Luna Starlight was a 7 year old girl living in the city of Makewell. It was much more rural compared to Everfall, with many fields of crops throughout. She lived life with a bright smile and had an unending sense of joy. She took on each day with a strong sense of optimism and confidence. She was familiar with many of her classmates in the second grade, but she was never close friends with any of them. This all happened to change one monday in the middle of October.

“Attention, students!” said the teacher. “Today we have a transfer student here who’s joining our class. Would you like to introduce yourself?”

The girl had long but messy hair. Her legs shook a bit as she introduced herself in front of the class.”

“Uh…hello everyone…my name is Aurora Avery. I hope we can all get along.”

Luna was the only one to give a little clap afterwards. With that, the class continued like normal. Aurora sat on the opposite end of the class from Luna but she still couldn’t help but notice how meek and reserved the girl’s mannerisms were. 

During the lunch period, Luna noticed her sitting alone at a table at a corner of the cafeteria. She figured she must be having a hard time adjusting to being at a new school, so she thought she’d approach her to help out.

“Hello! You’re my new classmate, right?”

Aurora kept her eye's from meeting Luna’s, “Y-yeah I am. Is there something you want?”

“Not really! I just hope we can get along well! My name’s Luna by the way!”

Luna began to notice how rapidly Aurora’s feet were tapping, “Wha-what is it that you want?”

“Huh?”

“There’s gotta be some reason you’re talking to me. If it’s money you want, my mom said I shouldn’t be letting other kids borrow from the allowance she gives me anymore.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just thought we could be friends.”

Aurora’s voice grew shakier, “I-I’ve heard that before. You don’t really mean it, do you? Mom said I shouldn’t let myself get pushed around anymore either…”

The bell rang for lunch to be over. As Aurora got up, she tripped over her open backpack, causing its contents to spill onto the ground.

“Ah shoot!”

She scrambled to shove everything back as quickly as possible. This is until she realized Luna also got on her knees and was helping her pick up all her loose papers and pencils. 

“I don’t have anything to gain from saying hi or helping you. I just think those are nice things to do.” said Luna with a smile brimming across her face.

Aurora finally made proper eye contact with Luna and saw this joy for herself. All doubts about this girl that she had in her mind vanished.

“Y-you said your name is Luna, is that right?”

“Yep! Luna Starlight.”

A small smile began to grow on Aurora’s face and with it, a chuckle, “That’s a weird last name.”

“Huh!?”

 

From then on, the girls became familiar with each other. Luna made sure to say hi to Aurora each morning, to which Aurora eventually grew used to it and began to say hi back. Luna would stop by where Aurora sat for lunch more often as well in order to talk to her. The conversations would mainly consist of Luna doing all the talking while Aurora would occasionally pitch in with comments of her own. Luna would talk about anything she was interested in. Whether it be the latest cartoon episode she watched or where and her parents went to dinner the previous weekend.

“Why do you hang out with me?” asked Aurora one day during lunch. 

“What do you mean?” said Luna.

“There’s gotta be others you’d rather hang out with. I don’t know why you’d choose to be with someone like me.”

Luna was a bit confused about this but she gave an honest answer, “You looked like you could use some love.”

“L-love!?” Aurora yelled out.

“Yeah. Is that weird?”

“Of course it is! What are you talking about!?”

“W-well, my parents have always told me about how important love is. They always say, ‘love is a special power that allows us to connect with others.’ and stuff like that.”

“Your parents sound kinda weird.”

“They are not! Oh! I have an idea! You know Spider-Man’s motto?”

“With great power comes great responsibility?”

“That! Think of love as a great power. It’s something to be used with responsibility!”

“I still don’t get it, but it kinda sounds like you hang out with me because I’m sad or something..”

“Are you sad right now?”

“Uh, no. I’m not.”

“And yet I’m still hanging out with you, and I don’t plan to stop if that’s okay!”

The look of innocence and glee in Luna’s face caused Aurora to blush a bit. She looked away and covered her hand with her mouth. 

“Y-yeah…it’s okay.”

The two became more comfortable as friends after this. While Luna still talked and played with other kids during recess and lunch, she’d always make time to go see Aurora who’d usually sit alone playing games on a handheld device. As the days went on, Aurora looked forward to these few minutes more and more. There was a brightness and optimism to Luna that Aurora grew to see for herself. A light she had never before seen.

A year had gone by. The two girls were now eight years old. By this point, Luna and Aurora had become best friends. They spent their summer vacation visiting each other’s houses to play games, watch cartoons, and draw their favorite characters together. Once they reached the third grade, they ended up in different classes, but that didn’t stop them from hanging out whenever they could during breaks.

