Lumen's day off

Dedicated to SRSparkleFan7

" Lumen! Will you play with me?" squeaked Sparkle, jumping on her brother. Lumen sighed, the paper work he was finishing piled on his desk.

" Sorry Sparkle, I'm kind of busy right now." he said, shakeing his head. " Ask Hunter to play with you. I'm sure he could take a break from training."

" Okay..." sighed Sparkle, walking sadly down the hallway to find her Big Brother substitute.

" What's wrong Sparkle?" Hunter crouched down to be at eye level with the eight year-old princess. He had really grown, almost being as tall as Magma at fourteen. Sparkle barely reached the center of his torso.

" Lumen never plays with me." she sighed sadly, ignoreing the ball they had been throwing around earlier.

" He's a very busy guy." he said simply. " I'm sure he'd play with you more if it was'nt for that damn paper work! He should really hire an assistant or something. Maybe once in a while, someone else could take care of the paper work." suddenly an idea hit him, a wide grin painting his face.

Somebody else...

" What?" Lumen looked dumbstruck at Hunter's proposition. " YOU take care of my paper work while I take a day off to play with Sparkle?"

" Yup!" said Hunter cheerfully. " Then you can play with Sparkle when she asks tomorrow!" Lumen had to admit, the idea did sound promiseing. As much as he needed to finish the paper work, she needed some contact with her brother.

" Okay." he said. " Let's try it."

" Lumen! Can you-" sparkle froze, realizeing Lumen was not doing paper work.

" Hi Sparkle!" yawned Hunter. Lumen had gotten him up at five am. " Guess what? Apparently, theres a five am!"

" Hello little sister!" Lumen practically made the princess jump. " What do you want to do today?"

" Y-Your going to play with me?" Sparkle clung to her older brother, babbleing about countless games to be played.

" Have fun!" yelled Hunter as they left to take care of Sparkles endless list of games.

" Heres some more paper work." said a servant, smileing.

" Aiyiyi..." groaned the red head, as the paper pile doubled in size.

" How (puff) How does Hunter keep up with you?" panted Lumen as he chased down Sparkle in a game of hide and seek.

" Prince! Why are you neglecting your paper work!" yelled Igneous.

" Hunter's doing it!" yelled Lumen as Sparkle dashed right in front of him, squealing happily.

" Oh yes, the little experiment." laughed Magma. " Ten bucks on Hunter loseing his mind by noon."

" I want a piece of that!" laughed Igneous.

" Catch me Lumen!" squealed Sparkle as the chase ensued once again.

" I'll (puff) Try!" he yelled as he bolted across the garden, desperately trying to keep up with his baby sister.

" That was so much fun!" yelled Sparkle as Lumen tucked her into bed. " We have to do that every week!" Lumen smiled. He was tired, filthy, and there was no part of him that did'nt hurt, but making Sparkle happy was worth it. Lumen pulled out Sparkles favorite bedtime story, and began to read the short little story about the princess and her Spider. When the sandy haired little girl finally fell asleep, the blonde tiptoed out of the room. As he reached the dormotories, he noticed the odd quiet when passing the boy's dorm.

" Gah! Hunter!" he squeaked, bolting to his office. When he crashed through the door, he saw not a shred of paper in the office, color coded files piled carefully into the cabinets, and about three empty canisters of coffee. The red head was passed out on the couch, mumbleing about various stocks and insurance polocies. Lumen walked out quietly, snuffing out the candles as he went. Once he reached his own bedroom, he found Sparkle sitting on his bed.

" Sparkle!" he exclaimed, but the little princess had fallen asleep. Laughing, he changed into Pjamas and curled up with her, placeing her stuffed doll in her arms.

" Play...wanna play with big brother..." she snuffled. Lumen patted her on the head, turning his back to her to sleep.

" Good night Sparkle." he murmured. I wonder if this is what regular siblings do? He thought, before drifting off to sleep.