Chapter Text
2 Years after the Global Winter
This, for Pitch Black, had to be the most unexpected thing to happen to him in his long life. One moment he was experimenting with creating a new kind of nightmare. The next he was holding an armful of infant. A part of him felt in shock. Another part was left in confusion. And a third part of him, which he was feeling the most of, was downright annoyed.
“What just happened?” That was the question which seemed to repeat itself mentally and vocally. Looking back, it wasn’t hard for Pitch to find his answer.
Fifteen minutes ago…
After a good ten years of experimenting, Pitch had finally gotten somewhere in making some sort of formation of his new nightmare. This one would be better than the last ones, more vicious, more fear invoking. To be honest he’d almost given up on it, but in the end he refused to throw in the towel. Gothra had laughed at him when he first started, saying it would inevitably be a failure. Well now he showed her, the little harpy.
“HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ANYONE HERE?!” Groaning inwardly, the nightmare king put his experiment away for the moment and faded into the shadows of his castle. He rematerialized a moment later right behind the very couple that somehow had a knack for interrupting him at such important times. They obviously hadn’t noticed him yet, giving Pitch the advantage of surprise.
“Please tell me you two are here to announce that you’ll never be coming back to my home again.” The couple jumped, turning around swiftly to in the direction of the voice. Both husband and wife smiled broadly at the nightmare king, which he decided to mean not boding well for him.
“Pitch! There you are!” Jack exclaimed. The raven-haired young man walked up to Pitch with his arms wide open, but abruptly stopped and lowered them when he caught the expression on his creator’s face that said ‘hug me and you DIE.’ His smile though refused to leave his face.
“What are you two chaos bringers doing here?” Pitch questioned.
Elsa was the one to answer him since her husband seemed to be too busy trying to contain his mysterious excitement. “Don’t worry. This is a short visit.” She noticed how Pitch slightly relaxed at that. “We actually needed to drop something off with you before we continue on our trip to Paris. I promise it won’t take long.”
The nightmare king looked at her in puzzlement. It was then he noticed the small dark blue bundle held within Elsa’s arms. He wondered what it was that she carried. Perhaps it was the something she was talking about. Curiosity piqued, he asked her what it was she had been carrying.
“It’s just a little something that happens to be very fragile and we need you to take care of it for us for a while,” Elsa responded. Jack snorted next to her before going silent when she sent him a glare. Turning back to Pitch she continued, “We would owe you big time for this if you agree, but you should know we’re in a hurry. We can’t afford to waste time.”
Pitch looked at her then at the bundle then back at her. He considered for a moment if this was all another one of their tricks but a look into the Ice Queen’s eyes told him she was completely serious. Letting out a long sigh, Pitch carefully took the small bundle from the raven-haired young woman. Her smile gentled slightly as Jack’s grew impossibly bigger. Just what had the lord of nightmares gotten himself into, he wondered.
Slinging an arm over his wife’s shoulders, Jack led her towards the exit. “Well, we’re off! Take good care of her, Pitch. Or else!” And with that, the couple was gone.
Pitch looked down at the bundle in his hands as he walked over to his world globe. He immediately realized the bundle was actually wrapped in some sort of cloth and began to unravel it. His hand froze as well as the rest of his body once he’d revealed what was inside. Looking back at him was a chubby face on a tiny head with fluffy black hair.
A baby.
A tiny baby girl.
Jack and Elsa had left him with their infant daughter before making a quick getaway. No wonder Jack looked like he was about to laugh the whole time. They had stuck the poor nightmare king with the duty of being babysitter. Pitch could only stare back at the little baby Tundra in utter shock.
“Why those little conniving brats…”
Present…
Pitch’s mind was brought back to the present when Tundra began to coo at him. He continued to stare at her, amazed at how this child although only a couple months old seemed to not be afraid of him. Ever since she was born, Pitch had made it a point to keep his distance from her. He did not want to be the one to suffer the Ice Queen’s wrath, but there was also something deep inside him that made him feel like not wanting to scare the little girl anyway. Rather than make her fear him, he instead had a very foreign feeling of wanting to protect. It boggled his mind to the point where he just not understand it.
But still, even with this newfound feeling of wanting to keep her safe, Pitch Black was not a babysitter! A scowl formed on his face. What was he supposed to do with a baby? He hadn’t taken care of an infant since…since…to be honest it’d been so long that he couldn’t remember when he’d last even held an infant, let alone taken care of one.
Golden eyes met very dark blue, almost black. Tundra was quiet baby, hardly ever did something upset her. The strangest part though was that one of the only and VERY few people she was the most relaxed with was her Uncle Pitch (he felt ‘Grandpa Pitch’ reminded him WAY too much of his age). The little girl snuggled closer to his chest then, cooing away happily. Afterwards her tiny hand grabbed a fistful of his collar.
Pitch’s expression unconsciously softened at the action. Memories of a past thought long forgotten resurfaced as he walked to his throne and sat down. He gently cradled her closer before he started humming a familiar lullaby. As Tundra slowly began to dose off, the nightmare king couldn’t help but smile. He may have not known it yet, but a bond had formed at that very moment.
Three hours later…
Jack and Elsa had finally returned feeling completely refreshed. It was nice having a break every once in a while, but they were now starting to miss their little snowflake. Sneaking into Pitch’s home was easy, especially when you’d explored every inch of the place. Both had agreed it would be much too fun to catch him by surprise so decided to be as quiet as possible as they made their way through the corridors. Reaching the throne room, the two jumped out ready to shout their arrival when they suddenly froze.
Lounging on the throne, a blanket covering them, was a peacefully sleeping Pitch Black with the couple’s daughter cradled in his lap. The scene before them was so surprising that Jack’s jaw dropped. Elsa stared for a few seconds with wide eyes before she broke into a bright smile. “Aw, how cute,” she couldn’t help but say.
“I never thought I would get to see this. Pitch Black: a softie when it comes to babies.” It took all of Jack’s willpower to keep from laughing outright. Who would have thought the lord of nightmares himself could be so sweet?
“Oh, hush you. Don’t you dare tease him.”
“But-”
“Ah, ah, ah. Let’s just get Tundra and head home.”
“Yes, dear.” Jack tiptoed his way to the throne, carefully pulling his daughter from Pitch’s arms. Once done the small family left, glad to see that Pitch proved himself to be a wonderful uncle for Tundra.
Fin