Believe in Me

Grey Walls

This chapter is completely based off events that were taking place in Pitch's Lair right before the cliffhanger left in the last chapter. I wanted to make this longer but I realized that it was three pages long (on Word at least) and didn't want to make this a chapter that was too long to hold interest. I SHOULD be updating again today, I'm in a writing mood, but it's six in the morning and I haven't slept yet so ^o^''' who knows. Either way, I'm truly grateful for the support I've been getting for this story, its encouraging to see that people like it. But if I don't update again this morning, I hope you have a good day, review if you'd like, and thank you so much for reading. 

But by the way, if you want to skip this chapter, you really won't be missing anything. The entire thing is pretty much just a conversation between Pitch and Chaos and doesn't say anything to my knowledge about anything new. 

Earlier that day…

Click clack, click clack… His footsteps echoed off of the chamber walls as he paced from grey wall to grey wall. The guardians had been much more careful about the sudden amount of free time he had given them, something he had neither expected nor wanted. With the three young spirits there, Pitch had figured that there was no doubt they would want to go out and play in the world, but there was a lack of any movement from the ones he wanted to leave. The reaper, the fairy, and the sandman were the only ones that would exit and return to the compound, the two guardians always sticking together and the reaper on complete guard throughout. He had gotten his hopes up when he watched from the shadows as the fox girl was nearing the exit to sneaking out, he was readying himself to attack, then Grey Loss showed up and took her back before his plan was even started. Pitch was in their home the entire time, watching from the darkness that the candles and sun created, keeping himself completely out of sight and torturing himself with the joy they illuminated, gritting his teeth in frustration at every laugh or smile that passed by. He was being good, keeping himself restrained, waiting for the right moment to get his victory once more. He was far past prideful wins, no, he would wipe them out whether he had to call a war or take them down before they even knew he was there. He had so many opportunities to swipe away the life of every single one of them there… and yet he didn’t. Something restrained him and, no matter how irritated their happiness made him, he had no intention to reveal himself or harm any of them. It was strange and he didn’t like it, it was a weakness in a sense that conflicted with the strength he had gained over time. By now, children all over the globe were experiencing nightmares, and not just the small ones. Humans of all ages were writhing in their beds, tossing and turning, kicking at the blankets and excreting the wonderful fear that the nightmare king could hardly get enough of. Now it was flowing into him endlessly. While the sun was up on one side of the world, it was down on the other, so no matter what the situation there were always people asleep, dreaming… fearing. Fear wasn’t something limited to dreams either, there were plenty of situations for a human to feel him or herself wanting to cry, wanting to run, whether life endangering or not. His power was practically unlimited, and easily rechargeable. His followers were angry and impatient, just the way he wanted them, as he sent them out to terrorize the world with more hurricanes, more emotions and more darkness than before. The guardians noticed it, but were too nervous to admit that they were ultimately failing in their goals to protect the humans. How could they defend the others if they were too busy and worried about keeping each other safe? And if they didn’t worry about each other, someone would die, someone would get hurt, that was what Pitch made complete sure to show them. They couldn’t drop their guard, but there was no time for them to care about both… In any situation, he would prevail.

The only other in the room was the taller spirit, his lean form pressed back against the wall to Pitch’s left, watching the nightmare king ponder the current situation with yellow eyes that glowed like warning signs. Despite the lack of a grin, Chaos felt himself in high spirits as of late. Everything was falling according to the plan he was making as he went along. If anyone was good at strategizing it was him, the planner and starter of any war, sarcasm or arguments, any rage at all. Everyone was affected by him. Fear was caused by chaos. Death was caused by chaos. In the end, he could either help or ruin either of them, and he planned to do the latter… but that would take patience, which sadly wasn’t one of his strong suits. Still though, he was granted small victories with each passing week. The nightmare king had been speaking with him about every idea that passed through the grey-skinned man’s head, growing to trust his ally so much that he didn’t realize that Chaos knew nearly as much as Pitch did about any plans, any ideas. He had Viola wrapped around his finger trying to make him fall for her, the woman was no doubt convincing (shown by her little show with Death) but he didn’t care for petty things like love. Love was something he just couldn’t feel. But she didn’t know that, flirting and obeying him with few words of disagreement.

