She’d only seen it for a few brief moments. Not long enough to appreciate it. Not long enough to take it in. Her eyelids felt heavy as she rested her hand against the smooth surface of the door and reached into her purse on instinct for her keys. Her fingers ran down before stopping, a brief moment of paniishing into a bemused chuckle when she remembered she didn’t hem. She rest her head against the cool surface of the door a out a weary sigh, the door’s eleic lock disengaging with a tiny flex of her will. She pushed the handle down and stepped into the entry hall.
The short passage led forward into an open kit that was directly ected to the living room. Sonya set her purse down on the pristine ter and leaned against it. She gnced over at the fridge where a little sign on the whiteboard hanging from the door said ‘No te night snacks! This means you, Sonya!’. She cracked a grin and walked over to the door, opening it and plug out a of co. She held it up to her ned groa the cold feeling of its surface against her neck before crag it open and taking a sip.
ar is delicious but sometimes the real thing is just better, she thought as she leaned up against the door and looked down at the ter again. Four seats stood along the side opposite her. She gnced up from them to the light fixture where she sehat the lights were out. She couldn’t tell anymore, she hadn’t been able to tell the differeween darkness and illumination for a long time. Her world erpetual state of crity that seemed ironic to her in a lot of ways. She sipped again at her drink and looked back to the seats.
Four people were sitting there, a young woman in a blue shirt with long brown hair, a young man with messy bck hair and bags under his eyes, a dark skinned man with short curly hair who seemed unfortable without his mask on, and a young man with brown hair in a letterman style jacket. He was ughing about something, his smile warm, his eyes glittering with a depth of goodhat she could never fully grasp. He turo look at her and smiled even wider, he said something that she couldn’t hear.
She returned his smile, “What was that, Nick?” she asked him, leaning forward, “I couldn’t hear you.”
He raised an eyebrow and gowards the others before shaking his head and pointing at his own ears, he was saying something again and the others were ughing at whatever it was. Her brows furrowed, “Nick? I’m sorry, I ’t-”
“Sonya,” he said, “It’s almost time.”
She cocked her head to the right, “Time for what, Nick? What’s going on? Jess are you putting him up to this?” she said with a ugh and turo Bluestar who was looking her dead in the eyes, a seriousness in her expression. She looked older nid, firm, posed in a way that the girl in the blue shirt from just moments before couldn’t match. Her gaze held the weight of experiehat was far deeper than anyone should ever have to gh in a single year. Sonya felt her fiense as she shot a look back to Nick. He was still as young as ever, still smiling at her with a kihat just wasn’t fair. “Nick?”
“The story’s almost over,” he said with a smile and leaned against the ter, the others were gone now. “The legend is about to start. I believe in you, Sonya. It’s about time you started doing the same. Like they do.”
“Nick, what are you talking about?” She ughed, “Of course I-” she trailed off as the se brightened back to the merry banter among friends. She turned her head to see Amos sitting on the couch pying video games, Marta was carrying treats on a tray with Barry looming over her shoulder and trying to reach for them. She was scowling at him with a small smile on her face. To her left, and Beyol stepped into the room, talking with one another before passing her by. Beyol waved awkwardly while shot her his signature grin before hopping over the back of the couch to interrupt a focused Amos. Kera poked her head out of one of the bedroom doors and shouted something before shooting Beyol a sheepish smile.
“Sonya?” A new voice called out to her and she jumped, dropping the with a g. She whipped her head to the side to see Cass looking at her. She blinked a few times and looked around the room, it was empty and quiet. That golden warmth of color just… gone. Her heart sank as she caught her breath and looked down at the mess at her feet.
“Oh,” she mumbled before turning to Cass with a smile, “Did I doze off there? Made a mess too, Marta’s going to be mad, huh?”
Cass gave her a worried look, “You okay?”
Sonya snorted before sagging a little against the door, “I’m… not great, Cass.”
