*EDIT: This whole story is being RE-WRITTEN! It has UPDATED story lines, more action, more fights, more personal story, and more interaction with the characters. If you read the original version, you will fall in love with this one EVEN MORE!

WARNING: This is Rated T for blood, violence, gore, language, and some other scenes that are not for children, but rather teenagers and above (meaning, those above the age of 13). This will not be a full blown lovey-dovey fanfic, as I suck at romances. It will have fight scenes, and I mean fight scenes. So, you have been warned!

DISCLAIMER: I am putting this here once. I only own my OC's. I do not own ROTG or any of its content. I do not own GOC or any of its conent.


A/N: So, this is a new FanFiction I am writing, and it is my first Rise of the Guardians fanfic. I really hope you all like it, and it will most likely be a Jack/OC pairing. The beginning is a bit slow and dramatic, but it will get better, I promise. I haven't decided if I will go into the movie verse and then do an after story, so I will be letting this play out. I plan on buying the movie as soon as I get home for right now I am out of town. Anyway, please bear with me in this as the first two chapters will be slow going.


Chapter 1

"Come on! We are going to lose daylight!" a male voice with a slight, almost unidentifiable English accent called from outside the sturdy wood barn. "Aria!"

"I am coming, Caleb!" an irritated female voice that barely had any accent at all responded along with a shrill neigh from her annoyed horse.

The tall, stocky twenty year old man with a head of shaggy, dark brown hair paced by his dark bay stallion. His travel worn boots scuffed up some dirt as his breath showed in a gusty fog in the cold November air of Kentucky. He gave another annoyed huff as he turned back to the weather worn, yet still very sturdy barn where a loud bout of cursing came from the occupant inside. Caleb rolled his hazel eyes and gave a small smile as Aria's voice ceased to talk as her horse gave a shrill, indignant neigh as if to shut her up. It worked well enough, and the string of curses ceased. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown trousers as he turned his head to look at the overcast evening sky. He shivered slightly as a small breeze moved over the clearing before the barn causing Caleb to pull his thick hunting coat over his leather jerkin even more so as the wind bit into his sparsely covered arms. "The air is so cold…" he began to mumble to himself when a horse snorted behind him.

"It is going to snow today," Aria said with a huff as she pulled her overly large dark grey cloak closer to her body and over her hunting jacket while she led her blue roan stallion behind her.

The wind blew over the two again causing Aria's straight, mocha brown hair to float away from her mid back in soft waves in accordance to the air's wind. Her dark blue eyes were steaming with annoyance as she pulled the overly thick, worn brown hunting coat even closer to her. Her feminine frame with the well-defined muscles of her slim body was hidden underneath the coat she wore, and she had to tighten the belt once again on the two-sizes-too-large pants. At least her boots and her undershirt fit to her frame in the right places unlike the other bits of clothing. She was beginning to get annoyed with her brother for not allowing her to run into the town of Lexington just to buy a few bits of cloth so that she could sew the clothes to fit her better.

"And how would you know that, little sister?" a smirking Caleb asked with a hint of a tease in his deep voice as he mounted his bay horse.

Aria tightened the girth to her dark blue roan's saddle without looking at her brother. "The sky is too overcast and dark for it to not, you can smell the slight humidity in the air," Aria started to say until the groan of her brother cut her off.

"Alright," Caleb huffed in annoyance yet again as Aria swung herself into the saddle with a little difficulty due to extra weight of the too big clothing. "I get it."

"I need to go into town at some point, Caleb," the eighteen year old girl commented harshly. "I cannot keep wearing your clothes when we go for a hunt, and I cannot wear my skirts either. Neither are good for hunting especially in the coming winter."

Caleb sighed as they urged their horses down the path that led past the field and to the forested area where they hunted every other day. "We don't have enough money at the moment, Aria. If we hunt enough this month then maybe we will be able to go into town and buy, or trade, the few items we need."

"Caleb, I already told you that I could pick up a job in town for a while to help earn some extra money. You are better now and can do more hunting while I earn some coin. Think about Mother."

"Do not bring Mother into this!" Caleb said harshly. "We cannot move her to Lexington and not follow!"

