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“Pitch, how many times do we need to do this little dance?” Sunfire was exasperated, her fists covered with fire. “You know you're never getting away with anything.” The two of them stood on the roof of the deluxe flat. Sunfire had spent weeks tracking down a string of jewelry and art robberies, and had correctly connected the dots that led to Pitch.
His smile was, as ever, condescending. “It’s really not stealing if they won’t miss it. And she can afford more.” He gave the velvet bag of jewelry an easy toss, weighing it in his hand.
“Besides,” he continued in his silky voice, moving closer to her. “I think you just like having any excuse to see me.”
Anna felt heat on her face that wasn’t from her fire, and sent a ball of hot light at him. It brushed against his arm and he hissed in pain, but had ducked before she could do real damage.
She lunged at him. "You think I wanted to miss my own birthday to beat you up and toss you in Luna’s Evil Monster Bad Guy Prison?”
Again she missed him. He appeared off to the side, his smile gone. Sunfire glowered. She disliked dealing with Pitch, yet she was the only one available for the assignment, and the best suited for the job. Elsa’s anxiety sometimes left her in too compromising a position to handle someone who could manipulate fears.
“It’s your birthday?” He sounded mildly intrigued.
Anna froze, aghast, and almost clapped a hand over her mouth. The sun fire that enveloped her body dimmed a little. What was Elsa’s number one rule of supering? Always conceal your identity. No, the other one. Oh, right: never release personal information about yourself, even to the authorities. She had blurted that out in her frustration.
“No, it’s- it’s the Sandman’s birthday.” Sanderson was the first person who came to mind for some reason. She always was terrible at lying on the spot, but she confidently threw back her shoulders. “And you really are a jerk to make me miss it, so hand over the jewels, and I promise I’ll go easy on your face this time."
“Sandy’s birthday, is it?” He ignored the threat of violence, looking as though he were trying not to laugh. “I didn’t think you two were very close.”
She felt a wave of panic. No personal information! She couldn’t let it slip that Sandy was a close friend. “We… aren’t. But I- I like cake. And I got him a very nice gift, uh… a tie, so-”
While she had been grasping for an excuse, he had looked at the bag of jewelry in his hand, and dropped it into the ground. She stared down in disbelief.
“Here,” he said simply. “Take it. It’s a birthday present to you.”
“What?” She looked from the jewels to Pitch and back to the jewels. “I wouldn’t- I’m not taking someone’s priceless jewels.”
“You don’t have to,” he replied, sounding like he was explaining a simple concept to a child. “Give them back to that socialite. I’m not stealing them.”
She met his eyes, suspicious that this was a trick. He could see she didn't believe he wasn't going to attack her, and gave a long sigh, pushing the bag over to her with the tip of his foot. She snatched it up before, turning up her sunfire on the rest of her body so he couldn’t try anything, but carefully extinguishing the flames on the hand that held the jewels.
“What are you-?” She started to ask, but he backed away into the shadows.
“Happy Birthday, Sunfire,” he said, surprising her with the lack of mockery or malice in his tone. “Next year, I’ll take you out for dinner and dancing.”
She realized he was getting away and ran towards him, propelling herself with her fire and reaching for him, but too late; he had slipped away into the shadows, as he always did when she thought she’d caught him. She let out an agitated sound, stomping her foot in anger and left a scorch mark on the roof. She took a couple deep breaths to relax. The jewels could be safely returned, and that was all that truly mattered. Not a bad way to end her birthday, she supposed. Maybe I’ll just leave some of these details out when I tell the others about this, she thought guiltily to herself.
*
“And he… broke in to steal something?” Sunfire asked, looking around the palace. Everything seemed to be in order, from a superficial observation, at least. North had sent her a call, telling her she needed to see something in his workshop right away, and he had hurriedly come to pick her up on his sleigh.
“No! We checked every nook and cranny thrice, the elves and Yeti and I. And this was all that was here, left under the only lit candle in my shop. He had blown out all the others.” North handed her a thick black envelope that read in bright golden ink, “For Sunfire only”. She gaped at it. For her? Why? And why here at the North Pole?
“I examined it thoroughly to see if it was safe to be opened, and it seems to be, but I will leave the opening for you. I only wanted you to read it here, just in case, where you would have help. There is no telling what tricks Pitch Black is willing to pull."
