To clear up a few misunderstandings:

Daniella = Anzu

Malicka = Malik

Sébastien = Bakura

Thank you! Now, onto my hope to writing a successful longer story!

~Please review on your way out. :3

A small child opened her eyes. Her eyes were large orbs of the sea, which shone as brightly as the moon. Her hair fell down barely past her shoulders, and it was strung around her face from sleep. Curiously, she looked around. Wondering where she could possibly be, she stood up.

The child fell back into a tree, dizzy. She clutched her head and tried to straighten her vision again. Holding onto the tree for support, she waited until she could see alright again. Her eyes swept across the clearing.

She noticed that she was surrounded by trees. The place where she had lain was a patch of grass and moss in the center of the circle. The trees were closed extremely close together. There was only enough room for a tiny woman or a child to slip through the trees, she noticed.

This girl walked around the circle several times with her hand running across each tree. She could feel the rough bark, smell the fresh pine, could hear distant birds singing. She wore such a peaceful look upon her face. She did this for what felt like such a short time to her, but in truth, it had been several hours before a new factor arose.

Then she saw something sticking out from between two trees on the opposite side of the circle. She dismissed it as another piece of wood or something along those lines. But when the girl reached the other end of the circle, she was curious about what she saw.

What was stuck from between the two trees was the remains of what was once a human arm. Forest animals had eaten away the flesh only to leave the oddly bent bones. The girl did not understand. She still wondered what it could possibly be. She reaches out her slender hand and cautiously poked it. Then she took the hand, held it, and began feeling it. The skeletal figure was cold, and smooth. Her mind was filled with yet more curiosity.

For a few minutes, she continued to play with the hand, a smile upon her face. As she entertained herself, the girl did not realize that there was a shuffling of movement on the outer edges of her circle.

After setting the hand back down, thinking to come back to it later, the girl looked in the crevices of each tree, not seeing much of anything as it was almost pitch black in this forest, except for the little light that pooled around her and into the circle.

The light warmed her. It embraced her. The girl began to hum, and then started to sing as she searched.

"Lu, li, la, lu, li, la, la."

She sung as she continued to look through her trees.

She came to one break in the two trees that she could see some of her light falling into. Still singing, she peeked in and saw nothing there. The girl popped her head in most of the way, and glanced around.

One hand suddenly covered her mouth, while another yanked her out of her sanctuary. A man glared down at her, but with a mixture of fear and amazement in his eyes.

He quickly turned the girl around. She was shaking in fear, true fear. She knew nothing of man and was filled with the unknown. The man pulled down the back of her gown and saw what he was looking for.

On the pale, moon skin, the man observed what appeared to be some sort of crest burned into the girl's back. He sighed out in massive relief and gently turned the girl back around.

Tears streamed down her cheeks in rivers. She was afraid, very afraid. She didn't know what was going on. She didn't know who this man was, let alone what he was, why he was here, why he hurt her. Tiny scratches from the trees marked her arms and legs. Bruises began to form on her arms by the hurried way he had manhandled her. But swiftly, the man bowed down to her.

"Forgive me, my queen."

Somehow, the girl understood. She didn't know or remember how she understood, but she did. Her curiosity peaked, and against her mind telling her to run, she spoke back to him.

"Quel est votre nom?"

Her voice was tiny, but smooth. Many would say beautiful. However, it shivered in slight fear. She didn't know how she knew what to say, and pondered it for a moment.

By that language, he was assured that this was the right girl.

The man knew basic French, but he still spoke back in English. She'll have to learn it all again after this mess anyways.. he inwardly sighed to himself.

"My name is Malicka, my lady." He sustained his position on the ground at the girl's feet.

The girl thought of two ways to respond. But which to use? The girl thought for a moment and mimicked his tongue, but in a rougher way.

"Name?"

The girl pointed to herself.

Malicka smiled to himself in amusement. "Your name is Daniella."

"My name," she paused for a moment, registering everything, "is Daniella?"

Malicka nodded, smiling up at her gently. He froze in shock at what he saw. His eyes widened as she realized she was bleeding from her head. Looks like they got to her before Sébastien showed up, after all. No-good nobleman.. I'll have to track him down later on and ask him precisely which part he fucked up..

He took a bottle and a cloth out from his bag that was strung around his shoulder. "Now, Daniella, I'm going to warn you that this is going to sting a little." He took her hand and brought her down to his level. He poured some of the contents from the bottle onto the cloth, and wiped away most of the blood caked to the young princess's forehead and moved upwards to clean her wound. With the first contact with the burning liquid against this sensitive spot, she hissed and tried to back away. However, Malicka held her in place. He continued cleaning it and once all the blood was wiped away, he was relieved to see that her injury wasn't severe. He put the cloth and bottle back into his bag after replacing the cork back onto it and brought out bandages. As he placed them carefully around what was most likely the result of the skimming of a bullet, he looked into her bright green eyes. He was transfixed as he dressed her wound.

When he was done, Daniella smiled appreciatively up at him for a moment.

"And you are Malicka!" she proclaimed loudly and full of excitement. Daniella jumped at the man in front of her. They both landed on the ground. She, on top of him, hugged him tightly. She was full of this strange, warm feeling now. She had a form of this feeling in the her circle, yes, but this was.. companionship. It was a friendly and familiar feeling, one that she knew she must have had long ago. Daniella nearly cut of his air supply in her frenzy.

He thought to himself, What an adorable child.. I just pray that this will all be over as soon as it can. His thoughts turning grave.

Malicka sat with her in his lap. He indulged himself with the liberty of being this close to her because she was so fond of him already. It'll be easier if she gets to know me again on a more personal level. It'll be a much more comfortable atmosphere. He used that as an excuse to help bring back part of the past.

"Do you know your own age, my lady?" he questioned. At this, Daniella shook her head.

He smiled at her curious face. I remember her from then – she was the exact same way.

"You are fourteen," he simply said.

"Fourteen?" she pondered this. She grinned. "And how old are you, my.." she thought of something to call him, as he seemed to have a habit of calling her lady.

"I am sixteen." He laughed to himself at how cute her attitude still was. Seemed like that never changed. She still had that childlike innocence about her. "And you can just call me your knight, my dear."

"Okay, my knight!" She giggled at addressing him as such.

Malicka thought this a suitable title for him. After all, I am to be her protector up until.. well, that future day. And hopefully even then, she'll still consider me as such. Just like when we were children.. I can only hope that this innocence will remain when she has reclaimed what is hers.

"Malicka?"

"Yes, my lady?"

"Why do you keep saying 'my lady?'"

"Because you are the daughter of-" He cut himself off as he grabbed Daniella and clutched her close to his chest. He quickly threw himself backwards, so as to dodge the arrow that hit the tree in the exact spot where they had been sitting only moments before.

A voice among many rowdy others spoke loud and booming.

"Hand over the daughter of Marie-Antoinette."