At the start there was nothing but darkness. An endless void of nothing, no sound, no smell, no feeling and no end or hope.

Pitch was shocked. He knew darkness. He was darkness, but this, this was something different. This was emptiness, loneliness, negativity as an almost suffocating presence. He could having been floating on his back for all he could tell. There was no ground to be felt under foot or sense of direction such as gravity telling him which way was down.

Darkness was Pitch's home. He walked the darkness and shadows, the way others walked paths and roads, but even he felt fear in this darkness. Fear of losing himself, of losing his way and forgetting.

Forgetting everything.

For a spirit who forgets finds themselves lost forever. To forget oneself, of one's purpose, of one's role in the world is to no longer exist in the world.

Many had fallen to this darkness. Gods of old, no longer worshipped, forgetting what had once been, what they had once been, vanishing forever. Though fading would be a better world to describe it.

It's said that the beginning is invisible to the eye, that the darkness just takes root in the mind and spreads from there. First to go are the oldest memories were it can't be felt before slowly creeping forward and engulfing each memory until there are only the new set ones left.

During this time a spirit will slowly start to fade as they lose themselves. They lose the light in their eyes, their purpose and their role before fading into nothing. Others who have watched another go through it describe it in stages. First to go is their 'spark', the thing that makes them them. Then they become forgetful, forgetting what they have done or need to do. Next is their emotions, they stop smiling, stop frowning or getting upset. Finally they lose their colour and fade away.

The slowest fading is said to have happened over thousands of years, the quickest only a few small months.

And the worst part … there is no known cure.

Standing in the darkness Pitch felt nothing but despair. Kellina was losing herself and there was nothing he could do.

Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward. As soon as his foot touched what should have been ground beneath him the darkness vanished, leaving nothing but light a colour in its absence.

Pitch now stood in a meadow, the sun shining down warming the air around him. A breeze blowing gently, cool but not unpleasantly so. Children and animals are running in circles playing together and at the center of it all sits Kellina, in her human form, watching over the group with warm amber eyes.

The whole scene was so different from the darkness before that Pitch was thrown off balance. Now everything that had been absent before hit him a full force. The sound of laughter, yips, growls and other noises as the young played, the smell of crushed grass and flowers, the feeling of the breeze and the sun and the love, care and the feeling of content that filled him.

Pitch slowly makes his way forward, dodging the young as they continue to play, though others may call it dancing, in circles around the spirit in the center. Making his way over to her, Pitch could see the meadow had no ending and no darkness.

Once he was standing behind her he opened his mouth to speak but is stopped by another voice.

"It's so peaceful here."

Looking down he notices Kallina still isn't looking at him. Looking away from her he responds.

"Yes it is."

"You know this is all I've ever wanted. A place were the youth of the world can play and enjoy their innocence surrounded by nothing but peace and love."

There is a pause before she speaks again.

"Some days I wonder if it will ever be possible but I've come to learn it's not. For it to be possible we must lose things we are not willing to.

Selfishness, greediness and ambitious are just a few things we'd have to lose but even I would not give them up. Nothing and no-one is perfect so this will never happen."

That's when Pitch see's it, the darkness. On the stump Kellina was sat on, thorns surround it and were slowly growing up. Multiple branches where already tangled with the bottom of her dress, piercing holes into it.

"You know, I wonder if I'm good at what I'm doing. Am I really the best choice to be the spirit of care? To be the spirit of care I should be there for all that need me, no?

And yet I wasn't able to. Look at Jack, how much could he have benefitted from simply having someone acknowledge him but I wasn't able to. How many children have a missed, how many mad men and women, abusers and monster have I caused by not giving my care to them?

How many disasters are my fault? How much of the blame falls on my shoulders?"

Pitch looked at her in silence for a moment before watching the thorns grown higher and thicker around her. And then it happened, there was no spark, click or light bulb moment but a simple dull realisation of what the darkness was.

It was a silent killer that no-one saw. One that could be hidden behind a smile or laugh yet even when not hidden, it wasn't taken seriously.

Self doubt, guilt and depression.

Three emotions that make up the darkness. Each one on it's own able to make the best base for the others to grow on.

Here was the spirit of care, the one who stood against the three emotions almost everyday, fighting and losing to them.

The battle hidden behind a smile and nothing more.

"And yet no matter how much I fail I'm still greedy and selfish. Though I fail to protect others I still find myself wanting things… well only one thing."

