HOLA HUMANI! I am back! I know you missed me. right?

*Awkward silence*

Ahem. Anyway, I've been busy like a beaver and yes, I have managed to make my update schedule stick! Yay me!

I know I haven't replied in a long while, so here are some replies to my great reviews:

To Vanellope Von Schweetz101- I know you're not spamming dear, but please, give me an actual review next time. Goodness knows I want people to stop SOPA as much as the rest of us but it's not going to be stopped if you post it over and over again on my reviews board. Try messaging your friends or something, but please don't post that review any more. I care about Fanfiction and I really want to stop SOPA, but I don't think posting that over and over again will help.

To The One Named MoonLight- AW man! OK, searching for small, green, notebook.

To ObsidianLove- Hey girl, how are you doing? I've been worried because I haven't seen any updates for Is Online in a while. Don't let that snob from the critics get you down. you're writing is fanominal! Get it? Fan-omin- yeah never mind. Well, here it is. I hope you enjoy.

And that's it!

Oh, and, for the last time, I don't own rotg. I think I might've mentioned that at chapter. . . one. ;) whoopsies.

She was still talking to herself when she arrived. Muttering about Pitch, Grim and all that had happened since she'd entered this hell-hole of a Memory Hunt.

"Nosebleeds, confusion, fog, stupid spirits, death, Gods do I hate all of this!" she growled, flinging her hands in the air and finally looking up at her surroundings. What she thought was going to be her room actually was a small hospital room. Obviously she was still in his memories and it took her a while to notice this. When she did, her eyes bulged and she let out an awful screech.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" she demanded, buzzing over to the window and glaring out at the world. The sky was dark, but the streets were lit up with electrical signs and neon lights. The green You Are Now Entering Phoenix sign clued her into her current position and, when she turned around to look at her surroundings again she noticed that she wasn't alone. There was a woman in the hospital bed in the center of the room, hooked up to a dozen iv's and had a breathing tube stuck in her mouth. She was obviously awake, but her strength was fading.

Tooth felt her anger just slip away when she saw the poor woman in the bed. She had greasy blonde hair that lay like a thick curtain beneath her head and Tooth could see the neck of a green hospital gown underneath the thin blankets they'd given her. Her bedside table was covered in get well soon cards and flowers. She was obviously loved by many people.

Tooth took another step forward, towards the woman, then she froze. The shadows on the other side of the room were moving.

"Pitch." she snarled and, true to his nature, the Boogeyman appeared. "I swear," she growled, raising a finger at him. "If you kill this woman I will come after you and beat you senseless, knocking out all of your teeth and then leaving you with Father Time and Gaia!"

But Pitch ignored her empty threats and walked straight over to the woman's bed. He looked down on her scared face. The woman's eyes flickered, then they slowly closed. For a second Tooth felt panic leap into her throat. Was Pitch really killing another person? Really?! After all the crap tooth had just seen him go through?!

Tooth flew in for better look and saw that her chest was moving up and down slowly. "Oh thank the gods." she whispered. The woman was just asleep.

Pitch continued to look down at the woman and Tooth thought she saw a look of pity on the Boogeyman's face, but it passed quickly and Pitch raised his head to look back at the wall he'd just appeared out of. "I can hear you," he said quietly.

Tooth blinked, momentarily distracted by Pitch doing hat she assumed was talking to herself. "Hear who?" she asked, puzzled.

Pitch turned back to the woman. "She's afraid of dying, afraid of leaving her family."

"It a reasonable fear," a now familiar Jamaican-accented voice said from right behind Tooth. She jumped and whirled around to face the Reaper, glaring at him with fire in her eyes and her fists tightly clenched. F*ing spirits popping up out of nowhere!

"Grim!" She yelled. "You scared my feathers off! What the heck are you doing here anyway, and why are you with him?" she added, pointing to Pitch with a look of pure hate on her face. Gone was the pity and compassion for the being in the alleyway. No matter what that still, small voice in the back of her head told her, he was still a bad guy.

