My eyes opeo see a familiar ceiling. It was a sterile, white tile, and it was a very b thing to look at. The room I was in smelled like aid bleach. My body was ag and I could barely move. I groaurning over to look at my bedside to see an IV bag filled with liquid.

  I looked around to see that I was alone. I was dressed in a white gown that smelled like disiant.

  My mind was fuzzy, and I was exhausted.

  I was ba the damned Kaleidoscope infirmary again. I groaned in annoyance, and the out a deep breath as my head hit the pillow.

  And then, I felt an arm around my elbow.

  What...? I wondered.

  A warm hand pressed against my side. Fingers pat my head and brushed my hair from my eyes and a soft, feminine voice spoke. "Hey."

  I blinked in fusion, and then turned my head. A pair of hazel eyes and a mop of tangled, long bck hair met me.

  "Stel?" I gasped. I couldn't help but let out a surprised squeak at her presence, and my eyes widened. She looked as if she had just woken up herself. Her bck hair was tousled, and she looked as if she hadn't slept.

  "M sunshine," she replied with a smile. She sat up in bed, stretg her arms out. "How are you feeling?"

  "Tired," I admitted. "Really, really tired. I 't move. I feel like a sack of potatoes."

  "Yeah, you look pretty worn out," she replied.

  "Are you okay?" I asked. I looked down at my hands. They were trembling. They were so pale, and my arms looked like sticks. I tried to sit up, but I felt weak and exhausted. "Did you stay with me the whole night?"

  "Yeah... it wasn't as bad as the day before, but still," she admitted. "I don't know... I guess I didn't want you to wake up and not have anybody here for you again."

  "Thank you," I replied, looking at my hands.

  "You don't have to thank me, we're..." Stel paused for a sed. "...family, after all."

  I looked at Stel, and then down at the bed. "Yeah, I guess we are. You know, it's... kind of scary. All of it. It feels like I'm on another p. I feel like a different person now. I 't even walk. Fighting monsters is different, but... fighting actual people is..."

  "It's different. I know," she agreed. "It's weird and scary. It's ohing th house with our cssmates and spar, but to actually fight with our lives on the line is different."

  She let out a deep breath and leaned against the bed frame as I shivered.

  "He was more like a monster shaped like a man, but still," Stel said.

  "I didn't mean to kill him, and I know it wasn't the real thing but I... still almost killed someone," I admitted.

  "You did the right thing, in the end."

  "I guess."

  Stel sighed, shaking her head.

  "I just..." she began, then stopped herself. She bit her lower lip and shook her head again, her hair boung as she did.

  "Just what?"

  "Just... nevermind. It's nothing," she replied. She shook her head, then took a deep breath and sighed.

  We were both silent for a moment, the quiet only broken by the steady beep of a mae. The room smelled like bleach, aics, and other ing supplies. The room was cold, and it was hard to believe so much had happened in two days.

  "I'm gd you're here," I admitted. "I don't know how I'd have dohis without you, or Albert, or the rest of the group. It was just so much."

  "You'd do just fine," Stel replied with a smile.

  "I don't know about that," I chuckled.

  "Albert was here, by the way. Don't know how he figured out where the infirmary was, given it's hidden behind a whole bunch of wards, but the teachers had to send him away. He wouldn't stop pag outside and yelling and holding up signs to let him in."

  "Ugh, that dork," I groaned, shaking my head. "He o stop w about me. I'm not made of gss."

  "Eh, that's what friends are for," she said, shrugging. "I wouldn't know, though."

  A lo passed between us.

  I stared at her in surprise. "No way, you're kidding?"

  "Weird i friends, maybe. I have a couple. But... ly. I mean I moved around a lot when I was a kid and usually attended private schools under one alias or another," Stel admitted.

  "I... I don't know what to say," I admitted.

  Stel ughed.

  "I wasn't friendless-friendless, but it was always kind of weird to make friends with the kids I was in school with," Stel said.

  "That... sounds lonely," I admitted.

