Living just outside of a busy, busy town was always really nice.

It was distant enough that one could see the skyline of the town, but didn't have to deal with the sounds. No car horns or alarms were heard from the window that Ness could peer out every day to see Onett. No screams or hollers or conversations, as people never walked past Ness' house unless they were after his father for some kind of job or advice. His parents weren't well known, but his father was a good businessman when he needed to be. Overall, the family wasn't well off (the family next door called them poor), but they were well enough that they could afford their home.

Ness was a typical thirteen year old in this neighbourhood. He loved baseball, he loved music, and he loved movies. He loved steak, he loved his family, he loved his dog. He loved his neighbourhood, he had a crush, and he had a treehouse. He was, however, different in one way that he had to keep it a secret, lest he wind up like that poor kid that was carted through town the other day.

Ness had Magic running through his veins. And he knew how to use it.

With a grunt he moved away from his window and threw on an outfit for today. He stepped out of his bedroom and made sure his sister, Tracy, was wide awake. After doing that, he headed down the stairs to see that his mom was already making breakfast. With a smile, she looked up at him and waved good morning, before turning back to the scrambled eggs that she was preparing.

"Morning, Mom!" he greeted happily, walking up to her and seeing what she was making. "I see you're making eggs this morning."

"That I am, Ness, thank you for pointing out the obvious," she teased, before she turned off the stove. "Did you listen to the radio this morning, yet?"

Ness, who was grabbing plates for the table setting, shook his head. "No, I haven't. Was it important?"

He watched as his mom nodded her head. "There was another disappearance. I think he went to the same school that you did."

The boy frowned slightly. That would make five kids from his school having gone missing, and, coincidently enough, all five of them were capable of using Magic. Ness wasn't stupid - he knew that Magic wasn't hereditary unless you somehow were descended from a royal family. It was more like a genetic fluke, or so explained one of his teachers when he had asked. Twins were more likely to get Magic than a single-born child, but if both parents had Magic, then there was a one in four chance of their child getting it, but even then... it was rare. Magic was known to run in Royal families.

Well, the teacher hadn't said that last part, but Princess Paula had. The two of them had accidentally connected with their Magic one summer night when they were enjoying the full moon from their windows. She spoke in such a soft voice in his head that he decided they were going to speak almost every night, and so they did. They had never once seen each other in person, they were secret friends, even to themselves. The only reason he even knew that she had blonde hair was because one night he had asked her. He didn't know what colour her eyes were.

Unlike the other Royal families, which used their next heirs as signs of hopes, and had them appear quite frequently, Princess Paula had been hidden away deep in her castle, only ever heard of or from, but never seen out in public. Princess Paula had explained to him that her father, the King, feared the outside world and the Magic haters, and feared Giygas, so he locked away in her own wing of the castle. She was only ever allowed to step outside if she had the royal guard with her. It infuriated her, and he knew that it did.

After a rather hearty breakfast, Ness decided he was going to go outside and play. He stepped outside and looked around the fields, looked down the road that led to Onett, and then, once he made his decision, decided to walk down to the town. Along the way, he was stopped by Frank, former gang leader and criminal of the town. Frank, who was now a friend of Ness' after he had his butt handed to him on a silver platter, seemed very upset by something and that worried Ness.

"What's wrong, Frank?" he asked instantly.

Frank was quiet for a moment, before he decided to come clean. "Well, it's simple as this, Ness. I got robbed."

Well, there was some irony for you. The former criminal got a taste of his old medicine. "... What. What happened?"

"Well, there was this guy limping through town. Never seen him before, never heard of him before, so I decided to be a good boy and help him out. I asked him if he needed me to take him to the hospital, because, hey, he's limping. He might be injured," Frank explained, telling his story with some hand gestures and even miming this man's walk. "The guy instantly explained how it was an old, childhood injury and that he had to live with it. I felt kind of bad after that, so I apologized but he just kind of chuckled and shook it off. Anyway, back to the point. So, I then ask this guy what he's doing in town and he tells me he's heading off to find a friend of his. Then, a car drives by and honks at me, so I decided to see who it was. I turn back, the guy's gone. And so's my wallet."

Ness felt that somewhere, there was a man with a limp cheering as he somehow ran down the road. "Geez, sorry to hear that, Frank. Was your ID in there?"

"Nah, I keep my ID and all that in a separate wallet. He took the wallet with roughly eighty bucks in it."

