"A Wanderer?" Bunny asked, shuffling nervously from one foot to the other. "As in, The Wanderer?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I only know that there's a Wanderer. Like I said, I can't tell the difference between them just from sensing them."

"So we should start searching for him, right?" Frank said. "Just in case?"

I nodded in confirmation. "Yes, but we can't all go on this wild goose chase. Someone needs to go look after Christopher Robin, and the sun will be out before too much longer, so the Draculas should probably go back to the castle. You can keep an eye out for trouble there." Mavis looked like she was about to object and insist on helping us search, but the Count held her back.

"You know we won't be much help if the sun burns us Honey-Fangs," he said. She hesitated, before agreeing grudgingly, and in little puffs of purple smoke, they were bats, taking off into the night. Minnie Bat, as Jack F. had apparently named her, screeched in delight and took off after them.

"Sandy, Phil, and I vill take Reindeer back to Pole and check on Christopher," North said. "I must let Reindeer rest, Sandy can keep any of Christopher's nightmares away, and Phil…. He needs a shower, dah?"

I nodded. "Right. Tell Christopher Robin that I'll be there as soon as I can, alright? We'll meet up again after this Wanderer is taken care of. If it's not the Wanderer we're looking for, we'll start replanning from there." He nodded in understanding, and after a brief goodbye, started down the trail back towards the castle.

"As for the rest of us," I said, turning to everyone that was left. "We'll have to split up to search more ground. This is the center point; everyone will move out from this point, traveling in different directions, for no more than a mile. Try to cover as much ground as you can, and if the sun rises, and you haven't seen anything or heard from anyone, come back to this spot. Please try not to get lost; the more time we spend looking for you, the less time we spend looking for the Wanderer."

"Sir, yes sir," Jack F. snarked good naturedly with a mock salute my way. Everyone was already moving away, and it wasn't until Jack had said something that I realized how bossy I must have sounded.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Nah, he didn' mean it like that," Bunny said as he passed by. "Someone needs to take charge, an' yur the most qualified out've all of us. Jackie's jus' bein' a git"

"I'm not being a git," Jack F. pretended to whine. "You're being a git."

"Rack off, yah bloddy show pony."

"Make me Kangaroo."

"Twit."

"Stick-in-the-Mud."

"Snowflake."

"Cotton Tail."

"Frosty."

"I am not a snowman!"

Their amiable bickering faded as they both headed in the direction they were going to search before spitting off to search their designated area. I smiled fondly after them before I realized what I was doing- and then I remembered what had transpired earlier, and I had to resist a shudder.

These people were being a bad… er… good influence on me.

I unfurled my wings, and took to the sky, flying low and scanning the forest from above, heading southwest. The further I went, the more frayed my nerves felt, and I knew I was on the right track. Still, I couldn't see hide nor hare of the Wanderer. All there was to look at where trees, bushes, ferns, the occasional brook or stream and- there!

I saw a lean dark figure slipping silently between the shadows as if he were one, and I would have missed it had I not seen a flash of white in the moonlight.

I slipped into the shadows as well, curling my primary feathers just so, and dipping down silently before coasting to a stop. I didn't make so much as a sound.

Suddenly, everything darkened even further, and as I looked up at the sky, I saw the moon disappearing behind foreboding black clouds.

"He's not a very reliable fellow, is he," an unfamiliar voice drawled, and I stiffened. The voice was deep and rattling, low and rumbling, barely above a whisper, but still perfectly clear. I mentally pulled myself together, and put on my much more familiar persona of a dark, uncaring, reaper.

"I try not to take it personally," I said. "He's not been very forthcoming with anyone."

"I've noticed, but I do think you care more than you would like anyone else to know."

I turned slowly, following the direction of the voice, scanning the surrounding trees carefully.

"And how would you know something like that?"

"I've been watching you," he said bluntly. "For many years now. You like to think of you are creature of solitude, but you are not. You crave the company of another spirit, one who can understand you; one that can help you grow, and support you in your elimination of… unsavory mortal spirits."

My eyes finally locked onto the Wanderers silhouette, standing as stationary and tall as the trees around him.

"I think you've mistaken me for someone else," I said. "I choose to be alone."

"I know exactly who you are, Vera Night."

A chill ran up my spine as he said my name, and it sounded so wrong, so defiled and tainted, being uttered from his mouth.

"I am well aware that you have separated yourself from those who would like to call themselves your friends," he continued. "You distance yourself from them, because they are light, and you are darkness. Because they insist on being jolly little holiday spirits, and you want to be left out of it. Because you are nothing like them, Vera."

Okay, so apparently this guy knew me a lot better than I thought. It was true that my friends represented the light, and I was darkness incarnate, and no matter how much I tried to kid myself, I really was nothing like the rest of them, but I wasn't disgusted by them like this Wanderer seemed to think I was. I didn't want to taint their light and joy. I left so that I couldn't hurt them. I had avoided the Guardians because I thought they were snooty spirits with sticks up their butts, but I had been wrong about them.

