Chapter Text
Chapter 1 : Fly My Heart
Twenty Years Earlier …..
JFK International Airport was busy as the Williams-Joneses got off their plane after their vacation at Disneyland, a perfect place for Alfred Sr and Madeline Williams-Jones to take their four-year-old son, Matthew, who had the blonde hair and violet eyes of his mother, and three-year-old son, Alfred, who resembled his father with his sky blue eyes and also had blonde hair with a cowlick, sticking up at the front that seemed to say, 'make me stay down, I dare you!'. Alfred had been particularly excited about the holiday and he carried his new Mickey Mouse plush with him as they made their way to the luggage carousel and waited for the suitcases to arrive.
"Stay here, boys," Madeline told her sons. "Don't wander off!" Matthew did as he was told but Alfred soon grew bored as the suitcases began to appear but none seem to be theirs so he began to look around and, in the Check-in Area, he saw a boy, not much older than him with messy blond hair, standing at the windows, watching the planes coming in and, while his parents and brother's attention was elsewhere, he wandered over.
Three, nearly four-year-old Arthur Kirkland had wandered away from his family who were waiting for the Check-in Desk to open. His older brothers, who had been told to keep a eye on him, were being horrible and his younger brother was asleep so while their parents were checking the Departure Board for their plane to London, Arthur went wandering, his brothers too wrapped up in their own amusements to notice. He wandered over to the windows and watched the planes as they landed on the runway and taxied round to fuel up and take off again. He had been watching for a few minutes when he heard a boy's voice behind him.
"Hi!" Arthur turned to see a boy carrying a Mickey Mouse plush, a little younger than him with blonde hair that had a lock that defied gravity and the bluest eyes he had ever since as the boy stared back into his own emerald-green orbs and his chest felt funny.
Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump!
The other boy looked a little surprised and rubbed his own chest as Arthur continued to stare at the boy. The boy gave him a smile.
"I'm Alfred!" he said, clearly American. "What's your name?"
"Arthur!" he replied. Alfred gave another smile at the way Arthur spoke. It was funny, like the way he had some people speak at Disneyland.
"Hi, Artie!" Alfred said. "Wanna go play?" Arthur looked back at his family. He really should stay with his family but something told him he should be with Alfred so he nodded. Alfred smiled and they went off to play.
The family's luggage finally travelled round the carousel and Alfred Sr picked them up, putting them on the luggage trolley. Madeline took Matthew's hand and went to take Alfred's only to find he was not there.
"Alfred!" she called out, looking round. "ALFRED!" Alfred Sr looked around as well but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Wait here with the luggage!" he said. "He can't have gone far!" And he went on the search.
Check-in finally opened and Scott and Elizabeth Kirkland began to gather their brood together and that was when they realised that they were one short.
"Allistor," Scott asked his thirteen year old eldest son in a Scottish accent. "Where's Arthur?" Allistor who had shocking red hair, as did all the Kirkland brothers who took after their father, with the exception of Arthur who had his mother's hair and all had bright green eyes and huge eyebrows, looked around. His brothers, Rhys and Patrick looked as well.
"Ah, the wee shite's wandered off," Allistor groused in a Scottish accent as well. They had lived in Scotland for the first seven years of Allistor's life before moving around Britain for his father's work and he never lost the accent. "Why can't he just stay put? He's always wandering off!"
"He's barely four, Allistor," his mother scolded, carrying a sleeping, eight-month-old Seamus. "Of course, he wanders off! You were supposed to be watching him! Were you and your brothers picking on him again?"
"He's a weakling if he can't take a bit of teasing," Allistor groused.
"He's four, you're thirteen!" Elizabeth snapped. "It's bullying and you should know better!" Scott faced Allistor, ten-year-old Rhys and six-year-old Patrick.
"Find him!" he ordered, sternly. "And don't pick on him when yer do!" His gaze promised dire retribution if they disobeyed and the boys rushed off. Scott turned to his wife.
"Stay here," he said and went to look for their errant second son. They needed to find him before they could check in and they only had a couple of hours. He just hoped that Arthur had not left the airport or, worse, been taken!
Alfred and Arthur played hide and seek among the chairs, laughing happily. Alfred wanted his new green eyed, big eyebrowed friend to stay forever, felt that he should stay forever, that somehow, Artie was his! But he wondered about that strange feeling in his chest, like someone was hitting a drum in there and it was not going away. He found Arthur hiding behind an artificial plant and pulled him out, giggling. They held hands and spun around in a circle, laughing.
Arthur was happy, happier than he ever was with his brothers, like he was where he was supposed to be. As if he and 'Alfie', as Alfred insisted he call him, were always meant to meet and never part again. He felt complete. And content.