"What other choice do we have?" Aria responded in the same heated tone. "She is sick enough already and I cannot take care of her and hunt, and neither can you! Father has been gone for too long as it is."

"Stop…just stop."

Yet the eighteen year old girl wasn't done with her twenty year old brother. She shifted the quiver on her back and removed the bow from her shoulders as they entered the woods. "Face it, Caleb; he is either dead or with another woman. Father is not coming back. It has been a year already and I have had to take care of all three of us for the past several months. I cannot do it again if you get sick again or hurt. You should not be out here anyway with the storm coming!"

Caleb sighed in defeat and refused to say anymore on the matter. Their father had left them in search of a new place to settle down as far away from civilization as possible in hopes to not pay taxes. It was a fable that many of the families around the Vendetta family had fallen into, and those many families had either turned up dead or had never been seen again. Aria and Caleb's father had been one of those to fall into the hope, and he left them to find the fable with promises to send word back to his family once he had found a new home for them. In that time, their mother had become increasingly sick in the past few months to the point where she had gotten ill further than Aria or Caleb could hope to help her.

Caleb had also nearly gotten himself killed by a young bear when he and Aria had been out hunting, and had been bed ridden for months. He had to get himself back into shape before he could go back out hunting, and had just been cleared by his little sister to hunt once again. But that didn't mean that he was no longer cranky or bossy. In fact, he had become the opposite and seemed to be even more cranky and bossy than normal, yet Aria wasn't going to have it from him and she held up her own against her brother. Both matched each other in temper, and hard-headedness, which led to the rise of more arguments than needed.

The two rode in silence for a long while as they were both still seething with anger at each other and the continuously growing number of arguments that had become more frequent in the past two weeks. The close bond the two had shared before their father had left had started to dwindle, and Aria feared that she had lost her bond with her brother completely. She pulled up her large silvery blue horse and dropped from the saddle while her brother moved on through the forest as the air seemed to become colder and colder with each passing moment. A crisp breeze blew up in the forest and with it came the smell of fresh, cold air. "Snow…" Aria mumbled to her horse as she crouched low to the ground.

She examined the ground for any fresh tracks of animals, and found the smallest amount of hair in the bark of a tree. She remounted and began in the direction of her brother all the while looking for any more signs of wildlife in the unusually quite forest. "Deer hair," she commented quietly to avoid scaring any close by game away. "We should head deeper into the forest."

Caleb gave a nod yet refused to speak to his sister out of stubborn fury. They continued for some time in silence before Aria's worries began to bubble up. "The forest is too quiet," she commented.

"It is always quiet," Caleb huffed.

Arai had to bite her tongue to keep from giving the sharp reply on her lips as she pulled Torvus to a stop and jumped down from the saddle to examine the ground once more. Four small, almost invisible, red droplets of what appeared to be blood sat on the ground, and Aria's worry began to mount. She began to follow the four droplets and caught sight of a fifth. She examined the dirt on the ground and the way it seemed to sport the signs of a struggle. "Something was killed, or wounded recently," Aria mumbled as she moved along the ground taking in the scene that it told. "Two large animals…one heavy…one light…"

"What are you mumbling about?" Caleb asked in annoyance.

"…more deer fur…" Aria announced as she pulled a tuft of fur from the bark of a slightly scuffed tree.

She spotted another clump of fur in a tree further down, and headed for it. But, as she pulled it from the tree, she realized with a slight bit of anxiety that it belonged to an animal they did not want to encounter. "Aria, come on…" Caleb started in a heated voice but stopped as the younger sister whipped around to face him.

"There is a bear in the area," she stated as she began to make her way back to her horse when she stopped yet again at the sight of a pair of deer tracks…fresh deer tracks.

"Leave it," Caleb bossed as he motioned toward the fresh deer tracks he spotted at that moment as well. "We have game down this way."

"We should hunt in another area, Caleb," Aria said as she remounted Torvus. "The tracks are too close to the bear, and we do not want a repeat of the last attack."

"The bear probably has its kill anyway," Caleb brushed his sister off quickly as he urged his stallion onward. "We will be fine."

