What Once Was Lost

[Angela]

Green.

Vert. Verde. Green.

Green apples. Green grass. Green jello. Spoon.

Spoon.

The young woman stared, eyes fixated on the lime gelatin and the plastic spoon she held in front of her face. Her mind was blank, save for a single train of thought, listing from concept to concept with no rhyme or reason. Time went by, unnoticed. The world trundled on, ignored. All that mattered was the sight before her: the shape, the colour, the way the light shone through in places, reflected in others.

"Translucent."

The word was uttered slowly, each syllable drawn out for added scrutiny. It surprised her; confused her; her brow furrowed into a frown. She twisted the plastic teaspoon in her fingertips, rotating it to perceive the surface that didn't behave the same way as the jello: transparent, not translucent; colourless, not green.

Tilted too far, the jello slid from the spoon, returning to the mound from whence it came. A hint of disappointment tugged at her eyebrows; her fingers instantly released their hold on the spoon, letting it tumble into the bowl to join her dessert. She stared into it's emerald depths.

Angela.

It took a moment to realise that particular thought had come from outside her mind, not within. She turned, slowly, gaze falling upon the nurse who stood framed in her doorway. Recognition flashed in Angela's mind; her lips tugged into an approximation of the shape the nurse had made at her so many times, but there was no hint of the smile echoed in her eyes.

"Angela, you have a visitor. Someone would like to see you. Is that okay?"

Gaze lingering for just a moment longer, Angela's eyes fell away, focused on nothing in particular in the general direction of the floor. "Is that okay," she echoed, a statement rather than a question, her hand gripping at the loose fabric on the short sleeve of her white hospital gown. Her head approximated the nodding she had seen. "Visitor," she repeated back.

The nurse turned back to the corridor, her voice a little quieter as she spoke to someone else. Angela didn't focus, but she heard the words anyway. She may not talk much, the nurse explained. May not. Would not. Could not. Should not. No talking. No speaking. No thinking. No sleeping. Be patient with her. Don't let her get too agitated. Agitated. Worked up. Wound up. Angry. Her fingers twisted the slack of her sleeve into a tight bunch.

The other person spoke, a voice Angela didn't quite recognise. She didn't know if she was allowed to listen. She didn't. The nurse spoke again. I'll be right outside if you need me.

From the corner of her eye, Angela saw the nurse walk away; saw a different figure take her place. She didn't turn, didn't look, didn't see in case she wasn't supposed to. Her eyes remained fixed on empty space a metre in front of her feet. "Visitor," she breathed.

[Lilith]

"Yes, pumpkin... visitor. Of the bestest kind." An impish smile formed as Lilith watched the nurse close the door behind her. Silly silly woman. So sure of her little walls and doors. But who were they really keeping safe?

As she turned back to the red haired girl though, that smile faded and a look of almost pain ghosted her features. Poor thing... broken, unwanted, forgotten. All because of him. Lilith could swear the simple thought caused her eye to twitch slightly. No no that wouldn't do. Best to keep up the happy face if for no one else than for the benefit of the other girl.

"You don't have to hide, you know. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to make sure that no one hurts you ever again."

[Angela]

Pumpkin.

Not green. Orange.

Her voice was different. She didn't say words the way that the other people who came into her room said them. She spoke them differently too: not slow, and soft, and gentle like when the nurses spoke to her; not hushed like when the nurses spoke to visitors; but steady and rhythmic like when the nurses spoke to other nurses, or to the man with the mop and the bucket who made music noises with his lips. The visitor was confused. She was doing things wrong.

Don't have to hide, her words said. That was wrong too. Angela shook her head, and frowned at the floor. "Have to hide," she insisted. "Can't let them see me. Can't let them take me."

Take me. The words stuck in her head. They meant something, though what that something was remained a long way away, off in the distance like a bird on the branches outside her window, flying away before she was ready for it to go.

Something flickered, though: some glimmer of recognition, of memory. Her gaze turned to Lilith, a hint of sorrow behind her glazed eyes.

"They took them," she said with soft insistence, as if it were the most important thing in the world. Her voice turned softer still. "They took them."

[Lilith]

This whole trying to be strong and happy would be a lot easier if the reality of the situation wasn't so damn grim. She'd make them pay for this. All of them.

"I know, sweetie, I know..." Gods she was rotten at this whole compassion thing. Maybe it was how she was raised. Maybe it was the fact that daddy never loved her. Maybe it was the fact that mommy never understood. But fuck's sake you'd think relating to another broken little doll would be easy! But noooo... hell, the whole thing almost choked her up. She might have actually cried if she could remember how to.

A deep, yes even annoyed breath left her in a huff as she crouched down. This wasn't exactly going the way she had planned and it was infuriating.

"I can fix it, you know. I can fix everything." Her words didn't come out nearly as fancy as she wanted as she drew little symbols in imaginary dust on the floor. Another smile was forced as she looked back to Angela. "Would you like that?"

