A/N: Now, this story is going to be written in a set of chronological drabbles. I know drabbles are supposed to be easy-going and around a hundred words or so, but I can't help but write a lot. So some chapters will be a little longer then usual, and others will be sort of short.

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I do not own MicrosoftWord and the writing program I use does not have grammar/spell check! Any info on mistakes is encouraged so that I may fix them! Thank you in advance :)

The Nightmare King has lived a long, long time. But with each new era comes a generation of weird, new people. As time moved on, Pitch learned and accepted that some believe in the Boogieman, and some just don't. However, he is soon going to find out that others are just really, really strange.

The Meaning of Fear

Confusion

'Twas the night of All Hollow's Eve

The Nightmare King's favorite time of the year. It was that time of the year when the Man in the Moon - or even those blasted Guardians - had little-to-no control over what he does and what he does best. This holiday was his!

Because no matter what most children were told, no matter how brave they claimed to be, the slew of horror movies and spooky stories told during the month just filled them with paranoia, and fear. Yes, he knew fear was but a choice, grown from a mere thought that could easily slip past a child's mind when they learned to overcome it or have any sense of safety. But Halloween? Oh, it was his form of euphoria. An all-you-can-eat feast. It brung out their fear and grew, festering inside their tiny little minds until they found themselves screaming in the middle of the night.

Of course, Pitch had never been as powerful as he was two years previously, nearly bringing the Guardians into extinction as he convinced the children of the world to no longer believe. It's just that this particular holiday was probably the only reason he was still alive or had any power at all.

And the Guardians can't do anything about it because, hey, these people wanted to be scared. They wanted to feel the fear he inflicted upon them, and it was the sole reason that Halloween even existed!

If Pitch was any other person, he would probably skip to the destination he had in mind. But he wasn't, and instead stalked through the dark corners of the night, silently relishing in his excitement.

The first place he planned to visit was an old camping cabin just outside of the small town, where a party of idiot teenagers/young adults were spending the night.

With an annoyed sigh, April kicked her feet against the hard, dirt ground. She stared out into the dark surrounding forest, silently wondering how long she could hide there before her nanny finally noticed her disappearance.

She turned back, sitting at the edge of the yard, and watched the various teens either sit/dance drunkenly around the large fire, morph into small groups around the porch, or walk in and out of the cabin with some kind of food or drink in hand.

Surely her father could have been smart enough not to hire a young twenty-something nanny with an actual social life, right? What with being left alone for the third time during the new nanny's first week (rotating nannies were common, for one reason or another), April was actually surprised a stranger hadn't come and snatched her up for ransom.

To have a mere four year old think of these things at all was actually quite sad. So, with another sigh, April dipped her hand into her half-filled bucket of Halloween-treats and munched on the first chocolate she could get her hands on. She swayed her head from side to side, thinking of anything she can do to ease her boredom.

It wasn't long before she heard a bunch of girly giggles behind her. Ah, there Nanny was now. A short, scrawny girl with smeared vampire make-up and fake, but washed-out blood on the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were lined with a dark, fading black color. Nanny said she was supposed to look 'scary'.

At the word, April tilted her head. Halloween was what people called a 'scary' holiday; it was a word she had heard many times throughout her life, but never really understood the meaning to. Did scary mean, 'to scream?' Because she sure saw that a lot. Especially when she went on the kiddie roller coasters at carnivals and fairs and the other little kids her age would cry.

She scrunched her nose at that and instinctively rubbed her ears. Jeesh, they hurt when people screamed near her.

Well, she thought idly, looking down at her own Halloween costume. Would I be considered as 'scary'?

A fluffy pink skirt ended below her knees, covering half of the leggings she wore to keep warm. Her hot pink winter-jacket was covering her top, and long, white bunny ears were perched on the top of her curly blonde head. She chowed down on a mini kit-kat, remembering the reactions of people who saw her in her costume for the first time. They cooed and awwed. But they didn't scream. Did that mean she wasn't scary?

The voice of her nanny brought her out of her thoughts.

"I have to take her, her father would so cut my pay if he hears I lost her again!"

