Lucky Star - The Steampunk Star

“Now remember, Lucky, the Stars are the Universe’s last line of defense. And that the galaxies do NOT deserve the Stars.”

Wishing, my tutor was strong with her choice of words that even her posture was in-line with her tone of voice. And this is the first time I have ever heard her speak like this. Normally she is mild tempered and gentle with her words, but today she has made an exception.

Smoothing out her light brown hair, she took a deep breath while I raised my hand, intent on asking why she felt the way she did, but she gently signaled me to lower it.

“I know you are wondering why I say that, and what could I mean. Well, now. Let me explain...”

Wishing began telling me all about the first galaxy war, and judging from her dark and gloomy facial expression, it was not a happy time. Listening with great interest, I could not help but grow excited when the name of the greatest Star ever came up.

“Luminous was the greatest Star ever to live – as I’m sure you’re aware, Lucky,” She then gave me a small smile as I giggled.

“Did Grandfather really bring fear to his enemies?!” I asked, a little too excitedly.

“Oh, yes! He was the greatest Star for a reason.” Wishing then pretended to be Luminous, thrusting and holding an imaginary sword over her head. “Anyone who dared to oppose or challenge him was slain in incredible fashion. However,” Her smile quickly died, and all traces of happiness went with it. She replaced it with a somber look with a depressing tone to match. “He was not always fair. Luminous had his flaws, especially when it came to honor and such.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, brushing a lock of my deep brown hair out of my face, and tucking it neatly behind my ear.

“My brother Star – someone so close to me – was exiled because…” She paused, thinking over her explanation before shaking her head and putting on a fake smile. “Never mind about that. Luminous was a fair king during his reign. Hopefully, his son – your father – and his granddaughter – you – will follow him in glory.”

I smiled but could not help but feel sorry for her. Wishing is clearly upset and wanted to tell me something, but I wonder if she was worried my father would hear of her speaking about Luminous in such a manner. Still, she should be able to speak freely. I cannot imagine losing someone close to me and not being able to see them again.

After wrapping up the day’s lessons, Wishing gathered her belongings and placed them neatly in her bag before picking it off the table she routinely uses as a desk.

“Well, that is it for today, Princess. Make sure you study up on what we covered today because I will be quizzing you in a few days' time.” she warned me, giving me her usual warm smile.

“Yes, Ma’am. I promise,” I assured her, collecting my books off the table I routinely use as a desk while she made her exit from the teaching room.

Once Wishing had disappeared into the outside, I felt relieved, gently placing my books back down on the table before casually turning to the large storage cabinet that stood near my table.

“She’s gone! You can come out now, Ursa.” I claimed, crossing my arms with a smirk on my face.

The left door of the storage cabinet then swung open and what popped out was this twin pair of pale legs, much like mine, before a colorful haired, green-eyed, no-taller-than-me girl climbed out.

“Ugh! Finally! Why does Wishing have to go on and on about every subject that she teaches?” Ursa complained, stretching parts of her body out. “I mean seriously: she has to include every detail about the simplest things.”

“That is what a good teacher does. A teacher should know all their facts before teaching it to others.” I replied, uncrossing my arms, and cautiously looking over at the door, fearing someone might walk in. “You should stop sneaking in here before my lessons, Ursa. You are going to get caught one of these days.”

Ursa simply waved my concern off.

“I am not scared of your dad, Lucky. King Sirius cannot keep me away. Besides, you would miss me.” Ursa teased, making us both giggle.

“True. You are my sister Star, and I would be utterly lost without you.”

“Naturally,” We both laughed again. “Now… What do you say about having a little fun?”

“Fun? What kind of fun?” I inquired, growing more curious by the minute.

Ursa then leaned in close and brought her voice to a whisper. “Let’s sneak to Earth and check it out.” she told me; a devious smile plastered on her face.

My face turned to shock as I shook my head. Normally, I do not mind bending the rules with Ursa, but this one I was strongly against.

“Absolutely not! That is too dangerous!” I told her, refusing.

“Oh, come on! I just want to peek at what Earth has to offer. We learned about it in class today and it made me curious. I promise we will only be there for a few minutes.”

“No! Father will surely punish us both. Besides, we are not even old enough to leave yet. If we get caught, we will surely be sent to the –”

“Lucky, stop worrying! We will not get caught if we are careful.”

“I don’t want to risk it.”

“Then stay here. But I am going to Earth, and nobody in this whole Universe is going to stop me.”

