Disclaimer: All OCs belong to me. Everyone else belongs to Universal.
A/N: Finally, after all this time, it arrived! Okay, no kidding, I'm very happy and excited to release the first chapter of "A Bond Across Time"! Any grammar mistakes or anything, the comments are there. Anyway, without further ado, let's start our adventure!
Anger - that was the only thing he felt; a feeling that consumed him from within like a plague consumes a crop.
"Dang it!"
He angrily grabbed a brown backpack and tossed into it notebooks with covers drawn with monsters previously stored in his desk drawers.
But then, opening the last drawer, he found a notebook with the cover drawn with an octopus monster with several glowing eyes in the head region, titled just above in red: "Diary of Horrors". Just below the notebook was a round mask made of light wood, the holes for eyes and mouth giving the object a scary look.
He took the two objects reluctantly, analyzing them before looking at the mirror in the corner of the bedroom. The reflection showed a twelve-year-old Caucasian boy with shaggy gray-brown hair to his neck and green eyes. He wore a gray beanie and black fingerless gloves, wearing an emerald green hoodie, black jeans and dark gray boots.
The boy looked around the room he was in, seeing many horror movie posters plastered on the walls, as well as some sheets of drawings of monsters lying on the floor.
Looking back into the mirror, his eyes watered and his hands tightened in anger.
"You suckers want me to be normal?! Okay then!" he said, picking up his backpack from the floor and disdainfully tossing the notebook and mask into it, slinging the straps over his shoulders. "I will be normal."
"A Bond Across Time"
Written by The Void Master
Book 1 - Perseverance
Chapter 1: The Bracelet
The boy walked through his apartment towards the front door, having kicked off his boots to make sure he wouldn't make any noise on the way.
As he passed his parents' room brown door, he heard their voices talking to each other.
"I'm worried about him." said his mother, concern in her voice.
"Me too." his father said next with a sigh. "He didn't say anything when he got home from school, and you know what a chatterbox he is."
"Could it have been those kids again?" his mother asked.
"He's told us how they tease him sometimes, but he never got that way." his father said. "Look, he's a creative kid, but I think we've gotten this fascination with horror out of control. I can understand why they think that's weird."
The boy looked at the apartment floor sadly, but shook his head to show a face of determination.
"Don't worry, Mom, Dad. I won't let that happen anymore." the boy thought.
As he walked through the door, he slowly closed it so as not to alert his parents – which didn't work, as an audible click of the latch sounded.
"I think I heard something." said his mother's voice, opening the bedroom door and stepping out. Sophia was a Caucasian woman with gray-brown hair to her shoulders and brown eyes, wearing a wine red sweater and jeans. She looked to the sides and called out, "Bowen?"
Beside her appeared Andrew, a tall, tanned man with short black hair, trimmed beard, and green eyes, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. "I didn't hear anything."
Bowen got into the elevator – having put on his boots – and pressed the button that would take him to the basement, but when the doors didn't even move, he pressed the button harder, which made the elevator work this time.
"Stupid elevator." Bowen muttered.
When he reached the floor he wanted, Bowen walked down the door-lined hallway to the last one, which led to the boiler room. Entering, he found the large heating machine.
Bowen took his backpack off his back and opened it to take out the Diary of Horrors, looking at the boiler next. "Time to end it."
Approaching it, he reached out to open the machine, but then, a crow's caw sounded in the room. Bowen let out an yelp, looking sharply to the side to find… a crow?
"Huh?" Bowen tilted his head, the crow cawing again and doing the same motion. "Don't... tell anyone I screamed like that, okay?" Bowen said a little embarrassed, turning his attention to the boiler. "Wait, how did you..."
When he turned his head, there was no sign of the crow, sending a shiver down Bowen's spine. In place of the animal, there was a strange object lying on the floor, arousing the teenager's curiosity.
Tucking the notebook into his backpack, he walked over, seeing that it was actually a bracelet.
"Huh? Where did this bracelet come from?" Bowen knelt to pick it up. It was made of a black cord intertwined with an octagonal-shaped emerald green crystal, which had a hole in one of the edges for the cord to pass through. He looked around to try to find the crow, but the room didn't have any windows or holes it could escape through. "Bizarre."
Bowen then looked at the bracelet in his hand.
