Maki looked up at the lone window that was placed high up in her circular room. It wasn't particularly big in terms of walking space, but the ceiling was raised to be as high as a tower. If she had the right materials, she might be able to climb out. But alas, all she has in this room is a single grand piano, a bookshelf full of music sheets, and a small dog sized door that only food and drink come through.

She doesn't remember how long she had been here. Being alone in a room like this makes you forget any sense of time. All that she could remember was the day she woke up here.

When she first woke up in this room, all she had was a note that was folded and shoved into her pocket. On it read,

"When the day comes,

The little bird will be set free from it's cage.

But first it must find the courage to sing.

Only then will the bird gain it's wings."

When she read those words, all she could do was crumple up the note and toss it to the edge of the room. She looked around for a way out which bore no fruit. She even waited by the small door until the food would be delivered; there had to be another person on the other side. However, every time she asked, there was never a reply.

It took days for Maki to finally give up her escape attempt. Whoever it was that was keeping her there had done their job successfully. She plainly sat on the piano bench everyday, looking through the window wishing for freedom.

Why was she here? What purpose does this fulfil?

Those thoughts raced through Maki's mind until the day she uncrumpled that note and read through the words carefully. She read them over and over again, analyzing them to find out why she was here.

"Find the courage to sing..." Maki repeated that line again and again.

"Do they mean the piano?" Maki slid her finger across the dust covered instrument.

She didn't know how to play the piano, so why did they leave it there? Maki pushed down on a piano key with her finger and the silent room was filled with a pleasant tone. Despite its age and appearance, it seemed that the piano was still able to produce a magnificent sound. It echoed up and down the room, creating the ambient noise of a concert hall.

"If I'm going to be stuck here, I might as well learn..." she dusted off the piano and grabbed a random music sheet.

"Moonlight... Sonata?" she placed the music sheet on the piano. Maki sat up straight and hovered her fingers over the keys before playing a note and filling the room with the pleasant sound again.

Weeks, months, maybe even years have passed since Maki had been left alone in this room. Her hair had grown much longer and she had grown physically as well. She couldn't exactly pinpoint her own age.

By now she has the ability to play most of what was left in the bookshelf. Maki sighed to herself,

"How long has it been...?" She mumbled before looking up at the window. It was nighttime and the moonlight peeked into Maki's room. She turned back to face the piano and started playing it again.

It was the first piece that she played and memorized, Moonlight Sonata. Every night she ended up playing this song and she didn't really understand why. It couldn't really be put into words, but it felt like her body would move on its own to play the piece.

Maybe it was the tone of the song, or because it had some kind of special connection to her. But she knew that she had to play it.

Her fingers came to a stop when she heard a crunching noise. Something that she had never heard ever since she was placed here. The noise remained for a couple more seconds before it disappeared.

"W-what was that? Another person?" Maki whispered to herself before continuing.

"H-HELLO?!" she called out. She stood up and cupped her hands to make her voice more audible, "IS ANYONE OUT THERE?!"

Maki waited, but there was no reply. She hung her head and sat back down on the piano bench. Whatever hope Maki had of escaping this room was gone in an instant. She began playing the piano again, almost like she was part of a music box.

Nico burst her head out of a thick bush and shook to get rid of anything in her hair. She was sent by her mother to gather herbs around the forest. That normally wouldn't be a problem, except, Nico was lost.

"Where the heck am I?!" Nico yelled to herself as she got out of the bush. She brushed herself off and reached into her backpack to pull out a crudely drawn map.

"Mommy was never good at making these..." she said while flipping the map around.

"I mean, what the heck is this thing here?" She pointed to a pointed gray illustration on the map.

"A tower? A moai statue?" She questioned to nobody.

Nico took a deep breath and sat down on an old log. She set her backpack to the side and looked up to the night sky.

"I wonder how the kids are doing... they must be worried about me," she whispered to herself.

Nico reached for her backpack and pulled out a small canteen. She pulled the plug out and tilted her head back with the anticipation of satisfying her thirst. However, nothing came out,

"...huh...?" Nico pulled the canteen back and attempted to look into it. She sat in that position for a few more moments before slamming the canteen against the ground.

"It's empty?!" Nico picked it up immediately and started shaking it to validate what was obviously true.

"I thought I filled it up back at the Inn a few hours ago!" Nico inspected the canteen.

"This is bad, really bad. My throat is too dry for this. I should stop yelling first," Nico attempted to calm herself down.

"Okay..." she pulled out her mother's terrible map again and hovered her finger over it.

"... there!" She smacked her finger against a blue circle.