"ALFRED!"
"OI! YER LITTLE SHIT!" Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin as his eldest brother ran up to him and grabbed him by his collar. "I'm in trouble because of yer and yer wandering off! Come on, we're checking in! I'm taking yer to Mum and Dad before yer land me any further in it!" Alfred Sr grabbed Alfred's hand and began to pull him away.
"You were told not to wander off, Alfred," his father scolded. "Now come on, we're going home!" As the two boys were pulled in different directions, they tried to hold on to each other's hands but they were pulled apart, trying to reach each other, even as distance was put between them, tears steaming down their faces and struggling to get back to each other, desperate not to be separated.
"ARTIE!"
"ALFIE!"
Eventually, they were pulled out of sight of each other and it would have an affect on both their lives.
Scott saw his son heading toward him with a crying, struggling Arthur and called to the other boys and his wife and they gathered together to head for the Check-in Desk but Arthur continued to weep and reach out in the direction that Allistor had dragged him from.
"Why is he crying?" Elizabeth demanded as they went to the Departure Gate. "Allistor, did you give him a hard time when you found him?"
"Nah!" Allistor denied. "He was playing with some kid and he's throwing a tantrum because I took him away from him." Elizabeth ruffled Arthur's hair.
"Never mind, Love!" she cooed. "You'll make more friends!" But Arthur continued to cry. They had to drag him on to the plane and it took off for home while Arthur cried himself to sleep.
The Williams-Joneses were on the road after they collected their car from where it was stored and Alfred had cried for an hour after being bundled into the car, fighting every inch of the way. Even now he was quiet which was unusual for him. Matthew was usually the quiet one as he was now, being asleep but Alfred was still awake, even after his crying fit. Madeline kept looking round at him as her husband drove them home and she noticed that Alfred kept rubbing his chest above the heart. After seeing this for the fifth time, Madeline turned to look at her son.
"Are you all right, Alfie?" she asked. Alfred rubbed his chest again.
"I feel funny," he said. "My chest is going bump, bump!" Madeline looked at her husband, warily.
"When did it start, sweetheart?" she asked.
"When I found Artie."
"Alfred, stop!" she said to her husband. He looked for a place and pulled over. Madeline got out of the car, opened Alfred's door and put her hand over his heart and felt the ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump of his three-year-old heart. She looked at her husband in shock.
"His heart's beating!" she exclaimed. Shock filled Alfred Sr's eyes, to be replaced with determination.
"Get in!" he ordered. "We're going back! We have to find that boy!" Madeline scrambled back into the car and Alfred Sr turned it back toward the airport. When they got there, Alfred Sr bolted into the airport, looking for the little boy he had found his son with and, when he could not find him, he looked for the foul-mouthed Scottish red-head but there was no sign of him either. So he ran for the Information Desk, just as Madeline and the boys joined him, Matthew, still sleepy.
"I'm trying to find a passenger," he said to the woman behind the desk. "A little boy, three, four-years-old, green eyes, big eyebrows, we think his name's Artie. He was with a young teenager with red hair. Scottish!" The woman behind the desk looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I can't give out information about other passengers, I'm afraid." Alfred Sr looked desperate.
"You don't understand!" he replied. "We think the boy is my son's soulmate, we have to find him." He put his hand on Alfred's head. The woman looked down at the cute, blue-eyed three-year-old with sadness in her face.
"I'm sorry!" she apologised, again. "Even if I could give out information, that's too little to go on. You don't have a last name?" Alfred Sr looked down at Alfred.
"Did Artie tell you his last name?" Alfred shook his head. The woman sighed. This was really sad! The little boy had found his soulmate and lost him. What kind of life was he going to have?
"You can try the police," she suggested. "They might be able to track him down!" They could give the police their CCTV if they requested it and perhaps they could find the little boy's soulmate. She really hoped so. Alfred Sr looked defeated but thanked the woman anyway.
They did go to the police and they did get the CCTV but the most they could find out was the boy had gone to England and had arrived there. After that, they lost track! Alfred Sr and Madeline wondered what was going to happen to their son!
What was his life going to be like now?
On the plane bound for London, Arthur had folded up in his seat, over his legs in his sleep and Elizabeth decided that he would wake up achy and cranky if left like that so she went to straighten him up. She put her hand on his chest and brought him back upright against the chair. That was when she felt something weird in his chest.
It couldn't be!
The ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump beat against her hand as her young son slept on. She put her other hand over her mouth and her eyes filled with tears as she realised just what they had done to Arthur. She stroked his hair, guilty as Arthur continued to sleep with tear-stains still on his little cheeks. Why did they not realise why Arthur was so upset! He rarely made friends and certainly not in the length of time he had with the boy that Allistor had found him with. Elizabeth went to his eldest son's seat and woke Allistor who was asleep. He woke with a start and almost swore at the disturber until he saw it was his mother.
"Why'd yer wake me up, Mum?" he moaned.
"The boy you found Arthur with," Elizabeth said, wasting no time. "What was he like?" Allistor shrugged.
"Just some little whelp!" he shrugged and settled back down but his mother was not about to let him.
"What did he look like?" she demanded. Allistor groaned.
"Who cares!" he griped.
"Allistor Caledonia Kirkland!" their mother only used their middle names when she lost patience with them so Allistor knew he was on thin ice. "You've already messed up today now answer me!"
"All right!" he replied, testily. "Blonde, blue eyes, some bloke called him Alfred! Why's it so important, any way?" Scott had noticed his wife talking to their oldest son in an agitated state and got out of his seat to see what the problem was.
"What's wrong, Liz?" he asked. Elizabeth turned stricken eyes on him.
"Arthur's heart's beating!" she replied. Scott went into shock and disbelief.
"It can't be!" he denied. "He's too young!"
"It has to be the boy Allistor found him with!" Elizabeth said. "Oh Lord, Scott! We've separated our son from his soulmate!" Scott went to Arthur's seat and put his hand over his heart and felt his son's heart beating and own beating heart almost fell silent with the shock. What had they done to their son!
When they reached London, they tried everything to find the little boy from JFK airport but they never found him and they had to deal with the aftermath.
"Do you like my picture, Artie?" Alfred asked, holding up the picture up to thin air. "It's of you!" On the paper was a child's drawing of a little boy with wheat coloured hair, bright green eyes and big eyebrows. Alfred smiled as if 'Artie' had praised his artistic skills and look at the same thin air as if he was being shown something.
"Yeah! That's great, Artie!" he said as Doctor Wolfgang Beilschmidt made a note in the file he was holding in his hands while he and Alfred's parents watched him play with his imaginary friend.
"Alfred!" he called to the now five year old. "Can you tell me what 'Artie' looks like?" Alfred smiled.
"I can show you!" he declared, standing up and walking to the councillor, putting the picture in his hand. As he went to draw more pictures with 'Artie', Wolfgang examined the picture and showed it to Alfred's parents.
"Does this look like any children you might have seen around Alfred?" he asked. Alfred Sr sighed.
"It looks like the boy from the airport," he replied. Alfred's parents had told Wolfgang about what happened at the airport and he nodded.
"I think it would be a bad idea to try to make Alfred give up 'Artie'," he advised. "Alfred might have been too young to understand what exactly happened to him when he met his soulmate but he made an instant connection with the real Artie and the separation was traumatic so Alfred's created this other 'Artie' to fill the void."
"So this is my fault!" Alfred Sr said, guiltily. Wolfgang shook his head.
"While it's true that what happened at the airport may have been a catalyst," he replied. "It's not uncommon for children Alfred's age to create companions for all kinds of reasons, sometimes for no reason at all, filling some need that the child might have. He might have made up an imaginary friend any way but, as we suspect losing his soulmate is the reason why Alfred created Artie, forcing Alfred to give him up might cause more harm than good. Imaginary friends usually fall away as the child gets older and they make new, real friends. I suggest you just give it time!"
"Can time heal the loss of a soulmate?" Wolfgang sighed.
"I wished it could!"
"COME ON, ALFIE!" Arthur shouted as he ran through the park followed by …... nothing. Allistor hated taking Arthur to the park because 'Alfie' always had to come with them so to avoid any funny looks, Allistor would sometimes pretend that he was 'Alfie'.
Allistor watched his six year old brother run around, looking back at his imaginary friend and groaned in embarrassment, knowing that this was partly his fault but how was he to know that the kid with Arthur had been his soulmate but since then, Arthur's constant companion was 'Alfie', a blonde, blue-eyed kid with a sticking up lock of hair, rather like the kid from the airport. It was embarrassing when Arthur spoke to 'Alfie' in public and he wanted to tell Arthur to stop it but their parents forbade it. Arthur's therapist suggested that they should allow the 'imaginary friends' phase run its course and that forcing Arthur to stop could harm him psychologically so they just had to wait it out. Allistor hoped it would stop soon so Arthur could just be a normal kid. As normal as someone with a missing soulmate could be and Allistor felt a little guilt and fear of how his brother's life would turn out.
Two souls separated by an ocean, two souls alone, two souls in pain. It was a million to one chance that they would ever find each other again.
But there was that one chance!