As I stuffed more snacks into my bag I thought of the note I'd gotten months ago while at Avalon. 'I lied' was all that was written, but from the black particles of glittering sand that fell out of the note when I unfolded it, I knew who had written it. I'd stormed the place, searching everywhere for Pitch and eventually found him sitting on a throne-like chair, staring at his globe.

"What the hell does this mean?" I shoved the note in his face.

He blinked at it for a second before glancing up at me, not taking his hand off of his chin. "It means what it says."

I gave him the look. "No shit Sherlock, what did you lie about?"

He watched me for a moment before looking back at his globe. The lights twinkled, showing everyone on earth who believed in some immortal or another - even in him if there were any. Without looking at me he finally spoke after almost five minutes of pondering. "Do you still wish to drag Kozmotis back from me?" Before I could answer he spoke again. "That is the original reason you sought me out, you said so yourself. So why should I trust you when you claim to be a friend to me, or worse, an ally?" He eyed me again. "What reason do I have to believe a single word you have ever said to me?"

"Because I've never lied to you." I held out the note again. "So why did you lie to me?"

He finally put his hand down and faced me fully. "I lied for the same reason I always have - I don't trust anyone." I rolled my eyes and turned away. I raced all the way there for this? I'd just crossed my arms in annoyance when he spoke again. "What is still a mystery to me is why I chose to tell you the truth." He said it more to himself than to me, but he said it nonetheless.

I blinked a few times before I turned around slowly. He wasn't looking at me but at the globe again. A few fearlings were swooshing through the hollows of it, making shadows dance among the twinkling lights. "Three decades ago when you first invaded my home all I wanted was to never see your face again. Yet as hard as I tried nothing seemed to deter you from your persistent annoyance of me." He glanced at me for a moment. "Though I am loathed to admit it, I've grown accustomed to your visits despite my best efforts." I turned all the way to face him as he stopped watching the globe. "Eleven years ago you asked if I had anything to do with the immortals that were disappearing. I said that I wasn't responsible and that wasn't a lie. I told you that truth because I decided it was in my best interests to have another voice if the Guardians did, in fact, choose me as their scapegoat." If I was reading between the lines right, he was trying to say thank you for my keeping them off of him. Not that Pitch was the sort of person to actually say thank you.

He took a breath. "It was not, however, the entire truth." He pinned me with a look. "Do not ask me why I seem to have a conscience all of a sudden or why I choose to tell you this at all, let alone now, but I am indeed doing so - do not try to make something out of this that there isn't. Am I understood?" Dumbly, I nodded. I was still trying to process that he was laying something heavy on me, let alone that he was doing it period. "I know who is spiriting away immortals. I know why it is happening. I am not a part of it and I have no power to stop it in any way, which is why I've said nothing." Other than the fact that no one would listen? "I do not wish to face the person doing so for my own safety, as well if you tell anyone about this and I find out that you so much as mentioned me then I will make your very long life a living hell. Do you understand me?"

I just stared at him for a minute, things finally starting to sink in. "So... wait, you - you knew..." Everything clicked together and I'm pretty sure if you could see my fury then the air would have sizzled. By the simple fact that my following words were quiet and careful gave away how enraged I was. "All this time, you've known that immortals were being abducted. All this time you knew who was doing it. All this time you've done nothing." As I said that last sentence I saw something flicker across his face. I'd never seen it in person but I remembered that expression of his from years ago when the movie had come out. He was scared. Not of me, but whoever was doing this. They scared him. "Who is it?"

"Someone even you wouldn't manage to charm." He didn't tell me anything more after that. No name, no details. I tried to pry but after a little while, I let it go. The fact that he said anything at all spoke volumes. Not the info that I necessarily needed but priceless nonetheless. I'd left and had been sitting on the information ever since. He was right about one thing, I couldn't really go and tell Jack and the others what I knew - not without letting on that I'd been speaking to Pitch. I still didn't want to have that conversation with anyone, less because of my original reasoning and now more because I'd kept the secret for so long that I didn't want anyone to feel like I'd lied to them. So six months later and on my way to hang out with my friends, I still held onto that tidbit of info.

