Xirysa Says: Carry On, Wayward Son was our opening piece for our marching band halftime show my freshman year. Honestly, that song is made of epic win. And what's even better is that its lyrics work perfectly. At least, I think so. Plus, the song is just epic win. Oh… I said that, already… Oops. Er, this chapter is more light-hearted and fun... I guess. O.o You decide.

Contra
Chapter Two: Wayward Son

-x-x-x-

"Carry on my wayward son,
There will be peace when you are done.
Lay your weary head to rest;
Don't you cry no more."

—Carry On, Wayward Son, Kansas

-x-x-x-

The grounds of the Jarjayes mansion were everything she had hoped for and more.

Lush and green, they seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, all the way to the horizon and beyond. The mansion itself stood at the end of the cobblestone path, all white stone and simple elegance. Oscar was amazed. How could something this beautiful not be the wonderful Palace of Versailles, where the nobles dined and danced and feasted every night?

Apparently it wasn't.

Even after the carriage stopped, Oscar sat and stared at the house until the footman had to enter the carriage and carry her out. She continued to stare at the palace—wait, not a palace, but a mansion—the mansion until her trance was broken by something.

Or rather, someone.

He was a rather tall boy, Oscar thought as she rubbed the spot on her shoulder where he had collided into her, and rather muscular looking too. Or maybe it was just because he towered almost a head and a half above her and was storming away rather angrily. Either way, Oscar had half a mind to call after the boy and demand he apologize. Nanny simply looked rather shocked and called after the boy.

"Victor!"

The boy spun around quickly and glared at them for a moment; his gaze quickly softened when he realized who had called his name.

"Madame Montblanc, bonjour." He bowed to the older woman deeply, and his light brown hair fell in front of his face. When he straightened up, Oscar noticed that he seemed to have calmed down quite a bit.

Such a change of emotions was odd, Oscar thought, and it reminded her of the days every month her mother couldn't work. She would be bouncing with joy one moment, a sad and deplorable husk of a woman the next, and complaining and mean in an instant. And once in a while, she'd complain about a mysterious pain in her stomach. It was intriguing, Oscar thought, but she was sure it would not affect her in any way.

Nanny, however, still seemed surprised. "Victor? Where are you going? I thought you were with André." She craned her neck as if looking for her grandson. "He's here, isn't he?"

This new boy, this Victor, glared again as his hand tightened around the hilt of the sword strapped to his waist. "He's hiding somewhere on the grounds, Madame. I was just on my way home."

Although she was clearly disappointed, Nanny made no move to stop the boy as he quickly walked to where his own carriage was waiting and climbed inside. A few minutes and a couple of terse instructions later, Victor's carriage was gone.

Oscar stared after the carriage for a moment before looking at Nanny. The old woman seemed—well, she seemed rather angry.

"N-nanny?" Oscar asked tentatively.

The old woman smiled and looked down at Oscar. "I'm sorry, Oscar."

"It's alright, but..." she trailed off rather lamely, but Nanny seemed to understand.

"That," Nanny nodded in the direction of the carriage that had just left, "was Victor Clement de Girodelle, the boy I was telling you about."

Oscar blinked. "I thought you said he was friends with André?"

Nanny sighed. "I thought so, too."

-x-x-x-

André was tired.

Actually, André was a combination of hot, sweaty, dirty, sticky, and tired, but he knew if he let Victor know that, the older boy would never let him hear the end of it. André remembered the first (and last) time Victor found out he was tired, and it wasn't something he wanted to happen again.

Which was why he sat in the branches of the apple tree by the stable—Victor was much too big and heavy to climb its branches the way André had, and this way André had both the relative safety of his position, the shade of the tree, and the many delectably luscious apples that hung within arms reach.

This was the life… With the general at Versailles and Granny in Paris for some business… There were no rules, no worries…

It was perfect.

Reaching up to pluck a particularly delicious looking apple, André sighed. Now all he had to do was avoid coming down from the tree until Victor left (which would probably be soon, judging from the increasingly vexed shouts he could hear coming from the older boy) and he would be in the clear. No harm done.

Soon, all was silent, and André grinned. No doubt, Girodelle had left. André was thankful—he didn't think that he'd be able to stand the older boy's jabs about being a baby, being scared, or even acting like—heaven forbid!—a girl. That was something he could without for quite a while, thank you very much.

He bit the apple and was savoring the crisp sweetness when he heard a voice call his name. A piercingly shrill voice that he knew quite well.

Granny...

André sighed and pulled the branches around him. He didn't really want to be caught yet. If he did, then he would have to actually go for his lessons with the tutor the general had hired for him... How deplorable. And it was such a nice day out, too! Much too nice to be stuck inside writing and reading and doing sums.

A soft laugh from below caught his attention, and André looked down to see a small blond boy smiling up at him.

What are you doing? the strange boy mouthed.

Looking around to make sure that no one was near by, André glanced down at the other boy again. "I'm hiding," he whispered. "Don't tell anyone I'm here."

"Oh." The boy turned to go, but looked back at the last moment. "Don't worry, I won't."

"Thanks," André said to the blond boy's retreating figure before he swung his legs over the branch and proceeded to scramble down as fast as he could.

-x-x-x-

Oscar had never seen a boy like him before—she wasn't even sure if he was a noble. His feet were bare, he wasn't wearing a cravate, and he was sweaty and dusty and dirty all over.