But deep down, his great fear of bears began to creep into his gut as he remembered the last attack all those months ago. He hoped, for his sake more so than his sister's, that they would not meet the bear. The tracks of the deer became more prominent as they moved onward, and it became very apparent to Aria that the deer had been spooked not too long ago. She became well aware of the fear her older brother was beginning to feel, and started to doubt his courage should they happen upon the bear. Torvus began to show signs of wariness as they came closer to the deer they were tracking as he flit his ears to and fro in attempt to pick up any signs of a threat in case they needed to run.

Caleb pulled his bay horse to a stop and removed his bow from his back as he spotted something off in the distance. Aria saw it as well, and recognized the twelve point buck. She had an arrow notched on her bow and began to move Torvus toward the deer when she stopped. "Caleb…" she whispered to her brother as he too began to move toward the deer with an arrow knocked and at the ready.

"What?" he hissed an annoyance. "That buck could last us a month and that rack could get us a lot of money along with that pelt."

"I'm not talking about that…" Aria responded as she looked about the clearing the deer was in.

The shadows about the foliage seemed to be darker and deeper than normal, and the air had dropped even more so in temperature. The whole clearing was off, and it gave Aria an unnerving feeling that something was there that shouldn't be. She scanned the clearing, and pinpointed the exact point where the darkest of shadows seemed to fall, and focused on it. The closer she looked, the more details she seemed to begin to pick apart. Someone, or something, was standing just behind the tree, watching the brother and sister hunt the deer. Just then, the deer walked in front of Aria's sight and turned its head upwards as snow began to fall from the sky in a slow torrent. In the pit of her stomach, Aria knew that the light dusting of snow would become more than that as the cold wind began to pick up its pace ever so slowly.

Torvus gave a quiet nicker in warning as Aria turned back to find Caleb a good ways off and pulling the arrow back. He let it loose and gave a satisfied nod as it landed straight through the deer's heart in a perfect shot that even Aria had to be jealous of.

The dead deer was slumped on the ground with a peaceful look forever plastered on its face as Caleb dropped down beside it. Aria followed more cautiously as she looked about the dark clearing for the figure she had been fixated on before. "Caleb, we better head back with the deer. Something is here, and it's watching us," she started.

"There has to be a harem around here somewhere. A stag like this cannot be wandering around alone," Caleb interjected as he pulled his arrow from the deer's side.

"-A storm is coming-"

"-I bet if we keep going in this direction-"

"-And the bear is still-"

"-no," Caleb said through clenched teeth as he turned toward his sister. "There will not be a storm, and there is no bear in the area."

Aria had enough of her brother and glared at him. "That is it," she said in a calm anger. "For the past months I have provided for the family, learned how to read the weather to the best of my abilities, helped you get strong again, and this is how you repay me? You become a overly grumpy, bossy asshole! If you want to stay out here and get yourself killed by a blizzard or a bear, then be my guest! At least I will be here to help Mother while your corpse is consumed by frost or a gut."

With that said, she turned Torvus back around and began to head off toward home too heated to care if her brother were to come back alive or not at all. She caught several curse words and insults directed at her back that came from her older brother, but she brushed them off without another care. She was tired of being treated like a kid when she was more adult than her brother or father ever were. She didn't get further than a few minutes when she saw it; the large, well-muscled bear was lumbering through the forest a good distance away. Its dark brown coat had caught several snowflakes and it seemed to be rather angry with what looked to have been a failed last hunt before his hibernation. Not a drop of blood was on the bear's snout, and there looked to be a large gash in its side from what Aria assumed were antlers. The deer had bested its hunter for once. Aria watched the large predator stop and sniff the air as the wind blew a new scent toward it before it began off again in a slightly more hurried fashion. It had picked up a new quarry.

Aria paid little attention to the retreating bear and began to move off once more when an ear shattering scream spilt the air in the forest. Torvus whipped his head around and looked back toward the clearing as an equine's panicked whinny echoed throughout Aria's skull along with the ferocious roar of a bear. "Caleb!" Aria screamed out as Torvus dug his hooves into the dirt and propelled himself back toward the clearing with a good deal of speed. "Caleb!"

