23

Restoration Part 4

 

“Starlight Girl, you’re coming with me!” 

Katherine bitterly spoke these words like poising spewing from her mouth. Her sword was pointed clear as day at Luna. Acting as a signal that she was willing to fight if she had to.

Luna chose to remain silent and thought of what to do as Aurora hugged her arm tightly.

“Chloe… Please step away from them. This is also for your sake. If I bring her to Dominic, we’ll be free. He’ll leave us alone.”

“You seriously believe the crap that guy says?”

“What other choice do I have!? Do you really think you’ll be able to escape him? He’ll search this entire planet to hunt you down after everything you’ve all done.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe,” Luna firmly stated.

“If that’s the case why not kill him?”

Luna still had no answer to this question she previously thought about.

“Oh right, you can’t kill him. He’ll reverse anything that happens to him.”

Despite the various abilities the girls had developed, they had to admit that Dominic’s gift was the most powerful. Under his power’s logic, he was immortal. Luna witnessed this for herself, and she could do nothing to counteract it. 

There was however, one person who had a different experience. Someone who even for a moment, managed to overwhelm Dominic with her levels of power. 

Unfortunately, she thought about this a second too late, for Katherine had already begun rushing at Luna.

“I won’t take no for an answer!”

Luna was prepared to block her blade but Chloe beat her to it. She jumped in the way with two stun batons. The electricity in Katherine’s sword flowed into the batons and caused them to shatter after merely one hit.

 

***

 

“You two get out of here! I need to have a little chat with my sister!”

Both of them nodded and understood there was no time to argue over this. With a quick drop of a smoke bomb, Luna and Aurora vanished from the room.

“No! Get back here!”

Katherine almost dashed out the door, but a yank of her collar pulled her back into the room. Now with Chloe blocking the door.

“Sorry, Kate. You’re not touching my friends.”

Katherine sighed at Chloe’s resolve. Her disappointment didn’t seem to be directed at her sister, but rather herself.

“The fact that I have to harm you is my failure.”

“Wait, what are you-?”

The electricity current throughout Katherine’s blade only seemed to get stronger. “I’ll use the backside of the blade. Please forgive me…”

That’s still going to hurt like hell! Chloe wanted to say, but had no time to, for she just started a fight not even she was sure she could win.

“ATTENTION! ATTENTION!”

Blaring out the speakers on the ceiling was Melody’s voice. She did very little to hide it, but Chloe was glad to hear her familiar voice regardless.

“IS THE CAT SECURE? I REPEAT, IS THE CAT SECURE?” 

Even with her initial confusion, Chloe was able to catch on pretty quickly what she meant. 

“Y’know what? I’ll go find Luna and Aurora!”

To Katherine’s utter surprise, Chloe ran straight out of the room. This seemed like a good opportunity to pursue Luna, but besides not knowing which way she went, her protective instincts were sure to kick in.

“Wait! A drone or guard might catch you!”

Playing into Chloe’s hand, she followed her all the way to the security room. Once there, as soon as Katherine stepped in, the door slammed shut.

Melody pressed the door button on the main computer. Looking at the monitors, they could see where Luna and Aurora were.

“They must be going to the storage room. Let me out of here. Now.”

“We’re settling this here, Kate.” 

Declaration aside, Chloe wasn’t sure why Melody wanted her to come here. She didn’t even know the lady that was with her, though she could hazard a guess based on what Luna has said.

“Don’t expect me to play your games!”

Katherine charged straight at Melody this time. Her palm was open and ready to place her electrically-charged hand right on her body. Chloe was too far away to intercept her, so instead, it was Serene who grabbed Katherine by the arm with her gloved hands and pushed her away. 

Her movements were rigid, but calculated. She didn’t have the speed of the others, but she knew what movements were necessary.

“Just… How many people are going to get in my way?!” Katherine exclaimed.

With a gentle voice, Serene cleared her throat. 

“That look in your eyes… I’m all too familiar with it. The burning loyalty to someone you value. It’s suffocating, isn’t it? I don’t want the girl I live with to have a lonely future, so you shouldn’t either.”

While Serene spoke these words, she pulled out two small rods from her belt that extended into full on staffs. She tossed one to Chloe, as well as a pair of gloves.

“Grr, don’t act like you know me! I don’t know who you are and I don’t care!” 

Katherine’s swings at Serene were blocked by her staff. Just like Luna, the gloves she wore prevented the electric currents from reaching her body. That didn’t stop Katherine’s speed from eventually wearing her down in less than a minute. 

