Once, a long time ago, they lived, perhaps not so happily...

On the edge of no where, he decides that nearly happy... is nowhere near happy. During a rainy memory, she decides that alive is... no where near living.

Kristel has lived in a world of darkness and sound all her life. Jack has literally been through fire and storm, taking with it his ability to speak. An unexpected meeting, a piano, and some summertime months, and suddenly there's something more than just being alive because one can. Something to pull them higher. Something to break it all down.

In the small town of Kettleton, winter has come and the snow has returned again. Wes, local "comedian", finds himself sucked in by a little rumor flitting about the vines: A mysterious, unnamed book, with magics unseen by any before. Of course, the more the merrier, so Penny, pretty prep and twin to the mischievous teen, Vincent, shadow to studious, straight-A student Gary, find themselves caught up in his wake. The wake of what? Well, rumors are always based on those little grains of truth. This time is no exception.

"When there are no good guys, which bad guys do you choose? [...]There are no heroes, Miss Lin. Only survivors." -The Buried Life, Carrie Patel After falling from being a local hero to a degenerate cop prowling the streets for druggies to bust and money for the bills, Deck Stein didn't have much to look forward to in life. But after an average night of collection, Deck found himself in possession of a smiling teddy bear, stained by the elements. An everyday teddy, one found on shelves all around town. The only thing that separated this bear from the rest was a lovingly attached paper tag, a messily written name spraying across the front. "Emily Remington" When she loses her brother to a faceless mastermind, Emily Remington, daughter of a fallen empire, is forced to play her scripted part for fear of losing the one she held dearest. But to trade her brother's life for ten others, ten people who have a life, a family of their own to protect; to risk everything she had ever strove to build up after her family's collapse for a sliver of a chance to see her dearly departed brother again...

After being kicked out of her home by her adoptive grandfather for, well, nothing, Alyssa Zero wanders into a city... and into a annoying mess of which she shouldn't have even been part of!

Bright, bright, fiery and bright.