The bear, hungry and tired, had picked Caleb to be his last meal. It roared again as it stood up on its two hind legs, furious beady eyes glowered at Caleb who sat on the ground with a gash on his leg. He tried desperately to back up as quickly as possible, but the bear was much too large and much too angry. Suddenly, an arrow sprouted from its shoulder just as it crashed down on the ground inches from a terrified Caleb. "Get back!" Aria yelled out as she jumped from Torvus's back with another arrow notched on the bow ready to be fired.

Caleb's bay stallion had gotten his reins caught on a bush and was squealing in desperation to get away from the bear. Torvus, however, was not about to flee in cowardice and instead ran in to attack the bear. He kicked out his hind legs, and nailed the bear in the face just as Aria fired another arrow that landed in the bear's other shoulder. The thick muscle was hard to penetrate, yet Aria had another arrow ready to fire. A fight had already broke out, so running was out of the equation. Caleb had scrambled away as the bear was distracted, and finally managed to get on his feet as the bear all but forgot him and turned his attention to the new attackers. It swiped its paw at Aria, who was slowed down greatly in the overly large clothes, and knocked her off her feet. As she fell, Aria lost her bow as it flew from her hand at the same time as Torvus kicked at the bear again and gained its attention.

The bear, now beyond angered at having to fight for his food once more, turned and slashed the horse's side causing red blood to cover the dark silver coat of the stallion. Torvus threw up his dark silver head and cried out in pain while the bear turned back onto Caleb as the man struggled to get his horse untangled from the bush. "Caleb, look out!" Aria warned as she rushed over to her brother and knocked Caleb onto the ground out of harm's way of the bear's claws.

Aria, however, was directly in the way of the claws and took the brunt of the attack. The claws raked down her chest ripping clothing and flesh alike. A scream pierced the air of the clearing as pain racked Aria's body. Her chest was already coated in blood while she rolled to a stop from the hit of the bear, yet as she lifted her head she caught sight of the bear focused on Torvus. The large horse was knocked to the ground from the weight of the bear crashing into his silvery side. "Torvus!" Aria called out weakly while she attempted to hoist herself from the ground that had become covered in her blood.

She unsheathed the long dagger on her hip with her left hand while she threw a rock with her right hand at the bear while calling out to the enraged predator. The rock hit the bear in the side of the face affectively gaining its attention. The bear turned onto Aria and lumbered toward her in slow, heavy steps. It stopped and rose onto its hind legs with an angry roar. "This is it," she told the bear breathlessly while bracing herself and her dagger. "Either you die, or we both die, you brute."

The bear came down on Aria with a final roar, and then slumped to the ground unmoving. The clearing was all but silent save for the labored breaths of Torvus. He gave a nicker in question of if either one of the two hunters were still alive, when suddenly the smallest amount of movement came from the still body of the bear, and then a trouser covered leg sprouted from out beneath the bear. Aria had buried her dagger into the bear's chest right in its heart as it had come crashing down on her. She gave a huff of air as she stood on shaky legs after freeing herself from the dead beast's body. She looked around the clearing, and saw Torvus on the ground breathing a shallow rhythm with blood coating the entirety of his dark silvery side. She turned to where she had pushed Caleb out of the bear's way and saw that his horse was gone and so was he. Aria took a few steps around the dead bear on shaky feet and caught barely a sight of Caleb spurring his horse as far, and as fast as possible, away from the clearing. "Coward…" Aria mumbled with a slight crack in her voice as tears stung at her throat. "You coward! If I ever see your face again, you are dead!" she cried out after her retreating brother with tears streaming down her face.

She had been betrayed and forgotten once more by her own blood.

A whisper of a whinny in agreement came from her weakened horse, and Aria turned her attention back to Torvus. She stumbled over to her horse, and finally collapsed by his head in a none to graceful manner. The amount of blood the horse was losing meant certain death for him. "Hey boy," she mumbled into his winter coat as she laid her head on his burly chest.

The horse nickered in response as he weakly nosed Aria's bloodied shoulder as if to say hey.

"I am not in good condition either…" she mumbled in agreement.

