"Oh? It's time for the snack!"

A shrill sound, a sharp pain, and then, eternal nothingness.

Len Kagamine awoke with a start, eyes dilated, breath ragged, and forehead teeming with sweat. He looked around the room wildly, as if searching for something. What…what had that been? The light touch of a hand on his shoulder broke him out of his reverie. Blinking, he followed the appendage up to the face of his twin, her face twisted into one of worry and concern.

"…Len…are you…alright?" she asked, sounding genuinely worried, her cerulean eyes a pitch darker from concern.

The younger twin nodded, slowly regaining his senses. That was strange…for a moment, he had lost himself… Breaking his gaze away from his white bed sheets, he sent a reassuring look to his worried sibling, "Don't worry, Rin, I'm fine, just a bad dream."

She nodded slowly, but didn't seem completely convinced. She gazed at his face for a few moments, as if searching for something, and suddenly, without warning, plopped down on the bed next to him. "Do you want to talk about?…because I'm here for you, you know," it was strange, she was acting…motherly. Then again, usually you would act that way towards your family if you were worried about them.

Len thought for a moment, staring hard at the opposite, navy blue-colored wall. What had the dream been about? No matter how hard he tried to recollect it, he just could not. Well, it wasn't that strange, people often forgot their dreams after they woke up. The only thing he could remember was a feeling of deep pain… Shaking his head again, he looked at his elder sister, "I can't remember, sorry, it was probably nothing anyway," he smiled reassuringly.

Rin was still suspicious, but let it go. They had a meeting with Master anyway; apparently they were just practicing a few old songs and just hanging out. "Well, alright, don't forget, we have a meeting! Get up, get up!" forgetting her previous worries, she jumped on his bed repeatedly until he complied and agreed. Soon enough, she left the room, stating that she and the others would be waiting in the living room and that she would run him over with the road roller if he made them all late.

After she had left, Len sighed and ran a hand through his hair. For some reason, he had a feeling today was going to be a very long day… He slowly pushed the covers back and swung his legs over the side, lightly placing his feet on the ground, he hopped out of bed. The sudden movement brought a wave of dizziness and disorientation along with it. Immediately, he grasped his head with his hands, hissing in pain. What was wrong with him today? After a few moments, the dizziness left him, and he sighed in relief. He had better hurry before Rin came in and 'hurried him up', quickly moving, he managed to get dressed in a mere three minutes and rushed down the stairs, into the living room. Strange, he hadn't had another attack like before… he mentally shrugged it off. Probably just morning sickness or something, wait, wasn't that what happened to pregnant woman?

"There you are! Now, come on you guys, we have to get going!" Meiko cried, obviously annoyed at the prospect of being late for their meeting. They all piled into the car and began the long drive to their Master's home.

Len mentally groaned, not that he didn't like going to see Master, but the prospect of sitting in a car between Rin and Gumi was as appealing as it sounds. Not very much. Not only that, but the dream he had was still lingering in the back of his mind. What exactly had it been about? No matter how hard he tried, he really just couldn't remember. Finally, giving up with a sigh, he let his head rest against the seat.

"No one can disobey her now… "

Len's eyes flew open as he sat up, Kaito, who had been attempting to wake him up, took a step back in surprise. After a few moments of disorientation, Len blinked, gazing at Kaito who was giving him a confused look. He mentally sighed; it seemed he had fallen asleep in the car while on the way here.

"Ne, Len-kun, are you okay?" Kaito asked, giving the other a worried look, licking his ice cream. Len mentally sighed, déjà vu.

He smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, Kaito-nii, I'm fine, you just startled me." Well, it wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a complete lie either.

Kaito nodded and exited the car, leaving Len alone. Sighing, Len tried to remember what he had dreamt about. It had been somewhat similar to his dream from the other night, but definitely different. All he could remember was red, red, red, red, red staining everything, and a pain so great he felt his heart would burst. Looking up, he remembered where he was and quickly scrambled out of the back seat, all thought of his dreams forgotten as he jogged to catch up to the other Vocaloids, whom had already stopped in front of the door.

"Leeeeeeeeeeeennnn~ it took you forever!" Rin whined, jumping onto the younger of the twos' back, causing him to almost fall down, but he caught himself at the last moment.

He sighed, "Rin, get off of me, you're hurting my back."

She pouted, "Sorry~ Sorry~" and hopped off, running over to Teto.

Len shook his head, sometimes he wondered if they really were related. He blinked and looked up when he heard the door open, revealing their Master at the door, a smile on his face. "Hello, everyone! How are you today?" he asked as he ushered them in. Len had to say, he liked their current master a lot more than most of their old ones. Especially that last one, he mentally shivered, what was so amusing about making Len wear sailor outfits? He would never know…

Their current master was a man that went by the name Fred, he would not tell them his full name, and said he used the name is remembrance of one of his favorite character from a book that was popular when he was a child. He was of average height, dark brown hair with matching eyes, and a pair of thin framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He had a smile on his face, a warm light dancing in his eyes. Today he was wearing a plain white t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and white socks, feeling no need to wear shoes in his home.