Sam, Gaia, and Mors had invited me to an event I'd heard about back when I'd still been mortal. Apparently, they liked to go there because, when the mortals there were high on whatever drugs they'd chosen, they could usually see us legendary figures. I'd never been there myself and it had been a hard sell on convincing me to go simply because 100,000 people - mortals - would be there who probably didn't believe in me and I didn't want to have to deal with dodging bodies for eight days straight.

God, when did you start acting like all those hermits? I grimaced at that thought so graciously provided by inner voice. I hated to say it but I had been avoiding anything crowded in the past decade or so - with sparse exceptions. Which is partly why I finally agreed to go to the festival, along with the description that the others had given me of everything that went down there. Gaia and Mors were going to meet us there, but Sam was stopping by my place first and was going to travel with me on my way there as he knew the destination better than me.

I looked over my packed bags again. It was an isolated place so we were supposed to take 'everything we needed to survive' but I could always make it home in an hour to grab something I'd forgotten if need be. And if not then Sam could teleport it in from wherever. Still, I wanted to be prepared, so in front of me lay seven outfits, enough snacks to last even my worst moments of hanger for the timespan, water because even immortals need to stay hydrated, three masks, my art supplies, a sketch book, a pillow and blanket big enough to form a makeshift sleeping bag out of, and a few other things that the others had told me to bring. On me were my first outfit, the most heavy duty boots I owned, goggles and a bandana to cover my face. I felt like a weird mix of Mad Max, an 80's concert, and Life in Color - another event Sam had managed to force me to attend, much to my delight.

As I stuffed everything into the largest bag I had I heard a particularly loud woosh near the roof. "I'm still packing! Be up in a second!"

I heard the footsteps on the stairs before I finished my sentence and I turned to see Sam in the doorway of my bedroom. "Let me check to make sure you packed enough, first." He took a few steps in and proceeded to search my belongings for anything I might have missed. Meanwhile, I was staring at him slack-jawed.

Okay, so I'd seen Sam wear cosplay outfits before, had even gone with him to a few conventions, but this was something else. I was used to him wearing a t-shirt and his weird old-style pants... not this. He had harem pants on, the kind that are tight around the bottom half of the leg, and boots. He was shirtless with a scarf thing sort of thrown over his head along with ski goggles and a bandana around his than that he had a sort of utility belt with a million pouches on it that were full to bursting.

"Hey, where's your daypack?" He turned and looked at me questioningly.

After a few minutes, I realized that he'd even asked me anything. "My... what? What are you wearing?"

He glanced down at his outfit. "Burn wear." He cocked an eyebrow in confusion but I could detect a faint blush behind it all. "You need a smaller bag to carry your day to day stuff, a daypack." He gestured at his belt. "My bag of everything else is upstairs."

"I can't just go back to where our stuff is stashed?"

He shook his head bemused. "No, way to much to do, not a lot of time to do it in. This is one of the few times and places of the year where we can be seen and you don't want to waste half of it flying back and forth to our tent, do you?"

"'Our tent'? You mean you and me?" I'd assumed I'd be sleeping on top of a structure or another. Alone. That is if I even got tired.

"Nah." He searched my closet for a suitable bag. "Gaia and I have learned that it's better to hold all of our stuff up together so none of the mortals stumble on any of our bags. We end up sleeping there at least one day out of the week to recuperate." Oh, so it'd be all of us. Got it.

"Is it still just Mors and Gaia coming?" He handed me my bag and hustled me up to the roof.

"As far as I know, yeah. Something like this draws random Immortals from all over. The ones that are willing to leave their homes anyway." He hurried past me and grabbed his bag off the ground, which had my eyes bulging again. Damn, and I thought I overpacked. The bag was almost as big as Jack. "Come on. People are already there, let's go." He gave me the basic direction and flashed over to the next tree. "Follow me."

It took about two hours to get there with me following Sam. Also, I had to keep readjusting my shirt which kept wanting to fly off. Why did I decide to wear this? Oh yeah, because Sam had given me a few pictures to base my outfits off of and I'd thought it would be fun to wear a lot of flowy crap. I neglected the fact that I'd be flying there first. And since Sam kept glancing back at me I was terrified of a fashion disaster.