"Eighty? Frank, you got eighty bucks stolen from you? By a man with a limp? What happened to you!?"

"It was me, trying to be friendly to some guy with a hurt leg, that's all it was," Frank pointed out. "I tried to be friendly, and look what the lump did. I'm going to find that guy, and I'm going to beat him to a pulp. I bet he was lying 'bout that friend of his that he used as a sob story."

With that, Ness watched as Frank stormed off with a huff. The boy chuckled nervousy, hoping that the thief could at least defend himself from the likes of Frank. After a moment of an amateur prayer to any limping thief that Frank met, Ness turned and began to walk back to Onett once more. Everything became quiet, save for the birds chirping around him. Many were having conversations that only Ness could understand, about the setting sun last night and the beautiful sunrise, about the dark shadows whisking children away, about the body of a boy one saw in the grass...

Ness stopped at those words. A body of a boy? He looked up at the bird and sent a message to it with his mind, desperate to know more.

'Please, bird! Can you tell me more about this boy?' he asked it politely.

The bird chirped back. "(Oh, of course, Ness! Everyone knows about you. The boy was just outside of Onett, I saw him when I was flying in. I landed by him and pecked him on the head, but he didn't really react...)"

Ness nodded at the information and quickly thanked it before running off toward Onett, racing across the streets and the lawns and grass. Eventually, he made it to the entrance of the town, right after the sign that said "Welcome to Onett". He stopped for a moment to rest, to catch his breath. As soon as he could breathe again, Ness looked up and noticed in the distance, a form passed out on the ground. Slowly, he stepped up to the lump in the road, and saw, to his surprise, a boy around his age, with blonde hair. His clothing seemed to fit that of the less technogically advanced countries rather than Onett.

Ness wondered for a moment what he should do, should he take this boy home? He didn't exactly have anything to drag him across town and to his house with. Magic was out of the question as he might get caught by the police or snagged along the way. Maybe he could find help? Or maybe...

He nudged the boy's face lightly with his foot. "Hey."

The boy remained silent.

He did it again. "Hey...! Hey, buddy, wake up."

Fire.

Fire was everywhere, surrounding him. The smoke was trying to choke him.

From where he was, Lucas could see a cell, and inside was a boy of Dalaamese decent, with his hair braided back into a ponytail. He wore white clothing, pure white clothing. He was sitting down with his back against the wall, his legs laid out before them, his arms crossed before his stomach. Lucas reached out to him, but he didn't react. He stayed there, in the cell as the flames burned around him, as if he didn't care.

Why was he doing that? Didn't he see the dangers? The fire?

The scene shifted and Lucas became scared. Darkness surrounded him, and the flames from before swirled around to fit inside an oil lantern, which floated up above him, illuminating the face behind it.

"Duster?"

The man didn't see him. He limped through the darkness, the lantern lighting up the area around him. Cells adorned the walls, with various people cryng in them, sobbing, except for the Dalaamese boy. He was brave.

... But Duster kept walking through.

"No, Duster! Come back! I'm so scared!" Lucas cried out, chasing after the man, who eventually turned back around toward the Dalaamese boy. "Duster, please. Where are you? I need to know. I'm scared and I have to give you mom's instructions for your leg, and that present from your dad..."

Lucas watched as Duster and the Dalaamese boy had a staring contest. And still, he pleaded, even if Duster couldn't hear him. He wanted more than anything to be in the arms of an adult he trusted. He wanted to be in his mother's hold, but she was back home. Duster was the closest thing to a big brother that wasn't Claus that he had. And more than finding this second boy, he wanted Duster.

"Duster, please. Where are you? Please tell me."

"Hey." A sudden voice.

Lucas jolted. Where was that voice coming from? It didn't sound like Duster. Who was it?

"Hey...!" Again!

"Hello?" Lucas called out, circling in his spot, trying to find the source. Duster and the Dalaamese boy continued their staring contest.

"Hey, buddy," called the voice.

"Yes?" Lucas replied.

"... wake up."

"I can't!" Lucas called out with all his might. "I can't wake up! This is a prophetic dream, and the last two times, a Magypsy was the one who woke me from it! I don't know how to end it!"

Fire began to circle around him. The type of fire... It was reminding him of the kind that Claus could summon.

"Please! Help me! I can't wake up, I'm trapped until the visions end..."

The fire grew intense. Lucas could feel the heat.

