"Daughters... I don't know what sins I did to deserve such a curse…" Lisa's father, Daku, exclaims in a disgust,
"Your mother died leaving me with you four..." he scoffs and gulps a full glass of mead,
"Father, I..." Lisa is immediately cut off by Dakus voice,
"Did I say you can speak?" Daku glares at Lisa, who faces her head down towards the floor,
"I wished for sons and this is what I got." Daku scowls as he states this,
"To bed with you all… don't let me see your faces till dawn."
"Yes father." All four of them bow their heads slightly to show respect and walk towards the stairs.
Lisa takes her three little sisters, Akari, Hikari, and Chiyo to bed. Akari was 10 years old. She had light brown hair, which stopped just above her shoulders. Her eyes and skin were hazelnut and she was 4'7. She was quiet and always alert of her surroundings. Hikari was 7 years old. She has beautiful, long red hair and her eyes were blue. Her skin was white and she was 4'2. She was the bravest and most confident of the three. The youngest of the three was Chiyo, who had shining gold, long hair and emerald eyes. She was 5 years old and had light brown skin. They walk into their room. The room had 4 small beds, with each of them having a pink pillow and purple mattresses. Leaning on the wall were 4 small cupboard, filled with their clothes and a box, stuffed with toy animals and dolls. Lisa began tucking each one of them in properly, the love given to each of them not being more than the other,
"Big sister..." Chiyo looks at Lisa with frightful eyes,
"Yes, my little Chiyo?" Lisa gently caresses her head while she responds,
"Does father hate us?"
"No… he just... has a short temper… that's all, don't worry little sister, I'm here... and always will be."
Hearing these words, Chiyo smiles slightly, hugging her stuffed bunny tightly and closing her eyes. Lisa gives each one of them a gentle kiss on the forehead, before laying in her own bed and letting her tiredness take over. This was her normal routine, ever since their mother had passed away.
A few hours later, the moon shines into their room, and the window blows softly, Lisa opens her eyes to see two men in their room and is about to scream when suddenly, a hand is placed over her mouth. She is dragged out the room, along with her sisters and out of the house. Her hopes are rekindled when she sees her father, however they are quickly put out when she notices something reflecting in the other man's hands. Money. To her horror, Lisa puts the pieces together and acknowledges that they are being sold,
"One 13 year old named Lisa, one 10 year old named Akari, one 7 year old named Hikari, and a 5 year old named Chiyo, is that them all Mr Ezura." The man asks,
"Yes, that is all of them." Her father receives the bag filled with coins and then walks back into the house.
Feeling helpless and heartbroken, Lisa looks to her sisters and tries to calm them down,
"Little sisters..."
"Father! Help! Please! Don't leave us!" Akari screams with tears flowing down her face,
"Big sister, what are we going to do?!" Hikari asks shakingly,
Chiyo remains hugging Lisa's leg tightly,
"Come on you 4, move and quit your crying." The man demands in a cold tone.
Lisa hugs all three of her sisters tightly,
"Don't worry.. I am here... I'll make sure nothing hurts you... ok?"
They all sniffle and nod their heads, and they begin following the men to their new home.
After what seemed ages, they arrive at a large, wooden building, centred in the middle of a huge village,
"You are now within the walls of Equinox township. You live here now. Any attempts of escape will result in severe punishment, your master is Lord Inei. You will obey all of his commands and do as he pleases." The man speaks in a condescending tone, while glaring down at them.
All the girls nod their heads, despite wanting to give hope to her little sisters that everything will be alright, she couldn't, as she herself felt that this situation was despairing.
As they walk in into the grand hall, they see many other young boys and girls serving other adults, who, by the way they were sitting and the way they were dressed, looked to be superior to them in status and wealth.
Suddenly, they come to a stop, sitting in front of them was a man, he has several silver rings on his fingers, a crown made of pure gold, his clothes were made out of pure silk and coloured a light green. He stares down at them,
"So, these are my new servants. You've done well, my subjects. I am Lord Inei, you will do as I say."
