Romeo and Cinderella: Noncest Version

Chapter 8: Not Afraid of the Dark

I got home before Luka had the time to worry too much. She greeted me with a, "You're home late," but otherwise gave me no grief about it. It was strange. She'd usually be a bit more enthusiastic when chastising me about time. She must have had a long day…

I could understand. There had been a lot of long days recently.

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Then next morning had been rather uneventful. Wake up, eat, and dread the theater coach. However, as the time to study and imitate old dead men drew near, I decided to do something excessively boring to make the time go by slower.

"Luka, can I help you wash clothes?" I asked Luka after tracking her down in one of the servant's halls.

"What?"

"I figured I might as well do something productive while I wait for the theater coach to come," I explained mostly truthfully.

"…I guess so," she replied after letting the words soak in for a moment. It was sort of sad that she was so surprised by this suggestion. I really wasn't expected to do something for someone else? Had I really been that different before? Granted, this was more for me that it was for her. But still…

I realize that I just proved myself a hypocrite, didn't I?

So I honestly hadn't washed clothes since I was eight. I loved to "help" around the house as a little girl. What could I say? I dreamed to be a housewife as a small child. Anyway, the only task Luka would actually let me do was wash clothes, so I hoped I would remember how.

We went to the right outside my room and down to the end of the hallway to one of the many the servant's staircases. We had very many staircases in this house—there were at least five. This servant's staircase wandered through a narrow, dusty hallway that led to a washing area outside. The rest of the backyard was closed off to this vicinity, which is why we had to take this special hallway to get there.

When we got outside, Luka had me fill a large tub with water as she hung up a line to dry everything after washing. We then sat down and started scrubbing.

"You know, he's just playing with you, Rin," Luka said a few minutes in.

She meant Len, didn't she? "W-what do you mean by that?" I quizzed, ever so slightly offended by her sudden comment.

"You've barely even met the guy. For all you know he might just feel sorry for you for some odd reason. Of course, he's definitely not helping. I'm sure he knows it." I stared blankly at her.

No faith, I thought.

Before I could add something vocally, Luka continued. "But…" But? "Who's to say you're not using him yourself."

I opened my mouth to answer then closed it.

How could he be using me? I felt so happy when I was around him. And even more, how in the world could I be using him? I was a perfectly normal, content girl. At least, that's what I told myself.

She stared at me in disbelief. "You don't even get it."

"No, I don't," I snapped.

Luka and I went on with our washing duties in an uncomfortable silence. Of course, I couldn't stand us being on edge with each other for such an extended period of time so I tried fixing it after the first few moments.

"Hey, Luka?"

"…Yes?"

"Do you remember when we would come out here and wash clothes when I was little?"

Luka's expression softened a little. I could tell she was happy with the subject change, even though she still pretended to be angry with me. "Of course I do. You loved to try to help me out around the house."

I was thoughtful for a moment. "You never talked that much. I always remember you not having any sort of expression on your face, But I guess that was just when I was younger." Luka always had clouded eyes. She was always there in body, but never in mind.

Luka stopped for a moment. She didn't reply.

"Why did you never talk?"

"I don't know," she mumbled mostly under her breath. Luka had practically arrived on the doorstep when she came to my father's manor. Her parents had died very recently and she could find nowhere to go. At first, Father sent her away at the sight, but after spotting her again near the gazebo in a town garden, he took her in and had her work for him in exchange for food and a place to come home to. Her birthday was in May—she came here on her birthday—and I was born later in June; Luka was mostly quiet for about the first ten years of my life.

Sometime in September of my tenth year, my parents announced that they were going to have another baby. Something about Luka changed then. She seemed to be a little more determined and to work a little harder. She began talking more and opening up, like a flower bud in spring.

I saw her laugh and shake her head, appearing to be caught up in her memories. "I remember when you were almost eleven, and the day right before your birthday, Lily was born," she said. "You were so angry that she wasn't born just one day later so you could have had a birthday together. I started talking just a year or two before then, right? But when she was born, that was when I really blossomed." I saw her look up away from me and smile, a little tear flowing from her eye. "Because I knew that I didn't want her to grow up like me," she continued. "I wanted to be just as close to her as her mother was, just in case."