Grim didn't answer her, as she knew he wouldn't, and walked right through her, coming to stand beside Pitch. The woman's eyes opened again. Tooth watched as the dark green orbs gazed at the space which Pitch and Grim were occupying, almost as if she could see them. Tooth frowned and watched the woman's eyes closely. Could she really see the two spirits in front of her? She flew around to the other side of the bed so that she could get a closer look from the woman's perspective and discovered, with some surprise, that she could. Or, at least, she was looking in Both Grim and Pitch's directions alternately.

She made a rasping noise, but Tooth couldn't make it out.

"Can you let her speak?" Pitch asked, turning to him. His voice was slow and quiet, almost inaudible.

Tooth blinked, then she allowed her eyes to travel over the Boogeyman's face. Pitch seemed different that when last she'd see him. Older somehow. The fear and supreme arrogance that usually coursed through his veins was gone, replaced by a strange, complacent tone that Tooth had never heard before. From him anyway. It was part compassion, part undefinable sadness. His face was comber and his normally bright eclipse eyes had dimmed.

She looked from the Boogeyman to the Grim Reaper. Why were they here?

"I can." Grim said. Then he raised his scythe and touched the woman's neck with it's tip. The woman's eyes closed instantly and Grim drew the scythe back, slowly backing away from the bed. A long, thin line trailed from the tip of the scythe to the woman's neck, linking the two. Grim was extremely slow and careful not to break the line.

When he'd brought it back far enough, Grim grasped the scythe in both skeletal hands and black light began to seep from the scythe's blade. The light intertwined with the line from the woman's neck and Grim yanked the scythe back, breaking the link. The end of the line that broke at the woman's neck fluttered to the ground and the black light enveloped it, whirling around it like it was the center of a tornado.

Tooth watched, amazed, as the dark light began to expend slightly and rise, turning into the rough outline of a body and soon an exact shadow-replica of the woman in the bed was cowering before them. Her body was clothed in the hospital gown that was customary in hospitals, but her face was clean and her hair hung in curly ringlets down to her shoulders.

"Wh- where am I?" she asked, looking from Grim to Pitch. Her eyes were wide and she looked terrified.

"Please, calm down." Grim said, taking a step forward. "I am Tanatos, da Grim Reaper, and dis is Pitch Black da Nightmare King. I am the spirit responsible fa ferry souls from dis side to the odder sides where dey may choose dere aftalife."

This was news to Tooth. She hadn't known any of the particularities of Grim's job.

"Am- am I dead?" she asked, stammering slightly.

"Not yet." Pitch said. "But it won't be long now."

"Not the best thing to say Pitch," Tooth warned, knowing that this would probably serve to upset her more but actually, weirdly enough, it made her laugh.

"Thank god." she said, straightening up slightly, brushing the hospital dress off. "It has been hell in here, trapped night and day, being stuck with needles and god knows what else." she said, smiling. Then her face fell slightly and her relieved tone disappeared, replaced by sadness. "I haven't seen my children in some time." she said quietly.

"I know," Grim said. "Dat is why I brought you here, so dat'cha may tell ya family goodbye."

Her eyes widened and she gasped, "You- you mean it?"

"It is part of my job," Grim said. Emotion was gone form his voice now. "I ferry souls to da odder sides and make sure they get ta say goodbye to dere family."

Again, new info. Huh. You learn something new every day.

She thanked them, then she turned to leave but she caught sight of her body. "Is," she faltered. "Is that me?"

"Yes." Grim said. "Now hurry. Dis dunna last for long."

She tore her eyes away from the bed and, after a last look at Grim and Pitch, turned and flew through the door. She obviously hadn't had any problems adjusting to being a ghost.

"So why are ya here Pitch?" Grim asked, turning to Pitch. "Last time I saw ya I told'ja-"

"Yes yes, I know." Pitch said, waving his hand. "Don't worry, I haven't. I've gotten better at using my powers since then. Trust me." he shot a bolt of concentrated Nightmare Sand at the wall of the room, hitting only a narrow spread area.

