Darkness.

There seems to be a lot of it when I'm concerned. This time, the darkness was created by the back of my eyelids. I was in a state of sleep paralysis; my body was asleep, but my mind was still awake. I was aware of my surroundings, but falling into a dream at the same time. The result? An out of body experience in which nothing going on around me was real, but it felt like it. I was hearing things that weren't really there, seeing things that couldn't actually be there...

It was the faceless man again. He was just watching me, his black, light-eating, tentacles weaving and bobbing thoughtfully. My feet were glued to the ground, and the option of running was simply not there, much less flying. I'm not much of a runner in the face of danger anyway; I'm a fighter. Still, that wasn't very possible as I couldn't move any inch of my body.

So, I regarded the stranger as he watched me... curiously? Angrily? Hungrily? There was no way to tell. He had no facial expressions and the more I stared at him, the more frustrated I became.

Just as I was about to start screaming at him, he started slowly approaching me. He didn't take any steps, didn't float or fly; it was as if the ground just seemed to roll out from under him. He stopped when he was right in front of me.

He leaned in ever so closely and the urge to fight him increased ten fold; twenty fold, thirty fold. I needed to scream, but that would be admitting fear, so as he reached up with one slender hand to touch my face, I held my breath, and jerked awake.

A little word of advice from me to you; when you're stuck in a half awake state of sleep paralysis, the only for-sure way to force yourself awake is to hold your breath. It will work every time. Just don't forget to breath after you wake up.

The moment I sat up in my bed, I could hear my blood rushing in my ears, and a hive of hypothetical angry bees seemed to buzz around in my stomach and crawl up my throat. I thought I was going to hurl, but as I looked at the sleeping form of Tooth, and forced myself to realize that I wasn't in the same room as a faceless man, I felt the panic begin to settle until it was nothing more than a general feeling of unease.

The soft glow of daylight filtered in between the thick curtains, and a quick glance at the clock informed me that I still had three hours before anyone else would be waking up for our trip into the mountains.

For the rest of the spa day (earlier today), Tooth and Mavis did most of the talking, making up a top ten cutest Lunar spirits list (Jack Frost being the winner of course) and a top ten cutest mortals list, the top place going to some guy named Chris Evans. ("His teeth are just so perfect!")

Afterwards we met up with everyone else for a short regroup before heading to bed. It had only been 2:00 in the afternoon, but everyone had agreed that it would be best to sleep while we could and head out at 10:00 pm when the vampires could safely travel with us. Bunny had been concerned that perhaps nightfall would be a better setting for the Wanderer as well, but I had assured everyone that Wanderers gained nothing from darkness except another way to accomplish cheap jump scares.

Hardly dangerous.

So, we had all bid each other good day, and headed to our respectful rooms. We agreed on a 9:00 wake-up call, group up in the lobby at 9:45, and start our journey at 10:00. That only left us with 6 hours to sleep, and I had just lost three of those precious hours.

There was no way I was going back to sleep.

Instead, I peeled off the sweat-soaked nightgown Mavis had insisted on gifting me, and put on my usual garb before hesitating.

As Jack F. had pointed out, I had been wearing the same thing for well over six centuries. Normally, I wasn't much for change. Change happened around me so often without my control that there were a few simple things that I like to keep the same, and the way I dressed was one of them.

Still... a lot had changed in the last few days. Not just the world I lived in, but my life had changed drastically as well. I had changed. Wearing the same concealing, dark clothing that was meant specifically to help me fade into the background somehow now seemed... impractical. The long cloak and the floor-length dress were good for blending into the liquid shadows, and disappear from sight, but now I had somehow found my way into the spotlight, and I was required to stay there until the problem had been solved. We were going into battle, and a dress was a far cry from empirical. If anything, it would get in the way.

In addition to the garment, the colors were rather drab. All of my new allies were so colorful, both in personality and dress. Tooth didn't even wearing clothing, but her fluorescent feathers provided her with the plumage of a peacock.

I stared into the bathroom mirror for just a moment longer before deciding change, at this point, was a good thing.

So change I will do.

rac's map of the hotel was about as helpful as an umbrella in a hurricane. I was able to determine, with it's help, that there was indeed a fabric store, but finding it was an adventure in and of itself. Asking for directions had been out of the question because the only people who weren't asleep either couldn't see me, or were zombies and couldn't do anything more than groan.