"Yeah…" I murmured.

After me, my parents had always wanted another daughter. It was such a blessing when Lily was finally born. Doctors had told my mother than she could not have children, and it was a miracle in itself that I was there, but they didn't give up. I remembered being so happy to have my own baby sister.

"It makes me feel guilty. I feel like I really messed up with you," Luka admitted. "When Lily was born I felt like being a mother to her would be like cheating you out. I didn't connect with you when you were a baby." She took in a shaky breath. "I see her, when I look at you, Rin. Every time I see you I see her, and I get scared. I'm scared that they'll take you from me next."

I looked down. I loved Lily as much as I loved myself. She was like another part of me. Losing her was like losing my legs. I just couldn't walk around the same way.

"… I'm sorry," I whispered. I couldn't tell who I was speaking to.

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We had finished washing all of the clothes that needed washing and hung up everything to dry. I found myself in my room sitting on my bed, just thinking—about a lot of things. But mainly, I thought about Lily. I tried to connect the points. It wasn't fair. I had given her the piece of my heart full of laughter and love and she took it from me. They were gone. She only left me with a hole, an empty cup with a crack in the bottom. I felt myself burning inside. All I could feel with the part of my heart she left was hatred and remorse. But Len… He acted like glue. It was like he could fix the hole at the bottom and I could start coming back to myself, little by little. But what would happen if Luka were right? What if he was just enjoying the ride, with no intention of staying at the destination?

That was about the time my theatre and singing coach came by for my Wednesday classes. Four solid hours of singing and acting—is there anything that you would rather be doing? I could think of a few things.

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It was five o'clock when I was finally freed; time to go to dinner. My father had called to have a family supper tonight. I prayed that he wouldn't make me sing again. He tended to do that on days that my singing coach was here, and those were the days where my voice would be worn down after working it all day.

Everyone, servants and all, either sat or stood around the table.

My father, obviously feeling important with that smug expression of his, called all to attention, though the room had already been silent.

"I am very proud to announce that we will be holding a Winter Ball at our manor in two weeks, in honor of the marriage between my Lady Rin and Sir Shion. I have not yet announced this to the Shion family, but they will be informed tomorrow afternoon." I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen. "Oh, Rin I can see the plain excitement on your face." And with that my dad had officially proven that he was an idiot. Sorry, father. This is not excitement you are seeing on my face. Rather, I am disturbed.

Very. Greatly. Disturbed.

"Ahem, yes," he continued. "Neru if you would please do the honors of informing the Shion family…"

I see that you love hearing yourself talk, Father, I thought to myself, but if you would, ever so kindly, cut the shit, I would be much less obliged to do something rash and or stupid to you while you sleep.

"Now! I shan't keep you waiting any longer for your meal." Thank God. By then I had just tuned the noise of my father's rambling into the background. He said some sort of prayer then finally let everyone eat.

I was starving. I had hardly eaten all day except for a small snack in between singing and reading a book about old dead guys that used to act. Thusly, it was a matter of moments before I wolfed down all of my food. I really didn't want to spend more time around my family. The forgetful small talk fluttering around me nearly made my head explode.

I excused myself from the table early. I trailed down the halls and trudged up the stairs, eventually getting up to my room. There I turned my gaze toward the corner of the room where a shadowy figure stood not so tall. She faced my direction but kept her eyes closed as she bobbed her little head to a tune she was humming. Her face was mostly hidden in the shadows and I could see little detail in any other feature, but her voice…

Her Voice sounded exactly like…

But it couldn't be…

Lily.

I gasped and she opened her eyes.

"Hello, Rin," she said sweetly. She took a step closer to me, standing in the moonlight filtering softly through the open window. "I missed you. Did you miss me?" she asked. Her head tilted to the side, open curiosity plastered on her once perfect face.

