• Chapter 17; Starlene, Shade; The Truth!

    "Grr.. That noise REALLY irritates me..!"
    "Onii-chan! I thought you...! Honestly!"
    "Ah.. don't get me wrong.."
    "Hontou, Shade.. After all this time, you still haven't told her?"
    "Geez, Aya..! Not you too! Its bad enough my own sister turned against me.."
    I opened my eyes... or so I tried. I heard the noise Shadow was talking about.. but.. hold on.. Shadow. Shade. Excuse me?
    "Shadow.. explain.. yourself please," I tried.
    "Nika..! Thank goodness."
    Shadow sighed in relief, as Aya stood next to another girl, looking at Shadow with smirks.
    "Now, Onii-chan.. how about it?"
    "Ah..! That's right!" I sat up straight quickly, and felt the blood in my body punish me. It hurt, but I was anxious. I had so many questions, with less answers..
    "E-E-Eh..."
    "Yeah! You have a lot of explaining to do, Prince...~!"
    "Aya... Sis.. Really?!"
    "Fine, fine.."
    The person who was standing beside Aya, moved towards Shadow. I bit my lip, until I realized. Shadow and this stranger.. had great resemblance. From the hair color, eyes, tone of voice and way of dressing, it was the same..!
    "Allow me.. to reintroduce myself, Nika-chan. My name is Starlene. Moon Kingdom Princess. Thank you for the recovering of my body."
    Starlene, as she called herself, gave a little curtsy, and a pat on Shadows head. His purple hair went up, and flattened itself.
    "Sadly, this guy here is my onii-chan. Shade, Moon Kingdom Prince."
    "P-P-Prince..?!" I cried out in astonishment. What was even happening?! Am I even awake..?! I must be, since I'm thinking up these things...
    "Gommen, Nika.. I-.. just couldn't say it myself."
    I felt something slip away from my hand, as it moved towards Shade's face.
    He was holding.. my hand?
    "Don't be so hard on yourself. It is a dark past.." Aya piped up.
    "Aya..." Shade said, a little frustration in his tone, "Now that you know who I am, you also know what power I hold over your little head."
    "Onii-chan!"
    "I..taiiii!"
    I laughed as the siblings had their little feud. Aya sat down on the bed beside me.
    "We're at that Neko Infirmary again. I mean, really! We've become regulars!" Aya smiled at me, traces of mischief found.
    "What is.. this dark past?" I said loudly.
    Shade stopped hassling his sister for, some reason, a juice can, and walked out of the room.
    "That just means.. he gave us permission, but doesn't want to see your face when we tell it," Starlene said, noting my expression. "Aya.. if you want-"
    "I will."
    Aya smiled at me, and gave me a look that said, 'Be Strong!', and left as well.
    "Do you have anything to say?"
    "No.." I closed my eyes, "Tell me.. everything."
    *****
    "You know, back then, we were born into the Royal Family. We were destined to run our kingdom, until Shade got married to someone.. Unless, of course it was you. Anyways.. When we were children, Shade was always studying, and I would be reading fairy tales. I was to never run the kingdom, unless Shade married another princess.. Which is most likely at the moment. I loved those fairy tales. They were my only friends, and I smiled because of them. Shade bought me them all with his own earnings from studying hard. He never wanted to study, and wanted to be with me, pretending we were in fairy tales. He left his studies one day to do just that. We were having lots of fun doing Cinderella. Even in pajamas, it was elegant in my eyes. He was my prince, and we had fun at the supposed ball. I missed a step and fell. Shade was really worried, until I began to laugh. The irony of this happening.. It really did mean 'fall'. We collapsed in laughter, and Shade's teacher came in. She was astonished.. and..
    She yelled at him, for skipping to do 'trivial things'. But I was 5, and he was 8.. It was horrible. She grabbed his hand, then yelled at me... I remember her cruel voice to this day..
    "Don't bother your brother! One day, he may be running this kingdom!"
    They didn't even leave my room before I saw what happened next.
    "Foolish boy! Your father would be ashamed!"
    A hard slap to Shade's face.. in front of my eyes. I felt like all my fairy tales broke into pieces, and my heart did too. Onii-chan had never been slapped.. and he was because of me. After that, he became protective of me, and cold to everyone else. He was so warm towards me. It hurt to see his forced smiles.. When I was 9, Shade was 12. He ran away, being the legal age of being left home alone.. I cried that day, because I was sad that I left him alone. I wanted my brother to be with me all the time.. but he wasn't.. I figured.. when I was 12, I would search out my brother, who would be 15. I didn't find him, and when I was 13 I was attacked.. and my soul wandered, until I found another body.. Aya. I'm sorry. When I found my body, it aged. It did look like it was 14. When Aya and Shade returned my soul, I was so happy. I found my brother. I found my body. I met you and Aya. I also found out.. Shade fell in love. When he told me, he handed me a note, addressed to me, when I was 9. I was really curious. He knew all that I did, because he went through the same things. I studied, day and night, and read my fairy tales. Then, I would think of ways to find my brother. It apologized for his absence, and pushing his studies onto me. I found out.. that the teacher who slapped him was cruel through the note towards him. She hit him whenever he was wrong. That drove him to run away, and leave me alone. Guilt never left until he saw me.. Its been hard on Shade and myself.. so for him to meet you.. its like a miracle."
    I honestly cried at her story. It warmed my heart at how sweet their relationship was.
    "Nika.. he doesn't want pity. He just wants you to fill that void that's been in his heart for so many years."
    "Starlene.. I.. I never knew.."
    "No one did, but myself and him.. So thats fair."
    "No.. I love him.. but.. How can I fill something thats been missing from his life for so long?"
    "Nika. You are so dense. Because all he needs is you. In case you didn't know, he truly loves you. He's never met anyone such as yourself. Take that as a praise, because he's never shown much affection.. Don't cry, okay? That would just hurt him."
    Starlene wiped my cheek, and the trail of moisture stuck to me.