She then turned back to the storage cabinet and pulled out her bag before closing the doors to the said cabinet and walking towards the door. I could not help but notice how much heavier the bag looked compared to every other time I have seen her with it.

“What’s in the bag, Ursa?” I questioned, watching her stop at the door.

“If you want to find out, guess you’ll have to come with me.” was all she replied before opening the door and disappearing outside.

A strong feeling quickly grew in my middle. So much so that I threw everything in my bag and chased after Ursa, hoping to find out what was in her bag. And pray it is nothing serious.

Once I left the teaching room, I hurried off after Ursa and found her halfway towards the Main Gate – where Stars, the Star Army, travel to other planets and galaxies. We both saw the familiar Guards who were guarding it, prompting me to breathe easy.

Casually shrugging, I turned to walk away, quickly rambling off, “Oh, well, looks like we cannot get past. Let’s go!” but Ursa merely clutched my shoulder and yanked me back.

“Hold on…” she murmured, moving her head a little, scanning the area, murmuring to herself. Seconds later, her lips twisted into a smile. “Ah-ha!”

I was then pulled towards the gate where we hid nearby, close enough to where the Guards couldn’t hear us, and that’s when Ursa began explaining her plan.

“Okay, here’s the plan. You go to the Guards and say something like ‘My father requests your presence!’ and once they’re gone, we sneak in.” Ursa explained, doubts running through my mind.

“And what if they don’t buy it?” I questioned, having serious doubts in the back of my mind.

“They won’t. If they don’t go check, and something really is wrong then that’s their heads.” Ursa used the quotient symbol, seemingly knowing they’ll fall for it.

Peeking my head out from my hiding spot, I looked at the two Guards who remained as still as statues before shaking my head and sighing heavily.

“This is not going to end well…” I commented, ready to give up before I even tried this crazy stunt. “Okay… Here I go!”

Stepping out from the hiding spot, I quickly ran up to the Guards, doing my best to act out that something was wrong, hoping to the Star Gods that they don’t see through my bluff.

“Guards! My father – King Sirius – needs you right away! Says it’s urgent!” was all I said, and no sooner had those words left my mouth, the Guards raced past me and hurried towards the Palace.

Watching them until they were out of sight, I lowered my head in guilt, knowing my parents will surely punish me when they find out about this deception.

“Told you they’d believe you!” Ursa chuckled, joining my side as my eyes closed. “Hey… Don’t worry about it. It’s not like it’s the end of the world, right? You told one lie. You’ll be fine.”

“I guess…”

“Come on. We don’t have much time before they realize what’s going on.”

I slumped my shoulders as I followed Ursa past the Main Gate, quickly passing the beautiful shimmering rocks that pulsate with every movement they feel. I then looked up at the sky and saw the eternal dark void known as space where some planets could be seen in the distance.

Walking under the eternal darkness, Ursa I began noticing that the cosmic energy that gives us life was starting to thin a little bit, making our pale bodies dim a little bit.

“Ursa, are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe there’s a reason why Stars our age aren’t allowed in here.” I asked, growing more and more nervous as my skin kept getting dimmer.

“We’re almost there. Just over here... I think.” Ursa said, sounding very unsure.

“What do you mean you think?”

“I’ve never been in here! I don’t know where I’m going.”

Halting in my tracks, I glared at Ursa with a serious look – that I apparently got from my mother – before laying into her.

“Ursa Star! We are turning back right now! We shouldn’t even be in here, and I am not going to allow us both to get caught for something stupid and most likely dangerous.” I then clutched her wrist and began pulling her back towards the entrance, nearly dragging her with me.

“Wait!” Ursa said, dragging her feet, making it harder for me to pull her. “Look!”

“I’m not listening anymore. We are leaving!”

“No! Lucky, look!”

I then stopped, glancing in the direction Ursa was looking and saw this huge golden archway that was so bright, it nearly blinded us. Across the top, from what I could see, it had these huge letters that spelled Earth.

“That’s it! That’s the passageway to Earth! We found it!” Ursa then ripped her hand away and ran towards the archway with me racing after her.

“Ursa, wait!” I yelled, trying my best to catch up to her. Once we stood in front of the archway, we both looked up and were in awe of how amazing this contraption is. “We shouldn’t do this. We don’t know what’s down there. Earth isn’t called the most dangerous planet for a reason.” I told her, trying everything in my power to stop her.

“Lucky... I promise we will only be a few moments. Learn to live a little.” Ursa replied, grabbing my hand and squeezing tightly.

