Chapter Five

Ada was tackled by someone I couldn't really see. He fell to the ground with a thump and I scrambled away from him. I saw a very handsome man with a woman at his side. He looked about my age and he had the cutest dimples. His hair was a tousled light brown and his face structure was manly and chiseled. His eyes were a light blue green with specks of gold when he smiled. His lips were in a dainty form that tied his face together in a pretty bow. He wore a tan shirt with a brown vest over it. His pants were brown and slightly baggy. He wore combat boots that were brown. He smiled at me and reached out a hand to help me up. I took it and smiled back. 

"Hi, I'm Birch." He smiled as I nodded. 

"I'm Lightning." He nodded back at me. 

"Yes, I know." He said with a hint of playfulness in his voice. I looked to the girl next to him. 

"And who might you be?" I asked as she smiled kindly. 

"I'm Bloom." I nodded. 

"Nice name." I said, finding it cool that her name was from something so beautiful, and mine from something so destructive. She giggled.

"Back at you." She said as I made a face.

"Excuse me for asking but, what are you two doing in my house?" Birch laughed. 

"Excellent question Lightning Bug." I raised my eyebrows.

"What did you just call me." I asked as I frowned at him. He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders. 

"I think we are gonna get along just fine."  He informed with a happy bounce in his voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bloom looking envious. 

Oh. 

She likes him, and she thinks I'm gonna steal him. I don't want to come between them. I ducked under his arm and looked at him fiercely. 

"You have nice eyes." I said quickly. 

Wow. 

He laughed and Bloom let out a half huff, half chuckle. I laughed awkwardly. 

"Just kidding." I said as my voice trailed off and  I saw his face fall. I tried to cheer him up. "I mean, your eyes are nice! But not in a way I like. I mean, I like it but I-" He put a finger on my lips and his eyes were soft as a lazy smile drew across his face. 

"I know what you mean Lightning Bug." I nodded and backed away, continuing the conversation. 

"So uh, what brings you here?" He nodded. 

"Right! Well, President Nathaniel wants to talk to you." He said as I stood still, not really surprised. What didn't President Nathaniel need to talk to me about. It was annoying that he couldn't just decide something for himself for once, he always had to ask somebody, which usually ended up being me.  

"I know, he sent someone." I said in a plain tone. Birch nodded again. 

"Yes, but his droids sensed that you were in trouble, and we had just gotten in, so he sent us." I scrunched my nose. 

"What do you mean you just got in?" He smiled. 

"We have come to take you to a private planet for protection." Birch said as I heard a faint knock on my door and then footsteps. Suddenly, President Nathaniel walked in. 

"You have to make a stop somewhere else first." He informed as I smiled fakely at him. 

"Where?" I asked, annoyed that he was sending me somewhere where I could be out of the way. Sure, I hate knowing everything and having to do everything, but I'd prefer that to knowing everything and not being to do anything about it. I'm a very hands on person and President Nathaniel knows that, so it's annoying that he is doing this. But I sighed, knowing that he must have a good reason to. He calmly stuffed his hands in his robe. 

"Muse. I have reason to believe that the Princess is in danger. Seribra has recently been planning a attack to stop our trading with them by making it look like we killed the princess." My eyes widened. I knew he had a good reason!

"But I was just at Seribra yesterday! They said nothing about Muse!" I said worriedly. If Muse attacked Seribra, the new ban law would fall through. President Nathaniel finally was able to get Muse's support to ban all Serbians from going to Nabine and Slavalia, since they were the two of the most important planets in the galaxy. He nodded. 

"Yes well, turns out they knew I would send you, so they thought that if you heard them talking about a new stone on Aura, they knew you would go there. So, they thought that the atmosphere would kill you." I furled my eyebrows in frustration. I knew it was weird that nobody was guarding the temple. 

"How did you get wind of the planned attack on Muse?" I asked, wondering how someone like Nathaniel was able to trick Mistis. He is not very cunning after all. He smiled. 

