Yelena and Lilith were playing a game of tag together. At first it started out with them running around, it turned into more of a flying game of tag instead. She couldn’t believe it’d been almost three months to the day since she got her wings in. Since then, both Lilith and herself had gotten a much better grasp on their ability to fly around. Yelena passed a few tests down to the earth below whereas Lilith just had her first test a couple days before. The first test, challenged your ability to catch yourself midfall. As the tests intensified they deduce whether you can handle slowing yourself down before hitting the ground and finally safely land. Above Yelena, Lilith was climbing into a tree, laughing as she climbed ever higher and claiming her capability at flight. Deceitfully, her wings were extremely tiny, though her capabilities for flight were far advanced to other children her age.

Her foot seemed to slip on a branch causing her fingers to lose grip. Unable to properly catch herself, she hit many branches on the way to the ground. A loud thump echoed as she groaned in pain while rubbing her butt. With a head start Lilith went running ahead of her. Ignoring her sore bottom, she painfully got up before running after her sister. Together, they ran in between the houses, chasing each other in a game of tag. Out of nowhere, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. Turning around, she saw her mother's scared face, “Where’s your sister?”

Turning her head she pointed in the direction in which she had been running, “over there, we were playing tag. Are we in trouble, I swear we didn’t do anything wrong.” She quickly covered Yelena’s small mouth with her hand to silence her. She noticed her mother's hand was cold with sweat and shaking against her cheek. Sensing her fear, she closed her mouth.

“Sshhh, the Mara’s are back. Some of them got through the gateway and into the city. You two need to get inside where it’s safe. Run back inside, I’ll be there as soon as I get your sister.” Instantly, she ran off in the direction that Lilith disappeared. She started walking toward their house when she heard a scream not far off that sounded a lot like Lilith.

Without thinking, she sprinted in the direction of the scream. A few houses down, she noticed smoke drifting into the sky from various locations forcing her to a stop. Suddenly someone ran into her from behind, causing her to fall on her butt. She was for sure going to have a bruise on her butt now. Looking up to confront the culprit, she met soft ocean blue eyes. The small young boy had brown, almost blonde hair, “Joseph, watch where you’re going?”

Reaching his hand down, he helped her to her feet, “Hey Yelena, sorry I was hoping to help anyone that may have been hurt during the explosion. What about you?”

“My mom and Lily ran off in that direction, I wanted to make sure they were okay.” She went to walk in the direction her mom disappeared when Joseph’s arm stopped her.

“That’s stupid, you should get somewhere safe. They’re probably fine; if anything you may get hurt running around.”

Yelena set her hands on her hips in defiance, “I could say the same for you. Just because you have your wings AND will be starting your training to be healer soon doesn’t mean you have the right to tell me what to do. It’s just as dangerous for you to be out now.” Stubborn, she walked past Joseph only to be welcomed by smoke overwhelming her face. A coughing fit engulfed her lungs as she covered her face with her hands. From behind she was dragged to the ground. In between coughing fits she managed, “What in the world are you doing?”

“The ground is always the safest place when there’s smoke around. Stay down.” He pushed her head downward until her chin was touching the hard surface. Small granules of sand dug into her chin, palms and knees making her position rather uncomfortable.

As the smoke began to clear, she saw a shadow on the ground. Instantly, she was pushing off the ground and running to the nearest body. It was a small boy, wingless with what looked to be his mother a few feet away. She was pinned to the ground, her body grew cold upon glimpsing severe wounds and blood pooling around them. Grief filled her heart for the loss of their lives, but fear for her family pushed her forward. The smoke dispersed as she ran forward, her worry increasing with each step. From somewhere behind her she heard Joseph calling her name, she ignored it. Running to the next body, she found an old man, bleeding from his head. Something inside told her to check his pulse and was rewarded and relieved to find a faint reassurance, “Joseph, this one’s still alive. Call for help.”

