The Start

It was September 15th, 1705, six days before the attack on Camellia and Leonardos fifteenth birthday.

“Statuses?”, Javier looked at Jade. Jade hadn’t changed much in the past two years, but she had become the tallest girl there.

“Marceline. Age 17. 170 Centimetres. She is able to read the opponents moves quickly and her reflexes are powerful”, Jade started.

“Theodore. Age 16. 170 Centimetres. He doesn’t have great reflexes or powerful defences, but he’s a good commander. He’s able to cooperate with each and every one here.”

“Fleur. Age 16. 172 Centimetres. She’s a great manipulator, it’s frightening. Shes also fast. She’s good at offending but often does her own thing, so she’s not a great team member.”

“Benedict. Age 19. 185 Centimetres. His attacks are powerful and his reflexes are great. He’ll be very helpful.

“Tyler. Age 17. 180 Centimetres. His cooperation is great, but it’s definitely best with his brother. When working together with his brother, he’s stronger.”

“Aiden. Age 17. 178 Centimetres. He’s smart and can come up with good tactics. When working together with his brother, he’s smarter.”

“Mary. Age 19. 173 Centimetres. She’s better at defending herself than offending.”

“Aiyla. Age 11. 147 Centimetres. She’s good with long-range guns, not at anything physical though.”

“Adam. Age 20. 190 Centimetres. He’s great with daggers. He’s good at playing offensive and defensive and he’s got good tactics.”

“Arthur. Age 15. 166 Centimetres. He isn’t good at anything physical, but his intelligence is amazing. He can come up with great strategies.”

“Leonardo. Age 14. 177 Centimetres. He’s good at defending and his offending is decent. He still has room to improve, but there isn’t much time. He is tall for his age, though.

Javier looked at Jade, grinning. The tall mans ponytail falling behind his shoulder, “And you?”

Jade rolled her eyes, annoyed, “Jade. Age 18. 178 Centimetres. I’m good at playing offensive and defensive.”

“Oh? Full of ourselves, are we?”, Javier grinned.

“Shut up, hairy buffoon”, the ginger-haired girl said, walking away.

Javier chuckled to himself.

———

Aiden and Tyler were having dinner with Marceline in the garden behind the building.

“So, five days left”, Marceline started.

Aiden and Tyler stopped eating, looking up at the shorter girl. Marcelines hair hadn’t changed much, she still had the habit of tying it in a braid. Maybe, it was Aiyla’s constant habit of thing Marclines hair that she got used to it.

Tyler nodded, “Yeah. We’ll be getting Lyna back. I wonder how much she’s changed”, he smiled, trying to keep the conversation positive. Tyler’s black-hair hadn’t changed either. It stayed cut in an undercut.

“Who knows if she’ll still be alive? It’s been two years. She’ll probably hate us for prolonging her rescue”, Aiden suddenly spoke. His hair had grown longer, reaching his shoulders. It was finally easy enough to differentiate Aiden and Tyler because of this. The two others looked at him, a negative look on their face, but they understood. He was right.

They didn’t speak for a while after that.

———

Marceline was picked off the streets, or so she had been told. Anne had found her in a basket in an alleyway when she was just an infant. Marceline had been abandoned, was what she was told her entire life. Abandoned by who? The ginger girl longed to find out who her parents were and why they abandoned her. She had grown to behave as if Anne was her biological mother. They both had similar hair so it was easy for Marceline to pretend.

Aiden and Tyler had a similar situation. The two boys had been abandoned at the age of three. Tyler was mature, so he took care of Aiden. At such a young age, it was difficult. They had started to forget their parents, so longing for a parents’ love was a distant feeling for them. They would often eat leaves or leftovers left for the stray cats every now and then. As they grew older, they resorted to thievery, stealing from bakeries and what-not.

“I heard Durnic’s got a lot of rich people”, Tyler said, looking over to his ten-year old brother. Aiden nodded.

The two of them had begun their journey to Durnic, the road was smooth but isolated.

