A/N: Chapter 2! Yay!
Also, judging by file size and the fact 96KB generally gives me about 12 chapters, I'll say this will be... 165KB so.. 15-19 chapters! If not more.
Review Reply: Guest: It probably is. Well...kinda. It includes fighting! Does that make you happy? :3 Oh, and thanks for the thing about the summary. Didn't realise... :S
Tear finally got back to her room, having said goodbye to Luke. He was going to pick her up in fifteen minutes to take her to Fonic Artes class, but for now she decided to just unpack a few of her things.
Just as she finished putting her clothes in the drawers, the door slammed open and a figure flounced in. Tear glanced at her then stiffened, recognising her as the girl she had bumped into earlier.
The girl - Natalia - noticed her a second later and looked at her.
"Oh. So you're the new girl?" she asked imperiously.
Tear nodded, wishing the ground could swallow her up.
"What was your name? Mia?"
"Tear."
"Whatever, Mia. Now, while you are sharing my room, I expect you to keep your side clean, and if I ever need you to, you must clean my side as well. None of your personal belongings can be on display, the bed must be kept, and if you are in the room at the same time as me, be silent and be as inconspicuous as possible. I don't want to even know you're there."
Tear nodded slowly. Natalia seemed pleased, giving her a tight smile.
"Now, run along. This is my free period, and I don't want to spend it looking at you."
Tear grabbed her bag, hurrying from the room. She stood outside the closed door for a moment, controlling the urge to cry. Of all the people she could be roommates with, it had to be her.
A mop of fiery hair caught her attention and she hurriedly dried her eyes, looking up and smiling at Luke. Then she blinked. He seemed to have multiplied, another him standing beside him.
Tear hesitantly looked at the new boy. His hair was practically the same shade as Luke's, but his eyes were a tad darker. The same golden flecks ran through them, and she would have thought they were same person were it not for the slightly surly, sarcastic expression on his face.
"Tear, this is my twin, Asch," Luke introduced, motioning to the boy
"Um..Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Tear Fende," she greeted, holding out her hand.
"Asch," Asch replied, shaking it before looking at Luke.
"Great! So, now we're all ready, shall we head off?" he suggested, leading the way.
The days passed quickly for Tear. She found herself mainly hanging around with the twins, though also felt the plethora of death glares from fan girls and teachers alike.
Natalia continued to get meaner. It turned out she was actually dating Asch, and seemed to see Tear as competition. Whenever Tear came in, she would order the girl around until she dropped onto her bed from exhaustion. Tear was almost surprised at the amount of jobs there was around the place.
Luke and Asch didn't notice anything, however. Outside of their room, Natalia was a nice and charming girl. She was polite to everyone, even Tear, though the few dirty looks she sent her way were noticed by the recipient.
"I'm going out to a party in my friend's room, commoner. Set my bed and tidy up while I'm gone for when I return. Also, put my night clothes on the bed ready. If I require assistance, I'll wake you," Natalia said one evening before flouncing out of the room. Tear watched her go with dark eyes, then bundled underneath the covers.
"I hate this school...I hate all the people in this school..." she muttered to herself, then considered."Okay, not everyone. Luke and Asch are nice," she amended, then sighed, shaking her head. "I don't understand why Natalia's so mean..." she murmured, curling up into a tight ball. A few tears leaked out, but she held the rest back.
'Maybe I'll just leave...I obviously don't belong here,' she thought to herself.
There came a knock at her door, but she didn't move. If it was Natalia, the girl could let herself in. The knock came again, but Tear closed her eyes and turned her back, pretending to be asleep.
The door creaked open, soft, hesitant footsteps padding across the room towards her. She instinctively stiffened, tears coming to her eyes again.
"Tear?" the person whispered, and she blinked in surprise. Turning over, she came face to face with Luke. The boy looked at her a moment then grinned. "Oh, cool. I thought you were sleeping," he said, stepping back as Tear sat up.
"Luke? What are you doing here?" she asked, confused.
"Looking for you, duh. You want to go out for a bit? I found this really cool spot in the grounds, and I wondered if you wanted to come see it," he said with a shrug.
Tear was about to say yes, then remembered what Natalia had said and her face fell.
"...Sorry. I can't. I...promised I'd help Natalia out."
"Pssh. Forget her. What did she ask you to do anyway?"
"J-Just a couple of things."
Luke's eyes suddenly hardened, the grin vanishing. Tear blinked at the sudden change in attitude.
"Tell me straight, Tear. Is she treating you like a servant?"
Tear looked at him, then nodded slowly. Luke sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Right...Hang on a moment," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the phone she had seen before. She hadn't seen any other students carrying around phones, she realised, and wondered why he had one.
He pressed a number, holding it up as he waited for it to connect.
"Hey, Asch."
Tear blinked. He had a phone just to talk to Asch with?
"Yeah, I'm in Natalia's room...No, I am not with her! Yeesh." Silence, then Luke nodded. "Uh huh. But anyway, that's not why I called. Listen, Natalia's doing that thing again...Yeah, that's the one. Can you talk to her for me?"
Tear suddenly realised they were on about her, and reddened.
"Luke, it's okay. I'll...get used to it," she replied. Luke gave her a flat stare, then went back to the phone.
