Prologue
Walking On Air-Kerli

"She's called the Angel of Distress. Sort of like the Anti-Fairy Godmother."

"What, like she takes things away from you?"

"Well, it's rumoured that she supplies you with great riches on your deathbed—usually by suicide. It's like a misguided effort to keep you from killing yourself."

I blinked at her. My mother didn't usually tell me stories like this, fairytales, she believed that they were inconsequential to daily life and should be ignored at all costs. And preferably burned. On a pyre. While everyone danced around and laughed and hailed Mary. Me? I'd always been terribly intrigued by the underlying horror of fairytales, and had special interests in the subliminal messages they sent kids younger than even I was at the time.

Mom was staring at me now though, her eyes bright and shiny as she explained this story to me, a story that was very, very different from the countless others I'd heard.

"So she stops people from killing themselves? She can't be that bad. Um, if she existed. Which she doesn't." I clarified, but for once Mom didn't dismiss the possibility that maybe other things, supernatural things, could in fact live in our world.

"No she doesn't. They kill themselves anyway. So she tries again. But she will never succeed, and they drive themselves to despair. And, I think that's enough stories for now, honey. Time for bed." My mom sounded a bit like a soap opera star whenever she got wistful, and even by nine I knew not to press a subject when her tone changed mid-thought.

So I let her tuck me in and closed my eyes, and promptly forgot about the Angel of whatever the next day.

I was a kid! I had better things on my mind. I certainly didn't expect it to come back to haunt me six years later. No. I didn't expect to think about it at all.

Oh yeah. This really, really sucks.

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A/n-Whoa, new story. This is going to be a little different than my other ones (ATWiCtM), Illegibility, etc., because it has a more supernatural/fantasy feel. But there will be romance. And maybe a triangle, if I can manage it. Updates will probably be slow-ish. And I haven't forgotten about ATW! NB. Each chapter is a song title.

Peaches,

Anya