Let it be known: Dolly loves her brother. Day was always very cool and kind, playing with her whenever she wanted and making her all kinds of delicious snacks. He was also very patient and caring. If she didn’t understand something, he taught her. If she was sick, he nursed her. 

 

Day was a large part of her life, and even if she sometimes used him to collect shinies from her friends she never stopped appreciating him. He was kind(already said), cool(already said) and very strong. No one ever beat Day! He would always trounce whoever came at him. Dolly admired her brother endlessly. He was invincible. Constant.

 

He’d always be there for her. At least, that’s what she thought. That is, until his accident. Until she saw all that blood...so much of it. That’s when she realized he wasn’t invincible. That he could be hurt, injured. That he could...die. And that Dolly could lose him forever. 

 

That first night after the accident she couldn’t sleep at all. She could only sit up in bed awake holding herself. Crying. Shivering. Scared silly with a cold finger of dread at her back. As if the entire world could end at any minute. That impending sense of doom nearly drove her insane.

 

Dolly realized something else then, too: She could live without mother and father. She could live without Vee and Baz and all her friends... but Day was special. Dolly couldn’t imagine a world without him. She hated even the thought of it. She loved her Day! She loved him very much! But he was reckless, too reckless! Why did he have to push himself so much? Why couldn’t he just rest and recover? He didn’t listen to her.

 

And what if he opened up his wounds again? What if they worsened? It was a constant worry. A constant fear. Why? Why couldn’t he just listen to her and lay down? Didn’t he know how much she worried for him? Didn’t he care how she felt about it? She already talked to the doctors. She knew he wouldn’t get much better. He knew that too, but he didn’t stop his useless training. And no one stopped him, either. Not mother, not father, Mary, Vee or Baz. No one. They just stood by as he tortured himself. 

 

Dolly almost hated them...no. No, that wasn’t true. She resented them. Because they didn’t care about Day, did they? If they did, they’d stop him. 

 

But they didn’t. And he wouldn’t stop himself. He’ll keep being reckless, keep fighting and fighting and fighting. And who knew when he’d get unlucky? When something worse happened? What if he didn’t survive this time? 

 

Dolly couldn’t let that happen. She refused to! So she’d do what she had to. She’d keep him safe, and by her side, forever. 

 

Even if she had to break his legs to accomplish it...

“I’ll take that, dear.” Dolly heard her mother say. She jumped up in surprise and hit her head on the table's underside.

 The woman held out a hand and bade the girl to give the tool up. “And please get up.”

 

“Holy--Dolly, what the hell?!” Her brother exclaimed as he caught sight of his sister grudgingly crawling out from the table. 

 

“I’m not going to ask.” Their father said before biting into a piece of buttered bread.

 

“Vera too.” Mother added.

 

“...”

 

“Come on, out.”

 

A second later and Vera also popped out, also holding a hammer. She looked faintly relieved as she handed in the thing. “Tsk.” Dolly clicked her tongue.

 

He bonked her on the head. “Knock it off, seriously!”

 

The girl rubbed her head and took a seat. “You’re making me do this, Day.” She speared a sausage and took a big bite, chewing angrily. 

 

“How!?” Damien asked incredulously. But she just ignored him. 

 

“Chew slowly, honey.”  Mother warned. “You could choke.”

 

“...Tsk.” Came the resentful response. The angry chewing continued. Father looked over..

 

“Eat right.” Was all he said.

 

“Tsk!” Dolly grabbed a spoonful of eggs and shoved it down her throat. 

 

The man raised a brow. 

 

Vera spoke up. “Maybe you should listen to your parents.” 

 

“Hmph!” She started munching on a stack of pancakes. 

 

The kid was struggling by that point. “Dolly, slow down.”

She swallowed. “Okay.” A nod.

 

“Brat.” Mother snorted softly. 

 

Dolly ignored her and wiped her mouth daintily. She was now the perfect image of a well-mannered young Lady. “Day.” She began. 

 

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

 

“...Okay?”

