Chapter Text
“Where are you going?”
“Out.” Amy snapped.
I frowned, poking at my watch until it lit up dimly.
“Its one in the morning.” I groused, rubbing my eyes.
“Just go back to bed, I can’t sleep, may as well do something useful with my time.”
I dropped my hand enough to give her a suspicious glare. “You’re going to the hospital? Are you sure that’s safe?”
She scoffed, she liked scoffing.
“Oh really, who is going to be stupid enough to do anything to Panacea.” Amy gestured to her healer’s robes to emphasise the point.
I kept my glare.
“It only takes one person on too much poison to care.” I put out, reasonably.
Amy huffed and redoubled her own glare. I held my ground.
“Whatever, I’m going.”
I resisted the urge to scream at her. Instead just angrily throwing off my pyjama bottoms and putting on yesterdays jeans.
I did not think prior to having to live with Amy that I would manage to change clothes spitefully, but she was a great learning experience there.
“What are you doing.”
“I’m coming with.”
“Fine! Like I care.” I think the only reason she did not stomp out the door was because she did not want to wake up our dads.
I wrote them a note on the fridge, letting them know we were going out to a hospital in case we weren’t back before they woke up.
The walk to the hospital was done in tense silence. Neither of us caring to interact more than the bare minimum.
I looked at the frazzled mass she called hair as it bounced in time with her steps. Amy was all but stomping.
When dad came home one day and haltingly told me he had a partner I was initially quite upset. I didn’t want him to replace mom, nobody could fill the shoes she left behind. Finding out the person in question was a guy was a shock but made things a lot easier for me, he wasn’t replacing mom.
I just…had two dads now.
And between him and Mark there was almost one whole functional parent.
Mark Dallon was not how I expected him to be at all. Once I’d gotten over the shock that my dad was dating the Flashbang I got to see the real man under the mask.
Honestly, he reminded me of dad a lot, it made sense why they found each other. They both kept going more out of a sense of duty than any real willingness on their part. I liked most how he could make dad smile, even if they were sometimes gross in my general vicinity it was too sweet to be mad about.
No, most of my anger was reserved for the daughter he brought with him.
Words could not describe how painful it was to have to share a house with-with the bitch.
No other words fit. My fantasies about the world’s premiere healer had died the death of a thousand cuts with each and every acerbic word that came out of her mouth.
“What are you going to do if somebody attacks us anyways? Glare at them? Bore them to death?” Amy broke the silence, not to make conversation, but to dig at me.
I set my jaw, trying not to grind my teeth. She did not know enough about me to make anything really cut. Compared to Emma she was like a particularly nasty kitten.
I brought my hand out of my pocket, showing her the pepper spray. I quickly shoved it back in, it clacked against the phone Mark had given me.
I did not like having it, but he was right about it being safer.
Amy had stopped, I turned around to face her.
“What.” I curled on myself a bit, knowing that she was just going to be more mean, it had only been a week but I knew the look.
“I feel so safe.” She drawled as she caught up to me, sarcasm dripping in her words. “When some drugged up retard comes firing I’m sure that that will stop them, totally.”
“Don’t.” I snapped. “That’s really reductive language. It trivialises mental illness and-“
Amy laughed in my face. I shut up, reddening face lit up under the halogen glow of a streetlamp.
“I’m serious.”
“Ugh, don’t need to remind me that. Maybe if you took that stick out of your ass you’d make a friend or two and I wouldn’t have to look at you moping everyday.”
I barely registered what she said afterwards, blinking out tears.
Home used to be my sanctuary, the place I could just be. I could go home after the girls at school had been horrible, talk at my dad for a bit, then have dad talk at me for a bit. And neither of us would pry and then we’d have finished the ‘family things’ checklist and I would be free to go to my room and escape into a world of literature.
It was safe.
And then it got better, dad started smiling more, I met Mark, he and dad had a lot of the same issues but Mark was better at giving an encouraging smile when it was needed. Or just knowing that you needed a hug.
He was less functional, sometimes spending whole days in bed just staring at the ceiling but he made up for it by being much better with people. They were a good fit.
Then, a week ago, there was another bed in my room.
Our house was small, working-class family, we did not have a spare room. So, I needed to share.
I glared daggers at the brown mop in front of me.
I had to share with her.
I didn’t know if we would manage another week before one of us did something drastic.
It was going to be her, if there was one thing I definitely had over her is my ability to stew. I’d been managing a whole year at school; I could manage another at home.
I was going to keep being cordial, I was not going to stoop to her level.
I was going to win.
-x-
The words on the page swam beneath my eyes, I looked at my watch, taking almost a minute to actually register the display. It was past 4 in the morning. We had been here for three hours, I think I only read twenty pages in that time, my eyes kept slipping off what was written.
