Chapter One: Thirteen Years Later

Commandant Flynn Scifo strode down the hall in the castle. He had a stack of papers in hand that needed the imperial seal, so he was on his way to a meeting with the only person in the Empire who outranked him.

It was still hard to believe he was the commandant sometimes. He'd come so far from that lonely little boy in the lower quarter. Of course, he'd had plenty of trials along the way. That whole adventure that started after Estellise climbed out a window to find him had helped him get here. It had turned out ok, though. He'd made some good friends on that journey.

He stopped in front of an ornate door and knocked. Although he knew he wouldn't be in trouble for barging in, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. After being summoned in, Flynn stepped into the imperial office.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty." He bowed his head as he stood before the desk.

Estellise smiled at him. "Hi, Flynn. You know you don't have to be so formal."

He smiled back and dropped his poise. "Habit. Can you stamp these, please?" He slid into one of the leatherbound chairs across the desk.

"With pleasure." Empress Estellise quickly ran through the papers with the imperial seal. As she worked, she asked, "What do you want to do for dinner tonight?"

Flynn shrugged. "It hasn't even occurred to me."

"You're working yourself too hard." She handed the papers back with a reprimanding frown. "Stop killing yourself."

Flynn took the papers but before she could pull her hand back, he caught her wrist. "I'm doing it for you." He kissed the back of her hand. "Security at the jubilee is very important to me."

Estellise's frown turned into a soft smile. "Don't worry about me too much."

"Only the best for you." In just over a week, Estellise would celebrate one year as the empress. It was the longest period of sustained peace and progress the Empire had seen in generations, so they were keen to celebrate it.

"But what are we doing for dinner?" Estellise asked as she pulled her hand away.

"What do you feel like?"

"Hm… I don't know, you decide."

Flynn sighed. Estellise was getting good at making political decisions, and he was proud of how mature she'd become in the past year, but when it came to deciding things about her personal life she still defaulted to others' advice. "Let's have the chef surprise us. Come to my rooms around seven and I'll have dinner sent up."

"That sounds wonderful!"

"I'll look forward to it." He rose to his feet. "Now, I'm sorry, but I do need to get back to work."

"I understand. Have a good day."

Flynn opened the door just as a knight was about to knock.

"Oh! Sorry, sir."

"Is something wrong?"

"There's an old man insisting he talk to you."

Flynn frowned. "An old man?"

"He gave his name as Hanks. He says it's urgent. Shall I tell him to leave, sir?"

"Hanks? No, no, let him in. I'll meet with him in my office right away." Hanks wouldn't come all the way up to the castle without a good reason.

Ten minutes later, Flynn stood up as Hanks entered his office. "Good afternoon. What's this emergency?"

Hanks stared at him for a few seconds, frowned, and then sighed. "I'm not sure I can explain and I don't think you'd believe me. I don't believe it myself. You'd better come with me."

His curiosity thoroughly piqued, Flynn followed Hanks out of the castle. The heat smacked his face when he stepped outside, like opening an oven door. It hit him with memories, too, like it always did. Every broiling summer day, he couldn't help but remember that summer. Had it really been thirteen years now?

He remembered being a child and stubbornly insisting that Yuri would always be his best friend, since they'd already spent so much of their lives together. It had been around his mid-teens when he suddenly realized he didn't think about Yuri too often anymore. Somewhere along the line, Yuri had shifted from an absentee best friend to a childhood mystery. He wondered about it sometimes, generally on hot summer nights when he couldn't sleep and lay awake thinking about the past. When he was a kid, he'd tried to figure out where Yuri had gone out of a desire to find him again. Now, it was mostly an issue of curiosity.

Thoughts of Yuri occupied him all the way to the lower quarter. By the time they arrived, sweat dripped down the back of his neck and he regretted the black turtleneck that was part of his uniform. Hanks led him into his house and to the back bedroom, where he stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "I don't know how to explain this. Some construction workers found a kid passed out on the street and brought him to me. When I saw him, well… I thought I ought to get you."

He opened the door and Flynn entered the room. Asleep in the bed was a scrawny boy. Flynn got closer and when he stood over the bed, he could no longer ignore what his eyes were telling him. Except, he had to, because they couldn't possibly be right. He stared at the boy's face for nearly a minute before looking back at Hanks and saying, "But he looks exactly like…."

"I know." Hanks crossed his arms. "What do you make of it?"

Flynn turned to Hanks but his eyes kept trailing back to that familiar face. "Has he said anything?"