“So what was your old school like?” asked Luna.

“It was…it wasn’t fun,” replied Aurora. “In my groups of friends, I’d always be the one that got pushed around. I’d do whatever dares they wanted me to do which got me in trouble a lot. They also would ask to borrow money from me a lot and they never did return it…”

“You never said no to any of that?”

“I didn’t want to. Isn’t it normal for friends to do whatever they ask of each other?”

“Can’t say I’ve heard that one. What’s the point in being close with someone if you’re both not getting something out of it?”

Aurora began to reflect after hearing this, “Do you feel like you get something out of being with me?”

“We’ve been friends for this long and you’re asking me that now?”

The two ended up laughing off how silly of a question that was.

“By the way, Luna, you talk a lot about love, so does that mean you have a boyfriend?”

“What? No. Why would I?”

“You go on about how special love is, so I thought you’d be interested in that stuff…”

“Hmmm, I don’t think I’ve ever thought about having a boyfriend before. Don’t think I’d be interested in a boy like that.”

“You wouldn’t?” Aurora was eager to ask.

“No. Is that weird?”

“No! No! I’m just… relieved to hear that.”

Luna as she scratched her head, “Huh? I don’t really get it.”

“It’s fine! Don’t worry about it.”

Two more years had passed. The two girls were now ten. Luna had become more casual with Aurora. She’d still have an energy to her whenever they were with each other, but she wasn’t quite as forward as she was before. She saw no need for it now that the two had become inseparable. While Luna felt perfectly comfortable being around Aurora, she noticed how Aurora was never exactly the same. They’d still have plenty of fun together, but it now seemed like something was always on her mind. When the two met up with each other a few days after Christmas at the park when nobody else was there, Luna gifted Aurora a necklace with a sun pendant.

“I looked up your name online, and did you know your name is the same as the Goddess of Sunrise!?”

Aurora held the necklace in her hands, “Oh. I don’t think I knew that. I also got you a gift.”

“Oh! Let me see!”

Luna tore through the wrapping and pried open the paper box. What she found was a necklace with a moon shaped pendant. 

“I also looked up your name and found out your name means the moon.”

“Whaaaaaat? We had the same idea!”

“Our minds must be connected!” said Aurora jokingly.

As the two girls laughed their hearts out, Aurora noticed something strange.

“Luna? Why are you glowing blue?”

“I’m what? What does that even-” Luna caught a glimpse of her hand and saw this for herself. There was a blue light shining off of her from head to toe.

“Wah! What is this!?”

“What’s happening to you!?”

“How should I know!? Get this off of me!” 

Luna took a step back as she shook her hand, but when she moved, she realized that where she originally stood was an exact copy of herself. 

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” the two girls yelled in unison.

“Why are there two of you, Luna!?”

“Again, how should I know!?”

The clone began to walk towards Luna.

“Eeep! Don’t hurt me!” Luna put her hands up in an attempt to shield herself as she closed her eyes in fear. Instead of attacking Luna, when the clone reached her, she high fived one of Luna’s open hands and smiled. 

Luna’s eyes opened soon afterwards, “W-wait, are you friendly?”

The clone of Luna simply nodded before evaporating into a blue mist.

“Luna! Are you okay?” Aurora yelled as she ran up to Luna.

“That-that was…really cool!”

“Huh!?”

“Didn’t you see that? I made a clone of myself! Hang on, let me try it again!”

“You’re gonna what!?”

Luna let her mind solo into this one idea. Create another version of yourself in this same world. The glow around her body appeared again. Instead of moving however, she let the clone phase out of her, and it did just that. A new version of Luna walked in front of her and waved at Aurora.

“O-oh, hi there…” Aurora felt a bit awkward. The clone vanished right after this. “Are you controlling this version of you with your mind?”

“I’m not controlling them like a video game, but my mind feels connected to them. It’s like my intentions are moved into this version of me and follows along with however I feel.” 

“Woaaaah, that’s deep,” said an amazed Aurora.

“I know, right! I feel so smart right now!”

“But how are you doing that?” Aurora gasped. “Are you magic?”

“Maybe I am! Either way, this is so cool!”

“Awww but why do only you get powers? Did you get bit by a magic bug or something?”

“I don’t remember being bitten lately. I didn’t come from a different planet either…I could be a chosen one for all I know!”

“That’s not fair! I want to be chosen too!” 

