Chapter 1 - And so, we met

A gentle breeze swept through the half opened window on the second story of a large manor, where two young boys lazily dawdled about in the room, desperately trying to keep themselves from utter boredom, as their mother had refused to allow them outside to play. Another lovely, summer day wasted in the confines of the rather dull manor, much to the disappointment of the two children. Spirited children as they were, they sought some sort of entertainment from what the outside world had to offer, as opposed to the boring familiarity of the house the two were accustomed to. Sure, neither could quite appreciate the rather luxurious lifestyle their family enjoyed, as they had never known anything but it, but even so, they found themselves quite disinterested with the large variety of toys they had played with a thousand times over.

The taller boy, whose lovely hazel hair fell just below his shoulders, moved onto the couch with an exasperated sigh, staring up at the ceiling dejectedly. Mother had promised them they could go out for a ride in the carriage and explore a bit of the town, which was not to far off from their mansion. However, after a change of heart and taking Mana's temperature, she declared him unfit for travel, and as a result, he was again, stuck in the mansion. Just like he was every day. Each time he was offered a chance at going outside, he was only further denied by his worrisome mother, whom constantly watched over him with a little more care than he would prefer. Honestly, he might be frailer when it came to his health compared to other children, but that didn't mean he should stop living life. Again, he let out another sigh, this time louder, causing the slightly shorter boy to look up impatiently from his intense stare on the piano keys.

"Mana." The child snapped a bit irritably, finding his older brother's dejectedness tiresome. "Just get over it, you know how Mother is. I don't know why you actually expected to go out this time, she always finds an excuse to fuss over you or keep you bed-ridden."

Of course, Neah was right, and though Mother had every right to be concerned for his health, it was a habit which Mana loathed, as it prevented him from doing anything fun. Often, though he was the older brother by little over a year, he had to watch from his window as Neah ran about the yard, playing with the neighbor's children or riding horses. While he, Mana, the sickly frail child, remained in his seat from his window, never allowed the privilege to go out to play like a normal child. Why did God have to be so cruel as to curse him with such a weak body?

"I thought perhaps this time, she would see how hard it is for me just to just sit here and watch." Mana trailed off bitterly, slamming a fist against the chair as he raged in his mind over the unfairness of it all.

Shaking his head sympathetically, Neah returned his attention to the small piano which had been given to him for his seventh birthday, playing a short yet sweet tune for Mana. A faint smile managed to flicker across his face, knowing Neah was trying to his best to cheer him up, even if it was his fault that Neah hadn't been able to go into town either.

Well, not entirely his fault, but still.

Resigned to wasting another perfectly beautiful day within the confinements of their home, Mana gazed out at the window, annoyed by the beauty of the day. The light azure sky was perfectly clear of the white blemishes known as clouds, the shining sun blessing the people with its warm, gentle rays, stretching over the land and filling it with life. The chatter of birds and other creatures made its way through the window, evoking within him a longing for what lay beyond his prison, along with a sense of jealousy. He should be free to do whatever he pleased, yet his poor health held him back from even enjoying a beautiful day outside. As another cool gust sailed through the window, it brought the sweet, airy smells of the flora and other aromas of nature, tempting Mana with the wonders he was missing. Simply staring out the window only increased his desire for the outside world, and he forced himself to yank his eyes away from the inviting view. An urge to rebel suddenly came across Mana's mind, as he realized he didn't have to remain within the house if he didn't want to. Why should he be denied a chance at enjoying a lovely day outside? All for some petty reason as his health? It was pure nonsense, and he jumped out of the chair, pushing his head out the window and looking down to see how far of a jump it was to the ground.

Since they were on the second story, Mana doubted any serious injury could come to him if he dared to go through with the plan which was rapidly forming in his mind. He lifted one leg over the ledge, steeling himself for the jump when Neah cried out, startling him and causing him to nearly lose his balance before regaining it after a few, terrifying moments of uncertainty.

"For hell's sake Neah!" Mana snarled angrily, rounding on his brother for nearly ruining everything. "What the devil did you have to cry out for?! I could have fallen and broken something!"