She shivered slightly as the air seemed to drop ten degrees and the snow began to fall more heavily around them. The stallion gave a nicker as he laid his head down on the ground before a pathetic sigh came from him.

"I will not leave you…I will never leave you…" Aria assured the dying horse.

Aria knew that she was going to die with Torvus, but she rather die side by side with her horse than ever see her brother's face again. She could feel the cold ground around her body seep away her own heat. Her blood dripped onto the brown, somewhat snow covered ground staining it dark red. The storm seemed to grow even more and soon, Aria was shiver beside her fading horse. She felt her strength weakening and her will to live fading as her horse's body began to slowly grow cold along with herself. Before long, Torvus ceased breathing altogether leaving the girl alone with the silent clearing. Her eyelids felt heavy, and the pain had long ceased to a numb feeling as her body froze over with the cold air. She had the feeling that whoever, or whatever, it was she saw in the clearing before the bear attacked was back again, watching from the shadows, but she didn't have the strength to see what it was or even attempt to look for it. Instead she turned her eyes up toward the sky in hopes to find the moon or the stars, but nothing shown through that overcast sky. She felt no fear, but instead loneness; utter abandonment.

Her world soon faded to black.


A figure cloaked in a black robe watched the scene unfold before him. He had felt the fear of the male miles away, and had come to see what was causing it. His tall figure melded with the shadows as his yellow-gold eyes darted about the clearing in search of the being whose fear had brought him out to Kentucky in the first place. He placed his hand on the bark of the tree next to him, the pale-grey flesh contrasting greatly with the dark brown bark of the tree. His short, black hair flowed in a way that seemed to spike back from his head. He narrowed his eyes at the beings in the clearing.

The girl, who swore had spotted him before the actual attack had begun, screamed as the bear's claws tore through her clothes and skin, and the figure immediately believed the raging fear belonged to her. But as the bear attacked the dark blue roan stallion, the boy the girl had saved began to untangle the reins of his own horse in a quick fashion. That was when Pitch figured the fear belonged to the boy. He reeked of it as did his horse, yet the girl and the silver colored horse did not. No, they seemed to lack fear of the death that awaited them. All too soon, the girl had killed the bear and began to look for the boy, whom Pitch assumed was her brother. He ran off, Pitch thought to himself in bitterness as he looked at the hurt and pain in the girl's eyes. "Coward," her voice mumbled.

A coward indeed, Pitch agreed and then covered his ears.

"You coward! If I ever see your face again, you are dead!" the girl screamed out in a loud, sorrow and anger filled voice that caused even Pitch to flinch at the pure emotion within the words.

Pitch watched as the girl stumbled over to her dying horse and noticed that she still lacked fear of death as she lay down with her horse. He waited for the inevitable feeling of fear to engulf the girl, yet she still lacked it and it intrigued him. How could this one mortal girl feel no fear in the face of death? How could her noble horse not feel it either? He would have never imagined her to be one to withstand the natural born feeling of fear. It was as if they were born without the feeling. They were born to be warriors, yet have been stuck to live this terrible fate, the spirit thought. Truly, the world could use more of them. Sad to see them go so soon…

For once in a long while, Pitch felt the want to help the dying girl, but could do nothing as he watched her stroke her beloved horse's neck. Soon, the horse died and left the girl alone for death. He knew what she was feeling as she awaited death's grip: loneliness, something Pitch knew all too well, but soon she passed as well leaving Pitch alone looking at the clearing with the dead horse, girl, and bear.

He walked out into the clearing as the shadows seemed to try and catch him to bring him back to their safety. He stood over the girl and the horse for a while longer, pitying her. He knelt close and moved her dark brown her from her eyes to look into the lifeless, dark blue color that reflected the night. Nothing but emptiness showed in them, and even Pitch felt the hard grip of sorrow that those eyes had once held. "Your death was in vain, my dear," he mumbled and then turned and began to walk away. "Such a shame a young one like you had to go so soon."

He had just reached the shadows of the forest when the moon broke cover of the overcast sky. The full moon shown down on the clearing in a bright light that seemed to shine down only on the dead girl and her horse. The blood from the gashes on both horse and girl disappeared back into their skin as their wounds closed up and scarred over. They seemed to glow with the light of the moon as they underwent a change that Pitch had seen only once before with another person that had died to save someone they loved.