An off guard hit to the gut from Katherine’s leg sent a quick jolt through Serene’s body. She tried to withstand the pain, but her knees fell to the ground without her control. 

Katherine swung with the back of her blade one more time, but its movement paused. A loud clang rang out. Her sword was halted by an invisible force. 

That force was of course, Chloe. Her intense face reappeared while holding her staff to block Katherine’s sword with as much strength as possible.

The strong pushback by Chloe caused Katherine to step back and end up closer to the center of the room. Chloe took the opportunity to move closer as well.

“You can stop fighting already, Kate! Dominic’s not here, so let’s be honest and talk this out!”

Just hearing his name caused her to flinch. “N-no… He’s still in this lab. If he finds out I did nothing to get the Starlight Girl, and he finishes her off himself… He’ll be fed up with me. I’ll endure anything he puts me through, but if he hurts you… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself!”

Pressing her glowing hand to the floor, she yelled, “I can’t let go of everything I’ve fought for!”

In a fan-like shape, electricity blasted from the metallic floor and reached Chloe’s shoes. The shock she experienced wasn’t as strong as if it was from Katherine directly, but it made her dizzy for a brief moment, giving Katherine enough time to rush in.

Based on the direction of her swing, Chloe realized she was aiming for her staff in order to knock it out of her hands. Turning invisible, Katherine could no longer make out if she was going to hit her sister’s body or weapon, forcing her to stop mid swing.

“So instead of letting him hurt me, you’re gonna hurt me yourself?!”

“You’re behind me!” Turning around just in time, Katherine’s blade clashed with Chloe’s staff. “I’m only doing this because you’re getting in my way!”

“Yeah! I’m trying to stop you from helping kill my friend!” Regardless of their back and forth swings, they continued talking. “Are you telling me you’re okay with that?!”

“Th-that’s… It doesn’t matter how I feel!”

“Let’s Dominic say leaves us alone, what then?! Do you expect things to go back to when we were kids? When mom was still alive?”

“Don’t use her like that! She’d understand why I’m doing this! After all, she was the one that told us to always to protect the people closest to us-” 

“THIS ISN’T WHAT SHE MEANT!”

Even Chloe was surprised by how loud she got, but after turning invisible again, she continued.

“She told us that one day, the world will push back against us. How at some point in our lives, we’ll have to fight for the happiness of the people we love. But she never said that fight was something you do by yourself. Kate! You aren’t fighting for my sake, you’re just punishing yourself for caring about me!”

That last sentence in particular struck a nerve in Katherine. Her grip on her blade tightened to a painful degree.

“Chloe…please stop…!” Blocking another invisible strike from the back, she yelled out, “Stop invalidating me! Don't say my connection to you is harmful! That's all that I have!”

Katherine’s swings and movements were only growing more desperate. Chloe needed to end this fight, and the quickest way to do that would be to take that blade away from her. Besides the soreness of her muscles from their last battle emerging more and more as this went on, her invisibility wasn’t gonna be enough to get the sneak on her. It was obvious to Chloe that Katherine was keeping track of her by hearing out her footsteps. Footsteps were inherently loud on the metal floor they fought on, so it would be impossible for Chloe to completely hide all sound on her own.

“Chloe! I know exactly how to help! Use these!”

With a pink glow around her, Melody’s hands shot out an array of bubbles that stuck themselves to the ground.

“What the?! Luna gave you a Curse!”

“I wasn’t about to let you all leave me behind! Now focus!”

“Roger that!”

Katherine was visibly concerned at the bubbles all around her. Unsure of what they could do or how they could harm her, she took a slice at one near her, but her sword merely sliced through it without popping. The only occurrence being the part of her sword that went through looked less rusted. 

Meanwhile, Chloe’s green aura manifested stronger than it ever had prior, then she vanished.

“No matter how many times you hide, I can clearly hear your…” Katherine’s thought trailed off. The silent floor made her realize what purpose the bubbles had. As long as Chloe was stepping on them, she was truly invisible.

“I-I just have to shock the floor! That’ll-!”

Before her hand could make it to the floor, her other arm jolted back, and her blade spiraled out of her hands. It flew high into the air before knocking against a wall and hitting the floor.

As she staggered back, the reappearing Chloe let go of her staff and grabbed both of Katherine’s arms, tackling her to the ground.

“Stop! It’s over!”

“L-let go of me!”

Katherine discharged electricity, but it wasn’t enough to loosen Chloe’s grip. She probably became too afraid of hurting Chloe to make it anymore powerful.