"Well sorry for freaking out! I'm not the idiot who just suddenly started climbing out a window without any explanation! What are you even doing!? Mother will be furious!"

Deciding to ignore his pesky brother, Mana grasped the edge with his hands, pulling his other leg over and sitting with his legs dangling over the outside of the house, trying to judge the best place to aim. Obviously he would want to avoid the ground and brick road which cut across the yard. Or maybe he shouldn't risk it all like that, there was always the tree which grew beside the window he could carefully trapeze over to, but he had no experience climbing trees. For all he knew, it could simply be another trap which would not free him from the ridiculous confines of what he knew as home. Growling in frustration, he racked his mind, trying to make his decision before his Mother found it convenient to check on them.

Neah, at this point, had cautiously walked over to the window where Mana was at, careful to avoid making any sudden movements or noises which could frighten Mana and cause him to fall from his perilous position. Gulping somewhat fearfully, his eyes followed Mana's gaze, looking at the tree, then back to Mana, confusion riddled across his face before he was able to comprehend what Mana was about to do. Mana made a quick glance back at Neah and the room, listening for any tell tale footsteps which warned that their Mother was coming to check on them. Upon hearing nothing, his stare found Neah's, who gave him an encouraging nod, or at least, enough to reassure Mana of what he was about to do. Stretching an arm towards one of the branches, while holding onto the wall for balance with his other, he brought himself onto the branch warily, only to look down and begin to panic as he realized he was hanging just over the brick path. A slip of the fingers and splat, he would be severely injured, and then he would never be able to get out of the house.

Inhaling sharply, he focused his gaze towards the trunk, slowly inching his way toward the tree and grasping the branch which swayed ever so precariously. Before he could chicken out any further, Mana ensured his first grip on the wood was secure, before reaching out with his other limb. He felt his feet slide off the window sill, resulting in him dangling dangerously from the branch, which seemed to hold his weight just fine, though sagging just a bit more due to his added weight, which was thankfully quite light due to his lack of appetite. Thanking his small body for being so light, he made his way up the branch, his leg finding a spot where he could sit nicely where the branch connected to the top of the trunk. Slowly, he reached one hand to grasp firmly onto the trunk, grinning when he managed to pull himself against it, waiting a second to catch his breath, as the effort had cost him all his concentration. Eventually, he started back down the tree, little by little until his feet finally connected with the soft blades of grass.

Unable to hold back a laugh of excitement at his own accomplishment, he remembered he didn't want to be caught outside by one of the servants or his mother, quickly snapping his jaw shut. When he looked up to the window, he found that Neah had disappeared, and the climb down did not look as impressive as it felt from looking upwards. Then again, he had been quite surprised by his own strength, but it also gave him a boost of confidence, excited that he had been daring enough to do such a stupid thing. Typically it was Neah who did outrageous feats, and though his wasn't quite like his little brother's, he was proud of the fact that he had most certainly done something Neah had never done before.

Well Mother, I guess I'm not so weak after all! He thought smugly to himself, jumping when a loud slam of a door alerted him to another's presence. He turned around only to find a breathless Neah, who wore a particularly silly grin as he practically bounced over to Mana.

"Mana, mother is going to kill you!" Neah chirped jovially, ebony eyes glittering with glee as he gazed at his elder brother with a newfound respect, never having thought in a million years that the other would be so daring as to climb out the window.

"Not if she doesn't find out." Mana replied meaningfully, honey colored hues flashing threateningly at Neah's, who only grinned wider and agreed to his statement with a quick nod, dragging a finger across his lips in a sealing motion. "Why don't we go out to town for a little bit? If we're quick, I bet Mother and the others won't even know we left!"

"Sure, but if we do get caught, this was YOUR idea, not mine. I'm a good son." Neah said eagerly, provoking an eye roll on Mana's part, since Neah was far from the "good son" he proclaimed himself. "And I figured we'd be doing something, so I brought some money so we can grab some sweets from that awesome stall I've been telling you about! Here, you can take half of what I got!" A quick search through his pockets and he presented the coins to Mana, dumping them into his out stretched hand.

"Excellent," Mana said as he stowed away the money away in his back pocket, which was barely large enough to fit the coins Neah had given him, though he had no choice, since the front pockets of his dress pants were merely for decoration, annoyingly enough. "now, where do we go from here?"

