“I’m sorry for putting you through all this trouble. But still, you seem as strong as ever.” said Aurora. 

Instead of facing Aurora, she turned her head to look at the rope that had previously tied her legs.

“You must’ve been the one to tie me up. What you just did, don’t tell me-”

“Yep.” Aurora replied with a smile as she raised her hand. “I still have your ‘curse’.”

Luna couldn’t help but be a little shaken from that. Even with this concern, she still felt a certain joy from seeing her friend again after so long. There was a brief silence between the two as Luna didn’t know what to say next. Before long, all the questions began flooding her brain.

“H-hang on. This doesn’t make any sense. What are you doing here? How did you find me? And who are these other people?”

 Luna asked as she gestured back toward the masked girl who’d been impatiently standing by alongside the floating eyeball.

Aurora walked towards a hatch located on the roof, “Perhaps we should take this indoors.” 

 

***

 

The girls entered an apartment located on the highest floor of the building. The walls were somewhat decrepit, and all the scenery had a brown hue to it. The living room had a small kitchen along with a round dinner table and the other side of the room was a two person couch and two armchairs beside it. The masked girl walked across the room and knocked on the door to a bedroom.

“Yo, Melody! Come out and meet the new girl in person!” the masked girl yelled out.

The door slammed open as a girl jumped out of the bedroom. 

“You’re all back!” said the new girl.

She wore overalls and large circular glasses, as well as pink hair that had two buns tied on the back of her head. An exuberant energy shined through this girl now matter how you looked at her.

“Oh my Gosh! It’s the new girl! The one that can clone herself! You looked so awesome earlier!” 

“Oh uh…thanks?” said Luna. She wasn’t quite used to receiving compliments from strangers. “Do you all live in this place?”

“You can consider this our hideout. So to speak. I’m the only one that lives here, but there’s two extra bedrooms we use!” Aurora answered.

The Masked Girl took a seat on one of the arm chairs and took off the mask she was wearing to reveal her face while saying, “Isn’t it about time you introduced us properly, Aurora?”

“Oh right! Well to start, you of course know me, Aurora Avery, but the girl sitting in the chair is Chloe Brooks, a skilled fighter and our muscle, and the girl with glasses is Melody Martin! She’s incredible with tech and acts as our support. She’s like a little genius.”

“Aww I don’t do that much! I’m only on my computer as the others do all the hard work.” Melody added.

Luna looked around at all of them in the room. While still confused, she at the very least knew the names of these people now.

“A few nights ago, I made a deal with an anonymous messenger to steal data from a house on the outskirts of the city. I can assume you three were the ones behind that?” 

Melody spoke, “That was me!. You’re welcome for the blueprints of that house.”

Luna reached into her belt and pulled out the USB device she had in order to hand it to Melody.

“I was also told I’d receive ten thousand dollars after meeting in person with my dealer.”

Chloe stood up in shock at this.

 “Ten thousand dollars!? I thought the deal was just three thousand!?”

“That was…also me. I changed the deal.” Melody said nervously.

“What the…? Why? We don’t have ten thousand dollars to give out.” replied Chloe.

Luna couldn’t help but feel a little deflated to know this.

“I’m sorry! She said she wouldn’t be satisfied with three thousand. Aurora! Come in with your proposal!” said Melody.

All eyes turned towards Aurora. 

 “Oh right! Luna, the reason we’ve set all this up is because we want you to join our group!”

“And this group is…?”

“We’re thieves. Just like you.” interjected Chloe. “You're not the only one trying to make a name for yourself here in Everfall.” 

“Although the most we’ve done is rob some dude’s yacht on the nearby coast.” Melody added.

“Yeah that was pretty fun.” Chloe said with a nostalgic look on her face.

Aurora pulled papers out of a drawer in the kitchen, “But we’re after something much greater now! An object more valuable than anything you can possibly imagine!”

Aurora laid the papers out across so that Luna could real them all. They contained notes and documents from various sources, but there was one name that each paper brought up. A name that Luna found had a hard time comprehending.

“The…stone of immortality?” said Luna. “Isn’t this just a rumor? Do you have any proof that something like this could possibly exist?”

“I’m your proof right here.”

Luna turned towards Chloe, who had just made that bizarre statement. 

“You want to know how I recovered so quickly after our fight? I’ve…undergone some experiments by the Eterna Corporation. They injected a substance into me that’s increased my strength and durability. I never saw the source itself, but the people in the labs always talked about how it came from a special stone. There was also hearsay that the CEO is a man that has lived for over a hundred years”

Luna read in the files that the Eterna Corporation was the one in possession of the stone. They were a conglomerate led by the Eterna family that had control of many different businesses throughout the region, but especially in the city of Everfall. The central business district practically belonged to them. She wanted to ask why someone like Chloe would be tested on by the stone, but Aurora continued her explanation.

“The computer you stole data from belongs to the head of security for our big lead on the stone’s whereabouts, the private library belonging to the Eterna family.”

“You think the stone is being kept in a library?”

“Not quite. This building has been here for almost a century and has contained records of all things related to the family. We’ve looked up all the blueprints we can and when comparing the structure of the building to the plans, there was always a discrepancy.”

Melody placed her computer with the USB device plugged in on the table to show a 3D map of the library.

“All online maps of the building list it to have ten floors, but with this we can see that there’s actually eleven. A hidden floor is located between the ninth and tenth level. Security is still active for this floor, so this must be a place that the Eterna family still has use for, but wants to be kept as a secret from even those connected with them and their business. Whatever they’re hiding here could be a major lead!”

