Every time I dropped down this hole, I thought it would never end. And this time was no different. Almost three minutes after entering the dang thing I hit bottom, and once more there were no cushions or anything so it hurt. Actually, I think that the floor had gotten harder in recent years. I grumbled as I stood up, rubbing the sore spot on my butt where I had landed. "Hey! Tall, dark and scary! Where you at?" Ever since my first visit almost eight years ago, I'd taken to coming back once a year, so this wasn't my first time back. And probably not my last. Each time had been short and sweet as Pitch had all but thrown me out. That, however, wasn't gonna stop me.

A few moments after my arrival, once I'd walked inwards a bit, Pitch materialized out of a shadow almost directly in front of me which resulted in me almost walking into him. He glared down at me menacingly. "You're back again?" I started back at him indignantly. "What is it going to take to get you to leave me alone?" If he'd been less proper, I'm sure he'd have been crossing his arms then. As it was, he held them behind his back and lurked over me.

I crossed my arms as I shot him a stubborn look. "What is it gonna take for you to realize that you can't shake me?"

He turned around, frustrated. I could have sworn he rolled his eyes at me, but he turned away before I could be sure. "You are worse than a flea!" He shot me a glance before walking away. "And twice as annoying."

"And you thought Jack was bad." I smirked at him back, though he couldn't see. I strolled after him, ensuing our usual routine. Which was, to say, me following him around until he threw me out. "So, what's new?"

He let out an annoyed sigh without turning to face me. In the past few years he'd become less polite and more annoyed with me. Could have called that. "What isn't new is my solitude." He finally turned around long enough to shoot me a look filled with frustration. "Which I would prefer to your incessant chatter."

The fearlings were writhing in the shadows around us. If I were less confident - and less reckless - they'd probably have worried me a bit. As it was, I had to force myself to not glance at them every time one of them shifted around. "Come on, I've got to be better company than these guys." I gestured around at said shadow creatures.

Pitch didn't turn around but he got my point. He snorted at me while still managing to seem dignified about it. "Hardly. At least they are quiet." He reached an old banquet table from his galleon and sat down at the head chair, looking tired. I wasn't sure if it was from me being my annoying self, or from how well the Guardians were keeping kids happy. How well Jack was doing his job.

"How are you really doing?"

He set his head in one of his hands, the other braced on his knee. The fearling at his feet looked almost eager at how fatigued he was. "As if you care."

"As I've told you close to a hundred times now, I do. Hence why I offered you my friendship on my first visit." I stood next to him, staring down at him for once. "Seriously, how are you doing?"

He glared up at me. "I've been better." I stared down at him, caught between wanting to continue trying to be his friend and giving up, being the enemy he saw me as. "You can tell the Guardians that they've beaten me and that I'm hardly a threat now." The way he said 'Guardians' was with malice and envy.

"They don't know I've been coming to see you. No one does." He looked up at me, a glint in his eye then. "So I can't really tell them that, now can I?" He didn't answer for a while and I thought he might really be tired. "I can come back on a different day if you want."

He laughed once, humorlessly. "I'd rather you leave and never come back." He glanced up at me again. "As you well know."

I stared down at him, my arm now braced on the table. "You do realize I'm more stubborn than you, right?"

He snorted again. "Yes, I've noticed."

"So you should just give in and accept the fact that I'm gonna keep coming back."

He glared up at me again, and the annoyance in his eyes had been replaced with anger. Whoops. "Leave."

I held my arms up in surrender as I backed away. He didn't get up, though he glared at me the entire time. I even felt his eyes on me as I flew up through the hole with the winds' help. When I landed on solid ground once again I stared down at the hole, shaking my head. When was he gonna give up? I sighed as I started walking away.

Was I wasting my time, dropping by every year? I mean, this was the boogeyman we're talking about here. Anyone else wouldn't have even dropped in once. You're not everyone else. True, very true. Inner voice gets another point. But I wasn't sure if what I was doing was even gonna work. What are you doing, anyway? The question stopped me in my tracks for a minute. What was I trying to do? You're trying to free Kozmotis. Right, but how is dropping in and annoying Pitch gonna help with that?

I really didn't know. All I did know was that I was doing the one thing I could think of. I was trying the only way I knew how. Whether or not it was going to work remained unseen, but I wasn't gonna give up trying. I'm way too stubborn.