"Hasn't been conscious yet."

"Does he have any injuries?"

"Not that I can see. He's just asleep. Didn't even budge as I carried him here. What do you think, Flynn? It can't really be him, can it?"

Flynn turned to stare at the boy. "I don't know what I think." There was no logical way this could possibly be Yuri. His friend had disappeared and most likely died when he eight years old; Flynn had come to terms with that truth years ago. And yet, every detail was just as Flynn remembered. The shoulder-length black hair dampened by sweat, the baggy grey shirt he'd last been seen wearing that had been imprinted in Flynn's memory, and the exact features of his face. After Yuri first disappeared, Flynn kept thinking every new kid he saw was him for a few seconds. This wasn't like that. This boy did look exactly like the friend he had lost all those years ago, but logically it couldn't be. Even if Yuri was alive, he would be twenty-two years old by now.

"I'm going to take him back to the castle. If there's something keeping him from waking up, I want Estellise to have a look at him." Take control of what he did understand. Whoever this boy was, he was a child and he was in trouble. Flynn could handle that. Deal with the uncanny resemblance later.

Flynn gently scooped the boy into his arms. He wasn't that heavy. Yuri had never been very heavy, Flynn recalled. For most of their childhood he was scrawny and underfed, but that didn't matter because of course this child wasn't Yuri.

It seemed like a long walk back to the castle. Maybe it was the heat draining his energy, or maybe it was the weight of confusion dragging him down. At the castle, he carried the boy to his room and laid him on his bed. The boy looked comically small in the huge bed that came with the commandant's suite.

There was a growl and Flynn's dog, Repede, sat beside him with his eye locked on the boy. Flynn absently reached down to rub his head. "Are you going to help me keep an eye on him, then?"

Fifteen minutes later, Estellise had managed to pull herself away from her duties to come to his room. "Flynn?" The door clicked as she closed it behind her.

Flynn stepped out of the bedroom where he'd been watching the boy sleep, deep in thought. "In here."

"What's wrong? I was told you needed me for an emergency. Did something happen with Hanks?"

"There's a child who might need your help."

Those words hooked her attention. She hurried past him into the room and rushed to the bed. "What happened? Where is he hurt?"

"I'm not sure." Flynn stood back as Estelle sat on the side of the bed. "Hanks said he was found passed out on the street. He hasn't woken up yet, but there are no signs of physical injuries. What do you think?"

"Hm…" Estelle rested the back of her hand on the boy's forehead. "Well… if he isn't injured, there isn't really anything I can do." She pulled her hand back to her lap and twisted to face him. "The only thing I can recommend is to keep an eye on him and hope he wakes up soon. Who is he?"

Flynn hesitated. "That's… we're not entirely sure."

"Flynn? What's wrong?"

He didn't want to tell her or she'd think he was crazy. If he could tell anyone, though, it was her. Estellise had been his closest friend ever since he was first stationed at the castle, and now that she was more than just a friend to him, he knew he could tell her anything. "Do you remember the boy I told you about from my childhood?"

"The one who went missing?"

He nodded once and spoke with his eyes on the boy. "I know it's impossible. I know this sounds crazy. But… this boy looks exactly like my old friend. He's even wearing the same clothes."

"But Flynn, your friend went missing thirteen years ago. This boy can't be older than ten at the most."

"I know, that's why I know it's crazy. Maybe it's because we're in the middle of a heat wave just like the summer he went missing and it's keeping him on my mind. It's probably just a weird coincidence."

"The important thing is to find out who this boy is. His parents must be worried sick about him."

Flynn nodded. "There isn't much we can do until he wakes up, though. I'll have Repede watch over him for now."

"Ok. We should both get back to work now, but please let me know if you learn anything. And Flynn," she took his hands, "don't overthink this. I know it must be hard for you to see someone who looks so much like a person you lost, but you know this is an unrelated child, right?"

Flynn squeezed her hands back and nodded. "Of course."

"What happened when you were a child was horrible. It makes sense for it to be on your mind." She leaned forward on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Let's focus on the child in front of us. This one, at least, you can still help."

The sun had gone down now. Flynn had opened a window in the main room and a warm breeze snuck into the room accompanied by the chirping of crickets. Flynn sat on the couch, deep in thought, while Estellise laid out with her head resting on his lap and a book in hand.

It still baffled him sometimes. Ten years ago, he was a scared orphan struggling to survive alone in the lower quarter. Today he sat in a grand apartment in the castle with the empress' head in his lap.

