From Nightmares to Dreams

by spankingfemfatale

It's been several years since the Guardians defeated Pitch, but they are bound to cross paths again, and when they do, the Guardians have decided that things between them have to change. WARNING! Contains non-sexual spanking! This lovely fic is a co-written piece by myself and the lovely WindChimeGhost! (Her Archive of our own account name!)

42. Best Laid Plans

Chapter Forty-Two

Best Laid Plans

Pitch yawned stretching out languidly under his covers as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. His mind was still foggy as he pieced together the last things he could remember. Oh yes, North had been reading to him, and presumably, Pitch had passed out (no thanks to his little golden friend) sometime in the middle of the chapter. How pleasant it had been; Pitch reminisced now with a gleeful smile on his face. His stomach was finally back to normal he noted, and the early rays of morning were letting themselves be known as a soft knock came to the door. "Come in!" Pitch announced in a melodious tone still riding the high of happiness from the night before to greet North with a very cheery bright eyed expression as the man entered. He practically sang, "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Pitch," North said. "Ready to finish up work on conveyor?"

Pitch's smile faltered a little, but he nodded, "Yes. I think it's going to be another early day, but hopefully not before lunch. Were… were you able to get a hold of Toothiana?" Pitch really hoped North had; he really wanted to see her once more before he was grounded. He hoped she didn't offer to come see him during that week around North since it would alert the fairy to his further restrictions. Why had he not just come out and told her about it? Having to possibly face her about it now had Pitch a little worried; he'd angered her after the warren incident revolving around similar mistruths that had come out.

North gave a nod. "Yes, she will join us for lunch. And so will Sandy."

Smiling, Pitch seemed satisfied with North's answer as he moved to dress. His clothes were still littering the bathroom floor like the discarded shedding of a snake's skin. He threw them on quickly enough hanging his bathrobe on the hook near the entryway to the bathroom on his way back to meet North. Pitch ran a hand haphazardly through his hair looking down, "Uh… I …I have a favor to ask."

"Hm? What's that?" said North.

"I… I want to stop by the stables…" there was a long pause before he continued, "I need to speak to Jack… I need to apologize." Pitch had lowered his head throughout this admission still clearly affected from the conversation that he and North had shared at the factory.

North studied Pitch several long minutes before giving a nod. "Alright, we shall go to stables first."

The two made their way through the hub and towards the stables. All the while Pitch worked to steel himself to the sight of Jack grooming and caring for the reindeer. It was so hard to push himself to do, but he'd had time to think, and he knew he owed it to the boy to apologize. Pitch wanted to make things right before he entered into his stint of grounding if for nothing else but to put the winter sprite's mind at ease that he really wasn't angry with him.

North suddenly reached out and grabbed hold of Pitch's shoulder, bringing him to a stop. "I will take you to stables if you are serious about apologizing. Do not try anything foolish."

Pitch was taken back by North's statement feeling hurt that the man thought he had been up to something. He looked almost on the verge of tears by North's words as he responded with a pout, "I… I won't. I just want to make things right."

North nodded. "Was just making sure. Please do not take it wrong way."

Pitch nodded lightly looking down, "O-okay." Pitch had of course taken it the wrong way, but he was working to push those negative feelings aside to refocus on what he'd wanted to say. Now his confidence was staggered though as he had to second guess himself and his true intentions to ensure he was in fact going to be able to handle being mature about this situation when even North felt the need to pull him aside before they had even arrived.

"Let us continue on our way." Said North, waving Pitch to continue walking forward.

Nodding Pitch swallowed hard moving towards their destination. As they breeched the entrance to the tunnels leading outside, Pitch withdrew inwardly bracing himself. It was easy to see now coming out into the clearing, Jack was pulling Blitzen into the outside pen to roam. Pitch stood a little taller moving purposefully towards the boy.

North kept his distance behind Pitch to give him some space to do what he needed to do, but he kept close enough to the Boogeyman to break up anything if Pitch ended up getting out of hand. He kept his eyes on him as he walked toward Jack.

Pitch held his hands behind his back standing tall and proud, but the closer he got to facing the Frost spirit, the more his back bowed to dictate how very not proud he was at this moment. Still he kept his head up approaching Jack, "Uh… Jack? May I," Pitch had to clear his throat as it felt restricted now, "May I have a word with you?"

