Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time, A Few Mistakes Ago

"Bye, Zoey. I love you." I hugged my cousin tightly before stepping back. I didn't want her to go, but a small part of me did. The smile plastered on my face was fake, and even she couldn't see through it. Zoey, who had been with me since I was born. Literally. She was twenty-nine days older than me, her being born on September 29th and me being born on October 28th. Why didn't anyone see through it?

Her lips turned up in a small, but kind smile. "Goodbye, Ariah."

Her father gave me a tight hug as well, and they got in their truck and left. I went inside the house and made a beeline for my bedroom. I sat on the bottom part of my bunk bed, which was a futon, and stared at the posters of rock bands on my walls. I'd known that a rift was slowly forming between Zoey and I for a while now, but it had never been this bad. Not even on our trip to Pittsburgh, with the idiot guy named Cody there, taking all of Zoey's time and making me feel like a third wheel. Which I didn't even know was possible, considering we were eleven at the time.

I sighed. I'd been doing too much thinking lately. I grabbed my sketchpad and started drawing a cartoon of a guy. When I was finished, I frowned. It wasn't bad; I was a fairly decent artist. Not great, though. And nowhere near Zoey's ability. I looked over at my red guitar. I should practice, we had a playing test coming up in a couple of weeks. I would never tell anyone this, but as much as I love drawing and want to be an artist, I wanted to be a musician. Because more often than not, I just wanted to sing. I love music. No one knows just how much, though. The problem? I can't sing. Zoey says I can, and that she's jealous of my voice, but I know I can't. I sound like an eight year old with strep throat. Still, I'd do anything to sing in a rock band of my own...

Snapping out of my musical daydream. I opened my practice book and began strumming away. I got lost in the music, even though they were just the simplest of notes, played over and over again until my 'mother' walked in and told me it was lights out and to stop playing the "...god-forsaken instrument."

I sighed and changed into a pair of black shorts and a black tank top. Looking at my black nails, black bed, black sheets, black armchair, black rug and black bookshelf, I realized black was quickly starting to become my color. The splashes of red evened everything out, though. Crawling up the ladder and under the covers, I fell into a deep sleep.

There were flames everywhere. I choked on the smoke, and tried to see my mom through the haze. All I could think about was my parents, but my body just wanted to lay down and sleep.

"Mama! Daddy!" I cried out feebly. I pounded on the door of the bathroom that my father was in while looking around the hallway for my mother.

"Daddy! You have to come out of the bathroom now!" At the time, I was too young to realize that smoke pouring under the large crack below the door had caused my dad to collapse in an asthma attack.

But I had to find Mama. I just barely made out her shape lying next to the back staircase..

"There you are!" I coughed and moved slowly over to her. I grabbed her hand, but she wouldn't move. And being seven I couldn't very well move her on my own.

"Mister, you have to help!" I cried to the man all in white. He glowed like Jesus. He had been trying to get me to leave the building, saying that he could only help me for so long before the smoke and flames got me, too.

He turned around, and glowed brighter. So bright, I had to shut my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was being carried out by a man in a fireman's suit.

I was wrestled into a bed, and had a bunch of people in white looking at me and poking me and other sorts of things. I was pushed into a large car that I realized was an ambulance.

For a minute, though, I heard some of the firemen and EMT's conversation about me.

"I found her by the very back staircase. A woman, her mother I assume, was lying on the ground, with a broken neck. She may have fallen. Frank kicked open the bathroom nearby and a man was lying on the floor a few feet from the door, also deceased. Possibly the father."

"But how did you know to look back there? Nobody ever uses that staircase. It's very dangerous, considering it's made out of rotting wood."

"They must have thought they could escape that way. I looked back there because I saw a very bright flash of silvery-white light. I didn't know what it was, but I had to check. And I found her sitting by the woman, almost choking to death on the smoke. I'm not sure, because it was dark, but I could've sworn I saw a man in white robes standing there. He was gone in the next moment though."

"Hmm. Maybe the kid has a guardian angel."

The ambulance drove away after I heard that.

I woke up with tears leaking from my eyes. That dream again. Ever since my parents had died in that fire ten years ago, I had been having that dream.

