Hiya! Not really much to say here, to be honest. In fact, I don't think there's anything to say here, so I'll just let you get on with reading the next chapter! Hope you like it!
There had to be somewhere to hide where he hadn't hidden before. Somewhere where she wouldn't look, where she wouldn't find him. They'd played this game thousands of times before, and yet the thought of being caught was still too frightening for the little bird to handle. He made a dash for the window of the tower he and his friend lived in – the only way in or out of the building. Maybe if he hid in the plant pot on the windowsill, she wouldn't-
Oh no. Here she came. He could hear her footsteps, hear the floor creaking- the window's wooden shutters were flung open with a loud exclamation from the person on the other side of them, causing the little bird to squeak in surprise. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, pale hands slam down on the windowsill, just inches away from him.
Then he heard a resigned sigh.
"Oh well, I guess Laserbeak isn't hiding out here after all…" And then footsteps sounded again. Only this time, they were… moving away from him?
He'd done it! He'd won the game! Finally, after-
He felt something wrap around one of his talons, and then whatever it was suddenly dangled him upside down in the air, causing him to let out a terrified squawk.
"Gotcha!" It was his friend, Lunar-Song. She'd found him after all, and had used her hair to pick him up… again.
"Well," she started as she set him back down on the windowsill, "that's twenty-two to me. How about… twenty-three out of forty-five?" The young eagle cut her a disapproving look; he was bored of being scared out of his wits. She rolled her clear blue eyes at him, plopping herself down on the windowsill.
"Okay, okay. What do you want to do?" He suddenly perked up, and unfurled a wing to point outside, to the forest. Lunar-Song shook her head, swinging her legs over the side of the windowsill to let them dangle in the breeze. Laserbeak hopped onto her lap, still pointing with a wing to the woods before them.
"I don't think so, my friend. I like it in there," she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder to point inside the tower, "and you do too." He chirped, unamused, showing his obvious disagreement.
"Oh come on, Laserbeak! It's not that bad in there!" Lunar-Song picked up the young bird and let him settle on her shoulder before she hopped back inside her home.
"Well, it's seven AM. Better get started on the chores." So that's what the girl did. She swept the floor; and then got it polished and waxed. She did the laundry, mopped up, and then felt compelled to sweep again. She'd gotten the routine down to such a fine art that by the time she was finished it was only seven-fifteen.
So she read a book, and then a second, and a third. But she still had ages until her mother came home.
"Alright, time to add a few new paintings to the gallery!" She exclaimed excitedly, climbing the stairs until she found a patch of wall that was blank. Laserbeak stayed at her side, watching intently as she painted and painted, using an array of brushes and colours – some of which he didn't even know she owned. However, after that patch was done, Lunar-Song found that, to her dismay, there was no room left to paint anywhere.
So she had a go at playing the old, worn-out guitar her mother had brought home for her last week, but all of the strings snapped simultaneously on the first stroke. She attempted knitting, but she stabbed her thumbs with the needles so often that she soon got too annoyed to continue.
Lunar-Song rarely ever got angry, but she was so frustrated at having nothing to do that she just wanted to scream.
"Ugh, Laserbeak, I've tried everything! The puzzles mother got me were too easy, I was terrible at darts – and not much better at cooking – and I was absolutely awful at paper maché! I tried ballet but I just kept tripping over my hair, chess gets boring after a while, no matter how many times you win, and the pottery, oh Primus, the pottery was just a complete disaster!" Laserbeak didn't know what to do. On the one hand, his friend was quite funny when she was angry, but on the other, he didn't like seeing her upset.
So he decided to simply sit in silence and let her voice her annoyance, which she did without trouble.
"Oh, what am I supposed to do?! Reread the books?! Paint over the walls?! No, no, that just won't do! There has to be more room somewhere!" And that's when the little bird saw it. There was a wooden stand, covering part of the wall above the mantelpiece. He squawked to get the girl's attention, and then he whizzed over to it, pecking at the stand impatiently, telling her to move it out of the way.
When she did, there was indeed space on the wall behind it; room for one more painting. Lunar-Song smiled, thanking her little companion and then rushing off to grab her painting equipment. She knew exactly what to put on this wall.
