"Have a nice day, Steven!"
"You too, Sadie!"
Steven stepped through the double doors of the Big Donut, having just bid his blonde haired friend farewell. Lars didn't seem to be there, or if he was he was in the back. He had perched in his hand a box of a dozen donuts, proudly paid off with his own cash and whose purpose was to surprise Steven's father with breakfast.
Even though he could easily buy a thousand of these with all that money he's sitting on. Yet he still lives in the van… Steven pondered, his thoughts trailing off. … Ah well! I bet he'll still like the thought!
Looking around the landscape, the boy breathed in deeply and sighed contentedly. It was still early morning, so many people and businesses were still waking up and getting ready for the busier hours of the day. It had rained last night somewhat heavily (as it usually seemed to do during spring in Beach City), so puddles of water varying in shape and size were strewn all about the road and even stretching to the beach, The grey-silver of the sky reflected among them like a host of calming and ethereal mirrors. The waters beyond the beach and to the ocean were rather angry however, nearly black and churning in the distance.
While some may have found the view to be rather clashing, Steven absolutely loved it. He couldn't exactly explain it, but he felt a strange form of simultaneous serenity and coexistence, What with so many elements of life and existence together (the sky in the puddles, the sea touching the land, etc.).
Alright, enough gawking. Steven thought. I gotta get these to dad! Boy, I can't wait to see the look on his fa-
That's when he heard it.
*Rheeeeet*
The reedy screech of something Steven recognized all too well from his father's album collection: a harmonica.
Steven looked in the direction of where the sound was emanating. It seemed to be coming from the cliffs near his house, as far as he could tell.
As far as Steven could tell, whoever was playing it was a genuine expert: Notes were being shifted and shuffled with ease to create sounds that would make a blues expert weep out of jealousy. It all culminated into a sound that gave off the feeling of loneliness and contemplation. Steven was absolutely entranced.
Man… Whoever's playing must be some kinda musical genius. I should go give 'em a round of applause!
Steven began sprinting to the cliff side with reckless abandon, both hands holding on to the box of donuts he had momentarily forgotten existed when enthralled by the harmonica playing. He ran across the street and onto the beach, feet splashing in puddles and kicking up sand had he stepped in either. Steven didn't pay much mind to it, however, as he was too dead set on his goal of meeting this mystery musician.
And after a minute or so of running, he finally caught sight of them as he rounded a corner of the cliff side.
Surprisingly, he seemed around Steven's age, though admittedly Steven could tell the other boy was around a head or so taller than he was as the mystery youth leaned up against the cliffs, still harping away on his harmonica. His hair was a deep ebon color, and was incredibly messy. His face (and even whole form, as Steven could gather) was very pale and thin, almost sickly and faded to an extent.
On the subject of faded, Steven could without question that the boy's clothes were just that: Faded
And slightly torn.
And very monochrome.
On what exactly he wore, His pants were what Steven could gather were supposed to be black jeans, but large grey streaks littered the pant legs all the way down to the tattered bottom cuffs of each leg. His shirt, on the other hand, Steven could tell was supposed to be grey as it showed no remnants or signs of being a once previously darker color. The boy's coat, however, was what caught Steven's attention most about the individual's ensemble of clothing. It was long (almost reaching to the boy's ankles), imposing, and actually full on black.
There were also several objects strewn about the boy's area. For one, there was a rather large backpack next to the youth, with a multitude of pockets and chambers as well as a sleeping bag wrapped in the case's top straps. To the other side of him, on a small nearby rock, a portable CD player with black earbuds connected to the audio jack had a disk visible in its compartment, though it wasn't playing at the moment.
Lastly (and most peculiarly), Steven caught sight of a very thick book with several color coded bookmarks tilted up against the boy's backpack. Its design was almost unsettling: Against the backdrop of a jet black background, a golden ornament of a goat skull with red gems (be them fake or real, Steven didn't know) for its eyes that seemed to glow ominously was placed front and center on the book. Around the decoration there formed what Steven recognized as a pentagram, each line of the five-pointed star glistening like gold leaf. It seemed almost unnatural, or even evil to Steven…
… Yet for some reason he couldn't tear his eyes off it…
*Rheeeeet*
That was until Steven was reminded of the exceptional blues that was drifting through the air.