I did find my way eventually though, and with the help of the rather grouchy saleswoman there. I picked out some threads, a couple of dark fabrics, and a long strand of shimary, concord colored ribbon. I was even able to purchase a hairbrush in the giftshop on my way back to the lobby and finally brush my hair.

Making it back to my room didn't take quite as long, and I was able to take a shower, bush out years of tangles, and get to work on my dress while my hair dried.

While designing my wardrobe change was kind of fun, I decided not to do anything to drastic. After all, I didn't want to create anything that was too extravagant that I couldn't fix. Simple had always been more my style anyway.

In the end, nothing drastic had been changed. It was shorter, allowing for more movement. It had a high-low thing going on where it reached my knees in the back, but only made it to my mid-thighs in the front, with leggings underneath, and the sleeves had been cut to three quarter length. When that still quite didn't satisfy my tastes, I picked up the spool of silver, iridescent thread, and started to stitch intricate trails along the sleeves and the neckline. Once completed, the designs reminded me vaguely of ferns, or the engravings one might find on ancient scottish jewelry. It reminded me of something, but when I tried to place it, I couldn't quite remember what it was.

I considered making similar alterations to my cloak, but in the end, sentimentality and the sense of security I got from it's familiar depths won out, and I simply added the silver stitching to the bottom edge and around the hood before calling it good.

Putting on the finished product, and looking in the mirror, I felt a warm sense of pride.

I didn't keep much from my time as a mortal, but I was one hell of a seamstress.

I ran the brush through my hair one last time, and frowned when it still insisted on covering half my face. It couldn't be helped though, so I let it be. Glancing at the clock, I realized I still had another hour before I had to meet up with the others. Tooth was still fast asleep, and I was far too awake to consider sleeping again.

Looking at my leftover supplies, I noticed the ribbon I had forgotten about, and realized I had nowhere to put it. I sighed, and decided I might as well bring it back to the fabric store so someone could make use of it some day.

I threw away the rest of my scraps, tucked away my new scissors, hairbrush, and thread, and entered the hallway again.

And almost ran into Jack Frost.

"We need to stop running into each other like this," he quipped.

"It probably wouldn't be such a problem if you didn't make a habit of lurking outside doorways," I threw back, hoping my small smile would be enough to let him know I was teasing. He laughed and I knew he got it.

"What are you doing up already?" he asked. "Wakeup isn't for, what, another hour or so?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I could ask you the same thing," I pointed out. "But, I couldn't sleep after a weird dream I had, so I started working on a project to distract myself."

I watched him quickly appraise my new outfit. "I like it," he said. He reached out a hand and teased a finger along the silver on my hood, before smirking and letting his hand drop. "Can I ask why the sudden change?"

I shrugged. "I figured it was about time. And I needed something to do."

I twisted the ribbon in between my fingers and stroked the smooth edge. The movement must have caught his attention because he said, "What's this?"

"Oh, just," I waved the ribbon. "Extra. I was gonna bring it back to the fabric supplies place. I liked the color, but I couldn't find a good place for it on my dress, so I'm just going to return it."

Jack considered the dark ribbon. It really was too bad, the shimmery surface was appealing to the eye. It wasn't until I pushed the same lock of hair out of my face again that he had an epiphany.

"Here, I have an idea," he said. "May I?" I handed him the ribbon, and he went up behind me. I stood still, curiously waiting as he pulled my hair back into a smooth ponytail, and tied it with the ribbon.

"There," he said, coming back around to face me and offer an honest smile. "Much better."

I felt my cheeks heat, and boy, let me tell you. One of the most unfortunate things about being as pale as I am is that when I blush I really blush.

"Thank you," I said, shyly reaching back to touch the ponytail.

Jack shrugged, but smiled nonetheless. "Now it can't get in your face, or in your way anymore."

Jack F. and I wandered the castle together until the others awoke, and then I had to stop putting off practicing the charm. I found a secluded area of the castle and opened the spell book I had brought with me.

I carefully went over the spelling of the words, then the pronunciation of each syllable, and practiced the words until I was sure I had it perfect. Then I moved on to my dusty offensive and defensive spells. I had already known those ones, and only needed a quick brush up, so they didn't take nearly as long. Before I knew it, complete darkness had fallen and our merry band of misfits was on it's way.