Sitting up, I glanced at the clock on the little built-in shelf behind me. 5:56. I really wanted to just go back to sleep, and not have to deal with today, but I knew that I'd have to get up in four minutes anyway, so I crept down the ladder and into the bathroom.

Staring at my face in the mirror, I pulled my cheeks in different directions and looked at my face from different angles. Same as always. Pale skin, heart-shaped face, full but very pale pink lips, and then my eyes- one a very vivid golden green, and the other deep purplish blue. Yeah, having two different colored eyes doesn't make you very popular, especially when you're already considered a freak.

I started my bathroom routine, which included trying not to fall asleep in the shower, focusing really hard to make sure my eyeliner wasn't shaky and I didn't stab myself in the eye with the mascara, and taming my layered, straight, shoulder-length black hair so it didn't stick out all over the place. I shook my bangs so they covered my eyes and went to go get dressed.

I pulled on black jeggings, a dark red t-shirt that read 'Revenge Is My Lullaby' in black, messy-but-cool-looking handwriting, and a Pikachu hoodie. To finish the look, I pulled on my worn, black high-top Converse that had dark purple laces. Grabbing my battered 'Nightmare Before Christmas' backpack and my guitar case, I headed downstairs to make an attempt at eating something.

I sat my stuff down near the base of the stairs and sat at the kitchen table. I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl in the center and unpeeled it. I started breaking it into little pieces, every once in a while putting a piece in my mouth.

You see, I don't have an eating disorder or anything. No, that's one of the few disorders I don't have. But breakfast and I... we really don't get along. My stomach doesn't like food so early in the morning.

Andrea sighed from across the table. She was watching me maim my banana. I stuck my tongue out at her in a joking manner, but she still raised a brow in that reprimanding way of hers. I pulled my tongue in and looked at my hands. I had a bad habit of bouncing from foster family to foster family, and if I didn't quit I would have to find a family outside of Jamestown. Which I did not want to do, considering my real family was still here. Even if they didn't really care for me. Of course, if you were to ask Zoey if they cared about me at all, she'd say I'm the favorite grandchild/niece. And then go on to say that they all hated her. Which is not true. At all.

After the fire, even though I have a lot of family here (well, as much as one could have in a town as small as Jamestown) everyone was either too old or too poor or unable in some other way to take me, so I was tossed into the foster care system. And of course, there were whispers all over because everyone knows everyone in a town as small as this, so my family and my foster family were always whispering at the grocery store when they thought I was out of earshot.

Suddenly, a loud and obnoxious voice filled the air.

"Hey, weirdo!" A pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently.

Andrea shot him a warning glance, but he ignored it.

"What do you want, Jacob?" I asked, not looking up.

"You coming to the game tonight?" he laughed like he had told the greatest joke ever.

"Probably not."

Nothing like an annoying, loud 'brother' in the morning. I decided I needed coffee, and got up to fill a travel cup. Adding extra sugar and cream, I shut the lid and sipped contentedly, leaning against the counter.

"Now, Ariah, you haven't gone to a game all season and it's almost over." My foster dad, Chris, jumped into the conversation using a voice that clearly said, "You are going to the game whether you like it or not.

Chris was now the manager of a local bank, but back in the day he had apparently been big on football. And he raised his own son in a football jersey. Jacob was the senior football star at the high school. If his parents knew half of the things that he, his jock friends and some other preppy girls did, though, they'd send him straight to his grave.

"It would be nice if you supported your brother for once. I know you don't have a strong interest in football-" my snort interrupted him, but he ignored it and kept going, "- but you could still be there for Jake."

"Fine, fine, I'll be there." I grabbed my stuff, not mentioning the little fact that in the two years I had been living here, Jacob had not been to one of the school's art shows (in which I always managed to get a piece or two in) or any of the guitar class concerts or choir concerts.

As I was about to walk out the door, the idiot said that he wanted to walk to school with me. Which was not a good sign. At all. Before I could comment on how I'd walk to school with a fish before I'd walk to school with him, Andrea exclaimed, "Oh, what a great idea!"

And so I was stuck. I pulled out my iPhone (a birthday present from Andrea and Chris) and put my earbuds in, trying to drown out all noise so I could ignore Jacob. Not easily done, because he kept trying to knock my feet out from under me.

