Lost and Found

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Hugo never really questioned where he came from.

He didn't have a reason to. The area he grew up in was riddled with orphans. The people were far too busy to look up who his parents were before they probably died horribly like everyone else in this godforsaken town. Whatever. It didn't matter to him. All that mattered was survival, and then, after escaping the town with Donella, pleasing her.

She never seemed all that bothered by it either. "Who you were before we met is irrelevant. All I care about is who you are now," she told him once. "And who you are now has work to do." That last part was said with a smirk at his kiddy groan. He'd grumbled to her amusement, and the matter was dropped.

Even when his world expanded, when he went beyond her reach into his boyfriend's loving arms, he never considered it. Sure, he made fun of thief turned prince Flynn Fitzherbert, and the guy got pissy when he so much as held pinkies with Varian, but it was in good fun! Mostly!

He had a family. It wasn't blood. He was content with that.

Which is of course, when it all goes to shit.

It starts with a dream.

He's short. That's the first thing that's weird about the dream.

The second thing that's weird is that he's in someone's arms.

The room is spacious, ornate but not overly so. Dark green wallpaper flickers as a fireplace illuminates the room, lined with rows upon rows of books. There's a few circular portraits above the mantle, showing an older man, probably some sort of patriarch. For a dream, it's remarkably clear.

A soft, feminine voice is speaking above his head. There's a smile in her voice as she speaks. "Look Hugo," she croons.

He looks up.

The woman has brown hair tied back in a curled bun, a few wisps dangling over her ears. Her pearl earrings glint in the light. She smiles at him, and the dream blurs at the edges.

"Look," she says again. He looks down, and there's a book in her lap. "Can you tell me what the cow says, Hugo?"

"What?" Hugo asks.

"Yeah Hugo!" He turns, and there's a girl with blonde hair in a braid grinning at him. She's maybe 12 at the oldest. "Go mooooooo!" She laughs.

"Don't tease him," the woman chides.

"Uh," Hugo, distinctly not 4, despite the dream around him thinking so, squirms a bit. "No thanks."

But both the woman and girl light up. "Very good!" The woman praises.

"Wait, who are you? Where am I?" He squirms in her arms, but she holds on tight, flipping the page. Instead of a barnyard animal, there's a raven, beady eyes staring at him. It comes to life with a shriek, flying off the pages and out the window.

"Now, Hugo... can you say... run?"

He looks up.

The woman's face is pale. Speckled with blood that drops from her mouth. The fire in the fireplace goes out, shadows creeping up on the walls.

She looks at him, green eyes wide in terror. "HUGO, RUN !"

Whatever he was going to say in response to that is lost in his mouth when a sword shines from above her, plunging into her torso and covering him in blood.

Several dark clothed men run into the room, their faces blurry, some of them lacking any features at all. The words are lost, totally incomprehensible but angry as they descend on the now crowded room. When did so many people get here? They're all dressed nicely, almost like palace staff, falling in showers of blood as bayonets fire and puncture any living creature in sight.