Luna took in everything that she was told. She was surprised at how much thought they had put into this. Stealing an item like this would certainly be worth millions and possibly billions. This would be the ideal job for her, but stealing from the very top of the Eterna corporation would be beyond risky. Her father already warned her of this in the past.

“I know this is dangerous,” Aurora added. “But for old time’s sake, why don’t you join us?”

Luna stood there in silence as she thought carefully of what to say. Before making this decision, she wanted to do something.

“Before I give you a yes or no, I have one request.”

 “Oh? What is it?”

“I want to talk with you in private. Can the others leave this room?”

Chloe intervened, “Hey hang on! What do you have to say that we can't hear?”

“I just wish to have a talk with an old friend. I don’t think that’s unreasonable now is it?”

The way Luna talked very clearly irritated Chloe. She wanted to talk back but Aurora calmed down the situation.

“Chloe, Melody, could you two please go to the bedrooms for a bit?”

With how polite Aurora was, Chloe settled down and agreed with the request.

Melody walked towards her room, “I guess I am getting sleepy. I’ll be heading off to bed then.”

Chloe sighed, “It’s not like I plan on going home tonight.”

The two closed the doors on their respective bedrooms. Luna and Aurora were now the only two in the living room. A certain tension was present as the two friends could now talk freely together. 

“Why are you doing all this?”

Aurora gave an innocent smile, “Whatever could you mean by that, Luna?”

“This group, the stone, all the research you’ve done, the inherent risk of this goal, you can’t expect me to believe money would drive someone like you to go this far. There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“Hmm. indeed you’d be right. Truth be told, there’s another reason I want to steal something so valuable from the Eterna family.”

Aurora walked back to the drawer she kept the papers in, and pulled out a photo.

“Originally, I began investigating anything I could about…what happened all that time ago. It eventually led to me learning of the existence of a secret military group. We’ve…encountered them in the past.”

Luna began to stiffen. She prayed this wasn’t going where she thought it would.

“Eventually, I made the connection that this military is owned by the Eterna family and is the one that’s protecting this ‘stone of immortality’. They’re known as The Void. Have a look.”

Aurora showed the picture to Luna. She stepped back in a jolt of fear. It was a logo that contained a silhouette of a black hole. An image that had been burned into Luna’s mind.

“The head of the Eterna family is supposedly an immortal man, yes? Seeing as how he’s the one in control of this military, he’s likely using this stone for himself. I’d say it's in our right to take something valuable from him and his group after all they’ve done to us. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Memories of the two’s lives from seven years ago began rushing through Luna’s head. Including how they parted ways.

“This is…I don’t think you should do this! The reason I left was to protect you from this group! The fact that you still have those powers I cursed you with is already dangerous enough!”

“My telekinesis? It disappeared when you first left, but it didn’t take long for them to reamurge. The power to curse those you’re deeply connected to with extraordinary powers. I guess you’re still afraid of that, huh?”

Luna didn’t have a response to that. While Luna had her cloning technique, what Aurora described was her other ability that she considered a curse on her life.

“Perhaps my connection to you was still too strong, but regardless of what you say, I have no plans of backing down from this goal. The way I see it, you have two options. Either accept the ten thousand dollars and be on your way, or work together with us and end up as rich as you can imagine! You can protect me all you want in that scenario!”

“Didn’t the others say you don’t have that much money?”

“For you, I can make it happen.”

That gesture of kindness was too much for Luna. This was truly an unfair decision in her eyes. She knew that someday she might encounter The Void again, but her greatest fear was seeing Aurora get entangled into all of this again. She could tell Aurora was determined to see this through no matter what she thought. In Luna’s eyes, the only choice she had was the one that allowed her to protect Aurora.

“Okay. I’ve made up my mind. I’ll help you all on this mission.”

Aurora perked up, “That’s great!”

“I have my conditions, however.”

“And they are?”

“After this is all over, we go our separate ways. I want you to forget about me and lose the curse I’ve given you once and for all. It’ll be better for the better if we finally parted ways.”

The room became silent for a few seconds after this. Luna was sure that Aurora would have some opposition to this, but she was rigid about this decision. A life of isolation, after all.

“If that’s what you want, then I’ll agree!”

“Wh-what?” Luna was nothing but shocked at this reply.

Aurora offered her hand, “I believe that clears everything up. Do we have a deal now?”

Luna’s confidence wavered from how calm Aurora was. It felt like she was the one in control of the entire conversation. Her confidence was very different compared to when they were younger.

“Y-yeah…we have a deal.”

The girls shook hands with both promising to fulfill each other’s wishes.

“With that out of the way, I have a request of my own, Luna.”

“What is it?”

“To do this.”

Before Luna could react, Aurora pulled her close and hugged her tightly. It was the embrace of someone who deeply missed a loved one.

“I meant what I said. It’s good to see you again.”

Luna stood there wrapped in Aurora arms. Luna didn’t hug her back, but for this moment in time, she felt a peace that became unfamiliar to her.

“Yeah…likewise.”

A red glow began appearing around Aurora. It was as if her powers were growing stronger from the two’s intimacy. Luna took notice and backed away from her. Worried of what might happen if they’d activate.

“Uh… I should get going now.” Luna said. Any awkwardness from this moment began to settle in for the two.

Aurora realized she might’ve gotten carried away and became flustered, “R-right! We’ll continue discussing our plans tomorrow.”

“Noted.” said Luna as she walked straight towards the door.

“See you later, Luna!”

Luna paused on her way out of the apartment, “I’ll see you soon.”