There had been varied reaction to my appearance. Mavis and Tooth had loved it of course. Jack S. had been delighted, insisting it was more becoming of a Halloween spirit, no matter how much I had insisted I wouldn't be staying in Halloween Town for long. Most everyone else had either made small compliments or hadn't mentioned it at all; we had more important things to attend to.

  Dennis and Johnny, as the two most vulnerable of the group, stayed behind in the castle, despite the protests of both redheads. All fourteen of us set out as a group, but as it happens on most hikes, some people were faster walkers than others, and some started dragging behind. Groups of twos and threes clumped together and started small talk. Sandy and Griffin were communicating in their own special way, but seemed to be hitting it off if the excited game of charades was anything to go by. The Jacks and North were making polite conversation, while Dracula, Frank, Wayne and Murray kept to their own group of amigos. Mavis looked back and me and slowed her steps like she was going to slow down to walk by me, but when bunny fell into step beside me, she instead started chatting happily with Tooth.  

I had long since forgiven him for ruffling my feathers in Christopher Robin's yard, but after a few minutes of petering conversation, I realized he did not see himself as forgiven.

"I'm not mad at you, you know," I said finally. "I meant it when I said you were forgiven." He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, and I pretended not to notice. "You were just doing your hard-wired job. You had no way of knowing I wasn't a threat."

"I had no way of knowin' cause I didn' ask," he muttered. To which I promptly punched him in the shoulder.

"Och, wha' was that for!" he shouted, rubbing his shoulder.

"You were moping," I said. "I don't believe in pity parties."

He stared at me for a moment before he started cackling.

"That's a good policy to believe in," he chortled. "That's somethin' I should try pickin' up on."

"That you should," I teased. "You do to much of it. If you realize you've made a mistake, and do everything you can to try and fix it, then there has to be a point were you just move on. You thought I was a Reaper, and attacked. That was your mistake. You're fixing it by being my friend and chasing after this Wanderer."

I saw his ear twitch when I said friend, but he nodded.

"Whelp, looks like I learn somethin' new about'cha every day," he said.

This topic was reaching a little closer to home than I was ready for, so I carefully directed the conversation in his direction.

"What about you Bunnymund?" I inquired. "What is something I should know about you?"

He considered this for a moment. "I'm not actually a bunny," he admitted. "I'm from an ancient race of being called the Pooka. But... I'm the last one."

I nodded and I felt the whisper of a question fighting to reach the surface. I considered the pros and cons of asking it, before deciding to just out with it.

"How old were you when you... you know... died?" I asked. Bunny's left ear twitched, but he didn't look angry about the question.

"I never actually died," He admitted. "Neither did Sandy, Tooth, or Pitch. Pitch became immortal when he was corrupted by fearlings. Sandy was born immortal and anointed by the moon, North became immortal through death after a long life, Tooth simply stopped aging when she turned 20, and was anointed after a few centuries. I became immortal after... after the destruction of my clan and when I became the last pooka."

I suddenly felt a great wave of pity for Bunny. Obviously it was not an easy subject to talk about, so I didn't ask any more questions.

"What about you?" Bunny asked after a while. "How old were you?"

"I was nineteen when I died," I said, and Bunny looked a little saddened by the revelation. "It seems really young compared to the long lives of many people live these days, but it really wasn't considered young back in that time. It was normal to die between the ages of 25 and 35. At least, it was normal where I lived."

Bunny nodded. "Did ya have any kids?" An icy hand wrapped around my heart, and I shook my head.

"No. I couldn't," I said. At Bunny's quizzical look, I continued. "I was infertile, cursed, whatever. And since I couldn't have children, no matter how much I wanted to, I was labeled as the outcast and I was never aloud to wed and have a family." Tears stung my eyes, but I fought them back, pretending to find great interest in the passing trees and underbrush so Bunny couldn't see them. "I died shortly after my banishment to the outskirts of the village. I can't remember how I died, but I'm pretty sure my neighbor killed me so he could have my cow."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his ears droop in sorrow, and saw his hand move to touch my shoulder. I side stepped just enough to show I wasn't interested in physical contact.

He retracted his paw and we continued in silence for a while.

"You know," he said after a while. "It's a good policy to have, not throwing a pity party when something doesn't go your way, but if somethin' is really hurting you, there's nothin' wrong with seeking support from your friends."

