The young boy sniffled, forcing the tears back as he reached out and pulled the potato sack back over his head, whist trying to ignore the bruising on his back. They were old bruises from a beating nearly a week ago, but they were still tender and sore.

Crouching on his knees, he picked up his toy monkey. He was quite proud of it as it was fairly well-made of what was essentially scrap cloth and spare metal. He was good with his hands. The child played with the toy, making the small cymbals crash together. In his head, the sound was glorious and huge, but the reality the tiny tings were quiet. Even so, the sound carried over in the still air with no other sounds to mask them. In fact, things were far too quiet for the gypsy camp.

Even the usually attentive guard, who should have been at his post, the cage, was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, the boy looked up and peaked through the rough eyeholes into the forest. Had something moved? An animal? Or worse? He shivered. The forest was like a great pit of evil and he did not like being so close to it alone. He was sure there dwelt monsters. Stories of the dark things were common at the campfires, and he listened in terror from the freak-cage. When he asked the gypsies, wide-eyed and stumbling over his words, if they were true, they only put a finger to their dark lips and told him solemnly not to speak of such things unless he wished to invoke their wrath.

Sighing, he continued to play with his toy and shivered as a large gust of wind blew past him. Through his clothes were threadbare and patched, his cage was mostly sheltered from the weather thanks to the tent behind him. He turned, unsure where the breeze had come from. Even though it was the beginning of cool autumn, the wind was usually not that strong yet.

"Charlotte, it's him," a feminine voice suddenly shouted with great excitement, making him jump out of his skin as he tried to hide his face, forgetting it was already covered. It wasn't time for the freakshow. He didn't want to be seen… to be laughed at and cursed and spat upon.

In front of the far end of his cage stood what he could only describe as an angel. One in strange clothing but an angel none the less. A girl about eighteen years old stood, looking at him with such kindness he thought unfit for a devil child. Her shoulder-length brown hair blew gently in the small breeze and her brown eyes sparkled with something he couldn't understand.

"Oh no, don't be scared," she whispered gently to him, curling her fingers around the bars. He shrunk back. "It's okay Erik…" His head shot up at this, unease flowing through him, for her kindness towards him was not only unusual but her knowing his name? It was impossible. No one but he knew his name.

"Katherine, where'd you go?" another girl's voice shouted. It was Charlotte judging by Katherine's answering call. She appeared, almost jogging from somewhere to the north of the camp. Her age, Erick couldn't decide. She looked at least as old as the one called Katherine, but something didn't quite fit. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief of that of a normal child his age, six, yet her appearance, of fringed blonde hair and curved body, said differently. Was she an angel as well? The gypsies often said angels sometimes appeared to people, people in trouble or the damned and in need of redemption.

The angel Katherine tried to call him over again but he backed away, frightened of the possibility of the supernatural. The angel Charlotte looked at him as he tried to squeeze as far into the shadows as he could, that he noticed something strange. His own ugliness had made the faults of other's visible to him, even the smallest imperfection, and it was by this ability that he saw her left eye wasn't actually as straight as it should have been.

This gave the child pause.

A deformed angel? Had she fallen? He moved forward, almost without thinking. Erik stopped short of the bars, looking at her.

It was then that something inside his head clicked. If Katherine was friends with this only just noticeable deformed angel, then she really did mean well. She slowly put her arms through the gaps in the bars. His first instinct was to back away from the contract but instead snuggled closer to the metal bars and her arms were around him, giving him a cuddle for the first time in his life.

He was so engrossed in the hug that he didn't see Charlotte gently removing the course sack from his head until he felt the wind against his sensitive left side. His eyes widened in shock, his hands quickly rising to cover it and bowing his head to hide it more.

"Hey," she whispered, catching his hands, "Its okay Erik."

He wanted to cry, to say it wasn't, that he was ugly and the pretty lady shouldn't have to look at him- but he knew crying only led to beatings. He looked up slowly, shaking slightly in fear and shame, but shocked to see her arms, like Katherine's, inside the cage and gently stroking the deformed side of his face, like a mother would. Eric smiled for what felt like the first time in his life at the contact.

"Alright- you two, we've got to get going. We were meant to land in Paris 1918," a new voice, a man's, interrupted his dreamy moment. A tall figure, wearing a long brown coat, regarded the small boy. His brown eyes shone with pity for him as his messy brown hair and coat blew in the breeze, giving a most ethereal appearance.

"Doctor, could we please take him with us?" Katherine asked, giving him her famous puppy dog eyes.

"We can't," the man known as the Doctor replied, his voice full of regret, "You know what happens to him. Maybe I'll let you pick him back up then."

"Really?" Katherine asked. "Yes, really," was his reply. Erik felt his heart sink as Katherine turned, giving him one last hug. He clung to her, thinking if he held on long enough, she wouldn't have to leave. This was the hope a small child, warm in the arms of someone kind. She sighed sadly and squeezed him tight, but gently pulled out of his tight grip. Leaning close, she whispered "I'll see you soon," and gently put the sack back over his head, "Don't give up hope."

He nodded and watched with a heavy heart as she disappeared from sight around the corner, followed by Charlotte, and before he stop himself, he let the tears fall.

B/N: Wow… that so painful to go through- so much bad grammar… and repetition… and bad grammar… X.X

BUT IT'S FIXED NOW! And a bit longer. Rejoice, and lean to one side!

-And continue reading! Yes, do that too! It gets better as the story wears on! Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!