Familiar Strangers (Beaux/Louie)

Louie hated these "family reunions." Every year, he'd have to go over to some cousin's or some uncle's estate wearing a suffocating dress shirt and sweater, having his mother introduced him to the family he regarded as strangers. Not only was it boring, but it lasted an entire day, and that was just the actual event! Even after that, his mother would stay for a few days after the reunion to "catch up" on things, as she put it, but Louie knew that what she was really yearning for was gossip. Which Uncle molested what girl? Aunt Anne is having an obedience problem with her employees? Cousin Michael was involved in whose death? She wanted a sniff of the mess before it was swept under the rug where everything and anything "unfortunate" was destined to be.

This year, to Louie's delight, the reunion was taking place at the Ellesmere Park. The park was famous for its beautiful waterfalls, steep cliffs, and was supremely well-kept. Unlike the stuffiness of a private estate, at least the young blonde could breathe here, and maybe find something to do other than tag along for his mother's nosiness.

It was the strike of noon, and the Napedian summer sun was in the middle of the cerulean sky. Filling a few pavilions scattered around the area was a conglomerate of men, women, and children falling somewhere in the Klein and Phacelia bloodline. All of them were well-dressed, chattering, and related. Well, it wouldn't have been a family reunion if they didn't all share some blood. But even then, Louie was not at all interested. In fact, he was actively looking for a way to entertain himself away from his mother's side, but all he saw was a grand piano being played in the center of it all, grown men talking about business, women giggling, and children being children in the more modest of ways. At first, he was unsuccessful. All he saw were restrooms and catering tables that would hardly be enough of an excuse to justify his parting. Everything except one curious chocolate fountain in the near distance and a familiar tuft of chestnut hair hovering over it. Suddenly, the twelve-year-old blonde was sparked with an idea.

"Mama," said Louie, eagerly pulling on his mother's skirt, "do you mind if I go get food?" he asked sweetly. His mother looked down at him and was rather quick to respond.

"Very well, Louie. But don't go anywhere too far, and make sure to introduce yourself whenever someone approaches you. Oui?" she instructed him and then walked off before he could answer. She never seemed interested in Louie. Not ever. It was hard to get used to that sort of disinterest, but at least he was free to do as he pleased now. But what?

Quickly shuffling his way over to the chocolate fountain, he then saw the chestnut-haired boy from earlier. As he drew closer, he realized that it was Beaux Phacelia—his older cousin and someone he only knew it in name. Before today, they had seldom spoken to one another, but Louie was determined to find his own fun for the day if he was stuck here. Abruptly, Louie's face suddenly poked out from behind Beaux, looking at the taller boy's face from below with a wide-eyed and curious poker face.

"Do you always look this creepy over chocolat?" said Louie, jeeringly.

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Louie remembered Beaux as being a soft-spoken, boring boy, and from the looks of it, Louie's image of him had not changed much. The only thing that caught his eye was the fact that he was hovering over the chocolate, alone. It was a wide window open with opportunity!

"Okay! Ever since I've joined my sports teams, I'm almost the best in the region! I can play chess, run track, golf, horse-racing, tennis—at this rate, I'm going to be number one!" Louie grinned excitedly, and then his expression suddenly took on more of a pouting look, "Or, well, I would be if I wasn't here. It's not like I wanted to come to this stupid reunion. Mama always insists that we attend, but there's nothing for me to do here..." the blonde boy sighed, poking a toothpick into a strawberry and eating it. He was likely going to be here all day, but now that he was free from the not-so-watchful eyes of his mother, he had to find something to do and talking to his cousin Beaux would only be entertaining for so long. But letting his eyes wander for all but a moment, he suddenly caught a glance at the nearby cliffs and the booming sound of the Ellesmere waterfall. Encaptured with an idea, Louie's face suddenly lit up.

"You're alone too, oui? Then come with me!" he smiled, grabbing Beaux's wrist and dragging him away from the chocolate fountain he was indulging in, "I have a fantastique idea!"

Ever since Warren's suicide two years ago, Louie's personality had somehow changed. He was bossier than before, and was less likely to take no for an answer from other kids. He learned to become more persuasive, more ambitious, and more competitive. He abandoned his hobbies in collecting foreign items to pursue athletics and to become the very best academic he could. It had only been two years, but the young boy had already come a long way down the road of success just to for his mother to look his way.

Louie dragged his older, larger cousin away from their two families, leading him to a small but steep cliff. It wasn't so large and steep that it wasn't impossible to scale or climb down from, but one good fall could certainly open up the sturdiest of skulls! In other words, Louie was all over it. When they approached it, Louie let go of Beaux's wrist so he could crawl and peek over the edge. The look in his wide, crimson eyes showed that he was more excited than anxious to be overlooking such a questionable feature.

"Incroyable!" he gawked, looking back at Beaux, "Let's climb down together!"

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Gazing over the edge of the cliff and staring into the deep crevices in between the stones making it up, Louie couldn't wait any longer to investigate it for himself. So, he turned around and looked behind him as he carefully, and yet quickly found edges to plant his feet on. Meanwhile, Beaux wasn't nearly as eager to scale it and was sure to voice that doubt.