[Angela]

Her mind felt as if there should be questions. It felt as if it should race, swimming with concerns and possibilities. It remained blank though, save for one single word.

It was a good word, though: a simple word, but one that captured everything. It was the one word that mattered in all of this, more than any other. The one word that, despite every barrier in her mind that kept rational thought caged beyond her reach, she knew with every fibre that she absolutely had to ask.

"Why?"

For the first time, it seemed as if her eyes focused on something real: on the visitor who had come from nowhere and suddenly offered everything.

"Why would you do that?"

[Lilith]

Ah there. Finally. Something Lilith knew how to respond to. It was always the eternal question wasn't it? Why are we here? Why did this happen to me? Why is the sky blue? Why did a cute little girl without a care in the world suddenly turn into a raging sociopath? Why Why Why. Lilith liked whys, they always lead to the most unexpected places.

She couldn't contain the smile now. Which was great, she hated that feeling earlier like she was helpless and unable to control what was happening. The thought that anything was out of her control was just...awful. But now, now things were back in place. Hopefully one day Angela would appreciate it all.

Slowly she looked back up at the other girl.

"Because I want to. Because I can."

[Angela]

Want. It was an answer, but not the answer; not the answer that made Angela understand.

"No."

The word struggled it's way out, stuttered and broken; but it wasn't right, wasn't the words she'd aimed for.

"No one," she tried again, "Wants that." Her brows tugged downward in sadness. "No one helps. No one -"

What was the word she was looking for? She knew it existed; knew the concept, though she had never experienced it. It was the opposite of what the world was to her: every action was obligation. Nurses did because they had to. Doctors did what they had to. The man with the food who smiled: that was for everyone, not for her. Nothing was for her: everything was because it had to be.

She abandoned her words; chose new ones.

"Why do I matter?"

[Lilith]

Tear at heartstrings much why dontcha? There were so many many answers she could have said. Too many, really. I mean, she could have actually spent an entire day just sitting there explaining the ins and outs of why exactly it was that Lilith found herself in an insane asylum talking with one of its inmates who didn't seem to understand her very importance. Well, a wise man once said that truth was always the best lie.

"Because, Angela, what they did to you was wrong. Angels earn their wings, they don't have them removed by people who are beneath them. They sought to destroy something beautiful and for that they need to pay."

[Angela]

Angel. Beautiful.

That was wrong. Those words were wrong. Those words were not the words that they had used. Not the words that they had called her.

Monster. Freak.

Those were the right words. Those were the words that she was. Those were the words that the white room with the bright lights whispered every time she closed her eyes. Those words were why the men with only eyes and missing faces had made her hurt, then made them gone. They said she was broken. They said they would fix her. They said she was helping, giving them answers, but they asked their questions with needles and knives and she didn't understand.

More than anything, she didn't understand.

Why was it broken to be able to fly?

With a lot of effort, she compelled her fingers to release the bundle of cloth she'd been clenching. She turned, her motions cautious and slow, replicating something she only half-remembered. Her slender, pallid arms wrapped themselves loosely around the visitor's waist, her head propped awkwardly onto Lilith's shoulders.

"My name is Angela," she said quietly. She didn't know what else to say.

[Lilith]

Lilith froze. Okay so that wasn't supposed to happen. Not supposed to happen at all. It wasn't exactly unpleasant but...well... She couldn't quite recall the last time someone had bothered to hug her and it was making all sorts of fucked up brain issues that she was just sooooo not ready to handle at the moment. Only one crazy person admitted at a time thank you very much! But that was the trick of the moment, isn't it? Which one of them was it?

"Yes it is." Damn it all, Angie. Why did you have to go and fuck the I'm-just-that-awesome act? It was almost perfect. A few tweaks were needed here and there but her audience wasn't exactly the type to criticize now was she?

Oh to hell with it.

Gently, since trying to predict what may happen was resulting in images of limbs being torn off, Lilith wrapped an arm around the other girl. She almost broke the promise she had made to herself. Just go and see her first, meet her, let her know she has a friend in the world.Busting her out now was a very very bad idea since it would involve all sorts of no-good things and by this point she had been seen by all sorts of nursing staff and security cameras. No. No Lilith. Trying it now would be a very bad thing and could only end up making things worse for people like Angela.... people like herself. Come back later. Wait for dark. Wait for the surprise. Besides, someone was waiting on her and if she brought Angela and a bunch of police with her... well... bad things would happen then too. No no, save the bad things for other people for later.

But what about right now?

"It'll all be okay from now on. I promise."

[Pythia]

Outside the asylum, Pythia waited in a car. Not the car; not her car; but rather whichever car had been most convenient, and had looked the most comfortable.

Pythia didn't own a car of her own. Most of the time, she did not need one either; there were few places she ever needed to go that she could not get to via other means. Unfortunately, today was one of those rare occasions where an automobile had been necessary; not for transportation, but for waiting. Not feeling that it was her place to accompany Lilith inside, she had found herself needing to be the parent waiting outside in the car, and thus had found herself needing the requisite vehicle.