“You’ve been go go go since we got back to New York. You need some sleep,” the girl said, “I’ll this up for you. Go y down.”
Sonya’s lip twitched and she tapped her foot against the liquid on the ground, it dissolved into motes of blue light that popped in the air like bubbles, the mess gohout a trace. “All gone, no worries,” she said with a chuckle before stepping away from the fridge to pick up her purse. She reached up and pulled her hair back a bit. She turo look at her apartment again, “When I started everything,” she said after a long pause, “It was just me, Amos, and Marta. We had Barry join ter.”
Cass turo look at the empty apartment thoughtfully and Sonya rested her elbows on the ter, “Amos would py video games on his downtime right there,” she said nodding to the tv, “I’d join him sometimes. Marta would yell at us about being frivolous about our time when all she really wanted was to ahe TV to watch her anime.”
Sonya’s shoulders sagged, “Amos is one of the most famous men in the world now, a nobel prize winning stist w hard to make it a better pce all the while living a double life. Marta has barely seen her boyfriend because I keep dragging her everywhere I go while sending him off to the ends of the earth to y the groundwork for my pns.”
“You miss it?” Cass asked.
“Yeah,” Sonya said, rubbing her wrist, it hurt a little. “I had a lot of fun at the camp, don’t get me wrong. I liked meeting the little heroes in the making but… they were so far removed from me in a way that I could never really ect to. I was always watg myself, watg them, watg him. Walking on shards of gss and praying that I didn’t slip up somehow or some way,” Sonya bowed her head, “I reected with someone I care a lot about and now she’s far away too. Car is a busy woman now as well, we don’t get a lot of time.”
Cass stood in silence for a while, looking into the room. Sonya wondered what it was like to see the room with the lights out as they were, gloomy ay. She could feel Marta sleeping soundly in one of the bedrooms as she cast her senses about. She looked down at the ter again a out a tired sigh. The little time she’d taken to herself before throwing herself into her work had barely made a dent in her weariness. The turmoil of a year past was gone from her heart but somehow that just made her feel even more exhausted.
“You said once, during the meeting with the other members of the Inner Circle, that you were trying to save the world, right?” Cass asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s yoal?”
“Yeah.”
“It seemed pretty easy at first, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, now I’m just tired all the time.”
Cass went silent again and regarded the room for a little bit longer, “You gave them all of their powers.”
“More or less,” Sonya said, waving her hand a bit, “Initially I just awakehe abilities that were already there or in Barry’s case he already had them.”
“You lifted them up, gave them strength, supported them,” Cass said to herself, “You had their backs when they needed you. Just like how you saved today.”
Sonya’s lips formed a line, “I never sidered that Qilin might show up like that. A miscalcution I won’t make again.”
“Sonya?” Cass interjected, drawing Sonya’s attention. She looked up into the girls eyes, they were blue and bright and filled with a mixture of care and . “What about you?”
“Hm? What about me?”
Cass snorted and shook her head, “Of all the things for me to figure out after spending all that time at the camp. Maybe you should have registered as an aspirant too,” she said with a chuckle and turo look back at the living room, “I have my team, thanks to you. I see them every day. They gave me the strength to keep going wheraining was at its toughest. When the durial was at its hardest. I wouldn’t be who I am now without them watg my back. You gave me that,” she let out a breath, “I don’t know what the future will bring and how things will go with my sister. But…” she trailed off and chuckled, “...it’s crazy to say. I hate her with all my heart. I want to face her, beat her. Yet there’s a small part of me that wants to hold onto this more. Like it's not worth it, she’s not worth losing this.”
Cass’ smile grew sht it was blinding, “I haven’t had a nightmare in a while. Sonya. Thanks to you,” she said and leaned forward to give Sonya a kiss on the forehead. She stood up straight, “I know they were joking the other day, but you’re like a mother to me. More than a big sister. I owe you my life in ways I ever repay. So please, take care of yourself and love yourself a little more. I don’t care what the rest of the world says or even what you think about yourself. You deserve happiness. Not just the little moments. All of it, as far as I’m ed.”
