"Mama? Papa?" a small voice cried out, desperately fighting tears that threatened to spill over.
The voice belonged to a young girl of Germany, possibly around the age of eight. Now, you may wonder, what on Earth is an eight year old German girl doing all by herself? Let alone in the middle of the night in the forest in Romania. Such questions could be answered logically with reason.
She was at one point with her parents, vacationing and traveling before the summer season was over.
As to how she had gotten separated and terribly lost, all you truly need to know is that the name of this child is Miranda Lotto.
"Ooooh…this place ist scary…" she whimpered, silently making her way through the thick shrubbery in search for some kind of human life.
Her small dark purple dress was in near shreds by now, catching onto random branches and rocks, tearing at the fabric. Same could be said for her skin, being known to trip over her own feet, needless to say she had become well acquainted with the forest dirt quite a few times thanks to her own laces or unearthed roots of trees.
She bit back a small whine as the cold wind blew past her face, she held herself in a poor attempt to keep herself warm as she continued on.
Unsure if she was going away or deeper into the forest, Miranda began to give up hope. While thinking of different ways she could possibly die in a forest, she mindlessly moved on, pushing back a tree branch thick with leaves revealing possibly the last thing she would have ever expected to see in her situation.
A castle.
A big one for that matter, she stood there looking up in awe at the massive structure, feeling uneasy. Like something out of those horror stories she heard her classmates talk about during Halloween season.
A cold dark night, in the middle of a forest, a full moon with bats flying around?
Miranda pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"Ow!" she yelped, gently stroking her hand, not dreaming. This was real.
She gulped nervously, despite all the stories she had heard, logically there was no other way out of this mess unless she sought help from whoever lived inside.
Miranda took a deep breath before stepping out of the bushes and towards the brick wall surrounding the castle. It was easily beyond her capability of climbing, but if she followed it, it should lead her to the front door…right?
"Ok Miranda…you can do it!" she balled her little hands into fists, seeking strength from within as she began her journey following the wall for the entrance.
With what energy she had left, she picked up the pace and walked faster, hoping and praying for this horrible night to be over. But unlucky Miranda is unlucky.
She turned as the wall did but froze upon finding a garden of some kind, or at least that's the best she could possibly describe it as, there were hundreds of vines intertwined and tangled together and flowers here and there, possibly hasn't been tended to for a long time. Upon closer inspection it was just small enough to find peace despite being on the edge of a cliff.
She then realized that she had been going the wrong way and was now behind the castle.
"Oh Stupid! Stupid stupid stupid!" she cried out, slapping her forehead several times, cursing herself not at all noticing movement within the vines.
She sighed, rubbing her sore forehead, and was about to turn on her heel to start over when something caught her eye.
A large bright red rose bulb was sitting peacefully on top of the mass of vines, but large was not quite the right word; it was easily fifty times larger than the normal rose should be.
"Oh…vow! Vhat a big flower!" despite all that she couldn't help but find herself captivated by it," It's so pretty!" she smiled innocently, stepping closer to reach out and touch it.
But just as her finger grazed the soft petals, it suddenly flinched. Miranda jumped back as the rose began to move, shifting from its resting place and seemingly…looking at her?
She gasped and jumped back as it stood up on its own and opened, within seconds what a normal rose would take days, it opened into full bloom. Before Miranda could go about thinking how beautiful such a thing was, within the core of the flower she found teeth.
Without a second thought she turned around and ran as fast as her young legs could take her but her feet clashed together causing her to trip and stumble over herself.
The monster flower hissed and growled at her, slowly standing taller, getting itself ready to reach over and attack.
Frozen in fear, Miranda sat on the cold floor finding no escape and that it was finally the end, death by killer plant, she opened her mouth, her brain telling her to cry for help but all that came out was a scream.
"AAH-mmph!" but her screams of terror were cut short as a hand suddenly clasped itself over her mouth.
"Shhh! Don't scare him" the owner of said hand spoke softly, possibly belonging to a young boy.
Which raised the question why a young boy was here telling her that the monstrous flower was the one being scared.
"Mmph?"
"It's ok Pinky! You're so cute and pretty!" the boy called out to the flower, with fear in his voice but did his best to sound sincere.
It appeared to have worked; Miranda could've sworn she saw the monster blush at the boy's compliment before closing itself back into a bulb form and returning to sleep within the vines.
"Phew that was close…" he sighed in relief, "Um, I'm going to let go, please don't scream, you'll wake him up again" he pleaded softly, slowly removing his hand from her mouth.
The moment she was free she jumped out of his reach and whipped around to face her "savior".