"If I can find this gray thing, then I'll be able to fill up my canteen at the pond next to it," Nico reassured herself.

"... Which way is it though...?" Nico looked back and forth in many directions. She moved over to a tall tree and clung to it. She slowly started climbing up until she reached the top. Thanks to her petite and light body, the branches were able to hold her weight. Nico hung onto the base of the tree and looked around for anything protruding above the forest.

She spotted a slender and pointed spire at a distance, "I think that is it…" the tower was maybe an hour or two away on foot. Nico made her way down carefully and picked up her backpack. She braced herself for the long walk.

Nico carefully made her way through the forest. It can be especially dangerous during the night because the wolves tend to hunt during this time. Any slight noises would cause Nico to go into high alert. All she had to defend herself with was a dagger that she kept underneath her cloak in case of emergency.

Nico plopped herself down on a tree stump and looked up at the sky again, "I should be halfway there at least…" her voice was dry and it cracked in between words. She needed water and if she moved too fast, the wolves may pick up on her. If it was a lone wolf, she would be able to fend it off, but the dagger she had wouldn't be enough if there was a pack after her.

A cracking noise echoed through the forest from behind Nico. The sudden noise caused Nico to turn around quickly and reach for her dagger only to find out that it was only a rather large rabbit, "Oh… It's just one of those dog sized rabbits… What were they called again?" Nico snapped her fingers, "Flemish Giant!"

Nico carefully made her way to the rabbit making sure not to trip over anything and pet it. She felt a wetness on her fingers when her hand reached the rabbit's back leg and held them up. Her fingers were covered in blood.

"Oh no! You're injured…" Nico wiped her hand against her cloak to remove whatever she could and carefully picked up the rabbit. She heard another cracking sound and a howling in the distance which caused a chill to run down her spine.

She placed the rabbit down and ripped off a piece of her cloak to clean up most of the injury. Then she ripped off another piece to bandage the creature before picking it up again, "Don't worry, I'll protect you." she tossed the older bloodied rag onto the tree stump and quickly left the area.

"That should keep them away for a while…" Nico continued on her way towards the tower.

She must have walked another hour before taking another break. She set the rabbit down and tended to its wounds again by replacing the bandages, "You poor thing…" she kept the rabbit on her lap and ran her hand across it's fur. Upon closer inspection, this Flemish Giant was much smaller than it should be, perhaps it is still a child and lost it's mother during the wolf attack.

Nico brought the rabbit in closer and gave it a hug. She closed her eyes and relaxed for a few minutes before she heard a low growling and the sound of twigs snapping. She broke into a cold sweat and froze on the spot, "H-Here? Already?" Nico thought that the bloodied rag she had left would throw off their trail, but they caught up much faster than anticipated.

She turned her head slowly to come face to face with a large wolf. It was a few feet away from her face. She could feel the warmth of it's breath, the smell of iron and torn flesh overwhelmed her sense of smell. Before she knew it, she broke into a sprint. She didn't know what became of her body, it just moved on its own.

Nico held on tightly to the rabbit even though it was heavy. Her arms held their own against this highly stressful chase. She could hear the wolf chasing closely behind her, she could hear it's breathing and growling. She had been running for several minutes now and her legs were starting to burn. She felt like they can give out at any moment and if she were to trip now it would not only mean the end of her life, but the end of the rabbit's as well.

Nico listened closely and blocked the sound of her own panting from her sense of hearing. The sound of multiple paws echoed across a 180 degree radius behind her. It seems like the pack picked up on the hunt and nothing can be worse than a pack of hungry wolves running after you.

"My… Cloak…" Nico remembered the blood of the rabbit that she wiped on her cloak earlier. That would explain why the wolves were able to to keep in close proximity of her and the rabbit. She cursed herself for being careless, it was something that her mother had always drilled into her head. She was constantly warned to be careful about what she did in the forest.

Nico's lungs we burning. Her throat was completely dry. She had long since lost feeling in her legs. Worst of all, her chest started to tighten up. If she can't escape soon, her heart could go into cardiac arrest and she would be left to the mercy of the wolves.

"I… Can't…" Nico tripped over her own feet and crashed through a heavy grove of bushes. She tumbled across the mud and smashed her head against a protruding rock on the way down. Knocking her out in an instant.

A sharp pain in her head caused Nico to open her eyes quickly. She immediately closed them the second the light invaded her pupils before opening them slowly for them to adjust. It was day time now, the sky was blue and the sun was beating down against Nico's face. Her body felt cold, everything felt cold except for her face, "Am I dead…?"

