest, Pitch. I'll bring the tooth by tomorrow. If you change your mind, you don't have to go through with doing it. Okay?"

He blinked taking in a deep breath, "Are… are you going to tell North? He might not agree with it."

"No, I'm not going to tell him. Not now anyway." she smiled. "This is something that will be just between you and me until we see if it works."

Pitch smiled gratefully, "Okay. Good. I'm a little nervous. Are you?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah I am a little," Tooth laughed. "Okay, I'll bring the tooth to you tomorrow after you get your chores done. Between now and then, you'll have plenty of time to make up your mind if you want to go through with doing it." With that, Tooth left the room.

Pitch found he paced for most of the night after she'd gone. Rest was the last thing on his mind as he weighed what fragments of memories he'd had when he'd regained some form of control of himself. Everything had been as if in a dream for centuries as he'd rode across the galaxy plaguing the world with nightmares. He'd fallen to Earth and was long forgotten trapped within a seemingly endless nightmare of his own, but once he'd awoken, those previous thoughts had diminished into rage and an incoherent drive to snuff out those good dreams that thwarted his efforts prior to his imprisonment leaving those shattered memories to fall into the past.

Now though, the very real concept of seeing who he had been brought back to be incorporated into who he was now had him worried that it would irreparably fracture his being.

Pitch had left his room far before the sun had risen to tend to the reindeer trying his best to get lost in the work just to keep his mind off of the offer Toothiana had made. It had helped, and he found he could relax a little although the reindeer got the best of the deal having been groomed twice as long in his efforts to be distracted.

"How many times are you going to brush those things?"

Pitch's head shot up to see Frost gliding towards him, "Frost?" He'd half hoped and half dreaded it were Toothiana, but seeing the winter trickster had surprised him as he'd not spoken to him since he'd been in the medical bay, and even that meeting he hadn't remembered much other than the sprite sounding betrayed by him. Pitch had assumed Jack would have nothing to do with him anymore after their last venture here at the stables.

"You look a lot better than the last time I saw you." Jack said with a smirk.

Pitch blushed as he gathered the reins of the reindeer from the pole he would tether them to for grooming and led it back to its stable, "Uh… yes. The bruising is gone now for the most part."

"Bruising… From the fall?—or when that yeti jabbed that needle in your… well… you know…" Jack's smirk turned into an amused smile. "Boy, did you scream."

Pitch sneered his face turning a shade darker at the memory as he spat, "I swear it's your goal in life to find ways to embarrass me! What do you want Frost!"

"Um..." Jack scratched the back of his head. "Tooth sent me here. She said something about you bringing back some memories with a tooth? ...but were nervous about it. I guess she thought maybe I could be of some help, since I've gone through the whole remembering memories thing before."

Pitch's face paled as his expression dropped, "Oh… yes. I… I didn't know she was going to tell anyone else, but I gather if anyone might have some advice, it would be you. Would you tell me… what was it like? To remember I mean? Did… did it change you?" Pitch stared at him intently now with more than a hint of curiosity and worry plaguing his features.

Jack eased into a sitting position on one of the beams of the stable's ceiling, clearly lost in thought. It had been so long ago since the event had happened to him, but it was still fresh in his mind as if it had happened yesterday.

"Yeah, it did," he finally answered, still sounding like he was far away. "But in a good way. It helped to remind me who I am and why the Moon chose me to be a Guardian. Some of the memories weren't pleasant, I'll admit. But then again not all memories are."

Pitch swallowed hard as that rising fear began to take hold of him and he exited the reindeer's stall, "The moon didn't choose me. I… I don't know if this is a good idea," Pitch shook his head as he began to pace now his nervousness needing an outlet.

Sensing Pitch's anxiety, Jack's face softened, "Doesn't matter if the Moon chose you or not. Don't you want to see if there was some good in you at some point? I mean, come on. No one's born evil. There had to be a time..."

Pitch stopped pacing looking at the boy now slightly perplexed as he thought on whether his words were true. Would his memory reveal there was goodness in him? Or would it show something truly awful to solidify in him that there really was no hope for redemption? He'd never know unless he took the plunge he supposed. He blinked responding wearily, "I… I want to know, and then I'm afraid to know. It's hard to discern which feeling is stronger. Both are a tremendous weight to bare. It's almost easier to not know at all, but I suppose that's the coward's way out isn't it?"