"Hmm." Grim said. "Not bad."

"I've been practicing." Pitch said offhandedly. "But that is neither here nor there. You asked me why I was here, correct?"

Tooth's tiny ears pricked up. This was the little tidbit of information she wanted.

"Indeed."

"Well, I am here, in a sense, to carry out an experiment." Pitch replied, sounding slightly tense now. And who wouldn't be, with the Grim Reaper staring at him like that?

"An... experiment?" Grim repeated in monotone, but Tooth could sense he was apprehensive about what the Boogeyman would say.

"Yes." Pitch said, raising his hand and summoning another handful of Dreamsand. "I don't want to keep hurting people Grim, but my powers are getting too strong for me to control. I black out. It hasn't happened in some time and, so far I haven't killed anyone, but who knows how long it'll be until I do?" he paused, then he crushed the sand and brushed off his hands. Tooth was listening intently.

What was he talking about, blacking out? Was that possible? Questions whirled in her head and she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the Boogeyman again. Whatever is happening to him, it's obviously painful for him. I can hear the hurt in his voice, she thought. Genuine hurt, not mocking or false. He really does feel regretful about the human's he'd killed.

"After Paris," Pitch said, lacing his fingers together and staring down at his feet. His voice was soft, barely audible. "I promised myself I would never do personal Nightmares, for risk of doing what I did to that young man in London and the old Russian. But my powers, they're growing. Too fast. Too much. The Guardians think it's me but it's not. It's. . ." Pitch paused again and raised a finger to tap his forehead meaningfully. "It's them. They are the ones doing this, and I can't get anyone to believe me!"

Grim was silent for a while and Pitch didn't raise his head to look him in the eye- er, hood. Tooth, however, filled the silence quite well with her own talking.

"Them?" she asked, frowning at Pitch. "Who's them? Pitch, are you saying you have voices in your head? HA! The irony!" she laughed. "But seriously, what are you talking about? I'm not sure what year this is, but whenever it was we hadn't see you before Easter for at least fifty years, so what do you mean when-" she stopped. Her eyes widened and her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh gods, this must be just before Katrina." she whispered through her fingers, horrified at the thought of that awful day.

What the humans called hurricane Katrina, the biggest hurricane to hit the world since the ice age, was actually the result of Pitch and the Guardian's last battle before Easter. He'd gotten pretty powerful and they put him down, but before they had learned he was acting suspiciously. Making more Nightmares, taking time to make personal visits again and even terrifying large masses of children in community homes where he could get fear in large quantities while saving his own energy.

"Have ya tried talking to him?" Grim finally asked.

Pitch spat. "HA! As if he would help me."

"Ya never know unless ya try," Grim said quietly.

"And I'm never going to try. I'm sorry Grim, but I would rather let my evil infect children that ask the Man in the Moon for help." Pitch said firmly, folding his arms.

"Alright, let's go back." Grim said slowly. He knew that Pitch didn't like the Man in the Moon, obviously, and even though he was the stronger, older spirit he didn't want Pitch angry. "Ya said ya had an experiment ta test out. What kind o' experiment?"

Pitch sighed. "I want to see if I can pull someone back." he said, finally looking Grim straight in the hood. "You know, if they're almost gone from my efforts and I can try to pull them back. Of course I wouldn't dream of doing this without your permission. You are the keeper of life and Death, so I figured you should be here as well. Not only to keep an eye on what I'm doing, but also to stop me if I go overboard. Do you understand?"

Grim was silent for a few seconds, then he spoke. "Ya... want ta try an' save a human life?" he asked, as if not sure he heart Pitch right.

Pitch nodded. "Yes. I'm sick and tired of being the one who adults warn their children about. I'm tired of hiding under beds and I'm tired of not being accepted. I just want a home, somewhere to belong. Surely you know that feeling better than anyone!"