"You said you've been watching me," I said. "How have I not sensed you before?"

"I knew exactly how far away to stay so that you would not sense me until the time was right," he answered honestly. "You would visit a place of interest to you, vanquish the area of the moaning, pitiful, spirits there, before moving on to the next town. It would be years before you returned to the same spot again, so all I had to do was move from place to place after you had been there. You never even knew I was there, watching from the shadows."

It was in that moment that I knew; this was the powerful Wanderer we were searching for. The one that brought us all together and threatened the mortal world. The murderous spirit. The one who hurt Christopher Robin. I wanted nothing more than to rip his throat out with my teeth, but before I could even consider a course of action, he continued.

"At first I thought you an inconvenience, but as you grew into your powers, I realized that you and I are one in the same. We are darkness, and hold superiority to the disgusting mortals, and those who waste their time protecting them. You and I were meant to rule this world. There was only one problem… your… interest in the boy; the one that can see spirits." My blood froze in my veins at the mention of that special little boy. "He stood between you and your potential, and I knew he had to be eliminated."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "Show yourself!"

"I have been known as many names in my time, just as you have," he said, stepping forward so fluidly, that if I hadn't been paying attention, I wouldn't have notice he was moving at all. "But most recently, the mortals have given me a new title." He finally stepped out into the open, and my breath caught in my throat. "I am Slenderman."

It was the man from my dreams- my nightmares. He was exactly the same now as he was then. Tall and thin wearing an inky black suit and a blood red tie. His face, as was before, completely void of any facial features. He had no eyes, no nose, and no mouth. How was he even speaking? I didn't see the tentacles though, but all the same, the very feeling of fear and panic that I had felt in my nightmares swallowed me up, and I needed out.

Without even thinking about it, I grew my fangs, my eyes flashed red, and I leapt at Slenderman, already growling the banishing charm under my breath.

"Vos uagum, tolluntur Angliae. Eorum coelo manet sua vos amenitate iudicandi call!" I thrust my claws at the Wanderer, and as I made contact with him, I expected him to start melting, or at the very least start smoking. He did neither, simply brushing off the spell, before turning his blank face towards mine.

"That was a very big mistake," he whispered, and suddenly, he did have tentacles. They exploded from behind him, shooting for me like guided missiles, and I only just rolled out of the way in time.

We turned face to face once more, and stared each other down. Or rather, I stared him down, and he was facing me with what I would only assume was a glare, but I wasn't really sure.

"You are a bad spirit," he said, his inky black appendages reaching along the edges of the clearing. "And bad spirits need to be punished."

Then before I would react, one of the tentacles to my left struck me in the head, and I passed out. My last thoughts before blacking out were, 'Why didn't the spell work?'

When I woke up, I was still lying on the forest floor, with a mouthful of pine needles and dirt. I spat out the earth and slowly sat up, taking a quick self-assessment. Other than a splitting headache, I was perfectly fine. A little drained, but not injured. I glanced around at my surroundings and, as I expected, the Wanderer, Slenderman, was gone.

The sky was no longer navy blue, but a weak grey, the sun preparing to creep up past the horizon. Early morning birds were already twittering about, swooping from one branch to another, eyeing me curiously, but not at all bothered with my presence. I knew the others had to be in the clearing by now, waiting for me to appear and probably worrying about my absence.

I moaned, and slowly got to my feet, by cold and aching bones groaning in protest. I shook the dirt, needles, and bugs from my dress and cloak, before unfurling my wings and preparing for takeoff. Something about them felt off though. They were uneven and maybe a bit lighter than they usually were. I brushed it off though, sure I was just due for a good preening and maybe another one of those massages.

I bent my knees, stretched out my wings, and brought them down hard at the same time that I jumped. Rather than becoming airborne though, I just barely pulled myself away from gravity before it readjusted its grip and yanked me down. I stumbled in surprise, and almost lost my footing at the unexpected landing. After catching my balance, I tried again. Once more, I rose no more than four feet before careening back to the ground.

Concerned that maybe my feathers were in more disarray than I had previously thought, I stretched out my wings and took a good look at them.

When I saw them, I let out a cry like that of a startled bird or injured lamb, because suddenly I was both.

My wings were not just out of sorts, every single one of my primary feathers, the ones that I needed to fly, were gone.

Hey, sorry it took so long for me to update on here! I updated on Wattpad several times, but forgot I had an account here... heh heh oops... ^.^' Sorry about that; won't happen again. Please forgive me! Anyway, I will be giving you another chapter tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that until you are caught up. I'm actually almost done writing this story and planning book two. I might try to write out the entire sequel (or at least half of it) before I start posting. See yeah tomorrow!