Neah grasped onto Mana's hand and began to drag him on the brick road away from the mansion, the wild grin on his face contagious as it spread to Mana's face, the two giggling with delight at their escape. "I'll show you Mana! Its not a long walk from here! C'mon!"

The chatter of animals and sweet smelling aroma of flora from the mansion were long gone and were soon replaced by the cacophony of horses snorting, people ambling about, others trading words with one another, and the ghastly fumes of smog and horses manure. Indeed, the picture of beauty and interest Neah had painted his adventures in the city were quite different from what Mana now saw, and he was a bit disappointed by the fact that no, there were no flying demons or unicorns roaming about the streets. (But then again, he had been rather skeptical of the accuracy of Neah's tales, since Mother always laughed at them.) In fact, he was beginning to feel quite nauseous from the putrid smells which he was constantly surrounded with and the loud rambling of the city, which was rather overwhelming for the boy whom had spent so much of his life in peace and quiet.

However, he had already gotten this far, and though Neah's definition of "not a long walk" had been relative and included nearly more than an hours walk, though his eagerness to explore the unknown had not been slighted in the least. Neah wanted to go through the city quickly, but Mana slowed their progress down by exploring every inch he could, checking out the display of clothes on the window shops, as well as the various wares sold by the merchants on the streets, though he had no intentions of buying anything. His curiosity was met with an exasperated Neah, who had already seen all of it hundreds of times and found nothing interesting with the stores or merchandise.

The younger managed to keep his patience as the originally short trip to the city began to drag on. Mana had Neah wait as he looked around, eager to soak in as much of the city experience as he could. No matter how disgusting it was to breath the filth known as air and the fact that the boisterous noise was beginning to make him hear a constant ringing in his left ear.

Finally, two brothers reached the area of stores Neah had told Mana of. When the candy store was but a block away, Mana developed a particularly painful headache, forcing him to ask Neah to stop.

"Neah, just go and buy the sweets, you know which ones I like. I need a break." Mana replied through gritted teeth, eyebrows furrowed as he grimaced in pain, making sure not to voice aloud just how much pain he was really in. He had had headaches like this plenty of times before, their pain and duration varying every time. Sometimes, they lasted minutes and were relatively painless, while others lasted hours upon hours, endless waves of agony sent his way with no way of relieving himself of his anguish until he passed out. Neah looked as though he was about to protest, though as his gaze swept to Mana's expression, he seemed to realize just how much pain his brother was in. He nodded his agreement swiftly, continuing forward to the street of stores, as Mana backtracked a bit towards a metal wired bench, trudging over wearily.

As he did, a boy with long, scarlet hair passed by him, roughly bumping into his shoulders and causing him to nearly stumble to floor, though he managed to retain his balance at the last moment. About to growl his annoyance and continue on, he realized that his back pocket felt a bit lighter, and when he reached back into it, he found nothing.

"Hey, thief!" He yelped as he made a quick turn and began to run towards the red streak of color which pushed its way through the crowd, the thief realizing he had been found and making a run for it. Mana began to push his way through the crowd, crying out all sorts of things to the redhead, as well as forgetting the painful headache he had been gripping over just moments of ago. The chase quickly became all too much for the boy who had barely had any experience with the outside world, his breath coming short and his legs tiring. The fiery colored hair continued to race through the crowd, becoming increasingly more difficult to see as Mana's sprint became slower and slower.

Suddenly, he lost all sight of the mugger, and he nearly tripped over someone, muttering a form of apology as he continued onwards. However, his legs screamed with exhaustion, as did his lungs, unable to supply him with enough oxygen or energy to pursue the other boy. Giving up, he began to make his way back in the direction he had come from, defeated and tired, when he heard a loud shout from behind.

He stopped short, turning to find a familiarly dressed man walking towards him with the runaway boy, who was being dragged by his collar. Though he struggled valiantly against the constable, the man kept a firm grip on the young criminal, his hard gaze meeting Mana's stiffly as he stopped in front of Mana, who was still slightly breathless.

"Did this brat steal from you sir?"

