Hey guys... if anyone's reading this. This is my first fanfic, so plz cut me some slack. I will try to update once a day till winter break, then every week after wards. Enjoy! RnR!

The woman slept in the bed, with a crib near by. In the crib was a child, no more than 2 years old. The baby girl stirred in her sleep, disrupted by the sound of her father working in the other room. The mother bolted upright, and chaos ensued. The woman screamed, the child cried, and the father ran into the room.

"What is it?" the father shouted, panicked. Then, seeing the woman, he sat on the bed and said, "Ashryn, I thought you told me the nightmares had stopped!"

"They had," Ashryn replied. "But they're back. Oh, Orist, what do we do?"

"We fight," Orist said, determined. He took the woman's hands and looked into her eyes. "Ashryn, I know this is hard for you; it's hard for me too. But we are going to keep each other safe, and we are going to keep our daughter safe." He gestured towards the crib. "But in order to do that, we need to fight. We need to fight the Neverseen."

A man all in black burst into the room, a ball of fire in his hand. He sneered. "Miss me?" Fintan asked.

Alea Palor was a very abnormal elf. For one thing, she had never gone to Foxfire or Exillium. For another, she was a very high ranking agent in the rebellious group called the Neverseen. Not to mention she hated the Black Swan for killing her parents before she was even two. After all, death was such a rare occurrence in the Lost Cities that when it came along, nobody really seemed to know what to do.

Alea did. She knew how to deal with mysterious disappearances, and how to pretend she didn't know anything when Fintan or Alvar asked and threatened her.

She knew how to sneak past the guards, and through the door to listen in on confidential information about the next mission or recruit. So, naturally, Alea knew all about Keefe Sencen when he joined. And, when she heard he had been with the Black Swan, she was instantly ready to interrogate him.

As soon as Keefe stepped into the room, Alea had him pinned against the door, her arm across his neck.

"Who are you, why are you here, and how do we know you aren't spying on us for the Black Swan?" she asked him, glaring daggers at him. Wow, Alea thought. He's actually kind of cute.

Keefe's blonde hair was carefully styled to look unstyled, Alea could tell. His mouth was curved into a smirk, even though he was pinned. His cheeks were softly flushed from the cold weather outside. And his eyes… well, his eyes were icy blue, and deep as the Irc Lake, the deepest lake in all the Lost Cities.

"My name is Keefe Sencen, I just joined the Neverseen, and Alvar's known me my whole life." Keefe's words brought her back to the present.

Alea turned to Alvar, noticed her mistake to late, and whipped back around, just to have Keefe whirl her around and pin her against the door in turn.