WARNING! If you have not read The Guardians books by William Joyce you may want to read them before you read this. There is a part in here that contains information about Pitch that is in the second book. I consider it a spoiler. If you don't mind learning a little more about Pitch then you can read. Also there is a character that is not part of the books that I put in here. *hint: She has wings.* 

(Pitch's POV)

I was surrounded by darkness. I wasn't uncomfortable. I was simply in pain in my dark comfort. I tried to gather all of my thoughts. Only a few things were making sense, and my own memory was fuzzy. I fought against the fearlings that possessed me. They restlessly continued to persuade me of who I was.

However, I knew who I was. I knew what I could do, but they were right. I would not rest until everyone was in fear. I would not stop pursuing children until they had a world of fear and darkness. I wanted everyone on their knees in fear. Even if she, the lovely (_your name_), couldn't see me, the satisfaction of her nightmare overwhelmed me.

There was a dark, sweet scent in the air. I grinned to myself, and my fearlings began to swarm around me. I stood and glaced at them. I was craving a few fearful tears.

"Settle down." I laughed as they as they began to stop. "We can't have too much fun. Let's begin."

I laughed as we entered the dreams of children. Some cried in their sleep, giving off tears of nightmares. Many screamed when they saw me. Every nightmare increased my satisfaction of who I was. The Nightmare King. My dark side only grew dark and more pleasant, making me feel more alive and real. I finally realized that giving nightmares really was what I lived for. I was darkness.

As the night went on, the nightmares became more frightening. Children would want to wake up, but my fearlings and I overwhelmed them with their fears. I could hear them struggling to wake up while I was in their nightmares. It was agreed that we couldn't scare too many, for the guardians would know Jack was telling the truth about spotting me. I still had a great time scaring the ones that I could. I made sure they might not ever want to sleep again. Many were scared of certain animals. Some of despair. Some of losing someone. Few of faceless people. My favorite was the nightmare of me.

Then we reached a more gruesome dream. The dream was set in a dark, two story house. It was broken and abandoned somehow. It didn't seem empty, but didn't seem full of life either. My fearlings asked me if we were even in a dream at all. I assured them that we were, and we entered the house to find the child who was dreaming this. I opened the front door and saw a pile of blood next to a woman whose face was ripped off. My fearlings went up stairs as I took a look at the first floor a little more.

A child passed through me and grabbed some scissors off a small table. I was about to follow the child until I realized that she went through me because she was part of the dream. I stared at the child, and she smiled at me. I smelled something burning, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"Hi Mr. Scary Man, are you here to scare her?" She walked towards a light switch.

"I am the Boogeyman. I'm here to scare someone. Can you tell me who it is?" I stepped right in front of her.

"You like scary things?"

I don't like when people get off topic. I nodded.

She laughed. "Then you'll like this."

She put the scissors to her neck and turned on the light. Her head instantly fell off, and the light revealed blood and more mutilated dead bodies piled behind her. I heard a scream from upstairs. I laughed as the kitchen began to catch on fire, and I heard more screaming. I walked upstairs to the dreamer of this dream. The doors and halls were on fire.

"This will probably cause a phobia." I laughed to myself as I reached the door.

"Pitch!"

My eyes widened, and I pushed the door open. "No..."

(_your name_) screamed my name again. She was cornered by the fire. I looked around and noticed no windows, not one real way out. I realized she didn't fear the fire. She didn't fear dying either. She feared the pain of no escape.

"That's why the day at the park you..."

My fearlings laughed and made the fire get closer to her. 

She gave me a worred smile. "Pitch, you'll help me, right? Just like last time."

I was about to nod, but the ceiling fell and she screamed. I laughed and ordered my fearlings to make the fire grow towards her.

"Pitch." Her eyes were red.

"Aww, tearing up now?" I laughed. "It's a shame you haven't come to terms with who I am, Love. You might not have lost hope this fast."

The floor beneath her began to crack. "Pitch, why are you doing this?"

"Don't you know the man I am? I'm the Nightmare King. Why else would I do it?"

Is this not wonderful?

I laughed. "After all, darkness is my nature. I cannot change the fact that I love hearing your screams. I cannot change that I am absolutely craving those tears. There is nothing I want more than the torment of others."

She looked at me. "Pitch, please." The floor beneath her cracked more.

The fearlings began to laugh and make wicked noises.