"I do." Grim replied. "But Pitch, if ya try dis and fail, I will have no choice but to inform the Guardians of dis. Ya understand."

Pitch closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "I know. If I kill this woman and someone finds out, I will be persecuted. They will find me and they will learn that you have been helping me, and they will not be happy."

"No." Grim said. "Dey will not."

The two spirits stood in silence for a bit, then Pitch said, "Another reason I wanted you here was because I wanted the woman who I'm about attempt this on to get a chance to visit her family before hand. Say goodbye to them, just in case I don't succeed and all this is for nothing."

"Dat is commendable, Pitch." Grim said. "Ya are a better spirit dan I gave you credit for."

Pitch looked up with a hopeful smile on his face. "If I'm so great, do you think you could give me back my eyebrows? I'm getting a lot of shit from the other spirits about it."

Grim chuckled. The sound sent shivers going up and down Tooth's spine.

"Sorry, but I can't." Grim said.

Pitch smiled a small, sad smile. Then he turned back to the hospital bed. "Well, no harm in asking." A pause, then, "She should be back soon, correct?"

"Ten minutes." Grim replied.

Pitch nodded and they waited. Tooth felt like she was going insane. The amount of knowledge she was processing was incredible!

"Pitch wants to help humans." She said it like a mantra, over and over again. "He wants to help humans." Inside her head, her thoughts whirled.

Pitch is trying to help a human, get control of his powers, and all because he wants to be accepted. She felt horrible about how she'd threatened him inn the previous memories. He's turning over a new leaf. He can't make right the wrongs he did all those years ago, but he's trying to change his future. It was incredible how much her opinions had changed about the Boogeyman in this short about of time.

First she had hated him for what he'd done, then she had felt compassion for him because of how afraid he had looked in the previous memory. Now. . . she didn't know how she felt. Sad, definitely. Hearing what Pitch had been going through, even if she didn't understand it all, made her heart ache. Blacking out and not knowing where he was when he woke up, being unable to control his powers and inflicting pain when he obviously disliked it, it must have been horrible for him to live like that.

Tooth sighed. She wished there had been a way for her to help Pitch here, or even at all, but she knew that would be impossible.

"Pitch did what he did, and now I have to just stand here and wait for this to be over, feeling like a useless moron because I can't do anything." she muttered, folding her arms.

The spirit of the woman appeared through the door about five minutes later, and she was smiling. "Thank you." she said, floating over to Grim. "Thank you so much."

"Did dey see ya?" Grim asked.

"My youngest did." the woman said. "My eldest almost did, but I told her I loved her anyway. I think she heard me. My husband saw me and he tried to hug me, but I couldn't touch him."

"Dat is natural." Grim said. "Ya have no substance."

She nodded. "So, am I about to die now?" she asked.

Tooth frowned. "Are you eager to get it over with?"

"Not just yet." Grim said. "My friend here has an offer for you."

Pitch stepped forward. "My name is Pitch Black, I am the Nightmare King." he said, trying to appear friendly.

The woman glanced at Grim. "Um, I'm sorry, but I don't-"

"I'm the Boogeyman." Pitch cut in before she could finish.

A look of recognition dawned on her face and she nodded. "OH!"

Pitch smiled. "I get that reaction a lot."

She smiled back. "I can imagine." she looked him up and down. "You don't look like the Boogeyman."

"I get that a lot too." Pitch replied. "It's the robe I guess."

"And the hair. The only thing that makes you even look remotely scary is that smile." she added, smiling.

"I know right?!" Tooth said, laughing. "His eyes are more beautiful than scary, and how can you be scared by a guy in a robe?" then she realized just what she'd said and she blushed profusely. "I am so glad no one heard that." she muttered.

"Thank you." Pitch said uncertainly, obviously not too sure if she was complimenting him or insulting him.

