Pitch POV

The past few months with Anara Rose had been delightfully wicked, at least, in the opinion of Pitch Black. With every lingering gaze, passionate kiss, and nights filled with whispered sweet nothings, the Nightmare King could hardly remember a time when he was happier. Being with this young woman had slowly reawakened the spirit of the once honorable man Pitch used to be. The Nightmare King knew that the depth of his love for this mortal was growing by the day, and undoubtedly she would become his undoing. Still, Pitch Black had no desire to resist the young woman who now wholly owned his darkened heart. In fact, he wondered if a part of him craved for her ever-present light to purify the shadows of his past, so that maybe, one day, he could be known once more as General Kozmotis Pitchiner. One day, he would once again become someone worthy enough for the love of such a woman.

With these strong emotions swirling inside of him, Pitch had been making efforts to be a better spirit in spite of his current occupation. He may be the Guardian of Nightmares, but, as Anara had pointed out, he was still technically a Guardian. So, Pitch had slowly shifted to only scaring the children who had been acting...intolerable. The ones that bullied others or acted particularly disrespectful toward those that didn't deserve it. He sort of began to think of himself as the Anti-Sandman, or even a Krampus-like figure.

This was all going well...until a certain frosty Guardian showed up on the window ledge of a child's bedroom and scared the life out of the Guardian of Fear. Pitch had been there to deliver a particularly tame nightmare to a young girl who had shoved another girl on the school playground. She was afraid of lizards, a surprisingly common fear of young children, and so the Nightmare King sent her a dream of a giant lizard chasing her through her playground, reprimanding her for shoving the other girl earlier that day. Pitch saw it as a form of retribution. The dream was not cruel or grotesque, it was simply a way of urging the child to apologize for her actions.

Whilst the Boogeyman was crafting his perfect nightmare, a voice appeared behind him, one that chilled Pitch Black to the bone. "Still devastating kids I see," The Guardian of Fun, Jack Frost, remarked, sitting on the narrow window ledge across from the child's bed. Pitch whirled to face him, his expression twisting into a hateful snarl. "How dare you show your face to me. Get out of my sight, Frost..." The towering figure hunched his shoulders in the shadows, taking a threatening stance.

The white haired young man shook his head negatively. "No, I don't think I will quite yet. You see, I have some concerns about you. I thought we defeated you the last time we met. But, recently I heard from a little snowball that you are just as strong as before, and that...that worries me. What are you planning, Pitch?" Jack Frost questioned his enemy, glaring at him with steely blue eyes. Pitch narrowed his own eyes at the hooded Guardian. "My powers have returned, yes, but...I am no threat to you or your precious children, Frost. I have chosen to pursue something much more valuable than overthrowing all the goody-goody actions of you and the other Guardians..." Pitch admitted haughtily.

Jack Frost dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Oh yes...so I've heard. You claim to be in love with Anara Rose? Or at least, you've made her believe you are in love with her." Jack stated matter-of-factly. Pitch growled deep in his throat. "You know not of what you speak, boy!" The Guardian of Fun shook his head. "I think I do, Pitch. After all, I heard it from Anara herself." He met his opponent's eyes. "She never would've told you anything without telling me that she had done so. You are lying." "I assure you, I have no reason to lie to you. But know this, Anara Rose is one of the purest souls I have ever met. And while I have no romantic feelings for her, she is a friend to me. I will not allow you to corrupt her, or hurt her in any way. You will stay away from her, or next time I see you, the other Guardians will be here too. And if you love her, as she seems to believe you do, then you will stay out of her life. For the sake of her happiness, let her go. She deserves to live a normal life, one that no Guardian can give her..." Jack Frost finished sternly.

With a final glance at the Nightmare King, he leapt into the air, catching the wind with his magical staff and flying away without another word. Heartbroken and perplexed by the odd visit from his mortal enemy, Pitch Black stood shaking in the darkness of the child's bedroom, dreading the sunrise for the first time in a very long time.

Anara POV

A couple more weeks passed without incident, making me wonder if Jack had simply decided against telling the other Guardians of mine and Pitch's secret. Of course, I should've known that I had thought too soon. It was a quiet morning when my window suddenly slammed open, a strong surge of black sand flooding into the room. Obsidian whinnied and reared on her hind legs, startling Aphrodite and Artemis from their places at the foot of my bed. I sat up in bed, the blankets practically flying off of me as my heart pounded in my chest.

