TWO: SOMETHING SISTERLY THIS WAY COMES

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙄𝙉𝘿 𝙏𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝘿 𝙏𝙊 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀 𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙉 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙏 𝙀𝙓𝙋𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝙄𝙏.

   In my case, it occurred around noon when I stretched and left my lecture on European history. Yawning and rubbing my eyes, someone pulled me into a side hug.

   Due to the day in and day out surrounding my job, I stomped on the unknown person's foot. My next step was elbowing the assailant in their ribs. I went to through a roundhouse kick when I realized who exactly it was. "Kai!" I exclaimed.

   "Good morning to you too, Red," Kai retorted as he rubbed his ribs. "God, I didn't know you were taking self-defense."

   "Don't bloody scare me like that!"

   "Sorry," Kai jumped up with a sheepish smile. He opened his arms facing me. "Permission to hug you?" He asked.

   "I do have to make up for kicking your ass, don't I?" I replied with a grin before pulling him into a hug. The two of us laughed slightly at my tired antics. "Good to know I can still hold my own tired, though," I told him after we parted.

   His curly black hair fell into his eyes as he scrunched up his face and subsequently died of laughter. "You know that no-one would mess with the Barista or the Barkeep," Kai replied in between wheezes.

   Kai Wantanabe was the only one at school who knew of my (technically) triple life. Nights as a barkeep for villains - oddballs and outcasts who always apologized after abducting me to be the damsel in distress, mornings as barista for superheroes - well-meaning yet destructive, and days as a student trying to get herself out of the world that she found herself in. Nothing new, nothing different.

   He, after all, was a part of it. My fellow psych student doubled as a newly ordained super called "Elemental" that perhaps caused a bit more destruction than he was worth.

   "You did," I shot back.

   "That was after three stiff drinks and a strawberry cake," Kai pointed out. "And, I distinctly remember getting my ass kicked at that damn party anyway."

   "Goo-"

   My phone began chiming a familiar tone and all my color drained from my face. I remember hearing a passerby asking if I needed assistance before I collapsed onto the floor.

   The song only got louder.

   Each time I moved my eyes around, trying to understand what the hell was going on, the music only grew louder.

   And louder.

   And louder.

   And louder.

   The wind always changed when you least expect it.

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𝙁𝘼𝙔 𝙇𝙀𝙓𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙏𝙊𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝙍𝙄𝙑𝙀𝙉 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙏𝙊 𝘽𝙀 𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙁 𝙄𝙉 𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙀.

   She was someone to look up too. Someone I admired. Someone who meant the world to me.

   When I was young, too young to even recount the age, my sister was there. Two years my senior and always moving to the beating of her own drum. Her lavender-tinted red hair glinted almost purple in the sun and she gave us wicked grins when she did something my brother and I knew would not have ended well.

   But, she was different, and, when it was just me, she'd show me.

   When she commanded, or just waved her hand even, something changed into another.

   As she grew older, her power did too.

   As kids, it began with flowers and leaves turning into crowns. Then she turned a little bag of sand into sea glass on a school trip. Bigger things could be changed and willed to do her bidding. In my early teenage years, Fay used her ability to start up my mom's dying minivan and took me for a joy ride.

   I remember midnight in Halcyon City where freshly fallen rain reflected store and lamp lights. The city itself is covered in a ton of steel and debris; however, everything glowed. "How much trouble do you think we'll be in if we get caught?" I asked her.

   Fay sat behind the wheel and shrugged. She drove on the main road and the shops all became a blur. I felt something inside me. It knotted me up and then released and re-knotted every time a sign for another street passed. I saw people slightly peppering the streets in small groups every few blocks.

   Deciding "to hell with it!", I opened my window and stuck my arms and head out. Fifteen-years-old and screaming like a kid in a candy store, I let the realization sink in. The clock in the minivan read [̲̅1][̲̅2][̲̅:][̲̅1][̲̅5] and my sister and I snuck out of the house. We were free, without purpose or direction, driving further and further from the city we knew. That night ended up being my first time in Neo City.

   We almost got caught sneaking out because of that goddamn garden gnome my father insisted on buying at an auction years before even Fay was born. It was honestly an annoying garden ornament. My mom's right - even to this day! It does nothing but provide tripping hazards to everyone. Seriously! First, Nan tripped on her way to our door. Then, it was Fay's at the time boyfriend. After that, my parents each tripped twice in the same week on the damned thing. Fay and I were only the latest victims in this.

   But, the day where my parents found out was when it grew to it's biggest potential. I ended up some how getting into a fight with this kid twice my size. Everyone gather around us and I was getting wailed on - despite a few well-timed shots. I just needed an opening that I wasn't getting.

   Dodged that sucker punch; moved to the left.

   Evaded that second swing; moved to the right.

   Wrong step, I ended up getting a jab to the stomach from a crony. I doubled over and suddenly they were all ganging up on me. Punches, kicks, and screaming suddenly surrounded me. The fight escalated too far too quick. I squirmed and rolled and tried to evade the onslaught of attack - then it stopped. All three boys stood as straight as a rod, and I heard a familiar voice. It was an average in every way, but you will always be able to identify your siblings.

   There Fay stood.

   Her hands in odd positions that I had never seen in fifteen years of living. She made the earth split and create spikes that ended up impaling the assailants. They shot from the ground and spattered blood every where. Yet, Fay looked unfazed. I sat there, breathing heavily and bleeding and entirely in shock at Fay's actions.

   "It was you or them, and I wasn't even hesitating on that."

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"𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙂𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙊 𝘿𝙄𝙀?" Kai asked as he broke through my haze.

   "No," I answered before taking a deep breath and listening to the voicemail. I locked my phone almost as easily as I opened it. Glancing at my watch, I began moving on to the next class on the agenda before Kai stopped me.

   "What did she say?"

   "Not important."

   He gave me a crooked smile and quirked an eyebrow before I relented. "She's coming to aid Icarus in the bowling tournament."

   "Oh."

   "Hasn't even asked about Alfie and if he got into culinary school."

   "Maybe she wants to ask in person."

   "Or maybe she only cares about impressing the head honcho of a villain hang out who will definitely be arrested if anyone else found out where it was."

   "Are you ready?"

   "No, but no one is ready for the Wicked Witch."