Hello Again, my darlings!
So, a few things.
1. I've realized that, as in real life, I've been implanting lots of little snippets of song lyrics and such into my stories. Yep, you're not crazy, they're actually there! Try and count how many you can find! (And there might, just maybe be a small reward for the first person to identify each one in the comments!)
2. I'm sorry I haven't been updating anything as much as I originally planned to. I've found that I can only upload on Thursday nights, so I write everything during the week and then just post it on Thursday nights. The thing is, there's so much going through my head during the week that I'm trying to put down on digital paper that I can't keep up, much less actively try to write content and plot for a specific story. I'm sorry about that, but sadly there's not much I can do, so you might just have to sit tight and deal.
3. MAJOR SUPER IMPORTANT EXCITING WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!! I have recently discovered the wonder that is Google Forms, and I am working on creating forms for all kinds of things that have to do with my stories. For now I only have one finished, but thankfully it's for this story. I have a link here for you to, if you're interested, fill it out to suggest a character to me to use in this story. This is a chance for you to interact directly with the development of this story, and there will definitely be more of these coming your way in the future. For now, here's this one. Thanks in advance for participating! Also, many thanks to those who got this from the wonderful Katie and have already participated, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Except you, Jet! ; )
4. One final thing. Writing this chapter forced me to think over a lot of things about how I wanted this story to go. I'm not entirely sure how, but I ended up kind of completely rewriting the major over-arcing plotline for the entire story in a very drastic and detailed way. Again, I'm not sure how, but it happened and I really like where this is going now. What this means for you as the reader, though, is that I had to change some things in chapters one and two, but one especially. Also, chapters one and two are now kind of a lead in with an intentional cliffhanger that will be resolved several chapters after this. Think of he next few chapters like a flashback or something, because they are most definitely not barely disguised character development tools, nope, not at all. I am completely capable of my own characterization, thank you very much!
Anyway, Love You All - XOSweetsOX
Character Profile HTCS: General Info
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14fU3w8Pnc5srS8vpIaNKj54dlC3VxCiToOFg5gxLkJI/viewform?usp=send_form
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The File of Matthew Michael Kinney, stored in the secret drawer of Alpha Kinney's Office with other pertinent files.
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File ID: 882050103066882050395046
Name: Matthew Michael Kinney
Gender: Male or Female
Date Of Birth: January 12, 1997
Mother: Alpha Camille Janet Kinney
Father: Alpha Jackson Lance Kinney
Mate: Alekzander Llygos Reinas (125)
Shifter Category: Mythological
Shifter ID: White Dragon with red tinting on edges of scales
Also Included in this File: Birth Certificate (047), All Medical Records (048-073), Transcription of Interview with Dr. Kriss (074), Report Cards (075-088), Other Pertinent Files (089-124)
Important Notes: Included in this file is a transcription of an interview/psychological evaluation between Dr. Kriss and a one and a half year old Matt. It is an account of the events of the night Alek was born from Matt's point of view. Upon conclusion of this interview, it appears that Matt has no recollection of said night, and Dr. Kriss suspects this is because his memory is preventing him from remembering the pain. Warning: Graphic details.
He is Alek's mate. There is no question, the sensations he experienced could not have been anything but mirroring. In order to keep them separate for now, I must place guards on him, who are monitoring him every second of the day when I myself cannot. I will detail these guards later on in this set of files. No other notes at this time.
Signed: Alpha J. L. Kinney
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File: 882050103066882050395074
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"AHHHHHHHH!" My one and a half year old self screamed at the top of my lungs. "Momma! Daddy! AHHHHH! Help me!"
"Ohmigod, sweetie, where are you!? What's wrong?!" My mom shouted from the kitchen. "Alpha, come quick!"
"What's wrong babe, where's Michael?!" My dad shouted back, as they both rushed towards the stairs to come up to my room. My mom made it up to my room first, and found me curled up on my floor writhing in agony. I had never been in so much pain, and never would be again.
"OWWWWW!! It hurts, Momma, it's crushing me!!! Make it stop, please Momma make it stop!! OWWW!" The cries of pain and torture were ripped from my little lungs as I fought the all encompassing squeezing sensation I was experiencing. Then finally, my mom rushed into the room.