Jack gave a quick shrug. "I wouldn't say that. I was kind of afraid at first too. I think it's only natural-not knowing what you'll find there and all. There are many possibilities. Who knew that I died? Heh," he turned his gaze away from Pitch, lost in his own thoughts again, "But then again I also learned I had a family at one time, and a little sister..."

The word 'family' wrung through Pitch as both a pang of longing and dread. He knew without knowing that that was a significant factor for his greatest fear in discovering his past. Pitch lowered his gaze as he considered Jack's comment, "I am wary of who I was and what knowing that side of me will do to change the person I am now, but I don't think it's helping me to avoid it any longer. I'm going to do it for better or worse, as not knowing, when I can know, is tearing me apart. It's all I've been able to think about since Toothiana suggested it last night."

Jack tilted his head to the side, regarding Pitch. "Seems to me that you would welcome change. Don't you ever get tired of living the way you do? All of that darkness and fear. It can't be healthy on a person. I know you're the boogeyman and all, but still. Seems like even you would get tired of that drab life after a while."

Pitch's brow furrowed as he looked off into the distance, "It's easy to say, but when you've existed in such a way for so long, change can be formidable. I... I admit I'm not happy; I don't really remember a time I have been. I never achieved the ultimate goals I sought, but if we're being honest, I don't think attaining those goals would have made me happy either without anyone to share it with."

"Yeah, change is never easy," Jack agreed, "But having the chance of maybe finding something good and happy about your past should make you a little bit excited, right? What if it opened up the opportunity for you to attain goals that are worthwhile?-goals that would make you happy? I'm pretty sure I'd jump at the chance if I were you. It'd beat going back to that hole, and even beat spending years here with North."

Pitch had lost most of the rest of Frost's points in the conversation as he pondered the thought of years stuck at North's workshop, and that brought more than a grimace to his face, "Years!? Do you really think North would keep me here that long?" The past eight days felt like forever, Pitch couldn't imagine that times an infinite amount longer. That thought was enough to convince Pitch to go through with Toothiana's idea whether he doubted the results or not!

Frost frowned, lifting an eyebrow. "You really don't understand, do you?"

Frost's comment only served to anger Pitch. Why did everyone keep saying that to him? Sneering he growled, "Yes, Yes! I get it! You all want me to change! I'm trying to, but this hasn't exactly been a bucket of roses you know!"

Frost shook his head. "That's not exactly what I meant. You really don't understand that you being here at the Pole is the equivalent of you spending time in the hole. Naturally you're going to spend years here, unless you decide to change."

This logic frustrated Pitch to no end as he spat venomously, "I can promise you, I'm not spending years here being told what to do and harshly punished for having my own opinions! I'll change if it kills me!"

Jack smirked, shaking his head.

Pitch narrowed his eyes at Jack as he shook his fist at the flying boy, "You know you're infuriating! Just… just stop shaking your head like you know something I don't!" Pitch was finished with his chores, so having had enough of the winter sprite working him up, Pitch waved him off, "I'm heading back to my room."

"You're unbelievable, you know that, right?" Jack called to him, still smirking.

Pitch was unable to walk away from Jack as he spun back around and screamed in annoyance, "I'm unbelievable! You're the one that's working so hard to get under my skin Frost! You and your …your smug face! I can't have a conversation with you without you exasperating me!"

Jack rolled his eyes and smiled. "As I said," he whispered under his breath.

Pitch huffed turning back around before taking a deep breath. Why was he letting himself get so bent out of shape? He was letting the boy get to him… and this place. It wasn't really Jack more so than the thought of facing what was soon to await him. Last night and the entirety of the day had seemed so excruciatingly long, but now that the time to face Toothiana's offer to help him regain his memories was upon him, it seemed to all be happening too fast. He sighed tiredly looking back at Jack, "Okay …maybe …maybe I'm a bit tense, but you aren't helping the situation."

"What did I do?" Jack asked. "Tooth just sent me here to talk."

Pitch smirked at Jack now, "I suppose just being yourself. Do you think Toothiana is here now?" This last bit was tinged with both curiosity and unease.

Jack shrugged. "I dunno. She said she would come by after you finished up in the stables."