Hearing Pitch's voice, Jack Frost turned around, somewhat surprised to see Pitch and North. He gave a nod to North, then turned a frown to Pitch. "What do you want?"

Pitch cringed, "I… I guess I deserve that. I just wanted to…" Pitch paused taking in a long breath, "I know the way I acted the last time we saw each other… it …I was wrong. I was jealous, and I took it out on you. I… I just wanted to apologize."

Jack's frown melted into a surprised expression, his eyebrows rising. He looked to North then back to Pitch. He nodded. "I accept your apology."

Pitch looked up tentatively at Jack breathing out a held breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding seeming to visibly relax. He gave a small smile, "I… I know I can get a bit possessive with the reindeer. That said, I came by yesterday, and I saw you've been doing a good job with them… and uh… I guess keep up the good work." Pitch found it hard to keep eye contact still feeling a bit ashamed of himself even though Jack had accepted his apology, on some level Pitch thought he hadn't deserved it.

Jack gave Pitch a crooked smile. "Thanks," he said. He was having a hard time believing the words coming out of Pitch's mouth.

Pitch nodded only glancing up before turning back to North with pathetic sad puppy eyes, "Well, I… I guess we should go." It was hurting Pitch to be so close to the reindeer now knowing he couldn't interact with them, so he just wanted to leave now before it saddened him further.

"You know the way." North replied, gesturing toward the landfill.

Pitch nodded gloomily and began moving quickly away towards the landfill.

"I am proud of you for what you did back there." Said North when they had walked out of earshot of Jack.

Pitch peered back at North studying his features a moment before nodding, "I… I needed to say it. It's… it's been eating at me," Pitch admitted brow drawn down with a very serious look holding his features.

North smiled down at Pitch. "Another sign you are changing." He said.

Pitch's face softened as a small smile tugged at his lips, "Do you really think so?" It did Pitch's heart good to hear such encouragement.

"I would think so. What you described is guilt. It is sign you are developing a conscience, which is something you did not have prior."

Pitch blinked as he assessed himself thinking on who he was and who he'd become. It had been only a month and a half's time, but his outlook on life had gone through a kaleidoscope of changes in perception of the guardians, of himself, and simply nothing was the same anymore. He couldn't go back to the person he'd been, of this much he was certain. Last night filled him with a joy that still left him feeling light of heart and happy. Apologizing to Jack added to this jubilation as well as North's words leaving Pitch to perk with a delighted smile, "I do feel like a weight has been lifted to have spoken to Jack… although I'll admit to apologize and wonder how he would respond was a dreadful feeling. I'm glad he wasn't mad at me; we've had several instances in the past… I'm surprised all of you have forgiven me so many times. I seem to have a knack for making others angry with me," Pitch admitted with a grimace.

North smiled warmly. "Apologizing usually leaves you with that delightful feeling. And it is common to worry over how other person will react. Apologizing is never easy, but it does leave you feeling good."

Pitch nodded looking around the work site that had now been reduced down to Dave, three other yetis and themselves, "So… uh how are we going to do this?" Pitch asked looking at the now dry planks that the yetis were stacking on some sort of lift.

"You will help yetis attach them by getting on these special air lifts that will take you up there." North waved a hand to the highest point of the conveyor that had needed to be repaired.

If it were possible, Pitch paled, "I… I'm not going to be able to be up there long. The sun is going to be cresting over the mountainside in a couple hours. Do you think we can get that part of the conveyor finished by then?"

"I doubt it," North shook his head. "Which is why this will be all day job. We might have to break until sun goes down."

"It's too bad you can't invent a shade bubble," Pitch joked, "Well, let's get to it then shall we?"

North laughed and helped Pitch onto one of the lifts and closed the safety gate. It took a little while for the yetis to finish loading the plates onto another lift. When they were finished, the yetis boarded a third lift and together all of the lifts were carried into the air by special flying machines that North had invented. They stopped at the highest point and for the next several hours the yetis and Pitch worked to bolt the metal plates in place to the sides of the conveyor to make a chute. North and Dave oversaw the progression from the ground, shouting up whenever someone had a question or something wasn't right.

They had made pretty good progress, but North was right, it was going to take at least another three hours once the sun had crested over the mountainside. Pitch thought they could have gotten another thirty minutes work in, but after the burns Pitch had suffered the first day, no one wanted to take any chances.