“I just wanted you to know.”

“...Right. Uh. Are you okay?”

“Why, yes. Why do you ask?”

 

“Oh, I dunno. Your various attempts at hobbling me might have something to do with it.”

 

The girl slammed a fist on the table. “Well...you’re forcing me to do this, Day! You’re hurt! You should be resting in bed, but again you were out training today! Do you think me a joke, hm? I’m serious here! If you don’t go easy, don’t blame me if I go hard!”

 

“Your brother is fine, Dahlia.” His father sighed. 

 

Vera agreed. “That devil there won’t die from something like that. He’ll be back to normal soon enough. Don’t bother worrying about--”

“Oh shut up!” Dolly snapped. Everyone was stunned. She’d never raised her voice like that before, with such a mean tone. “Both of you just shut up!” 

 

Damien raised my hands. “Woah, woah, woah. Easy there, little one. They’re right. I’m feeling much better these days. Look, I get you’re worried, but it’s alright. I’m all good.” He pounded his chest twice. 

 

Dahlia stared at him with reddened eyes. Her chest felt hot and a lump formed in her throat. She looked at her mother, but the woman was too busy sipping from a glass of orange juice to pay them any mind.

 

See? See? They didn’t care at all about her Day! Even though he almost died, even though they almost lost him! How could they be so cavalier? Dolly couldn’t understand it. She didn’t want to.

 

Even Day himself treated this like it was nothing. He had no instinct of self-preservation at all! Fine. If he was going to be this way then she’ll just have to step up herself. 

 

From now on, no more nice Dolly!

 

***

It was an uneventful rest of the day. Damien only had a few classes to attend, then he went out to the nearby city for some fun till noon. He got back near nighttime, took a bath and went to bed early.

 

The first thing he noticed upon awaking the next morning was a heavy weight on his hand. He’d only noticed it when he raised his hand to scratch his nose, but there was a silvery manacle around his wrist. He stopped and stared for a few seconds, not quite understanding what was going on. Then his peripheral picked up a shock of blonde hair by his side.

 

Suffice it to say, a certain loli was in for a rude awakening.

 

***

 

A family meeting was quickly convened. 

 

Mother sat on a sofa with Mary standing just behind her, handing her some tea. Mother studied the manacle with a critical eye. 

 

Their father was at her left. She leaned towards him and said, “Say, isn’t that…?”

“...Dwarf star alloy, yes. I believe so.”

“You still had it?” 

 

"You never know when you might need it.”

 

“MIght need it? And what do you mean by that, huh?” 

 

“I don’t mean anything.” He coughed. Mary raised a brow but stayed quiet.

 

“Mhmm, sure. We’ll talk about that later.” She turned to her daughter. “That aside, it’s time to let him go. Come, Dahlia, give us the key.”

 

“Can’t.” She shrugged nonchalantly. 

 

Mother paused. “What do you mean, you can’t?” 

 

“I threw it in the toilet.”

 

The look on their parents’ faces were priceless. Not only their mother’s, but their father’s mouth also  fell open. “You...You did what?!” They hissed.

“Shit. Shit.” Their father cursed. 

 

Muriel grabbed her husband and in the next instant they were huddled in the corner ten feet away.

 

“DId you hear her?! What are we going to do?!”

 

Elias’ forehead started to sweat as he struggled to stay calm. “That’s...what can we do, even?” He gave a hollow laugh. “She...she threw it away.”

“Well...we can’t just leave them like this!” 

 

“I know that. Christ!” He took one of his son’s favorite swears and used it on instinct.

 

“Then think of something! You’re the one who kept that damn thing! And where did you leave it that she could just stumble upon it, anyway?”

“It...it was in my sock drawer.”

“Why?!”

He grunted. “In case I needed it!” 

 

“Oh, you stupid man! Need it for what?! I’m reformed!” 

 

“I never thought i’d have to use it! I just thought I’d, you know, keep it handy.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“...”

She narrowed her eyes. “Oi.”

