Hot angry tears surged out of her, the dam finally breaking. Hot rivers steamed down the curve of her cheeks. The anger was deep and wide. From its depths came a boiling rage that seized her. She spun, propelled by its violence, and kicked Deidra’s old bed. The power of her suit sending it colliding into the wall and then crumpling down onto the floor broken in two. Her head was spinning and she turned and left, venturing down the halls. She didn’t know where she was going, her mind was in a haze and so she just sat back and let her body take over. It was only several halls over before she realized what she was doing. She didn't need to feed the old memories to know where she was going.

She and Deidra hadn’t spoken much those next two days. The division was palpable. A line carved in stone. Korsha had been torn. It was an impossible choice. Who did she choose? The man who'd saved her life, who had protected her from harsh and unforgiving people and in turn had protected them from her. Or the sister who'd been thrust into her life and without knowing her had shown her kindness. The sister who’d been the warmth in a lonely winter's night that had given Korsha hope.

To this day Korsha regretted her decision. She'd come running down this very hall, heading towards pipeline three. She’d chosen Deidra. Her sister. She'd known Deidra longer than she'd known any other person. She would find a way to repay her master. Together maybe they could find a way to get Tal a message so he could join them. They could live together. Be a family.

The idiotic thoughts of a spoiled child who thought she could have everything, Korsha thought, her face scrunching together as she recognized the narrow concrete hallways of the utility junction. All those years ago it had been warming. Serpents of steam hissing as they slithered from pipes that lined the right side of the wall. Their bleeding heat working to actually make the air humid. Now it was quiet, empty, cold and rusted.

As she approached pipeline three she sensed the powerful emotions that dwelled here. They were so strong, they hardly even needed her to manifest. They reached out to her asking a reaper’s offering to usher the emotions back from the other side. She paid them their trickle offering as she rounded the corner.

Out of reflex she stepped out of the way of Deidra as she marched past. Her sister paused, checking her omnivice and looking back at the doorway. Once again there was a hesitation before she growled and headed towards the cavernous pipe set into the side wall. She grabbed the handle and forced it open. The massive door swung on hinges nearly as thick as Korsha's thigh.

Deidra took a step forward and then stopped, pushing back on her foot and stepping back. Shock and alarm covered her features. Korsha already knew why. It had been hard to piece everything together after the fact. Waiting in the pipe hadn't been a rebel sympathizer.

Anadrov stepped out.

His white uniform pierced the darkness as he strode forward, hands clasped behind his back. His cybernetic eye burned as it fixed itself upon Deidra.

"My child, are you lost?" He asked in a smooth sympathetic tone.

Deidra's surprise quickly snapped into a furious glare. She slashed the air before her with her hand.

"I am not your child! Get out of my way. We both know that you’re no match for my power."

"Manna madness already?" He said with a tsk. He shook his head, a weariness pulling down on his partial living features. They gave him an aged weathered look, like a man who’d seen far too many evils in his life, "I was afraid it would come to this. Fueling your powers with emotions was always dangerous. Let me help you. It's not too late to save you."

He offered out his hand.

Deidra lifted her own. Fire consumed it.

"Before you do that," her master said, retracting his hand, "Know that there is no transport, no rebel sympathizer and no family waiting for you. You have failed your training, you have failed your sister and you have failed me."

The words were like a slap to Korsha's face. Deidra wasn't the only one that had failed him that night. But if he had ever known was she'd been there, what she was really running down those halls that disappointment would have been directed towards her.

Deidra took the news hard. Her head dropped and the fires in her hands were extinguished. For a moment she just stood there, hands trembling, staring at the ground. Then all at once her body tensed and the flames in her hands ignited. Instead of the usual orange and red flames Korsha had become accustomed to these burned with a blazing blue -with the wrathful brilliance of a star.

"You bastard."

Once more her master shook his head in disappointment. He clasped his hands behind his back as though he were dealing with a petulant child.

"Deidra, we both know that your parents weren't looking for you. They gave up on you the moment it was discovered that you were a child of Azaelah. You must surrender this idea. It is the only way you will seize your true purpose.”

"My purpose?" Deidra said, her head snapping up her gaze fixed solely upon Anadrov, "I have no purpose, save to kill you!"

Her hands shot up like lightning, a torrent of flames engulfed the room. She screamed, emptying her madness out. After a long moment she was heaving, sweat glistening her brow, though not from the heat but from the exertion. The second time that day her face was filled with shock. Standing before her was not the crisp remains of the man she'd hated.

Standing before him was Korsha.

Korsha had arrived just in time to see Deidra preparing to launch her attack. She had only just enough time to flip a coin forward and use momentum. She'd shielded herself and her master but using one of the spirits she'd captured early in her training. That shield had drained the spirit, using it up.

"Hello sister."

Korsha blinked. This wasn't a part of the memory. Boots clicked in the darkness before her. Light erupted into being, flinging the shadows away. Korsha gasped. Walking before her, illuminated by the fire, was Deidra.

"Deidra." Korsha said, the words tasting like honey upon her lips, "thank the goddess you're alive."

"Curse your goddess and curse you." Deidra said in a low voice.

"Deidra, I'm sorry for what happened," Korsha paused as their two imprints appeared, striking at one another and then moving past, "We can fix this."

"Save it, daughter of Azaelah."

Korsha winced. A torrent of translucent flame appeared between them. She eyed Deidra through the ghostly flames. The tips writhing and snapping at the air as her sister glared at her, fiery anger filling those eyes. Korsha clenched her fists. Bitterness filled her mouth with an acrid taste that curved the edges of her lips down in sharp points. The flames of the past subsided, no longer staining Deidra's features but the fire within Korsha continued to burn. Continued to grow hotter and hotter.

"No. You know what, I've been blaming myself this entire time. I carried this gnawing guilt for what happened. For what you did. This wasn't my fault. Our master was right. You were going to abandon me. He offered you a way back but you tried to kill him."

"Our master? Anadrov was never my master. He was my kidnapper."

"He saved you!"

"He stole me from my family!" Deidra said as she brought her fists up. Now both were engulfed in flames.

"Our master saved them from you." Korsha said with a snarl, her own hands balling into fists.

"Call him my master one more time."

Korsha glared at Deidra. This was no longer the sister she loved. The sister she'd grown up with, struggled at the Academy with. How have they ever become so divided?

"We can fix this. Come with me and we can be sisters again. Will find a way." Korsha said, holding out her hand.

For a long moment Deidra stared at it. Then her eyes flicked up to Korsha's. The imprint of Deidra was thrown past, falling to the ground. Her face smacked against the floor as she rolled to a stop at Anadrov's feet. Her arms were bound behind her back by Korsha's Lasher. She let loose a terrible wailing cry as her body thrashed against the floor in a desperate attempt to escape.

Korsha cut the memory off from her power. Her eyes widened as she realized that it kept going. She turned to Deidra, her eyes wide.

"Bind her." Anadrov ordered as he hauled Deidra to her knees.

"I have no sister."

The imprints faded away. Korsha screamed in frustration.

"You attacked first. You always attack first. Dammit. It was always about you and what you wanted!"

"I did what was right."

"What you thought was right. You don't get it. We're defective, we can't make decisions like this on our own. That's why we need him. That's why he's our master."

Deidra's eyes narrowed as she dropped back into a fighting stance. The fire in her hands burst with renewed life, red overcome by blue.

"I warned you."

Korsha only had a heartbeat to roll to the side as a gout of flame consumed the space she'd been in.