Pitch sighed, "Well, we're going to have about three hours before the sun moves over the Pole and far enough to get back up on top to finish up. And we're not due to see Sandy and Toothiana for another hour for lunch. What did you want to do in the mean time?"

"Dave says you and yetis will prepare the belts and have them ready to attach once you finish putting the siding on." North answered.

Pitch nodded working with the yetis as much as the language barrier allowed although Pitch was starting to lose patience, "What? What are you trying to get me to do?" Pitch grumbled as one of the yetis pointed back and forth from the rigging to the other side of the work area. Pitch wasn't overly helpful in this task even though he was trying, his lack of skill in this way was only exasperating the yetis who were just trying to get him to stand to the side and out of the way, so they could get some work done.

"They want you to move out of way." North translated.

"Move out of the way? How am I supposed to help then?" Pitch pouted unhappily as he moved over to where the yeti had been pointing and crossing his arms looking rather affronted.

North only rolled his eyes. "You know. If you are going to stay here at Pole, it might benefit you to learn yeti language. Ever considered it? It would give you something else to help pass the time, since you seem to get bored easily."

Pitch scowled walking away from the yetis and coming to stand next to North, "I only get bored easily because I have such a limited scope of activities to do. Besides, I know fourteen other languages, I'm just not overly interested in learning gibberish garbling."

"As I said, it would be another activity to keep you occupied. It only sounds like gibberish garbling to you because you do not know language. I only suggested it because I think your stay here would be more pleasant if you got along with yetis better."

"And who's supposed to teach me?" Pitch said sarcastically not overly enthused but curious nonetheless.

"Myself and yeti teacher." North replied.

That could take up time during his grounding Pitch thought, "Perhaps while I'm in my room once we're done here… it might be a good way to spend my time… being productive."

North smiled. "I will arrange it then. It would give us something good to do together."

"It will certainly help pass the time," Pitch mused feeling pretty good about finding ways to eat up his grounding to not make the week so boring for himself.

"It will not be easy. It takes years to master yeti language. But we can teach you basics. Enough where hopefully you feel a little less frustrated."

Pitch smirked, "I gather we'll see about that. I'm a pretty quick study believe it or not… although I can't promise I won't get frustrated trying to understand grunts and growls. It's not exactly a real language."

North grunted. "If it is not real language, then how come I can understand what yetis say?"

Pitch rolled his eyes, "Well, I'm not saying you can't communicate with them, but I don't exactly see you speaking it or anything just like one can understand the motives of a dog through their yips and barks. They're communicating to, but I wouldn't call what they're doing speech by any standard. Not to say the yetis are on the same tier as a dog mind you, but they're communication skills lack finesse and development."

North's eyebrows rose. Then he proceeded to speak a long stream of grunts and growls like the yetis. Several of the yetis nearby looked in his direction. North waved them off, pointing to Pitch.

Pitch's eyes widened in surprise to hear the gruff tones coming from North's throat. Seeing the motions and reactions North had made followed by the attention of the yetis and North pointing at him, "What? What did you just tell them?"

"I wasn't talking to them. I was talking to you." North answered. "I just motioned to you to let them know that this conversation didn't concern them."

"Talking to me?" Pitch looked offended, "Did you expect me to understand that?"

North rolled his eyes. "No, I did not expect you to understand. I was merely demonstrating to you that I can speak language, since you were so sure it wasn't a language."

"Correction, not a sophisticated language is what I meant. Something akin to a heathen tribal speak is what I was referring to," Pitch huffed in disdain.

North shrugged. "Call it what you wish."

"I'm not averse to learning to understand it, I just don't plan to speak it," Pitch sniffed sticking his nose in the air.

"You do not have to speak it." North said, ignoring Pitch's haughtiness. "But learning language will help you to better understand when a yeti speaks to you. Then maybe you will not get on their bad side all the time due to lack of understanding."

Pitch's mouth twisted into a sneer, "Their bad side? I don't see them making an effort to speak any proper languages, but then I'm probably giving them too much credit to think them even capable I suppose."

"You are teetering on edge, Pitch." North scowled. "Remind me to address your rudeness later when we start practicing magic."

Pitch paused assessing what North said and then frowning he made sure to back away before responding, "I didn't think having an honest opinion was the same as being rude. What does that have to do with learning magic anyway?" Pitch questioned curiously.

