Author's note: a reviewer (on ffnet) commented Pitch did not have as much of a cankered personality as they were expecting last chapter. I had my reasons but I see their point. Cranky Pitch coming up. Oh and Tooth POV first this chapter. Because.

"What in the world?" Tooth wondered aloud as she saw more of her fairies arguing with one another than working. How did this happen? She was only gone a few hours, ten tops! Was there an attack? Were the Nightmares a distraction? But no, someone would have reported to her if that was the case and things would not be so chaotic. They had protocol in case of attacks now and drills on how to handle invaders. No, something other than an attack happened here.

Her alarm distracted her from the actual arguments going on at first. However, now that she was focusing in on just what her girls were arguing about... names?

What?

"Oh! Mother-Queen! It's so good your back, things are out of control!" Fatima, her lieutenant for Africa, cried out in relief when she spotted Tooth.

"I can see that Fatima," Tooth said carefully, keeping her voice calm and soothing. Africa was not an easy continent to be in charge of and Tooth always tried to keep from upsetting the fairy. "What's causing all this though?"

"The crow doesn't have a name and Tweety thought it would be a good idea for everyone to try and name him," Fatime explained, wringing her hands as she looked around, tears were starting to gather in her eyes.

Instantly Tooth hugged Fatima and made calming 'shh' noises. Poor girl, having to deal with this mess after a long shift and little sleep. Even as she calmed her fairy Tooth's mind raced. She should have remembered crows and ravens don't have names, that they stopped using them after they when from respectable familiars to 'birds of the devil'. Should have known this was going to be a problem with how important names had become to her girls.

With a sigh Tooth let go of Fatima and marshaled her Queen persona once more. Hindsight was twenty/twenty as humans said and there was no point in thinking over what she should have done when there was still a problem at hand.

"Break up what arguments you can Fatima and get them back to work. I'll handle those in the big crowd," Tooth ordered.

Smiling, Fatima hovered stiffly and saluted Tooth smartly. "Yes, Queen-Mother," before zooming away to carry out her task. Cheeky girl.

Tooth was not surprised to see Tweety in the middle of the guest room, egging on her sisters whenever it seemed like the arguments were dying out. Off to the side Thamina and Jian were practically molting as they tried to calm the room down so that their patient could be in a restful setting. The crow meanwhile looked like he was split between preening under all the attention and five seconds away from pecking someone's eye out.

"Enough!" Tooth shouted and took a moment to appreciate the absolute silence that echoed after her order. "Tweety, you're on probation and we'll discuss your punishment later. Thamina and Jian; take yourselves off duty and rest. Everyone else get out and back to your station; now."

Tooth kept her posture stiff and her expression stern until the last fairy cleared out. Only then did she sag with relief and collasped to the bed with a guest loud sigh.

"I have to say," the crow commented dryly from his resting spot on the desk as he watched her. Tooth flushed slightly at the reminder she wasn't alone. "I've never seen a room cleared so quickly before," he finished sounding rather amused.

Tooth let out a small huff of a laugh as she sat up, only then remember the swords sheathed at her waist. "You sound like you know a thing or two about clearing rooms." Tooth only looked up from the task of getting her sword belt off when the crow remained silent.

He was watching her warily. Cautiously he explained with a strained flippancy, "You'd be surprised how fast little girls go from an outdoor sleeping party to one indoors when spiders and frogs starting falling on their heads."

Catching the two off-guard, Tooth found herself laughing. She could see the unfortunate girls shrieking in distress, batting at their hair and crying as they all fled inside.

"Oh," Tooth gasped, feeling beyond guilty, "I shouldn't laugh. That was cruel. How could you do that?"

The crow puffed his feathers, looking particularly smug not that he relaxed. Perhaps he thought she was going to scold him worse? "I didn't," he admitted. "One girl's brother and his friends did. I was simply there to see it unfold."

"Oh... sorry," Tooth said awkwardly and a heavy silence fell upon the room. "Look, about the girls earlier, they're not going to let you go without name. Names are important to them. So unless you want a name like Mr. Crow or Maria-"

"No thank you," the crow interrupted stiffly.

"-then you're going to have choose your own," Tooth finished undeterred.

She was pretty sure if crows could sneer he would be doing so right then. "Wonderful," the crow said, tone dripping with scorn.

"I know, I know," Tooth agreed as she rubbed tiredly at her forehead. "If it wasn't such a big issue I'd drop it but, surely it can't hurt to have a- a nickname for a little while?" she pleaded.

For a brief moment she thought the crow would continue to argue, instead he hunched further into his makeshift nest and sighed wearily, "After hearing that long, terrible, list your fairies gave I care not for naming myself."

Tooth could not blame him. Some of her girls gave themselves names or were given names by others in mischievous moods and those names were... unique. She was sure the names suggestions had gone from serious to 'imagine the worst impossible' rather quickly.

"Well... how about Muninn?" Tooth suggested delicately. It was the only name she could think of at the moment that might be suitable for the crow.