"Please!"

"You're having dreams of the future?" This voice. It sounded like the kind that Aeolia used to speak to him in his dream. It was the same person, Lucas could tell. It just... sounded more personal, more close. "So you're a Magic User?"

"Yes!" Lucas replied instantly, and then he covered his mouth in shame. He had promised Duster that he wouldn't tell a soul. He had then promised the same thing to his mother, and he even crossed his heart. "You... you won't be mad, will you? I promised my mother and my friend that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Your secret's safe with me," said the voice. "You see, I can do Magic, too, so it's okay. I understand the point of secrecy."

"So, if you're a Magic User, then you can help me! I'm trapped, I just learned about my powers recently, I can't control it." Lucas felt a little better about breaking his promise, but he was still ashamed that he had broken it that easily. He made a promise with himself then. No telling. No telling at all unless he knew he could trust the person in question. And no telling Duster and his mother that he had done it.

The voice was quiet for a moment. "I could wake you up, here... let me give you a little push."

Ness opened his eyes.

Another Magic User. This blonde, he had prophetic dreams. Such a gift with Magic Users was rare, or so said Princess Paula, who sometimes had a few herself. She told him one night that she had horrible vision one day about fire, a thief, and the Prince of Dalaam, a friend of hers that went missing three years ago. She had never gotten over it, and even now, every once in a while, she'd tell Ness how worried she was about "Pu". This boy here, he seemed more powerful than he led on, possibly up to par with Ness and Princess Paula.

The blonde then opened his own eyes, blinking slowly before letting out a sigh of relief. "Good... it's over. Thank you..." He looked over at Ness and gave a small smile, before he sat up slowly, clearly drained. "I'm Lucas."

"My name's Ness," replied Ness with a small smile of his own. "It's nice to meet you, Lucas. Where'd you come from?"

"I'm from the village of Tazmilly, just near the Osohe Castle," Lucas replied softly. "I went on a journey after my brother got snatched, so I'm looking for him. I'm also looking for a friend who went after our Princess, Kumatora, because she also got captured."

Ness felt like fainting. Now her, too? Who was next, Princess Paula? "The Osohe Princess is gone?! When are they going to stop?"

"I don't know," admitted Lucas softly. "But I intend to somehow stop it. ... ... Somehow."

"Your voice is kind of scratchy," Ness pointed out. "Did you want something to drink? I can get you something. There's a nice soda shoppe just in town."

"So... da?" The word was alien to Lucas.

"You know, like pop. It's a soft drink. Carbonated, flavoured water in a way. It's good stuff. You don't have those?"

Lucas only shook his head.

Ness gave a laugh. "Well, we are a bit technologically advanced, so I guess that makes sense! Come on, I'll just get you a bottled water, then. Don't want to destroy your taste buds."

Ness led the way for Lucas down the road, back toward town. People eyed Lucas strangely as he was wearing alien clothing. Osohe was more like a kingdom set in a mix of the middle ages and Victorian eras, so it made some kind of sense to Ness as he tried his best to hide the newcomer to town. After getting him a few drinks, as Lucas quickly finished two bottles, Ness led him back home.

The two boys slowly stepped through the door to find Ness' mother in the kitchen, cleaning up. Ness stepped up to her, gesturing to Lucas.

"Hey, mom. Is it okay that my friend Lucas stays over for the night?"

Ness' mother turned around then and gave him a look over. "Well, he'll have to clean up, first, Ness. But, certainly."

Ness gave a big grin. "Thanks, mom! I'll take him to the bathroom." He turned to Lucas with a smile. "Come on! Mom's orders."

Lucas, meanwhile, was holding back tears. Watching his new friend interact with his mother made him think of his own. The one that he left behind in the now distant Tazmilly Village with his father, with only old man Wess as company, with his dog Boney. Was she okay? How was she and his dad coping without the twins? Were the Magypsies crying over Princess Kumatora having been kidnapped? Was old man Wess missing Duster, too?

Ness poked him, blinking him away from his imaginary word. "Come on, this way."

"R-Right..." Lucas voiced, following him down the hall.

It took a moment of Ness explaining how the plumbing worked, but eventually Lucas got showered and all clean. He changed his clothes to clean ones that he had packed, and Ness' mom had offered to clean his dirty ones. As they were in the wash, the family sat down for some tea and juice and invited Lucas to sit with them. Ness' mom explained to him the rules of the house that he would have to follow as he stayed for the night, and Tracy asked many questions about what Tazmilly was like. Ness then asked what the two people he was looking for looked like, and Lucas grew quiet for a moment.

