Author's Notes:

WARNING: This chapter is pretty long

Oh, and if you have questions/confusion/complaints along the way, please scroll down to my End Notes at the end of this chapter. I may answer them there.

Chapter 1

The weather was bright and cheery, unlike the way he felt inside. His mother was apparently expecting a mysterious guest and had told him to stay outside during their visit. So he sat on the steps of his backyard patio, unaware of the beautiful sun and flowers that surrounded him. It didn't really matter to him anyways. No matter where he was, he still felt that same empty sadness inside.

Mrs. Armando opened the door to see a tall woman with very big hair dressed in a traditional-looking black and white robe. By her side, looking immensely small, was a young girl.

"You must be Ms. Fey," Mrs. Armando greeted the woman politely.

"Please, call me Mystic Morgan. I understand that you are interested in our spirit channelling services."

"Oh yes. Please, come in where we can discuss this more comfortably."

Mrs. Armando led Morgan to the living room as Morgan turned to her niece.

"Mia, please wait here patiently and behave."

Mia, who had come along because her aunt could not trust her alone at Kurain, nodded obediently.

"Now, Mrs. Armando, I hope you can understand that you will need to travel to Kurain Village so that we can perform the channelling. Very particular conditions are required for utmost safety."

Mrs. Armando sounded slightly disappointed. "So it can't be done right now?"

"I'm afraid not. You will need to make an appointment since my sister, the Master, is very busy."

Mia stood up from her spot on the staircase, uninterested in the boring adult conversation that could last a while. Aunt Morgan had told her to stay there and behave, but she hadn't told Mia that she couldn't move.

Inquisitive by nature, Mia grew curious at the assortment of decorative vases that stood on a long shelf that lining the main hall's wall. Intrigued, she began counting how many there were as she moved down the hall. But before she reached the end, she was distracted by someone talking outside. Tiptoeing over to investigate, she saw a glimpse of a boy sitting there. As she moved closer, she strained her ears to hear what he was saying.

"Izzy?" he asked hesitantly. "Izzy?"

He always felt better when he closed his eyes. For a moment, everything would seemingly stop, and in that instant, he felt free. When his mind was blank, he could let it wander as he cut off the strings that dragged him down to reality.

He felt the sun upon him as he breathed in the warm spring-summer air. It felt like every May, when he would sit here on the patio steps with his sister, counting the butterflies.

And then he heard them. Footsteps. Uneven and light, with a pause now and then, moving towards where he was. Just like Isadora's always were as she counted how many green vases their mother had. Or how many had flower patterns. Or how many had a wide mouth.

Diego felt his heart pounding in his chest. It was impossible, unthinkable, but he wanted so much to believe it could be true. Even if it were beyond all reason, his logical side seemed to have completely surrendered.

"Izzy?" The name should have seemed foreign from its lack of use, but when he said it, it felt so familiar and comforting.

"Izzy?" he asked again. He opened his eyes and spun around, all in a moment of a leap of faith.

A pair of wide brown eyes met his. Long brown hair framed the little girl's cute face, and a moment later, he noticed her odd clothes. But the look in her eyes was so compelling that he had to look back. She was young, but her eyes gave off a calm serenity of understanding, yet also, a sharp and bright assertiveness.

Diego's surprise at seeing this strange girl was quickly overtaken by a stab of sadness in his heart. How could he have been crazy enough to think that his sister had come back?

The girl's quiet, but concerned voice cut through his depressing thoughts.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Her question threw him off guard. Was he that easy to read? He was suddenly at a loss for words as he stumbled around mentally for something to say. Out of the blue, he felt his sister's voice pipe up in the back of his head.

"Always introduce yourself and then ask for their name. That's the polite way to meet someone. Oh, and don't forget to smile."

Without thinking twice about it, Diego followed his sister's advice, not even lapsing in a sudden moment of grief at his sister's memory.

"I'm Diego," he said, smiling politely. "What's your name?"

"Mia Fey," the little girl responded cheerily. "May I sit down?"

Diego nearly laughed and shifted over, already at ease with her. This girl was so happy and straightforward, and with her seemed to come a brighter aura. He didn't want to lose this blissful atmosphere.

"Don't mind me asking, but what are you here for?"