I shook my head again, to dislodge the thoughts from my head so I could think about happier subjects. I called my wings and launched myself up above the tree-line, immediately heading westward. When the Chicago skyline came into view I ducked towards Caeden and Tanya's apartment. I had to land on street level and sneak in through the front door - which never got old - especially when you consider the fact that I did ninja stunts on my way in. You know, wall crawling and all... serpentine maneuver... sue me, I was having fun! I half walked, half flew up the stairs with a smaller version of my wings as I climbed the few floors to their level.

In the last two years a lot had happened to my oldest believers. Since the engagement, not only had the wedding happened - which I'd attended of course. Oh, it had been beautiful. And in my mind I couldn't help but call it adorkable. Their colors had been purple and light blue - the purple had been mandated by the streak that Tanya refused to dye out of her hair. I'd asked her before why she kept it, and she told me that she put the streak in to 'make her world more colorful'. By now she was so used to it that she couldn't imagine getting rid of it.

The wedding had been more casual than most, though it was still massively traditional. Tanya's dress had been a high-low cut with a scoop neck. It really suited her - and I know because I helped her pick it out. I ended up going with her and the others to pick out the dress, and even though no one else could see me, I was okay with it. Her mom had wanted her to get a ball-gown or A-line, whereas her maid of honor wanted her to get a mermaid gown. Both had envisioned her in a strapless number. I'd eyed their choices with disdain. Not because they were ugly dresses or anything - they were actually really pretty - but they weren't Tanya. She wasn't a girly-girl who wore poufy dresses with loads of details and sparkles and lace. I'd discreetly added my picks to the stack and lo and behold, my pick won out.

On the day of the event everything had gone smoothly, with only minor setbacks. The setbacks were the usual ones though, so no one really freaked out. Tanya had wanted me in the wedding party, but all three of us knew that it wasn't possible, what with me being invisible to the entirety of the church. So I stood off to the side and watched like everyone else. It was a fairly typical service. Her mom cried, so did mine. A kid cried in the background because he didn't like the 'stupid clothes' he was forced to wear. You know, the usual. The reception was as semi-typical as the ceremony. However, it had a 'childlike' theme. All of their favorite things from their childhoods had a reference somewhere in sight. From their shoes with each other's names printed on the bottom, to the wands and lightsabers at each table, to the song choices. And I could name about 90 percent of them. References, not the songs, though I could name those too.

It was a fun night, to be sure. However, the following month I kept a tactical distance... You know, honeymoon and all. But when I came back around afterwards, the two of them were looking for a bigger apartment, simply because they wanted to. Their new one, which is where I was now, was a little closer to downtown, Tanya having lived in Chicago long enough to get over her claustrophobia about it. It was a few hundred square feet bigger, but you couldn't really tell. Well, I couldn't tell, they could. All I knew was, their living room was bigger and they had a spare room for when anyone stopped by. Anyone like me, for instance.

I got to their door and knocked on it five times. Before either of them had a chance to come to the door, I leaned my face towards the gap between the door and the wall. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" I heard laughter on the other side of the door before Tanya's face appeared, having opened it.

"Why do you always start a visit like that?" She was smiling as she closed the door behind me.

"The temptation is too great to resist." I smirked at her as the two of us went and sat on the couch. I could still see the depression from where she'd been sitting before I'd gotten there. The T.V. was on and she was watching something that was very familiar. "Ooh! Trinity Blood! Is this Netflix or something?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I've got the day off so I'm binge watching anime."

"Well, it looks like I got here just in time. Still single digits, right?" I gestured to the T.V.

"Yep. Episode three, The Star of Sorrow part 1, The City of Blood. God, I love Abel so much."

"Me too. Seth's better, though."

She shot me a stink eye. "She's barely in it."

"But she's awesome enough to make an impression in the time she's there." I turned to the screen, watching as Abel and Esther were arrested. "However, everything is trumped by the Crusnik mode."

"I here ya'." We high-fived without taking our eyes off of the screen. We chatted idly on and off throughout the thirty or so episodes, and when we'd finished the series we moved on to something far more badass. "I can't believe I've never seen this one."

"Attack on Titan is a staple for any anime fan. Trust me. Every single second is badass. I first got interested in watching it, after seeing a clip titled 'Eren's badass moment'. After watching the first few episodes, I realized that it should have been called one of Eren's badass moments. It's that awesome."

"I'm gonna take your word for it. But, since we're watching it, I'll see for myself won't I?"

