The gray cotton sweatpants and hoodie made her comfortable and after the tense meal she'd gone through, the softness enveloped her and tempted her to curl up on her bed for some much needed sleep. Unfortunately, the peace the room had after Akasuki-san's talk shattered when a knock tapped three times on the bedroom door.

Akasuki-san walked over and opened the door, revealing a man (at least what Luna believed was a man), wearing a full suit of armor. He was carrying a spear made of silver and had no unique features that distinguished him from the other guards that walked the castle's halls. Luna could only guess whether she had met the man before or not by the sound of his voice.

"I have come on the behalf of our lord to collect Lady Luna," said the figure in a stern tone. His gravelly voice gave no emotions away, Luna hated speaking to the guards precisely for this reason. She could never read them by their voices and since their faces were covered by their helmets and face guards, she couldn't see their expressions either. It was like talking to a robot.

"She is ready," Akasuki-san nodded to the guard and turned to give a short bow to Luna, her queue to leave with the guard.

Luna stepped out of her room and into the hall following the armored man who had begun to walk away the moment she stepped past her bedroom door frame.

She had to quicken her steps to keep up with the larger ones the guard was taking, unlike the majority of servants in the castle, a select few didn't seem to care who she was. These few were all members of her grandfather's inner circle.

It seemed like the guard was one of the people closely involved with her grandfather as the guard didn't bother checking behind him to see if she was keeping up.

After what felt like eons, they arrived at a door that was quickly opened by the guard. The door opened up to a room that made it seem as if they were going to go outside to the gardens.

Instead, the room they had entered was the room of flowers, as it was referred to by the guards that watched the entrance. Luna had only been inside once before but she could barely recall the memory as she had been much younger and had been brought by her mother because she didn't feel safe leaving Luna unattended in her room. Over the years her mother had grown more confident in Luna's ability to take care of herself and not mindlessly walk into danger. Even though the castle was her home, Luna knew she was restricted from certain areas that either her grandfather kept to himself or areas that the government used.

The guard stood off to the side and gestured that she continue down the stone path that led further into the room. The stone path had moss, grass, and weeds growing in the crevices between each block. The unmaintained wildness of the path matched the vibes of the foliage that grew in the room. Luna couldn't even begin to identify the flowers and other plants that grew in the room, They were beyond anything she'd ever seen. Whenever she was allowed to go out in the city, the only wildlife she saw were the plants that hung outside of boutiques. At home, flowers were always fresh and trimmed perfectly. They were always tidy and wrapped securely inside a vase with a ribbon to finish the look.

As Luna continued her way down the path, she allowed her fingers on both hands to ghost along the leaves and flowers that grew in tall shrubs that lined the path on either side. She felt like she was in the fairytale story her mother read her once, about a princess that lived on an island called Verde but dreamed of being a warrior despite her small size.

Luna already knew she was short and while that wasn't something she constantly thought about, she felt dwarfed by the massive greenery that surrounded her.

She imagined herself running through the wild with plants like this surrounding her. She imagined she was running, healthy, and not out of breath as she usually was, after fighting some large creature with her friends and saving a village. She liked to imagine herself as the hero in the stories her mother read to her. To have a life full of adventure, to have a life where she could do anything she wanted. She knew they were just stories and as Luna looked up, the glowing white ceiling served as a stark reminder of reality. She was in a cage made of gold, silver, and precious jewels. But at the end of the day, a cage is still a cage. She truly wanted to know what the world was like, she knew her mother, and likely her grandfather, had left the safety of their country. The last time she had mentioned the possibility of going on an excursion to another country like other nobles had, her mother and Akasuki-san looked distressed and told her that the journey was completely unnecessary. Everything she could ever need or want was right here, in this country.