They all slowly made their way downstairs, going to the studio rooms located in the lower layers of the house. The room was quite futuristic, completely eggshell white with various couches and chairs scattered around the room of the same color. They all took a seat on the chairs, Len and Rin sitting together on the couch, Gumi and Kaito sitting with them. Meiko sat on a swivel chair, spinning around every few seconds and giggling, seems she had managed to sneak in some alcohol time… Miku, Luka, and Gakupo were all sitting on a long, white padded bench, Fred sitting in the middle of them all, an oval shaped chair holding him, with a white cushion in it.

"Now, I think we should start off with talking a bit before singing today, just for a little break," Fred announced, smiling to them all. His statement caused a few looks of surprise, but they all ended in smiles, glad to have a bit of their Vocaloid lives at a slow and personal pace. "Now, why don't we all just talk about what we did this week? Gakupo, would you like to start?"

The samurai nodded and opened his mouth, beginning to retell of how he had attempted, and failed to gain Luka's love once again, causing the pink-haired woman to slap him across the face. He had sang a few new songs, bought a backup katana, and had raided a market place of all of its eggplants. Quite a number of the other Vocaloids shook their head at the last statement, that was the sixth time that month, soon enough they would ban him and he wouldn't be able to get groceries again.

Next up was Luka, she had apparently been harassed by Gakupo, visited her brother, Luki, found tuna at a great sale price, held a concert, and beat up a drunken man who had harassed her. She said she probably would not have attacked him so brutally if he hadn't held a resemblance to the purple-haired samurai, causing said samurai to go into a little depression. Hopefully the man wouldn't press charges, she really should not be allowed outside by herself after dark…

After her was Miku, who, as expected, babbled on about leeks, the multitude of new songs she sang, how she had knocked Kaito out after he had tried to look up her skirt, and how she had narrowly avoided getting killed by Tei because she had mentioned Len while walking past her. Len sighed and the others shivered, why did that girl have such an obsession with him? It wouldn't really bother him, but for some reason she had the strange urge to kill all of the Vocaloids, except him. As well as her love of knives, never trust a woman who loves knives.

Meiko was next, still a bit tipsy, she went on and on about how she apparently met a strange man named 'Professor Oak' who had promptly given her a Pikachu and she began her journey. She went on to mention how in all her twelve years of life she had never been so excited, and how she met up two strangers named Misty and Brock and instantly became friends, going around the Kanto region and catching mutated monsters the Japanese government had been trying to hide for years. Apparently, she caught them with little balls that could store the creatures in them, called Pokéballs, and went around for years, never aging and ended up becoming a 'Pokémon Master', defeating her rival in the Pokémon tournament. Needless to say, silence and giggles reigned after she had finished. Most gave her a look of complete disbelief and confusion, while others showed amusement. Meiko herself flashed a victorious grin and stepped up, placing a foot on the table and lifting her arm up as if in victory. "You're all just jealous, oh, and you just lost the game," cue groans.

Then, it was Gumi's turn, oh; this was going to be interesting. She told them of how she began her own carrot farm, but rabbits kept invading. Going on, she explained her battle plan against the 'foul monsters', going into detail, very gruesomely, causing Miku to fidget uncontrollably. She was beginning to explain how her fighter jets would zoom in and shoot glue at the helpless rabbits, when Miku slammed a leek on her head, knocking her out. She quickly returned to her seat and plopped down, as if she hadn't just bashed her friend's head in with a green onion. "…" for a few moments, everyone just sat there awkwardly, no one willing the break the silence as Gumi slumped into the couch. Everyone that is, except the genius known as Kaito.

"My turn!~" he cried, raising his hand, waving it in the air excitedly. Everyone gave him a surprised and annoyed look.

Fred nodded slowly, "…Go ahead, Kaito-kun."

Kaito nodded happily, licking his ice cream every few seconds. "Well, first I sang some new songs, then I bought ice cream, then I ate some ice cream, then I talked to Miku, but she beat me up! Not nice, Miku-chan!" he complained, giving her a hurt look. She just shook her head and refused to look at him, causing him to pout. "Anyways, then I bought some more ice cream, and Mei-chan beat me up. . ." he gave her a hurt look as well. She just grinned in response, mumbling something about how awesome she was for catching the Piplup. "Hmmmm…then I went in the car, I ate some ice cream, I watched Len sleep in the car and mumble some weird things, and then I woke him up, came here, and sat down!" he exclaimed, nodding his head, arms crossed, as if he had just done something worthy of high praise.

"...You watch my brother sleep?" Rin asked, a surprised and disgusted tone in her voice, everyone else just stared at Kaito blankly.