The way the question was phrased and said in such a cold tone made Mana hesitate, suddenly fearing the officer himself as he looked up at the other with a frightened gulp. The officer stared down at him, his height considerably abnormal compared to typical humans, or at least, all the humans Mana had met so far. The sepia hues bored into his with such bleak frigidness, that Mana forgot his anger at the other boy immediately. Surely the other, who continued to fight against the officer's grip even as the constable waited for Mana's answer, would be terribly punished by this man if Mana admitted that he had indeed stolen from him.

No, he wouldn't tell. He didn't trust those deceitful orbs of darkness which gazed down at him so cruelly, he could only imagine the torment and beating the other boy would suffer because of his own selfishness.

Besides, it was only a few pounds, so it wasn't something worth pursuing anyway.

"No, I'm sorry officer, he didn't steal from me. We were pretending I was a rich man and my friend here, uh..., Marian!, uh, took a few of the pounds my mother gave me. And then I was the officer who chased after him after he had stolen the money, though I didn't realize our little game would cause such a commotion. I'm sorry for making you run after him."

It was the best Mana could come up with despite his history of telling horrible lies, though the look he earned from the other boy was priceless, his jaw slack with shock as his bright, rouge eyes looked at him in disbelief, clearly not expecting such a response from him. His astonishment from the statement had caused him to stop fighting against the grip of the officer, as said officer only glared harder at Mana, thinking over his lie carefully, as though he had any reason to suspect anything against the boy.

"Fine. But please refrain from causing more trouble kids, I have a job to do and don't need pesky brats like you pretending like an actual crime occurred. Understand?" The officer let go of "Marian", who was still stunned, and stood limply in the position he was left in, as the constable stalked off, back hunched intimidatingly.

Mana grabbed the other boy by his arm, pulling him in the direction of the iron bench of where the crime had occurred, to discuss what had just gone down. When they were just about there, the other boy pulled his arm away, finally snapping out of the stupor he had fallen into, rouge eyes glaring at Mana suspiciously, not trusting him.

"Why di' ya lie to tat oficer? Weren' ya just proclaimin me a t'ief a min ago?" The other boy spoke in a rather thick irish accent, his english a bit difficult to understand through it.

"I don't really know, it was only a couple of pounds and I didn't like the way that officer looked at me. He looked like he wouldn't have a problem beating a kid up." Mana replied honestly, suddenly a bit shy as he looked downwards, wondering exactly why he had done that. He didn't know this boy, so why should it matter to him?

But it did.

With a snort, the red head took a seat on the bench, "Wouldn' be da first tim he di', won' be da las." The tinkling of the coins clashing together in his pocket caused Mana to twitch slightly, before taking a seat next to the other, again, keeping his eyes downcast.

"Say...what's your name?"

"Dun haf un."

"Pardon?"

Sighing, he just shook his head, before scrunching his face together in concentration. "Don't. Have. One." He said each word slowly and carefully, as though he were trying to squash his irish accent and make himself clear to Mana's ears, who wasn't accustomed to anything other than plain British English.

"Oh, well then, what do people call you?"

"Kid. Brat. Fucker. Double Crosser. Idiot."

Clearly he wasn't going to get anywhere with this. "I guess I'll just call you Marian for now." Mana sighed exasperatedly, running a hand through his long locks of hair and pushing them out of his face, wishing for some sort of ribbon to pull his hair out of his face.

"Ya weird kid." Marian grumbled irritably, as he turned his face away from Mana's view, the tint of pink highlighting his cheeks ever so slightly going unnoticed by Mana.

"Am not! You are! Who has ridiculously bright red hair like you?! Is that even real or is that a wig?" Mana retorted back smartly, though he couldn't help but stare at just how lovely the hair would be if it were washed clean. It held a particularly foul odor which he wasn't going to bother asking why it smelled of horse manure, he didn't need to know the details. However, even the city's filth and crud could not completely tarnish away the brilliant red color of the hair, tempting Mana to reach out and touch it.