That wasn't the worst of it though. At the street corner, a few of his friends, who were of course also on the team, and their girlfriends met us.

"Oh, hey, I see you brought the freak today." Jeremy spoke up,

"What'cha listening to, faggot?" Nick asked.

I gripped my phone and my guitar case tighter in my hand, not wanting either of them to be taken or used as a weapon against me.

One of the girls, Nicole, pushed me a bit. "Hey, emo bitch, he asked you a question."

Another girl- Jessica- pushed me, harder this time. I stumbled forward, but caught myself before I could fall.

A guy named Matt grabbed the top of my arm and jerked me around. "Hey, sweetheart, I suggest you listen to us."

His face was way too close to mine, and I glared at him, but did nothing except for jerk my arm back. These guys were all six feet or taller, with muscles to match. I was 5'1", skinny, and had almost no muscle. I could probably take on at least one of the girls, but with their guys standing there I wasn't likely to get far. The only thing I had going for me at the moment was the fact that I was fast. As soon as the signal to walk lit up, I spit at the girls' feet and darted across the crosswalk. I didn't stop until I got to the front doors of the school. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I walked in.

School sucked some serious balls, but I just kept my head down and my earbuds in, ignoring the taunts, cuss words, crumpled up papers and other various things tossed at me.

I made it through school, with nothing out of the ordinary happening. All too soon, it was growing dark and I was standing in line to enter the football game. I saw Andrea and Chris get out of their car, and when they looked over I waved at them so that they could see I was actually there. Not that I was going to be spending anytime with them. As soon as I was in, I made my way under the bleachers. I sat against one of the poles holding the bleachers up. Taking my phone out to use as a flashlight, I pulled one of my favorite books out of my bag and started reading. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to sit here for hours watching some idiots chase after a ball that isn't even round and attack each other.

I sat there reading, hearing people's cheers and jeers getting louder over the volume of my music. I guessed that the game was starting to reach it's climax. Suddenly, the sound of the crowd died away completely, as well as my music. I looked up as I heard a deep laugh pierce the soundless air. The next thing I knew, I was being surrounded by black sand and shadows. Not just surrounded, but they covered me as if they were trying to drown me. My attempt at screaming was cut off as black sand filled my mouth and I began coughing. Spitting as much of it out as I could, I forced myself into a standing position, with the sand and shadows trying to drag me down. I stuffed my book and phone in my bag, grabbed my guitar, and ran for it. It was difficult; the sand and the shadows tried to hold me back, but I made it out from under the bleachers and kept running. Past the football field and the rest of the school. Past stores and churches and houses.

At one point I did stop to catch my breath and realize how stupid I was. Really? Being attacked by shadows? Barney could handle that one. And how would sand, black sand at that, just materialize? It was all too ridiculous. But when I looked back and a herd of black horses thundered after me, my thoughts of stupidity vanished, and I took off once again.

This time, I didn't stop. I kept going until I reached the woods, and kept going still. I probably would have run until I passed out, if it hadn't been for that stupid tree root. Flying through the air, I went one direction and my guitar went the other.

As I lay sprawled on the ground, it occurred to me how cold the days- and especially the nights- had been lately. I didn't even have time to sit up before the horses were all around me and ready for the attack. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be made of the black sand.

I stared at them, dumbfounded. What the hell was I supposed to do? I couldn't fight them, and they had me surrounded.

I could only stare at them and think, "Fuck!"

Just then, they all charged at me. Trying to cover my head, I let out an ear-splitting shriek into the cold November air.

I was expecting pain. I was expecting blood and gore. I was expecting death. What I wasn't expecting, however, was for all horses to explode into golden sand right as they were about to trample me. I looked up to see a short, stout, but friendly-looking golden man pulling back golden whips. He was floating in mid air. I just gaped up at him, while he smiled at me.

"T-thank you for saving me," I whispered. It was all I could get out. I was panting and very nearly crying. I was scared out of my mind.

His face registered shock at first, but when I managed to sit up, he conjured a golden top hat onto his head, which he promptly whipped off as he bowed.

He nodded, smiling warmly at me. I had no clue who, or even what, for that matter, he was, but he had saved my life after all, and that kind of makes a girl like someone else, ya know?