Pitch frowned, "I… I started a little earlier than normal, but I've been done for a while. Maybe I should go to the workshop to see if she's arrived," He was muttering his words now as he fretted once more about proceeding to the next step, but he'd made up his mind. He wasn't going to turn back now, so he moved back towards the main hub of North's workshop with purpose.

Jack followed after him. "Pitch!" he called out.

Pitch stopped turning toward him an expression of deep concern painting his features now as he waited silently to hear what Jack had wished to say.

"I hope you find something in your memories that will bring you happiness." he nodded.

Pitch's face softened as he gave Jack a small smile, "Thank you; I hope so to." He took in a deep breath then turned back towards the tunnels that led to the gate's entrance to find Toothiana. Never did it seem so long to traverse North's estate Pitch found as he made his way into the main hall and down the corridors finally coming to a stop near the banister that overlooked the massive Christmas tree. It was still mid-day, so yeti and elf alike still bustled about running from place to place to finish their varied tasks. Pitch stood there looking about fervently now for any sign of the feathered guardian.

"Hey, Pitch!" Tooth called out to him from across the room.

He had spotted her before she'd called out to him having been anxiously awaiting her arrival. He hadn't waited long, and as he made his way to her now he tried to hold himself with confidence, but his gait seemed stiff as his anxiety seeped off of him in waves. He gave Toothiana a strained smile now, "I… I'm glad to see you."

She smiled down at him, glancing around the area as if she expected someone to be watching them. "We'll do this in your bedroom." she said, motioning for him to follow, "Come."

Pitch did so wordlessly glad to be away from the hustle and bustle of the main hall as they moved into the quieter hallway and down to his bedroom. His heart was hammering in his chest now, palms sweating, and throat dry. They were almost to that fateful moment, and it was all Pitch could do to contain himself but to hurry after Toothiana who thankfully was moving at a steady clip.

Tooth stopped outside Pitch's bedroom door, opened it, and quickly ushered Pitch inside before entering herself and closing the door. She took a deep breath, letting it out. Then she turned to Pitch, seriousness in her eyes, "Have you decided to go through with this?"

He nodded vigorously now not unlike a child awaiting a long promised surprise.

Tooth slowly reached into some unseen pocket and pulled out one of her tooth cylinders. She hesitated a few seconds, and then carefully handed it over.

Pitch watched her fastidiously, and as she proffered the item, he took it gently into his hands. He backed up to the bed now lowering himself to sit as he just stared at the shiny box and its intricate designs for a long moment before his eyes wandered back up to Toothiana asking a silent question to proceed as he was unsure now if he should take the final step to enact the box.

She smiled at him. "Just do it whenever you feel you're ready."

Pitch swallowed, "I think I'm never going to be ready."

"You don't have to do it now, if you don't want to." said Tooth. "You can keep it and do it whenever you wish."

Pitch shook his head as he brought his gaze back to Toothiana, "No, I think I've waited long enough. What do I need to do?"

"Well, I usually look at the memory myself when I first obtain the tooth, and from there my magic does the rest." she answered. "But I didn't do that with yours, knowing... who it belonged to... and all."

Pitch merely nodded as he looked back down at the box and ran his hand over the top of it, and the diamond shaped etchings separated to reveal his tooth inside.

Toothiana fluttered closer now as she landed beside Pitch reaching in to the container to gently pluck the tooth from its casing. Taking the container from Pitch's hand, she placed the tooth in his palm keeping her thumb and index finger on it as she poured her energies into the tooth now. Because this tooth was not a child's tooth, it did not hold the same properties that were as easily activated. Toothiana had to work extra hard to ignite the held memories from within, and only memories from the time it had come in would be able to be accessed.

The tooth glowed faintly as Toothiana's magic coursed through it opening up the channels for the memories held within to activate, and with it, their hands both began to glow from where the tooth touched.

Pitch closed his eyes as the memories began to flood through him now. They were still fragmented, but there was enough there to gain some semblance of the man he was and what touched his life.

The laughter of a little girl echoed through his mind as he saw her now, her long black hair whipped about in the wind as she bounded across the field arms outstretched and screaming happily, "Daddy! You're home! Oh I've missed you!"

