"Why, Celica? Why do you have to go away?"
"I'm sorry, Alm..."
"Celica!"
"Alm, you came for me!"
"I want to make a new promise! When I'm older and stronger, I'm going to find you! So please... don't forget me!"
"Oh, Alm! I could never forget you! And I promise too!"
Weeks Before...
Alm sat on a chair, in front of the wooden dining table, a plastic plate lay inches away from him, a cup filled with juice alongside it.
He felt lonely. His grandpapa- Sir Mycen- had gone for a mission, far, far away -or so he told the young boy- and had been gone for a week. The only people to play with were his friends: Tobin, Gray, Faye, and Kliff- but he didn't want to play at the moment.
He averted his turquoise eyes to the door, wishing his grandpapa opened the door and stepped inside their cottage- but of course, no such thing happened.
He sighed, reaching out his little hand and grabbing the cup of juice; pressing it against his lips and slowly drinking the delicious liquid. He put the cup back down on the table and got off the chair the cold ground greeting his feet.
He walked towards the door and grabbed the handle, quickly turning it and gently swinging the door open. Alm's bare feet hit the grass and he stepped back from the tingling sensation, but soon ran forward in search of his friends.
It wasn't hard to find them- the sound of Gray and Tobin punching and kicking each other in a 'friendly' match made him find his way easily. The first one to spot him was Faye, her two blonde braids bouncing up and down as she skipped towards him.
"Hi, Alm!"
"Hello, Faye. What are you all playing?" He asked, his turquoise hair and Faye's red dress blowing gently in the direction of the wind.
Faye sighed, pressing a hand against her cheek, "We were playing 'Hero and Thieves' but..." She looked at Tobin and Gray fighting in the distance, "They began fighting each other and now... we can't play."
Alm chuckled, "Let me talk them out of it." and walked towards the two boys fighting each other, Kliff behind them trying to stop them. "Hey, Tobin! Gray!"
They turned, "Oh! Hey, Alm!" Gray said, giving Tobin a last punch in the shoulder before running towards the other boy. "You wanna play 'Hero and Thieves'?"
Alm nodded and with Gray closer to him, he could see the other boy was covered in dirt, some parts of his green clothing were ripped but his green headband on his forehead remained fine- only a little bit of dirt rested on it but it was no biggy.
"But only if you two stop fighting each other."
"'Kay!" Gray chirped, punching Alm lightly on the shoulder and soon looked down at himself "Oh no... Ma's gonna be angry at me for having my clothes ripped." He chuckled, scratching the back of his black hair.
Faye skipped towards Alm and grabbed his arm "C'mon, Alm! I'll be the princess! Will you be my hero?" She chirped bouncing up and down, waiting for an answer.
"Only if the other's agree..." he turned to look at the three boys behind him and they nodded. 'Alright then, Faye, I'll be your hero."
"Yay!" She cried out jumping up and down higher than she once did a few seconds ago, but she soon stopped and caught her breath "So, who's going to be the Thief King, out of the three of you?"
Gray raised his hand up "I will!" and Tobin glared at him, mumbling 'jerkface' quietly.
Alm nodded and pointed at Kliff and Tobin, "You two will be the thieves, follow Gray's commands but if you feel one of his orders are bad then do what you think will grant you victory, okay?"
They both nodded but Kliff soon added, "Everything Gray says is bad..." and everyone- but Gray-burst into laughter.
"Hey!" The black-haired boy pouted and crossed his arms, looking away as the blood rushed to his face.
"Alright! Let's start!" Tobin grinned, patting Gray in the shoulder before grabbing a stick from the ground and wielding it like if it were a sword and the other's- except Faye- did the same.
Alm breathed heavily, there were tiny bruises on his skin- but they weren't bad. The last ones standing were Faye, him and Gray.
He charged at Gray and tried poking him with his stick but Gray kept dodging every 'attack'. Alm bit his lip and saw Gray's next move so he came up with a quick plan to win.
He moved to poke Gray's right arm, and like planned, he moved left and Alm immediately poked his left arm before Gray could even take a breath.
"Congrats, Alm. Ya won!" Gray dropped to the ground and laughed, his hand dropping the stick and he crossed his arms over his chest.
Alm smiled, "Heh. Congrats to you three too. You guys were quite the challenge!" and the three boys in front of him nodded, patting Alm's shoulder.
"Yay! My hero!" Faye cried out, bouncing up and down next to Alm and he chuckled, patting her shoulder whenever her feet hit the ground.
"You were great too, Faye!"
In truth, she was good- she would distract whichever of the three 'thieves' by throwing rocks at them and fleeing behind Alm for safety.
The sound of a horse neighing broke Alm from his thoughts as he walked towards the cottage he and his grandpapa lived in. He gasped and ran straight for the stables and smiled as he spotted a familiar horse covered in red armor. He smiled and slowly walked up to him, raising his hand up to inform the horse he had no intention of doing harm. The horse put his head down and Alm stroke the horse's mane.
This must mean Grandpapa's arrived, he thought and grabbed an apple from a bucket and gave it to the horse, and he accepted without hesitation.
He exited the stables and walked to his home, hoping Mycen was already there.
When he arrived, he opened the door and stepped inside the cottage. The first thing he spotted was a door sitting on a chair. She had red curls and her eyes were the same shade of color as her hair. She wore a white dress with a few golden and red decorations around it, along with a brown ribbon on the top of her head. She seemed a year younger than him so he decided to be kind to her.
"Um... Hello. Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked gently, slowly walking towards her and stopping a few inches away from her. She didn't look at him and did not respond either. He huffed his cheeks out. Rude, he thought, walking towards his grandfather's room and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" A man cried out and opened the door "Oh, it's you, Alm. You've seen our visitor, yes?"
He nodded and looked at the girl sitting on the wooden chair. "Yes..."
The man nodded and patted the boy's turquoise hair, "This is your cousin. Her name is Celica." The girl looked at Alm and then looked at Mycen, "Celica, this is Alm"
"Celica..."
"Alm..."
"Hey, Alm? Why are you so nice to me?"
"Do I need a reason? Well... I guess you seemed lonely and sad at first so I wanted to cheer you up..."