Unbeta-ed. Crackfic.
The Pebble
The Pebble's Boy
The first time the pebble met the boy, his boy it was a beautiful fall day. It was a memorable memory, but it was not the first.
No, the first memory belonged to quiet man.
The pebble knew nothing about the man other then that he was its creator. It supposed that it loved the man, as much as a semi-sentient pebble could. It wasn't true love – because the pebble had never experienced such a thing. It was more of a filial thing, imposed onto it when its duty was imprinted onto it had been a human – or any being of flesh and bone, really – it would have realized that the man who made him was something else even among his own kind. But as it was, the pebble only had the memory of the quiet man and his orders.
The pebble felt itself shake, quiver ever so slightly the face of its creator lit up the clear, cloudless skies.
"Watch, my little eyes," The quiet man had said, and his voice echoed like on a loud speaker, making the shinobi and kouichi stiffen and tense even further. "And tell me all that happens here."
The view shifted, rocked back and forward as he was carried and placed ever so carefully on the corner of a low, lengthy stone wall. From its perch it could see a beautiful house, old and magnificent and of a design that was unlike any that this world had seen.
And for a long time, that's all that was shown. An hour passed; then two and then three. By the fourth hour an emergency meeting had been called and closed out, absentee shinobi recalled, gates closed, curfews enforced and ANBU and regular forces placed on high alert. For all intense in purposes, Konoha had been shut down.
And yet, by the time the eighth hour had arrived, no harm had come to the city and the image had yet to change. The little pebble had been found to be the source of the images by then, but the shinobi found it hot to touch with the bare hand and once appropriate measures had been taken to protect the brave ANBU who attempted to move it was stunned to find it had seemingly become a part of the natural bedrock. This was a clear impossibility, for as discussed before, the little pebble was a soft blue-grey and the stone earth of Konoha a brilliant red.
By the next morning civilians were cautiously making there way about town under the ever watchful eye of their shinobi keepers, eyes lifting every other step to glance wearily at the sky above them. It went on like this for days before the image showed anything other then the slowly changing trees around the strangely built house. The pebble knew what was coming before it happened and felt itself perk up slightly – even it was beginning to get bored with the view.
And it had missed its boy.
The city heard the couple before they saw them and though the scene was originally in another language, one that did not exist here, the language the people of Konoha heard was their own Nihongo. Because that was one of the pebble's jobs. Just as it was made to watch, it was made to show as well. And how could he show if they could not understand?
The deep, joking baritone of a male and the slight, distinctly un-amused tenor of a female. And of course the short chirps and squeaks of a child.
A boy child.
The pebble's boy.
The trio stepped into the pebble's line of sight. The man was laughing, gesturing widely towards the house before them. His hair was wild and black, crazed bangs pushed backwards at an awkward angle by a pair of oversized glasses that were resting atop his head. The woman shook her head with a sigh, running one hand through brilliantly red hair and momentarily dislodging a strand from a wet, gooey mouth before a sticky hand shoved it back in.
Their appearance once again brought Konoha to a panicked standstill.
"See! I told you, perfect."
"…James…this place is completely run down."
"All the better, Lil! We'll fix it up and make us our own!"
James and Lily Potter. The pebble knew their names instinctively, for it was them it had been created to watch. Lily turned away from the man and the house, shifting the bundle in her arms and – the pebble shivered in remembrance, this was the first time it had seen…
The baby was as beautiful as it had remembered; that small, cherub-like face. Full cheeks, flushed with the autumn air and exertion, a small button nose and brilliant green eyes so large they seemed to swallow all other features.
"James, I mean, is this going to be enough for us?"
The look on James' face was a mix of anxiety, determination and unrivaled fear. But Lily was facing away and couldn't see it, though the pebble – and thus Konoha – could. It was the look of a desperate man in far too deep.
It was a look that many in Konoha were far too familiar with.
James stepped forward, wrapping the woman and the baby into a comforting embrace. When the red head turned to face him, the look had been replaced with one of cheerful confidence.
"Everything's going to be fine, sweetheart." He brushed a soft kiss across the baby's forehead. He turned them so they were facing the house, backs to the voyeuristic pebble. "Everything's going to be fine. Besides, you did say you wanted to live in the country one day."
"How did we end up like this?" There were tears in the woman's voice, "I just can't believe it. It wasn't supposed to be like this!"
"Lily-"
"No, James. I'm sorry, but I can't just-! The Darkest Lord in four decades is hunting our baby and all you can do is joke!"
"You think I – this isn't a joke to me! Do you think Sirius, or Peter – who is putting himself in fucking harms way for us if you recall – think it's a joke? I'd never let anything happen to you or Harry! How can you even -"
The babe in question took the moment to let out an indignant squawk at how tightly the red head had been holding him. The tension between the two dissipated almost as if it had never been there as they laughed at Harry's attics.
"I'm sorry, Jamie." Lily titled her head back to give the tall man a brushing kiss across his jawline. "I know you don't. I'm just scared. He's killed so many and…you know, it's alright." She shifted baby higher up, "I'm going to go inside and look around, start making a list of what needs to be done."
Lily crossed the cobbled path with the air of a woman with purpose, eying the overgrown flower bed and shotty repair jobs that would have to be fixed. From his spot, James watched her with a crooked smile of amusement.
She paused at the doorway, turning to glance back at him, Harry chewing away happily on her brilliant auburn hair. "This is going to work."
"This is going to work." James repeated, far more firmly then she had. Lily gave him a bright smile before disappearing inside. The smile disappeared almost as quickly, replaced with a look of dark dread, fully visible to the pebble as he turned around to stare at the path leading away from the house. "It has to."
James stared for a few more moments and then turned, disappearing inside.
