Chapter 67 – Last Light

I unlocked the door to our apartment, and shuffled into the place. The heater was on max blast. A wave of heat washed over me, pushing back the chill that’d progressively gathered in my bones throughout the night. 

Thanks to Redline, it actually didn’t take me that long to find the White Rabbit’s mother. Took me even less time to get her back, though getting through the PK checkpoints with her was a bit sketchy. Rose Window and my Visitor’s Pass got me through without too many issues. This time around, I was a PK bounty hunter bringing in a wanted criminal.

The biggest issue was being exposed to the rain for so long. I pulled off my Harbor jacket, and tossed it onto a coat rack by the door. Movement from further in the apartment made my ears twitch. 

“Sylvie? I thought you said you weren’t going to be home?” My ears flattened. That was half the reason I was okay with being out so late tonight. She was supposed to be spending the night with that green hair bitch. 

“Reyna?” Her voice called faintly through her door. She threw the door open, and appeared with a wide smile. It was a little too wide, though. Was she trying to hide something? “Welcome home!”

Despite her expression, my tail wagged cheerfully behind me at the warm welcome. It just so happened to toss rain water around everywhere. The bike didn’t have rain protection, so I was almost totally soaked through. “I think I’m going to take a shower.”

”That’s… good idea.” Her nose twitched, and her eyes narrowed on me. “Are you hurt?”

”A couple bruises and small cuts.” I tried to laugh off her concern, and my tail curled up around my waist. “Quinn and I responded to an anomaly this afternoon.” 

“Oh. Did everything go okay? Is it contained?”

”Permanently.” I shuffled over to the laundry room and grabbed a set of fresh clothes out of the dryer. “Can we talk when I’m done?”

”Fine, fine.” She watched me carefully for a moment longer before slinking back into her room.

While the shower was warming up, I stripped off my shirt and checked on my injuries. Most of them were totally healed. There were a few faded scars from particularly deep cuts, but those would probably fade by morning. I carefully undid the bandages around my shoulder, revealing a mess of scar tissue and half caved in flesh. The Healing Salve had done wonders getting it operational, but the effect hadn’t stuck around. 

The real issue was my side. I let out a soft gasp as I peeled off the blood-soaked bandages. My stitches had torn open at some point. Probably while I was riding on Redline, to be honest. The way the seat was set up put a lot of pressure on my torso. I carefully wiped off the blood, and checked the injury. I couldn’t see through myself anymore, so that was a nice bonus.

While I waited for the shower to finish warming up, I messed around with the Universal Chroma a bit more. At first it was just small changes. Soon, I grew a bit more daring. My hair shifted from its usual silver shade into a rich red. After a moment, I added white to the tips of my ears and tail.

“I look like a vixen.” I ran a hand through my red hair. At a glance, anyone would confuse me for some kind of Fox Apex. Were there even a Fox Totem to begin with? A frown crossed my face, and I rubbed at my temples. I’d never heard about them, but maybe they were in a more central city?

I tried a few other color combinations. I wasn’t totally sure about the Universal Chroma when I first got it, but maybe I could use it for disguises or something? It could be useful. Then again, even with different hair color I was discernibly a Silver Wolf. My tail and ears kinda gave me away to anyone remotely familiar with Apexes. Not like there was a Black Wolf Totem I could try to blend in with.

All my modifications faded, and my real appearance returned. Ugly, broken Reyna looked back at me through the mirror with tired eyes. I leaned forward against the counter, and stared mutely at myself. My eyes caught the light just right. They glowed with a hungry red light that anyone would call monstrous.

My hands gripped the counter tightly, and I forced myself away. No point wallowing in things that couldn’t change—ah, wait. They could now, couldn’t they? I hesitantly focused on my eyes and activated Universal Chroma. They slowly started to shift color to a soft amber shade instead of the beastly red that they usually were. The bloodthirsty eyeshine faded into a ghostly green just like my sister’s.

A smile involuntarily bloomed on my face. Rend deployed a moment later. The silver claws faded, and turned the same ghostly blue shade that Sylvie’s Aspect was. With just some small changes, I looked like her real big sister and not some genetic freak.

