A barrage of children stood at the entry way as a couple stood at the front door of the orphanage. The couple looked over the kids with pondering gazes whilst the children made desperate attempts to appeal to their eyes with their cuteness. Luckily for them, it was working.
The lady of the pair inwardly gushed as the children crowded around her, making it increasingly difficult for her to choose. The head mistress, Kate, did her best to hide her naturally intense features behind a patient smile.
"Have you chosen, Mr and Mrs Drake?" The Drake couple shared a quick glance. The children stared in anticipation. The couple then pointed to a child with bright orange hair.
"We would like to welcome Mathew into our family." Mr Drake happily stated. Mathew's eyes widened while the other kids around threw off their cheerful facades, moaning and groaning.
"YES!" Everyone watched with pouty faces as the young lad threw a fist into the air and let out a hearty cheer. Hiding the smirk on his face, Mathew then threw himself at his parents and waved his hand to the other children. "It's a shame that I have to leave you behind, I'll miss everyone!" Yeah, right.
Soon after the Drakes had left with their new kid, everyone was left to their own devices. "At least we don't have to deal with him anymore." One child did mutter.
Behind the staircase, your tiny self remained hidden, watching quietly as everyone dispersed. Then, a quick hand grabbed you by the shoulder, causing you to shriek and flail about as you were carried into the air.
"It seems I've found a little mouse. Now, where did I put those mouse traps..."
"AH! STOP- IT'S ME!" You wailed. A woman's laugh tickled your neck, before you were promptly set down. You turned around and gave the woman standing before you a mean eye. "That was mean, Rosy. And you know it."
Rosy, Kate's assistant, simply smiled at you.
"Y/n, why didn't you introduce yourself? You might have been picked."
"But I wanna stay here with you..." You lowered your gaze and bit your bottom lip. "And besides, nobody would want me anyway."
"You know that's not true." Kneeling down to your level, Rosy's orange locks framed her face perfectly as she stared into your eyes with her deep emerald ones. "You are a very special girl. If I could, I'd adopt you in a heartbeat."
"But you can't," you gave her a soft smile, "I know." Hearing you say that disheartened Rosy. Pulling away from her, you flashed her a wide grin and puffed your chest out with pride. "Don't worry. Someday, I'm going to become a guard for the capital and earn heaps of money! That way, you and I can be together forever!"
With a warmth in her chest, Rosy reached forwards and hugged you tightly. You weren't quite expecting it, but you returned the affection nonetheless. After all, you loved Rosy — she was like the mother you never had.
'Unlike that old lady.' As if reading your thoughts, Kate snapped towards you with a raised brow, making you shutter. You gave her a nervous wave before reluctantly letting go of Rosy. Looking towards her, you cocked your arms. "I'll work super hard!" Rosy gently began to pet your head and she hummed in agreement.
"Yes, I know that you will. Someday, you will become an excellent guard." You grinned to yourself and nodded.
~~~
{8 Years Later}
As the sun rose high above the horizon, a young girl hurled herself through the open window of the Bellwood orphanage, followed shortly by the mother of all that is holy. Red faced, Kate stopped at the window and began throwing cursed words your way.
"Y/N! If you don't come back here, I'll do far worse than just ground you!" Kate screamed, about ready to chase after you with the hand of God at her side.
Catching yourself onto the nearest tree branch, flashed her a cocky grin.
"You'll get more wrinkles if you keep looking at me like that." You stated whilst dragging yourself into a sitting position. You then quickly inspected your hands for any cuts. Satisfied, you threw yourself off the branch and made a break for it, purposefully ignoring Kate's outraged squawking.
With how far you had gotten, Kate's flare immediately died down, leaving her in a sunken pile of exhaustion. She let out a drained sigh and held her head despairingly. "What am I going to do with that child?"
"As usual she's full of energy." Rosy piped up behind her, starling her. Unamused, Kate gave her a straight face.
"Too much energy if you ask me." This made Rosy laugh. With the little ones floating around her like seeds of a dandelion, she darted off into the hallway with a basket full of laundry. Some of the other kids trailed behind her, wanting to help.
Back in the fields, blades of grass tickled your skin as you ran across the plains. A glorious victory, you thought while laughing against the wind. With the orphanage being so far away from the main city, you practically had all of the outer land to yourself.
You worked your muscles to climb up the hill containing one singular tree stripped of all its essence. How it remained here for so long was beyond you. By the time you had reached the top, your already red hands had already begun to blister from the climb.