"That you will." As the first episode began and Guren No Yumiya blared out of the speakers, I made a complete fool of myself by dancing like an idiot. Fist pumping every time it screamed Jeager and doing the salute about five times through the song. I then proceeded to do that every time it played. By the fourth episode, Tanya was doing it with me. The show had sucked her in.

"Oh my god! I want the gear so bad!"

"I know, me too!"

"You can fly though." She pinned me with a look.

"That doesn't mean my inner fangirl doesn't deserve a set of ODM gear for herself."

She giggled at me as the credits rolled for the end of the episode. "Oh, I just remembered!" She got up off the couch and ran to the bedroom, looking for something. I glanced out the window at the city who's lights were shining brightly. Night had fallen while we'd been watching anime. I glanced at the clock to see that it was almost nine at night. Caeden should be home soon. When she came back, it was with a book in her hand. "We just published this one." She handed it to me and I inspected the cover, which featured an armored woman wielding a sword. "I got to be one of the test readers, so I got a copy for free once it was off the press." She shrugged. "I figured you'd like it."

"Thanks. I saw this one being advertised, and I was curious about it." I looked up from the book. "To tell you the truth, I'm glad they're still making books. Otherwise I'd be reduced to reading a random stranger's kindle over their shoulder whenever I wanted a new read." I rolled my eyes, grateful that there were still enough people out there that liked holding an actual book in their hands. I waved the book a little to emphasize it. "So other than this, what's new?"

"Actually... I found something out a few weeks ago that I'm really excited about."

"What is it?" I was a little distracted by the book in my hands. I'd flipped it over to read the excerpt on the back. This sounds like a good one.

"I'm pregnant."

It took me a few moments for her words to sink in, but when they did, I almost threw the book across the room. "Oh my god!"

She was smiling widely. "I know! Caeden and I were both surprised, but, now that we know, we're both excited." She glanced down at her belly, laying a hand over it.

"Oh, my, god... I'm going to be a fucking aunt!"

Tanya giggled. "Technically you already are, Nick has his son."

I waved it off. "And my two older step brothers both have a few littles running around too. I'm excited because you guys are the only ones I still talk to!"

Tanya laughed at my usual snarky enthusiasm. "Caeden's trying to put in as many extra hours as he can early on, so he can get off unscathed when we get to crunch time. That's why he's not home yet."

"Makes sense." I nodded. "So do you guys know the gender yet?"

She shook her head, glancing down at her belly that her hand hadn't left. "Not yet. Three more weeks, then we'll know."

"Do you guys have any names picked out yet?"

She shrugged, tearing her eyes away and back to me. "If it's a boy Caeden wants Luke."

I face-palmed. "Don't tell me he wants to be able to say 'Luke, I am your father'?"

She nodded, the look on her face telling me that that was the exact reason. "Afraid so. But I can't really argue, that would be cool."

"So if it's a girl are you going for Stacey?" She gave me a blank look that begged for elaboration. "Stacey's mom, has got it goin' on."

She giggled at how I did a little dance as I sang it. "No, actually, I'm pulling for Elizabeth. It's my great grandma's name. We were really close before she died when I was nine." I was nodding in confirmation. A lot of people had reasons like that for naming their kids. And then there was my brother, who was a geek through and through. "If it's a girl I also want her middle name to be Victoria."

I shrugged. "Cool." I didn't know why she was looking at me like I should back her up on it or something.

"I want it to be Victoria because of you." I was confused, what did the name Victoria have to do with me? "I know your name was Tori, but that's usually a nickname for Victoria, so..." My eyebrows shot skyward as I realized what she was getting at.

"You wanna name your kid after me!" She nodded, smiling slightly. "Well... I really don't know how to respond to that. I've never had anyone offer to name anything after me, let alone their kid."

She shrugged, still smiling. "Well, you're so important to us, and when you were mortal you and Caeden were so close. It just makes sense to me."

Her eyes drifted back to her belly, and I couldn't help but think of the difference in my brother's relationship with me then, and our relationship now. Back then, we'd been inseparable. I was his favorite person in the world - besides Harry Potter. Now, I was barely around and he had a real life. I was just a reminder of how things used to be when he was younger. While Tanya was otherwise occupied I took the chance to study her. She'd really grown up a lot from the first time I saw her in the art room. I compared the art geek I'd known then to the adult I saw now, and I almost didn't recognize her. They're finally growing up. The thought scared me.