But he was, without a doubt, André Grandier, sweet old Nanny's grandson. She remembered when Nanny had first asked her to help look for—oh what were her exact words again? Ah yes. To help look for her "annoyingly mischievous rascal of a grandson who was probably sleeping in the hay in the loft of the stable or playing in the mud at the riverbank like some two year old babe."

At least, Oscar thought as she watched him climb down the tree while she peeped around the side of the stable wall, he fit the description that Nanny had given her.

Curly dark hair, green eyes, and an angelic face that masked the boy's true nature of being a little devil. Oscar was quite sure that Nanny hadn't meant the last part. Entirely, at least. Well... She thought so.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the dear old lady herself stormed across the carefully kept lawn and to the tree and began telling André to get out of that tree quickly, but for heaven's sake don't climb down so fast that you slip and fall and break your neck and mon Dieu, did he have a death wish or something?

Oh dear, Oscar thought as she watched the scene before her unfold, poor André!

Muffling a laugh as André fell to the ground from one of the lower branches of the apple tree, Oscar peeked around one of the stable doors in anticipation.

"André Grandier! What did you do?"

"Er..." André looked around, and when his face fell, Oscar knew that he had seen her. He obviously thought that she had told his grandmother. "Nothin'…"

Great, Oscar thought bitterly to herself. I haven't been here one day, and I'm already the enemy.

And she had promised him, too!

Nanny put her hands on her hips and gave André a disapproving glare. "Oh really?" And with a speed Oscar did not think was natural for a woman of her age, Nanny pulled a wooden spoon seemingly out of nowhere and smacked the side of her grandson's head with it.

"Ow!" André yelped and clutched at his head. "What was that for?"

"Like you don't know," Nanny replied, and she promptly hit his head once more. "Now, once you get yourself cleaned up, see me in the kitchen. There is someone I'd like you to meet."

Nanny left, and André glared at the stables once before he, too, left. Oscar was left alone in the dark of the stable, wishing she had never decided to come to the mansion at all.

-x-x-x-

He looked presentable, André thought as he scrutinized his reflection. He had washed, changed into a clean set of clothes, and had even taken the time to comb his hair for once. Not one hair out of place.

Of course, knowing his grandmother, she'd probably find something to lecture him about.

Maybe it was an old lady thing.

Honestly, he didn't really know.

He sighed and left his room, but not without a last, longing backwards glance at the window and what lay beyond. It really was a gorgeous day. The sky was the most lovely blue he had ever seen, and it was so pleasant outside…

Inside, however, was a different matter entirely. André was boiling under all the clothes Granny had forced him to wear and was quite sure that he would be soaked with sweat by the time he reached the kitchen which, he realized with a groan, was hotter than any part of the mansion.

Oh, what had he done to deserve such a fate?

By the time he reached the kitchen, André wasn't soaking wet, but his forehead was indeed beaded with sweat.

His grandmother sat calmly at the table, sipping a small cup of tea. That wasn't unusual. But next to her… André glared at the small blond boy who sat next to his grandmother.

"Ah! André!" Granny exclaimed, and André looked at her expectantly.

"Yes, Granny?" André replied, careful to keep his tone as courteous as possible.

"This," she said as she gestured to the new boy, "is Oscar. She's going to be working here from now on. I hope that you two will become friends."

André narrowed his eyes and walked over to this Oscar. "Hello, Osc—!" He whirled back to face his grandmother again. "Did you say that Oscar is a girl?"

"Yes."

"B-but…" André sighed and glared at the girl again. "Hello, Oscar."

"H-hello, André…" came the tentative reply.

Granny seemed pleased. "Well," she said as she got up and walked out of the kitchen, "get yourselves acquainted. I have to talk to the gardeners." And with that, she was gone.

Waiting until he was quite certain that his grandmother had gone, André went up to Oscar and glared at her as he had never glared before. "What's wrong with you! You said you wouldn't tell the old lady where I was!"

"I didn't. And you shouldn't talk about your grandmother that way."

André didn't hear her. "You promised! You broke a promise, and now my grandmother expects me to me friends with you?"

Oscar spoke again, louder this time. "I said I didn't tell her."

"Y-you…" André snorted. "Yeah right. If you didn't tell her, then how would she know where I was?"

The blonde child shrugged. "She saw me talking to you. That's what she said when I asked her how she knew."

André was sorely tempted to ignore her words, but… She was looking at him, her bright blue eyes begging him to believe her. With a start, André realized that Oscar's eyes were the same color as the sky.

"F-fine," he finally managed to say. "But you're a girl; how can I be your friend?"

Oscar seemed to be offended, and André didn't know what he had done wrong until he closed his eyes when felt her fist connect with his jaw. The force sent him teetering over until he landed on the wooden floor with a loud thump.

When he opened his eyes again, Oscar was standing over him with a triumphant expression on his face. She gave him her hand to help him up, and André took it grudgingly. "That girly enough for you?"

André look at her and grinned. "You're alright. For a girl, at least." That earned him another punch, but he was glad that they had cleared up their misunderstandings.

And he could tell that Oscar was, too.

And so a beautiful new friendship was born.

Xirysa Says: Honestly… I've wanted to write André falling off/out of a tree for a really long time. Maybe I'll go into it in more detail later. Another 'fic, perhaps. XD I can also see André pulling an "Ewww, girls have cooties" thing, too. André is a bit of a wayward son, isn't he? :B Anyway, feedvack is, like always, appreciated!