Yo, Gamerctm here ladies and gentlemen! And if you have ever read any of my other fics, you'd see that they are full o' violence, blood, death, and humor. This ONESHOT based on the two main characters of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin will be kinda ...fluffy... (I so do NOT feel like a man having said that...) Please read and review and feel free to check out my other stuff if you want! Enjoy!
Our First Meeting
Little Jonathon Morris let out another annoyed sigh as his mother had him by the hand and was walking him towards a large white mansion-like house. He, his mother and his father John Morris, had been invited to a dinner party by some friends of the family... but really they were his parents' friends, Jonathon never even met them before. But since he was a part of the Morris Family, they were automatically his friends too.
The boy was dressed in a white dress shirt with red shorts and brown shoes, his blond hair all styled and looking neat, the way he hated it. Jonathon would rather be at home... no... ANYWHERE ELSE than have to go to this event. Some days, being a kid stunk...
"Why do we have to go to some boring dinner party?" The 8-year-old whined a little to his parents, obviously not wanted to go.
"Sweetie..." His mother started to say with a small smile. "They're our friends and we were invited to attend. It would have been rude to refuse."
Jonathon was now even more annoyed. "But why do I have to go? No one ever does anything but tell boring stories and eat nasty food!" The boy started to shudder when he thought about the time his father made him taste caviar and liver.
The boy's father let out a small chuckle. "C'mon Jonathon! The food's not that bad. You haven't lived until you tried escargot."
"I don't even know what that is, but I know it'll taste bad!" Jonathon tried to think of the most disgusting thing they could try and feed him... For some reason, he kept thinking about dead snails... "This day's gonna stink!"
"Oh no sweetie..." His mother's voice interrupted his thoughts. "They have a very sweet little girl close to your age you can play with."
"So what? I don't care..."
"Why not, Jonathon?" His mother asked. "You might make a new friend."
Friends... Jonathon didn't have any friends... he really didn't want any. He was the kind of kid who wanted to do everything on his own... and he felt that having friends around would hold him back. "I don't wanna make friends..."
"A man's nothing without his friends, Jonathon..." His father wisely said. But Jonathon just brushed off this advice as another thing grownups say to sound smart.
Just as Jonathon thought... the dinner party was boring... it was nothing but a bunch of grownups talking and telling stupid stories about their lives, thinking they were interesting. Jonathon could safely say his father's stories of fighting Dracula would be the only good stories he would ever hear in his life. But his father wouldn't be telling those stories today at the party, so now Jonathon had no choice but to be bored. There weren't even any kids his age there. He probably was the only kid there.
After sitting by the dinner table for a good half-hour, he finally decided to head outside to the garden. As he was walking he caught a glimpse of the escargot his father was talking about and muttered to himself, "I knew it'd be dead snails..."
Once he stepped outside and walked into the garden, he was surrounded by dozens of beautiful flowers patches, rose bushes, fully grown healthy trees, and hedges trimmed into the shape of various animals and objects.
Another thing that caught his eye was the large fountain right in the center of the garden. He walked over to it and looked at his reflection in the crystal clear water. In a haste, he undid his hair and made it messy again. When he was done, and looked up and saw a cute little girl sitting on a bench in front of some bushes.
She had long brown hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a pretty blue party dress with fancy blue sandals. She looked like she was no older than Jonathon was, probably younger. She didn't notice that Jonathon was standing by the fountain since she was busy reading a large book with the title "The Prince and the Pauper" printed on the front cover.
Jonathon looked at her for a while until he realized he had the perfect way to get rid of his boredom. He smiled mischievously and quickly, but quietly, sneaked away from the scene.
6-year-old Charlotte Aulin was sitting outside, reading one of her favorites books, and was quite content. She was happy she could spend the rest of her parent's dinner party outside in the garden rather than inside with all the guests her parent just had to invite.
Despite the little girl's protests, her parents hosted a dinner party for no reason at all. Just to have company... Charlotte, however, hated having company over. Every time one of her parents' friends would walk pass her, they would stop dead in their tracks, tell Charlotte how cute she was, how tiny she was, ask her how old she was now while talking in the annoying child voice grownups seemed to love to use. What she hated the most was that some of the older adults liked to pull on her cheaks like her face was made of putty, saying 'You're soooooo cute!' She hated always being treated like a child.
In her mind, she was practically an adult, and should be treated like one. Every time she told someone she was an adult already, they would pat her little head and say 'How cute!' It made her sick just thinking about it...
