"What is the wind saying?" a voice like honey called from down below. The boy who perched on the tree's branches looked down, seeing his mother's kind face staring up at him, smiling softly. Her dark hair was wound in a loose bun, tendrils of hair brushing against her face. The fabric of her elegant dress blew around in the wind, but she did nothing to stop it. The woman leaned against the tree, still smiling up at her son.
"What are you talking about?" the boy replied.
His mother closed her eyes. "It looked like you were talking to it," she said and then turned her attention to the tree. "Hello Cornelia."
Her son looked down at his mother with curiosity. It seemed like she was playing with him, but she did half-heartedly. The boy turned back to the scene that lay before him: A strange smoke rose over the plains in the distance, its strange coloring causing most to feel a slight sense of panic after they saw it. His uncle, his mother's brother, was there along with several other people who lived in the area, checking it out.
"Hey, mother, is it true that weirdo Cyrus is the new head of the Campbell family?" the boy asked. He wasn't really the biggest fan of his uncle after he, his mother, and his older brother had gone to live with him. His mother always looked on the bright side of their relationship, even when there didn't seem to be one. Even now, she laughed.
"Weirdness runs in the family," she said and looked back up at her son. "Look at you! You were talking to the wind!" She looked off into the distance and her laugh faded into a small, seemingly content smile. "What a nice breeze…" she said.
Well you were talking to the tree! He bit back his response instead of saying it allowed and looked closely at his mother. She had dark circles under her eyes; she had stayed up again at his brother's bedside again, worrying for the last month about his condition. Mana… he thought sadly. His brother… he still hadn't woke up. It scared him to no end with the questions that flooded his mind.
"Mother…" he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. Already he could feel tears start to form in his eyes. His mother looked up at him in response, her smile fading. "Will Mana never become an adult?" he asked. "Bennet and the others said so. They said he won't wake up. After all it's been a month since then… Mana is-"
"Neah!" a cheerful voice interrupted, one he recognized. The boy looked down at his mother's smiling face… and his brother's. His brother was there, crawling on the ground, peaking up at him from under their mother's skirt. Neah felt his eyes welling up with tears as he stared in shock, completely caught off guard.
Somehow he got off the tree, but he didn't remember it. All he was focused on was seeing Mana as he was now, not as he had been the last month. Nothing else mattered.
"Did you wake up Mana?" Neah asked, walking towards his family, fearing that this was a dream and he was going to wake up. His older brother reached out for him and he touched Mana's hand; it reassured him that this wasn't a dream. His brother was really awake.
Neah wiped away his tears with his other hand and started laughing, choking on the tears that hadn't stop flowing from his eyes. "You're so mean, the both of you," he said and ruffled Mana's curly hair. "Even you, mother."
His mother started laughing guiltily as she watched her two children interacted with each other for the first time in a long time. Mana embraced his younger brother, holding him tight. Neah smiled sadly, his tears finally ceasing to flow.
"Welcom back, Mana," he said.
Nearly half an hour passed that the two children spent playing with each other after a long time separated from each other. They had ended up in the tree, staring out in the distance at the smoke, trying to guess what the cause could be. There hadn't been any word about the cause yet, or at least, none that had reached him. It was starting to worry the boys' mother with the safety of both her children and own brother that was currently at the scene.
"Mother, are you alright?" Mana asked, looking down. Their mother met the children's gaze and put on a smile, one they could feel was fake.
"I'm fine. How about you? Are you feeling tired?" she asked. Mana shook his head and smiled brightly.
"I'm having too much fun," he replied. His mother turned to the other boy who was still staring off into the distance.
"Neah, how about you?" she asked, but the boy didn't give her an answer, his sights trained on the smoke.
"Mother?" he said, his voice slightly quaking in fear. "Mother, what's going on over there?"
Both the woman and her oldest child turned to look back at the smoke which had doubled in size. If you looked closely you could see someone running from the source. As he drew closer, Neah recognized him as their uncle, Cyrus. Their mother ran to meet him.
"Adelaide! What are you doing here?" Cyrus demanded. The mother stopped in front of him, peering past his shoulder.
"The boys and I were enjoying the afternoon breeze. What's going on over there?" she asked. Neah and Mana climbed down from the tree and wandered over to their mother and uncle. Cyrus looked at Mana in surprise.
"You're awake?" he asked. The young boy nodded and Cyrus turned back to Adelaide. "There's a fire over there and it's spreading because of the dry grass. I want you to take your children and head back to the house. Stay there until it's safe," he said. Adelaide nodded and started to usher her children to the house, but both Mana and Neah complained.
"Mother, I want to help!"