  "Eh, it could have been worse. Could've been an orphan," she said. "I mean, teically I was an orphan in the sense I ted, but still. My family was really, really hey were good people, and I had a great life. I got to travel around the world, got to do a lot of stuff, and had a bunch of opportuo learn things most people wouldn't be able to learn."

  "True," I agreed.

  "But it's not the same, though. Not at all. I mean, my family is my family. But they aren't my family. If that makes sense."

  I thought for a moment and then nodded.

  "Kind of like me. We're sisters but... not really? We don't really know each other."

  "Exactly. It's plicated. I mean I spent three years ag out while chasing down your mom's breadcrumbs. And now... I'm not sure what to think," Stel admitted.

  "Yeah, me too."

  Stel looked at me and smiled. She reached over and pced a hand on my shoulder. She gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  "I guess, well... we'll just have to see how this whole thing works out. But, at least I know you're a good person. That you want to help people," she said. "I think we could have been good friends."

  "Could?" I asked, smirking.

  "Are. Are good friends. I meant," Stel corrected herself. She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. "And lenty of time to get to know each other."

  I looked up at her and smiled, feeling my eyes watering a bit. "I'm just gd we're both here in one piece."

  "Yeah, me too," she replied, smiling. "And hopefully the shopping trip is less of a clusterfuck."

  The room fell quiet, ah looked away, a bit embarrassed at how mushy this all felt. The sileween us felt heavy, and I was reminded again of how little I actually knew about her.

  "I'm sorry I ran away before you woke up yesterday. It... was just a lot," Stel admitted. "And I was being an idiot about everything. I shouldn't have dohat."

  "Hey, no, I get it. This whole situation is crazy," I admitted. "It's not your fault. It's... a lot to deal with."

  "Yeah, it is," Stel said, nodding her head. "But I'm just gd you and I kinda click, you know? I know I mentio a bit but I was afraid we wouldn't get along."

  "Hey, you know, you and I work through it. We've got all the time in the world," I said. "So... what's on the agenda for the day?"

  "Agenda huh? Sheesh, I was kinda thinking we'd go to sleep for the hree years after that crazy shopping trip," she chuckled.

  "Yeah... I guess that would be a good idea," I admitted, ughing. "I have homework on limits and stuff due soon."

  Stel rolled her eyes and gave me a deadpan look.

  "You're kidding. You almost die, and then the moment you wake up you're talking about calculus?" Stel groaned.

  "I have responsibilities, you know. Magical girl or not," I replied. "And I o finish it, otherwise I'm going to have an F on my first exam. I'm not gonna be a magical girl failure!"

  "Oh no, we wouldn't want that, would we?" she teased, shaking her head in amusement. "Just don't push yourself. You need rest, after all."

  "I won't, I won't," I assured her. I reached out and touched her hand, giving her a weak squeeze. "I'll be okay."

  She gave me a sad, longing smile, and then she sighed. "I know. Um, also, just ohing. Ichigo wants to schedule araining session for the afternoon, and she's bringing her brother this time."

  "Er, we're not gonna kick the crud out of each ain, right?" I groaned.

  "Probably, knowing her," Stel sighed. "I mean, it's not a bad idea, but I'm pretty exhausted too. And I think she's a bit upset that she couldn't really keep up with the rest of us during the fights against the heavy hitters. We did agree on some strength and ditioning instead of sparring, though. So that's a relief."

  I looked down at my twigs for arms and sighed. I couldn't move, I was too tired. But... I was so sy and noodle-like.

  I hated it.

  "I'd be fih some strength and ditioning training," I admitted. "But I o finish my homework."

  "That's fine," Stel replied, patting my hand. "We do that. We all get a good rest in, and maybe we hang out with Albert some. It'd be good for you two to catch up, you know?"

  I nodded in agreement, but then I frowned, looking at her. She seemed a bit nervous about something.

  "You okay?" I asked. She jumped, as if I had snapped her out of deep thought. "You seem like something's on your mind."

  "No, I'm fine," she quickly answered.

  "You sure? You're kind of ag weird."

  "Yeah, I'm sure," she replied. She looked away from me and stood up from her chair, walking over to the window and looking outside.

  I frow her. She seemed a little... sad. "Stel?"

