Navigating deeper into the church, the lights grow dim and the air grows thinner. The group turns the corner into a long, narrow hall, decorated with a variety of mirrors. Some are small and dainty, while others stretch from floor to ceiling, embellished with ornate borders and beautiful engravings. The soft overhead lighting keeps one’s reflection visible, no matter which one they’re looking at.
“I feel like I’m being punked,” Calamity mutters, tapping a knuckle gently on the glass. “You sure we didn’t just walk into a fun house?”
Allegra shrugs. “Well, clowns go where clowns belong.”
“Only Chaos gets to make fun of me, songbird. Don’t pick the low hanging fruit.”
Lynx crouches down in front of a mirror and traces its engravings. “Not like he needs to. You do a damn good job yourself.”
Wendy orders the bickering to cease and the hallway falls silent. “But you’re identical twins. Wouldn’t that mean he’s insulting--” Allegra begins.
“If you guys don’t shut the fuck up right now, I’ll find the crypt below this church and lock you all in it,” Wendy interrupts. The silence returns and stays.
As Allegra looks her reflection up and down, she’s somewhat admiring of it. The loose blue top, paired with slim black pants and Lynx’s secondhand boots, are a long way from her Sentry uniform. This journey is for no one but herself-- not for Elk City and definitely not for the Sentry station. Not entirely true, she thinks for a moment. I have to make things right with Julius eventually. And this place might have some answers about what happened to Orien.
Allegra reaches the end of the hall and takes a long look into the left mirror. She isn’t met with a reflection, but before she can comment on it to the rest of the group, the scene that appears draws her in.
Orien stands in the kitchen, dressed for work. Her fingertips dance along the counter as she makes her way towards the kettle. The uniform’s high collar, slim gauntlets, and accents of orange were something well-appreciated in Elk City. Allegra always imagined herself wearing the Sentry Officer pin on her left collar, just like her sister. Despite the tried and true look of the Sentries (or rather, in spite of it), their mother was always a stickler for perfection.
“Mom, I’m fine! There’s no right or wrong way to wear my uniform,” Orien says, shoving her mother’s hands away gently.
“That’s because you’re smart. You wouldn’t believe what some people think is okay,” she responds. “Try to be home by nightfall, sweetheart. It’s only a quarter moon tonight and things have been calm recently, so don’t try to pull any excuses with me.”
Growing up in an apartment, the Lester daughters never knew a house— but they did know a home. Everyone had their own room within the larger space, their own world to thrive in, despite the limited square footage. There was always incense burning on the coffee table, and nobody ever left dirty dishes in the sink. Windows cover the kitchen and the living room, giving them a beautiful view across Elk City. Their father’s desk sits comfortably in the corner, papers strewn about the carpet behind it. You could walk into the apartment and know it was well-lived.
From the couch, Allegra sits upside-down. “When has she ever used the moon as an excuse? Usually she’s just taking the long way home, talking to people.” Orien couches down in front of her younger sister. She sits upright on the cushions. “I don’t know how you do it. I’ll die before I go out of my way to chat people up.”
“Of course you think like that,” Orien says. “You’re seventeen, so you’re moody and hate to admit your feelings. Growing up is like having a disease that you eventually learn to live with. It’s like--”
“Being a beast?”
Orien rolls her eyes playfully. “Sure. It’s like being a beast. And just like our feelings, one day we’ll learn to live with them. No more killing, no more walls, just happy people living happy lives. That’ll be great, huh?” She wraps her arms around her sister and gives her a gentle squeeze. “Have a good day, Helena. Stay out of trouble, okay?”
Allegra snaps out of her trance, but immediately finds herself in a new one. Deep within the forest, Orien crouches down over a beast. She looks into its multiple eyes, runs her hand over its rigid body, desperately searching for a solution to its slow death. The creature looks young; its body is clumsy, fragile, even, with a similar humanoid structure to the birds that Allegra watched the twins rescue. Orien clutches it to her chest and drives her knife into its chest. Its body goes limp, blood soaking its fur and transferring to her own shirt.
Allegra comes back to earth, clutching her necklace. Orien’s cries echo long after she’s snapped back into reality. What the hell was that? She tries to understand why she saw these visions, one familiar and one foreign. Like an afterthought, she doesn’t feel like the second was meant to be there. Something in her wishes she didn’t see it at all; she came here looking for answers, for closure, but this just feels like putting a bandage over an open wound.
Down the hall, glass shatters to the floor with a deafening crash. Calamity slowly opens his hand and watches the blood pour from his knuckles. He breathes heavily, staring at his reflection in the broken pieces on the ground. Whatever his vision was, it was much more than a simple memory.
