Anya had lost her Grimm when she was sixteen years old, that cold January day she lost her whole family along with him. But it wouldn't do her any good to dwell on the past and she needed coffee so she would have the strength to deal with her two other freshmen roommates, whose families were still in town helping their daughters to move into the apartment. It had been a long time since Anya felt so jealous, to be that innocent and cared for Anya would give anything to go back and spend one more day with her mother, Marie, Reed, Nick, and even that witch Kelly. But they were all dead now with the exception of her Grimm who had just turned 30. Anya wondered what he would look like; the last time she had seen him was at his parent's funeral he had looked so small in his suit standing next to Marie. Anya had always seen Marie happy and cheerful; it would seem that the deaths of her sister, brother-in-law, and her Guard made her age ten years in the matter of days. Looking at Nick, it was painful she didn't feel the familiar warmth that she normally did through their bond instead she felt nothingness.
Whatever happened that day, she had lost their bond; she could still remember the burning pain that she felt when their bond was being broken, as if her whole body was burning her from the inside out. Anya had ended up passing out from the pain during the middle of her English class while giving a presentation, the school nurse had wanted to send her home but her mother wasn't answering the phone. It wasn't till hours later when a couple of police men along with a child protective services agent came to the nurse's office to tell her that her mother had died in an accident and it wasn't till hours after that did the child protective services agent revealed that she too was a member of the Coven and that the circumstances surrounding her mother's death were being investigated by the Coven's agents known as, the Goddess' Knights or the Knights for short, that all they knew was that Katirina Le Fey had died fulfilling her duty as a Guard protecting Kelly and Reed Burkhardt. Like many Guards her mother didn't have a proper funeral, instead she had a small funeral pyre in their backyard with the East coast head of the Coven, a woman named Aris Cinders.
Aris had apparently been a sort of mentor to her mother when Katirina was still a ward of the Coven, a child who was descended from the Fey or a Sidhe as they were sometimes called because of her blood that made her a part of the Coven and the Coven always look after their own. Anya remembers feeling angry and hurt at Marie's absence at Katirina's funeral; after all Katirina had done for not only Marie Kessler, but for all of Marie's family, the least she could do was attend her Guard's funeral. It didn't help that all Anya really wanted was to see Nick, when she had heard that Reed and Kelly were dead, she had thought the worst and thought that Nick had died as well and that their bond being broken was because the boy had died. When she found out that he was in fact still alive the first thing that Anya wanted to do was to go and see him, but Aris had said to wait till the funeral so that the boy and Marie would have time to grieve in private. Anya had almost thrown a tantrum when she was told this, SHE was a part of their family too! SHE had been there for every birthday, Christmas, New Years, every awards assembly, everything! Everything! Now that her mother was dead all Anya wanted was to see Nick and Marie so that they could tell her that it would be alright and that they would get past this together.
When Anya tried to protest this; Aris had broke the news to Anya that she was to be relocated to the nearest boarding house for the wards of the Coven and that she would be leaving immediately after the Burkhardt's funeral. Anya was afraid; she would follow in her mother's footsteps being a ward of the Coven, being an orphan. While Katirina never talked about what her childhood was like, Anya knew that at the very least it wasn't pleasant and that Katirina wanted nothing to do with the Coven after she reached 18 and would be a full adult. It wasn't till 3 years later when she first felt her bond, the bond that only a Grimm and a Guard can have, but when Katirina felt it, it only took her five days to find Marie; she used all of her scrying methods and set foot on the path that the Goddess laid out for her. Why couldn't Aris see that Anya wanted to do the same, she wanted to be with and protect her Grimm! It didn't matter that they were both technically still children or that their bond had broken, Anya knew and still knows now, that it was her duty given to her by the Goddess to be a Guard, Nick's Guard and she would be damned if anyone got in her way.
