~Dec. 2039~

It was the beginning of the cold season, to which every child in the Grace Field House was inside except for one person.

Underneath the fiery orange autumn tree leaves, sat a five-year old raven haired boy named Ray, who was reading his usual book under the autumn tree.

As he was quietly reading his book in peace, three other five-year-old children came outside and saw their friend quietly reading under the tree.

And the supposed trio was an orange haired girl name Emma, a white haired boy named Norman, and a short icy blue haired girl name Marianna.

After seeing this, Emma puffed up her cheeks as she said to her friends, "That book is taking up all of Ray's time."

"Mhm." Nodded little Marianna.

"He hasn't been playing with us lately. Even less than before." Commented little Norman.

The trio began to walk over to Ray sneakily as Emma tip toed behind him and snatched the book away from Ray to which he left out a grumble.

"Come on, Ray. Let's play." Insisted Emma with her still pouted face.

"Emma..." The said boy grumbled.

Ray then felt a tug on his sleeve and he turns around and sees Marianna, forcing him to sit up.

"Come on, you too Marianna?" He grumbles again.

"We can play what you want. So please?" Pleaded Norman as he walked over to Ray.

"Fine. Then let's go explore the gate." Suggested Ray causing the trio to be caught by surprise. "I've always wanted to go there."

***

The gate was closed with its iron bars.

There was no one there. Like an abandoned building.

"Hey." Started little Emma as she hoped down the cemented window. "What do you want to do if you go outside?"

"Dunno. How about you?" Asked Ray.

"I want to ride a giraffe! Yay!" Exclaimed Emma with a superhero pose.

"Good luck with that." Said Ray with an unamused look.

Emma looked over to Marianna as she ran towards her with a smile on her face and intertwined her hands with hers.

"What about you, Marianna?" Asked Emma.

The wind blew through her short icy blue hair, reminding the moon as her golden eyes shined through the day and the young girl replied with:

"I want to go see the stars..."

Ray's eyes widened at Marianna's dream as Norman just stared at her and Emma smiled at her with a star struck expression.

"But don't we see the stars at night?" Questioned Norman.

Marianna turned to Norman. "Not those kinds of stars. I mean the ones outside. Ive read in a book once that there are stars in this world called "Space" and they are brighter than any star here."

"Wow! Awesome!" Exclaimed Emma wiry sparkles in her eyes as she ran towards Marianna and grabbing her hands again.

"One day..."

"Huh?"

"One day... I'll take you all there and we can look at the stars... together." Marianna pulled out her pinky finger as she faces the trio. "I pinky promise."

The trio all smiled at Marianna as they all bringer out their pinky fingers and intertwined it with each other.

All of their pinky's separated as they all looked back at the dark abyss of the iron gate.

"These gates don't open from this side? I wonder what it's protecting us from." Questioned Norman.

Flashback~

"Listen. You can never go to the gate or beyond the fence..."

End of Flashback~

"'Because it's dangerous', eh? We all know it's a lie." Said Ray.

"Hmm." Mumbled Emma with her finger on her chin.

"You think?" Asked Norman.

"Bleh. This wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped. Let's go back before they find us." Suggested Ray as both Emma and Norman nodded.

As Ray was about to walk off with Emma and Norman, he realized that a certain a short icy blue haired girl wasn't beside him.

Ray turned around and saw that Marianna was still standing in front of the iron gate.

A sighed and walked over to her and chopped her head as she let out a "Ow!" and placed her hands on her head as she turns around with a nonchalant expression.

"Your daydreaming again, Marianna." Said Ray.

"Oh. Sorry." She apologized.

Ray just stared at the apologized Marianna as the two just stared at each other silently until Ray stepped towards Marianna and grabbed her hand which caught her by surprise.

"Come on. Let's go before Mom finds out." Said Ray as he was dragging Marianna and she looked behind her to the gate.

Marianna looked up ahead at Ray. "What do you want to do outside?"

"I told you didn't I. I don't know." He said.

"But that's not really an answer." Added Marianna. "So let me ask again. What do you want to do outside?"

Ray's eyes trailed over to Marianna as he kept on walking and answered, "I guess... I want to see the Mona Lisa or Sagrada Familia."

Little Marianna's eyes widened a bit as she let out a "oh" and the two continued to walk towards the house.

***

As the sun set and everyone in the Grace Field House was sound asleep, Ray got up from his bed and started to make his way to Emma and Marianna's shared room.

Ray slowly opens the wooden door and walks over to Marianna side and just stares at her sleeping form.

"I promise...

"I promise I'll save you."

"I'll carry this burden and pain alone that way you can live in this house happily and peacefully."

"That is my only wish...

~~~~~~~~A/N~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey Guys, Savvykawaiipanda here!

Just in case you guys are confused, Zara and Marianna don't meet until they're six years old, so this is before Zara was in the picture.

And this little side story was kind of a remake of the gate scene since I didn't like how I wrote that scene and I wanted to remake it.

I know that this side story is a little short, but I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you guys in the next one!

Bye~Bye

-Savvykawaiipanda 🌸🐼