"What it it sweetie?! What hurts?!" She rushed over to me and asked in a soft comforting voice before turning towards the door and and shouting in a terrified voice "Robert, come quickly! I don't know what's wrong!"
"It hurts everywhere, momma! Everywhere hurts, AAHH!" I managed through the pain.
My dad arrived at the door and took in the situation. "I'm here, baby. It's all okay Michael, everything's fine, there's nothing wrong here.
"What do you mean there's nothing wrong here, something's obviously hurting him!" My mom shouted at him before turning back to me. "Where inside does it hurt the worst sweetie. "
"It's not inside, momma." I panted during one of the short lapses in the agony. "It's outside, it's all around m-aaAAAHHHHhhhhh... again and again, everywhere. It hurts..."
"Sweetheart, listen to what I'm saying, please. Whatever this is, it's not internal and you can see that his body's not being physically harmed. Whatever's hurting him is not here." My dad said forcefully and calmly, trying to tell my mom something without actually saying it.
"It's starting again." I mumbled as I bit my lip and tried, for my parents sake, to keep my screams inside.
"Are you even listening to yourself?!" Momma yelled in dad's general direction, incredulous at his cool, calm, and collected attitude. "Our son is being hurt by something not here yet still affecting him, and..."
"nnnNNNHHHHhhh." I somehow succeeded at keeping the next cry of anguish from leaving my mouth.
"I can't say anything else except what if whoever is causing this is also in pain. Just think, and don't say anything before we have a chance to talk about it in private." My dad cautioned.
Then finally, the pain was gone after one last sharp stab to my belly button, and I started mutely sobbing in relief. I quieted down and watched my mother for a moment, who was deep in thought, and wondered what I had missed. Then all of a sudden, realization dawned on my momma's face, and she gasped.
"Oh my, really? That was... her being... born, I'm assuming?" She had been stroking to my hair ever since she arrived, trying to calm me down, but something in that moment caused her to pause in her comforting, and she queried, "But how did Matt feel what she did, that's impossible!"
"Not quite." My dad responded as I laid in a sweaty heap on my floor, heaving in huge breath as my mother resumed her peaceful motions of quieting me down. I tried to focus back on the situation at hand, but I was getting kind of tired.
"It has happened before, though not many times. The most recent was probably 1853, when the person destined to become Grand Alpha Sebastian Roger's you know what was born. Sebastian felt the same exact phantom pain when you know who's mother entered the final phase of shifter labor." His attention shifted lovingly to where I was laying sprawled out on the carpet, pretending to be asleep. "I learned about Mirroring in my Alpha history class, it is only experienced by those who are destined to become Grand Alphas. And to think, my little boy will someday grow up to be..."
My mother moved to pick my tiny frame up off the floor and carry me to my dresser, to put my pajamas on me. "Okay, babe, woah. Slow down. You may be able to think that quickly, but I just can't. First of all, wasn't Grand Alpha Sebastian's you know who actually... a him? Not a her? And you do realize that a Grand Alpha is only born once every couple centuries for the sole purpose of reuniting the Elemental Guardians, right?"
"Wait, how do you know that?" My dad looked stumped for the first time in this entire conversation, as he moved to pull back the covers on my bed and help my mother tuck me in.
My mom sighed in that amusedly exasperated way that only people who are truly, deeply in love can pull off, and looked caringly up at my father from where she sat on the bed next to my carefully arranged form. "I had to take the alpha history class too, you know. After we first touched and discovered each other..." She sighed again, though this time more in defeat than anything else. "It's just, I want him to be able to grow up normally. Have a simple, pleasant childhood without the worries of having to be the next Grand Alpha. I want to be able to give him, well... I don't know. Whatever he would have had before tonight happened."
My dad reached down and pulled her up into a comforting hug, both of them embracing each other with a strength of souls that had weathered many challenges before this."I know, babe. I understand. I want to give him that too, and I think the council will give us permission, but you do realize what that will entail, right?"
"Yes I do, and it breaks my heart, but what else are we supposed to do? We need to keep our Matt away from him, whoever he turns out to be. And to do that, we need to find him. Could we search the birth records for today?"
We definitely should, in fact we need to in order to know who to keep Matt away from. And we have to keep them apart, for their own sakes, at least until they graduate high school."
My mom sighed once more and leaned in to my father, and they both just stood there, taking comfort in each other's arms.