"In case you haven't noticed, Pitch, the yetis are my friends and family. I do not take kindly to people speaking about them in such a way as you have. How would you like it if someone talked to Toothiana in same way?" North's scowl darkened. "You are entitled to an honest opinion, but some opinions you should keep to self out of respect for others. In time, you will learn."

Pitch sighed, "Toothiana can defend herself, but I'll try to keep my opinions to myself so as not to offend you at least." In actuality Pitch was really only being so rude because the yetis had excluded him when he'd been trying to help, and he was the one who had been offended. Saying such rude comments may have been his opinion, but saying it aloud was only a means to lash out at the yetis.

"That may be true, but what if someone said something against Tooth when she was not around to defend herself? As her friend, would you stick up for her?" said North.

Pitch's eyes flicked over to North. Would he? He'd never had a friend to defend before, so he'd not even considered it. He supposed he would, but Pitch didn't respond not wishing to further validate North's point. Instead, he averted his eyes and let out a huff as he frowned.

"Ah!" North pointed. "Dave is motioning for you to go and help with conveyor belts now."

"For how long I wonder," Pitch grumbled aloofly, "Are you coming to translate?" Pitch added derisively as he walked back towards Dave arms crossed with a scowl plastered on his face.

North walked past him and up to Dave, where they had a small conversation, North speaking perfect yeti language. Finally, North turned to Pitch. "He wants you to help unroll belt and lay it out here on ground."

Pitch didn't reply only cutting Dave a bored glance before moving to comply with North's request still feeling a bit put off by the earlier incident.

"Do you have something to say, Pitch?" North asked, catching the look Pitch gave to the yeti. He really was getting tired of the attitude Pitch carried with him these days.

Pitch smirked looking from North and then to Dave as he scoffed, "Obviously not, I don't speak Yeti remember?" He turned his attention back to the task the smirk still playing across his lips.

North reached out and quickly swatted Pitch.

Pitch jolted up with a yelp backpedaling away from North an immediate flushed and shocked expression crossing his face as he looked from North to the yetis and back to North, "What? What was that for!"

Dave crossed his arms over his chest, looking very approving of North's choice of action.

"It was for your smart-aleck attitude." North replied. "The one you've had since we carried on conversation about yeti language."

Pitch's brow furrowed as he pouted looking close to tears from the humiliation of North doing such a thing to him in front of the yetis. He looked down at the ground speaking softly, "It... that last remark was just a jest... I ...I didn't think it was offensive."

Pitch wanted to curl in on himself and disappear seeing all of the yetis staring at him now.

"It might have been jest, but the way you carried it out was not funny." North chided. "We will continue this discussion later. Right now you best get to helping."

Pitch jerked his head up in alarm at the 'continue this conversation later' comment, he was slightly nervous about the connotations behind what more they might need to discuss, but he didn't want to give North any reason to think he wasn't doing his best now as he hurried back to the task making sure he gave no hint of a bad attitude while he worked with the yetis. He hoped his improved behavior would make North pleased enough to forgo any need for further discussions.

North stood off to the side and watched the yetis and Pitch work, nodding his approval at both the work being done and Pitch's improved attitude.

Once the belt was laid out, and the rollers were all set in place, some of the yetis went back to placing the panels, and Dave suggested Pitch clean up around the structure to keep him out of the sun which seemed a preferred task for Pitch to be working by himself rather than with the yetis.

Not long into the clean-up, Sandy arrived floating up to North and giving a wide grin and a wave hello.

North smiled and waved back. "Sandy! It is always good to see you. Is it almost time for lunch already?"

The little man nodded vigorously licking his lips.

Pitch noticed Sandy quickly and smiled looking around for Toothiana as well.

"I was so involved with this work that I almost lost track of time." Said North.

Toothiana had not arrived yet, but Pitch seeing Sandy took it as reason enough to stop working as he moved over to join the two guardians.

Sandy beamed down at Pitch a mural of images moving across his head asking how he slept and how his morning went.

Pitch glanced up at North shamefully remembering the last incident where the Cossack had swatted him, but Pitch chose to reiterate the good parts of the morning, "I slept rather well, and before coming out here, I had a chance to have a well meant conversation with Jack. Other than that, as you can see," he motioned to the conveyor, "We've gotten most of the leg work done here and are about three hours away from finishing up the entire project."