They'd gone through a lot of pain to get here, of course. Flynn hadn't been able to accompany Estellise and thier new friends on the entirety of their journey, but he'd joined them whenever he could and participated in his share of hardship. He'd never forget the terror he'd felt when Estellise was captured by Alexei. If Alexei hadn't released her because he needed her to be a puppet ruler, Flynn shuddered to think what might have happened.

"Flynn." Estellise's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "You really need to stop worrying."

"I'm not."

She tilted her head back to meet his eyes. "I can feel how tense you are." She rested her book on her lap and reached an arm across her chest to rest it on his knee. "I talked to the doctors at the infirmary and they agreed there's nothing we can do for the boy until he wakes up."

He moved his hand to cradle her head and his fingers twined through her hair. "I know that. That's not what I was thinking about."

"Is it about Yuri?"

Flynn frowned. "He has been on my mind all day."

"If only we could find out what happened."

"Actually… I'm pretty sure I know what happened."

"Oh?"

Sometimes Flynn remembered the men trawling the river in the days after Yuri's disappearance. He had been sixteen when he realized they'd been looking for a body. "When I was little, I used to daydream about him getting abducted by spirits and setting out on a mission to rescue him. I haven't wondered too deeply about it since I grew up, though. There's only one explanation that makes sense. An eight year old boy can't just disappear within a city. I toyed with the idea that he'd fallen off a roof or fell into the river and drowned, but we would have found a body. This was no accident."

Estellise's hand covered her mouth. "Oh, no. You don't think…?"

"I hate to believe it." His brow furrowed. "But someone else must have been involved. Somebody made him disappear."

"But why would they want to make a little boy disappear? It isn't like he was anybody important."

Flynn looked down at her sweet, innocent face. "Well… I don't think they were after him, specifically. I mean… there are people out there who would do terrible things to children... if he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He couldn't bring himself to spell this out for Estellise. He didn't even want to put it into words himself. Everyone always wanted to believe that the lower quarter was one big family and in general the streets in his neighbourhood were very safe, but monsters could be lurking in any crowd. There were villains in the world who did atrocious things to people, and sometimes those people were children.

"Oh…" Estellise's face filled with anguish. "You don't mean…?"

"He must have been abducted. It's the only thing that makes sense. And I don't see a scenario where this abduction has a happy ending. If he was ever able to free himself, he would have tried to contact me at some point in the last thirteen years." Flynn shook his head tightly. "No, I realized a few years ago that the only logical conclusion is that he was killed and his killer disposed of his body in a way we'd never find."

It broke Flynn's heart to imagine what might have happened to his old friend. By the time he settled on the abducted and murdered theory, though, he was old enough that his grief was centered on the tragedy of something like that happening to such a young child, rather than personal grief for a friend. Sometimes he wondered what their current friendship would have been like if Yuri had been given the chance to grow up, but as it stood, Flynn mostly thought of him as that mysterious little boy from his childhood.

"That's horrible."

"I'm sorry." The hand not cradling her head clasped hers on her stomach. "It's not a very nice thing to think about." The adults in the lower quarter must have suspected something like this had happened by the morning after he disappeared. Flynn remembered all those conversations that stopped as soon as he came into view and imagined the grim details they'd no doubt been shielding him from.

"It's not… but we can talk about it if it helps you."

He squeezed her hand. "It's all right, but thank you." Estellise was one of the few people outside the lower quarter who even knew about Yuri. Flynn didn't bring him up often because for the most part, he'd tried to put that part of his past behind him. He'd lost his father, and then he'd lost his best friend, and then he'd lost his mother. He would never have been able to focus on his career if he let all that grief hold him back. "What are your plans tomorrow?"

"Hm? Well… I have to meet with the Council in the morning."

Flynn watched her with a smile as she chatted about tomorrow's schedule. It was hard, sometimes, finding time to be together. He was the commandant and she was the empress, so both of their professional responsibilities occupied most of their time.

Their idle conversation lasted about ten minutes until they heard the door to the bedroom creak open. They both froze for a solid second before Flynn whipped his head around and Estellise bolted upright. The boy stood in the doorway and stared at them in confusion. His eyes were grey, Flynn couldn't help but notice.

"Where the heck am I?" the boy blurted. "Did you bring me here? Who are you?"

Flynn gently pushed Estellise aside and sprang to his feet. "I'm sorry to frighten you."