As she ran back to the stairs, she tripped over a pile of her hair. There was a huge knot in it. With a sigh, she put down her paints and brushes.
"Well, I guess it is time to give it a brush… Oh, here we go…"
A whole hour later, and Lunar-Song's hair was practically glowing – well, it was like that all the time, but at least there weren't any knots anymore. She finally managed to start her new painting, being extra careful not to get any of the paint in her hair.
When it was done, she sighed tiredly, wiping her brow. Putting all of her things away, she returned to the windowsill.
"Tomorrow night, Laserbeak," she said, addressing the little bird still sat on her shoulder, "those lights will appear, just like they have on all of my other birthdays…" The two friends were silent as they looked out of the window. Lunar-Song couldn't see past the forest, but she just knew there had to be something… more, out there, wherever those lights came from.
"…What do you think it's like? Out there, where those lights glow?" Laserbeak lifted his wings and then dropped them in a great, exaggerated shrug. He'd left the tower before, many times, in fact, but even he had never gotten out of the forest. Wherever those lights were, it was too far for him to venture.
"Hey, Laserbeak?" The eagle looked up at his friend, and saw that whilst she had called his name, she was still staring out of the window, almost daydreaming. He chirped, as if to ask what she wanted. Only then did she turn to look him in the eye.
"Do you… do you think… now that I'm older… mother might… let me go outside, to see the lights?" The little bird's wings drooped sadly. He didn't know what to say to that. He'd seen Lunar-Song's mother before – not that she'd ever seen him, his very existence was kept secret from her – and he'd noticed how extremely unwilling she was to let Lunar-Song see the outside world.
At a loss at what to say, the bird settled for shrugging again, which caused Lunar-Song to sigh downheartedly.
"Oh, she's never going to take me outside… I'll be stuck in here forever."
Silence. Dead silence was all that surrounded me. I closed my eyes, loosening my grip on the stone wall of the castle. I was ready to make the jump.
'I was' being the key words there, because just as my leading foot went up in the air, the two imbeciles behind me started arguing again.
"Oi! Would you shut up?!" My voice was hushed, only a whisper, but it still packed enough venom to get the idiots to listen to me. They quietened down… for now, at least.
I tried not to look back at them again; they'd only distract me. Focusing once more, I jumped. Thankfully I made it, and my two 'companions' followed my lead, staying close behind me. Sinnertwin and Cutthroat they called themselves; and even from the look of them you could tell that they were accurate names. They were thieves, same as me, and we'd decided to do this next job together, considering it was going to be a difficult one.
We were going to steal the crown of the lost princess, and our plan – well, my plan – was going quite well so far. We'd made it onto the castle roof, and we were almost directly on top of the room where the crown was hidden- scrap!
I waved my hand frantically, telling the two behind me to stop. The Lieutenant of the Iacon Guard, Sir Rodimus, was patrolling the grounds right below us. If he looked up, we were done for.
It was strange, though. I hadn't seen the Guard Captain, Sir Soundwave, at all. Hopefully I wouldn't see him; he was more than likely to recognise me, and if that happened, I'd be in deep slag.
Enough of that, though, I didn't have time to think about those things. I hid behind one of the marble pillars, taking a quick moment to appreciate the view of the kingdom. I let out a whistle, listening as a few birds on the roof of a nearby shop actually chirped in reply.
"You know, guys, I could get used to a view like this." I could hear them yelling at me to focus on the job, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away. I could see the whole of Iacon from this place, it was amazing!
"Listen, kid, the minute we do this job, you can buy your own castle to drool over! Now let's go!" One of them snarled at me. Jeez, these guys just couldn't appreciate the finer things in life. But they were right; we needed to get on with the job.
We opened the weak point in the roof that we'd found earlier in the week, and the two of them lowered me into the castle. I was right above the crown; it was almost too easy…
And then, looking around, I realised that I knew each and every guard in the room in person. I started to panic. If they saw me, I was never getting out of here! I grabbed the crown, but the two idiots had begun to fight again, and they didn't notice that I was ready to be pulled back up. If they ended up dropping me I swear to Primus I'd kill them both!