"The senate cleverly hid chips everywhere on Seribra." I nodded. It was probably the Princess of Muse's idea, since she was very clever. Although I am kind of ticked off that he sent me there to my death when he already had chips placed everywhere. But it's not like I could confront him about it, he is the freaking president!

"Do you know why Ada tried to kill me?" I asked, my heart twinging with pain as I mentioned my brother, looking over to his unconscious body. He shook his head. 

"You won't like it." I shook my head. I didn't like any of this, but that's tough shit isn't it? Still though, I knew that if he told me I would probably do something reckless, so I guess it would be better if I didn't know at all and wait until I am on a planet with a mission that I know I won't bail on.  

"Then don't tell me. Let me find out." He nodded and then I remembered that he still hadn't told me where this Birch guy was taking me. 

"Hey, where am I going after I receive the Princess?" I asked as my gaze switched between the three figures. Birch spoke. 

"I am not allowed to tell you until we get there." I frowned. That isn't fair. My brother just tried to kill me and you're not going to tell me what you are going to do with him or what you are going to do with me? I need to know where I am in order to properly protect the Princess."

"Why, does Nathaniel forbid you?" He shook his head. 

"No, it's just nobody knows this place exists." He said with a shrug. I nodded and sighed. This day just got real shitty real fast. 

"Right well, let's get going. Does the Princess know we are coming?" I asked as my gaze focused on the President.  Nathaniel nodded. 

"Yes. I have informed her parents so they have most likely told her by now." I looked at the ground and walked to the transporter, hating everything in world right now. I looked to Birch and smiled. Maybe not everything. 

"Let's go." Birch nodded and took me by the hand as Bloom followed. I looked at my hand in his and bit my lip. It felt so right. His hand was firm but gentle, and I could feel whispers of energy coming from them. I could feel the calluses on his hands and knew that he must play the shichi. A shichi is a musical instrument in the shape of a rectangle. You lay it on a stand and then press your fingers on a string, or a chord of strings if you wish. You slide your fingers along the string and it makes music. It sounds magical, like a perfect hum was infected with honeysuckle. I smiled. Not many men played the shichi, they were too afraid of what people would think. 

Ada played an instrument once. President Nathaniel had sent two people down to a different galaxy to settle a dispute that was happening across worlds. He brought my family something called a Piano from a planet called Earth. Ada was quite good at it, but stopped playing it because how much he was teased because he played an instrument from Earth, which I didn't understand, even as the younger sibling. Maybe they teased him out of jealousy, I know I probably would. 

Soon I realized we were in the ship. I sat down in the back seat of the ship and watched Birch and Bloom communicate. 

"Bloom, are we clear to take off?" Birch asked with a smile. She nodded shyly. 

"Y-Yeah." I chuckled. She Isn't getting anywhere with him if she is like that. But who knows, he may be interested in someone like her. Something inside me pained when I thought that. I brushed it off. I couldn't possibly be interested in him, I just met him! I have no chance. After all, Bloom has known him longer then I have. 

I shook the thought off and focused on the mission. I shouldn't worry about such things when someone's life is at stake. I looked to Birch, who had his eyes firmly focused on the task at hand. 

"So, how long will this take? We are talking about a life here!"  I said eagerly. He chuckled. 

"Calm down Lightning Bug; we have a transporter so it should only take about a couple minutes." I frowned. 

"Then why did we take a ship?" I said, eyeing him. He kept his eyes on the ship as he spoke. 

"A transporter can't transport a person unless it is on a ship, otherwise, something really really bad would happen." I nodded. I should know something so vital really, but that knowledge wasn't taught at the school  I went to. He turned to look at Bloom. 

"Alright, I set the coordinates, so we should be there shortly. In the meantime, let's chat." I giggled awkwardly and my internal self screamed

Lets not. 

He turned to me. 

"What is your favorite color?" I let out a laugh. 

"You can ask me anything in the world, and you go for 'what is your favorite color?'" He blushed a bit. 

"Yeah..." He said, not finishing his sentence. I smiled brightly. 

