Eventually, they figured out their schedules: Mai would come in to take Rain and Emmy outside and record their behavior on the enclosure. As for Lumina, she became the Professor’s pet. As the next fifteen years slowly passed by, the three experiments grew larger and maturing as the Professor grew older. His shaggy brown hair turned snow white and wrinkles were imprinted on his face. Every now and then, the Professor would take them to different laboratories to show other scientists what he was able to create. Everyone’s eyes widen in astonishment when the Professor presented his creations. They were all impressed on how Emmy’s large dragonfly wings shimmered in the light. They noticed Rain’s short stubby wings and knew that one day they will develop to become powerful wings. But most of all, they were impressed with Lumina’s blue pelt. Whenever they asked if the Professor would sell her, he would just laugh. And every time he presented Lumina to other scientists, they all had the same question in their heads: what’s that celestial marking on her forehead for? And why?
At the end of one of the Professor’s presentations, just as he was getting ready to leave and everyone in the facility carried on with their usual work; the leader of the other laboratory came up to him and said, “We need to talk.”
“Umm… sure what is it?” the Professor asked as he put down his files on a desk.
“It’s about your experiments,” the man said firmly.
“Oh…”
“Come into my office, where there’s less disruptions.” the man led the Professor away from his three experiments with Mai.
“Hey, where do you think the Professor’s going?” Emmy purred as she scratched at her neck where the uncomfortable collar was at.
“I don’t know. The Professor doesn’t usually leave us with Mai like this, much less when he has to leave you alone, Lumi.” Rain added, tugging slightly at the leash; which Mai grasped firmly to prevent them from escaping.
“Yeah, it does seem rather strange of him to be going with that other labcoat by himself…” Lumina agreed, curiously looking at the direction the Professor went and tilting her head slightly.
“Why don’t you go and find out what’s going on?” suggested Rain.
“Me??” blinked Lumina, her voice sounding a bit surprised.
“Yeah, you’ve been his pet for fifteen years now and besides, you don’t have a collar and leash on so you can follow him.” said Emmy. Lumina hesitated. Not sure whether to stay where she was suppose to be, or follow him and figure out what he was up to.
“C’mon Lumi, go. It will bother all of us if you stick around and wonder.” Growled Emmy; gently nudging Lumina to walk.  
“Alright, I’ll go. I guess it won’t hurt to listen what’s going on…” Lumina got up and slowly padded out of the room, leaving her friends behind. She stepped out into the corridor and saw the Professor with the other man from a distance. Her movements were as silent as the shadows as she followed them up until the man led the Professor into his office and closing the door behind them, leaving Lumina out. Hmm… I wonder what they’re gonna talk about… Thought Lumina as she tilted her head and moved her sensitive ear close to the wooden door.
“So, what are you wondering about my experiments, Matt?” the Professor asked him and he sat down on a chair.
“Do you know that your experiments were a real eye opener to the science world? Your creations are quite impressive.” said Matt.
“Thank you Matt.”
“But we need to get rid of two of them.”
“Get rid of them? Which ones?” the Professor said, surprised. Lumina blinked in surprise as well when she heard from the other side of the door.
“The grey hybrid and the tan lioness who you call experiments R.A. and E.M..” Matt said, leaning against the walls of his small office.
Emmy and Rain?? Why?? Lumina thought in disbelief.
“Umm… but why would you want me to do that?” asked the Professor asked, confused at where he was going at.
“Because the other people don’t care about those two, they aren’t nearly as good as your blue cat. Don’t you see Professor? They want experiment L.U.! Not them!” explained Matt. The Professor stayed quiet for a moment as he let the words sink into his mind, while Lumina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She practically let her jaw drop slightly.
“But… what good will that do?” questioned the Professor.
“You and experiment L.U. can become famous throughout the whole world! I can help you, but you need to get rid of those two; they’re only holding you back. Just imagine of all the money you can be making once you’ve been rid of those inferior experiments!” exclaimed Matt. The Professor thought for a moment, smiling at the thought of wealth and fame. It didn’t take him long to make his decision.
Oh please say no… please don’t get rid of them… Lumina pleaded in her head, her eyes shut.
“Alright Matthew, I’ll do it,” the Professor said, agreeing with Matt.
NO! Lumina’s eyes opened wide in fear, she almost gave away her presence when she slipped on the tile floor for a spilt second.
“Hehe, I’m so glad that you agree Professor, you won’t regret your choice, I promise.” said Matt, smiling approvingly.
“Just one question: how will I get rid of them?”
“Oh, umm… just try selling them or something.”
“Will do,” he rose from his chair and shook his hand, “Thank you Matt. This was a really interesting conversation. I shall get rid of them after this Christmas.” on the other side of the door, Lumina heard footsteps approaching.
        Crap... better scram before they catch me, she quickly turned and ran back to meet up with her friends; who were in the same spot when she returned.
        “What took you so long?” asked Rain, looking up from her laying position.
        “Man, they didn’t say anything interesting… just I bunch of silly interests only labcoats are in to.” Lumina quickly replied. She didn’t want to tell them of their bleak future, or to upset and sadden them. She simply didn’t have the heart to tell them.
        “Then why didn’t you come back if it was boring?” mewed Emmy, looking at Lumina.
        “I…” she started but the Professor walked into the room with a large smile on his face.
        “Okay, let’s get going now, sorry I took so long.” he said in a happy tone.
        “Yes sir,” Mai replied dully and tugged onto Emmy and Rain’s leashes, leading them out of the building. The Professor knelt down next to Lumina and patted her head gently.