"Tanya?" Just as I'd been distracted by the book earlier, now she was distracted by the human being growing inside of her. So she 'hm'd without looking up. If she'd been paying attention, she'd have noticed that my previous jovial tone had been replaced with something far more somber. I closed my eyes and looked down at the floor before speaking up. "I need you to promise me something." She 'hm'd again, without looking up. "You and Caeden are gonna stop believing in me. Probably sometime soon." Her eyes shot up, alarm on her face. I didn't give her a chance to say anything, though. "And when you do, you're gonna forget everything about me. Every conversation we ever had, everything we ever did together, and me. I'm not gonna exist to either of you any more and you'll think I was some game you two played."

"Hold up! What are you talking about?" She pushed herself up straight, staring at me intently.

I was avoiding her eyes. "You know how believing in us works. When you stop believing, we're not real anymore. Not to you." I finally met her eyes again. "And it's gonna happen to the two of you. I've been trying to hold it off, but it's been a long time coming and I saw it in the distance from the start."

"Story, no. Caeden and I would never -"

I cut her off. "Sophie's already stopped believing."

She sat in silence for a moment. "Jamie's little sister?" I nodded. "But I thought you said she was a strong believer."

"She was." I thought back to the day that Sophie stopped believing in all of us. She'd been in college for a year, and she just stopped caring about 'kid things'. Just like that. "But it happens to everyone, no matter how hard we try to hold on. Our world had so firmly stamped into our minds that magic isn't real that no one can be stay uncorrupted forever." Not even Jamie. Even though I still held out hope that he'd be a believer until the day he died... I really couldn't say.

"But that still doesn't mean we're gonna stop."

I looked at her, my expression bittersweet. "It's already started." The look of shock on her face almost made me want to lie and put her back in bliss... but I couldn't, not to her. She was the only one I could ever tell these things to, face to face. "You guys forget I'm here when I'm in the same room. Caeden hasn't called me Tori in years." That above everything told me that they were nearing the end. Caeden was referring to me by my immortal name, which meant he didn't see me as his sister any more. My strongest connection with him was gone. Now it was just a matter of time. "Honestly, I'm surprised that you two have lasted this long... I expected to loose you a long time ago."

"But we still believe in you!" She reached out and grasped my wrist. "See? You're still real to me."

I sighed. "For now." I stared at her hand, covering mine. "Every extra day with the two of you is more than I could ask for." I glanced out the window, seeing in my mind the day I came home after those first six years. "To be honest, I never expected to have Caeden back at all..." I looked back at her. She was desperate for me to say I was kidding, to reassure her that I was always gonna be around. But I was tired of pretending that things weren't happening. "Look, I need you to promise me, when you don't remember me anymore," Tears were starting to well up at the back of my eyes and I set my jaw, trying to hold them in. "Remember this; I will always be here for you. I don't care if you two walk through me every day of your lives, I'll still be here to watch out for you. You and your kid." I sniffed, still trying to hold in the minute tears. "And if they believe in me, and they ask about the lady in the pictures," I pointed towards one of their prom pictures, one that I'd photo-bombed. "Tell them that. That I'm gonna be watching out for them. I don't care if you forget everything else, just remember that. Please."

Tanya stared at me for a minute or two before she finally nodded. "Okay."

I nodded back, sniffing again. I picked up the book as I stood up, whipping at my eyes. I held up the book as I walked to the door. "I'll uh, I'll tell you what I think of the book when I finish it."

"Story, wait -" I didn't hear whatever protest she made because I shut the door behind me, heading for the roof. When I got there I called my wings and flew back home with tears leaking out of my eyes the entire way. I don't want to let them go... I don't want them to forget me.

-

A few days later I was down at the South Pole, visiting with my old roommates. I hadn't told them about my encounter with Tanya, nor was I planning to. All week, I'd been peppered with planes from Tanya and Caeden, trying to get me to talk to them. I read a few of them, but I hadn't responded except to say that I was sorry for dampening the mood on my last visit, and that I'd be back eventually.

Sel and Jack both noticed that something was up from how I was avoiding any and all mentions about my longest standing believers. Though neither of them said anything, they took my lead and didn't ask. Del was oblivious about it. Even though he had his moments of genius, he was usually the one caught asking us what was going on. Korri was spending my visit locked in her room. She'd said hi, which for her had been to say "You're back?" before rolling her eyes and strutting off. Even with my down mood, I didn't take it personally, that's just how she was.

