Before anyone says "but dont you have a ton of other stories to update? I will answer it for you. Yes. However my updates have been regular and will be with this one too. So there.

Okay, heres a quick summery of the story because it doesnt let you get into detail on the main summery place. So here's a longer, more detailed one.

Lillie never wanted the job, but her boss did 'insist' that she did do it. And so she had accepted. Besides, as a journalist exiting new advances in her life were not truly a suprise now. But a suprise does come rudley knocking when she goes to Disney and is asked to fill out a form where one of the questions asks her what side she's on; heroe's or villains. Never having been asked that before and never having needed to the question doesnt truly come as an easy one to answer. And with such a mixed personality and both good and bad qualities she truly can't find a way to answer and be happy with it. So instead she decides to be, as she put's it, 'France'. Not good not bad. Just in the middle. Or, even better, 'somewhere in between'. How was she supposed to know though, that such a simple answer to her would bring so much trouble to this devided kingdom that for so long had justified it's people by one simple thing. Of course she had never really been a simple person. This is her story as is forced to stay in a strange land, interact with the bad and the good of it, make friends and even find love and all the while bringing reality and love in places no one could ever believe it to exist.

Rated T for light language and other such things that rated T people can handle.

Nothing graphic though, trust me! I can't even read that stuff!

Okay! That's it for the summery! Hope it sounds good to you! Alrighty, so on with the story and please please please don't forget to R&R.

BTW, I do hold small 'contests' of sorts when looking for more OC's in my stories. I also do accept ideas from reviewers for the story dealing with what they want to see, who they want to see and so on. So just pop those onto the review page or PM me! I end up using a majority of the ideas, so its always fun to send something in and then see it in further updates!

Alright! Onto the story!

Lillie had been having a bad day. No. Scratch that. She had been having an awful day. And it hadn't even started in the office. As she thought back she could definitely say that the moment it had started was when her dog had eaten her shoe. And not just chewed to pieces. Her dog had in all true sense of the word, eaten her shoe. That had then led to a whole chain of events involving not having any matching shoes for her outfit making her change. But even after she was once again dressed in her best professional clothes and ready to start the day new, life, it seemed, was not done screwing her over. So just as she was about to leave her coffee spilled all over the front of her crisp, clean, new, white blouse. To top that off she had locked herself out of the house and couldn't get a change of clothing. And the money in her pocket was not even enough to hail a cab. So now she sat in her office, wet, miserable and late.

Her office happened to be the last room in the first hallway of the 15 floor on 117 Nassau Street in the middle of the hustle and bustle of New York City. The building was the home to one of the more well known magazines, Test.

The magazine was true to its name, calling itself test because it tested it's journalist and artists to the limits, sending them on strange, unrealistic and sometimes even dangerous expeditions all for the sake of the entertainment and knowledge of the public.

And right now Lillie was sitting at her desk in her office with writers block. Her publisher and boss, William Pierce, had assigned her to write an article two weeks ago that required her to taste every single bubble tea in China Town and tell which one was the most delicious.

She had known it was a payback article. She had done a mediocre job on the column before it, unlike her usual writings which were superior. As punishment Will had given her the Bubble Tea article. He knew she hated bubble tea.

"But it feels like I'm eating eyeballs!" She had explained to him when he had given her a layout of the section of town and an envelope of money to buy the various drinks. "I can't do that morally."

"You can and you will if you want to keep your job, Miss Ayman." William had said to her.

In the end, she had wound up drinking more then fifty different kinds of bubble tea's, hating them all and now trying to find a polite way to write the words 'creepy' and 'possible internal destruction' while at the same time wanting so badly to say that every time she took a sip she gagged.

A knock drew her eyes from the computer. "Come in!" she shouted over her shoulder, then getting up and smoothing her dress pants down she turned to face the door.

"Miss Ayman?" Linda Earl, the secretary of floor 15 and a good friend to Lillie for many years, stuck her head in. She was a woman in her late 50's with brown hair that was, to her dismay, mostly white. She was rail thin and of medium hight. Bright blue eyes surrounded by crow's feet smiled behind bright pink cat eye glasses. To Lillie, seeing Linda was always a good way to pick up at least a piece of her fading day. That woman truly knew how to make people smile and did it all week with her sunny disposition. Everyone on floor fifteen loved her and everyone above and below was jealous not to have her. As a grandmother of six she treated the whole staff in a grandmotherly fashion and always called everyone dear. Not that anyone minded.

"Miss Ayman," she repeated, glancing down at a clipboard in her hand. "Mr. Pierce wants you in his office."

