Chapter Text
The toll of the bells continued to ring, pulling Noah out of his trance. He could’ve sworn the sky behind the clock tower was looking ominous and other worldly, and yet no one else seemed to be in shock at such a sight. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? The large flock of doves scattering before him, fully snapping Noah back to reality as if a curtain was lifted, returning the sky to normal, his senses reattuning with the sounds of the crowd, the smell of the nearby vendors and stalls but most of all his sight returning to focus.
“Noah!” a voice rang out grabbing his attention, “What are you doing man? They’ll start the fireworks without us!”
Noah snapped his head around to see Lanz, one of his best friends calling for him alongside Eunie and Joren
“Get a move on already, or all the good spots`ll be taken,” Eunie shouted on
“Exactly! So c`mon, move it!” Joren, the final of the trio, blurted out piecing together what Noah was doing before conking out.
“Sorry! I zoned out for a sec. I'm coming!” Was it really a second he thought to himself. He swore what felt like a brief moment, had lasted several lifetimes with the blurred images he could not piece together in his mind. The trio had already begun rushing off as the fireworks had started their loud and bright appearance, leaving Noah to try to catch up and make sense of what was causing this weird sensation.
The confusion he felt mere moments ago gone as the sound of a flute playing caught his full attention bringing that feeling of distortion back into him. And yet despite feelings of being lost or unsure of the previous experience, the tune from the instrument felt comforting, like a voice of a parent welcoming their child back home.
Yet turning into the direction of the music, he couldn’t see anyone playing. Whatever this was, it was causing Noah to feel every possible type of sad and happy emotion possible all at once. This unquenchable desire to find the source and find out just why, why did this tune make him feel this way. But enough soaking in what he was feeling and hearing he thought, finally pushing his body to investigate leading him away from where most of the crowd was heading to witness the firework display near Alcamoth Castle.
The curiosity gripped Noah, every step felt like an eternity, the process itself dragging on trying to skirt past the last few people in the way. The moment his body laid beneath the archway leading into the small park was when he could put the creator of the melody into frame.
A young girl that looked more or less his age, her hair and small ears that adorned the top of her head glistened as white as the pale moon, her flute looking similar to his own though white and adorned with gold highlights. This girl looked familiar, he thought, but where from? He hadn’t seen a Gormotti like her before outside of the occasional appearances or art featuring Queen Nia.
Almost as if on time with his thoughts ending was the girl's melody dying down, “That was a beautiful song.” Noah spoke softly, in awe at both the girl and melody.
“Oh, thank you,” her head and eyes jolted to where the voice came from, “ I honestly didn’t expect anyone to still be here at this time, what with the fireworks for the celebration going on… wait I didn't distract you from going to see the show did I?”
“N-no…I mean I was meant to be heading there with my friends but hearing you play that song something just clicked and made me want to check it out. The song, it felt like I had heard it before.” A wave of confusion began once again clouding his memories with the addition of a small headache accompanying it. Where though, where had he heard this before, where does he know this girl from and why was it now giving this discomfort to even try to think.
“Are you okay?” the Gormotti girl noticed something was wrong seeing him wince in slight pain, something compelled her to want to help him immediately. It just felt right to her for some reason, “here take a seat.” The lightest of touch on Noah’s shoulder, a simple gesture, gave way for her to start experiencing what he had just felt.
“I’m Noah,” introducing himself as he sat next to the space she was occupying before, the slight headache subsiding as fast as it had occurred.
“Mio, it’s nice to meet you,” Mio responded whilst placing her flute on her lap once seated again herself, returning the smile she noticed on Noah’s face back at him. This boy, he looked like someone important to her but how she thought and why did she get a headache just from a simple touch. “I should be a bit more surprised than I currently am that you say you recognised the song, I actually only just came up with it.”
“Really? Well it was lovely regardless, it gave me a sense of… home for some reason.”
Mio’s eyes beamed at the compliment clasping her hands together , “I’m so glad you love it! I don’t suppose you happen to play as well?” she voiced out enthusiastically, hoping that he was someone that also was like her.
“Hmmmm yeah I have a similar flute to yours actually, just in black instead of white. I uh, I don’t have it with me though, my friends wanted one night where we focused on the festival together, rather than me wondering about practising,” Noah scratched his head at the answer, letting out a nervous laugh in the process. “But maybe another time we could play together?”
“I’d really like that, you’re the first person I've met that plays outside of my instructor back home.”
“Same here! We could meet up tomorrow o-or well later since I forgot it’s past midnight now duh… if you’re free of course? Maybe around midday?”
Mio giggled at him, stumbling all of a sudden, “Sure! I..”
“Noah you around here somewhere still?” The loud voice of Lanz echoed close by.
“Sounds like they’re looking for you, I’m sorry again for holding you from them.”
“No, don't be! It was my choice after all and I had fun!
The reassured smile Noah gave Mio helped ease any nerves she felt about distracting him from his friends, then again anything negative she was feeling just vanished being with him, “I’ll see you later then!”
“See you!” Even though he was standing ready to get going, something just gnawed at him for the desire to stay longer. The feeling seemed reminiscent of whenever he’d leave his parents for a while wanting to stay or return as soon as possible. But why, he thought after finally gaining the strength in his legs to move to where he came from.