At the Burkhardt's funeral Anya got her chance to see Nick, to demand that Marie not allow the Coven to separate them, but something happened that Anya didn't think was possible. When Anya went to them, when she went to Nick and just as she was about to throw her arms around the boy and tell him how sorry she was that this had happened and that they would be ok now that they were together, that she would protect him. Anya was struck with the void, the feeling of utter emptiness, as if that was the worst. The worst was the look of confusion on his face, bewilderment. Anya had said his name tentatively, what had happened? Anya knew the works of a spell when she saw one, anger rose within her; who would dare touch HER Grimm with this magic! Marie as if sensing that Anya was a second away from blowing up quietly told Nick to go to the car and that she would meet him there in a minute, that she had to talk to a family friend. It took Anya only moments to recognize the magic, it belonged to her mother. She didn't know why or how her mother had even managed it, but her mother did it, she had been the one to break the bond that they had and if Anya's guess was right by Nick's reaction to her, Katirina had taken his memories of her too. "Why? Why would she do this? Marie, how could she do this to me?" Anya asked Marie, tears streaming down her face, her fists clenched so tightly into fists that her nails had bitten into her skin. All Marie could do was look at her with tired sad eyes and tell her that she didn't know.
It had taken Anya years after that to forgive her mother; she had spent countless hours trying to figure out why or even how. It just didn't add up. It didn't make any sense; how could she even get the strength or develop the skill that quickly to pull it off. Katirina never had that kind of power, her strengths were mainly precognition and healing. And even if she did do the spell, Anya had always been more powerful than her mother; she should have been able to undo it. Although even if Anya had found the way to reverse the spell, she would need to have Nick in front of her at the very least. Immediately after the Burkhardt's funeral Marie and Nick disappeared; Anya had been looking for them ever since.
Of course not the whole time, 18 years was a long time after all. Anya had all but given up until about a year ago, when she had begun to feel a familiar sensation. At first Anya had ignored it, she had simply thought that she was feeling nostalgic and imagining the feelings, but when the buzzing and warmth of the bond refused to leave her Anya knew that the spell after all long and hard wait was beginning to break. It was small and it was so weak that if Anya attempted to use it, she feared it would break again, but make no mistake it was there. It wasn't long after the bond sensations had begun did Anya finally found Marie, in a Texas hospital of all places, undergoing Chemo therapy. Marie looked at her with kind eyes, filled with warmth, although it could have been the pain medications that she was on. "I knew that you would find me eventually. Is it the cancer and the meds that are getting to me or have you not aged since I last saw you? Your mother wouldn't approve of you using your power on something as frivolous as illusions of yourself as a teenager. Or perhaps you are doing this to make me feel even guiltier than I normally do?" Marie asked. Anya calmly and with more grace than a teenager should have took a seat next to Marie, "I'm afraid this isn't any sort of magic of my doing, it seems that my mother's spell did more to me than simply break my bond. Somehow it would appear that I can't age, Aris could never quite figure it out either she just assumed that it had something to do with the old magic my mother used but more than likely it had to do with my bond. After all Marie, you know how strong and how powerful a bond can be. After my mother died, you felt like a piece of your soul was gone, right? An incredible pain and longing? I wonder do you still feel it?" Anya said, just stating as a matter of face there was no malice in her words she had gotten over that years ago.
"While I wish things were different, I don't regret anything. Everything I did was to protect Nick, we had to disappear. You have to know that your mother loved you with all of her being, she would never have wanted this for you." Marie said, staring and analyzing every inch of Anya. Anya took a deep breath, old wounds were being reopened, wounds that she had long tried to forget, "I know, I don't know a lot of what happened, but what I do know is that my mother loved me and that she did this out of some misguided love." "Just tell me one thing: Are you here to kill me?"