"Aquamarine." I answered while smiling calmly at him. It was weird how calm I felt around him. Usually, before a mission I would feel anxious and worried as I go over all the things that could possibly go wrong in my head, but he makes it all go away, and just calms every part of me.  He turned to Bloom and grinned. 

"I already know yours." He said with a wink. She nodded and smiled slightly as they both said at the same time. 

"Blue." My face was blank as I thought internally. I wish he just knew things like that about me. But of course he wouldn't, we just met. He turned back to me. 

"What is your dream." He asked as I smiled. 

"Well, this I guess." I replied matter of factly He tilted his head. 

"That's an odd dream." He teased as I shook my head.

"Why?" I curiously asked. He smirked casually. 

"You dream of putting yourself into danger." I rested my hands on the back of Birch's seat. 

"That's just me I guess. I hate just sitting around and playing it safe." I finished. This time, I asked the question. 

"What is your most painful memory?" I said, afraid slightly that I was overstepping my boundaries. Thankfully, Bloom went first.

"I fell in love with a boy, he was my first unrequited love. I decided not to waste any time with beating around the bush and just asked him 'do you like me romantically?' He replied by pouring a whole bottle of Dulce over my head in front of a lot of people. I never really confessed my feelings to anyone I loved after that." Birch looked sad and he hugged her. I went next. 

"My grandma came down with Doldecarma, when that whole deadly disease was going around. First her mind started to go, and then the rest of her. In two weeks she forgot who my brother and I even were. She was the closest thing I had to a parent after…" The words caught in my throat. 

"Someone else go." I blurted. I didn't want to talk about my Grandma, it was still too painful. Sure, I could think about her all I wanted, but saying it aloud meant that it was real, that my Grandma was really dead. Suddenly, I got a flashback that I knew would fuck me up for a couple days. God I hate those 

~Flashback~

My grandma and I sat across from each other as I playfully darted my eyes from the cards in  front of  me to my grandma's eyes.  She spoke. 

"Stop trying to throw me  off girl, I've been at this longer then you have been alive." I laughed and lowered my cards. 

"Beat this hand lady." I said cockily. I was so foolish back then. I was only nine, yet I was still so cocky. Mom had died four years ago and I was still acting like I had someone else to go to. Or at least, I felt like I did. My grandmother scoffed and laid down  her cards, allowing my jaw to drop. 

"How the hell do you do that?" I asked sort of whiningly. My grandma shrugged. 

"All The good cards just come to me." She revealed as I looked at her suspiciously. 

"And how do the bad cards know to stay away?" She looked at me with wide eyes and a cheeky smile. 

"Because  they know better." She soothed as I smiled at my grams. She always knew how to calm me down, which I'm guessing is why I like Birch so much. He reminds me of the one person besides Ada who was always there for me. It's kind of weird though, looking back at my past self knowing everything I know now. It seems like I wasted so much of my childhood now, I can't even begin to imagine how much of a waste Ada must've felt like after dad died.

"What will I do without you?" My grandma spoke. 

"Let's hope we never find out." She replied.

~Flashback end~

Lastly, Birch went. "When I was living on Nabine and going to the training academy in my teen years, there was this girl who always came to school smelling like she just ran a marathon, and looking like she woke up on the wrong side of the world. My friends and I were all friends with this girl, but we still talked about her behind her back. I felt guilty, but did nothing. Later that year people started writing things like 'pig' and 'philcoborth' on her locker. She killed herself the week after. I never talked bad about anyone again, and I tried to be more lenient on who I cared and loved and who I didn't." 

My heart ached for him as he tried to hide his watery eyes. I grabbed his hand and looked comfortingly into his eyes. Bloom grabbed his other hand and rubbed it with her thumb. Suddenly, we heard a noise and we transported. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, we were on Muse. I let go of Birch's hand and looked out  the ship window. I Could tell that we were on Muse by the green meadows and giant body of water behind the ship. Also, the large white temple was kind of a give away. I smiled as I walked out and breathed in the air. The atmosphere was smooth and easy; it smelled of lavender and honeysuckle. A hint of moistness was in the air. I walked up to the temple with Birch and Bloom, and I saw River come out. She was wearing a turquoise dress that faded into blue. The bottom was flowy and carried a small train behind her. The waistline of the dress met in the middle and a single strip came up vertically along her midsection and connected it to the top portion of the dress; which consisted of a bikini like top, except the sleeves were long, turquoise, and see-through; and they started right below her shoulders. The sweetheart neckline had a silver jewel in the middle of it, along with the bottom middle part of the waistline. 