She beamed. "So, what's this about an offer?" she asked, folding her arms. "If it's about bringing me back to life after I'm gone as some kind of spirit girlfriend for you then I'd better get back in my body. No... thank... you."

Pitch blushed. "No, that's not my offer. I assure you."

"Then what?"

Tooth chuckled at the expression on his face. He looked vastly uncomfortable.

Pitch coughed, still having trouble getting past the girlfriend comment and Grim elbowed him. "Ahem. Well, as the Boogeyman I have certain powers to control my element. Fear. And my powers have been getting out of control for some time."

"What kind of powers and why do you need me?" she asked.

"Well, I can control this," Pitch said, raising his hand and causing a trail of nightmare sand to shoot out of his palm towards the wall where it dissipated as soon as it made contact with the wall. "It's called Nightmare Sand, a kind of opposite for the dreamsand the Sandman uses."

"OH!" she said again, her eyes widening. "So you're like the opposite of the Sandman!"

Pitch winced. "Yes. He brings sweet dreams to those children who need then, I give nightmares to those who need them."

"And who are you to judge if children need nightmares?" she asked, a little coldly. "I remember Chloe, my youngest, running into my room screaming because she had a nightmare as six years old about being chased by a giant rat."

"That's my other power," Pitch said, stepping back slightly. "I can sense people's deepest, darkest fears. And I use that power to help children overcome their fears. I never wanted to be feared as much as I am, because people don't understand that fear is good for you. If you aren't afraid, you can do stupid things that can get you killed or seriously injured."

The woman nodded and conceded, "I can't argue with that."

"Maintaining the balance of fear and courage is a tricky business," Pitch continued. "And lately my powers have been getting out of hand."

"What do you mean?" she asked. "I thought that you controlled-"

"I do, in a sense." Pitch interrupted. "Actually, the more correct was to put it is I focus the powers, because the powers aren't my own. They belong to the dark beings which have taken up residence inside of me called Fearlings."

Tooth gasped, horror filling her eyes and her brain struggled to comprehend what Pitch had just said. "Fearlings! I thought those were wiped out before the Golden Age ended!" Eventuality not, because as soon as Tooth heard the words and saw the bitterness in Pitch's eyes when he said their name, she realized that they were the Them that Pitch had been talking about. They were the things that were making him black out and trying to take control of him. "Oh gods," she whispered. "Pitch..."

The pain Pitch must've been going through when he had fought them all those years ago must've been unbelievable. And they hadn't done a thing to help him. It made her heart twist into a painful knot.

"Fearlings?" the woman asked.

"Beings made out of pure fear." Pitch said. "They used to exist on this earth, but it was far before this age. Now, the only ones who exist are in my head and they want out. I've been trying to control them, but accidents keep happening."

"Accidents?" the woman asked suspiciously.

"Yes. I have-" Pitch stopped, then he glanced at Grim. Grim didn't say anything. "I have allowed them to break free on two occasions and it has resulted in the deaths of two people. I didn't mean to do it," he said quickly when he saw the horrified look on her face. "I swear! They took control and I just-" Anguish had been creeping into the Boogeyman's voice and he had to stop to keep it from quivering. "I didn't mean to do it and I'm trying to stop it," he said slowly, his eyes still shut. "I want to learn to control my powers and keep from hurting people, which brings me to my offer." he opened his eyes.

The woman, who had been staring straight at him the whole time with a cold look, suddenly blinked and her eyes softened. "Tell me." she said quietly.

Pitch smiled. He looked glad that she wasn't screaming and rejecting his offer before he even told her what it was. "Well," he began. "I have been working on my control and keeping calm when faced with a particularly strong nightmare, but it's not enough. I want to see if I can bring someone back from the brink of death if they are in the middle of one of my nightmares. And, since I have no idea of this will be successful or not, I thought that trying it on someone already close to death wouldn't make much of a difference." He took a few steps forward. "You don't have to do this, just so you know." he added. "It's completely voluntary."

