"Okaa-san, please don't make me go on my own," begs the 16 year-old girl. "You know how people have treated me ever since the war."
"I'm sorry, Yuki," apologizes the Japanese mother. "But I can't risk your safety. I know you'll be safer in the countryside." She quickly ushers her daughter onto the train before Yuki has a chance to retort.
"I love you okaa-san!" yells Yuki, tears filling her eyes. The train departs from the station, causing her to lose sight of her mother. "I rather stay and die with you than be safe knowing you might leave me." As she walks down the aisle of the train, Yuki could feel dirty looks being thrown at her from every direction. In a war where Japan is one of the enemies, of course everyone would discriminate against her, even if her family's allegiance is with England. Her fists tighten until they turn white. Why must wars happen? Why do they even exist? What's so hard about a harmless competition to settle superiority or whatever stupid problems they have? Yuki walks, reminiscing her old life, the one the war had destroyed.
She finally finds an empty place on the train.
"Hopefully no one will come in…" she whispers sadly. Yuki carefully puts her luggage in the place above the seats and sits down patiently. To her dismay, a group of children soon entered, two brothers and two sisters.
"May we sit here? Oh…" the tone in the oldest boy's voice drops, seeing her ethnicity. Sighing, she nods and tries to scoot over to distance herself from them as much as possible. His obvious disappointment causes her to quickly throw a hat over her head.
"What's a Jap doing in here?" hisses the younger boy.
"Edmund!" whispers the older girl angrily. She turns back to Yuki with an embarrassed look. "I'm sorry for my brother's tongue. He's been irritable lately."
"That's fine," mutters Yuki, looking at the ground. Even without looking, Yuki could feel a glare from the two boys. Suddenly the youngest of the four approaches her.
"I'm Lucy Pevensie," she introduces herself with a sweet smile. "These are my siblings. My oldest brother is Peter, she is Susan, and the rude one is Edmund."
"I'm Yuki Tanaka, it's nice to meet you," smiles Yuki for the first time. All these months, all her family gets are glares, insults, and harassment. Now she meets a little girl whose smile could light up the hearts of even the cruelest criminals.
"The feeling isn't mutual," mumbles the blonde boy, causing the girls to glare at him while Yuki looks away sadly.
"Peter! Look, now you've offended her!" lectures Susan, rubbing Yuki's back.
"You know, just because we're Japanese doesn't mean we're aiding the enemy," retorts Yuki.
"You're still a Jap," Edmund reminds her rudely. "Why don't you go to—"
"Mum sent us here to get away from war!" interrupts Lucy. "So stop bringing the terms from war into this! Yuki isn't our enemy, so treat her with respect!" For a child, Lucy seems to be more mature than her older brothers. Then again, girls tend to mature faster than boys…
"Thank you Lucy, but I see I'm not wanted here," Yuki states bluntly, getting up to grab her luggage.
"No, you're fine," Susan says, stopping her. "These boys will be forced out if they can't act like decent gentlemen in front of a lady." With that, Susan sends Peter and Edmund death glares. Silently thanking the girls, the Japanese outcast sits back down in her seat, with Lucy and Susan sitting near to protect her.
The train ride felt like forever since Yuki found herself waking up twice. Luckily the train arrives at Coombe Halt before Yuki cried from boredom. Getting up, she notices the Pevensie children also standing.
"Are you four perhaps getting off here too?" she asks.
"That's none of your business," snaps Peter, grabbing their items.
"Sorry I asked," Yuki replies sarcastically. All five exit, confirming her horror that she must stay with these rude boys for quite some time. They find themselves on the platform with no adults waiting for them. Hearing a car, the children run down, only to find the car passing them.
"The professor knew we were coming," states Susan, confused about the situation.
"Perhaps we've been incorrectly labeled," assumes Edmund, inspecting his tag.
"I doubt the train would drop off only us if we were," points out Yuki.
