The Kingdom of Glass

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bishonen Catchers concept or the characters from the various books, games, TV shows, movies, and last but not least, the animes. This disclaimer counts for the entire story.

Summary: We all know the story of the Bishonen Catchers, the humans who travel the world searching for Bishonen. Now let's take a look at the story from a new perspective.

AN: Not your typical story. It follows the adventures of a halfling, traveling with a group of trainers and their Bishonen. For the most part, the story revolves little around the trainers but as you will soon find even my trainers are not run-of-the-mill. I think you will be quite pleased with the back story surrounding both Amanda the bookworm, and Michael the true-born trainer. True born, incase you're curious, is a term I'm coining until someone comes up with something better, it's the term for humans born in the Bishonen world to human parents (as in true-born natives. I could say the true-born are natives but they don't originate from the Bishonen world, if that makes sense).

Okay, now to explain some more aspects of The Kingdom of Glass. When I mention the Kingdom, I am not talking about the Bishonen kingdom, you'll find out soon enough what the Kingdom is. Also, because of the nature of Amanda's entrance into the world of Bishonen, I am using a concept Songwind has already disproved in Two Paths, One Choice, that the Bishonen world is not a digital world but instead a world that runs parallel to ours.

Also, I conceived the idea for a new item that will probably get everyone onto me saying it defies Bishonen nature, which it does. Just not that the item is extremely rare and only a rich and famous trainer like Linla can get ahold of it. So young, inexperienced trainers and trainers who do not take good care of their Bishonen would have almost no access to it, except of course, through the black market.

So, one could say I am using Songwind's world, one could say I'm using Songwind's concept for a world and have created my own. One thing's for certain, The Kingdom of Glass is not about trainers, it is about the Bishonen, and a halfling at the heart of them.

So, after that long introduction, our journey shall begin. Continue on dear friend, for the Kingdom of Glass is just around the river's bend...

Chapter One: The Glass Princess

Once upon a time, as all fairytales began--even the one's she made up in her mind spending long hours locked away from the outside world in her room, with naught but her own books and thoughts to keep her company--there was a kingdom made entirely of glass, and, oh was it a beautiful kingdom. Clear glass, stained glass, curved glass, straight glass, glass of all different kinds that made up the walls, the floors, the ceilings, the stairs. It truly was a kingdom made entirely of glass.

Now, in this kingdom there lived a Princess who some say was beautiful in a pretty kind of way, long, long hair the color of fresh turned moist soil that fell in curls to her waist, soft blue eyes large and sweet set in skin as fair as moonlight, touched with the color of the midnight roses that grew in the gardens. So fair was she that word of her beauty spread throughout the lands to the furthest corners of the world.

For all the Glass Princess' beauty and riches, she was unhappy, sitting alone all the time while everyone else had things to do that seemed of worth, her only duty was to sit still and look pretty, and she was bored. So one day, the princess confronted her mother, the queen, and begged her to let her leave the glass palace, if only to visit the town.

Of course, like any overprotective mother, the queen immediately said no and sent the young princess away, saying that when the princess was a big girl she could leave the palace, but not a moment before then. The next day however, the queen sent the princess a friend, and the two grew up together to be more like a big sister and her little brother than a princess and her servant. And that friendship would mean more to her than she could ever imagine.

Phoenix Laylas closed her eyes, breathing in the sent of warm earth and fresh air, even at fifteen the memory of the fairytale came as a comfort, a reminder of her childhood long since past. Of the soft reds and blues mixing in her room, brightened by the sunlight streaming through the large window that overlooked the gardens of the Laylas estate. The reminder of long hours spent on the window seat, staring out over the garden, calling to Duo each time he passed beneath her, or, even, on days when she was bored almost to tears, dropping water balloons on the heads of the Bishonen in the courtyard.

She smiled, opening her eyes again and catching the worried violet gaze of her companion who walked immediately beside her. "It's nice out here." She commented, taking in the green foliage that lined the dirt path, the brown tree limbs stretched out high above their heads, and the sounds of the forest. "Calm, pleasant, not at all like home."

Her blue haired companion glanced about as well, "Yes, you're right, it certainly isn't like home, it's nice out here without worrying about what prank Duo has up his sleeve or where Link and Malon may have wandered off too, or even keeping watch over the chibis. Nice to be without worries."

Phoenix giggled, "But Arkarian-kun, you're such a good babysitter, always patient, and you like Duo, remember?"

"Don't bring Duo into the conversation Phoenix, you know what I mean, here we are away from that overrun place, enjoying the forest, I think we might actually reach a town soon." The ageless guardian replied.

"Oh good, that's where mom said we can meet up with Michael and be on our way. With a trainer with us we shouldn't draw to much attention." She sighed, running a hand through her long, loose brown hair. "Though I suppose we can't really fool the other Bishonen, they'll immediately pick up our waves immediately and know Michael's not our master."

"You speak as though you have to worry." Arkarian said with a slight smirk on his pale, angular features' "Halflings don't have masters, silly Phoenix."

"I knew that, but I suppose I really don't want to stand out."

"Traveling with trainers counts as standing out, a halfling at your stage would already be out living on it's own."