Fortunately, the parking lot provided many options; rather arbitrarily, she had selected a shortish black car with the part at the back which opened like an inverted drawbridge. She had heard it referred to as both a boot and a trunk, but she could not see how it resembled either, so chose to think of it as neither. She had no idea what type it was; the rear of the vehicle bore a logo that appeared to be four overlapping rings, but there were letters and numbers scattered elsewhere, and Pythia had no idea which of them were relevant, if any.

Two things had determined her choice: it's proximity to where she had been standing at the time, and the fact that it's seats weren't wrapped in that ghastly beige leather that was apparently fashionable, or at least had been the last time she had found herself anywhere near a car. All it had taken was the right kind of hex on behalf of the right kind of mischievous entity, and the door had opened with ease.

That had been fifteen minutes ago, and thus far all she'd managed to comprehend about the strange array of controls before her was that pushing the large round one next to all of the small rectangular ones caused her surroundings to unleash a hideous eruption of noise, accompanied by an unfamiliar voice explaining that he had a good feeling about the prospects of the night ahead, and uttering a lot of noises that didn't resemble any words that Pythia knew. It had been so abrasive and unwanted that out of reflex her fingers had unleashed a hex that turned the button and it's companions into a burned and twisted mess of charred plastic.

Fortunately, Pythia had been saved from any further technological mishaps by the sound of the car door opening and then swinging closed with a clunk, a woman clambering into the car somewhere in between.

Pythia didn't bother turning to face her. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

[Lilith]

"Don't I always?" The words left her deadpan as Lilith stared straight ahead. No point in letting Mommy Dearest see that she had even been near letting her emotions get the best of her only a short while ago. There was a beauty in the way Pythia had phrased the question. Yes, of course she had found what she had been looking for, but it hadn't been what she expected, what she had hoped it would be. Lilith had known it would be bad, just not that bad. It hadn't changed anything though, not really.

Her nose finally wrinkled at the smell of burning electronics and plastic and Lilith let a slow smirk spread across her lips. "Nice ride. Do we get to keep this one?"

[Pythia]

Pythia considered the question. She had no idea how to operate one of these contraptions, though with a few uttered words and subtle gestures that would hardly be an issue. They had their uses, she supposed, but her every fibre protested their very existence. It had been devices such as these that had helped transform the world from one that lived in harmony with nature to one that swept it aside at every convenience. Were it up to her, she would transmute each and every one of them back into base metals, and unleash wild forests to tear apart the monstrous suburban wastelands that mankind had wrought.

Alas, there was only so much that her powers could permit.

"I'm afraid not, dearest," she said with a faint sigh, turning to look at her not-so-little-any-more girl with a hint of a smile. "There isn't enough space at home. Where would we keep it?"

Wordlessly, Pythia reached for the door handle - even touching the greasy moulded plastic made her skin crawl - and escaped into the relative freshness of unconstricted air. She could taste mankind's damage on the wind, of course; feel the pollutants cloying at her skin. She rarely set foot in places such as these for fear of what they might do to her if she allowed herself to remain exposed, but this occasion was the exception. There were powers at work in this world, powers with plans and machinations that were difficult enough to understand let alone manipulate; and so Pythia seldom allowed herself to interfere, for fear of the repercussions. But the girl, imprisoned by concrete and by her own mind? She changed things. Powerful forces be damned: the right thing had to be done, no matter the consequences.

But not today.

Her gaze lingered on her child for a moment as they walked side by side, feeling a faint tug of sorrow from her and for her as they left the asylum behind. She didn't need spells or supernatural insights to know what she was thinking; she didn't even need to see the emotions that Lilith kept carefully hidden behind her mask of snark and mischief. She knew her every thought, every feeling, every idea just as swiftly as Lilith knew herself.

"We'll make this right," she said, coming to a halt before an unremarkable looking doorway. Her fingertips gently brushed a curling golden wisp of hair away from Lilith's face. "You won't have to wait much longer."

[Lilith]

It only took the small motion for Lilith to find her smile again. It had tried to run away, to hide somewhere back in the asylum with all it's doom and gloom and yet, like always, it wasn't ever really gone and it took only a few simple words from her mother to make it find its way home again. A wistful sigh settled the whole thing and a nod of her head drove the point.

"I know." A small laugh left her as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "If for nothing else I'm sure as hell not giving it an opportunity to make me."

She couldn't quite tell if Pythia rolled her eyes or simply looked away from her at that point. The next part was Lilith's favorite though. A small gesture was made, a sudden barely audible popping noise followed and then Pythia opened the door they had stopped in front of. What stood beyond was like a scene from a fairy tale, a interior of stone decorated by tapestries where light was only created by a broad inviting fire place that sent shadows from plush furniture arching up to the heights of a ceiling that could not be fathomed from their current view. To Lilith... it was just home. She still felt that giddiness she always did as she followed through the doorway. When she had been much younger she used to jump from one side to the other until told to stop. Even now she found it hard to avoid the urge.

