A/N: Hey there! I'm not really sure about how this story's coming- I think I have a different idea for its execution. If I'm to follow that idea, then I'm deleting this chapter. It's not really a chapter anyway- more of a teaser, I guess? Tell me what you think of it. Are they going out of character, especially Sara? Does this just seem like pointless banter to you?

He had led her deeper into the woods, the woods that she had so often gazed out of windows at and fantasized about. Sara anxiously peered about, obviously unfamiliar with her surroundings. The strangest thing was that the boy seemed perfectly at ease traipsing through the forest, heading towards apparently nowhere. She began to feel her unease increase, and doubt if her decision of following him was right. After all, she knew nothing about him or the shards, and he had known quite a few things about her.

“So…What’s your name?” Sara asked quietly. So far, they had had no conversation since venturing into the woods, and the imposing tranquility and silence- no birds called, no leaves rustled (and she should have taken notice of how unusual this was, but the matters at hand were much more important to Sara)- of the forest slightly intimidated her. She found she could only speak in whispers.

“Well…what’s yours?” He didn’t whisper.

She could only blink. Sara had assumed he knew, for some reason or other.

“Sara,” she replied finally.

“Really? Yeh’ dun look like a Sara…what do you think I look like a?”

The comment and question caught Sara completely off guard. She eyed him speculatively, curiosity finally overcoming most of her nervousness.

“Well…I guess a Tom. Or a Matthew, I suppose.”

He seemed to be contemplating. “’Right then, I’ll be a Matthew.”

“What?”

“My name’s Matthew,” he said slowly like before, as if questioning her intelligence behind his words.

“But…you can’t just use a name I said! What’s your real name?”

“What’s yours? I s’pose you look more like a Charlotte. I dunno why. It could change.”

“What do you mean? My name’s Sara,” she said slowly now.

“Yah’, but yeh’ fits Charlotte. Real names fit yeh’ an’ who yeh’ really are, just like yeh’ say I fits Matthew. S’mtimes yeh’ make a mistake and dun’ unnerstand yeh’self, and fit on wrong names. Or yeh’ change selves, an’ might need a new one for that.”

“…You talk like names are like clothes.”

“They sorta are like clothes though, righ’?”

She could only conclude that the boy’s way of thinking was way different than normal ways. He could even be slightly insane- here, she eyed him warily. However clueless she could be, she had enough common sense to know that being led by insane people into woods wasn’t a smart thing to choose.

“Okay…” She shook her head. He seemed to always be speaking in riddles. “Um…so- so how old are you, then?”

“How old are yeh’?” He asked in the same format again. Ducking under a low-hanging branch, he didn’t look back to see if Sara would do the same.

“Twelve,” she could only reply, unable to find a way out of answering without seeming blatantly rude and impatient.

“Then I’ma be twelve too,” he decided with an air of concluding. Here, she could only stare at his back with her mouth agape.

“What do you mean- you don’t know your own age?”

“I knows it- twelve, innin’t it?”

“No…your real age…and don’t tell me ages are like clothes too!”

He actually had the audacity to flash a grin over his shoulder at her. “Wasn’t goin’ to. An’ if yeh’ mean my age before this, I forgot.”