Paige could hear running water near her, which was better than that damn machine beeping. Cold air hitting her exposed arms and legs causing her to shiver uncontrollably. Paige slowly opens her eyes and sighs in relief that she is no longer in that room. She slowly sits up so she could get a better look around. It appears she is in a forest somewhere next to a creek with everything covered in a few inches of snow. Everything was still and silent except the running steam next to her.
Paige scoots closer to the stream, wanting to remedy her dry mouth. She cups her hand into the ice cold stream water and drinks a few handfuls then splashes her face to try and wake her up more.
Paige looks down at herself and notices all the blood covering her and her hospital gown. Flashes of the doctors and the gurney interrupts her thoughts.
"Where am I?" she asks herself.
"Beats me, I haven't seen these lands before." Otakemaru whispers to her.
"So, you don't know where we are either?"
"I got us out of there like I said I would. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. I never came across another human."
"Okay, so we are literally no where." Paige says out loud as she tries to stand up.
Paige struggles to try and stand up. Being chained to that bed for so long and she's hasn't used her legs in years. She falls back to the ground, unable to hold her own body weight.
"I can't walk." She says in defeat.
"Well, I can't exactly walk up to humans in my form and ask for help now, can I?" Otakemaru says.
"So now what?" Paige asks him in frustration. "I went from a bad situation to another bad situation."
"That was going to be far beyond bad back there, I'm telling you." Otakemaru argues back. "I would rather be here then there."
Paige shivers again while rubbing her sore wrists. Feelings of hopelessness and despair filling her thoughts as she wonders in which way she will die.
"Need some help?" a voice says, causing Paige to jump.
Paige saw an older man standing across the stream from her. He's dressed in cream-colored robes and a matching pointed hat, his white beard so long that it was hanging down past his belt.
Afraid, Paige scoots backwards, trying to get distance away from the man, but still unable to pick herself up.
"No, thank you. Just came here to chill." Paige says, using her humor to deflect her fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you." The man says calmly to her. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I've been looking for you for years now and I'm relieved that you're safe and unharmed."
Paige looks down again at her hospital gown that was still covered in blood, then back at Dumbledore.
"I know that's not your blood." He says, as he starting to walk towards her with am amused smirk on his face.
Still being hesitant of him, Paige continues to drag herself further away from him.
"I knew your parents." He says, entering the stream, unfazed by how cold it is. "Your real parents. Before they died."
"Is that a thing serial killers say?" Paige asks Otakemaru inside her head.
"No clue, kid." Otakemaru whispers back.
Dumbledore crosses the stream, keeping his eyes on Paige through his half-moon glasses. He stands looming over her, his bright blue eyes staring deeply into hers. He kneels beside her in the snow and holds out his hand.
"I just want to take you somewhere safe." He says gently.
Paige slowly reaches out her hand, hovering it above his open palm. She was expecting him to grab her at any second and put her back in her restraints. She pulls her hand away from him, deciding not to take his hand.
"I know you're having a hard time trusting anyone right now. If I wanted to capture you, I would have done it when you weren't looking." He says, keeping his hand extended. "I swear, I just want you to be somewhere safe."
"Safe where? Because you can be nice and safe inside a cage." Otakemaru hisses in Paige's ear.
"And you'd be able to get yourself out, wouldn't you Otakemaru?" Dumbledore asks out loud as if he was reading Paige's mind.
Paige looks at him in shock and disbelief.
"Did you just read my mind?" Paige asks, raising her one eyebrow.
"Just one of my many talents." He says with a wide grin.
"It's up to you kid Whatever you decide, I'm along for the ride." Otakemaru says in her mind. "Plus, he's right. I can get us out of anything."
Paige slowly put her hand on Dumbledore's and when they connect, everything turns into a blur, and they disappear out of the forest.
Paige instantly falls back to her knees in the snow when the ground suddenly reappeared for her. She looks up and notices they are now out of the forest and its nighttime. A small cabin with no lights on inside that she could see stands in front of them. It is even colder here then it was back in the forest. Paige's stomach grumbles as nausea hits her instantly and she throws up the stream water she managed to drink before.
"Ah yes, sorry about that. Should have warned you." Dumbledore says while he pats her back lightly.
Paige wipes her mouth after throwing up the remaining stream water in her stomach.
"Where are we?" Paige asks, still feeling slightly sick from whatever just happened.
"We're in Alaska." Dumbledore says as he picks her up and helps her walk towards the cabin.
He helps her up the porch steps while Paige was still trying to get use to walking again. Dumbledore knocks on the front door.
"What are we doing here?" Paige asks, shivering in the chilly winter night air.
Before Dumbledore could answer her, they both hear a hard thumping coming closer and closer to them. It stops just on the other side of the door. The door cracks open slightly and what looks like a stick pokes through the crack in the door.
"Who goes there?" a gruff older voice asks from the other side of the door.
"It's Albus." Dumbledore says with a cheery smile on his face.
The man lowers his stick and opens the door fully.
"Dumbledore, I wasn't expecting you. I'm glad I didn't shoot first and ask questions later." The man says, backing away from the door to let Dumbledore and Paige inside.
"You've lost your touch old man. A younger Theodard Fontaine would have done it differently." Dumbledore says with a chuckle.
He helps Paige get over to the couch by the fireplace and sits her down on it. Paige shivers as the small flames in the fire place wasn't putting out much heat.