"I wouldn't have minded if you opened it, North."
He stood up and moved over to her. "I would have liked to, but there could be some dark magic attached, something that curses the wrong person who opens it, for all we know." He frowned. "Pitch's powers appear to be old, and Luna has not been able to study them in depth.”
She looked back down at the envelope for a moment in consideration, then, feeling safe enough, gave it a gentle shake. There was something light in it, to be sure. She took the golden letter opener North offered her, and gingerly opened it, pulling out a piece of paper to read.
“Can't send this to your home, so I'll have to swallow my pride and trust that at least one of the Guardians is competent enough to deliver this to you without opening it. The other night was a one-time thing. Don’t expect every criminal you pick a fight with to go so easy on you, especially me. The look on your face was worth every jewel. Enjoy the gift, Sunshine. I didn’t steal it. This time.”
Anna had read it silently to herself, then read it out loud for North.
“‘The other night?’” His eyebrows furrowed.
“Uh, yeah, I, uh…” She cleared her throat. “I stopped him from stealing jewelry. “Well, he actually… gave it to me to give back to the person he stole it from.”
The heavy black eyebrows were raised high at this, but North did not question her.
“There’s something in here,” she told him, quickly changing the subject, and took out a smaller black envelope that she looked over before handing it to him. “Do you want to check this?”
“Of course, solntse,” he snatched it up and took it to his table where he sat to examine it with various little instruments, probably all of his own creation. Anna kept a good distance between them just in case but peered as closely as she could to see what the gift was.
“It appears to be a… a simple pendant.”
North added another lens to his magnifying loupe and touched the item with odd little tools before giving up. He looked at her. “It seems very ordinary, completely free of any shadow magic, so, I suppose it is yours to keep, Sunfire, if you wish.” He held it out, and in the center of his massive palm was a hexagonal black stone set into a gleaming gold base, a fine gold chain attached to it.
“He gave me a necklace?” Anna couldn’t keep the astonishment out of her voice as she picked it up. “A jewel thief gave me jewelry?” She held it up to her face to see it better. Anna didn’t know much about jewelry, that is, if it was obsidian or onyx or something else entirely. It’s beautiful,an impulsive thought came to her. Creepy, but actually very beautiful. The gold looked high quality and the jewel sparkled more than any black gemstone she had ever seen. The shape, however, made it look like a black coffin. In spite of her sun fire’s natural warmth, a little shiver ran down her back. Still, she couldn’t take her eyes off of it.
She must have been looking at it in concentration for a long time, because she started as North began talking about taking her home and letting the rest of the team know what had happened, and how everyone had better tighten their security.
Anna was only half listening; she nodded and turned the pendant over in her hands and took the letter off the table, promising to have her friend Hiccup check the pendant out soon. North had studied the magical aspects of it, but it couldn't hurt to look over the object more physically, too.
She went through the snow globe, thanked North and said goodbye, but hardly took any notice of being home. Standing back in her living room, she looked from the letter to the necklace. She didn’t understand what game Pitch was playing.
I didn’t steal it.
Or if he was playing one at all. It was not like him to do something nice for any reason.
Enjoy the gift, Sunshine.
She walked over to the large mirror in the hallway, considering the necklace before deciding to put it on. The gold looked pretty with the warm colors of her suit, but the black stood in stark contrast. Not necessarily in a bad way, she thought, and lightly touched the thin chain.
“Happy Birthday, Sunfire.”
Maybe it would look nice with the pale purple cocktail dress Elsa gave her last Christmas.
It would look tacky, a cold voice suddenly spoke in her mind, sounding like Elsa’s. It looks like he has you chained to a coffin. Don’t wear it. Anna took off the necklace quickly, as if Elsa herself had caught her wearing it, and jogged upstairs to her bedroom. It was a creepy gift, certainly. And she had loads of jewelry. She placed it in her jewelry box on the shelf to be hidden away and began to head downstairs for breakfast.
Pitch had never done anything like this. Never given her a present, never stopped a crime he was committing just for her. What had he gotten out of it besides giving her a good shock? She reached the middle of the stairs, and after a moment, she turned around to go back to the bedroom. Taking the necklace out of the box, she left it on top of Pitch's letter on her vanity, among her innumerable tubes of lip gloss and perfumes.