  "Yeah?"

  " you be ho with me? I know we barely know each other, but I want to be there for you. If something's b you, you talk to me."

  She hesitated, her back still to me as she stared outside the window. I couldn't make out her face from the angle I was at, but I could see the way her body shook. Finally, she spoke. "It's just..."

  "Just what?" I asked.

  "The... cat's out of the bag. Kinda. Cw Currant, Cw Strawberry, your crime prince friend Bck Star, Braveheart Kitsune, and Albert saw me as Rosaria Celeste. I'm pretty sure Braveheart Kitsune is at the very least lio Storm Vixens. I just... it's a lot. This whole situation is crazy," Stel admitted. "I mean... I don't know. It just feels surreal, you know?"

  "Yeah," I agreed.

  "And we've only been level about our fucked up family situation for like two days. It feels like a lifetime already," Stel whispered. "It feels like... I don't know, it feels like we've known each other forever. And it also feels like we haven't known each other at all."

  I grunted, finally gathering enough strength to stand up, walking over to Stel. I pced my hands on her shoulders. She tensed for a moment before she turned around to face me. Her face ith tears and she looked so vulnerable.

  "I've lived a lie my entire life. As Stel Matsudaira. I was tracted when I was just eight. For all I know, I could have been adopted as part of one big scheme. My whole life was an act. Groomed and trai the behest of the Guardians just for the potential to bee the successor of my mother's legacy," Stel sniffed, her voice choked up.

  She turned around. "The two of us should have been together from day one! You had to grow up in a slum and I was raised by billionaires. It's so fucked up! We've missed out on a whole childhood together! A whole life! I don't know who I'm supposed to be now!"

  "Stel..."

  "My birth name isn't even Stel!" she hissed, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I've never had a hat wasn't just an act. It was all fake! I don't even know who the real Stel is!"

  I stood there for a moment, staring at her as she sobbed. She looked at me, her hazel eyes full of pain and sadness. Her voice was so small, and it was so full of despair and pain.

  She was right. Our childhood, our life as siblings had been stolen from us.

  It wasn't fair.

  We'd beeo our whole lives. In very different ways. I'd lived my entire life thinking my heritage was pletely ordinary, only to learn it was anything but.

  And she had been raised to bee the perfect magical girl successor for her mother.

  She sniffled. "All I know about myself is what I've learned about myself. I know our father adis Shield, Arcadia Vox's tacti and teical specialist. He was a genius and polymath that worked on all the tech she used. He had the title of the 'smartest man alive' but he wasn't a public figure. His civiliay is as mysterious as it gets, and nobody knows what happeo him," she sniffled.

  I pulled her into a hug, holding her close to me as her shoulders shook with each sob that wracked through her body. She was my half sister. I knew how she felt.

  "It'll be alright, Stel," I said, rubbing circles in her back as she sobbed into my shoulder.

  She was quiet for a few seds, and then she sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve..

  "What happeo him?" I asked. "Our father?"

  Stel shrugged. "Dunno. I've never been able to find out anything. But whatever it was, it must have been terrible, sidering the Guardia out of their way to make sure no record of his civilian life ever existed. They're really protective about their secrets, even though they have their fair share of corruption," Stel muttered, looking at her hands. She balled them into fists.

  "I see."

  "Mom was Arcadia Vox. Yours was Nightingale Eclipse. And our dad was the Padis Shield, and they were all in the same team. They fought the Nightmare of Nox together," she said, her voice soft. "And they won. There's the... official story. Padis, Storm Vixen, Arcadia Vox, and dozens of the greatest heroes of the era gathered a strike team to take down Mortifera Nox. And they did. She was defeated. And the world was saved. At the eleventh hour, Nightingale Eclipse had a ge of heart due to her lifelong love for Padis and Arcadia's friendship and helped the heroes. She sacrificed herself after a climactic duel with Arcadia Vox, and then the remaining heroes teamed up on Mortifera Nox to finally put her down. Arcadia and Mortifera killed each other, and Padis vanished off the face of the p," Stel said. "That's the official story at least."

