He watched as his papa's hand stretched out to him, the puppet boy being dragged deep into the depths of the sea.

He tried to shout out, "FATHER!" but his words were just lost to the heavy water that went all around him.

Gepetto cried helpless tears as he lost his grip on Pinocchio's wooden hand and the puppet began to sink fast as darkness began to surround him... a giant mouth with sharp teeth coming over him, covering him till all there was was black.

Shadows... the abyss that frightened even the most bravest of souls.

"GAH!" Pinocchio yelped out as he woke in his bed... the room so very quiet as pale moonlight shone in from the windows that night. The puppet adolescent was breathing heavily in and out, almost hyperventilating but he calmed down a little when he heard that comforting voice in the distance... the other side of the room.

"Pinocchio...?"

Candlewick's voice was soft and calm. Warm... it felt like he was speaking from his heart.

"Are you okay...?"

"I..." The half-wooden boy replied, gulping a little, and uttered back bravely. But still in pain, a pain from no wound except that of a broken heart, "I had that dream again,"

"Oh..." Candlewick said back sadly, and only rested his hands on the blanket above his chest, "About... drowning?"

"Y-yeah," Pinocchio quivered back, and gazed his own eyes to the ceiling above him, tears welling in his eye corners.

"Does it hurt..?"

The puppet blinked away his tears then, and only gulped, replying at last, "No... it doesn't,"

"Gepetto, your papa," His best friend continued, being careful with his words. It had been more than two months since the old carpenter had passed, "He is in a better place... I know he is, now."

Saying this didn't make Pinocchio feel any bit more happy, but less so if that was possible.

"Without me?" He asked back in pain, and rubbed his wet eyes with his hard-skinned hands, "He is happy without me-?"

"That's not what I meant..."

"Is your father happy without you?" Pinocchio asked back almost in a snap with his tone and Candlewick remained very quiet then, before whispering the words, almost a hiss at the end of his sentence.

"My father is in hell,"

This made Pinocchio freeze up surprised, and turned his head to look over to Candlewick who was still only staring up at the roof.

"How do you know that...?"

"Because my father wasn't a good man..." He replied back in cold yet sad words, "He was bad, Pinocchio... he was bad."

The puppet turned his gaze away from his friend and only stared back at the cold ceiling. He didn't know what to do now... besides the thing he had always seen his own papa do whenever there was no hope and no answer.

I'll pray for him.

Not for Candlewick, no, Pinocchio knew his friend was as good as they get. But for Candlewick's father... for his friend's heart to heal.

"I'm glad you're my friend, Candlewick,"

The other boy blinked his eyes puzzled by this reply and said back quietly, his heart hurting and at the same time, the wooden boy's heart hurt as well.

"You're more than just my friend, Pinocchio..."

The half-human puppet glanced over at his friend and caught Candlewick's sad but truthful eyes, "You're my brother,"

"Thank you," Pinocchio whispered back, and smiled at his brother, Candlewick smiling back at his own brother too, "Till the end?"

"Most definitely."

The two smiled at one another again before turning back on their sides in their beds and closing their eyes, falling to sleep.

But that dream didn't leave Pinocchio until many moons had passed.

~x~

Soon their education in school came to an end and the two found themselves looking for apprenticeships in their town.

Angelo had taken on Pinocchio under his wing in his spare time, as he was a master of the craft of carpentry, and he knew what the human puppet had in him. He had seen it since that day when Pinocchio had hidden in his class with Candlewick to get away from the boys.

Pinocchio loved working with the wood. He would scrape the boards and make grooves in them. He would smooth them down with sandpaper and would stand a distance away to admire his work, Angelo beside him as he placed his gruff hand on Pinocchio's shoulder, and nodded to him with a smile, the puppet knowing he had done well.

Candlewick's profession was one of a less desired career. He couldn't find anything he was really passionate about so just chose the job that would give him the best income he could manage.

A fisherman.

He would sit on that small boat day in day out, his net deep in the water, and with the help of his mentor, he learnt in no time the art of the craft.

The first few weeks he was pulling up maybe six to seven fish, and a lot of tins and garbage. But once he learnt how to read the sea, he was taking in twenty to thirty big fish at a time.

When he had first given his catch to the butchers for a price, the wage seemed quite small. He held down his puke when he saw the butcher man rip open the fish and their guts splurging out of them onto the table.

He kept a calm expression, as stoic as he could, but he eventually had to turn away from the meat slicing and gagged a bit of food up from his stomach... but he would soon get used to this.

Many of the villagers were starting to send their sons off to the nearby city, to form better lives and have brighter futures.

But Pinocchio and Candlewick had remained here, away from the glitz and glamour – and also great opportunities that the bustling city promised.

It was now Candlewick's nineteenth year in this world and as he dragged the net aboard his ship, he almost felt a small strain in his back, wincing from the pain.

