Emma squinted as she looked at Klaus from afar and waved back.

"Who is that? Is that the Joshua guy? Wait. He must want me to-- ugh," Emma thought.

“..h…e…l…p me!!!! Help!!! I don't know him!!! Ahh!"

Emma began to hear Joshua's screams the closer Klaus got to them.

"You dragged him out for fun, didn't you Klaus?" Emma thought as she saw Klaus happily strolling and tugging on the boy's shoes, repeating, "I'll take them off! Or will I? I'll take them off!"

"Ah!! Stop!!" Joshua wiggled vigorously as Klaus teased him.

"Ah, you brought Joshua with you?" Grandold asked Klaus.

"Brought?! More like robbed?!!" Joshua yelled.

"Robbed? How dare you accuse me of such a thing," Klaus immediately replied in a satirical tone.

"That's exactly what you did!! Now help me, you idiot!"

Plop.

"Huh?" Joshua muttered as Klaus softly dropped him.

He crouched down to Joshua's level and whispered, "See the girl with the note 'Emma' on her head? She likes dolls too." Joshua searched for the note before finding it on a girl with red hair and blue eyes.

"Woah…" the girl's beauty shocked him. Her skin was smooth and precise, and she had short, straight hair. She wore a white shirt underneath a dirty yellow jacket and short red pants, which highlighted her shiny legs. The bracelets on her wrists only accentuated her beauty

Joshua inhaled deeply, his heart skipping a beat. He couldn't remember anyone ever smelling so lovely. As the girl moved toward him, his face flushed. He remained mesmerized by such beauty before the beauty began to move towards him.

"Are you okay? Klaus can be a bit much."

Joshua stared at Emma for a second before whispering, "Could she be younger than me?!"

Joshua suddenly turned away. His internal conflict showed as he murmured, facing away from Emma, his back bent and fingers on his chin.

Joshua turned around and looked at Emma once again.

"Ah, it doesn't matter." He thought as he realized that age, in the face of beauty, was but a mere number.

"Hey, are you okay?" Emma asked, her voice soft and steady.

“Y-y-y-y-y-y-es.” Joshua managed, cheeks burning.

"Hahahaha!! I knew you were nervous but that's something!! Ahahahaha!!"

Klaus said, cackling, holding his stomach, and pointing his finger at Joshua. Emma's hand curled as she shot Klaus a quick glare.

He cut his laugh short, lowered his gaze, and muttered, "Just kidding..."

"Let's go somewhere else," Emma suggested, uncurling her hand.

"Klaus, you find something to do."

"Aw! I wanted to see mo-"

"Somewhere. Else." Emma had a firm tone, rising with each word.

Klaus side-eyed Emma for a couple of seconds before saying, "Fine."

Klaus pouted and looked around, searching for something entertaining. He then noticed Grandold with Annie on his shoulder, awkwardly standing before them. Although the thought of being near a fluffy-tailed rat repulsed Klaus, he had previously survived with the rodent at the table, so maybe this time, he could survive, too.

"Say, old man, you never got my name, did you?" Klaus locked eyes with Grandold.

"Say, I never did, eh? Let's go talk elsewhere hm?"

"Yes indeed!" Klaus replied.

"Emma must've not been able to get anything out of him…or she just forgot. Eh, it's one or the other. Eitherway I'll see what I can do."

Klaus thought as he walked off with Grandold and Annie, although there was an uncomfortable amount of distance between them.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Emma glared at Klaus as they walked away, not in malice or anger this time but more to ensure they had left. After a few seconds, she faced Joshua and began talking to him.

"Klaus didn't hurt you or anything did he?"

"W-w–w-w-well, he made me jump on my bed. It hurt my butt." Joshua rubbed his hand on his buttocks as a sniffle escaped his nose.

"Why would Klaus make him jump on his bed?" Emma thought, gazing blankly at Joshua.

"Did he scare you?"

"Ah." A sound of surprise bypassed Joshua's lips.

"Y-y-yes, he scared me. He put his face right in front of me…" Joshua twiddled his fingers.

"Mm, It's ok." Emma paused momentarily, putting a finger on her lip before continuing.

"What's your name?"

"Joshua. J-Josh is fine too. You're Emma, right?"

Emma looked at Joshua, confused, before saying, "How'd you know my name?"

Joshua pointed at Emma's forehead. "You-you're forehead. The guy your friends with put it on you."

Emma pulled the note off and looked at it in shock.

"Wha-when?!!!" Emma frantically began to check her body.

Emma's sudden outburst took Joshua aback, and he gripped his doll (note - yes, he's had it in his left hand this entire time).

"I-I-I-i…actually don't know." Joshua hesitantly said, looking down.

"When he brought me here, he put me down and just said to look for the girl with the note that said 'Emma' on her head. It led me to you…" Joshua slowly lightened his grip on his doll and pointed at Emma.

“H-how-wh-when...” Emma muttered as she held her head, swaying back and forth.