"Thanks Linda."

"Your very welcome, dear."

"Oh, and Linda, can you try and see if there's a fresh set of clothing in the staff room? I kind of spilled coffee this morning."

"Of course, dear."

"Size two pants and a small blouse."

Linda wrote down the sizes quickly, then nodded. "I'll have those up in your office when you get back, dear."

"You're the best. Tell Will I'll be there in a minute."

Linda nodded, then shut the door and left. Lillie waited until her footsteps reached far enough away before shutting off her computer and walking over to a mirror that hung on the brick wall of her office. It was one of the few decorations she kept, but it was enough when she was called down to quick meetings with the boss and a primping was in order.

She stood in front of the large mirror. Trying hard to ignore the huge coffee stain on her formally white blouse she checked to see if her image was presentable. Her very short, dark hair had somehow stayed in place the whole morning, still brushed down neatly on the sides of her head and the front gently sweeping across her forehead. The length of her hair had been an accident. She had wanted a bob cut, thinking it to be more practical when she was running around with no time to tie her thick mass of hair up. But the barber had kept cutting until what was left was almost a boy cut. She had let it grow out an inch and had found that if it was worn right could be feminine and even more practical then a bob could ever have hoped to be. The downside was it did nothing for her height factor. Standing just below a measly 5 foot 1, the hair gave her petite body an even more petite look. At least with longer hair she had had more dignity. Now she looked pixie-ish.

In her rush that morning she had also forgotten makeup. Usually a large amount of foundation was applied onto her light olive skin to hide all of the freckles. Now they stuck out clearly, going mostly across the bridge of her nose. A few appeared here and there over the rest of her face. With enough foundation they all disappeared quickly. It wasn't that she didn't like her freckles. It was just that after so many comments of how cute they made her look it became clear that no one would take her seriously unless she covered them up.

Her sister, Aisling, had been the lucky one, getting eyes that perfectly matched her freckles. They were both a quarter Irish and her sister had inherited her fathers emerald green eyes. Somehow she had also gotten the entire Irish package to boot; a tiny upturned nose, freckles, green eyes, incredibly pale skin and mouse brown hair.

Lillie had inherited the rest from who knows where. Certainly not her mother. Her mother was the picture of beauty. And that was something that drove her close to madness. It never made sense. Somehow the genes passed down to her had come from no one in her family, while all of them wwere the epiphany of tall skinny and 'you better believe i'm sexy'. Her sister was gorgeous. Her father was a stud. And her mother. Ugh. Long flowing golden hair, sparkling blue eyes, flawless skin and full pink lips. Of course her looks were just one more reason for Lillie to dislike her mother. There were other reasons, some involving police, but the looks still held a high place on the list.

So once more she looked in the mirror to check her reflection. She patted down her hair, fixed and smoothed her blouse and then looked at her own image strait in the eyes. A pair of deep chocolates brown eyes framed by long eyelashes looked back. Lillie nodded at herself and then turned and strode out the door.

The hallway was especially quiet. But it would be on this day. It was, after all, the end of the month. And that time meant deadlines. Which meant for the last seven days of a long and grueling span of time everyone lived in their office's. As she passed doors she waved hello through some that had glass panes. At one of the last doors she stopped to give a friendlier wave to one of her in and out of office friends.

The tall woman was at the moment scribbling furiously on a whiteboard, making an entire web of how her story was going to work. Lillie tapped on the glass making the woman drop the pen. She turned to glare, but then saw who it was and her face lit up. She motioned for Lillie to walk in, something she was more then happy to do.

"Hey Amaryllis." Lillie said, plopping down into one of the beanbag chairs in the corner. Amaryllis was one of the few people to actually decorate her office from wall to wall and make it look good. Colors were scattered everywhere, posters lined the red brick and strange items lined shelved. Lillie had always envied her skills at decorating, wishing that she too had the magic touch so that nothing she did made her office look like crap.

"Hey Lill!" Amaryllis said brightly, finally placing down the pen and walking over.

Amaryllis was a tall, lean women with dark skin, eyes and long dark hair. She and Lillie had met on Lillie's first day and had been close friends ever since, in and out of the office doors. Amaryllis was often the crush Lillie used to lean on. Other times she felt as though her friend was also the reminder that her life sucked. The woman too had everything, and as hard as she did try to be sypathetic about Lillie's somehow permanent situation, she did sometimes ramble on about the boys, the nice family and how she was having a bad hairday when obviously she wasnt. But that was alright with Lillie. At times like those, her friend became less of a friend and more of a reason to drink. So in a ways her friend was a triple threat. Support, curse and a perfect drinking partner for those days when you throw your hands up and say "screw it. life sucks lets go get wasted."

