1 They Painted the Roses Red

"Luminous!"

TWACK!

A ruler smacked down on the wooden desk right next to Luminous' ear. Waist long blonde hair flew everywhere as she awoke with a start. The book she was sleeping on slid down her fair face laying open on the table below her.

"What did I tell you about sleeping in the library!?" Asked the gruff olden voice.

Luminous' blue eyes groggily shifted to the gray mouse in the red sweater vest. He was thumping his tail on the desk while holding the ruler in his hand like it was a gigantic sword he wasn't afraid to use.

"Umm, that beds are in books, and reading about them makes you sleepy..." Yawned Luminous.

"That beds are for sleeping, and books are for reading!" Corrected the Mouse. "Honestly, I don't know how you got to be a lady in waiting for the prince. Even if your mom is the queen's favorite lady in waiting, The queen doesn't seem to favor you particularly..."

The Mouse paused; he looked for the girl's reaction on her face.

"Oh come on Master mouse, is it so bad to be sleeping in the library?" Luminous continued oblivious to the comment before.

"I'm serious Luminous, you should be sleeping in your own bed now." Said Master mouse. "If you ask me, maybe I shouldn't let you rent out hero books so often. Maybe you would go to bed earlier."

"Hey, but that's not fair!" Luminous slammed her hand on the table so hard it shook a little underneath Master Mouse feet. "I didn't even stay up that late reading! It was because of this awful dream I had. There were animals like we see everyday, but different, dark and all shadowy. They didn't talk or act right. They just attacked without rhyme or reason. It was like they were umm…corrupted…?"

"Well, whatever dreams you've had, that's still no excuse to...to…" Master Mouse stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening. "Wait, what do you say about your dream?"

DING DING! Chimed in the clock on the wall.

"Ahh!" Luminous jumped up so fast that the chair she was sitting in hit the carpeted floor. "I didn't realize how late it is, Brenda bot is going to kill me!"

"Hold on, stop!" Yelled, Master Mouse. "I have to have words with you!"

"I can't, I'm going to be late!" Yelled Luminous, scooping up the book she was sleeping on a moment ago.

"Desisted!"

"I have to leave…" She said, picking up the hem of her pale pink dress with her other hand.

"Abstain!"

Luminous looked side to side anxious.

"Brenda-bot is going to kill me…" She murmured.

The mouse had to get her to come with him. He knew he was out of time. This can't be happening today, he wasn't ready, but then again, he never really was.

"You can't leave the library without checking out a library book!" Yelled the mouse. "It's against library rules! You have to come with me this instant!"

Luminous bit the bottom of her lip, her head swiveling between the mouse and the clock.

"Just put it on my card, like you always do." She said hand already on the wooden door. "I would love to say hello, or uh goodbye!" She said, running into the courtyard. "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

Master Mouse stood on the desk in the library, shaking his head at the small girl who had left the massive doors open.

"Late, huh?" He mumbled. "I most certainly hope not…"

Luminous ran across the courtyard's cobblestone pavement under the wooden awning. She spotted the group of red rose bushes that was beside the duck pond. She dove towards them, hiding in her usual hiding spot.

"I can hide here until Brenda-bot walks in with the rest of the ladies in waiting, then I can sneak in before anyone notices." Luminous nodded to herself. "Yes, this will work OWW!"

Luminous felt something tug hard on her long blonde hair. Rubbing her head she turned around, seeing a baby duck eyeing her, with her hair in its bill.

"Why is your hair the color of corn?" Asked the duck.

"Corn?" Asked Luminous.

"Ya, why is your hair a weird yellow color?"

"Oh, I don't know. Always been this way, even my mom has red hair like the rest of the kingdom."

"What about your dad?".

"Oh, well, you see, I don't have a…"

"HONK! I say it's currently out of the ordinary honk!" Quacked a goose. "I say it's otherworldly, definitely otherworldly."

"Quack! Don't nobody want to hear your quackpot theories, old man!" Quacked a duck.

