This is the (very long) intro to a story I am working on. This is my first time ever attempting a story with chapters, so please bear with me on the varying lengths and time in between submissions. I don't think I will make this story very long either...I don't really even have a complete plot yet, but I am definitely working on it! I have already decided that it is going to be a pairing between Matthew and Gilbert (maybe with an M rating-I am not too sure how well I do with that type of scene...yet). So anyway, please enjoy my incredibly long intro, and please rate and review and what-not.

I own nothing!

(oh, p.s., please let me know if you find any grammatical or spelling errors-especially with keeping to one tense, I tend to have a hard time with that-I would greatly appreciate it!)

All my life I've been...different. It's not the type of different as like a realization that I'm gay or something; it's more like...I'm not a human.

I was, in human terms, a pre-pubescent twelve-year-old when my whole world collapsed. I was born in another realm called Vaneshk to the royal family; I was "offspring number two," born of the king's favorite wife. Unfortunately (for me), a tragedy shook the nation-the first son, the heir to the throne, died...or rather, insisted on ruining my life by killing himself thus making me the next in line.

While that normally wouldn't have been too bad, in my case I had just about thirty other children of the king wanting my position. Basically they wanted to get rid of everybody else in order to ensure their "birth right." There was only one thing stopping them from killing me in my sleep: additional "security" to make sure I didn't try to "escape" the same way my stupid brother did.

So instead of offing me, they set me up for a huge, unforgivable crime resulting in my banishment from the entire. Freaking. Realm. A little harsh for a kid..or am I the only one who thinks that? Anyway, so there I was, a twelve-year-old, being banished from his family, his country, and his race...all because I was the (reluctant) heir to the king. Great childhood memories, right?

When I was facing the portal that would take me away forever, I only knew two things about my future home: one-they're so under-developed that they don't even know about the existence of other realms; and two-the race of my new people is human.

I stepped through the portal-no tears, no looks back (my mother couldn't/didn't even hug me goodbye), and I woke up with a male human prodding my body. Not quite understanding what he was saying, I pulled out my translator; he was speaking a language called French. I scanned the language into my brain so we could communicate.

"Little boy, are you OK? Why are you lying on the ground in the middle of the forest? Where are you're parents? What's your-"

"Please slow down," I interrupted. "Er...I don't know why I'm here...or where here is...and I don't know who I am..."

Concerned, he inspected my head. I could only pray to the Great One that the form-changer had worked and I resembled a typical human instead of my people.

"I don't see any signs of a concussion," he started, looking deep into my eyes, "Are you sure you can't remember anything?" I shook my head no. He sighed and picked me up, "I suppose I can't just leave you out here; my house is not too far. I'll have to call the police to report a lost boy..." He continued mumbling to himself the entire walk to his place. I was a little nervous about the mention of police (whatever that was), but was too tired to care all that much. I knew for a fact that there was no way anyone would ever believe where I came from, so I'd just have to stick to my memory-loss lie.

We reached his house and after he set me down on a comfortable chair-thing, he went to a different room where I heard him talking to somebody. A while later, two men, whom I assumed were authoritative figures, were talking with the one who found me. One of them looked to me and smiled gently. He knelt just in front of where I was perched on what I later learned was a sofa.

"Hello there little boy, can you tell me your name?"

"I don't know who I am...for some reason the only thing I can remember is that I am twelve. I can't recall anything else from before...erm..." I looked to the one who carried me, realizing that I didn't know his name.

"Francis. Francis Bonnefoy," He smiled.

"Sorry, thanks; before Francis found me. I don't remember my family...if I have one...I'm sorry I can't be much help." I gaze at the men around me sheepishly.

"No, no, it is not your fault." The man stood up. "Mr. Bonnefoy, would you allow this boy to stay with you until we find a suitable place for him at an orphanage?"

"Well, I suppose not, I wouldn't mind some company."

The second officer, who had said nothing so far, handed something to me. "If you ever need anything, or if you happen to remember anything, my name and number are on this card." With that, they left, leaving Francis and I in an awkward silence.

Francis cleared his throat, looking at his wrist. "Wow, it's this late already? Are you hungry?" he asked, looking at me. As if for an answer, a loud noise erupted from my stomach. I looked down and placed my hands carefully on it.

"I think that means yes?" I asked, not entirely sure. Where I come from, our stomachs don't do that; when we require food, our body leaks fluids profusely (kind of like sweat).

Francis laughed and nodded his head, "I think so. I'll make something really quick so you can bathe before bed."

I peered at him confused, "Bathe...?"

A shocked expression darkened his face as he realized that I honestly had no idea what he meant. "You're serious." I nodded hesitantly. "Oh...wow...what could've possibly happened to you that you don't even know what bathing is?" He shook his head slowly, "I suppose I'll have to help you, then..."

