These are the current ages for this chapter.

Levi-8

Farlan-8

Isabel-7

Elaine-6

When Elaine Grace was six years old, she found out how cruel the world actually. No longer did she live a sheltered life filled with butterflies, rainbows, and ponies but instead a life with constant panic and fear. For the past two months, Elaine had to watch as her mother's soul slowly left her body and left a shell of the once joyful woman in her place. Of course, when this all started, she had no idea about what was truly occurring with her mother. Three months prior, she had lost her youngest sister during the harsh winter. Her mother had been the one to find her sister's body lying in a pool of her own blood. Screams had woken up the family and, as her father held back her mother's thrashing body, Elaine could only stare at what laid in front of her in confusion. Her older sister, who had been visiting, had quickly pushed Elaine out of the room and into the guest room, trying to make it look like there was nothing wrong. But Elaine knew what she had saw. Her sister's pale body was surrounded with the deep, red liquid and her clothes had been soaked through. Her short brown hair was matted with the liquid, and it looked like her sister had been thrashing around, as if trying to stop whatever was wrong with her. The family didn't speak for the next week and when her mother finally seemed to be coming back around to her actual self, she got sick.

So, now Elaine sat next to her mother in a rickety, old rocking chair with a children's book in her lap, her quiet voice carefully reading the words that laid in front of her. Her father had told her that it was now her job to bring joy to her mother's ailing life. Every day, she sat in that old rocking chair that continuously creaked and read her mother any book she could, and every day she was rewarded with her mother's loving smile. Even though Elaine wanted to be outside playing, she knew that her mother was more important than all those games. After all, it was her mother who taught her all those games. But Elaine was still a kid and she sometimes caught herself staring enviously at the other kids who played in the street before her father gave her forehead a kiss goodbye. She would always watch as he left the house, memorizing the path he took and hoping that one day he would allow her to join him.

It wasn't till a month had passed when Elaine realized what her father was doing.

She had decided to follow him when her mother had told her that she was feeling exceptionally tired and wanted to rest. Placing on a pair of old brown book, Elaine silently followed her father down the path he took every day. It often surprised people how quiet Elaine could be when she wanted to. There were multiple times when her parents' guests hadn't even realized that she had been walking behind them the whole time. She tilted her head when she noticed that her father had stopped in front of a rather large house. Creeping closer, Elaine saw a young woman open the door before leaning and giving her father a kiss, which he seemed to have returned, before entering the house and shrugging off his jacket as two other children ran over to him. Elaine might've been young but she wasn't stupid. Racing back home, Elaine carelessly tripped over a pebble and let out an 'oomph' as her body collided with the cobblestone ground beneath her. Calmly gathering herself, Elaine pulled her small body up before bursting out into tears at the sight of her bloodied knees.

People did pass her by, mind you, but no one seemed to want to pay attention to the little girl with the bloodied knees… that is until a pair of blue eyes caught sight of her. Slowly walking towards the child, the boy seemed rethink his current motive as he hesitantly took a step back, but changed his mind and continued to walk towards the girl. He stood in front of her for a few minutes for the girl hadn't taken in his appearance yet and seemed too focused on stopping the blood from flowing out of the scrapes on her knees. Deciding that he was tired of being ignored, because he was already wasting time trying to help her, the boy kicked the girl lightly, effectively getting her attention.

Tear-filled light brown eyes looked up to meet cold blue eyes.

"What?" Elaine asked as wiped her nose with her sleeve and she couldn't help but notice that the boy had cringed when she did that.

"Tch," The boy whipped out a small piece of fabric before grabbing Elaine's face and wiping her nose, "That's disgusting. Don't you know how dirty that is?"

Elaine only gave a humph before turning her pulling her head of the boy's grip and looking the other direction. She didn't need this bossy boy telling her what to do. She would be fine on her own. She was fine on her own. Her family was wealthily enough to have servants so her mother wouldn't need her anymore, and her father had made it obviously clear that he had a new family. The boy seemed to notice how sour her mood had turned and gave her forehead a flick.

"Hey, brat, don't I get a thank-you? I just wasted a fresh handkerchief on your nasty face."

Elaine made a face before looking at him and crossing her arms, "I didn't ask you to do that."

Her response only caused the boy to scowl before he changed the subject, "Where's your family, brat?"

"I'm alone." The answer rushed out of Elaine's mouth before she had a chance to even process what was going through her mind, but it wasn't like she was lying.

Something seemed to flash through the boy's eyes and before she could comprehend what was happening, he had grabbed her hand and was now dragging her through the street and into a dark alleyway. Reaching their destination, the boy dropped hand.

"Isabel, Farlan, it's safe." The boy said and for a moment, Elaine thought that he was crazy. That was until two figures slowly made themselves known. It was too dark for Elaine to really be able to tell who they were and she subconsciously shrunk behind the boy.

"Who's that, Levi?" A feminine voice called out and Elaine's eyes seemed to have adjusted just enough for her to make a smaller figure next to a taller one. The smaller one seemed to be one was talking and taking a closer look, Elaine noticed that it was a girl who seemed to be a few years older than her with spiky hair that was pulled into two pigtails.

"I found her on the street."

"But who is she?" This time the taller figure seemed to ask the question and, since her eyes had thankfully fully adjusted to the light, she was able to make out a boy with short, spiky blond hair. He, too, seemed to be a few years older than herself.

"I'm not sure."

"Levi, you can't just bring someone in without knowing her name." The other boy seemed to state and Elaine finally caught the boy's name. Levi, it was sure strange and she hadn't known anyone before with that name.

"Hey, brat, what's your name." Levi asked flippantly and Elaine pouted. She was sick of being called brat, she did have a name.

"It's Elaine, Elaine Grace."

"Well, hi, Elaine!" The girl bounded over to her and Elaine could see that she had green eyes, "My name's Isabel," Isabel smiled at her before pointing at the other boy, "that's Farlan, and you've already met Levi."

"It's nice to meet you." Elaine returned Isabel's smile and the red-head only smiled wider.

"Welcome to our group!"

"It's odd, isn't it?" Farlan said aloud as they walked behind Levi and Elaine, quietly observing the small girl in front of him.

"What?" Isabel asked as she turned her head to face him, the light from the windows illuminating her green eyes.

"I don't think I've ever seen Levi accept someone so quickly."

Welcome to my new story!

Please don't be afraid to review! Any review is appreciated!

See you soon,

Ana