"So, where are you off too?"

"Will called me in."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah," Lillie rubbed her eyes and looked up tiredly. "That was my reaction too."

Amaryllis leaned against her desk and screwed up her face in thought. "So what? Do you think he's going to give you another assignment. It's deadline week, he wouldn't."

"Yeah, well I have no doubt that Will would."

Amaryllis sighed and nodded. "Yeah. He's done it before. He did it to me twice."

"You never told me that!"

"Oh, trust me. I didn't want to." Despite the topic Amaryllis did crack a small smile. "He sent me out to every salon to get a streak of color in my hair. I wore a wig for months after that."

"Oh god."

"Yeah. Wait, when are you supposed to be in his office."

Lillie stood and stretched her limbs. "Um… now."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Trying to get fired"

"Get out of here, girl. I don't want to see you get fired!"

"Fine fine. But only because you asked."

Amaryllis just laughed again and pushed Lillie out the door. "Now get over there. And don't forget to agree with everything he says. He likes it. Oh, wait a minute!" She fixed some stray hairs from Lillie's bangs and then nodded. "Okay, now you can go."

"Thanks Ama. Oh! Tonight's happy hour at the Common Ground."

"Say no more! I'll be there. Drinks on me tonight."

"But-"

"No. You paid last week. Now scoot."

Lillie just smiled, now having something to look forward too that night. Booze could do that. She wasnt an alcoholic, but she was an overstressed, underpaid and badley employed journalist in NYC; the city that doesnt sleep because it's too busy kicking your ass.

So with a lighter mood and a small amount of dread still hovering over her, she made her way up the hall towards the elevator and up to floor 18.

"Ah! Lillie! Just the girl I wanted to see!" William Pierce stood up from behind his desk and motioned to a chair for her to sit in. Will was a man in his mid thirties. Tall, good build with sandy hair and sun tanned skin. He looked like he belonged in a surfing magazine or some sort of catalogue for beach goers. And he was unmarried, making his very attractive to many women in the building. Not to mention adding to his already blown up ego. Yet here he was, the boss of a Magazine in NYC.

"Hey Will." Lillie sat in one of the chairs and looked around the office she had been in so many times. It was large and surrounded by windows. Most of the furniture was classy but looked that way in a cheap sort of way.

"Listen." Will sat back down behind his mahogany desk and folded his fingers. "I called you up to ask a few questions and to give you a few… options."

"Can I have the options first?"

Will just chuckled. Not a good sign. "Of course not. You don't want me to ruin the surprise so quickly."

"Yeah. I kinda do."

He just chuckled again and then let his face slip into a more serious expression. "I wanted to know, first of all, how the Tea article was going."

"Well… it's kinda sorta… going…"

"Okaaaaay? Elaborate."

"It's getting… places… slowly…" she said in a cautious voice, moving her hands animatedly as she searched for the right words.

Will found them first. "You haven't even started it. Have you."

"No Will. No I have not." She said, her tone showing defeat. "But good translation!" she added, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I thought so." Will opened a drawer near him and took out some papers, handing them to her. "Listen, the reason I actually called you up was…"

"The options?"

"Yeah, the options. I want you to finish the Tea article by tonight and send it to me through email. That'll go up by the end of the week. But that's not the most important thing. What is important is this new assignment."

"Aw come on Will!" She wined, setting down the papers. "I've got my hands full on this one thing as it is."

"Will you just listen? I think you'll like it!"

"I doubt it!"

"There's a bonus involved."

That made her stop talking. She squinted at him. "A bonus…"

"Yes. A cash bonus."

"I'm starting to get the idea this might be dangerous."

"It could be."

She gave up squinting and picked up the papers with a loud sigh. "Fine! Whats your assignment?"

He smiled. "I knew that would get you to listen. Do you remember the article that Aravinda handed in about a year ago."

Lillie thought back. She did remember vaguely a woman on the 13th floor named Sara Aravinda. But the article...

"Not really."

"That's alright. Miss Aravinda was given an article to go to Disney."

"Wait wait wait." She waved her arms at him. "Disney. As in Disney World or as in…" then her eyes widened. "No. Absolutely not."

"Oh good! I see your remember."

"Will, no. I am not stepping foot into that Land."

"C'mon Lillie. Sara did it."

"Sara came back and had to go to therapy for three months. I remember, she thought that you meant Disney World. When really you meant literally Disney."

"Yeah, well not many people know that place exists."