With an over-dramatic flair of well that was god damn exhausting she flopped herself onto the couch and stared upwards. "Do you think they have any idea what's coming?"

[Pythia]

She felt a wave of relief wash over her as she stepped through the enchanted doorway and into the castle, the familiar freshness of the air and purity of the stone that men had spent hard work and effort to earn gently lifting most of what had been weighing on her shoulders. That brought the first hint of a smile to her face; her daughter coaxed it further.

"My dear Lilith," she said softly as she passed behind the couch, pausing just long enough to stoop and place a maternal kiss atop her child's head. "Have you not learned by now?"

Some strange blend of confidence, malice, and mirth sparkled in her dark eyes. "No one ever sees us coming."

[Sebastian]

Ominous words left to hang in the air, Pythia slunk with a cat-like blend of sex and grace deeper into the castle, like some sort of Disney villainess swooping off to her evil tower of malevolence and misery. In truth, she was only headed to the kitchen in search of a sandwich; but as a streak of pale fur darted out from around the corner and swerved at high speed to avoid collisions with her legs, it liked to think that there was all that surplus evil going on.

It made it so much easier not to feel bad about leaving dead animals in her shoes.

Sebastian's paws padded across the stone floor, avoiding the wide run of carpet that ran down the broad corridor's centre. The woven red fibres were pleasant enough for people with people-feet to walk on, and the cushioned muffling effect did wonders for his stealth skills; but they always snagged on his claws when he ran too enthusiastically, and that meant he inevitably had to stop and attack said patch of carpet to remind it which one of them was in charge around here.

In this situation, speed was everything, and so he sacrificed discretion and embraced the pitter-patter of his tiny feet as he scampered towards his sofa.

His mistress was sitting on it, of course: not the cranky, moody one who didn't understand what it meant when he nuzzled into her shins with his face, but rather the more pleasant and playful one who quite clearly had two hands that were going to waste by not being used to give him affection. Her invasion of his couch domain was tolerated, but not without taxation.

With a mighty leap, Sebastian pounced his way onto the sofa's cushions; and then suddenly froze, turning his head away indignantly as if he'd absolutely been heading there all along and his sudden appearance had absolutely nothing to do with his mistress arriving home. He hadn't even noticed her, he proved, splaying one set of claws and holding them up so he could casually groom the fur on the back of his paw.

[Lilith]

As much as a good 'ol pep talk from Mom was awesome, nothing really cheered Lilith up quite like the ball of fluff that had decided to grace her with his presence. Bassy was probably the closest thing she had to a friend, which meant she was right on her way to becoming a Crazy Old Cat Lady. All she needed now was the shack somewhere over in the States with a shotgun in one hand and a cane in the other with which to wave at the neighborhood children when they came too close. Hell, maybe she'd even put on a glamour to actually look the part, she certainly felt it some days.

Her hand reached out and ruffed up the fur on the top of the cat's head, making sure to end the motion by pushing it all the wrong way, causing small clumps to remain at strange angles that only made her smile all the more. "Not fooling anyone. You keep it up and I'm going to put more videos of you online."

An evil little smirk overtook everything else as she sat up and reached both hands out to scratch that spot right where the back of his ears and his jaw seemed to meet. "You're all e-famous after that last one where you were staring out the window at that squirrel again. Not as good as the time you ran too fast down the hall and smacked into that door at the end, but that was something really special."

[Sebastian]

Sebastian did the best approximation of rolling his eyes that his feline features could muster, and offered an irritated nip in the direction of the hand that was shirking it's head-stroking responsibilities in favour of messing up the carefully groomed fur that he had been working on for nearly two hours.

It was all so uncivilised. Here he was, practically the epitome of evolution: an urban predator of devastating effect that had managed to manipulate humanity into catering to it's every whim. He was a thing of grace and beauty, and yet his mistress obsessed only on the occasional blunders and unfortunate accidents that seemed to befall him only when she was around. It was undignified, and if she had even a shred of decency she would destroy any and all evidence out of respect and affection, not plaster it across the internet for all the world to see.

He turned his head, and looked her dead in the eyes.

"Do so again, and I will leave headless mice in every single one of your shoes."

[Lilith]

"Oh, like you weren't going to do that anyway." One more pet somewhere between rough and affectionate was given before Lilith heaved herself off the couch. If only she could just stay there the rest of the night. The thought was tempting but no, no no no... other things were more important than lounging. Mayhem first! Then lounging. Maybe with a glass of scotch. Mmmm... scotch. Celebratory scotch at that. Then maybe, just maybe she could see about getting her little dreamy friend over for a play date. Oh gods yes... But first - business.

"So kitten mittens, you ready for tonight? I was right, you know. So that means we're at DEFCON... five. Maybe six." Lilith paused and looked back at the couch, at the tail that slightly swished from her feline companion before actually doing him the service of meeting eyes. "Am I even using that term right?"

[Sebastian]

Kitten mittens?