Back under the entrance archway he could see two of his friends had arrived back looking for him, “Noah there you are, for sparks sake where’d you run off too?” Lanz fired out upon noticing him walking to the two of them.
“Sorry, I got distracted and a bit lost is all.” not a total lie to be fair to them.
“Distracted huh? There’s usually not much that distracts you Noah,” Eunie raised an eyebrow at him whilst Lanz pulled him in with one arm around him, “Musta been something big to keep you away from us.”
“You don’t have your flute with ya so that cant have been it.”
“Ohhhhhh I bet you got a girlfriend or something haven’t ya,” Eunie teased leaving Noah beginning to be bright faced.
“Holed up Eunie we’re 12 years old here and besides, if Noah did have one we WOULD know don’t ya think?”
“You two c’mon, I’ll explain it to you all later, yeah?” Noah attempted to escape the grip held on him before either of the two could see any hint of red on him.
Mio stood by watching the trio leave smiling with a glow of faint pink at the encounter she had, watching them leave until they were both out of sight and their voices inaudible. Maybe her stay here in New Alcamoth wouldn’t be as boring or bad as she originally had thought.
Noah could barely get a wink of sleep that night, the excitement of meeting someone that played the same instrument as him made him feel less alone in his hobby and interest. That girl felt special when he talked to her too, the question as to why still haunting his thinking mind. Pushing the weird feelings and whatever else was plaguing his mind during and before their meeting with the weird sky or headache aside , he really wanted to see this girl again. Luckily he managed to avoid talking about her to his friends, but he really wanted to talk about her with someone. Maybe Mum or Dad he thought, surely they must be up already.
A quick rush to the door and halfway downstairs, there he could see his mother already preparing breakfast, “Someone’s eager to be up early this morning.” as if already catching him without looking.
“I couldn’t sleep at all last night.”
“Oh? That’s unlike you, usually you’re a bit on the lazier side like me haha,” the blonde turned to greet her son with her usual big smile he loved seeing in the morning.
“Dad not up yet?” Noah’s question became slightly muffled during his hug with her.
“He’s at the castle early unfortunately, final preparations and all that for that new academy.”
“Oh… then could I talk to you about something Mum?”
“Of course! You can always talk to me about anything! How about I finish with food for the morning and you can talk to me whilst we eat just the two of us, sound good?”
Noah nodded, moving to do what he would usually do if he was up early enough with helping prepare the table for their meal before seating himself.
The only bit of dread he felt telling about his encounter was if she would also tease him like his friends did albeit this time the person would be knowing the reason. The sound of plates clanging onto the table helped knock him out of any start of spiralling thoughts of regret for wanting to speak about this, “So what did you want to talk about Noah?” The blonde was sitting next to him now, her attention fully onto her precious son.
“Okay, so last night we were on our way to the fireworks and we ran past the clock tower as it was about to hit midnight and… I had this weird thing? It was like a dream that lasted a second, when I looked up at the tower but then the next it wasn’t there. It was like there was another world in the sky or something.”
The blonde chuckled, “It’s a good thing you’re telling me this, your father would get all panicky thinking you were ending up like he did with the weird dreams and visions.”
Noah remembered the stories they used to tell him as a kid, about their adventures in their old world way before he was born in this new world. But he was for sure not worried about it being that all. If anything the blonde noticed this too, seeing how he was eager to continue on.
“Afterwards I tried catching up with Lanz and the others but I heard someone playing a flute. Someone that wasn’t me mum!”
Hearing that he saw someone else had an interest in something as niche as his warmed her heart
“I talked to her for a little while and everything as well, we’re going to meet up later again this time with my flute too!”
She chuckled, hoping it would alleviate the wanting to tear up at this news, “a girl huh, what’s her name?”
“Mio, she’s a Gormotti too… wait mum please don’t tease me about this, I didn't even tell my friends last night and they still did that.” Noah’s face stooped slightly remembering how he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Lanz or Eunie.
“Oh no! No my darling, I'm sorry, I’m just interested, I promise!” She reached for his head, giving him a small comforting head rub, “Though this does mean I’ll have to talk to you about these kinds of things soon since I don’t want you being as bad or oblivious as your father was when he was your age. If it wasn’t for your uncle Dunban also helping tell him what he needed to do he’d probably be just as bad still to this day.”
Noah could only shake his head at the statement, though joined his mother in amusement at the situation and learned how clueless his dad was at one point. “Thanks mum. I’m a bit worried now though.”
“How so?”
“Worried about my confidence in my flute skills, what if I sound too amateurish or mess up?”
“You’ll be absolutely fine, remember everyone makes mistakes but also that it’s the nerves talking. You’ll ace it hanging out with her, I'm sure of it!”
Noah looked at his mothers face, that reassurance was welcome to him. Now he had to hope whatever happened last night and the weird jumble his mind was going through didn’t appear again.
But sure enough later that day, there she was as he entered the park. The two acknowledged each other's presence with a smile, flutes in hand. All his fears washed away at the mere sight of her.