"Me too!"
"Please let us. We'll be good!"
"It isn't a matter of being good, it's a matter of being safe," Adelaide replied and pushed her children gently towards the house. "Your uncle will be able to take of this. We'll just have to wait."
"I'm going to help," Neah said and made a move towards his uncle. His mother reached to grab his arm but he pushed her away. "I'm not going to sit around again. I want to help!"
Adelaide stared in surprise at her youngest son as he stared at her with determination. When she didn't reply, he started to follow Cyrus' retreating form. Adelaide felt a tug on her sleeve and she looked down at Mana, who smiled at her reassuringly. "He'll be fine, mother," he said. "He's strong." Adelaide smiled back at him.
"You're right, Mana," she said and repeated her son's words. "Your brother is strong."
Neah stumbled over the land as he tried to follow his uncle. It had been a month since he had run this much through the uneven soil of the plains. He was tripping over his own feet as he ran, but he hadn't fallen yet. He wouldn't allow himself to fall. He had to keep walking.
"Kid, what are you doing? Go back with your mother and brother," Cyrus yelled at the boy when he realized he was following him. Neah stopped and glared at his uncle.
"I want to help," he said.
"Damn it, kid. I don't need your help."
"I'm going to help you."
Cyrus grabbed onto his nephews shoulders. "You are going back. Right now," he said and turned the boy so he was facing the opposite direction, but Neah resisted. He turned right back around and stared at his uncle.
"No," he said. Cyrus was beginning to feel irritated at his sister's kid. Not only was he defying his instructions, but his mother's as well. It wasn't something you would see coming out of him every day. However, somehow the kid was starting to convince him to come along with him.
"Do what I say and don't get in the way," Cyrus said, finally making the decision to let the boy come. As long as Neah did what he said, he was fine with it. Besides, this made the boy happy, and when he was happy, it made his mother happy.
Neah smiled; he had one. He followed his uncle towards the smoke, which he could now see was a small blaze. Neah's smile disappeared as he held his arm over his mouth to keep himself from breathing in the smoke. It still managed to penetrate his lungs despite his efforts and he started to cough. Cyrus covered his own mouth and continued to walk towards the fire. There were two or three other people surrounding it, throwing buckets filled with water over the fire. The blaze and added smoke concealed the source of the fire. The smoke was causing Neah's eyes to tear up, and he blinked ferociously to clear them.
"Did you get the man out?" Cyrus asked one of the younger men who nodded in response, pointing towards a man sitting on his knees. Cyrus muttered a thanks and walked over to the man, Neah in tow. The man wore a once-fancy suit covered in holes. Parts of it were grey along the black material caused by soot while others were white because of the undershirt he wore. His short black hair was disheveled with small splinters of wood caught in the mess. His eyes were full of fear as he watched the fire rage on.
"Sir. Sir, I need to talk to you," Cyrus said to the man. He ignored him, continuing to watch the fire. Cyrus turned to Neah. "Stay with him. If he needs anything, give it to him or come to me." He wandered over to the other men to help them and left Neah alone with the man. Neah frowned as he watched his uncle leave when the man started speaking.
"I-I need to get it. I need to get the Innocence," he said.
"Innocence?" Neah asked, not knowing what the man was talking about. Maybe he was crazy.
The man turned his gaze to the boy, his eyes strangely filled with tears. "Please. Please get it for me," he pleaded. Neah took a step back and looked at the fire. It was still raging wild. There was no way he could get whatever it was the man wanted.
"Sir, I can't do that. It's dangerous," Neah replied. "I could get you some water, though."
"No, no, no! I need to get the Innocence and bring it to them. I need it," the man said and stood up. Neah's eyes widened as he walked towards the blaze.
"W-wait, sir! I can't let you do that," Neah protested, but the man pushed him to the ground. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
The man continued to walk forward and Neah scrambled after him. Cyrus saw as his nephew ran to the fire and his eyes widened. "What the hell is he doing?" he said and chased after him, dropping the bucket of water he was about to throw on the fire.
"Uncle, please! He won't stop!" Neah pleaded as his uncle drew near. Cyrus finally saw the man and forcefully dragged him away.
"What are you doing? I need to get it!" the man yelled. "I need to get it!" Cyrus turned to Neah and frowned.
"What is he talking about?" he asked the boy.
Neah shrugged. "Something called 'Innocence.' He keeps on saying he needs to give it to someone, I think."
"They said they would pay me if I delivered it to them. That's what they said," the man said. "You don't know how much I need the money."
"Well, whatever it is, it's probably destroyed," Cyrus said. The man looked at Cyrus with fear in his eyes. "What's your name, sir."