"Well," he started, "Claus, my brother, looks just like me. We're twins. The only difference is his hair colour is orange."

"Oh, so he's a carrot-top," piped Tracy. "That's neat!"

"And your friend?" Ness asked, butting in.

"Well, he's tall. About as tall as your mom. He's older than me, see. He has light brown hair, some townspeople have mistake it for blonde," Lucas explained. "He'd be easy to pick out in a crowd. He's unhealthily thin and he hurt his leg a long time ago, too, so he has a limp."

Ness paused at that, recalling Frank's words from that morning. A man with a limp had robbed him of his wallet. A man with a limp that told him it was caused by an old injury and that he was looking for a friend. Lucas described just now a friend that he was looking for, that went after Princess Kumatora. That had a limp. From an old injury. Coincidence? Ness didn't think so. He figured the two were describing the same man. He decided not to bring it up, though. He wasn't sure how Lucas would react to hearing a man that completely matched his friend's description had robbed a friend.

"Well, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for them," Ness' mother commented, stirring sugar into her tea. "You are brave, Lucas, coming out this far to find your friend and brother."

"They mean a lot to me," Lucas said with a shy smile. "Claus is my best friend and Duster acts a lot like our older brother sometimes."

"Is he the one that you promised that you wouldn't tell?" Ness asked suddenly, causing Lucas to panic. "Hey, it's okay! My family knows, they're cool with it."

"Oh, is he Magical, too, Ness?" Tracy asked happily.

Lucas hesitated, becoming red faced. He looked down in shame. At this rate, the entire world will know. "Duster and my mom made me promise I wouldn't tell. I broke it so easily with you..."

"Magic Users always feel a feeling of trust when they're Magic is aligned the same way," Ness' mother explained, before she took a sip of her tea. "Ness is a aligned with the same type as you, I suppose. The type of Light."

Light and Dark Magic were well known. Dark Magic was associated with the art of Scientific Alchemy - Chimeras, being the main result of this Dark Magic, along with the things that Giygas could cause, such as zombies, people's thoughts and actions becoming negative, and, like one time eighty years ago, enveloping the world in darkness. Light was more associated with the things that the Magypsies and the Royal families could do, with their powers.

"Still doesn't help the fact that I broke a promise," Lucas muttered. "Duster was only trying to help, he didn't want us snatched like Princess Kumatora. But mom... she was worried, scared. I even crossed my heart."

"Promises can break, but they can be re-mended," Ness' mother continued. "How about this: You two boys promise me that you will not speak a word to anyone about your Magic, unless they are also Magic Users, and they have told you first?"

Lucas instantly nodded to the new terms of his promise. He'll have to tell Duster when he remet with him. Ness, meanwhile, laughed and scratched the back of his head, having already promised this.

The day went on from there, Lucas biding his time as he waited for tomorrow. Dinner consisted of steak and vegetables, something which Ness gobbled down rather quickly, much to the amusement of his sister and mother. Nighttime fell and Ness' mother set up a mattress in Ness' room with sheets, blankets and a pillow. After returning his now clean clothes, she smiled and closed the door behind her.

Lucas watched as Ness got up from his bed and headed over to the window. "What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting," he responded, placing his hands on the window sill. "Every night, Princess Paula and I have a short chat before bed. I talk to her, you know, with my head. We use Magic to do it."

"You're friends with the Princess?" Lucas was amazed. "I've met our Princess, too. I've played with her plenty of times. Duster's closer to her, though."

"The only difference is I've never met her face to face," Ness admitted. "It was an accident, she had been desperate to complain to someone about her father, and I heard her. Ever since then, we're each other's confidant."

"Ness? Are you awake?"

"Ah, there she is!" Ness exclaimed happily. "Yes! I'm here."

Lucas blinked, having not heard anything. "Well, I'm going to bed, then. I'm tired."

"Yeah, you've had a long day. Good night!" Ness replied, turning back to him briefly. He then turned back to the stars, waiting for his friend's next message.

"Ness, I have something to tell you," Princess Paula admitted after a short pause. "Have you heard about Osohe? Their Princess has gone missing."

"Yeah, actually. I met a boy from there, today. He's out looking for his twin and a friend that went after her. Did you know her?"

