Title: Balanced Elements
Author: eternal radiance
Email: zeni24@hotmail.com
Rating: pg13 for violence in later chapters
Pairings: K/Ty, R/Ma, Ken/Hil and slight Ta/Ty
Summary: AU. When darkness tries to take over the world, only 5 boys can prevent that particular horrible future to beginning or end.
Author's Notes: Chapter 1! All about Hilary and Mr. Dickenson and her past and, well his past. Noda! Or something like that. Read and review please!!!
Disclaimer: BB and its characters do not belong to me.
~ change of POV or time gap
"speaking"
'thinking'
(author note's)
flashback
dreams
Balanced ElementsBy: eternal radiance
Chapter 1: We were Strangers, Starting out on a Journey"Mr. 'enns! Mr. 'enns!"
Twinkling brown eyes looked up from the tree he was sitting under. A smile graced his face when he saw the small figure of a young girl dressed in a short brown dress, her red hair up in little pigtails, leaving 2 short pieces of her hair hanging down to frame her small cherub face. Her feet sported too-big sandals, which were threatening to come off anytime, especially with the running she had been doing.
"Emily! What brings you calling?" The old man under the tree asked as the girl, Emily, ran up to him, panting from the long distance she had covered with her short and pudgier legs. "Eddie's sick! Mama said to ask you help."
Mr Dickenson, the old traveler smiled. "Of course I'll help. But first you must help an old man up." He made a whole production of huffing and puffing while the little girl held his hand to try and pull him up. Finally when both of them were up and standing, the old man and the little girl started their brisk-ish walk – which was a bit hard for both as one was old and not much made for walking anymore while the other had already ran as fast as she could and used up most of her energy.
When they arrived to at the house where little Emily lived with her family, the old traveler set to work, placing his hand upon little Eddie's brow, first to check his temperature.
Everyone watched from behind him, as they were still all amazed at how the foreigner healed. They watched as Mr. Dickenson placed his hand over the small boy's forehead and a glowing light flowed from his spread hands into the boy's body before disappearing.
And they stared in awe as the little boy opened his eyes and smiled at them.
~
The entire village was empty other then the few animals that were kept as pets or for future food. All the people had been gathered at the village gates, where one traveler was making his way out.
"Are you sure you cannot stay, my friend?" The elder of the village asked. Having a magical healer in the village was nice and very handy. It saved up upon using herbs and other medicines that could be saved for the most urgent times. But they understood that the traveler had to leave.
Mr Dickenson had confided in the leader about a vision that had been granted to him. It wasn't that he didn't believe these things, but the strangeness of the vision scared him a bit. It predicted coming disaster and the world coming to an end, if not for 5 boys that were to be gathered together. Personally the elder did not know what to think. The fact that the world was falling apart in the first place, was already a strange fact. But the fact that a certain 5 boys were the only ones to be able to stop this was even stranger.
The elder let out a huge sigh. It was not his place to judge prophecies that come from the foreigner's dreams. "Good luck to you, my friend. May the heavens smile upon you on your journey." He chose to say instead. "And upon us……."
~
As Mr. Dickenson went on his way, he decided to travel to the nearest city, Greenland. It, like its name, depicted fields of green grass, hills, (AN: lol, so ironic here, ne?) and big forests. This was the land of the elves, people who the old man had made friends with a long time ago.
It took him about a day – he was not as used to walking now after staying at that last village for awhile to heal the sick – to reach the huge enchanted forest that protected the elven village and acted as it's first barrier (gate) before the actual gate and towers. The village, Greenland, had been very weary of the attacks that their neighbouring villages and cities have had and were very defensive in protecting their lands.
As he neared the enchanted forest, he heard a soft noise coming from behind a giant rock to his left. Peering over the rocky surface of the boulder, he saw a shock of hazel brown hair. There, a tiny girl was laying on the ground, dressed in nothing but an old ragged dress that looked to have been red. She looked as if she had not been cleaned nor fed for moons. Worn sandals lay beside her. They were almost so tattered they were of no use.