Aurora stomped her feet in anger. She didn’t mean anything serious with this. She just wanted to vent out her small bit of jealousy. Luna thought she looked cute. 

“Hey, think of it like this, if there was anyone who had to see my powers, I’m glad it was you.”

Aurora stopped to look at Luna. Flustered from hearing this.

“T-thanks!”

Luna knew this power should be focused on, but she wanted to save that for later. She was just happy to have received a gift from the girl she was closest to. Approaching her all that time ago was one of the best decisions she ever-

“Oh my Gosh, Aurora! You’re glowing too!”

“I’m what!?”

Aurora looked at her arms and realized that her body was glowing red.

“What’s gonna happen to me!? Am I also gonna be able to clone myself too!?”

“Maybe you can! Try it!”

Aurora focused as hard as she could. She was audibly grunting while tightening her muscles. After a bit she stepped back similar to Luna, but no clone was left behind.

“Why didn’t it work?” questioned Aurora.

“Maybe you didn’t focus hard enough?”

Aurora swung her arms in frustration similar to when she stomped, “I focused as hard as I could-!” She then froze in place.

“W-what are you looking at-”

The two girls turned towards a trashcan nearby. What had once been still on the ground was now floating up into the air. Aurora moved her right arm around and the can’s movements corresponded with where she was directing her arm.

“I have telekinesis! This is amazing!” Aurora jumped in joy over this. She was super powered just like her friend. Luna’s reaction however was quite different. She had a look of curiosity as she watched the trash can fly around and then crash onto the ground.

“Aurora, can I have your hand?”

“What!? Why do you want…” Aurora didn’t know how to act from such a request.

“There’s something I want to test.”

Aurora tried to play it cool, “Sure, if that’s what you want.”

As the two held hands, the red glow from Aurora became stronger. Luna’s mind. It felt as if it was becoming one with Aurora’s. The love she had for her was strong and as a result, the glow grew only more powerful. She let go of Aurora’s hand after this.

“I think…I think I’m the one giving you those powers.” Luna realized.

“You’re what? How are you doing that?”

“It’s hard to explain, but when I’m here with you, it’s like my thoughts are activating something magical. I don’t know. It’s this weird feeling in my brain. I probably sound dumb right now…”

“No you don’t! Maybe you can test this out with some other people you know! You have other friends at school don’t you? If you grow closer with them, we can see if-”

“I don’t want to do that though.”

“You don’t?”

“I want this to be our thing. I don’t know what’s happening with me, but I’m sure it’s something special. I want you to be the one with me as I figure this out.”

Aurora squealed. She couldn’t hide her affection anymore. 

“Luna!”

She ran in and hugged her tight.

“H-hey! What are you doing?”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I promise to keep this between us! You have my word!”

“What’s up with you? I’ve never seen you this excited…”

For the next two months, the girls practiced their powers in secret. They’d find small corners of the park or school to mess around with their abilities. Luna would see how many clones she could make at once and discovered the maximum was four. Meanwhile, Aurora would practice lifting branches into the air and moving multiple objects around with better and better precision. She later practiced with larger objects.

They kept their powers a secret from everyone else, including their parents. Superhero media had convinced them that you’re supposed to keep whatever powers you have a secret. The two developed dreams of becoming superheroes when they got older. A rather childish goal, but what would you expect from two ten year olds?

“Hey, Luna, I have an idea! What if I tried lifting a tree into the air?”

“You think you can do that!?”

“That’s what I want to find out! If I can do that then that means I’m crazy strong!”

The two chose a decently large tree in the park near the baseball fields in the park. Aurora raised both her hands at the tree. Her arms glowed red and eventually so did the tree. After a few seconds and some shaking from the ground, the tree lifted straight from the ground. The roots were pulled completely out of the ground. The tree remained perfectly vertical as it flew up.

“Woah, woah, woah! You did it! It’s flying straight up! You probably shouldn’t lift it too high though.”

“Uhhh…I can’t stop.”

“You huh?”

“I can’t lower it down…! I don’t know why, but I can’t let go!”

“You can’t!?”

The tree began to spin around high in the sky. Anyone in the area could easily see it off in the distance.

“Let it go! We’re gonna get in trouble if someone finds us!”

“I’m trying! I don’t know how to stop it!”

Luna tried to think of a solution. She remembered how Aurora’s power was supposedly tied to their connection. If she caused that bond to waver, maybe it would affect her power.

“Aurora! I have something to tell you! I’m moving to a new city and school in a month!”

“You’re what!?”

