"Adia, I do believe I failed you." Luna hummed to herself. "Adia, I know I let you down." She laid tangled in the sheets of her bed, her eyes watching out her balcony. The summer heat wave had forced her and Daddy to open every window in the house to allow some fresh air in, instead of the stagnant, stale air that was left with cooling charms, letting in the mystical creatures that danced in the shadows and told her things from the ceiling.
A small figure could be seen darting across the field that ran behind her house. Luna knew who it was, her favorite planet, the one that shined the brightest in the stars. As she stood and dressed, she could see a hint of the ocean that lay a few kilometers away. She wore simple clothes, handmade. Her mother had been half muggle and Luna guessed she had passed the love of the hand sewn clothing onto her. She slid into the light dress, a white beacon in the night, like the moon she was named for. And as a moon, she deserved the little planet.
Daddy wouldn't approve of her leaving the house so late at night. There were bad people who roamed the county these days, evil creatures that wanted to maim and rip and kill, but Luna felt safe. No one knew where she lived. She never got any owls. She felt that dull ache in her chest of longing. She wished someone would send her an owl. She pushed the ache down, ignoring it as she pulled her hair off her neck in an effort to escape the heat as she exited her room for the balcony.
There was a large tree, an oak, she thought, that she scraped her knee climbing down from the third story of her house. She ran barefoot through the knee high grass, stepping lightly, for fear of stepping on snakes. She hated snakes. They scared her. All slithery and lying.
Midway though the field, a muggle toy her mother had bought her when she was six stood solemnly in the summer heat, dented in the middle from the lithe girl lying in the middle. Inky hair blended into the black nylon-like material, long, tan limbs splayed out in contrast.
"Jupiter." Luna whispered, crawling onto the trampoline. They became a tangle of arms and lips and hair, dark sister to Luna's light.
"Jump with me." Jupiter says through bruised lips, her teeth sparkling in the moonlight. They join hands and bounce up and down, high into the air, their hair spreading like halos and their skirts flying up.
"Lizzie Borden took an axe," Jupiter began to chant softly. Luna joined in.
"Gave her mother forty whacks,
And when she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one!"
Her mother had taught her that song. They were related to the crazy muggle in some way. The rhyme had never scared her like it did the other children when they were taught it. She didn't play with many other children after she learned the chant.
They fell onto the trampoline in a heap, giggling and kissing, hands exploring.
"Jupiter?" Luna gasped as kisses were trailed down her neck.
"Yes?" She replied, nuzzling against her shoulder.
"I love you."
"I know y'do, love." A kiss. She knows. She always knows. "C'mon." She takes Luna's hand, leading her off the trampoline and into the grass. Soon, they are covered by tall wheat grass. Luna begins to point out constellations, like her mother taught her to.
"Luna, will you run away with me?" Jupiter asks as Luna finds Mars, kissing her along her jaw.
"Of course." She tells her. "Anytime." She tangles her fingers in Jupiter's hair, the silky black locks running like gas over her fingers. Jupiter was a gas planet, after all. It explains why she always looks so soft, so hazy.
"Tomorrow. We can go to…" Jupiter's mind wonders off. "Paris." She smiles contentedly. "We will live in an apartment that has a view of the Eiffel Tower." She kisses up Luna's stomach. "We'll live like poets, working where we can." She kisses Luna protruding hip bones. "We'll have champagne and French pastries for every meal, and wear clothes from the markets, and go to silent movies."
"Anything you want, love." Luna gasps as Jupiter's kisses go lower.
"She's using you." Adia commented, sitting next the two, picking at her nails.
"Shut up." Luna hissed as waves of pleasure washed over her. Adia always came at the worst times.
"What was that?" Jupiter stopped her motions, looking up at Luna. She looked a bit like a doe, her eyes large a big.
"Oh, now you've done it!" Adia cackled, her hair swirling with energy.
"Hush up, you!" Luna seethed. Jupiter was a fleeting star, a light that would flicker away if she let it.
"Oh, baby, are you having another episode?" Jupiter whispered, crawling up to Luna's head. Adia snickered on her other side.
"You freak her out, Looney. You scccaaaree," She drawled the word out. "Her. You're a freak of the highest sort. No wonder she doesn't love you. Looney Luna! Loony Luna kissed the girls and made them cry."
"Go away!" Luna yelled at her, angry now. What right did Adia have to come and destroy this moment, trying to scare the shiny planet? She hated when Adia came around, always at the most inopportune times, always wrecking her fun times.
"Oh, sweetheart." Jupiter whispered, fear and worry shining in her large, dark eyes. "When's the last time you took your potion?"
Luna looked at her guiltily. The potion was icky, it made her world sharp and hard and too bright. She didn't like it. "I dunno…" Jupiter closed her eyes, like she was in pain.
"Come on. We're going to take you home. You're going to take your potion, and you're
going to go to bed."
Luna frowned. "But, love, what about…" She trailed off as Jupiter pulled down her skirt, helping her up and taking her hand to lead her back to the house, something akin to guilt shadowing her features.
They were halfway across the field when Luna looked back, at the creature. The pale, dark haired, skinny creature, with malicious, lying green eyes and a scared face, smirking, visible from a distance, her clothes tattered and stained.
"Adia ruins everything." She whispered, frowning and letting Jupiter take her back to the house, and wondering why the sweet planet was crying starlight.