Mr Dickenson moved forward to ask the girl her name and to help when he caught sight of the delicate gold chain around her neck; the one thing that seemed to have been kept clean. Only one person could've had that, as he had been the one to give it to that one person, when she was born. And it would not have been found elsewhere, nor duplicated as he had had it made deep in the dwarves' mines by a friend who had owed him a favour. The design had been rightfully his and his alone.
The old man moved forward, not noticing that he girl had shrunken away. "Hilary!" He suddenly cried out. It was she! It was the daughter of his daughter, the one his child had given birth to 13 years ago. The same granddaughter that he had visited 5 years ago, for the last time until they moved; changed homes and had not been able to notify him. It had been one of the reasons he had not been able to visit his granddaughter. But what could have happened to lead her out here to the elves?
"When all else fails, seek the aid of the elves. They will take you in and take care of you."
He became startled at this sudden memory. Now he remembered. The last time he did visit, he had told her himself to seek the aid of the elves, as they were all friends of his and would take care of her when she was hurt or lonely. But the village she had come from must have been far away. How would she have known to walk this way?
Slowly he walked up to the girl, questions deeply engraved into his mind, but he pushed them away, deciding that healing his granddaughter was more important. There would be time for questions later.
"Hilary, its me, grandpapa." He said softly, wishing for his granddaughter to realize it was him. The girl blinked a few times and there must have been something in his face that she recognized as she threw herself into his arms, sobbing loudly. "GRANDPAPA!"
He held the young girl in his arms and let her cry to her heart's content. Finally when he sensed the tears had finally diminished, he asked her what had happened to bring her out here and where her parents – his child and child-in-law – were.
At the mention of her parents, the sobs started anew. Taking a deep breath, she finally revealed to her grandfather what had plagued her for so long as he rubbed her back, whispering healing spells.
flashback
It had started as a normal day. The sun rose at 6 am, the light shining unto a small body in a room. She moved to her side, trying to get away from the sun, only to find that the other window shone unto her face as well. When throwing the blanket over her face didn't work as ell, she decided to finally get out of bed.
Throwing the covers off her body, she sat up on her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Hilary! It's time to get up!" A head of sticking up red locks popped into her door. "Mom wants us to help out with breakfast."
"I'm up, I'm up." Hilary croaked out. Her throat was still a bit sore from the holiday celebration a few sundowns ago. She had spent tat night screaming and dancing with her friends.
Her friend and adopted sister, Selema smiled and giggled from behind her hand. "Hurry up!" She called one last time then left to help in the kitchens as well.
Hilary sighed then fell back on her bed, thinking of her sister.
She had been living with them for a year and a half or so. Hilary had been only a little girl and she had been walking along the road, kicking at the dirt on the path. Her parents were sitting in a cart pulled by Hazel, their brown horse, watching as she skipped and jumped and ran. They were on their way to a new home since thieves and bandits that have managed to escape the nearby prison, had overrun their last village.
After being treated badly and having things stolen, Hilary's family and all their friends decided that they had had enough and wanted to move away. Slowly they packed their things, trying not to let the criminals noticed anything strange.
Hilary smiled as she remembered the night they had packed the last of their things and were on their way to leave. It was that night that she had met Selema. The girl had been in the middle of a brawl between many men. Obviously they had planned on using her, but she was not going to stand there and just let them accomplish that. Hilary had ran to her parents and more then a few of their friends rushed to the girl's aid.
It was during the fight that one man aimed to hit Hilary when Selema took the blow that was meant for her. This quickly ended the fight as Hilary's dad raged at those men for trying to harm his daughter and almost single-handedly take out at least half of them. Having lived on the streets himself, he had learned to defend himself quite well.
When the fight was over, they rushed the fallen Selema to a doctor friend who had decided to stay in the village to help people or travelers who just happened to stumble upon the mischief village. Knowing that their friend would take good care of the young girl, they left her there at the doctor's place with a thank you note and a bracelet that Hilary had made herself for the one who saved her.
