Chapter 2
The picture book that sat in his lap came to life with vibrant colors. He parted his thick black hair to get a better view. The words on the page also came to life with dark blues and rosy pinks. He was reading a story about a beast and a prince. When he finished the book, he thought to himself "This is a sad story... their souls got to be together forever, but they were never able to be truly happy along with those around them."
He then heard from around the tree a girls' voice yelling out "I'll be fine!" Moments later he saw the face that the voice belonged to. It was a girl his age with long hair that was light pink, the same color of the buds on The Great Sakura Tree, which he currently sat under. Her eyes shone with a turqoise color and her mouth was spread in a wide grin across her face. He only got a short look at the girl until she tripped over a tree root and hit the ground in front of him.
He quickly closed the book in his left hand and jumped up, proceeding to walk over to where the girl now lay. As she looked up at him he lost himself into her eyes. Gazing into the deep turqiouse he mindlessly stuck out his hand to help her up. She took his hand and they soon stood face to face.
The girl asked "What's your name?"
Hiro's mind came back into focus "My name?" He examined her face one more time before answering "My name is Hiro."
A frown came to the girl's face and she squinted at Hiro's neck. "That's a boring name... It says something else here..." Startled, Hiro looked at his necklace, which now had a strange pendant on it. It was metal and had the shape of a simple 2D bird, and there was an inscription on the pendant.
The girl squinted harder and continued, "It says here..." a smile crept to her face as she read, "Dar-ling." She stated both syllables very clearly. "Dar-ling. Darling. Hm..." She chuckled, "I like that better, Darling. Hm? What do you think?"
Hiro was flustered. "Wha- What? Wait. What's your name?"
"My name? My name is Iota."
Hiro looked around nervously and saw an identical pendant attatched to the band on her left wrist. He still was holding that hand after helping her up, so he brought it closer to him to get a look at the inscription that was on it. Hiro then read the inscription out loud with a smile, "Zero Two. I like that better."
A frown came to her face and she said "What? Let me see that."
Hiro let go of her hand and she looked at the pendant on her wrist.
"Ze-ro Two. I also like that." Her frown turned into a smile and she started to laugh, twirling away from Hiro, hair spreading like a flower. When she stopped twirling, she stared back into Hiro's blue eyes. "Whatcha got there?" She pointed to the book held firmly in Hiro's left hand.
"This?" Hiro held in in front of her so she could see. "It's a picture book."
Zero Two's eyes scanned the cover and her face lit up. "Oooh I love picture books! Darling, would you show it to me?"
Hiro smiled. "Of course!" He looked back to his seat at the trunk of the tree "Lets sit over here." After they were seated he opened the book to the first page.
Zero Two seemed squeemish in her excitement. Her eyes danced around the page as she pointed to the pictures and exclaimed "Look! They're so pretty!"
"They are." He took in all the colors once more before he began "Lets see here..." He found the start of the story and started reading.
"In the deepest, darkest part of a forest lived a tribe, hidden from all. They had large wings on their backs and were beautiful, but they were what would be called beasts. Among them was their princess who had huge, ashen wings. Their law said that once one turned sixteen, they would be allowed to fly outside the forest.
On her sixteenth birthday the princess took flight to the world beyond the forest. She crossed the steep mountains and the surging rivers, and reacherd a land of humans. The moon shone brightly in the sky.
She landed in a castle garden, where she found a young man gazing up at the moon. The princess hid in the bushes and stared at the young man, and for the first time, love bloomed in her heart. But he was clearly of a different race. A beast and a human could never be together.
And so, the princess went to see a witch who lived in the same forest and said, 'I want to live as a human, I want to be united with him.' The witch replied like so. 'I can help you if you offer me your wings. But keep this in mind. No matter how you disguise youself, you are a beast, and you wil consume the prince's life one day.'
The princess ripped off her wings and was assaulted by pain far more intense than she had ever felt. She could never fly again. Even so, she smiled happily, with tears of joy streaming down her face. 'I'm human! I'm human! I'm the same as him now!'
The princess once again set out for the land of huans, this time on foot. In the desert she spotted a group of people. 'Oh no! Is there anyone who could save him?!' There lay a young man, his leg bitten by a snake. The princess rushed to his side and sucked the venom out from his wound. 'Thank you, o brave lady. I am the prince of these lands.' It was the same man she had met in the castle. 'I owe my life to you. Please marry me.'
A wedding ceremony was held soon after. The priest asked the princess, clad in a wedding dress of pure white,'Do you vow to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?'
