Chapter 29: Lumia's Past

A five-year-old girl walks into a room and opens the door. She walked towards a boy, who is eight-years-old and was studying, and said, "Hey Void, play with me." He turned around and said, "Sure, just let me finish this Lumia." She pouted and he laughed while rubbing her head trying to cheer her up. Soon he finished writing, got out of his seat, and followed Lumia.

Ten years later, Lumia is now fifteen and just starting high school. She and Void both wave goodbye to their father left the house and headed toward school. This was the last semester for Void as he was graduating and going to college. Once he finishes with all of his studies he was going to help their father with his business. Their father was the owner of a really big company and he hopes that one day Void will be the next owner. As for Lumia, she was free to pursue whatever dream she wanted. So she did and joined a lot of clubs as she was growing up, making a lot of athletic company wanting her. But she turned down most of them and joined the archery club after a certain event happens two years ago.

Lumia and her mother were kidnaped and held for ransom. Lumia manages to cut the ropes tying her hand and feet, with a shard of glass. She then tried to fight them, but there were too many for her to handle. After she received a good beating, the kidnappers decided to break her right shoulder to teach her a lesson and to make sure she can't do anything. She has then tied up again and forced to drink some alcohol. After a few more minutes passed, the police arrived and told them to release the hostages. The kidnappers ask, "Where's the money?!" They replied, "There is no money, Mr.Faltorun only gives you two options. Surrender or be prepared to die." The kidnappers then fired off their guns near Lumia and her mother, making her mother scream, and they said, "If there's no money then they'll die! Does he not care about them?!" Lumia didn't scream, as her head was fuzzy from drinking the alcohol. The cops started talking to each other and her father and after a minute they replied, "He does, but the money is needed to grow the business and therefore cannot be handed over."

One of the kidnappers said, "Is that so?" He then pointed his handgun at Lumia and was going to pull the trigger. Her mother tried to reach and shield her, but they held her back. She struggles and tried to defy them with all her strength. Lumia heard her screaming and judging from the sounds she knew that something bad was going to happen. She looked towards the direction of her mother's screams, smiled, and whispered, "Thank you for everything." The sound of a gun then went off and everything faded to black.

She soon woke up, looking at a clean white ceiling, and started to look around. She notices she was laying down in a bed in the hospital and wondered how she got here. She then thought to herself, "Am I dead?" But the moment Void walked into her room and patted her head, she knew she wasn't dead. She then asked Void, "Am I dreaming?" Void gave a small laugh and said, "No silly, hm..." Void started to quickly inspect her himself and after a quick look said, "Nothing seems wrong, but just to be safe you should rest. You're probably still a little loopy. I'll go tell dad the news that you've woken up." But before Void could leave Lumia grabbed his shirt. Void turned around and noticed she was worry and said, "Don't worry I'll be right back, I promise." She nodded her head and let go of Void. Void then left the room and after a few minutes, he came back.

He sat down in a chair, rubs Lumia's head again, and said, "See I came back." She nodded her head and Void told her what happened. A mysterious person came through a window and tried to rescue her and their mother. But they were only able to rescue Lumia as their mother got shot in the chest and died. Lumia was starting to cry and Void rubbed her head again. Void didn't shed a tear as Lumia continued to cry for a while. Once she stopped, Void stayed by her side and told her to get some sleep. But Lumia was worried and said, "But... what if I open my eyes and this all turned out to be a dream? What if I am really dead?" Void held her hand and said, "I feel alive, right?" She nodded her head and Void continued, "Then that means you're alive. So go to sleep, and don't worry I won't be going anywhere. I'll be here when you wake up, I promise." Lumia nodded her head and soon fell asleep.