Elias felt an impending doom. Luckily Mary took the initiative to cut in just then. She tapped his shoulder and asked, quite casually, “Do you have some of the alloy on hand?”

“Just a bit. Not enough to make anything useful for me at the time so I just kept it.”

 

“Wait, you have more? Thank heavens.” Muriel let out a held breath. 

 

“Indeed. There you go then.”

 

“...Wait. What?” Elias frowned.

Mary looked at him like he was an idiot. “Are you thick?”

 

“What the heck are you talking abou--oh.”

 

“Figured it out, have you?”

He cleared his throat. “Yes. Sorry. “ A sigh. “But it’ll take a week to forge a new key, hard to handle as it is. The shackles took nearly three months.”

 

“Best get it started then.”

 

“Right. Right. What about them?” 

 

“Nothing we can do right now.” Muriel shook her head. “They’ll have to stay together. Dang brat, what was she thinking? Honestly.” The woman rubbed the bridge of her nose.

 

Mary leveled the same, ‘are you stupid?’ stare at Muriel this time. ’“Her brother almost died. She wants to protect him.” 

 

“There are surely other ways.”

 

“Perhaps. Though if she wants to keep an eye on him, this isn’t a bad idea. A bit extreme, but she is your child.”

 

“Hm. Fine. Point taken. So, which of us is going to tell him? Not it!” She quickly called out.

 

Muriel knew her son often shot the messenger. She worked hard to earn all the brownie points she’d gained so far. She didn’t want to lose some just for this. He’d definitely call her useless and say all kinds of mean things that’d make her want to crawl into a hole and cry. Muriel couldn’t handle that. She was weak. 

 

In short, she didn’t want to be the one to bring the bad news. That was a father’s job! Yeah.

 

“Well I’m not doing it.” Elias folded his arms. His son had a temper. If he told the boy he was stuck like this for a week, who knew how he’d take it? Elias was an honorable man, but his son fought dirty and is downright wicked. Elias didn’t feel like being poisoned. He still remembered what the kid did to his subordinates some years back. The guys shat themselves all day. There was red and brown everwhere, not to mention the gods-awful stench. 

 

“Someone has to!”

 

He looked away. Only to see Mary walk over to the boy and give the news herself.

 

“We’re having a new key made. It’ll take a week.”

“Huh. Okay.”

“I’ll be off then.”

“Nn.”

Elias watched with a flat face. “...I knew she was his favorite, but he didn’t even curse.”

 

Muriel’s hackles were raised at that. “What do you mean, she’s his favorite?” she pouted. 

 

The man wisely chose not to answer.

 

All of a sudden Dolly stood up and exclaimed. “Oh no! We’ll be late!”

“Late? For what?” Damien asked.

“I’m supposed to go to Cory’s today. That means you have to come too. See?” She held up the manacle clamped to her own arm. 

 

“A playdate, huh. Alright, I don’t have anything else going on right now anyway.”

 

“This is great. Now you can play with us too! Have you met Cory, Day? You’ll love her, she’s so nice and cool.”

“Cory...I think I remember her, yeah.” If he recalled right, she was one of his groupies. “She sounds great. “

 

“A playdate with Day and Cory...hehe. I’m excited. Ah, I need to go find Vee!” And the girl ran off, only to be pulled back as she reached the end of the chain’s slack.” Oof!” She fell on her rump. “...This may take time to get used to.” She smiled sheepishly. “But it’s okay!" The girl added quickly. "Um. Sorry, Day. Can you come with me to find Vee?” 

 

“Don’t seem like I have much choice. Come on then,”

 

Damien helped her up and started walking with her to find that rascally moss-head. He didn’t even mind the chains, to be honest.

 

You think he would be mad? Ha! This is nothing to a siscon like him! He didn’t have any complaints at all to being shackled to this cute little sister of his. Even if she is a little weirder than normal these days. 

 

Not long after they left, Elias got ready to take the leftover dwarf star alloy to a certain blacksmith.