When we finally got to the mountains that circled the desert and met Gaia and Mors, the white noise from the festival grounds had already hit us. I couldn't keep my eyes off of the circular city that had arisen overnight. It was as impressive as anything I'd seen since becoming immortal, easily. The festival grounds resembled a clock, with all but four of the segments filled with bodies there to witness the eight-day event. The remaining segments were left to the various monolithic art structures that had appeared as if by magic in the night. There were more people here than any place I'd been in my life. More than that I could feel the overwhelming wave of belief growing with every second from the festival grounds. What is going on there?

After about the third time my name was called I finally heard it. I turned to see the others staring at me, questions on their faces. I raised my eyebrows and made a 'huh?' sound. Gaia rolled her eyes slightly and smiled at me. "Are you ready to go?" I nodded, dropping my bag to the ground. As I strapped on my daypack my eyes drifted towards the temporary city again. "You can feel it, can't you?"

I looked back at Gaia. Mors and Sam were staring at the grounds, while her eyes were on me. "What is that?"

She smiled again, the colorful cords in her hair whipping across her face with the wind. "The playa."

-

Gaia made a flower bud for us to ride into Burning Man together. It appeared on the northernmost end of the festival grounds and when it had opened up she left it exactly as it was. When I asked her why she wasn't sending it away she said it was Playa Art. I just sort of went with it and didn't question her. We walked towards the center of the city, monolithic structures scattered around us. I couldn't stop my eyes from lapping up everything in sight. There was such a strange feeling I had here. It wasn't bad, per say, but it was something... something... different. Something wonderful.

It wasn't like when I was at Legends and felt human again, or like when I was at home and felt at peace. Not like when I was with Sam or Jack and felt like I was with people who had claimed me as their own, or even when I was sucked into a story and felt alive. This was something else. Without any explanation or reason, I felt like I belonged like I was one with the ground and the people there... like I was in a utopia.

Mors took a deep breath, arms wide. "Do you feel it, Story? It feels like you're weightless - like you're everywhere and nowhere at the same time." Another breath. "God, I love Burning Man!"

Gaia grabbed Mors' arm and hung off of it like a child. "I know! It feels like coming home!" Her smile grew to Cheshire cat proportions.

Sam adjusted his scarf slightly and pulled down his goggles. "It's good to be home." He grinned at them before turning his smile to me.

I looked out across the playa, entranced in a way I could have never explained or even thought of before coming here. "Yeah." My smile grew in amazement at this place I could only call magic. "It is."

Mors and Gaia ran off once we hit the mass of the city, promising to meet up again later. Sam took me on a grand tour of the campsites, showing me all of the incredible things the burners had created. He took me to the important landmarks so I wouldn't get lost. He showed me the statue in the center of it all, the man himself. He showed me how everywhere we went, everyone could see us. It wasn't the drugs - at least not fully - it was the place. Lastly, he showed me the Temple. A small part of me wanted to be skeptical - I'd always hated church - but this was beyond anything even my wildest dreams could create - and I'd had some crazy dreams.

It was beautiful. It was heartbreaking. It was something out of a dream. Words were scrawled on every available surface - words of love and sacrifice and heartache and hope. Words of life and death and healing and hate. Words to live your life by and words to remember, things to forget and things to let go of. Art was taped and stapled to the walls and rolled and shoved into every nook and cranny. And all around me were people worshiping whatever religion they believed in, whoever they believed in - and no one cared that they weren't the same religion. No one cared that their beliefs were different or that they were different people or strangers, they acted like they were equal. Humans. Whole.

Looking around at the magnificent sight, I couldn't help it. I started crying. Some random stranger walked over to me and hugged me. I just accepted the hug for a second before I realized that a mortal who didn't know me was hugging me. I think I stopped breathing for a second but then I just let go of that and hugged them back. I don't know how long we stood there but when we broke apart the girl just smiled at me and moved onto the next person. I looked after her, stunned as a few tears continued to roll down my cheeks.

Sam stared at me in some cross between shock and wonder. "I've never seen you cry before."

I wiped at my face. "I usually don't." I sniffed hard and looked around me at the majestic creation. "But this place..." I gestured at it and the people. "And they can see me..." I walked over to him and just hugged him. He was surprised for a minute but then he eased into it. "Thanks for talking me into coming here, Sam." I shook my head a little. "How does this place even exist?"

