16th SR fic! A love story. This SR fic is set 10 years later in the Inner World. So that means:

Hunter and Lumen are 22.

Corona and Aqune are 24.

Igneous and Magma are 28.

Sparkle is 18.

Chapter 1 - Love Pains

18-year-old Princess Sparkle sat in her bedroom. She was bored. Her boyfriend had been on patrol for 7 hours now. Who is her boyfriend, you ask? Why, no other than 22-year-old Hunter Steele. They had been together for 3 years now when Hunter was 19 and she was 15.

Suddenly, her bedroom door knocked. "Sparkle, are you in there?" A voice asked.

"Come in." The princess replied, as the door opened to reveal her older brother, Prince Lumen.

"Lumen, what is it?" Sparkle asked.

"It's Hunter..." Lumen spoke softly.

"What's wrong with him?!" Sparkle asked, beginning to get upset. "No...don't tell me he's-"

"Don't worry, he's not dead...he was injured during a vicious fight with an invectid." Lumen explained to her. "Come on, I'll take you to him."

Sparkle nodded and followed him to Hunter's room. Once they had entered and quietly closed the door, Sparkle stared in shock. Hunter was lying in his bed. Scratches covered his face and there was dried up blood under his nose and his eyes had bruises under them.

Sparkle gasped in fear. She couldn't believe it. Of all things, this had to happen. She began to cry. "Why?" she sobbed to Lumen. "Who did this to him?"

"It was Buguese's son, Buguese Jr." Lumen answered, his eyes narrowing down at Hunter.

"Hunter!" A voice cried out. Lumen turned around. It was Aqune.

"What are you doing here?" Lumen demanded.

"As soon as I heard about Hunter, I came here as fast as I could!" Aqune replied. She then noticed Sparkle, who was at Hunter's bedside, quietly sobbing.

"I'm guessing you're not going to blame your boyfriend for letting this happen to my comrade!" Lumen told Aqune furiously.

"Actually..." Aqune began.

"What?" The prince asked.

"...Buguese and I...are not together anymore." Aqune explained. "When I found out his son had attacked Hunter, I was so angry with him! He didn't even have any sympathy...so I broke up with him."

Lumen was surprised. "I see. So, are you still going to live with the invectids?"

Aqune hesitated at this question. "Of course. They are still technically my family, so I'm not going to immediately hate them."

Lumen nodded. "I understand completely. Please leave now."

Aqune nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Lumen turned to his sister and walked over to her. Sparkle turned her head to face him.

"Hunter will recover, won't he?" she asked.

"Of course he will." Lumen said.

"Ugh..." A groan was heard. Sparkle turned her head and gasped. "Hunter, you're awake!"

Hunter slowly sat up in bed, careful not to make his injuries any worse. "My aching head..." He then saw his girlfriend, who had tears in her eyes. "Sparkle..."

"Thank goodness..." Sparkle said, gently hugging her boyfriend in relief.

Hunter smiled. "It's OK, Sparkle. Don't cry, I hate seeing you sad."

Sparkle let go and looked at him, wiping away her tears. She then examined Hunter's scratches "Your injuries look terrible..." She gently touched his cheek.

But Hunter still winced a little from the pain. Sparkle noticed right away. "Oh, I'm sorry." she said to him.

"It's alright." Hunter replied. "I've been through pain worse than this."

Sparkle smiled at this. "I'm just so glad that it's not too serious. I was so scared..."

"Don't be." Hunter told her.

"Well, YOU ought to be scared, Hunter." Lumen spoke, frowning. "Buguese Jr. is one of the most vicious Invectid enemies we've had since the Invectids we fought 10 years ago.

"You mean the Big Four?" Hunter asked.

Lumen nodded in reply.

"Well hey, I wasn't scared of those guys, and I'm certainally not scared of Buguese Jr!" Hunter declared, raising his fist. Then, he suddenly remembered how much pain his arm was still in and winced as he put it back down. "Ow...I shouldn't have done that." he chuckled nervously to Sparkle.

Sparkle giggled a little. "Oh, Hunter you're so silly sometimes!"

Hearing this, Hunter smiled. "Sparkle, you're so cute when you giggle!"

"Cute?" Sparkle asked. "Is that all? I'm not 15 anymore!" She lightly tapped Hunter on the head.

"Well, what did you want me to call you? Sexy?" Hunter joked.

"Hey now, none of that Hunter Steele!" Lumen said sternly.

"What's wrong with me saying that?" Hunter asked the Prince in wonder.

"I'm sorry...it's just that..." Lumen began.

Sparkle realised what he was going to talk about. "Lumen, I keep telling you...I'm not a little girl anymore!"

Lumen sniffed. "I know, but sometimes I still see you as an little 8 year old, so innocent and cute."

"Oh Lumen, stop worrying! Hunter and I promised that we wouldn't go too far in our relationship." Sparkle reassured her brother.

"That's what you said 3 years ago." Lumen said in reply.

"I do remember." Sparkle said. "But I am 18 now, so of course Hunter and I will probably be taking our relationship to the next level..."

"I understand, sis. I guess I'll just have to accept that you're growing up...into a beautiful young lady." Lumen said, sniffing back tears.

Sparkle hugged him. "I'll always be your little sister, Lumen." she comforted.

Lumen smiled. "Thank you. I'll leave you two alone now, I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on." He walked out of the room and closed the door.

Sparkle walked over to Hunter and gently wrapped her arms around him. "I should go now." She told him, letting go. "You should get some rest."

"Aww, but I don't want you to leave yet..." Hunter said, pulling a sad expression.

"Shh." Sparkle put her finger on his lips. "Please, for me? I want you to recover properly."

Hunter nodded to his girlfriend. "OK." He hugged her gently. "I will...for you, Sparkle. I love you."

Sparkle looked up at him and beamed. "I love you too, Hunter." She then let go of him and gently kissed his forehead, which was the only part of his face which didn't have any scratches. Hunter responded by kissing her on the lips. Sparkle blushed at this and turned to exit the room.

"Bye." she spoke sweetly, looking back at him once more. She then left Hunter's room, closing the door behind her.

Hope you liked it! R & R!