So I'm going to try my hand at writing in third person. I hope it's okay.

Some of you wanted to know Miku's reaction to...well everything. XD But that'll come next chapter, I swear.

In the meantime, enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 7

9 A.M.

Four-year-old Luka was in her room playing the piano. She loved the piano. She loved music. It was one of the first things she could accomplish when she started training to become a queen. She had received so much love and recognition from her parents. Luka loved that feeling so she kept on practicing and became a young prodigy on the piano.

Several minutes later, her bedroom door burst open with two little kids running in. There were Luki and Miku, both two years old. Miku was staying in Asakawa Kingdom with her parents for a couple of days. Her parents were doing some negotiating while Miku had a really long play date.

Luki was holding a red toy sword and Miku was waving around a blue toy wand. Luka stopped playing and got off of her piano stool and made her way toward her brother and Miku.

"Luka! Luka!" Luki yelled, running to Luka's side. "Are there dragons in here?" He waved his sword around at the room.

"Why are you looking for a dragon?" Luka asked.

"To kill them," Luki declared, holding his sword up over his head. "I have to protect Princess Miku."

"I'm the princess," Miku repeated happily, wavering her wand. "Hey, Luka," Miku took Luka's hand, "want to play with us?"

"Sure," Luka said, smiling. "What should I be?"

"You can be the dragon," Luki blurted out.

Luka laughed. "Okay, I'll be the dragon."

The three kids ran around Luka's room playing and screaming. Luka was roaring and trying to capture Miku while Luki was fighting her and trying to protect Miku.

10 A.M.

Luka, Luki, and Miku all fell on top of Luka's bed exhausted and ready to go back to sleep. Then a black-haired butler along two maids entered the room, seeing everything in a mess and three children lying on the equally messy bed.

"Luki, Miku," one of the maids called, "would you like to have your snacks now?"

Both Luki and Miku both perked up at the mention of snacks and rushed off the bed. "Okay!" they cheered in unison. The maids led them out of the room and into the hallway, leaving just the butler and Luka.

The butler bowed. "Princess Luka, you have a guest. Lady Lily has come to see you."

Luka also perked up when she heard this but for a completely different reason than Luki and Miku. Lily was a friend of her father and was like an aunt to Luka. Luka was always excited when Lily would come visit.

"Okay, thank you, Hiyama," Luka nodded. She got up and followed Hiyama out into the hallway towards the study.

As they got closer to the room, voices could be heard from inside the room.

"What a fascinating story!" Luka recognized that voice right away. It was Lily. "Is that where the name comes from?" Lily laughed.

"Yes, don't you like the name?" It was Luka's dad, the king.

"Brave Horse? Really, Yuuma? Really? That doesn't sound cool at all." Lily was still laughing.

"It has sentimental value, Lily. It doesn't have to sound cool." Yuuma defended.

"Yes it kind of does. You're the king for crying out loud!"

Hiyama knocked on the door, resulting in the conversation ending and a "Come in!" from the king. Hiyama opened the door and allowed Luka to enter first.

"Hello, father. Hello, Lily." Luka greeted, bowing down in front of them.

"You two came in at the right time," Yuuma said, holding his black bladed katana in one hand and the black and red sheath in the other. "Do you think the name of my-"

"Yuuma," Lily interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You can tell them all about it later. I'm only here for the day. I want to talk with Luka for a while."

The king sighed in defeat, sheathing his blade and left the room with Hiyama.

"Come, Luka," Lily patted the seat next to her. Luka climbed onto the seat and faced Lily. "I heard you were playing with Luki and Miku."

"Yes, I played the dragon," Luka replied.

"Oh and how did that go?"

"I ran all over the room and I even blew a little fire out of my mouth like a real dragon," Luka declared with a proud smile.

"Wow! Really?" Lily exclaimed with eyes of amazement. Luka was full of surprises. She was definitely a natural with her powers but she didn't know it yet herself.

"Yeah but Luki and Miku didn't believe me," Luka pouted.

"Well I believe you," Lily patted Luka's head, getting a smile from the younger girl. "So did the dragon defeat the prince and claim the princess for herself?"

Luka stared at Lily with a confused look. "Umm, Aunt Lily, that's not how you play the game. In the end, Luki stabbed me," Luka placed her hand on her stomach, "and he and Miku lived happily ever after."

"Do you ever wonder what would happen if the dragon, you," Lily pointed at Luka, "got the princess instead of the prince?"

Luka looked even more confused. "Ummmm, well Luki wouldn't be so happy about that," Luka guessed. "Plus what would I do with the princess?"

