by L. C. Mawson
Jealousy gave a nod.
“Anyone else?” Claire asked.
“If it’s not too much hassle,” Serenity said.
“I’ll come and help you,” Justice said, following Claire through to the kitchen area. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t get cramps,” Claire told her.
Justice nodded. “Good to know, but not exactly what I was asking. You’ve been avoiding everyone for a while.”
“It’s fine,” Claire lied as she made up a mug of hot chocolate for everyone.
“Come on, Love. We’re a team, remember? And teammates help each other out. I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
“I just... It’s petty,” Claire admitted as Justice helped her to carry the mugs through to the others.
“If it upsets you then it matters,” Justice told her.
“Is this about Em?” Serenity asked as Claire passed her a mug.
“Wait, what about Em?” Justice asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Claire said hurriedly, before picking the first thing that came to her head to change the subject to. “So, if you two get such bad cramps, why aren’t you on the pill?”
“I get side-effects,” Serenity said. “It’s easier to take painkillers.”
Jealousy just grunted.
“She has religious objections,” Justice translated. “They’re funny about birth control out by Tower Six. Even for medical purposes.”
Jealousy gave a shrug as if it wasn’t a big deal, contemplating her mug. Claire reasoned that she was probably trying to figure out if drinking it would cause her to throw back up. She assumed that she'd only stopped and felt well enough to come down because she had nothing left to bring back up.
“Anyway, what’s this about Em?” Justice prompted.
“You haven’t noticed how she’s been avoiding everyone?” Serenity asked.
Justice shrugged. “A little, but she usually holes up when everyone’s PMS-y anyway.”
“She had a falling out with Love.”
Justice raised an eyebrow at her and Claire started messing with her hair in response.
“It’s just... A thing. She did something and I got mad.”
“A thing?” Jealousy asked before attempting a sip of her drink. She seemed thankful for the distraction.
Claire sighed, turning to Justice. “That monster attack I told you about, the one I was caught in five years ago?”
“What about it?”
“The police found me after with no memory. Not just of the attack, but of anything. They told me my mother had been killed. They didn’t tell me that my younger sister had been taken in by the Aspect Program.”
Justice gave her a confused look, but Serenity figured it out.
“Empathy. She’s your sister. And you said you couldn’t remember... Pain took away your memories, didn’t he?”
“Wait, he can do that?” Jealousy asked, apparently surprised by the information.
“He can manipulate pain, even causing it to be so overwhelming that your brain just resets,” Justice explained.
Jealousy shuddered a little at the thought, though it quickly turned into her folding herself inward, clutching at her stomach.
“He’s little more than a child,” Serenity reminded her in response to her shudder.
“Doesn’t make his power any less creepy,” Jealousy muttered.
Justice gave both of them a disbelieving look. “Are you two missing the part where Empathy and Love are sisters?”
Jealousy shrugged. “Yeah, it’s great, whatever.” She definitely didn’t sound as if she thought it was great.
Serenity turned to Justice. “You’re forgetting that the rest of us have left families, including siblings, behind. You still have your brother, and therefore a unique perspective on this.”
Justice folded her arms, looking a little awkward at that. “I just...” She turned back to Claire. “I thought you’d be happy to have some family again.”
“Family? Justice, I didn’t even remember that she existed.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s not your family.”
“You two were close before your falling out,” Serenity agreed.
Claire twirled her hair between her hands as her brain ran so fast that her thoughts stopped making sense. All she knew was that a meltdown was imminent. This whole situation was too full of raw emotion. She just couldn’t deal with it.
“If she wants to be mad, let her be mad,” Jealousy told them through gritted teeth. “I know I would be.”
“You have a point,” Justice conceded before turning back to Claire. “I’m not saying that what she did wasn’t wrong, and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be mad at her. Just... don’t lose sight of the fact that you’ve got a chance to get at least some of your family back.”
Serenity nodded in agreement. “Not all of us get that.”
“I know,” Claire managed, though her voice came out far huskier than she would have ideally liked. “It’s just... hard. I don’t know what to say. I know it’ll just get overwhelming and I’ll only make things worse.” She swatted away the tears that started to fall.
“You don’t have to talk to her alone,” Serenity said. “I mean, we wouldn’t want to intrude, but if it would help, we could be there. Take some of the pressure off.”
Claire nodded gratefully. “That wouldn’t be too weird?”
Justice gave her a reassuring smile. “Hey, we’re all family now. Whatever you need, we’re here.”
“Hey Lita,” Serenity called out. “Where’s Empathy?”
“Empathy is not currently in the building.”
“She’s not?” Justice asked. “Where did she go?”
“According to what she told Pain, she needed some air. I believe she was headed to the library.”
“Want to go now?” Justice asked Claire.
Claire nodded.
Jealousy spoke up at that. “You couldn’t knock me out before you go, could you?”
“Sure,” Justice agreed. “We’ll get you some sedatives before we leave.”
