His Nightmare Queen (Pitch Black x Reader)

12: Mockery

Brace yourself for a little bit of spice and just a sprinkle of angst...

"Pitch?"

Your footsteps echoed inside the caverns after you had carefully slid into the labyrinth's entrance from the forest. You hugged your jacket closer to yourself while making your way toward an opening where you could see dim lighting and hanging cages ahead. Your voice rang out above all your other tiny sounds as you scaled the walls of the dark cave-like halls with your wandering vision.

"Pitch...?" You called out again. The only response you gained was silence met with the steady whoosh of the drafting air traveling from exit to exit. "Are you here?"

Once more, nothing.

Maybe he hadn't returned just yet, you thought to yourself. Hopefully. It wasn't dusk yet anyway. You pursed your lips and shrugged to yourself, relief starting to flood through your system. At least now you can safely assume there was little to no chance he was going to catch you having visited the Guardians. Then later when he would come back, you could probably sneak up those questions you had about the previously mentioned Man in Moon. If he could explain enough, then maybe you could follow up by asking about any other potential Guardians - er - mythical existences, such as the Mother Nature that Bunny had mentioned, and which tales were true and how many more of these beings like Pitch and the Guardians have been around.

Heck, maybe you could get a little more info on North and his abilities in an attempt to shed light on the magic behind his snowglobes and why the one he gave you brought you straight to the lair and not where you explicitly told it to take you. Maybe it could read thoughts or something. You secretly applauded yourself for having quickly buried that thing under the loose dirt of the forest before having entered the lair so you didn't have to actually bring it inside and risk getting caught with it by Pitch. Though at some point, you found it would probably be best if you move it elsewhere so you wouldn't lose it to nature or some passerby digging it up. With that figured, now that you were already within the kingdom, you decided to head on back to your temporary room for the moment. Maybe you would even pick out a book from that massive library on the way to help you pass the remainder of the time you had to yourself. 

As you walked through the lair, the occasional drip of leftover rainwater from a past spring downpour could be heard plopping from a soft trickle down the rocky ceiling to the concrete in the distance into a small puddle that would eventually evaporate into the light sunbeams. After coming out of the cave-like hallway, you made your way across a wide-open quarter where, if you looked up at the ceiling, the empty rusted cages dangled from their heavy chains above you. Although this particular clearing of the castle lacked furnishings, as you squinted your eyes, you recognized past the shadows there were the entrances to other halls and stairwells that would lead to other corridors, rooms, bridges, and likely even more stairwells. You presumed this a main passageway then, if not perhaps a great hall. You circled in your place for a few moments as you dug through what you remembered of how Obsidian had mapped the place out to you (or at least, the areas of the lair you'd make use of the most since there was little chance that you would head toward the wings that connected to other continents anytime soon). Then, once your eyes landed on the hall that you felt sure led to your room, you hesitated no longer to continue on your way.

However, just a few steps in, the swish of a cloak flipping sounded in your ears. Your heart nearly skipped a beat and you froze in your tracks. At that second, you instantly spotted the thin shadow darting into the darkness out of the corner of your eye. You jumped a little and took in a small gasp, immediately swinging around to face where you had seen the shadow zip from its place into hiding. A deep frown grew on your face.