"Hya!" a woman yells. The children look toward the source of the voice and find a woman driving up to them in a horse-drawn carriage. "Oh there, whoa, whoa." They all exchange a look of confusion.
"Mrs. Macready?" asks Peter, wondering if this strict-looking lady is in fact the one picking them up.
"I'm afraid so," she states. "Is this it then? Haven't you brought anything else?"
"No, mam," answers Yuki.
"Small favors," comments Macready. "Well get on. We mustn't dally now." Peter helps his sisters put their suitcases into the carriage, but Edmund throws his brother a dirty look before putting his own luggage on. Yuki hesitated to put her own suitcase in since Peter stood near the carriage, so he assumed she was not strong enough to put it in herself. Walking over, he coldly takes the luggage from her hands.
"I can put it in myself, you know," states Yuki.
"Just get in," Peter retorts, throwing her bags in roughly.
"Peter, be careful!" Susan scolds him.
The ride to the professor's mansion was silent. And somehow, it got even more silent when they arrived, aside from the rules Mrs. Macready told them. The children unpack their belongings after finding their rooms. Yuki found herself rooming with Susan and Lucy, which she doesn't mind at all, except their room is right next to the boys' room. Now they are in one of the rooms listening to the radio about war, that is until Susan turned it off. Peter glances at his sister, who in turn gestures to a crying Lucy.
"These sheets feel scratchy," Lucy whines.
"Wars don't last forever Lucy," Susan says, attempting to comfort the little one. "We'll be home soon."
"Yeah, if there's still a home," Edmund comments, causing Lucy's face to fall once again.
"Isn't it time you were in bed?" remarks Susan, glaring at him.
"Yes mum," Edmund retorts with attitude.
"Ed!" scolds Peter.
"Look to the bright side, Lu," adds Yuki. "You're together with your siblings and the place we're staying in is huge!"
"Yeah you saw outside," Peter chimes in, supporting her. "We can do whatever we want here. Tomorrow's going to be great." Maybe Peter isn't as bad as she thought he is, he cares a lot for his siblings. Well, except Edmund, but it might be a brotherly bond thing. The older kids gave Lucy a pep talk before everyone went off to bed. Yuki, on the other hand, goes after Edmund before he can enter his room .She taps Edmund on the shoulder and signals him to follow her.
"What do you want?" he asks, throwing her a dirty look.
"Edmund, I know you dislike me because of the war," Yuki starts, holding back 'Even though you are stupid for hating me since you don't even know me. By the way, your brother should get his head out of his arse too.' "But I think you should lighten up a bit. Everyone's feeling depressed already, why do you have to make it worse?"
"What do you know?!" Edmund shouts at her, pushing her. "You don't know what it's like to be alone!"
"You think I don't know what it's like to be a black sheep?" scoffs Yuki, nearly laughing coldly. "All of our family is in Japan, so we have no contact with them, nor do they want to talk to us again. They see us as traitors. As for England, they look at us as if we're enemies. Even my childhood friend refuses to even look at me. But you, you've got-"
"What do you think I have?" Edmund asks glumly, looking at the ground. "You think you can just fix my family like that? Everyone in my family hates me."
"They don't hate you," reasons Yuki. "You may irritate them a lot and Peter might yell at you a lot, but your family does love you. Edmund, you have more than I do okay? Don't take your family for granted. You have sisters, a brother, your mother, and your father may still be alive. And like I just said, everyone hates our family."
"I doubt that," he mumbles, scratching his nose. "I'll give your advice a try, but it doesn't mean we're friends!" Edmund throws her a look again, but this time his eyes reflected a friendly feeling, even if he won't admit it. Rolling her eyes, Yuki hugs him slightly, only for him to jump. "I said we aren't friends!"
"Good night, Edmund," smiles Yuki, waving him away. The two part ways and Yuki returns to her room.