Looking at our hands, I sighed.

“Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?”

“Nope!”

Closing my eyes, I nodded my head with hesitation before saying, “Fine! Two minutes and nothing more.”

“Deal! Now let’s do this.”

Clutching each other's hand, we faced the golden archway that leads to Earth and saw the middle transform into a clear picture this strange looking area on Earth. Taking a deep breath, we stepped through the archway and found ourselves in the same strange looking area that appeared in the middle of the archway.

“What is this place?” Ursa wondered, looking all around as I did the same. “And what are those tall objects?”

I looked at the tall objects myself and admired the deep green foliage that rested on top of them. I also noticed that their bottoms were digging into the ground with rather large roots.

“I think these are called trees. They help produce oxygen and supply shade for Earthlings.” I answered, remembering my lessons on Earth with Wishing.

Suddenly, without warning, I felt this tight feeling in my body that made me lightheaded and ill. I honestly felt like my body, mainly chest area, was being crushed; but it wasn’t until I saw Ursa with her eyes closed and making these weird noises coming from her mouth. When she opened her eyes and noticed me, she raced towards me and grabbed my shoulders.

“Lucky, you must breathe! In through your nose, out through your mouth.” Ursa instructed me, showing while helping me through it.

I followed Ursa’s every move; I inhaled through my nose, feeling my chest tighten even more until I exhaled through my mouth. My chest untightened and I was finally able to shake the feeling of being crushed.

“What happened? I felt like I was suffocating!" I claimed, still inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth.

“We’re on Earth, Lucky. Down here, there is no cosmic energy that sustains life. Earthlings need air and are held down by gravity.” Ursa explained as I finally felt well enough.

“Is that why I feel so heavy?”

“Yep. The gravitational pull here pulls people down to avoid floating up to space. You see, Earthlings are the only species that can’t go into space without the supply of oxygen. They’ll simply suffocate and die.”

“That’s grim!”

“Unfortunately, that’s how Earth works. Now...” Ursa finally turned away and began exploring the little area where we were. “So, this is Earth? I pictured being... cleaner than this.” She then spotted and picked up a bottle off the ground, carefully studying it. “Why is this on the ground? Don’t Earthlings believe in keeping their planet clean and healthy?”

As Ursa continued to look around, I looked up at the night sky and admired the bright shining Stars above us.

“Okay, Ursa. I think we should head home now.” I suggested turning to Ursa who was busy climbing a tree. “Ursa!”

“In a minute, Lucky! I just want to see one thing, and then we’ll go home.” Ursa promised, hoisting herself on top of a tree branch.

However, the tree branch made this loud crunching sound, causing Ursa to lose her grip and fall to the ground. Watching her hit the ground with such force, I at once sprinted towards her, hoping she was okay.

“Are you alright?” I asked, examining her thoroughly.

Wincing in pain, Ursa sat up and began trying to lift her arm. “I’m alright but I think my arm is broken.” She then lifted her arm with her other hand only to find that it was completely limp. “Yep! It's broken!”

“Do you have any stardust? We can heal it with that?” I asked, grabbing her backpack and digging through it.

“Lucky, wait!”

I suddenly gasped.

“Ursa...” I started; my eyes larger than normal as I removed something from her bag. Ursa then gave me this nervous expression as I revealed a blastoid – something illegal and forbidden in the Stars.

“I - I can explain...”

“Where did you get this?! More importantly, why do you have it?” I demanded to know, setting it carefully on the ground and being super careful around it.

“Someone gave it to me. Told me to take care of it.” Ursa responded, reaching for her bag and pulling out a little sack. “I swear it’s not mine, Lucky.”

Ursa then opened the little sack and sprinkled some stardust – this powdery substance that Earthlings would mistake for glitter – and rubbed it on her broken arm.

“Who gave it to you?”

“I can’t say,”

“Ursa, who?” I then shook my head and decided against it. “You know what – it doesn’t matter. We are going home and getting rid of this. It is too dangerous to have lying around.”

“Agreed. Let’s go!”

I then helped Ursa up – her arm was now fully healed from the stardust – but when she carefully picked up the blastoid, something happened. It twisted and began glowing red – the two signs it's been activated.

“Ursa...” I panicked, quickly stepping away from her.

“Lucky, I swear, I’m not doing this!” Ursa claimed, panicking herself. “What do I do?!”

“Try turning it off!”

“I don’t know how!”