        “Soon it will just be you and me, we’ll be famous,” he whispered quietly to her before he got up and herded her out of the building and into the truck that was just outside.
        Lumina was starting to fear the worst for her only friends. She didn’t want to be famous and she no longer wanted to be with the Professor anymore. She just wanted to be with Emmy and Rain, though the chances of that happening seemed very slim…

                                                        ***

        A week later, Mai took Emmy and Rain outside, and Lumina remained in her cage until the Professor arrived to open her cage. Her tail twitched slightly, she was still concerned for her friends, but she tried to forget about her worries and started to think about what she was going to do today. She couldn’t decide whether to annoy the other labcoats that were up and about the building, or watch Emmy and Rain outside from a large window in the observation room. The sound of the door opening interrupted her thoughts and the Professor came in. “Hey girl,” he said as he opened her cage. Lumina meowed and hopped out getting ready to leave the room and go into the observation room when the Professor suddenly blocked her way. “Woah, where are you going?” he asked her, laughing slightly. “Today you’re going to come with me, my family’s here to see you!”
        Family? The Professor has a family? I never knew that… thought Lumina.
        “Come Lumina, I’ll present them to you.” he rose to his feet and walked out; Lumina padded after him as he walked into his office. Inside was a tall woman and two smaller girls. Lumi had never seen children before. “Abigail, Rose, Elisabeth, meet Lumina.” the girls ran forward and began petting Lumina. The lioness tilted her head, not used to the girls’ high pitched voices. The other woman moved slower, but soon the four humans were sitting on the floor with Lumina; playing with her and calling her name.
        “Daddy, do we have some jewelry for Lumina?” one of the girls piped up. Abigail, the mother, reached into a bag and handed her daughters some gold rings ans an earring.
        “I thought those would look good against her fur color,” the woman smiled. Eagerly, the girls slipped one gold ring at the edge of where her long tuft grew, made a braid and added the second ring at the end to keep it from unbraiding. Lumina sat rigidly  as they gently removed her ugly white ear tag and replaced it with a gold earring studded with pink, purple, and turquoise stones.
        “There! Doesn’t she look pretty mommy and daddy?” Rose asked, smiling proudly of what her and her sister did. The Professor nodded, and then stood up.
        “I think it’s time for you girls to go back home, dad has a lot of work to do today.” his daughters protested as Abigail herded them out the door. “Good bye dear,” the Professor said to his wife. Lumina breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the Professor’s family leave.
        Once she was out of sight fro the Professor’s family, she started to wander around the building as usual. “Grr… stupid labcoats with no white fur… I hope I don’t have to go through that again.” she muttered to herself. She then notice something that made her forget about the Professor’s annoying family: there was a door that she hadn’t noticed before, and it was partially open. Lumina knew which area of the building she was suppose to stay away from, but her curiosity got the better of her and nosed her way inside, trying to be as quiet as possible.
        She expected the room to be filled with computers and machines like the room she had woken up in. But instead it as a simple office with a television at the back. Someone had left it on since it as flickering different images every few seconds. Lumins stared at it and noticed that the television was also talking. What’s this strange thing doing here? I’ve never seen anything as weird as this She was about to turn around and leave when the television showed a lion on the screen and caught Lumina’s attention. Lumina sat in front of the television for a whole hour, watching the program on lions. With each minute she learned about real lions; she felt a sinking feeling. What was she; compared to the lions on the screen? She had remembered what the Professor had been saying when she first woke up. He would not sell her for anything. The horrible thought struck her and remembered what the Professor was planning to do with Rain and Emmy. She couldn’t bear live without them. Have I been living a lie this entire time..? she thought mournfully, leaving the room when the screen changed from lions to sharks.
        She ran back to her cage and found Emmy and Rain already there. Emmy was the first to spot Lumina. “Oh hi Lumi! How are you? And… what happened to your tail? And where’s your tag?”
        “No time for that right now. I need to tell you something!” Lumina said, sitting in front of their cages.
        “And what’s that?” Rain turned to Lumina
        “Everything we know is a bunch of lies! They have been lying to us for the past fifteen years!!” exclaimed Lumina
        “What do you mean?” Emmy asked, sitting up right to pay full attention. Lumina explained to them what she had just learned from the television. Emmy had her eyes wide open and Rain only looked at her in disbelief and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “…I think we need to get outta here. Find real lions, and live a real life!” Lumina finished.
        “But how are we going to escape? There’s labcoats everywhere.” Emmy said quietly.
        “I know… but I have a plan: you two try to find a way out from the enclosure while I find a way out of the building.”
        “When can we do this?” Emmy asked, excited about such a big adventure.
        “I remember some time ago when I snuck over and eavesdropped on the Professor and that other labcoat’s conversation that they’re going to have this huge Christmas party – whatever that is –  before they become famous because of us. We can escape when they’re all tired of partying.” Lumina suggested.
        “But why do you want to escape? We have everything we need here: food, water, shelter. What more do you want?” Rain said to Lumina in a suspicious voice.
        “Because I feel captive in this place; I’m bored of seeing long hallways, white hallways, and machines everywhere. Don’t you guys feel that? I want to see wide open spaces… kinda like what you guys have but without the fences around.” she replied powerfully.
        “She does have a point… it is getting pretty boring being in one area all the time, especially after fifteen years.” Emmy added. Rain looked at both of them and heaved a deep sigh before replying. “Fine… we’ll get out of here. After all, if I stay here, I’ll be lonely not having your company.” she gave a small smile. Lumina smiled back weakly, not mentioning to Rain that the Professor was planning on selling her along with Emmy.