It was about ten years ago when she met Chasm that day in the red palace.

Luminous was five years old, sitting in the grass by the duck pond with the other noble girls around her age. All the ducks and geese playing duck, duck, goose-like they always do. But her, Maybell, and the other girls were talking about the play they just saw.

"It was so romantic!" Squealed Maybell. "The way the knight kissed the princess after he recused her. Their hearts were racing when he helped her up, then their faces were up close to each other. Then the moment came and, and then they kissed!"

"Oh Maybell. You're such a romantic." Laughed a pink pigtail lady in waiting named Lulu.

"I can't help it. That's how I want my first kiss to be."

Luminous felt her face brighten when Maybell laughed. Her laughed sounded like the cutest jingling of bells. Her smile rivaled the sun even when she devilishly smirked. Her perfect fair skin looked soft to the touch wrapped in her frilly dark red dress that matched her velvety hair. That cascaded in big ringlets down her back.

All the other girls were laughing with her. When the baby ducks and geese stampeded through the grass towards them.

"Eeek!"

All the girls squealed moving out of the way all except for Maybell who froze on the grass. Luminous pulled her out of the way, their faces becoming close to each other panting. Luminous' heart raced as she stared into her wild forest green eyes.

Luminous leaned in kissing Maybell. Her first thought was that her lips were soft and that she smelled sweet like roses. But before Luminous could deepen the kiss Maybell shoved her away. She splashed into the duck pond. Becoming soaked from her black bow that tied her long wavey blonde hair to her black buckle dress shoes.

"Eww! Luminous!" Shrieked Maybell.

"Eww! Luminous was your first kiss!" Squealed Lulu.

Maybell's face turned as red as her hair. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she screamed out.

"You ruined my first kiss you yellow-haired freak! Don't talk to me anymore Luminous!"

Luminous laid face-up staring at the blue sky through the clear cool water. She could get up anytime she wanted, her white frilly dress wasn't even heavy despite being soaked. It was her heart that felt too heavy to let her up. She felt comfortable drownding.

But before she could let herself. A familiar freckled hand grip hers pulling her up out of the duck pond.

"Luminous, are you okay? Why did Maybell push you into the pond?" Asked the red prince.

She coughed out the water from her lungs, like the feelings from her heart. They both stood in the duck pond, water up to their knees. The red prince's face looked into hers softly, his freckles and warm smile sparkled in the sun like they always did. She tried to match his smile, but she could already feel the mask slipping.

"I...she..." Luminous stammered her eyes watering.

Luminous burst out in tears. The red prince's brown eyes softened with concern.

"Hey, Luminous uh..." He gently hugged her, wiping away her tears. "What's this behind your ear?"

A cookie then appeared in his hand once he pulled his hand back from behind her ear.

"How did you do that?" Laughed Luminous.

"Because I'm secretly a very powerful magical wizard." Laughed the red prince.

"No, you're not." Giggled Luminous playfully shoving him.

They both fell back into the duck pond. Water dripped down from the red prince's dark red hair that was stuck to his fair neck.

"That's it now you're going to get it." Laughed the red prince taking off his red vest leaving his white button shirt on.

They both splashed each other for a while before the red prince helped her out of the duck pond.

"Luminous, now we're both soaked!" Laughed the red prince.

"Oh no, what about Brenda?" Asked Luminous. "Oh I know we could tell her that a giant came into the garden and cried on us. We had to swim out of her tears."

"Or we could just dry off." Said the red prince.

"How?"

The red prince looked around at all the trees surrounding them. The courtyard was filled with huge pine and weeping willows with red and pink flowers, with wide trunks.

"We could have a caucus race." Said the red prince.

Luminous' smile spread from ear to ear. Before they could utter another word they both kicked off their black buckled dress shoes and were running around a wide willow tree in a looped race that would only end if one or both of them yield to exhaustion.

"What's the prize for winning this time?" Asked Luminous already out of breath.