Mia looked a little surprised that he didn't know, cocking her head to the side. "Well, my aunt Morgan brought me here because there was no one to watch me at home. She doesn't trust me," she said, pouting slightly. "And she's here because your mom was interested in our spirit channelling."

"Spirit channelling?"

Mia bobbed her head enthusiastically. "Yup! And I'm a spirit medium…in training."

"So what do you do?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing at the unfamiliar term.

"I can call on the spirits of the dead, and it's like they borrow my body while I'm channelling them," she said proudly.

Diego opened his mouth to ask another question, when suddenly, it hit him, snapping him back to reality. For a few minutes, his mind had been able to shut out the reality of his sister's death, but now, it swept over him in full force.

Mia saw the sudden change in his expression, the light mood vanishing instantly. The pieces clicked together in her young but astute mind, and after a moment, she broke the silence.

"The spirit channelling…did someone in your family pass away recently?" she asked quietly.

Diego gave no response, only looking vacantly into the distance.

Mia hesitated for a moment. "Was her name Izzy?"

Hearing his sister's name, an overwhelming flood of emotion came over him. It startled him, and before he could stop it, tears welled up in his eyes and brimmed over. He was appalled that he was crying, but it was such a relief from all the times he had held it inside of him. Diego felt a hand patting his shoulder gently.

"It's okay. Crying always makes me feel better."

"You wouldn't understand how I feel. It was my sister who died." He hadn't meant for it to come out like that, but caught between his embarrassment at being seen crying and his stubbornness at acting independent, the words just tumbled out.

"Of course I understand," she replied serenely. "My dad died about a year ago."

This took Diego by surprise. He turned to look at her, her eyes calm but sad.

"What happened to him?" he couldn't help but ask.

"They found him in one of the channelling chambers that had no ventilation. They said he was locked in there for a while, and because there were so many candles in the room, the oxygen was used up really quickly."

"But you talked to him after through spirit channelling, right?"

"I really wanted to. Because it all happened so suddenly, and I never got a chance to say bye to my dad. But my mom said no. She said that it wouldn't be fair for us to have a second chance when everyone else in the world didn't. It kind of changes the natural process of mourning after a person dies. And if we got to see him one more time, we would keep wanting to see him again. Not seeing him helped us let go of him."

Her innocent, young eyes were sad as she smiled wistfully.

"I really miss him. But I'll always have my special memories of him." Turning to look at Diego, she continued, "Because what's yours will always be yours to keep. And nothing can ever change that."

Diego was astounded. This girl was so little, but somehow she seemed to understand everything he was feeling. And somehow, she had deciphered all his confusion for him, leaving him with a sense of peace.

"I wish I had said something more meaningful to her that morning," Diego said regretfully. "But I didn't, and all of a sudden, she was gone."

Mia nodded, and continued for him. "And for a while, you feel like they never existed. Then, suddenly, reminders of them start coming up everywhere."

Diego glanced sideways at her. "Actually…when you were walking here, for a moment, I thought you were Izzy," he confessed. "I knew it was impossible…but I couldn't help but hope…"

Mia regarded him silently. "I can channel her if you like," she offered quietly.

"I…I…" he stammered, tempted to accept her suggestion. It would be so easy – seeing his sister one more time. But as he considered, Mia's words from earlier echoed in his head. His sister had already been gone for a month. Maybe it was time to start letting go.

Diego bit his lip, hoping he wouldn't regret his choice, and shook his head firmly. Taking a deep breath, he said bravely, "I have all the memories of her that I'll ever need."

Hearing those words from his own mouth finalized it. Crying had been his way of accepting the truth, and now, he was saying goodbye.

Glancing shyly at Mia, he went on. "You remind me a lot of Izzy, actually. She was always really happy like you. And she always knew how I was feeling before I said it."

They were both silent for a moment, letting that comment hang in the air.

"Thanks," Diego said finally. "I felt so lost without my sister before…and now, I feel better." He felt silly and awkward saying those words, but the clumsy feeling vanished when he saw Mia smiling warmly back at him.

She opened her mouth to say something, but sneezed suddenly instead.

"Are you cold?" Diego asked, concerned.

She rubbed her nose cutely and smiled. "It's probably just the breeze."

He jumped up. "Come." He extended his hand to pull her up and led the way into the house and down the corridor until they reached the closet. He stuck his head inside, and a moment later, he reappeared with a long, tan scarf.