Luna sighed out loud as she remembered those words and as the shrubbery grew shorter and shorter the more she walked. She came to the end of the path that led to an open area that exposed the center of the room. There she could see a larger variety of plants; trees, flowers, weeds, grass, vines, bushes, all of different species. Something tickled her head and Luna reached one hand up to flick away whatever had touched her. A brief fluttering feeling, like tissue paper rapidly tapping her fingers startled her before she saw a butterfly flying away. Its baby pink wings flapped quickly as it disappeared behind some hanging vines nearby.

The sound of crunching grass made her turn as she spotted her grandfather, dressed in a black cloak as he always was, making his way over to her.

"Rather than look around like a lost animal, shouldn't you sit down?" he quipped as soon as he was close enough for him to hear.

Luna quickly made her way over to a couple of chairs that she hadn't noticed nearby. She remembered her mothers words, "He has both a gentle and horrible temperament. It would be wise to just stay out of his way and avoid being a nuisance."

Luna took the advice to heart, her grandfather was someone so powerful, he didn't find it fitting to get very close to her parents or her siblings. The few times he ever did show himself was at dinners and formal events, the latter of which didn't happen very often and were usually so boring and dry, Luna would feel herself dozing off throughout the event.

Now seated in one of the two pure white wooden chairs that were in the middle of the clearing, "I could have sworn these weren't here when I first looked around", she nestled her butt in the seat more comfortably as she glanced over at her grandfather taking slower and more patient steps. The look on his youthful face was blank but his eyes were different. They were focussed on her in an eerie way that made Luna break eye contact with him and glance at some flowers nearby.

The look in his eyes didn't have the same appearance her mother's, step father's, or even Akasuki-san's did. His eyes looked like they were seeking prey. Luna had seen drawings of wild animals eyeing down smaller creatures before they pounced and her grandfather's eyes greatly reminded her of them.

She swallowed as his footsteps paused behind her chair. He didn't bother taking a seat in the other white chair next to her.

"Do you know why I asked you to come here?" he asked her tonelessly.

Luna didn't want to give him the wrong answer but she was scared that if she took too long to say anything, he would assume she ignored him and get angry.

"Because I'm ready for your lessons", she said, attempting to sound more confident than she felt.

"Yes and no. You are ready in the fact that if we wait any longer, any results your training has will be pointless if Dr. Exquemelin is unable to help you".

Luna knew he was a good foot or so away from the back of her chair but his voice sounded like he

may as well be leaning over her and speaking right into her ears. Nothing about this man was comforting and thinking about what Akasuki-san had said before Luna left her room was about all she could do to keep herself calm.

"He's just trying to scare me. He's just trying to scare me. He's just trying to scare me. He's just trying to scare me. He's just trying to scare me. He's just trying to scare me. He's just trying -"

"Well, anyway", he placed his gloved hands on her shoulders, long bony fingers curling around them. They were cold and may as well have belonged to a skeleton. His pointed nails curled into her skin near her collarbone, promising pain if she moved away. "Let's get started. Close your eyes."

Luna squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands into fists on her lap.

Nothing happened for several moments, Luna could only hear herself breathing. As there was no wind in the room of flowers, she couldn't even hear the leaves of the trees rustling. A sharp stinging pain appeared in her left arm and Luna quickly raised her right hand to cover the area, still not willing to open her eyes as her grandfather hadn't given her the okay yet. Not long after she raised her hand to cover the area affected, the same hand felt two quick pricks of pain on the back of it. Luna couldn't stop the quick hiss that escaped her mouth.

"Pain is the fastest way humans can learn. Naturally, human instinct influences the way you react to it. If you have the survival instinct anything worthy of being alive has, you will avoid it. Unless you are a masochist that actively seeks it, you will actively learn how to effectively avoid it." Her grandfather's cold voice spoke out, this time sounding like it came from in front of her. Luna could barely understand what he was talking about, even less, understand what had just happened.

"Put your hand down, shut up, and learn." His cold voice spoke out once more as she yanked her hand down to her lap and another prick of pain hit the top of her left shoulder.

