“It was about ten years ago now…”

Yellow eyes stared groggily at the ceiling. It was morning once again. “Mmm…” a girl sat up in bed. She flicked her red hair away from her face, blinking slowly as she suppressed a yawn. A brown feathery tail wrapped around her front, having been held while she slept. “Morning…” she spoke to no one in particular.

knock knock

“Vienna, breakfast!” another voice sang from the other side of the door.

“Okay, mom.” The young girl waved dismissively at the door, despite knowing the owner of the voice on the other side couldn’t see the gesture.

Slipping into her daily wear, Vienna took leave of her bedroom. She didn’t get very far as there was a sudden pain in her rear.

“What have I told you about this young lady?” asked the earlier voice, though their presence wasn’t immediately visible.

Vienna grimaced, allowing her shoulders to catch slack. She shot an annoyed glance over her shoulder where her tail was being gripped by her mother who was fading into view. “Put it away,” she droned.

Wrenching her extra appendage loose from her parent, Vienna took in a deep breath and exhaled, her tail vanishing from sight.

The stern expression on her mother’s face faded into a smile. “Good! Let’s go get breakfast!”

It didn’t take long for the two Resonators to join the rest of the family downstairs and put them right in the small living room area, which adjoined the dining room where the two Maestros of the home sat.

“Morning,” the only man in the room nodded to the pair. His gaze was focused on a clear tuner, his thumb flicking the touchscreen every so often.

“Got chewed out again?” a younger Faith guessed.

“Shaddap,” Vienna grumbled, taking her seat.

The two siblings began eating their breakfast while their father sipped from his coffee, wearing a content smile. Finally, their mother joined them at the table and began eating breakfast.

Yes, this was how every morning went in their small town home they dwelt. This morning was special, however.

“Oh, remember girls,” the mother began. “Your father and I are starting our new job today!” She was most certainly excited.

“Makes more than hunting?” Faith asked.

“Way more! We’re going to be working for this famous scientist, Ilea Vim! We’ll go out to a nice dinner when we get paid and and-” the energetic mother was cut off by her husband.

“Millie…” He pointed at her rear, where her own feathery tail was swishing about excitedly.

“Ah! Ryo!” the woman yelped, her face rapidly reddening as she tried to hide her tail.

Vienna rolled her eyes but cracked a smile all the same.

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“We’ll be home late tonight. The orientation is supposed to be pretty long,” Millie told her children. “Remember-”

“Don’t use my powers unless necessary, yeah Mom, I get it.” Vienna waved off her mother’s concern.

“Tuner?” Ryo asked Faith.

“Yeah, got it.” The elder daughter waved a second clear tuner back at her father.

“Love you two! Have fun! Don’t get into trouble!” Millie kissed the two girls on the forehead before they took their leave.

“Now what?” Vienna asked her sister.

“TV,” replied the sibling, slinking over to their tiny living room.

Vienna shrugged and followed along, not having anything else she wanted to do at the moment.

And so, the two siblings sat and watched television like the good little girls they were… for about thirty minutes.

“Alright, I’m bored,” Faith announced, getting off their well-worn couch.

“Fay, we need to stay here,” Vienna fretted, chasing after her rapidly departing sister.

“Relax Vee, I’m just gonna go see some friends,” Faith waved off her sister’s concern as she got her shoes on.

“But mom said-” Vienna was silenced by a finger to her lips.

Faith smirked knowingly. “Mom said ‘Don’t get into trouble’, she never said we couldn’t leave the apartment,” said the elder sister.

The lyrebird considered her sister’s words for a moment, recalling the conversation before their parent’s departure that morning.

“I… think you’re right?” Vienna hesitantly admitted.

“I am right; you gotta listen for these things Vee,” Faith said, ruffling her sister’s hair. “You coming?” she asked.

Once more Vienna found herself at a crossroad, indecision gripping her. “I dunno Fay…” the younger sibling continued to fret.

“Fine, you can stay here. I’m sure you have plenty of your little cartoons to catch up on anyways,” goaded the elder sibling with a wicked smirk.

The betrayal on Vienna’s face was practically dripping as she watched her older sister turn to the door and threaten to leave her behind.

“W-wait Fay! I’ll come! I’ll come!” the lyrebird yelped, running to the door to grab her own shoes.

“I knew you’d see things my way,” Faith said with a grin.

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“We’re gonna get in so much trouble, Fay…” Vienna whimpered quietly as she followed her sister

“We’re not gonna get in trouble Vee, you worry too much,” Faith waved off her sister’s concern as the pair walked along.

Vienna knew she wasn’t winning this one, so she just tried to become smaller than she was and stuck close to her Maestro sibling.

The two girls met Faith’s friends at the Gran-Quire Mall. It has seen better days, given the money in the area had moved on to greener pastures, leaving slowly failing businesses in an ever-stressful game of hot potato. As such the youth of the time took it upon themselves to claim the gradually crumbling infrastructure as their territory.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Faith did all the talking, with Vienna content to stay off to the side and listen.