Lisa opens her mouth to try plead with him to let her sisters go, but as she does so, the man that had initially brought them here, slaps her across her face causing her to fall to the floor,
"I don't think you heard me correctly, slave… you will do as I say." Inei's voice sounds darker and his face shows no sign of emotion.
In order to prevent her sisters from worrying, Lisa smiles gently at them, as their eyes become slightly more tearful, they give a small smile back. Afterwards, they are brought to their new rooms, there was a single bed in the middle of the room, a cabinet on the side, a mirror and another door, which is the bathroom.
Upon entering, they hear the lock click and Lisa turns to her sisters, a mark has appeared on the side of her face due to the injury from before, she smiles,
"Ok you three, ready for bed?" All of them nod in response to this.
Lisa cleans, dresses, and tucks them in. After tucking them in, she realises there isn't enough space for her to sleep, however she doesn't mention this,
"Big sister... I'm scared..." Akari says, sounding like she is about to cry, which causes Hikari and Chiyo to tear up slightly,
"Hey, it's ok! I'm here remember! We won't be here forever ok. I promise." Lisa extends her pinkie towards them, and all three little girls interlock their own pinkies hers.
After waiting for them to fall asleep, Lisa lays down on the floor and curls herself into a ball facing away from the bed, so her sisters won't see that she is crying,
"Big sister..." Chiyo whispers softly and Lisa immediately wipes her tears and looks at Chiyo,
"Chiyo..." Lisa picks her up and hugs her, sobbing quietly,
"Big sister.… we're going to leave this place one day, right?"
"Yes we are... don't worry about that, ok? I'll make sure of it.."
Chiyo nods in response and slowly falls asleep in Lisa's arms.
2 years have passed since their initial arrival to Equinox, serving Inei and trying to stay on his good side in hopes he would let them go. Lisa had lost all hope in escaping, however she tells her sisters that they would one day leave this place to prevent them from breaking down.
One night, they hear screaming outside of their room and people running down the hallway. Curiously, Lisa instantly stands up and listens closely, leaning her head against the thick, wooden door. The screams have suddenly stopped and an eerie silence takes it's place,
"Big sister… what is it…?" Hikari asks nervously.
Just as Lisa is about to reply, a loud thud against door causes Lisa to jump back,
"Let me in! Please! Let me in!" It was Inei's voice. However, his voice is suddenly cut off by something cutting through him and Lisa holds her mouth and looks at her sisters,
"Quickly! Get in the cabinet!" Lisa grabs all three of them and places them into the cabinet, the thuds on the door getting louder and the hinges on the door begin to break, Lisa hugs her sisters and signals to them to be quiet, as the door is thrown to the other side of the room.
All the girls shut their eyes, and tears flow down their faces. The snarling of whatever is outside, making them shiver. They hear someone else enter, followed by a loud battle and then the swing of an axe and finally silence. The girls remain quiet, listening intently, when the doors to the cabinet swing open and they scream loudly. Lisa looks up to see a giant of a man with a large gold beard and lavishing gold hair tied up. In his hands, he is wielding an axe. He looks down at them and puts his axe away before speaking in a deep tone,
"Calm yourselves, I will not harm you."
Upon hearing this, Lisa looks at her little sisters who are still crying, the man gently kneels down to their eye level and wipes away the little girls tears,
"Do not be afraid."
Instantaneously, this action causes the little girls to calm down, Lisa looks at him and speaks in a tone full of gratitude,
"Thank you so much, we are so grateful. who are you?" They bow in respect,
"Ivan and please, do not bow to me. You are welcome." He turns to walk away,
"Wait, where are you going?"
"My job here is done."
"We don't have... anywhere to go… please…" Lisa swallows her tears and stares up at the man with hopeful eyes,
Ivan turns around and nods, knowing what she is asking.
