-I want to thank you all first for taking the time to read this story. I understand that OC stories aren't extremely popular, but I try to make them as high-quality as possible. With that being said, I hope you enjoy and all constructive criticisms are welcome. -

-An Uncertain Time Ago-

At the moment, she was small. No bigger than a child, a fragile thing in the expanse of snow around her. At the moment she was innocent, and her small hands reached up and felt the fur of North's jacket. She smiled and giggled, eyes lighting up under her thick woolen cap, red cheeks flushed with cold. At the moment she held inside of her a universe of potential, ready to expand out and become something fantastic, something to rival the greatest marvels of the world. At the moment, she was a child.

But he could tell, even from the far away moon, that these things were all temporary. If he could do anything at all, it was to see someone's path in life. And the Man in the Moon saw hers, saw what this little girl had in store for herself. Moments flashed before his eyes, and what he saw he would never say. But it was the reason he would save her. It was the reason he would cure and ailing little girl. It was the reason he would allow her to fall. What he saw, her path she would tread, was the reason for many things.

The Man in the Moon watched now as the small child stood a moment of complete bliss. Before everything else came to her, before the darkness and the fear, he watched over her. Because this child would do great things, yes. But first, her times would be dark, and her actions terrible...

-Present Day-

Snow was kicked up on black alley streets as the girl rushed behind houses and under dim street lamps. She moved with an assurity, a knot of fear tight in her stomach and a stone-like look on her face. Her eyes weren't looking past the shadows clinging to homes and fences, turning only when her perifrial caught an opening, praying it wasn't a dead end. The cold air bit at her, but she didn't take time to do anything more with her arms than help herself run. The plaid and grey hoodie would have to do, flying open behind her like a cape. Like she was some vigilante on the run.

Wet snow soaked her jeans up to her ankles, and after slipping for the second time, she decided it was time for a different route. And so, when she came to the street front of a row of houses, she hopped one of the gates and climbed up the white, cross-hatched garden wall attatched to the front of the house. All the while, she was listening for the pounding of hooves and watching the shadows for movements. Up on the roof, she paused to see if anything had seen her, if there were armies of them just waiting on the streets below.

Her panting breath prevented any real silence, but other than her being slightly out of shape everything else seemed strangely serene. There was that feeling where she knew she wasn't yet safe, but the threat seemed to be on the horizon. And the view from where she was was so pretty.

With a moment of half-hearted relief, she ran a hand along her sweaty forehead and across her hair, smoothing tiny strands back into the tiny ponytail. She scratched at the beads of sweat accumulating on the back of her neck, where her undershave was both heated from her skin and chilled from the air and snow that had kicked up into her face. It was a strange, uncomftorble sensation as she tried to heat up the stubble under the portion of her hair in the ponytail.

Her breath puffed out in front of her as she stood to a full height, eyes blinking out exauhstion and taking in the world around her. She did this, consuming her surroundings so that nothing could startle her. And over the years, she became very equipped at it, noticing thin layers of snow picking up in the wind, a light in a window flashing on, the chimeny on one house blowing more smoke than the other. She took in the dark lavendar sky, the muting sheets of snow that had fallen and silenced the world beneath them, the crystalized town that sat in a surreal silence around her.

She liked towns like this more, not because they felt like home, but because they were precisely the opposite. They were quiet and sleepy and calm. She breathed in a breath of ice-cold air, skin a mixture of flushed and cold, and let a chilly breeze wash over her. Her hands slid into her pockets with some forcing, heart still pounding but slowing at the sight of the serene suburban town. The shadows here weren't moving, and though she knew some had to be on the horizon, the nightmares didn't disrupt the Hallmark-card scene.

Again, she tried to tell herself she hadn't made a mistake, that she'd done the right thing. But these days, the right thing was usually tossed somewhere in the grey area. It was attatched to strings and smudged and she wasn't exactly sure she was good at discerning it anymore. Like always, she was lost, but at least she was lost somewhere beautiful.

She wiped the last of the moisture on her forehead on the white rag that was tied loosely around her neck, and felt a silver light fall over the town. She half-turned her head and looked up, seeing a navy blue cloud move out of the way, revealing the night's full moon. It stood there in the sky, a silver pupil, and shone down in an overtone of grey and white. The girl frowned and felt something receed in her chest, something akin to shame which she swallowed further down.