Anya looked at Marie with a strange expression, a mix of hurt and anger rippling under Anya's control. "Why would I be here to kill you, Marie? It would be a disgrace to my mother's honor, she did her best to keep you alive. And by the looks of it you don't have much longer left to live anyway. Why didn't you come to the Coven earlier? They could have helped you fight this; they could have saved your life!" Anya exclaimed "By the time I had thought to get it checked out, it was already too late. Don't worry though; I'm not kicking at Death's door yet." Marie joked. "If only my mother were alive, she would have been able to catch this early and…" Marie cut her off "But your mother isn't alive, Anya. What ifs don't do anyone good; thinking like that will drive you crazy. Besides you should know by now that magic can't solve everything, it has it's limits." Anya looked at Marie, taking in the lines in her face, the pale whiteness of her skin and her lips were dry and chapped; it that showed how sick she really was. It was hard for Anya to reconcile this sickly Marie with the strong indomitable Grimm that she had looked up to growing up. "Tell me where he is, Marie." Anya said her eyes meeting Marie's in a stand still. "He still doesn't remember you. He knows nothing about Guards or Grimms. He's safe in his ignorance, happy even. You should leave him that way." Anya wished she could leave him alone, but it was against her nature to let things go so easily.
"I can't do that. We both know that it's breaking finally; the spell that is. I can feel the bond again, it's small, but I can feel him. He's going to grow into his powers soon and he'll be alone and unprotected. I'll find him eventually or maybe he'll get his memories back and find me. Marie, make this easier for the both of us, please tell me where he is." Anya said, pleading with Marie grabbing one of her hands with both of her own un-aged ones. Marie smiles tiredly, grasping Anya's hands just as tightly, "You weren't meant to do things the easy way, if the bond is growing back as you say it is than you'll be able to find him without my help. I'm so sorry, but it has to be this way. You're dangerous to him. You don't mean to be but you are. I can feel your magic even now; you're strong much more strong than your mother. Other will feel it to, it draws too much attention and Nick doesn't need that." Marie explains "Could you ever forgive yourself if something happens to him, that I wouldn't be there to protect him, because you refused to tell me where he is?" Anya asked Marie, trying to make her see sense. Marie inhaled deeply, "Those are just chances I'm just going to have to take. If you can't find him, Anya, then no one can; there isn't anyone on this earth that wants to find him more than you." Anya softly withdrew her hands from Marie's frail one, "Then we have nothing left to discuss here." Anya stood up and just as she was leaving the thought occurred to her that this would probably be the last time she would see Marie Kessler alive, she turned and said "Until the next life, Marie. May the Goddess guide your soul home." "Goodbye, Anya; your mother would be proud of you." The expression that was on Marie's face was something that would always stay with Anya, an expression of total serene. After all this time Marie was finally at peace.
Anya shook her head trying to rid herself of the bad head space her memories put her in. Dear Goddess, she needed some coffee badly, she only thought about the past when she was dead tired and her mind just drifted to it. Tired of walking around aimlessly, Anya did what normal teenager or young adult would do she used the Starbucks app on her phone to send her to the nearest location; technology was amazing and its certainly improved her school work over the years. Thinking about Marie made her heart ache as well Anya knew that the only reason that she was able to find Nick was that he had finally come into his powers so quickly thus making him a full adult Grimm and making their tentative bond a little stronger, the only way that his powers would just show up over night is if Marie had died. It was still nothing compared to how their bond was when they were younger, but it would have to do for now. Anya didn't even want to think about what if Nick didn't want the bond or even worse what if he didn't want anything to do with being a Grimm? What would happen to her? After all while Anya couldn't find a way to break the spell she was under, she had always expected that once she found Nick that it would undo whatever it was the kept her from aging. Anya didn't want to be a teenager forever, but first she would have to confront him. After that finding Nick had been easy. Anya didn't even need to scry for his location. Anya knew how attached Nick would be to Marie; he wouldn't bury her far from him so all she had to do was a quick internet search for where Marie Kessler was buried.
Anya would have never guessed Portland, Oregon; after finding Marie in Texas Anya searched all through Texas scrying and doing various internet searches thinking that she had finally had a lead, but it turned out that he was in Oregon of all places. Marie, that sly fox, had had enough foresight to know that she could be tracked from the hospital records and decided to go to the biggest state in the nation far from Nick and receive treatment there. Anya made a mental note to visit Marie's grave later this week, it was the least she could do; even if she and Marie had a complicated relationship Anya respected Marie and maybe even a small part of her still loved Marie as well.