All the ducks, swans, and geese that were playing duck, duck, goose earlier were now huddled around Luminous quacking loudly. Luminous hastily put her finger over her mouth, shushing them, but to no avail.

"Guys, please be quiet, Brenda-bot is going to catch me." Pleaded Luminous.

The ducks fell silent as a menacing aura stood behind Luminous. All the ducks shook, backing away from the frightening figure behind the girl.

"Finally." Luminous sighed with relief. "Now, I can be stealthy without Brenda nodi…"

"Luminous…." Seethed a woman's voice from behind her.

Luminous' breath caught in her throat, as a cold chill ran down her veins. She lunged forward to run, but before she could get away, a metallic hand grabbed her wrist, pulling her up off the ground.

"Oh, nooo." Luminous squealed. "It's Brenda-bot."

The red prince and all the ladies in waiting giggled from behind the robotic nanny.

"And just where were you?" Hissed Brenda-bot.

"Umm Master Mouse was attacked by uh, sleeping shadow monsters. I had to help him." Said Luminous.

"Luminous, are you lying to me?!" Yelled Brenda, tightening her grip on the girl's tiny wrist.

"No, they spit sleeping sand."

All the ladies in waiting and the prince burst out laughing. The robotic nanny fumed from her pointy metal boots to her metallic bun on her head.

"That's enough!" She commanded. "Not only have you skipped all your morning lessons, but you have missed out on preparation for the ball. You know the ball, the one we are throwing for the princess of the other five kingdoms, so our prince can choose a princess to marry to be our next queen. That ball."

"Oh, ya, that's tonight, huh?" Asked Luminous.

"15 years old is too old to misbehave like this." Brenda hissed, dropping Luminous to the concrete floor. "Now get in formation."

Luminous quickly scrambled, picking up her recently borrowed book. She began heading to the back of the line when she heard May Bell (another lady in waiting) laughing and whispering to the others.

"Nice dress, Luminous, the lier." May Bell sneered, flipping her dark red banana curls. "The outdated style matches your out of place yellow straw hair."

Luminous looked at the other ladies in waiting, they all had red, orange, or pink hair, utterly different from her blonde hair. She also saw that they were all wearing slim dark red dresses with long sleeves, while she wore a light pink dress with short puffy sleeves.

"Oh, thanks. I like your guy's new dresses too." Luminous smiled. "I also think the new nickname suits me."

Maybell glared at Luminous with her dark green eyes. But she had already ducked between Maybell and the others heading to the back of the formation. As she made her way to the end of the formation, Luminous noticed that the yellow rose that was amongst the red ones was plucked out. The red queen must have had one of the gardeners pluck it out because it didn't belong there, and the red queen doesn't like things that don't belong.

They walked to the training ground in a formation, like how ducks would. If it weren't for the swishing of skirts, you would have likely mistaken them for ducks. They all went on like this until Brenda stopped at the big black gate. One of the knights saw them coming and opened the metal gate to the training grounds letting them in. Brenda-bot, the red prince, and all his ladies in waiting went inside, filling out the grassy area around the training yard.

"Alright, ladies, listen up!" Said Brenda-bot. "You can all sit around and watch the trainees practice in the meantime. When I come back, we will all participate in preparation for the ball." The robot's mechanical eye swiveled to a particular blonde lady in waiting. "Luminous."

And with that Brenda-bot departed, all the ladies in waiting went to gossip and giggle. All of them watching the knights in training fence each other in their black skin-tight uniforms with red metal shoulder pads. All of the ladies in waiting were talking about which boy they wish would ask them to the ball tonight.

Luminous, of course, was excluded from this and left to sit by herself. The blonde looked at the Knights in training across from where the other ladies in waiting sat, before turning to her book. The hero on the cover of her book wore silver armor and had a handsome porcelain white face that went with his white hair and blue eyes. This book was obviously from kingdom white judging from the cover. He looked only a little bit older than the plucky fifteen-year-old boys with their red, orange, or pink hair that were now showing off in the fencing ring.

