-Santoff Claussen, North Pole-

"We'll find her."Tooth's promise went beyond North as they all trudged back into the Workshop, the portal closing behind them. Yetis looked over curiously, the elves scuttering around North's feet.

"It's been two ruddy days, how hard is it to find one person?"Bunny mummbled, brushing crisp leaves off his shoulders. He'd gotten tree-looking duty when Jack shot off to look in the New England town.

"I only found her last time because she wanted me to...I think."Jack explained, twirling the staff with much less enthusiasm than normal. Sandy next to him made signs that Jack was roughly able to translate into, 'she seems to be comftorble with you. Maybe we should send just you out next time?' Jack almost smiled at that, and North nodded.

"Maybe Sandy is right, maybe she just feels..." North cut himself off and stopped halfway up the stairs. The others almost ran into his back, making complaints until they moved around him. Then they saw his wide-eyed gaze and followed it, all the way up to the overlook where something waited for them.

-Santoff Claussen, Overlook-

No one was home. She moved slowly, delicately, as if she didn't really belong there, as if she were someone visiting someone else's house. And to her, in a sense, she was. She stepped as if she did not belong there, heart pounding in her ears and making her way quietly, almost silently, to the overlook. She'd come in through a back door, not wanting to deal with any wrath from the yetis if they decided they didn't like her abandoning their boss twice in one lifetime. And so far, she'd avoided everything.

But that also meant that North wasn't there, and that struck a chord of fear in her chest. If he wasn't here, where was he? Had he come home two nights ago? Had he been okay, had she actually wounded him that deeply? She thought of his face, of all the things she had said, and cringed. She hoped he was there beyond all measurable hope. He had to be okay. People needed him.

And just as she was about to go into a full-blown panic attack, there were footsteps and voices behind her. Anna spun around, both shocked and relieved to see them all standing there about halfway up the stairs, all wide-eyed, all present.

And then that little trickle of fear ebbed in. There was a silence, all of them looking at her without any indication of joy or hatred. There was just them, all of them, waiting for a sign to do anything. Anna took a breath in, rubbing her sweaty palms on her jeans, and tried not to think of all the reasons she was there. Because, as she had promised herself, she would wait and see.

Then, and only then, would she chose one way or another.

"...Hi." She greeted awkwardly, giving a tiny wave. North's eyes lit up, his mouth dropping open a bit, and Anna saw relief fill blue eyes. Immdiately, he began bounding up the stairs towards her, the others following suit. She almost took a step away, but North saw and stopped short of tackling her, instead choosing to grab her by the arms and look her over, checking to make sure she was there.

"Anna, you are safe? You are not harmed? Where have you been?" Anna blinked at him, surprised, something warm welling up in her chest. She didn't understand.

"You aren't angry?"She asked quietly, confused. Jack stumbled to the ground next to North, looking like he just flew eight hundred miles.

"Angry? Anna, we went looking all over for you!"Jack exclaimed, North never letting go of her arms even as Jack walked up to her. Anna paused, taking a moment.

She looked around her at everyone, seeing the Guardians stepping up quietly around North and giving her equal looks of worry. Five pairs of eyes on her, five people surrounding her and happy that she was there. Five people who wanted her there. Five. Five, when she'd only ever had one before, if that. Anna slowly looked at each of them, a lump forming in her throat that she tried to swallow and failed, a tightness in her chest threatening to quiver her lip and blur her eyes. She tried to take a deep breath in.

Anna did not know it, but in that moment she had already made her decision to stay. She didn't think that even Pitch could have forseen something like this. She looked back to North and for the first time in four centuries, she felt like maybe, maybe she was home.

"...You know how sorry I am, right?"She asked, and North broke into a beautiful, teary-eyed smile. He nodded, laughing, and let go of her arms to take one giant hand and smooth it across her hair.

"I know, Anna. I know. And I think it is time for us all to talk, to clear the air. Yes?"He offered it gently, more gently than he'd done anything so far, and Anna wondered just what had happened after she'd left. She couldn't argue with him, in fact, she didn't want to. She wanted to talk. She needed to talk. What they'd been doing, those small actions and tiny words, that hadn't been enough. They deserved explanations.

"Yes."She agreed, and North nodded and stepped back.

