His Nightmare Queen (Pitch Black x Reader)

25: Twisted

You had been far too anxious from the weight of the memory box in your pocket to bring yourself to showing it to Pitch upon your arrival home late at night on Christmas Eve. The thought of that single cylinder of gold painted with your face being the possible cause of change to your future intimidated you enough to not speak a word of its existence in your jacket. When Pitch had greeted you in the lair near midnight, you hinted at having something for him but insisted on making him wait for the actual holiday the next day to show it to him (to his disappointment). Thanks to this, you earned a total of around three hours of sleep that night due to constantly waking up to eye your jacket you left hanging up in the wardrobe across the room, knowing your past that could decide your future rested within it. It was the eventual decision to get up and grab your jacket with the memory box still inside to roll it up and tuck it under your pillow that granted you an extra few hours well into the afternoon.

You were the one to drag Pitch out into the night after dusk on Christmas day by reminding him you had something to show him. The two of you made your way through the shadows hand in hand with fingers entwined. While he led you through the dark, you led him to the neighborhood that you once called your home prior to your college years. The sky above was fading from its dull blue into a deep navy as the twinkle of a few distant stars were beginning to sneak past the gray clouds and light reflected onto them from your planet. You chose a rooftop of a house that looked out across from your former home, knowing to give enough distance of a few streets away to ensure you’d be less likely to be seen by any residents.

You settled down and had Pitch join you on the frost-tainted roof from the recent cold of winter. For a moment, you also admired the leftover markings atop the houses from a certain sleigh that you had the chance to view the night before. Warm yellow lights from within the surrounding homes glowed past shut blinds and curtains in some windows to let you know to stay quiet where you were to not disturb residents who were still awake. Most of the area toward the ground coated with sparkling powdery snow was lit with strung-up twinkling decorations of all colors lining the fronts of homes, wrapped around porches, and standing up in gardens. As much as Pitch despised seeing so many holiday decorations at once, you knew this is where you needed to be at this moment where you were able to see two of which you called home at once.

“So what is this that you are wanting to show me?” Pitch asked from beside you while pulling his cloakings closer to himself. A wind that brushed up flurrying snowflakes blew past you both, pulling your hair from your face and ruffling through the dark feathering lining the high collar of the Nightmare King’s heavy winter cloak that pooled beneath him. “I do hope it gives reason as to being in a less remote place like this.”

“It does,” you replied. You also fidgeted with the tie of your jacket around your waist as you sat on the chilled asphalt tiles with your knees pulled to your chest, making another mental note of the golden box in your inside pocket over your heart to remind yourself that it was still there.

“You do know that I’m not normally fond of these traditions the Guardians put upon you humans,” he went on. “Any gift of yours or anything you may have truly was not mandatory.”

“Believe me, this one is.” You gave an encouraging look before gazing back out to the neighborhood. “I wanted to be close to my old home again…in case of the chance that I never get to see it again after this.”

Silver-gold irises narrowed. You took a deep breath in.

“Just,” you exhaled, “try not to lose it when you see it.”

He was close to giving some sarcastic response under his breath, telling you that it was too late for that, but he stopped himself when he saw you reach into your inside jacket pocket. The rainbow of lights from the nearby strings of decorations along the streets below reflected upon the gold of the cylinder when you pulled it out, causing ecliptic eyes to widen in astoundment. You brought out the memory box the rest of the way, holding it out in between yourself and him.