"Are you kidding? After you let me say goodbye to my family when I thought I would die the next day?" she asked, smiling at him. "Of course I'll do it! It can't be any worse then my current situation, can it?"

Pitch winced and the smile vanished. "There is one thing I must tell you," he said, walking right up to her and looking her straight in the eyes to tell her he was serious. "I can't allow you to do this without knowing exactly what you are getting into."

She nodded. "Whatever it is, I can handle it." she said firmly.

"The process is quite terrifying." Pitch warned. "I am going to have to give you your worst nightmares, literally. I'm going to try and scare you to death."

She laughed. "Pitch, I can handle it." she said. "Let's do this."

Pitch shrugged. "Alright." then he looked at her sleeping body. "I don't know if this will work, uh..."

"Carrie." the woman said. "My name is Carrie."

"Carrie." Pitch said, tasting her name. "It's a very beautiful name."

"Thank you."

"I don't know if this will work Carrie." he said. "You might be dead in the next few minutes."

"No biggie." she said. "I'll be sad to not see my kids, but I'll see them again in heaven, won't I?" she asked, turning to Grim.

"Ya afta life is ya choice." Grim said. "Dere's is dere's."

"OK. Well, at least it'll be over with." Carrie said, shrugging. "I don't care, really Pitch. This is actually an answer to my prayers."

Pitch frowned. "It is?"

"Yes." Carrie said, walking over to her body and looking down at the frail thing in the bed that was her. "I prayed last night that something, anything, would happen to end it. Either a miracle would happen and I would be cured or I would die and be taken to the gates of heaven. I guess I didn't expect the Boogeyman and the Grim Reaper to be that answer." she added, smiling.

Grim's hood bobbed slightly and Pitch nodded. "I see. Well, if I don't succeed at least you'll be free."

Carrie nodded, staring down at her own face. "I'll be free." she repeated, almost to herself. She stood there for about fifteen seconds, then she looked up at Grim. "So, what do I do?" she asked.

"Touch ya eyes wit'cha hands." Grim said. "Ya will be sucked back inta ya body and ya will remember all dat ya have seen."

"OK." she said. Then she looked at Pitch. "Thank you Pitch."

"Don't thank me Carrie." Pitch said, almost sadly. "I'm about to kill you."

"Yes," she said, smiling and raising her hands to her face. "That's why I'm thanking you." A flash of black, and then she was gone. The Carrie in the bed's eyes snapped open and she looked around the room, gasping something but the breathing tube stopped them from hearing what it was.

"Alright Pitch, ya turn." Grim said, then he added, "But I'm warning ya-"

"I know, I know. I screw this up, I don't live." Pitch said, walking over to her bedside. "Carrie, you have to be asleep for this to work, OK?" he said, putting a hand on her forehead. "Sleep."

Carrie's eyes drooped and Tooth only had time to see her green eyes shining with relief before they closed and her breathing slowed.

"God. Good." Pitch said, closing his eyes. "Now, let's see what Carrie is afraid of, shall we?"

The black orb took a while to form and when it did, Tooth saw an image of Carrie in the same position she was in now, laying in a hospital bed in her room in Phoenix. The only difference was, the window that looked out onto the city below in the real world was right up against her bed and as she looked out of it she saw a grassy green field with three headstones on it. One said Richard, the other said Lucy and a third Eloise. It was the headstones of her family.

Tooth sighed. The woman was afraid of living. That was a logical enough fear for someone in her position. She couldn't move and she wanted to die, but she was afraid of living past her children and watching them die.

"Carrie, I can't act on a nightmare like this." Pitch said, his eyes still closed.

Carrie seemed to hear him- or, at least her subconscious did, because the nightmare shifted and became Carrie walking through a dark corridor, lit only by the glow of her own body. She kept looking over her shoulder and turning around, then moving forward with her back to the direction she was moving.

"Ah, the fear of the unknown." Pitch whispered. "That's a good one. Now let me just. . ."