I looked down, too ashamed to meet his gaze. I panicked when I felt my face heating up. Was something wrong with me? "Francis!" He jumped slightly at the urgency in my voice, rushing to my side immediately. "I think there's something wrong with my face! It's all warm!"

He looked at me incredulously, noting the terrified tears forming in the corners of my eyes. "It's all right, you're only blushing. There's nothing wrong with you, everyone blushes-some more, or less, than others.

"Really? I-I'm OK?" I was so relieved, I seriously thought the form-changer was malfunctioning or something. I felt my face, thankful to find it wasn't melting. I brushed against my mouth, "A-am I...smiling? I've never...smiled before..." I'd never had anything worth smiling over-my whole life up until now sucked (emotionally, not physically).

Francis' eyes widened, "You haven't? Wait...I thought you couldn't remember anything?" They narrowed just as fast as they had grown.

I blushed again, "I...don't like talking to people I'm...unfamiliar with."

"You're talking to me."

"You're...different. I feel that I can trust you..." And it was true, I did feel that-I felt that I could trust him more than anyone else I had ever met. I considered telling at least him the truth, but refrained because I supposed I wouldn't be with him for very long.

Francis smiled and stood up, dragging me with him. "I am glad to hear that. Come, help me make sandwiches."

I didn't even bother asking what sandwiches are, I figured I'd be finding out for myself soon enough. While we were eating, Francis looked up at me, swallowing his mouthful. "I just realized something." I look at him curiously, waiting for him to continue. "We need to figure out a name for you, or else this whole situation could become rather awkward."

I smiled, I'd never had a name before either. When it comes to being one of many offspring of the king, we are only referred to by number. In my case, I was offspring number two of wife number one. One of the younger half-siblings I would frequently visit was offspring number twenty-four of wife number five.

"Give me a while to think of something suitable...do you have any preferences?" I shook my head, knowing nothing of the naming system here. We finished eating and he took me to his room so we could find something for me to wear to bed. "We're going to have to go into town tomorrow so I can get you some proper clothes," he stated, looking at the only article I had-a tattered pair of pants that stayed up only with the assistance of a tightly-knotted rope (the only clothing I was allowed to take with me).

"I don't want to be a burden." He was already doing so much for me. "I don't need any other clothing, but I am interested in finding out what a town is."

"Don't be ridiculous, I can't have you going around in nothing but over-sized rags and rope! That just won't do. Now, let's see..." He started mumbling to himself as he went through compartments of a really big box full of different kinds of clothes, ignoring my every protest. He sighed, pulling out a pair of really short pants, "I suppose these will have to do, though they are going to be quite loose. We can cover that up with a t-shirt."

I simply nodded, once again understanding nothing. Francis led me out of the room to a slightly smaller one across the hall.

"The bathroom is right over here, towels are kept in this closet. You can use my shampoo and body wash." I just stood in the doorway, unsure of what I was supposed to do. I looked around and jumped slightly when I saw another boy looking at me-just as surprised as I was.

I peered closer, the other boy doing the same, until I realized that it was a reflection. That boy was me...it was my first time seeing myself in this form. I looked a lot like Francis, pale, wavy fur that reached my shoulders, a single strand curling out from the rest-I assumed that that was my human equivalent to my antenna. My eyes were an unusual color-one I was not familiar with.

"Everything OK?" Francis' voice broke my train of thought. He was looking at me with a bemused expression.

"This is what I look like?" I turned back to my reflection, trying to look at every part of me I could. I was considerably smaller than my previous body, a lot thinner too. I didn't have any exterior armor, just really pale flesh, slightly tinged red around my face where I assumed I was blushing again. Instead of claws, like I used to have, I had something softer and thinner, and surprisingly, they weren't sharp! How was I expected to defend myself should some situation arise?

Francis chuckled as I checked myself out. "Let me guess, you've never seen your reflection before?"

I looked away from myself and into his eyes, my voice ringing with honesty. "Not in this form I haven't." I went back to studying myself, just barely registering his eye fur raise. I spun my head back to him, amazed. "Wow! You can move those things?" I reached over and ran a finger over one of them.

His eyes widened at my sudden closeness and statement. "Yes...and so can you. You're doing it right now."

"I am?" I looked at my image, noticing my eye furs were arched. "How did I do that?"

"Your facial muscles...are you sure you're alright? I mean, not even knowing you can move your eyebrows when you most obviously can, panicking over a blush, and what did you mean earlier by 'not in this form'?" He sat down on a white, shiny chair-thing staring me in the eye, determined to get answers.

