Chapter 4: The Dark Fairy's Wings Are Clipped!? True Love Exists – Maybe

Rin ate her breakfast in silence, still trying to comprehend what Uni had said. For starters, how did Len save Rin from Mayu? Secondly, why? She couldn't imagine him being that nice of a person, though, he seemed to have a 'save our allies' mentality. Rin decided to shove that thought to the corner of her mind for now and to focus on the more pressing matter of escaping hell.

"Could I-? No, no, no that's stupid," Rin set the tray onto the ground and rolled around in bed. It was hard to focus thanks to the dull ache of her bruises. Today would be a rather long day. She could feel it.

Downstairs at breakfast, half of the table was worried for Merli. She sat in silence, emitting a terrifying aura. Lui was the most worried of everyone. He was smitten with the girl. Sure, they had never really talked thanks to the rules of the House and his only recent ability to speak without his hands, but, that meant nothing in the day and age of technology! Fukase caught on first.

"Say something to her," Fukase whispered, "Look at Arsloid," Lui glanced over at him.

"Um, I'm fine. Really." Arsloid reassured Gumi once again. Gumi was cutting up his food for him.

"Oh Gumi," Lily sighed, shaking her head, "Seriously, let him do it."

"Don't lie to me!" Gumi wasn't having any of it and was ignoring Lily and Merli. Arsloid let out a nervous laugh, appreciating Gumi's way of showing kindess. Lui felt a tad annoyed.

"Secure the moment!" Oliver gave a thumbs up, and Piko a nod of encouragement. Len did the same.

"Don't be like Oliver. Or Piko." Len said with a smile. Oliver looked offended, while Piko glared.

"Don't end up like Len." Oliver whispered. Len glared at him as Piko snickered.

"Don't be like the idiots." Fukase's advice was golden. Lui took his words with wisdom.

"Merli," Lui spoke up to her, "A-are you okay? You looked annoyed." Merli looked up from her oatmeal that she'd been stabbing for the past minute.

"Oh, I'm fine, Lui." Merli replied in her usual confident voice, "Don't you worry." She excused herself from the table. Lui looked on with worry as she left the room.

"You did well, Lui." Yuma smiled, giving the boy hope.

"Now, speaking of love," Uni and Xin Hua looked over at Len with smug smirks. Len slowly stared right up at them, realizing he was in a danger zone.

"Lui, take Xin Hua. Kaito, I know you got Uni." Len begged. Lui turned away from Len, while Kaito began to whistle loudly. Len groaned, and faced the girls, "What is it you gossip hounds?"

"We heard you valiantly carried Rin to her room yesterday!" Xin Hua giggled. Well, she wasn't wrong, but, they didn't need to know that. Only Lily and Meiko had seen him do that.

"It's a rumor. Who said?" Len asked, playing innocent.

"Lui," Uni replied, adding, "Lui said you bear tackled Mayu, and left with Rin bridal style! Did you kiss her too? Maybe showed her off?" Len gave Lui a rather cold look. He felt betrayed. Lui finished his toast then excused himself. Len didn't stop him. He had blackmail on Lui.

"I didn't kiss her." Len leaned back in his chair, his face clearly annoyed, "How's Tokyo doing this morning?"

"Oh, I brought her breakfast," Uni spoke up, "She seems okay, but Rin's sore," Len nodded, though had expected Rin to be sore. Before he could ask something, Luka came into the room.

"Are we all finished with breakfast?" Luka asked. Everyone nodded, so Luka began to collect their plates and headed into the kitchen. Len began to excuse himself as Luka came back, "Oh, Mr. Len, please give this to Miss Rin. Nana's cleaning master's room, Luo's cleaning our new sunroom, and Akari is cleaning the foyer. You have my explicit permission to do so."

It was rare to get permission to enter the other wing.

"Sure, Luka," Len grabbed the vial with a smile, "Will do."

Why? He's not interested in me. And, we don't talk. We barely talk. Plus he's kind of a stalker! He was up on the ceiling watching me like a freak! This is ridiculous! I should be thinking of a way out and not about someone who lives in chandeliers! This is stupid!

Rin sat in her room alone, her mind drifting between Len and escape. Honestly, she didn't want to think about Len, but, she struggled with it. Rin assumed it was a side effect of that gross tea she had drank the other day. Rin groaned, ready to knock herself out.

"Hey, sleepy head…"

Great. Now she was hallucinating his voice! Rin grabbed her pillow, readying to hit herself with it when she was Len at the door. She couldn't help but breathe out a sigh in relief, and set the pillow back down. Oh thank god I'm not going crazy.

"What are you doing here?" Rin asked herself. She wondered if she should thank him, "Aren't you restricted to your side?"

"Luka gave me permission to deliver medicine to you. For the pain." Len took out the vial. Rin scowled.