Sandy looked on with amazement out at the conveyor and watched the yetis still working away installing the panels.

"Yes, I will actually be glad when this is finished." North said, turning to look at the conveyor. "It has taken up enough of my time."

Pitch cringed at the remark knowing full well that he held full blame for that statement, "Uh… I should get back to finishing picking up the scraps," Pitch stated absently as he moved to return to his assigned job while waiting for Toothiana to arrive.

Sandy watched on curiously as the Boogeyman retreated with his head hung low before looking back to North with a question mark over his head to see Pitch slink away as if he'd done something wrong.

North gave a shrug. "It is his fault we are here. I think he still feels guilt over everything that happened." He whispered to Sandy.

Sandy gave a slow nod of understanding as he turned back to watch Pitch working diligently to pick the remaining scraps off the ground and deposit them in the landfill handful by handful.

Toothiana suddenly fluttered up behind Sandy and North. "Hey! Sorry I'm late. At least, I'm assuming I'm late. You haven't had lunch yet, have you?"

North turned a smiling face to her. "No, we haven't had lunch yet. We will as soon as Pitch gets through cleaning up scraps."

Pitch had practically dropped the armload of debris he'd been carrying seeing Toothiana and picked up his pace to hurriedly dump the trash in the dump and glide back over to the three guardians with a huge grin on his face, "You came! It's good to see you!" Pitch still had a few more trips to make to finish the task at hand, but seeing Toothiana arrive had him quickly forgetting his duties in light of coming to see her.

"It's good to see you too." Tooth smiled.

"I… I was afraid you may have been too busy to come," Pitch admitted, "But now that you're here," Pitch looked to North, "Should we start setting up some seats for our lunch?"

"As soon as you pick up rest of scraps." North said, pointing to the unfinished work. "You need to learn to finish work."

Pitch frowned not wanting to spend the limited precious time he had with Toothiana picking up trash, "Can't I finish after lunch? I mean, it's not going anywhere, so what's the difference?" He groaned.

"Pitch, you have job to do. You finish it before you take break." North scowled. "Tooth and lunch are not going anywhere either. We will wait until you finish task you were given to do."

Pitch wanted to say more but only pouted sulking off to hurriedly finish the work so as not to waste anymore of the time Toothiana had available to spend with him.

Sandy couldn't help a wry smile at Pitch's reluctance to leave Toothiana's side. He looked at Toothiana silently giggling at how enamored Pitch seemed to be with her.

While Pitch finished cleaning up, one of the yetis walked up and began unfolding a table and chairs while one of the yeti cooks came to set plates of lasagna at each place.

Pitch hadn't done as thorough a job as he should have, but he didn't really care as long as he was able to get back over to Toothiana more quickly. It was done enough Pitch thought to himself exasperatedly. He doubted North would even notice what he'd missed.

Unknown to Pitch, North was still watching him, arms crossed over his chest. "Pitch, do it right."

Pitch growled angrily when North pointed him back to the work site, and he turned huffing as he punted one of the mostly empty paint buckets towards the landfill to release some of his rage. Pitch hadn't seen one of the yeti had descended from the tops of the conveyor to get himself some lasagna from the cafeteria when the paint can came hurtling through the air.

The yeti let out a surprised harrumph as a spray of peach paint splattered his coat. He looked down at the mess holding his arms out to the sides as if still digesting what had happened before yowling out a string of gruff barks that were obviously meant to chew Pitch out.

Pitch jumped in surprise seeing the yeti virtually come from out of nowhere, and he gasped when he saw what the results of giving in to his temporary agitation had caused. He raced over to the yeti trying to appease him quickly, "I… I didn't see you there! I'm… I'm sorry about that!"

The yeti did not seem pacified though as he let out another stream of angry grunts pointing down at his paint colored hair.

North sighed shaking his head and turning a weary look at Sandy and Tooth.

Sandy raised a brow giving North a sympathetic look. Silently sighing, Sandy went off to grab some paint rags to help the yeti get cleaned up.

Pitch still seemed to be trying to pander out an apology to a very unhappy yeti as Sandy brought the towels over to the two.

The yeti snatched the towels still harrumphing growls as he wiped himself off partially and finally decided to storm off towards the entrance.