On the way there, they noticed St. Durnics Orphanage on the outskirts. They had originally decided to steal whatever they could. There would be a lot of kids there, so that would mean there’d be a lot of food too, is what the two boys thought.

When they arrived, however. There weren’t any kids in sight.

“—And then Theodore started to say some weird stuff in his sleep like—“

“Stop it, Lyna! She doesn’t have to know!”

“What? What’d he say?”

“He said—“,

Three children were talking together inside when they paused at the sight of the two twin boys at the entrance of the Orphanage. Tyler and Aiden looked at Theodore, Fleur and Lyna.

“Marceline!”, Lyna yelled, keeping her eyes fixated on the two boys.

Aiden and Tyler were ready to run for it, when Fleur sprinted over to the two ten year olds and gripped their arms from behind, the twins had had no time to react. Fleur grinned.

Just then, a ginger-haired girl walked over, “What?”

Lyna pointed at the two boys at the entrance who had their arms forcibly interlocked by Fleur.

Marceline looked stunned, walking up to them. “Go get Anne”, she whispered to Theodore before walking up in front of the two boys, “You guys have parents?”

Tyler was about to start cussing at the ginger girl when Aiden looked at him, glaring.

“No”, was all Tyler said. Tyler looked behind at Fleur, sneering, “Could you get this kid off of us?”

Marceline snickered, signalling Fleur to let go. Fleur grunted, “I’m the same age as you, probably…”, she muttered before standing next to Lyna. Theodore had gone to find Anne, who came a few minutes later with Theodore. She provided food, water and a place to stay.

Anne had given the two boys a home. A home and a family.

———

Leonardo and Arthur looked up at each other. Leonardo’s hair had grown longer, reaching his chest. He had the same wolf-cut, cut by Arthur. The only difference was that he was much taller. He was tall for his age and his voice was much deeper than the rest. He looked somewhat mature.

“Hey”, Leonardo spoke.

Arthur looked at him, “Yes?”. Arthur didn’t grow much, it was just physique. He had cut his hair till his shoulders as it got in the way during training, much to Leonardos disliking. Arthur’s hazel eyes glistened as he examined Leonardos face.

“Are you alright?”, Leonardo continued.

“Hm? What do you mean by that?”, Arthur responded.

“Have you felt ill lately? It’s already September, Arthur.”

Hearing his name from Leonardos mouth somewhat soothed him. Arthur smiled, “I guess. My head feels as if it’s burning.”

“Shouldn’t we tell Anne?”

“No, Leo. It’s alright, it usually wears off after a while.”

“Well, this happens way too often, it was even worse when you were a child.”

Arthur nodded. The boy would feel under the weather often during the Winters. Arthur seemed to know the reason but he’d never tell Leonardo, is what Leonardo thought.

———

“Hey? Earth to Mary?”

Mary shook her head, looking up at the tall boy, her hair was shorter now, reaching her chin, “Sorry, Adam. What were you saying?”

“I was talking about our future. Are you alright, what’s on your mind?”, Adam had a concerned look on his face.

“Ha, it’s nothing, don’t worry”, Mary grinned.

“Alright, if you say so—“, Adam smiled.

“Oi! Lovebirds—, Anne’s calling for you”, Jade sneered, entering the room Mary and Adam were in.

The two of them blushed, “It’s nothing like that—“, Mary exclaimed.

“I don’t wanna hear it. Hurry up”, Jade exited the room hurriedly, almost out of what seemed like…jealousy?

Anne had called Benedict, Adam, and Jade to a storage room to discuss their plans once more. Anne was standing next to Javier.

“We know where they are”, Anne began, “—and Arthur and I have come up with a plan. It’s dangerous. We can’t take Aiyla with us, someone should stay behind with her.”

“I say Arthur stays behind. He won’t do much when we’re there, his plan is already enough help”, Jade suggested.

“Who knows they won’t attack us here? They know our location, we can’t take any risks. I suggest Leonardo”, Javier said.