"So they're called eyebrows?" I asked, trying to change the subject, but he wasn't having any of that. He crossed his arms, just sitting there, waiting. It was starting to make me nervous. I sighed in defeat, "Fine. I'll tell you the truth. On two conditions."

"Which are?"

"First of all, it's going to be really shocking, so you need to keep an open mind about it. I'm not kidding-you won't believe me if you don't." He nodded, a bit confused. "And second, you cannot, absolutely cannot, tell anybody else! No one can know where I came from! Promise me."

"All right, I promise about the first part, but I think I should hear your story before I promise not to tell anyone; I don't want to get in trouble with the law for possibly harboring a fugitive or a runaway."

"Fair enough, but I assure you, I am neither of those things; I'm an exile." His eyebrows shot up, but he remained silent so I could continue. He didn't make a sound the entire story. He just sat still as a statue. Finally, I reached the part where he had found me, "And when I woke up, you were poking me, speaking in an unknown language. So I used my translator that way I could understand you." I pulled the little machine out of my pocket, showing it to him. "It's one of the few things I was allowed to take with me."

"OK...I'm going to play along with this for now...it's a pretty far-fetched story, you must admit." I nodded in agreement. "So how exactly...erm...I mean to say...what did your siblings do to get you...banished?"

"My mother, wife number one, had just given birth to her third child. They killed her during the night and placed the bloodied weapon in my quarters."

"They killed the baby?" I sighed in affirmation. "That's horrible! And your father actually believed it was you? And exiled you because of it?"

"Well, killing anyone, let alone a newborn, is considered unforgivable. And my father is king, with around thirty other children and a lot more important things to do than to get to know each and every one of us. Plus, it was no big loss to the nation, they still have plenty of other heirs to choose from..."

"That is still no reason to banish a child! I'm sorry, but I don't think there's any way you'd ever kill anyone."

I smiled sadly at him, "That's how it is, nothing we can do about it. So you believe me?"

"Well...not completely...is there any way you can prove you're not human except for this...contraption? I mean, this could be anything-I'm not exactly 'technologically knowledgeable'."

"There is one thing, but I'm not sure I could do it with this body-I don't have a way of form-changing back and forth, either. Let me see what I can do..." I lift my arm and point it at the reflector, concentrating harder than I used to have had to. It started shaking violently, then all of a sudden, it burst-thousands of shards flying at me. I felt the familiar fluidity searing through my body-making me like an embodiment of water. The shards passed right through me, then stopped midair. They flew back in place onto the wall, reforming the reflector perfectly, looking as though it never shattered.

I felt my body become solid again, the fluidity leaving as though being rinsed off. I kept it in my hand only, holding it out so he could feel it. Francis tentatively wrapped his hand around mine, gasping as it went through.

"How did you...?"

"When my people reach a certain age, one of the underlings of the Great One will bless them. I was blessed by Yapshnu-'the being of water'." I let the rest of the liquid drain, becoming like that of a normal human hand again.

"But if you were blessed by a water...being, how did you shatter the mirror?"

"Everyone in Vaneshk can do that. Is there a word for an ability to do things with your mind here?"

"We call the ability itself telekinesis, but if you were referring to a person with that ability, they'd be called psychic."

"OK, so in terms you could understand, everyone in Vaneshk is psychic. So...do you believe me now? I'm afraid that if you don't, there isn't anything else I could show you to try and prove it..."I glanced to his face through my fur, hopeful that he would trust my word and that it wasn't a mistake to tell him.

"I'd have to be either blind or stupid to not believe you after witnessing that. Besides, I don't think you'd lie-you have an honest face." He smiled reassuringly, I beamed back. "And I swear, I won't tell a soul. Alright, now that we have that out of the way, you really need a bath, you're covered in dirt."

So he taught me how to bathe myself (something we never needed in my realm)-for some reason that I couldn't figure out at the time, he kept blushing the entire time. He showed me to the room I'd be sleeping in and left me to my thoughts. I looked around, the human world is so hard to get used to; instead of the pod-like hammocks I was used to, these people sleep on large, flat, squishy things. I sighed, I wondered if I'd ever adapt.

~O0O~

I spent the next two weeks learning everything I could about the human realm-it wasn't too hard thanks to two factors: humans' brains are horribly under-developed in comparison to my people, but yet they managed to create the beauty of internet-containing everything I'd every need to know about this place. The second factor was Francis' huge library, filled with so many books that it'd take me a year to read them all.

One day, I was sitting in my favorite chair reading a human anatomy volume when there was a knock on Francis' front door. Francis was busy with work, so I went to answer it. I opened the door and the two officers who came the day Francis had found me were standing there.

"Hello there, hope you've been faring well," the shorter man smiled.