I grinned at her as she began to cry. "Sorry, I'm not the one."

I snapped, and the floor collapsed as the fire engulfed her. Her scream almost covered my laugh. My fearlings and I engulfed ourselves in darkness, arriving at our home. I felt darker as I laughed. The fearlings swarmed around me, applauding me.

"Your king has returned! Everyone, EVERYONE, shall live in fear. Every child will know of me. Every child will know what fear is. And no one will find any hope in light ever again."

As they cheered, I felt strange inside. I felt hollow, but filled. It felt like something was holding my heart and was ready to squeeze it.

"I need to gather my thoughts." I left and entered a dark forest. I hid from the moon, so I would have no distractions.

I sighed and tried to figure out my sensation.

Was it not wonderful that I could finally give her a nightmare? Why am I so empty? Yet somehow I'm whole.

I heard her calling my name, but I told myself it wasn't her.

I scared her. Why would she still call me? Why do I feel beckoned by her?

I closed my eyes and felt a soft wind against my cheeks.

"I miss her."

Is (_your name_)'s nightmare enough for me?

I sighed. "If the whole world except her is in fear the guardians will know that I'm....... I'm what?"

That you're protecting her. But why? Why would you protect her from yourself?

I hit the tree. "Why do things have to be so compicated!? I used to just scare people. Now I stop and think about what I'm about to do! My life was only this difficult when Katherine gave me the picture of my daughter!" I sighed. "Why is this so complicated?"

I heard a laugh. A girl with brown, gold tipped hair took a step toward me. Her wings were glowing and shrinking. "It's love." She smiled at me. "Pitch Black, you're in love."

I rolled my eyes. "There's no way it's love, Cupid."

She grinned. "It is. You've never been in love since you're soul was devoured. That's why everything seems so difficult to you."

"I'm the King of Nightmares. There's no way I can be in love."

She threw a ball of dirt at my face. I snarled at her.

"Listen, first of all you didn't call me by my real name."

"I don't know your real name!"

She paused. "Then the common name is fine. Anyway, you are in love. Unlike last time."

"The girl I supposedly loved?" I scanned Cupid's face.

"Yes."

"How did you know that wasn't real?"

She smiled. "I'm Cupid. I knew that you pretended to love that girl, so you could have Bunnymund kill her. That way you had an excuse to kill his love, June. So that way he would be so miserable he would give up hope on love, and in a way give up hope all together."

My eyes were wide, and I stood up. "You're a little too smart. How much do you know about me? How long have you been watching?" I began forming my scythe behind me.

"Oh, you can drop that weapon. I'm not here as part of the Guardians."

I crushed the scythe away. "Then why are you here?"

"To tell you to give love a chance." She smiled. "I'm not saying this as a saintly thing. I'm saying it as an experimenter." Her long red scarf began to flow as she began to walk in circles around me, practically gliding. "You like deals with others if it helps get you what you want, and right now you're fighting with yourself so much you have to think about victory."

"So you're going to help me with my nightmare and love thoughts?" I laughed inside.

"Wrong." Her scarf and black skirt stilled when she stopped right behind me. "I want to see if love really can conquer anything."

"Well if you followed me you would know the answer to that." I huffed and smirked. "I practically pushed (_your name_) away from me in her nightmare."

"Every love needs a tragedy. Love does not take a perfect form." She formed a ball of dirt. "It's normal." She threw it at a bird.

I watched the bird fall. "But I'm the Nightmare King! I want every one unhappy. The moment she gains light I will destroy it."

I watched Cupid catch the bird and heal it. The bird stood on her shoulder. She rolled her eyes. "You keep thinking, you're a loveless nightmare king, but what you really are," she held a clutched hand out, "is a loving king who gives off fear." Her hand opened to reveal a necklace with a silhouette of me with a small glowing red heart. "You were once a loving father. You lost it all to the fearlings that devoured your soul. When Katherine gave you the picture of your daughter, Emily Jane, you stopped. You stopped because you still loved your daughter. And now you stop because you love that girl. What you really are is a dark king with a heart." She placed the necklace in my hand. "I simply want to see if you could do what you want and still have love there. I believe you're not entirely full of hatred. And if you're scared I'll have power, what power could I have if there's fear throughtout the world and only two hold it?"

I looked at the necklace in my palm.

"Do we have a deal, Pitch?"

I closed my palm. "If I can keep (_your name_)."

She smiled. "Of course."