Nearing the next body, she saw a form leaning over a smaller body; picking up speed she was relieved to find her mother and Lilith. Her knees gave out from under her at the relief before it was replaced with fear again. Her mother’s hands were sparkling. Glancing around her body to get a better look, Yelena found Lilith’s wounded still form. She had bruises all over her body, a blood puddle oozing from her head, and a wing bent at an odd angle. “Is she going to be okay?” She had to be okay, her mom was healing her. Her mother was the best healer and could definitely save Lilith.

“If I have anything to say about it she will.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow begin to form. Mom’s head shot up and looked at the shadow, “Oh no you don’t! Don’t give up on me young lady!” Yelena’s head shot over in time to see a shadow pooling out of Lilith’s body like fog. Not Lily!

The light from her mother’s hands tripled in brightness. As the shadow began to disappear, the color slowly returned to Lilith’s face. Her mother was so amazing. She crawled over to sit next to her mom. She put her own hands out in an attempt to help her mom out. Yelena glanced over to see if her mom approved the help and found her mother's face was losing color. Suddenly, a sharp intake of breath escaped Lilith’s lips. Bending down, mom whispered into Lilith’s ear and held her close. Relief ran through Yelena at the sight of Lilith, seemingly okay.

She stood up on shaky legs and walked around to the other side of Lilith. She did a check of Lilith and found she seemed to be doing well. She then glanced up at her mother to find a dark aura forming around her mom, “Mommy, Are you okay?”

