Luna woke up standing in an unfamiliar place. It was a bedroom, but the architecture didn’t look present day at all. It resembled what a wealthy house would look like from over a century ago. She just reunited with Aurora the previous night and went home to sleep right after, so she had no idea how she got here.

Her confusion was interrupted from the sound of sobbing behind her. It was a young year old girl sitting on her bed in tears. She looked rather meek with short black hair that was sharp like Luna’s. Her appearance was overall very reminiscent of her. 

“Uh…hi kid. Are you okay?” 

Luna tried to get her attention, but it was to no avail. She just continued to sit there crying. It was as if Luna wasn’t there. She tested this theory by trying to put her hand on the child’s shoulder, only for it to phase through. The shock of this took a bit for her to process. 

Either this is a dream…or I’m a ghost now, she thought to herself.

“This is utterly ridiculous! Never in our family’s history has this happened!”

A voice could be heard yelling from the slightly opened door leading out of the room. Luna walked over to look through the opening. There were two shadowy figures talking in the living room. The only traits about them that could be discerned were their adult voices.

“Perhaps we’re being too quick to judge. Maybe it’ll take her a bit more time before she inherits the gift?”

“It’s already been a year since children of the Starlight house are expected to develop their powers! How much longer before we accept that this child is defective!?”

Starlight? Why are they bringing my last name? Are these supposed to be my ancestors?

“We must not let the public know of this. What if they were to start spreading rumors that our family legacy has faded?”

“What do you propose we do then?”

“No matter how I see it, it’s in our interest to have another child. We’ve only had one child per generation in order to make sure our powers would never branch out, but it seems the time has come to make an exception.”

“And what of poor Evelyn?”

“We’ll say that we’ve decided to disclose her gift until she becomes formally wed. We’ll continue to deny any marriage proposals for her until our new child develops their gift. By then, Evelyn can be revealed as nothing more than a black sheep.”

Luna had a hard time listening to this conversation by the end because of how cruel it sounded. The most concrete information she could gather was that this girl’s name was Evelyn.

“I’m sorry.”

These words suddenly began echoing through Luna’s head.

What was that!? Are these Evelyn’s thoughts? She thought to herself.

“I’m such a failure.”

I-I don’t like this! Please make it stop!

 “Why did I have to be born?”

Stop!

***

Luna woke up in a cold sweat back home in her bedroom. There was only a peaceful silence now. Her heart was pumping after that experience, as she prayed whatever that was would never happen again.

She wondered how real all that even was. Her powers did awaken in me when she was ten like that figure said, but how they knew that was a mystery. She never did talk with her parents about her abilities. It was kept a secret from them, and the chance to tell the truth slipped by ever since she ran away. 

“Just shake it off, Luna. It was just a dream.” She muttered to myself.

She figured her mind was probably making up some weird story. Besides, they called these powers a gift. Throughout Luna’s life, she’s considered it to be more of a curse than anything.

It was almost noon by the time Luna got out of bed. This wasn’t exactly unusual for her given her current lifestyle. After she showered and brushed her teeth, she saw Henry sitting on the couch in front of the TV. 

“Good morning, Luna.”

“It’s already the afternoon.”

“Well, it’s basically the morning for you. Am I right?”

Yeah, yeah, we both know I snuck out again last night, Luna thought to herself. 

“Listen, Henry. There’s something I should tell you-”

“Hold on a minute. That show we used to watch together is getting another one hour special. What was it called again? Princess Principal?”

“Yeah that was the name and uh…sure we can do that, but I just wanted to say… I’ve been offered a big job from a group of thieves- I’ve made sure I can trust them! But that's why I will continue to sneak out for the next few nights…”

There was no point lying to him. He would see right through anything she made up. Figured I’d see how an honest approach would work.

“Is that so? At the very least, I’m glad you’ve realized it would be pointless to lie.”

After he said that, he continued to watch TV in silence.

