Sun and Moon

09 - Within memories

''Jackson !'' A chestnut-haired woman shouted, though her voice was ringing with laughter. ''Slow down honey, Mommy can't keep up !''

The little boy with the exact same hair didn't listen and kept on running in the woods. The kid was barely four years old by he was already making life hard on his parents with his unlimited energy and his habit of always playing around.

His favorite playground was the forest. It was where he met the other kids from the village, where they were racing, playing hide-and-seek, climbing the trees, trying to find earlier where the Easter Bunny would hide his eggs and even try to hunt forest spirits.

His mother kept on trying to catch up with him, her basket swinging and dropping some of the mushrooms they had been collecting. After a while, the slender, graceful woman stopped to catch her breath, then she placed her basket on the grassy ground. She put her fists on her hips and smirked.

''Where is my little gremlin ?'' She teased.

She held back a chuckle as she heard a muffled laugh come from behind a tree near by. Her son was not much discreet, but it was normal for a toddler, especially a mischievous one like him. She took slow steps towards the tree, faking not knowing he was there.

''Blimey, he's getting so good at hide-and-seek, I will never be able to find him. Oh, I really don't know where he is. Huh, maybe he climbed that tree ? Maybe he slipped under this bush ? As fast as he is, he's surely already back to town and I'm looking here in vain.''

When she finally reached the tree, she quickly rounded it and grabbed the startled little boy. She wrapped her arms around him and blew in his neck to tickle him, making him giggle.

''Oh, I got you, you little rascal ! Now you will suffer my tickling wrath !''

''Mommy, stop !'' The boy laughed, shedding tears of laughter and struggling to breath.

''Oh no, I don't think so.''

* * *

''Daddy, Daddy, look ! There's someone in the tree !''

''What are you talking about, son ?'' A tall, brown-haired logger man laughed.

He looked up to the tree his son was pointing at but couldn't see anything, so he assumed it was just his son's overflowing imagination.

Though the boy was not imagining anything. He simply believed. He believed in all the fairytale his parents and his friends' parents told him. He believed in Santa Claus, in the Tooth Fairy and in the Easter Bunny. He also believed in Mother Nature, the Groundhog, the Stork bringing babies, the lucky Leprechaun and even the turtle that beat a hare at racing.

So seeing a man dressed in scales-covered armor, sitting in a tree, it was not strange for him. The man's startled expression, however, was. The auburnet dressed in black and dark brown got down and hesitantly stood in front of the boy, chocolate brown eyes following every of his movements.

''Wow...'' The little boy breathed. ''Are you a soldier ? You've got a soldier armor.''

''You... Can you see me ?''

''Yeah, duh.''

The man blinked.

''Well, you're the first to.''

''Really ?''

The armored man smiled and crouched down in try to level their eyes. The boy beamed at him, showing off pearly white teeth.

''It means you're special.''

''You think so ?''

The man nodded, making the boy beam even more, to the point he started to bounce.