The indignity was overwhelming. A creature of his advanced years, reduced to mere pet names and other such crooning forms of address, robbed of all the respect and nobility he should have engendered by an overgrown child, scrubbing at his head like she was cleaning pans. Which, of course, she had probably never done because of how much her mother doted upon her.

Well, that and the magic part. But mostly the completely inappropriate amount of doting. And the fact that it was sometimes just easier to expect Sebastian to take care of everything. Because yes, that seemed entirely fair, didn't it?

He unleashed a tiny feline sigh.

"You're using it backwards," he explained, with tired frustration. "DEFCON 1 is the highest state of alert; I'm not sure DEFCON 6 even exists."

He hesitated for a moment, suddenly overcome with the overpowering urge to frantically lick his left armpit.

"Besides, technically it means Defense Condition, and as the aggressors in this scenario it would make very little sense for us to be the ones declaring a Defense Condition. We'd need an Offensive Condition, an OFFCON or such I suppose, and -"

He stopped; turned his attention to Lilith who was doing those eyes at him again. Another tiny sigh escaped. "What's the point in explaining anyway? You never pay attention, and you'll only just make the same mistake again the next time you decide to try and act clever."

[Lilith]

"Act clever?" Lilith scoffed at the thought.

Acting clever was only acting naturally as far as she was concerned. Cleverness was breath to her life, cleverness had wrapped itself around and intertwined to become part of her very being. Cleverness had come up with the plan so far and it would be the reason as to why it would be carried out flawlessly.

"Acting has nothing to do with it." Eyes that perfectly reflected the storm she could be narrowed on the feline. "Unless you wish to consider my entire life a Comedy in which case, dear dear Sebastian, yes, I suppose I am rather good at playing the part. And Tonight, tonight the curtain will draw for the beginning of Act 2 in which everything burns and we find our heroine making up for lost time."

The tirade had been finished off with a dramatic flare of placing her hand on her hip and posing as if for the cover of a comic book with a suitably epic title. Her body wasn't nearly disproportionate to make it look quite right though. The image faded quickly though as she let out a deep breath and let her body slump back to weariness.

"So much to do... so very little time." Lilith whispered, letting the internal thought leak from her.

[Sebastian]

Sebastian watched the spectacle with the closest approximation of a raised eyebrow that he could muster, and then let out a small feline sigh before beginning to enthusiastically lick his genitals.

He hesitated mid-way, his leg still cocked up behind his head and his tongue poking ever so slightly out of his mouth as he turned back to his mistress.

"Your mildly adorable and regularly irritating flair for the over-dramatic aside," he began, presenting Lilith with a spectacular view of his furballs, "What you propose to do tonight is no small feat. In the past your endeavours have largely been acts of mischief; risky, yes, but their success or failure has solely affected your own amusement. Tonight, you intend to take the fate of another being into your hands, both short-term, and long. It is a significant responsibility, and a heavy burden to place on those skinny shoulders of yours."

He lowered his leg, and scampered across the cushions to the arm of the sofa, perching as close to eye level with Lilith as his stature would allow.

"This is not the time for games, young one. These acts must be taken seriously, or not at all." He blinked, first with one eye, then the other. His tongue snuck out and licked his nose. "Be honest with me, mistress: do you understand that?"

[Lilith]

If ever Lilith had a moment of doubt, maybe, just maybe that was it. After all, it didn't get any more questionable than a cat pointing out potential problems with your plan. Well, not with her plan so much as the aftermath of said plan. The actual evening would be the easy part, Lilith knew that. She didn't, however, like it being pointed out that she may have been unfit for the task she had chosen to take on. It wasn't like she was being pushed to do it - no one could make Lilith do anything, not even her mother. No, this was all her idea, and seeing as how it was...

"Yes. I'm fully aware of what this will mean, what this will start. Everything has lead up to this moment, I'm not about to turn away now. It's my duty and I will not allow anyone else to take her from me." What distance was between them forced by height Lilith closed so she was practically nose to nose with the feline, her gaze harsh, challenging.

And then she spun away, the growing coldness in her voice vanishing, replaced with her usual lilt. "And you're wrong. Everything is a game, you either win or lose. I don't intend on losing, not anymore."

[Sebastian]

Sebastian let out a deep sigh.

"And that is the problem, mistress. By viewing the world as a game, you divide everything in to black and white. There is no room for grey, blue, orange, green, or any of the other wonderfully diverse colours that make life beautiful and worth living."

He hopped down from the couch; trotted the necessary few paces to bring him to Lilith's feet. With perfect poise, he stared up at her, blinking slowly with his feline eyes.

"You see the world only in terms of victory and loss; every time the world does not unfold as you wish it, you feel it as defeat. But sometimes, the greatest parts of life are the unexpected greys. Acts of kindness; acts of love; joy; sorrow; every emotion that your heart contains are superfluous to you when life is a game. They are distractions to be shrugged off and ignored; and yet without them, you cannot be a whole person."

