-Anna-

I can hardly focus on my work as my mind keep slipping back to the good news. We’ll be able to see Lain again.

I’ll be able to see her, my best friend… my new sister. I’ll be able to give her a hug and tell her how much I missed her. We’ll be able to hang out like we used to, and I am so excited. I’ll finally have a family again…

I shake my head a bit as I try to get refocused. I’m at work, I don’t want to mess up any orders.

Need to focus.

With a smile that comes much easier to me than they have in some weeks, I greet some customers and take their orders. Talking with them happily as they tell me their orders. I go through my shift, happy, but wishing that the hours would pass faster and bring me closer to my desired future.

It is some hours into my shift that a lone woman walks into the tavern. Taking off her hat, she looks around until she spots me. A vague memory sparks in the back of my mind as I see her face, I’ve seen her before. Was she a customer?

From how it looks, it would seem that the woman is here for me as she walks over and offers a handshake, a happy smile on her face. Curious, I take her hand and shake it.

“If I am not mistaken, you are Anna Dixon, correct?”

“Yes, I am. How can I help you ma’am?”

The soldier starts to laugh a bit as I confirm my identity.

“Is something the matter…?”

“No, no, not at all. I just found it to be funny that we ate at this tavern and had her sister as our waitress just a couple days before meeting her.” She says with a smile.

“Sister, are you talking about Lain!?”

“Ah, apologies ma’am. I should have started with that. Yes, I am here in regard to your sister, Lain. I’ve been sent to come and pick you up and escort you to meet her. If you will follow me.” She says, her smile brightening up.

“Yes… Ah! Wait, I’m still on my shift I have to…”

The owner calls over from the bar, “Don’t worry about it Anna! You go and see your sister; we aren’t so busy that we need you here today. You go have a good day!” He says with a warm smile.

“Thank you, mister Paulson!”

The soldier gives me a smile, “Alright then, let's get going. Your parents are already waiting for you. Oh, and I am Private Amanda Rook. I’m a friend of your sister.” She says as we walk out of the tavern.

“Oh, it's nice to meet you… Umm, would you happen to one of the soldiers that she saved?” I ask her.

She gives me a look, “Did they tell you about that? I’m pretty sure that was still classified…”

“Ah….! Oh, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t of….” I try, panicking a little.

“Hmm, don’t worry about it. Although those two idiots are definitely going to be running laps for this. How much did they tell you?”

“Uhm…”

“Don’t worry, you and your family won’t be in any trouble. I just need to know how much they revealed.”

“Umm, they said that Lain was found out in the city, and that she saved five soldier’s lives and brought them home. That two of them were injured and that she is considered a hero…….” I get quite towards the end, growing nervous.

“Was there anything else?” She asks with a searching gaze.

“No, that was all!”

She relents, “Hmm, then it should be fine. Those two are definitely going to be on latrine duty latter though. Going and ruining part of the surprise. Haaaa, idiots...” She shakes her head as we walk.

“Again, I am sorry. We were just really desperate to know anything we could. We pressured them into it….”

“You don’t need to worry about it. Also, they are soldiers. I’m sorry if this comes off as a bit callous, but they should be able to tell people no and keep secrets as secrets. But don’t worry about them, just focus on the fact that you're going to see your sister again.” She gives me another smile and we continue our walk into and through the base, heading deeper and deeper until we reach a security checkpoint where my adoptive parents are waiting with another soldier that I think I recognize.

Drawing closer, he notices us and waves us over. Soon we are joining them, and mom is giving me a happy hug.

“Oh, you finally got here.” She happily exclaims, “Now we can go inside and see Elizabeth!”

Being released from the hug; I notice that the other soldier is the curly haired guy that tried asking me out that one day.

He must also be one of the ones she saved…

He gives me a shy smile, clearly recognizing me as well, and then turns to the gate guard and asks them to open the gate.

Soon we are being let in and the gate slowly closes behind us.

After a while dad speaks up, walking with us and fresh out of his cast, “So, do you mind explaining why it is that my daughter is so deep inside of the base? Shouldn’t she have been released to us at our home, Private Sanders?”

Oh, that was his name? I didn’t really try remembering it back then; was too sad to bother… And now that he mentions it, why is Lain all the way in here?

“Apologies sir, but I cannot answer that. Lain herself asked that we keep certain details secret. If I were to tell you, it would ruin the surprise. You only need to be patient for a little longer. If you look over there, you can see the building where she is staying. It won’t be much longer.”

Next to me I can practically feel as mom vibrates with excitement. She doesn’t care about the details; she just wants her daughter back.

As we draw closer to the building, I watch the windows in hopes of catching sight of her. While I am looking over the building, I think I catch sight of a girl with long dark blue hair of all things on one of the balconies. But just as quickly as I see her, she disappears back inside. Blue hair aside, as that could just be dyed, I could have sworn that she had a tail…

I’m probably just seeing things. Too much excitement or something. We’re almost there!