  I nodded, my gaze fixed on her.

  She turned and stared at the wall behind me. I could see the pain in her eyes.

  "And that was the official story. The story they taught in school," she said, her voice trembling.

  Stel looked away. "The truth? I don't think anyone really knows, other than the people who were there that day. But I've put some pieces together. What really happehat's the question I've been trying to answer for years now. I have pieces. Not nearly enough to form a whole picture."

  "Such as?" I asked.

  "Nightingale Eclipse and Arcadia Vox were the leaders of their team and lifelo friends, and they fell in love with the same guy," Stel expined. "And er... at the risk of the mental image, probably each other as well? I'm... I'm going to stop there."

  I winced. "Yeah. Let's... uh, yeah. Don't want to go there. But tinue."

  "Well, that's all I have. I have a bunch of tidbits of information, but nothing that be put into the right order," Stel said.

  "Damn," I whispered.

  "Yeah."

  We were silent for a moment.

  "Elio."

  She looked up at me.

  "What?" She asked.

  "Elio. That's what our father's name is," I expined. "I don't have any st names, but I think Elio might have been the real name."

  I really wasn't ready to talk about the apparition of Arcadia Vox that'd appeared to me out of nowhere when I'd nearly been killed by Red Masque.

  It was just too much right now.

  "Elio..." she whispered, her voice a soft whisper.

  "It has a nice ring to it. The Night. The Sun. And the Voice of the People."

  "Damn, we really had the coolest fug parents," Stel muttered, shaking her head and looking out the window. The sky was a brilliant blue. It was clear and bright and full of promise. The world had never seemed so full of hope.

  "I guess we did," I agreed. I stepped forward, and pulled her into an, and this time she hugged back. "I don't know what to do. What's going to happen to us now?"

  "We keep moving forward," she replied, her voice strong. "I hope the cat siblings and Kitsune keep their mouths shut. I have a reputation to uphold, and I'm not sure how to deal with it, and the more that know, the greater ce that we'll have to answer some unfortable questions."

  "Yeah... I do think they'll be discreet, and I definitely don't think I'm ready either," I admitted.

  "Maybe it'll be for the better to just rip the bandage off, but I just want to y low. I've lived my entire life in the shadow of my mother and the Guardians," Stel sighed, her voice filled with exhaustion and resignation.

  "Mmm," I whispered, nodding and patting her back.

  Stel sighed. "And... I guess I'm not sure how I feel about that."

  I squeezed her.

  "Thank you, Sienna," she whispered, resting her on my shoulder. "You don't have to do any of this. And I appreciate y to help."

  "Hey, we're family, aren't we? Of course I'm going to try and help. And besides, we both want the same things, don't we, Stel?" I asked.

  Stel pulled away from the hug, looking down at me.

  "Celeste," she said.

  I looked up at her. "What?"

  "It's officially Stel, but my redacted birth certificate says Celeste. My adopted mother picked Stel, h the inal iion and legacy of Arcadia Vox."

  Celeste and Sienna. Heaven ah. I chuckled a little, giving her a sad smile. "Celeste and Sienna, huh?"

  Celeste nodded, and her face broke out into a sad smile.

  "It sounds like a bad anime."

  "Right?" I giggled.

  The two of us stood there for a moment, and I realized just how lucky we were to have found each other. We'd been given an impossible task to plete. To follow in the footsteps of legends. And it would be a hard path.

  I hugged her tight, and she hugged me back. We both had our own burdens to bear, but at least we could bear this oogether.

  "It's still gonel to everyone else," she said with a small chuckle. "I'll let you know when I'm okay with using that name."

  "I'll stick with that then, for the moment," I replied.

  "It's just surreal," she expined, her voice a little wobbly. "You're the first person in years who has seen the real me, you know?"

  "What, Dark Princess Eris's true face when she isn't cag manically while taking over the world?" I joked, raising my hands in an exaggerated vilin showboat. "Or do you mean your cute and shy big sister persona as Elysia?"

  "Oh shut up you nerd," she snorted.

  "Pot. Kettle."

  We both giggled.

