'Aiden', apparently, shifts off of the couch. His own clothing is rather similar to 'Gill's'- a leather jacket with straps (although noticeably his shoulderpads actually have little spikes on them), black pants, silver metal kneepads... in fact, if it weren't for the fact that his shirt is white, and he also seems to have tiny red studs in his ears, and, hm, yeah, the bandage over his left eye is a pretty big difference, Aiden would look like he is wearing the exact same thing as Gill.

He gives the very-short Jesse a once-over, before his lips quirk up into a humorless smile. "Sorry. This is probably late, but please don't be alarmed. We're not planning to hurt you or anything like that."

He inclines his head politely at them, still smiling without any humor. "I'm Aiden, and the guy who dragged you in is Gill."

"Hey, Aiden," and Jesse looks up as a young, blonde man comes in. His clothing is also characterized by the metal shoulderplates, but unlike Gill and Aiden, he doesn't have a lot of straps- he just has one brown belt that holds a few pouches over his leather jacket and orange shirt. His metal-tipped boots go up to his knees, hiding most of his dark gray pants. "Did someone..."

He trails off upon spotting Jesse. Well, actually, spotting is a relative term, because his eyes are hidden entirely by a red silky-looking blindfold. He cocks his head at them a moment later. "... taking that as a yes."

Aiden huffs, jerking his head at the blonde. His smile does soften a bit though, and Jesse swears they can feel it warm up a bit. "And that guy's name is Lukas. Yours?"

And immediately, all three boys are looking at Jesse.

Well, they're guessing for Lukas, but still.

Jesse ducks their head, feeling their cheeks redden at the fact that all three of them are looking at Jesse, especially with inhumanly red eyes. What doesn't help is the fact that they feel like they're a ten-year-old being invited to hang out with a bunch of 17-or-18 year olds, since that's the way all three of them look. "I'm- I'm Jesse."

Gill cocks his head at them at that, red eye squinting up. "Sorry, what was that?"

"My name's Jesse," Jesse repeats their name a little louder, feeling their insides twist a little bit anxiously. Great, two seconds into this meeting (as weird as it is) and they're already too quiet for people to hear them. This is going to go as well as it usually does when they talk to other people.

Which is to say, not well at all.

Jesse's anxiety is cut off when a door swings open, revealing a young woman (a girl? She does look around Jesse's age as well).

Her clothing is (unsurprisingly) much the same as the other three, with a black leather jacket over a bright red shirt. She also has a pirate eye patch like Gill does (which makes Jesse wonder if they like pirates), and her straps are much fewer than Aiden's but a few more than Lukas has, dark brown boots coming to her knees and topping it off with a protective kneecap. She also has a red-gold pin keeping most of her light brown hair out of her face.

She yawns.

"Did someone just come, Aiden...?" Her voice trails off as she spots the fluffy-haired Jesse standing in between the three males, eyes widening.

And then her eyes shine with excitement, skipping forward until she's nearly face-to-face with Jesse, a huge, excited grin coming across her face. "Ohhhhh! They're so cute!"

Gill halfheartedly scowls at her, crossing his arms. "Oi, when'd you get here?"

Aiden completely ignores the question and gives Maya a perplexed smile. "Well, you're excited, Maya."

"Of course! This is literally the first human to show up here in twenty years!"

Jesse blinks.

Twenty years? But... they all appear to be the same age as them.

Ah, wait, that's not the only odd thing.

Human.

Meaning...

These four weren't human?

Lukas hums, thumbing the corner of his mouth thoughtfully as he regards Jesse, completely ignoring the confused swirl of everything currently inside of them. (Seriously, is he looking at them? He's wearing a blindfold.) "Hmm... that's true. Though I can't tell if they're a girl or a boy."

Jesse feels their cheeks redden, but before they can say anything, Gill chimes in. "That's not that bad, considering I can't tell if Maya's a girl or a boy either."

Maya's grin falls into a somewhat-playful glare, red eye almost sparking as she narrows her eyes at Gill. "Picking a fight, are we?"

"Heh, bring it on."

Annnnd now the two are chucking things at each other.