Going up the stairs is a stressful affair, everyone in our group clearly wanting to sprint up the stairs but holding back through sheer force of will. Luckily, our destination appears to be on the second floor, and we are soon being brought down a hallway till the very end where a stoic looking soldier stands ramrod straight next to a door.

He gives us all a nod before turning a bit and knocking on the door, “Ma’am. Your family is here to see you. Can I let them in?”

From behind the door, I hear a panicked yelp and a crash. Soon a very familiar voice calls out though the door and I can already feel tears threatening to fall from my eyes. “No, hold on! Just a moment please!”

He turns back to us, “Just a moment please.”

There is sound of some more stuff being moved around and we all stand around and wait nervously. Mom already has tears falling from her eyes and is shaking.

Soon she calls out from behind the door, “O…Ok, I'm ready…!”

The soldier reaches over and opens the door for us, welcoming us into the apartment.

Barley containing ourselves, we move through the hall and stop as we enter the main space of the apartment. Coming to a stop as we are shocked by who we see in front of us.

“Sur, Ah… Surprise! I made it! And uh… uhmm well, I mutated… Surprise….!” She says with a big smile weighed down by tons of nervousness, turning it into a grimace of a smile.

The being in front of us, wearing a dark green knit sweater and a knee length red skirt, could best be described as an Imp. Horns, grey skin and cat like eyes of gold over black sclera. Her hair is pitch-black and even darker claws adorn the end of her fingers and toes. Behind her a narrow tail, ending with a black tassel of hair, nervously twitches behind her as she looks at us and we look at her.

She raises a hand and waves, “Hi… I finally made it…Sorry I took so long! She says with tears pooling in her eyes.

Mom is the first to move as she rushes forward and envelopes her now much smaller daughter in a hug. She cries out her name and lets the tears flow. Probably giving her the tightest hug of her life. Dad and I lose control and we are soon hugging her as well; all of us quickly being reduced to a crying, hugging mess, kneeling on the floor of this apartment.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Through all the crying, I can hear Lain say to us with a shaking voice, “I missed all of you so much!”

Ah, my sister is finally home.

----------------------------------------

-Lain-

It takes some time for us to eventually pull ourselves together, to finally get off the floor and have Anna and my parents sit in the living room. Heading over to the entrance, I thank Sanders and Rookie for bringing them and ask if they would like to stay for some coffee, but they refuse, not wanting to intrude, and give me their congratulations. Giving the both of them a hug, I send them on their way.

Heading back inside, I go into the kitchen and pour a cup of coffee for everyone but Sky. She doesn’t like coffee because it is bitter. As I work in the kitchen, mom and dad hold each other and Anna watches me with a weird look.

I bring everyone their drinks, holding my own with my tail, as I set theirs on the coffee table. Sitting down in my chair, I take my mug from my tail and get comfortable before taking a sip.

Like this we all sit in silence as they take the time to look me over. Staring at my horns, watching my tail as I just let it lazily do its own thing, just taking in all my changes.

Dad speaks up and ask me the question that everyone is most likely thinking, “Lizzy… How did this happen? You look so different.”

Mom speaks up through a small laugh and some tears, “She looks adorable, haha. My daughter is smaller than me again. You haven’t been this short since middle school.”

I give mom a smile and laugh a bit, “Don’t go thinking that means I’m suddenly a kid again. I’m still an adult.”

“Don’t be like that, you know that you’ll always be my baby.” She says, still whipping tears from her eyes.

I smile and look back to dad, “The day that the army evacuated you guy…I… I almost died while I was out there... A pack of dogs attacked and started killing everyone… I was the only one that survived. Killed, I killed the dog that was after me… I uhh, I stabbed it in the heart as it took me down…

…

…

I rub my left arm as I remember the event, my scars itching from where they hide under my sleeve.

“I uh, I woke up under its corpse, it had bitten my arm and it really hurt...” I say as I pull back the sleeve on my left arm showing the scars from the dog's massive teeth, but not far enough to show the scar from the knife. I'm quick to cover them back up again.

“I had to spend the night there. Slept in a locker room while it rotted in the other room…” I swallow a bit of saliva as I try to say the rest, but I know that if I do, they will just blame themselves.

But, even without saying it I can already see that they already do. They weren’t there when I got home, and I was injured. They know it and it is already tearing them apart.

“Uhm… The injury, the bite from the dog… I don’t know why, but it caused me to mutate… My skin turned grey and my finger nai… I, I went through some changes… Eventually fell asleep for about a week or so I think. I woke up looking like this… Now I’m an Imp.” I say that final line while giving them an awkward smile and sip my coffee. It’s scolding hot, but I can drink it just fine. The hot temperature even makes it taste better…

I stare at my steaming coffee as they let everything sink in. Anna has tears running down her face as she looks at me and dad holds mom as he consoles her.