"Then, to office? Phil! Hot coco! With tiny marshmallows!" North called to a yeti who'd just walked up the stairs, turning and leading them to a familiar hallway. As she walked, Jack giving her an over-the-moon smile and nudging her, Anna noticed something. Or, more specifically, someone.

Aster.

He walked near her, and was casting glances her way. But they weren't angry. They didn't even have an ounce of hate in them. In fact, and Anna had to do a double-take to make sure, they looked almost guilty. But that wasn't right. Anna was the angsty one in this cluster, not Aster. But after awhile, she caught him glancing her way, and for a moment their eyes connected.

And between the two of them, a thousand apologies flew silently into the air.

And just like that, as they both quickly looked away from the other, it was almost as if they were forgiven. Almost.

They all filed into the office, Sandy closing the door behind them with a big push. North motioned for Anna to sit in one of the hefty armchairs near a roaring fire, and she almost said no. But then, she figured, she'd said no to North enough. So she moved around and sat a bit awkwardly down, North across from her with Jack perching on a footrest next to Tooth, Aster standing with his arms crossed next to North, ears and eyes down. Sandy floated to rest comftorbly next to Anna, which honestly she still wasn't used to. This little man that Pitch had cursed so often, sitting politely and silently next to her.

"So, Anna,"North began, and Anna already felt her stomach crawl, "tell us what happened."

"From where?"

"The beginning."

Anna had to pause a moment, collecting her thoughts. 'The beginning' was such a simple way to say it. It was the beginning of a new life, it was the beginning of a sort of demented kinship. How could she possible say all that she had done had made her hate herself without sounding pathetic and evil? How could she say that she hated what she had done...but had never really hated Pitch? How could she put that into words?

She looked at their expectant faces, some of whom she'd only said a handful of words to, and knew she had to say something. Knew they deserved at least that much. And so, she began.

"Pitch found me two days after I left. He promised me he wouldn't...you know, cast me out because of what I could do. I don't know why I didn't trust you like I trusted him, North, I swear I don't. Because I should have trusted you, I shouldn't have run and I should have believed that, after everything we'd done for each other, you weren't the kind of person to leave me. I really don't know."

"Anna,"North said softly, "is okay. All is forgiven, we are wiping clean the slate. Now, go on. Did Pitch hurt you? What did he make you do?"

Anna shook her head, her fingers absent-mindedly playing with runs in her jeans and thinking back on four centuries. Four centuries, and what Pitch had done in them.

Her answer surprised even her.

"Pitch never hurt me. In fact...it was almost peaceful. He made me do terrible things, but he never actually...hurt me, you know? Everything was my choice, even if he gave me a bit of a push...alright, more than a push. He always knew how to get his way, but he warned me in the beginning. Pitch never lied to me about what he was trying to do, he just needed to use my powers. I ran the first time. He got me back within a day, which sounds pretty pathetic but you have to understand that I thought I was alone.

"I know I wasn't now, but then Pitch was all I had. So I figured out a way to take fear and manifest it into nightmares by taking dreamsand and killing the joy inside of it...sorry about that."She apologized to Sandy, but the tiny man made a brushing motion. 'Wiping clean the slate', he was copying North, and she was eternally grateful for that. She looked back to North and went on without stopping. She had to.

This was the worst part.

"I made the fearlings out of thin air. I took an emotion and brought it to life. Really, if I have to get specific, it was shadows that contained secrets and fears. I took them and brought them to life, and they turned into these...these things. These things that hurt children and terrified them, they crawled along the walls of Pitch's cave and...I made them. I could have run away so much sooner, and I could have just plainly said 'no', but in the end I always crumbled.

"I can't tell you how that's haunted me. That I did something so awful that it spawned something worse. No matter how many times anyone can forgive me, I can't forgive myself for that. That's...that's unforgivable, what I did because I was scared of being alone. Only most recently, when everything got to be too much and Pitch wanted to rise again, that was the only time I thought I could really get away.

"But he followed me, and he almost hurt all of you. And I thought that...I couldn't get away. After everything was going so well, by my standards at least, after all of that I still couldn't do anything right...And I left again. And I shouldn't have done that." Anna finally stopped, breathing in deeper than she ever had before, and looked up at North, then to everyone else. "I'm really not good at people-things. Which you've probably noticed. But I don't want to hurt any of you, and..."She paused, not sure which words to use, trying to sound as sincere as she felt, "...you're all a lot nicer than I deserve."