"What?"She asked flatly to it, "You finally gonna say something? Help me out some?"

But as always, the moon did not speak to her. The Man in the Moon remained up there, away from her, distancing himself from his wayward child. She scoffed at it and sniffed, opening her mouth to retort its silence when another sound covered her.

It was a whoosing, a tinkling, and a bright light on the street below. It was a blast of blues and a swirrling opening that led to nothing, popping up out of the thinnest of air. The clouds receeded as it burst into being, and the girl took a slight step back, moving her foot up the slanted roof to ready herself for running. Though she knew this couldn't be from the man she was running from, she had a general knowledge that anything coming out of a mysterious swirrling portal wasn't going to be friendly.

She tried not to look away from it, but a flash of moving darkness out of the corner of her eye made her whip her head around. It was gone around the corner of a home, but she caught the stray black streaks left on the ground. Knowing they were closer now, the girl felt every nerve in her body on edge, quickly looking back to the portal and wondering if it had all been a trick by him to distract her.

And then voices arrived seconds before the people who owned them did. The girl jumped back in shock and quickly scampered her way up to the top of the roof, albeit awkwardly and slipping in the snow a good few times. Kneeling on the evened out rooftop, she panted and looked behind her, then back forward to the group of strangers who had just arrived on the scene. Under the glow of a streetlamp, four people ran out, each in a different state of excitement and anticipation.

A young boy with white hair, a small man made of what looked like gold, a beautiful woman covered head to toe in glossy, green and purple feathers. The three of them burst from the portal and skidded to stops, the woman in the air propelled by wings that the girl couldn't see.

"What in the hell...?"She muttered, turning her head to the side and taking in the three of them. In the dark town streets, they didn't exactly look in place. The boy pointed a sheapard's crook forward, a devilish smile on his young face. The tiny man waved his little arms and up flew a cluster of sand, forming it into a ball and holding it in one hand, as if about to throw a baseball. And then there was the woman, whose head was twitching side-to-side like a bird.

She realized after a moment, after a quick and very, very amused moment, who these three had to be. It happened slowly, her chest siezing up and her eyes widening, sweat accumulating on her palms, body rising to stand without even being aware of it. These three had to be Guardians. And suddenly, she knew he had to have had a hand in this. This wasn't coincidental. He knew.

Their voices carried up, and the girl tried to move a foot, to at least attempt to hide herself. To get away. But nothing moved, and as she looked down, she saw more shadows darting around in farther alleys, red eyes streaking under streetlamps.

"Do you think they're really here, Jack?" The woman's voice was soft and light, and the boy took a few steps forward, cautiously.

"Bunny said so, didn't he? Unless the old rabbit-" Jack, the white-haired boy, was cut off by a final member of their group bursting forth through the portal, effectively closing it behind them and making the grandest entrance of them all. Swords brandished, bouncing to his feet and looking around in a half-crouched position, still making him much taller than any of the others.

"Vere are they, huh? No nightmare will stand up to me!"

The blood drained from her head, and everything focused in on this man. The very large man with the white beard. Larger now than he had been then, hair gone white, voice older. Oh, she should have moved. Had she moved, the entire mess could have been avoided. In that one moment of seeing him, of knowing his voice and the blue eyes that shone bright in the night, she remembered a man who was just as boisterous and loud, gung-ho and trigger-happy.

And in that moment, she wanted to dissapear. Because she knew the man. She knew the man from a very long time ago, on another side of the world. On that side of the world, she had known him very well. On this side, she had planned to never have to see this man again.

And so when she saw him, everything came crashing down on her, and she wished she had taken her chances with the nightmares than have ever come up to the roof. The man was moving around so fast that she didn't have time to react. The others had turned away to watch the shadows, but the large man in the red coat swung around to face the house. And he was so tall, his eyes caught sight of the figure on top of the roof.

A pain went through her chest, heart stopping, as his eyes caught her directly in their sight. She sucked air in, realizing he saw her, and was only still frozen for a moment. But a moment is a very long time, long enough to see the excited smile fall from his face, long enough to see light blue eyes widen, long enough to remember them looking down at her in amusement in a memory from long, long ago. The moment was long enough for all of that to happen after his moment of realization. It was long enough for her to think, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening, and then immediately afterwards to wonder how he had ever recognized her.