"Well, I guess I can use it for a little while until I find the owner." he pulled the sleeve of the hoodie off his left arm a little, placing the accessory on his wrist. "I have to admit, it's pretty cool."
His gaze then landed on the boiler, remembering what he'd come here to do in the first place.
"Oh, yeah... The diaries." his expression changed to a saddened one. Bowen let out a sigh, now thinking about the reason he was in that room. Anguished, he muttered, "I just... don't want... to be alone anymore."
Suddenly, a small flash of green light flashed on his left wrist. Raising his arm, he noticed that the glow was coming from the bracelet, more specifically from the crystal.
"What the- Gah!" Bowen shielded his eyes as the glow quickly grew stronger.
The boy was enveloped by the light which, at the same speed, disappeared along with him.
Bowen's eyes opened slowly. He felt very dizzy, as if he'd just gone through the most turbulent journey he'd ever had in his life. The first thing he felt when he woke up was the bitter cold, shivering as his fingers regained touch so he could feel… snow?
It totally woke him up, causing him to sit up so he no longer felt the concrete floor of his building, but more snow.
His wide eyes roamed the surroundings as his breathing was almost shallow. He was in what looked like an alley between wooden structures.
Bowen had a lot of questions, one after the other. How did he get here? Where was his apartment? What was this place? Was this all a dream?
For the last question, Bowen pinched his arm, instantly regretting it as he felt the pain of his act. "So this isn't a dream."
"Okay, Bowen, calm down." Bowen told himself, his breath slowing. "You just… woke up in a totally strange place and with lots, lots of snow. It's okay." he looked both ways down the alley, and seconds later. "Who am I kidding? It's not okay!"
Bowen got to his feet, staggering a little as he still felt dizzy. When the dizziness was gone, he walked out of the alley, looking for someone who could tell him which place this was.
"Okay, let's recap." Bowen muttered thoughtfully as he walked. "I was heading to the boiler room when I found that… weird crow. Then I found that bracelet- The bracelet!"
Bowen lifted his left arm, tugging at the sleeve of his hoodie to find the bracelet on his wrist. He looked more closely at the emerald green crystal, seeing if any changes were taking place with the artifact.
"Does it have something to do with all this?" Bowen asked, pausing to look at the wooden structures. "It had glowed a little before I came here, so… Aw, crud! Is this thing magical?!"
"Didn't make the team, Bingo?"
Bowen froze, such a voice coming from an alley a few feet away from him. He slowly approached to take a peek, the twelve-year-old hiding behind a wall.
Bowen arched an eyebrow in confusion when, instead of finding people, he found five dogs along with a snow goose.
One of them was a black and white Malamute, behind him was a light brown Chinook, a brown Chow-chow, and a greyish-purplish Siberian husky. The latter, however, Bowen could not identify exactly; while it looked like a dog, it also looked like a wolf.
That aside, a single question stuck in his mind: did that voice come from the throat of one of those dogs? That couldn't be possible. He had woken up in a place perhaps far from home and now he could understand animals?
The last dog, who had gray-brown fur and orangish-brown eyes, turned his head to the other three dogs and inexplicably spoke, "My name's Balto."
Bowen's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock.
The snow goose, who was beside Balto, muttered in a Russian accent, "But you can call him idiot."
Bowen watched Balto go to confront the malamute, the gears in his head turning nonstop as the scene unfolded.
"I'm sorry. Balto. Balto, the half-breed." said the malamute with a smirk, his gang continuing to taunt Balto.
The Malamute went to the goose, startling him with his rapid approach. "Hey, old goose, you half-breed too, huh? Part turkey?" he shoved him with his snout, dropping him into an old grill with the lid closing the moment he entered.
Bowen was outraged by the scene. That Malamute thought himself so superior that he could simply mock Balto and the goose, which inevitably reminded the boy of the taunts his classmates had done with him.
He had to help them.
Bowen thought of some way to help, but nothing came to mind. It was then that he remembered the wooden mask in his backpack. Opening the bag, he took it out and just looked at it, not sure if he was really going to put it on.
"I swore to myself I would never wear this mask again. But…" Bowen peeked again.
Balto stood in front of the Malamute, his face showing a less than happy expression. "Steele! Leave him out of this."