"Maybe I could be a knight in training. It does look like fun." Said Luminous. "Maybe in another life, I might have been..."

"So, where were you? Miss Luminous." Asked the prince in a mock Brenda-bot voice.

"Library, I fell asleep." Answered Luminous.

"Again?" Asked the prince, sitting down on the grass next to her. "Looks like I was worried about nothing because here I am finding out that you were skipping lessons like a rebel again."

He then took her long blonde hair in his fair, freckled hands and started braiding it.

"You were worried about me, my prince?" Asked Luminous.

The prince raised an eyebrow, his chestnut eyes staring down at her.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think you would miss me." Smirked Luminous.

"I think you may be right. "Smiled the prince.

Luminous looked back at the prince. He had a head of dark red hair just like everyone else, but unlike everyone else, his freckles sparkled in the sunlight. He looked so carefree and never bothered by anything.

"Do you ever worry about your life so much that you wonder what things would be like if you were anyone else?" Asked Luminous. "Or if you ever had a past life where you were someone else? Maybe?"

"Worry about my life?" The prince rubbed his freckled chin. "You know, I was worried about you when you didn't show up this morning."

"That's....not exactly what I meant. I mean like everyday worries..."

"Humm, I don't know. You skipping out on things to hang out in the library only for me to wonder if you're alright seems like an everyday worry."

"I...I just...uhhmm..."

Luminous bit the bottom of her lip as she picked at her flowy pink dress. The prince's face softened in pity as he watched her struggle.

"Oh, alright, I do suppose that, uh, that I do wonder sometimes… I mean, I do wonder what it would be like to be a girl, like how mother says I was supposed to be. Because then I wouldn't have to worry about being betrothed to a random princess."

"Oh?"

The queen you see wasn't able to have more than one child because of a hex put on her by Fertile, the witch when she was caught stealing rapunzel from her garden. Because of this, she only had one chance to make a little princess and raise her into a queen to inherit the kingdom. The red prince being a prince can't be a queen because only a princess can become queens, of course.

"You're getting married to a random princess?" Asked Luminous.

"Yes, it's been decided by my mom, ahem I mean by the red queen that I would host a ball to choose a princess from another kingdom to marry. That isn't already a crown princess, of course." He said in a mock cordial voice. "But hey, at least I get a choice, right? Just as long as it's a princess, that is." He scoffed. "I mean, at least my mom can't have a wizard make her an Immure ring to bind my life force to whomever I'll be betrothed to. The magic council has banned that kind of dark magic, she may be the queen, but she wouldn't dare cross any lines with the magic council."

"But don't queen's usually get married to their champions?"

"Pff, haha, well, I'm not a queen Luminous. I would be a king first off, the first king in the six kingdoms since Valiant the red..."

"..., he would slay all his citizens and cut off their heads." Luminous sung.

"Uh, ya, that." The red prince cringed, continuing playing with Luminous' hair to soothe his nerves. "And besides, I can't marry Sir Kay Luminous. I mean for one he's already married..."

"No, I mean, wouldn't you most likely get married to your champion?" Asked Luminous. "That would be whoever is the top knight in training now."

"Umm, well right now that would be uhh...Chasm?"

"Oh...ya...It would be...."

She then drifted into thought, letting her imagination wander like it always did. Chasm, and the red prince together? Kissing? The more Luminous thought about it, the pinker her cheeks got.

"Two boys, kissing..."She mumbled without realizing it.

The prince glanced at the girl with his eyebrow raised before deciding maybe it was best not to ask what was going on inside her head.

"I was thinking, more like, if I was in a reality where I would be raised like a normal boy." Said the prince getting away from the awkward conversation topic. "I would get to be a knight in shining armor riding a horse with a pointy stick. Maybe my mother would let me spend time with my father, whoever he is. I would also probably marry a lady in waiting, any lady in waiting I want in fact. I could wake up every morning and get to touch something that was made by the sun."

