“So, you’re just going to let them flail around then?” Liszt asked Basil.
“Oh, are you gonna help me make sandwiches?” Basil asked, brushing off the question.
Liszt felt her face flush and inflate with visible frustration from the stress. “BASIL!”
“Okay fine. Yes. Yes, I want to see them flail.” Basil relented. “Vie wanted more responsibility. Let her feel a fifth of what I had to deal with. Being a single mom is tough.”
Liszt shook her head. “Well. We weren’t newborns, and you had Mama Pim to help.”
“Vie and Lili have all of us. Once Vie decides to start delegating responsibility. You can teach the baby like Pim taught you.”
“…I dunno.” Liszt sighed. “I don’t exactly trust that kid with a monkey wrench.”
“Well, look on the bright side, Vie gets exactly what she asked for, but nothing like how she wanted it. Chalk it up to divine will,” Basil mused. “It’s been a long day. So how about instead of worrying, you just let things pass?”
Basil rifled through the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of fine mead. She made a pair of instant coffees and spiked them by pouring herself and Liszt each a dram of mead into each of the tin coffee mugs. Liszt begrudgingly took the offered drink.
Basil toasted the air.
“Thanks for the life lesson, Kirin old friend, I appreciate it,” Basil cheered.
“…Toasting to that dragon spirit again? Really? What an odd old superstition coming from you,” Liszt groaned.
“Yup, superstitions matter when you’ve seen them with your own eyes! So, cheers to the great dragon that watches over us! It’s his world and we just live in it.” Basil said with a smirk.
“You shouldn’t be drinking after giving blood. It’s very irresponsible. Also, even if he is real, it just seems like an odd thing to thank him for is all.” Liszt lectured Basil between swigs from her tin mug.
“The coffee balances out the liquors… and besides, I like to thank him for all sorts of weird stuff that happens to me. I’m mostly serviceable as an adult in my own right, but out of all the so called ‘guardians’ I wouldn’t have chalked myself up as the motherly type. Sometimes you kids figure out the things I’ve been trying to teach you for years,” Basil mused, pouring herself another dram of mead.
Liszt rolled her eyes and began preparing a picnic basket while Basily leaned drunken and exsanguinated on the counter. “Look, Basil. I get it. ‘Don’t go around being bad or the Kirin is gonna smite you’ and all that. But I’m an adult, so I really gotta ask. Is the Kirin even real?”
“One minute you’re talking like he’s some divine spirit, the next you’re talking about him like you know him personally,” Liszt grumbled under her breath, as she chopped greens.
“Of course he’s real. I don’t credit people I’ve never met. He only comes out when it’s life or death stakes though. I’ve invited him over for dinner a few times, but he just seems to ghost me every time. Pity.”
“He’s not the only one ghosting people around here Basil.”
“Hey… Liszt. Sorry I haven’t been spending time together lately.” Basil said earnestly.
“It’s fine, I know you’re busy,” Liszt replied, brushing off the emotion. “But practice what you preach a little more.”
“Anyway, I have a project for you tomorrow,” Basil continued, brushing over Liszt’s lesson.
“Aren’t you going to ask if I’m free first?” Liszt asked, with a raised eyebrow.
“Nope,” Basil said with a smirk. “I have a project for you tomorrow. It’s a surprise.”
“…I’m beginning to hate surprises, Basil,” Liszt groaned.
“Good,” Basil said with a playful sneer. “Maybe then you’ll understand why I’m always so stressed.”
While Liszt and Basil prepared the food, the others stayed behind to tend to Gil. Nyx got to work cleaning and changing the child, while Asmo stood by, and handed her the appropriate tools when asked to do so.
As Vie began wrapping her arm, Lili sprang to her side and tugged on her sleeve. Vie instinctively pulled her arm away.
“Oh come on. You said it yourself. We should be proud of who we are. This is what I’m good at. Let me do what I’m good at,” Lili groaned.
“Blood bonds aren’t something you take lightly, Lili! It’s part of an unbreakable covenant!”
“You’re my sister! We’re already family. What’s another unbreakable bond?” Lili argued.
Vie sighed. The pain was almost unbearable, but she alone understood what this meant. She knew that she couldn’t explain what it meant to Lili. This was always part of the plan. Inevitable. But it hurt nonetheless. Blood bonding was inevitable, but it felt so frivolous. A bloodbond to fix a bite. Opening up infinite possibilities for everything to go wrong. But Lili was relentless.
“Always remember, Lili,” Vie sighed. “You asked for this.”
“Always with the dramatics,” Lili sighed with a roll of her eyes. She took Vie’s hand and placed her lips to the still running wound.
“I’m sorry, Lili,” Vie whispered.
“Don’t be so-” And as her lips touched Vie’s wrist, she felt herself dissociate.
“What-” She tumbled for a moment before catching herself upright. She saw a room made of twisted roots and vines, shaped entirely of living mana, the strongest leyline she’d ever felt.
She felt small, nervous, and lonely– a loneliness that Lili had never known in life. She felt herself walk to a window and peer out into the night, where she saw a man pleading.
And she saw the face of pure, unadulterated evil. Though she had never met Titania herself, she knew instantly who it was.
And she felt rage. Pure, deserved, unadulterated rage. She felt herself burning with a fire that would rival the sun.
She watched as the man tried to reason with the embodiment of all that was wrong and cruel in the vast world to no avail.