Pitch watched him go seemingly at a loss for words as he turned to Sandy, "He… I didn't mean to hit him with that paint can! It was an accident!"

Sandy gave him a stern glare pointing to the remaining rubbish to clean up, then pointing to the landfill, and then finally back to North.

Pitch nodded dropping his gaze to the floor understanding Sandy wanted him to finish what North had told him to do and then go back to report to the man. Pitch was no longer in as much of a hurry as he finished his task as Sandy made his way back to North and Toothiana.

"I should make him help with cleaning yeti off." Said North when Sandy returned.

Sandy looked back at the yeti that was still visibly trudging back towards the hub entrance obviously upset and turned back to North with a doubtful look as if to say he didn't think that the yeti would agree. He then looked to Toothiana for her opinion.

"You're probably right." She answered as if Sandy had actually spoken, looking toward the yeti.

North nodded. "Yes, perhaps," He sighed.

Pitch didn't have much to clean up, and he was done within ten minutes even though now he had stretched finishing the detail out so as to stave off North's ire. But, he did still want to see Toothiana, so he sighed preparing himself for the berating to come as he approached the three looking rather sheepish, "All the scraps have been disposed of," Pitch stated in a barely audible whisper.

"Good," North said with a curt nod. "And I hope you learned something from that incident."

Pitch nodded, "I hadn't meant for that to happen," his mouth twisted into a frown of regret, "He wasn't exactly keen on accepting an apology from me."

"If you had kept temper under control, it would not have happened." North huffed.

Pitch scowled darkly thinking, 'If you had just let me wait to finish this nonsense, it wouldn't have happened in the first place!' He of course didn't say this out loud as he moved past North to sit beside Toothiana. He gave her a small smile, "Sorry to keep you waiting so long."

"It's okay, Pitch." Said Tooth. "Although I do wish you would learn to control your temper."

Pitch found himself ducking his head, "I'd like to think I've gotten better with momentary lapses."

"That might be so, but it still needs work." Tooth replied, taking a bite of her lasagna.

Choosing to ignore that remark, Pitch asked, "How do you like the lasagna?"

"It's really good," Tooth nodded.

Sandy floated into the seat next to Toothiana grabbing up a fork to take a bite from his own plate.

Pitch took a bite himself, but after everything that just happened, he was feeling a bit distracted as his eyes shifted to North now.

"This is quite good." North commented, taking another bite.

Pitch was pleased that everyone seemed to be enjoying the chosen dish he'd picked, and it felt good to have them all to have come to the Pole to join him in this way.

He looked back to Toothiana, "Were you able to get all caught up, or are you still running behind?"

"We got caught up for the most part, I guess. But we've got more teeth coming in every day." Tooth replied.

Pitch smirked, "Well business is booming then, but it's good to hear you're not behind anymore. Perhaps you'll be able to visit more now that you are," Pitch stated hopefully.

"Yeah, I should be able to. At least, until I get behind again." Tooth smiled.

North's eyebrows rose. "You will not visit until after next week."

Pitch's mouth dropped open at North's admission. Why did he have to mention that! His face flushed as he averted his eyes hoping she wouldn't question why. He remembered belatedly then that he'd managed to avoid ever telling her about the fact he'd ever even been on restriction let alone about to be grounded. He had to try to salvage the well tapestried omission, "Yes, North and I will be spending a lot of ...one on one time together when he has the time. But you're likely going to need a little more time to get in a good position to come visit anyway." Pitch let out a strangled laugh.

Tooth looked from Pitch to North, not entirely understanding. She shrugged. "Okay, that's fine with me." She smiled, glancing at Sandy.

Sandy was glaring with a disapproving frown at Pitch seeing that he'd obviously been lying to Toothiana.

Pitch squirmed under his penetrating gaze doing his best not to look in the golden man's direction. Pitch cleared his throat changing the subject now afraid what further conversing on the topic would expose, "Yes, we've gotten the majority of the work on the conveyor done. In fact, we should be finished hours after our lunch concludes! It's quite a marvel to behold now eh?"

Tooth looked toward the conveyor. "I suppose so. If you can call a trash conveyor something to behold."