The dark corridor she was walking through suddenly turned and she tripped over something, then she was falling, screaming silently and begging for it to stop.

Pitch nodded. "There we go, there we go."

Tooth looked at him. He had a small smile on his face and his lips moved, silently encouraging the nightmare. "I sure hope you know what you're doing Pitch," she said, watching Carrie's nightmare closely. She was still falling. Doors and windows passed her as she fell now. Big black doors floating in mid air and small windows, all opening and closing and haunting voiced called from each one. Tooth couldn't hear them thankfully, but she could tell they were distressing her.

"Don't you think that she's had enough and you should help her now?" Tooth asked, looking with concern from Pitch to the nightmare. He seemed to be enjoying this and- was it her, or did his voice sound different?

"Pitch," Grim said warningly.

Pitch's eyes snapped open and Tooth saw that the silver around his eyes had gotten bigger, almost engulfing the gold. "Right." he said. "Right. Thank you Grim." He turned his attention back to Carrie. The heart monitor that had been slowly beeping beside her was now beeping frantically and Tooth could see her hair starting to glow.

"Pitch, hurry!" she said, her hails digging into her palms with the suspense and anticipation. Would he be able to save her from his deadly power?

"OK," he whispered, breathing slowly in and then out. He put his hand on her forehead and closed his eyes again. "Enough." he whispered, his voice barely audible over the singing that was now filling the room. The singing that heralded the other two deaths. "I am your master, you obey me!"

Tooth bit her lip. "I don't think she's going to make it." she said. "I don't think she's gonna-"

"NO!" Pitch yelled and suddenly, all the lights and the singing and the white glow that had started creeping up her hair completely vanished. The heart monitor slowed and continued to beep, Carrie opened her eyes and looked straight at Pitch, who was just sitting there with his hand on her forehead and his eyes closed. He didn't want to open them in case he had failed. Obviously he didn't hear the beeping of the heart monitor and he only even moved when Carrie raised her hand and put it on the hand that was on her forehead.

Pitch's eyes snapped open again and now the gold seemed to be completely overtaking the silver, but there was still a sliver around the rim of his iris. "C- Carrie?" he whispered, staring down at the bedraggled woman in the bed.

She nodded, though it obviously caused her pain.

"It... it worked?"

She nodded again.

"Ha, ha! It worked! It worked!" he cried, pulling his hand away from Carrie's forehead and running over to Grim. "Grim, it worked!"

"Yes," Grim said. "Ya did it. Ya saved her."

"I saved her!" Pitch repeated, sounding just like a happy child. "I saved her! The Guardians have to accept me now!"

Tooth felt the knot inside her chest tighten. They hadn't. In fact, they had beaten him to badly that she was sure he had crawled away on bloody hands and knees because his legs was broken.

Grim nodded. "Dey will. After dis, dey will."

Pitch was so excited he ran back to Carrie's bed and pressed a small kiss to her forehead. "I did it!" he cried, dancing around the room like a happy child. "I did it!"

Carrie's eyes were brimming with tears, but they were tears of joy. She smiled at Pitch and it looked like she was really happy for him.

Tooth, however, wasn't feeling happy. Of course she was glad that Pitch had saved Carrie and proved that he could be a good spirit, but she was also being gnawed away at inside by guilt. Guilt for what she knew was coming. The next month after this memory would see Pitch Black sprawled on the ground, lying broken and begging the Guardians to listen to him, but they wouldn't. North would slice his hand with his saber, Bunny would punch him and Sandy would deliver the final blow with his golden whips. And she would just hover there, watching a broken spirit pass out on the ground, only to reappear several decades later, angry and vengeful.

And she hadn't done a thing to stop it.

"He used to be a monster," she whispered as she watched Pitch smiling and dancing around the room in a mad jubilation. "He used to be something we didn't understand, and so we feared him." She felt sick with herself for how badly she and the other Guardians had treated him. A small part of her mind told her that it wasn't her fault, that he had asked for it, but she knew that that wasn't really true. "He just wants a home." she said quietly. "Somewhere to belong."