"It rea alrih- OIOIOI ME HAIR! STOP YA BLOODY BASTAR!" Marian yelled a bit too loudly for Mana, who winced and moved back as Marian backed away to stroke his hair, as though to soothe the sharp pain which had run through his head when Mana had pulled on a lock of it. He thought he had touched it rather gently, but clearly that was not the case.

Clearing his throat, he quickly bowed his head in repentance, apologizing for hurting Marian before continuing, "Oh, I guess it is real, that's cool though. It's really pretty, wow, I've never seen anyone with such pretty red hair, especially a guy with pretty red hair."

"Di ya relly haf to do tat? Hurt like hell. An ya one ta talk, stupi ey an all." Pointing at Mana's eyes, he grinned as the other's mouth twisted into a pout, said golden eyes fixed on the scarlet with irritation.

"Yeah yeah, sorry. And my eyes aren't stupid! Not my fault I was born with a weird eye color!" It was something he had always been rather self conscious of, as it was difficult enough to make friends with anyone else, since he was already sickly, and for his eyes to be gold made others even more reluctant to approach him. He had been called a demon quite a few times already, typically by old ladies or gossiping females who were rather superstitious and had nothing to do with their day other than to talk about everyone and anyone.

"I jus kidin, they nice color, like sun." Blinking, Mana was dazed, he never received a nice compliment about his eyes before at all. It made him feel quite embarrassed, though he made sure to turn away and pretend as though he was suddenly interested in the flock of birds which had flown near them, brushing his hair forward to cover the blush which flushed across his face. "I-i guess, I never thought of them as that..." He managed to stutter out, his eyes never straying from a fat pigeon which began to peck at some bread crumbs, as though it was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. Though to be truthful, a part of him was intrigued by just how fat the bird was.

"MANA! I GOT THE SWEETS!"

A familiar voice shouted and caused the pigeon to scatter, retreating into its haven of azure. Sighing, Mana looked up to see his brother running towards him with a rather large bag of treats, the usual wide grin stretched across his face.

"Who tat? Frien?"

"Brother. Younger brother. He'll want to know who you are."

"Dun 'are."

Neah reached the two of them, a bit breathless as he stopped, giving himself a moment to regain his breath before speaking quickly, "Mana! The sales person was really nice and gave me extra so we can even save some for tonight. By the way, who's this?"

"This is, uh, Marian. He doesn't have a name apparently, but that's the name I gave him." It was the best explanation he could give. Neah would kill him if he knew he had lost the money he had given him, it wasn't his allowance, but Neah's. And he was giving Neah's allowance to some poor boy on the streets whose name he didn't even know. Brilliant. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad at him, since he was going to have to explain why he didn't have the share of money given to him and without an excuse to give him.

"Hi Marian! My name is Neah, and you look like a girl with your hair that long!" Neah greeted Marian, all smiles as he offered a hand to the other, as if they had known each other for years instead of seconds.

"Fuk of bra't." Marian easily spat as he narrowed those lovely rouge eyes, expression disapproving as he ignored the hand offered to him, his irish accent doing the swear words justice, and he spoke them as though they were typical phrases people swapped with each other when conversing.

Neah, being the little brat he was, began to point and said in turn, "OOooh you swore!"

"Fukin hel." The red head crossed his arms, flipping Neah off before settling a glare at a light post. Mana cast him a sympathetic look, his brother wasn't exactly the easiest of people to talk to, and often came off quite immature and stupid whenever he was excited. And he was always excited.

"OoOOooh you said another-"

"Neah, shut up."

"You meanie!" The younger brother cried out childishly, the bag of sweets nearly forgotten as he shook his fist in anguish, feigning hurt from Mana's words, though the impish grin which crept up his face quickly rendered his acting useless.

Mana looked over at Marian, whom was beginning to take out the coins in his pocket, eyelids narrowed guiltily as he thrust his hand in Mana's direction, refusing to meet the others eyes. "Here, tak it, dun' nee no monay." With a frown, Mana shook his head, forcing the rough, dirtied fingers to curl over his palm and secure the coins place, "Seriously, just keep it. You already went through all the trouble of getting it. Besides, I don't need it." Nodding, Marian slid the metal back into his pocket, looking a great deal more relieved than he had a second ago. Whatever he needed the money for, it was for sure something quite dire, such as food or clothing. Then again, the state of his clothes were far from up kept, and had small, frayed holes all over his thin, gray jacket.

