Author's Notes: Go to Youtube, find Hana to Chou no Serenade, pause it, open another window/tab and get Ankoku no Tsubasa, play both at once, and you will die laughing, I assure you. xD

Disclaimer: I own this computer and this freaky two headed plot bunny, but nothing else...

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Shades of Angst - Chapter Three

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Three months...

It'd been three months, and still no sign of the pearl, nor any villains. Noel was getting frustrated.

"Please, even if there are no villains, we need to find that pearl!" The deep blue princess yelled. A group of lesser mermaids bowed and left to continue the search.

---

Two months...

Two months had passed since Leila was born. Lanhua ran the brush through the little child's shoulder-length hair. No matter what she did, those stupid corkscrews that reminded her of that stupid Caren remained curly and bouncy.

"Why couldn't you be born with straight hair?!" she cried, giving up and throwing the brush aside.

Leila grinned cockily. "Why, Auntie Lanhua? Jealous?"

Lanhua bit back a grin. The three of them had raised her well. "No, it's just that...when you're old enough, Leila, I might tell you."

"Why can't you tell me now?" Leila persisted.

"Fine. You already know you're one of the Mermaid Princesses, right?"

Leila sneered at the name, but nodded. "I am the purple pearl princess. I rule over the kingdom of the Antartic ocean, and the princess before me was named Caren."

"Good girl." Lanhua beamed proudly, then her smile faltered. "Caren had the same curls you have..."

Leila's eyes widened and she glared distastefully at the mirror. "Auntie Lanhua, get me some hairgel. Now."

---

"So I told her about her curls, and she's still in the bathroom, trying to get them to straighten out." Lanhua explained.

Lady Bat snickered. "Wonderful. I never really liked those curls anyway."

Hiroshi ignored them, reading the newspaper.

"Hiroshi-sama..." Lady Bat's voice cut into the man's thoughts.

"What?" Hiroshi raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Well...you told us to raise Leila, and then you never told us the rest of the plan."

Kaito's father grinned maliciously. "We brought her up all wrong and evil." Lady Bat visibly bristled at this. He'd been Leila's main caretaker. "She hates the princesses, even though she knows she is one, she hates mermaids, and she doesn't know how to work her powers as one, she's never seen the ocean in her life, even though this apartment is very close to the ocean - " He nodded appreciatively to Lanhua, the owner of the apartment - "...Basically, we'll hand her over to them and she'll raise Hell. We haven't told her the deep blue and purple pearls are connected; she has no idea that Noel is her older sister. Noel will go into a total angsty mess, and the other mermaids are fucked up as is. We'll overpower them, take their pearls, and basically rule the ocean. Sound good to you?"

Lanhua and Lady Bat looked at each other strangely.

"Hiroshi-sama, it's a great plan, but we will get Leila back and have her rule with us, won't we?" Lady Bat demanded.

Lanhua nodded ferverently. She'd grown too close with the little girl to ever imagine doing her in at the end.

"Of course, we've all grown too close to her to ever give her away. How heartless do you think I am?" Hiroshi gave a half-smile.

"In that case..." Lady Bat gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Lanhua beamed. "Ditto. We'll plan an attack, and have Leila come with us. Even if we tried, we wouldn't be able to stop them from taking her."

"Smart girl," Hiroshi clapped with approval. "Let's go get Leila, then!"

---

"So...you want me to come with you two and kick their asses?" Leila asked excitedly. Her hair was kind of straightened. The dark locks were extremely wavy where the curls had been, and they'd probably pop back into their corkscrew form in an hour or two.

"Yeah. But we gotta get you ready for battle," Lady Bat winked and pulled something from his back. It was the locket they'd taken and never given back.

"Yo, that's the shizz!" Leila exclaimed.

Lanhua took it from the vampire and opened it, showing a shiny pearl. "Yes, it is." She threw a dirty look at Lady Bat for teaching Leila gangster talk. "It's the purple pearl...we thought you were too young for it before, but I think seven is a good age, and you're very responsible." She took the lavender strings coming out from it and tied the necklace around Leila's neck.

"Now, scream out 'Purple Pearl Voice'," Lady Bat instructed, not daring to look at Lanhua. It wasn't his fault that Leila had heard someone yelling in gangster speak and demanded lessons!

"PURPLE PEARL VOICE!" The little girl cried, ecstatic. She threw up her arms and her clothes melted away. Some cute music and frills later, she stood in front of them, all transformed.

Lanhua nodded. "Go ahead and look at yourself, if you want."

Leila looked into her full length mirror and gasped. Her shoulder length hair now went down to her ankles, and - oh. The curls were back. But her hair was a luminous shade of lavender instead of a dark, blackish wine-like colour, and that made the hairstyle of her predescessor all the more bearable. She wore the same uniform that Caren had, only a little smaller and conformed to fit her body; and finally, her auburn eyes had changed into a mild violet. She admired the lacey gloves that adorned her hands and finally realized she was holding a microphone. "Ooh, what's this?"

Lanhua stared at the object with horror. "Leila, don't you dare say anything into it."

Just to spite her 'auntie', she lowered her mouth to the microphone. "Testing, one two three..."