Steele grinned evilly. "Oh, Balto," he said as he whacked Balto in the face twice with his furry tail before walking up to his gang saying, "I got a message for your mother."
He and his trio began to howl mockingly, Bowen quickly noticing Balto shooting them a death glare as he let out a menacing growl.
That's it! He couldn't sit still, or else Balto would cut them into a thousand pieces.
Looking at his mask again, Bowen still had a flicker of indecision on his face.
Balto growled as he menacingly approached Steele and his gang, who had not even noticed his presence as they howled in mockery.
Boris opened the grill lid and, when he saw Balto advancing, quickly grabbed his tail begging him to stop, but he was dragged through the snow thanks to the wolf-dog's strength.
Finally, the gang stopped howling when they noticed Balto getting closer to them. Steele, however, wasn't the least bit intimidated by Balto, ordering his henchmen, "Get him."
Nikki, Kaltag and Star obeyed him and started barking at Balto.
"Get out of here, wolf-dog. You better get back to-" suddenly, he was interrupted by a whistle forming a creepy song.
Everyone turned their heads as a hooded human figure emerged from behind a wall, but what surprised them most was the wooden mask it wore.
"W-what is this?" Star asked as his body trembled in fear, Nikki and Kaltag pulling away as did he.
The figure tilted its head slowly as it approached them, whistling its song all the time.
The three dogs let fear take over their bodies and ran for their lives. Steele was petrified with a look of fear before joining in on the run.
Balto and Boris were the only ones left in the alley.
The goose shivered in fear, the thought that his life would end there not leaving his mind, while the wolf-dog had a petrified gaze on the hooded figure. That's when the stranger stopped whistling, followed by something they hadn't expected: a laugh. A fun, childlike laugh.
The figure removed the mask, revealing Bowen laughing hysterically, much to Balto's surprise. That kid just scared Steele so easily?
"Those guys are sure to have nightmares for the next few weeks!" Boris couldn't take it anymore and passed out in the snow, which made Bowen stop laughing. "Aw, crud. The goose passed out! Wait, do geese pass out?"
Balto didn't move a muscle, his surprised face looking at Bowen, who noticed the wolf-dog watching him.
"Uh... Hi." Bowen greeted, waving a friendly hand. The boy stuffed the mask into his brown backpack, putting it back on his shoulders. He looked at Balto one more time and said goodbye: "Bye, buddy. See you later, I guess."
He walked out of the alley, distancing himself from Balto and Boris, who finally started to wake up. The goose looked around and, not seeing Steele or the masked figure, wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Phew, that thing's gone. Now how about we get out of here and..." Boris turned to the side, expecting to find Balto in place, but he wasn't there. "Balto?"
He noticed Balto heading towards the alley exit. "Balto!"
Boris quickly followed him and as soon as he caught up with him, he noticed that Balto seemed to be following the unknown boy.
"Balto, let's just go away and leave this child alone." Boris insisted.
"We can't." Balto said, keeping his eyes on Bowen.
"Why not?" Boris asked.
"Because he isn't from around here." Balto replied, looking at Boris. "I've never seen him in town, and his scent proves that to me. And besides… something tells me he's different from other humans."
"But we don't-"
"Are you going to keep following me or what?"
Both animals jumped in fright, realizing now that Bowen was looking at them. A smile appeared on the boy's face, taking a step closer to them.
Balto backed away a little, memories of him being bullied by the people of Nome preventing Bowen from approaching him.
Bowen realized this and knelt down to appear more harmless. "It's okay, buddy. Come on. I won't hurt you." he smiled, extending a hand. "I promise."
Balto looked at the goose beside him and then at the boy, slowly approaching him with his head down. He looked intently into Bowen's green eyes, not seeing any evil in them. Those eyes reminded him of the only child who didn't care about his wolf part: Rosy.
When he was a foot away, the boy began petting his head, which made his guard drop and gladly accept Bowen's sympathy.
Bowen chuckled. "You're pretty cute, you know?" the wolf-dog responded to the comment by licking his cheek, making him chuckle even more. "Oh come on, man! That tickles!" he gave another nice pat on Balto's head before looking him in the eyes, noticing now how more human they looked. "Your name is Balto, right?"
Balto sighed in surprise. "How do you know my name?" he asked no one in particular, unaware of Bowen's ability.