Snapping his attention back to the boy, Steven noticed that throughout the entire time he had been analyzing him, the boy had yet to open his eyes, presumably too focused his music to even notice or care about the outside world. Steven smiled, as he could tell such focus was paying off in extremely tangible emotion reverberating from the boy's harmonica.
All good things must come to an end, though, Steven realized.
As the boy shuffled through noted on his instrument with increasing speed and intensity, it all came to a thrilling conclusion in the form of a long, powerful, and drawn out note. When the music finally halted, the other boy finally opened his eyes, albeit only slightly: They were deep blue, like a clear body of water.
At this, Steven finally found his chance to do what he came here for.
*Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap*
The other boy looked towards Steven, eyes widening and nearly dropping his instrument in shock.
"That was amazing!" Steven began. "I wish I could play like that."
The ebon haired youth's lips quirked upward into a half-grin
"Thank you, thank you! You've been a wonderful audience." He said as he half-bowed.
"How long have you been playin'?" Steven asked.
"About…" The boy put a hand on his chin, trying to recall the answer to the question posed. "… Ten years, I want to say."
"Wow! That's longer than I've been playing Ukulele!"
"Ah, so you play Uke, huh?" The other boy said, placing his hands in his coat pockets.
"You know it!" Steven proclaimed, hands resting proudly against his hips.
The other boy turned his gaze away from Steven, eyes now focused on the ocean.
"Hm. How fitting." He said.
"What do you mean?" Steven posed to the other youth, looking at him questioningly.
"Oh, I've just always found that the seaside and Ukulele go hand in hand. Be it to calm it when it's raging like this or to bask in its calmness with the sunset, I think the instrument was made for a setting like this…"
Steven looked out to the ocean with the other boy, feeling a strange sense existentialism and calmness.
"Yeah… I guess your right…"
The two stood in silence for a few moments, not wanting to interrupt each other's train of thought. That is until Steven broke the silence.
"So, what's your name? I haven't seen you around town." Steven said, acting as if not seeing the other boy around was the crime of the century.
"My name? It's Jude." He said simply.
"Nice to meet you, Jude! I'm Steven!"
"Pleasure to meet you, Steven." Jude said politely. "Say, why exactly did you act like you not seeing me was the crime of the century?" He added with a chuckle.
"Oh, I just know pretty much everyone around town, so I'm always surprised to see a new face when it's not tourist season." Steven explained.
"Ah. That makes sense." Jude said in realization.
"So, why did you come to Beach City? C'mon, what's the story?" Steven questioned.
"Oh, I'm, uh…" Jude looked to Steven.
Alright, hopefully if push comes to shove and I have to explain, he won't run away. I don't know why, but... I'm starting to like this guy.
"… I'm just recuperating here before I set out on the road again." Jude told honestly.
"Oh, so you're on a road trip? I love those! Where's your family heading?" Steven assumed.
"I don't have a family." Jude said bluntly
Steven flinched back at both the bluntness of that statement and the statement itself.
"You… you what?"
"I don't have a family." Jude said again, simply shrugging his shoulders whilst looking unphased. "My parents died when I was a baby and my mentor, who very well served as my guardian, passed away about half a year ago."
Steven was utterly taken aback.
"That's awful!" The hybrid exclaimed sympathetically.
"Maybe so, but it's the hand life dealt me. Jude explained.
"I… I guess…" Steven uttered, still feeling sad for his new acquaintance. "… Wait, but if you're by yourself, how did get here?"
"I walked." Jude explained, jerking his thumb towards his backpack. "I've been walking ever since my mentor passed."
"So you've been just been walking from town to town for half a year!?" Steven questioned intensely.
"Pretty much." Jude said, shrugging his shoulders once again.
Steven couldn't help but let his eyes water.
"I'm… I'm so sorry." He croaked out.
Jude noticed his new acquaintance's new surge of emotion, feeling sorry more so for Steven than himself. He began to walk towards Steven to at least attempt to comfort him, retrieving his book before doing so. He never left that unattended…
"Steven, please don't cry." Jude said calmly, reaching Steven and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I understand that my situation is unfortunate, but there's no need for you to be so upset. It's not like I'm traveling without a purpose."
"Then why are you wandering?" Steven asked wetly.
"Simply put, to find something-"
Both Steven and Jude looked down to the book in the latter's hand. The goat skull's eyes were now blazing with light.
"What, uh… is that all about?" Steven asked, his sadness being replaced with concern.
"… It can't be…" Jude exhaled in awe.