Pitch frowned as he snipped, "Well of course it's not exactly impressive as a structure overall, but we've put a lot of hours into restoring it! It looks better than it did before… I mean before I helped destroy it," he amended a bit peeved by her response. He was somewhat proud of the work they'd done, and to hear her write it off as nothing special irked him. He knew it wasn't a marvel, but he hadn't exactly poured much effort into anything else lately either, so her statement was seen as an affront to what they had accomplished in Pitch's mind.

"I still can't believe you destroyed it." Tooth shook her head.

Pitch prickled at the comment, "Technically, I didn't destroy it, North's death machine did. I… I just made the mistake of unleashing said death machine," Pitch corrected his eyes flicking over to North to make sure his statement wasn't taken poorly.

"Regardless, you were still one who destroyed it, Pitch." Said North, not looking up from taking a bite. "You had hand in orchestrating whole thing. Do not shift blame to an inanimate object that would have otherwise been harmless had you not turned it on."

Pitch scowled, as he muttered, "I didn't turn that thing on, it was predisposed to kill when I opened the door." Pitch's mood had grown very sour now as he stabbed angrily at his lasagna.

"Of which you were not even supposed to be doing in first place." North replied, pointing at Pitch with his fork. "I thought we already discussed this. If you are still not able to accept that you were one to do it without making poor excuses, then perhaps we need to go back to Pole and have another little discussion, hm? Everyone knows you did it. There is no need to keep dancing around truth."

Pitch's patience was growing thin. He was tired of hearing how much he'd screwed up, he spat his irritation, "I'm not shifting blame! Everyone knows I did it, how could they not when they're reminded without a shadow of a doubt any time the subject comes up! It's not an excuse either, it's a product of the entirety of the circumstances! Yes! I never should have done what I did! Yes, I was to blame for the events ever happening, but I never built a mechanical killer that if it hadn't been lying in wait would have never caused such massive destruction under the commands that you left for it!"

"No one is saying that you built the robot, Pitch, nor are they blaming you for its existence. But if you say that you are not shifting blame, then why is it that your side of argument always comes back to robot?" North said calmly, lifting an eyebrow. "It sounds to me like you are trying to put some blame on me for merely owning the thing, which is partly shifting blame."

Pitch fumed, "Or maybe you're just feeling a little guilty that I mention it at all?" Pitch rolled his eyes frowning deeply as he stared daggers at his food and viciously cut into the pasta.

"Why would I feel guilt? There is no law saying that I can't own robot. It is object like the toys I make, like the cutlasses I own." North took in a deep breath. "Pitch, if I put one of my cutlasses in a drawer and locked it up where no one could get hurt on it, it's not going to harm anyone. It's still a dangerous weapon able to kill if placed in right hands, but as long as it remains in drawer no one will get cut. Now, if you snuck into my room, broke the lock on drawer, and took the cutlass out and sliced off a finger, whose fault is that? Would it be your fault for deliberately going in room and breaking lock to get at cutlass, or would it be my fault for owning cutlass?"

"A cutlass isn't about to chase me down and cut my finger off for me. That robot on the other hand, well let's just say it didn't exactly have the safety on," Pitch quipped.

"A cutlass does not have safety either!" North's voice rose slightly as he glared at Pitch. "You know full well what I mean. That robot was locked up for everyone's safety. It's been that way for hundreds, even thousands, of years. You were the one who broke the lock and set it off. Now, I will hear no more about this subject. I can tell that you have problem with pride, Pitch. If you do not do something about that, it will get you in more trouble one of these days."

Pitch ground his teeth seething inside, "I know full well what you meant to be sure, and by the stars please let it be the last time we ever speak on this subject! I would ever be so grateful!" He growled never looking up from gouging his lasagna. If they never spoke about the accursed incident again it would be too soon!

"Pitch," Tooth whispered, scowling and shaking her head.

North studied Pitch a few moments before turning to his meal again. He would grant Pitch's wishes, but he doubted that the subject was far from being over.

Of course she'd take North's side! "What!" He whispered harshly knowing exactly what she was admonishing him for but lashing out anyway. He was feeling ganged up on. This lunch that was supposed to be enjoyable, but it was being anything but. No longer in the mood to eat he growled, "I've lost my appetite!" Deciding he no longer wished to join them in this way, Pitch pushed his plate aside with a sharp shove getting up from the table and storming away. He was done being patronized!

North heaved a big sigh, rolling his eyes.

