A/N: This was a moderately common prompt, so I thought that I'd give it a go for practice. There will be various staff members who are not vocaloids, but they do not influence the plot whatsoever and only serve to get characters from one place to another. I actually didn't intend to publish this story either as I became far too immersed in it, but I decided that I was also too fond of it to never let it be seen. I hope you enjoy it!
"What." the pink-haired woman looked up at her father in utter and complete disbelief. The single word uttered was not a question but a statement, properly portrayed by the woman's expressionless face and piercing ice blue eyes. Even the man on the throne fought the urge to squirm under her relentless glare. As he appeared to be grasping for words, gesturing with his hands and opening and closing his gaping mouth, the woman spoke again.
"I go to my room for ten minutes and you manage to provoke an alien race. Not only that, no, that would never do because you are a man of excellence, and so you went and provoked what is quite possibly the most dangerous race in the history of the universes."
"It will do you well to hold your tongue." snapped her father, "We have been at war with them for decades, and now they wish to give us peace. Many lives are wasted, both human and otherwise, on that battlefield, Luka. You know as well as I of the husbands, wives, and children who come to us in poverty after the head of their family has been slaughtered. To pass up an opportunity like this would be insanity."
"I understand, father," Luka began, "but is it not more traditional to send a son to marry a feuding kingdom's daughter?"
"I am not saying that I agree with this, however they explicitly requested that it be my eldest regardless of whether or not that meant male or female. You are my pride and joy. It pains me greatly to simply send you off to an alien colony, however it is what must be done. I can not value my own family over those within my kingdom which are put in danger nearly every day, nor prioritize my personal desires above those of the state."
"Very well, father. When do I leave?" Luka stared holes into the well-carpeted floor, but did not utter another word of protest. She appeared as if she had simply given up.
"You will part for their ships at dawn. Louis will escort you."
At the word 'dawn' Luka started, appearing as if she were about to protest before she silenced herself once again, nodding and grinding out a "yes, father."
Luka woke up and was dressed by her lady's maid. For the special occasion, she wore a light green dress that compared in shade to the stem of a dandelion in spring. On each side of the dress where her arms would fall, there was a slightly darker and yet springy green. Her sleeves fell to her waist when she held her arms out, and would almost drag on the ground if she held her hands together at her waist. Unlike the crowns that her parents wore, she was given a pretty little thing made out of lightly-colored flowers.
"I feel almost as if I am not a young adult on the verge of delinquency." Luka muttered, glowering at herself in the mirror. Before her stood the very embodiment of a spring princess, and she greatly disliked the way that she was being portrayed.
"Yes, princess." a sarcastic voice floated up from behind her, and Luka shot the blonde in the mirror a glare.
"What? Hey, I'm supposed to call you princess, it's just being respectful."
"Lily, however it is that you managed to acquire and maintain this job is beyond me."
"Aww, but you love me." chimed Lily, swinging her arm over the shoulders of her technical employer.
"You are certainly a close friend of mine." Luka sighed, "Now, however, I believe that I am to 'love' a strange princess who's name I don't know and face I've yet to see."
"Go get 'er, tiger!" said Lily, smiling goofily, in a way that no lady's maid was ever supposed to act in front of her employer.
"I don't want to go..." muttered Luka as her feet disobeyed her wish and slowly led her out into the grand hallway of the west wing of her castle. Neither her mother nor her father was there to bid her goodbye as she stepped into a carriage that was loaded with her bags and sighed. The man in the front seat made very little conversation as Luka stared out of the curtained carriage window and watched the kingdom melt into countryside. An hour into the journey, she crossed a still battlefield. It marked the border between human and extra-terrestrial beings. She looked over the battlefield and noted how all of the bodies looked the same once they were dead. She saw people, of which race she could not tell, that caught sight of the carriage and cheered. Some grabbed their neighbors and pulled them into hugs, other punched the sky. The relief on the survivors' faces reminded her of why she was going through with the arranged marriage. After a second hour of passing through a land that was as laden with dead bodies as a morgue during a plague, the carriage finally came upon a ship.
Luka rubbed at her perfectly decorated eyes to make certain that what she was seeing was real. Before her stood so much technology that she could not even think about what one device could do before her attention was grabbed by the next. In the center of it all, was what her father must have referred to as 'the ship.' It was nothing like the ships that lived in Luka's harbor. It was pristine and smooth, but she could tell that there were hundreds upon thousands of weapons beneath its outer shell that could kill a person more quickly than any of the weapons that her kingdom stocked. She was helped out of the carriage by the driver, and met outside of the spacecraft by an alien that looked just like a human man.
He had a worn face and distant eyes, dressed with a friendly yet tired looking smile. He bowed to her and ushered her into the unusual "ship." As if he had interacted with human royalty for the entirety of his life, he made certain not to take her hand to lead her, nor touch her in any way. Once she was inside, she did not turn backwards, and followed the man into a seat. Eventually, the man attached a tiny, circular, black device to his face, directly beneath his mouth.
"We do not wish to appear as if we are retreating, so I will transport you to the empire using the beams."
