A beautiful seascape of peace and tranquility. Houses and schools and neighborhoods lie far off from the golden shore in a maze of grass and trees, along with all of the older folk that don't fancy playing with the seawater anymore. Down by the shore, the radiant sun heats the sand and the cool blue water.

The beach curves out from its center, and then back in at its sides, meeting a thick mountain range at each end, and encased in the middle is the small grassland. In the rocky areas to the right of where the kids play lies a few mysterious caves and caverns that are ideal for exploration; one in particular holds a lone door seemingly carved out of the stone itself. Beyond lie the mountains, where no one has dared venture before.

By the water, several kids and teenagers enjoy their time; including Liam, Even and Jasper, but also several others. There is Tony, whose wooden sword and attitude sometime get the best of him, there's Liza whose sling shot she keeps by her side everyday. Often, sparring battles take place between when no one is swimming or chasing crayfish.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"Gah!" Liam jolted up. Salt water had splashed into his face and startled him from his deep sleep on the beach-side. Luckily for him, no one was around to notice his embarrassing little moment; his two friends were probably off doing who-knows-what and who-knows-where to boot. Impatiently, he smacked his head down on the sand. "I don't know how much longer I can wait. My friends really do sleep in sometimes," he mumbled to himself.

In the distance, he could hear noises from a small battle; Liza and Tony were at it again. Perhaps if Jasper was up for it, the four of them could have a small two on two fight before the day got old.

Still lying on the ground, Liam looked into the distance and gazed at the mountain range, its endlessness and mystery. He wanted nothing more than to explore beyond what any other person had on Crystal Beach. Other worlds. Light and dark. He thought. If it's true, than those mountains are our only chance of us getting off this boring place. Me Even and Jasper together. Nothing is impossible.

Suddenly, he had a feeling of deja vu, like he had recently had a bad dream and was trying to remember it. Liam thought of the door in the rocky caves, and how it could be his world's heart, but dismissed it. The idea that every world had a heart seemed oddly insane to him; not to mention, his professor was a cook. Then again... the idea that there are other worlds out there is kind of insane too.

He lay on the ground listening to the ensuing battle, trying to keep his excitement down to a minimum. All he had to do now was wait for his friends to show up.

The swaying of the ocean, the sound of seagulls. The beauty of a pristine beach during twilight. A picture perfect scene marred only by one thing. A body, a small boy lay unconscious on the beech, his hair matted with sand and kelp. His body deathly pale. His breathing shallow and coming slowly. His cloths were torn. To a passer by he could have been dead. A spasm went through his body and he convulsed over to his side. The boy began coughing spitting out sea water. A man walking along the beach with his wife found the boy and knelt down to help him. He placed a hand on the boy, the boys eyes shot straight open.

Jasper sat straight up trying to hold a scream in. He started hyperventilating. Trying to calm himself down he rubbed his eyes and stood up. It was just a dream! Nothing more. Though he had that dream plenty of times, it was always the same, it was day he was found on Crystal beach he was what.... 7 when they found him. The people said he was near death and the Mr. Samson had found him. The only problem was that in his dreams Mr. Samson had flaming read eyes and a vicious smile. Mr. Samson was a nice man but had not the funds to keep Jasper. So Jasper lived at the school in a small two room house. It was very small. Jasper shook his head, he wish he knew more. The only thing he could remember was his name nothing more. he wasn't from crystal beach.... so that meant he had come from somewhere else, where he had no idea. It drove him insane sometimes. But he had adjusted to life here. It was his home now and he had made some friends.

"Oh shoot!"

Jasper ran over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of cloths. He was supposed to meat Liam and Evan on the beach.... and he was running late!

"Good going Jas! Sleeping in! What was I thinking?!"

Jasper was prone to talk to himself when he was alone. He mumbled some more and began to hum a tune. After getting ready he left his small home.

jasper breathed in the clean air and began to run, he loved running and he loved the feel of the wind against his face. He reached the beach a few moments later, spotting Liam he came to a stop and smiled. His breath was normal.

"Hey I made! Sorry about being late. Wheres Evan?"

_________________

"Listen to the music of the night.... for in it is the melody of life."

~Master to Butler Vilora

Boy sat alone in the shade of a large craning palm tree. Knees were pressed up against his chest and arms locked around them. Ocean blue eyes stared at the rhythmic lapping of the waves against the shore. It created quite a soothing sound as water licked the sand gently before returning to the vivid waters beyond. The youth enjoyed it here a good deal; not many people came to this side of the beach so he was primarily left to his thoughts aside from the occasional pestering gull or pinching crab.