“You’re still here.” A voice to my left shocked me fully awake.
Amy was standing there looking about how I felt, the bags under her eyes seemed magnified against her pale skin.
“Yes.” I closed my book with a definitive snap. “Let’s head home then.”
“Why.”
I paused shoving the Crucible into my expansive hoodie pocket.
“Why am I still here?”
She grunted in response.
I considered for a minute, pressing my lips together in thought. Amy was a pain to live with, but she was my sister now, I had to live with her.
“It was the right thing to do.” I hazarded eventually.
That was evidently the wrong thing to say, Amy just scowled at me, and we walked home in complete silence.
-x-
My mind felt like it was swimming though a fog during the day, I didn’t manage to catch up on any sleep after we arrived home.
At least the trio were still giving me space.
Small mercies.
They’d let up the past month or so, sticking to just spreading rumours or whatever stupid petty prank Madison cooked up.
I collapsed onto the couch palming my eyes to relieve the slight stinging. They were sore from lack of sleep.
The house was quiet, I relaxed into the thing.
Amy was working at the Hospital after school today, so I’d have a few hours of uninterrupted me time. It was something I’d only realised I needed when it was gone.
Amy was hardly loud; she didn’t walk around the place banging pots and pans or anything but it was not the same anyways.
I heard creaking on the staircase, oh Mark was home. I didn’t tend to count that as there being a person around, sometimes he was fixed in place, like furniture.
He started wordlessly taking out ingredients, starting dinner. It was something he liked to do to ground himself, I think. Something he was good at even after his life fell apart, dad was the same with his ferry.
I wanted to get up and go read or browse PHO or do…other things while Amy was away, and I had the room to myself but I was too tired and the couch was really comfortable.
I fell asleep to the rote sounds of Mark cooking.
-x-
I was startled awake by a loud knock on the door. Sitting up I massaged a crick in my neck.
I went to the door, usually I was a bit apprehensive about opening it if I did not know who was on the other side, didn’t have time to prepare.
But today the closer I came to the door the more I was convinced that whoever was knocking would be great.
I opened the door.
There was an angel.
The light of the setting sun caught her blonde hair, the slight frizz only serving to catch it perfectly. Radiant, a halo of light.
Her face looked pretty in the way that made you think she wasn’t the product of biological chance. Good genes could not make a face like that, it could only be the work of a master craftsman, toiling away on a piece of marble until their hands were but gnarled stumps and she’s achieved perfection.
I tried to swallow but my muscles weren’t working, I clung to the door like a lifeline, adrift.
Amazed.
A chord thrummed though my very being, reverberating though my soul.
If it were anybody else the curves of their body would have elicited incredible jealousy.
But here…
I could not be jealous for that which I would never deserve. It was impossible, only the divine could look as so, resplendent in the evening light.
A visitor.
My house was unclean. I was unclean. I probably had BO right now? When did I last shower? It was today right. I think I forgot to brush my teeth yesterday morning, she could totally smell it too I was sure.
I was staring too much wasn’t I, I was being weird, and she was going to be mad. No, no I wasn’t staring enough, it would be wrong to look anywhere else. Like going to the Louvre but skipping the Mona Lisa.
I-I needed to do something. Oh, gods I was still in my ratty school clothes.
I was a pauper in front of a god.
I was disgracing her with my very presence!
I-I-I-
“Vicky!”
I was briefly confused, when had Amy gotten here? Before I felt my world shift, with a feeling of vertigo I realised that Glory Girl had dropped her sister off.
So, what I had felt, was that her ‘aura’? It was a lot stronger than her wiki implied. Now without the manipulation I clenched my fist on the doorframe.
I was torn between being angry at Glory Girl for using her power on me and Amy for making her stop.
“I’m so sorry! I just wanted to make a good impression on my new sister.” She laughed. Glory Girl had a very good laugh. I could feel the anger draining away with every chuckle until all that was left was this light fluffy feeling and even though I didn’t have powers I could have sworn I was capable of flying at that moment.
“Uh, um ok. Its ok. Sister, yes. You’re my sister now.” I clenched my eyes shut, dying a little bit inside as my caveman speech registered consciously. “Hi, It’s nice to meet you.” I held my hand out for her to shake.
She spared me embarrassment and took my hand, her grip was firm, soft.
My eye glanced over to Amy who was giving me the most intense death glare yet. I let go of Glory Girl like I’d been burned.
“Thanks for dropping her off.” I rubbed my arm self-consciously, her aura was off now but it still felt off having her here, like she shouldn’t be in this sort of neighbourhood.
“No probs.” Her smile had yet to dim. “I kind of missed flying her around. Also, I wanted to see dad, its been a while.”