A faint frown furrowed his furry brow. "I have raised you since you were a child, Lilith; if I have not taught you that, then I have truly failed you. Please, I beg of you -"

[Sebastian Snow]

In a blink of an eye, the feline was gone, a man of short stature standing in his wake. He reached up, gently taking hold of Lilith's hands, a pleading look in his eyes.

"- do this because your heart tells you it is right; not because your mind tells you it is the only way to win."

A conflicted look crossed his features, and he was forced to look away; his grip released her hand, his arms hanging loosely at his sides as he stared at the ground.

"If you cannot do that, then I-"

His voice cracked, as if what he was about to say was the hardest thing he had ever uttered. He forced his eyes to look at hers once again.

"Then I will not help you," he said, managing to find a little resolve for his words.

[Lilith]

Why was this day so determined to make her feel things? Things went so much better when she didn't have to. Plans went smoother when you didn't consider the toll it would take on anyone - herself included. Lilith would have found it sad if she had the time or mind to really think on it. But as it was...

"You can't listen to what doesn't exist, Sebastian." Coldness had wormed into her voice as she stared with unforgiving eyes down at the man who had been there since she was young. He, of all people, should have known better. He knew what life had done to her, what it had given her in return, and then what had become of that. What her life was now...

"I'm working on fixing that. This isn't a matter of winning or losing, it's a matter of doing what needs to be done. Neither of us have a choice. It's about time you learned that."

She pulled her hands from his and turned away from him, taking several small steps away from him to face the fireplace in the room, watching at the low flames licked at the embers remaining there. Lilith figured, if she stared long and hard enough, maybe, just maybe she would see what the future held. Maybe then she could say for certain if everything was going to be worth it. If everything had been worth it.

"But," A deep sigh left her as she looked back over her shoulder at Sebastian, man not cat. "I agree, this will require care. Perhaps all I have left to give. And if anything, anyone is worth it... she is."

[Max Hodsson]

It was dark; or at least, it should have been. Though you couldn't see them this close to the city, the stars were out, and the dull and dreary bulbs in the ceiling had called it a night. Alas, broad beams of light lanced in from the corridor through the door's tiny window, and from the security floodlights outside through windows were blinds were forbidden for fear of what Angela might use them for.

The room was not without shadows however, and from one of them stepped a solitary figure. His slightly frayed sweatshirt and otherwise unremarkable clothes might have looked unassuming and ordinary, were it not for the fact that he was stalking through a locked mental hospital in the dead of night.

He stepped through a beam of light and reached the bed. Easing himself into a crouch, he cast his gaze from head to toe of the sleeping Angela, studying her with cool detachment. Her frame was more than just slender; it looked frail almost, only the scantest covering of barely used muscle to separate skin from bone. It was appropriate, he supposed, that the sight reminded him of a tiny broken bird.

"Angela," he said softly, his voice little more than a whispering breath of wind, half swallowed by the eerie ambiance that was silent and yet somehow not.

She didn't move, didn't stir, too deeply subdued by whatever the doctors had dosed her with. It was a strange notion: to save a life only to trap it in a prison of drug-induced sleep and a few stolen waking hours of medicated haze.

"Angela," he tried again, a little more loudly this time. "You need to wake up."

His hand settled on Angela's shoulder blade.

[Angela]

Her eyes snapped open. Her lungs ripped a breath into her tiny lungs.

She could feel them, the fingers on her back, touching the place from where they had been taken. Wide, feral eyes stared around the room, searching for who had been responsible. Searching for the man with the voice.

The room was empty. Whatever had been had gone. Or perhaps it had never been at all. It was always hard to tell where the truth and the lies of her mind and her eyes started and ended.

Her eyes strayed to the window; her ears reached out. Nothing to see. Nothing to hear. She was alone. Like always, she was alone.

And yet she hadn't been: hadn't felt it, not mere moments ago. It felt true and yet it made no sense. How could someone be there, and not be there? How could someone simply vanish into thin air?

Why would anyone even want to see her at all?

Something flickered in her memory; a flash of blonde, a few half remembered words from hours before, hard to make out through the haze in her mind. "Pumpkin," she whispered to herself, and hugged her knees to her chest.

[Lilith]

The asylum looked far more sinister from the outside at night. Lilith had to give them some credit on that one but that was as far as it would go. There was no lingering dose of professional respect for those that created the place, those that worked there, those that committed the atrocities, those that turned a blind eye - nope. Not one bit. There would be no holding back, no ounce of mercy. None was deserved. That didn't mean she didn't almost feel bad for the poor unsuspecting creatures but they should have known better than to meddle with the affairs of their betters in the name of their precious science.

A chill wind carrying hints of an autumn just beginning blew past her, tumbling golden curls and forcing her to pull her coat tighter around her. Lilith glanced to the side at Sebastian, a man now, not the feline she would need him to be in a few moments. He was on Operation Open the Doors which left Lilith and her mother, if she chose to play along, on operation Distract, Destroy and Rescue. She pouted at the fact that it was just the trio. Lilith had hoped, wished, but hadn't resorted to begging her two cousins to join in. She had the sneaking suspicion they would have enjoyed this, maybe they all could have bonded over it, patched things up, and they did owe her one. But she'd hesitated far too long on making the offer and she never had been one for last minute surprises - at least, not where real family was concerned.