After what seemed like an eternity Anya finally found the stupid Starbucks, she had never really been good with directions, but unlike the Starbucks that she would normally frequent in the past this particular Starbucks much to Anya's distaste was crowded with mothers and their little children, high school girls giggling loudly and taking up entirely too much space, and the lone college students who have their headphones on blast and typing frantically on their computers. No, no, no, Starbucks was suppose to be a quiet empty place where a person could grab some delicious coffee; when did it become so popular? The last time Anya was in college (University of Colorado at Colorado Springs or UCCS) a little less than three years ago Starbucks had been her study place of choice it would seem that she would need to find a new study space now. As quickly as she could Anya ordered her coffee with a cheese danish and drowned it with cream and sugar before making her way out of the shop, now what? Anya looked at the clock on her phone, she had only been gone for about twenty minutes tops which meant that her small apartment was still loud noisy and crowded. Pausing for a moment outside of that stupid Starbucks before deciding just to head back to her new apartment; she might as well make herself useful there and help set things up.
Anya drank deeply of her coffee and at this moment desperately wished that she could spike it with some bourbon, maybe some good old Jack Daniels but alas she couldn't. Despite her being 35, well over the drinking age, Anya would most certainly get carded and Aris had instructed her to destroy everything from her old life before relocating to Portland, which meant: birth certificate, social security card, driver's license, passport, etc. However after the events of 1994 Anya always kept a small backpack, hidden in the back of her closet, with a passport, driver's license, cash, a pre-paid phone, and a couple of days worth on clothes. Sure she was a little paranoid, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Thinking about her emergency pack, got her to thinking that maybe once things were fixed with Nick, perhaps there would be an identical backpack next to her's. With any luck she would never have to use that backpack, but if times got desperate perhaps she could dig out her ID which did say she was 21 and hit a bar or something.
There wasn't anything wrong with a little wine or liquor every once in a while, Anya inwardly cringed when she turned 21(the first time) she was slightly depressed and angry at the world and for a couple of months she practically lived at the bottom of the bottle until Aris turned up at her single bedroom apartment raising all hell and basically told Anya to get over herself; life could be worse. Of course things didn't go so smoothly Anya had been so very angry (angry at her mother so doing this to her, angry at Reed and Kelly for dying, angry at Aris taking her away, angry at Marie for not keeping her and for taking Nick away, and to her upmost shame angry at Nick for forgetting her and leaving her alone) and in her anger she lost control and allowed her magic to strike at Aris. Normally a young practitioner attacking an older practitioner had one end, the younger one getting their ass handed to them and hopefully with as little damage done as possible, but over the years Anya had developed a talent for offensive magic. Sometimes she wondered what her mother would think of her talent for fire spells which in turn became lightning spells; would she be disappointed?
Katirina had always deplored when magic was used to destroy rather than cultivate. But Anya tried not to care; it came to her so easy, it was part of her and she could never reject a piece of her magic, but magic like that was bound to attract some attention, it didn't help that she didn't need a spell just pure concentration of will. This power scared many members of the Coven, Anya was too young to have power like that. Anya also had no ties to anyone or to anything; she would only be a ward of the Coven for a year at most, she had no family, and she had no Grimm. Anya was the Coven's worse nightmare waiting to happen, at the worst she could go and work for the Royals and at best she would leave the Coven and never be heard from again, but power always had a way of making things difficult and if it came to it they would want Anya to be on their side. Not to mention that Aris gave Anya her full support and that she would take responsibility of what became of Anya. That horrible day Anya was well on her way of finishing her third bottle of wine, not to mention the tequila she had for breakfast, when Aris showed up Anya had very little patience or control left.
Aris yelled threatening to pull back the Coven's financial backing, how Anya was wasting her talent, and how disappointed Katirina would be in her. Just the simple mentioning of her mother was all it took for the lush, now known as Anya, to snap; it was truly frightening how easy it was to throw around her power, to use some of that anger that she had tried so hard to drown out. At first it was a simple force of will that threw Aris a couple of feet, but Aris wasn't a weakling being the representative of the Coven meant that she not only had power, but she knew how to use it. Aris didn't even hit the ground instead she stood in the air above where she should have been thrown and retaliated by throwing a burst of wind at Anya. All Anya could do was throw herself out of it's path and in all her rage, she allowed crackling electricity to gather in her hands and threw it with all her strength at Aris. Aris wasn't expecting it, the blue-white cloud hit Aris making her lose control of her element and she hit the floor like a stone. Anya shocked by what she had done ran and collapsed at Aris' side checking to see how badly she had hurt her friend.