"Part of that is my doing." The voice behind me was hoarse and raw. When I turned to see who it belonged to I was pleasantly surprised. He was tall, probably a little over six feet, and lean. He had copper colored hair that looked like a golden halo when the light hit him from behind. There were what looked like ashes and dust streaked across his face in a pattern and his eyes were like pools of liquid aurum. His skin was sun-kissed and glowed with life. He looked like this place felt.

Sam smiled at him and nodded a greeting, not letting go of me. "I was wondering how long it'd take you to show up."

The man smiled, showing a mouth full of blindingly white teeth. "I already saw Gaia and Mors, they are currently participating in an interpretive dance flash mob." He turned his gaze to me. "I see you've brought a virgin burner with you."

I cocked an eyebrow but Sam explained before I could even ask. "Story this is the Burning Man. Bernie, this is Story Tale." I shook his hand and he felt like he was actually on fire. Like, I knew it was hot as hell out but he was way too warm to be healthy. "And what he means by virgin burner is that you've never been here before."

I nodded in acceptance, shooting a smile at Bernie. "You can call me Story."

"It's nice to meet you."

"What did you mean by it's partly your doing?"

He smiled slightly. "I didn't exist before 1986. The first Burn brought me into creation and I have nurtured it ever since. I live and die with the playa and in return for eight days of glorious worship and creation, I influence my people to be whosoever they truly are. To let go of their inhibitions and their pain. To be born again and to become whole with the burning of the Temple. I do whatever I can for them for they are everything I am." He nodded towards Sam. "And through my efforts, all other immortals are seen by the Burners during that time, young and old alike. Here you are free, and here you are one."

"Here we exist." I looked up at Sam and saw his eyes shining the same way they did whenever he was with his believers.

"I'm sorry to have to leave so soon but there are others who need me." He smiled in farewell and walked over to someone sitting by themselves in the corner looking lost and alone. Bernie sat down next to him and started talking to the guy who progressively looked more and more okay. Another person walking by stopped to listen to them for a second before handing each of them a bottle of water. Bernie smiled at him graciously and waited until the other man had started drinking before he followed suit.

"I like him." I was talking about Bernie but I was speaking to Sam. "He's genuine."

Sam nodded. "I came to Burning Man the second year it was held. I met Bernie and he showed me why the festival and the playa and the people meant so much not just for him but for the people here.".
He cocked a half smile at me. "He kind of reminded me of myself and Halloween." His smile faded and he looked across the people there. "I've tried to bring Jack here but in his words, anyone with Frost in their name doesn't belong in the dessert. Besides this place is sort of against what the Guardians strive for. The people who come here only believe in all of us when they're on the playa. The rest of the year they're just like the other mortals that don't believe in us. And they look at that like its false belief."

That's bull crap. Just standing there I knew this - what I was feeling - was as real as I was. It was ethereal and it was otherworldly but it was real. Sam let me lead the way after that. He let me wander wherever my feet and the wind took me. I can't tell you how many pieces of food I was handed or how many people waved hello to me. I felt like I was in heaven. Nude heaven.

"Why are so many people parading in their birthday suits?" My initial reaction to Sam's outfit was nothing compared to the hundreds of people I'd seen walk around naked.

Sam shrugged. "It's like Bernie said, the people here let go of their inhibitions and they're their freest selves. For some people that includes nudity." Despite his words, I saw that he was mildly uncomfortable with the number of genitals we'd seen already.

When the sun set on day one of Burning Man I expected the party to stop until tomorrow. My answer was an explosion and a responding cheer from the deep playa - what Sam had informed me the art wasteland was called. There was a pyrotechnic show accompanied by a million LED lights and glow sticks. A music flash mob had appeared and they were whipping the entire crowd into a freedom fueled frenzy. Gaia and Mors found us in the fray.

"So, Story. How do you like Burning Man?". She had to tell to be heard above the cacophony.

I looked around me and took a deep breath before answering. "You guys were right, it's home!"

Over the next six days, we lived more that we existed. We were part of something more that immortals, our jobs, or our problems. We were one of many and we disappeared among the burners. I don't think I remembered everything that happened but I do know I'd never forget this week. It was forever burned into my mind, no pun intended.

