Posted October 7th, 2015.

I never meant to put this story on a monthly update schedule. It'll take gads too long to finish, so let's speed things up a bit! I'm already started on the next chapter, so it should be done before the week is through. Yay, faster updates!

Thanks for the love last chapter, and I hope you enjoy the next installment! Thanks for reading!

X

The forest was very still.

Vivi made quick strides through the trees, focusing her gaze dead ahead as she listened. Very gently at first, there came a pitter patter behind her that was attempting to keep up with her pace. She pushed past a branch at eye level that was covered in budding flowers that would bloom once summer began. It opened up a grassy clearing within a circle of pines, and the Witch stopped in the middle.

Planting her staff firmly in the soil, Vivi closed her eyes and waited. Kasey's appearance buzzed around in her memory as she tried to recall what the boy was wearing that morning, so she would have something to tell the forest when it reached her. Her brow knit in concentration, but her thoughts began to stray as she wondered how it had come to this. She shouldn't bother. This was the Wizard's problem. The Witch could wash her hands of this and never see little Kasey again. What did she have to gain?

Her hair fluttered around about her chin in the increasing wind. She opened her eyes; the irises like that of coal embers rumbling in veins rich with heat. A sigh escaped her lips as she settled on the excuse she would tell herself for years to come, and with a sad smile, whispered: "I suppose… just this once."

The birds arrived first, as usual. The Witch frowned in distaste as she spotted the pair of sparrows and half a dozen starlings cresting over the trees and making a nose dive for her. They circled about her head, chattering all at once in a handful of rough dialects of mismatched birdsong she didn't have the patience to decipher. Vivi swatted at them with an angry backhand. "Oh, be gone with you! Gossipers! Pests! Honestly… I can't understand a word!"

Though the roots ran deep, the town was too far away, and the plants had nothing to tell of the young Wizard's ward. Vivi would have to rely on the animals, much to her chagrin. She never liked birds. So scatter-brained and quick to judge.

Through the shrubs peered squirrels and rabbits who had no fear of the Witch in the center of the grassy circle. Chipmunks and moles were even less wary and ran to greet her first, but they had little information to offer. A tanuki emerged from a dense thicket and made a quick trot to stand by Vivi's feet.

"Ah!" Vivi smiled, a rare sight to be sure, when she saw the tanuki waiting for her. She ignored the birds and squatted down to the raccoon dog's level, thoroughly offending the sparrows and starlings who were now quite ruffled in feathers and in bad temperament in the branches overhead. They could never get her to listen to reason.

The tanuki lifted his chin and focused his dark eyes on the Witch. She extended a hand and placed it on his coarse brow. She gasped when she looked through the creature's mind and found an image she recognized. "Kasey! Finally… someone useful…"

The birds angrily twittered from above that they had tried to tell her the same thing, screeching their 'I told you so's and 'Witch never listens!' Vivi busied herself reading the tanuki's recent memories, sifting through the animal behavior for the sights she wished to see. Finally, through the creature's eyes, the Witch could see the foggy outline of a little boy hopping over a bush in a thicket. His backpack was snared in the thorns, and after some useless tugging, he was forced to forfeit. Kasey reached into the bag and removed his bear, looking doubtfully around him before hurrying on down the path.

That was all the tanuki had to offer, but Vivi recognized the area well enough. She removed her hand from him and quirked up his chin in thanks. She nodded, locking eyes for a moment and dismissing him. Vivi stood to her full height, smelling the air. A squirrel scampered across her shoe, and a doe nosed her hat.

"Hm…" her eyes narrowed. The Witch plucked up her staff, setting her shoulders. The animals scattered as she strode forward with purpose, her heels dipping into the loose dirt in the grass. "Smells of rain…"

The Wizard was at a loss. After having marched up and down throughout the town around the school, he found himself checking in the most unlikely places he suspected Kasey could be hiding. He searched the entrance to the caves that were only around in low tide, he climbed the old, rickety lighthouse. He even searched his spiral-roofed home, opening the chest at the foot of the bed and finding his heart falling closer to panic when there were only books and beakers inside.

But with every passing building, every tree looming overhead, every footstep trod – Gale was wondering what had changed within him. For as far as he had observed, he had taken care of Kasey to the best of his ability, but it was a chore. The child himself wasn't such a nuisance (up until this point anyways), but the Wizard had no desire to look after a human boy. He certainly had the time to do so, what with his endless days, but Gale wondered why he was – quite frankly – wasting his time, when Kasey clearly preferred his own deceased mother over him. And rightly so. The Wizard was a stranger. He could not compare to Angela.

Gale gripped his turtleneck, holding his fist tight over his rapidly thumping heart. His feet froze beneath him, and he hung his head, listening to the blood pumping in his ears. When he looked down, his knuckles were shaking.

"Why…?" He wondered aloud in a mere whisper. All of his problems could be over right now if he wanted them to be. Kasey could forge out on his own, someone else could pick him up; he could learn the ways of the world. Gale wouldn't have to be the one to hold his hand. He could go back to his books and his stars, charting out the skies as he always had on his lonely hilltop with the locked door. He'd never again have to wonder if there were three square meals and a bed ready to sleep in. He'd never have to always be looking over his shoulder, looking out for someone else. The Wizard could be at peace.