"Anna,"Tooth spoke this time, almost surprising her, "it's okay. We aren't angry. You were young, you made a mistake, and now you're here with us. Join the party." She teased, and Jack smiled.

Anna shifted in her seat, checking Tooth's face, replaying her words. Anna had been forgiven for a lot of things in a short period of time, but it never ceased to amaze her these people's capacity for forgiveness. For letting go.

"Is nothing too big,"North brushed off, Anna gaping at him, "we have defeated nightmares before! And fearlings? Pah! They may be strong, but we are always stronger, are we not?"

"Of course we are!"Jack cheered, and Sandy gave a tiny thumbs-up. Anna didn't want to tell them how strong the fearlings were. She didn't want to tell them how horrible and nasty and deadly they were. She just didn't want to. Half because she didn't want to rain on the good emotion that was finally, finally, seeping through the air into everyone's hearts. The other half was because somewhere deep, deep down inside of her, Anna had already made the choice to stay with them. And if she was with them, they could win. They would win.

"So..."She started awkwardly, hands rubbing against the fabric of her jeans, all eyes on her in a quick silence, "...how exactly did you end up here?"

North's face lit up with the kind of spirit Anna remembered vividly. His eyes shone and his mouth opened and his hands were already up, as if he were about to jump right into a reinactment of some ridiculous adventure. And there he was. The North she remembered. He burst right into it, telling how long it took for him to find the other Guardians, how they all banded together to defeat Pitch. He didn't ask, but Anna told him what was going on behind the scenes during their battles. How frustrated Pitch would get, his temper tantrums.

And for once, nothing hurt.

For once, for a beautiful moment, Anna sat in the midst of a story that everyone added to, and she almost felt like she was home.

Home.

That was an unspeakably wonderful feeling.

Eventually, though, the light outside the window began to dim and purples and yellows were cast across the room. Everyone had at least one mug of coco empty beside them, North beating out the pack with six, currently working on a seventh. And in the midst of it all, Anna realized she'd started smiling. Smiling for so long that her face her in the best kind of way.

"You seriously invented bendy straws? I don't buy that one, I swear to MiM."She shook her head, and North opened his mouth to defend himself, but all that came out was a lengthy yawn. That was when Tooth finally fluttered up, wings a blurr though she herself looked exauhsted, and ordered gently,

"It's time for everyone to get to bed. It's been an awfully big day, and we have a lot to do tomorrow. Now shoo! Everyone, off to bed!"

"Everyone stay here tonight! Will be better this way, like a bonding excercise, no?"North offered, and either everyone agreed or they were too exauhsted to disagree, because they all mumbled and waddled off out the door. Anna was the last, standing tiredly and in a strange kind of fog, slowly easing herself into this idea that she was safe here. That she belonged.

"Oh, Anna, wait a moment."North asked behind her, and Anna turned to see him reaching for something in his coat. She didn't know what to expect.

The white cloth that had ripped before was not it.

"You kept that?"She asked, looking at it with a kind of reverance, hanging in North's hand. It was stitched extremely intricately back together on the corner that it had ripped.

"As you did."North answered fondly, and gave her an asking look. Slowly, she nodded, and he unfolded it and wrapped it loosely around her neck again, tying it in back. When he stepped back from her, she gently ran her fingers along it. A breath of air went through her body, a relief, a familiar sensation flooding her. Her fingers brushing against the fabric, and she was okay. Finally.

"...Do you think things can go back the way they were?"She asked quietly.

"No. I do not think we are the same people, we cannot be the same way we once were. But that does not mean we cannot be better." North smoothed back her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead, much in the same way he used to do when she was much younger. He didn't need to lean down as far, and she didn't giggle or swat him away.

Instead, they stood and looked at each other, knowing they could learn to love the people they were now. Knowing that things could be better now.

"Now, off to bed before Tooth had my head!"North urged softly, steering Anna to the door. She chuckled and pulled the door open, turning to North one last time.

"Thank you. I don't-"

"You do."North cut her off, still smiling. And they both knew what the other was saying. You deserve forgiveness. Someday, maybe, she would believe him. When they said their goodnights and went their own ways, Anna saw someone farther up ahead of her. At first she thought it could be a very small yeti, but when she got closer to her door she saw tall ears and long feet.