She saw the woman she hated most in the world stride out into the world.
And Lili knew what this moment was. The anger was foreign but not unfamiliar.
She felt herself speak, in Vie’s voice, “Papa-”
And in an instant she was back.
Home in the foyer, her feet wobbled, and she fell to her knees.
Nyx caught her before she could completely collapse.
Vie took her other arm. The three stood together, supporting each other.
“My head is spinning,” Lili gasped “Your blood tastes like fire.”
“That’s one,” Vie whispered.
“W-what did you do?” Lili gasped.
“Nothing. Why?” Vie asked. Lili could see genuine concern in her face.
“I’ve never had that happen before. I saw a room. I felt so lonely.”
Vie felt her vision tunnel.
“It was made of vines and tree roots… I couldn’t find my Papa. Mother was so angry. Anger I’d never felt before…” Lili’s voice trailed.
“Lili what are you-” Vie gasped.
“I was scared. I knew something was wrong, so I looked out the window to see where Papa was. I felt so lonely. I was lonely for so long,” Lili choked out.
“And… And we both know what happens next, Vie,” Lili felt her heart race.
“You traced the memories in my blood?” Vie’s eyes were frozen open. The blood loss wasn’t doing her any favors. “That’s… it’s not impossible. But how did you do that with no training?”
“You’re… You’re her daughter.” Lili felt her eyes tearing up. “Why? How could you?”
Vie froze. She felt every hair on her body stand up.
“I… It doesn’t matter where I came from. Basil is the only mother I've ever known,” Vie answered nervously.
“She… she’s the reason that all of our parents are dead, Vie.” Lili cried. “Why did you hide it from me? Why would you lie to me? And for so long?”
“I don’t know why she did it, Lili. She took everything away from me. She took my Papa away from me. I know she’s the reason all of our parents are gone, Lili. Because all included my father,” Vie answered, bitterly and spitefully. She was beyond simple platitudes.
“I didn’t want to tell you a half-truth. Because I still don’t know why she did it. That woman who set it all off. That was no longer my mother.” Vie stood, as demure as possible. She awaited her sister’s wrath.
And despite Lilith’s own rage, for the first time in her life Lili understood Vie, if only in spirit.
Her own rage and disgust were childish compared to the purity and conviction of Vie’s desires for vengeance. Vie had hidden this part of her away, because she wanted to pretend that scared girl no longer existed.
As far as Vie was concerned, that scared girl crying for her Papa had died that night along with the others. She would never let herself be caught off guard again.
For Vie, who’d spent her entire life having her dreams browbeaten out of her, it was nothing new.
As a child, she had spent her entire life having her mind and thoughts exploited and twisted, she had never felt more vulnerable.
Is it a lie to hide the darkness of one’s birthright? Is it a lie to accept a new life and a loving family? Vie had never lied a day in her life. She wanted to keep her little sister safe, and her head free of the plaguing thoughts.
A vague, innocent desire to confront a nearly imaginary threat.
But Vie had seen the gate open, she’d seen the elder things.
And she watched helplessly as her father was torn asunder in a vainglorious attempt at heroism. In his pointless attempts to hold back the deluge.
Vie braced herself for pain. For Lili to take a swing at her. It would be deserved.
But instead she felt warmth. Her sisters each wrapped their arms around her. She felt Asmo lean in as well.
“That was weird, but this is kinda nice.” He muttered.
“Oh. You’re still here?” Vie asked, sarcastically.
“Ouch. Love you too.” He said, with a pained chuckle.
They basked in their collective warmth for a few fleeting moments, until Liszt and Basil rejoined them.
“Did we miss something?” Basil asked, concernedly. Peering into the huddle.
“Just intergenerational trauma,” Lili said, raising her head from the huddle. “We’re still figuring this all out.”
“Oh boy. Is it Tuesday already?” Basil said half-joking.
“Is everything alright?” Liszt asked, noticing the tears.
“I think we’re okay?” Vie said, questioningly.
“Yeah. We’re okay,” Lili replied, still holding onto Vie. “It’s okay. It’s just been a very long week. And we all just need to learn to talk things out more.”
“Well, since we’re all getting along so nicely. It’s nice out.” Basil glanced out the window at the waxing moon. “For now anyway. The picnic is ready. Shall we head off?”
As they began to shuffle off into the yard, Lili wrapped her arm around Vie’s.
“I know your sin,” Lili said softly. “And it’s not what you think it is.”
“W-what?” Vie stammered out.
“You said something like, “That’s one,” right?” Lili asked.
“What happens when we get to three?” Lili asked, More inquisitive than out of concern. “Since you didn’t know I could trace your blood on the first try?”
“Honestly, I think we’ll both just have to be pleasantly surprised,” Vie said. She paused for a moment, anxiously. “… and just what is my sin, Lili?”
“Oh, you have to figure it out yourself. It’s obvious once you figure it out. But telling you would be cheating. But now I know something you don’t. And so I’ll call us even on all of this,” Lili quipped.
“You’re not angry?” Vie asked, suspiciously.
“I could never be half as angry with you as you are with yourself, Vie.” Lili said, hugging Vie’s arm. “So why put any effort into it right now?”
“…you really are my blood, aren’t you?” Vie muttered, shaking her head.
“Forever and always,” Lili said with a smile.
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