Rin despised several things: spiders, lies, grapes, and liquid medication. It was nasty, normally grape flavored, and simply plain gross! Rin stared down the vial which mocked her in silence. She could feel it mocking her. Len glanced at her, then the vial, then back at Rin, confused by her stares.

"Hell. No." Rin glared him down. Len sighed. Girls never made it easy for him.

"You have to," Len thought he could reason with the girl.

"I want a pill." Rin demanded, "I will NOT take liquid medication."

"Nope,"

"Please?"

"No." Len thought that would be the end of it, but Rin now had her mouth firmly closed. Great. Well, I tried. Time to for her hate me more, but, hey. It's for her own good.

"Fine, fine," Len unscrewed the vial's top and drank a good third of it without swallowing.

Rin raised an eyebrow. Was it even safe for him to drink that? Then again, perhaps he was sore from the vent the other day, or from carrying Arsloid. The thought quickly changed as Len approached the bed. Len sat down beside her, looking deep into her eyes. Rin stared back in confusion. That was when Len made his move; That was when Len kissed her. Rin swallowed the medication shock, not having been kissed before by anyone. Len backed away, breathing in and out and left the room, and Rin with a flushed face.

Right a few doors from Rin, Merli sharpened a knife alone in her room. Today was the anniversary of when Soprano had taken it away from her. The day Soprano left Merli alone in the world. It was today that was Merli's day of revenge, perfect for the Dark Fairy.

Merli hid the knife within her sleeves, securing it with extra fabric, and left her room. She was headed for the master's bedroom as she walked up the middle staircase. No one had seen her leave, and no one would see her walk up the staircase. That was the goal. She turned to the right and approached the Master's bedroom. Soprano should be in there, that much she knew. Merli cracked open the door to spy on her target.

Prima, Code Named Soprano, was a tall young Vocaloid of 28 or so. Her raven hair was curled and short with a white flower. She wore an elegant A-line wine dress with matching heels. Her eyes with cold and grey, though one could make out a green tint underneath it all. Merli glared at the woman with wrath. This woman, and her husband, had taken her best friend. And now, she would pay.

"What brings an annoying insect as yourself to be in my presence?" Prima spotted the girl from the corner of her eye. Merli's eyes were rich with hatred.

"This is for what you've done to me Prima! For EVERYTHING!" Merli screamed, stepping into the room. She didn't dare to reveal the knife, her trump card, so soon. Prima scoffed at the girl.

"Do you speak of Yukari? Or maybe Akari? Yukari was trash, and Akari was useful," Prima let out a soft laugh as she stared into the girl's soul, "Or maybe, her?" Merli growled.

"You! You have no right to speak of my sister!" Merli screamed, "You deactivated her! My sister!" Angry tears streamed down Merli's face, "And now, now! I'll deactivate you!" Merli came towards Prima, taking out the knife at the last possible second. She cut the woman's face before being thrown to the ground.

"You bug!" Prima kicked Merli n the stomach, turning to the dresser for something, "You darek to attack me? After what we've done for you?!" Prima turned back to the girl, holding a steak knife and Taser, "You will pay!"

I'll do it. I'll do it, yes I will! I'm going to do it! Wait, no I can't. I can't do this. Well, maybe I could. Just maybe, I don't know… Lui sat at the top of the boys' staircase, debating if sneaking over to the girl's side was a good idea. He wanted to check in with Merli. He knew something was wrong, but, alas, he was a coward. He wasn't good enough for a voice bank from his own company, let alone good enough for a voice or profit. That alone stifled the boy's confidence. He was stuck in his ways, and also stuck because Akari was cleaning the girls' staircase in the foyer.

"AHHHHHH-GHHHH-MHHHHH-BZZT!-AHHH…!" A bloodcurdling scream rang out. It was frizzing out, desperately clinging to life. Lui and Akari turned towards the middle staircase, only to see Merli crawling on her hands and knees down. She was trembling and pale as Akari ran over to the girl. She gently helped the girl to the ground floor and held her there. Lui ran down to Merli's side as the others filtered out of their rooms and gathered.

"Miss Merli! Speak, please!" Akari entreated to the girl. Merli's body was convulsing a bit, though she was focused on Akari.

"It-it-it-ttt-tttzzz-zztt!" Her voice was glitching out and unstable. Akari turned the girl over, and saw non-fatal stab wounds littering the girl's back, "Ah-ah-zzztt!"

"Please," Meiko rushed down first, "Please take out her disc," The maid did as told. The disc was covered in deep gashes and cracks. The disc was trash.

"If we leave it in her," Kaito said as he came down the stairs, "It'll only corrupt the hard drie and kill her." Lui sprang up at those words, "But, if we remove it, she can live and be mute." Lui calmed down a bit at those words.