"Prize?" Asked the red prince, pressing his hand to his chin in mock thinking. "How about...we tell each other a rumor we've heard about each other. Like for example if I win, how about you tell me what Maybell and Lulu were gossiping about in the kitchen this morning."

Luminous' blue eyes grew wide. Ignoring her own breathlessness she ran from the tree. Her silk white socks skidding in the dew of the grass until they came off.

"Cheater! You're not supposed to leave the tree!" Yelled the red prince.

He followed closely behind Luminous, her black bow becoming undone and falling to the leaves on the ground. Her blonde wavy hair now catching in the wind as the race became more of a chase.

She looped through the pine trees and passed the gate to the training yard. That's when the red prince realized exactly where she was going. It's where she always went when she needs sanctuary. Pivoting, the red prince ran all the way back to the duck pond.

Luminous ran into the library bursting through the double doors. When the red prince grabbed her from the side of the wooden bookshelf.

"No! No! No!" Luminous kicked and squirmed.

But the red prince squeezed her torso with his arms tighter, dragging her farther into the library.

"Tell me what you and Maybell were gossiping about in the kitchen this morning." Said the red prince tickling Luminous' sides.

"No! No! Not my-Hahaha!" Luminous laughed tears coming out of her eyes.

"Tell me Luminous! Why were you gossiping about me!"

"Stop!"

Luminous laughed, wiggling around in his grasp until she faced him, her flushed teary-eyed face inches away from his. They both stared at each other panting.

"Just, not you too...you're my only real friend."

Luminous thought about lying about gossiping, but immediately felt ashamed about what she did when she looked up to see the red prince's tearful chestnut eyes.

"I. Maybell said that the queen was so angry that you were born a boy instead of a girl that she banished your dad to the black kingdom and wanted to cut off your boy parts. But she stopped when she realized you would be the last of her linage." Admitted Luminous.

The red prince's face darkened when he heard that, his nose and lip screwing up in a sort of pout. I mean it wasn't a secret that his mother regretted having him instead of a little girl who could take over the kingdom. But it still hurt.

"What does cut off your boy parts mean?" Asked Luminous. "Aren't all your parts boy parts because you're a boy?"

"Luminous. Don't gossip about me." Said the red prince grabbing her hand and looking into her blue eyes. "Please. I don't want you listening to Maybell or the others anymore, okay."

He knew this was a selfish thing to ask. For her to pay attention to no one but him. But was it bad that even if he inherited a whole kingdom that it still wasn't enough if he didn't have her?

"I, don't want to gossip anymore." Said Luminous biting her lip.

"Good."

The red prince wiped at the tears in his eyes with the sleeves of his white shirt. He didn't know what he was feeling with Luminous. But he started to notice something was different that day she found him in the secret garden up in his tree. His heartbeat and breathing were somehow harder and his face felt flushed whenever she would lay down next to him.

They both laid down together on the blue carpeted ground of the library staring at the white ceiling. Luminous clutched her heart thinking about how Maybell pushed her into the duck pond.

"I'll never love again." Said Luminous.

"What?" Blinked the red prince.

DING-DING!

The palace bells ringed loudly throughout the courtyard.

"The knights! They're back!" Smiled Luminous.

She jumped up her stubby little legs running towards the double doors. The red prince went running after her when he noticed her bloomers laying on the ground. Did she wiggle out of them when he was tickling her?

"Hey, Luminous!" He blushed calling after her.

But she was already gone through the swinging double doors of the library.

Luminous ran down the stone path under the wooden shading barefooted in noughting but a white dress. This time there was a huge crowd surrounding the palace gates as the knights rode in. Luminous had to squeeze herself between all the stuffy dressed nobles to get to the front.

But when she did it was worth it. She gawked at all the knights riding in on huge white horses. In their red padded shirts with their armor buttons attached to their sleeves, and tight black leggings. She often wondered what it would be like to go outside the palace gates on an adventure with them.