Jude slowly began to look to Steven, a large smile slowly painting his face.
"… You know how I was in the midst of saying I was looking for something?" He said, trying to contain his excitement.
"Um… yeah?" Steven said confusedly.
Jude placed both of his hands on Steven's shoulders, the book still in one of them.
"You're that something." He said.
"… What do you mean?"
"I'll answer your question with one of my own:" Jude began, taking his hands from Steven and opening his book to one of the bookmarks with a flourish. "Do you believe in magic?"
Steven's eyes suddenly lit up and took on their signature 'starry' appearance.
"Boy, do I! I'm actually-"
"Excellent!" Jude cut off Steven in his excitement. "This will make this much easier for you to comprehend."
"What'll be easier for me to comprehend?" Steven inquired.
Jude gestured towards the book theatrically.
"This tome, which was originally my former mentor's, is the home of a numerous amount of different spells and incantations: all of which can useful in some way or another."
"Really!? Show me!" Steven said, his excitement growing.
Jude smiled smugly, stepping back several feet from Steven. With the tome in one hand, his other arm bent with palm flattened and fingers flexed, Jude closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
This is your moment, Jude. Time to fulfil your destiny.
"… Ignis." Jude stated with conviction.
Suddenly, the ebon haired individual's hand (that wasn't holding the tome) burst into flame, with a sphere or said plasm just above his fingertips. After several moments of having the fire hover, Jude faced towards the ocean made a throwing motion with his arm, the ball of fire launching away from him and exploding into a small spectacle several meters out.
Steven was absolutely stunned. He had only seen Ruby do something like that, and she was a gem! This was a regular human.
"Wow… THAT WAS AMAZING!" Steven utterly roared, smiling hugely.
"And you be part of this amazingness as well, Steven." Jude said, smiling just as large (though his tone of voice was much more subdued).
"… Whadd'ya mean?" Steven asked, arching his eyebrow.
"You saw how the eyes of this tome's ornament were glowing, yes?" Jude asked, holding the tome in front of him so Steven could see the goat in question.
"Yeah."
"Well, as I said before, my mentor taught me in the ways of this tome for many years before he passed. On his deathbed, he bequeathed ownership of the tome to me and gave me instructions…."
"What kind of instructions?" Steven asked with baited breath, hearing Jude pause.
Jude smiled once again.
"He said 'Find your apprentice. You will know who they are when its red eyes glow'."
"…"
Steven stood in shocked silence.
"… You know what this means, don't you?" Jude inquired, wanting an answer.
"… I do, yeah." Steven said, face still in shock.
"I understand that we just met, but… this has to be fate. If you stick with me, I can lead you to greatness. So… what do you say?" Jude asked calmly, trying to hide how deeply nervous he truly was.
"… Yes!" Steven said, as if it was the most obvious answer to Jude's question.
"Really?" Asked Jude, his relief clearly showing on his face.
"Of course! I mean, I'm already pretty magical, but anything that can help me protect my loved ones is good by me." Steven explained.
"That's fantastic! When do you want to start?"
"Well…" Steven trailed off.
"What's the matter?" Jude asked, worried.
"It's just that my, uh… guardians should probably know about you and what I'm getting into first before we start anything."
"Oh, of course. Where are they, we can talk to the right now." Jude said.
"They actually live in the temple a short ways from here, are you familiar with it?" Steven inquired.
"I don't believe I am, no."
"It's this way. Follow me!" Steven said before sprinting off in front of Jude.
"Hey, wait!" Jude said whilst chuckling, gathering his backpack and portable CD player before rushing off to catch up with his new acquaintance.
While he most certainly was feeling nervous that Steven's guardians would say no to him teaching his possible pupil, Jude couldn't help but feel that something of a friendship might be forming between him. Maybe even something he could call a brotherhood.
And as the near future would tell: What a brotherhood it would be.
Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! My apologies if this seems rather rough around the edges, I've just had this idea fro quite some time and I wanted to get it out there.
Now, some of you might find this concept somewhat weird or ridiculous (or not, I try not to be too presumptuous), but regardless of what you lovely folks think of it I plan on taking this story a decent ways. With that being said: If you guys like it, I am going to need some audience participation in the form of reviews to really keep it rolling. Those things keep me writing more than anything (though still feel free to favorite and follow *wink wink, nudge nudge, shameless self promotion*.
With that being said, thank you for reading and please leave your reviews to tell me what you think/what I can improve.