And in her heart, she knew that Pitch hadn't meant to kill that girl. He hadn't, and now he was running from the spirits that could've helped him, but wouldn't because they didn't know what he had done through.

"Well, one spirit does now." Tooth said quietly. "I know, and the instant I get out of here I'm going to find him and help him." All her anger, frustration, fear and worry had completely drained out of her and she was left the sad shell of a fairy-woman with only one thought. Pitch needs to be helped. Her mind repeated it over and over again. It didn't matter what he'd done, it didn't matter why he'd done it. Pitch was nothing more than a scared spirit who had been wronged over and over again and had never been listened to. He deserved a chance.

"He deserves a chance." she whispered.

Grim walked over to Carrie's bed and said in his slow, deep voice, "Do ya want me to take ya now?"

Carrie looked at Pitch, who had calmed down and was smiling more broadly that Tooth had ever seen before. He nodded at her encouragingly. "It'll be fine." he said. "It will be nice wherever you go, of that I'm sure. You choose your own afterlife, you know."

Carrie smiled at him and nodded. "Take. . . me." she rasped. Grim raised his scythe and repeated the motions of before and soon Carrie's ghost was standing before them.

"Oh Pitch, you did it!" she said, beaming at him.

"I did." he said, smiling. "Though I feel kind of cruel almost killing you just for you to die anyway." he added, grinning sheepishly.

"Pitch, don't sweat it. I would rather be dead than alive anyway." she said.

Pitch shrugged. He still seemed to be uncomfortable with the whole happy-to-be-dead thing. "Still. . ."

"So, what happens now?" Carrie asked.

"Come here." Grim ordered, motioning with a bony finger. She obediently walked over to him and stood straight in her hospital gown. Then she raised a finger and stopped the Reaper who was raising his scythe.

"Oh, hang on." she turned to face Pitch again. "Pitch, I want you to know that wherever I go, I'm always going to remember you."

Pitch inclined his head. "And I'll always remember you Carrie."

Carrie smiled and then she turned back to Grim. Grim raised his scythe.

Pitch smiled a small smile, then he seemed to remember something and he said, "Wait, Carrie!"

"Yes Pitch?" she asked, not turning around.

"Why are you so comfortable with dying?" he asked. Grim's scythe was inches from her forehead.

She laughed. Tooth thought it sounded like tolling church bells and it filled the room as Grim touched her forehead with the scythe. "Oh Pitch. My mother was a psychic!"

And then she was gone. The energy of Grim's scythe engulfed her, in a flash of blinding light, she was absorbed by the weapon.

Pitch just stood there, with a puzzled look on his face, and then he began to laugh.

Tooth laughed too. A psychic! That explained why she could see Pitch before Grim brought her spirit out. "Well done Pitch." she said, watching the Boogeyman laughing. His voice was soft and carried through the whole room, not like the awful cackling she'd heard him emit before in her palace. His laughter was full of mirth and joy.

"Pitch," Grim said, bowing to the other spirit. "I must take ma leave. Dere are places for me ta be."

Pitch slowly stopped laughing and then straightened up. "Yes, of course Grim. Thank you. Thank you for everything."

If Tooth was a betting girl, she would bet that beneath that hood concealed the grinning skull of death.

"No Pitch, it is I who must tank you." he said. "Ya have proved to be a brave and strong spirit."

Pitch smiled. "In return do you think you could give me back my eyebrows?" he asked hopefully. Fog was beginning to rise up from the floor. Magical fog. Fog that signaled the end of the memory-hunt and readying to transport Tooth back to her palace.

"NO!" she whined as the fog took hold of her, straining to hear the muffled voices. "I want to hear what Grim says!"

And, just as she felt her feet slipping away through the strange of memories and time she heard the Grim Reaper laugh.

"Maybe Pitch. Maybe."