The red-headed boy ran his hands through the girl's hair as he said that. Yes, he really did believe her hair came from the sun, but in all fairness, he's never seen anything like it, and it rather does look bright and golden just like the sun in the bright sunny sky that shines over the field.

Right at that moment, a black-haired boy who had his hair up in a short ponytail stepped into the dirt fencing ring.

"It's the exact opposite of Chasm's hair." Continued the prince." His hair is as black as the darkest corners of the world. It's the exact opposite of yours."

"Your reign of being number one ends here, Chasm!"

A loud voice declared throughout the field. Everyone around the training ground looked to see who had made this challenge and saw a badger pointing his wooden practice sword at the dark-haired knight.

"You may be the adoptive son of Sir Meliodas, but I Wolf the badger son of the first badger knight Bear the badger will end this rivalry by defeating you and becoming the new number one knight in training, then the new number one knight! Do you accept my challenge? My rival."

Everyone stared at the badger and the dark-haired boy, awaiting the mysterious boy's answer.

"Wait, you and I are rivals?" Asked Chasm. "Since when?"

"Since when?! Since you first beat me at our first fencing match, since you first ranked above me in training, ever since you came here that one stormy day ten years ago on Sir Meliodas horse with Sir Meliodas! That's when you smudged jerk!"

"Sir Meliodas…"

Chasm looked towards the sky as if to search for something.

"Hey! Pay attention to me!" Yelled Wolf the badger. "I've been practicing for weeks, so you better bring your all Chasm!"

Chasm shook his head, drifting thoughts disappearing. He nodded sternly, holding his sword in front of him.

"Ahhh!"

Wolf pointed his practice sword at Chasm, running full speed. The second Wolf's sword came into range; Chasm sidestepped out of the way. Wolf was immediately thrown off balance falling face-first to the dirt ground. Everyone on the grounds went silent until Chasm spoke up.

"Checkmate." Chasm taped his practice sword on Wolf's back. "Oh, and Wolf, you might not want to put all your focus on one attack next time. It was way too easy to take advantage of you because I could see you coming. It was also essay to throw you off balance."

Chasm held his hand out to the badger. Wolf smacked Chasm's hand away from him, standing up on his own.

"Rrr! You think you're all that!" Yelled Wolf the badger. "Someday, someone will knock you off your high horse and defeat you, Chasm! Mark my words!"

"Off my high horse?" Asked Chasm.

"Rrr!"Growled Wolf before storming off.

Almost as soon as everyone fell silent, everyone resumed talking and laughing.

"Well, that was over quickly, huh, Luminous?" Laughed the red prince.

"Chasm's so perfect." Luminous sighed, not taking her eyes off the dark-haired boy.

The red prince's smile faded. He took his hands back from her hair.

"Luminous, you, umm..." The red prince looked down, fiddling with his fingers. "You want to ask Chasm to the ball? Didn't you?"

"A-ask him to the ball?!" Luminous' fair skin turned a tomato red. "I-I mean...umm…"

"Pfft," a smirk reappeared on the prince's freckled face. "You better hurry up and ask Chasm out, Wolf hasn't taken his eyes off of him ever since practice started."

The two turned their attention to the honey badger. Wolf was mumbling while breaking fallen twigs that were on the ground with a loud snap.

"Pff! Haha, ha!"

The red prince and Luminous laughed, holding their sides. Luminous took a deep breath standing up.

"You know what, I will ask Chasm to the ball!"

Luminous' legs felt like jello as she made her way across the field, her heart pounding against her chest as she walked closer to her crush.

"A child born from the worst of storms with hair as black as night, he showed up to the palace after we lost the fight."

"Huh? What was that?" Asked Chasm.

"Ahh!?"

"Oh, it's just you Luminous. Uh, I mean, may I help you?"

Luminous only stood about a foot in front of Chasm. Her fair complexion became a bright cherry color when she became aware that she was so close that she could kiss his perfect snow-white skin or that his beautiful narrow, dark blue eyes stared into her wide ocean ones. Luminous quickly looked down, grabbing her pink flowery dress.

"I...I was wondering…that would you…?"