It was on the road to their new home that Selema managed to catch up to them. They had not wanted to leave her behind, and it seemed neither did she want to be left behind. She had spent the last day running after the caravans and when she had finally caught up to them, she gave them a huge grin and just collapsed.
Hilary's parents and everyone else gladly took her in and when she had proved useful in the kitchen, something which Hilary's mother couldn't do that well, they officially adopted her into the family as Hilary's older sister.
They had had a good celebration that night; huge bonfire, gigantic feast, music, dancing, everything. Nothing fun had been left out. It had been a celebration of a lifetime. Not only had they escaped the town now known to them as the 'town of bandits', but they had received a new village member. It was a memory to cherish.
"Hilary!"
A voice broke through her thoughts.
"Hilary, did you fall back asleep?" Selema's voice called from outside her door.
"Sorry! I'm coming! She called out and finally ran to join her family.
~
"Hilary, RUN!" Hilary's mother yelled from where she and her husband were standing back to back, facing 8 soldiers holding only a sword and a hammer. "Run! Get out of here!"
"Mother! Father! NO!!!" Hilary cried. Tears ran down her cheeks while she stood there, paralyzed as she watched her mother and father go down together. "NOOO!!!!!"
Selema pulled her away, moving her in-between Hilary and the sight of their parents. As much as she loved them, she knew that Hilary suffered more because they were actually her real family. "Come, little one." She said, pulling onto her little sister's hands and urging her to run. They ran through the village Hilary had now grown to love, where she had grown to her teenage years, which was now half burnt down.
Finally, they were close to some rocks and a cave and Selema left her to deal with the soldiers following them. "If I'm not back in 20 minutes, run okay?" Before eve making sure she promised, Selema ran off to deal with the soldiers, holding a dagger and a metal rod, which she used to try and bring down the soldiers.
Hilary sank down behind the rock, not wanting to look at the chaos happening around her. She brought her knees to her chest, covered her face with her arms and her ears with her hands, blocking off the sounds and sights of the losing battle her village was fighting.
Eventually, her eyes grew weary and she succumbed to the darkness that threatened to smother her. And smother her it did.
~
Crick. Crick.
It was night when Hilary finally woke from her slumber. At first, she thought what had happened before was just a dream. Nightmare maybe. And she was at home, safe and sound, tucked neatly into her small bed. But when she opened her eyes and saw the darkness around her, she knew it had been true. Tears started running down her cheeks once again when everything hit her. Her parents were dead, and –after the look around the cave – she knew Selema was not there and was probably dead as well.
It was silent outside. Too silent for Hilary's liking, as it most likely meant that no one else was alive anymore. It made Hilary sad just thinking about it, but she swallowed her fear and stood.
Peeking outside, she made sure that there was no soldiers still around and slowly crept out of the cave. She was shocked at the amount of destruction that had been done.
There was practically nothing left of her beautiful village. Everything had been burned to the ground like it was nothing of importance to anyone. Bodies lay everything Hilary could see. All the blood that was shed upon the once rich soil and the luscious green grass grossed her out.
Picking through the bodies, she found the location of her house, the day before. She could tell that it was it by the tiny anthill that her mom had found they lived over. Undaunted by the deaths of their comrades, the ants still lived on, and this gave her new hope. Filled with resolve, she finally found the laying place of her family and lay them out properly, knowing that she did not have the strength to give them a proper burial.
Taking two long staves, she stuck one in the dirt beside her family's corpses and lit the other one on fire with a nearby glowing flame then stuck it in the ground as well. It was a tribune done during funerals of loves ones and it just seemed right to do at this time. Next, she carved out the characters of their names, brushed the dirt from their faces, and used a nearby cloth to wipe the blood away, trying to make them as presentable as possible.
"Goodbye mother, father, sister…. Goodbye home……."
The last survivor turned her back on what had been her village and made her way towards the sunset. Towards a new life. One full of magic and prophecy, one that she was destined for.
~
The world will fall into darkness. Nothing and no one will survive. The world will be destroyed, its trees and nature will die, flamed to ashes. The world will be wreaked with disasters, some natural, some not.
