3

Kevin is sleeping. He woke up late last night after staying up until two o'clock reading. Kiko said goodnight to him and left his room before sunrise. Kevin fell asleep quickly.

His bedroom door opens and Kiko enters carrying something wrapped in cloth. He lays it on the bed before saying hello to Kevin. "Good,Kiko give Kevin a golden eye patch."

Kiko hands Kevin the bundle in his hands and Kevin wraps the cloth around his eye patch. "Thanks Kiko," he smiles.

Kevin gets up and follows him out of his room. They walk through a long corridor to get to the kitchen. In the kitchen are a few people eating breakfast, Kevin recognizes them as the villagers, and then there's Mrs. Jacobs, who was working yesterday and now works today, along with Mr. Jacobs. Kevin thinks that he likes Mrs. Jacobs. She reminds him of his mother a bit.

"Morning guys." Kevin says walking towards them. They look up from their food and greet Kevin.

He sits down and starts eating. Kevin's stomach makes loud complaints as soon as he starts eating, which makes him chuckle.

Mrs. Jacobs chuckles, and her husband joins in. Kiko, however, remains silent. Kevin wonders why, and asks Kiko if he' s hungry.

But Kiko ignores his question and says that the villagers asked him to bring Kevin some breakfast. Kevin, confused, asks what they want for breakfast. And after a little while Kiko tells him. And Kevin laughs.

It' s not that Kiko's not happy that Kevin isn' t dead, he is. After Kevin disappeared he thought that Kevin might be hurt or worse. But he should've known. He knew that Kevin could take care of himself. Of course he could. He wasn't scared when the soldier shot him, he wasn' t afraid to go fight a war with the soldiers who murdered his parents. But he should've been, Kevin's life is more important, he should've been scared, worried, sad, angry, but he wasn't. Why? Because deep down Kevin knows that things will be alright, and that no matter what happens, he'll always keep fighting. Even after everything that happened to him... after everything that's been happening to him since the day he got his eye.

Chapter 2

After finishing his breakfast, Kevins' father helps him with cleaning up the mess and giving him a new shirt with a different jacket. Kevin puts the new jacket on, and after he ties his shoes he follows Kiko out.

They leave the house, and Kevin gets a bit nervous about the journey that will take him from here. It' s not the first time he goes on trips with Kiko, but usually he has Ben with him and Ben stays in the village. And it seems like Kiko plans to take him somewhere far away from here.

And they're heading toward a village a hundred miles away, not exactly close to where the forest comes. It's a small town. The roads aren' t very good, and most places are crowded together. Not many people live in the small town, but there are people, there are always people. But they don' t come to bother them often, or ever. People come to this place to find shelter from the storms, or find work for the winter months, or for any reason.

Kevin's father told him the name of the city a few hours ago, "Gotham", it meant nothing to Kevin, nor did the name sound too familiar.

As they walk down the streets people stop and watch them pass by, they say 'hello' and smile at him, 'how was your trip?'

Kevin replies politely but doesn' t talk too much with them. Sometimes Kiko will ask one person about the weather or talk to one of them for a second, but otherwise they mostly ignore each other.

The closer they get to the center of the town the less people seem to stop and watch them. People get lost in their own lives and don't bother others. So Kiko and Kevin continue to walk alone in silence.

At last, they arrive at the center of the small town, there's a large church in the middle of the town with a large cross hanging above it.

Kevin's father pulls open the front door of the church.

"Come on inside Kevin. We haven't come all this way just for nothing. If we want to see this guy alive then we need to make sure he's willing to help us. You know how he is."

Kiko nods and they go inside the church. They follow a path to the back of the church, past rows of pews. At the end of the church is an altar with a candle burning brightly. A man is