I smiled back and let them inside. "Yes, Francis has been very generous. And thanks to him, I've learned so much about the world! Unfortunately, I still can't remember anything about me." I led them to the study, knocking lightly. "Francis? Those two police officers are here." There was a soft shuffling as he got up and opened the doors.

"Ah, bonjour officers," he said, allowing them passage.

I made to leave them alone, but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. The taller of the two gently steered me back toward the study. "This involves you, so you should stay." Everyone sat down but me, I remained standing next to Francis' desk.

The shorter officer spoke, "We heard that...I'm sorry, but what have you been going by since you can't remember your name? It would be awfully rude to just call you 'boy' all the time."

"Francis gave me the name Matthieu, he said it suited me," I responded, blushing a little.

"Ah, so it does. So, we heard that Matthieu has been...learning...about the world?" He turned toward Francis. "What exactly does he mean by that?"

Francis shrugged, "Exactly what he said-he can't remember anything from before I found him, so he's been studying up on the world. I have a fairly decent library, a computer, my own knowledge...is there a problem with that?"

"No, I was just curious."

"So what exactly did you need?"

"Oh, right! My apologies; we have found an orphanage for Matthieu, everything is already set up. All he needs to do is pack whatever belongings he has and we can go." My eyes widened-I'd completely forgotten about the orphanage, and by the look on his face, I could guess that Francis had, too.

I gathered the clothes Francis had bought me my second day here along with my stuffed polar bear.

The officers glanced at me inquiringly, "What's with the bear? Surely you're too old for such a thing?"

"Francis said that it's unhealthy to not have any friends at my age, so he got me Kumajiro as a comfort toy." I hugged Kuma to my chest as the taller man took my bag. I turned to Francis, who was standing in the doorway of his study. I tried to read his expression, hoping that he might find a way for me to stay-I really didn't want to go...

"It was nice having some company, I really enjoyed our time together..." He extended his hand awkwardly, "So...erm...good luck, Matthieu." I shook it, a little disappointed, and went outside to the car.

I was silent the entire ride to my new home; the officers assured me that I would like it there and that I'd be adopted in no time, but I wasn't paying attention. Soon, we arrived at the orphanage; I was introduced to the lady who ran the place, Mrs. Willows, I didn't like her.

~O0O~

The next few weeks were some of the most miserable in my life: I never attempted to make friends, due to my apparent shyness around new people, and no one really noticed I was there; my only companion was Kuma (I wasn't complaining too much about that part); Mrs. Willows was a pretentious bitch-trying to control everyone, constantly putting us all down...she abused her "power" to no end. It was horrible.

I was seriously considering just running away-it'd be better than this hell, and I highly doubted that anyone would notice me long enough to consider to want to adopt me. But I knew that there was no way a twelve-year-old could make a living on his own, save for prostitution-which was so far from being an option that I just flat-out refused to think about it.

I was sitting on my bed one day, cuddling Kuma and thinking about that anatomy book I had been reading. My mind wandered to Francis and all the fun times we had-like when he taught me how to make pancakes (my favorite food in the human realm-I'm serious, nothing could ever compare). I missed him.

I jumped slightly when Mrs. Willows suddenly burst into my room. I followed her out, confused, when she told me to go with her-grabbing all of my stuff in the process.

"Is something happening? Am I moving into a new room?"

"You're being adopted, now be quiet and try to act like you're worth the amount I'm charging." I was too shocked to retort. I couldn't believe I was actually being adopted! At the same time, I was sad; as stupid as it sounds, I had always held on to a little hope that Francis would come to take me back...I knew that any other family I'd have to join wouldn't be the same-I would never be able to trust them like I did with him...I sighed dejectedly. I should've run away when I had the chance-it'd spare the new "folks" years of frustration, coldness, and possible heart break...

"Matthieu! How have you been? I'm sorry it took me so long-but after all, the decision to adopt a boy one had only known for a few short weeks is not one to make lightly." My round eyes looked up in surprise as I found a smiling Francis standing with his arms held out. I ran into his welcoming embrace, the wide grin hurting my cheeks. "Plus, I had to figure out where exactly you had been taken."

I buried my face in his chest as he ran his fingers through my hair. "I really missed you, Francis. I was hoping you'd come back for me..." I told him honestly. "Are you seriously adopting me?" I looked into his eyes uncertain and hopeful.

"What kind of monster would I be to come here, filling you with so much joy, only to just leave saying it was all a joke?"

"A horrible one," I laughed, hiding my face again.

So Francis adopted me, I finally got to leave that annoying crap-hole, and I was still smiling like an idiot.

Quick question for anyone willing to answer: what do you think about the title of my story? I had a hard time trying to think of one, and this just came to me. Please review to let me know-and also tell me what you thought of this intro. Please and thank you!