However, she stopped reading when something poked her in the back. "Ouch!" She yelped and jumped up in surprise. She rubbed the spot on her back she was poked on and tried to see what had poked her. There was nothing there.
She cutely shrugged her shoulders and sat back down on the bench. After a minute or so, she felt another poke on her back, only harder this time. "Ow!" She jumped back up and had an annoyed, angry look on her face. She could almost swear she could hear someone chuckling somewhere. Cautiously, she sat back down, getting back inside her book.
Hiding in the bushes behind Charlotte, Jonathon was trying hard not to laugh so loud and get her attention. He had in his hand a stick and had been poking the girl in the back for fun. He smiled and carefully brought the end of the stick to the girl's back, this time poking her 3 times in a row.
"Ahh!" When he heard the girl shout and jump up again, he had to fight against bursting out laughing. Jonathon could do this all day... or so he thought. When he peeked to look at the girl, he saw she was gone.
"Huh?" Jonathon looked around as much as he could while still hiding to see if he could find her. "Where'd she go...?" He thought to himself, while someone was sneaking up on him from behind... getting closer to his ear...
"BOO!!!"
"AHHHHH!!!" Jonathon leaped out of the bushes. He got back on his feet and saw Charlotte standing in front of him, holding her book to her chest, with a small smile on her face. "You! Why'd you scream in my ear like that?!"
"Why did you poke me?" She asked innocently, tilting her head slightly to the right.
"Cuz I'm bored..." He said with a scoff and scratched his nose.
"So why take it out on me?" Charlotte asked.
"...Because..."
"Because why?"
"Because because!"
"Because because why?"
Jonathon was now getting a little annoyed. He had to think of something else to say... "Cuz I'm bigger than you!"
"Well, that's a stupid reason..." Charlotte said while she pouted a little.
"You're stupid!" Jonathon quipped back, grinning like he got her good.
Charlotte was shocked. "Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
Charlotte had to end this... they were going nowhere fast. "I bet you can't even spell 'stupid!'"
"Easy!" Jonathon said enthusiastically... but then he scratched his head and was deep in thought. "Here... let's see... S...T... uh..." He tried sounding out the syllables. "Stup... stup... O...O...P...I...D!!!" He smiled in triumph.
Charlotte rolled her eyes and sweat dropped. "Hey... it's S-T-U-P-I-D... stupid..."
Jonathon looked at her with a sheepish smile. "I...I knew that! I was just testing you!"
"Yeah, right..."
Jonathon looked at the book she holding. "Huh? What are you reading for? You're not in school or anything."
Charlotte looked at him and started to explain, "I'm reading because I like to. This is my most favorite story... hey!" Jonathon took the book from her and started to look through the pages. "Give it back!"
"How can you read this?" He asked her. "There's no pictures!"
"You gotta use your imagination!" She grabbed the book back and held it close to her chest again.
Jonathon let out a bored sigh. "That's no fun..."
"It is fun! You're just too stupid to have an imagination!"
"Who says?"
"I say!"
"Well who cares what you say? You're just a little kid!"
"Hey!" Charlotte shouted at him and narrowed her eyes. "I'm not little! I'm 6 and a half years old, so there! That means I'm an adult!"
Jonathon laughed out loud at her. "Ooooh, you're 6 years old? I'm so sorry!" Jonathon laughed even more, while Charlotte pouted even more, clutching her book closer to her chest. "Look at the little adult!" Jonathon kept laughing... until Charlotte kicked the boy hard in the leg. "OWWWW!!!" He grabbed his leg and fell to the grown, rolling in pain. "That hurt..."
"Hmmp!" Charlotte angrily stomped away. "You're so mean! I don't like you!" And with that, she left.
"Yeah!?" Jonathon shouted back. "Well, I don't like you either! Ow!" He grabbed his leg again and started rolling again.
Charlotte calmed down a little as she found a new bench to sit and read in peace. Well almost in peace... she couldn't stop thinking about that mean boy she met in the garden. She really didn't like him at all.
"That meanie..." She thought to herself. "I didn't do anything to him, and he just pokes me with a stick while I'm reading? And he laughed at me when I told him I was an adult... Just another person looking down on me..." She let out a sad sigh. "I wish he wasn't so mean... I'd ask him to be my friend..."