There was another pause. Ness had learned over time that there was sometimes a lag between the two of them, and had gotten used to it. "Kumatora was a dear friend of mine. We never saw each other that much, but we were always a nice breather after dealing with our families. I was sad when I heard about her."

"Do you fear that you're next? If you do, I'll go after you."

"I do fear that I'm next, Ness. It scares me. I don't want to disappear from these walls. Knowing you'll come after me... It helps."

Ness closed his eyes, focusing on his next message. "What about Princess Ana? Has she been targeted?"

He could tell from the air of the next message that Princess Paula appreciated the distraction. "She tells me she has a plan in her letters. She'll send out a call when she fears she'll be attacked, and hopefully, a 'knight in shining armour', as she puts it, not me, will come after her and save the day. I tell her her plan is absurd, but..."

"Seeing as that's how these nightly talks started, I don't think you have much room to talk, Princess, no offense."

He felt a tickle in his mind slightly, and knew she had giggled. "Of course. I'm being slightly hypocritical. But, to be honest, it is a somewhat flawed plan. Phoenix does not have as many Magic-borne Users as Eagleland or Osohe, so I am worried that her plan might not work."

"She might not get what she's expecting, either."

"There is that, too."

The night was quiet for a moment, and Ness felt her presence somewhat retract from him. She was being distracted, possibly from a council member or a servant. It happened occassionaly. He waited paitently for her return.

"Ness."

"Yes?"

"Ness, it's my turn to go. I hear them."

Alarm swelled inside of him. "What? I'll come after you! Paula, please -"

Silence. He couldn't feel her anymore. Princess Paula was gone.

It'd be pointless to wake Lucas. He had a long day, he was tired. He was tired, too. He couldn't start a journey like that. Swiftly, he grabbed his backpack and packed a few essentials - clothes, his bat, his lucky hat, and prepared it for tomorrow. He set his alarm for earlier, so his mom wouldn't be up, and grabbed his wallet, tossing it in his bag. Ness then curled up in his blankets, and tried to get some sleep. Princess Paula's emotionless voice swam through his mind in his dreams.

"Ness, it's my turn to go."

The alarm rang at a low tone, low enough that Tracy and Ness' mother wouldn't be able to hear it. Ness hit the button and got up, seeing that it had at least woken Lucas up, who wasn't thrilled.

"What's that for...?" he asked tiredly, rubbing away at the sleep in his eyes. "It's still dark out."

"Last night, Princess Paula was taken. She said she heard them, and then she severed the connection. I'm going with you." Ness got up from his bed and started to get dressed as he said everything. "You're not stopping me, either, I'd just follow you."

Lucas was wide awake now as he explained. "So..."

Of course.

Aeolia. S/he had said that the first person would find him. Ness had found him on the road, and he was a Magic User. Now all he needed was instructions to finding the last chosen one. Lucas gave a small smile at this and nodded, getting a smile back from Ness.

The two got ready quietly, and tiptoed across the hall and down the stairs, where Ness took some bread from the bread box and bottles of water from the fridge. He also claimed some crackers, cookies, and strips of meat he called "beef jerky". After making sure that King understood that he was not coming, the two slipped out the door.

Lucas had learned that the home next to the family's had long since been abandoned by the Minch family. The family name was so familiar to Lucas that it somewhat bothered him, but he had decided to keep it to himself. Ness had explained that they had almost abanonded the youngest son there when they had left, a Picky Minch, but the mother had remembered and had returned for him. It was clear that Ness had felt sorry for Picky.

"If I miss any of them, it's Picky," Ness mentioned as they walked past. Police sirens could be heard in the distance as they walked down the road. "He was always the nicer of the two. Pokey was just a jerk."

"I can't say we have anyone like that back in Tazmilly," Lucas admitted, but he bit back a slight remark on Wess. "Everyone's generally nice there."

"It sounds like a nice place. Maybe sometime we can visit."

"Maybe our journey will take us there," Lucas hoped. "We're just kind of following the road at the moment, who knows?"

"Well, the best place to go next would be Phoenix. Princess Paula said that Princess Ana feared she would be next, and guess what. She's the last royal family member they haven't gotten yet," Ness revealed gesturing down the road. "Phoenix is just down here. It's a bit of a walk, but we can always duck into a barn to take a nap. It is farm country mostly."

Lucas nodded in agreement, and together, the two headed to their destiny.