During the next two months life fell into a pattern for Konoha. Life went on as normally as it could with the constant images in the sky above. Much to the Hokage's frustration, nothing seemed to work against them. They couldn't be stopped or even hidden nor muted. The attempts where humorous and the pebble would have laughed if it could have and told them that the power that made him was beyond their understanding.
The only choice the hidden village had was to try and function as normally as possible.
Shinobi were once again dispatched – though in far slimmer numbers. Most where kept inside the city walls. Though an invasion wasn't quite as feared as in the beginning, many still feared that even if the images weren't caused by another village, one may still take advantage of it. The many civilian tourists that were politely turned away at the gates and the foreign spies (not so politely turned away) only furthered paranoia.
But still, life tried to go on. Civilians went about their everyday activities; markets were held, children went to school and genin did excessive numbers of low level missions to keep in them busy.
All while watching the family in the sky.
They watched as they fixed up the house, the little baby rolling around happily on a blanket in the warm sunshine. They watched as the couple fought and made up (a very interesting memory involving a shovel, a disgruntled wife with freakishly good aim and an impressive head injury). And even, to the chagrin of every mother in Konoha and the glee of many an adolescent boy, make love under the wide branches of an ancient oak.
They watched as little Harry took his first steps – and the whole of Konoha held their breath as he took that first, stumbling hobble towards his stunned father.
It was a strange thing to see, the pebble thought, to watch a whole town grow attached to something long since dead.
Friends came to visit, a dark haired man and two brunettes, each begging with ridiculous faces for Harry to speak or walk or do anything other then sit and slobber on them.
"Come on, buddy! Come on! Say my name! Say Uncle Siri!" The baby in question just smiled obliviously up at the slightly desperate man.
"Sirius he isn't even a year old yet." The tall, scared brunette said with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, he's our little pronglet. He's a genius. Right, Peter?" The chubby brunette nodded with a shake of his head and crooked smile. "See, Pete believes. Say my name. Say it, Siiiii-rrrrrr-iiiii."
"Please," James huffed as he came around the corner, weighed down by a stack of boxes, "If he say's anything it's gonna be my name. Now get off your asses and help me carrying these in."
The two of the three did, Peter staying behind to look after Harry. The small fat man had the strangest look on his face as he looked over the babe, a finger outlining his features, another brushing gently through short hair. Harry cooed up at him, all but purring under his ministrations.
"You're a good friend, Peer." James as he made his way down the porch stairs. "I can never make it up to you, what you're doing for me. Don't think I don't know how much danger you've put yourself in, being our secretkeeper." Peter gave a small smile as he watched the bespectacled man scoop up his giggling son. James placed a hand on his shoulder, a serious look on his face. "I – we, Lil and I – don't deserve you. Really."
The brunette's words were flustered. "I-I'm sorry I can't stay for lunch. I…have another appointment."
James frowned, confused for a moment before giving the short man a hearty pat. "No problem, be careful, yeah?"
And when Peter turned away and made his way down the path, the look on his face was one of fierce self hatred. It was then that most of Konoha figured out what the pebble had already known.
Then that night came.
It was pure fate that earlier that day the pebble had been knocked from its perch by a precariously balanced grocery bag. For most of the day Konoha had nothing to look at but the image of small bugs slowly eating through decaying leaves. But then its boy had found him.
The grass and leaves had shivered and shook and then it found itself in the hands of baby Harry. The sunlight framed the little boy's features, making him look stunningly beautiful.
"See!" The baby squealed happily, shaking the pebble too and fro. For the rest of the day, the pebble had been kept close to the baby, overlooked by the pair of terrified/anxious/frightened parents.
For a while the people of Konoha were greeted to the inside of the Potter family home, something which had never been shown before. They watched as James paced about, nervously rereading the same letter over and over again. Watched as Lily scrubbed the same plate repeatedly, murmuring the words "Poor Neville, that poor, poor little boy" over and over again.
Even baby Harry seemed to have picked up on the mood, fiddling quietly with the pebble in his playpen.
And they came.
The pebble's vision was filled with a segmented view of Lily's smiling face, seen so strangely between the small little fingers holding it, as she quieted and hushed the fussy Harry, petting him lovingly as she lowered him into his crib. There was a shrill shriek and then James' desperate bellow from below. And then silence. From where she stood Lily frantically lifted Harry into her arms, blanket, pebble and all and shoved into the small space under the crib.
"Quiet, darling."
There was the sound of pounding feet on the stairs.
"Be strong for mommy."
There was a loud bang and Harry erupted into shrieks as his bedroom door was blown off its hinges. From where it been dropped on the floor, the pebble could see both the reddening face of the baby and the terrible man who had entered the room.
"Hello, Lillian."
"No! You can't have him!" The red head backed until her legs shielded the shrieking baby from view. The terrible man raised his wand, a harsh smile twisting his beautiful face into something sinister and horrible. "Not Harry!"
"Yes," The man hissed, sounding more reptilian then human. "Harry."
There was a flash of green light and then Lily hit the ground with a harsh thud. The shock of it silenced Harry but it was too late – though the pebble knew there had never really been a chance in the first place – and the terrible man reached beneath he crib, one long fingered hand ripping the boy cruelly out from his hiding place by the ankle.
The baby slid awkwardly on the wood floor, howling in terror as the man pointed his wand down at him once more.
"Goodbye, Harry Potter."
The flash of green was so bright this time that it blinded the horrified crowds that had gathered to watch the killings in morbid fascination.
And then there was nothing, the images in the sky fading to black as the pebble found itself sputtering into a drained silence.
So…I have decided to keep going with this. Still no idea where it's going, but I guess we'll find out together. The next chapter will feature POVs other then the pebble, though our little friend won't be forgotten.
What would you like to see in this experiment go?