He turns to me and tries to speak but I interrupt him.

“Please! Don’t apologize!” I’m shaking as I say it and continue, “Please don’t apologize for leaving. I read the letter. You didn’t get a choice… There is nothing to apologize for…”

“Lizzy…” He looks my in the eyes, “No… Lain, please… We are so sorry that we left you. We should have fought to stay and wait, we should have…”

“No! Don’t apologize!” I can feel the tears try to come back as I curl upon myself, “You didn’t have a choice! I don’t want to be able to blame you for leaving me! Part of me wanted to… To never forgive you for abandoning me…” I curl up tighter, the tears running free from my eyes. “Don’t apologize… Please don’t apologize. Don’t give me an excuse! I just want us to all go back to being a family again. So please don’t apologize!”

I feel my dad put his hand on my back and gently pet me.

He stays quiet for a long while and simple pets my back until I calm down. When my shaking finally stops, he say, “Ok Lain… we won’t. What matters is that we are all together again. That’s all that matters.”

I slowly nod my head and he returns back to his spot to help console mom. Anna is still silently crying, trying to get herself back under control.

Taking a deep breath and calming myself, I try to change the subject with a smile, “So, I was told that I have a sister now? Mom, I don’t remember you being pregnant.” I say with a laugh.

It takes a little bit, but everyone eventually gets themselves calmed, latching on to the subject change like a man drowning at sea. Everyone laughs a bit as we pull away from darker subjects and into what could more closely be considered a family conversation.

Mom speaks up with a smile, “I know that we always joked about it, but when we got here, we went ahead and claimed Anna as part of our family, haha. As far as the military is concerned, she is officially adopted and a part of our family now. You always did want a sister…”

I laugh along with her and notice Anna blushing as she laughs along.

Welllll…. This is going to make it very awkward when I confess to her….

Since I am already thinking about it, this might as well be the best as any time to let the lesbian out of the closet…

Confessing will come later though, in private…

I get everyone’s attention, “Uhmm… Mom, dad… ah, Anna. Umm, I have something I want to tell you…”

“What is it? You know that you can tell us anything.” Dad says.

“Mmm...” I lick my lips, “I am… I’m gay! I like girls, ah… I’m a lesbian….” I say nervously.

Mom and dad give me a bit of a surprised look while Anna looks shocked.

She says, “You are!?”

Meanwhile dad just gives me a look and say, “We know sweetie.”

Mom simply nods her head while Anna and I give him a shocked look.

“You guys knew!? How? For how long?” I exclaim.

Dad looks at me and contemplates his next words, seemingly asking himself if he should speak these next words, “We found your… ‘Homework’ folder…”

My world freezes and a fresh feeling of dread crawls up my spine. They saw it… My collection… My guilty pleasure… My shame!

“How… H, how much did you see?” I ask shaking.

My father, with a defeated look in eyes lowers his head, “All of it.”

My hands fly up and cover my face, “Noooooo! This can’t be happening!”

“I’m sorry sweetie. Just know that we don’t judge you. Even if your tastes are… a bit particular…”

“Nooooooo! Don’t talk about it, don’t talk about it!”

“We thought it would be for the best if we pretended not to know… we figured that you would tell us when you were ready.”

Anna asks, “You had a ‘Homework’ folder!?” looking utterly shocked.

Mom, trying to help, “Even before we found…. That… We had our suspicions. You don’t think that we wouldn’t notice how you would look at other girls, did you? The shows that you would watch or even some of the books you read. It didn’t take much to see that you had zero interest in boys. But you don’t need to worry. We support you.” She tells me with a smile.

I slump down in my chair, utterly defeated.

“This entire time, I thought that none of you knew. That it was all a secret.” I say, feeling dead inside.

Anna raises her hand, “I didn’t know… But I’m cool with it, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Ah, thank you Anna… You’re the best sister I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you?”

Mom keeps going, not stopping even though I am already dead, “You know, I haven’t told anyone but your father this… But, when I was in Medical School, I had a roommate… she had those kinds of interest and we uhhh. Well, we experimented a couple of times. Of course, I eventually met your father and then we had you, but it's not as if I don’t understand the appeal of another woman’s body… It can be quite…”

Dad interrupts her, “Darling please, I think she is already suffering enough. Let’s end it there.”

Anna comes over and starts shaking me, “Lain come on, pull it together. Don’t die on me!”

I lay there in my chair and stare up at the ceiling with dead eyes as she shakes me, “My entire life, my entire life I have been living a lie. My ‘homework’ folder, my secret… My mom experimented in college!”