However she has a hard time sleeping. Wanting to see the stars, she walks out of the room quietly, careful not to wake Susan or Lucy up. Unfortunately for her, Peter decided to come out at the same moment.
"I was just…"starts Yuki, trailing off.
"Me too…"Peter replies awkwardly.
"So you were going to put whipped cream all over Mrs. Macready too?" jokes Yuki, attempting to break the awkwardness. It seems to have worked since Peter lets out a chuckle after closing his door.
"I guess we're not doing the same thing," he laughs. "You know, you're alright, Jap." Peter throws the offensive term out again before he could realize, but catches it once it flew out of his mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry, I mean… I … Oh dear…"
"It's fine, I'll forgive you if you never use that term again," Yuki mumbles, crossing her arms. Sheepishly rubbing his neck, Peter nods and apologizes once more.
"So what are you really doing up so late at night?" asks Peter.
"I wanted to look at the stars," answers Yuki. "And you?"
"I wanted a drink," Peter admits. "Why don't you join me for a drink? Then we can look at the stars together. Maybe I can make up for how I've been acting."
"That sounds nice," thanks Yuki. "Well then Peter, would you like to lead the way?" She jokingly curtsies.
"Oh no, that would be rude," Peter returns. "After you, milady." He bows, using an arm to gesture the direction of the kitchen.
"Why thank you," laughs Yuki, walking straight. In contrast to her name, Yuki is actually very unlucky. First off, it was very late, so neither can see clearly. Second, both have forgotten how close their rooms are to the stairs, so after a few steps, Yuki found herself tumbling down while Peter stands at the top, wincing at every painful grunt Yuki lets out.
"Yuki? Are you alright?" whispers/yells Peter, trying to not wake anyone up, as he carefully runs down the stairs.
"Peter?" asks Yuki sweetly. He leans in closer, wondering what she wanted to say. However he is greeted with a slap on the arm.
"OW!" He cries, wincing.
"You go first from now on," growls Yuki.
"Fair enough," Peter agrees, giving her a nervous chuckle. The two finally made their way to the kitchen, which had a large window to give them a clear view of the sky. Despite her wishes to go outside, Yuki knew there was no way she and Peter would be able to find the way out of the mansion and back in while it's so dark. She sits patiently at the table as Peter gets some drinks out.
"Oh, no tea for me please," states Yuki, seeing Peter grab a tea pack. "Believe it or not, I'm actually not a fan of tea."
"What?!" exclaims Peter, chuckling. "You live in England and you're Japanese, isn't tea something you'd normally drink?" She shakes her head. "What do you drink at parties then? Don't they usually serve only tea?"
"I ask for water," explains Yuki. Rolling his eyes, Peter hands Yuki her cup of water, which she gratefully accepts. "So tell me about you and your family." Not expecting such a question, Peter chokes a bit on his tea. "Sorry! You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No that's not it, I just wasn't expecting it," Peter replies as Yuki rubs his back to help him. "Thanks. Well our dad is fighting in the war, so it's only our mum and us. Honestly, I wanted to fight in the war with him, but I'm not old enough." He sighs, thinking about his dad.
"It's nice to have your family around in these times though," comforts Yuki.
"And what about yours?" asks Peter, curiously.
"It's just me and my mom," she says sadly. "Literally just us, we got news the other night that my father died. And the rest of our family is in Japan, but they think of us as the enemy now."
"Oh…I'm sorry I didn't know," apologizes Peter, feeling even guiltier about this morning.
"It's okay," replies Yuki. "It's just the mindset of the war. Hopefully once this is all over, everyone can be friends again."
"That would be nice," Peter agrees, smiling at her. "So why did you want to look at the stars tonight?"
"I just feel at peace when looking at the stars. It makes me feel like everyone's still connected since we're all under one sky," grins the girl. "Come on, let's finish our drinks and go back to bed quickly."
"But our talk is going so well," frowns the blonde boy.