The little, lonely girl didn't really have any friends. She was too shy to open up to anyone and would keep to herself. In school, she always sat alone while other children had friends to play with. At home, she stayed either in the house, or in the garden, reading her countless number of books and encyclopedias. She was a brilliant, but lonely child.
"Who needs friends anyway... not me..." She was trying to get the boy out of her mind. "My books are the only friends I need..."
She would have kept reading in peace, but she could here some people laughing menacingly and heading towards her. She peeked from behind her book and saw 3, big, scary looking boys that were definitely much older than her approaching. She quickly looked back inside her book, hoping they would just walk past her and leave her alone.
"Hey little girl!" She wasn't so lucky... the tallest boy, obviously the leader of the 3, spoke to her with a wicked smile on his face. "Whatcha doing?"
Charlotte was a little nervous, so she held on tighter to book and kept her eyes focused on the page she was on. "R...Reading..."
The bully noticed that she wasn't looking at him, and didn't like that. "How bout you look at me when I talk to you?" She didn't even budge. "Maybe it's cuz this book is in your way!" He snatched it from her hands and held it up and away from her.
"Hey! Gimme back my book!" Charlotte got up and tried to jump and retrieve her book. The other bullies started to laugh and taunt her.
"Come on, little girl! You can get it!" The leader said while holding it away from her. "Keep-away!" The bully threw the book to one of his friends, who threw it to the next.
Charlotte tried to chase after her book, while the bullies shouted 'Keep-away!' at her. She was about to get it back, when the leader bully had it in his hands again. "Give it back now!" She shouted at him.
"Ok ok!" The bully said, and started to give the book back to her. "Whoops!" But he quickly tossed in aside and into a mud puddle. The book had opened and fell pages first into the wet, watery mud, ruining the book. "Awww... I'm sooooo sorry..." He and the other boys laughed even more.
Charlotte felt her eyes welling with tears. Her most favorite book... ruined...
"Awww... she's gonna cry!" The boy laughed at her more, making her grit her teeth in anger. With one hard kick, she struck the leader bully in the leg and made him scream out in pain. "OWWWW!!!"
She started kicking him in the same leg more, letting small tears escape her eyes. But she stopped when the bully pushed her down on the dirt road. "Ahh!" She hit the ground hard and now had the bully looming over her.
"You little brat!" He shouted at her while balling his fists tight. "You got a pretty bad attitude... I'm gonna have to beat it out you!" Just as he was about to hit the poor girl, a rock struck him in the back. "OW!!!" He spun around and was met with another rock in the chest. "OWWW!!!"
Standing a distance away from Charlotte and the bullies was Jonathon, holding a couple more stones in his hands. "Leave her alone, you creep! You wanna try and fight someone? How bout you fight me, man to man!?"
"Let's get 'im!" All 3 bullies ran towards the lone Jonathon at once. Of course... most bullies hardly ever fight 'man to man' when their friends are conveniently at the scene too. When the reached the boy, they started punching him, while Jonathon tried hard to fight back and defend him self.
Charlotte watched in terror as the boy who came to her rescue was being beaten up. She couldn't watch anymore and looked away, covering her crying eyes. She could hear the fight continue on and the sound of the boys shouting. But when it got quiet she slowly uncovered her eyes, and saw her muddy book in front of her, with Jonathon holding it out toward her.
Jonathon, lip bleeding, a slight swollen eye that was sure to blacken, and a large bruise on the left side of his face, had fought off the bullies and sent them running away. Charlotte looked at his face... "If they did this to him... just how bad did he beat them up?"
"Here..." Jonathon said as he handed Charlotte her book. She took it and hugged it to her chest, not caring how muddy it was. "I don't know if you want anymore since it's so muddy... but maybe it could be cleaned and look good as new?" He smiled a little.
Charlotte looked at his smile, then nervously looked at her feet. "T-Thank you for saving me... I thought you didn't like me though..."
"My dad always says to help out anyone who needs it. And you needed it. So..." Jonathon stopped talking and looked at the girl in front of him, staring at the ground. "You uh... probably want to leave so I'll be going... and... I'm sorry for being so mean earlier..." As he started to walk away, he could feel the girl pulling on his arm to stop him. "Huh?"
Charlotte had set her book down and was holding his arm with both hands. She didn't want him to leave her, not after what he had done for her. "Do... do you want to play with me?"