After painfully, silently trekking back to the common area below the church, Allegra is the last one to settle down on the ground. “I feel like we should discuss this,” she says. “These are not normal things to find under a church. Nothing is a normal thing to find under a church. Except for, like, bones. What’s that called?”
Chaos stares down at his feet. “A crypt.”
“Not much for me to say,” Wendy mutters. “It was just… foggy memories. Visions of myself growing up, attending ceremonies and dances and gatherings. It makes me wish I stayed-- even if it meant watching more of my people go missing every day.”
“I saw myself, five years ago,” Lynx says. “Getting a medal of honor for my work as a Sentry. Back then, I was a marksman. Rifle, pistol, crossbow-- I could shoot a beast from a mile away. That’s exactly what I did.” She runs her fingers across the marble tile. “I never saw his face, just his shadow. I later learned he wasn’t corrupted, but in the eyes of Sentries, that made no difference. I didn’t deserve that medal.”
Wendy, Lynx and Allegra turn their gaze on Chaos, expecting him to spin the tale. Surprisingly, Calamity takes the reins. “We were fifteen,” he says, “and we ended up causing enough trouble that another gang wanted us gone as soon as possible. What we took from them by stealing and scamming the townspeople, they did to us with shackles and knives and threats.”
“That’s where my vision ended,” Chaos mutters quietly.
“And that was just the beginning of mine,” his brother continues, raising his voice. “Knife to my neck, the guy tells Chaos to empty his pockets or I get it. And he just sits there, straightfaced. The knife goes in. He watches me bleed out into the concrete.”
“Calamity, it wasn’t real--”
“I think you’re missing the point that you let me die. Doesn’t totally surprise me, anyway, considering--”
“Considering what? That you’re ‘nothing’ and ‘nobody’? That’s exactly why you saw this vision. You think you can keep going on with your life like we’re these renegade kids with nothing to lose, but you know what, Calamity? You and I have always had something to lose. And now that we have a family, a place to stay, a purpose, we have even more. You have never been nobody, not to me! Not to Lynx, to Wendy, not even to Allegra. Believe or not, you do not exist in a vacuum! There are people that love you!” His voice reverberates across the room as he wipes the tears from his eyes. “So, please… stop throwing it all away. Stop letting your entire life hang on by a thread-- because if I have to bury you, I’ll be burying part of myself, too.”
Calamity sits quietly. The truth settles in his stomach. For the first time, he sees the ravine between his self-image and his actual person. He sees the world through his brother’s eyes-- the way he unapologetically loves the one thing that causes him the most trouble, the way he believes mischief is not a solitary act-- and he aches. He aches for the years of self-disregard he’s thrown onto Chaos’s back. He aches for all the times he felt that his brother’s support was only because the two of them had no one else to turn to. The realization burns him from the inside out, and while he wants to push it away like every other pain, he can’t afford to push away the people attached to it. As Lynx manages the bleeding of his right hand, Chaos takes hold of his left. The twins sit in comfortable, cathartic silence. The tears come and Calamity lets them.
Allegra settles down at the corridor to take watch as the night grows darker. Wendy and Lynx join her for a brief moment. “You never told us what the mirrors showed you,” Lynx mentions.
“I saw the day that my sister left home for the last time. How she’d hoped that one day, humans and beasts could learn to live together. It felt nice to see her face again. But the rest was unfamiliar-- I watched her… merge with a beast. Take on its souls as her own.” She rests her head against the brick wall.
“You think she’s still alive, huh?” Allegra rolls her eyes and nods. Trusted team member or not, she’s still no exception to Wendy’s empathy. Allegra begins to dismiss the idea.
“It’s a--”
“--a stupid idea? A dumb theory? Allegra, having hope isn’t stupid. It’s what keeps us alive. Apathy breeds catastrophe. I know that sounds ironic, coming from an empath, but when people feel nothing, they lose direction. They tear themselves apart because they have nothing to lose from it.” She glances at Calamity, dozing off at his brother’s side. His hand has been carefully bandaged. “That’s the hardest part when it comes to him: he stood for nothing when we first met. But with time and patience, I could feel it. He wanted to mean something-- for us, for himself-- and now he’s finally letting it happen.” The two rise to their feet and begin walking back towards the twins. “I think we all owe ourselves that privilege. Human or beast, outcast or socialite, we all deserve to be somebody.”
“Wendy? Lynx?” They turn back around. “Thank you guys. For trusting me, for helping me, for giving me your stories-- I know that who you’re willing to do that for is few and far between. When I go back to Elk City, I’ll make sure none of it is in vain. I’ll make sure things change.”
Lynx smiles. “You’ve got a good soul, songbird. Protect it with everything you have.”
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