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Lain sat down in front of the mirror. She pressed her hand to the glass, then pulled it back. The place where Lain's hand had been glowed with a white light. She took a step back and watched. The hand print faded, and the glass rippled as if it were water. The glass then faded away to reveal a picture of a family sitting down to eat dinner.
The mother had shiny brown hair and pale skin. She smiled warmly at her two sons as they helped her set the dinner table. Suddenly they all turned towards a man that had just entered the dinning room. The mother glowed with happiness as the younger of the two sons ran up to his father. The father smiled and picked the son up, raising him high in the air. The boy laughed and smiled, as did the rest of the family.
The picture faded away as the mirror returned to its original state.
Lain smiled warmly. She loved watching that family. They were all so happy just to be with each other.
Lain turned away from the mirror and walked over to a shining pool. She knelt down to put her hand in the water, but as soon as she touched it, that pool disappeared, leaving only a faint glowing outline of where it had been.
Something laughed softly behind her.
"I know. I just forgot that the pool wasn't really there..." Lain spoke softly, her back to the visitor.
The visitor laughed again. Louder this time.
"Lain. Lain, Lain, Lain, Lain, Lain. You always forget!" The visitor spoke. The voice was clearly male.
Lain stood up quickly and turned around. The man backed away in fear of Lain.
"Hey Lain, I was only-" The man was cut off before he could finish his frantic apology.
"I know," Lain told him.
She stepped closer to the man and put her hand on his shoulder, then walked away from him.
"See you later, Louvel..." Lain's voice trailed off as she walked away from the man called Louvel.
Louvel shrugged and bent down to where the small pool was. He slowly traced the glowing outline with one of his shock-white fingers.
Lain sat down on the floor of the pure white room she had just entered. She smiled slightly, thinking of the happy family she had watched from the mirror.
"Lain..." Louvel's voice interrupted Lain's thoughts.
Lain's glance shifted from the white wall to Louvel. He took a step towards Lain, then looked at her as if he was waiting for her to attack him for entering her domain. But Lain didn't attack - she just stared at him. Louvel took another step forward, then another, then another and continued walking until he reached Lain.
"What is it that you want?" Lain asked Louvel.
Louvel put his open hand out towards Lain, wanting to help her up from the floor. Lain slowly put her hand into his, then stood up.
"I just wanted to see if you were all right," Louvel replied, smiling.
Lain pulled her hand away from his. Louvel frowned and stepped back from her.
"Lain, what's wrong with you lately?" he demanded.
Lain did not respond.
"Lain! Answer me."
Louvel stepped forward to Lain and placed a hand on each shoulder.
"Lain..." His voice was softer now, more gentle.
Lain shook her head.
"I'm sorry," she said to him softly.
Louvel smiled and pulled Lain closer to him, wrapping his cloak around the both of them. Lain smiled faintly. He had been her companion for centuries, but it was rare to see him show that he cared about her.
Lain and Louvel stood in the white room wrapped in his cloak for hours. But time passed differently for immortals - an hour was like a minute.
Louvel unwrapped Lain, then backed away. He looked at her, then laughed.
"It's the mortals!" he exclaimed, laughing loudly. "That is what was wrong with you! You want to be like one of those stupid mortals!"
Louvel's laughter echoed through out the white room.
"Is that it? Is THAT it?" Louvel asked Lain, still laughing.
Lain glared at him, but Louvel just laughed harder.
"That IS it! You want to be with the mortals!" he said to her.
Lain stepped away from him, clearly upset. She mumbled something, then ran out of the white room leaving Louvel alone, still laughing.
"Fool!" Louvel yelled to Lain as she ran from him, but Lain pretend not to hear him.
Lain kept running until she arrived at a room with many doors. She looked around, then walked to a blue door at the back of the room. She took in a deep breath, then opened it and stepped inside.
The inside of the room was pitch black. The only light came from a subtle white glow around Lain's body. She dropped down on one knee and closed her eyes.
Lain's glow changed from white to a soft red. She stood up suddenly, her hair flying free.
A white ball of light started to shine just out of Lain's reach. Her glow became a deeper red, and it glowed more brightly as she reached for the light. Soon the red light filled the dark room, revealing the room's contents.