"Honestly Will, I have a hard time believing it. But if it's going to make me have to get therapy bills that run me out into the street I'm willing to believe anything."

"I said there was a bonus."

"Will, I'm not spending my bonus talking to a quack for an hour about how my boss sent me into a world of princesses and dreams come true. I'm not." Lillie sat back and smoothed out her hair. "Can't you just make me do another Bubble Tea article or something?"

"You'd rather eat eyeballs?" He gave her a skeptical look.

"As shocking as it seems, yes. I'd rather eat bubbles that feel like eyeballs. No. Actually I'd rather eat my own eyeballs."

Will sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Listen Miss Ayman, I really don't have the time for this argument. So take the assignment or I'm cutting your salary."

"What! You can't do-"

"Do you want to try and see?"

"Not especially." She looked over the papers. "I want you to explain it to me first. I'm not making any promises that I'll do it. But I might be more willing if I know what I'm up against."

He nodded. "Sounds fair." Will leaned back and laced his fingers together. "One year ago we sent Miss Aravinda to Disney. Not the attraction. But the real place. Her assignment was to study the Disney Princesses and find their secrets to their looks, fashion and what not."

Lillie remembered now that Sara was in the fashion column of Test. It made sense she'd get that assignment.

"That particular article," Will continued. "Got us a lot more readers then I expected. Not many people believed it, but women everywhere loved it. And that was the problem."

"What problem. It got you more views."

"No. It got us more views from women. I want more views from both men and women. Are you starting to get this." Lillie nodded slowly. "Okay, good. Anyway, I thought that the way we could do that was to do a more… physiological article."

"Physiological? About what?"

Will smiled a wide, evil smile. "Villains."

There was silence for a moment as Lillie tried to absorb it all. Villains? What was that supposed to mean. "I don't… understand."

Will leaned even further back into his chair, stretching out his long legs. "Miss Ayman, do you know why I'm giving you this assignment and not anyone else?"

"Not really."

"It's because I've read what you can do. You are amazing with words. And I need someone like that to be able to explain what truly goes on in the minds of the villains. I want comparisons between them and heroes, I want you to map out what makes them what they are. I want you to… reveal the monster in a sense."

"Ah. See, here's the thing Will…" She paused for a moment to let the words come. "Villains, as far as I can tell, don't really like people asking them about their personal lives. And they get angry."

"Yeah?"

She frowned. He just wasn't getting this! "They get REALLY angry."

"Oh… OH! Yeah, well… that's where the whole danger thing comes in."

"I don't think the word is so much danger. More like fatal."

"Let's stick with danger, okay? I really don't need a lawsuit on my ass."

"Got it." She said in a flat voice.

"Great. So when do you want to start?"

Lillie jumped up. "Start? Hold on. That wasn't in the deal!"

"There was no deal. You listened and I told you your job. Now do it or get it cut."

"I'll take the cut."

Now it was his turn to rise. He got out of his chair and took on his full height, giving her a sardonic smile. "Fine then. How about this. Do the article or I'll cut you from this magazine."

She stood there staring at him, anger and frustration and disbelief brewing inside her. "What?" She whispered.

"Talent like yours really shouldn't be wasted." He handed her the papers which she took numbly. "I'll give you instructions on how to get there. We already booked you a flight and some people there have a furnished apartment already set up in the town."

Again, all she did was stare."

"I'm giving you eight months there. And by that time I want the best damn article I've ever seen." He gave her an encouraging smile. "Now get out of here, ya rascal!"

Lillie just continued to stare at him. Then she turned and slowly made her way out, closing the door behind her with a click. Her steps dragged as she stared at the floor, clutching the papers in her hands.

"Oh and Lillie!" She turned again. Will had stuck his head out of the office. "I'll fax you the directions and your apartment address. You'll get them tonight. And one more thing, when I say the best damn article I mean the best damn article. So unless you don't want to work here any more, I suggest you give me the best damn article. Have fun!" And then again the door closed and she was left alone in the hallway wishing that she had stayed home when her dog had eaten her shoe.

That's it for chapter one! I hope you liked it!Okay, next chapter is a fun one.

And a quick shout out to my 'story helper' who now acts like my editor as well. Daydreamer747, you couldnt have done more to help me! You rock! If anyone doesnt know her, she is currently writing a story called "Working at the House of Mouse". It's a super fun read and I encourage you all, if you havent already, to pop over to her profile and check it out! Like I said, its a great great story!

Alrighty then! R&R and please send in ideas! I love working off of your tastes too! It makes the story a bit more 'personal' and fun for everyone when you see your own ideas up here!

Chapter two coming soon!