Pitch continued to the far end of the work site finding a crate next to the conveyor and climbing on top of it. He pulled his legs into himself resting his chin on his knees with a firm pout as he wrapped his arms tightly around his legs. Pitch was sure to face away from them not even wanting to look at them now. He didn't know why he'd wanted to have this lunch to begin with! If it had just been Toothiana, the whole event would have been much more pleasurable, even Sandy would have been welcome, but North was just ruining everything!

Sandy watched Pitch bluster as he rocked in his seat looking slightly uncomfortable by the scene as he glanced back and forth from Toothiana to North and took a sip of his soda.

Without saying a word, Tooth got up from her place and floated over to Pitch, hovering a few feet behind him. She shook her head and sighed at the pathetic display.

Pitch's frown deepened, "Did you come all the way over here to berate me further?" Pitch quipped never turning around to face her, "He's always got to make my life miserable! I don't understand it! One minute, he's great to be around, and then another he's …he's being like this!" He flung a hand up in the air as a sign of being fed up before tucking the hand back around his legs.

"Pitch," Tooth said as gently as she could, "you're the one who's making yourself miserable. You're taking what North said and are twisting it around and seeing it as a personal attack. It's not an attack. He just wants to make sure that you understand that the whole incident was entirely your fault and that you have no one to blame but yourself. I hate saying this, but North was right about it all. But that's all I will say about the matter, since it obviously annoys you for us to talk about it. Although I will say that you could have handled the situation without being immature about it."

"Immature!" Pitch did wheel around to face her now, "I left so as not to cause further irritation to anyone! Leaving the situation was my way of not letting things get out of hand!" He stood then squinting his eyes angrily, "Why do you always have to take his side! I know I was at fault for what happened! That doesn't mean I want to get it thrown in my face every time the topic comes up! Is it always going to be you all against me?!" He was balling his fists tightly at his sides as he practically yelled at her now.

Tooth reached out and slapped Pitch's face hard. "Do not raise your voice to me!" she said as calmly as she could, her teeth clenched. "So you admit now that you were fully at fault? Why couldn't you have just simply said that to North the first time? The way you kept wording your responses, it did sound like you were subtly trying to push some of the blame on him, when you knew all along that it was all your doing. Were you purposely trying to taunt him?" Tooth's brow drew down in a look of confusion. "And for your information, I am not taking anyone's side. I am perfectly capable of making up my own mind and forming my own opinions. It just so happens that I agree with what North was saying about the situation. Do you honestly think everyone should be on your side and always agree with you, even when you're in the wrong? Just because I agree with North's point of view does not mean I'm against you or care about you any less."

Pitch backed away from her gripping his face and just shaking his head in disbelief that she'd struck him. His mouth worked and tears brimmed in his eyes, she'd hurt his pride and she'd also hurt him deeper to have taken such a stance with him. His gut tightened as he stated through clenched teeth, "You don't care for me at all it's obvious! None of you really do! All of you think you can just strike me whenever I don't fit into your mold, and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you! Just go! I'm done with you and your righteous indignation!"

Tooth shook her head sadly. "I struck you because you were getting out of line. And if we didn't care about you, you'd still be rotting in that hole we put you in oh so long ago. But then again, that's something you've heard before too." She gave a curt nod. "Alright, I'll go. I hope you'll be happy dwelling in your conceited little world." With that, Tooth turned and flew off, not even bothering going back to the table.

Pitch watched her fly off, and his heart sank as the tears he held back finally spilt down his face. He wiped them away. His resolve hardened then, he wasn't going to suffer this any longer. He was fooling himself thinking they cared about him, they didn't really care about him; they only wanted to control him! He was such a fool! Of course they didn't really want him, who would? All he was to them was a thorn in the side they were trying to placate, so he'd be less of a thorn. Why didn't he see it before? He sat back down on the crate pulling himself into a ball once more and burying his face in his knees.

Back at the table, North and Sandy had witness the whole thing, even though they couldn't hear everything that was said between the two. When Tooth flew off, North scowled, turning a puzzled look to Sandy. "I wonder what he has done now." He grumbled.

Sandy sighed deciding the lunch had been fitfully ruined he floated up from his seat patted his friend on the shoulder in a sign of sympathy before turning to leave himself.

Pitch for his part did not move from his spot just waiting to get back to work. He wanted nothing more now than to be done with the work detail, so he could go back to his room and wallow in his own self-pity.