Joshua stared at Emma. She continued muttering before finally noticing that Joshua wouldn't speak unless she spoke to him.

She looked at him and held her hand out. Joshua peered at Emma in awe for a few seconds before grabbing her hand, his face flushed with embarrassment. His eyes darted as she pulled him up.

"Wow, you have nice clothes," Emma said as she checked Josh up and down. She held a slight smile.

"Where'd you get them?"

"F-from my hometown."

"Where is that?"

"U-um, I'm not sure." Joshua paused.

"I-it's really far from here."

"Well, a lot is far from Boon." Emma then looked at Joshua caringly before saying,

"That's ok."

"How old are you?!?!" Joshua blurted out, shocking Emma.

"Um, 12. I'm 12." Emma said, twirling around.

*Sigh* Joshua sighed, breaking eye contact.

"Why is he so worried about age...??" Emma thought.

"My hometown, or well, c-city is Ironvale. I-I grew up there." Joshua brightly smiled.

"Ironvale?" Emma stopped twirling and then looked at Josh.

"What's that?"

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't really know much about it," Joshua said, his smile fading. He looked down and fidgeted with his fingers.

"Ah, but I-I do know that it's a lot better than here. No one there lives in these conditions."

Joshua's tone went monotone with that last line, which creeped out Emma. Her eyes widened slightly, and she stepped back a bit.

"What's so bad about Boon?" Emma asked, her voice faintly shaking.

"Oh, w-well, it's just that compared to Ironvale, Boon is…not good." Joshua's stuttering and nervousness returned; it was hard to imagine that, just a second ago, he was serious.

Emma's unease slowly lightened.

"It has a lot of nice houses! The people aren't the nicest, though..." Joshua said, finally looking at Emma and smiling again.

As Joshua talked about his hometown, Emma's stomach twisted. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked away, a habit she’d developed whenever the topic arose. Memories of her home flooded her mind—a town once bright, now a former shadow of what it used to be. The smell of asphalt and the sound of crying invaded her brain.

"Boon isn't that bad," she said, forcing a laugh that felt hollow.

"I mean, it's just… different." Her gaze shifted to the ground, avoiding Joshua's curious eyes, hoping he wouldn't press further.

"Oh," Joshua's smile quickly faded as he noticed Emma's discomfort.

He felt embarrassed about his rambling, and his face turned red again.

"Um, um, um..." She frantically thought about what to say, noticing the tension.

"What about your doll?" Emma blurted out.

"M-my doll? It's actually a puppet. I'm good at controlling them." Joshua smiled slightly, held out his puppet, and waved its hand.

"Wow!" Emma curiously looked at the puppet.

"Can I hold it?"

"Um, yeah." Joshua's face began to get red, and his eyes began to dart.

"Woah…" she thought as she inspected the puppet. The puppet once had light red hair, but it had frizzed into a darker shade with age. Dark white buttons sat where its eyes should be, and it wore only pants and a red shirt. Thin, nearly invisible white threads dangled from its head, arms, legs, and hands.

"These are so cool," Emma thought as she pressed her finger against one of the threads. Instantly, she felt tension coming from behind the thread. It was clearly connected to something, and Emma was curious.

She held up the other threads, pointing them to where the sun shone on them best to see where they would lead. She held them higher and noticed Joshua's right hand raising in conjunction. Threads emerged from his fingertips. She awkwardly looked at Joshua.

"Oh, sorry." Emma slowly put her hand down and handed the doll back to Joshua. Joshua couldn't maintain eye contact for more than a second and fidgeted with his fingers.

"Are you wearing a glove or anything, Josh? I don't see..."

"Oh yeah, I am. It's an invisible glove my family made." Joshua took off his glove and held it up. The sun revealed the clear glove.

"Woah…where-who is your family? They have to be amazing to make something like this!" Emma excitedly said.

"I-I'm part of the Asyal family. J-Joshua Asyal." His ears began to turn red, and his face was becoming beet.

Emma looked at Joshua with gleaming eyes. They sparkled heavily against the sun, appearing like stars. Joshua's eyes remained locked as tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Oh," Joshua said as he fell back, his hand over his forehand.

*gurgle*

"Josh! You ok?" Emma said while holding Joshua inches from the ground.

"S-s-so pr-pret-ty..." Joshua barely managed as he gurgled. Joshua's mouth bubbled on the floor as he passed out.

"What? Wait, hey! Wait! Josh!" Emma frantically looked around, thinking about what to do.

"How do I help him?" He's gurgling, so push down on his chest? Emma thought.

She laid Joshua down and began to push down on his chest.

"Ack! Ugh! Oof!" Joshua's natural reaction to the pressure only made Emma more nervous.

"Argh!! This isn't working!"

*gurgle* *gurgle* Joshua continued to gurgle as Emma held her hands on his chest, looking around.

"No choice..." Emma thought as she picked Joshua up.

"Klaus!! Help!!" Emma ran in the direction Klaus had left in, holding Josh as he gurgled, his feet dragging on the floor.