“Wait. Is that it? You’re not gonna tell me what I’m doing is dangerous or how I shouldn’t do it?”

“What I did at your age was probably much worse. You’re much stronger than I was anyways”

Throughout their time together, he has witnessed how much Luna’s trained and how much her cloning technique developed, so his faith in her abilities isn’t exactly misplaced.

“I can’t deny that I have some worries, but I’m sure you remember all that I said from two nights ago. There is just one thing that I want to say, though.”

A stern look filled with conviction appeared on his face.

“I want you to know that no matter what, if there’s anything you want to talk about, I will always be here to listen and help. I promise you that.”

“I-I understand.”

She’s never been blind to how much Henry cared about her. He always expressed his love for Luna as his daughter, but never once asked for it to be reciprocated. His past remained a secret to Luna, but he’s also never pried into her own.

Henry rose from the couch, “With that all out of the way, I should be heading to work soon.”

“You already found a job?”

“Indeed I have. It won’t be as lucrative as my past profession, but it’ll be a start.”   

 He waved goodbye to her as he left the house. Henry’s already done so much for her sake. She had to remind herself that this was part of the reason she agreed to Aurora’s deal in the first place. 

To protect Aurora and to repay my father, I can do both!

 

***

 

Luna arrived at Aurora’s apartment to see both Chloe sitting on a chair and Melody once again laying on the couch with her phone. She was still rather unfamiliar with these two. Partly due to a lack of focus on them.

“Oh hey, it’s Luna!” Melody yelled out.

“Where is Aurora?” Luna asked.

“She fell asleep in her room. Something about being too excited to sleep last night and needing more rest. That was a few hours ago so she’ll probably wake up soon,” Chloe answered.

It seems she’d have to wait in the living room with these two for a bit. A little bit of awkward silence was fine by me.

Chole spoke again, “Yo, Moon Girl. There’s something I want to ask you.” 

Moon girl? Guess that’s her nickname for me. 

“What exactly is your relationship with Aurora?”

“I’m sure Aurora’s told you everything you need to know about me already,” Luna replied.

“I get that you and her were friends a long time ago, but Aurora never told us about her past with you.”

“Does it really matter if you know?” Luna really didn’t want to get into this.

“If we’re gonna be a team, then shouldn’t there be a little honesty between us? Melody, you know what I’m getting at, right?” Chloe asked.

Melody’s eyes widened as she realized the conversation turned to her, “I mean…I can’t say I’m not curious, but I don’t want to pry or anything like that.”

“You agreed we should ask her about this earlier though!?” 

“I’m nervous about asking now!”

Being honest looked like the least of this group’s concern with conversations like these. 

“It’s not important what my past with Aurora is. I’m here to get a job done and I’ll accomplish just that.”

Chloe twisted around her bat, “Whatever you say. I’m just trying to make sure that Aurora is right to put her faith in someone like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You two seem like you were close, but she says it’s been a long time since you’ve met. She says you’re some beacon of hope, but maybe it’s her nostalgia talking. I just don’t want to see her trust get taken advantage of.”

Luna didn’t know Aurora thought of her that way. This was rather surprising to her.

“Like I said I’ll do what I have to, but don’t expect me to grow overly attached to anyone here.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“It’s for the best that I don’t get close to anyone. I’ve made it a practice for myself.”

Chloe tone became more aggressive from hearing this. “Ohhhh that right? Is that a fun time for you?”  

“I’m…content with it.” There was a slight bit of hesitation in Luna’s words.

“Heh, what a load of crap.” Chloe mumbled to herself.

Luna caught this, but didn’t pursue the conversation any further. It’s clear that Chloe had a certain view of her that was developing. 

“I am so sorry, everyone!” Aurora yelled as she rushed out of her bedroom and into the living room.  “I didn’t expect myself to doze off for so long! I’ll be better next time!”

“Don’t worry about it! Luna arrived just a bit before you woke up,” said Melody.