A worry struck through her as she got closer, realizing who it was that stood outside of her door. Then Aster saw her, pushing off the wall almost awkwardly and sheathing a boomerang he'd been tossing in the air. For once, nothing about him read hostile. His arms were down, his fur was flat, and he looked almost as surprised to see her as she was of him.

"Anna, hi, er..."He paused, trying to gather his words and scratching the back of his head, eyes darting around. 'Is this what I look like?' Anna wondered for a few seconds before Aster gathered himself and locked eyes with her. "I know we had that whole discussion in there just now, but I, uh, I know I wasn't exactly welcoming when you showed up."

He was apologizing. That was certainly not something Anna had expected.

"You had a right not to be. I didn't exactly leave a good mark, and you were looking out for North. Someone has to, right?"She tried to comfort him, not knowing what it was like to be on the recieving end of an apology. Aster seemed to relax a bit, though, and shrugged.

"I still shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry, sheila, I guess I can be kinda thick-headed sometimes...truce?"He offered a paw, and Anna felt a strange sensation of calm. As if maybe, someday, this truce could mean something. That she could make friends, like she used to be able to. She took his hand and offered a smile, nodding.

"Truce."

-A Frozen Lake in Burgess-

He stood in a patch of moonlight, knowing the words that weren't spoken. His hands folded behind him, and already in his chest he could feel it. Somehow, through that bond that they shared as outcasts and martyrs, Pitch knew that Anna was with the Guardians. And not in the way he wanted her there.

He supposed he should have seen this coming. She was restless, even before the Guardians came into view. But the difference between when she'd been morally conflicted and then was that now she had someone to go to. Someone else offering her safe haven. And so she abandoned him.

He didn't mind, truly. He knew her reasonings, and he respected them. He was a terrible man, North had practically raised her. Ignoring that Pitch had been there when North never could have been. Ignoring that Pitch had accepted her gifts first. Ignoring how he'd comforted her and lived with her and found a unique semblance with her that no one else could ever have with her. Ignoring all of that, Pitch could understand. And if he was good at anything, it was ignoring.

She was scared now, he knew. He saw it in her eyes, in her movements. She was trapped in a space he'd tried to hide her from. In all he had done, the very least was that he'd tried to make her decision easy. He needed her power for selfish goals, but at the same time Pitch Black knew there was more than that. There was someone, finally, who understood. Jack had come close, very close, but Anna...she had lost everything, she was unstable and selfish and impulsive. She ran unless she knew she could win. She was just like him.

Except that Anna had redeeming qualities. He'd seen them from day one, knew they would eventually lead her away from him. Kindness, even to the Nightmare King. Kind words and soft intentions and a good moral compass. She was not perfect, but he knew she was a better person than him. And for that, he knew that the day would come that she would leave, and he knew that he'd never truly hate her for it. Just as, for reasons even he could not fathom, Anna would never hate nor fear Pitch Black.

"You know,"Pitch mused to the moon, looking at the drifts of snow surrounding him in the night, "she never would have survived there. You made her immortal, I made her feel like she belonged somewhere." The moon stayed in a single silver stream down at him, and something he heard from it made him crook a smile and laugh. It was something only the two of them would ever understand. Not Pitch and the Moon, but Pitch and Anna.

They were the same. Two disasters settling together, like an earthquake and a tsunami. Despite everything the would do to the other, despite all their animosity and selfishness, that was one thing Pitch would never say aloud. It had been wonderful, somewhere inside of him that wasn't rotted black, to have Anna there. Even before they confided in the other, even before they gained that level of trust, they clung to the other's existance. Pitch would deny anything further, he would keep himself as detatched as possible in knowing that she would have to share the same fate as the Guardians, but it was true. It was the only true thing he had ever known.

They needed each other. They needed to know they weren't alone.

"I don't care if she makes it out of this unscathed, MiM my dear old friend, but I am interested in knowing one thing: If she makes it out, what will she think of you in the end?"

Clouds moved then, and slowly, ever slowly, the moon faded from view. Pitch Black was in darkness again, shadows twisting in the corners of the lake, trying to fill a space she had left. And he laughed.

Bitterly, Pitch Black laughed.