We were all in the living room. Be all I meant Del, Jack, Sel, and I. The latter two and myself were playing Mario Karts, which was by now an extremely outdated game. We didn't care though, it was still fun. Jack chose Metal Mario, Sel chose Yoshi and I chose Bowser. The same basic lineup as usual. When the three of us play things get real competitive. None of us like to loose.

Confetti rained down on one section of the screen and trumpets blared. I turned to look at Jack, eyes narrowed. He shrugged, grinning at Sel and me. "Don't blame me. I won fair and square."

"Sure." Sel set down her controller and leaned back on her coiled tail with her arms folded. "I think I am done for the day. I would rather be reading than have Jack smirking at me after every win."

"Oh, come on. Loosing's not that bad." Jack was sitting cross-legged on one end of the couch.

"Then why don't you ever want to loose?" I raised an eyebrow at Jack from where I sat between the two of them.

"Because winning is more fun, duh." Sel got up and glided out of the room, presumably heading form either the library or her bedroom, where she could read in private. Jack glanced at her as she left, but returned his eyes to me once she was out of sight. "So, what d'ya say? Rematch?"

"You're on." Jack and I chose our avatars, this time I got to Metal Mario before he did. He shot me a stick eye before choosing Luigi. The countdown started and we were off. Immortals have faster reflexes than most mortals, which came in handy when playing video games, believe it or not. We can punch in cheat codes like nobody's business and we can mash buttons like there's no tomorrow. Also, we can jerk the joystick a different direction before crashing the Karts, so the games were more intense.

A few minutes after we took off, confetti rained down once more while the fanfare sounded. Jack raised his arms over his head in triumph. "Yes!" I stuck my tongue out at him as a response.

"The rock wall's not enough, you have to beat me at video games too?"

"Like I said. Tunnel. Vision." He grinned back at my displeased face, almost making me giggle. "Okay, go again?"

"Deal me in!" I turned towards the familiar voice in surprise. I didn't expect them to be there, by any means.

Jack turned around, smiling. "Hey, Sam! I was wondering when you'd get here. Take a seat." Jack gestured towards the chairs scattered about.

"What are you doing here?" I'd addressed the question to Sam, but it was Jack who answered.

"I invited him. We haven't all hung out together in a while." He shrugged nonchalantly as he handed the controller that Sel had vacated to Sam.

"That's because," He flopped into the chair next to Jack's side of the couch. "You're scared of showing your face at Legends."

"Am not!" Both Sam and I shot looks at Jack. "It's not my fault they can't take a joke."

"They being everyone to ever become an immortal." I was still staring at Jack, daring him to deny it.

"Exactly." He grinned back at me before turning to the screen. "Hey!"

I turned my head to see what he was 'hey'-ing about, only to find that, while Jack and I had been talking, Sam had chosen Metal Mario. "You snooze, you lose." Sam grinned at Jack smugly. I quickly chose my character, Pink Gold Peach. I like to switch things up and I hadn't been her in a while. Jack grumbled as he chose Toad.

The next few races went the same as the previous, with me loosing. I did manage to win one game, but only because Del snored loudly right near the end and startled the boys. After about ten rounds, Sam looked over at me, surprised. "Wow, you suck at this."

I frowned at him, eyes narrowed. Jack leaned back, arms folded behind his head and smirked at the two of us. "And yet, she's the only one of us who's ever gotten a driver's license. What does that tell you about the instructors?" I threw a pillow at him, which hit him on the side of his head. He grinned at me and threw it back, however, I ducked in time and it only grazed me. I grinned triumphantly at him while simultaneously shaking my head. "You started it."

"Yes I did." I stuck my tongue out at him before having to duck another pillow. Before I knew it, we were in a full on, three way, pillow fight, which I never would have thought of, normally. Considering that two of the pillow fighters were male. However, it was more like pillow boxing and such, as we were really throwing them hard. So it wasn't that surprising. The fight finally ended when Sam threw a couch cushion at Jack, who'd been hovering in the air. Jack dodged and it ended up hitting Del in the face. It didn't wake him up, but he did stir in his sleep. All three of us winced and quietly backed out of the room.

We got about ten feet away before all of us almost fell to the floor in a fit of giggles. We retreated to the entryway, still laughing. Honestly, I had no idea what was so funny. It felt good to laugh though. I think the last time I'd laughed that hard, was when one of my mortal best friends and I had been at Wal-Mart. I don't know what we started laughing about but it was so funny I couldn't keep standing, so I laid down on the floor... which made her laugh so hard she couldn't breathe. Whoever said that laughter was the best medicine was right.