"You said it back in the alley." Bowen simply answered, shocking both Balto and Boris, who was watching in the background.
"Y-you… can understand me?" the boy nodded. "How is that possible?"
"Look, that's a long story." Bowen replied. "But just out of curiosity, that Steele, I think, said you're a wolf-dog. Is that… true?"
Balto's ears drooped as he bowed his head in shame at being reminded of his heritage, answering the question reluctantly, "Yes, that's true. I'm part wolf."
Bowen rose slowly, Balto already expecting the worst of his reaction. Would he reject him like everyone else?
What he didn't expect was for a long sigh of surprise to escape Bowen, causing him to lift his head to see the boy's eyes twinkling.
"That's so cool!" Bowen said excitedly, before starting to circle Balto. "I never thought I'd see a wolf-dog up close! Wow, I'm literally talking to my favorite animal! And... Wow, you're quite tall."
Noticing now, Balto's height with his head raised reached up to Bowen's shoulders.
Balto was definitely surprised. He didn't expect anyone to be happy to see a wolf-dog, let alone say he was his favorite animal.
His thoughts were interrupted as Bowen crouched down looking at his paws.
"Wow, look at these paws! They're very cool!" Bowen noticed how excited he was and quickly stood up scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hehe, sorry about that. Just… forget what I said in the last thirty seconds."
Balto looked at Bowen in puzzlement before chuckling. "You're funny, uh..."
"Bowen." the teenager introduced himself, noticing Boris approaching them.
"Nice to meet you, Bowen." Balto said with a smile. "As you already know, I'm Balto and this one is Boris."
"Nice to meet you too." Bowen said with the same smile as Balto, but then a doubtful expression appeared on his face. "Oh, before I forget, can you tell me which town this is?"
"This town is Nome, Alaska." Balto answered, Bowen's jaw opening slightly in shock.
"Y-you're kidding, right? This place can't be Alaska! I-I-I live in Minnesota! H-how I..." he suddenly stopped, remembering the green glow of his bracelet. Bowen shook his head in denial as he repeated, "This can't… This can't be happening! It can't. It can't. It can't."
"Wait, Bowen." Balto interrupted. "You mean you're lost?"
The boy snorted, pacing the floor. "I'm not just 'lost'! I was teleported miles and miles from home in a small town surrounded by snow and…" he sighed, stopping his pacing and looking down sadly. "...I don't even know where I'm going to stay until I find my way home."
As much as he said it, deep down he had no hope of returning. The trip would be too long for him and his parents, perhaps even now, would be worried sick.
"So why don't you stay at my place?" Balto suggested.
He looked at the wolf-dog in surprise. "R-really? Would you… do that for me?"
"Of course, but my place isn't quite what you're thinking." Balto said before explaining a bit nervously: "It's more like a boat stranded on the shore."
"Oh, uh, no problem. I don't mind that." Bowen said in understanding. He shivered and rubbed his arms as a wind passed him. "I have to get used to this cold."
"Balto, I'm not too sure about that." Boris intervened, stepping in front of the wolf-dog. "Wouldn't it be wiser to talk to the humans? They would help him better than we would."
Balto began to think about it. He wanted to be able to help Bowen himself, but if talking to the humans would send him home faster, then this was the right decision.
"No!" Bowen almost shouted, slightly surprising the animals. Ashamedly, he explained: "I... don't like the idea of staying at a stranger's house, and you guys were the only... people? Animals? Anyway! You guys were the only ones I found in this town."
Balto smiled softly. "Then it's decided. You stay with us." he looked at Boris, hoping the goose would agree with him.
After a moment of looking uncertain, Boris sighed in defeat and said, "Okay."
Bowen smiled broadly, holding back the urge to celebrate and jump with joy. "Thank you guys!"
"So…" Balto said, starting to walk. "Let's go."
Boris walked with him as well, Bowen following behind after a while.
Bowen lifted his left arm, tugging at his hoodie sleeve to see the black cord at his wrist, the green crystal unchanged since he'd arrived here.
"Don't worry, Mom, Dad." Bowen thought, looking ahead and quickening his pace as he realized he was falling behind. "I'm coming home."
To be continued...
A/N: So, what do you think? Again, anything wrong you found in the chapter, you can leave a comment.
The Void Master coming out!