𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 | tpn

☆ :; ???

☆ :; light mode is recommended when reading this story!

"SAYAKA? RAY?
WHAT ARE YOU
DOING UP SO EARLY ?"

MAMA questions the two little kids, who were playing a game of chess in the library. five year old sayaka, with two tiny pigtails, who was once deeply concentrating, quickly gets distracted by the appearance of mama. getting up from her seat across from ray, and running to hug her mama

"mama! ray's teaching me how to play chess!" little sayaka's arms just running short from fully wrapping around her mothers waist. mama raised an eyebrow at her, "don't you already know how to play?"

ray soon appears behind sayaka, no one noticing he moved an inch. "what she really wants to do, is to get better at it." ray then tugs sayaka's ear, tugging her off mama. "which you can't do hugging mama" ray shrugs watching sayaka pout back at him

mama smiles as she watches sayaka hesitantly detach herself from her mama, going back to the chess board. mama stands closer to the children, deciding go watch them play a game

sayaka moves knight down the board, and rays previous smirk vanishes. he didn't expect her go do a knight first, due to her always using a pawn at the beginning

mama watched the game back and forth, watching all the small flaws course throughout their game and good counter moves as the time passes. their two faces withholding great concentration at the board

"checkmate" ray said finally, his bishop and queen finally cornering sayaka's king. frustrated, sayaka lays her head on the chessboard lazily, scattering away the pieces with her head

mama giggles and picks up sayaka in her arms, taking a look at ray who was putting the chessboard away. "let's bring you guys to bed okay? you must be tired up here" mama says, poking their foreheads

sayaka giggles before nodding her head onto mama's shoulder, ray just showing an irritated look before walking through the door with sayaka and mama, back to the rooms everyone else lay sound asleep

ଘ੭ˊᵕˋ੭₊˚ :; sleep tight ! !

MAMA tucked in sayaka, watching in the corner of her eyes as ray headed back to his room. giving her a light kiss on the forehead before disappearing out the door again

her small smile faded as she walked back into her own room and though about the chess game the two kids were playing. rays moves were consistently steady and efficient, but sayaka's moves confused her

one moment she played a whole round of good moves, then she purposely played stupid moves, giving up vital pieces in the game to move forward only to loose in the end because of her own mistakes

mama put a strand behind her hair as she turned to her other side. the game reminded her of a time where she played chess with someone else quite a long time ago...

tatiana looked up at her mom filling out some paperwork, her knee was injured because she slipped and fell on her way to check out the 'mysterious gate'

mama, who was deeply concentrated on filling out the paperwork finally let her pen fall to the table, turning her attention back to the eight year old girl

"what do i keep telling you about going over to that gate? you are not allowed to go out into the outside" mama says, walking up to the girl and pinching her cheeks softly

she frowns and looks away before confessing "it's just that it looks so mysterious! everything about if so different than the rest this place. i'm just curious..."

mama frowned, had she been too lenient with her? but before she could answer her own question, tatiana spoke up, "mama, can we play a game of chess?"

mama gave her a face that held curiosity, "what's up with the sudden question??" tatiana shrugged, "i saw zachary go against isadora in a game, it was so tense between them. like you could slice through the air!"

tatiana subtly exclaimed, making mama smile as she nodded her head. "alright I'll go and get a game of chess for us, but only if you wait here patiently okay?" mama said, tatiana nodding eagerly in reply

not even a second later, mama walked in with a chessboard and place it on the bed in front of sayaka. the room filled with tension as soon as the game begins

tatiana plans her moves carefully, her fingers gripping the chess pieces as she anxiously awaits her mama to respond so she could think about the next move

mama placed her piece carefully, taking note of tatiana's strategic approach to eliminate her bishop on one of her recent moves. tatiana analyzed the board as soon as the piece hit the wooden board

mama was taking control of the board, the only thing stopping her from winning was not being aware of tatiana's strategy. in the end, tatiana place her bishop down so that mama's pawn would be able to capture it"

mama raised a brow, a new approach? why change it when she has yet to figure it out. not complaining, mama took the bishop and continued to observe the downfall of the opposing teams side from tatiana's careless moves on the board

mama won the game faster than expected, causing tatiana let out a small hmph. mama on the other hand raised a brow, something wasn't right with her ending moves

"tatiana, why did you play moves that damaged your pieces? it was as if a different person were playing your pieces" mama commented with a light chuckle, masking her subtle curiosity

tatiana shrugged carelessly before laying back on the rest of the bad. her hair slightly covering her face as she pushed it out the way of her eyes

"mama, i just gave up at the end..." tatiana said lazily, as her mother pondered the child's response. give up? she lost faith within the game so she gave up?

tatiana rolled to the side as she laid on the bed, speaking up once more, "mama, i knew you were going to take control of the board since you were going to figure out my strategy anyway... so i just gave up"

isabella said nothing in reply as she thought about the young girls words, putting away the pieces swiftly as tatiana laid down like a sack of potatoes

"come on tatiana, let's go to bed! you must be tried now right?" isabella changed topics, helping the young girl up from the bed as they walked back to the bedrooms

mama soon stopped thinking about the flashback, soon facing the ceiling above. maybe the chess pieces were foreshadowing tatiana's outcome, since even when she could've won, at the very end she gave up

mama dismissed her thoughts, there was no point in thinking about the past. however one though stayed in her mind.

sayaka did something tatiana didn't do, she didn't give up hope.