Evan was a bit of an early riser and had gotten out to the shoreline before most of the other kids had probably woken up. It was a decent strategy for avoiding Tony and some of the more rowdy children; they always wanted to fight and Evan didn’t really enjoying play fighting. Besides it’s not like he was any good at sparring either, he always lost no matter who he was up against unless they let him win. It was best that he stayed out here anyway, when he was in town yesterday he was talking some of the older kids that he didn’t really know and somehow ended up in trouble. Evan was content to just follow the leader but after the others grabbed some fruit and ran he tripped and was left to be blamed. He didn’t even do anything wrong, he was just talking to them and following them around so that they could be friends but he still ended up the one to be scowled. The merchant probably took pity on him since he had seen him around before and didn’t take anything himself. For the most part Evan had to listen to an angry speech about how not to hang out with the ‘wrong crowd’. Still he wouldn’t be heading back to the town for a while now; the beach was a much more friendly and inviting place.

Hugging his limbs tighter to his chest for a moment he watched a bird dive into the ocean with a small splash. Practically holding his breath he waited for it to resurface and wondered what it was like under that blue liquid veil. Sure he had been in the ocean plenty but he wasn’t a strong swimmer and the sea was so vast that even the village’s strongest swimmer couldn’t explore it all. Suddenly the white avian bobbed up at the surface, a silver fish glinting in its beak. Evan watched as it swallowed the hapless creature then after a moment of floating across the gentle rolling waves it took off once more. The sky was another of those places he couldn’t venture, no one here could. It was so immense and grand he wouldn’t even be able to imagine that there was an entire universe beyond it’s fluffy clouds if he hadn’t learned about it in school.

Letting out a sigh the boy absently grabbed at a straight stick that rested beside him. His arm flicked about drawing abstract patterns in the sand with he regarded which mild interest. The day was ebbing away like the tide with the boy giving it little notice. He knew at the back of his mind to go and meet Jasper and Liam but he had lost track of time and remained at his spot on the beach. He didn’t own a watch or anything that would tell him the time and the sun slipped his mind.

"Where's Evan?" Jasper asked Liam. Like usual, there was no straining in his voice, and no catching his breath even though he had just been running. This, compiled with the fact that Jasper's appearance was naturally more mature and settled than Liam's, stirred the normal feelings of jealousy and competition inside him. He could remember, just slightly, the week after Jasper had been discovered on the beach. Liam himself was only six years old at the time, but some mental images came very easily from that time. He could remember Mr. Samson, and the group of curious bug-eyed children waiting to meet their new friend at the school. Even ten years ago, Liam could sense something was off, and it took a lot of effort for him to keep his curiosity to himself.

"That's a very good question," the younger kid responded, leaning his head up to get a better look at Jasper. Liam was about to say something about his unruliness, but just assumed that his friend slept in yet again. Evan, on the other hand, was more complicated than that. "If that kid wasn't such a mystery, we would probably be able to guess where he is, but I don't think anyone really knows.

"Now that I think about it, he did get into some trouble yesterday. Not his trouble, but trouble nonetheless. What do you say we go look for him?"

Pushing his gloved hands down on the soft, warm earth, Liam lifted himself up into a kneeling position, and then stood up completely. He grabbed each foot by the ankle, pulling his calves one by one up to his butt, and then planted his feet on the ground to touch his toes. A few small jumps, and he was stretched and woken up.

He threw a smirk at Jasper, and jolted off. "Come on! You'll never find Evan dawdling like that!"

Jasper laughed and started running after Liam. His long legs easily carried him right up next to Liam.

"So what is this trouble you were talking about? Some jerks pick on him again? He really should just stop trying to fit in with everyone and just hang out with us. Maybe we aren't cool enough for him."

Jasper smirked some. Poor Evan was the odd ball who was having a hard time fitting in. Somehow he had gotten on Liam and Jasper's good side and they had befriended him..... even though he was a lot younger than them. Jasper had almost taken on a protective stance with Evan maybe it was because of the way he had lived, he figured Evan deserved some friends and needed someone to look after him. Jasper mentally shrugged and turned back to Liam.

_________________

"Listen to the music of the night.... for in it is the melody of life."

~Master to Butler Vilora

Evan heard the telltale sound of running on the beach. First at a distance that he doubted he would see anyone then closer. There were voices to go along with the steady ‘thuds’ crashing into the soft sand then spraying a trail of it behind them. He knew these voices, looking up he would see his two friends racing down the shore towards him. A slight smile crept along his face when he saw them. These two were genuinely kind to him unlike most people he met. Evan was the kind of kid that wanted to be friends with everyone only he was just to shy and awkward to really fit in with many of the other children. He wasn’t athletic, he wasn’t talkative, and he certainly wasn’t popular and some strange combination of that lead him to being shoved aside and uncared for. He didn’t really understand why Liam and Jasper liked him but he wasn’t complaining, the three of them had plenty of fun together after all.