The flashes of pain went on for what felt like forever. Normally Luna wouldn't complain over such small sensations but the pain from all the pricks she was feeling was accumulating. She couldn't feel her fingers anymore as she had been clenching her fists for an unknown amount of time.

Breaking the silence, her grandfather's voice snapped with a tinge of annoyance showing through his words, "Open your eyes and look at yourself you useless thing,"

Hesitantly Luna opened her eyes, her grandfather was sitting in front of her with his legs crossed. Again, his face gave nothing away but his eyes and voice were good indicators at showing how displeased he felt with her. Knowing that she had upset him made Luna's stomach twist and caused her to stiffen. She quickly looked down at her arms and legs to prevent her grandfather from having to repeat himself. The sight that was waiting for her nearly made her scream out, it was only the possibility that such a reaction might push her grandfather's patience past its limit, that stopped her.

The clothes that she came into the room wearing were originally a light gray color. Now they had several spots where red was bleeding through. Luna knew what blood looked like as Dr. LeClerc had always wanted her to know how her body worked and why he needed samples from her. The soreness that emanated from her arms, hands, and legs was similar to the needle pricks Dr. LaClerk would give her when he had to do a blood draw. Except this time, she wasn't holding her mothers hand or a stuffed animal while she was being poked. Except this time, the pain and soreness wasn't just coming from one spot. She could hear someone nearby gasping for breath but couldn't focus on where it was coming from as the horror she felt was building and quiet panic was causing her throat to close the longer she stared at her now blood stained clothes.

"Th-theres so much of it." The gasping she was hearing sounded more like wheezes now, but it was just background noise. "That is blood but why is it on me? Am I hurt? But all I'm doing is sitting here?There's no way that's mine, my body hurts but it has to be because I've been sitting here for hours, there no w-"

Her head snapped to the side and pain exploded on her left cheek, the sound of a slap ringing throughout the room. Tears filled her eyes and Luna swallowed several times to prevent sobs from escaping her mouth. The foliage she had her eyes trained on that brought her comfort earlier now mocked her. It continued to be beautiful and grow, the flowers continued to radiate vibrant colors and were still homes for the cute butterflies that landed on them. It looked like it belonged in another world, totally safe from what she was experiencing now. Instead of feeling like she was in a fairytale where she was the main character, she felt like she was looking through a glass at something pure and untouched, far out of her reach.

"Weak. The only advantage you have is that you seem to have some degree of control over your emotions. I expected you to be crying on the floor," the chuckle that left her grandfather gave her chills. He continued, "At the very least, perhaps having a visual example of what happens when you don't dodge will build your will."

Luna still didn't understand what he was talking about. She didn't understand what he wanted her to do. She kept her eyes focussed on the rest of the garden that looked far more peaceful than it should have.

A stinging feeling around the cuticles of her thumbs had her glancing down once again at her lap, where her hands were resting. She had been picking at the flesh around her nails subconsciously from the stress. The skin was pink in several places and droplets of blood were beginning to form in areas where the skin had torn. She tucked her thumbs into her fists and squeezed them, willing the stinging to go away. To at least rid her of that pain.

She was able to calm herself as much as she felt was possible and carefully glanced at the chair in front of her, seeing her grandfather once again sitting in it.

He sighed, "As unsurprising as this experience was, there was at least something for me to take from this." He stood up out of his chair and adjusted his cloak as Luna cautiously looked on, expecting another strike.

"You will be receiving more lessons, albeit not from myself every time. There is much to do and not much time left for you. I may as well gather whatever findings I can while you're still breathing."

He began to walk off, the grass under his shoes not making any sounds, as if he wasn't putting pressure on the ground at all.

She looked away, focusing her eyes on the garden again. The fading sound of his cloak rustling the grass was the only indication that he was getting further away. Once she could no longer hear anything, she chanced a look and saw that she was alone in the room. Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, she started counting back from 100 to ease her shaky breath.

