"Mukashi mukashi aru tokoro ni
akugyaku-hidou no oukoku no
chouten ni kunrin suru wa
yowai juuyon no oujo-sama"
Rin smiled to herself as she softly sang the lyrics to the song, her eyes closed in contentment. The group was gathered around a campfire in the middle of the forest. Their motorcycles had been left behind after they had broken only a few minutes after their first battle. It had ended up being a long day of toting their packs over their shoulders as they walked through the forest.
"Kenran-gouka na choudohin
kao no yoku nita meshitsukai
aiba no namae wa Josephine
subete ga subete kanojo no mono."
Rin opened her eyes to see the others staring at her in awe. She had found a place for herself a little further away from the rest of them so that they wouldn't hear her voice over their heated conversations, so she instantly grew worried that she had bothered them.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked quickly. "I can stop if you want."
"No," Meiko said. "No, keep singing. You won't believe what you just did. Just keep your eyes open this time."
"Okay…" Rin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she continued her song.
"Okane ga tarinaku natta nara
gumin domo kara shiboritore.
Watashi ni sakarau monotachi wa
shukusei shite shimae"
As Rin sang, she began to see why the others were so shocked. A scene began to appear in front of her on the grass, like tiny holographic dolls dancing to her song. The characters floated along with her words, acting out the scene she was singing with grace and dignity. She watched as a young girl that looked just like her waltzed in a beautiful yellow dress with a boy that she could have sworn was her twin. The scene suddenly shifted to a throne room where the girl, with her trusty male counterpart by her side, acted like they were berating a peasant girl that looked just like Meiko.
Rin finished the verse before she exclaimed, "I'm so sorry, Meiko! I didn't think that you would appear, let alone myself." She looked up at the others, but they were silent. "Do…do any of you know who that boy was, though?"
"Not a clue," Meiko said. She waved the thought away like an unwanted fly. "That doesn't matter. Keep singing."
"Aku no hana karen ni saku
azayaka na irodori de.
Mawari no aware na zassou wa
…"
The scene continued on with the tiny Princess Rin waltzing with the mysterious boy once more as scenes of tragic treachery appeared like short montages around them. Kaito appeared in the next verse, a happy prince with a wonderful green-haired peasant girl at his side. Miku and Kaito both blushed at this scene and turned their faces away. They never saw the scene of the boy stabbing the peasant Miku and burning villages down. Rin's voice faded away before the song could finish.
"I used that song for my audition at my old school," Rin recollected while the scenes faded away into the firelight. "I never truly realized how bloody and terrible the story behind it was."
"I see you've figured out the benign side of singing." Luka had been watching Rin's little show from the other side of the fire with quiet, somber eyes. "It wasn't always a weapon."
"What happened?" Rin wondered out loud.
"A lot of things." Luka pushed a stray strand of pink hair behind her ear. "You see, singing used to a form of entertainment for us just like it is where you come from. It-"
"This is getting really frustrating," Meiko interrupted. "How do you know so much about our world?"
"Just let her speak, Meiko!" Kaito snapped. "That's not important right now." Meiko glared at Kaito, but he wouldn't even look back at her. Finally she turned her eyes back to Luka, but she sulked against the tree she had been leaning on.
"As I was saying," Luka continued, "singing wasn't always a weapon. It was our entertainment here. It worked for everything from huge concerts to lulling a small child to sleep. In essence, it was the perfect magic for those that were lucky enough to use it, but with everything that has a light side there had to be darkness."
"That's the most cliché thing I've ever heard," Meiko interrupted again.
"Would you just shut up!" Kaito barked.
The group stared at the two in an awkward silence. Nobody dared to speak until Meiko finally stood up.
"Don't go," Rin pleaded softly. "It's probably a really good story."
"No, it's not!" Meiko snapped. "It's just like any stupid legend. Singing started out as this wonderfully nice power, someone decided to use it in a negative manner. Death and destruction ensue until we have a horrifically terrible event like the overthrowing of a queen." Meiko gestured at Luka and Kiyoteru, who had just returned from gathering more firewood. "Just how stupid do you think I am?" She grabbed Luka's vest top, clenching the fabric in a tight grip and drawing the woman towards her. Luka seemed unfazed by the sudden invasion of personal space as she stared straight back up at Meiko.
"And you," Meiko continued. "You think we're all so stupid, don't you? I saw right through you from the very start. You're the queen! You brought us here so that we could do your dirty work and get your crown back for you. I can't believe you would drag us out-"
Suddenly Meiko collapsed to the ground, dropping her grip and setting Luka free. Kiyoteru stood above her with a heavy piece of firewood in his hand.
"Don't you dare touch Luka!" he growled. Kaito, Rin, and Miku stared at him in stunned silence. Luka simply stood up and walked over to the three to stand by them. Meiko groaned before finally pushing herself up to a sitting position and rubbing the back of her head.
"Oww…Did you really need to hit me that hard?" Meiko moaned.