  "Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "Well... Elio huh? That's what dad's name was? It sounds... familiar, somehow. Like I've heard it before."

  "You might have," I agreed. "But... that's what his name was. Elio."

  She nodded.

  "It sounds right, somehow," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  "I know. I 't believe our parents had such a crazy, dramatic love triangle, and they had the audacity to die or vanish into thin air," I said.

  Stel ughed. "I guess we're stuck with each other, now," she said.

  "Yeah. We'll figure it out. It'll work out in the end. Just wait and see."

  "Maybe."

  We were quiet for a moment. I didn't want to let her go.

  I wao keep holding her.

  But she stepped back.

  "Let's go home. I walk you back to your room," Stel offered. "ick up Albert along the way and you two get your homework out of the way."

  "That... sounds like a pn."

  "I don't want to let go, but... we 't keep doing this. You know? It's we 't just stand around like this forever," she admitted. "We should go home, get our homework out of the way. We should get to training with the group."

  "Yeah."

  I looked outside the window.

  "Elio huh? I wonder if he's still around somewhere, or if he was killed by Mortifera Nox," I asked.

  "Who knows," she whispered. "If he is, it'd better not be a case of milk and cookies and him having airely different life somewhere else. That's a soap opera I'd rather not get involved with. But I do have my hopes he's still out there. Maybe we get a plete set."

  I ughed. "A plete set?"

  "A plete family. Your Mom. Dad. A sibling. Who knows, we might find a cousin or two along the way."

  "Aww. Aren't we family?" I asked.

  "Yeah. I guess we are. In a way."

  There was a moment of silence.

  "Hey. Um... thanks. For... just, thanks. For being here, you know?"

  "Yeah. Now e o's go home," I said.

  She took a step forward and took my hand in hers.

  "Mmhm."

  Stel opehe window with one hand, letting the m breeze wash over us.

  "Hey... Sienna?" She asked, and I turiving her a small smile.

  "Yeah?" I said, looking up at her.

  "I'm... I'm gd I found you, too," she replied.

  I smiled.

  "I'm gd you did, too." I said. "And hey. Stel?"

  "Yeah?" she asked.

  "We're going to figure this all out. We'll find him someday. Our father, I mean."

  "Yeah," she whispered, smiling at me. "I believe it. Wherever he is, I think we'll find him. We'll bring our family back together. Even if we have to beat up the Grim Reaper to do it."

  "Maybe not today, but someday," I said, grinning at her, extending my pinky as Albert had always doh me.

  "Someday," she replied, ing her pinky around mine as she smiled back. "Now let's go. I want to make sure Albert doesn't do something dumb while trying to get into the infirmary again."

  "He's that worried about us?" I asked.

  "He ag around in circles like a worried father at 2 a.m in the m," she chuckled.

  "I guess that makes him our eam dad then," I teased.

  Stel just ughed. "I'm going to hold that over him."

  "You wouldn't dare," I snorted.

  Stel just smiled at me, a mischievous twinkle in her hazel eyes, before turning to look at the door.

  We both walked towards it.

  It opened with a soft click, and the hallway beyond stretched before us, lit by bright sunlight.

  I squeezed her hand.

  "e on then," she said, and I followed her as she walked out the door.

  Stel Matsudaira. Celeste.

  My sister. My half-sister. The other daughter of Arcadia Vox and Padis Shield. The girl who had lived her whole life in the shadows, fighting and g her way to the top. Who had trained and studied and honed herself into a deadly on against all the forces of the universe.

  We were a family.

  No matter what happened, no matter where the future took us, no matter how hard things were, or how difficult they were going to be.

  We were sisters. And that meant we were going to fight. We were going tle. We were going to push forward. And we were going to find our family.

  And that was all that mattered.

  If our father was still alive out there somewhere, and my mother, even if they were both ghosts or spirits or memories of what once were, I kneould find them.

  We would bring our family back together, no matter hoart we all were. No matter what it took.

  Dad?

  Mom?

  Wherever you are, we're ing for you.

  We'll bring you back to us. Even if it kills us. And if we have to go into the underworld and fight the gods themselves to get to you, then so be it.