Lily saw that Luka didn't understand where she was getting at. Well she guessed it was to be expected. Luka was only four years old. It was too early for that kind of stuff.

Lily just laughed it off and patted Luka's head again. "Ah, sorry, Luka. Don't worry about it. So have you been practicing our little secret?" Lily asked with a wink.

"Oh, yes!" Luka answered excitedly. "I've been practicing a lot. Watch what I can do now." She got up from the chair and stood next to the table.

She hovers one hand above the other with her palms facing inwards. She then moves them in a circular fashion slowly but gradually faster. A couple of minutes later, she removes the top hand and grabs a small book from on top of the table. Luka positions the book a couple above her palm and lets go of it. The book was hovering in midair above Luka hand!

"Look, Aunt Lily! Look!' Luka called at Lily, who was already watching the whole thing. "I made the book stay in the air!"

Lily was impressed. Luka was only four and yet she can already manipulate air. Then the book fell onto Luka's hands.

Lily clapped. "That was amazing, Luka! I'm so proud of you!" Lily praised, causing Luka to blush. "Are you tired?"

Luka shook her head. Now Lily was definitely impressed. Someone so young using their powers like that would be out for the day. Maybe the effects would kick in later.

11 A.M.

"Are you ready for tonight?" The queen asked the two shadows.

"Yes, Your Majesty," answered the first shadow.

"We await your command, Your Majesty," said the second shadow.

"Excellent." The queen left the shadows and walked quickly up towards the dining hall. She was already late for lunch.

She knew about Luka's early use of her fire powers. But instead of being proud and excited, she felt threaten. She needed to find a way to contain Luka's powers. If Luka mastered it too early, it could mean trouble for her plans. She worked too hard to maintain her plan. She couldn't let a four-year-old get in the way of that.

The queen didn't trust Lily. She was suspicious of her relationship with Luka. The queen thinks Lily is somehow helping Luka with some kind of secret training. But Lily doesn't have fire abilities. So how she was helping Luka was still a mystery to the queen.

Also Lily seemed too friendly with the king. There were only a few people who were allowed to call her husband Yuuma. The queen also questions their relationship with each other.

The queen must expose Lily for who she really is. And the best way was through Luka. How hard can it be to make a four-year-old talk?

12 P.M.

The kings and queens of both Asakawa and Saki Kingdoms gathered together inside another study.

"So continuing the meeting from this morning," the king from Saki Kingdom, Miku's dad, started, "we all agree on the engagement between Luki and Miku?"

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"I hope both our kingdoms will benefit from this, Mikuo," Yuuma said to the other king.

Mikuo nodded. "Yes. We will get our necessary vitamins from your leeks and you will the proteins from our tunas."

"But what about Luka?" The queen from Saki, Miku's mom, asked. "Do you plan to marry some one from another kingdom or let her choose?"

"Well, Aoki," the other queen began, "Yuuma and I were thinking the prince of Ryouseirui Kingdom or-"

"Yes, but Ruko," Yuuma interrupted, "maybe we should just let Luka choose."

Ruko raised an eyebrow to her husband. "Why? What good would that do to benefit the kingdom?"

"Luki will most likely rule the Saki Kingdom since Miku is an only child. So we need Luka ruling over our kingdom," Yuuma explained. Ruko nodded, understanding his point.

Aoki put her hands under her chin. "I wonder who Luka will choose to love."

1 P.M.

"Luka! Luka!"

Luka stopped walking turned around to see Miku running up towards her.

"Yes, Miku?"

"Will you play with me?" Miku begged, grabbing Luka's hand. "Pleeeeeeease!"

"Where's Luki?" Luka asked, looking around for her little brother.

"He's napping," Miku pouted, crossing her arms.

"Shouldn't you be napping with him?"

"But I'm not tired," Miku whined. "I wanna plaaaaaay."

Luka chuckles. "Okay, I'll play with you."

Miku jumped up in joy. "Yay!" She grabbed Luka's hand and pulled her down the hall.

"Where are we going to play, Miku?"

Miku stopped in her tracks and thought for a moment. She looked out the window at the clear summer day and pointed. "Let's go outside!"

Both girls went outside to the garden and played to their hearts content.

2 P.M.

Yuuma went to check on his son. He saw Luki was still taking his nap in his king-size bed. He turns to Hiyama, who was standing by the door.

"Where did Miku run off to?" Yuuma asked.

"I believe she is playing with Luka outside in the garden," Hiyama answered politely.

Yuuma walks over to the window and looked out onto the garden. Indeed Luka and Miku was together outside. They were lying in the grass in the middle of the courtyard. Both were out of breath but they had smiles across their faces.