Her hair was chestnut brown, curly, and very long. The right side of her head had strips of hair twisted into a rose with diamonds worked into it, and pinned it just above her ear. Strips of hair on either side of her head were twisted and pinned on the back of her head with bobby pins. Her bright blue eyes were rimmed with black, and her eyelashes were full and curled. Her cheeks were rosy and contoured, and her lips were glossed with clear. She was really beautiful. Her shoes were simple silver flats with blue diamonds on them. Her earrings were silver, turquoise, and dangly. Her smile lit up everything and her eyes were practically bursting with colors, even though they were just blue. She walked up to me and smiled. 

"Hello, are you Lightning?" I nodded. God, there is that intoxicatingly peachy Muse accent again.

"I'm River, but you probably know that right?" I smiled and nodded. 

"So River, you know that I'm gonna take you away from here for a little bit, right?" She nodded. 

"I have already said my goodbyes." I nodded and pointed to Birch. 

"This is Birch." She smiled brightly and shook his hand. He looked awed, and with good reason. 

"Hello Birch, I am River." He nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. 

"Hi River, I'm B-Birch." She giggled playfully. This must be his first time meeting royalty, or at least royalty outside of his own planet. I can understand why he would be nervous.

"I know." I could feel the steam radiating off of Bloom. I pointed to Bloom. 

"This is Bloom." River walked over to Bloom and smiled at her. In an instant, I could feel Bloom's anger melt away when she smiled back at River. 

"Hi River." River shook her hand and then turned to me, smiling. 

"Shall we go?" I nodded and she followed Birch, Bloom, and I onto the ship. I sat her in the back seat of the ship, next to mine. She turned to me innocently. 

"Where are the buckles?" I chuckled. 

"There are none." Her eyes widened.

"What!" I grabbed her well kept hands. They were really soft, unlike my rougher, more beaten up ones. 

"It will be fine." I soothed as she nodded and swallowed down her fear. I looked at Birch. 

"Alright, plug in the coordinates for where ever we are going." He nodded and plugged them in. 

"We will be transported in 3, 2, 1." I shut my eyes and when I opened them, We looked like we were in the same place. 

"Birch, we are still on Muse." He shook his head. 

"No, we are on Muse's sister planet, Lilaquia." I frowned. 

"I've never heard of Lilaquia before.." Which is odd because my position requires me to know all of the planets in our Galaxy, and I know that I would remember a name like Lilaquia. Bloom nodded. 

"That is because my mother, Lavender Daylight, deleted it from all the planets archives so nobody could take it over and overthrow her. So now, it's like Lilaquia doesn't exist." I nodded. That is pretty smart actually.

"Right. So where do River and I stay." I asked. Bloom and Birch looked at each other and then back at me, smiling. 

"You and River are staying in separate apartments." River's eyes widen. 

"What are apartments." I facepalm and Birch laughs. 

"They are like houses, just smaller, and with several other people you don't know living in the same building as you in separate other little houses." She nodded, yet clearly looked uncomfortable. I had to stop myself from laughing and remember that I'm supposed to be protecting this girl. Isn't strangers staying in your house the exact same as servants? Did it weird her out because these strangers wouldn't wash her clothes for her?

"Right. Thanks." She replied. They hop out of the ship, as do River and I, and walk over to a building that is grey and white. 

"This is Lakeside Apartments." I nod. It was very beautiful. The apartment complexes on the highest story were the only ones with balconies. The balconies were rectangular and had glass surrounding them. From what I could see, they had a table and a couch on the balconies. Birch took us through a pair of glass doors and then through a lobby. It had a T.V with a couch, 2 chairs, a table, and tan carpet covered the floor. Windows surrounded the building to let in plenty of natural light. They were the newest version of Lilarn Windows; the kind of window that you could tint different shades by tapping the window. Sometimes you could even make the windows see through on the inside, but tinted on the outside. I smiled. 