She stood there waiting for a few minutes. Her mother never responded, she turned her head down, avoiding Yelena’s eye’s.

~~~~~

Two weeks passed by, Yelena’s mother became bedridden a few hours after she saved Lilith. Every day since then, she steadily grew weaker. The healers told them to make her as comfortable as they could. To Yelena’s frustration no one gave them any answers, it wasn’t long before their mother could barely speak to them. One morning as Yelena brought in breakfast she found her mother’s pale form unresponsive; To her dismay she had passed on earlier that morning. Lilith was okay at first, but as their mother’s condition worsened, so did her sister’s emotional state. Yelena kept trying to reassure Lilith it wasn’t her fault but she never seemed to hear her sister's words. She used to laugh and play, bugging Yelena to go outside and do something fun. Nothing stirred any energy out of her now.

Yelena laid in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was so cold, her head constantly felt numb, and everytime she stood up she felt as though she would throw up. She couldn’t cry, the tears wouldn’t come. Instead of tears flowing, her body shook uncontrollably while her throat felt tight constantly; she found it hard to even breathe at most hours of the day. Last night was no different, she had spent the last 20 minutes before bed trying to calm herself down.

She would need to wake up Lilith soon to start getting ready for the day. Tilting her head, she looked over to find Lilith sleeping in her bed across their shared room. She’d mostly been sleeping, when she was awake her eyes had lost all shine. Her eyes had gained a permanent reddish outline and were completely bloodshot from all the crying.

Their mother's funeral was later today, it’d been three days since her death. For the funeral they would set her body on fire and release it through the gateway to fall to the earth below. The last flight many called it. Yelena hadn’t been able to function either. Within the span of a month, they’d lost both their parents. Now, they were orphans. Who would take them in? They didn’t have any family members remaining. As far as she was aware, her parents hadn’t discussed who would take them in if something happened to them; so the elders were discussing which of the elders would be taking them in. Yelena had overheard their discussion at one point. They mentioned something about Lilith then they focused on Yelena and that they didn’t want her to fall behind in her studies.

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All she knew was that she had to be strong for Lilith. She had to close off her emotions and deal with them later. She had to force herself to be alright for now to help Lilith get through it. She had to force herself to get out of bed and pretend like things were somewhat normal. Maybe try to make breakfast. Even though, all she wanted to do was lay in bed and pretend none of this was real. How could they be gone? She wanted to pretend like this was all a bad dream and when she woke up she’d find her parents in the kitchen. As the thoughts ran through her head, she fought back sobs, wiping away a few tears that happened to slip out.

No, she couldn’t let the thoughts slip through. She had to do something to distract her mind from thinking about the loss. Quickly, she jumped out of bed and walked into the kitchen.

Looking around the kitchen, she walked into the cold storage room to grab a small homemade loaf of bread, a jar of honey and another jar of ghain jelly. She could make some toasted bread for her and Lilith. Start the day off with something sweet to encourage her sister to eat. She could also go out and get some fruit for them to eat with it. Maybe they still had fruit in the house. She couldn’t remember what fruit though. In the corner of the storage room, a small basket was holding some wild figs; many had started going bad, but there were still plenty to eat. On the shelf above there was also a small clay pot of ghain from when her mother had gone to the market. She had been planning on making more jelly with them, but instead they sat there unused from when her mother had gone to the market.

As Yelena was spreading the honey on the cold bread, tears again started pouring out of her eyes as her throat threatened to close. Mom made the loaf a few weeks ago. How could they eat something their mom made when she wasn’t going to be there anymore to make it? And she remembered gathering the fruit months ago, after she got her wings. Her, Lilith, Dad and Mom all went out to gather ghain and then made the jelly together as a celebration. They’d never be able to do any of that again. Life would never be the same.

Who was she to ask the questions she needed to as she grew up? Woman things. There were still so many questions that she had. She needed her mom.

Beneath her, Yelena's legs gave out from under her. She curled up in a ball as she replayed the memories of her parents. She sat in that position until she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. She rushed to stand up and compose herself. She couldn’t let Lilith see her so weak and broken right now. Taking a deep breath, she wiped away her tears and focused on their breakfast.

“Hey Lily, I made some honey, jelly bread. Your favorite, come and help me eat it. I made too much.” She called over her shoulder as tried her best to avoid direct eye contact so Lily didn’t catch on that she had been crying.

Lilith trudged into the room, dragging her feet and a blanket trailing behind her, her eyes never leaving the ground. She nodded her head in response as Yelena set a plate down in front of her. Lilith picked up a slice and took a bite. For what seemed like five minutes, Lilith kept chewing the one bite, her hand barely holding the bread. As Yelena stared at her sister, she noticed something that stopped the blood in her veins. Her sister’s beautiful coral wings, the tips were starting to darken and turn a dark burgundy color. She was so pale and her fingernails seemed too long to have grown that much in three days, her eyes though indeed still bloodshot from crying were not just bloodshot but her iris’ had tints of red seeping into her beautiful green eyes.