As they continue walking, Void then waves his hand in front of Lumia and says, "Hey Lumia you awake? It's dangerous to dream and walk at the same time." Lumia looked at Void and reply, "I'm awake, I'm awake." Void then move his hand and said, "That's good, so what were you thinking?" Lumia replied, "Eh, oh um... something that happened two years ago." Void then said, "Oh... I see." Lumia nodded her head and said, "Yep, I miss mom. But I'm glad you're here. You really kept your promise to me back then. Even though it made you really late to school and you couldn't finish your homework." Void laughed and said, "Hey give your big bro some credit. When I promise something I stick to it. Besides missing a few lessons and points is fine. Not like they're more important than you. Besides, how's archery? Your right is not hurting, is it? You're also doing well with your left, right?" 

Lumia walked faster away while saying, "Hey, hey, easy with the questions Void." Void laughed and Lumia continued, "Archery is going well and my arms are fine. My right shoulder doesn't hurt and my accuracy with my left hand is improving." Void then said, "I see, that's good." Lumia then turn around and smile at him, saying, "So think you have some time for archery, Void?" Void smile at her and said, "If you're challenging me then I'm not refusing. Actually, we can start now." Void then started running and Lumia said, "Hey! No fair!" She then ran after him and they sprinted to school laughing and having fun.

A few months later, Lumia is wearing a white and red kimono, while tying her hair into a ponytail with a blue ribbon. Lumia then got her bow and quiver. She held her bow in her right hand and stood at the shooting line facing her target. The entire club stop to watch her and even a few female students came to watch her. Once the club manager gave the signal, she shot one arrow at a time, and after shooting ten arrows stopped. All the girls started screaming in joy and Lumia turn her attention to them. She smiled at them and wave, as blonde hair girl walked out of the group and towards Lumia. She handed Lumia a homemade lunch box and she took it, before kissing her cheek. She blushed and Lumia said, "You're pretty cute when you're blushing, Layla." She starts blushing more and said, "D-Don't tease me so much Lumi. Besides, how is your arm?" Lumia smile and said, "It's perfectly fine, I've gotten used to using my left. You'll see when I dominate the boys in basketball during gym class." Lumia went into the locker room to change out of her kimono and into her school uniform.

She and Layla both went to class and after some hours it was time for gym class. They all change out of their uniforms and into gym clothes. Lumia also tied her hair into a ponytail as they made their way to the gym. Lumia and two other girls were up against three boys. But before they started her classmates, guys and girls were recording Lumia and even Layla was recording. The teacher told them to focus on their own games, but they didn't want to miss Lumia in action. So the teacher had no choice but to let them. He then looks at both teams and seeing that they were ready threw the ball into the air. Lumia got the first touch and passed the ball to her team. Lumia sprinted past the boys and was already below the hoop. Her teammate took a shot and when it bounces off the rim, Lumia jumped up, caught it with her left hand, and slam dunk it. Everyone screamed and cheered for her and they started talking to each other, saying, "Did you see how high she jumped? See it, we recorded it. She's very athletic I can see why she got so many scholarships. I would love having her on my team. Yeah I know right, even though she can't use her best hand, she's still so amazing. That shows you that hard work can pay off. Keep it up, Lumia!"

Lumia ran around the court and gave them a peace sign. She then stole the ball as the boys were passing, made it to the three point mark, and took a shot. The ball went in and her team high-fived her. Lumia manages to keep control of the entire game until one of the boys slipped trying to block her, and she tripped over their leg. Another boy then caught her and fell on his back to shield her. Everyone then ran over to them and the teacher said, "Is anyone hurt?" The boy replied, "We're fine, we're perfectly fine." He sat up still holding Lumia and she said, "U-Um... thanks, but you can let go of me now." He said, "Oh right sorry," and let go of Lumia. She stood up and there was a faint pink tinge on her face. Everyone saw that and how she was acting and Layla said, "Seeing Lumia be cool and amazing is great. But seeing her being all cute and girly is just as great." Everyone then took a picture and Lumia helped the boy on the ground to his feet. The boy that tripped her, bow his head, and said, "I'm so sorry." Lumia replied, "It's okay, it was an accident."