Anya would never forget how scared and ashamed she was at that moment or the smell of burning flesh that mingled in the air with the smell of alcohol. Thankfully Aris' reflexes were quick she had gathered power and made herself a sort of shield around her arms, which she then threw up to protect herself. But she didn't escape unscathed, the shield wasn't strong enough, pieces of her arms and hands were burned and it seemed that she had taken in enough voltage to put down a person twice her size. Anya healed Aris as best as she could before laying her down in her bed, when Aris woke up Anya apologized profusely there may or may not have been tears. Aris was the bigger person forgiving Anya easily although she did say that if Anya ever attacked her again it wouldn't end well for either of them.
After that Anya was very wary of the power that alcohol had over her, she didn't like the angry powerful monster that hurt her friend, but that was also more than 10 years ago and Anya slowly allowed herself to drink again. It did help that she was older and that she had gotten a handle on her temper and her magic despite her control being shoddy when she was under extreme amounts of stress. After that incident Anya stopped drinking for about 5 years, but living in the college scene was difficult when there was alcohol being offered to her at every corner so she decided that she would drink a little. Always reminding herself that she was in control, that she never wanted to get that low again, and so she didn't.
Just thinking about that day pushed the temptation to drink away. Of course Anya would probably change her mind later having to deal with new roommates always put her on edge. It wasn't that Anya didn't enjoy meeting new people, she just didn't enjoy meeting parents that were stuck between never wanting their child to grow up and wanting their child to grow up faster so that they could stop worrying about them or their children who were often more confused about their wants as their parents. Truthfully it all just made Anya want to be a hermit more than anything, but it looked like she was going to be here a while so she had better start making friends and be approachable.
Anya and her roommates lived in a student housing complex that wasn't affiliated with the university, but instead there were a more affordable option for student than the dorms. The building was fairly close to campus and looked fairly new and well kept; there were even little topiaries shaped into different geometric shapes. Anya could see her window to her room on the third floor from the door, which was helped with one of her favorite pastimes of people watching although in the back of her mind her paranoia chimed that she could also see the coming and going of majority of the people who entered her building. Climbing up the stairs to the third floor, Anya took her time nibbling at what was left of her cheese danish the more she thought about going into her apartment the more nervous she got. There would be questions asked, "Where was her family? Why was she alone? Where was she from? What was she interested in? Did she know anyone in town?" The basic getting to know you conversations that Anya always dreaded, she knew she could always hide in her room, but that would make her seem odd and antisocial.
Besides it would draw more attention to her and there was hidden power in anonymity, it would be better for her if she just sucked it up and played nice with her new roommates. Anya cursed Aris for not wanting to fund for a one bedroom apartment, it would make things so much easier for Anya. But while Aris never voiced it, she worried that if Anya were alone again that she would fall back into old habits; Anya wasn't an idiot she was 35 years old and she could handle being alone now more than that child she was at 21. Aris still treated her like the child she looked like.
Anya checked the time again she had been gone for the better half of an hour, it would look strange if she was away any longer for a coffee break. With a sign she arrived in front of her apartment door the cheap blue paint peeling at one corner of the door, Anya observed that the locks were new at least; she could hear the sound of people talking and of heavy objects being moved behind that stupid door. Coffee in hand she opened the door, it would appear that the brown faux-leather couch was unsatisfactory where it had been earlier and was currently being moved by one of the girl's father and older brother while Anya's roommate and her mother stood and dictated that it needed to be moved more to the right. The apartment was small, but Anya didn't see herself spending much time in it anyway. The living room section was a light brown color carpet while the kitchen the connected to it had white linoleum floors. As far as apartments go it wasn't the worst Anya had lived in, the kitchen had all the standard appliances, it was clearly designed for function leaving no extra space. The living room doubled as a dining area with an awkward little table with four lonesome chairs that had seen better days. Emma's parents had thoughtfully donated a coffee table to them as well as a set of lamps and most importantly a huge television. As far as things went perhaps in wasn't a bad thing that Aris made her get roommates, at least she had a t.v. now.
