FOUR: MY SISTER CAME BACK TO BOWL

𝙄𝙏 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙁𝙄𝙉𝙀 - 𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙁𝙄𝙉𝙀. Kai saw through that about as well as a therapist, but he didn't call me out on it. Maybe he'd be a good therapist if his work with the Organization didn't pan out.

Either way, it stung like the hot coffee I poured over my friend to incite the food fight.

(I have no idea why I was so surprised, seriously. Even superheroes could be friggin pricks if they were in the spotlight long enough - anyone could. And, my sister loved the limelight during certain occasions, making her maybe one of the best and the worst of them.)

"So, what exactly happened with Sissy Dearest?"

"Sissy Dearest?" I asked as the living embodiment of winter flew into the shop. I smiled at him before straightening my apron and puffy skirt.

(I needed to wear it for the rest of the month. It made it so hard to move.)

"It's what I have decided to call Fay until I come up with a better nickname. Wicked Witch of the West has been overdone about a thousand times and is so last semester." Kai gave me a boyish grin at his wording. I was already well aware of his blunt tendencies and -

"FIANNA, GENERAL WINTER IS FREEZING THE BOOTH!"

(Oh shit.)

General Winter was nice enough. He was mostly out of the game, and, when I asked him why, he said, "I'm waiting for someone to come back." That was all he said on the subject. In a world filled to the brim with supers, the more supernatural entities of residing in our world and beyond started making themselves known - General Winter among them. Still, the lack of use of his powers, aside from the ice cream shop he owned, made it hard for him to contain it at times.

I glanced at Kai, and he sighed knowing what I was going to ask him to do. "I need to stop being your personal super-powered space heater, you know that?"

"Go get changed."

───────✧❁✧───────

"𝙄'𝙈 𝙎𝙊𝙍𝙍𝙔, 𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙎 𝙇𝙀𝙓𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙏𝙊𝙉," General Winter bowed as Elemental used his fire abilities to heat the small corner of the room. The ice that covered the booth almost all melted and evaporated, but the man in the red leotard grumbling under his breath. I slapped upside the head the super from behind.

I gave General Winter a cordial smile. "No need to apologize, Sir," I told him. It wasn't entirely a lie. After all, he hailed from Russia - the harshest of his brothers when angered yet the most loyal. He did what it took for his country, no matter how it affected him after.

"Yes he does!" Elemental exclaimed, almost childishly. "I'm on a goddamn stay-cation. I shouldn't have to use my powers until next Monday! Fianna, c'mon!"

"Do you want me to pour hot tea all over you and then cover your suit in ice cream cake?"

"Don't you dare. You know I'll never get the stains out!"

"Then be a good boy and zip it."

The superhero sulked away before General Winter let his deep, rumbling laughter escape his cavernous chest. "He's young. He vill learn," the older man told me.

"I know," I replied with a decisive nod. "Will you be bowling for the heroes side tonight?" I asked as I cleaned up some extra water that was left on the table.

"Yes, Vilhemina and I have gotten a sizable team together to destroy the villain team."

"Good to hear," I said with a grin before heading back to the counter. Once I took my place by the oven waiting for the cookies to be ready, Kai came back out from the changing room - thoroughly miffed. "My sister is joining the villain team in order to get back in Icarus' good graces."

"Wait, what?"

"Sit down, it's a sizable length story."

───────✧❁✧───────

𝙁𝘼𝙔 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙄 𝙎𝘼𝙏 𝙄𝙉 𝘼 𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙏𝙃 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙎𝙄𝙋𝙋𝙀𝘿 𝙎𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙇𝙔 𝙊𝙉 𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝘾𝙊𝙁𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙎.

I had nothing to say to her. So, I waited for her to start. "What's with the fifties get-up?" My sister asked me as she raised her eyebrow.

"I started a food fight and this is my way of repaying my boss for that little debacle," I answered honestly. What I wouldn't give to run my hand through my hair, but I refused. Voices and conversations echoed in my ears from times long, long, long forgotten. For once, I listened.

Instead, I busied myself with sipping my coffee and waited for her to pass judgement. It was spring time, and the sun beat down through the window. Cars honked and Jetson flew by us, waving at me, with a familiar mech-suit in tow.

This was my world.

This was our world.

"You started a food fight?" Fay asked me as mirth entered her eyes and laughter left her lips. Her pale face broke into a large smile - one I hadn't seen since before we discovered her power of transmutation. Something in my heart ached. The clenching and un-clenching of a hand that made me want to hug her and cry and hit her all at once. "Fianna Lexington, business before everything else, started a food fight?"

She kept laughing almost as if we couldn't be serious about it.

"I got pissed off."

"That makes more sense now."

"So, why are you here?" I asked. I hated the ease of which we spoke to one another.

(If you heard my heart, you'd know that I wasn't in the best place as of right then. I needed to remind myself of who she was. This was my sister who left with only a one word note and nothing else. She'd left before and she'll leave again.)

"I heard that the villains needed two more people for the monthly bowling tournament and decided to enter this year."

"Oh," I answered. My coffee eyes blinked owlishly and her brown-and-gold-flecked eyes seemed to glow at the thoughts that I saw dance across her face. There was a wistfulness that seemed stuck on her face and I stood abruptly up. That face was too familiar too eager to verify my suspicions. "I'm sure Icarus would love to have you back, Fay Lynn."

I barely kept a lid on my emotions enough to not fully spit the words before leaving.

Once again, she hadn't returned for me or Alfie or mom. She returned for a boy that she used again and again and shouldn't forgive her or love her as much as everyone knows he does. She returned for my boss.

(Honest to gods, Icarus deserved better than her. But, she could also be everything he wanted and more if she stopped being a jerk and stopped running!)