"These days my waves get lost in the oceans
Seven billion swimmers, man I'm going through the motions
Sent up a flare, I need love and devotion
Traded for some faces that I never know, notion
Maybe I should try to find the old me
Take me to the places and the people that know me
Tryna just connect, thinking maybe you could show me
If there's so many people here, then why am I so lonely?

It's like:

Can I get a connection?"

- Connection, OneRepublic

"They're all idiots," Aeron muttered, absentmindedly tossing pebbles off the roof. "Complete idiots. And definitely insane," he added as an afterthought.

There was no way. Absolutely none.

He wasn't an elf, whatever they thought, and neither were his parents.

They were completely insane.

Aeron paid no attention as Reese clambered onto the roof a few minutes later, lugging some sort of leather satchel. He didn't so much as glance in her direction as she made her way up the steep slope behind him or sat next to him on the ridgeline, pulling her bag behind her. He stared coolly ahead at the trees in full autumn bloom, their limbs exploding with leaves of fire.

He made such an effort to ignore her, in fact, that he began to be annoyed when she didn't attempt to draw his attention. She seemed to be ignoring him just as well as he was ignoring her.

After half an hour of stubborn silence, Aeron surrendered the game of wills and muttered, "Why'd you follow me?"

"I didn't," she answered, arching her eyebrows. "You took my favorite thinking spot."

"Oh."

She shrugged. "It's fine."

"I didn't apologize."

The beginnings of a smirk surfaced on Reese's mouth. "I know."

A small smile came and went as Aeron silently considered her words.

Neither spoke for a minute.

"Do we seem insane to you?" Reese finally asked, resting her elbows on her knees and squinting at the horizon.

Aeron hesitated. "...No," he finally admitted.

Reese looked disapprovingly at him. "Then why'd you say so?"

"I was talking to myself," he complained, shifting awkwardly on the hot stone. "So it's really none of your-"

"I think it's my business when you make rude comments about me and my family, who've done nothing but try to help you ever since we found out you existed," she shot back with unexpected severity.

"When was that?" Aeron asked quietly.

Reese's gaze dropped. "Three months ago," she answered softly.

Aeron laughed disbelievingly. Lying on his back, he ran his hands through his hair until it was a disheveled mess, looking angrier and angrier by the minute. "Funny," he finally said, "'cause I've existed about fifteen years longer than that. You really weren't in a hurry to find your so-called 'best friend's son,' hmm?"

Reese's eyes flashed. "Shows what you know," she shot back, her face flushing red. "If you wanna know what actually happened, how about you ask us to tell you, instead of being an angry brat who won't believe a word that comes out of our mouths!"

Aeron snorted. "Lie away," he whispered softly, turning away from her.

Reese slapped him. Hard.

"What is wrong with you?" he demanded, turning back to face her.
"You're not the boy I thought you would be," she said, turning her face away.

Aeron flushed red. "Get in line," he said shortly.

A heated silence followed.

A loud squeak broke the silence, followed by the sound of nails on stone as a ball of dusty fluff jumped down from Reese's shoulder and made its way to Aeron, moving surprisingly quickly.

"Oh, hey, little-" Aeron's words were cut off by an undignified yelp as Cyrus chomped his miniscule teeth into Aeron's little finger, leaving a small bleeding imprint when he removed them.

Reese tried unsuccessfully to smother her laughter as Aeron hastily removed his hand from the creature's reach and attempted to staunch the blood with his tunic.

With one victorious squeak, Cyrus withdrew to his owner's outstretched hand.

"He can sense when I'm angry," Reese explained.

"I need to get one of those," Aeron muttered, wincing as Reese, despite her vindictive amusement, gently took his hand and began to treat the deep bite with a salve from her bag.

"Thanks," Aeron said grudgingly as she wrapped it with a piece of linen, her deft fingers working quickly.

"Cyrus is a tomple," she explained when she finished. "He's basically made to destroy things."

"Ah. Is that one of your… 'elven' things?"

Just like that, they were enemies again.

Reese glowered at him, and when that wasn't enough, she kicked him.

"Admit it," Aeron began, holding his side as a large bruise began forming above his ribs, "this whole 'elf thing' is a little unbelievable. I mean… it's impossible!" he finished, struggling to find the words to explain what he meant.

"It's not impossible. And you'd see that if you'd stop being so stupidly critical for one second-"

"Look," Aeron interrupted, covering her mouth with his wounded hand. "Just… stop talking, for one second, while I explain what I mean. Maybe you'll stop injuring me if I explain my point of view here."

Reese raised her eyebrows as if to say, "That's not likely." Aeron rolled his eyes and removed his hand.

"Okay, try to put yourself in my shoes. You're a normal kid-"

"Abnormal," Reese objected.