All 4 girls stand up and smile, something they had forgotten to do without someone telling them. They walk behind him and look in the hallway to see corpses of people. Lisa faces the heads of her sisters in the other direction, so they do not see.
19 months have passed since their new lives have began, being apart of the Fear Foundation, which included being trained and well-looked after, something they hadn't experienced in their entire lives. Her sisters and herself had been trained by Ivan. Lisa is standing in her old village and is looking around. Her father is no longer present in their household and is now occupied by another family,
"Big sister!" Chiyo yells happily and runs towards her with Hikari and Akari next to her. They all are wearing green haoris, indicating their position as a dreamcatcher,
"We passed! We beat the kuroi! Mr Ivan said we did it and now we're dreamcatchers!" Lisa's lips curl into a smile. Her haori was blue, demonstrating her position as a huntress,
"Well done! I'm so proud of you three!" She gives them all a hug, wrapping her arms around all three of them,
"I have a reward for you three for your progress!"
"What is it?" She chuckles slightly at Hikari's curiosity,
"I'll show you later!" Hikari groans and frowns, while the other two smile and nod.
They then proceed to run off to play. Ivan then walks up to Lisa,
"Lisa."
"Captain Ivan. How are you!"
"I am well, and yourself?"
"I'm doing great. I'm happy with my little sisters progress and I know they will continue to do well." He nods at her statement,
"You all have come a long way. You four are like my own children. I knew you would be here, so I brought them with me."
"That's kind of you to do, Captain Ivan. You have been a better father than to us than our own one." Suddenly, a man runs over to them and he is out of breath. He was wearing a blue haori like Lisa,
"What is the matter?" Ivan asks,
"A fear… was seen… in the woods… three dreamcatchers… were last seen running in there." Lisa's eyes widen and her heart begins pounding.
Lisa, wielding her spear, runs into the woods, ignoring Ivan's warnings. She continues running towards the woodland in search of her little sisters due to hearing about a nearby fear in the area, she glances around and notices three bodies on the floor, she gasps and falls to her knees realising these three bodies belonged to Akari, Hikari and Chiyo,
"Big… sister…" Chiyo says weakly,
Lisa immediately rushes over to her and hugs her tightly. She glances over to her other two sisters, who are already gone,
"Chiyo…"
"Promise… me… something… that you will… that you will always… be happy… and be kind to everyone…" with this, Chiyo takes her last breath and her arms drop to her sides.
In anguish, Lisa let's out a scream, she now hugs all three of her sisters tightly,
"I promise Chiyo…" She remains there, heartbroken and anger fills her heart.
A month after this incident, Lisa sits on top of a rooftop, her heart burning with vengeance, when someone taps her shoulder causing Lisa to snap out of her trance,
"Hi!" The man had purple eyes, with a band wrapped around his forehead, with writing on the front, reading "silence",
"Hi…" Lisa says reluctantly,
"The names Kenji, what's yours?" He offers a hand, which Lisa takes and smiles slightly in return,
"Lisa." As she says this, another man in a wheelchair pushes himself towards them, reading a book,
"Kenji, you're going to have start revising soon. You ain't gonna get lucky like last time." He moves the book downwards and looks at Lisa,
"Am I interrupting something?" He pushes his shades up,
"Frank! Meet Lisa!"
"Pleasure to meet you, Lisa." He extends his hand and she takes it, while smiling,
"So, what brings you here?" Frank asks,
"I just needed some peace and quiet."
"Well, you aren't gonna get that with Kenji being around." Kenji frowns,
"Hey!" His reaction causes Frank to chuckle a little and a small smile forms on Lisa's face,
"You waiting for anyone?" Lisa looks down, the memories of her sisters flooding back to her,
"No. It's just me."
"Ahh I see. Well, do you want to hang with us?"
"Yeah! We don't mind at all." Lisa looks up smiling and nods.
She feels as if she's been given a second chance,
Akari, Hikari… Chiyo… I'll keep my word… I promise…