CLAIRE HAD TO BE REMINDED to pick up her weapon as they left the Tower. She hadn’t really thought about the possibility of having to get to a fight without going back to the Tower first. She thought momentarily about whether Hate had brought her weapon with her on their dates and how the hell she'd hidden it, but then she realised that it was probably different for the Aspects with offensive powers.
She wondered about how Empathy could be so comfortable leaving the Tower on her own, given her lack of combat experience and control of her powers, especially after the two of them had been attacked. Actually, now she thought on it, she and Em had probably been the targets of that attack. The thought made her shudder and quickened her pace. Em really should have known better than to leave the Tower on her own.
“You okay?” Serenity asked, hurrying to keep up with her pace.
“She shouldn’t have left the Tower. She’s one of the targets they’re after.”
“She’s never had to think that way,” Justice reasoned.
“That doesn’t make it any less reckless.”
“Well, no,” Justice agreed.
“She’s probably fine,” Serenity tried to reassure her, but it had no effect. If anything, it only hurried her along, making her want to get to the library all the faster.
Of course, her pessimistic attitude didn’t make the monster’s screech any less spine chilling as they approached.
“I’m thankful for the lack of ‘I told you so’,” Serenity admitted after they had all silently brought out their weapons.
“Love, try to get it under control. Failing that, join me on the attack. Serenity, try to neutralise the attacks before they hit me, but otherwise stay back and try not to hit civilians.”
That was when Claire realised that Serenity was holding a rather intimidating looking Rena weapon. If Claire had to guess, she would say that it was a plasma cannon.
&nbs
p; “What about finding Em?” Claire asked.
“If we protect all of the civilians, Em will be protected too. Now move.”
They did as they were told, spreading out. Claire wasn’t sure what the range was on her power, but given that she'd previously gotten it to work by yelling at the monster, she supposed that hearing range would be a safe bet.
Serenity backed up as Justice and Claire leapt forward, dissolving what looked like a sound wave which left the maw of the grey, spiked creature as it let out a soundless roar.
“I hate Screamers,” Justice muttered with a frown before attacking it head-on with her broadsword. Her swings were both powerful and graceful, though her style was more straight-forward, and involved less twirling, than Claire’s own.
Claire tried to focus on that, but it had no effect on the creature. She tried to focus on Em, but her feelings were too clouded by anger.
Quickly, she took a running jump at the creature, spinning in mid-air before slamming her staff down hard between its eyes, using the force to propel her into a flip and landing gracefully beside Justice.
“I kind of thought you’d try for more than two minutes,” Justice said, capitalising on the creature’s distraction by slicing straight through one of the already injured legs. It still had five to go. “I can handle this for a while.”
“It’s not going to work,” Claire told her simply. “Too much distraction.”
“Then at least activate your staff.”
“What?”
“Tap the ground three times.”
Claire did as she was told and the two ends of the staff whirred to life, electricity making the air crackle as they glowed white.
“Why didn’t you tell me it could do this?” Claire asked.
“Because I didn’t want anyone getting hurt in your training sessions,” Justice answered before rolling out of the way of the creature swiping at her with its newly-formed stump, coating her in thick, purple blood. She didn’t so much as flinch before attacking again.
Claire spun once more, building up momentum before aiming the electrified end of her staff right at the creature’s bloody stump to by-pass its outer scales.
The creature let loose another howl, though it was once again silenced by Serenity. It spun around quickly, its tail knocking Claire back and into the wall.
Claire’s back made an unpleasant thumping sound as her breath was knocked out of her. It took a few moments to regain it and she was sure as she tried to stand again that she'd landed wonky on her ankle. That didn’t matter though, as she saw Justice beat aside a swiping claw with her sword, barely staying on her feet as she dodged out of the way.
“That definitely did something,” Claire yelled at Justice as she moved back to the fight.
“Then aim for the wounds I make,” Justice told her before feinting for the Screamer’s right claw. She spun faster than Claire’s eye could track, catching the creature in the eye and drawing her blade down to its mouth, barely escaping its gnashing teeth as it tried to fight back.
Claire hopped up the creature’s left side, getting behind its head before driving her staff into the wound in its face.
That creature snarled, shaking Claire free from its back, though her staff remained lodged in its eye.
Claire managed to land on her feet, recovering enough to spin around, kicking the staff further into the creature’s face.
“Stop moving!” Claire yelled as it started to thrash near Justice, too erratically for her to effectively dodge.
It did as she demanded, stopping still for a few moments and giving Justice enough time to escape.
After just a few moments, the creature started to move again, though it was a stuttering movement as if it was struggling to fight Claire’s compulsion.
“Get down!” they heard, followed by a massive blast, hitting the creature in the head. Most of its head had melted away when the light died down enough for Claire to see.
“Aw, my staff,” she said, unable to see it in the mess.
“There are plenty more at the Tower,” Justice told her, wiping off what blood she could from herself.