Miranda blinked back in surprise.
The boy could have been just a few years older than her, a tad taller but what caught her attention was his hair. It was short and black yet had pure white bangs hanging over his face.
"S-sorry about that" he put his hands up in his defense incase she decided to attack.
"Vh-vhat vas that thing?" she cried out, finally able to express her confusion. He yelped and clasped a hand over her mouth again.
"Shh! Quiet!" he repeated himself in a harsh whisper; he looked back, hoping she didn't wake the flower, now named Pinky, again. Luckily he wasn't, the flower remained as it was, even snoring lightly.
The boy sighed in relief, and let her go yet took her hand this time, "Come on, lets get out of here"
Miranda nodded, she gently grasped his hand in return and followed him as he led her away from the garden and back into the forest. Of course, any normal adult would possibly think twice about following a complete stranger. But that's just one of the joys about being a child.
This stranger saved her life and that's all she needed to know.
Soon the garden was out of sight as they stopped and took refuge behind a large tree within the forest. The boy let go of her hand, signifying it was safe.
"Those were Man Eater flowers" he started, now speaking at a normal volume.
Miranda's eyes grew wide, "Vh-vhat?"
He nodded vigorously, "You should be more careful, they could've gobbled you up whole!" he spread his arms out wide, emphasizing his point.
For a moment she was silent, all at once everything came crashing down on her. She was still lost, legs sore, most likely bleeding from tripping all over the place and almost became plant food.
She fell on her knees and finally let herself cry.
At this, the boy panicked, "O-oh! I'm sorry!" he quickly sat on his knees, unsure of what to do with the crying girl.
"I didn't mean to-"he stopped, his eyes finding a small red line near her chin," Oh! You're hurt!" he pointed to her face.
Miranda sniffled and wipes her face covered in tears, doing her best to speak through her hiccups, "N-nien, I just…fell…und…"
"Oh no! It's ok I have just the thing, please don't cry…um…what's your name?" he asked gently while digging into the pockets of his shorts.
"Hic..Mi…mira…"
"Mira?"
She giggled, finally smiling for the first time in hours, "Nien, Miranda…but Mira is fine too"
He smiled back," Ok Miranda, just hold still" he spoke gently while unwrapping a small band aid he had fished out of his pockets.
She scooted closer to him, turned her head slightly to the left to give him a better view of her wound.
With precision it was in place, covering her small cut and preventing any further blood loss. She felt better already.
"There! All done, I fall a lot too"
Miranda gently brushing her new band aid with the tips of her fingers, inspecting it though still feeling a light sting as she barely touched it.
"D-danke…" she whimpered, feeling tears threatening to spill over once again.
The boy bit his lip, feeling rather useless and completely unsure of what to do, all he could manage was a small plea," Don't cry Mira"
Miranda blinked, hearing him call her by this new nickname brought an important realization, she didn't know his name, "Who…are you?"U-um…I'm Arystar…I live here"
"You live here? …und vith Man Eaters?" she pointed back to the garden of evil, making sure they spoke of the same place.
"They don't eat people as long as they get compliments…"
There was a short pause.
"That's vierd" she giggled lightly, though unsure if what he said was a joke or not.
The boy now named Arystar, sat there watching her in wonder. Even after exposing his first name she didn't recognize it and run away. This was possibly the first time he's ever had any contact with another human being outside of his castle for more than five minutes.
"…um…so…you must not be from around here"
"…I know I sound stupid…" Miranda looked away, looking embarrassed.
Arystar blinked, not at all realizing that she had a different accent, "What? Your voice? I think it's cute"
Not being in contact with other human life, the poor boy had no idea what he had just said. To a girl no less.
Miranda sat there dumbfounded, feeling her cheeks grow hot as he smiled innocently.
"Um…danke…" she replied softly.
"So are you lost?" he moved on with the conversation like nothing had happened, Miranda silently thanked the sky and shook her blush away.
"O-oh! Ja! Can you take me back to the town?"
Arystar suddenly went pale…or paler.
"Um…I…" he stammered nervously, the very reason for him being out of contact with the world was because of the town and the people there who despised his very presence. But despite his fear, he looked upon the cute girl before him and puffed out his chest.
"Yeah! It's this way!" he hopped back onto his feet and held out his hand. She wasted no time and took his hand.
It was a long walk downhill, but it wasn't that bad, not with company this time. With Arystar as her guide the forest didn't seem so scary. With the exception with a few wolf sightings, in which the two ran for their lives, but in the end they laughed off their encounter with death and moved on.