You grunted and panted. Then, a sharp beam of sunlight hit your eyes, blinding you instantly. You cried out against the harsh light and used your arm to shield your eyes. You then brought your arm down and with great caution, your eyes slowly connected with the emerald castle. Or at least that's what it looked like to the naked eye.
Sitting before you was Metro city, a beautiful metropolis hidden amongst five layers: the outer layer, the second and third walls, the inner layer and the central layer, housing the great emerald castle. If you sought hard enough, you could see a magnetic field imbued into the iron plates of the castle, making up its fortified defence system.
Passed all of the fancy decor lied a barren wasteland, littered with ruins of villages that once was. From what Rosy had taught you, the iron walls surrounding Metro city protected it from these lands, although you were unsure why. Despite this, you admired these ruins from afar, enjoying the scenery whilst sitting in a pleasurable silence.
"I should probably start heading back..." you thought aloud, sneaking a quick glance at your pocket watch. The old thing was close to falling apart, you'd have to ask Kate for a new one — perhaps for your next birthday. It then went off in your hand, producing an awful sound that certainly wasn't pleasant to the ears.
"Shoot! I'm going to be late for my lesson!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosy tapped her foot impatiently and she eyed you with disappointment as you breathed heavily before her, clearly showing your exhaustion.
"Sorry I'm late...! *pant* I-I promise I'll be more careful next time." You rasped. Rosy simple shook her head and she brought your chin up with her hand.
"Well, you're not completely late. Only by a few minutes." She stated jokingly and she gave you a small wink. You began to relax under her soothing touch and you couldn't help but smile.
Sounds of pots clinging together soon reached your ears. Casting your gaze towards the kitchen, you saw some of the younger kids carrying out their chores for the day.
"Hey, how come we don't get a cleaning robot?" You mentioned as you watched the kids using the brooms as swords. Rosy rested her left hand against her cheek and she promptly sighed.
"Well, we just can't afford it. And besides," Rosy came up to you and gave you an affectionate snuggle, "don't you think that by cleaning together, we can all bond better as a family?" With her lips firmly pressed against your cheek, you bought her wise words and wholeheartedly agreed. You then followed Rosy into the study hall, leaving the children to their own devices. It was at times like this that you were glad to have these one on one lessons with Rosy. That meant no chores for you!
Inside the study hall, you sat down in your usual seat situated at the front of the empty classroom. Reaching into your desk drawer, you brought out your notebook whilst Rosy walked up to the board and took out a stick of chalk. Although technology was far more advanced in this day and age, being this far out from civilisation made it a lot harder to keep up to speed with the times.
"Okay, first we will revise. If you want to become a white diamond knight, you'll have to know these things," Rosy began. She would then proceed to ask you a series of questions, questions that you must answer correctly. A fire had been ignited inside of you, and your thirst for knowledge ensued. Rosy detected your excitement, and thus began with her lesson.
"First question; what is the full name of Metro's royal scientist?" Your hand shot into the air and you held a promising smile on your face.
"Dr Burton Tenma."
"Good. Now, for the next question; what are the requirements for entering the capital guard?"
"You have to graduate Metro Academy with a royal degree before you can apply to work in the royal palace as a guard."
"Wrong!" You were flabbergasted. Only two questions in and already you had gotten something wrong.
"How!?"
"You can't just apply to be a guard on the spot. You have to obtain knighthood first."
"Hey! You never mentioned this before!"
"Oh, yes I have. You probably let this bit of information go over your head." Rosy scolded. You bit your tongue before sitting back down.
"Okay, but how do I even obtain knighthood if I'm not a guard?"
"Easy, community service! With your royal degree, you can enter Metro's army cadets." Your expression became incredibly sour. You knew fully well that becoming a knight wasn't going to be easy, but the amount of steps you would have to take was becoming increasingly daunting. "Okay, let's begin with the lesson."
Humming a defeated sigh, you pulled out a worn text book from your desk drawer and plopped it onto the wooden surface. "I'll need you to turn to chapter one hundred and twelve. Today will be a history lesson of sorts." She said. With a lazy finger, you flicked towards the end of the text book practically, although getting rather a tad bit excited as you neared the end. Stopping at the right page, you read the chapter title aloud.
"Metro City's Guardians?"
"The guardians are apart of an ancient tale of war times. They are the ones who protect our home from dark forces using the power of the ancients." Your eyes widened for a split second before re-grasping your composure.