Yuuma noticed that Luka only smiles like that when she is playing with Miku. He thinks it's good for the girls to interact more. Miku's an only child but probably has friends too. Luka, on the other hand, is always attending classes or tutoring sessions and keeps friends at a distance.

"Maybe I should cut down on some of her classes," Yuuma mumbled to himself. He hopes to will make Luka relax a bit more. But when Miku came over, it was pretty much guaranteed that Luka would be more relaxed and in better condition.

Yuuma sees Miku dozing off. Apparently Luka sees this too because she gets up and carries Miku on her back and begins walking back to the castle.

That was Yuuma's cue to help and bring Miku in for her nap.

3 P.M.

"Don't try any funny business in my kingdom, Lily."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ruko."

Lily was in the castle library, reading a book when Ruko decided to interrupt her. Lily didn't even look up from her book.

"Don't play dumb with me. I know yours and Luka's secret," Ruko declared.

"How does she know Luka can control the air?" Lily thought but she kept face and didn't look up from her book.

"I cannot let Luka use anymore of her abilities of fire this early." Ruko thought.

"I'm warning you that if you don't leave the kingdom, Luka's not going to do so well in the future," Ruko threaten. With Lily gone, it'll be easier to deal with Luka.

This time Lily closed her book and looked up at Ruko. They glared at each other for a good minute.

"You better not touch her," Lily tried to sound intimidating but couldn't stop the small waver that crept into her voice. "Why would you hurt your own daughter?"

"You, of all people, should know the answer to that question."

Lily looked down to the table and clenched her fists. There nothing she could say to make the situation better.

Ruko smirked and begins to leave. "I expect you to be gone before dinner."

4 P.M.

"Aunt Lily!" Luka barged into Lily's room to see her packing up her bags. "Wait, what are you doing?

Lily stopped packing and looked at Luka sadly. "Sorry, Luka. Something urgent has come up," Lily lied. "I have to take an early leave."

"But Aunt Lily, you said you were going to stay for the day," Luka whined, grabbing onto Lily's dress.

"It'll be okay, I'll visit again soon," Lily reassured, rubbing Luka's head. "So what brought you here in the first place?"

"I wanted to ask you if you could take me flying again," Luka confessed, still feeling a bit down.

Lily thought for a moment. There was still quite a bit of time before dinner was to be served. Some flying time with Luka wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Okay, Luka. Let's go flying."

"Yay!" Luka cheered, dragging Lily by the hand to the rooftop.

Once they got on top of the roof, Lily faced the ocean, smelling the salty breeze. She helped Luka climb onto her back and started concentrating for the upcoming experience.

"Are you ready, Luka?" Lily asked.

"Yep!" Luka cheerfully announced. Lily was amazed how unfazed Luka was. This wasn't Luka's first time but it was still remarkable the young girl was able to stomach what was going to happen.

Lily takes a couple of steps back away from the edge and makes a running start, jumping down headfirst to the waters.

"WHEEEEEE!" Luka screamed, causing Lily's eardrums to get sore. Luka wasn't scared of heights one bit. It was like she enjoyed it more than being on the actual ground.

Lily chuckles at Luka, ignoring the pain in her ears. After a couple of seconds of freefalling, Lily wills the air around her back to obey her every command, revealing a pair a white feathery wings. The large wings appeared beside Luka and she reached over to touch them. They were amazingly soft and silky.

After several large flaps, both girls were high in the air, next to the clouds. The sun shone its light down onto the water, making the ocean sparkle like a million of gems.

"The water is so shiny!" Luka exclaimed, pointing downwards. They flew straight into a cloud. "And the cloud is so wet!"

Lily laughed. "I hope you get to share this experience with someone you love in the future."

Luka became silent for a second. "Do you love me, Aunt Lily?"

"Of course I do!" Lily declared. She was surprised Luka even ask that question. She turned her head and saw Luka's sad face. "Why are you asking? Is someone bullying you?"

"No one's bullying me. Recently, mommy's been really strict with me," Luka confessed. "And I don't know why."

It was true. Her mom hasn't been praising or complimenting Luka like she used to. It was like she found a reason to hate Luka. Luka doesn't even know the reason herself otherwise she would've fixed it in a heartbeat just so everything could go back to the way it was before.

"Oh don't let that get to you too much. She's probably in one of her moods," Lily joked, making Luka smile a little. "Just remember that I love you," Lily turned and kissed the top of Luka's head. "I'll always love you, Luka, as if you were my own."

5 P.M.

"Hello, Yuuma honey."

