One For The Ages
At four years old, Emma would consider herself a bit of a brat, not that she had known what it meant, just that it was what her parents liked to call her when she didn't get her way. Karl said she wasn't picky or anything, just didn't really enjoy a lot when it came to what she wanted to do with her time. Most of it had been spent with either him, Maria, or Kyo. The three had always been her favorite family members to hang out with.
She had only really thrown a tantrum if there was a mention of the two people she could never stand, or if she was going to visit her paternal grandmother. Abigail and Kion were the only people the girl would genuinely not hang out with, until the buy had introduced her to Isaac (who she had shown an almost immediate distaste for, as he would recount).
Emma remembered when her cousin had befriended the boy though, and knew for a fact that she had come to develope that dislike after almost two months of her cousin blowing off plans and never shutting up about his friend. She'd sworn to never put him through something like that, no matter how mad she was at him, and had unintentionally hurt him more when she ran away.
That wasn't until she was six though, so she really had to wonder what had made everyone think she was that big of a problem at four-years-old. It wasn't until she confronted Maria and Kyo that she managed to figure out why they kept referring to that particular stage in her life as the highest setting in her, as they sometimes called it, 'Brat-O-Meter'.
That's how the three ended up in the middle of the floor, recounting the memories they had of each other when they were so much younger. Maria and Emberlyn had made the trip to the Akane Mansion, the younger of the two calling ahead so that the Akane heir wouldn't be too surprised when they dropped by.
Kyo, Maria, and Emma gathered in the bedroom of the Akane boy, chit-chatting for a while before broaching the question she had.
"No!" Maria accidentally shrieked through her fit of laughter, as Kyo had asked a question of if she had met anyone particularly interesting at her private school.
"Yes." Emma teased, poking her cousin in the side as she laughed along with her childhood friend.
"No, no." Maria reaffirmed, forcing herself to calm down just a bit. "Anyways, my school life has nothing to do with why we're all here, does it Emma?"
"Oh! I almost forgot about that. Sorry, no, it doesn't." Emma confirmed sheepishly. "Actually, I had a question for the both of you. Do you guys remember what we were like when we were younger? When I was four specifically."
Kyo and Maria were silent for a moment, and Emma could tell they were both trying to hold back a fit of laughter. A shared glance between the two rendered the attempt useless, and the two nearly fell over in a contagious fit that left Emma giggling at the two of them.
"Wait, wait. Was I really that bad?" Emma asked, her eyes sparkling in amusement.
"Well I wouldn't say you were bad, Princess." Kyo added, using the nickname he had given her years prior. "Just a little set in your distates. Remember the first time Abigail came to Zhao mansion?"
"No." Emma said simply. "Why?"
"Hang on, Em." Kyo said, pulling a box out from under his bed. There were several small thumb-drives placed in the box, each placed neatly inside plastic cases, each with twenty slots available and used up. The cases each had a month and year written in the neat and curving hand-writting of Kyo's mother. "Mom loved recording all the time we spent together. She thought you were a riot."
"She did?" Emma asked. That was one thing that Emma hadn't really known about her friends family, that his mother had cared so dearly for her as well.
"Yeah." Kyo answered, eyes softening as he addressed her again. Maria's smile fell a bit, and she shifted uncomfortably in her spot. This felt like more of a private moment between the twelve-year-olds. "She really did think of you like a daughter. Dad said it was her idea to have us get married when we grew up."
Emma smiled sadly, placing a hand on Kyo's shoulder in a silent exchange of understanding and strength. "I'm sorry."
Kyo's mother, Alia Akane, had died a few years after the two lost constant contact with each other. Emberlyn and her parents had made a special trip down to be with the family during the funeral. Emma had been the boy's shoulder to cry on when it had happened, and she made sure to always clear her schedule when he needed someone to talk to. They had been eight at the time.
"Anyways, Mom put all the videos on thumb drives, and they were all given to me when she passed." Kyo finished, shrugging as he put a hand on top of hers. "Let's see… This one."
Kyo pulled out the case from March of their fourth year. They all had the month on them, so she supposed that they each held the videos of the whole month instead of seperate days.
They all watched as a little Emberlyn popped up on the screen next to a small Kyo. Abigail stood in front of them, her frilly little dress a positive poof ball more than anything.
"Pleasure to meet you." Little Emma said, though it was clear that she was trying valiantly not to laugh. She was curtsying to the girl, who held a scowl on her face.
"I know that." Abigail stated plainly, causing the little Emberlyn on the screen to frown and straighten.
"Okay, no need to be a little bitch about it." Little Emma said, crossing her arms and glaring at the girl. Kyo's lips immediately disappeared in the effort to suppress his laughing. If she was going to act like that, Emma didn't feel the need to show her much courtesy.
"Emberlyn!" Her mother shrieked, and all three children winced. "Apologise to Abigail, right this instance."
Emma sighed, but looked the other girl up and down. "I'm sorry that dress is poofy enough to cut off your oxygen."
"I'm sorry your face is so ugly you look more like a dog than a person." Abigail said.
"I'm sorry you were lied to when they told you that dress looked pretty."
"I'm sorry they lied to you when they said you were gifted or talented in anything."
At that point in the video, Kyo was kneeled over and practically howling with laughter, and the camera started moving around, showing that Alia was also having a fit with this. Her parents could just barely be seen when the camera bounced up, her parent's faces looked absolutely horror-struck. Pale as a ghost if she had to explain the absolute drain of color on their faces.
The video stopped and moved onto the next one.
Kyo and Emma were at the top of the stairs in the Zhao house, and Karl was standing at the bottom.
"Bombs away!" Emma called, dropping a water balloon right as her mother passed the threshold to the kitchen. The balloon popped on the woman's head, and she did not seem happy about this at all. An obscene amount of curse words flew through her mouth as she called Emma down to clean up her mess, yelling about how childish she was acting.
"Well that explains a lot." The real Emma said, pausing the video. "Including where I learned all those colorful words."
"And how to use them in a sentence." Maria giggled. "I think we should write that speech down and read it back to her."
"Someday." Emma replied. "Believe me. Someday, we totally will. Perhaps not when she can ground me though…?"
"Fair point, Princess." Kyo said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I suppose we'll just have to get married before then."
"And then you'll save me from the mean old lady?" She asked innocently.
"My lady, I shall protect you from any who would wish you harm or boredom. On my honor." He said, taking her hand and bending like a knight, before kissing her hand gently. "For how could I do any less for my Queen."
Emma blushed scarlet, pulling her hand out of his and placing it sideways on one shoulder, then the other, and then his head. "And so it shall be. Forever."
"And so it shall be." Kyo said softer. Laughing afterwards. Emma and Maria joining in soon after.