Beta'd by CeleneTheAngel


10 years later: the Present

The older of the twins, Sakuya, tread around the spacious kitchen. She was making a new brew of tea and decided to use the big kettle over the fireplace in hopes to make it a bit stronger than usual.

Sakuya had just hung the kettle on the hook when her twin sister, Kaguya came in wearing her white and gold dress with ruby red slippers which contrasted her sister's black and silver dress with similarly colored red slippers.

"Sakuya, do you know where Yuya is?" Kaguya asked. "He promised to help me with the laundry this morning, but never showed up."

"I'm sorry Kaguya, I haven't seen him since breakfast."

She groaned in a tone that spoke of long-suffering dismay. "Don't tell me he's painting in his room again..." She trailed off with her hand on her face after having facepalmed. Her tone was filled with resignation at having to clean up the room again after he undoubtedly got paint all over the place like the last few times.

It would be even worse if he decided to start painting the walls again.

Her twin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He might not be, but let's check there for him just in case." Sakuya suggested.


Sure enough, in one of the corner towers, there was a boy with crimson red and emerald green hair who was painting a beautiful painting of a beach with rolling waves and a clear sapphire blue sky. His crimson red eyes were focused solely on the painting as the brush gently streaked over the canvas as he painstakingly and meticulously created the wispy clouds with gentle strokes.

Most of his outfit, which consisted of an orange t-shirt and green pants were devoid of any splattered paint, unlike his face and hands which had multiple stains and streaks on them. The only accessories that he had on was a pendant made of blue crystal, as well a pair of goggles strapped to his head on which both the lenses were orange and the right lens had a big blue star printed on it.

"Yuya." The reprimanding voice of Sakuya took the boy's attention, and he twisted around he saw the twins by the doorway. "I heard from Kaguya you didn't help her with the laundry after breakfast."

"Oh, sorry." Yuya apologized sincerely. "I just wanted to finish this painting." The twins walked over to his side and were amazed as they saw the painting.

"That's so beautiful!" Sakuya said in awe and amazement at the painting.

"It looks so real." Kaguya pointed out. "You can practically smell the sea breeze, and feel the heat of the sun." She gushed. "I wish we could see a place like that for real."

"One day, I'm going to leave this place." Yuya said determinedly while putting his paintbrush in a jar of water to wash off the paint. "I want to see what's out there, no matter what mother says. I'm not like you two. I can leave at any time, but thanks to mother telling me all those things about the outside world since I was a kid, I haven't tried because I was afraid. Even though I go on the internet through my duel disk and the dueling festival, the Divided Lands is too far from here so I can't participate in it either. I don't wanna be stuck behind this magic barrier my whole life."

"Well, go and get yourself cleaned up before mother comes home." Sakuya suggested. "We don't want you to get into trouble with her."

"We'll put away your paint supplies." Kaguya finished her sister's sentence.

"Thanks you two!" Yuya exclaimed happily before he went into the bathroom to clean himself, but unknowingly missed a spot on his cheek.


Through the dark forest was Gothel riding a horse quickly to shake off anyone that followed her, she slowly forced the horse to stop and her hand glowed as she used her magic in front of her that opened up a rift from the imaginary wall of thick trees. The rift revealed the big mansion on the other side of a stone bridge and Gothel smacked the back of the horse as it quickly ran through it before it closed.

Inside, Kaguya was watching Gothel through a glass orb in her hands as Sakuya and Yuya were finishing the rest in the hallway they were cleaning.

"Sister, Yuya! Mother is arriving in the courtyard as we speak." Kaguya warned the two.

"Well, we're done with our chores in time then let's hurry and greet her." Sakuya said and Yuya nodded.

"Yeah, she'll be going to take a nap before dinner too." Yuya replied before they hurried to the main entrance. Gothel arrived in the courtyard, getting down from her horse and taking down her hood before walking inside, where the three were standing.

"Welcome home, Mother." The three said simultaneously and Gothel just smiled.

"Thank you, my children." Gothel replied, hugging each of them. "I assume you've done your chores."

"Yes, everything is done in time and the tea is brewing just like you asked." Sakuya told her as Gothel hugged Yuya noticing the spot of paint on his cheek.