“Don’t you know this is tearing me apart too?! I… I hate seeing you like this!”

 

***

 

Katherine’s eyes were shut as she resisted, but they opened when she felt a tear hit her cheek. Her mind instantly burned in the sight of Chloe’s watery eyes staring directly into Katherine's own. Combining this with her gritted teeth and furrowed brow showed Katherine all the despair Chloe felt at how their relationship had reached this point.

Oh… The last time I saw her this sad was when I switched places with her…She’s making that face at me again…

Slowly, Katherine stopped fighting back. Her strength weakened by the second. The electricity sparking out of her body ceased. She let all resistance fade away, until she was left with a teary-eyed Chloe looking at her in surprise.

Despite their fight calming to a complete stop, Katherine’s heart couldn’t help but race faster. Nor could she help the flood of tears overtaking her own eyes.

“I- I don’t want to kill that girl. I don’t want to hurt you. I- I don’t want any of this…!” Katherine’s words only grew louder. “I’m nothing but a violent monster! Mom… She’d hate me so much!” Katherine cried. 

Chloe held her sister close, “C’mon, don’t say that.”

“I’m so sorry, Chloe! I can’t- I don’t know what I should do! Why did mom have to die? Why did we have to be left with that man? I’m scared. I’m so scared, Chloe. I wish we could’ve just stayed as kids!”

Katherine continued to mumble “I’m sorry” on repeat as she tightly hugged Chloe. She didn’t believe she deserved any reciprocation from Chloe, but she hugged her back regardless.

“...We got dealt a bad hand, didn’t we? I don’t hate you at all, Kate. It’s been the opposite. I’ve hated myself for being so helpless as you were forced to become Dominic’s pupil.”

“You- you’ve just been trying to help me...”

“And you were doing the same for me. In the end, we both failed pretty badly at our goals, huh?” 

Standing up, Chloe lowered her hand to Katherine, “But maybe together, things will be different.”

Wiping the tears and snot off of her face, she accepted Chloe’s offer and lifted herself up. The words of her sister had been the key she needed to free herself from her cage after all this time. Her hands were still cut and bruised from trying to wretch it open herself, but she’d finally be able to start moving past this suffocating point in her life.

“Um… Now what?” Katherine asked.

“Ahh… Well once we meet up with Luna and Aurora again, we’ll bail it out of here.”

“What about after…?”

“Hmmm, if I’m being real, I don’t know.”

“You don’t, huh…”

“But hey,” She placed her hand on her sister’s shoulder, “We won’t have to figure that out alone.”

“...Okay.”

Katherine’s face was calm. There wasn’t a smile, but her eyes and mouth were relaxed. This moment may not last for long, but for the first time in a while, she found some peace. 

 

***

 

Throughout their moment together, Melody was applying her bubbles to Serene’s body. She was soon able to get up, and when she saw the current state of the sisters, she gave a sigh of relief. 

Luna never went too in depth on their situation to her, but the sight of them together had told her enough.

She held no animosity for Katherine attacking her. The sound of her voice made it apparent to her that she was acting on fears she had no right to judge. Still, her defense against her attacks showcased how she was no match for the supernatural world Luna was wrapped up in. 

“Okay! Okay!” Melody said, interrupting their moment. “Now that you two have settled everything…” 

Chloe’s whole body suddenly became restricted by a sudden hug attack. “WAAAAHHH! I’m so happy you're safe, Chloe! You don’t know how worried I was!”

“C-Chloe?! Easy there, I missed you too, y’know!”

“I thought our team was done for, but Luna brought us together to save you and Aurora! Aw, I’m also gonna hug her to death when I find her!”

“Wow, you can sure hug tight!” Any attempt Chloe made to loosen Melody’s grip on her was futile. 

She looked embarrassingly at her sister, who stared at the disruptive hacker with a bit of confusion. She had only one thing to say.

“She’s cute.”

“Yeah. She sure is.”

“I hate to break up your moment together, but we need to get out of here as soon as possible.” Being the oldest still required Serene to take initiative.

The girls nodded in agreement. They looked at the security map and recognized an escape pod was closeby. Of course, they weren’t going to leave without Luna and Aurora. 

“I don’t expect anyone to forgive, but I want to be helpful however I can…” Katherine said.

“Don’t worry about that, dear. You’re safe with us,” Serene replied.

With bated breath, Melody changed the feed on the monitor to see what was happening with the two girls.