Phoenix gasped, "That's horrible, Arkarian, I'm only a San, I haven't even developed a skill yet."

Arkarian's expression changed from calm to surprised then back, changing the subject he said, "Did you notice that the clouds darken in the sky the closer you get to a secret city? It's a warning, for both the trainer and the Bishonen in the city."

"Oh, wow! Really? I want to see a secret city sometime, if I promise not to tell another soul do you think I could go?" She sounded so much like a kid at Christmas, Arkarian could not help but grin sadly.

"No, it was decided a long time ago that if a halfling wanted to live in a secret city they would be forced to remain there the rest of their lives. Halflings, unlike purebloods, don't have obligations to their city, a halfling can reveal a location of a city in much the same way a rogue human could."

"But I don't want to remember the way, I just want to see one. Hundreds of thousands of Bishonen wandering around freely, chibis playing in the streets, just like a regular town, a place built to the style suited by the Bishonen's natural feelings, molded after their world." Phoenix rambled on, moving her hands about as she explained her thoughts. She sighed, "What about your secret city, 'Karian, what was it like?"

The older Bishonen glanced away sadly, "I don't remember it all that well, for reasons unknown to me, my mother ran away from the city and asked a group of trainers to take care of me, and that's how I met Linla and Michael."

"That's so sad! Arkarian, let's not think about being sad, let's be happy and get into town quickly so I can meet Michael, Mom says Michael's got the neatest Bishonen, I can't wait to see them, she says they all come from books or games, only a few come from animes and TV shows." She was back to being happy, bouncing along the path, all her troubles forgotten.

Arkarian smiled, it was hard not to like Phoenix Laylas, and since her birth to Linla Laylas, Arkarian had promised himself he would protect Phoenix until the day she wouldn't need him anymore.

Whenever that day may come, he knew not, but until then, with the love a father might show for a small child, he stayed beside her.

Gah! Short chapter queen strikes again, how long was that? 2 pages minus the AN? I promise I'll write a longer chapter next time or I'll try to expand on this chapter.

Here we see a new idea. Darkening clouds warn a trainer they're traveling to close to a secret city and tell the city sentries that a trainer is drawing near. TaDa! It was more of those random things I stuck in there to show the relationship between Arkarian (from the Guardians of Time trilogy by Marianne Curley) and Phoenix, our story's heroine. It's more of a teacher, student, friend relationship. No, Arkarian is not Phoenix's father. If he were Phoenix would refer to him as "Dad" or "Father", not Arkarian-kun.

Characters introduced and mentioned this chapter are listed down below:

Phoenix: The daughter of Linla Laylas, a world famous trainer, and a Bishonen of unknown origin. She's traveling with Arkarian in search of something she has yet to tell and has only just begun her quest.

Arkarian: As a chibi, Arkarian was taken into Linla's care under the consent of his mother who passed away not long after. He hails from the Guardians of Time Trilogy, a series of books about the adventures of a group of friends in Angel Falls who have the ability to travel back in time to protect the future from the evil Lathenia. Arkarian is over 600 years old but he stopped aging when he turned 18, in the books he serves as the well loved guardian among the Named, the prophecy chosen saviors who will defeat Lathenia. To avoid spoiling the best parts of the book, I won't say anything else about his character history (it's tragic, trust me).

Duo: Heaven forbid you don't know Duo Maxwell! From Gundam Wing is everyone's favorite braided Bishonen, an accomplished trickster and all around wisecrack doubling it up with being the God of Death, Shinigami. In the story however, Duo is simply an old friend of Phoenix's though a different Duo may show up later.

Linla: Phoenix's overprotective mother. At thirteen, Linla found herself in the Bishonen world where she met Michael as a young child first setting out on his own to catch Bishonen. She's now well into her thirties and has long since retired to her own estates outside of town, where she is the region's Gym Master, and leader of the Kaes Town Gym.

Michael: Born the son of a professor of Bishonen and a nurse at a clinic, Michael is one of the few true-born trainers, not much is known about him except he focuses mainly on book and game based Bishonen. He continues to travel the world, refusing to settle down and have a family of any sort.

That's it as far as characters this chapter. Only one more main trainer and the rest are Bishonen so bear with me.

Next time on The Kingdom of Glass:

Hello there! I'm Amanda, I'm sorta new to the world, would you mind helping me out? Oh, really?! You see, I was riding the bus home from the library and it's a really long ride so I decided to start reading one of my new books, at first it looked normal, but then I opened it up and it had the strangest things written in it. "Welcome to the World of Bishonen" it read. I slammed the book shut but the cover had changed too, it now said "Bishonen Catchers" on the front. I'm so lost! I haven't the slightest clue what's happening.

That's it, longer chapter next time, I promise. This one reeks but try to bear with me, it'll get better eventually. If anyone wants to try, I'll give digital cookies to the one who correctly guesses which character the companion from Phoenix's fairytale alludes to. (Hint, he was in this chapter so it's not THAT hard). No, you can't name all the characters in the chapter, only one. It's easy, it really is.

So, Don't forget to leave a flame in there, would ya? I didn't realize how could Washington could be (just kidding, leave a review with constructive criticism and I'll be you're best friend forever .)

Lockea