"-who goes to a normal school, lives in a normal town, and has a pretty normal life. The only thing missing is your parents, who disappeared when you were five, leaving you to live with your grandparents with no idea of where they've gone or why they left." Aeron waited for her to interrupt, but she stayed silent. "They left me with one clue to where they are: that picture of them and their friends, with one word on the back. Havenfield. So I researched the origins of that word and googled it and everything you can imagine for eight years, looking for a clue, until two months ago when I found a picture of that word, in that exact script, engraved into the bricks of a museum wall. So you sneak out of your house one morning, being careful not to be followed, except you're not careful enough, and your cousin insists on going with you.

"You get there, and you find the word on the wall, but you have no idea what kind of message it's trying to send, and you don't have time to figure it out because your aunt figured out what you were doing and comes to get you and her daughter." Aeron remembered the heartbreaking exchange between him and Amy in the darkness of the museum parking lot, the last time he'd ever spoken to her, and his throat constricted.

"Then, out of nowhere, the car blows up-" His voice broke abruptly, and he found himself fighting to speak clearly "-and you wake up in the hospital, and they tell you that your aunt… is dead…" He covered his face with his hands, breathing deeply and trying not to cry.

Reese silently rested her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry," she whispered sorrowfully.

"Then," Aeron continued shakily, "your seven-year-old cousin blames herself for her mother's death, so she locks herself in her room and won't talk to anyone, even though it's actually your fault for bringing her there in the first place-"

"Aeron, stop-"

Aeron wiped his eyes and looked at her through blurry eyes, only to find that she was crying as well.

"I'm really sorry, they didn't tell me about it-" she moaned, resting her head on her knees.

"No, no, it's fine," he said quickly, putting his arm around her and immediately removing it, wondering at his sudden lapse of sanity.

"I didn't know you had a cousin," she said quietly, seeming not to notice his odd gesture.

"Yeah. ...She reminds me of you, actually," he said awkwardly.

She fixed her eyes on him hopefully. "How?"

"Well, you're both stubborn as heck," Aeron began; he stopped when he noticed the expression on Reese's face.

"Why is that always it?" she muttered, looking almost murderous.

"And you… you both have long hair," he said hurriedly, trying to think of something complimentary but coming up dry.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Forget it," she said darkly. "I don't want to know anymore."

"Hey - there's other things too," Aeron protested, desperately trying to think of them.

She shook her head despondently. "Nope. There's not. I heard it all before," she said, kicking at the stone roof.

"Same here," Aeron admitted.

Reese turned to look at him. "What'd you mean?" she demanded.

"I mean, people put me in a box too."

She frowned disbelievingly. "How?"

"Most people, especially my uncle, think I'm just some delinquent who ditches class because he hasn't done his homework," he explained, rolling his eyes.

Reese laughed, her eyes brightening. "Wait, why do you? Do you not understand the work?"

"No," he emphasized. "It's because the teachers go too slow for me," he said, shrugging. "I get it the first time, but they insist on explaining it over and over until you forget what they're talking about, your mind is so numb. So I prefer to read the textbook and figure it out on my own."

Reese grinned. "Sir Coralin goes too fast for me," she admitted. "I try as hard as I can, but he still says I don't concentrate enough." She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. "I concentrate plenty. It's not my fault he can't teach."

Aeron laughed, then frowned. "'Sir'?" he repeated, wrinkling his nose. "What does he teach, deportment?"

"Astronomy. What is your face right now?"

"Is that another elven thing?"

"Yes, we call everyone Sir or Lady. Common courtesy," she said, looking smugly down at him.

Aeron rolled his eyes. "I always thought elves were too egotistical, and now I know-"

Reese punched his arm. "Do yourself a favor and don't finish that sentence," she warned, fists raised.

"That I was wrong all along," Aeron finished, holding his hands up in surrender.

Reese laughed in spite of herself. "And don't you forget it."

"I think I'll find it hard," he responded sarcastically.

"So you seriously buy this stuff?" Aeron asked a moment later, breaking the companionable silence they'd fallen briefly into.

She narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose at him dramatically. "What stuff?"

"This… elf stuff," he said, gesturing vaguely.

She heaved a sigh. "Duh. I am one."

"Okayyy."

"No, seriously." Reese did look uncharacteristically solemn as she met his eyes, saying, "I am an elf, my father and mother and brother are elves; everyone here is an elf. Even you. And you know how I can prove it?"

Aeron raised an eyebrow.

"We all have abilities. And I bet you do too."

Jennakitty: I'm so glad you can relate to this! But that sounds awful :( I'm so sorry. Thanks so much for reading and commenting... TWICE lol I sincerely appreciate it

Secret27: I love your username! 'Tis very mysterious. I'm considering changing mine, actually...

You commented THREE TIMES oh my goodness thank you so much :))))))) That makes me so happy I can't even say :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) Maybe you're picking that up XD. Thanks so much for thinking this is good! Yes, Sophie and Keefe are kind of evil... :( It makes me sadddddddd. AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Eh, maybe they'll amend their ways :D This update is late, but honestly, I've been later XD. Thanks for reading!