But when she looked back, Chasm was looking up at the clear sky. His raven hair that was tied in a short ponytail blowing in the wind. He looked just as handsome and stoic as he did when he first came to the palace ten years ago when she first met him. He was always brave, cunning, and perfect.

"I was wondering..." Luminous bit her bottom lip. "Do you remember anything before you came to the palace? About your old life? Do you miss it?"

Chasm turned around, his eyes boring into hers before he sighed and turned away again.

"As I said before, Luminous, I don't remember anything about my life before. I don't have anything or anyone to miss. I mean, they would have looked for me by now, if they loved me, right? I just wish, Sir Meliodas was still here...he took me in when no one else would."

Luminous stood in silence, her brows knitted as she watched Chasm stare at the bright sky. It was as if he were expecting Sir Meliodas to appear over them somehow.

DING DING DING

Luminous jumped, the bell on top of the tower of the courtyard rang, signaling to everyone that it was noon.

"Well, I have to go now." Said Chasm, turning to leave. "Nice talking to you, Luminous."

"Wait!" Luminous shouted, reaching her hand out towards Chasm's lean back.

Chasm turned his head, raising an eyebrow at the tiny blonde girl.

"I, you... that is," Luminous took a deep breath, her cheeks puffing up. "Will you go to the ball that is?" She said in one breath.

"Well, I suppose." Chasm drawn out, Luminous froze, her heart skipping a beat as she gripped her chest. "It is required. Especially if you're noble-born, or a knight in training like I am. So yes, I will be there to fill out my civic duty to the kingdom."

"Huh?"

Luminous was baffled. What was he talking about? Civic duty? That's when it hit her; he misunderstood that she was asking him to the dance!

"I really must return now, Luminous. It was nice seeing you."

Chasm walked away with the other knights in training. Luminous quickly gathered up her courage again to speak.

"I mean! You with me! Will you?! Ugh…"

Defeated, Luminous fell to the grassy field. Only laying there for a few moments before Maybell and the other ladies in waiting walked past her snickering to themselves.

"I'm not surprised no one wants to go with her to the dance." Snickered one of the ladies in waiting. "She's such a weirdo."

"The only reason boys like her is because of her abnormally large chest size. Otherwise no one would like her at all." Pointed out Maybell.

All the ladies in waiting walked to their next destination In their formation like ducks. Luminous hung her head low looking down at her chest.

"That's not true, I'm not that much bigger than the other girls. I'm only a cup size D…."

When she looked back up the red prince waved his hands, signaling her to come forward. Luminous raised her eyebrows at him. The prince finally rolled his eyes, his hand reaching to the back of the formation to grab hers. He ignored Maybell's and the other ladies in waiting's glares.

"So, how did it go?" Whispered the prince, his hot breath brushing against her ear. "Did you ask Chasm to the ball? What did he say?"

"Well, umm.." Luminous paused, thinking about the misunderstanding between her and her crush. "Well, he did say he would be there…"

"That's good." Said the prince. "I'm happy for you."

"Ya, that's right!" Cheered Luminous.

All the ladies in waiting looked back, eyeing them.

"Shh." Whispered the red prince.

"He didn't say no." Continued Luminous lowering her volume. "So, I still have a chance to dance with him."

Luminous smiled at the idea. It made her feel a lot better.

"Oh, and Luminous. I also..." The prince dug into his luxurious red coat, finding a yellow rose inside. "The gardeners wanted to get rid of it. They said it didn't belong with the rest of the red roses." The prince looked at Luminous' blonde hair that stuck out in the sea of red. "But I like it. It's the most beautiful thing I've seen." There was a pause in the air before he continued. "Uhh, the rose, I mean." The red prince pressed the yellow rose in her small dainty hands. "You can keep it."

"Thanks." Smiled Luminous."So, you're getting married to a princess?"

"Yeah." the prince bit his lip. "I guess so.."

They walked in silence the rest of the way. He couldn't say it. It hurt too much to say. Because he knew no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't change fate.

No one could.