"AUUUGGHH!" Lady Bat and Lanhua fell to the ground, screaming and shrieking. Leila immediately stopped.

Lady Bat picked himself up, smoothed down his clothes, and helped Lanhua up.

"Mermaid Princesses kill people with their voices," Lanhua explained, bending the truth a bit. "They sing...and the microphones make it all the more painful for any listeners."

Leila clapped a hand to her mouth and threw the microphone across the room. "Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, oh God, I'm a Mermaid Princess, I'M A MONSTER!" Leila wailed, collasping on her knees.

Lady Bat put a hand on her shoulder. "Leila, it isn't your fault. But even if you do think so, don't you want to avenge all the people who have been murdered by those bloodthirsty women?"

Leila nodded numbly. "Let's go."

---

"Lanhua? Lady Bat? I thought you were dead - " Lucia's jaw dropped. "Leila? You look just like Caren - "

"Then I'd better burn myself, because I don't ever wanna resemble any of you monsters!" Leila hollered.

Lanhua laughed meanly. "Lucia, Hanon, Rina, Noel, Coco, Seira. You didn't honestly think the pearl was just lost in the water?"

"We took the liberty of raising Leila-chan for you all," Lady Bat cackled. "We hope you like her methods of thought!"

Noel's eyes were wide and she stared at the new princess.

"What the Hell are you lookin' at, bitch?" Leila snorted harshly. Noel stepped back and her eyes became misty.

Hanon's hands were glued to her mouth. "They've done something...told her something...she hates us! Leila, you're one of us!"

"I know that," Leila narrowed her eyes. "But I'm not going to torture innocent people to death with my microphone! How could anyone do such a disgusting thing?!"

"We don't torture people to death!" Seira exclaimed indignantly.

Leila rolled her eyes. "That's what you want them all to believe!" Lanhua had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

Coco stared dejectedly at Leila. "How could those two do something like this? This is horrible...and especially heart breaking for Noel..."

"It wasn't just Auntie Lanhua and - "

"Leila, don't let them know about Hiroshi-sama!" Lady Bat yelled quickly.

"Okay then." The princess said simply. She was confused, but didn't say anything. Leila would not let her guard down around these girls.

"Hiroshi?" Rina asked, tilting her head.

"Never mind that. Leila, stay back, okay? Lady Bat, duet." Lanhua screamed loudly, and her chibis popped out. Leila watched in bewilderment, but did nothing, as instructed.

Lady Bat started up his song as well.

"Stop them! Pink Pearl Voice!"

"Mizuiro Pearl Voice!"

"Green Pearl Voice!"

"..." Realizing she didn't have to wait for Caren to call her line, Noel quietly chimed in, "Aiiro Pearl Voice."

"Yellow Pearl Voice!"

"Orange Pearl Voice!"

"Too late, Mermaid Princesses!" Lanhua laughed cruelly.

"BARA yori mo utsukushiku tsuki yori nayamashiku

Taisetsu na inochi naraba kono te de sakasetai..."

"Kono yo no subete wo watashi ni kuretara

Yogoto no utage wa tanoshiki yume no en..."

"Sono mabuta tojite mitsumete!

Mayonaka no MASUKAREEDO

Ima yami ni suberiochite yuku

Saa oite! Obienakute ii yo

Soshite eien ni nare!"

"Kagen no tsuki wo tategoto ni shite kanadeyou

Sen no suzuoto fue no neiro wo togisumasu.."

"Ankoku no sekai atarashii toki kizamou

Dareka no tame nayandari kokoro wo itamenakute ii.."

"Hirari fuwari odoreba tsumasaki koboreru hanabira

Yuubi naru SERENAADE subete wo wasurete odore!"

"Mabuta tojite mitsumete

Ima yami ni suberiochite yuku..."

"Watashi ni kashizuku kawaii shimobe yo

Kirameku shishuu no hagoromo sazukeyou..."

"Mabuta tojite mitsumete

Ima yami ni suberiochite yuku..."

"Kin to gin no hane mau

Hitoyo no yume no utakata yo

Odori odore! Koyoi wa... hana ni you AGEHA no mai!"

"That was seriously fucked up, let's not mix our songs again," Lady Bat advised.

Lanhua smirked. "Agreed."

Leila watched, lips curled up in a smirk, as the princesses lay on the floor, unconscious. "Why haven't you two sung for me before?"

"You're a Mermaid Princess, we were afraid we'd hurt you," Lanhua answered easily.

Leila nodded understandingly. "Now what?"

"They have the same necklace you do, only in different colours," Lady Bat explained. "We'll take them and then run for it."

"Got it!" Leila ran over to the unconscious Noel and pulled the locket off, not even bothering to undo the string. It left a red mark. She turned to leave, but then something caught her foot. Leila looked down and saw that Noel was awake and tugging at her lacey boot.

"Leila...Leila...don't..."

"Don't what?" Leila hissed darkly.

"Please..." And then Leila blacked out.

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Ha, that duet was completely screwed up. I started laughing as soon as the music started...If you need a good laugh, do follow the instructions on my higher a/n. Well, that's all for this time, ja ne! R&R!