She was hardly who she had been the last time they'd been this close.

But the moment, as long as it was, ended, and her limbs remembered to move again. And the second they did, her horror and fear spiking enough that she knew what she was throwing herself into when she stepped off the roof, she jumped backwards. Snow and roof tiles blocked her vision until her foot hooked into the gutter of the home, and she pushed backwards. Rolling and falling awkwardly, she hit the grass of the backyard and ran.

She just ran. Running had become like breathing to her, whether she did it physically or metaphysically. And so it was easy to move her body, to make it to a treeline, every step thinking that behind her would be a man staring in horror or a nightmare with hot-coal eyes. She ran, not looking back, heart pounding hard in her chest, and thinking two thoughts. The first was of the man. How he'd seen her, and knowing what she did then, had probably seen her with horror on his face. That's what the look had translated to for her.

And the other thought was that this had been planned.

Anger swelled in her chest as this thought settled into her, arms pumping as she ran aimlessly in the forest. Roots did not trip her up, shrubs did not make her fall. Her body knew what to do for this was what she was best at. Getting away.

As she did, not needing to physically focus, she thought of what had started the day. Of a dark cave and a grey man and another kind of pain in her chest.

"This again? Dear, we both know you're not serious."

"I won't. You need me, I'm the only thing that can make this work. If I leave, none of this happens and no one gets hurt. Don't you dare think you have any kind of leverage in this."

"Oh, really? Is that what you think?"

"Stop that! With the creepy rhetorical questions!"

"Go ahead then."

"..."

"That's what you want, is it? Go on. Be a hero, try and change the person you are. I'll be right here waiting when you come back. So go run along now. You'll just have to outrun...them."

They didn't come for her, and she only stopped when a tree was right in front of her. She threw her hands in front of her and they slammed against the rough tree bark, her breath ragged and new cold sweat making her skin feel uncomftorble. The snow around her was still pristine, minus the torn trail she had run, making her knuckled numb enough to punch the tree before her and not feel too much pain. She grit her teeth and closed her eyes, resting her forehead on the bark.

How many times had she done this now? Run away that, is. How many times had it taken for her to run into him again, for her to leave that cave and finally see him. She turned and slid down the tree, sitting in the cold snow and wrapping her arms around herself, resting the back of her head on the tree. She looked up through the canopy at a dark lavender sky, blinking and chest heaving.

His face was older, his eyes still that light blue with the playful spark behind them. And she had to grind her palms into her temples to try and squash it all out. The horror on his face, both just moments before and another time, the last time before this. She wasn't ever supposed to see him again. Not after that, not after everything. Not even if she had stayed with the man who controlled nightmares, not even if she let him carry out his plan against the Guardians. She wasn't supposed to see him then. She clutched at the white cloth that hung around her neck, her breath fast and scared, trying to push out the memories it brought with it.

Her chest was still in pain from the shock and the anger. She should have known, really, that this close to the end that he wouldn't let her leave. She was a fool to think she could do it this time, just because she felt stronger, just because she'd gotten more fed up. And yet, wallowing in her shame and fear and trying to squash out his face, panicking that he was so close, she stood. She stood from the snow and sniffed at the chill around her, flexing numb hands and looking around.

And really, she shouldn't have, because when she did everything around her was dead. And it wasn't because of the snow, either. Even that had melted around her, in a perfect circle, leaving only the driest of dirt. The branches on the trees had shriveled, the leaves now releasing and falling to the ground, so fragile that they shattered on impact with the downy snow. Her hands clung to the tree behind her and her jaw clenched, looking around with wide eyes, breath coming in too fast as she tried to control it.

A perfect circle of dead vegitation around her reminded her of exactly why she was in this situation in the first place. Her heart still pounding from seeing a man again that she had sworn was out of her life, for his better, the girl closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened her eyes again, everything was still dead in a seven-foot radius around her, hands shaking and cursing quietly under her breath. Because this was what she did, wasn't it? She crippled everything around her. Innocent or not. She sucked in a breath and looked around again, cursing once more and fighting back a lump in her throat. Only one positive was clear.

No nightmares. Which meant he must be planning something still. But this time she shook her head and muttered quietly, breath coming out in angry clouds,

"Not this time, you grey stick-thing. You're gonna have to do better than this."

