A/N: Sorry the chapter's so short. Had to end it where I did. The next one should be longer. :)

Anomaly knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. She sat up, and ran out of the ARC. Her legs couldn't seem to move fast enough.

She ran for about twenty minutes, then stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her. Couldn't she get some rest? And why hadn't the ADD picked up the anomaly in front of her?

She sighed. Maybe this was just the distraction she needed. She ran through the anomaly.

She saw them all, standing there as though she was nothing but a nuisance. She stopped, and her blood ran cold.

"I took the liberty of opening an anomaly to the time you're inhabiting." He said, speaking her native language.

"Can't you leave me alone for one minute?" She snarled in reply. Her eyes darted to his arm, where the pattern decorated it.

He shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Rouge Child…"

"No you're not." She spat out the words before she could stop them, interrupting him mid-sentence.

He ignored her outburst. "But I needed to inform the council of your… decision… to move to a different time."

Anomaly rolled her eyes. "What does the council care of my decisions? It rejected me before, why won't it now?"

"Yes. Well…" He spoke for the first time since his final speech to her. The man Anomaly would only call 'Sir.' "I'm afraid this council doesn't think your decision was wise."

"What decision of mine has the council ever thought to be 'wise?' If I recall, that's why I was banished in the first place." Her eyes locked on his, the perfect picture of hate. "Sir."

He smiled coldly. "Ah, yes…"

"Don't!" Anomaly snarled. "Don't. Say. My. Name."

The man's eyes widened. "You… reject your own name?"

Anomaly glared at him. "I will never again allow my name to be used. Rouge Child. That's who I am." She chuckled darkly. "Though… That isn't my name anymore." Her eyes locked on his.

He looked at her, stunned. "You are rejecting everything you are. What would drive you to such… madness?"

Anomaly raised an eyebrow, smiling darkly. "It may be madness, sir, but it's my madness."

He shook his head. "And what name do you have now, that it seems has come with your new time?"

Anomaly raised her head defiantly. "Anomaly." She replied in English.

The man laughed. "Is that a name? Or are you sneezing?"

Anomaly glared at him, hate in her eyes. "It's my name, sir. In the language of my new time. I chose it myself." She smiled coldly. "I would have been disappointed if you liked it."

He bristled, looking at her with newfound hatred. "Watch your tongue, Rouge Child! You are still speaking to the council!"

"The council which I no longer follow!" Anomaly snarled. "You rejected me, SIR, and so I no longer need to follow your lies you call LAWS!"

The man came forward as though he would attack her, but the others held him back until he calmed down. Anomaly held her head high, forever defiant.

Finally, the man had calmed down enough to speak. "You would be wise to watch your words carefully. You don't know what trouble they may cause."

Anomaly smiled darkly. "But I am a monster, am I not? Is that not the name you give me? What does trouble matter to a person like me?"

"It matters." The man hissed. "And may very well matter to you now, Rouge Child. For we hold your life in our hands."

"No one holds anyone's life." Anomaly spat. "And you will never hold mine, SIR."

He glared at her. "And yet you may not leave here alive."

Anomaly rolled her eyes. "Watch me."

The man glared at her, then took a deep breath. "Rouge Child, your original crimes in the city were unspeakable. You have received your punishment for this. However, we would not have given you this punishment if we believed you would run to another time zone! The purpose of your banishment was to exclude you, and your dangerous habits, from any form of civilization!"

Anomaly smiled, her eyes cold. "Then I defeated that purpose, didn't I?"

The man glared at her. "Of course, that's why this council is meeting. We must devise a fitting punishment for this crime."

"What crime? Try as hard as you may, sir, but no one controls time. You cannot rule over every time zone. You have no jurisdiction in this area." Anomaly kept her eyes on his.

"Unfortunately for you, we do." He smiled smugly. "You are from our city, and, banished or not, we still control you."

Anomaly barked a laugh. "So there's really no way to win, is there? I finally get out of your trash heap city, and I'm still under your rule."

The man bristled. "Artalis is a grand place, Rouge Child. It has always been strong, since the beginning of time itself."

"Artalis is weak." Anomaly snarled. "The strength it believes to have has been gained at a price, SIR, and that price holds death in its path. That STRENGTH brings death and destruction to all areas of the world. It is an abomination, SIR. Nothing more."

"Artalis has never fallen, Rouge Child! Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have."

Again, Anomaly barked a laugh. "I don't see being banished from that TRASH HEAP as FALLING."

He snarled, and his knife was in his hand in the blink of an eye. "ARTALIS IS STRONG!"

"ARTALIS is an ABOMINATION!" Anomaly spat, her knife in her hand as well.

The others calmed down the council member. He glared at Anomaly, his eyes filled with hate and rage. He put the knife back into his belt.

Suddenly, he smiled coldly. "The council still has to make its decision, Rouge Child." He looked towards the others. "Everyone?"

The others, clearly some sort of bodyguards, moved to the side. There stood the council, the very people who had sentenced her to banishment, the very people who had taken everything from her. The very people who she had nightmares about.

The very PERSON she had nightmares about.

For there, with the others, was a young man with blonde hair, metallic blue eyes, and a pattern surrounding one eye, almost identical to hers. Sam.

Anomaly's breath caught in her throat.

The council member, the one she only called sir, smiled darkly. "You know the case before you. Please make your decisions."

The council members nodded and murmured, talking quietly amongst themselves.

Anomaly looked at the man she refused to name, and said the very words she'd said so long ago. "I always knew you were cruel, sir. But I never knew you were this cruel."

The man smiled, a dark, cruel smile. "Oh, Rouge Child. You continue to condemn yourself. When will you ever learn?"

Anomaly looked straight at him. "I take that back. I always knew you were this cruel. Since the day I was banished from Artalis."

He glared at her, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You should learn to watch your tongue."

Anomaly laughed darkly, and the man took an involuntary step back. Anomaly was a person who'd seen too much. That could add a darkness to a person that can never be controlled. "You are asking for the impossible, sir."

The man smiled, though slightly and visibly shaken. "We'll see."

He turned to the others. "You're votes?"

For the second time, they all said their votes. Again, only one person could stop this. Again, the last council member had control over Anomaly's situation.

And, again, that council member was torn with indecision.

Anomaly looked at her brother. She knew that the man she refused to name was responsible for him being the last council member, as he was responsible for it so long ago.

But that didn't stop the pain.

Sam couldn't look at his sister. He couldn't meet her gaze. He kept his eyes glued to the floor, as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. He breathed his answer, his voice cracking.

"Guilty."

Anomaly expected to feel pain. She expected to feel the sting of betrayal a second time. She expected it.

But she didn't expect how badly it would hurt.

Her breath caught in her throat, and the tears refused to be contained. They flowed down her cheek, unbidden. She didn't sob. She didn't collapse. She just stood there, the picture of calm. Her expression didn't change. All that changed was the tear streaking down her cheek.

She said nothing. The man she called 'sir' smiled cruelly.

"Rouge Child. You have been found guilty. Your sentence can only be one thing."

Anomaly knew the sentence before the word was spoken. She knew what it must be. Because she was a monster, and always had been.

The man took a deep breath, and spoke one word.

"Death."