Birch took River and I into an elevator that was much like the elevator President Nathaniel had. It made a ding sound when we reached the top floor. When we stepped out, Bloom took River to one apartment, and Birch took me into another. 

The apartment walls were a navy blue accented with gold. There was a short hallway leading Birch and I into the dining room. The table was a dark, sleek brown color and was medium sized. It had four chair surrounding it and a cream colored cloth strip that went down the middle of it and had blue flowers in a light blue vase. Pictures lined the walls occasionally, and to the right of the dining room was the living room. 

The living room had light tan carpets and felt like a cloud when you stepped on it. It had a T.V mounted on the wall with a Pasterian couch and a coffee table. Chairs rested in the room in convenient places next to the couch, allowing there to be a hiding place where nobody could see you. Windows lined the room that looked out to the meadow and water, with a bunch of beautiful Turalights flying around during the night. Turalights are like Earth's fairies, but they glow a certain color and dance around during the night. Mom told me about Earth's mythical creatures once, she even brought me a book on it! My favorite one is a unicorn. If you looked hard enough out the windows, from every angle you could see a beautiful and large willow tree. That is called the Moonlit tree. During the night, the leaves on that willow tree glow blue and purple, and it lights up the clear water flowing around it. A reason for this is old folklore on Muse that I have heard been passed around. A beautiful tree on a mysterious planet that glows during the night. I looked to Birch. 

"Isn't there a Legend about that tree over there?" He nodded and began. 

"Yeah. Legend goes that a long time ago, a young princess fell in love with a man that she couldn't be with. Cliche right? Anyway, the princess would pick a leaf from that tree every night and float it up to his window. He would receive it, but he never knew who it was from. He fell in love with the mysterious girl sending him leaves every night. So, one night when she was sending the leaf up, he looked down just in time to see her face, and he knew it was the princess. He rushed down to meet her, but she was gone when he got there. She died shortly after from an unknown disease that passed through. Legend says that her spirit is inside that willow tree, lighting up the leaves so her lover can come and find her." His face looked so sensitive and delicate, I couldn't help but break the tension, if anything but to focus. I laughed in his face. 

"What a crock." He frowned. 

"No, its romantic." I raised my eyebrows. 

"Birch. He fell for leaves." He laughed as I twirled around, pretending to hold a leaf in my hand. "Oh thy handsome knight, let me gift you with the butthole of nature, something that changes colors depending on how hard you work." I finished. He chuckled a bit more.

"I guess so, but still. Its sad that they never reunited." I smiled. 

"Maybe they did in another life." I stared into his eyes and he gazed into mine. He smiled charmingly. 

"Your eyes are the most... Dazzling blue." Birch said as he drew closer. I swallowed my nervousness. This boy was getting a bit too close for comfort.

"Thanks. Your eyes are nice too." He rested his hand around my waist and I grew really quiet. I suddenly realized I had to burp as he leaned into me. I started to toss the idea back and forth in my head. If I burp in my face he won't kiss and hopefully leave me alone to focus on my mission, but it would be so rude to just burp in his face. Like, 'hey handsome stranger, I give you the gift of gas.' He already has that. I decided to try and hold it in.

"Lightning Bug.... Let's go away together." He whispered the last part in my ear and I shivered. 

"I..... I can't." His face visually fell." I lifted his chin to have him look in my eyes. "I can't, because I have a friend who loves you. And it would break her heart if I just kissed you right now." His eyes widened. 

"Who?" I smiled and put my hand on his cheek. If I couldn't kiss him, I could do this. 

"That is not my place to say Bumblebee." He smiled. 

"You have a nickname for me?" I smiled back.

"Now I do." He leaned into my hand and I pulled it away. 

"Let's go and check on how River and Bloom are doing." He whined. 

"If we have to." After he walked out the door I loudly burped and then sighed in relief. God I hope he didn't hear that.