“Yo Faith!” One of the older teens of their friend group waved.

“Yo, what’s up?” Faith greeted the group.

“Not much.”

It was at that moment, the group noticed the little girl hiding behind her sister.

“Oh, you brought the squirt today?” noted one of the older boys.

Vienna frowned and scowled slightly.

“She wanted to come with today,” Faith said with a shrug. “She can hold the bag,” added the elder sibling.

“Sounds good!”

And that’s how Vienna found herself holding a bag of… something. It was a little on the heavy side. From what she could tell from the brief glimpses she got of the inside of the bag there were metal cylinders of some kind? They jostled around, clattering against one another if she swung the bag enough. Poor Vienna wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but followed along all the same.

Instead, the curious little lyrebird allowed her vision to wander, taking in the sights of the gradually shrinking mall. Lots of storefronts were shuttered, for reasons the little girl couldn’t understand. She knew the concept of a store, but not the life cycle or demise of one, so this was all very confusing for her.

Unfortunately, she lacked the willpower to just turn around and leave.

Which she cursed as they reached their destination.

The small group of teens forced Vienna’s hands open, so they could draw out the various goodies in the bag. Faith was the last to grab her can, at which point Vienna finally found her conviction.

“What’s going on?!” she hissed.

Faith hummed thoughtfully. “We’re doing art! Like you do in school,” the elder sibling told her younger sister, tousling her hair. “You like art, just relax!” Faith said before joining her friends in spray-painting some of the abandoned walls.

The little lyrebird pouted. She knew something wasn’t right about what they were doing, but she just couldn’t find the words to refute her sister’s claims.

“HEY!”

Vienna’s heart sank. That shout wasn’t one of admiration or appreciation, but anger.

“Let’s get!” one of the older boys shouted.

And then suddenly it was chaos, the group scattered and Vienna was left holding the bag of evidence. The poor girl had no idea what to do and froze up.

“Come ON!”

Suddenly she was dragged against her will in the opposite direction of the shouting. When Vienna got her bearings she realized Faith had a vice grip on her hand and was running as fast as possible. “Vee, you gotta use your powers!” Faith hissed.

“What do I do?! I can only hide my tail!” the panicked lyrebird shouted back.

“Just turn into someone, an adult, you can give us an alibi that way!” Faith was throwing the proverbial darts at the board.

“But I-?!” Vienna shook her head as she was dragged along.

“Just do it!” Faith cried out.

Before Vienna could try and do anything, it was too late.

“Vento in Poppa, Rallentando!” a gruff, deep voice shouted.

Not seconds later a blast of wind arrested the two girl’s momentum, stopping them in place. It blew hard against them making any further forward progress impossible. The only option was to turn around and face the music.

“Damn it, Vee…” Faith grumbled, facing the cop and their Resonator that approached the pair.

“Hands up!” was demanded of the two, who quietly complied.

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“We’re not gonna get in trouble, huh?” Vienna glared through her tears at her sister.

“Shaddap,” Faith replied bitterly, failing to hide the embarrassment on her face.

The two girls were sitting in the local police station, waiting for their parents to pick them up.

“You really need to get some better friends,” said one of the officers. “This is what, the third time this month, Faith?” they asked. “And you’re getting your kid sister mixed up in your mess now?” The officer shook their head in pity for the two girls.

Neither sister defended themselves, avoiding the prying gaze of the constabulary.

“You know the drill. As soon as Ryo shows up, you’re free to go, until then, try not to get into any more trouble,” and with that, the officer left the two girls alone in their cell.

“If you thought it was such a bad idea why didn’t you do anything about it?” Faith snipped at her sister when the officer was out of earshot.

“M-me?! I wanted to stay in the apartment Fay! You dragged me out!” hissed the lyrebird.

“You could have not gotten caught! Simple as!” Faith barked.

“But mom said-!”

“You need to think for yourself, Vee! Mom ain’t gonna be around forever!”

Vienna looked away, tears streaming down her face. Her hands twitched as she desperately fought letting her tail materialize. She wanted to hold it so badly – but her mom said…

The door opened. Drawing the two arguing girl’s attention.

Faith immediately stood and went into damage control mode. “Dad I-!” the elder sister faltered however when she didn’t find her father greeting her at the door to the cell.

The officer from before was there, but she brought a different man with her. The officer’s expression was clouded, not the same disappointment in a troubled teen like before. No, her expression appeared… woeful...

“Wh-who are you?” Faith gulped, taking a step backward. Her eyes darted between the officer and the newcomer. Nothing about this was good. She held up an arm in front of her sister, being careful to keep herself between the stranger and Vienna.

The man kept his calm and took in a breath before speaking. “There was an accident.”