Aurora still looked a bit hazy, but her face lit up as she looked at Luna. She must’ve been looking forward to seeing her again.

“Right! Then how about we get this meeting underway? Melody, do you have the presentation ready?” 

“I’ve got the laptop ready on the table!”

The screen turned on to show what appeared to be a powerpoint presentation. It was visually on the level of what you’d find for high school assignments. Aurora asked them all to get close to the laptop as she prepared to present as if this was a classroom.

“Thank you all for coming! Tonight I shall present the plans for our first heist featuring our special guest, Luna!”

She pointed jazz hands towards me as she said her name. Luna’s face turned a bit red from the embarrassment but she did her best to hide it. The only one clapping in response was Melody.

“I call this plan, operation: archive snatcher! Our goal is to steal information pertaining to the Stone of Immortality that should be located in the hidden floor of the Eterna family’s private library.”

The slides changed to show images of the library including the blueprints Luna stole as well as exterior pictures.

“This floor is between the fourth and fifth floors, you’re able to enter it through a secret passage inside the fifth floor. However, there’s motion sensors that’ll go off the moment someone enters the room. This could activate the electric panels of the floor that’ll fry anyone standing on the floor in an instant. While Melody can temporarily disable the security cameras on the other floors, the only way to shut down security on the secret floor will be the mainframe on the second floor.”

She began pointing at both Luna and Chloe.

“This is where you two come in! I need you two to work together in order to disable the security so that I can break into the archives.”

Both of their faces became dumbfounded at hearing this.

 Luna was the first to speak up, “Hold on a second, Aurora! Perhaps it would be better if Chloe disabled the security while I stayed with you to make sure you’d be safe?”

Chloe also spoke up. “Woah, woah, woah! If anything, shouldn’t Moon Girl over there disable the security? She can clone herself, right? She’s got all the help she needs.”

“I appreciate the concern from you two, but I’ve thought this through and believe this is what’ll be the best for the heist. Is there a problem with working together?”

Luna and Chloe became quiet after she asked this question.

“They had a weird conversation earlier and it looks like they don’t trust each other now.” Melody added.

“Melody, what the heck!?” Chloe said.

“Wah! You said there should be some honesty between us!”

“Of all times to act on it!”

Aurora looked a bit confused over this, “Oh, I guess I didn’t do a good job establishing a trust between all of us. Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown this upon you two. I’m really sorry.” 

She’s the one apologizing? This isn’t fair, Luna thought.

Both Luna and Chloe felt a bit guilty, and it clearly showed as they looked at each other.

“W-We’ll make it work! I promise!” said Luna.

“Y-yeah! What Moon Girl said! We can do this no problem!”

They both sounded a bit unconfident as they said this, but they did mean it from a sincere place. 

“Really!? In that case, best of luck for all of us! I only have a bit more to say before we can head over to the library!”

Aurora continued to explain everything they needed to know about the plan. Infrared lasers and security cameras would be our primary concern on the way towards the mainframe. There may be drones patrolling the area, but no Void soldiers would be situated. 

Melody would remain in a van near the library as she’d hack into the cameras, but wouldn’t be able to do anything about the lasers as they’re connected to the mainframe. She’d also be controlling her flying eyeball which she named, “Ai” to survey areas for Luna and Chloe. They’d all also have earpieces to easily communicate with each other.

“That concludes my presentation of our current operation. Are we all ready to begin?” Aurora asked.

“I’m prepared,” said Luna.

“Been ready for a while,” said Chloe.

“I can’t wait to be sleepy by the end of this!” said Melody.

This was as ready as they could be.

Before Luna left the apartment, Chloe stopped her as the rest exited.

“Hang on, Moon Girl.”

This better be important, Luna thought.

“Don’t let Aurora down. Prove that her image of you is the right one.”

With that Chloe left the room. All Luna could think is why this girl would even care so much about her relationship with Aurora? She had one final thought as she left the apartment.

This is gonna be a long night.