"Time to rise and shine..." The words left her lips as her fingertips worked their way out of a pocket and flicked at the air in front of her. "Confracturae."

The metal fence surrounding the premises groaned before a high pitched screech of metal rending itself apart overcame the stillness of the night as the gates before them became encased in a sickly violet glow before they simply became undone. There was no other word for it as the wrought swirls and bars suddenly became nothing more than shrapnel that blew inwards towards the asylum. In an instant what had been an imposing means of keeping some out and others in was nothing more than a gaping maw of tangled steel.

Lilith could only grin. What a fun start.

[Pythia]

Pythia regarded her beloved daughter with a mixture of sadness and pride. The proficiency with which she commanded the spells at her disposal - not to mention the impeccable way that the Latin words rolled off her tongue - spoke of a woman who, for all her mirth and mischief took her studies of the occult and the arcane seriously. On the other hand, the apparent joy that she took in the destruction she caused was troublesome: anger, Pythia could have understood, but the gleeful spark in her eye was not the pattern of behaviour Pythia had hoped to instil in her child. It was not that she disapproved, for Lilith had her undying love no matter how she chose to act; her discomfort stemmed more from concern, for a mischievous heart was far more easily exploited for darker ends by the beings from whence their magic came.

Stepping over the twisted remains of the perimeter fence, Pythia watched as Sebastian wordlessly obeyed his instructed part of the plan, melting from man into feline in the blink of an eye. He bounded from object to object with instinctive grace: boxes, dumpsters, branches, drain pipes all formed an easy stairway that led him to the rooftops and out of sight. For a moment, Pythia's mind lingered on a memory, of Lilith and Sebastian cuddled together in the castle room that had been appropriated as their lounge, Lilith's songbird voice giggling as she commanded the contraptions of modern technology to make a tiny man not entirely unlike Sebastian in appearance hop from platform to platform in much the same way, progressing from one side of the television screen to the other in what should have been an exercise in futility, but that clearly inspired nothing but joy. Pythia's disdain for the industrial world was almost without limit; but seeing the smile on Lilith's lips and in her eyes swelled her heart and fractured her resolve enough for a few occasional concessions to be made.

As she glanced across to Lilith now however, her child barely even noticed her feline guardian's display of agility. The childlike joy was gone, not just today but on far too many days lately, and in Pythia's heart she nursed a lament for what had been lost.

Her attention was grasped by the sound of a door; the sight of a guard stepping forth, torch in hand. She cursed under her breath; the industrial world had constructed mechanical eyes to scry on their behalf, and it seemed that their presence had been noticed. A breath summoned her magic; a graceful gesture accompanied her muttered words as she hurled an enchantment towards the guard. "Incidet in dormitabis!" she muttered, and as instructed the guard crumpled, tumbling to the ground under the duress of arcane narcolepsy.

Pythia's eyes scanned the buildings, and settled on the mechanical gargoyles observing them. "Oblivisci quae videtis!" she commanded with a grand flourish of her hands. All around them, tiny flickers of arcane energy coursed across the cameras, the unnatural watchers blinded; for now at least.

"There is little time," she pointed out, choosing her voice and her tone carefully. "We must be swift, if we wish for nobody to be harmed."

[Lilith]

Lilith cast an unseen glance at her mother, lips firmly pressed together as she contemplated what had been said. So often now it seemed they simply did not see the world the same way, it was a dismaying thought but one that had to be pushed aside for the moment. The two strode towards the main entrance and its door. There was no need to waste energy, call upon their abilities when unnecessary, not with a man on the inside. She had timed the route with Sebastian, gauged it in paces taken. The satisfying click of a bold unlocking proved it had been worth it. Triumph flickered in her eyes for a moment but was quickly put away as she realized she much rather have just ripped the damn things from their hinges.

No sooner than they crossed the threshold than two men stepped from their post. If she couldn't take out her frustrations on a door...

The young woman's hand shot out in perfect gesture as she eyed them both viciously. "Sanguis fit acidum!"

[Pythia]

"Protego!" Pythia bellowed, her eyes widening in horror as she watched the hex surge from Lilith's hands, the far shorter incantation for her own protective ward thankfully conjured just in time to deflect Lilith's spell harmlessly away. "Somnum et oblivíscere!" she added, another sleep spell tossed casually towards the guards to subdue them.

By the time she rounded on Lilith, her eyes were aflame with fury; anger boiled on her tongue as her voice and magic cascaded from her, slamming into Lilith like a wave. "Alligabunt in catenas! Cessabit tuam magicam!"

Crackling chains of red and violet manifested from nowhere, snaking their way around Lilith to bind her inescapably. A flourish from Pythia and the chains bound themselves to the wall, pinning her wrists, her chest, and wrenching her head back so she had no choice but to look at the disappointed rage that had consumed her mother's features. Snarling, panted breaths escaped from Pythia as she tried to reign in her anger; when she spoke, a darkness rumbled beneath her voice like a barely contained storm, more menace than Lilith had ever heard before, demanding her undivided attention.

