“Stay back, evil villains! We, magical girls of the shadows won’t let you touch the innocents!” the fox-themed girl yelled at my parents.

I was completely stunned. What the heck was going on? Also, magical girls?

The three split up, the armored girl jumping to the left off the table, the one with a cape to the right, and the fox hoodie-wearing one stayed on the table. The fox one turned to me, looked me in the eye, and then winked for some reason.

I was very confused.

“You brats again! I won’t let you ruin everything this time!” mother shouted and slammed her hand into the table. The table promptly shimmered and vanished, dropping the fox girl to the ground.

Father used the new empty space to charge through straight at the girl. He swung his arm back as his palm began glowing.

Just as he was about to strike the grinning and unmoving fox girl, he was intercepted by one of the others. The armored girl jumped to intercept the attack. The armor on her arm grew and transformed into a massive pitch-black claw that grabbed father mid-charge.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the glow. It got brighter and brighter as father struggled until it all exploded.

I immediately brought my arms in front of myself for protection, but apparently, that wasn’t needed at all. Being behind the giant black claw, I only marginally felt any impact from the blast. My sister and mother, on the other hand, took cover behind their chairs and still got knocked away.

My sister screamed even as father, still stuck in the armored girl’s grip, began glowing again.

“Ann! Stop them! Be useful for once!” my mother shouted, making my anger flare again.

Luckily, whatever power Ann had, she seemed too shocked and scared to use it.

Before father could blow up again, the massive claw heaved him up and then tossed him in mother’s direction.

My eyes widened and then were promptly blinded by the bright blast.

Once my eyes finally adjusted, my parents were gone, and in their place was a huge hole in the wall. Ann was still cowering behind the chair.

I could only stand there, gaping at the result of the girls’ intervention.

“Mission accomplished! The villains are no more!” the black fox announced.

“... they ran. Teleported away,” the caped girl corrected her.

The armored one simply redirected her attention to Ann rather than speaking. Ann, noticing that, flinched and slowly crawled back.

“That just means we won! They ran like chickens!”

“... there’s still one left.”

The caped girl’s words redirected everyone’s eyes to Ann. She froze in place.

And I, in turn, finally unfroze and did something never thought I would do just ten minutes ago.

“Stop!”

I positioned myself between my sister and the girls with my arms spread out.

They went still, looking surprised for some reason. A moment later, they exchanged a glance.

“Why are you protecting her… dear civilian? Isn’t she an evil villain like them?” the caped girl asked whilst pointing at the hole in the wall.

“She’s… a victim like me. A victim of circumstance. None of this is her fault! I won’t let you touch her!” I shouted at them, feeling oddly determined doing so.

“Is that so…” the caped one frowned. “Looks like our info was incorrect then.”

Info?

“Why are you even here? Why attack this place? What’s your goal?”

The caped one scrunched her eyebrows and looked at me like I was an idiot.

The fox stepped forward and took over for her. “We’re doing… a favor for someone.” She winked at me again. “But that’s fine! Our job here is done! Let’s go home to Mama now!”

The caped one nodded, grabbed the hands of the other two, and looked in my direction before saying, “See you later.”

Then the same whirl of shadows erupted from her and engulfed all three of them. A moment later, it dissipated and they were all gone.

I let out a sigh of relief.

They were gone, as were my parents if what they’d said was true. But what concerned me was something else. They had done a favor for someone? Who? Their Mama? Someone else?

I let out a sigh, already knowing I would clash with them again another day.

“Why…?” a weak voice asked from behind me.

I turned around to see my sister splayed on the ground, gaping up at me.

“What?”

“Why did you… stand up for me? Protect me from them?” she managed. “After all I had done to you…”

I stared at her. She really wasn’t anything like the douche sister I remembered. Maybe… that hadn’t really been her. Mother mentioned Ann had gotten powers at the age of seven… So maybe since then, they had been pushing her to act like that…?

I sighed.

So complicated. Luckily, there was always an easy answer to her question.

“Why? Because I’m a hero now!”

Such a convenient line.

“O-oh…” She cast her eyes down.

Uh, maybe not so convenient.

“Look, I… I already consider our childhood to be a long-gone past. I’ve changed. A lot. Hell, I’m a completely new person now!” I pointed at her. ”And so are you! Or, well, at least you could be. Err…” I scratched the back of my head, trying to formulate the right inspirational speech. “Point is! How about we start anew? A fresh clean slate? Forget about what was?”

Somehow I managed to mumble out something kinda inspirational and caught Ann’s attention. Her head tilted upward at me again, doubt and fear still present in her eyes.

“So…” I stuck out my hand. “Hello there! My name is Aster! And I’m your younger sister!”

She kept her eyes on my hand for a good few seconds before finally grabbing it and gradually getting herself up from the floor.

“H-hello Aster. I’m… Annette…?” she said, still confused and unsure.

I gave her my best smile.

“Freeze, villains!” the ghostly voice interrupted our heartwarming moment.

Oh, right. The heroes were still on their way.

Now I just had to explain this mess…

Ugh. What was this feeling of deja vu?

BottledChaos

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