"Isn't that a name for a raven and already taken?" the crow asked archly, sounding pleased but wary.

Tooth shook her head sadly, "No. Muninn and Hugninn have been gone a long time now. I don't think either would mind being your temporary namesake."

The crow croaked out a small laugh. "So of course you pick the one that means 'memory'. Very well, you may call me Muninn. It's bound to better than anything else your little pests can think up," Muninn agreed reluctantly.

"Hey, two of those 'pests' helped fixed your wing and I bet more of them got you all the food and water you wanted. That's no way for a guest to treat his hosts," Tooth reprimanded as she finally left the bed. Moving over to the desk she carefully picked up Muninn and held him up to her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he demanded with some alarm but, mostly confusion.

Tooth laughed. "If you think you're going to be left alone once I leave this room you haven't seen how 'pestering' my girls can be. It's probably best if you come with me while I lead my girls in tooth collection. They can all learn your new name and sate their curiosity and maybe you'll watch what you say about my fairies after you see them hard at work."

"Oh, the joy," Muninn, voice oozing sarcasm once more, said as he reluctantly settled upon her shoulder.

"Lighten up. Your more of a sourpuss than Bunny," Tooth teasingly admonished and then wondered curiously why he bristled so badly. Sore subject?

CCtB

Pitch did not want to admit it but he was impressed. Collecting teeth was far more complex than spreading fear. He really underestimated Tooth and her little army. It was, afterall, one thing to know the fairies collected teeth in return for money and something completely different to see the process firsthand.

As if sensing his admiration, Tooth glanced at him smiled knowingly. Crows can't bristle but they can puff out their feathers enough to accurately display his displeasure.

Breaking off from her litany of locations for freshly lost teeth, Tooth giggled at the sight of him.

"I fail to see what's so amusing," Pitch snapped irritably, enjoying how his beak clacked loudly with his displeasure.

"Uh-huh. Sure," Tooth agreed sarcastically but her smile was still bright with amusement, "Sourpuss." Mischief was another possibility Pitch noted darkly.

Somehow, Pitch's mood managed to darken further as some of the eavesdropping fairies twittered merrily at his expense. Tooth studied him with growing concern and looked ready to apologize.

"Where were you?" Pitch quickly asked instead. The idea of Tooth apologizing... was unpleasant. There were hundreds of things he'd love for her to apologize for, especially if she was groveling as she did so, and he wasn't going to let her first apology be to him in disguise over a petty insult.

"I know you don't like him, Sandy. I don't either. He's a creep. A creep with awful teeth."

"Earlier, I mean. You were somewhere else while your fairies were suggesting names like 'Spot' and 'Hilary', weren't you?" Pitch clarified to keep himself focused. Tooth was the one that was supposed to be distracted.

His attempt certainly worked as Tooth silently mouthed 'Spot? Hilary?' with a look of complete disbelief, must be an inheritable habit. Shaking her head as if to clear it, Tooth frowned at him seriously.

"Guardian business. There's been Nightmare sightings and Pitch's lair has an entrance near Burgess," Tooth said slowly as continued to observe Pitch.

Did she suspect? Has his little story in the guest room given him away? Pitch was not really doing a good job at hiding his identity. Not if Tooth and the other do-gooders now knew about his return.

"Muninn..." Tooth started to ask cautiously, and Pitch waited with baited breath to see if he was discovered. "I found you in Burgess and Pippa said you were on that roof for a while. Did you see anything? Shadowy horses? Or a shadow man?"

Pitch carefully and casually exhaled. Best not to lie in case he was ever cross-examined by North or Bunny; both were astonishingly good at detecting lies. "I haven't seen any shadow men but at night there were shadow horses," Pitch answered after a moment. It was all half-truths and semantics but, there were no lies.

"I see," Tooth said softly, frowning and looking worried. Pitch tilted his hear and stared at Tooth, trying to understand the strange reaction. He was about to ask when Tooth smiled at him though it struck him as pained and forced. "Sorry I've kept you here so long when you need rest. I should let you get some more sleep."

"I feel as if I have been doing too much of that as of late," Muninn grumbled but, did not otherwise argue with Toothiana. It was only after he was left alone in the guest room that Pitch wondered if he should have told Tooth the Nightmares were searching for him.

But how could he offer such information without giving himself away? And why offer it at all? So Tooth had, rather ignorantly, welcomed him into her home and was caring for him. He didn't owe her anything.

...

Except she was clearly worried about the Nightmares. She could be another defense between him and the Nightmares should they somehow find him. That idea settled with him worse than the idea of being altruistic. He wanted to scream in frustration. Pitch sighed loudly. This was getting him nowhere.

Mentally shelving the problem away, Pitch settled down more comfortably into his nest. Tomorrow, he would come to a decision tomorrow.

Okay, just an important disclaimer; the Pitch Black comic released by DWA (so it's essentially extended movie!verse canon) is quoted in this chapter. that dialogue is not mine.