Lain stood upon nothing - she was floating among a miniature version of the cosmos. Tiny stars and planets swirled around her, but Lain's focus was on the white light.
Soon Lain was in reach of the light. She put her fingertips into it and watched them pass though the light, unharmed. She smiled. The white light grew larger and larger until it filled the room, covering all of Lain's red light and soon engulfing Lain, too.
Lain opened her eyes and looked around. She saw green. Lots of green. There were trees, bushes, grass ... and people. "Mortals..." Lain whispered as she looked around.
She was in the mortal realm now. Lain smiled widely as she watched the mortals walk along the park path. She had found a bench and had been sitting there watching the mortals pass by for hours.
Soon the sun started to set, colouring the sky a fiery orange. Lain stood up from the bench and decided to walk to the nearby city called Theed she had heard a mortal couple talking about. After walking a few feet, Lain felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned around quickly to see who had tapped her.
"Louvel!" Lain exclaimed.
"Why didn't you say that you were going to the mortal realm?" Louvel asked roughly.
"I'm not allowed to come here unless I tell YOU first?" Lain asked skeptically.
Louvel glared at Lain, then struck her across the face. Lain fell to the ground from the force of the blow. She let out a little whimper, then put her hand up to the place where he struck her. Louvel sighed softly before helping her up off the floor.
"I'm sorry... but I've told you many times not to come here alone. It's too dangerous," Louvel told her, speaking softly.
Lain looked at the ground. She knew he was right.
"You were going to Theed, correct?" he said, smiling at her.
Lain looked up at him and nodded.
"Did you know that there is a festival going on in a few days?" he took Lain's hand and pulled her closer to him.
"Can we go?" Lain asked him softly.
Louvel grinned.
"We are already in the mortal realm - why not enjoy ourselves?"
The day of the festival came, and Theed was packed with people. Lain ran from game to game acting like a young child. She loved being around so many mortals. There was fairly large group of teenage girls, however, that caught her eye. They all seemed to be friends, and were having a wonderful time at the festival, but each time Lain started to walk towards the group to talk with them, Louvel would stop her and take her over to another game.
"Louvel! I want to talk to them! They look like nice people!" Lain whined.
Louvel looked towards a booth selling sweets and grabbed Lain's hand.
"No, no. Let's go over here. They have candies from all over the galaxy!" he said, pulling her towards it.
"Looouvel! Stoooop!" Lain yanked her hand away, then ran off towards the girls.
"Lain! No!" Louvel yelled, but Lain had already disappeared into the crowd.
Lain looked back while she was running to look for Louvel and ran into someone. Lain fell to the ground, but quickly got back up.
"I'm sorry!" she said to the girl she had run into.
The girl got up off the ground and dusted herself off. She was very pretty with short, black hair, blue eyes and fair skin.
"That's okay. I'm fine," she said to Lain.
Lain started to say something but was cut off by someone screaming. The black girl turned around, then ran off towards her friends.
"Lain!" Louvel called from behind her. "Let's go! Now!"
He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the exit of the festival.
"Louvel, what is going on?" Lain demanded.
Louvel looked very nervous.
"Nothing. Now let's go," Louvel said to her softly, then looked back at the festival.
A creature had attacked, and a group of girls in sailor outfits were fighting it off. He had to get Lain away from the festival and the girls before she saw what was happening.
"LAIN! LET'S GO!" Louvel shouted, tightening his grip on her arm.
It was too late. Lain had seen what was happening at the festival. Her fate was sealed, and Louvel knew he couldn't stop it. He let go of her arm and took something out of his pocket.
"Here," Louvel said to Lain sadly, placing the item in her hand.
Lain looked at him, then at the item. She help it up and examined it.
"A gem? What...?" Lain said to him, thoroughly confused.
"Your wish, your dream, your one true desire will be yours. The time will come, my dearest one, when you will be a mortal. But until that time, your powers will be limited," Louvel told her, smiling.
"What about you...? If I'm a mortal... I won't see you again, will I?" Lain asked him sadly.
"Where ever you go, I shall follow," he replied.
Lain nodded, then ran off towards the Sailors and the monster they battled.