"Huh?" Jonathon was a little confused. "You want me to play with you?" Charlotte nodded, while blushing a very tiny bit. "O...Ok." Normally, Jonathon would have refused, but there was something different about this girl than other other kid he ever met...
Charlotte let go of him and had a big smile her face. "Really? Thanks!"
Jonathon smiled back at her. "I'm Jonathon by the way... Jonathon Morris."
"Jonathon? That's a nice name." When she said this, Jonathon grinned and scratched his head. "I'm Charlotte Aulin... it's very nice to meet you." She curtsied like a little lady.
"What do you want do then?" Jonathon asked.
Charlotte started to ponder what they should do first? In a moment she had an idea. "Hide and seek!"
Jonathon smiled. "Ok... but I hide first! Count to 20!" Charlotte nodded and covered her eyes. Jonathon ran off in a haste to find a good spot to hide in.
"1...2...3..."
Jonathon made his way back in the garden and looked around for the perfect spot to hide in. He made his way to one of the trees and quickly climbed up it. "She'll never find me up here!" He made it to the top and was well hidden among the branches and leaves.
After a while, he could see Charlotte looking all over the garden for him. "Come on out Jonathon!" She called out while looking through some bushes.
Jonathon snickered but could hear a loud snap. "Huh?" He realized what it was when the branch he was on snapped and broke from the tree. "Ahhhhh!" The boy was lucky to fall into a patch of soft flowers, though he was a little shaken up. He got back to his feet and felt Charlotte poke him with her finger.
"I found you!" She exclaimed happily. "Now I can hide!"
Jonathon sighed dejectedly, but covered his eyes. As the girl ran off, he peeked and saw where she was heading. "1..2..."
"No peeking!"
"Oops!" He covered his completely and continued counting.
"Charlotte!" Jonathon was walking along, looking for the girl. "Charlotte!!!" "Wow... she's a good hider!" The area around the house was pretty big so finding her would be pretty hard. When he looked around, he could see a wooden swing hanging off a huge tree. He could also see Charlotte standing behind the tree with her eyes covered. "Found you!" He ran towards her.
"No you didn't!" She said. "I have my eyes covered, so I'm still hiding!"
"That's not a real rule!" Jonathon said while trying to pull the girl's hands away from her eyes.
"Yes it is!" She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Who says?" He did the same thing and stuck his tongue out at her.
"I do!"
"You're not the boss!"
"Yes I am!"
Jonathon was about to say something... when he shouted, "Hey, what's that over there?!"
"Where?!" Charlotte removed her hands and looked around.
Jonathon laughed, "I can't believe you fell for that! I found you!"
"Hey! You cheated!" Charlotte crossed her arms and pouted. "Hmmp!"
"Too bad, Charlotte!" Jonathon smiled at her. She looked pretty cute pouting like that.
She pointed to the swing. "I'm mad at you! You have to push me on the swing and maybe I'll like you again!"
"Ok, fine!" Jonathon laughed and stood behind the swing while Charlotte climbed onto it. With one strong push, the swing moved forward and back in a smooth motion.
"Higher!" She shouted with a laugh. Jonathon was happy to oblige. He pushed harder and she soared higher and higher. She was laughing happily every moment of her ride, having the most fun she's ever had.
Jonathon was having fun too... just making her smile and laugh. It was strange for him... the boy who didn't want any friends was actually enjoying spending time with someone else. Maybe having friends wasn't such a bad thing after all...
"Ack!" Jonathon stopped paying attention for a split second and was struck by Charlotte and the swing when it came back to him. He fell backward and landed sitting on the ground. "Ouch..."
"Jonathon!" Charlotte quickly jumped off the swing and headed towards her fallen friend. "Are you ok? You're not hurt, are you?"
"No..." Jonathon said with a grin. "I'm fine..." He got up and dusted himself off. After today, his outfit was completely dirty, meaning a possible scolding from his mother. But he really didn't care, after all the fun he had today, it would be worth it.
"Let's head back to garden, ok?" Charlotte said as she grabbed his hand and lead him back towards house. She blushed a little when she realized she was holding his hand, but since Jonathon didn't try to pull away or let go of her, she calmed down and kept walking.
Jonathon was blushing too, he's seen his parents hold hands, and act all mushy towards each other. Now here he was, hand in hand with a girl, walking towards the beautiful garden. What else was going to happen to him today?