He held out his hand and when I took it, he yanked me to my feet.

He seemed nice, and I was very grateful to him, but I was honestly at a loss with the whole social thing. Which ended up being okay, because he pointed behind me and a gold guitar case manifested above his head.

Remembering my guitar, I dashed over to retrieve it from the pile of leaves it had fallen into. I turned around and the man and I stared at each other for a moment before I decided to break the silence.

"Um... so my name is Ariah. Ariah Carter. Once again, thanks. What were those things, anyway?"

He frowned, and then a bunch of pictures flashed above his head really quickly.

I realized then that he couldn't talk.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you're trying to say..."

He nodded understandingly. We stared at each other again, until a light bulb lit up above his head.

"What is it?"

A picture of Santa Clause appeared above his head. I didn't understand. He seemed to get this, and showed me a castle. When I still wasn't sure what he was getting at, he showed me a striped pole and an arrow pointing north.

Being the genius that I am, I considered this for a few moments before it dawned on me: he was trying to say the North Pole.

"The North Pole? What about it?"

He created an airplane with two seats, and motioned for me to get in.

"I don't know..."

All he had to do to convince me was show a picture of those horses. I jumped in, set my guitar between my legs, and held on for dear life as we sped up and through the air.

The longer we traveled, the colder it got. My teeth started chattering and I couldn't stop shivering. I pulled my hood up over my head and stuffed my hands in my pockets.

I had almost dozed off when I felt a hand tapping me. It was the man, and he pointed forward. We were arriving at a huge, magnificent castle surrounded by snow. Flying right at it, I thought we were going to crash for a minute before we flew in a giant window. Climbing out of the plane, I looked around to see a big globe in the center of the room.

"Hello, Sandy! What brings you up here? And who's this?" A loud, booming voice that had a thick Russian accent filled the room. I turned to see a big man with a white beard walking towards us. I had no doubts about who this was. I think I was about to meet the real Santa Clause. Ah, hell. By now, I probably owned the naughty list. Let's see, counting the numerous cuss words, fights at school, fights at home, and multitude of foster families... yeah, I'm definitely on there.

"I'm Ariah Carter."

"Ah, yes, the girl who fights. You have big heart, though. Call me North."

I offered him a small smile.

"Now, what brings you two to North Pole?"

Sandy showed him a bunch of pictures, too fast for me to catch, but North seemed to understand them.

"But... Nightmares? It's only been two years since we defeated Pitch. He can't be back already...?"

Sandy nodded.

"Um..." I decided to say something. "What are Nightmares? Aside from the bad dream variety, of course."

"They are those horses that attacked you. The are sent to bring out your deepest fears."

Well, I'd certainly been scared when they were chasing me.

"I simply must call other Guardians." North said, and pulled a lever. Looking towards the window, I saw the Northern Lights go streaming across the sky.

"Wow," I breathed.

I jumped when a hole opened up in the floor beside me and a football-player sized rabbit jumped out.

"A'right, a'right, what goin' on now, mate?"

He looked at me. "Who's she?"

"Ariah Carter." I answered.

He looked at me in surprise. "You can see me?"

I was confused. "Uh, yeah I can see you. Should I not be able to? Are you a ghost or something?"

"Wow. I've never seen someone your age still believe... I'm E. Aster Bunnymund, but you may call me Bunny. I'm the Easter Bunny."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Nice to meet you-"

I couldn't say anything more because I was cut off by a blue and green whirlwind.

"North! Bunny! Sandy! Oh, it's been far too long!" A pretty bird-fairy-lady chirped cheerfully.

Noticing me, she smiled. "And who is this beautiful young thing?"

I blushed at being called beautiful. Please. I'm not beautiful. Maybe pretty, on my best days, but not beautiful.

"This here's Ariah Carter. An' she can see us!" Bunny said.

"She can? Can you see me, too?"

I nodded. "It's nice to meet you..."

"Toothiana! But you may just call me Tooth."

I smiled tentatively at them all.

Just then, a burst of cold air and snow flew in from the window, catching me off guard and making me shiver.

A young boy, around my age stepped in from the window ledge. He wore a blue hoodie and torn tan pants. His hair was whiter than the snow, and he had the brightest blue eyes I'd ever seen. I had to admit, he wasn't too bad on the eyes.