Pitch looks at her once again, even if she's not looking at him.

"What? What do you want?"

He sees the twisted smirk she pulls.

"You always ask that and yet I know you know the answer."

"Tell me anyway."

That's when he sees the single tear fall from her eye as she meets his through the corner of her eye.

"You.

I want your love."

He finds it hard to breath for a moment.

"You have my love. You've always had my love."

She bows her head and the thorns climb higher around her, tears now watering the ground in front of her.

"Not the love I want. I thought I had at one point. I thought you loved me as a woman but you didn't. You love me as a sister."

Pitch stood looking at her in shock, so caught up in what he had just heard he almost missed the whisper that followed.

"The moon was right. I'm a failure and as big as a monster as all those I failed."

With that Kellina broke down in tears and the thorns grew up around her, like a cocoon.

Pitch on the other hand felt like he was burning with rage. He had slowly been putting all the pieces together but that last omission had been the last piece.

How dare the moon!

How dare he tell her anything but the truth!

How dare he fill her head with dark lies!

Pitch looks at the woman he loves.

Though I am probably just as much to blame. I should have told her truth to begin with. It wouldn't have given Manny the ability to fill her head. This is my fault. I must fix this.

Kneeling down, Pitch reaches forward and summons his shadows. He cuts through the thorns surrounding Kellina. He's surprised when they grow back quicker then he cuts them, slowly his anger builds until he's hacking at them. He only stops when he realises the thorns are now wrapped around his wrist. He watches as the thorn cut into his wrist before relaxing and releasing him.

Surprised he tries something different.

"Kellina? Kellina!"

The thorns simply stay still.

"Kellina you in there still?"

He watches as the thorns move slightly until he can almost see her face. Her voice whispers back.

"Yes. I'm here."

"Kellina. I have something I need to tell you."

Pitch keeps his voice calm, so is surprised when she flinches.

"Kellina what's wrong?"

"I know what you're going to say. You're going to shout at me, tell me how much of a failed I am. I know! I know already! I hear it every month before I change!"

Pitch is shocked by her outburst.

"But I don't! I don't think of you as a failure! In fact I think you one of the most hardworking spirits who needs more recognition. I look up to you and hope one day I'll be good enough… because … because … because I love you!"

Phe takes a couple of deep breathes. He couldn't believe he had said it. That he'd told her he loved her.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!"

Pitch isn't sure what sent him backwards. Her voice or the thorns that just erupted around her and now seem to be trying to attack him.

But as he looks up at her, he couldn't move, she stood there her amber eyes glistening with tears. Yet to him she never looked more beautiful, her strength shone through as he felt the power radiating off of her.

It wasn't until the thorns wrapped around him again did he notice what was happening. He doesn't struggle and lets the thorn branches wrap around his arms and legs. Slowly he is lifted off the ground and brought in front of her.

She stands in front of him, hands clasped together in the middle of her chest, tears in her eyes. Slowly she unclasped her hands and stretched them out towards him, in side sat a single red rose.

"Will you please accept my heart my love? Please. I don't care if you don't return in, please just accept it. Please!"

Her voice no louder than a whisper at the end.

Pitch noticed the thorns around him where the remains of a rose bush and every other flower on it had wilted.

Slowly, as to see what the thorn branches around his arm would do, he reached for Kellina. As he hand comes up to meet hers the thorns tighten and he stops moving, after a moment they loosen again and he continues to reach for the bloom. Just as his fingers brush the petals Kellina flinches back, though her hands stay still.

Before he is able to grasp it he hears her whispering.

"Please don't destroy it. It's my last one."

As gently as possible Pitch lifts the single bloom from her hand and raises it to his nose. The faint perfume almost makes him forget this was all in her mind.

"I accept your love."

Then he offers her the red bloom back.

"Do you accept mine in return?"

She looked shocked for a moment before the largest smile formed. She reaches forward, he expects her to take the flower but instead she reaches past it and places her hands on his cheeks. Slowly she brings him forward, the thorns had already fallen away, until they're lips are just a hair breath away.

"I thought I was wrong. I thought you only saw me as a sister."

"Never. My love for you is more than that."

She looks him in the eye before returning to his lips.

"This has been the best ending I've had so far for this dream."

Pitch takes a gasping breath.

"Wake up and I'll tell you this all over again."

"And how do I wake up?"

"Kiss me."