"Okay, thanks...Yeah, you too. See ya." Hanging up, he slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Okay, Asch should take care of that. Now, let's get going shall we?"
Tear sighed, realising she wasn't going to win this one. Getting up, she slipped her shoes on then followed him out.
They headed outside into the cool night air, and Tear looked around. She'd never been outside during the night, and stared at how different it looked. Things which seemed tall and intimidating during the day suddenly seemed so peaceful, gentle. The looming trees rustled gently, welcoming her. Various lights lit up the paths, gentle in their own way, and the natural Fonons that flitted around glowed brightly in the darkness.
"Beautiful, huh? Dad saw this place when he was a kid, and decided he'd build a house here one day. When he got older he did, then it just gradually expanded into a school," Luke explained as he saw her wide eyes.
"How long have you lived here?" asked Tear.
"All our lives. We were born and raised in these buildings, and we've pretty much watched the school grow from scratch," Luke replied with a shrug.
"Wow...It must have been amazing to live here with your parents."
Luke nodded. "Yeah. Mum'd take us out almost every night, and we'd just sit and watch the stars," he said, his eyes distant.
Tear looked at him. "What happened to her?" he asked.
Luke blinked, as if coming out of a daze, glancing at Tear before looking away. "...She died. She was giving birth to our little sister, but she died. Then our sister died a little while afterwards as well," he replied quietly.
Tear bit her lip. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring up such a painful topic," she said, eyes upset.
Luke shook his head. "It's okay. Not many people know, to be honest. We've...never really told anyone," he replied quietly.
Tear remained silent, unsure how to respond. She'd never known her own parents; she'd been raised in Yulia City, whose founder was her mother. Her parents had vanished when she was younger, and Van, being the older one, had left to find some work. He'd occasionally come back to visit, but she had mainly been raised in seclusion.
Luke suddenly stopped, and she managed to stop herself before she bumped into him.
"What's the matter?" she asked, looking round him before blinking.
It was a beautiful clearing. The lake was serene, reflecting the moon on a motionless surface, and it was surrounded by cherry blossoms, their petals falling around them. Tear gasped, stepping forward and looking around.
"It's so beautiful!" she gasped. A light wind flew by, causing flower petals to blow towards her, and she giggled as a few got caught in her hair, which was blowing out behind her.
She looked over at Luke, who had an oddly whimsical look on him. "Do you come here often?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Often enough. We like it here; it's peaceful, and secluded. Not many can find it unless you know where to go."
"It's gorgeous," Tear murmured, looking around again, her eye shining.
"Yeah...it is," Luke replied quietly, and she looked at him in confusion. He waved it off. "Nothing. Oh hey, there's some pretty nifty magic on the lake too. Watch this," he said, bending down and placing his fingers in the water.
It suddenly erupted upwards, spraying them with water. Tear giggled as it coated her, gazing at it in amazement.
Luke stood up, grinning at her, then his phone went off. Sighing, he lifted it out and opened.
"Before you start ranting Dad, yes, I know I'm not supposed to play with the geyser, sorry, I won't do it again, yes I'm with Tear, no I don't know where Asch is, and I hope you're having a good evening in a sarcastic tone as well."
Tear blinked at the rapid-fire tick list, then giggled as Lorelei started talking back to Luke, who kept pulling faces.
"Fine, fine. I was just showing Tear though Dad, sorry...Yeah, sure." He lifted the phone away, looking at her. "He wants to talk to you," he said, passing it over.
Tear took it, cupping it against her ear. "Um, hello?"
"Good evening Mystearica. How are you?" Lorelei's smooth voice came back.
"I'm fine thank you Mr Lorelei."
"That's not completely true, now is it, Mystearica?"
Tear blinked. "Pardon?"
"I'm aware of your problems with Miss Lanvaldear."
Tear tensed. "There aren't any problems Mr Lorelei, honest..."
"You may not view them as problems, but we do. Now, we have a few spare rooms, and I'm willing to allow you to have your own until further notice, if you want?"
Tear considered. She felt mean leaving Natalia so suddenly, but then again, the other girl probably wouldn't notice.
"Alright. Thank you Mr Lorelei."
She could almost hear Lorelei smirking on the other end. "Good night, Mystearica. Oh, and I know this is an almost impossible task, but try to keep Luke out of trouble would you?"
"Certainly, sir. Good night."
The phone clicked off and Tear handed it back over. Luke pocketed it, then looked around. "What do you want to do? Head back in? Or we can stay out here for a bit longer," he suggested.
"I don't mind," Tear replied with a shrug, and Luke sat himself down on the grass. He lay back, hair pillowing beneath him with hands behind his head, and stared up at the sky. Tear sat down beside him, knees pulled up to her chest as she stared at the reflection of the moon.
Slowly, tiredness crept in, and she eventually fell back, landing on something soft and curling against it before falling asleep.
Luke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and smirked. "Great. Thanks for using my hair as a pillow," he murmured quietly, before sighing. He pulled the phone out of his pocket, gazing up at it. A moment later a picture of the sleeping Tear appeared, and he smiled before tucking it away, going back to staring at the stars.
A/N: Aww, isn't it cute? :3
Say it's cute.
Say it.
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