The glow from her hands grew dimmer and the tree finally stopped flying up. Aurora could now gently lower it to the ground. It ended up falling sideways when she tried placing it back into place.

Luna sighed, “Thank goodness that lie worked! I guess that only further proves how our powers work. You okay Auro-?”

Aurora’s head was lowered away from Luna.

“Don’t scare me like that. I thought you were serious…”

“Ahhhh! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just did what I thought would work! I’m not going anywhere! I promise! I promise!” Luna pleaded.

“O-okay. If you say so,” Aurora faced Luna with a bit of uncertainty still showing on her face.

“We should get out of here in case that attracts any attention.”

As it turns out, multiple people had taken pictures of the flying quickly and it quickly spread as multiple news outlets reported it and many discussions were had on the internet about this phenomenon. Luna and Aurora decided to keep their powers more under wraps until everything cooled down. A week after that incident, Aurora invited Luna back to the park, for something very special.

“What’s up, Aurora? You said you want to tell me something important.”

Aurora was nervously tapping away with her foot as she had her arms behind her back, “Y-yeah, there is. Y-you know what day it is, right?”

“It’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t it? I got you a small box of chocolates to celebrate!”

She handed them to Aurora who still kept one arm behind her, “T-thanks, but there’s something I also want to give you.”

“Oh really? What is it?”

“H-here?”

Aurora revealed what she was keeping behind her, and it was a bouquet of lilies. She firmly held them in front of Luna. Her face was bright red

“Luna! I-if it’s alright with you, w-w-will you be my…my girlfriend!?”

Luna could feel her heart pumping out of her chest.

“G-girlfriend!? A-are you saying what I think you’re saying!?”

Aurora’s face grew redder than a tomato.

“Nevermind! Nevermind! Forget I ever said anything!” Aurora tried to walk away as she said this.

“Aurora! Wait!” Luna dashed and grabbed Aurora’s hand.  “I…I didn’t mean it like that. I was just surprised. I didn’t think you would ever feel that way about me…”

Tears began to run down Aurora’s face, “Of course I do! I love being around you! You’re my best friend, but I’ve been so scared of ruining that!”

Luna wiped the tears off her face, “I’m happy you feel that way! I’m sorry I’ve been so dumb to not realize-”

Before Luna had a chance to finish what she was saying, she noticed different branches and objects around them were all floating. Aurora’s powers must’ve activated unconsciously during this moment.

“Aurora, before I continue, maybe you should lower everything that’s- ”

“ALL UNITS! MOVE IN!”

A voice a few feet away could be heard by both Luna and Aurora. Before either of them could react, they were both pinned to ground by fully grown men in combat uniforms. There were a total of five soldiers that appeared. They all towered over the small girls.

“W-what’s happening!? Who are you people!?” cried Luna!

“What do you want with us!?” yelled Aurora.

The soldiers completely ignored Luna and Aurora’s voices. They only cared about discussing amongst each other.

“These two girls appear to be the source of the telekinetic phenomenon previously observed. Only one has shown apparent supernatural powers but the other could have also awakened abilities. We’ll be taking both into custody.”

The girls were raised up and held by the arms as if they were being arrested. Electronic collars were placed around their necks that made it for them to breathe.

“Ack-Aurora! Let go of her, you jerks!”

Luna did her best to struggle out of the soldier’s arms. She wrestled around as hard as she could but she simply didn’t have the strength at her age to fight back at all. She couldn’t activate any clones either while being so restricted.

“Luna! What’s gonna happen to us!?”

“I-I don’t know!” tears began to build up in Luna’s face. “I don’t know why this is happening! I’m so sorry, Aurora!” 

The sight of Luna like this caused even more stress to hit Aurora. Only she wasn’t crying. Her eyes stared in shock seeing the one she cared about bear a face of utter fear and pain. Within her heart, grew a fiery passion. A pure, unfiltered, rage.

“Let…go of…Luna!” Aurora’s entire body began to glow a strong red. 

“H-Hey! She’s trying to activate her powers! Restrain her down!”

Every soldier besides that one holding Luna pinned Aurora back to the ground. They figured restraining her further would restrict her powers similar to Luna. This didn’t change anything.

“Let…Luna…go!”

Aurora’s voice grew louder. Not only was her entire body glowing, but so was the ground surrounding her. It grew brighter and brighter. Whether she realized it or not, her powers were becoming stronger than she ever could’ve imagined. Luna’s tears slowed down as she witnessed what was happening with Aurora. Her heart was beating faster and faster. As if it was responding to what was about to occur. As the ground glowed a pure white, Aurora let out one more cry.