Luka smiled and nodded, pretending that she understood what he was saying. She was politely shown to a beam of light and directed to stand inside of it. When she did so, she was surprised to see the world before her fade away and become replaced with a new one once the light surrounding her had died. An alien that looked like a young man bowed to her and took her light baggage from a neighboring "beam." Luka barely noticed, because she was busy looking around.
She had materialized in a place that she simply could not comprehend. The walls were not made of rock, but of something that looked to be steel. Teal-blue light was trapped in a thin line along each wall, and lit the humungous room, the ceiling of which was entirely invisible to her. The floor was made out of the same steely material, and she felt it instead of earth under her feet, exceptionally confused. The young man directed her to what must have been the alien equivalent to a carriage. It was attached to an indentation in the wall, and it had no wheels. As she entered, she pondered how it would move, before she felt it pull to a start. She was sprayed with a mist, and felt almost instantaneously relieved of all pain that she hadn't known that she had been in, being told something about 'decontamination.' For one jarring second, she felt herself being propelled forward at impossible speeds, before the cabin of the carriage adjusted. She looked outside and saw new colors fly by as she exited the strange steel chamber. Within seconds, the young man opened the door to her carriage and bowed again. She offered her hand to him and he took it, helping her out of the carriage and onto the ground. When he spoke, it was into a tiny black circle as well.
" This is our equivalent to the human 'castle,' your majesty."
Luka gazed around with wide eyes, taking in all of the differences and also noting what few similarities the castle bore to her home. It was not made of a dark steel, but shone of silver. Everything was faded, unlike her home castle where royal reds and bright gold adorned every hall. Certainly they displayed their vast collection of silver, but never to the extent of building an entire castle out of the stuff.
She was led to the top of a tremendous stairway, something that she could at least be familiar with, and then to the room that she would be bedding in. The young man took a great deal of time explaining what everything was and precisely how it worked before he left her to privacy. She sat on what she understood to be her bed, surprised that it was very similar in basic structure to the one that she possessed at home. Of course, there were the strange circles that she could press to cause the bed to warm, cool, vibrate, change texture, and who knows what else, but fundamentally it was quite similar to her own. She went to the alien equivalent of a washroom and looked at her reflection in a mirror.
All appeared normal, before tiny words appeared on the mirror that pointed out every aspect of her dress that was asymmetrical. Soon, she was adjusting everything and growing frustrated with the perfection that her mirror demanded. As she opened her mouth to protest, it indicated her teeth, and she was hit with a scan that made her teeth no longer ache and her breath taste...minty? The vague impression of mint was cloaked by unfamiliar sweetness. Eventually, she just stalked out of the washroom and returned to sit in a chair. After she had unpacked the few possessions that she had brought for her brief stay, the room had changed colors to suit that of the majority of her items, and she was met with a knock on her door. After ushering the knocker in, she saw that it was the young man/alien again, and he was to lead her to supper. Luka felt herself break out into a cold sweat as she stood up and organized herself as best she could, following her servant with the walk that she had been taught to practice from birth.
Atop the grand stairwell, lit by the fading light of a sun that shone through a humungous window, there stood an alien. Luka approached her, and realized that the young woman had extended a hand. Luka took her hand delicately and shook it once, formally, remembering the etiquette for the greeting of an equal. The young man behind Luka bowed, as did the one who stood behind the other alien.
"Hello." greeted Luka, realizing that neither of them was going to speak unless she said something, "I am Luka from the Megurine household. It is a pleasure to meet you." She spoke in the main alien language, understanding that her accent had to be atrocious, but also knowing that it would be impolite to greet in English.
"Okay." the alien responded. She spoke almost as if she were an entity, in an airy, almost lifeless voice. Teal irises cloaked by partially closed eyelids stared on dully and listlessly, as if she were simply waiting for the next night to fall so that she could close them entirely once again. Unnaturally long, teal-blue hair was tied upon her head in a bun that caught her hair at its base, but allowed its ends to wash past her shoulders like a waterfall, not stopping abruptly but instead fading into the light dress that she wore and only adding to her ghostly appearance.
"And... What might your name be?" asked Luka, once again hoping that she didn't mess any words up. The alien looked at her blankly for a minute, a confused expression sheathed beneath the emptiness of her eyes. After a moment's pause, she answered.
"You do not know my name?" her voice was small and curious, but possessed the aging of one-thousand years.
"I am afraid not." Luka's response was met with another pause.
"My name is Miku. Of your 'households,' I am Hatsune." She began to walk, turning her attention away from Luka as she followed. The two servants tagged closely behind, until they came to a grand hall. Food was served, and then the heiresses were left alone.
A/N: So? Do you like it so far? If not, I'm not offended, I just like to speak a li'l after the story. One of the main reasons I didn't post it was the problem that I have no idea where to break it off, when I wrote it everything flowed from one event to the other, so I'll just try to go with the number of words, but I feel as if this was a good place to break it off. As per usual, please feel free to leave reviews, I really enjoy hearing what you have to say. Until next time!