The girl's mocha brown hair darkened into a dark cherry red color as her tanned skin became nearly flawless without the past scars of her hunts and the blood from her death, now bearing just the four claw marks down the front torso from her recent fight that took her life. Her overly large clothes seemed to shrink in size to fit her muscular, feminine form while her bow, long dagger, and quiver situated themselves on her body once more. The dark wood of the bow glistened in the light of the moon as her quiver was filled with dark red feather tipped arrows. She was helped to her feet by some invisible force, but as soon as she stood on her own two feet with a straight, battle ready posture, her eyes opened and even Pitch had to take a sharp intake of breath just as the girl did. Her eyes were no longer the dark blue of the night sky, but a silver color as if she were blind.

As the girl had undergone a transformation, so did her blue roan horse. The beast's fur became short as if it were a winter coat. Blood, scars, and wounds all but disappeared from the horse's hide as he, too, stood. His tack was replaced with a black saddle of slight western make but with English saddle lightness to it, but had a rather interesting look. The pommel was not so prominent, with an extended back to the saddle for extra packs to be clipped upon, and it seemed to have been set up more for an awkward shaped shoulder frame. It had more of a harness look to it as if something on the horse's shoulder was missing. The breast plate was thick, and had a thin set of silver inlaid within the middle of the breast collar. The simple bridle with a silver head plate was made of black leather and without a bit or reins, and looked rather dashing on the horse anyway. Torvus's mane and tail were cropped short to resemble a war cut.

As he, too, stood up, another change came about him. From his shoulders a light emitted. It grew and changed shape nearly twice the length of the horse. In place of the light were two sets of large, silver and white wings, the second pair being a bit shorter than the first. With a snort, Torvus opened his eyes to reveal that they too had changed and were now an icy blue color that flowed out into an amber yellow.

The moon shown down on the two for a bit longer before it disappeared back behind the overcast sky once again. The girl turned to her horse and looked just as startled as the large stallion was. "What the hell…" she mumbled before she took a closer look at her horse's eyes and newfound wings, and grew even more confused. "Torvus…what happened?"

In an attempt to communicate with Aria, the horses emitted a strange string of sounds that molded from horse and human speak. In frustration of not being able to communicate, and possibly without knowing he was doing so, the horse began to flap his newfound four limbs on his shoulders. This created a jumbled mess of feathers, swinging wings, snow and dirt that both Aria and Pitch made the attempt to avoid. Finally, after gaining control of his wings, temper, and tongue, Torvus turned to Aria and spoke for the first time. "We changed, it seems," he said in a deep, slightly put out voice.

At this, the girl was silenced. She stood there gawking at the stallion for a moment longer before Pitch felt the need to intervene as he was curious as to why the girl and the horse still felt no fear of their current position. "In a way, you both changed," he said, his voice causing the girl and the horse to turn around on a dime. "Though, your horse changed more so than you, my dear."

"Who are you and what are you talking about?" the girl asked.

"You have what is called a pegasus; a creature that has been granted the gift of flight," Pitch said as he walked across the clearing to the girl and the horse who both looked like they were ready to attack in an instant. "As for who I am, I am Pitch Black."

"Where do you hail from, sir?" the girl asked completely ignoring the whole pegasus part. "I have never seen you around these parts before. Are you from Lexington? Or perhaps the region of Virginia?"

Pitch smiled slyly but shook his head, his pity feeling still very evident. "I am not from this world originally, but you are."

"I died," the girl said in shock. "Torvus and I died…but how are we alive now?"

"We are actually spirits," Pitch corrected with a motion at their change, "neither living nor dead."

"I get that," the girl snapped.

"What is your name?" Pitch asked curiously.

"Aria…Aria Vendetta, sir."

"I am curious, Miss Vendetta," Pitch began as he looked the girl and the horse over, "many fear me, yet you do not. You were not even afraid of the bear or the death that it brought upon you and your horse."

Aria snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I fear little, sir," Aria responded evenly as if it were almost a challenge. "Fear does not help one live. It instead kills one as it festers within the mind."

