Journey to Perfection
an excerpt

"... Morning morning morning!" Leaping off the bed, a small female with bright golden eyes landed swiftly on her feet. Her long blonde locks fell to her side, and she looked around overjoyed at being awake. Looking towards the clock, she realized it was four in the morning--her father wouldn't be awake for another hour. This gave her some time to wander about the mansion, and poke through her daddy's things. Things she wasn't allowed to see, places she wasn't allowed to be. Was Sebastian up? Those were thoughts that were rising in her head, and she wasn't quite sure where he was sleeping. He slept everywhere... in his bed, on the couch, on the floor, by her dog, outside... it was nearly impossible to find the strawberry blonde little boy! "Sebby! Seeeebbby!" she exclaimed, drawing her hands towards her mouth in a cupping action, thinking that somehow this would do something to amplify her yelling.

The female, Catherine, was around five years of age, and her companion was about seven. They weren't related, yet the small child didn't know how this boy came to live with her--he had been there ever since she could remember. And that was at least three years. Anyway, it didn't really matter to Catherine, Sebastian was her buddy, and every day they would go on many an adventure together, outside the walls of the von Elbe estate.

Prancing a little further down the lavishly decorated hallway, the child ran into a dog. Tripping over the small fat fawn pug, she picked herself up and looked back over towards the pooch. "Frankie!" She giggled, kneeling down and rubbing the top of the canine's head. Panting, he lifted his head up and barked happily, licking her affectionately on the face. "Awwh, Frankie! You're so cute! I didn't think you'd be awake this early! You usually don't get up until the sun comes up! Oh well! Uhm... have you seen Sebby? I thought he'd be with you!" As she spoke, her face was buried in the creatures wet wrinkles, while her hands scratched the back of his ears. It snorted excitedly, and proceeded to suck up the fluid that escaped it's nostrils, sounding like it was having some sort of allergy fit. This of course always worried Catherine. Sure, she knew it wasn't actually harmful to the animal, but it would scare him, and he had the most up set look across his wrinkled visage. "No! No Frankie shhh... calm down! Don't do that... no no no... you'll wake daddy up, and he'll yell at me.. shhh... we'll go find Sebby, okay?"

After a few minutes of the pug's snort-fest, it calmed down, and with a pat on the head, it followed Catherine along the hallways searching for Sebastian. She checked her couch... she looked in his bedroom... all of the places where he normally slept were empty. Perhaps he had already waken up? "Sebby... where arrre you?" Her voice was soft, for she was treading in the part of her house she wasn't exactly allowed to be. If he were anywhere, it would have to be here... Sebastian only slept outside if Frank were there... and Frank was inside with her. "Oh Sebby... we're not supposed to be here....", she said, her voice trembling terribly. If she were caught, she would be scolded for sure, and her little toy moogle would probably be taken away from her, and she couldn't have that.

Walking down the dark hall, Catherine noticed a small light that was seemingly towards the very end, and with that light she could also make out a small shadow. Was it her Sebastian? "Sebby...is... is that you?", she whispered. At this point, it would be rather dangerous to speak loudly for her father's room was two stories above her, yet the style of the house was so that if you looked up at a certain angle, you could see the third story from the first.

Something bad was going to happen, she just knew it. All of her warning senses were going off, yet there wasn't much she could do about it. She was bored, and lonely, and if she hadn't found Sebastian by now, that would have meant he was in trouble, or getting himself into it. Upon approaching the lit area, the pattering of Frank's nails on the tiled flooring alerted Sebastian who was sitting kneeled outside of the cracked door. "Cat.. shh... ", he whispered, as he motioned for her to sit near him. As she approached him, she held her, placing his hand over her mouth so that she wouldn't gasp, or possibly even scream. Catherine was utterly confused as to why Sebastian was handling her in such a bizarre manner, but she quickly realized why when she saw an unmoving woman placed upon a table... her father leaning over it, kissing her softly while he chanted strange words. Tears streamed down her face, and she wanted to scream, though she wasn't exactly sure what about this was making her terrified. Little did she know that in the back of her mind, her memories had identified this woman to be her mother. The mother that has been deceased since she could actually remember.

Unfortunately, the little girl made a squeak, causing her father to turn towards the opening in the doorway. Their eyes met, the man had seen her peering in on one of his most intimate moments, and that alone infuriated him. However, for one reason or another, he was unable to leave the side of the corpse to yell at the pesky children. "Leave." His firm, commanding voice resonated throughout the dark hallway, causing chills to run down little Catherine's back. Looking over, she even saw her little Sebastian flinch. "Cat, we should go...", Sebastian whispered, grabbing her in his arms, carrying her far away from her father.