I slowly turned my head back to look at him again, and the look in his soft green eyes... it wasn't pity like I was expecting it to be. It was sympathy- it was empathy. I didn't believe in pity parties, because it felt like I was inadvertently calling attention to myself and my problems, when I was fully aware that everyone else had their own problems to deal with. Now though... I realized it wasn't selfish to need someone to talk to, not when they so clearly understood what I was going through, and wanted to help.

This time when Bunny went to put a comforting hand on my shoulder, I didn't move away. I embraced the feeling of having a friend that cared, understood, and wanted to help.

The feeling wasn't so bad after all.

"Here should be far enough," Dracula finally said after a few hours. "Any further and we won't make it back to the castle before daylight."

Most everyone sighed in relief, and I took a seat next to Jack S. on a boulder.

"Any further and my wraps would come off," Murray muttered, rearranging the white fabric on his feet.

"Ve vill take a fifteen minute break before Vera summons the Wanderer," North said to the group. "Zen, ve vill have to be prepared for vhat may come."

Jack S. leaned over towards me.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked quietly. "Is there anything you need before we get started?"

I shook my head. "No, I practiced the pronunciation, and that's about all I can do to prepare, but the fact that you and the others are here is enough. I'm ready."

He smiled encouragingly and went about checking on his magical box of matches (as if he planned to set himself on fire should the need come for it), and started plucking dry grass for kindling.

No one really talked much, everyone giving themselves mental pep talks and psyching themselves up for the possible encounter. Nerves fluttered about in my stomach and wriggled about in my chest. It felt like an odd mix of stage fright, and that feeling you get when you're about to do something potentially life threatening. I fretfully unclipped my cloak from my shoulders, and then replaced it again, not sure if it would get in the way or not. It had been shortened enough where it couldn't restrict my movements, but the familiar fabric provided a sense of security.

I kept it on.

After approximately 15 minutes, when everyone was back on their feet, pacing uneasily, North called us all to attention.

"Vera," he addressed me. "Are you ready?"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and stood uncertainly in the middle of the clearing, my hands clammy and my heart pumping madly.

Everyone stood in a semicircle around me, watching tensely, weapons, claws, fangs, and fists at the ready.

Taking a deep breath, I began.

"I vocare erret; ostende mihi teipsum," I chanted slowly; forcefully. "Ausculta sermones meos et praecepta mea tu es." For a moment, nothing happened, and expectant glances were passed around the group.

Then, a sizzle of invisible electricity seemed to stir in the branches high above our heads, and reached down to meet us. Clouds swirled in a threatening vortex of greys and black in the previously clear sky. The light breeze had picked up speed and intensity, and I could feel magic heavy in the air. I could not help the feeling of familiarity that seemed to come with the spell as well; though I could not for the life of me remember where or when I may have used it before.

But apparently, the spell was working.

Everyone visibly tensed even more than before; taught springs ready to explode into motion. The clouds gyred around us and touched the ground in front of me. At first, I couldn't see anything appearing in the center, but then I saw the ground under our feet start to shift, and something started to move beneath the surface. Again, I was hit with a sense of deja-vu, and this time I was able to recall where I had seen this before. When I had seen this before.

When I had accidentally returned Jack Skellington's soul to his body.

I was inadvertently sending another soul to it's body, here and now, and a horrible thought struck me.

Was I returning the murderous Wanderer to it's body? Was I giving it even more power than it had previously possessed?

Had I just doomed all of my new friends to death?

I opened my mouth to shout out a warning, order everyone to get away as fast as they could, but I found myself unable to speak. Whether it was because the spell had temporarily taken that ability away from me, or if I was too horrified to speak, I did not know, but the waning would not have come soon enough anyway. The figure had already clawed it's way to the surface.

The first thing I noticed was that it was too small to be human. I had encountered animal Wanderers before, but they were few and far between. The Wanderer we were searching for could not have been an animal though; it had been too clever; too savage.

This was a completely different Wanderer.

When all of the flashing lights and sizzles of electricity came to an end, and the funnel cloud faded away, there was only one tiny little creature left staring up at me with curiously bright eyes.

It was a little black bat.

  ****I DO NOT OWN DREAMWORKS, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, DISNEY, WINNIE THE POOH, SLENDERMAN, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA OR ANYTHING ELSE!!!!! JUST THE STORY PLOT!