ᴅᴇx ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴꜱ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ 「 ˢᵒʳᵘʸ 」

17 || the problem

Tam's back stiffened as he heard Luna warn the Councillor. If she wasn't already in trouble for giving herself away earlier, she was surely in trouble now. She was just so tense and awkward around them--and he got that they tortured her limbium, but she looked tense about something else.

It was a common fact to him that Luna is not an open person, but she has so many secrets that he was surprised she didn't drown in them yet.

Then Stina and Linh started talking, they had this all planned out.

"She speaks in riddles," His sister said after she exploded the water, "Figure it out and you might save a life."

Then they vanished using the untraceable light leaper. When they arrived on the base he glared at the girls, "What was that?!"

They were quiet and looked around the room for the blonde fellon. Luna was nowhere to be seen--oh, she'd done it this time.

"Luna knew that she might chicken out--she didn't say why, but she said to do her this one favor. Make sure everyone got out alive, and they did. So mission accomplished, I don't see why you're acting like a little bitch." Said his sister, surprising him.

Linh never talked like that. Sure, she changed a lot from when they were children--stars anyone with their backstory would. But this was different, she always kept her chill, no matter what.

This wasn't the first change he saw in his sister though. The fact that she changed her twin hairstyle to all silver, the fact that she stopped caring about the little things, and the fact that she was so much like Luna now. Reclusive, pessimistic, sullen, and if not a bit vindictive.

Tam wasn't going to admit it, but Luna was changing his sister. And not for the better.

Before he could respond to her, a livid Gethan and other Neverseen members entered the room. Literal steam was coming out of his ears, and his face was bright red with rage.

He started cursing her out as she teleported into the room, and crashed right into his chest. Gethan gripped her shoulders, and Tam could have sworn he saw her flinch.

"Do you know what you've just done?" Gethan demanded, "Days of planning just thrown in the mud! We are never going to get another chance like that! You useless excuse of a child!"

As Tam watched Luna he saw her various reactions to Gethan's words. It went from solemn to annoyed to pissed to seething. It was scary how much she looked like Gethan at that moment.

He watched as her throat bobbed, and she laughed. "How can I be a 'useless excuse of a child'? I haven't been a child in a very long time." Everyone--including himself--was taken aback by her strong words, "And I don't  particularly care that I ruined everything, because I'd rather have that on my hands than the murder of innocent--"

"That's what you don't get!" Gethan bellowed, "Maybe we would have murdered those 'innocents' but in the end we are saving many more lives--including our own. The Council will only get more and more greedy, all the empty places in the Wanderling Woods will be filled by the end of this. And you have guaranteed more death, now you have that on your hands."

Luna looked the telepath in the eyes, and she had a sliver of doubt creep in. But knowing how she was, she wasn't going to admit that to anyone.

Unlike his sister, he knew that this was all an act. Luna changed his sister with a facade. On the inside he knew that she was dying, while looking better than fine on the outside. She cared--too much for the people who wronged her. They didn't deserve her.

Everything was so thick that he could have choked on it. Everyone was looking at her with pitying eyes--and he could tell that she wasn't enjoying that.