Mors insisted we sleep on the seventh night so that we'd be well rested for the eighth. So all of us moved back to our campsite and settled in for the night. I pulled my sleeping gear or of my bag and I realized I'd barely eaten anything I'd packed. There had been so much free food handed out that I hadn't needed any of what I'd brought. Mors and Gaia were the first to konk out with Sam and me still riding the adrenaline high we'd been in for the past week.

"Man, my face hurts from smiling so much." I massaged my sore cheeks, still grinning from the residual belief wave even this far outside of the main camp. In the valley, I could see a glow from the burners as they lit up the night with their revelry. Sam's own smile slowly faded as he stared at the playa, soon it was cloaked with worry. "Something wrong?"

He shook his head absently. "No, it's just... Hey, tomorrow when they burn the man, try not to freak out. It's a little much the first time you see it but Bernie doesn't want it getting changed because it's tradition and one he participates in. So let Bernie do things the way he wants to, okay?"

"Alright."

-

On the last day of Burning Man, a good amount of time in the morning was spent on everyone packing what they could. There was still a general sense of a festival but there was a sort of universal understanding that it would soon be over. Despite that, the belief hadn't dissipated, if anything it felt stronger. I wandered the playa in a daze. Around me, the sculptures were burned in a blaze of glory that the burners delighted in wholeheartedly. The mutant vehicles made up a parade that took the burners on their final rounds for the year. There were more drinks poured and more joints smoked than any day prior and not a single person there was a non-believer by the time the sun set.

Every single person in attendance of the festival was present for the burning of the Man. Bernie himself was standing with us for the event, watching with pride as the burners gathered in anticipation. Just before they set the statue alight he turned to us, looking like he was gonna give a speech. "Thank you all for coming again this year." He turned his gaze to me. "And for bringing a friend." With a sad smile, he turned his back to us and looked at the statue. "It's time." With that, he walked off towards the monolith.

"What's he doing?" I looked towards Sam and the others for an explanation but none of them would meet my eyes.

"Remember what I told you last night, Story." He finally looked at me and I could see in his eyes that I wasn't going to like what was about to happen. "Let Bernie have his last hurrah the way he wants it." He gestured back toward the statue with his chin.

I glanced at it to see that Bernie had climbed up onto the head of the figure. I looked at him in confusion. They were about to burn the thing to the ground, so why the hell was he standing on it like he was king of the mountain? My eyebrows rose in alarm when the flamed started engulfing the effigy with him on it. "Why is he still standing there? We're immortal, yeah, but he's gonna get hurt!" I looked at Sam and the others with pleading eyes but they stared stoically at the sculpture. "Guys!"

The others didn't answer but Bernie shouted from the top of the statue, arms raised in a triumphant stance. "Fuelled by the pyre I live for you! You are my existence and my undoing! I live and die with the playa, sustained for another year by what you have asked me to take! I release you of your pain, your troubles, your heartache! Tonight they die with me!" I watched, eyes wide with horror as Bernie voluntarily burned alive. The smoke and ashes from the Temple billowed into the Man as they both turned to smoldering piles of dust.

When it was all over the mortals all went back to their tents, solemn but looking like all of their worries had indeed died with the fire. The others wouldn't meet my eyes when I stared at them accusingly. "Why didn't any of you tell me what was gonna happen?"

Gaia winced. "We know you, Story."

"You would have tried to talk him out of it." Mors pinned me with a look. "Same way you tried to get Sunny to stop."

Sam rubbed at his eyes. "You and Jack are both like that. Certain things you can't be told until the last minute or you'll try to intervene." He looked at me then. "I told you last night that it was a lot to take in the first time you see it."

"You didn't tell me what I'd be taking in, Sam!" I threw my arm towards the pile of ashes that had recently been a towering figure. "You didn't tell me that Bernie lets himself get burned alive!"

Mors pulled a blanket from Gaia's pack, looking towards the mound that had once been the man. "Do you want to come with me this year?" Mors looked questioningly down at her.

Gaia stared with tired eyes at the still rising smoke. She shook her head. "No. I don't like seeing him like that." Mors nodded and looked at us as if asking if we wanted to go. Sam looked at me, letting me answer first. I nodded and we walked with Mors, leaving Gaia to stare towards us in sadness. When we got to the circle of ash I could see something moving in the middle. Mors stepped carefully towards the figure and handed them the blanket, leading them back towards us.