"Who's the girl?" Theodard asks, grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch and handing it to Paige.
He then points his stick at the fireplace and the roars to life.
"She's the girl we talked about before." Dumbledore says. "Wouldn't happen to have the kettle on, would you? I would love a cup of tea to warm up these old bones."
Theodard walks to the small kitchen to the right of the couch. He opens a wooden cupboard above his kitchen sink and pulls out a large white mug. He opens a different cupboard and pulls out a small tea bag and puts it in the cup. He then walks over to the fireplace where a kettle hangs on a hook over the fire. Steam already coming out from the spout.
"There have been many girls we've talked about before, care to be more specific?" Theodard asks as he pours boiling water into the cup and hands it to Dumbledore.
"You wouldn't happen to have any sugar, would you?" Dumbledore asks as he sits down at Theodard's kitchen table.
Theodard sighs and walks back into the kitchen. He opens the same cupboard with the cup and grabs a small white pot. He also opens a drawer and grabs a small spoon. He places both on the kitchen table in front of Dumbledore.
"You know you should really add the tea bag AFTER the boiling water. Yields better results when it comes to tea." Dumbledore says as he scoops a teaspoon of sugar into his tea. "But I don't blame you, you're an American after all."
"Are you going to remind me of what girl you are speaking of or are you going to play your little mind games some more before telling me the answer?" Theodard asks, growing impatient.
Dumbledore takes a long sip of his tea.
"I see you've lost your sense of humor in your old age as well." Dumbledore says with a smile as he places his mug on the table.
"I'm sorry, it's the middle of the night, you show up to my house with some girl covered in blood. I'm just a little on edge right now that's all." He says as he sits across the table from Dumbledore.
Dumbledore swiftly reaches across the table and grabs onto Theodard's arm.
"I'm talking about the girl who went missing from Japan. You know, the one with a Japanese demon inside her." Dumbledore says to him in a hushed tone.
Their eyes lock onto each other.
"Where was she?" Theodard asks, his eyes wide in shock.
"Northern Russia. Middle of no where. No roads. No power lines. The building was mostly underground and the top hidden well." Dumbledore says as he let go of his arm. "We would have never found it."
Dumbledore broke his gaze with Theodard and looks over at Paige.
"I know what happened that night at the shrine. We got there too late unfortunately, and some dark wizards got involved. We kept tabs on you while they were moving you around to different places, waiting for our chance to grab you, but when they took you to Germany… well, you just vanished. We were finally able to track magical output that led us to you when the Oni decided to use his powers today."
Paige slumps into the back of the couch, looking away from Dumbledore and just staring into the fire.
"I remember you saying you would take her in if we ever found her. Is that still true?" Dumbledore asks Theodard, leaving Paige to digest this information.
"Yes." Theodard says instantly.
Dumbledore stands up from the table and walks towards Paige. He places a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Theodard Fontaine used to be a Colonel with the Department of Aurors. He's very knowledgeable in dark arts and mythical creatures." Dumbledore says to Paige, making a sort of confusing introduction. "He's retired now though, but he'll be able to train you on harnessing the Oni powers."
Paige didn't say anything. What the hell was she supposed to say? What the hell was an Auror? She suddenly remembers that Dumbledore had mentioned her parents.
"Didn't you say you knew about my parents?" Paige asks him.
Dumbledore sits next to Paige on the couch and grabs her hand.
"I did. They were American Aurors." Dumbledore says as he squeezes her hand a little tighter.
"They had a double agent on their team." Theodard says, standing up from the table. "The double agent was feeding a terrorist group information from the inside to help prevent them from getting caught. Your parents were too cunning though and captured most of them. The rest fled. It was years later when the remaining ones that fled hunted down your parents, killing them out of revenge. Unknowing of a baby girl fast asleep in the next room over."
"They were truly a remarkable witch and wizard." Dumbledore adds.
"I'm sorry what?" Paige asks. "A witch and wizard? Like Merlin?"
"Well I guess Merlin is the most famous wizard to the muggles." Dumbledore says.
"Muggles? Wizards?" Paige says as she tries to stand up from the couch.
She forgot that her legs weren't working, so she just falls to the wooden floor. She holds her face in her hands to try and steady her mind.
"I know this is going to be a lot to take in, but I am confident that it's never to late to learn." Theodard says as he kneels beside Paige.
"I'll take care of her school supplies, you just need to take her for her wand." Dumbledore says to Theodard, standing up from the couch. "I'll send tutors next week, lets give her some time to settle in."
Theodard doesn't reply, instead he just places his hand on Paige's shoulder.
"I'll leave you to it then." Dumbledore says, moving towards the front door. "Don't worry, you're in good hands Paige."
Paige's head was feeling to heavy to look back at Dumbledore as he left. She could just hear the door open, then close. Theodard picks her up from the ground and places her back onto the couch.
"This isn't going to be easy kid. I hope you're ready for years of hard work." Theodard says as he wraps the blanket around her. "You're going to have to have your face buried in the books most of the time and fighting an inner demon the remainder of the time, but I can promise you it will all be worth it in the end."
Paige moves her hands away from her face, looking at Theodard's face closely for the first time. Comfort and sympathy radiating from his eyes. Scars on his face made him look more fearsome, but his eyes give him away. She looks away from him and stares back into the fireplace for a few moments.
"Okay." Paige says simply.