"Yuya, have you been painting again?" Gothel asked serious and Yuya became nervous.

"W-Well, I-I…" Yuya stammered until Gothel sighed in disappointment.

"Yuya. You need to focus on your chores more than personal things." The black haired woman told the boy, who looked guilty. "I'll overlook it this time since I'm really tired from traveling. I think I'm going to turn in early. Sakuya, can you bring the tea up into my room instead?"

"Of course, mother." Sakuya answered.

Yuya stood there, biting his lower lip so as to not start another argument with Gothel. Instead, his hands curled into fists at his side.

The twins noticed this and looked at each other worriedly. They knew that Yuya recently noticed that Gothel has been loading him down with more chores, and so he didn't have as much time to wonder about and paint what he's read about the outside world. Or practice with his magic

After all, Yuya's dream was to one day leave their home, but he wasn't yet experienced enough with magic that he could open a rift in the barrier so he could escape from the manor. However, f he kept practicing, maybe one day he could. That's what he confided to them.

The trio then gathered in the kitchen as they prepared the tea for Gothel, they placed a small teapot, a tea cup, a lemon and a plate of homemade cookies on a metal tray. Yuya was reading a book about easy magic spells so he could practice without getting noticed, though it was harder than you might think.

"Are you okay, Yuya?" Sakuya asked worriedly after using her magic to push the kettle over the fire again. The crimson eyed boy ignored her and concentrated on his book. Kaguya becomes irritated and smacks him on the back of his head, Yuya exclaimed in pain.

"Did you have to do that?!" Yuya growled, annoyed.

"Sis asked you a question." Kaguya replied and the younger boy looked sadly down again as Sakuya joined them at the table.

"Sorry, Sakuya." Yuya apologized. "I'm fine, just a little angry over what Mother said."

"It isn't just about that, is it?" Sakuya guessed. The eldest knew Yuya the most, as she was a big sister to him and somewhat his magic teacher as well when she had the time.

"Why does she have to scold me every time?" Yuya pointed out, getting more irritated. "I was born with magic and yet she doesn't teach me, unlike you two, and then mother scolds me for painting in my room. I know painting on the walls and getting it all over the furniture last week was a bad idea but come on!"

Suddenly, a small burst of magic appeared underneath the tray and pushed it into into the air. The trio are surprised by this but they quickly try to catch all the pieces of the tea set. Kaguya caught the plate of cookies, Yuya caught the lemon, and Sakuya caught the tray with the tea pot and they all breathed out in relief.

"Yuya, try warning us next time before you send things flying again." Kaguya grumbled as she placed the plate back on the table.

"Um, where's the teacup?" Sakuya wondered and the three looked around until Yuya noticed it had somehow landed at the edge of one of the shelves next to the fireplace before falling, hitting a spoon before Yuya scrambled over and caught the teacup.

"Caught it!" Yuya said in triumph. "Sorry about that..."

"We really need to figure out how to control that side of your magic." Sakuya pointed out a bit confused. "Your dark magic is mostly connected to your emotions, so you need to get those under control." Unknowingly, the flying spoon from earlier landed on one of the gargoyle statues' horn on the sides of the fireplace. The head of the gargoyle slowly lowered.

"To be fair, it isn't often that I'm angry." Yuya defended himself as he placed the cup and lemon back on the tray.

Just then, Kaguya yelped at a sound of a mechanism and vibration under the stone floor. A staircase suddenly appeared in the floor. Sakuya and Yuya were surprised over the new discovery that they haven't seen in the many years they've lived in the manor. The youngest of the three walked over to the new found staircase and Yuya's pendant suddenly glows, he looked at it before slowly going down the steps.

"Yuya, are you sure you want to go down there?!" Kaguya asked terrified.

"I'm just wondering what's down here." Yuya explained with a smile. "And you can't say no to a little adventure." The twins looked at each other nervously while the younger was still a bit scared. "Come on, it isn't like Mother will find out about this and we should have a few minutes before she wonders where her tea is."