But they didn't, and all it took was a few more tugs on the rope from me to gain their attention again. And they'd been yelling at me for not focusing!
They'd almost pulled me up when one of the guards – an old man called Kup – sneezed. I was almost out of there, I had to do it, I couldn't resist!
"Primus bless you." I said, and then I was out of sight. I heard him thank me, and then moments later as we closed up the roof again, they all begin to yell out in panic. I laughed, but my partners in crime didn't seem as amused as me. Not that that surprised me at all. Oh well, it's not my fault they don't have a sense of humour.
By the time the warning bell rang out in the kingdom, we were already across the bridge and deep in the forest.
"Oh boys, I told you today was a big day! All the things we've seen and it's only eight in the morning!"
"Alright, Laserbeak! This is it! Today's the day! I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna tell her!" As if on cue, a voice coming from outside the tower called out in a singsong manner: "Lunar-Song, let down your hair!" It was her mother, Sunstar.
"Okay then little guy, you'd better not let her see you!" She whispered to her companion, and he nodded, flying off into her bedroom to hide. Lunar-Song ran up to the window, tossing a load of her hair over the hook that hung outside of it, and throwing the rest of it down to her mother for her to hang onto.
With little effort, she pulled her mother up to the window, helping her climb into the tower.
"Oh, Lunar!" Sunstar sighed, pulling her daughter into a hug, "How you manage to do that every day, I'll never know. It must be so exhausting for you, darling!" Lunar-Song smiled sheepishly, shuffling her bare feet along the floor.
"Oh, it's nothing." She replied with a smile. Sunstar pinched her cheek.
"Then I don't know why it takes so long, dear!" She said with a shrill laugh, patting her on the head.
"Haha, yeah… So, anyway, mother, as you know, tomorrow is-"
"Lunar, darling, come here and look in the mirror." Sunstar grabbed her, pulling her into another hug, this time in front of the mirror.
"Do you know what I see, Lunar? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady." Lunar beamed, straightening her back and looking proudly at her reflection. Her mother then let out another loud laugh.
"Oh look, you're there next to her!" The young girl sighed, trying to speak up again.
"Yeah, so, as I was saying, tomorrow is-"
"Lunar, mother's not feeling too great, would you sing for me?" She nodded, rushing to get everything set up so she could then get it over with. She pulled out her mother's armchair, got the stool from under the stairs, steered Sunstar to her seat and sat her down before flinging a hairbrush and a section of her hair into her mother's lap. Finally, she dropped down onto the stool and began to – very quickly – run through the song her mother always liked to hear her sing.
Sunstar only managed to get a few strokes of the brush through Lunar's hair before the song had finished and the brilliant white locks' glow faded back down to their usual pale colour.
"Lunar-Song! What is the matter with you today?!" The question was ignored as the young girl bounded up to her mother's seat and invaded the woman's personal space.
"So as I was saying before, mother, tomorrow is a really special day for me and you don't seem to know what it is so I'll just tell you: it's my birthday!" Sunstar rolled her golden eyes, peeling her daughter off of her arm so that she could turn to face the girl.
"No, that can't be right! I remember your birthday clearly, it was last year!" Lunar-Song sidled a little closer to her mother, not sure whether she was joking or not – she sincerely hoped she was.
"That's kinda the thing with birthday's though, mother. They're annual." When Sunstar made no move to respond with anything but a giggle, Lunar set herself back down on her stool and sat up straight, preparing herself for what she was about to say.
'Okay, this is it. I hope you're watching, Laserbeak, because I'm gonna do it!...'
"The thing is, mother, I'm going to be eighteen… and what I've really wanted for this birthday – well, it's what I've wanted for quite a few birthdays but-"
"Listen, Lunar, you have got to stop with the mumbling! You know how I feel about it!" The white-haired girl looked at her feet dejectedly, only to have her mother pinch her cheek again and make her look at her.
"Oh, I'm just teasing darling!" Sunstar started to walk off into the kitchen, and Lunar began to lose all of the courage she'd built up throughout the morning.
