A/N: I'm back~! This story idea just came to me today, so I thought, 'Why not?'. This story is kind of based off of the video game, 'Ib', but not so much it could be considered a crossover. This story will be updated every Wednesday (Unless there's an emergency).

Prolouge

Once upon a time, there was a girl. This girl was a very strange girl, whom was always alone. Her family abused her, she wasn't allowed to go to school, and she was alone in her very lonely existence.

One day, however, she decided to run away from her when her family was gone. And run she did.

She ran for days, and, after a week, her family realized she was gone. After this realization, they went to look for her, for who else were they to lash out their anger upon?

But the girl had hidden in a place where they coudn't find her no matter how hard they tried. The girl, however, came out of hiding after a few months. When the family saw her, they immediately brought her back to their home.

Once the family had her home, they beat her and demanded her to tell them where she had disappeared to. She replied honestly, speaking of adventures where she fell into a painting, and of a world where no one wished for her to leave. Her family told her she must be mad and beat her again. They then demanded that she tell the truth.

With nothing else to do, she reached into the small bag of her belongings and pulled out a worn map, with pictures on the back of many different people. Some had faces, some did not. Some had animal ears, others didn't. Some were eyepatches, yet the other people did not.

When the family saw this, they worried, for no one was supposed to know about the girl.

So, the family took the map and pictures away, an, after they beat the girl thrice more, went away from her.

The girl, having lost her prized possession, proceeded to cry and weep, and fell into a great despair for many years. Though she moved on with her life, she never went a day without yearning for her precious map back.

After many years, the wicked family died, leaving only the girl on she saw this, she retrieved her map from the place her family had hidden it, and, when she saw the map and the pictures of people, she wept with joy, so happy to be reunited with her prize possession...

...I think I'm a bit ahead of myself. You see, I'm not here to tell you of 'happy ever afters' and of 'how the wicked will not stand.' Oh no, that's not my job. You see, it's someone else's job to tell you the story of how the girl was reunited with her map. My job is to tell you how she stumbled across it and why it was so dear to her. Yes, this is the story of a runaway child...

And it doesn't begin with 'Once upon a time'.