"Well we told Lucy we can do whatever we want here," reminds Yuki. "So we should get all the energy we can because you know how some children can be." Peter glumly agrees and puts the cups away for Yuki as she heads back to bed first. Getting into bed, she makes herself comfortable before smiling in Lucy's direction. She lets sleep take over and drifts away into a land of slumber.
"Find those children!" a woman in a white gown commands, cackling. Her hair, also white, was up in a strange bun with a tiara making her seem even taller. In her right hand is what looks like a wand. Her command releases a pack of wolves running out of a castle.
"LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!" chants the crowd as she sits down in her throne. Yuki screams as a monster walks right through her. Looking around, it seems like everyone in the crowd is anything BUT human. The queen is the only one that even resembles a human. The others seem to be ogres, giants, battle oxes, or scary creatures in her eyes.
"What… What's going on?" she asks, but no one seems to hear her.
"Bring in the prisoner!" orders the queen. Yuki looks to see… a dwarf?
"Edmund?" whispers Yuki, in disbelief. The dwarf pushes Edmund out roughly, laughing at the poor boy tripping. She notices his hands are chained together and several bruises and cuts adorned his pale face.
"Edmund, traitor of Narnia," taunts the queen, walking around the frightened boy. "You've already sold out your siblings, so just tell me where they are now and end your misery." However Edmund refuses to neither tell her nor look at her in the eyes. "Very well, I'll just destroy Narnia until I find the three remaining children. As for the guardian… I needn't even trifle with that weakling."
"Long live the queen!" the crowd shouts out once more.
"Tonight!" announces the queen, raising her wand. "All shall search for the three remaining king and queens of the so-called prophecy. Rewards shall go to those who find them!" Every time she spoke, Yuki could feel her spine become ice cold. Shaking, she glances around the room.
"This must be a dream, no one can see me," realizes Yuki. She lets out a yelp as a minotaur roars right in front of her face and walks through her. "Just a dream, just a very weird dream." Suddenly she feels a pair of eyes on her and as she turns, she finds herself staring back into the icy cold eyes of the queen.
"Come to me, guardian," the queen says sweetly. For some reason Yuki feels entranced by the queen and finds herself slowly walking into the white queen's extended arms.
"Yuki!" a familiar voice calls, and Yuki breaks out of her trance.
"Just come to me," the queen repeats, holding out a hand.
"Yuki, wake up!" the voice calls again. Struggling, she whimpers as the queen tries to reach for her again, but is finally able to wake up.
"Leave me alone!" gasps Yuki, jolting up, causing a girl to shriek.
"I'm sorry…" Lucy apologizes sadly, tearing up.
"Oh! I'm sorry sweetie, I wasn't talking to you," Yuki says quickly. "I was having a nightmare and you just woke me up from it. Thank you." As Yuki hugs her, Lucy brightens up again and leads the older girl to change.
"Come on! Peter's letting me play outside today!" Lucy squeals in delight. "Come join us outside!" Smiling, Yuki goes to change into appropriate attire, but stops when she looks out the window.
"Lucy? It's raining," Yuki points out in a sympathetic voice.
"Oh…" Yuki felt her heart breaking from the disappointment in Lucy's voice.
"Maybe it'll be sunny tomorrow," says Yuki, optimistically. "So let's play indoor games today, okay?"
"Alright," agrees Lucy, still upset.
"You girls ready yet?" smirks Peter, leaning against the doorway.
"Peter!" squeals Lucy, running and jumping into her brother's arms. Yuki smiles softly at the sight. She never noticed it before, but Peter is actually pretty attractive when he cares for his siblings. Yuki's always had a thing for boys who are good with children. If solely based on looks, Peter really looked like an average boy, not one that many girls would hold a torch for, but what Yuki found attractive isn't his looks, but the way he shows his love for his sister.
"Come on, Susan says she has a fun game for us in the library," Peter states sarcastically, rolling his eyes.