"Ugh!" another girl scoffed, but keeping a giggling smile on her lips as she flashed a look at the two boys following them. She kept her voice low. "But don't you think it would be too scary to take her on the trail with us? People are going to jump out dressed as monsters and ghosts - she'll ruin it if she ends up crying! C'mon! I am not letting a little kid ruin my shot at clinging to Austin on the Haunted Trail!"

Nanny waved her off. "Oh please, it's no 'big! April doesn't scare easily, she might be a little slow to get what's going on. "

If the child spoken of even knew what it meant to be 'slow' in the way her nanny was speaking, she would have been insulted. She didn't like screaming! Especially if she really didn't have any reason to! That didn't make her slow! Just . . . very confused!

Nanny continued, "I mean, it's not like she's Amelia Gale. God help us all if she were,"

The other girl rose an eyebrow. "You mean your neighbor at your apartment? The one who is supposedly afraid of her own shadow, you've seen her walk out her door probably once or twice?"

"That's the one!"

By this time, the two girls, followed by the boys, had reached April. Her nanny kneeled with a smile, digging her hand into the pumpkin-head candy bucket as she did so.

"Hey April, you ready to go on a walk with us? It'll be fun!" She sang, as if the Haunted Trail the party set up was nothing more than a nature walk.

April couldn't help but smile, completely ignoring her stolen candy and dusting her self off as she stood. Yes, anything to keep her from just sitting here!

One of the guys frowned. "We're taking a little kid with us?"

The giggly girl from before quickly stepped into his line of site. She wrapped an arm around his and grinned. "Oh, don't worry Austin! Jess said April doesn't scare easily," she turned with a stern look at the nanny. "Right?"

Laughing nervously, the nanny April understood to be named 'Jess' now grabbed her hand. Her name was Jess . . . Huh . . . That was nice to know. Because April was going through a cycle of nannies every so often, it was hard for the four-year-old to keep track of their names.

Wait . . . What was her nanny's name again? . . . Oh well.

April was cold. And hungry. And she felt a little grouchy since it was way past her bedtime. But stupid Nanny just had to make her walk out into the freezing cold forest trail with a screaming psycho woman.

Every once in a while, someone would pop out of the bushes, making the weird girl (who she learned later to be named Sarah) cling to the red-headed boy's arm and scream loudly.

"Protect me Austin!"

"OMG we're going to die!"

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!"

Even her Nanny, who would jump at the slightest swish of wind, or rustle of the bushes, was getting annoyed.

And April continued walking on. The only things that really went through her mind for the past thirteen minutes was: Her legs hurt, her feet felt a little numb from the cold, and her candy was eaten by the other guy who smelt funny. Plus, the people who jumped out of the bushes and screamed 'Boo!' or 'Roar!' were just plain loud.

'Obnoxious!' her mother would say in such situations. It was a big word that was said so often when her mother spoke of work (or her father) at home, that even April could say it without much difficulty.

A ruffle of the bushes and leaves on the ground was followed by somebody jumping in front of the group, wearing a bed sheet over his head.

April scrunched her face at the oddity as Sarah, once again, screamed and cowered into Austin's side.

"AHH! OHMIGOD! SAVE ME AUSTIN!"

Ugh! That was it!

With a stomp of her foot, stopping her nanny in her tracks, April turned around with a glare.

"Shut up!" she yelled. "You are so loud!"

Even the ghost seemed frozen in place.

Sarah's face turned a bright red in the moonlight. Not because she had taken to heart that the four-year-old just mouthed off to her, but because Austin was laughing.

"Excuse me?" She gasped. "You're so disrespectful! How dare you speak to me that way! Right Austin? . . . Austin . . .?"

the group turned to the boy in question, only to find him wide-eyed and shaking.

"M-M-Mo . . . Monster . . .!" he squeaked.

"What are you talking about? He isn't that scary," Jess said with a roll of her eyes. She turned to the bed sheet-covered boy, only to freeze as he too dropped the act and backed away slowly.

It seemed to spiral from there.

Because he screamed.

And then he ran.

And then April tore her hand out of her nanny's grasp to cover her ears.