Nico turned her head and her eye was suddenly flooded by water, causing her to panic. She was in the middle of the pond and her thrashing was causing her to sink. She struggled to keep her head above water and made her way towards the shore. She crawled across the shore and turned to fall on her back, she was breathing hard and her chest hurt. Her entire body was sore beyond belief and it would take a miracle for her to be able to move.

"I'm not… dead?" Nico lifted her arm weakly and pinched her own cheek. She felt the pain of the pinch, but at the same time she was overcome with joy, "I'm not dead!" started to laugh and quickly stopped.

"It hurts to laugh," Nico relaxed and tilted her head left and right to check her surroundings. At least the wolves were gone and she was safe. However, the rabbit was nowhere to be seen, "I hope he got away…"

She slowly sat up and looked around, "Where's my backpack?" Nico forced herself to get up regardless of her aching muscles. She checked around the grove that she crashed into on the way down. No backpack here. She turned around and faced the pond, "If it was in there, it would be floating…"

She felt a pain in the back of her head and rubbed against it. Her hair was still wet and she checked her fingers. She was bleeding.

"Oh yeah… I hit my head over there…" Nico stumbled to her knees. She was beginning to feel lightheaded and if she doesn't treat the wound soon, she could ended up getting an infection. Or worse, die out here.

Nico felt a nudge against her lower back and she turned around to see the rabbit that she had rescued the night before, "Hey buddy… I'm glad you're safe."

Nico smiled and the rabbit disappeared into the forest, only to return soon after while dragging a familiar backpack.

"That's my backpack!" Nico crawled closer to the rabbit and pet it's head in return.

"You saved me this time, little guy!" she grabbed the backpack from the rabbit and reached inside. All of her things were still inside, herbs, bandages, and her canteen.

"Thank you so much!" she grabbed the rabbit and hugged it tightly against herself.

She crawled over, grabbed two rocks and spoke to the rabbit, "Here's a little trick Mommy taught me." She pulled out a few of the herbs from her backpack and placed them on one of the rocks. She used the other one to start grinding the herbs together until they became a green paste, "Now you just take this paste here… Rub it onto this bandage…"

Nico crawled over to the water and washed the remaining blood from her head, "Clean the wound and then…" she wrapped the bandage around her head.

"Tada! All better!" she opened her arms and the rabbit jumped into them.

"Hehe, this calls for a… Nico Nico Nii~" Nico chanted while lifting the rabbit into the air. She set it down on the ground and put the rest of the paste onto a leftover bandage for the rabbit's wound.

Nico stood up and filled her canteen up. She opened up her backpack and called to the rabbit, "Come on, little guy. C'mere" Nico waited until the rabbit got close and stuffed it into her backpack. The rabbit's head popped out and Nico smiled as she swung the backpack around her back.

"Okay, time to look around here for the herbs I just used, or else Mommy will be upset," Nico giggled to herself.

Maki woke up the next morning. She didn't really have much space to sleep in the room, all she had was a makeshift bed that had been in here since she arrived. She couldn't tell exactly what time of day it was, all that she knew was that it was daytime and she had nothing to do other than play the piano.

Maki yawned and rubbed her eyes before grabbing a new music sheet off the top shelf. She brought it to the light shining from the window and read the title out loud to herself, "Bach: Prelude 1 in C Major."

She walked herself over to the piano and set down the music sheet, "This doesn't seem too bad…" she began to play the song. The room was instantly filled with the pleasant sounds of her piano. Each note echoed throughout the tower and out the window. There was something soothing about the piece that she was playing. Maki felt relaxed, almost as if the music was carrying her away from all of her troubles.

She felt like she was free while playing, unlike most of the pieces that were available to her. It had the same significance as Moonlight Sonata. The piece made her feel moved, made her body move on its own. Before she knew it, she had reached the end of the song. She looked up to the window and smiled, "Whoever is out there… I hope you hear my song."

She began playing Prelude again, this time with more emotion. She added emphasis and her own touch to the piece. It echoed not only throughout the room, but as well as her soul. For the first time, Maki was playing for someone else to hear.

"Hmm?" Nico could faintly hear music. She looked around to find the source.

"That's weird, no one should be out here," she spoke to the rabbit, "Do you know where it's coming from?"

The rabbit jumped out of Nico's backpack and started hopping in the direction the music, "H-Hey what are you doing? Get back here!"

Nico chased after the rabbit until they arrived at the tower again. She reached down and picked up the rabbit in her arms, "No more running off, okay?" Nico noticed that the music had become louder. She looked up at the tower and noticed a single window where the music seemed the come from.

"Hello? Is somebody in there?!" Nico called out.

There was no answer. Only the sound of a single piano.