The Girl By My Side

Main Story

"Hey, wake up!" A girlish voice called. Milo opened his eyes up, wondering where he was. Then it came to him. He and his friend were on their way to their way to Cain, a small town, to visit a friend of Milo's. The two were on horseback and despite his brief lull, Milo was amazed he had not fallen off. "Oh, I'm glad you're ok!" The voice said again. Turning to face the one who was talking, Milo found himself studying once more at the girl who had loyally stayed by his side for as long as he could remember. He traced the contours of her small but shapely body, the brilliant blonde hair, but he found himself attracted to the bright blue eyes that seemed to hold a mischievous innocence to them. This was Mika, and for some reason she had appeared before him when he was a kid as a kid herself and had stuck to him ever since, and there was nothing he could do to get rid of her. Eventually he began to tolerate her, and despite his cold hearted approach, she managed to befriend him. "You know, you don't have to stare." Mika said with a coy smile. Milo blushed and looked away. "It's nothing; I was just remembering when we first met."

"Ah yes, you were...6? I think. I was 7 at the time." Mika said, thinking back to that memory. Milo sighed. "I still don't know why you've stuck around this entire time..." Mika had stayed with him for 11 years. Now 17, they had both grown up knowing each other far better than most siblings. The odd thing was Mika seemed to know more about Milo than he knew about himself, whereas he knew very little about her, yet instinctively and somehow knew her likes and dislikes. But the worst part he viewed was that despite the years, both he and Mika had changed very little. At 5ft 7 and her at 5ft 5, they had seemed to just, stop growing. Milo and she looked younger than they truly were, and it was a mystery to him as to why. He was not a magic user, and didn't think he had immortality. Something told him Mika knew the issue, but she refused to talk about it and was a master at dodging the question whenever he brought it up, no matter how hard he persisted. The two shared an empathetic connection, and were inseparable. And despite his struggles, Mika was stubborn, and here they were now. IN truth, Milo was glad he had Mika around. Life had been hard in recent years and she had been the only ray of light in his life for the past 3 years. Yet, oddly enough, he never felt anything greater in regards to her other than friendship, while she seemed to show no interest in it whatsoever. The two shared a markedly platonic yet almost intimate relationship. Milo was content, and when he was content, so was she. "Stop thinking so hard, you're going to give yourself a headache," Mika chastised him. Milo chuckled. "Sure, whatever you say." He shot back. The two bantered for a bit before the town came up. "Aha, here we are!" Milo said, urging his horse to a stop. The two walked down the streets before dismounting, tying their horses to a post. "Let's go say hi!" Mika quipped, barging open a door and bursting in.

What resulted was numerous shrieks of surprised. "W-wrong door idiot!" Milo said exasperatedly as she exited, looking embarrassed. "Sorry," She said sheepishly. They entered the right door, this time opened by Milo, at a nearby house. "Ah, Milo!" A man said in surprise. The man in question appeared to be in his 50's, with brown hair streaked with a few grey strands, the vestiges of some facial hair and bright green eyes. "Hello there Oz!" The man's real name was Osbourne, but everyone tended to just call him 'Oz' for short. "So why did you call me?" Oz asked curiously. "I think I'm being followed." Milo said. "I think I lost them but my puppets have seen shadows of people trailing me and my friend wherever we go."

"Friend?" Oz asked. "Oh you mean the cute one sitting beside you." Mika giggled. "Thanks!"

Milo sighed, trying to calm himself. "Anyways, I want you to do some research into it. They know I'm a puppeteer, which means I can't use my dolls to gather information. I need a human ally and you're the only one I know of capable of such a thing. Think you can pull a few strings?"