Then she spotted a knight with freckles and dark red hair, with sideburns, and the softest chestnut brown eyes. Sir Melodious wasn't the biggest most muscular of the knights. But he was clever and confident. He was the one who saved the red queen from Fertility the witch by figuring out her towers puzzle and brought her back to the palace safely.

That's when Luminous spotted him for the first time. A little boy with skin as white as snow, body as slender and delicate as a dove, and hair of raven night, riding with sir Melodious on his horse. She leaned in closer and heard a snippet of the conversation sir Melodious had with sir Bear the bagger.

"Oh, and you're going to keep this random kid and raise him as your own?" Teased Bear the bagger.

"I don't see why not. I need a son to take on my knightly duties when I pass on. And the kid has no home, we found him by himself in the abandoned rubble of Kindom Black's outskirts." Said, sir Melodious petting the boy's straight black hair. "It's too bad that he doesn't seem to talk. Chasm hasn't said a word, even when I try to ask him stuff."

"Chasm? Oh, man, you named it!"

"Well, I mean he does need a name. I think it goes with his hair..." Said Melodious scratching his dark red chin stubble.

Luminous smiled and waved vigorously at the new kid. He locked eyes with her. The whole world stopped as she looked into his deep blue crescent moon eyes, she had never seen eyes shaped like that and she felt like he had to be the most beautiful creature in the world. Right then a gust of wind blew by her lifting her white dress with it. Chasm's face turned a dark shade of red and he broke eye contact squealing.

"That little girl is wearing noughting under her dress!"

"Oh, uh..." Sir Melodious felt himself blush.

"Haha, first time meeting Luminous kid?" Laughed Bear.

No one needed to turn around from what they were doing to know it was Luminous causing trouble again. The crowd of nobles stepped back as Brenda the nanny bot took Luminous hand and dragged her away from the scene without a word.

"Hey! Let go! Brenda!" Screamed Luminous trying to wiggle her tiny wrist out of the robot's meatal grasp. "Let go! I want to see the kights!"

The memory of that day melted away into a dream.

The entire courtyard was deserted, the background of trees and courtyard flowers whited out. Luminous continued to walk down the stone path barefooted without Brenda bot. She touched her lips as her thoughts turned to Chasm, oh how she would love to kiss him on his perfectly red lips. But didn't want to mess up as she did with Maybell.

Luminous looked down sadly at her shadow. It stretched and grew until her five-year-old self became fifteen again. The white dress she was wearing became war-torn, her long wavey hair cut short to shoulder length with the black bow on top of her head. Her smooth fair skin had cut over her nose, her lip, and her chin where the Hall Monter had cut her.

She stopped walking and her blue eyes widen when she saw him. An old gray mouse in a red sweater vest standing in front of her.

"Master mouse?" Tears began to well up in Luminous' eyes.

He slowly turned around and walked away from her, but he was as fast as if he were running.

"Hey wait!" Screamed Luminous running after him.

She stopped at the edge of this huge white chasm between the stone path and the willow tree she and the red prince like to run around. Looking across she saw Master mouse by the willow as it slowly drifted away from her on an iland of its own.

Backing up she ran then jumped across the white chasm. Her bare feet flying up in the air before hitting the grass tumbling. Mater mouse ran around the tree and she quickly jumped up continued to chase after in a never-ending caucus race.

"Wait!" Screamed Luminous.

"The deal is set, the trigger pulled. This curse will come to take its toll. Sometimes a crush can go by without witnesses, a secret crush could not be in whole the fittest. Passions can blaze fast and burn like wild, especially if it's a miss informed child. The best of worse intentions sometimes goes a miss, two souls immured together with a kiss."

Luminous' eyes opened. She woke up laying in the desert sand. She felt something on top of her and realized it was Vainglorious' trench coat. Rubbing the coat's sleeve she mumbled.

"Two souls immured with a kiss?"