Pitch was not Pitch here, in this vision, a man stood tall and noble regaled in a military uniform. He dropped to his knees to catch his daughter as she jumped into his arms, and he squeezed her in a fierce hug, "I've missed you to pumpkin."

"Don't leave again; I hate it when you go away," the girl squeezed him tighter now as if by doing so, she'd be able to keep him rooted in place.

"You know I have to go back Emily, they need me, but not today. Today we can do whatever you want," Pitch carried the little girl now in his arms towards a manor of sorts where a woman stood on the steps waiting to greet him with a loving smile. The swell of love he felt for these two women surged through him as all three of them hugged now and the little girl's laughter rang out her joy to have her family whole once more.

This memory faded replaced with a dark corridor where Pitch in his human form walked with a torch. He was alone here except for the sound of wailing moans that seeped out of the walls. They whispered in an eerie hiss, "Set us free… we can give you untold treasures!" Pitch ignored them walking on, but the memory distorted as hatch marks left on the wall were seen too numerous to count. In his hand, Pitch held a locket, and here he opened it to stare at the lovely smiling face of his daughter. A surge of profound pain tinged this memory now as deep seeded longing filled his heart.

Sensing this pain, the voices shifted, and Emily's voice now called out to him, "Father? Father! Where are you! I'm scared!" Panic was the first feeling that registered then weariness as the truth that these creatures behind the gated iron door now toyed with him once more. So many times now that he'd buffeted their attempts. But the voices did not stop, "Daddy! Please daddy! Help me! They're hurting me!" These torments had been going on for years, but never did the shadow men, now withered into spirit husks of what they once were since their capture a decade ago, ever use his daughter in this manner. He'd been alone for so long away from his family that the thought of not saving her was too much to bare now, and in a temporary moment of insanity, he ran to the iron door wrenching the bar free to fling the gate open.

Of course as the maw of the darkness was opened before him, the overwhelming feeling of failure poured over him realizing what he had done. The wave of darkness crashed into him then invading his senses and leaching to him inwardly and outwardly as the shadows now clung to his subconscious and the voices of a thousand fearlings inhabited his body drowning out his conscious mind to be dimmed into an inexplicable wash of rage and want for revenge. The burning hate was palpable as Pitch's memories began to fade and blot out into obscurity and the shadows oozed into every fiber of his being.

Pitch gasped dropping the tooth from his shaking hand as his eyes went wild and he backed across the bed breathing heavily. A look of pure horror was etched on his face. He was too overwhelmed to speak as he tried to comprehend what had just been revealed to him and how he felt about it.

Tooth remained silent, fluttering in place beside the bed.

"I… I have a daughter! And I've lost her," his voice was broken now as the reality of how long ago this memory was sunk in. "I… failed her. I failed everyone." He was still now his eyes working back and forth as his heart still hammered from the memory of being engulfed by the fearlings. He felt them now wreathing within him, their voices still ebbing at his conscious mind, but now that he was made aware of them, they would never fully have the hold on him they once had. Still, they were a part of him, more than a part, they had also become him and he them. They had made a union of osmosis that could not be torn asunder now he knew not without his total annihilation. But still, his mind raced now and his stomach heaved enthralled within the loop of memories that now played through his mind.

Toothiana slowly floated over to where Pitch was, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. She wanted to say something, but, not knowing what, chose to stay quiet for the time being until Pitch regained his senses. She knew this part of the process was always the hardest.

He looked at her now, a shadow of the man that he used to be shining through. A noble man beaten and defeated. His mouth curled into a stricken grieving frown as he cried out, "What have I done Toothiana? I've doomed so many… I've become a plague… I deserve the nightmares. You should destroy me." He curled into himself pulling his knees to his chest as his sorrow built and he thought about not only the loss of his daughter but of all the atrocities he'd made a reality.

"No," Tooth shook her head sadly. "Don't talk like that. There has to be a way to set things right. Maybe there's a way of getting them out of you."

Pitch looked very tired now, "It doesn't work that way. We aren't a separate being anymore. We haven't been for a very long time. Without them, I'll cease to exist." He was silent as he stared at the wall feeling apathetic.

Tooth stared at him silently, a mixture of concern and horror on her face, not knowing what to say.

