A/N: *slinks in* Ollo! Sorry I havn't been updating as much as I should! Been busy with the job and all that. (I'm a bakery clerk! Woohoo!) Anyway, about two months ago Eleathyra posted a contest on DA for her Frozen series of artwork (you can find it here: gallery/38781147 ) and although I didn't win I wanted to post it anyway. HungerforRighteouness won and you can find her fic on here! Congrats Hunger! :D

Anywho, the muse deemed it necessary to write this so here's the prologue with more chapters to come as I finish editing them. I hope you enjoy it. :)

All thanks goes to my Beta Annie for being the best friend anybody can ask for in their time of editorial needs! Alpha_Centari and Vast Difference for reading and of course, all thanks to Elathyra for the plot bunny! :D


Prologue

Twenty-four years prior to the events that began with the Cold Wars


Megamind's love for games began when he was just eight years old. To this day, although, perhaps not until recently, the memory held very little significance other than it being one of the happier memories of his childhood; this day happened to be during the summer before his infamous start in "shool" the events of which leading him down the dark road to evil. And as this was four years before to his debut into villainy, it was during this time that (around the prison at least) he had simply been known as "Kidd."

These were the days when the then boy genius kept to himself within his cell performing all manner of tasks a boy of his age and intelligence would practice in; reading, writing, scienceing, inventing, studying for his fourth masters (library science then onward to - law!)

You know, nothing special.

But on this particular rainy day, he sat in a simple wooden chair with the window to his left; the gray light shined down on the well worn chessboard that stood between him and his caretaker, Mac N. Brie, warden for the prison of the criminally gifted.

Sitting in a nearby chair, his best friend Minion, tiny even in his coffee tin robotic suit, learned to knit underneath a tall lamp. Every so often, Kidd would hear the fish contently muttering instructions to himself, "…and pearl and then…" but neither paid the other occupant no mind.

Thunder rolled outside followed by the smell of rain and a damp chill filled the office. In the corner, the old FM radio tuned to the rock station belted out a Scorpions song.

With the then black haired Warden Mac sitting opposite of him, grizzled chin resting in his upturned hand, he had to suppress an impatient sigh, "Well, you gonna make a move or what?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" the blue alien boy replied irritably. Brie had to chuckle as he watched him chew on the corner of his small mouth; dark brows creased in thought, green eyes darting to each piece on the board.

"Any day now." He made a show of checking the clock on the far wall. "I'm not getting any younger."

"Warden, you of all people know you can't rush perfection…" the Kidd murmured absently, his tiny blue hand reaching for his bishop, hesitated, then landed on the rook.

The caretaker had to roll his eyes at that. Any lesser person would be terrified of the otherworldly duo, but not him. After eight years, Warden knew they were absolutely harmless… provided that anyone but him didn't try to forcefully come between them.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Kidd smirked and with a grand flourish, he took his black rook and moved it three squares forward, to land on the white square next to Brie's white king. "Prepare to lose, old man, you're in check!"

Trying to suppress a smile, "Oh no. What am I to do? Oh wait." the older man then took his white bishop that he had kept safely stashed away just for this occasion, and dragged it sideways to capture Kidd's black king. "Checkmate."

"What?!" The boy crawled onto his knees on the chair and stared down at the board, "No way! I call foul! Min-ion!"

The alien fish, not looking up from his hobby continued to knit. "He won fair an' square sir."

"You're not even watching! You were knitting the whole time!"

Warden looked towards the littlest occupant who bubbled with glee, "Hey, fish, knit him a nice dress while you're at it."

Kidd dropped his head on the table with a groan at the jibe made worse when Minion started giggling, "Oooh, boss you need some balm for that burn!"

"You guys suck." The blue boy pouted. His arms were folded on his chest and he fixed his caretaker a disapproving look.

A sneaky gleam sparkled in the fish's large brown eyes, "Not as much as you suck at chess."

"I demand a rematch!"

Warden let out a laugh at that. (The teasing was all in good fun, the boys were more like brothers and he felt a fatherly bond with the two which he suspected was mutual. The two would often engage in brotherly poking and, on the rarest occasions, may be given to fights which resulted in separate cells as a punishment.)