"And it will not change," Torvus added with a slight growl laced in his voice as his lips pulled back to reveal not a set of equine teeth but rather a set of canine teeth, with the actual canines being longer than the rest.

"I was merely curious is all," Pitch stated in a rather short tone with the horse though he was still confused as to why the girl and her beast were able to take all this in without too much thought. "How have you come to accept all this? Most question what has happened while you two…you do not question any of it."

"What is there to question, sir?" Aria shrugged with indifference. "This is how we are now. No need to bother asking how are we alive when it is a miracle in the first place."

"It is a gift," Torvus added as he tested his new wingspan once more. "One that I am truly grateful for. Do you see these? I can fly. I can actually fly. I do not have to just jump to gain a small bit of freedom of the wind; I can soar on it now…"

"If you can even work those things that is," Aria offhandedly commented.

In response, the pegasus thwacked Aria on the back of her head with a wing and sent her flying into poor Pitch. The Nightmare King easily caught and righted the new spirit with a sympathetic smile toward her. "Have you two always been close?" he asked.

"She raised me from a foal once I was sold to her," Torvus responded. "I have never trusted anyone since Aria laid her hands on me and showed me kindness in teaching and riding. Never once has she mishandled me unlike the others who handle wild mustangs like were are nothing but livestock to be used as slaves."

The pegasus snorted and stamped his hoof in anger. "Calm yourself, Torvus," Aria told the horse as she stepped back from the Nightmare King and offered her hand. "I am not sure of a proper spirit greeting, but I can do my best by this. Who were you again?"

Pitch was taken aback by the hand, but shook it anyway. "I am Pitch Black," he stated with a slight bow before kissing the back of Aria's hand in the fashion he once used, "the Nightmare King, Fear-bringer to all around."

"Fear-bringer?" Aria smirked as Pitch released her hand. "I have not felt fear once in your present.

"You have not," Pitch started before taking on a mirthful look. "However, your brother, on the other hand, was filled with it."

At the mention of her brother, Aria's whole demeanor changed. She grew livid with anger and hatred gleamed in her eyes as she replayed the events that had just gone by just hours ago that led her to her death and becoming of a spirit. "That coward left us for dead," she growled out through her teeth as her hands curled into fists. "That good for nothing bastard…"

Pitch could feel the shift in the air as it dramatically changed from one of cold to one of warmth. He looked around for the possible cause of the warmth when his eyes landed back on Aria. He watched as the new spirit's fists sprouted a silvery white flame in her anger, but as soon as it was there, it was gone and Aria had relaxed some as she took several deep breaths to regain control of her anger. She is powerful…Pitch thought to himself with a curious look in his eyes. Very powerful…yet she has no idea what she holds within her. Of course, she has just been resurrected, but why, old friend, would you choose to bring back this girl, let alone grant her abilities that become so volatile when her emotions are running ramped?

Suddenly, silent tears streamed from the girl's eyes as she looked at the ground in resolution to not show the stranger before her any emotion. She felt so angry at her brother, but she couldn't blame him for he had, after all, been attacked by a bear before and nearly lost his life. How could she hate him for wanting to run and save his own life? She and Torvus would have died anyway with the wounds they had sustained. They had little chance of survival anyhow, but the loneliness feeling that had come from her brother's abandonment was still heart wrenching. But just as quickly as her forgivness had come up, it vanished, and was replaced with a hateful vengeance. Aria's head snapped up, and even Pitch took a small step back from the anger that glowed within the silver eyes of the new spirit. "That coward," she growled out with a hatefulness. "He will pay dearly for leaving us to defend him and die."

"Miss Vendetta, please think rationally about this decision," Pitch attempted but was stopped by the hissing growl from the pegasus. "Is revenge really going to satisfy you?" he tried again.

"Yes," came the stiff reply from the back of the new spirit as she walked toward her pegasus. "And it will be justified. He made a promise to never leave me back when our father left, and he broke it. He made the promise with his life. I am going to collect on that promise."