So why was he so afraid of losing him?

His babysitting adventures had mercifully excluded diapers and bibs, but Kasey was reaching a point in his young life when guidance was crucial. He had merely survived until this point, now ready to begin learning what it meant to be human. What right did a reclusive wizard have to teach him?

Gale could vividly remember Angela sitting across from him at the little, round table. Coffee cups for both of them. She laughed in his dusty memory, the sound faded like the fuzzy edges of a dream. This was Angela's boy. He deserved better, and the Wizard could make things right. But was that why he wanted to look after Kasey? Because it was simply the right thing to do?

The Wizard opened his mismatched eyes, spinning on his heel. He spied the crest of the hill where the church bell clanged in the steeple. The wind picked up over the ocean, tugging at his coattails and wrenching his hair nearly up on end. The thick cloud cover finally began to squeeze out the first drops of rain, spattering the pavement around the Wizard's feet.

Or did he know now… deep in his heart…

The street was empty as the Wizard slowly made his way up the hill. The wind howled through the stone alleys, whistling in spiraling torrents.

Kasey had saved him.

Rain began to pour down around him, making the magician's pace sluggish and drained. He took the stairs past his shadowy house. The weather was so like the night when Angela's dead eyes met his own and she turned away, forgetting to say goodbye one last time.

When he had given up… and he was tired… and he was content to be alone…

The Celesta Church plaza opened up before him, gloomy and grey through the sheets splashing down. The lanterns were empty and cold, devoid of their usual warm glow. The trees were being stripped of their fresh leaves that had taken so long to sprout after the cold winter.

When he had forsaken humanity…

There.

He brought him back.

Kasey's head was in his knees, and he was very still. He didn't look up when the Wizard stopped before him. His spot on the ground beside the iron bench was too open, but his shoes were covered in mud, his knees all scraped, and he was tired of running. Hide-and-seek was over… and Kasey just wanted to go home.

The Wizard watched him in silence. Drops of water falling from his wet tendrils of hair in his eyes, sliding down his nose. The terrible ache in his heart had ceased, and for that, he allowed a small smile of relief. The boy was in the last place he thought to check – before the maple tree they had visited last fall. Even now, in his little fist, was a bright green leaf.

"Kasey."

The boy's shoulders shifted, but he didn't move to stand or even acknowledge him.

Gale wasn't deterred. His voice rising to carry over the rain, he spoke plainly to him. "Kasey… get up."

"Mommy…" Kasey finally sniffled, barely audible. He revealed his puffy eyes, his mouth pressed firmly against his sleeve. "Mama's… not here… yet… Mama will come for… me…"

The Wizard stood stock still. His voice was low and decisive. "She's not coming back."

Kasey's eyes filled with fresh tears. He went to hide his face again from the truth, but the Wizard's stern tone stopped him.

"Get up… Kasey…"

It was another moment before the Wizard thought he was going to have to tell him again. But Kasey unwound himself, letting his legs stretch out before him. He slowly, miserably picked himself up off of the ground. His soggy bear in his hand, Kasey avoided looking at the Wizard. He pathetically slumped. Too much weight was on such little shoulders.

The Wizard stooped to his height, having to kneel on the wet cobblestones in order to look him in the eye. Kasey refused to look up, his chest heaving with lingering sobs caught in his throat. Gale reached forward, slowly, hesitantly. His hand hovered a second as he made up his mind, taking Kasey by the arm and pulling him. The boy stumbled, somewhat in surprise, as the Wizard brought him close and held him tight.

Kasey's eyes widened, but he allowed himself to be hugged. The Wizard said nothing. The boy stared up at the grey sky over the man's shoulder as tears bubbled and blurred his vision, his lip quivering again. The bear in his grasp slackened, and he dropped the leaf from the other. He was cold and alone, but this embrace was warm… and safe. Kasey found his hands were clinging to the old indigo cloak that was soaked through, needing the support to stand.

"I m-miss Mama!" Kasey choked out.

Gale felt the weight of the promise he was about to make, knowing that perhaps this… was what he was always meant to do. "I will… look after you now."

Kasey nodded his head in understanding, hiccupping back sobs.

There was no way Kasey was going to walk by himself, so Gale did the gallant thing and lifted him up with a heave. Kasey gasped when his bear left his hand, but the Wizard slowly turned and bent to retrieve it. He handed it to Kasey who squished it close, still hugging Gale about the shoulders. "Keep him… dry…"

Kasey quietly obeyed, holding his teddy under his chin. The Wizard carried the boy away through the rain. Kasey watched the plaza slowly disappear over the Wizard's shoulder, letting his head rest at the crook of his neck.

The Wizard went to Angela's house to meet back with Vivi. The Witch was waiting for them on the porch, holding Kasey's discarded backpack. When Gale was able to gently pry him off and set him on his feet, Kasey rubbed his raw eyes and accepted his bag back with a weary smile. He then hugged the Witch about the legs in thanks. Vivi was astonished to find him so affectionate and was made immediately uncomfortable, icily watching Gale in slight horror as Kasey grinned toothily up at her, happy to be back.

The rain slowed to an uneven patter, and the sun arrived just in time to set across the ocean in beautiful, pastel hues of pink and orange. Kasey was back safe and sound at the Wizard's side, and there is where he would remain.