She cleared her throat a Sonya an awkward grin, “Been holding onto that for a while, gd I got it out. Good night, Sonya. Get some sleep,” she said and walked away leaving a dumbstruck Sonya leaning against the ter.
They grow up so fast, Ishtar said.
“They sure do,” Sonya said in wonder, watg the door close behind Cass.
One sister with a heart of stone, another warm as a summer day.
“Since when did you turn into a poet?” Sonya chuckled a out a sigh, she pushed herself up and ran her fihrough her hair. “Hey, Ishtar?”
Yes, Sonya?
“Do you think it’s possible for me to pull this thing off and not die in the end? Don’t I deserve it for all I’ve done?” Sonya asked.
Perhaps, but that’s entirely up to you. Do you want that kind of ending? I wonder if a real vilin cares about that kind of thing.
Sonya scoffed, “Is this that Vilin Mi nonsense you keep harping about?”
Yes. Though there is a differeween uanding it and truly accepting it. Do you believe you deserve a happy ending?
“No,” Sonya said after a long pause, “Maybe, I don’t know,” she muttered, exasperated. She gnced up at the door to the room that Cass had disappeared into. Her lips tilted into a small smile, “I think I could be vinced, with enough evidence.”
I suppose it’s a start.
–
The m Sonya woke to the st of breakfast and coffee and the sounds of ughter. She squinted groggily at the ceiling, her hair tousled about. She sat up sharply, reag up to clutch at her head for a moment befring at the door. “What the hell?” she grumbled, “Ishtar, what’s going on?”
You have guests, it seems. Little Taurus ihem over.
Sonya frowned in fusion, “Were you up all night? How do you know?”
Sonya, I don’t need sleep like you do. It is no drain oo keep an eye on your surroundings while you rest. Our senses are sharp, after all.
“Is that a new feature of our uh… thing?” she asked.
Hardly. You just never asked until now.
Sonya clicked her tongue and hopped out of bed, staggering over to the bathroom door and freshening up quickly. She threw on a t-shirt and pajamas quickly before marg to the exit of her bedroom and throwing the door open, “Now what the hell is going on out he- here…” she trailed off as she took in the se.
Alex and Cass were sitting on the couch, leaning forward as they stared at the television s, trollers in their hands. Lillian was at the kit ter with Snow and John, sipping at a coffee while Marta turned back to set a pte piled with pancakes down in front of the trio. Val barked out a ugh off to the side and Sonya’s eyes went wide as Amos turned his head from his versation with the new hero. He grinned, “Hey boss! Good m!”
Sonya stepped out of the bedroom and looked around the space again, stupefied, “Amos, what oh are you doing here?”
“I took a little time off from that project with Fe,” he said with a shrug, “ was in town so I asked Euclidia for a pot a text from Marta that blondie was having her friends over and thought I’d swing by too,” he said, jerking his thumb towards Cass who gnced up and waved quickly befoing back to her battle with Alex.
Sonya opened her mouth as a mug of coffee made its way into her hand. She looked down before looking up at Marta who smiled at her, “Good m, Miss Sonya,” she said, “Did you sleep well?”
“Y-yeah,” Sonya mumbled, and pulled the mug to her lips, sipping onbsp;
“I may be speaking out of turn,” Marta said quietly with her maid-like demure tone, “But even if you do not like hearing her referred to that way, I do believe the young miss of the family has turned out to be a remarkable and thoughtful young woman.”
Sonya looked to Cass who was grinnihing as Alex threw his hands up and rounded on her. Sonya felt a little lump form ihroat that she cleared, “Indeed she has,” she said and put the mug ba Marta’s hand before she walked over to the couch, “Hey! Let me in on this a!”
