Rising Shards

Tik, Kara, and Mars led the way, apparently spotting things we couldn't as we walked through the long pathway the devils blasted through. I couldn't even tell where we turned, but we were definitely headed a better direction than before, as the walls around us weren't just the same dark blue tiles, the hues around us transitioning to a generally lighter shade. Oka, Lillia, and I stayed side by side, while Raytris shifted to a smaller form and rode in one of Mars' pockets.

My shoes made kind of a popping sound against the floor. I tried to imitate it, matching little "pop, pop, pop"s escaped my lips with each step.

"Kinda making noises to cope with Anastasia," I said. "Sorry if it's annoying."

"Make all the noises you want," Kara said. "That sister thing is rough, I'm sorry kid."

"Yeah," I said. "At least my other sister makes up for Anastasia being all..."

"This'll cheer you up," Mars reached into his pocket, pulling out slime. "Oops, not that one."

"Was that Raytris?" Oka asked.

"Nope, unrelated slime," Mars said as Raytris peeked out of the pocket she was actually in, perking up at the word 'slime.'

"I told you to put that in a baggie," Kara said. "He's obsessed with those slime making videos lately."

"I did put it in a baggie," Mars said. "That's my baggie pocket. The bag itself was just all open at the top."

"Anyways," Kara said. "Didn't mean to change the subject."

I shook my head. "You don't have to worry about me. We have more important things to deal with right now."

"Hey, come on," Oka said, squeezing my arm. "Ana was just being a huge jerk, we're here for you. If you're comfortable with it, we can talk it out on the way to some stupid fight with a sentient stick figure."

"Alright..." I said. "I don't even know what to say, though. I'm still coming to terms with the idea of having another sister."

"I can't imagine what it's like," Oka said. "I guess the Kilanders have lots of family drama, but the closest to getting a new sibling I have is 09, and we barely talk anymore."

"When Lilith was born, my parents said I was very jealous," Lillia said. "Which unfortunately carried through as we both got older. But I don't know if that's similar at all to your situation."

"It kind of is!" I said. "I assume things got less tense between you?"

"Somewhat," Lillia said. "Lilith is still frequently obnoxious, but she's still family."

"I get that," I said. "Sometimes Stella drives me crazy, but she's still my sister." I hoped Ana and I could get even half as decent around each other as Stella and I. "For some reason I drive Anastasia crazy."

"Which is so stupid, because you're such an adorable cupcake sweetheart!" Oka said. "What could Little Miss Zeta Faleur have possibly done to warrant it? I don't get it at all. Makes me wanna punch her."

"I don't know which I like better, adorable cupcake sweetheart or 'Little Miss Zeta Faleur," I said. "But...I'm sure being raised by my parents in any capacity is why."

It was hard to put anything about my parents into words. Now that Mom was around and maybe wasn't the one that tried to do some evil ritual to me to turn me all beast tendency and awaken Endora, I didn't have as terrifying an image of her. I didn't have a good one though, because it was entirely possible she was just lying and she did do all that, but it felt like a lot of the blame went to my dad, who I imagine imparted a lot of 'wisdom' onto Anastasia that helped stoke her flames of hatred toward us.

"Hey, this is maybe a weird question," I said. "Were my parents like Anastasia growing up?"

From the memories we'd seen with Tik's powers, Mom wasn't always that stoic figure, but we'd only seen a bit of her. Maybe the glimmers of her being normal in memories weren't actually how she regularly behaved.

"Keep in mind that I really didn't spend a lot of time with your parents," Tik said. "A fair bit, but...there are a lot of gaps due to my situation. I was much closer with your aunt."

"Right," I said. With the memory hunt, we had stalled out a bit after finding out that Tik was wounded and trapped in some magic crystal that my aunt River carried around. She had gotten out of it apparently, but she didn't know what happened to River.

"But...from my experiences with your mother when she was younger, I'd say her demeanor was most similar to yours, actually." Tik said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," Tik smiled a bit. "Excitable, passionate about her hobbies, kindhearted. Very much like you."

"Huh," I said, blushing at the compliment. "What happened to her?"

"That's been a great question in my life," Tik said. "Anastasia seems a lot more like your father. Hot headed, always thinks the world's against them even on their best day. Your mother is very cagey about most of what I've asked her, but I did get her to admit that it was just your father raising Anastasia for a long while when she was younger."

"That explains a lot," I said. I didn't get why they'd have a secret sister that they raised away from us, especially with our ages, and trying to piece that together gave me a headache, so I focused on Tik saying I was kind and Oka calling me a cupcake sweetheart to feel a little better.

"As brash as she is, I would love to have a chat with Anastasia," Tik said. "I doubt I could get her to agree to using my powers, but she might be a key to..." She bit her lip, as if the words were too hard to say.

"For figuring out what happened to River, right?" I said.

Tik nodded, and we left the conversation there. Even if we kept it going, we would have been promptly interrupted, as a weird, wailing song echoed through the halls, beckoning us to follow it.

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