The man Mors led over to us was small and shriveled, bald and covered in soot. His skin looked like it would flake off of him if the wind blew too hard and his eyes were a dull gray color. Looking at him it was almost like there was no life to this man. When they got close enough, Sam stepped forward to help the man walk, one of them at each of his arms. As they neared me, the man in the middle gave me a weak smile and his sparkling white teeth were the first and only indication I'd had that this was the same Bernie I'd met seven days ago. "Hello, Story."

I looked at him, trying to understand. "Why? Why do this to yourself?" Why would he martyr himself just for a show?

"The fire didn't do this, Story. It was their hate and sorrow and pain that did this to me. Ther loss and despair eat away at them day after day, year after year. When they release that unto the Temple it transfers to me upon it's burning." He looked at me with nothing but selfless sacrifice in his eyes. "I will heal. Soon I'll be back to normal. They'll heal now too." He looked toward the camp with shining eyes.

After they carted him off to recuperate I walked back to Gaia who quickly wiped at her eyes. "How is he?"

"As good as can be expected considering what just happened." I looked her over, trying to pinpoint why she was feeling so hard for him. "Does it remind you of...?" How you died?

She shook her head. "No. Well yes a little, but no, that's not why..." She sighed and wiped at her face again. "I hate to see him go through this. He's so selfless and kind..." She swallowed. "He doesn't deserve this."

"Wait... do you like Bernie?"

She smiled sheepishly at me. "Maybe?" She shrugged. "Yes, but he sees our relationship as platonic. I'm not sure if he even wants a relationship other than people he can count on to accept him at his best and worst."

"Have you told him?" Why am I playing cupid when I just watched a man burn at the stake essentially? "Does he know?"

She shook her head again. "Not as far as I know. I think he believes that my pacifism is behind my not wanting to see him so broken." She looked after where they'd gone. "Whats worse is that tomorrow no one will believe in him. He'll be holed up in his home for the next month or more recovering and right when he's back to full strength is when the festival will happen next year. Burning Man is his life and there's no room for me in it."

We stuck around until the sun came up. A number of the mortals showed to clean up the remains of the structures and the people bustled about, packing the rest of their belongings for the trip back home. If the aura this place had during the festival had come on like a wave then the rapid rate that it faded was like stepping into a freezer on a hot day. To say the change was drastic was an understatement. After a few hours, there wasn't a single trace that there'd ever been a city let alone a festival. Gaia showed me where Mors and Sam had taken Bernie, a cave near where we'd made camp.

It wasn't deep and it wasn't big but it looked cozy and welcoming. You know, for a cave. There was a bed in the back and Bernie was on it, looking more fragile than my wings in a storm. Gaia swallowed around the lump that was no doubt lodged in her throat and walked over to him. She sat down next to his bed and spoke to him softly. Mors and Sam walked over to me to give them some privacy. "You're not gonna badger him about last night are you?" Sam pinned me with a glare.

"No, I'm not. It's an incredible thing he does for his believers." More than I could do. All I did was read them stories and hope they lasted one more year. I wonder how long Bust and his friends will hold on? "I just wish someone had explained it to me earlier." I nodded towards them. "You guys sure he doesn't know she likes him?"

Sam shot them a glance in confusion. "Gaia and Bernie? They're friends."

I snorted. "Shows what you know. She fell hard for that boy."

Mors looked towards the two of them again. "Bernie's mentioned that he likes Gaia, but I don't think he's considered trying to make that first step."

"Wait," Sam stared at Mors in bewilderment. "You knew?" Mors nodded in answer, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.

I cocked my head, eyeing them for a minute. "They'd make a cute couple. You know, when he's not crispy." I said goodbye to Bernie and the others and went to grab my bag from our camp. Scattered across our things was a mixture of playa dust and soot from the pyre. I tried to save as much of it as I could and when I got home I found a bottle amongst my hoard of baubles and poured the mixture into it. I went to my room and set it on the table next to my black sand from Hawaii, the box of Dreamsand I'd saved from Sandy and the few grains of Nightmare sand I'd scrounged together from my time with Pitch. My collection was growing along with my memories.