“Those are both good ideas, but we can only leave one behind with Aiyla, we need as many people as we can take. We both know Leonardo and Arthur can’t go anywhere without each other”, Anne spoke.

“Well. They have to cooperate. This isn’t a game”, Jade said, arching her brow.

“Jade’s right”, Javier agreed. Jade rolled her eyes at this.

“What about Mary?”, Benedict suggested. His recently shaved hair now had black hairs sprouting out.

“Me?”, Mary asked, she didn’t look too happy with his suggestion. Neither did Jade, for some reason.

Benedict nodded, “You can take care of yourself well, protecting Aiyla shouldn’t be a big deal”

Adam looked at Mary, he agreed with Benedict but didn’t want to say. The two of them didn’t want to be separated.

“Mary, are you alright with that?”, Anne looked.

“I mean— yes, I am alright with that. Just as Jade said, we all have to cooperate, right?”, Mary smiled.

Jade scoffed, beginning to exit the room, “Well then. It’s settled, I’ll go inform the others.”

———

“I’ll be alright, don’t worry”, Mary said, cupping Adam’s face in her hands. Adam nodded, “I know. I just don’t want to leave you all alone—.” Mary smiled softly at the male, “It’s only a matter of days before you’d return. Don’t worry.” The female leaned forward, as did Adam. The two intertwined their hands, their lips touching each other.

———

Theodore was drawing. He was drawing a picture of Lyna, although it was hard. Fleur had asked him to, the poor girl was forgetting what Lyna looked like. Papers scattered on the floor, some ripped, with drawings of the short black-haired female, messily drawn freckles covering her face. Theodore wasn’t doing well, his short blonde hair falling in front of his swollen emerald eyes. The boy had been crying, most likely because he couldn’t remember what Lyna looked like either. Fleur walked in, looking at the mess in the room, “It’s alright”, was the first thing the brunette girl said. Theodore looked up at her, “Did you feed the cats again?”, the boy was trying to talk about something else. Fleur nodded. “They’ll keep bringing more of their friends with them every time you do so. How long has it been since they’ve been showing up?”, Theodore gave a diffident smile.

“About a year.”, Fleur mumbled.

Theodore nodded, beginning to clean the papers. Fleur helped him, “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and her.”

Theodore looked up at the taller girl, trying to stay positive, he spoke, “You will. Once we get her back, we’ll never leave each other.”

“It’ll just be you and me, most likely, I don’t remember what she looks like anymore. If she is alive, do you think she’ll remember our faces?”, Fleur mumbled.

“It isn’t prudent to think too much of the future, Fleur. Of course, Lyna would remember our faces”, the blonde boy mumbled in response.

Fleur nodded, “You’re right. We’ll get her back soon. I’ll see her soon.”

Theodore nodded, smiling at the girl’s positivity.

———

The hooded figure walked to the familiar building, holding the black-haired girls hand in his, to comfort her. She looked up at him, her hair remained how it was two years ago, freckles covering her face. “Will you come back for me?”, Lyna asked the hooded figure.

“Only time will tell”, the hooded figure said, he wasn’t too happy with his own words. Lyna wasn’t pleased, but she understood, he couldn’t possibly stay. “I’ll see you later then, Jafar”

Jafar nodded, “Hopefully”

Jafar then removed his hood, red eyes gleaming in the night, he smiled at her which was uncommon for him to do.

Then he turned around, walking away, leaving the sixteen year old girl all alone in front of St. Durnics Orphanage.

She knocked on the door, of course it was locked, it was the dead of night, but she knew Javier would be there, on guard.

“It’s Lyna”, the girl spoke calmly, hearing footsteps from the inside.

As soon as Javier heard this, he immediately opened the door, examining the girl his eyes widened. She had grown to about 169 Centimetres but her appearance hadn’t changed much. Javier didn’t say anything, but he grabbed her shoulders, pulling her inside, visible concern on his face. Nobody was awake.

“Sit down, Lyna. You must be tired”, he said, signalling to the sofa. Lyna nodded, it felt so nostalgic for her to be in this room with her family again.

But she wanted to go back.