"Oh what a surprise to see you here, Ruko."

Yuuma was currently in the middle of training his soldiers. When he saw his wife enter, he gave everyone a short recess.

After a small exchange of hugs and kisses, Yuuma spread out of his arms. "So what brings you to the almighty training room?" he asked with an exaggerated tone.

Ruko rolled her eyes. "As much as I love being in this room," Ruko said with a sarcastic tone, "I only came to tell you something."

Yuuma motioned to the bench by the wall and the couple sat down on it. After getting comfortable, Yuuma brought his hand up, signaling Ruko to continue.

"I know Luki won't start training for a couple of years but I'm telling you that I'll train him personally," Ruko continued.

Yuuma looked a bit puzzled. "And why would you want to do that?"

"Well, you're going to be busy prepping Luka on how to rule the kingdom," Ruko explained. "So in the meantime, I'll prep Luki."

"Do I have any other choice but to accept?"

"Not really."

Yuuma laughed. "Haha, I see where you're coming from. Okay Luki's all yours."

Ruko smiled. That was just a small but important part of the plan.

6 P.M.

Dinner was about to be served. Slowly the royals went to their place around the table. There was Mikuo, Aoki, Miku, Yuuma, Ruko, Luki, and…

"Where's Luka?" Miku asked.

Everyone looked around but none saw the girl.

"Hiyama," Yuuma called, "go fetch Luka." Hiyama was about to leave when Ruko stopped him.

"No," Ruko got up from her seat. "I'll go instead." She left the room before anybody could protest and made her way to Luka's room.

When she entered the bedroom, Luka was sleeping in her bed. Ruko walked next to her and noticed Luka was clutching something and a note sat on the pillow next to Luka.

Luka,
Remember that no matter what I will always be on your side. I don't know when I'll see you again (whenever the queen cools down) but you have my necklace to remember me by. You have the potential to be more than just a queen and I look forward to the day you harness that power. Just don't let that go to your head and don't forget the people who are important to you.
The one who loves you the most,
Lily Masuda

Ruko crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trashcan after she had finished reading it. Luckily she read it before Luka had woken up otherwise things would've became more difficult. She looked over at Luka's closed fist and pried them open, revealing a yellow gem in shape of a single wing.

Ruko eyes the gem suspiciously. What is the meaning behind this necklace? Why is it shaped like a wing? Maybe…

While she was thinking about this, Ruko put her hand in the air and snapped twice. In the corner of the room where it was the darkest, two beings materialized from the shadows and stepped forth into the light, kneeling in front of the queen.

"Grab the girl."

7 P.M.

"HURRY UP AND SHOW THEM, YOU WORTHLESS REJECT!"

The whip came down again, sending another wave of pain through Luka's body. It kept coming down, creating scar after scar on her back. She couldn't move. They chained her to a post, making it easier for them to hit the girl. So much blood everywhere. Luka's blood.

"BRING OUT THEM ALREADY!"

Luka didn't know what they were talking about. But she couldn't speak, only scream in pain. She cried, realizing they weren't ever going to stop until they got what they wanted. Everything hurt. Luka wanted the pain to stop. She wanted them to stop hitting her. She just wanted everything to end. She just-

"Okay stop," Ruko commanded. "Bring her to me." The two torturers stopped. They released Luka from her chains and dragged her over to the queen.

Luka's clothes were all tattered. Her back was the main focus of the beatings for it was all bloody and scarred. Most of the wounds were concentrated in only two areas and under the thin layer of blood, one could see two lines of scars in the middle of her back.

Luka herself was panting and crying, blurring her vision. She didn't even know where she was or what she did to deserve this punishment. She could feel her consciousness failing her. Suddenly cold water fell over her small and frail body. It felt refreshing but only for a second. The pain would then come back twice as hard.

Ruko looked down at the pitiful girl down at her feet. Luka hasn't said a thing since this had started. She just cried in pain. Ruko hasn't asked any questions yet. She thought it would be easier to make Luka talk if she broke her down first.

"Show them to me," Ruko said coldly.

"I…don't…know…" Luka voice staggered. She had enough wits together to know that she had no idea what this person was talking. It was too dark to even see the person in front of her.

"I know what I saw. And I saw you flying in the distance this afternoon," Ruko stated. "How is it possible that you have wings? How the hell is it possible you can fly?!"

Luka thought for a moment. This person must be talking about Lily but they must've seen her pink hair instead of Lilly's blonde hair.

"It…It's a…secret." Luka swore to keep it a secret. She was determined to keep it no matter what she had to go through. It was wishful thinking but she hoped her young age would prevent these people to keep hurting her.

