The moon was beautiful at this time of night. Though, she hadn't a clue what time of night it was. But it was all she could see. There was numbness to her body though she didn't seem to care. Everything felt dim and light weighted. Her eyes widened further and she could see the real beauty and brightness in the light above her. Wake Miss Val. We need you now. At the sound of the voice, she received full consciousness and gravity pulled her back down, her feet touching the ground. She began to breathe heavily as if recovering from shock and immediately began to check her surroundings. The air was cold and still and there was no outstanding color but the grays, browns and blacks she saw. She was in what appeared to be a demolished wooden home. The walls seemed still intact, though barely, and were covered in soot and blood. There was a lot of blood. They all but long dried up and stained the floor and ceilings. There was debris where she stood and looking back up, she saw the hole in the roof that had allowed the moon to shine down on her. She began to ponder if she really did hear a voice from it or if she was going insane.

There was a broken window to her left and she became distracted by it. Slowly, she approached and looked outside to see chaos. There were homes lining the street and nearly all were destroyed or in the process of being destroyed. The cobble stone floors were ripped apart from explosions and gunfire. Fires burst from homes and there were soldiers and civilians scattered through the streets. It was chaos. Val was aware now, of the reason why someone was needed; however she couldn't quite figure out what she was to do about it. Stepping back, she found herself breathing heavily from the stress of the situation. Attempting to calm herself, she decided to take a bit of "inventory" of herself. Looking down, she saw herself wearing a faded and dirtied burgundy dress that went down past her knees and lay just above her ankles. It was fitted in the middle and the sleeves were short but ruffled. It was comfortable. Going further down, she noticed her shoes were flat and plain but very easy to walk in. There was nothing extraordinary about anything she wore or about her at all.

Her mind wandered back and wondered why she had been needed. There was nothing astonishing about her being so what was she to do? She sighed deeply and reached to scratch the back of her neck. While she was there she decided to scratch her back as well. Reaching back, she noticed something out of place. There was extra weight and she had somehow felt feathery elements. At the touch, she jumped and swerved around and checked to see if anything was behind her. She curiously touched her back again. There were feathers on her back. She brought her other hand around and outlined the wings that had somehow formed there. Her heart began pounding. She had wings. Val had to stop herself from hyperventilating and somehow decide what was going on. She cocked her head back and saw the white tips covered in feathers. She wondered if she could make them move. They were attached to her body after all. The only method she could think to use was her mind. She simply wanted them to open and stretch and her will made them true. The wings felt very strange and foreign, reassuring her that she did not have them before. They were extra limbs on her back and she found she could move the back and forth with ease as well. There was at least a ten foot wingspan; relevant to her size though smaller than she would have guessed were physically possible.

Suddenly, the sound of creaking wooden stairs started her heart again. Val looked around and quickly found a spot large enough for her to hide. Her wings folded, she could fit into a closet with a door that was still barely standing. A soldier had rushed up the stairs with a rifle in hand. She could also see the two hand guns in pouches on his side and the string of grenades hanging around his shoulder. The sight shook her. Her breathing become shallow and her heart raced. Would he shoot her if he found her? She couldn't tell if he was meant to or not. Was he searching for survivors to aid or to remove? She could feel herself trembling and she did her best to stop it. Apparently, she had done a relatively poor job. The soldier turned quickly with his gun aimed in line of her. Val jumped at the sudden movement, hitting her head on the short ceiling of the closet and breaking pieces of it. The soldier appeared to be more fearful holding the rifle than she had felt being on the other end of it. He shot instinctively in her general direction. She jumped again, screaming this time and broke off another piece of the closet. She shrunk down into the bloodied, dirt ridden floor and practically cowered for her life. When the soldier approached her, he looked around the closet and poked about with the barrel of the rifle. Even with her eyes shut, she was able to hear him poking around. She knew she would feel the cold metal weapon soon.

"Hello?" the boy called out curiously. At first, Val didn't move but she listened more intently. Had he not seen her? He answered her question quickly. "Is anyone in here?" There was a tint of fear in his voice. He was so certain that something had collapsed and moved. "I heard you move. I know you're in here!" he continued, raising his voice in an attempt to sound braver and more threatening. Slowly, she stood, making more noise than necessary but she was determined to test her theory. The soldier snapped to attention again and aimed the gun directly at her. She started at first but held her ground. There was fear that she was right in her speculation, though there was fear she might have been shot as well. His eyes were shifting and he shifted the gun about. He couldn't see her at all.

