Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

***

Lloyd Bailey had been a lonely boy. He had always known he was a mistake. His parents only cared about John, and never about him. Maybe things would have been different if he had been the first son, but now all the expectations of being the next heir of magic was placed on John, Lloyd wasn't much needed.

He would show them that as the youngest of a very powerful family, that he can win too, by using trickery and deceit.

Lloyd had never liked the outside world, preferring to lock himself in a dark room. He was the shadow to John's light, and obviously, his family didn't care for shadows, being practicers of white magic.

He knew his mom had tried to get close to him. But when she finally realized how he was, it had been too late. Lloyd didn't care about her, and steadily grew more frustrated with his mother's attempts to appeal to him. This escalated into a grudge against his own mother.

Lloyd began to plot and scheme his plan to take over the Land of Stories. In order to do that, he needed to overthrow his mother, as she held the highest power in the Land of Stories.

He had spent most of his time in his room, busily sketching out his ambitious plans, while John frolicked with everyone outside. He was fascinated by the sounds the animals made as he tortured them, and slowly, he became sadistic. His eyes filled with intrigue and madness as he used different tools to experiment with the animals.

In the black of his room, no one could really see what he was doing. Lloyd liked using the black as a cover. He would wait silently in the dark, and when the right moment came, he would pounce and snatch his prey.

Maybe, maybe his heart had softened when his mother tried and tried again to pique his interest, but the fateful moment she bound him to that tree and stripped him of his magic, Lloyd knew there was no going back.

He would hate her for the rest of his life, and his grudge intensified with time. Powerless, weak and shamed, Lloyd was determined to seize the throne using illegal methods, like seducing an innocent woman, trickery and bribery, and of course, thievery.

Fueled by his desire for revenge, Lloyd went all over the kingdoms in a mad search for what he wanted. He made dangerous trades, stole from common people, and joined the league of crooks in the Dwarf Forests. Gone were his days of being Lloyd Bailey, a member of the most powerful family in his world. Instead, he would become the most powerful person.

However, Lloyd made one wrong move, and was sentenced for life in prison. Lloyd was seething inside, but he kept on a calm facade.

After all, he was still alive. He had a chance.

In the darkness of the dreary prison, he would wait.

And wait.

Black was a cover for him. He would melt into it, and become one with the darkness.

And so Lloyd, no, the Masked Man waited for his time for revenge, the blackness of his prison cell seeping into him.

Time ticked away, but his hatred for the Fairy Godmother didn't change one bit.

***

Emmerich had been a happy, carefree boy for the first ten years of his life. He spent his days chattering with the kids that visited the castle near his home. However, none of the kids had stayed for longer than a day, and soon Emmerich craved a real friend, one that he could happily play with for months, and maybe for years.

Emmerich was happy, yes, with all the new kids that came along with their parents. Everyday he would meet someone new, they would talk, and then part. It had been like that ever since Emmerich could remember.

Despite the people that came to and fro, Emmerich couldn't help but feel lonely. To the kids, he was just some person they exchanged a few friendly sentences with.

That all changed when he met Conner and Bree. They were his first real friends, and took him on a literal magical trip. Emmerich could never forget the wonders he saw and the dangers he had experienced.

But then, when Emmerich learned about his true origins, he felt sick. Betrayed. A mistake. He wasn't supposed to be born. In fact, if Hagetta and his mom hadn't helped him, Emmerich knew he would have died.

Like father like son, they say.

In some ways, Emmerich was like his father, the Masked Man. They thought they were mistakes, and as a child, they were lonely.

But there was something that the Masked Man didn't have.

Emmerich was loved. His adopted mother loved him, and so did his newly found cousins, and Bree, and even his real, dead mother.

And perhaps that could be enough, to turn a soul from black back to white.

***

A/N: Yeeeee this series hasn't ended yet. There's going to be a couple more chapters.

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