"Say," Neah interrupted, shushing Mana when he opened his mouth to yell at Neah, since he had been about to speak, "Marian, what brings you here?"

The blank gaze which Neah received was enough of an answer, so with a quiet gulp, he managed to force that sneaky little grin of his upon his face. "Okay, don't answer that then. Want some of the candy I got? The store lady gave me extra because she thought I was "the cutest little angel she had ever seen come into her store!" Mana couldn't help but snort at his brother's boasting, quite sure the lady had said no such thing, and had only given him more candy and that small compliment as incentive for him to continue coming to her store. Though he would keep quiet for Neah's sake, since he didn't want to get an earful of how he was just saying that because he was jealous of Neah's good looks.

"Na, I' goo'd." Marian gripped as he began to twirl one of the strands of scarlet locks, his stomach growling as he did so, as he ignored Neah and the candy he was being offered, though the look of hunger which gleamed in his eyes was unmistakably there.

"Oh for christ's sake." Mana grumbled as he snatched the bag of candy away from Neah, paying no heed to his little brother's whining as he reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of lollies. "Just take them already." With the handful of lollies, he dumped them on Marian's lap, who wavered for a moment, his hand instinctively reaching for the sweets, but his pride prevented him from taking them. After a moment of fighting with whatever demon had possessed him from not taking the delicious candy, he snatched them up, freeing it of its wrapper before sticking it into his mouth, eyes widening at the sugary taste that exploded his taste buds, a look of satisfaction appearing on Marian's face as he savored in the succulent tang of sweet grape.

"Fhamks" The redhead managed to mumble as he sucked lavishly on the lolly, Mana grinning widely at his success, digging in the bag for his own candy and beginning to chew on the sour gummies he loved oh so much.

"No problem, I bet you've never had much, so its the least I can do." Mana responded contently, having never seen anyone eat candy with such delight.

"Souldn' it be meh apologiz'in, no't ya rewardin me?" Marian asked as he gnawed hungrily at the hard, sticky contents.

"Well, you only did what you had to do. Besides, its not like you stole much, and its not even my money, its Neah's."

Neah, who had been watching their interaction with a smirk, gaped at Mana in shock, aghast by his lost allowance."You gave him MY money?! I've been saving that up for weeks Mana!"

"And he's been doing god knows what just to get a quarter of that while you didn't do anything for it." Mana snapped, irritated, though he knew in the back of his mind he had had no right to give it to Marian, but Neah had given him the money to do what he wanted, and he never said he had to give it back.

"Aw! You're mean, Mana."

The sound of a large chapel bell rang through the air with such distinction, it suddenly occurred to Mana that he was not supposed to be on streets, and by now, Mother had surely discovered that they had been missing.

"Damn, we're going to get in so much trouble, c'mon Neah, we better head back before Mother calls the station to report we're missing!"

"Oh alright, bye bye Marian. Guess we'll see you lat- hey! Why don't you come live with us? We have lots of space for you!" Neah turned to Mana, coal black eyes filled with excitement at the idea of taking in this stranger, who they had barely met less than half an hour ago, into their house. The fit their mother would have would surely not be pleasant, but then again, she was never one to turn children who needed a helping hand away.

"I don't need your help or pity, rich brat!" Marian leered in a near perfect English accent as he stood up, wiping the dirt off his pants, red eyes glaring down at Neah cockily, daring him to challenge him. Mana, however, knew they had to get going immediately, or they risked getting in more trouble than they already were. "Come now Neah, he's fine on his own. See you later, Marian?"

"Yeah." The other grumbled as he watched the two brothers run off, Neah turning around to wave back at the redhead as Mana continued to drag him back in the direction of their home.

A/N; Whew, finally got this completed. Thanks again khooxp for agreeing to beta this, I'm sorry the draft I sent you was so messy, I wrote a lot of that when I was half asleep xD. So yeah, here's the fic I've been planning in my head for months now! I'll try to update it monthly, though school is starting to get pretty busy, so I might disappear for a few months at a time. Enjoy!