She had so many questions. "Did I anger my grandfather recently? Did mother anger my grandfather?" She immediately wanted to smack herself at the thought. Her mother always looked out for her, she always tried to warn Luna about angering her grandfather, there's no way she would risk having him take out his anger on Luna.

Luna gingerly stood up after reaching 0. She felt much better after spending some time in the safety of her own mind. As she put weight onto her legs, she felt the sting in her muscles due to her injuries.

She slowly made her way to the door she entered and saw that no one was waiting for her. "Strange, where is the guard?", she thought to herself before deciding she wasn't going to wait for someone to come get her, this room that was once a sanctuary for earth's pure creations, was tainted.

She placed her hand on the door's knob and turned, leaving small streaks of blood on the gold handle. In any other situation she would have been embarrassed but at that moment, she couldn't care less. All she wanted was to go back to the safety of her room.

Right after pushing the door open, she almost screamed at the sight of a metal suit that blocked her vision as soon as she opened the door. The guard that was standing on the other side of the door didn't flinch at the sight of her.

"Why is he out here? He didn't try to come inside?" The list of questions Luna had in the back of her mind to ask her mother and Akasuki-san later kept growing. Usually the guards were protective to the point where it was a nuisance. Luna thought they were stifling, whenever she was anywhere outside of her own room, they were there. They weren't always in armsreach, but Luna knew they were always there, watching hers as well as everyone else's movements. Her mother had explained to her that the guards were supposed to protect them with their lives, which explained the borderline paranoid behavior. All the rooms in the castle were soundproof to prevent eavesdropping maids from gossiping which is why when rooms like the Butterfly room were used, there was always at least one guard standing inside with the occupants.

"Milady," was all the guard said before he made an abrupt turn and began to walk off in the direction Luna remembered walking from when she was first brought to the Butterfly Room.

After hearing the quiet click of the door behind her shutting, she followed the strange guard.

The walk back to her room was quiet and as uneventful as the walk from it, however it gave her time to think about how much had happened.

"...How long was I in that room? I left my room after dinner so it couldn't have been much later than 6pm." As they walked down a hallway, Luna looked out the windows in the hallway that overlooked the inner courtyard of the castle. Although the windows were situated quite high, she could just barely see the streaks of light made by the lamp posts through the windows, the sky looked pitch black, it was still early summer so she must have been away for some time.

After a few more minutes of silence, only broken by the clinking of the guards armor, they arrived in front of Lunas bedroom doors. The guard abruptly stopped, making Luna crash into his back, crushing her nose against the metal plate covering him. The guard did not budge or acknowledge her as she gingerly clutched her throbbing nose. He simply clicked his heels and made a sharp turn to face away from the door, pressing his back against the wall to the left of her bedroom doors. He placed the butt of his lance on the floor and stood as still as an empty suit of armor, signaling that his task of escorting her was done.

"Tank you" Luna murmured while covering her nose with one hand and using the other to open one of the doors to enter her room. After closing it behind her, she let out a sigh and leaned against the closed doors, dropping her hand away from her face. The room was dark except for the light that streamed in through the window on the other side. Knowing there was a guard on the other side of the door, she reluctantly pushed herself away and made her way to the bathroom. Her hand paused on the button that would turn on the light.

"I don't want to see", the memories of what she saw in the Butterfly room were still too fresh and now she had to clean herself up. But without the bathroom light turned on, all she could see was a faded silhouette of her reflection in the mirror. The hint of light provided through the window gave her just enough sight to make out the shapes of objects on the counter and the bath. Letting her hand drop from the wall again, deciding against turning on the light, Luna began to undress. It was dark outside so it was probably late enough that Akasuki-san wouldn't come in to check on her.