"Merli…" Lui held her hand, barely speaking above a whisper so his voice wouldn't crack. It was weird for him to be so conscious about it. Though, he seemed to be less worried once he saw Merli's smiling right at him.

"Wait," Fukase's hands went for his pockets and he pulled out a disc.

"What's that?" Lily asked him, walking down the staircase.

"Merli's back-up disc!" Fukase stated. Akari had a good idea on where Fukase had gotten it from, but currently, she was more worried about Merli.

"Please, put the disc inside, Mr. Fukase." Akari pleaded. Fukase put the disc inside of her tray, doing it the same way he had done with Lui the other day. Merli blinked a few times. Total silence.

"Th-th-thank-you. Fukase." Merli was able to speak with little issues once more. She then turned her head towards Lui, eyes sparkling, "Lui" They gazed into each other's eyes, a gaze most of the older Vocaloids recognized: Love.

"Hey, are we having a wedding for Merli and Lui now?" Gumi whispered to Uni and Xin Hua. Lily nudged Gumi softly in the ribs, mostly so she'd not blurt anything stupid out loud to ruin the moment.

Len looked on from the top of the staircase, feeling a bit jealous though he wouldn't admit it. He was happy for his best friend to finally have a boost of confidence in himself and to ask out the Vocaloid he liked. Lui and Merli look so happy. …I must've been like that once too, a year ago. Maybe not exactly like that, but I wonder… Len sighed, staring at his best friend and probably soon-to-be his best friend's girlfriend. It almost felt like yesterday that she came to the House.

It'd been a year ago – before Rin, Uni, or Arsloid had joined, though months after Miku had left successfully. Aoki had recently passed away, leaving Merli rather depressed and locked into her room. That girl had shown up out of the blue one day to the house and was taken in by the maids. It only took days for her to worm herself deep into Len's probably existing heart. Her name was Nemu, Nemu Yumemi. She had short black hair much like a raven and wore the most comfortable hoodie with sleeves way too long for her small hands. Nemu loved music, spending her time on social media and video sharing websites with the others. Len, who had distanced himself from music when he had first arrived, had somehow become curious with her and began sneaking out to hang out with Nemu. They would sit in her room for hours, watching videos and singing along, something Len hadn't done in what felt like years (though, it'd been only a year since he had joined the house at the time). Len slowly poured his heart out for her, albeit by accident at times. But, Nemu had done the same. She wanted to be popular, she wanted to find someone who could care about her. It was love, that much Len knew. But, fate is fickle, and Len hated himself for having not seen it coming. Over four months ago, one of the old maids had requested she come to see Frankenstein, and Nemu had never been seen again. Len had become restless, wanting answers, and set off to find her in the basement with Lui and Yuma. It was then that he had realized the truth: Deactivation. Len locked himself away for a month, finding himself in a deep depression, but, he had a resolve. It had taken a month of depression to find it, yes, but, he was a firm believer in it.

The resolve was simple: fate is evil. Love was a piece of hope that fate would always try to corrupt and destroy, no matter what. Len had believed it'd be impossible to even trust his feelings again when it came to romance. He didn't mind anything platonic, but nothing more. Lui had tried to convince him throughout the night, vigorously signing. So had Fukase, and even Oliver who had begged him until Len almost cried – not that he would admit to that either. But, Len didn't give in. Gazing down at Lui and Merli made him tempted to warn them, but he figured Lui wouldn't bother listening to him. That, and Len wanted to believe it would work out.

"Len?" Len snapped back from his thoughts to hear his name called: Rin.

"Y-yeah? What is it?" Len regained his composure quickly, turning to face her.

"Are you okay?" Rin asked, raising an eyebrow, "You looked out of it." Len wondered if it'd been that obvious to anyone else.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Len assured her, "What about you?"

"Oh, uh, I'm fine…" Rin replied, though her body was still aching.

"Merli, can you stand?" Meiko asked the girl. Merli seemed unsure, her body still jittery, "Akari, would it be alright if Lui helped Merli to her room?"

"Yes, by all means," Akari nodded. The blushing Lui nodded and helped Merli to her feet. The two went up the stairs together, and slowly the others dispersed. Len and Rin were left on the staircase, alone.

"Well, I should go back to my room." Len casually said, "Don't want to get in trouble." He began to make his way down the staircase, but was stopped by Rin tugging at his sleeve, "What-?"

"W-wait, Len!" Len turned to her. Rin's face had a soft blush on it, and she seemed determined, "Th-thank you for saving me the other day!" Rin bowed and then quickly rushed to her room. Len stood in silence for a moment, realizing he was a tad flustered.

"By God, what is Tokyo doing to me."

The context from last time is that Rin referenced Master's master as a cat, because cats. So, thought I would add that back in. I also added more back story for Len, since everyone has a reason for being here, though I'm not going into the details for all of them. I may reference Len's reason a bit more later as well, so, yeah! - KingdomMitsumi