A/N: Hey there! Ummm... I'm thinking people will be pretty angry with me as I took down 'If You Could See Me Now'. There are good reasons for this ( ex. I felt like a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon after this and my story didn't stand out enough to get anywhere). I'm sorry if that's disappointing to you but it had to happen. Also, I have gained an awesome new writing style since then that I think you'll like. This story will be an example of this new style and I hope you enjoy. Again, a PruCan because I love the pairing, but other pairings are included~.

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT THE PLOT!

I had been only 7 when the soldiers stormed my town and demanded that we turn over our instruments and music. Although it has been 12 years, I still remember that day perfectly. I remember watching the people of my small town placing their, instruments, their most prized and beloved possessions, into a pile in the center square. And I remember the smell of kerosene as the soldiers sent south from our capital poured onto the increasing pile.

My brother and I watched as my mother took her beautifully hand-made clarinet and placed it in the pile. Father had made that for her as he lay in bed dying and it was the only thing other then her memories and us she had left of him. I started to shake her and remind her of Alfred and I's instruments and music back at home but she shushed me. With a sad look in her eyes, she told us to return home and take our instruments as well as anything important and run as fast as we could to the capital to find Uncle Cecil. She told us to make sure that we took the back way into the city and let no one see our instruments. Mother told us she loved us, and then she told us to go and not turn back. Al and I turned and began trying to make our way through the villagers, a sudden warmth engulfing us.

I looked back, even though mother had said not to. I looked, and saw the beautiful music of our village burning.

And then I saw my mother, walking towards the flames.

I grabbed Alfred's sleeve and began running back towards her. At some point I let go of his hand and ran as fast as I could. But I couldn't reach her in time. The flames rose up, and I heard her as she screamed in agony. I kept running but the flames roared up scorching my arm, sending me jumping back. It hurt and that pain made me realize that my mother was gone, no one could hold so much pain.

I turned with a sob, nursing my burnt arm, running to where I had left Alfred. But when I reached the spot I'd left him at, I couldn't find him anywhere. As he was the older twin, I thought he had gone back to the house to do as our mother had instructed and figured he was there waiting for me. I dashed through the quickly thinning crowd, many weeping at not only the loss of their music but my mother. She had been love by all of the town, for her beauty, for her kindness and for her music. I ran past all of these crying people, crying myself, to do as she had bid me in her final words.

I ran to the house. I ran as fast as my stubby 7 year old legs would take me. I ran through the streets, not even being phased after I fell several times. No one noticed me, so I was able to make my way undetected to my house. The door was open, we hadn't closed it on our way out. I could tell that Alfred had been here, the whole entrance looked as though he had been through it. It couldn't have been a looter, everyone here knew us and our community was relatively safe, other then the occasional prankster, like Alfred. I ran up to my room in the big Victorian style house.

Compared to Alfred's room, my was organized and everything was in it's place. I pulled my bass clarinet from under my bed. Mom had always made us hide our instruments. Until I was older, I never knew why. But not only did I always have it hidden, but both Alfred and I had a special kind of case for it. It fit into the expando-packs their mother had gotten them last year, but if anyone who didn't know the secret lock on the case, another part of the case would open, revealing a white teddy bear on my case and an alien in Al's.

I placed my case into my expando-pack and grabbed a few necessities, putting them in there with the case. I went downstairs to grab a few other things, grabbing some money Alfred had left in the emergency jar, just in case. My arm was throbbing all the while, but leaving like my mother had told me to was more important. As soon as I was done, I started towards the door. On my way out, my eyes caught a picture taken earlier that year, mom and dad both still alive at that time. It was a picture of the four of us at an amusement park, eating ice cream together, taken by a friendly park employee. I grabbed it on my way out and quickly stowed it, walking out the door.

The sun was fading, illuminating the sight of the capital in the distance. I walked through the streets of my town, the few hovercars of our town zooming past me, people out talking on their porches. Some people may have called out to me but I kept walking, partly out of the fact that I needed to get out of the city quickly, the other being that they were calling me Alfred. Yeah, even then everyone mistook me for him. So I kept walking and made my way out of the town. I remember everything getting darker until I guess I passed out.

A/N: Oh and to clarify, this is into the future, about 50+ years from now, and has no real basing as to where it takes place yet. The P.O.V. is of Matthew for this chapter and any other unless stated otherwise. BTW: Matthew; plays bass clarinet Alfred; plays guitar. You'll find out more about this whole thing in the next chapter.
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