A dark shadow loomed passed the struggling moonlight, leaving just enough for the eye to see. Yellow slits for eyes peaked through the dark. A mouth with razor sharp teeth emerged and clamped shut, creating loud echo of slices split to their ears.

Each person saw a different thing - and with their small brains finally clicking into action, a series of more screams had followed two seconds after the first. Austin fell to the ground, attempting to crawl away from the area as Sarah and Jess took off in a direction off the trail. The ghost boy's eyes rolled to the back of his head before his body collapsed to the ground, and the other boy who came with the group . . . left a cloud of dust in his path.

"Such weak-minded people." A dark voice chuckled. "Even at such an age, this night still gives them the mind of but a mere child."

April shivered at the sudden gust of wind and lightly nudged the fainted boy with her foot, briefly wondering if she should take the bed sheet he was wearing for warmth.

"Oh look," the dark voice said softly again. "An actual child on such a dark, eerie night. Will you not run?"

April turned to the owner of the voice. His face was twisted into an odd expression, one she usually saw when her father was on the phone and yelling about something from a rival company. And he was wearing . . . a black dress? Or was it a robe? But why outside in this weather? And his skin was so pale with his eyes glowing a bright golden color. Maybe it was his costume, and his pale skin was just make-up, like Nanny had. And his hair . . .

She blinked once . . . twice . . .

"Your hair is pointy!" she giggled, pointing up at the man.

Pitch frowned.

"You can see me, and yet you do not run?" he asked.

April made an odd motion with her hands, her fists by the side of her temples before expanding them while stretching her arms. "Wah-PSSSHHH! They're like a chicken butt! Mister, how you get your hair to stay up like that?"

It took a good three seconds before Pitch frowned, nearly slumping his shoulders in disbelief. What? So screaming? No ounce of fear in the child's eyes? Instead, this girl, no, this child dare stand before the Nightmare king, continuing to make a fool of his dashing good looks? Did she not see the grown-ups run and scream?

"Little girl," he said darkly, evaporating into a cloud of smoke and swooping in close, bending to the child's height. "How is it that you can see me? Do you not fear me?"

April stopped her ridiculous mockery of the Boogieman's hair for a second, her hands freezing mid-air before dropping to her sides.

Do you not fear me? he asked. She thought about this.

Fear. A word she never seemed to understand. Maybe . . . just . . . maybe . . . this man could answer the question other grown-ups merely scoffed at?

She tilted her head. "Mister, what does 'fear' mean?"

Pitch Black had been the Nightmare King for a very long time. He was the Boogieman. The man who brought you nightmares; he's the monster in your closet and made creeky noises in the middle of the night. He had seen many things, met many different kinds of creatures and people. But never, ever, in either of his lives - both past and present - had he been this stumped before.

What is the meaning of fear? This child had asked.

No, he wasn't just stumped. Now . . . now Pitch Black was just confused.

She can see him, but doesn't even know the meaning of fear?

April shuffled her feet slightly, swinging her hands back and fourth by her sides as the man just stood there, staring at her like he had just seen bunny ears sprout from her head.

Oh! Maybe he was wondering if her ears were real! People have been telling her all night how much of a cute bunny she looked tonight!

"Don't worry, Mister!" she said happily, smiling as she carefully slid the bunny ears off her head. "The bunny ears are fake! They didn't grow from my head, they're not real! Promise!"

A/N: Oh April, April, April. Even for a four year old you are as clueless as ever. Hahaha!

I hope you guys liked it! This is my first ROTG fanfiction, so hopefully I don't make Pitch Black OOC. I hope to make this story enjoyable, humorous and just plain fun! But to do that, it would be even better if Pitch was in character. So if anyone has any suggestions, they are welcome! And please inform me of any mistakes, I'll fix them ASAP!

Now, there are a lot of fics out there where the main Oc can see the Holiday spirits, but don't believe in them. This is not one of those fics, and will be explained later. For those who know me, I know, I know, I'm struggling with my other stories as it is, but hey! My life is finally settling down and I'm in my new apartment with my fam. Also, I have the next few chapters written down already! *throws out confetti* it also helps that I know exactly where I'm going with this story and had a great time jotting down the plot and events of each chapter.