Pitch curled up tighter on the fainting couch in his lair, pulling a pillow over his head.

He was a spirit of fear. Right now should have been a veritable feast for him.

It was bitter and sour, inedible at its worst and unpalatable at best.

The children's fears...he hadn't realized when his tastes had changed from the adult fears of the other Guardians to the fears of children. The dark, bugs, heights, being lost, monsters in the closet...him,to be specific. Those, they were supposed to be afraid of.

These fears, that they were having now...the children were afraid as their world changed, and it wasn't anything he wanted a part of.

There were other fear spirits out there feasting, he knew. He'd put them back in their places once he could stand to be out there.

Children had been afraid of adult things more and more over the past few years, but this was the worst. Even the ones that were too young to really appreciate what was going on were afraid, knowing something was happening.

Pitch had seen Sanderson's lights in the sky. Seen Toothiana's annoying little fairies dashing all over the place, tasted the nip in the air from Frost with that sharp taste to it that came from Nightlight. That rabbit's holiday was tomorrow, and he could taste that coming on as well – the children's odd mix of excitement and disappointment.

Groaning, Pitch started the long, slow rise to his feet, unfolding inch by inch from his fainting couch, shadows pulling from the corners of the lair to wrap around him tighter.

Onyx trotted out of the shadows fully formed, the strongest and most loyal of his nightmares, to nudge at his elbow and have her snout caressed.

The Guardians, with all their precious hope and light, had this under control. For the children, at least.

But the fear spirits...they were forgetting who was the King of Nightmares.

They needed a reminder and to be put back in their places. Trying to grow powerful from the situation...understandable, really, given the amount of fear in the air, most of them were scavengers so it made sense to take advantage of the situation.

Understandable, but still something Pitch couldn't let stand.

Ugh. The Guardians were going to be utterly insufferable after this.

-XXX-

Pitch stood on a hilltop and glared down at the city below.

He'd rousted five different fear spirits from it so far, and he was feeling on edge. The children's fear should have been sweet, but it was sour, sour and prickly and bitter.

It was adult fear, and it was wrong, wrong, wrong to taste coming from children.

It still gave him power, more than the other fear spirits could imagine, but it left a sour taste on his tongue Pitch wasn't entirely sure he'd hidden.

Ah, well, at least the other spirits had taken it as part of his disgust and anger with them.

A swirl of golden sand spiraled down from the sky, and Pitch huffed, turning away.

The sand sparkled at him, not yet speaking but managing to be curious and wary – and hopeful.

"Oh, shut it, Sanderson," Pitch growled, waving a hand to disperse the sand.

It reformed, growing just as smug as Pitch had predicted.

Pitch snarled, lip curling with the animalistic sound. "Shut it," he repeated, again waving to break up the stream. "This is purely selfish and you know it."

A stream of sand should not have been able to give the impression of rolling eyes, and yet.

Rolling eyes and more of that damnable hope and Pitch couldn't handle this right now.

"I. Am. Leaving," he snapped. "Go on and spread your little dreams, you'll find no other fear spirits here tonight."

The strand drooped, lights sparkling in the language of stars.

Pitch huffed. "Yes, yes, well, I'll be taking care of them. Don't get used to it, I'm just reminding them of their place."

The sand twirled around Pitch affectionately, a quick embrace he wasn't fast enough to avoid, and it managed to laugh as it retreated back up to the sky.

Pitch managed to retain his dignity enough not to stick his tongue out at the sand...but only just.

Onyx snorted at him, and Pitch rolled his eyes as he mounted. "Not a word," he said warningly.

Onyx snorted again, shaking her head at her master's antics before leaping, sending them into the shadows.

Honestly, they were all so stubborn.