JK I had Akaito's name in there and didn't notice... Oh well, I'm not fixing it. Here's Ch. 4, and their POV once again. This is a rare three-POV chapter, so enjoy. And... I'm sorry in advance to all those who thought Miku would have a physical role in this. I don't own Vocaloid.

"Akaito, Akaito!"

"Mikuo!"

"Aga? Agaaa!"

"Where'd they go?"

"I dunno."

Two black haired children ran through a dense, fog-covered forest, calling out names and looking around frantically. They looked exactly the same, but one was a boy and one was a girl.

"AKAITO-!-!"

The girl stopped running, putting a hand on the tree next to her. "Rei... I can'... Keep runnin'..."

Rei stopped and turned around, pulling the girl to her feet. "Mama told us ta get ta Number Ten! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"

She pulled her hand away and hissed. "We rest now."

"Rui, we gotsta find Ten. Now! Pleeeeaaassee!"

Rui groaned. "It's gettin' dark. I can' see in the dark. Didn' Mama teach ya how ta make fire?"

Rei frowned. "Darkness... Oh yeah, that jus' means ya can' see very good, huh? Well, Mama did teach me how ta make fire. Help me find some dry wood."

A moment later the twins had a decent pile of twigs going. Rei stood back from it and gestured to Rui, who could now hardly see in the dense fog and growing darkness of night. In the forest, no stars managed to penetrate the barrier of lavender-grey, either that or they weren't showing their faces tonight.

Rui sighed. "Fine, I'll start it. But jus' so ya know, I'm not very good at startin' fire even though it's my sub-El."

Before Rei could reply, she put her hand together with the sides touching and her palms facing out. Her face was one of concentration, until suddenly a yellowish spark flew from out of her fingertips and lit the pile of tinder into a weirdly yellow and blue flame instead of the usual orange and red.

Rei frowned. "Well, 's definitely not perfect, bu' 's not bad either. Night, Rui."

Rui glared a bit at his arrogant comment on her magical flames, but sleepiness glazed over her eyes and she too lay down on the damp, brownish soil of the forest floor. "'Gnight Rei, s'ya tomorrow..."

-:-;-:-

"A-Akaito-nii-sama, can we st-stop soon? I'm tired... I can't g-go very f-fast at night..."

Akaito frowned. "Dude, can't you get energy from the stars or something like that?"

Mikuo frowned in thought, bracing his hands on his knees as he stopped for the third time in ten minutes. "Nope. Stars are a different type of light, created to shine through darkness, but never get rid of it. I can't really draw from it, my direct source is the sun."

"You have waaaaay too much insight for an eight-year-old," Akaito laughed. He ruffled the short boy's aquamarine hair. It was an unusual color, but it was Mom's color, so Akaito liked it somewhat. "What's up with that?"

Mikuo gave him a disapproving look as he shied away from the touch to his scalp, which he did not very much like. "I'm older than you by a few months and you know it! Just because your simulator wasn't at a rate slow as mine doesn't mean I'm younger. That's why I'm so insightful; I'm more of this world and the elements of it than any of you. Except maybe Aga, but that's 'cause he's Aga. Now are you going to make us a fire or not? We have to stay for the night."

Akaito sighed. "You make for some very strange company, friend. Anyway, come on. Let's find a decent clearing first, so we're not surrounded by trees."

Mikuo nodded, and the two set off to find a clearing. After about five minutes, however, Akaito felt a tug to his left. It wasn't so much a physical pull than it was an intense feeling, and it was a warm feeling, no other way to interpret it. He veered toward it, knowing what it was.

He saw the yellow light through the purple-black fog first, and Mikuo next because he couldn't see well. The older-looking boy pulled a silver chain with a pendant out of his pocket before he got too close.

Mikuo turned his attention from the light to the necklace, standing on tiptoe to see it. "You haven't shown me your barrier. Let me see." Akaito showed it to him. It was a flat, circular, opaque orangey-red gem with a shiny sheen to it. Etched in the center was a basic symbol for fire, and on either side was a feathery wing, one pale red and one pale cerulean.

"It's pretty," Mikuo commented holding up his right wrist, where a silver chain jingled. On it was a translucent white oval, with a white and a light teal wing. The gem was clouded up like it was a diamond once, infused with white quartz squirted in as a liquid. "Mines boring."

"I think it's cool," Akaito said, feeling the warm sensation wash over him as the source of the light was shown: a fire. As Akaito got closer to it, the flames changed from blue and yellow to a healthy red, orange and pale blue, as if reacting to him. They saw two small bodies curled up next to it. "Hey, we found the Dark Twins."

"Shh!" Mikuo hissed, putting a finger to his lips. "They're asleep. We can hang out here for the night and tomorrow we can look for Aga and Funo with them."

Akaito put his hands straight into and thorough the flames, adjusting the burning branches, before extracting his hands. They were not burned and nothing seemed to have happened to them. The two of them went to sleep next to the black-haired twins, Rei and Rui, who would wake up the next morning to a surprise.

~:~;~:~

"DR. HATSUNEEEE!"