Pitch sighed wanting to lay down now as he crawled to bury himself in his covers seeping into despair. This wasn't at all what he had expected to see. On one hand he was grateful that the man he was wasn't a monster as he'd feared, but to understand the ramifications of the man he'd become? What he'd lost in the process? That in itself was a lot to contend with especially when he felt like he had no direction anymore. So lost was he, he couldn't even cry for the grief he now felt as he lay his head on his pillow just feeling numb.

"I'm sorry," Tooth said, "I never should have suggested the tooth to you."

"No; don't say that," Pitch's voice wavered as he spoke, "I'm… I'm sorry I'm not taking it well. It's still better to understand where these feelings I've had… these constant nightmares that dissipate whenever I do dream, come from. They can't rob that from me anymore. It's mine to cherish and morn, and that does mean so much you can't even possibly imagine."

"Perhaps there is a way that we don't know about..." she whispered, her brow scrunching up in worry. She refused to believe that it was impossible to separate Pitch from the fearlings.

"I… no. It's my fault they escaped to begin with. It's my burden to bare now. To release them, means they'll just possess someone else. I can't have that on my conscience. I am their prison now, and they are mine," he stated this last bit with both regret and conviction.

"But what if there's a way to imprison them elsewhere? Like before they entered you? Wouldn't you go back to normal?"

Pitch blinked at her. To be normal? Was that even possible? He knew on some level that separation would be the end of him because the fearlings had infused and melded with him to the very core. They now had a symbiotic relationship, and as guilty as he might feel, he still couldn't bring himself to want to cease existing, so he shook his head, "I can't separate myself no more than you can separate the two halves that make you what you are." He looked at her forlornly, "I honestly don't think there's enough of just me left to survive a split."

"Maybe there's another option?" she said, her voice sounding sad. "Perhaps a way to suppress the fearlings?"

Pitch thought on that, and in his current state, depowered as he'd been since he'd left his hole and deprived of draining fear from anything since being at the Pole had suppressed the fearlings more than ever, but there was a problem, fear was not unlike an unnerving addiction for Pitch now. He craved it, needed it even. He was weak. The thought of depriving himself of it entirely was out of the question, and so he merely lowered his gaze to Toothiana's suggestion unable to tell her the truth but also not wanting to lie to her and so he chose to simply omit saying anything at all.

A knock came to the door and Toothiana turned to see who it was. Jack Frost poked his head in, grinning sheepishly and giving a small wave.

"Hey," he said, "Mind if I come in? I was just... you know... curious to see how everything went." Taking in the saddened faces of Pitch and Tooth, his smile dropped. "Wow, both of you look like someone died. What did you see?"

Pitch glanced up at Frost before his eyes wandered back to the wall. He hoped Toothiana would placate the boy unable to bring himself to respond as he curled further into the blankets now for much needed comfort. Having just gone through it, the last thing he wanted to do was relive what he saw again so soon.

Shaking her head sadly at Pitch, Tooth turned and ushered Jack out into the hallway, closing the door behind them.

Pitch's eyes moved to follow Toothiana and Jack now although he didn't say anything. It was still quite early in the day, but Pitch felt like he could just lay here until he needed to tend to the reindeer again not motivated to do anything he wasn't being made to do.

His mind was full of imagery now both beautiful and bleak but mostly haunting. He had known he had a daughter for so long, at what point did her memory become obscured, drowned out, replaced? He had sentenced himself to that prison planet after the news of losing his family as a penance for leaving them vulnerable in the first place. They were his light, his being, and somehow he'd been made to forget them. It sickened him to the core, and he closed his eyes against the pain he now felt as he forced himself to relive every moment he could remember now determined to never leave these memories to only become nightmares ever again.

After about ten minutes, Toothiana reentered the room, closing the door behind her, "I told him," she announced, flying up to the side of the bed. She looked at him with concern. "Is there anything I can do?"

Pitch just shrugged lethargically, "I'm kind of tired. I think I want to rest," he stated in a monotone drawl. He was sinking fast into a deep depression now where his senses just seemed to shut down, and all he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts.

Tooth nodded. "Okay," she turned to leave. "You rest. I'll come back later to check on you." She opened the door and flew out.

Pitch didn't move from his spot on the bed as he thought and thought until he willed himself to sleep just to escape having to think anymore.