I blinked; right, Mark was her biological dad. It was easy to forget that Amy was apparently adopted with how much Mark clearly loved her in his own way.
I stepped aside to let her in, she immediately floated over to Mark and started excitedly babbling away at him apparently determined to tell him everything he’d missed.
Amy stepped into the house too but made no move further than the doorway. She looked at once more at ease than I’d seen her this whole week and yet more conflicted in equal turn.
She turned away from the conversation in the kitchen to give me a suspicious glare. I kept my face carefully blank, not sure what her issue was here.
She eventually just rolled her eyes excessively and joined the other two in the kitchen, leaving me standing by the door feeling like an idiot and a third, fourth? Wheel.
I grabbed my bag from by the couch and trudged up the stairs to mine and Amy’s room, flopping onto the bed to read.
But it was hard, I twisted my mouth to the side in displeasure. I should not have wasted my Amy-free time sleeping, I could barely focus on the book.
I just soldiered on, going word by word until I was calm again, and could read normally, without distractions.
The sounds that filtered up were muffled and indistinct, picking up in intensity when dad arrived. Soon there was a floating Vicky poking her head in letting me know that food was ready.
Dinner was…odd.
Before Mark it was usually quiet, filled with unspoken words. Then it became me sitting back and just being happy that dad had somebody to talk to again, someone to love.
Nowadays Amy was there sometimes, she spent an awful lot of time at the Hospital so a lot of dinners she missed and usually the girl was too tired and grouchy to really be very present.
She spent almost the whole dinner chatting away with Victoria. They bickered a lot but it was different to how Amy and I had been bickering this week, that edge wasn’t there.
Why was she living here?
She clearly had a great relationship with her sister, wouldn’t it be far more pleasant to spend time with her rather than me. It made no sense to me. Why did she have to come to my house, take my room and be such a fucking mean bitch about it all?
Suddenly it felt like a lead weight was in my stomach. I abruptly stood up, my food was only half eaten but nothing would get through my throat right now. It felt like the hands of Scion himself were squeezing them.
I robotically dealt with my plate before rushing up the stairs and throwing myself in bed. I was shaking with anger, or sadness or-or something. I did not know what.
I’d mostly gotten myself back under control when there was a hesitant knock at my door. I stared at it, Amy never knocked, I’d started getting very fast about putting clothes on recently.
“Hey Taylor its Vicky, can I come in?”
Oh. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“Yea.” My voice didn’t sound right, I went to rub my throat but my hand was wet where it hit my chin. I pawed my face, I was crying?
I was crying.
“Aww hey sweetie its ok.” A pair of strong arms grabbed me, I leant into it, this felt safe, felt good. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“No, its not you its.” I took a deep breath. “Why is she here? You and her, you get along. We don’t.”
I could feel Victoria sighing as much as I heard it.
“Well, I don’t want to speak for Ames but her and mom well-“ She floundered for a bit. “If its any consolation she probably won’t be here forever.” She smiled.
It was a consolation actually.
“But…I think if you girls give it some time you’ll be the best of friends.” I frowned, right maybe that might happen when pigs take flight.
“I’m serious.” She insisted in a needling tone, shaking me slightly. “You two are so much alike its scary.”
I pushed myself away from her and gave her a blank stare.
“No we’re not.”
“See!” She bounced, floating for a moment before relighting on the bed. “That was like, peak Amy right there, I think you two just need to find your similarities and it will all work out.”
I kept my blank stare. She just gave me a determined look, smile bouncing right back onto her face.
“Mark my words, this time next year you two are gonna be inseparable.”
She said it with such authority that I could only weakly nod as she flew out my room.
I scoffed.
“Fat chance.”
-x-
I shifted under my blanket, despite facing the wall I could feel the glare Amy was giving me.
After an hour of fitful sleep attempts, I rolled over and matched her.
Blank stare for heated glare.
“I just wanted to let you know that that I really hate you.” Amy ground out. “Vicky is my sister and only I get to cry on her shoulder.”
I twisted my face in a desperate attempt to not respond with the easy ‘you don’t have to be here’ or ‘I hate you too’.
“Well, she’s my sister now as well so you have to share.” I clutched my blanket tighter to myself, the winter chill was just starting to set in, even if they were mild here, they still came around.
The look Amy gave me then was murderous. But eventually she just huffed and turned away. I did not care enough to continue the argument to I rolled around as well, glaring at the spots on my wall.
I wished I had my room back, I could just read now, or do other stress-relieving activities.
But I was stuck staring at the wall and convincing myself not to walk across the room and strangle the world renowned healer. I was better than that.
I was better than her.
Usually that thought was accompanied by red hair and fake laughs, now I only saw brown hair, a constellation of freckles and that acidic tone.
She was going to lose.