Yelena learned about these signs in class, if someone started seeing these telltale signs of transformation they needed to let an elder or community member know immediately. Though, what if these were just signs of depression over losing their parents? Why make these times that much harder on her? And what would they do to actually help her that she couldn’t do herself? What if they took her away? She couldn’t lose her sister too!

“How are you feeling?” Yelena asked to try and get more of a response out of her sister. Some sort of a response. At first Lilith just kept mindlessly chewing as if she hadn’t heard then she raised her shoulders in a shrug.

“You haven’t spoken to me in days, or anyone for that matter. You’re scaring me Lily. Can you speak to me just a little bit?” Again, she shrugged her shoulders and just kept chewing. God, she was starting to get mad. She was only trying to help her and she wasn’t responding. She wasn’t making this easy.

“I need to go out for a walk, Lily. Will you be okay here by yourself for a little while until I get back?” Lilith nodded her head lightly in response as she continued to nibble on her bread.

Yelena then walked out the front door, as soon as the door was closed behind her she let out a heavy breath. What was she going to do with Lilith?

Completely lost in her thoughts, she was freaked when Joseph’s face entered her vision causing her heart to pick up speed. “Hi Yelena, how have you been?”

“I’m fine.” Yelena held her hand to her chest to better slow her heart rate down.

“Are you really fine or are you just saying that to make yourself believe it?” What? What does that mean? Of course she was fine. . . Well, except for her parent’s deaths and Lilith's depression lately, not to mention her own grief. She closed her eyes tightly in hopes to shut out her thoughts.

“I said, I’M FINE. I can handle myself and I can handle taking care of Lilith. We don’t need help, we’re not babies. Leave me alone Joseph!” Her voice cracked as she said her sister’s name. Storming off, she hoped some distance would help avoid the conversation.

Before she could even pass two houses, Joseph ran past and stopped in front of her. She went to sidestep him but instead was pulled into an embrace. “Don’t lie to me Lena. You’re not fine and you can tell yourself that all day but I know you better than that.”

She tried to push out of his arms and when that didn’t work she started banging her fists on his chest. “Get out of my head.” Anger transformed to utter despair as tears flowed from her eyes; breathing became a struggle between her sobs.

“I’m not okay. I’m not. Why did they leave us this way? How am I supposed to take care of Lilith when I can’t even take care of myself right now?” She let herself go, let herself feel what she’d bottled up inside. The pain and sorrow broke through the dam she’d tried unsuccessfully to build. Joseph’s arms around her seemed to warm her cold body and heal her broken heart.

“You know you’re not alone Lena. I’m here, I’ll always be here for you.” One of his hands glided up to her head before trailing warm impressions down her hair.

As the crying subsided, she pushed lightly away from his body. “But I’m already screwing up Joseph. Lily, I think she’s starting to turn into a Mara. I’m scared that I’ll lose her too.”

His body stiffened under her hands, “Wait, what? How long has it been like this? How far have the symptoms grown?” His eyes were so stern and fearful. Was it really such a serious problem?

“Honestly, I don’t know. I only just noticed them a few moments ago. She was eating at the table and I noticed her wings looked different, the tips are turning a dark burgundy.”

“Shit. I’ll go grab a healer, an elder, someone. We need to let them know.” He started running as he called over his shoulder, “I’ll be back soon. Go keep an eye on her, she shouldn’t be left alone right now.”

Fear gripped her heart, was it really that bad? She’s Lilith, her sister. There was no way she could become a Mara. Her sweet, loving, energetic little sister. She jogged back toward her house, opening the door she walked in to find an empty kitchen. “Lilith!” She sprinted into their bedroom to find an empty bedroom. Running from room to room, checking for her sister she was disappointed to find an empty home. Was she in the backyard? Walking up to the back door she found it slightly ajar. Again, she opened the door to find nothing. No sign of her sister.

Her legs collapsed from underneath her. It was all her fault for leaving her sister alone. It was selfish of her to have wanted a moment alone, to have gotten mad at Lilith. Moments later, Joseph's voice called her name from inside her house. The next moment, he was right next to her shaking her shoulders. “Where’s Lilith?”

“I don’t know, I was only out of the house for a few minutes. I found the back door ajar. I can’t find her.” Sirens were blaring off in the distance, something had happened. Next to her, one of the elders mumbled something about Mara’s. Yelena stood up and took off toward the gateway. Please god, let her sister be okay. As she zigzagged between houses, the siren continued to blare overhead.

The houses opened up and the gateway came into view. Three sets of six dark winged beings were fighting some of the warriors. Behind them she could see another Mara holding something small in his arms, a flash of red caught her eye. The Mara quickly turned to call back after the other Mara and she saw Liliths limp body cradled in his arms.

“Lilith!!!! Let go of my sister!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as she sprinted toward the gateway. Halfway there, she watched in horror as the man jumped through and disappeared from sight. She picked up speed and flapped her wings as she took off flying.

“I said, let go of my sister!” Each word was emphasized as they escaped her lips. Her jaw hurt. She was grinding her teeth so hard as she tried to flap her wings faster. In her anger, a bolt of lightning shot out from her hand and zapped one of the Mara closest to the gateway. He dropped like a rock as Yelena zoomed past him and through the gateway.

Once through, she looked around her to find nothing but open air. No sign of anything or anyone in sight. Her sister was gone.