But there was plenty they still needed to do. The wind spirit had to be pulled back and shown exactly why he shouldn’t have left, the grudge on Grey still stood, Jack was claimed to be Pitch’s play toy after a while, and then there was that sweet little fox girl that he was still nowhere near finished with. He longed for the blood to be back onto his hands, the feeling that was so intoxicating, the echoes of crying running into his awaiting ears… How badly he wanted to be able to attack again. But he knew full well that if he killed a human, Grey would know about it, and they were too weak and puny to keep alive if he wanted to have any fun at all with them. Spirits were extremely fun to play with simply because he could stab and beat and strangle them and they’d still have enough fight in them to keep living longer than a few minutes. Humans though… humans weren’t even worth the effort.

“Nightmare king, I was wondering…” He finally spoke, raising his head and crossing his arms over his chest, the folds of his navy jacket seeming to mold together as the worn edges brushed comfortably against his hand. Pitch glanced up, slowing but not stopping as he watched his follower calmly. “Go on.” Two simple words and he hadn’t even bothered to stop to hear. For one that described others as arrogant, the nightmare king was definitely getting there. But there was little time for thoughts like that. “I was wondering what you thought of the girl. I can’t decide whether I want to keep her or not, and it would be a shame to kill her if she could be helpful. Even as a form of entertainment, I honestly don’t care, but I thought I should get your thoughts on the matter,” He suggested rather bluntly, giving a small shrug to express the casual manner he was speaking in. He didn’t care what happened to her, but the fight that beamed in her, the challenge of watching the light in those eyes finally dim out for a while… was she worth it?

Pitch thought back to when the child was in his grasps, realizing that it was longer ago than he at first remembered it being. He remembered the soft feeling of the fur, the spark of curiosity that he felt when standing within a foot of the girl… she was interesting to say the least. The electricity could easily be contained with something like a rubber collar, and as a kid, she could be raised up and taught the ideals of a killer. Having nature on his side would no doubt be a good thing, and it would be better than having to face the wrath of the reaper and the guardians alike once he cut her down… But then he’d have to deal with the trouble of having to fend the group off every time attempted to come after her. There was no doubt in his mind that they’d soon forget about the kid and move on, and it wasn’t like they’d be living for that long anyways, but… Pitch finally replied, slowly but decidedly enough, “Keep her if you want her, I wouldn’t mind.” A smirk slowly grew like spreading water on the slightly tanned face that was watching him, the male with the brick-colored hair nodding in agreement. “Alright then, that’s just what I’ll do.”

The king went back to pacing and Chaos felt himself stir in excitement at the reactions the guardians would get once the kid went missing. He hoped that they wouldn’t be watching when he took her, wanting to cherish in the panic that spread through not just Death but the others as well as they desperately tried to search for her. It would be to their advantage, in their worry they would be off guard as the nightmare king picked them off. The plan fell into place easily, all they’d have to do would be to put it into action. Suddenly out of nowhere, Pitch looked up and declared, “We’re going to attack their home directly in an hour.” The sentence had been abrupt enough to make the spirit of havoc give a small ‘hm?’ in question. It wasn’t exactly smart. The guardians could see them coming and know to get ready to fight. If anything, the way of attack that Pitch had suggested sounded like it was based completely off of pride. Chaos shrugged to himself. Pride was a killer, but it caused enough wars and fights that he didn’t mind in the slightest. Despite the team he was fighting for, his mind was neutral and the moves he made were for his own benefit, so he hardly cared if the nightmare king was putting himself at a disadvantage. “Well, let’s go then,” he yawned out as he rose from his position leaned against the dark grey wall and stretched as he paced out the door and into the shadowed corridors. If it was nearing time to attack then he’d get ready… This time wasn’t a game like it mostly was in the forest. They’d fight to either kill, seriously wound, or capture. And if there was one thing that he refused to do… it was to lose.