The two nodded in agreement and soon followed Yuya down the stairs. The glow from his pendant illuminated the dark hallway and arrived into a dark room, Kaguya used her magic to light the candles in the room to notice that there were a few bookshelves with books, objects and statues. A big chest up against a wall, a small table with two chairs on top of a rug and on the table was a lot more books. All of it had one thing in common, they were covered in a thick layer of dust, and the trio of magic children was in awe over the discovery as they looked around the room.

"Look at all this." Kaguya pointed out as Sakuya took an interesting book from one of the shelves and wiped away the dust from it, causing her identical copy to cough. "Sister, you'll get dust all over your dress."

"Sorry, Kaguya. Guess you'll be delivering Mother's tea." Sakuya told her and she stiffened at the mention as Yuya opened the chest with so many letters and invitations.

"I can't imagine Mother going to any of these balls." Yuya pointed out and they all chuckled over the joke. "What did you find?"

"A book about magic. There's some spells that are interesting that I might teach you them myself after I've learned them." Sakuya told him and Yuya became really happy.

"Really?! Thanks, Sakuya!" Yuya hugged her, also getting dust all over himself.

"I have to go and deliver Mother's tea before she gets suspicious." Kaguya pointed out a bit irritated. "If you find anything, then wait until I come back." The younger twin left right after she said that. The other two were quiet until they started to laugh at Kaguya's reactions earlier.

"I never thought she'd be this terrified of a basement." Yuya chuckled as he continued to look around the room.

"Well, she is terrified of ghosts so…" Sakuya explained as she looked up from the book in her hands to think of what to say.

Yuya tried his best to look carefully around the room to find something interesting until he almost tripped over a bump on the floor when walking towards the back of the room. Looking downwards, he seaw the outline of something hidden underneath the carpet. Yuya got down on the floor and moved the carpet away to show a trapdoor underneath it, his pendant glowed once again and Yuya tried to open it but it was locked.

"Damn it!" Yuya exclaimed hushed as Sakuya arrived.

"What did you find?" Sakuya asked, still holding the book. She looked dwon to where Yuya was pointing "Why is a trap door here?"

"I don't know but if my pendant is glowing, it leads to somewhere." Yuya explained seriously.

"Then, let me do something about the lock." Sakuya said.

The girl reached her hand over the lock and a small magic circle appeared with a crescent moon in the middle, her hand moved up to show a translucent mechanism and started to move the cogs in order to figure out how to unlock it. Sakuya was puzzling it out until before an unlocking sound was heard and the magic circle disappeared and Yuya opened the hatch.

"That's incredible, Sakuya!" Yuya exclaimed in amazement.

"It was a spell in the book." She explained with an embarrassed smile. "You have to be cunning to unlock it." Kaguya arrived in the nick of time to see the trap door in the floor.

"What did you find?" Kaguya asked curiously as she came up to the two.

"Yuya stumbled across this-" Sakuya didn't get the chance to finish when the crimson eyed boy jumped down the trap door and landed easily on the ground. "Yuya!"

"You do know that Mother is going to wake up soon!" Kaguya yelled in panic down to him.

"This is a tunnel, you two!" Yuya said with a determined voice. "It looks like it goes underneath the magic barrier and might lead to somewhere outside. This might be my only chance to see what's out there."

"Be careful!" The twins shouted down simultaneously.

"And make sure you tell us how it was out there when you come back, okay?" Kaguya yelled down and Yuya nodded before taking a deep breath and beginning to walk through the tunnel.

With his pendant lighting the way, he had an easy time through. The crimson eyed boy noticed quickly that the tunnel hasn't been used for a long time and the structure was starting to crumble down.

Soon enough, the pendant stopping glowing and another light shone from the end of the tunnel marking the end of it and the slowly rising sun. When he came out of the darkness, Yuya was on top of a big green hill at the edge of the forest. The boy was surprised by the scenery before running down to the edge and smiling at the view of a city with a big castle in front of him a few miles away.

"So this is the outside world!" Yuya exclaimed in amazement, standing on the edge of the hill, gazing upon the nearby town in wonder.

A quick glance backwards showed a large forest canopy that he couldn't see through, and so assumed that no one (Especially Gothel) could see him.

Looking back once more, and silently promising his sisters that he would be back soon with stories to tell, he bounded down the hill, ready to explore a whole new world.