A wind rustled through the trees as she made a resolution to keep going, telling herself that she couldn't go back again. The leaves rustled and she swallowed, wiping her nose on the back of her hand and walking again. She swore that above her it sounded like a laugh, a cackling kind of laugh.

And Anastasia kept walking and trying to forget.

-In A Town In Argentina-

Nicholas St. North felt all of the air leave his lungs, his eyes darting across the roof where he knew she had just stood. He knew, he knew, it couldn't have just been his old eyes.

"Who was that? Just there?!" Tooth's voice broke through to him, urgent and flying up beside him, pointing to where she had just stood. Because it had been her. He knew, if everything else had changed, those eyes. He didn't answer her, just took a step back and looked down, shaking his head incredulously. "North? North what's wrong?"

"Huh?" Jack had turned to him now, his breath thin and looking up at Tooth's worried eyes. His long-time friend looked so concerned, and Sandy as well behind her. His eyes flicked up to the roof again and then back to her, Tooth looking confused.

"Did you know the person up there?" Suddenly she gasped, hands over her mouth, "Was it...Pitch?"

"Pitch? He was here?"Jack suddenly exclaimed, gripping the staff harder and looking around, "Someone should get Bunny and-"

"No, no."He managed to say in a thick Russian accent, looking to Tooth and Sandy.

"Then who? Someone was up there, right? I think I saw them."Tooth tried, and North attempted to form words in his mind. Words to describe what he had seen, because he himself did not really believe it. Believe that she had been standing there. He tried to count the years and found there were too many. He looked up at last, knowing his friends may not, as wonderful as they were, believe him. For, the Guardian of Wonder did not truly believe himself yet. But Tooth had seen, hadn't she?

"Was...I thought..."He blinked and said again, in a lower voice, "...Anastasia."

For a good moment, everyone looked thoroughly confused. Sandy got it first, eyes widening and looking up to the roof as if he could conjure her there again, just to make sure. Then Tooth, whose eyes went wide again and shook her head.

"Anastasia? You mean the one you-"

"Who?"Jack, young Jack who hadn't been around for nearly as long as the rest of them, asked. North couldn't explain, but didn't have to as the four of them were interrupted by a loud voice and a rabbit popping out of a hole in the cement that, moments ago, hadn't been there.

"Oi! Whadday you standin' around for, huh? I've been taking on some nightmares for the past few minutes and you all have been havin' a tea party!" He said it good-humoredly, the large blue-and-grey Pooka smiling until he saw the faces of his friends. Tooth's, now tense with worry, Sandy's furrowed brow and pouting mouth looking up at the roof, and then North who tried as hard as he could to compose himself, because...

...It wasn't possible, was it? He had hoped, he had always hoped...but could it have been true? Could she still be...?

"Uh, anyone wanna tell me what's up?"Bunny asked, putting a boomerang back into the sling around his chest, ears twitching.

"I'd like to know the same thing. North, did you see someone you know? Is it...someone bad, maybe?"Jack offered, and North saw his confusion with a pang of guilt. Half his mind was stuck on the girl on the roof, the other with his friends who looked so worried, so bothered over him when they were supposed to have fought back stray nightmares that had wandered after Pitch's defeat. He couldn't speak just yet, keeping a picture of the girl in his mind. He thought of her, piecing things together, trying to tell himself both that it wasn't and that it had to be her.

The hair was shorter now but the same dull blonde. And she was older, if just by a touch, than she had been before. Her skin was still olive. Her eyes were still scared. Her eyes still looked like little bluebird eggs. His little bluebird. She was gone so fast...

He shook himself, still half-numb, but knowing that if he was going to think it had to be surrounded by the noises and commotion of his Workshop. Looking back to his friends, resolving to think things through back in Santoff Claussen, he asked,

"Bunny, are there anymore out there?" Still a bit cautious and confused, Bunny scratched at his chest and nodded.

"None, mate, but what-"

"Very good, then let us...regroup back in Workshop. I have many things to think over..."He muttered the last part and barely shook the snowglobe before tossing it into the air, the portal exploding in blues and vibrant whites and silvers.

"I don't get it, what's going on? Did you guys see something? Who's-"

"Jack, not now. Later."Tooth hushed Jack like a child, and as North stepped through the portal, he gave only one more backwards glance to the rooftop where he knew she had stood.

In the dark winter night, the roof now stood empty.