Dr. Hatsune, more often known as Miku, stood up from her position on the floor. Her mascara was now running in grayish streaks down her cheeks, and the rest of her green and pink makeup was spread on her face from running her hands on it. she ran to her desk and wiped her face off, checking it in the mirror. Though she was now without makeup, at least it wasn't spread all over her face. Her pigtails had also fallen loose in the breakdown, so she retied them as fast as she could, using her frilly white scrunchies she used more often than not. The teal-colored hair still fell past her hips, even tied up.

Miku replaced her emerald-rimmed glasses and stood professionally next to the door to her lab, Lab 27, as it slammed open and a man ran in. He wore a black suit that may have once been new and glossy, but was now dulled and rumpled, wrinkled everywhere, like he had been running a lot. His hair, windswept and messy, and also slightly oily, was a dark brown that might have been black in the dark. His eyes were the same brown, but unlike his hair they had specks of gold in them. Those eyes were flaring with rage, and he looked around the office frantically.

The name and title of this man? Uchate Ryuku.

His eyes locked onto the teal pigtails of the twenty-two-year-old alchemist. Miku smiled warmly, as if this was normal. "Hello Dr. Uchate. What is the problem?"

Ryuku glared, then gestured to the ten tubes against the wall. They were large enough to fit himself and Miku inside shoulder-to-shoulder, and went from floor to ceiling. Because of the clear walls you could clearly see all ten were empty. "I speak of the Vocaloids! They are gone, and you know where they are. Where have they gone?"

Miku smiled once more, this time confused. Despite the look on her face, she spoke with determination and resolve. "I have sent them off to live in the world independently as they were meant, Dr. Uchate. I do not believe in terminating lives."

"Where?" Ryuku asked again, eyes crazed and worried. "Dr. Hatsune, if they have been sent out instead of being... terminated, as you put it, I am afraid I cannot guarantee you a spot in our League any longer... In fact, we may not let you have a spot on this green Earth after we are done."

Miku's smile faltered a bit, and by the end of his speech she was frowning. Her mouth set into a firm line, and she glared at the thirty-year-old man who ran her League of Alchemists. "Dr. Uchate, are you suggesting that I should have ended innocent lives, and that for not doing so you shall end mine? I hardly believe that fair."

"Enough!" Ryuku cried, pulling a dagger from his suit coat. He advanced upon the young woman, who stood firm and resilient. "I am deeply sorry for this, Dr. Hatsune, but-"

"Mom!"

A voice fitting that of a teenage boy before puberty filled the air, and Miku was pushed aside by a blur of white, black and electric blue. She cried out, not from the surprise rescue, but from the fact that the boy had been there to save her in the first place.

"Piko! Why are you here? Run! Run away!"

The boy, Piko, stood up and looked at Ryuku defiantly, though he spoke to the girl on the ground. "Sorry Mom. I didn't leave, and I could be putting my life in danger, but I don't care, because after all, I'm not real. You are, and you have something you need to do before you die. I can't let you die at the hands of this crazy."

Miku's eyes started welling up with tears. "Utatane Piko! Don't you dare say you are not real! Anything sentient and filled with emotion is alive and real!"

Piko looked at her with a grim smile before looking back to Ryuku, who now held the dagger tighter and advanced upon the young boy. He glared at him so intensely he actually stopped in his tracks for a moment, and in that moment Piko ripped something off of his right wrist.

As an electric blue light engulfed all of them, Piko said, "Mom, I'm gonna protect you and you better live, okay?"

Miku said nothing but stared.

Ryukuk had to shield himself from the intense light, and when he reopened his eyes Piko stood again, this time looking different. The older man rushed the young boy and stabbed him in the shoulder, making him fall to the floor. In his moment of weakness, Dr. Uchate ran around him straight for the woman he was protecting.

Miku screamed. "PIKO!"

Piko screamed. "MOM!"

Ryuku grinned and let the knife go through her heart, staining her white coat red and her long, teal hair dark brown.

Piko sat on the ground, unmoving, staring at Miku as her head hit the floor and her eyes shut, never to open again. As Ryuku stood, presumably to fight him, he picked up the bracelet he had torn off earlier and ran out of the room through a secret passage, not thinking of looking back for hours on end.

(Sniff) There you go. Piko. But now there are many mysteries - what is Miku talking about, why does Piko call her mom, who is the Aga and Funon Mikuo talks about, how is Mikuo older than Akaito, and that's just getting started. (Ahem) Anyways, yeah, I gave Rei and Rui accents because I think they'd sound cuter. And seriously, guys, review! I have one word! Pleeeease? And you can also start requesting characters you would like to appear, they can be anyone - plain ol' Vocaloids, recolors like the Shion Family, Voyakiloids like Haru, Genderbends, Fanloids, alter egos, I don't care, I can fit them in. I just want **Most** of my characters to be from the Fandom. Review, recommend, and read when I publish next Saturday! See ya~!

~Kara

RANDOM FACT: Sword Art Online: Approximately 3853 people were killed in SAO. Someone actually went and read all the novels, watched all the clips, and counted. I applaud the determination of that person. NEXT TIME: Vocaloid!