“Yeah, but I liked that one,” Claire said as she looked around, trying to find any sign of Em. The monster had caused some of the stone decor on the front of the library to fall to the ground, but most of the walls were still standing.
Claire saw one of the broken stone gargoyles move out of the corner of her eye. She hurried over, not really expecting it to be Em.
But, of course, the young, trapped girl’s short, blonde hair started to lengthen and turn dark, becoming thicker, as Claire approached. Half of the gargoyle’s body was pinning her leg down.
“Hey,” Em said, looking terrified. It took Claire a moment to realise that it probably wasn’t because of her leg, but because of her presence.
“Hey,” Claire said softly, getting down on her knee to examine how injured her sister was.
Her sister. That was still strange to think.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Claire asked.
“No,” Em said as her form continued to shift into Claire’s. She let out a cry as her leg became thicker beneath the gargoyle.
“Hold on, I’ll get it off,” Claire said, quickly moving to push it away and hoping that it wouldn’t just make things worse. She knew nothing about first aid.
“I’ve called a pickup,” Justice called over to them as Claire succeeded in pushing the gargoyle off her sister’s leg. The injury didn’t look too bad, though that didn’t rule out a broken bone.
“Thanks,” Em said, her tone seeming genuinely surprised that Claire had helped her, though she quickly looked down at her leg, seemingly trying to figure out whether or not she should try to move her leg.
“Just stay put,” Claire told her. “And, it’s no problem. I mean, of course I’d come.”
Em didn’t answer, her gaze still locked on her leg.
“You know that, right?” Claire asked softly. “You knew that I was still going to come, despite everything... right?”
Em gave a small shrug, still not lifting her gaze. “I hoped you would.”
“Well, I did. And I promise I always will.”
Em nodded, almost hitting herself in the face in a hurried attempt to wipe away tears before they fell.
Before she could say anything else, the dropship arrived.
CLAIRE GAVE MADEMOISELLE Bennett some space as she patched up Em. The only damage was a slight fracture, which she was told would heal up in no time. Apparently, given Em’s ability to morph into other people, her body was pretty good at patching itself up quickly.
As soon as Mademoiselle Bennett left the room, Em sat up and seemed to be preparing to leave.
“Do you not want to give it five minutes before trying to walk on it?” Claire asked.
“You’re not mad,” Empathy said, not answering her question. “At least, not really. Not like when I first told you.”
“Yeah, well, I had time to cool down,” Claire figured. She would be lying if she said that she was completely over it, but she realised now that Em needed her. And the team needed them not to be fighting.
Empathy’s gaze dropped to the floor as she gripped the edge of the bed, her shoulders hunched a little. “I thought you were going to stay mad at me forever. I thought you’d never talk to me again...”
“Yeah, well, I was tempted to,” Claire admitted. “But I’m not going to stay mad at you for something you did when you were eight.”
“Thanks.”
“Though I am still a little annoyed that it took you so long to tell me. If Pain hadn’t told me you were hiding something, would you ever have said anything?”
“I... I don’t know,” Em admitted, twisting her hair between her fingers. “Maybe. I just... I was scared. I mean, I didn’t know you at first. And I was scared you’d be mad at me. And then, with every day that passed, it just became harder.”
“Until Pain made sure you didn’t have a choice?”
“He seems to care about you a lot,” Claire ventured.
Em shrugged. “We’ve just been here the longest.”
“Uh-huh,” Claire replied, making it clear that she didn’t believe that, though she decided not to press the issue any further. They weren’t quite there yet. “I should let you rest up.”
Em nodded. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Claire did everything she could not to avoid Em in the following days but it was hard. She found herself slipping back into her avoiding routine without realising it. Her sleep schedule seemed to prefer getting her up at unreasonable hours and, hey, since she was up anyway, it would be a waste not to train, right?
Both her body and mind were mad at her. She hadn’t let herself settle into a steady routine since she'd arrived, changing things up every few weeks, and they were sick of it. They stood their ground now, rebelling against her circumstances by weaponising her senses against her when she didn’t cooperate. She was tired, everything hurt, and she kept forgetting steps when she showered.
She was consumed by brain fog as she entered the communal space, determined to stay there during sociable hours and to not go to bed in the middle of the afternoon. If she could just stick to it, she’d be back on a normal sleep schedule and she could finally get herself settled into a new routine.
“You look like hell,” Jealousy told her as she entered.
Claire groaned. “Thanks for that, that was exactly what I needed to hear.”
Jealousy shrugged. “I’m just being honest. Right, Sere?”
Serenity gave her a disapproving look. “Leave her alone, Jealousy. She’s just tired.”
Jealousy gave a hum of surrender, holding her hands up momentarily, before returning to her magazine.
The door opened again behind Claire, revealing Em. She looked like Sherlock, though she quickly changed to Claire. She wondered if Em had looked like her when they were little. Did she like looking like her because it was more familiar to her than the others?