A rush of warmth radiated through me at the thought. Right, if I looked like this… the warmth faded, as did my color adjustments. In an instant, I returned back to my real self. My dull red eyes peeked back through the warm amber, and my claws turned silver before snapping back into my hands.

What would she say if she walked in here and saw me like that? I knew the answer before I even had to ask the question. She’d start to ask a lot of questions I didn’t have answers for, too. Sylvie said she just wanted her sister, didn’t she? It felt good, but it also felt like I was stealing something that belonged to her.

I blankly stared at my drained face as the steam slowly fogged up the mirror. Eventually, I turned away from the mirror before I could give into the impulse to shatter it, and pulled Vigil into my arms. ”What do you think, Vigil?” 

“This unit has no thoughts.” His eyes remained off, which made a chuckle rise up out of me despite the situation. I ruffled his ears lightly, and set him back down on the counter.

I took a quick shower after that, and rewrapped my waist with a fresh set of bandages. I also swapped out the t-shirt I originally grabbed for something with long sleeves to cover up my arms. No point in making my sister freak out over something that’d heal in a couple hours. Once I was all set, I headed for Sylvie’s room. 

Her door was left cracked open, and through it I saw my little sister sitting on the ground in the middle of her room. She had her eyes closed like she was deep in thought. Just above her lowered ears, her halo glowed with a soft golden light. It looked dimmer than the last time I saw it, with only one candle glowing dimly in the center. The candle flickered like it was about to go out.

“Sylvie?” I called quietly. She had one of my black plushies sitting in front of her, and all her focus seemed to be on it.

Her eyes snapped open, and she flinched away from me. Her cheeks instantly warmed with a rosy red. “Reyna! Hey, hey~ I, uh, I didn’t expect you to get out so fast.”

“I took a quick shower.” I already lost most of my night to spend with her ‘cause I thought she was gone. I didn’t want to waste any more of it. “Whatcha doing?”

“I…” Her ears twitched, and her tail curled defensively into her lap. Her eyes narrowed for a moment like she was thinking of a lie. Instead, her shoulders just slumped helplessly. “I was trying to figure out my ability. It just… it doesn’t work.”

“Okay, well…” I closed her door behind me, and shuffled over to her. I sat down right in front of her, careful to ensure my wounds didn’t tear open again. I just got all the blood cleaned up. “Let’s figure this out together?”

”There’s nothing to figure out, Reyna. I’m supposed to be able to turn hope into power.” Her ears lowered even further. She looked down at the ground, and refused to meet my eyes. “I just… I can’t.”

“What were you trying to do?” Last Light was its name, right? I saw in her file that the Awoken Studies instructor didn’t quite know what to do with it. Sometimes it takes a bit for an Awoken to get used to their ability, but I thought they would’ve figured it out by now.

”Lift the stuffed animal. I reach and reach for my ability… it just doesn’t come. Sorry. You probably can’t even understand—“ She sharply shook her head, and seemed to droop even further in despair. The candle above her head flickered like a strong breeze was trying to blow it out.

I probably can’t what? Understand what she’s talking about? Heh, right. My fingers tightened around Vigil, and dug into his soft fur. To her I was just the useless, mundane Reyna. A mutt without any powers or abilities of my own. For one, ugly moment I wanted to tell her that I understood.

 It took me ages to figure out Seek. I thought I was special back then, and awakened a unique ability. That I could be the hero. Then every waking moment was spent slipping further and further into corruption before I even realized what was going on. So yeah. I did understand.

I took a breath, and felt the bandages around my torso pull. The temptation faded quickly. This wasn’t about me, anyway. Sylvie clearly needed her big sister, and help was just what I’d give her.

What was the issue, then? It clearly wasn’t a matter of focus. She’d been so focused that she hadn’t heard me enter her room. So… “It works off of hope, right?”

”Y-yeah.” She still looked incredibly sullen.

“Whose hope are you trying to draw on? Your own?” I asked.

”I mean, yeah. Whose hope would I draw on?” Her halo flickered dimly like a flame about to go out. “Drawing on other people’s doesn’t feel right.”

”Why?” It wasn’t my ability, but it seemed like Last Light was entirely set up to draw from other people. Maybe I was under a gross misconception though.

She finally looked up and met my eyes. Her own amber ones looked absolutely miserable. “What’s the point of being a Guardian if I have to take things from other people?”