"Well, you told me to wake him up! And he kept saying some weird stuff about 'Leo's tart' or something, and about a princess," he defended himself, "plus, Len-kun is so cute when he's sleeping~" he made what can only be described as a neko face.

". . ."

Silence reigned once again in the room after that last comment, every face having a creeped out look on it. That is, everyone except for Len and Fred. Fred was frowning, his gaze turned to Len, a worried tone playing through it. Len, himself, had a confused painting his features. 'Leo's tart'? What was that? He tried to remember what it was he had dreamt about, but it was impossible, all he could remember was that horrible color. Red. Everywhere. He shivered, shaking his head to clear those images away. No one noticed but Fred, they were all busy attacking Kaito for 'trying to corrupt Len-chan'.

Fred came up and put a hand on Len's shoulder, "Ne, Len-kun, are you alright?" he asked worriedly. Len blinked, and looked up at him in surprise. He had noticed? Len silently nodded, hoping the other would let the subject drop. He really didn't want to deal with this right now... Fred gazed at him for a bit, just like Rin had, and nodded to himself. "Alright, but tell me if something happens, alright?" he asked with a smile and a light squeeze to Len's shoulder. Len beamed up at him and nodded rapidly. Fred sighed, but smiled, nodding to him, he went back to his own seat. Soon enough, everyone else had given up on beating up an unconscious Kaito and went back to their own seats. "Alright, now, Rin, I believe it's your turn?"

Rin nodded her head excitedly, bouncing up and down on the couch, not at all disturbing their two unconscious couch neighbors. "Finally! Okay, so, this week Len and I had a concert, and then I drove the road roller over Kaito's car for payback after he took my orange ice cream," Kaito groaned in his sleep, "After that, I ate some bananas, played a prank on Len, jumped on top of Len until he woke up, and then I came here!" she said, arms crossed as she nodded.

Fred smiled, "I see, and you, Len?" he asked, turning towards the youngest out of the group of Vocaloids in the room.

Len thought for a moment, putting a hand to his chin, "Ah, well, I went to the market and bought some bananas, Rin and I had a concert, Rin played an another prank on me because I refused to drive the road roller over Kaito's car, and throughout the week I was chased by crazy fangirls." He said, still seeming to be thinking about what he could say, "Oh and I've been having strange dreams lately…"

There was a mixed reaction to this statement. Half of the Vocaloids' eyes widened, a blush creeping onto their face, while the other half looked concerned. Meiko came up and put a hand on Len's shoulder, "Now, we need to have a talk, Len-kun. You see, as you get older, you get these things called 'hormones', and they make you feel-"

He quickly cut her off, "I don't mean that kind of strange, I already know about that anyway, I mean dreams that confuse me."

Meiko blinked, "Eh? How do you know?" apparently, hearing Len say he had 'strange dreams' had knocked her out of her drunken stupor.

"Kaito-nii told me," he replied easily, pointing to the Kaito, who had woken up from all of the commotion.

"BAKAITO!" Meiko screamed, lunging at the disoriented man, who squeaked and attempted to run away. She pinned him to the floor started to beat him up again while everyone else just stood there watching as Kaito screamed for help.

"...Len? What were you dreams about?" Fred asked, coming up to the younger boy again, giving him a worried look. It confused him, what was so bad about having dreams you can't remember?

"They were about-" he cut himself off with a groan, grapping at his head.

"Len? Len! What's wrong?" Fred called, kneeling down in front of the curled up blonde.

"I will always protect you, so just be there, laughing and smiling…"

"Gyargh!" Len cried out, digging his nails into his head. Whose voice was in his head? The others turned around at the sound, eyes widening.

"LEN!" Rin cried, running over and kneeling down in front of her brother, shaking his shoulder gently. "Len, Len, what's wrong?" she cried, continuing to shake him.

Fred gently pushed her to the side, sitting right in front of Len, "I think I should take him in and give a quick scan, he might have a virus." He half-mumbled, picking up the still trembling boy.

"…Master, will Len be alright?" Rin asked staring at the space Len has just been in, causing Fred to stop at the doorway, one hand on the white frame. The other Vocaloids stood by with baited breath, what was wrong with Len? Fred smiled at them all, but didn't say anything, leaving the room with Len in his arms, heading towards the computer room.

". . ."

For the third time that day, silence reigned in the room. Only, this time, it was filled with worry and fear. What was wrong with Len? Would he live? They certainly hoped so…

Rin stared at the ground blankly, what if Len did die? He was her twin, her mirror image, without him…she was nothing. She felt tears trail down her face, but she made no attempt to wipe them away, not attempt to move at all. For some reason…she had a feeling that whatever was happening to Len was her fault…

They had to drag her away from the spot.

"We are twins that destiny has played a cruel jest on. . ."

a/n: Yo! I know I probably shouldn't be starting another story already, but I wanna :U I have no idea how long this will be, but it'll be strange. I can tell you that.

Diclaimer: me no own

Peace, love, and reviews everyone!