“LET LUNA GO!”

An explosion of light occurred as the last thing Luna could see was a blinding light. The ground shook as if it was struck by lightning. Dust flew all across the area. It was like a bomb went off.

Luna fell to the ground and was knocked out for a few minutes, but when she awoke. Nothing could prepare her for what she witnessed.

“Luna…I…I…” Aurora stood there with a face of pure disbelief. Her eyes were wide and hollow. Her clothes were now torn and tattered.  

The ground was completely sliced apart around them. All except for where Luna and Aurora were. The colors around Luna and Aurora were sliced off and on the ground. Luna looked around for the soldiers, only to see them all lying on the ground mixed in with the debris. Luna walked closer to their bodies to get a better look at them, only to fall back in horror after realizing the truth of their now sliced apart bodies.

“They’re all…they’re all…!” Luna didn’t have the strength to get the words out. She covered her mouth in absolute terror. The innocence these young girls had shattered into pieces as the darkness of their new reality took hold.

“Did…did I just do that…!” Aurora said. “My powers…they killed these people! I-hah…I-hah..”

She was losing control of her breath. Her mind was deteriorating as she began to process what she’d done. Luna was slowly wrapping her head around what had just happened.

Her powers activated… and hurt everyone but me. The powers that I gave her. This isn’t her fault…it’s mine.

Aurora fell to her knees and cried her heart out. 

“I’m…I’m a murderer…!”

This would forever be a memory that would torture and haunt her for the rest of her life, but Luna couldn’t accept that. She went on her knees in front of Aurora and put her hands on her shoulders.

“Aurora, you didn’t do anything wrong!” 

“Wha-what? B-b-but I just…” sobbed Aurora.

“I gave you these powers! If it wasn’t for me…this wouldn’t have happened!”

Please, Aurora. Don’t blame yourself. It’s ripping me apart seeing you like this, Luna thought to herself as her hands trembled.

“Luna, what are you talking about?”

“Your powers only activated because you cared about me! If I wasn’t here, none of this would’ve happened in the first place. Not the floating tree, not us getting attacked by those bad guys, not you hurting…y-yeah…I’m the problem…”

“W-what!?”

“I-if I just wasn’t here…everything would be okay. It’s because of this curse that we ended up like this…”

“C-curse…?”

Luna’s mind was warping whether she realized it or not. The terror of this situation was causing her to develop dangerous thoughts. Ones that would linger on even today. As her mind finally settled on these ideas…there was no turning back.

She turned back to where her collar had fallen. Unlike Aurora's, a light was still on. It seemed this one was still on.

“Aurora, you need to run out of here as fast as you can.”

“H-huh?”

“Other bad guys might show up and they might try to use this collar as a tracker. I’m going to run away with it and then throw it away. They’ll eventually lose track of me and give up looking for us.”

“W-what are you gonna do after that?”

“...I’m gonna run away for good.”

Aurora’s heart froze, “Y-you’re leaving?”

“Aurora, I want you to forget about me.”

“W-why!?”

“So that your powers go away and so this never happens again. Remember, this isn’t your fault. It’s mine.”

“B-but-!”

“Let me be the guilty one. I killed everyone here. Not you. Whenever you think about this moment, whenever you want to cry from guilt, know that you didn’t do this. I did. A dangerous girl that caused people to die!” 

Whatever light Luna’s eyes had now gone out. The brightness that shined in this young girl had vanished and its wake was a newfound darkness.

“Thank you for everything, Aurora. I’m so sorry…goodbye!”

“W-wait! Please, Luna! Don’t-!”

Before Aurora could react, Luna split off into various clones that all ran in different directions. She wasn’t able to tell which was the real one before they all were lost to her. This was the initial farewell to the girl that Luna had cursed.

Luna made it to the outskirts of her town in a grassy field. Far enough away, she dropped the collar on the grass. By the time anyone came to find this collar, she was long gone. Taking bus after bus to get as far away from her hometown as she could before ending up in the city of Everfall. 

Here, she lived as a pickpocket. Using whatever tricks she could with her cloning ability to steal whatever she could. As long as she was smart about it, her powers wouldn’t have the same presence as Aurora’s. Meaning she could get away with using them as she needed to get by.

This was all until she tried to pickpocket a skilled thief simply walking down the street. When she was caught, the thief questioned her, before ultimately deciding that he’d take care of her.

As the years rolled by, Luna’s past became ever so distant for her. She thought that if she ever looked back to that point of her life, it would be nothing more than an old story.