”It’s not like you’d be stealing their hope, sis.” I patted her shoulder lightly. “‘Sides, it's not like you’d be stealing their emotions.”

”How do you know that?” She asked softly. “How do you know that I’m not some monster that drains people of their hope, leaving them husks of who they were? How do you know I won’t be consuming the very thing keeping a desperate person going?”

“How do you know that you would be? Not like you’ve got your ability to work yet, right?” I winced as the words seemed to echo in the air. Damnit! I might as well just eat my foot at this point.

Sylvie practically crumpled even further without my thoughtless remark. It was a good thing I was holding Vigil. Otherwise, my fingers would’ve dug into my palms. As it were, I just strangled the poor plushie. “You’re right… fuck, I’m a useless Awoken—“

”Don’t say that, Sylvie.” I pulled her into a hug before she could finish the thought. The sudden stretch and motion made my side flare up, but I ignored it and just focused on her. “Nobody’s successful from day one.”

“…” She drooped into my hug, and lightly wrapped her arms around me. She just stayed silent, but I could practically feel the storm boiling inside of her.

“Hey, hey.” I pulled back, and brushed my thumb across her cheek. I gently tilted her face up to look at me. Her eyes were hazy like she was about to start crying, and they didn’t look like they were tears of frustration. “What’s actually wrong, Sylvie?”

“Everyone says how much potential I have. All the instructors theorize about how powerful my ability is, and I can’t even lift a stupid plushie.” A single tear dribbled down her cheek. “I… I just don’t want to disappoint everyone. I don’t want to disappoint you.’” 

The tear flowing down her face felt like a knife directly stabbing my chest. How had I missed that she was carrying this on her shoulders? I forced a smile and wiped it away. “No matter what, you’d never disappoint me.”

Some of the tension left her, and she mumbled softly, ”what if I turned into an Anarch and went on a killing spree?”

“I’ll help you hide the bodies.” I knew some great spots. 

Sylvie broke into soft laughter like I just told a joke, and pulled away from me. “Really, Reyna?”

“Anything you need.” I just shrugged, and released my stranglehold on my poor plushie. She didn’t seem to believe me for some reason. “Here, let’s try again, okay? You can totally do this.”

She was my adorable little sister after all. I had full faith that she could do anything she set her mind to. I mean, she already did as much by becoming an Awoken despite the odds being stacked against her, didn’t she? Sylvie was a genius—she just needed the opportunity to shine.

Her halo flared to life above her head, and a new candle joined the first. It burned even brighter as she stretched out her hand toward my black wolf plushie. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the soft fur of the plushie started to shake and shudder. It was a struggle, but the stuffed animal slowly lifted into the air.

I held my breath, and watched Last Light work. My sister was totally focused on the stuffed animal. Her eyes lasered in on it, and her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth slightly. The stuffed animal stabilized, and lifted even higher.

KRAKOOOOM!

Thunder boomed, and the apartment’s lights flickered slightly. Sylvie’s focus crashed. The floating stuffed animal slammed into the ground between us. Despite that, her tail wagged around rapidly. She threw herself at me into a tight hug. “I did it!”

”I knew you could.” I returned the warm embrace, and tried not to flinch as her arms curled around my bandages. “Now, let’s do it one more time?”

She stretched out her hand toward the black wolf stuffed animal, only for it to drop a beat later. “What about the hope thing? Is it really okay?”

“Anything you take would be freely given.” I lifted her hand up once more.

”That doesn’t mean it won’t hurt whoever I draw from, though.” Sylvie’s face scrunched up once more.

”That’s why you should test your ability now to understand it.” I patted her hand lightly. “It feeds off of hope, doesn’t it? Have hope that it won’t hurt anyone.” 

“Still…”

“I’m fine aren’t I? Keep testing with me, and I’ll let you know if I feel anything wrong.” I pointed up at her halo, which had two candles burning inside of it. One was incredibly dim, but the other flared brighter and brighter by the moment. “I’ll always believe in you, sis.”

“I… you’re right.” She looked like she still wasn’t totally convinced, but that was something that could change with time. Her focus snapped onto the stuffed animal once more. I scooted back to lean against the wall, and watched her with a soft smile.