Brightest {A RotG Fanfic}

Chapter 25 - Red

    It was all for a good cause, he thought. It was for his daughter. No one else had to know. The Chaos had promised him a way, and he would achieve his goal. 

    Pitch had been at the battles, watching. He had no play in them. The Nightmares were part of the ruse, but he would never be a part of the fight, lest he would let the Guardians know that he had was faking his attacks on the enemy. 

    No, the Chaos told him that he would make it seem as if he had his own task, his mission to find a way to defeat the Guardians' enemies solo. 

    During Clara's vision, he felt it, her fear. It was both invigorating and sorrowful to bear. When she had screamed for her parents, he wanted to stop it. He didn't want to see a child like that. But the Chaos told him he was that close to his daughter, his goal. 

    He remembered his own screams when he was consumed by the Fearlings. But this child was the gateway to his victory. 

    How wrong was he? He had been a fool. 

    He stood there, on his own cloud of black sand, spectating over the two sides. The Great Wall had been blackened by the battle. Tornadoes twisted here and there, blood decorated the stone. It was orders from the Chaos that he would never, should never, interfere. 

    He didn't even lift a finger to save her from her fall, because he knew a plan when he saw one. 

    He saw her now, Clara. She saved the child even if she could have saved herself. Pitch felt the child's fear as he hung by his tiny weak hands over the edge. He felt that fear vanish in a blink when the child saw his protector. As he watched her cradle him now in her safe arms, he wished he could hold his child that way once again. 

    Maybe he still could. 

    His Seraphina would never have let him do nothing to prevent a child's death. Twenty years ago, when he fought with the Guardians, he threatened to 'snuff out the light' of a little boy named Jamie. But even Pitch knew that he wouldn't actually kill him. Just scare him.  

    In a wave of his hand, he released the Guardians' helpers and the Nightmares in a burst of light. They were finally free from the mural of a prison. Pitch returned them to where they belonged. 

    He ordered his steed who remained, Onyx, to save the girl and her little friend. 

    Onyx whisked her and the toddler away from the oncoming attack like a dark sandstorm. The Nightmare disappeared into the shadows on the ground on Pitch's command. And so then at that moment, Pitch knew he had to answer to his faults. 

    The large fireball blasted the side of the walk-path, scattering the surroundings with rocks and debris. 

    Pitch came down and landed on the battlefield. The others were trying to keep the Chaos at bay, while he used this moment to talk with Clara. 

    Onyx left them in the middle of the Wall, safe and well away from the edge. She was holding the child tightly as she knelt down beside him. 

    Pitch knew that he was invisible to them except for her. She was looking at him with an expression of both hate and amazement, as if she couldn't believe he's here right now. 

    The girl didn't say anything. Blood had dried up on the side of her mouth, but she didn't seem to take notice. The child was speaking to her, tugging at her filthy hair but she put his hand aside gently. 

    He walked closer, reaching into her mind. The last time he did this, he was taunting Jack with the boy's memory box. He knew she was deaf at this point as he spoke, "Understand, Clara, that I am not your enemy."