He was a believer. A dreamer. He only hoped for things to become better. After all, to take his first breath alone, surrounded by naught by the emptiness of a hollow cave, abandoned and forsaken, there was only one way to go and that was up. He knew he was different, life did not move the same way it did for others. He rose, not from the arms of a loving mother, but from the cold hard ground, unsure of the world – yet forced to carve his path on his own.
Ever since she could recall, her oldest memories included chains and torment. There would always be at least five restraints, upon each limb and her neck as though she was an animal, a beast, a monster. It was what they called her, for she was different. Skin far too unlike those of humans, it was their fear that drove them, and their cruelty that broke her.
He was but a child, despite his grown physical form. Though the years have passed, and he matured as per a human's physical puberty, he was still immature in many forms, and his abilities were no different. Grateful that he was able to share a human's appearance most times, he lived amongst them, yet the moment ability manifested, things changed. They knew, they knew he was no human, that he walked the streets amongst them akin to the very beings he wanted to be a part of; but he was no human. Though he yearned for the companionship, they shunned him the moment they knew.
Was he to be faulted for emerging from a rock instead of a womb? He could not understand, but accepted the life he was born into. Still, his heart remained kind, unmarred by the misgivings humans had towards him. Pelted by rocks, insulted, but still he aided as he could. He lived just as any humans did, it was only his ability and birth that set them apart, so why did he suffer as he did?
He did not understand.
But she came, a wandering figure under a cloak, travelling through the village he resided by. Her appearance could not be scrutinized, for it was the very reason her heavy cloak obscured all that was to be seen – but her voice, lulled him like a dream's beckon, and helpful as he was, his services offered. She sought something simple, but a mere flower in the wild, one that grew only upon the edge of a cliff, precariously – so much so that no humans would easily attempt.
Barring the man who only appeared as though a human.
Thus he had set out to retrieve her flower, and it was that that begun their lives together. But a simple task, but a simple flower, but the beginning of a future he never once saw for himself. It was an arduous journey, upon bare feet did he travel the distance, yet feet did not scar with each sharp rock he casually climbed upon, nor did scratches appear upon skin as he wiggled through thorny bushes. But the difficulty laid in the matter of retrieving the flowers from their dangerous perch a distance away from safety. One wrong move and he would fall, and a lengthy fall onto jagged spikes would mean demise. For anyone but him.
He had returned, clothes torn but physically unharmed from the devastating slip, with a bouquet of the flowers she desired, and a grin wide as can be, glad to have assisted her. She took one look at him, and he swore the sweet colour upon hand he saw was no glove, but of natural origin – but he spoke nothing of it, only glancing at her in search for answers. He found none, but the caress of hand upon cheek only brought more questions to mind.
"Come with me." She had suggested, though it may very well be a command. "These humans would not appreciate you." She spoke the truth, but he could not agree. "Join me, where you belong."
A strange substance coated his cheek, but he pay no heed to it. It did nothing to him, which meant, he was like her, different. Special. Abandoned. Hated. Unwanted. Abhorred.
"Where would we go?"
"To my home."
"Okay."
When one becomes two, the world changes, and they learn about what belonging means.