She didn't want to believe it. Val stomped forward, unafraid of being hurt and waved her hand in front of his face. He still hadn't seen her. She screamed and shouted at him but no recognition of her existence appeared. In the midst of her flailing, the soldier decided that his search was complete and came to attention. The unexpected movement shocked her but he again, made no notice of her. Frustrated, she reached out and tried to grab the boy, only to find her hand falling through his arm. She froze and stared at her hand. In all honestly, she was scared that she would disappear. Was she some sort of spirit? The soldier was walking off quickly but she meant to catch up with him. Again she tried to make physical contact with him, and again her hand fell through.

Outside of the area she had once stood, it felt much worse. The air was filled with smoke and she found difficulty in walking over uneven, broken roads. Things seemed familiar, but extremely out of place; as if she had known the place once before but there had been too much change for her to know now. She walked forward again, only to be shocked as someone walked past her and through her. There was an empty feeling as they strode though and she could feel a bit of her being taken out with them. At least, that's how it felt. There was a cold rush of air and she could feel where they walked through. It terrified her. Tears formed in her eyes and her heart began to pain. She could not be seen, heard or felt. She didn't exist.

It was difficult for her to come to terms with that, but she did not have to do so for very long.

"Hey!" a deep voice addressed. She did not care to listen at first, after all, she did not exist, but a forceful hand had pulled her into their line of sight. "How the heck are you and what the damned hell are these things?" Another soldier had called her attention, though this one seemed to be of higher ranking and older age. With the large hat, she could only assume he was a captain. There was a hard, steely look in his narrow eyes and his ridged jaw line gave very little brightness to his complexion. He pulled aggressively at her newly found wings and showed not even the slightest of fear in attending to them. Instead, all fear was replaced with a combination of disgust and annoyance. "This is not a little fairy world for a lady to be prancing around in!" he yelled. "Now you're going to get out of her right now! This area has been evacuated and there are no exceptions!" Val could only stare in amazement.

"You can see me…" she commented to herself. The look of annoyance of the Captain's face only intensified.

"Don't play games with me little lady," he threatened, grabbing at her shoulder and forcing her to another combatant. "Get her out of here Lieutenant!" he barked. Val did not take lightly to being treated so disrespectfully. The man struggled with himself as he attempted to find her. There was a look of pure terror in his eyes as he searched for a girl he could not see. "Well, Lieutenant?" he questioned again, not understanding that she could not be seen and that the fault was his own. The lieutenant looked up at the captain, a look of skepticism tainting his face, and decided to play along as to avoid any trouble. He was sure to tell the others of this little fit of instantly. He pretended to grab an invisible being by the shoulders and escorted her away. What he did not know or see, was that his hands had instead, gone through her upper torso. Even if his hands had only gone through, she could still feel the violation in his act. The Captain stared in amazement at her transparency as she made the effort to slap and push the lieutenant away from herself. She hadn't noticed that she had instinctively done something to him. Val clutched her fists together and opened them quickly with the intention of pushing at the man's chest. A brightly colored dust flew at him and he stopped short as its magic settled in. He blinked slowly before returning to their world and focusing his eyes on her. He was taken aback and she took no time to question what was going on. The moment she was released in all of the panic, she ran off. Her mind was racing as she struggled to decide what to do while simultaneously thinking back to how he had seen her and what she had done to him. She was able to find an alley way to hide temporarily and the first thing she did was stare at her hands. She flicked them again, and again, the light flashed. It was as if she had colored, shiny, and sparkling speckles inside of her. And they made others see her? Well, she wasn't sure what they did, but she would have to investigate at a later time. The sounds of gunshots were too near.

"Captain! It's just a girl! Capturing and killing her would do no good!" It was the voice of the Lieutenant. Val wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that he was trying to protect her. He seemed to be all right in reporting the Captain off as insane only minutes ago. Was it her doing? She hadn't time to think. She dashed out again towards lines of trenches. She felt slower than she had remembered.

"These damned wings," she muttered, noticing how they were catching the air and acting as a parachute. She would have to fly if she wanted to escape. There was no time to make mistakes and allow the fear of falling get in her way. Her heart was pounding as she panicked and used foreign muscles to lift herself from the ground. All she could think of was getting away. There were more gunshots, these closer to her body than the others. She flew higher and above the smoke of fires and bombs. The air was no clearer but her distance was safe. They would waste no more on a girl who had seemingly not existed.

There was nowhere for her to go though. Now that there was a space for her to think, she couldn't think of anyplace she wanted to be. She could decide who she was or where she belonged. Her mind was in pieces and there were too many missing parts. All she knew was that she was Val. She could fly and sprinkle speckles on people. She didn't exist.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading. I'd love to get some feedback on my writing style and what you thought of it so far. Sorry about the description of the glittery dust that she emits… I had to avoid the word "glitter" seeing as I wasn't sure if it existed at the time... The story was originally written for my Rise of the Guardians blog, which you could check out on story-of – guardians. tumblr .com. Thanks again, and until next time.

Sydney