'No! I'm going to ask her this time!' Unfortunately, as she said the words she'd wanted to say for years, she was so nervous about her mother's reply that the sentence came tumbling out as an almost incoherent blur.
"Mother, I want to go and see the floating lights!" The reaction she received was certainly not what she'd expected. The shock was there, as she'd thought it would be, but for a moment, Sunstar almost seemed… frightened?
"…What was that, dear?" Lunar rushed to elaborate, using her stool to reach up and pull back the curtains that were covering her newest painting. It showed her, sat on a hill, looking up at the floating lights as they danced and sparkled in the sky, drifting above her from whatever distant land they came from.
"Well, what I meant was, I was hoping that for my birthday this year, you'd take me to see the floating lights." She frowned as her mother began to laugh.
"Darling, I think you're a little confused. I can't take you to see the stars!" Lunar grabbed a handful of her hair and swung it high above her head, using it to open a skylight in the tower and reveal another of her paintings. This one was a few years old, and it showed all of the constellations that could be seen from the tower.
"And that's the thing! I've charted stars, mother, and I've noticed that they always stay put, but these – these lights," She emphasised the word as if it would prove to her mother that they were, in fact, lights, not stars, "they only ever appear on my birthday, and they have done every year!" Closing the skylight, Lunar-Song sighed, desperately pleading now.
"Mother, I just can't help but feel that they… that they're… meant for me. I just want to know what they are." Sunstar looked away so that her daughter didn't see her scowling, and then she shook off her irritation with a laugh, sauntering over to the window
"You want to go out there? Please, Lunar," She abruptly slammed the shutters closed, walking up to Lunar and holding her hands.
"Just look at you, you're as fragile as a flower! Still a little sparkling, only a sprout! You know that we stay in this tower to keep you safe, my darling!" She cooed, running a hand through her daughter's shining white hair. Suddenly she threw her head back, raising the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically.
"I suppose I always knew this day would come sooner or later. My dear Lunar, soon you'll leave, but not yet-"
"But-"
"Trust me, pet. Mother knows best, after all! It's a scary world out there, Lunar-Song, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." Another loving pat on the head, and Lunar was beginning to lose her patience.
"What's so scary about outside?!" Sunstar smirked, forcing her daughter to sit back down on her stool.
"Well if you really want to know." The teenager nodded, a determined look heavily set on her face.
"Lunar, on your own you wouldn't survive! There's all kinds of ruffians and thugs, cannibals and snakes, oh, and the plague! Also there are giant bugs, and you know how much you hate bugs." Lunar folded her arms across her chest. She still wanted to see the lights, nothing would change her mind about that, but going outside… she was less enthusiastic about going outside now. Sunstar dragged the mirror over so that Lunar could see herself in it.
"I mean, just look at you! Sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy, darling, they'd eat you up alive! You wouldn't last a minute out there!" Lunar hugged her shoulders, looking down at the floor sadly. It didn't seem like she'd get to go outside this year then…
Her mother tilted her chin up, getting her to look her in the eye.
"I understand, Lunar. Really, I do. I'm here to help you, dear." She heard the girl sigh, spirits deflated.
"I just have one request, darling." The young girl looked up again, curious. Sunstar suddenly grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, pulling her in close.
"Never, ever ask to leave this tower again." She snapped, warning evident in her tone. Lunar sighed, flicking her fringe out of her eyes.
"Yes, mother…" The woman grinned, kissing her daughter on the top of her head before making her way to the window. Lunar-Song followed, knowing that her hair would be needed again.
As her mother reached the ground, she waved goodbye, blowing kisses up to the tower window. Lunar was too busy pulling her hair back into the tower to respond.
"I'll see you soon, my little flower!"
"Yeah, I'll be waiting here, as always…" Laserbeak fluttered over to sit beside his sulking friend who was slumped over the windowsill, staring off into the distance. He chirped quietly, brushing his head against her cheek. Lunar sighed.
"Oh, I'm never going to go outside…"
Well, hope you liked it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, or Disney's Tangled, nor any of the characters I use in this story, apart from Ravenstrike, Lunar-Song and Sunstar.