"You guys can continue." The two torturers placed the chains back onto Luka and resumed their little game.

Ruko groaned. Making a kid talk was a lot harder than she thought. Plus how was she going to explain to everyone else on the wounds on Luka?

"Your parents didn't want a tainted like you!"

They pulled Luka's head up by her hair and spit in her face. Then they threw her back to the ground. They kept finding new ways to torture her. Trying to get her to do something. She didn't know how. She didn't know what. But they never bother to explain to her what it was.

"You will suffer until you die!"

That's the thing. When will Luka die? She has seen Death so many times but he has never taken her. Why must he let her suffer? Why does he reject her? Why does everyone reject her? Why…

"Wait!" Ruko held up her hand. They stopped and stared at the queen. "Did you just say tainted?"

The first one nodded her head, not sure where Ruko was going with that.

Ruko put her hand to her chin. Tainted? Where had she heard that before? Then it hit her. Lily! Oh why hadn't she thought of that before?! It made so much sense!

Ruko walked over to Luka with newfound glee. She kneeled down so she was face-to-face with the dying girl. "Will you tell me now?"

Luka shook her head. The queen expected that. "If you don't, something very unfortunate may happen to Lily, your real-"

"NOOO!" Luka shrieked. She started to glow red. The chains shackled on her wrists melted off and slid onto the ground. She stood up and shot her head straight at Ruko. "Don't touch Aunt Lily! Don't hurt her!"

In an instant, she was on top of one of her torturers. Luka clenched her fists and fire covered them. She delivered two punches: one across the face and the other right in the stomach. The torturer never saw it coming as she slumped to the ground.

"CUL!" yelled the other torturer. Luka glared at her with fists still in flames. The tips of her hair turned into flames as well as her bare feet. The torturer took a defensive step backward. But it wasn't back enough.

Luka jumped at her with inhuman speed, kicking her right to the chest. The victim flew across the room and hit the wall with a sickening thud.

Ruko didn't like where this was going. She commanded the shadows to swallow up her two fallen subjects, hoping they would be safer in the other world. Ruko stood up, thinking of a way to detain the berserk girl or even to escape.

She didn't get far in thinking because Luka appeared in front of her and grabbed her collar, bringing Ruko down to her level. Luka's face was emotionless but only her eyes revealed that the girl was once human. In her eyes, Ruko saw pain, anger, fear, and power. She knew Luka was no longer in control of her own body. Something else had taken over. Something very dangerous.

"Don't touch Lily," it was Luka's voice but at the same time, it wasn't. It sounded like death and whoever heard was the next one to die. "She's the only one who loves me. She's the only-AHHH!"

Luka fell to her knees with her head in her hands. Luka was scared. She was scared of this power. She wanted to lock it away forever. It made her do bad things, evil things.

She looked up at Ruko's shocked expression. "Run mom," Luka said almost pleading. "Run." Ruko left the room without a second thought.

Luka didn't question why her mom was down there with her. She didn't care at the moment. All she cared about was that everyone was safe. Because what was about to happen next could potentially kill everyone in the castle.

8 P.M.

It was hot. Everything was burning. Everything was on fire. But Luka didn't feel a thing. No pain. Just relief.

Charred bodies stretched across the red floor. Not a soul in sight. She was alone.

The place was starting to crumble. Luka ran, trying to escape the burning hell. The more She ran the faster it fell apart and the hotter the flames burned.

She felt like she was going in circles. She wasn't getting anywhere. If anything, She was getting deeper into the fire.

Then Luka came upon a dark room, devoid of the flames. She went further in until she saw a mirror. And the creature in it terrified me.

It wasn't the disheveled hair, covered with dirt and blood. It wasn't the cuts and scars all over the frail body. It wasn't even the glowing red eyes. It was the flaming wings floating behind me. She turned and realized that they were her own.

Slowly, a dark hand appeared and covered her mouth. Luka closed my eyes and screamed.


Now you know all the names of their parents. :D I don't really agree with Yuuma and Ruko being together but I had already said that the queen had black hair and everything and Ruko was the only Vocaloid that I would use for a character like the queen. Besides Ruko always seemed like an evil character to me and the queen is evil. If you didn't know that by now, please go re-read the previous chapter and this one again.

Oh did you guys notice that at 7 and 8 pm, I went back and reused the nightmares Luka was having. I just changed it so it was in third person. That was smart, huh? ;D

One more thing. Everything that happened in each hour has its own significance in the story. It's up to you guys to figure them...or not XD

Anyways, forgive me for any mistakes.