'I do.' The two exchanged rings, and when the priest said so, they sealed their vows with a kiss. And cheers rang out across the land. 'Bless the brave girl who saved our prince's life!' The whole kingodm celebrated their marriage.
'Humans! Humans! They have neither the wings to fly nor the claws or fangs to hunt. Such weak and frail creatures, but they are so, so warm. Humans are wonderful'
After the wedding, she lived happily as the princess of a human land. She supported the prince in his work, traveled the world and saw oceans studded with glints of sapphire, sparkling grasslands, and auroras that swayed like raging flames. The princess took the prince's hand and said with a smile on her face, 'Grab on to me and never let go, Darling.'
But the Princess' happiness was short lived.
She woke up one night to a pain that threatened to rend her asunder and found her body turning into one of a beast.
'Why? I asked you to make me human!' On her back were a jet black wins tearing through her flesh and skin to spread. 'Using magic comes at a price. You've attained plenty of happiness as a human. Now it is time for you to lose yourself and turn into an ugly monster,' the witch of the forest whispered to her. 'However, if you kill the person you love most, you will be freed of your curse and return to the beast you originally were.'
The princess gazed at her beloved prince as her claws reached for his throat. She loved him more than anything and anyone, but the desire to rip his neck apart welled inside her. As she desperately tried to clench her fist and stop herself, her claws dug into her skin, and blood started gushing out.
'If I kill the prince, I will be freed forn this curse.' With tears streaming down her face, she kissed the prince on the cheeck.
When the prince awoke, he was startled by a horrifying black beast that stood at the foot of his bed. He saw blood stains around the room and started to call for the guards, but he froze when he saw the tears that streamed down the beasts' face. 'My lady! Is that you?' The prince asked. The beast looked him in the eyes and let out a defeated growl. The prince rushed over to his beastly princess and said, 'No matter what you look like, I will always love you.' In that moment they shared the purest kiss that the world had ever known. The prince then felt a pain more intense than he had ever felt, and let out a deafening scream.
Guards rushed into the royal quarters in response to the noise. What they found was two beasts black as night wrapped in eachother's arms. The beastly prince and princess were killed on sight. However, their souls grabbed on to their undying love for eachother and they floated away together, without their bodies, to explore the world."
After he had finished reading, Hiro looked to see Zero Two with an unpleasant face. She sighed and said, "That ending is kinda sad. I wish I could..." Her voice faded and she looked towards the things that had fallen out of her bag, still laying on the ground.
"Wish you could what?" Hiro inquired.
She answered "Nevermind." And hopped to her feet.
Hiro followed suit and stood by while she returned two items to her bag. She then turned to face him, and after thinking for a second, she pulled one of the two items out of the bag and said "Thanks for showing me your picture book," She put out her hand to give it to him. "This is my favourite candy."
Hiro, suprised, looked down at the small candy wrapped in pink and said, "Are you sure? Thanks." He took the candy as Zero Two reached into her bag again to take out the other candy. After Hiro unwrapped his candy, he popped it into his mouth. His tastebuds were overwhelmed by the sweetness and he let out an excited scream, "It's super sweet!"
Zero Two chuckled, and explained. "Maple, chocolate, red bean flavor," her smile reached from ear to ear, "a triple punch of sweetness!"
"This candy is so good." Hiro remarked with a voice muffled from a full mouth. "But... even though it's my first time tasting it..." he concentrated on the taste of the candy, "...I start feeling nostalgic."
"Hm?" Zero Two examined Hiro's confused face. When she received no answer she suggested, "Hey Darling, let's go play!"
Hiro snapped out of his tranced state as the candy fully disintegrated in his mouth, leaving behind his nostalgic feelings. He saw Zero Two extend her hand towards him and he took it. "Sure, Zero Two!" She pulled him towards her and they set off in a run, playing and laughing together, hand in hand.
They played for some time, and soon the two were almost the last people left in the park. The only others there were two women and a man. The man wore a plain suit and had buzzcut blue hair. One of the women had red hair and wore a pencil suit of the same plain style, and the other had white hair and wore a white lab coat. Hiro and Zero Two took no notice of them and continued playing. When the sun fully disappeared behind the tops of the tall buildings they both knew it was time to return to their homes, but before they went their separate ways Zero Two said, "Let's play tomorrow, too!"
Hiro immediately replied, "Yeah! Of course!" When he let go of her hand he felt a part of himself fade away. They stared into eachother's eyes as the distance between them grew, the only thing breaking their gaze being the sakura tree in the way when they turned the corner to walk down opposite sides of the hill. They both returned home with mysterious matching new pendants, and a new friend.