Trying to keep his chuckles to a minimum, Warden gesticulated across the board, "You left your king wide open – come on, Kidd, you know better..."

"That's not fair! You cheated, I know you did!"

"Now why would I cheat?"

The boy's look of disbelief showed plainly on his face even as he jabbed a challenging finger at his guardian's impassive face, "Best two out of three!"


Rematch twenty-four came and went with a groan from his blue boss. Of course, never having a mind for strategy, Minion given up paying attention after round twelve really. Even though his young boss begged him to play, the fish just never had a mind for games of strategy. He instead he devoted himself to homely pastimes such as sewing, knitting, cooking; he even ran the prison's garden when it was season! "Aw, come on sir, you lose every single time."

His blue boss fixed him a determined look, "There's a benefit to losing –"

His friend rolled his eyes, "-you get to learn from your mistakes, yeah, yeah…"

"And besides Minion, I am a boy genius. Every time I let Ward'n win, I'm learning every single one of his little tricks and schemes!"

The one in question silently rolled his eyes at that. Yeah. I use "tricks and schemes." And yet, he found himself wondering just how, after everything Kidd had ever accomplish in his young life… why couldn't he win a simple game of chess? "Alright genius, set up the board."


It had to be round forty-two for the day, and now, young Kidd rested his blue chin on his folded hands as he micro-analyzed the board from one perspective to the next. Every so often, he would sit on his knees and gaze down at the board only to climb down and look at it from Mac's perspective. Twice he asked the man to hold him over the board to see it from a bird's eye view.

Then, (after what felt like another hour), drawing in a cautious breath, the boy lifted his black knight and nearly set it down in its new white square when Warden asked,

"You sure you want to do that?"

The young Megamind looked up worriedly before narrowing his eyes in suspicion, "Hey… how do I know you're not tryin' to trick me? If I make this move, then your king's mine!" then an almost crazed expression filled the boy's features, "And then I'll win! I'll finally win!"

Right after that he left his knight where he wanted with a jubilant "Hah!" he sat back, once again with his thin arms folded proudly in front of him.

Unfortunately his triumph didn't last as Brie simply moved his king back one space and took out Kidd's knight in one fell swoop, which also happened to take it out of the way of Kidd's black Queen.

The man grinned, "We should make this interesting – how about every time you lose you have to do a week's worth of chores?"

The boy pouted for a brief moment and stared pitifully at the older man, "You can't do this to me! I'm just a tiny little orphan… why not let me win for once? Just this once?"

Kidd then made sure to flutter his lashes and pucker his lower lip in a way that made all the female prison officers and guards gush and croon over him. "Pretty please with cherries on top?"

The man smirked as he resettled their pieces on the board in the starting positions. "But... I thought 'there was a benefit to losing…'"

"But it's not – I mean – there is!" the boy reiterated drastically.

When Brie moved his white pawn up one square he remarked, "Please enlighten me."

"Be…cause... I'm… losing on purpose!" Changing his tactic the boy sat straighter and tried to look dignified. "Yeah, that's it – I don't want you to feel too humiliated by your defeat." With that he moved his own black pawn forward two squares.

Not falling for it, Warden made a mock bow. "Oh, thank you. Really. You are too kind to lowly ol' me."

Several minutes passed of silent reflection and the boy settled back down quietly. "You think I'm getting any better at this?"

Warden chuckled lightly, reached forward and patted boy appreciatively on the head, (a move similar to ruffling any other child's hair), "Kidd, you're alright in my book." Thia by itself probably would not answer any other question, but both Kidd and Minion knew the weight it carried from this one man.

The boy giggled and playfully shoved his hand off before looking up timidly, "You think I'll be as good as you one day?"

With a look of pure honesty, "Kidd, I believe one day you'll be great."

The boy made a move, withdrawing inward. "S'funny. My real dad said I was destined for something, but I dunno what that was."

Warden kept silent, not sure how to respond to that.

As the rain and thunder persisted to pour down outside – they continued their game.


No, I haven't given up on Better half, It's just taken a back seat until I get dumb stuff in my life settled down. It's always there, don't worry. :)

Meanwhile, entertain yourself with this. :P

P.S. I got a tumblr now! fanfic doesn't want me to post it so if you want to follow, send me a pm and I'll link it to you!