Back in Luna's room inside the Lockheart palace, she sat on the red leathery sofa by a lit fireplace. Wood cracked from time to time, its red glow spilling onto the table.
She held the pencil and drew a full bottle with black liquid onto the partial family stickman portrait.
Sadly, the black water bottle didn't come with me. Lithe Theia did, Luna exhaled slowly, adding, It would be nice if it did. Aria would've been happy with it.
Putting the pencil aside, Luna looked towards the door and stared longingly. Anyway, Theia was gone for so long. I wonder where she is now. Oh well…
Luna stood up and skipped towards the door while thinking, Let's go look for her!
Grabbing the handle, she pushed down and walked through the door frame.
She looked to the left corner, where the shadows met, where Theo stood whenever Luna was in her room. I wonder where Theo went too. He'll come back soon.
***
As Luna moved through the corridor, her eyes wandered, taking in the surroundings. Something caught her attention. Among a dozen paintings of ancestors, one truly stood out. Luna stopped in her tracks to study it.
It was a painting of an old woman, a sixty-year-old looking woman. Her long pink hair fell down past her chest, and her grey-blue eyes blended in perfectly. She was dressed in a simple beige dress, standing in front of a black wall, and the frame was as golden as gold.
hmmm… She looks like me. Luna thought and walked forward, searching for Theia.
The corridor was long, filled with many portraits, dressers, and a long red carpet. Light spilled through the open windows, with wind gliding the white curtains. A pleasant sound of birds chirping from the outside overshadowed the sound of thumping from afar, the noise echoing as Luna closed in on the corner.
"Hmm?" Luna muttered, watching the corner closely.
Thump, Thump, Thump.
The thumping sound got louder and more intense by the second. A muffled sound echoed, someone's voice screaming. It raised Luna's attention as she picked up the pace, slowly turning the corner.
She peeked her head out and saw someone in the distance, white hair swinging violently, with a maid lying on the ground.
"Theia?" Luna murmured to herself.
She pondered whether to call out, but something stopped her. She decided to listen. Not long after, the echoed voice reached Luna's ears.
"Why? Why? Why?" Luna heard Theia's words, filled with rage and sadness, both intertwined.
She watched closely what Theia was doing. She saw that Theia was thumping on a maid, so she slowly, with caution, walked towards her.
But as she took a step forward, Theia stopped what she was doing and turned her head immediately towards Luna, her mouth contorted open forcefully and her eyes filled with tears pouring down her face.
As Theia recognised Luna, she turned immediately towards her. Her eyebrows started twitching and going up, her mouth twitched as well as she muttered, "I-I'm sor-sorry! I-I didn't mean to!"
As Luna wasn't far away from Theia, her skin began to crack open as the 'skin' that filled the place before began to retreat inside her, shrinking herself to half a head smaller than Luna herself.
She lunged forward with her arms open, grabbed Luna's stomach, and plunged her face into her white dress.
"L-Luna, I-I didn't mean to do it!" Theia said as Luna hugged her back, allowing her into her embrace.
"Didn't mean to?" Luna murmured under her breath as she looked at the black-haired maid lying down. It was Aisha.
Aisha?
A feeling of plunging into a deep abyss suddenly filled Luna's chest as she saw Aisha slowly push herself up from the ground, looking towards her with a face filled with purple bruises, blood flowing down from her head, and her clutching her stomach.
Luna gripped Theia's head, covering her ears as she was weeping into her clothes.
"Aisha, go to the infirmary. I'll handle it," Luna said.
Hearing her words, Aisha slowly stood up on her legs and attempted to run forward, but a jolt of pain in her left leg stopped her. So she slowly walked past, gripping her stomach and limping on her left leg.
"I'll come to you later when I handle this situation."
Aisha nodded as tears dropped down to the ground. She walked forward slowly, limping, and turned the corner.
As she did, Theia pushed out of Luna's embrace, pointing with her left hand to where Aisha was, and screamed on top of her lungs, "It's unfair!"
Following with a wailing, she banged her chest with her right hand while her left hand gripped her face tightly. "I-I was with y-you from the beginning! B-but she is the most im-important person? Why!"
"Why?" Tears poured down her face as she fell to her knees, gripping Luna's legs and placing her head forcefully on her feet. "Why do you do this to me? I just wanted to be your important person, but you said no! Why!"
A ragged sob tore from her throat, then another, until her body and arms were shaking with barely controllable tremors. Her eyes blurred as she looked up at Luna's face.
Luna frowned as she looked at Theia's face. A deep throb in her heart came as she heard the continuation of her words. "I-i didn't even mean to do it! I-IT just came over me, T-This… feelings."
"I just wanted to ask why. B-but as she smiled… Anger g-got over me."
"A-and I felt it was unfair! W-why can't I be that person? Why!"
She dug her fingernails into Luna's calves as she gripped them. It didn't hurt Luna, but as her blood dripped down Theia's fingers, she jolted, crawling back away from Luna and looked at her hands. Seeing blood, she looked at Luna and back at her hands.
She began to inhale and exhale rapidly. Her hands started to shake as she slowly looked up at Luna, saying, "I-I didn't mean to."
Theia, it's my fault. Luna remembered the time she responded with a 'no' to Theia on her question as to whether she was the most important person to Luna.
I shouldn't have said that. Luna's frown deepened as she watched Theia's eyes rapidly shake, breathing rapidly in and out while her hands were trembling.
If I was more careful…
Luna slowly walked up to Theia, crouched by her right side, and hugged her while caressing her hair, saying, "That's okay. It wasn't your fault. I will never hate you. No matter what"
Theia, hearing those words, felt her tears well up and pour out like a waterfall. She hugged back Luna, crying out loud as her sobs echoed through the corridor.
Luna's frown remained as it was. She thought, Why am I like this? I keep saying words without thinking …
As a certain thought came to mind, she jolted slightly in place and hugged Theia tighter, thinking, Why don't I feel sad for Aisha?