"Wait, so as in...magic and stuff?"
"YES! Long ago, our ancestors discovered two pendants. And with those pendants, they found great power." As Rosy began her tale, she brought you forwards to listen.
"Upon the pendants' founding, the King in that era housed great intentions. The lands would flourish, the hungry will grow full, even the seas would part for his will. However," with her hand raised, Rosy leaned towards you and made a circular motion with her fingers. "Without knowing the full potential of these great powers, greed and strife struck the land and Metro split apart from within."
"What...happened?" Your voice came out in a faint whisper. Rosy settled from scaring you and took a step back.
"There were those who did not agree with the King's solitary usage of this power, deeming that he had become far too selfish for his own carnage desires. Their words to the king were, 'If a power with unlimited potential exists, then it is only human to use it and do anything.' The king disregarded these warnings as hypocrisy."
"But the king only wanted what was best for his people, right? So, why couldn't they just leave him alone?"
"The wisemen saw many things in their visions — even with his majesty. It wasn't just the king's power they were afraid of. Other nations had caught wind of the King's new founded power, and sought to steal it for themselves." Rosy reached over and turned a page in your textbook, bringing you to an obscured drawing of the two pendants. "Catching wind of their plans, the King insufferably decided to seperate the pendants, assigning each one to a guard. The King's most entrusted knight was assigned to the white diamond pendant, and a rogue, who's only friend is himself, was entrusted with the black onyx pendant."
You mentally drew the two knights in your head, and wondered what they might have looked like as there were no pictures of the pair in the textbook. Realisation then hit you and you finally popped the question about the latter guardian.
"They made a rogue the guardian for the black onyx pendant? What if he decided to take it for himself?" Rosy smiled almost knowingly, giving you a sense of discomfort.
"That is exactly what they were looking for. This man was unlike no other. He couldn't be trusted by anybody, yet he did not trust others all the same. A knight in total seclusion, loyal to no one but himself. Doesn't it seem like the most fitting way to keep the pendants seperate?"
"I dunno. I guess." Rosy clapped her hand over her mouth as she muffled her laughter, making you smile.
"After some time, the two pendants were brought together once again, and the guardians were officially announced." You blinked up at her in confusion.
"They separated the pendants...only to bring them back together?" Rosy chuckled and she dragged your hand over your head, pulling you both closer together.
"Haha... I can understand your confusion. Unfortunately, this bit of information became lost as time progressed. Nobody really knows what happened." Your brows slowly lifted at this. How does such an important part of history remain unknown? This story was starting to sound ludicrous to you. "On another note, with how far technology has progressed, the pendants' powers are practically useless in this day and age."
You stared agape at her. Rosy had said that so nonchalantly. "Now, candidates for protecting the pendants' are merely chosen as tradition."
"Wait- so if the pendants don't even matter, then why are the guardians such a big deal?" You cried out.
"They're still national treasures, Y/n. These pendants are an important part of Metro's history." You shut the book and frowned.
"Really? Ugh, how boring." Rosy gave you a knowing smile.
"You know, there's another way of getting into the royal guard without the need for a royal degree or knighthood."
You shot out of your seat in a burst of excitement, throwing the seat from under you. "TELL ME!"
"If you become a candidate for the position as a guardian, you are immediately granted knighthood as well as a seat in the royal guards' inner circle."
"Really!? Then-"
"However, the candidate spot for the white diamond guardian has already been filled. Tenma's boy, Tobio, was better equipped for the role than most." Hearing this, you slid back into your seat with your excitement steadily dying down. "B-But! A candidate for the black onyx guardian still has yet to be chosen!" And up you went again. This time throwing your chair back, you raced up to Rosy and gripped onto her arm excitedly.
"I've got a chance after all!" You exclaimed, much to Rosy's amusement.
"Perhaps. But don't take this as an opportunity to slack off. Many others are also after the role, so you'll have to work hard." Of course you knew this, but hearing it from her humbled you. Whilst Rosy packed away the chalk board (despite not even using it), the classroom door flew open and entered the devil herself.
You nearly screamed as Kate came marching towards you. She then gripped you by the ear, holding you up to eye level.
"Guess who will be washing the dishes tonight. And I mean all of them."
"Why's it gotta be me...!?"
"Because!" She tugged hard on your ear, making you yelp. "You ran out when you were supposed to be on lock down. This is your punishment for that little stunt you pulled earlier." You wailed hard as Kate dragged you down the hallway, possibly to get you to help her with another chore.