"You've got to take your time, lad," His fishing partner told him as the net dropped onto the wooden deck and the fish jumped up and down as the air suffocated them within minutes.

Candlewick watched the fish die and felt a small lump in his throat in sadness at the sight. No matter how long he had been doing this job, the fish dying always got to him at that moment between life and death.

"I have to make a living, Peter," He told the older man who only shook his middle age head in disapproval of Candlewick's reply.

"You want to be a father, right?" Candlewick glared at him when Peter used his words against him, "You can't be a proper dad if you're crippled."

Candlewick only growled under his breath but turned away to the sea as his eyes fell open in despair, a deep sadness in his heart.

"I have to find the one first..."

"You've got time..."

"Time is all I don't have" He whispered back, and began to pull the dead fish out from the net, untangling them and putting them in empty big buckets, Considering Pinocchio has the other half of my life.

He thought this silently and sadly to himself, but he would never admit this sad truth to his friend. He knew what he had given up, and he would not hold that against anyone... not even his young self... because Pinocchio was a brother to him, and he was happy that both their hearts had beats in them.

When he was coming back to the pier, his boots hit the hardwood in a thump as he carried the buckets with the fish up to the butcher on the high hill of the town. He was wearing smelly overalls, and his steps were hard thumps from the weight he was carrying.

As he climbed the steep road he almost froze up at the sight that was right before his eyes.

Of a person... of a girl... of a young woman.

She... she was beautiful... SHE, he couldn't explain what he was feeling in his heart... but she... SHE was it.

He dropped the buckets in both his hands to the ground, one tipping over and he went red in the cheeks as he dropped to his knees and began to pick up the smelly dead fish.

"I'm so sorry!" She called to him, getting to her own knees as she helped pick up the fish, "I didn't mean to give you a fright,"

"No, no," Candlewick said back quickly as he went to grab the remaining fish but his hand touched her own stretched-out hand.

The two locked eyes, till she smiled shyly and pulled her hand away instantly.

"I'm new here,"

She said this nervously, a small blush skimming her own cheeks as well and the two looked shyly at one another as they got back to their feet.

Candlewick lifted the two big buckets up again and he said with a small scared smile, "What's your name, if I can ask?"

"You can ask," She said back softly and her blue eyes looked deep into his brown, "Isabella,"

"Isabella..." Candlewick whispered to himself and let a bigger smile climb up his lips now, "Can I ask.. why are you here in our small town?"

"Oh," Isabella laughed shyly, and turned to look out over the ocean, Candlewick waited to hear her reply and she finally said, "I moved here."

"From where, can I ask?"

"Rome," She said back quietly and the two began to slowly walk side by side as Candlewick headed towards the butcher's.

"Rome? That is very far away from here..."

"I thought so too," She said with a small laugh and only shrugged her petite shoulders, "But I said I would come here and live with my boyfriend,"

BOYFRIEND.

BOYFRIEND?!

"Oh..." Candlewick whispered to himself, and he reached the butchers, knocking on the door with two taps from his free elbow and he looked awkwardly at Isabella as he waited for the door to open.

"You have a boyfriend..."

"Yep..."

"Who...?" He asked in hardly a breath, he felt his heart choking in that minute and finally the butcher opened the door, coming to see what the catch had been.

"Who's this young thing?" The heavy butcher asked as he looked between Candlewick and Isabella, "Your sweetheart?"

"No, no!" Candlewick yelped back, waving his hands about as if to quickly shut down this idea, "She's someone else's..."

"Who could make a better partner than you but, Candlewick?"

Isabella giggled nervously as she turned her eyes to look into Candlewick's and replied back easily.

"My boyfriend, you might know him, is named Augustin,"

"Augustin?!" Candlewick squeaked in terror. Augustin?! He thought in his core.

"My ears are burning,"

The three of them all turned around as Augustin was now there just a few feet down the path, grinning coyly and smiling wickedly Candlewick's way.

"I see my girlfriend is getting to know this small village,"

"Do you two know each other?" Isabella asked with bright excited eyes and Augustin only laughed at this.

"Yeah, HE'S best friends with a wooden puppet,"

"..." Isabella didn't know how to respond to that, "A puppet?"

"He's not just a puppet," Candlewick growled back angrily at Augustin, "He's a real boy!"

"O...kay?" Isabella said back, slightly amused by all this drama and Augustin slipped his hand into hers, surprising her that moment.

"Let's move on from here, Bella," He said to her, glancing a glare Candlewick's way as he added on cruelly, "We don't want to smell of fish and commoners,"

Candlewick clutched onto the fabric of his overalls and twisted his fingers around it, angrily. He watched as the girl left with the biggest jerk he knew, and he would've been heartbroken at that moment if Isabella hadn't glanced back at him over her shoulder, a kind small smile on her lips and he froze for a second.

Letting go of his frustration and cloth.

And smiling shyly back.