Jesse watches a vase full of flowers, a teacup, a chair, a table, a bench, a painting, a candle, a candlestick holder, and a lamp fly past them from different angles before they timidly glance over at Lukas, who seems to be watching the interaction with mild amusement. "Um... should you guys stop 'em?"

Aiden shrugs and huffs a fond-sounding laugh, making Jesse swivel to look at him. "Ah... don't worry about them. They're usually like that."

He turns and gives Jesse another humorless smile. "Now, how about we have a cup of tea and a quick-"

Jesse reacts before they even really realize they're seeing a lamp fly at Aiden.

They grab his sleeve and yank him forward while also diving to the side, the momentum of both movements knocking them into a spin so that Jesse is where Aiden is and Aiden is where Jesse was moments before-

The lamp smacks into their back and knocks them flat on their face, back letting out a shriek of complaint as the lamp manages to hit about five of their bruises as they bite their tongue to keep themselves from crying out.

Maya and Gill freeze as Lukas lets out a vehement exclamation and stoops down to check on them, Aiden blinking in shock at thin air before looking down at Jesse. "Holy crap, are you okay?"

Jesse doesn't think they can say anything without sounding like they might cry or at least sound like they're in pain.

So instead they just raise their hand, without even lifting their face, and give them a thumbs' up.

Aiden grimaces and leans down to help Jesse up, literally picking them up (face momentarily changing as he realizes how light they are) and setting them on their feet. "Er... thanks."

"Mmhm..."

After confirming that Jesse is, in fact, mostly alright, Lukas gives a pleasant hum and turns on his heel to face Maya and Gill, who look absolutely stricken. "Which one of you two threw that?"

"He... help..." The two have given up completely on their fight and are now clinging to each other as Lukas slowly walks towards them.


A while after Lukas tugs Maya and Gill through a side door while Aiden takes Jesse to the sofa and gets them some tea (and a cookie as thanks), and after Lukas comes back in with a very scolded-puppy-looking Maya and Gill, and after they all sit on the sofa and the chairs and get situated, the blonde still shooting the occasional glance at the two- when, in short, some time has passed and Jesse's back has stopped aching, Jesse timidly speaks up.

"I, um... I should be heading back to my house now..." They don't know how much time has passed, but it's certainly late enough that they're not going to be able to avoid their legal guardian, and maybe, maybe if they go now, they'll escape the worst of it.

Aiden tilts his head, brow momentarily creasing at the way Jesse phrases that, before it clears back into a light look. "Oh? Well, I suppose I'll hurry and get to the point then."

His light look becomes outright business-like, brisk and no-nonsense. "What did you come here for? Is there something you desire?"

Jesse pauses, knowing that what they're about to say sounds childish and embarrassing and stupid besides.

But they say it anyway.

"Um... some... someone told me that if I came here, my wish would be granted..."

A long, long pause as the four of them look at them and Jesse blinks back.

"Pff-"

The tiny puff of air through Aiden's lips is enough to set all four of them off, Gill toppling off his chair with a raucous cackle while Maya turns and starts slapping the back of hers, giggling all the while. Lukas covers his mouth with his hand, almost seeming to try to be nice about hiding it, while Aiden just outright laughs. He doesn't even bother to hide it.

Jesse feels the blood flush their cheeks as Maya gasps, "A- a wish? And you actually believed that?"

"Oh- oh- oh-" Gill's laughter is so bad that he's almost literally rolling on the floor. "That's a new one! These humans are simply too much!"

Jesse looks down at their lap, feeling their face become incredibly hot.

They're used to people laughing at them, of course, but... really, they were hoping this would be different.

"I... I know it's- I know it's dumb." Their voice is a tiny, tiny whisper. "You guys don't have to laugh so much."

Lukas lowers his hand, breathing catching in a soft chuckle. "Sorry, sorry, it's just-" Another huff of air comes out, and he dissolves back into soft laughter.

Their face feels like a little miniature oven now. Jesse covers their face to try to hide the fact that they're currently redder than Maya's shirt.

Maybe they shouldn't have said anything.

Aiden's chuckles subside a moment later, before he goes quiet, even as the other three continue chuckling. "Jesse? You alright?"