The forces of evil will conquer the earth, and only 5 brought together, will be able to prevent this. The destruction of the world as we known it.
Hilary found herself flying over a city. A huge city, where there was a huge difference in-between the rich and the poor. A city where all profits when to the ruler of the city and his loyal subjects.
She looked down and saw glimpses of kids, teens of all ages. Then a picture of a boy caught her attention. He was dressed as royalty should be, but had lacked the harsher glares and prissiness that the others seem to seep off. He had grey-blue hair and piercing crimson red eyes.
All of a sudden, there was a firewall that rose up from behind him and she saw a large finely crafted sword that was held tightly in his hand.
Hilary was confused. Why was she seeing this?
The picture changed and she saw an old man who strongly reminded her of someone, but at first she couldn't think of whom. Then a hand rose to her neck where the golden necklace still shone brightly. She found herself remembering back when she was young, seeing when her grandfather had given her that necklace.
Her grandfather! He had told her once that if she ever needed help to go to the elves. The necklace would direct her to the right way.
The vision faded and Hilary woke up from her slumber.
"It was all a dream" She asked herself. Sighing she picked herself up and stretched. "There's a long journey ahead of me. I should get going." She looked up to the bright clear blue sky and gave a small smile directed t the heavens. "Watch over me, mom, dad, sister."
The picture of Selema giving her a huge grin and a thumbs-up gave her the courage to start walking.
"Wait for me… grandpapa."
~
By midday, Hilary had grown hungry and had stopped at a stream to cool down and to get some water to drink. She noticed some fruit on the other side of a fence. She had thoughts for a bit, about whether it would be alright for her to just go in to get some, but the growling in her stomach overruled those thoughts and her mind ad she found herself climbing over the fence and jumping to the other side.
She was amazed at how much fruit there actually was in the garden. Every tree was laden with delicious looking fruit that made Hilary's mouth water and her stomach protest louder. She ignored the voice inside her that was telling her to leave this place at once.
Hilary ate as many as she could, not knowing when the next meal would be.
Then she started picking a few to carry off with her on her long unknown journey when she heard a rush of footsteps and some voices. Getting scared, she pressed herself up against a tree trunk as close as possible and tried to minimize the sound of her breathing.
The voices and stomping got louder and her fear grew stronger. Finally, the creatures were close enough so that she could make out the words.
"Our garden has been disturbed! Someone has gotten in! We must kill them now, for trespassing and for eating the magical fruit these trees bear to us and us alone!" (AN: O.O oh. my. god… I can't believe I'm writing this…)
To Hilary's great shock and surprise, these huge beings were a cross between a beetle and a gorilla like creatures with claws. The body was hairy and they had beetle wings attached to their backs. They had an almost human head and fingers on their heads. There were 4 or them.
Hilary's heart almost jumped up her throat. She was so afraid that her heart literally stopped beating. Never had she ever seen such a creature.
The claws gleamed and the young girl could almost feel them cutting into her.
She just stood there, back against a bright brown-orange tree trunk, hands on both sides and her eyes opened wide. She prayed to every being in heaven that she knew, and gods to let the creatures not see her.
It wasn't until they left and she heard their footsteps stomping off that she knew it was safe to move. She looked down at her body and noticed a strange silver like glint coming from her necklace. Her grandfather had said something about magical powers that the necklace had and it's ability to protect the wearer. It must have made her invisible to the naked eye and allowed her to escape unharmed. 'I love you so much, grandpapa.' She smiled in her head.
Deciding to take this chance to leave, she did not noticing that she had unwittingly brought along some fruit with her. She climbed over the fence the jumped down, just in time to see one of the brown hairy creatures fly at her.
She screamed as he lunged her way and then looked in amazement when it couldn't pass the fence.
"Come back THIEF!" It cried, slamming its body against the fence, grunting at its unsuccessful attempts to break through. "Thief! Hand me back the magical fruit!"
"Magical fruit?" Hilary asked, taking one of the red juicy-looking fruits out and peered at it.
"Yes! One bite and your hunger will be satisfied for the day. It is mine! GIVE IT BACK!"