Two hours later the small village was in sight, a few lights within the buildings still on despite being past midnight now.
"Oh vow! You did it Arystar!" Miranda jumped up and down, hugging the poor boy as tight as she could.
He smiled and gently hugged her back.
"So…I guess this is good bye?"
"Nien! I still don't know vhere I'm going; besides, I think you should meet my Mama und Papa!" Miranda, being eight years old and learning about love had already made up her mind that this boy would be her husband, might as well meet the parents while they're here.
"E-erm…I don't…I mean…" he paused; looking over her smile that he discovered was beyond adorable and just couldn't say no.
"Ok…"
"Vundebar!" she took his hand and ran off into town with Arystar close behind.
It didn't take long to find her parents, they were in front of the Mayor's building, arguing with men who refused to go into the forest to help find their daughter.
At the sight of familiar faces Miranda took off running with tears in her eyes.
"Mama! Papa!" she cried out, the angry adults stopped immediately and looked upon the lost child they were sure was dead like she was ghost.
But her parents thought otherwise, her father scooped up the crying girl in his arms and kissed her face.
"Miranda don't you ever vander off again, ve vere so vorried!"
Arystar smiled warmly at the scene before him, feeling rather proud of himself saving the girl in distress. But it was short lived, feeling uneasy as eyes soon fell on him. Arystar gulped, and nervously, but slowly backed away, fearing any sudden movement might cause a riot.
"I'm sorry…but this boy helped me und…" she turned back to finally introduce her new friend but found him missing.
"Arystar?" Miranda called out, the poor boy hesitantly poked his head out from behind a wooden crate.
"Um…I…I think I better…"
"Hey! What are you doing down here!"
Arystar yelped and resumed hiding behind his box; soon the whole town knew Arystar Krory the third was within their walls. The very same group of men that refused to aid the foreigners quickly forgot all about them and began shouting at him.
"Get outta here now!"
"I-I'm sorry!" he whimpered.
Miranda watched in confusion as Arystar took off running back into the forest, away from civilization and back to his isolated castle.
She never had a chance to say good bye.
"Ve better go" her father whispered, while the townsfolk were still distracted.
"Agreed, let's go Miranda" her mother smiled taking her hand, keeping a loving but firm grasp as to not lose her again.
"B-but Mama…vhy did they scare him avay? He saved my life und he brought me here und…" and she went on and on about her small adventure in the woods with her new friend.
"I don't know…but its best ve go…"
As the Lotto family walked into the train station Miranda looked back at the castle that stood on a cliff, silent and dormant where no one would suspect a young boy lived by himself. She fought tears and gently stroked the small band aid on her chin, the only thing she had of him now.
"Vill I ever see him again?"
"Maybe one day you vill"
"Mira? …it's…me…"
Now years later, Miranda found herself staring at the door to her small room inside a ship on route to Edo, Japan. Just a few hours ago, Miranda revealed herself as a Time Turning exorcist, official now according to the Black Order. Facing her new comrades, ready to show her abilities, yet her eyes fell on a very familiar face in the crowd.
A face she hadn't seen in possibly twenty years yet still recognized him as though they had just met days ago.
Though the two kept to themselves, working on keeping the ship safe and Akuma at bay, the two would not so secretly sneak glances at each other. Silently confirming what they were both thinking.
But for the past dew days they were constantly surrounded by others who wouldn't understand their past together, it was difficult to find time or the place to meet. Yet now that most of the crew had fallen asleep and Miranda stayed up to keep the ship in one piece, he used this opportunity.
"Mira?" the voice tried again, his voice loosing confidence the longer she waited to respond.
She took one last deep breath, before finally opening the door. Sure enough there he was, the very same boy who had saved her life in Romania those years ago now before her, same job, on the same team, on the same boat.
"…hey" he started, scratching the back of his head, not exactly sure what to do from this point.
"Hey…"
Miranda opened the door wider and stepped to the side, a silent plea to come inside. Arystar nodded, a silent thank you, and walked in.
She gently closed the door, though peaking around outside to make sure no one was watching and would get the wrong idea. Though luckily there was none, and she sighed in relief as the door clicked shut.
As she turned to finally face her long lost friend, a pair of long arms suddenly wrapped around her small body. Finally breaking down, Arystar buried his face in her shoulder, gently weeping in pure joy.
"I never thought…I'd ever see you again…" he cried pathetically.
After years and years of dreaming, hoping and wishing it finally came. Her very first love was here with her, at this she also broke down and cried with him, holding onto him like he would faded away if she didn't.
"Don't cry Arystar"