The two spent the rest of the day talking and sitting in the garden. During this time, Jonathon got some paper from somewhere in the house and showed Charlotte how to make paper airplanes, which she was able to learn easily. He also managed to sneak out some ice cream for the two of them which they both enjoyed very much. Charlotte also brought out another one of her books, "Peter and Wendy" and read a few chapters to Jonathon.
Even though Jonathon never really considered reading 'fun' he was captured by the story and could play out the story in his imagination. He had to stop her a few times to ask her what some of the 'big words' meant, but after explaining it to him, she would continue.
"You're just gonna stop there?!" Jonathon complained when she stopped reading at a crucial point. "I gotta know what happens next!"
"Sorry..." Charlotte smiled and shut the book. "But if I stop right there, you'll come back again for more of the story, then we can play some more!"
Jonathon smiled, he didn't need a story to come back and play with her. "Ok... I understand, I guess..." He looked at the sky, the sun was setting. "Hey... the day's almost done..."
"Yeah..." Charlotte said sadly. Her parents' party was ending, so that would mean that Jonathon would be going home soon. After the day she had with him, she would be upset to see him go. "Jonathon?"
"Yeah, Charlotte?"
"...You'll come back soon... right?" She looked at him with a small hint of sadness in her eyes.
Jonathon nodded. "Of course I will!" He gave her a huge smile, which made her smile back.
Charlotte still had one more question to ask him, one she wanted to ask him all day. "Does that mean we're friends?"
"Friend..." Jonathon had to think for a moment, he never had a friend before, so he wasn't sure if the feeling he had in his heart right now was normal or not. That's when it hit him! "What's that thing called when two people are very very close friends?"
"Best...friends?" She answered. She had heard the term used before, and read about it in her books. Friends who will always be friends no matter what happens...
"Yeah that's it! I think... that's what we are..." Jonathon said to her. This response made her smile. "You're my first friend... that makes you my best friend!"
"You're my first friend too..." She replied... "And my best friend..."
Jonathon smiled, then heard his father calling for him. "Jonathon! Time to go!" He looked at saw his parents heading towards him and Charlotte.
John looked at little girl with a smile. "Well now, who's this, my son?" He said.
"This is my friend, Charlotte." Jonathon answered proudly.
His mother smiled at her son. "I told you you'd make a new friend."
Jonathon nodded and looked at Charlotte. "I have to get going, but I'll come back real soon, ok?"
Charlotte smiled and walked over to Jonathon. "Ok... bye..." She stood on her tip toes and blushingly gave the boy a small kiss on the cheek.
Jonathon's face turned into a bright red that would put a tomato to shame. "B...Bye..." He walked towards his parents who were waiting for him.
His father couldn't wait to tease his son over this... "So... this little girl is your 'friend?'"
"Y-yeah..." Jonathon said, still blushing.
"Oh no..." John grinned at his son. "I'd say she's your girlfriend!"
Jonathon's jaw dropped. "She...She is not! She's just a friend! That's it!"
"Oh sure... right now she is..."
"Mom!!!"
Charlotte watched the Morris Family walk away, and smiled when she took another glance at her new best friend.
"Dad...?" Jonathon asked.
"Yes, son?" John replied.
"Can we come back sometime? Really soon? Please...?"
Ten Years Later...
The now 16 year old Charlotte was sitting in her garden, reading and enjoying the beautiful weather she was having today. After a reading a few more pages, she felt something poke her in the back. She closed her book and let out an annoyed sigh.
"Jonathon... when are you ever going to grow up?" She got up and look in the bushes she was sitting in front of. Sure enough, the 18 year old Jonathon was hiding inside them, holding a stick in his hand.
He let out a big grin. "Sorry Charlotte! You know I can't resist!"
She shook her head and smiled. "Some things just never change..." She held the slightly dirty book she was reading close to her side. Printed on the cover was, "The Prince and the Pauper."
(A/N) God... I feel so... good... The Author's tiny heart grew 10 sizes the day he wrote this story... I feel like I need to write a bloody action scene or something now!!!
So anyway, that was my story, I hoped you enjoyed it! I tried hard to be as historically accurate as I could, so I chose the only books I could think up I knew were written before 1934. As I said, this is a one shot I started on the very day I started play Portrait of Ruin. I hope this will help inspire more PoR fics in the Castlevania since from what I can see, it's the best Castlevania since Symphony of the Night! Get those stories out people! (PS... if this fic is liked enough, I may write another PoR fic)
Thanks for reading!