"What's going on?" He asked as he swaggered over to us.

"Well, now that we're all here, we have a situation going on with Pitch."

"I thought we-" He broke off mid-sentence when he finally saw me.

"Who's this? Is she... human?"

North nodded. "This is Ariah Carter. Earlier this evening, she was attacked by several Nightmares. Sandy was nearby and saved her. She's a believer."

"A believer? Isn't she kind of old to be a believer?" He leaned in close, inspecting my face. "And what's up with her eyes?"

I scowled at him. "I was born with them, assbutt. And I am not old! I'm only seventeen!"

He jumped back, shock showing in his eyes. "She really is a believer, isn't she?"

He turned to me, gave me a cocky grin and stuck out his hand. "Jack Frost."

I crossed my arms and glared at his hand until he pulled it away. This "Jack Frost" was already getting on my nerves, and I hadn't known the guy for five minutes.

"Well, isn't she just a ray of sunshine? Who froze your soul?"

"Kind of ironic coming from Jack Frost, don'tcha think?" I countered.

His eyes narrowed, and I realized how small I was compared to him, but I didn't care. I stood straight up and met his glare.

We were standing toe to toe, and I couldn't help noticing how good he smelled. Like a snow day. Or the smell of an oncoming thunderstorm. Clear and sweet and cool.

"Jack! Ariah! Calm down!"

I looked over at North, a blush of embarrassment and guilt tinging my face pink.

Jack just stepped away from me, unfazed.

"So what are we gonna do about the little sheila here?" Bunny asked.

"She must be in danger. Pitch is after her! I feel it- in my belly!"

"Pitch who-"

I was cut off by Jack. "Pitch! But we got rid of him! How could he be back so soon?"

"Jack has a point. We banished him to his cavern. How did he manage to crawl out?" Tooth asked, looking at me with concern written all over her face.

"Who is Pitch?" I asked.

"His full name is Pitch Black. You've probably heard of him. He's the boogeyman." Jack answered, a frown creasing his forehead.

"Wait, so the boogeyman is after me? Why? I didn't even know he existed!"

Sandy showed a question mark over his head. I took that to mean they were just as confused as I was.

"I don't think you should be alone. I have idea! You could stay at the North Pole for a while."

"I can't do that. I have school. And foster parents who will worry about me. I can't get kicked out of this house too. I just can't." Even I heard the panic starting to rise in my voice.

Why can't I ever catch a break? I mean the boogeyman? Seriously?

"Why don't you tell them you're spending some time at a friend's house?" Jack suggested.

I rolled my eyes. "Which friend? I mean, I have so many. Let's see, there's Nobody One and Nobody Two and Nobody Three..."

This frustrated him. "Well, you can't stay there! Do you even realize how much danger you're in?"

I bit my lip. Because, as ridiculous as it sounds, it seemed I really was in danger from the boogeyman. Pitch Black.

Jack smirked, seeing me pause.

"Okay. But I better not get kicked out of Andrea and Chris' place or school. Because I don't know how long I'm going to be gone."

"Excellent! I will show you to your room shortly." North laughed.

Sandy and Tooth had to leave then, because of course they had to work that night.

When they left, Bunny, Jack, North and I were quiet for a minute until I realized something.

"Castiel! Dominatrix!" I gasped out loud. "I need to bring them here! I can't leave them alone at that house!"

The three of them looked at each other.

"Who are Castiel and Dominatrix?" Bunny asked.

A/N: So, I'm back. I don't what I'll be updating or when. This, of course, being excluded; I'll update in a day or two. Since I already wrote chapter two. Just so anyone who's read any of my other stuff and wants updates or whatever, I'll be putting some of them on my Quotev as well, so I'll post the link to my account in my profile soon so you guys can check those out. I might put this on there, too. My Black Butler ones will be there, as well as some others.

To new readers who haven't read any of my stuff, namely my Black Butler sequel, just ignore that. XD Thank you for checking this out. You can check my other stuff, too, if you'd like.

Anyway. So, I've been working on this for a while, and I just decided that I would put it on here. It took a month or two to decide if I would, but here it is.

This is my first real RotG fanfic, so I really hope you guys like it. :3 Thanks for reading it!