Suddenly, Ursa threw it and began running away, with me in toe, but as we saw the red light getting brighter, I couldn’t help but turn back and see some form of light in the distance.

“SOMEBODY’S COMING!” I screamed, fearing the worst.

Seeing the lights get closer, I ran back towards the blastoid, hoping to kick it out of the way, but Ursa stopped me and pulled me back.

“Let me go! I must stop the blastoid before someone gets hurt!” I struggled with her grasp, but she was surprisingly strong.

“Lucky, we got t go! That blastoid will kill us if we stay.” Ursa said, dragging me along with her towards the portal.

Looking back at the lights, I couldn’t help but scream in hopes that it would alert the oncoming lights, but it was too late. The blastoid exploded and sent this metal machine that held the lights flying into the tree where Ursa fell from.

Looking on in horror, both Ursa and I, who also went flying, looked at each other before looking back at the damage we just caused.

“What have we done?” I whispered in disbelief, sitting there in intense silence.

“What in all the Stars were you two thinking of?” my father yelled with such anger, causing both of us to fear and tremble in our current places.

We were now back home. After we stepped back through the portal, we were greeted by not only the Guards, but my parents as well. And believe me, their angered expressions have not changed.

“Two Earthlings were killed this evening by your actions!” my father explained, pacing back and forth between Ursa and me. “What were you even doing down there in the first place? You could have been injured or worse – caught or dead.” My father then looked at Ursa with a sneer. “And you – I blame you for tonight's events!”

“Father!” I interrupted only to be at once silenced by him.

“Sirius!” My mother tried to speak with him, but she was too silenced.

“Quiet! I will not have either of you making excuses for this criminal.” my father said, causing both of us to gasp in disbelief. He then refocused his attention on Ursa, who now looked dumbfounded – not scared, but... confused. “Ursa Star – you knowingly found a blastoid, took it into your possession and kept it for yourself. How do you wish to plead?”

Ursa struggled to make words but when she was able to, she was cut off by my father who wouldn’t even bother to listen to her.

“Your Majesty; I simply followed –” was all Ursa got to say.

“Not another word. I don’t need your plea! You’re guilty by substantial evidence.” my father claimed, signaling for the Guards. “As punishment for your crimes: Ursa Star; I sentence you to exile. You will spend your years in the Star Pits, rotting among the condemned. Guards, take her away!” he ordered, and without argument, the Guards obeyed.

Ursa and I then began crying as I raced towards her, grabbing her hand, holding on with all my strength.

“No! Lucky don’t let him do this to me! PLEASE!” Ursa sobbed as I kept pulling her towards me.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you go! I promise!” I cried, the tears streaming down my face.

“Lucky! Release her at once!” I heard my father yell as he lifted me off the ground, pulling me away from Ursa but my grip was as strong as ever on her hand.

“NO! Let me go! I won’t let you do this, Father!”

“You have no choice!”

My father then overpowered my hand and yanked it away from Ursa who was then dragged out of the room and away.

“Sister!” Ursa screamed, and that was the last thing she said to me.

“URSA! NO! Don’t worry, I’ll free you! I promise!” I screamed as Ursa disappeared.

I then escaped my father’s clutches and raced towards the door, but I was stopped once more, only this time by my mother, who pulled me in close as I cried.

“I’m just as much to blame for this! Punish me, not Ursa!” I begged but my mother only shed a tear.

“It is done! You will never see her again.” my father claimed, giving me the most disappointed look ever. “As for your punishment – you best be glad you are my daughter. However – for your actions, you will be confined to your bedroom until I see fit to allow you out of there. Your lessons shall now take place inside your bedroom – I'll send word to Wishing, at once.”

I then cried harder as my mother pulled me in closer, wrapping her arms around my torso, gently rubbing her hand up and down my back. She then lifted me off the ground and stood straight, carrying me out of the room, but only after making a comment to my father.

She then carried me all the way to my bedroom where she stayed with me throughout the night, refusing to leave me until I stopped crying. Once I had, she left to go speak with my father, promising she’d talk to him about what happened earlier with me and Ursa. Nothing ever came of it.

I was eventually allowed out of my room after a few months, but I was never the same. My best friend – my sister Star was gone, and I was now lonely. All I could ever do was study and practice my future royal duties, but I hated it. The only reason I ever continued was because I knew once I was Queen of the Stars, I could free Ursa and welcome her back.

However, I still had a long time to wait. I just hope Ursa will be okay and forgive me for letting go of her hand. I can’t imagine how she’s holding up down there.