The boy crossed his arms and stuck out his chin. It was such a Yuri-look, but no, it couldn't be. "I'm not scared. I'm just mad 'cause someone dragged me to some noble jerk's house."

"My name is Commandant Flynn." He dropped to one knee when he reached the boy so they could look eye-to-eye. "A man in the lower quarter found you passed out. I was worried about your health so I brought you to the castle."

"You're not the commandant."

"I'm sorry? Yes, I am."

"Nu-uh. The commandant is Alexei."

Flynn frowned. "Alexei passed away last year. I'm his replacement." Where had this boy been for the last year?

"What? No he didn't. I'd remember if Alexei was dead, and I'd especially remember if the commandant had the same name as my best friend."

Flynn's confusion deepened and he was starting to feel light-headed. His voice. He hadn't heard his friend speak for so many years, but this child's cadence and tone resonated in Flynn's memories. "I assure you, I am. What's your name?"

"Yuri."

Flynn's heart stopped for a long second. When he was able to pay attention again, Estellise had reached them.

"Yuri, do you know who I am?" she asked sweetly, giving Flynn a worried look.

"Nah. Should I?"

"I'm Empress Estellise."

If he was impressed by being spoken to by the empress, he didn't show it. "Empress of what?"

She paused. "Well… of the Empire."

"We don't have an empress."

He hadn't known Alexei died, so of course he didn't know Estellise was crowned. What a strange boy. What a coincidental boy, because Yuri wasn't that uncommon a name, right?

"We do now," Estellise said. "I want to help you. Who are your parents? They must be worried sick about you."

Yuri shrugged. "I don't have parents, but I'm living with Mrs. Scifo and my friend Flynn. It looks like it's dark outside, though, so yeah they're probably kinda worried."

Flynn barely heard the last part. Estellise shot him a look and Flynn struggled to remember how to breathe. "Yuri…" he choked out at last, "this is very important. What's your last name?"

"Lowell."

"And who is your best friend?"

"Flynn Scifo. Why?"

"And… what do you remember before you woke up here?"

"Um…" Yuri chewed on his lower lip and looked to the ceiling as he thought. "Lessee… I remember… oh, yeah! Flynn and I were gonna play hide and seek, and he was being dumb and claiming he was better at it than me. Then I went to find somewhere to hide and then… uh…." His eyes swivelled back to Flynn with a frown. "That's all I remember."

It was him. It was impossible, but it was him. This really was his Yuri Lowell. How could this have happened? Time travel? Was that possible? It had to be, or else how was eighty-year-old Yuri Lowell in his living room? All those years of wondering where Yuri had gone, and now Flynn knew: he'd come here.

"So…" Yuri looked between Flynn and Estellise's stunned faces, "am I in trouble?"

"No," Flynn said slowly. "You're not, but…. We need to explain some things. Come sit down."

Yuri followed them to the couch. He sat between Flynn and Estellise, kicking his legs and looking around the room with curiosity. It was the most formal room Yuri had ever been in, certainly.

"Now, Yuri," Flynn looked down at him and Yuri pulled his eyes from the crown moulding. "There's no gentle way to explain this. I believe you have travelled through time."

"Huh?"

"Yuri… I'm Flynn Scifo."

"No you're not. Flynn's eight. Wait, no, he had his birthday last week. He's nine now."

"Yes, I am. Thirteen years ago, my best friend and I were going to play hide and seek. His name was Yuri Lowell and he disappeared."

Yuri stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"My father was Finath Scifo. He was a knight who died when I was eight. My mother was Helen Scifo."

Yuri jumped to his feet. "How d'ya know all this stuff about Flynn, huh?! What are you trying to play? Time travel? Commandant? Who are you people?"

"I told you, Yuri. I'm Flynn. You've been gone for thirteen years."

"I know it's scary," Estellise said, "but we'll get to the bottom of what happened. You can stay with us while we figure out what's going on."

"I'm not staying with you! You guys kidnapped me and now you're pretending I travelled through time or whatever! I'm going home."

He ran for the door and Flynn leapt to his feet to follow. "Yuri, slow down. We don't know what's happening either." He reached Yuri and grabbed his arm, but then Yuri's foot came down hard on his instep and he flinched, releasing Yuri. The boy shoved the door open and ran into the hall.

"After him," Flynn grunted, hopping on one foot. "I don't want him running around on his own."

Estellise ran passed him and dashed down the hall. He heard her shout, "Guards! Stop that boy!"