"Don't chicken out, Beaux! Pouleeeeet!" Louie teased him, his jeering insults at that time only stretching as far as "chicken" and "loser." "Besides, if you keep standing there, the adults are going to see you and you'll get in trouble! Pouleeeet!"

After that, Louie continued slowly making his way down the cliff. He took his time in finding stones and branches to step onto, but after finding some sort of rhythm, his speed increased dramatically. He could feel the grittiness of the rocks against his shoes and how the moisture coating them slid against his heel. One brisk turn or impulsive step could have easily sent him falling away.

"You know," Louie started as he made his way down the cliff, "they say that there are sorcerers beyond Napedia who are so talented that they could just... drop down!"

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When Louie watched Beaux begin to lose his footing, he felt his heart sink. He knew that this was dangerous, and that's precisely why he decided to climb it, but somehow seeing the hazard loom over them in reality was a lot more daunting and scary that he thought it'd be.

When Beaux regained his footing and steadied himself against the cliffside, both of them seemed to pause to regain their composure. If they kept going as they were, they'd reach the bottom of the cliff in no time at all, but Louie could still feel his heart beat out of his chest from what almost happened. He didn't want to admit it, but he didn't really feel as excited about the climbing idea anymore, and so he began to slowly make his way back up, almost directly beneath Beaux as he came up.

"W-What the heck? If I leave you alone for a second, you might get—" Louie's anxious words suddenly fell short when he felt the wet, slippery rock he had planted his small foot on give way and pop out of its wedge in the cliff just as he was lifting himself further up. A feeling of overwhelming fear washed over him, the kind that came over you when you leaned too far back into a chair and were about to fall. It an instinctive fear that burst out from the pits of his stomach and spread throughout his body like a gust of wind. With grips too unsteady to cling to and two airborne feet, Louie's eyes widened and skin suddenly turned white. "—BEAUX!!" Louie blurted out, grabbing Beaux's ankle as he began to descend abruptly. It was the only thing he thought to grab onto! Whether Beaux was braced long enough to support him, and if he was strong enough to lift him up wasn't something Louie had thought about. All he was wanting to do was prevent his fall and keep his skull from splitting open!

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Beaux glanced down after catching his breath, the cold stone against his forehead having soothed him ever so slightly. Louie seemed to be climbing back up. He felt relief, hoping the younger boy had decided against going down any further. Maybe they could make it to the top and return to the chocolate fountain like nothing had happened.

That hope was thrown out the window in an instant. Louie began to speak, his words accusatory but with a slight stutter of fear. Before he could finish, Beaux watched in horror as his cousin’s foothold fell out of the cliffside and tumbled down. A chill of fear and adrenaline coursed through his body, taking his breath right out of his lungs. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. There was nothing he could do but watch as Louie’s fingertips dropped from their ledges.

For a split second, the little blonde was airborne. Then, Beaux felt hands on his ankle, gripping tight. The entirety of Louie’s weight and part of his own was now resting on one ankle, which gave out immediately. The toe of his shoes slipped right off the edge of the stone wall as if someone had just placed butter right underneath it.

“L-Louie! Hold o-” Beaux cried, desperately digging his fingers into the slick rock. The handholds weren’t big enough for a hand or an arm. The two dangled for a second before the older boy’s grip gave out. The weight of two boys was too much. Fear coursed through his body as they fell, his breath gone. The feeling of free falling had his heart in his throat. Desperately he clawed at the stone cliffside as it whipped past his face. There had to be some sort of ledge he could grab! If he couldn’t stop their fall, he and Louie would surely be horribly injured, especially if they gained momentum. The stones tore at his hands, slicing, bruising, rashing. Beaux felt none of it. Adrenaline delayed the pain.

His hand caught a stone jutting out from the cliff, slowing their fall by a little jolt before slipping off again. It was just a few feet above the rocks, so the boys fell just a short distance before colliding with a large, flat rock near the pounding water. Beaux managed to fall away from Louie, avoiding crushing his cousin, but still landed on the rock on his rear. Gritting his teeth at the pain, the older boy rocked back and forth for a minute, hissing breaths out as he waited for the agony to subside. Being so close to the water, his clothes and hair were soaked at once.

Realizing his pants were stained red and feeling a stinging pain start to seep through his hands and wrists, Beaux turned his palms up. They were shredded and bleeding profusely with pieces of gravel lodged in the flesh here and there. His wrists ached, his elbows ached, his back and butt ached. The brunette let out a whimper of pain, tears collecting with the droplets of waterfall spray on his cheeks.

Louie! He had to check if his cousin was okay. Rushing over to the younger boy, he knelt beside him, frantically looking him over. “Louie! Are you okay?” Beaux shouted, hoping his cousin could hear over the roar of the waterfall next to them. They were lucky they didn’t fall away from the cliff, or they could have been caught in the torrent and slammed to pieces against the rocks.

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