Realizing that shaking me isn’t doing anything, Anna switches to petting my head and gives me hug. Holding me as my shellshocked mind slowly repairs the existential damage that I just suffered.

Behind me I can hear a door open and feel as Anna moves to look, still hugging my head.

“Oh? Who is this?” Anna asks.

I pull myself out of her hug and look behind me. Looking through the cracked open door to one of the bedrooms, Sky is peeking out at us.

“Oh, this is Sky. She is my friend.” I wave for her weakly, desperate to change the subject, “Sky come on over and say hi.”

Slowly, she opens the door and walks out, everyone gives a gasp of surprise as they see her, and I wave for her to come over. Reaching out a hand, I take hers as she nervously walks over and then I pull her up and onto my lap.

She is currently dressed up in a short dress that I had found for her and modified to accommodate her tail, although it looks to be getting a bit small on her as she grows. I’ll have to see about getting her more clothes that fit better; especially around the chest.

I’m starting to suspect that she’s been dumping all her points into charisma…

Anna remains standing off to the side in a stunned silence while mom and dad get contemplative looks on their faces.

“Uh, like I said. This is Sky, she is a Kobold… Or at least she used to be? Honestly, I don’t really know, she’s been changing to look more human over the last couple weeks and is still growing. Anyways, I met her on the way here, near the border, and we’ve been traveling together ever since. Isn’t she cute?”

Anna is starting to look like she’s having an aneurism and is breathing a bit heavily.

“Anna… are you ok?” I ask worriedly.

“I’m good… Lain? Can I… can I pet her? She is just too cute!” She asks excitedly.

Sky reels back a bit in fright and bares her teeth.

“You have to ask her…” I dead pan.

I almost forgot just how crazy she is for small things.

She gets a weird smile on her face and asks, “Sky, can I pet you?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“No.”

“What if I get you some candy?”

Sky freezes up a bit. Wanting to say no but being tempted by the lure of more candy.

“N… N,No. No pets. Only Lain can pet me.”

Anna looks dejected but seems to want to keep trying, so I stop her.

“Sorry but she just doesn’t like being touched by anyone else. You can pet me if you’d like. I’ll let you.”

She looks sad but nods her head and reaches out to pet my head, “Thank you Lain, I have to say that you are very small and cute now too. It makes me want to give you a hug.”

Sky smacks her hand aside before it can reach my head, “No.”

“Ah… Why not!?”

“Lain is mine. Only I pet!”

“Eh…? But… I’m her sister. Can’t I be allowed to pet her?”

“Sister?” Sky looks to me, not knowing the word yet.

“Female family member, a sibling, uhmm... from the same nest…” I try.

Her eyes widen a bit in understanding, “Oh! Sister…” She says, thinking a bit.

“Sister can pet then. Family is safe.” She says, nodding to herself as if it makes all the sense in the world.

I look to Anna and just shrug, “I guess you got permission.”

“Yay!” She doesn’t waste a moment to start petting my hair and playing with my horns.

As she has her fun I go ahead and introduce everyone to Sky.

“Well, this is Anna, she is my… she’s my sister. This is my mom, Janet, and my dad, Richard.” I tell her.

She nods her head and points to everyone, “Anna, mom, dad.”

“Mmmm, well yes… I, I guess you can call them mom and dad if you want…” I say, feeling a bit awkward about it.

Dad ends up with a shit eating grin while mom just gives a knowing smile.

With a laugh dad says, “So, this is why you finally told us. You went and brought home a girlfriend!”

Mom looking very happy, “Ah! My little girl finally bringing home a girlfriend; I’m so happy! And she is just so cute to, I love her already!”

Sky looks at me, “Girlfriend?”

“Eh! You don’t need to know that word yet! Mom, dad, please don’t give any her wrong ideas!”

“What, are we wrong? Her being a Kobold is a bit out there, but we’ve seen some of the stuff you had…”

“Ah! No! It is not like that yet! Please just drop it!”

Mom smiles. “Yet?”

“Lain… What is a girlfriend?” Sky asks from my lap.

Anna whispering to herself, “Lain is dating a Kobold! This is so exciting!” while she plays with my tail that she had somehow captured at some point.

“Please stop, this is embarrassing!” I plead, with my face heating up like a flame.

“Oh, alright then. Just know that I like her already and want to get to know her better. I'm planning to be spending lots of time with cute little Sky here.” My mom threatens in a way that harms the soul.

I cover my face in defeat and Sky pokes my cheek, “Lain, what is a girlfriend? Teach me.”

Why was I in such a hurry to find my family again? Maybe I should just wonder off into the woods. Things are simpler when I can just solve all my problems with a hammer to the head. Ah, this did not go like I planned it at all…