Winter (The Lunar Chronicles)

Piper (fan fiction contest)

(so basically my fan-fiction entry that never got entered)

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I'm not sure when I became a street-kid. I remember various orphages, but I also remember being hauled out of one and shoved into another as a frequent occurrence until I was about 9 and a half. It seemed appropriate then, that I had been sitting on the tall stone wall that once held hundreds of orphans before the third world war., When Émilie's father had offered me a job. It hadn;t been like I was looking for one; ironic as it sounds, living on the streets, I hadn't felt i had needed one. So perhaps we can just chalk it up to good ol'fate and destiny. We can believe in them or not, but really, when we say we don't believe in destiny isn't it just fate that we say just that? 

whether i knew it or not, when i hopped off that stone wall and accepted his offer I had sealed my fate. When you read about your fate being "sealed" it always seems like a bad thing. This, not so much. This kind of fate sealing was meant to happen. It was going to happen regardless. And little did I know when I jumped off that wall, age sixteen and a half with only the clothes one my back and a small pocket flute to my name, I had just started a ticking clock.

"There's still been no trace of emperor Kaito of new beijing although our source are suspicious it may have been the Cybord Lunar. Out most high esteemed Queen of Luna has demanded they both be found or she will declare war on earth again.." Piper snorted and stopped the broadcast on his port screen "high esteemed" and "declares war" should not be used in the same sentence. Piper pulled a shirt on and climbed down the ladder from the loft into the barn. Now the loft was actually quite a cozy place. Yes, there was hay and all the things you'd find in a barn loft but there was also a bed, dresser and a flute case. Primitive, but cozy.  Piper had never complained.

"The cows need milked, piper!" a robot voice told him. He turned to see one of the farms few bots standing in the doorway, a stray chicken pecking curiously at his wheel. 

"Be right there Mexx." He told him grabbing an apple from a crate in the corner. Mexx gave him a disapproving look, but left the barn. it was true that Piper didn't have to sit in here and eat apples for breakfast.He had been invited many times "come and eat with us, Piper" "be part of our family, Piper". But Piper never had. He didn't want to give them a reason to love him like a son and only part of that had to do with Émilie, their daughter. He finished off his third apple and climbed back up the loft ladder to get his flute. That was another thing he didn't remember. The flute. He wasn't sure who had given him the flute and who had taught him to play it. He had just always had it.

 Piper played a small tune on it while he walked to the cow pen. halfway through his last cow another bot came by and dropped a basket by his stool. "eggs" the bot told him and wheeled off. Piper finished off the cow and walked across the barnyard to his chicken coop, playing his flute cheerfully.

He had just shut the door to the coop when he heard two things; Émilie singing, and the low rumble of many paws doing closer. "Émilie?" He called out, closing the door behind him. She stopped singing.

"Yeah?" She asked, then paused. "What's that noise?" But Piper never had a chance to answer because at that same moment Piper and Émilie saw what had been making that noise. Lunar Wolves. Émilie simpered and crouched down lower to the ground. "Ma Mère." She whispered and pointed up towards the window. "was out there." 

Yet again, Piper couldn't answer because at that same moment the coop door came flying off it's hinges. Piper grabbed Émilie's hand and ran deeper into the chicken coop, looking for some way -any way- to get out. The op's slowly advanced on the,, taking their time as if they were enjoying the fear and disbelief in their eyes. Piper subconsciously puled his flute out of his pocket.