Hilary stuck out her tongue. "You have more then enough. You won't miss a few, so sorry!" Then she ran off, away from the cursed garden, laughing lightly at the creature.
"Too bad, so sod!" She yelled then went on her way.
end flashback (AN: took long enough, ne?)
"And after that, I tried to make it here as soon as possible. I didn't have time to rest." Hilary explained.
Mr. Dickenson was saddened at what his granddaughter had to go through and pulled her into another smothering hug. "It's alright. Everything will be okay now."
The young girl smiled sadly then yawned widely. "I'm glad I found you grandpapa."
The old man pulled her closer to him, warming her with his body heat. "I'm glad you did as well. Now sleep little one. There will be times for questions and answers later."
When his granddaughter nodded off to dreamland, he lay her down on the ground , covering her with his cloak and wandered not too far away to gather some firewood to burn for the small fire they'd need for the night.
The sun had set earlier during Hilary's tale and now the moon had come up and there was only a few rays of the setting sun.
Mr. Dickenson settled down beside his granddaughter and started piling a nice pile of branches for his fire when he heard a branch crack from behind him. A soft breathing that was almost non-existent except to his superior hearing indicated to him that there was someone there.
Drawing a dagger from his cloak, he knelt over Hilary's sleeping form. "Show yourself."
A twinkling laughter sounded to his left, not at all harmful and the old traveler relaxed. He sat back down, poking a stick into the fire to start it up. "You can come out now, Owen."
There was the laughter again and an elven figure appeared from behind the rocks. He had long blond locks, some braided some not. He wore a green tunic over black pants. A green cloak with a hood was draped on his shoulders to camouflage him into the trees. He had piercing silver eyes and there was a huge grin on his face. "Old man, you came back to us!" He said, bouncing over to the fire.
Mr. Dickenson laughed as well. "Of course. I did promise that I would." He said with a smile. "But what are you doing out here? Did you get locked out of Greenland again?"
Owen gave a sheepish grin. "That was a one time thing." Remembering when he was little and full of mischief. Not that he wasn't now, of course.
"I was practicing some tracking." Then the elf noticed the little girl under his old mentor's clock. "Who's she?" He asked, poking her shoulder with one long elegant finger."
Mr. Dickenson grabbed his finger with his hand. "Stop that." He said calmly. "Let her sleep. She is my granddaughter, Hilary. The old man patted the little girl's head before tucking the cloak around her securely. "Her parents just died and we just found each other awhile ago. She's been through a lot."
"Oh…" the elf said, trying not to remember the fact that he as well, was orphaned now. He put a finger over his mouth to signal that he would be quiet. The he thought of something. "Why don't we just go to Greenland now? I'm sure the elders will be glad to see you again and Ailuin just had her firstborn an wanted to wait until you got back to name you grandfather." Then he smacked one hand over his mouth. "I mean- opps, I wasn't supposed to say that." He physically hit himself on the head. "Please don't tell her I told you!"
Mr. Dickenson laughed. He had missed Owen's silly antics a lot, not that he didn't miss the boy just as much. He had taught him so long ago about the elements of the earth and had comforted him and Ailuin when they were young and lost their parents. "I won't say anything if you don't."
Owen nodded happily then all of a sudden threw himself at the old man. "I missed you lots." He said, before pulling away.
Mr. Dickenson patted the boy on the back, just like he did when Owen was young. "I missed you too." Then he stretched. "Now help a old man up."
~
'Where am I?' was the first thing Hilary thought when she woke up one morning. Her eyes opened to the bright sunlight and she stared around her, noticing that this was not the starting edge of the forest where she was the last time she was awake after finding her grandfather.
"Where's grandpapa?" Hilary asked next, panicking. What if she had been kidnapped to be some weird guy's wife or something? What if they killed her grandfather? She tried to get up than she noticed one man leaning against the doorway. Her eyes took in his appearance, his clothes and then went up to his face, where she saw pointed ears. "You're an elf!" She cried out loud.