The stick he had been drawing with slipped from his grasp and landed softly on the beach beside him as he lifted up his arm to wave to the pair. Other arm feel to his side and leg slid out to lay flat putting him in a more relaxed position; less defensive.

It took him a moment but he suddenly realized he missed meeting them earlier. A pang of guilt stung at him, usually he was so good at being where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there but today he seemed to have slipped up.

Quiet voice piped up as the two approached, “Oh hi guys. Um, sorry I missed our meeting. I was sitting here and, er I lost track of time...” Even as he trailed of his smile was still persistent; while Evan wasn’t great at reading people or predicting what they’d do he was fairly certain that his friends wouldn’t be mad at him for forgetting once in a while. It wasn’t like they were perfect at keeping appointments themselves. Inquisitive mind was already wondering what Liam had planned for them today.

Jasper spotted Evan and ran up and popped down next to him bringing his knees up to rest his chin. He looked at Evan out of the corner of his eye a odd twinkle in it. He wrapped his arms around his knees and thought for a moment.

"Yeah well we all lose track of time, I slept in, Liam dozed off on the beach and you enjoyed your time under a tree.... I guess we can forgive you."

Jasper chuckled and leaned back his legs stretching out and his arms supporting him. Running a hand through his hair he looked at Evan, "So I heard there was some trouble yesterday.... care to enlighten me? And don't try to cast the others in a better light give me the facts as they are."

Jasper looked at Evan with his intense green eyes and smiled, he didn't want to daunt Evan but he wanted the facts as they were though. He had a slight idea who was behind but he would reserve his judgement till he heard the story. He also wondered what Liam was up to... he seemed to have some plan going on in his mind. Jasper knew Liam had a taste for adventure which Jasper shared to some extent but Jasper was far more cautious so they balanced each other in a sense.

_________________

"Listen to the music of the night.... for in it is the melody of life."

~Master to Butler Vilora

Eeek, it would seem that Jasper just read him far too well. Though it was much more likely that someone had just told him of his little mishap in town, it wasn’t like it was a secret anyway. His friend’s bright green eyes were too prying; Evan couldn’t keep eye-contact and instead shifted his gaze down to his feet. Poor child practically squirmed, being asked a question so seriously.

“Um, well I was in town and I saw some other kids so I went to hang out with them.” He really did want to get them in more trouble after all as far as he could tell they were fairly nice to him. While one could say Evan was book smart he was anything but street smart and really couldn’t read people to understand when they were just stringing him along.

“Then er... they took something and I got caught.” His voice choked up. Now they would think that he was a thief and wouldn’t hang out with him any more even if Jasper was smiling like it was nothing Evan thought he knew better than to believe that. Legs pulled back up to his chest and he put his face into his knees. This shielded his emotional face from sight, even if it was blatantly obvious that he was embarrassed and saddened by yesterday’s events.

Evan couldn’t stand moments like this; he wished he was anywhere but here. Thoughts drifted to a more comforting time; bonfires on the beach on a summer night. Everyone together and just having fun, roasting marshmallows, no one was mean to anyone or cared who people were but just enjoying the company gathered around the too warm fire and on the slowly cooling sand. Memories like that always calmed him down when he thought he might cry and he couldn’t allow that. Boys weren’t supposed to cry he had to be strong like that.

His memory helping him to recover from the guilt of having to tell his friends he got in trouble allowed him to look up and back at Jasper to hopelessly try to read his face. With any luck he wouldn’t really care and they could just go back to the way the three of them were. While he knew at the back of his mind that this wasn’t something Jasper would hold against him he still feared having to name the other kids so that he could go and challenge them to a fight. Everyone around here always seemed to be fighting, though usually for play this might be a reason for a rue fight to break out.

Jasper shook his head, Evan was not a bad kid and thievery was now like him at all, so Jasper assumed he had not actually taken anything..... if he had he would have looked a lot more guilty and probably wouldn't be here right now. Jasper had a small idea who the kids were but Evan continued to want to protect them so Jasper wouldn't push it. The poor kid was upset enough as it was. Jasper just wished Evan would be a little more confident and not feel like he had to fit in with everyone!

"Evan... There is no reason for you to be sitting here feeling guilty! You didn't take anything did you? Forget about the other kids and try to be yourself. If you try to please everyone and be friends with everyone you are going to end up pleasing no one including yourself."

Jasper sighed laid down in the sand putting his arms behind his head he looked up at the sky, "So lets put all this stuff behind us and move on with life! Liam what is the plan..... I have to assume you have something in mind again."

Jasper smirked, hopefully it would prove to be interesting..... and something that would get Evan's mind on more positive things.

_________________

"Listen to the music of the night.... for in it is the melody of life."

~Master to Butler Vilora