Her top came off fairly easily, with the occasional sting here and there from lifting her arms above her head. Her pants however were an issue. "Come on Luna, be strong", she tried to encourage herself. Inch by inch she peeled off her joggers. The blood had dried and crusted, her skin glued to the fabric of her pants. The more she peeled the cotton off her skin, the more fresh scabs became irritated or just ripped off. She held her breath as she slowly finished removing the now ruined article of clothing,

She balled up her clothes and placed them on the counter, unsure of what to do with them. She couldn't help but feel like she needed to hide them from her mother and Akasuki-san. "Whatever, I'll deal with them later," She thought to herself and she felt her way around the bathroom to the large tub that sat several feet away under a large window. There was a long and wide windowsill on the other side with various flowers to prevent any wandering eyes that may be outside. The moon light that came through the window gave the tub an almost eerie glow.

Luna grabbed the edge of the tub to steady herself while she reached out with one hand to grab one of the knobs and turned it on, releasing a gush of streaming water into the tub. She tapped a silver button near the knob to stop the tub from draining and carefully pulled one leg up over the edge and into the slowly rising water. She gripped the edge with both hands as her muscles protested the action, sliding her other leg over as well. She let out an audible sigh of relief as she allowed her legs to stretch out in the tub, water sloshing the sides. Her back slightly slid down but her head remained above the water.

She lazily lifted one hand and turned the knob the other way to stop the flow of water. Her eyes trailed the water as she pulled her hand back under the water, small ripples forming from the disturbance. She finally allowed herself to just lay there, staring blankly at the water.

"What happened?", she asked herself. She knew her grandfather wasn't one to be crossed but she had done nothing to anger him lately. She thought hard about what she could have done these past few days that may have triggered him.

"The meeting of nobles? No, it's not like I caused a scene and I did make connections with Elizabeth...I could have tried talking to more people but if Grandfather wanted me to meet a specific person he would have said something. Does it have to do with my doctors?" Luna felt herself trembling, remembering her grandfather's cold words at dinner. "Maybe he's just jealous that I'll be seen by his personal doctor from now on", Luna immediately snorted at the thought, there's no way her grandfather was that immature.

She used her hands to gently rub at her skin, the water sloshing slightly at the movement. There was stinging here and there but the pain felt minimal compared to what she had just been through earlier. She eyed the small bottle of soap that sat near the edge of the tub, daring herself to use it. It would hurt but it was better than answering Akasuki-sans questions in the morning. She willed herself up and pumped a couple handfuls of before vigorously rubbing her body.

Tears filled her eyes once more as she grinded her teeth, pushing past the burning sensation the soap caused her injuries. The moonlight did little to help her see whether all the blood had come off but she was too afraid to turn on the light.

After the water felt bubbly and her body smooth, she drained the tub of the water. Turning the knobs again to let fresh water in, she rinsed herself off the best she could.

Turning the knobs to cut the stream of water, she pulled herself over the edge of the tub and slowly made her way to a nearby closet that was stocked with fresh towels. She opened the door and blindly grabbed one that felt particularly thick. Just as she was about to throw it around her shoulders, she paused.

"What if I get blood on the towel? Someone is going to notice…" but she had no choice, she couldn't go to bed soaking wet. Quickly patting herself dry, she vigorously rubbed her hair and balled up the towel before shoving it as far back into the closet as she could. Before forgetting, she grabbed the clothes she left on the counter and shoved them beside the towel. She used the lowest shelf as it was the least used and she rearranged the unused towels to sit in front of her soiled things. No one should notice.

She gently closed the closet door and used the moonlight to guide herself out of the bathroom. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the soft padding of her feet as Luna made her way over to the dresser where her pajamas and other casual clothes were found. She blindly grabbed any soft nightgown and threw it over her head, forcing her arms through the armholes.

After taking a second to smooth out the dress, she made her way over to her bed. Crawling under the covers and bundling herself as tightly as she could, she took deep breaths before counting down from 100, a technique her mother taught her to do whenever she felt scared or nervous.

The exhaustion she experienced from the day completely sank in and she was asleep before she reached 90.


Authors Note:

Honestly, I'm embarrassed. I shouldn't have mentioned any update timeline. Major facepalm.