School soon ended and Lumia was packing the things she needed into her bag when one of Void's friend came up to her. He gave her a notebook and said, "Can you give this back to Void? He gave it to me so I could copy his notes. I was about to give it back to him, but he suddenly left." Lumia said, "Of course," and put the notebook into her bag. She started to make her way home when she saw Void turning a corner. She called out to him and ran towards him, but when she turned the corner he was gone. She decided to just head home and give it to him when he arrives. But as she was leaving, she was suddenly grabbed by someone, they place a napkin against her nose, and she passed out.

When she woke up, she was inside an abandoned warehouse and a man wearing dark black and blue clothes was fighting some people. He wore a black coat with a hood and he had a mask on that only covered his nose down. They had guns and shot a lot of bullets at him, but he ran up and struck everybody with his palms injecting a hidden blade through their hearts. Soon they started retreating and left Lumia behind while throwing some canisters towards the man. He then ran fast towards, took off his masks, and placed it on Lumia. Lumia then got a good look under his hood and said, "Void? What are you doing?" He replies, "My job, but it's going to get much harder from here." The cans exploded releasing a green gas into the air, Void covers his mouth with his hand, while freeing Lumia with the other, and quickly got out. But Void's hand couldn't completely block the gas and he inhaled some. When they got out, they hid behind some barrels, and Void started coughing up blood. Void looked at his hand and said, "Well at least you weren't poison. Anyway stay here, I'm going to clean them up."

He then ran out and a hail of bullets flew towards him. He manages to dodge some and blocked a few more with his gauntlets, but not all of them. Some manage to graze him until a bullet struck him in the leg and he fell to the ground. Lumia wanted to help him, but then they started shooting at her. That's when a voice started talking to her, "Do you want to save him? Do you want strong? Do you want to surpass your brother?" She replied, "Yes, I want to be able to help him. I want to at least share some of his burdens. Every day, everyone relies on him, they call him a prodigy, so no one thinks they can beat him, and always let him have his way. But all that does is make him have more work. Never once have I seen him when he doesn't work really hard. He never takes a break, so please give me the strength to stand beside him." The voice replied, "That's the spirit, then allow me to give you a helping hand."

Lumia then burst out from behind the barrels and instantly stood in front of Void. She absorbs the poison out of his body and the bullets that were being fired at them. Then she gathers a lot of energy into her left hand, creating a massive ball of darkness, and she swings her hand sending a dark wave towards their enemies and killing them all. She then turns around to face Void and said, "Look Void, I've gotten so strong. So now I can be useful to you." She put out her hand to help Void onto her feet, but then she started screaming in pain and soon her vision faded to black. When she woke up, she was laying on the ground, and she saw Void flying above her. She also saw someone else in front of him and he was giving them an angry look. Soon Void instantly vanish and her head started to hurt. Which made her close her eyes and she slowly drifted back into sleep again.

When she woke up again, she was in bed, and Void was sitting on a chair beside her bed. She looked to him and she said, "Was that all a dream?" Void shook his head and said, "It wasn't, all of it was real." She then asks, "I see, then did I die? Am I dreaming?" Void reply, "Of course not, idiot. Like I'll let my little sister die. What makes you think that?" She gave a small laugh and said, "Then will you stay by my side like before." Void reply, "Of course, I won't be going anywhere until you wake up." Lumia smiled at Void's word and soon fell back to sleep.

Back in Lumia's room in the mansion, Rexalia has fallen asleep on her bed and Lumia smiles at her. Lumia then thought to herself, "It really has been a long time, hasn't it Void? I almost forgot about why I wanted to be strong in the first place. I'm glad Rexalia reminded me, but it seems no matter how hard I try I can't walk beside you. You're always so far ahead and you won't let anyone take some of your burdens. But I won't give up, I will surpass you one day and walk along side you."