"Archibald, not that it really matters since I'll be dead if that Innocence isn't found," the man stated. Cyrus sighed and Neah crossed his arms.
"There's no need to be so dramatic, Archibald," Cyrus said. "It's always possible that it will turn up after the fire is put out. Now stay here with Neah."
"H-hey! Again?" Neah said as his uncle went back to the fire. "What if he runs off again?"
"Make sure he doesn't," Cyrus replied and walked away. Neah glared at the back of Cyrus' head as he retreated.
"Don't worry boy. I won't run," Archibald said. "I'll tell you my story, if you'll listen. I'll be a dead man after this anyways." The man sat down on the ground and patted the ground next to him. Neah walked over and he sat and he listened.
It was two hours before the fire was completely extinguished and the sun was starting to go down. Archibald had filled those two hours telling Neah about himself. When the man was done, Neah had learned what he could about the Innocence Archibald had been after, and why. His family was poor, and a strange man who called himself the Millennium Earl appeared and offered him money if he could retrieve something he wanted dearly called 'Innocence.' So Archibald took the job and eventually he came upon the Innocence in the form of a book hidden in a nobleman's library. It took a while for him to befriend the noble enough so he was given permission to take the book freely, but once he did he left and started on his way back to his hometown with a carriage he admitted to stealing from the nobleman (after swearing Neah to secrecy). It was two days after he left the nobleman that the carriage caught fire, causing the horses to run away in the process, which brought his tale up to the present.
"Listen, boy. I need that book. If I get it to the Earl, I can send the money back to my family," Archibald said. "And if I don't, I couldn't bear to live anymore."
"You're acting like some worried woman," Neah said. "You never mentioned any consequence if you didn't get the Innocence, so you don't have to die." Archibald looked at the boy and smiled half-heartedly.
"That may be so, but I couldn't live with myself if I wasn't able to help my family," he said and buried his head in his hands. Cyrus, covered in sweat, wandered over to the boy and man. He looked briefly at Archibald before turning his attention to his nephew.
"Alright, kid. It's time we headed back," he said tiredly. The other men who had helped him were in a similar fashion as they walked off towards their homes. Neah stood and wiped dirt off of his pants. He looked at Archibald and then turned to his uncle.
"Is he going to stay with us?" he asked. He didn't really mind if the man stayed around for a bit; he seemed pretty interesting. His uncle rubbed his hands together and nodded his head. "And what about the Innocence? Are we gonna look for it?"
"Neah, it would be a miracle if anything in that fire didn't burn," Cyrus responded.
"The Innocence is a miracle," Archibald said as he stood up. "It couldn't have perished in the fire."
"What are you talking about? Of course it did. Can you see anything in those ashes that might resemble something, anything, that wasn't touched by that damn fire?" Cyrus argued and pointed to where the fire had once blazed. All that was left were ashes, as he had said. "There is no way in hell that someone is going to search through that pile for something called 'Innocence.'" Archibald looked at the pile in distraught.
"No, no there is no way it is gone!" Archibald yelled as he stumbled towards the ashes, falling to his knees in front of them. Cyrus put a hand on his shoulder as he stared at the grey mess. It looked like Cyrus was right; there was no way anything could be there that didn't perish in the flames, especially if it was a book.
Neah frowned. But that book isn't normal, if what Archibald said was true, he thought and walked over to the pile of ashes. If he's right, the book didn't burn. Against his uncle's wishes, he started to search the ashes, nearly burning his hands in the process. Cyrus pulled the boy away, scowling at him.
"Damn it, boy. I don't need you to get injured," he said and then turned his attention to Archibald. "Your story caused this. If you stay with us you are not allowed to spread your tales to my nephews. You would have to deal with my sister then."
Neah watched as Archibald stood up and trailed behind him and Cyrus as his uncle forced him to walk away from the scene of the fire. He looked down and inspected his hands. They had received very minimal damage, even though the ashes were still hot, still semi-fresh from the fire. They didn't even hurt that much.
Neah turned his attention back to Archibald and smiled. "Don't worry, Archibald. I'll find the Innocence for you," he said quietly, making sure his uncle wouldn't be able to hear him as he fell in beside him as they walked to the house. Archibald only frowned, deep in his own thoughts, but Neah didn't notice. He took the man's silence as him saying "thanks," that he was being just as cautious as he was not to let Cyrus know what he was planning. Oh, yes, he planned to go back to the place where the Innocence had supposedly burned in the fire. He promised himself he would search for it until he found it or he had solidified his uncle's idea that the Innocence had burned along with the rest of the carriage.