In our World Names had Meanings [Moriarty the Patriot Fanfiction]

Albert, Louis and William were taking a bit longer walk outside of the school. It was a day of the weekend, and the three of them decided that they want to enjoy some of the sun.

But as they were walking the streets, Albert and Louis saw William tense. He moved back a little, hiding behind Albert. But he still continued walking. Both Albert and Louis knew that they will attract less attention, if they act normal. But they were still on high alert, trying to see what freak out William.

William pointed at the bookstore, and they all made their way there. Is was there that Albert saw William relax after a couple of minutes. But they remained there a bit longer, perusing the books.

Albert and Louis could see, that William still had whatever happened on his mind, so they instead made their way to the local river, so they could sit down and enjoy the water.

"What happened in town?" asked Louis.

William tried to smile. "It was nothing. Just my imagination getting the better of me." said William. But both saw that the smile did not completely reach his eyes.

"But, brother..." started Louis.

"I am fine, don't worry." said William.

Louis and Albert exchanged the glances. They noticed by now, that sometimes William won't tell Louis out of worry for him, but will tell at least something to Albert.

So it was jointly decided, that Albert should try to get something out of William.

But Albert did not even needed to wait long, as William came to his room after the walk. Albert just sat on the bed, while expecting William to sit on the sofa opposite.

But instead William sat next to Albert and leaned on his shoulder. "I am sorry. Just let me stay like this for a while."

"Of course." said Albert, as he put the arm around William. It was occasionally that William would do this, so it was a normal occurrence by now.

"I should apologise to Louis." finally said William. "But every time I start, I am afraid I will lose what I have with him."

So William had the same worries than Albert. That was surprising.

"Whatever it is, I am sure Louis would forgive you." said Albert. "He would probably be more angry at himself for making you worried."

He could feel William face twitch on his shoulder. Was he trying to smile? But then he buried his face even more.

"You won't leave me?" asked William. His voice sounded muffled, but fine. But the question itself showed that he was anything but fine.

"As long as you will have me." said Albert. "Nothing would make me more happy." he kissed William's hair.

"Where I came from, the names have special meaning." started William. "And changing ones name means that this person threw their entire past away and began anew. It is like being reborn."

"I though I managed to do this."

"But today, just seeing somebody who looked like somebody from my past made me realise how much I am still being bound by the past. Even though it can not reach me here."

Albert frowned. He did not really understand where William is coming from. But his heart also ached for him, and he wanted to do something for him. He just was not sure, if his attempt will actually help or hurt William more.

"William, I won't say I understand what you are saying. But I don't think anybody can just forget their past - no matter how much do they want it."

"But I am also a bit grateful. While I can see it does brings you suffering, I would not met you two without it. And I will always be grateful for this."

"You call me William like it was nothing." William said, now a smile was definitely there. "I am also grateful I met you."

"And I am not going anywhere. And neither is Louis." said Albert.

After this conversation, the topic was not addressed again for two weeks. But Albert and Louis noticed William staring in space more, but there was no tension indicating of something being wrong.

It happened on the day Albert had a cricket match. There was an accident. In it, Albert sprained his leg.

Louis and William helped him go to his room. They put him on the bed. Albert did not complain and even joked how he could use his current inability to walk to his advantage.

Louis joined in, but William did not. Eventually they both looked at him, waiting for response.

"Are you alright?" asked Louis.

"I am fine." replied William, but he did not look at him. instead he was biting his lip. He seems to be in the internal battle with himself.

After about a minute, he sat on the bed. He put his hand on the sprained ankle. Albert could feel the area getting warmer. Also the pain got worse for a moment and then disappeared.

After about two minutes of this, William sighed, removed his hand and slid down the bed.

Albert touched his ankle, but there was no pain. He moved, the same thing. He tried to stand up, when Louis came there trying to stop him. But Albert ignored by this and stepped. Louis hovered nearby, but after a couple of steps moved back.

Albert sat down on the bed and looked at William. "You are amazing."

William looked at Albert, and there was a surprise on his face.

Albert could not really understand why, as he thought his reaction was the only possible one.

"How?" Louis asked, as he looked from one to another. Then shook his head. "I guess it does not really matter."

There was a quiet, for a couple of moments.

"I learned magic from the witch I lived with." said William, He them looked at Louis. "We lived with." he corrected himself.

Both Albert and Louis looked at each other, then both sat next to William.

"Tell me more." said Louis. It was almost impossible to get William to tell anything from before Louis was 7 years old.

"I would not know where to start." said William.

Albert bumped into him. "Beginning?" he offered.

"Beginning?" asked William, but it sounded more a question to himself. "Me and Louis were not born in this world."

"The world where we came from did not develop a lot of science this world did - there was no scientific revolution or steam engine or even sewer system or anything similar. Instead there were people that could use magic."

William leaned his head on Albert's shoulders. He still was not looking at them.

"When the royal wife gets pregnant, a new born is chosen as this person's eventual protector. In our case, the price being born was Louis, and the protector chosen was me."

Albert could see Louis stiffen at this. I guess William never said anything about this. Did not even show it, except in his overprotectivness of Louis.

"But there was a course place on Louis on his first birthday. The memories he would create would place a burden on his heart and this will eventually kill him. And the only solution they" and he said they with hatred that was unusual for him. "figured that they could simply stop him from making any memories and this would not be a problem."

Louis gripped his chest. Albert could see that he wanted to ask, but he shook his head. He was afraid William will stop talking if he gets interrupted now.

"But prince, who can not remember anything or learning most things is useless to the country, so it was decided that he will be the next human sacrifice to the gods."

"So I took him and run. Until I came across the witch hut by accident. She took us in and tried to life the course. But in the end, somebody would need to cut the curse out and then it would be removed. She though me how. Since it could not be done in our world, she sent us to another one."

"Before we came here, she deleted all of Louis's memories, in order to increase the time we had. She also gave him a new name. But I had to come in this world with the old one."

William stopped talking. Albert could feel he finished. But Louis was still waiting for something.

"William." Albert called. He finally understood why William was more comfortable with the new name then the one he had before hand. But then he did not know what else to say.

He saw Louis hesitating, but at Albert's nod, he put the hand on William's shoulder.

"We are still here." Albert finally found the words. "We are not leaving, right Louis?"

"Never." Louis said with conviction. He hugged both Albert and William.

This story is a lot more telling than showing. But honestly, it has been in my draft for too long and I don't really have an idea of how to improve it. So sharing it here, in case anybody else enjoyed is as it is.