A familiar figure appeared from the mass of sand, my beloved boyfriend, and I attempted to calm my racing heart. Yet, there was still something wrong with this whole situation. When I had fallen asleep the night before, Pitch had been by my side. I knew he had a job to do, being the Guardian of Fear and all, but usually he returned much earlier in the morning, when the sky was still darkened with the shadows of dawn on the horizon.

Breathing deeply, I moved to approach my boyfriend, but hesitated when I finally registered the look on his face. Pitch was staring at me with an expression I had seen only once before, when he had discovered what Jason had done to me at prom. "Pitch? What is wrong, my love?" I inquired, voice soft with concern. Pitch's golden-silver eyes were as cold and emotionless as the metals they resembled. His nose was scrunched up, his eyebrows furrowed, and his lips were curled upward in absolute disgust. His fists were clenched into tight balls at his sides, his shoulders were hunched, and there was a distinct air of fury that had filled the room.

When my boyfriend finally spoke, a chill ran down my spine. "Don't ever call me that again...." He hissed sharply. "W-what?" I stuttered, confused by this sudden show of anger. "After everything... everything that I told you, even knowing how much...how much I love you...you still betrayed me..." He whispered, his eyes glued to the floor. I continued to stare at Pitch in uncertainty. "You lied to me!" His shout echoed in the otherwise silent room, causing me to flinch.

Realization finally dawned on me as I remembered that Jack and Jamie both knew of Pitch and I. The Guardians must have confronted Pitch about our relationship last night. "You know who I ran into last night? Jack Frost. Do you want to know what he said to me, the bane of my existence, my nemesis?" Pitch growled, stepping closer to me. I closed my eyes, waiting to hear what conversation had transpired in my absence. "That ice-ridden, half-brained, childish git had the nerve to saunter up to me while I was bestowing a nightmare upon a naughty child, and he orders me to leave you alone and that he knew everything about our courtship. He told me the only way to make you happy was to get out of your life. Are you really so miserable in my company that you would say such things to him?" Pitch continued scathingly.

Warm tears began to well up in my eyes, understanding that Pitch had completely misinterpreted the situation. "Pitch! I am not miserable with you at all. I love you so much! More than anything! I never said any of that to Jack. How could you think I would say such horrible things, especially about you?" I asked, reaching forward to grasp his forearm. The Nightmare King pulled out of my grip, shaking his head. "What else am I to believe? I should've known he would hold influence over you after you spent time together with the Bennett child. Is it hard to understand that your love for me makes no sense to me, and that I should have known it was too good to be true?" Swallowing hard, I hesitated to meet Pitch's eyes. I could feel the mixture of ice and fire in his gaze, almost stinging my skin.

He had a point. If I were him, having been through all he had, I would probably begin to have my doubts as well, especially if someone that I hated had confronted me about our relationship. "I'm sorry, Pitch. I never meant to make you feel like Jack holds sway over my feelings for you. We are friends, yes, but I only recently told him of our relationship. I told him I was happy with you. I don't know what has gotten into Jack, but I assure you that you have no reason to doubt my love for you." I tried to explain the situation as simply as possible. "That very well may be true, but we have another problem to address. When were you thinking about informing me of this conversation you had with Jack Frost? You and I both know what the Guardians would do to me if they believed me to be a threat to you." He growled, moving closer.

I shuddered from the sound of the ferocity in his voice, sadly shaking my head from side to side. "I-I don't know. I didn't want to worry you. I didn't want you to be angry. I was waiting for the right time, but it never came and I thought Jack may have forgotten the ordeal or decided to leave it be. I never expected for him to confront you." I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks at this point. Pitch's lips had curled into a catlike snarl, exposing his jagged teeth.

Fear slowly wrapped around my heart like an iron vice. I had never been scared of the Nightmare King since our friendship began, but here and now, I wondered if I should've been. Pitch leaned in close, his face mere inches from my own. "I should never have trusted you. You betrayed me, just like everyone else has. You deserve the Guardians. Let them protect you from now on, especially since they seem to think it is me who you need protection from." He sneered. In the next moment he vanished, fading into the shadows of my floorboards. And for the first time in what felt like forever, I was utterly alone in the stillness of my bedroom. My knees buckled, and I crumpled to the ground limply, my harsh sobs filling the deafening silence. Fury at Jack's interference and distress from the destruction of my relationship combined into a knot in my stomach, making me feel as though I was being torn apart from the inside out.