"I-I'm sorry." Kiyoteru dropped the piece of wood and took a step back. He glanced over at Luka, but the woman had nothing to offer him except an unreadable expression. "I shouldn't have done that."
"Why? 'Cause I'm a precious item? Jeez," Meiko began to shakily stand up, "I must be really special." Kaito rushed over to offer Meiko a helping hand to her feet, but she only shoved him aside. She glowered at him as he backed off. "Just continue with your story or whatever. I've said my bit. Damn, I need some air or something." She turned away from the fire and headed off into the woods alone.
"Don't get killed!" Kaito called after her as she walked away. He crossed his arms over his chest and sulked against a tree just like Meiko had done earlier. Everybody looked expectantly at him, but he refused to move.
"She's right, you know," Luka finally said. Her eyes refused to make contact with anyone. "I am the Queen of Melinum. We used to use singing for light and good, but once people started using it for evil I began to lose control over everything. It was so easy for them to overthrow me, especially after they took so many of the good people away, the good singers who could have helped me. Kiyoteru was the only one left with me when we escaped. He had to sacrifice his power in order to save me, and I had to sacrifice mine to bring you here."
"Sacrifice?" Rin asked.
"We burned ours out," Kiyoteru explained. "When you use singing to do something huge, like summoning people from another universe, you sacrifice it in order to get the job done. The only way that anyone can get that power back is by having the queen redeem it for you."
"It's impossible for me to do that now, though," Luka went on. "Many of my powers left me when I was overthrown. The only way I can get those back and return everything to normal is if someone defeats the person that overthrew me."
"Which is where we come in," Kaito said. The remaining three looked at each other as if the thought had really sunk in.
"Are you sure that you picked the right people?" Rin asked. "I mean, I can sing, but I could never get a role in any musicals at my school or-"
"Because you were too good," Kiyoteru interjected. "We know all about that. The whole 'group approach' thing is such a ridiculous idea, really. I couldn't believe that when I saw it."
"What about me?" Kaito muttered. "I never amounted to anything."
"You amounted to something today, didn't you?" Kaito looked at Kiyoteru as if he couldn't believe those words. They sounded so foreign to him that he almost had to ask the man to repeat it.
"You're both heroes, we get it!" Miku lashed out, finally breaking her silence. "Apparently I'm worthless here. Just ask Meiko. What was it she said? Don't try to save the diva?"
"She didn't mean that! I already explained that to you," Kaito said. "She's just foul-tempered. You have to stop thinking about that." He reached out to her to grab her hand reassuringly but Miku stepped away from him.
"No! It's abundantly clear that I'm useless! I'm the most talented out of all of you and yet I haven't done anything! Nobody has said anything to me ever since we left the summit! What am I supposed to make of that?" Miku cried. She spun away from the others, her pigtails a whirl of green hair around her. Glancing over her shoulder, she grumbled, "I can make it here without you! Just you watch!" With that, she stormed off into the forest in the opposite direction Meiko had gone, her pigtails flying like banners behind her.
Rin and Kaito looked at each other as if they couldn't believe what had just happened. After a moment, their wide eyes turned to Luka and Kiyoteru.
"What are you looking at us for?" Luka snapped. "Go find them!" Rin and Kaito nodded quickly before they each set off, Kaito after Miku and Rin after Meiko.
"How are we ever going to get this group to work together?" Kiyoteru groaned once the pair had left. He sunk into a seat on the ground and stared at the fire. "Are you absolutely sure that we picked the right people, Luka?"
"Of course I am. Nothing is ever perfect, though."
A/N If you've kept reading this far, then I want to say thank you! I really appreciate that you have taken the time to read my work! Here's the translation for the song Rin was singing:
Daughter of Evil/Aku no Musume (Rin Kagimine, original song written by mothy/Akuno-P)
Once upon a time,
there was a 14-year-old queen
who reigned at the top
of a savage and ruthless kingdom.
With gorgeous and luxurious furniture,
a servant whose face strongly resembled hers,
and an adored horse whose name was Josephine,
the girl held ownership over everything.
If she should ever need more money,
she'd just wring more from her foolish populace.
If there should be anybody revolting against her,
she'd just order them purged out of her sight.
A flower of evil blooms sweetly
in the most brilliant colors.
Those pitiful weeds around her,
…
You can find the rest of the translated lyrics online, plus there are many videos that have the song with subtitled English lyrics (some of the videos are really amazing). Daughter of Evil was my song of choice for this mainly because it includes the main four characters in the story (Rin, Miku, Meiko, and Kaito. If you watch the videos, you can see how they are all involved in the storyline the song portrays. There are plenty of other songs that are associated with this one song, too. If you're really interested, check out the Evillious Chronicles (where this song comes from) and prepare to have your mind blown.
I've also decided to add an Information Nugget at the end of each chapter just to throw in some cool info about the story and how I've been coming up with it. So here's the first little nugget: Melinum, the name of the land that Kaito, Miku, Rin, and Meiko are in is actually Latin for "From Song" (technically it means "From Melos", but Melos means song).