Seeing that Anya had come in the pair smiled brightly at Anya, immediately asking her opinion, "Anne-ya,"(Anya inwardly winced at hearing her name being butchered), " Please tell Emma that the couch looks better facing away from the door rather than looking at the door." Emma rolled her brown eyes at her mother, running a freshly spray tanned hand through her dyed blonde hair, "Mom, it's An-ya; not Anne-ya, right?" Emma said looking at Anya for conformation, Anya only nodded in reply. "That's a Russian name, right?" said Emma's older brother clearly trying to be suave, it took all of Anya's will power not to roll her own dark eyes at the boy because that's really what he was compared to her. "Yeah, my mom spent some time in Russia while she was in college." The lie coming to Anya easily; "Where is your mom, Anne-ya? Is she coming to meet up with you later with your dad?" asked Emma's mom clearly not paying attention to her children; this woman was obviously more than a little nosey.
Anya had been avoiding this conversation for as long as she could, the moment that she said that she didn't have any parents the woman would try and mother her to death while looking at her with pity for the duration of the time she would be here. Anya took a deep breath, "My mom passed away in a car accident when I was 16 and my dad was never in the picture", keeping her lie as close to the truth as possible. The awkward silence that fell over the room was stifling; to these people it would seem that her mother had only been dead for about two years rather than the 18 years it had been for Anya. "Hey guys, my mom and I want to grab some dinner and we were wondering if you wanted to join us?" Anya's second roommate, Hannah said stepping into the room and ending the silence and saving Anya from the subsequent condolences conversation that she really didn't have the patience for going through today. Hannah sensed that she had just interrupted something stood awkwardly, rubbing one hand on her shoulder she was slowly turning a red color almost matching her striking red hair; Anya saw her opportunity to avoid Emma and her family and jumped at it; "I'm starving, I saw a pizza place down the street when I went to get coffee. It looked pretty good." "I've been craving pizza all day!" Hannah said her blue eyes lighting up, she really was a pretty girl.
It seemed ironic to Anya that her roommates would be so opposite, while both girl were pretty enough, Hannah was all natural from her hair to being make-up less, while Emma was a little more…artificial. "Did someone say pizza?" said an older version of Hannah, it was clear to Anya that Hannah inherited all of her looks from her mother. Their easy relationship made Anya ache for her own mother, it was only natural for Anya to feel a little lonely especially since almost everyone she was ever close to is now dead. "We would love to go with you, but we actually have reservations at a restaurant. Maybe another time?" Emma's mother said. Hannah's mother wore a tight smile, it was clear that the two hadn't liked each other from the moment they met. "Of course, another time then." In an effort to clear the tension in the room, Hannah exclaimed that she simply couldn't wait another minute and that the sooner we leave the sooner we can eat.
Dinner wasn't horrible, Hannah's mother, Julie, insisted that she would pay for the meal which already made her golden in Anya's book. It surprised Anya that Hannah was so down to earth and level-headed perhaps they could have a friendship of sorts. It had been so long since Anya had had a real friend that wasn't intimidated by her or felt just plain uncomfortable around her. Besides it would make her look more normal if she had at least one friend. When their little group got back to the apartment it amused Anya to find the couch in its original position in the living room, clearly Emma and her mother couldn't come to an agreement about it. Anya bid the red-haired women goodnight and a goodbye to Julie, Anya had already had plans to be up early tomorrow and out of the apartment so she wouldn't have to stomach through the family's goodbyes to their children in the morning. Besides now that she was finally in Portland, Oregon she was one step closer to finding Nick and righting the wrong that had happened to them. She just needed to find him first; how hard could it be?