A wound looking to be from a bullet skimming her skull decorated the side of her forehead to my right. The edges of it were red and welted, a trace of scorched skin lacing the inner sore. The abrasion still bled as if fresh, running into her eyes and down her chin. She blinked, sending a few drops of red to cascade onto the marble tile. I gulped hard. Her once white sundress was now stained with mud and blood. Slits danced on her arms, the scarlet netting her pale skin like a spider's web. I felt myself gag and fought the urge to vomit.

"Rin. Are you okay? You look sick," the girl crooned. "Come over here. I'll make you feel better." I backed away slowly from her corpse-like body until I stepped on something soft. Whirling around on my toes I stared down at the tiny blonde who seemed to appear out of nowhere. She sniffed at me, a ruby red tear falling from her cheek. "You stepped on my foot," she whined.

I stared wide eyed for another moment before screaming. The little girl shot up and grabbed my face with cold, bony fingers. I fell silent before a second ticked by.

Keeping the pitiful look on her face she whimpered, "Won't you apologize to me, Rin?" Her lower lip quivered, but her fingers crushed my head like boulders. "Are you scared of me? Is that why you won't talk?"

Ripping her hands from my face, I turned tail and fled to the nearest exit I could find: my window. I opened the glass and flew outside to the wide stone siding without looking back.

Why are you running from me, the Voice whispered into my mind. I almost lost my balance. Come back, Rin. Please?

I leapt for the window of the tower nearby and landed with little room to spare. I rushed down the dark staircase, her face reflected in every pool of moonlight. I used to find comfort in the light. The dark had always scared me, but the girl took my last comfort from me. I was stuck inside my own turmoil between the fears of the unknown and known, taking room no less than the difference between night and day.

I ran out of the building into the marketplace, now somber under the night sky. I ended up turning into an alleyway and following it until I was brought to a screeching halt. I didn't know where I was anymore. I'd gotten lost in the tangles of twists and turns and brought myself to a black void. There were two misty figures in front of her. She was laying on the ground, her lovely blonde locks slowly dying crimson and eyes staring at me through clouds. Lily, my beautiful sister Lily, lay dying on the cold stone.

I could only stare at her in shock, mayhem churning in my stomach as if merely passing my gaze over her was sinful. I hadn't realized the silence gripping me until I heard her whisper to me so softly, I almost didn't believe to hear it. Those words would haunt me for the rest of my life. The ground fell out from under me and, though my eyes stayed closed, I could still see her ghastly face until sleep took me into its dark clutches. Never before had I been so afraid to dream.

"How dare you?"

.

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Master was the reason of my existence.

Master made me.

Master loved me.

Master helped me.

Master kept me sane.

I gave myself to Master.

Master cherished me.

Master adorned me.

Master left me.

Master sold me.

Master destroyed me.

Master haunted me.

Master betrayed me.

Master killed me.

Master is a Monster.

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Author's Note: Ugh. I'm sick *coughhackcoughsniffle*. Sinus headache and kinda dizzy. At least it gave me extra time to review chapter eight.

Short chapter. (hope it wasn't boring ^^;) I cut down a lot of things but added lots of stuff, too. Very, very little is the same from last version here. I like the metaphor at the end. I have a thing for writing sections of stories in metaphors that somehow end up totally corresponding to what's going on. :DD

There used to be some more background stuff on everyone and it was kind of all over the place so I focused more on one character and it worked better. I'm also adding a completely new chapter next and moving stuff around! So next chapter will be totally new. I have no idea what I'm doing but it will probably be some more character development. Maybe add more Miku! (I love Miku in this story X3) And it's probable that I'll add even more completely new material just to pace myself more.

The identity of the Voice and the incident were revealed in this chapter. (I personally think it's all pretty obvious so I hope you see it too XD) Now, with this new information out and about, I'd love to hear what you think and where I should go with everything! And is it just me or is nobody replying to reviews lately? Kinda bums me out. I love talking with you guys and hearing what you have to say! Please review~~