"It was Izzy's," he said softly, holding it out towards her.

Mia looked at him, her brown eyes concerned. "Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded vigourously. "It was her favourite scarf. And I know she wouldn't want it to just sit there collecting dust."

Mia took the scarf reverently and wound it around her neck. She glanced down, only to see both ends touching the floor because of her short stature.

Diego frowned for an instant, then unwound the scarf gently. He folded it in half, and then put it around her neck, tucking one end into the other. The scarf ends now reached Mia's knees.

"Perfect," he smiled, pleased with himself.

Walking back down the hall, Mia stopped again to look at the collection of vases.

"They're all so pretty," she marvelled.

A sudden noise from outside made her jump, causing her to accidentally elbow one of the vases. She clapped a hand over her mouth in horror as it crashed to the floor.

Mrs. Armando and Morgan were out in an instant.

"Mia, didn't I tell you to behave?" Her aunt's voice was already rising, automatically accusing her niece.

Suddenly feeling protective of Mia, Diego cut in.

"No, it was my fault." Turning to his mother, he continued, "Sorry, mom. It was an accident. I'll go clean it up right now."

Mrs. Armando nodded, so bewildered at her son's change in tone that she didn't even notice her daughter's scarf on Mia. Still glancing at her son in awe, she led Morgan back into the living room to continue talking.

"Oh, Diego! I'm sorry! You didn't have to do that for me," Mia gasped, her hands still cupped over her mouth.

"It's okay," he reassured her.

"I'll help you clean up," she offered quickly, darting to the laundry room to get a broom.

"Careful of the glass," he cautioned as she began sweeping up the broken pieces. The broom was nearly the same size as her, and she looked too small to be cleaning up the mess.

When he told her so, she laughed. "I do it all the time at home."

They cleaned up quickly, and almost immediately after, Morgan and Mrs. Armando finished their meeting.

At the door, while the adults discussed contact information and other details, Mia suddenly realized she was still wearing the scarf. She started to take it off, but Diego stopped her.

"It's yours to keep," he said, winking at her.

She stared at him in bewilderment.

"Just take good care of it. Izzy will be happy it didn't go to waste."

She smiled shyly. "Thank you."

He shook his head. "I should be the one saying thank you."

There was still a hint of sadness in his voice, but the pent-up grief was gone. He smiled and waved goodbye to her, feeling a relieved contentment he hadn't felt in a while. This girl had walked in on his life for one day, waving her magic everywhere and made things better when he needed it the most.

And perhaps, one day, he could return the favour.

End Notes

If you live in North America (or maybe even somewhere else), then perhaps you've heard of the kid's TV show Dora the Explorer? And then there's her cousin Diego, who has his own show called Go, Diego, Go!
So in case you're wondering, Diego and IsaDORA are not in any way references to that. That was a complete coincidence. I only realized that after I finished writing the prologue, and by then, Isadora's name had already stuck.

And if you know someone named Isadora (or, maybe are named that yourself), I realize that Izzy is more commonly a nickname for people named Isabelle or Isabella (or some variation of that name with a different spelling). But Izzy was a cute nickname, and I found that it just suited the character of Diego's sister (AKA my OC) And besides, since when were there ever any rules about names?

Don't ask me how old Diego and Mia are in this chapter. Even I don't know. They do however, have a 4 year age gap between them, which is actually a lot when we're talking about kids. But, consider the fact that Mia was probably always really mature for her age, and really, in the PW world, anything is possible :)

The other reason for my vagueness about their ages is simply this: near the beginning of Turnabout Sisters, Maya mentions to Phoenix that her dad died when she was really young. I wanted to situate this somewhere between the time the Fey sisters' dad dies and when their mom disappears. If you do all the math, it's really hard to situate it in a way that Mia's age is still compatible with her actions here. So I gave up on all the technicalities. I'll just leave it up to guys to imagine Diego and Mia as you wish.

Oh yeah. I know they're both pretty OOC. After all, this is over 10 years before we meet them in the game. They have yet to experience everything that they do when we meet them. And their changes are the reason why they won't instantly recognize each other when they meet again. But I won't say anymore. That would just be story wreckage :) (as my history teacher calls it)

So...comments, criticism, advice and suggestions? I'd love to hear them :)