The man nodded. "Wait here, I'll be back." Then he disappeared out of the room.
Hilary didn't even notice him leaving. Thoughts were running through her head. 'If that was an elf, than I must be at Greenland! But how did I get in? I distinctively remembered falling asleep outside beside Grandpa. And what happened to grandpa then? Did the elves take him away? They really as friendly as grandpapa said?'
It wasn't until the elf returned that Hilary had saw he left in the first place. Then she saw who had followed him in. "GRANDPAPA!!" She cried out, throwing herself into the arms of the freshly cleaned and clothed old man.
Mr. Dickenson laughed then hugged her back. "I'm glad you're awake, Hilary. There's so much to talk about."
When Hilary's stomach interrupted him, he chuckled. "But first we must take care of this little problem." He said, poking at her stomach lightly.
The elf at the door bowed low. "Forgive me. I had forgotten about your traveling. I will direct you to the dining hall. It is time for midday." He bowed once again after speaking.
Mr. Dickenson patted the elf on the back. "You do not have to be so formal with me, Severiun. Lighten up."
The elf, Severiun, nodded and although he did no 'lighten up'; Hilary noticed that his lips curled up into a soft smile – a tiny one, but nonetheless it was a smile. He beckoned them out of the rood Hilary had been sleeping in and led the to the dining hall.
~
"So let me go over this again. The world's going to end if 'we' do not find the 5 people who would stop the evil whatever thing from taking over the world." Hilary stopped to glance over at her grandfather and received a nod from him. Then she continued.
"And I have these strange prophetic dreams of visions that allow me to see whatever happens in the future or who we have to look for.
She received another nod and slumped down on the bed that she had been given.
Mr. Dickenson watched her think silently. Then she stood up suddenly and smiled. "Let's go then!"
The old man stared up at her then smiled as well. "You really want to do this?" He questioned her. "You could always stay here with the elves. Owen and the others would be happy to have you stay."
Hilary shook her head. "I want to stay with you." She had a deep fear that her grandfather, the last of her family, would die as well and leave her alone. "And plus, I'll get to see all these cute guys as well!"
Mr. Dickenson chuckled loudly. "Ok, ok." Then he laughed again. "All those 5 people are guys, some not much older then you." He hinted before leaving the room to get ready.
Hilary stared at the back of her grandfather.
"YES!"
~
"I wonder what mom and dad would say if they saw me now…" Hilary asked herself, looking up at the black night sky.
"They would be proud of you." Her grandfather's voice came from behind her. "Just as I am proud of you."
Hilary smiled up at him, glad that he was here. "Thanks, grandpapa." Then she looked back up at the dark sky, almost seeming as she was trying to convey a message to the stars. She turned back to him after awhile. "So where is this Kai? Where are we going?"
Mr. Dickenson looked at her in surprise, but figured in his head how she knew the boy's name. "He's the Prince of Russia."
Hilary looked interested, but her grandfather laughed. "He controls the element of fire."
"Awww…" She whined. She knew that fire was to go with the whoever was controlling the element of wind, and earth with water. So technically, the only guy she couldn't been with, was the 'metal' guy. "So how long would it take us to get there?" She asked, wondering how much walking they'd have to do.
"At most, 2 days." The old man told her. "We better get some sleep. It'll be a long walk."
The 2 walked back to their little campsite and drew the blankets over themselves. "Night grandpapa."
"Goodnight, Hilary."
And so, one the road, a family; grandfather and granddaughter, slept close to one another, hoping to never be apart, but unaware of the adventures they would get into.
In one big city, one boy woke up from the good dreams he was having, to find guards banging at his chamber door.
TBC…
Eternal radiance: I swear, this is one of the longest chapters I've ever writing! I'm soooo sorry it took so long though. I'll try and get the next chapter up faster. It's about Kai, hehe. And since I actually have a deadline for this story now…. I have to work, work, and work! Speaking of working… hm… chemistry and math test, fun. I'll TRY to get the next chapter up soon, but no promises, sorry.
Next Chapter: Pheonix FlameREVIEW KUDASAI!!!!
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