Jesse hastily lowers their hands, still feeling their face being about twenty degrees higher than the average human body. Judging by the way Maya's laughter dies and Lukas's fade and the way Gill slowly sits up, and the way Aiden's brow is furrowed, all of them notice as well.

"Y-yeah, it's- it's just embarrassing." And they give a weak little laugh.

There is a long, long moment where the four of them look at Jesse and Jesse looks at their knees, trying to ignore the fact that they're definitely the shade of the cherry soda they drank earlier today.

"Well, uh... we're done laughing now. What's your wish?" Lukas asks at last, his voice a little kinder now. Perhaps he realizes Jesse's now absolutely embarrassed out of their mind. Perhaps he can sense why exactly Jesse is a very nice shade of bright red.

Jesse opens their mouth to say it-

- and then they pause.

How absolutely, absolutely selfish that the possibility of a wish coming true exists, and you want to use that wish to get something for yourself.

How very, very, very selfish of you.

(And how very much Jesse wants it.)

"... it's... it's kind of stupid, honestly," Jesse gives a weak laugh, averting their eyes again. "It's definitely not something you guys would care about. I should just head home."

Another moment where the four of them are exchanging glances. Jesse can tell even though they're not looking at them that every red eye (and blindfold, in Lukas's case) has flickered to meet someone else's.

"Well, um... alright, then. If you're sure." Gill's voice has softened too.

Jesse gives a stiff, tiny nod in reply, not trusting their voice.

I should've expected this would be the same.

I should've expected that these people wouldn't be any different.

Why did I even expect that in the first place?

Stupid, stupid child.

The atmosphere of the room has become very tense now. Aiden awkwardly clears his throat and looks at Maya. "Uh, well... Maya, what time is it?"

Maya twists around to look at the clock, Jesse also lifting their head to see the time.

The clock bell tolls once.

Twice.

Both hands are right on the twelve.

"WHAT?!" Jesse flinches as their head snaps around, hopping to their feet automatically as Maya jumps off the couch, eyes wide with shock as the clock bells continue tolling, three, four, five. "IT'S MIDNIGHT ALREADY?!"

Six.

Gill mutters a swear as Aiden thumbs the corner of his mouth again, brow furrowing. "This is bad... Lukas, get the door!"

Seven tolls, eight tolls, nine tolls.

"Already on it!"

Jesse's head snaps around to see Lukas already halfway down the hallway. They might've moved fast earlier this morning, but Lukas is moving at a speed that Jesse would've never found possible. I didn't even see him move!

Ten.

Lukas's hand lands on the doorknob, twisting it sharply and flinging the door open.

Eleven.

Jesse barely manages to catch a glimpse of the clearing, the moon high above it and illuminating the trees in a soft blue light, before it's disappearing as a black vortex practically sucks it away. Moments later, blinding white light flares out, a blast of wind tearing through the manor.

Twelve.

"Geh-" Lukas flinches and throws his arms' up, almost as if shielding himself from the light, blonde hair ruffling in the wind. Aiden tsks his tongue, also with one arm up in protection, his jacket fluttering in the wind.

For a moment, the world around Jesse fades away as their heartbeat fills their ears, drowning out the sound of the howling wind.

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

The light fades a moment later, Lukas cautiously lowering his arms with an unhappy hum. "Didn't make it in time..."

Aiden strides forward briskly and grabs the front of Jesse's shirt, making them instantly flinch at the action, expecting him to hit them. His gaze changes, before it hardens again and he stares at Jesse intently, almost peering into their wide green eyes.

A few seconds pass before he releases them, gaze still hard.

"Their heart is gone."


A/N: Welp, that's another chapter done! Please let me know what you guys think. I'm pretty proud of how this improved since the old one.

Also, please review. Reviews are great.

But yeah... poor tiny Jesse. There's definitely some changes in here that are a bit... more interesting, I suppose.

Also, I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but there are possible triggers in this story, and I'm afraid to say there might be quite a few. If you've reached this point, do not continue reading if you are uncomfortable with topics such as child abuse, violence, depression, or self-harm.

x.X. A.L. X.x