Pitch shook his head at the new spirit and pegasus. They were a furious sight to see, one that had been blessed with the graces of war and the hunt. The proud stallion and his rider looked at ease with each other and ready to face an army of enemies. "If revenge is your way to solace…" Pitch started but stopped with the passing of the pegasus.

"It is. Do not try to stop me," Aria's icy voice spoke as it cut the Nightmare King off.

With a click of her tongue, Torvus moved into a canter and carried the two away from the clearing and the Nightmare King. Pitch let out a sigh as he turned from the retreating horse and girl and back to meld with the shadows once more as the storm began to pick up. "My dear, vengeance is not the way…I would know," the fear-bringer said as he disappeared into his shadows once more leaving the clearing all but empty save for the dead bear now dusted heavily with snow.

Torvus slid to a stop in front of the house as Aria attempted to jump from the saddle, however was faced with some difficulty with the new wings in her way. The wind whipped about as the storm raged on, but the cold didn't bite into Arai as much as she thought it would, though the sting was still somewhat there. She wondered why that was, but soon forgot about it when she raced up to the door of the log house with anger fueling her every step. Aria walked into the house and found her brother standing in front of their mother who looked so ill in her current state of being. Her once beautiful, vibrant skin was now cold and pale. Her body weight had dropped drastically and she seemed to have aged twenty years more than she should have. Her nightgown barely clung to her underweight body, and her eyes were filled with sorrowful hope as she looked around Caleb for signs of her daughter. "She is dead, Mother," Caleb was saying to the woman.

The woman shook her head of long, wavy brown hair that was streaked with grey. "Not my Aria…she will be back, Caleb…" she said in a weak voice with a small pat on his shoulder. "She will be back. She always comes back to take care of us. That is more than your father ever did"

"She is not coming back-"

"Aria has got that fire within her heart. She is a skilled hunter, and she will return."

"She is dead, Mother!" Caleb yelled in anger as the older woman seemed to not pay any attention to him. "Dead! Killed by a bear!"

"No, she is not," Aria said angrily, yet Caleb didn't turn to her which only furthered the young spirit's own anger.

"Caleb, do not raise your voice with me. She and your father-"

"They are both dead! Why can you not get that through your thick skull?!"

"Caleb!" Aria yelled, yet Caleb still didn't turn to face his little sister.

With an angry shout, Aria threw herself at Caleb, yet she flew right through him. An empty, hollow feeling came from Caleb as she passed through him as if she was not there. As she turned her stunned gaze onto her brother, the feeling of the wind getting knocked out of her overcame Aria for a moment before she regained herself. What is happening? she thought as her confusion began to rise. Why can they not see me?!

Aria gapped at her brother in stunned, shocked silence as she watched her turned her back to Caleb, and in turn her brother removed his hunting knife from his belt and stabbed it right into their mother's back. Aria let out a yell of anger as she watched their mother plummet to the ground in death, a hard thump coming from the still body as it smacked against the wood floor. A fury so high in rage overcame Aria as she withdrew her own long knife out of its sheath, and waited until Caleb turned toward her. She glared at him with such hatred she was sure he could feel it.

Caleb turned and saw a pair of silver eyes glaring at him from what appeared to be his dead sister only…different. She was there, but her hair color and eye color were so far off he didn't know what to think. A soft silver glow outlined her body, and Caleb wondered if he was hallucinating for a moment when Aria lashed out with her blade, and cut straight through Caleb's neck. Blood splattered everywhere from the ceiling to the walls of the kitchen to the ground where Caleb laid clutching his neck for dear life. "You bastard," Aria growled out as she kneeled next to her brother who gasped for each breath of air while blood pooled from the open gash on his neck. "You got what you deserved. I hope you rot in hell."

She turned from her dying brother and dead mother on the floor and began to walk toward the door of the house. Her hands, that were clenched in angry fists, began to sprout small silver flames that dance about the digits in delight. As her hand touched the wooden door, a bright flame lit up on the wood and began to spread throughout the entire house like wildfire. Aria paid little attention to the fire as she mounted Torvus's saddle with some ease. She turned the pegasus away from the slowly growing fire that began to engulf the house as her anger turned to sorrow. Her family was dead, and she truly was alone with only Torvus.