"You will not harm these people," Pythia commanded. "Your rage towards them is misplaced. The evil done to Angela was done long ago and far away by people with blackened souls, but for all their ignorance and their naive practices, these people believe that they are doing all they can to reduce Angela's suffering. To condemn the innocent for the sins of others is and evil that I will not tolerate, especially not from my own child. You will desist, Lilith Kathryn Latona, or I swear to all the powers in all the realms: I will liberate your sister myself, and I will hide her far, far away from their reach -" Her eyes narrowed. "- and from yours."

[Lilith]

The breath that had been exhaled with the malediction wasn't able to be regained as it caught and was choked on. Outrage that she was denied was trampled down by an overwhelming sense of shock and betrayal. Pythia had never used their talents against her. Never. A line had been crossed and for a second, just a tiny fraction of a moment, Lilith wasn't quite sure who was the guilty party. That all changed with the verbal lashing she was forced to endure, each word crushing down on her until she broke with the final proclamation. Funny how the standard for just how much trouble you were in had become just how much of your name was invoked - most didn't realize the real significance of that, they used it as a mark of their resolve rather than power.

Lilith knew better, but even the warning it served wasn't nearly as devastating as what had followed. Years of preparation, of waiting, of anticipating this moment meant nothing if it meant going against Pythia's core values.

So maybe she had gone too far, gotten caught up in the moment, misplaced her abundance of anger. She didn't like conceding to anyone when it came to her wrongs, but she had asked her mother to come. Maybe it had been her subconscious' way of making sure things didn't get out of hand.

Nah.

"Accipio condicionem" Not typically uttered between two of their kind, she hoped her mother would understand the solemn nature of the statement.

[Pythia]

I accept the terms.

They were words of binding; a vow normally made to fay who granted their magic, a solemn accord between mage and benefactor that the sorcery bestowed would only be used as per the terms agreed. Magecraft was more complex than most mere mortals understood: magic was not normally a trait found amongst humans, but rather a gift bestowed by higher powers, who invested in the beings below for reasons that were seldom clear. Some fay were benevolent; others malevolent or mischievous; some were curious, and viewed sorcery as an experiment; others gifted magic purely on a whim. That was what made the accord between mage and fay so important: deals were binding, and spells would only function if they satisfied the terms.

Pythia's shoulders sagged a little at the implications of her words. It was a solemn and sincere utterance, yes, but it was a detached one. A deal and a promise were not the same thing: the former was binding, whereas the latter relied on trust and faith; Lilith's words asked for neither, speaking to Pythia not as a daughter but merely as a fellow sorceress. To have used her powers against Lilith was devastating enough, but to be spoken to in such a way swung more.

A gesture dismissed the conjuration, the chains evaporating into nothingness as Lilith was released. In her throat, words of apology, sympathy, and understanding collected, but as her mouth opened to try and speak her voice refused to comply. Her features settled into her usual dispassionate mask.

"She is waiting." Pythia wasn't sure what else to say.

[Lilith]

"Yes, even if she doesn't know it yet." There was no lingering sensation of the chains that had formed and restrained her yet still she rubbed at her wrists as if trying to remove some unseen residue.

The same hallways she had been escorted through earlier that day were now strode through as if she somehow had laid claim to the entirety of the asylum, then again, Lilith figured some days if anyone were to become the self proclaimed ruler of a madhouse it would probably be best suited to one like her. Door that stood in the way were alternated between being pushed open by hand and magic as the rage she felt towards what had been done to her baby sister was only contained by her mother's warning. Muttered utterances of "dormeo" and "nihil vident" were spoken instead of the crueler chantings that lingered on her tongue bitterly. She'd have to stow her anger for now, find some way to let it loose later. Couldn't have that sort of thing rotting away inside of you, after all.

The final door was approached slowly, carefully, as she once more considered the fact that the only person in the building aside from those she had arrived with that she didn't want to frighten in some way was just on the other side. There would be no trick of fae here, just a lock that had been undone by a clever Familiar. One last glance was cast back at Pythia before Lilith gently pulled it open and stood silhouetted in the doorway. Strange that she couldn't think of anything to say in the moment. No awesome turn of phrase that would announce their presence.

Only a meek and cautious name left her. "Angela?"

[Angela]

Angela hugged her knees tighter to her.

This was wrong. The sounds outside were wrong. The door being open was wrong. Someone in her room was wrong. Two someones, but especially the someone she could see. Night was for talking, not for sleeping. Night was when the doors were closed. Night was when the doors were locked. No doctors. No nurses. No -

Her head cocked slightly to one side, a hint of recognition fighting it's way through the frantic anxiety in her chest, and the medicated fog in her head.

"Visitor?"

Her voice was weak and uneasy, but as the word lingered in the air it offered a faint glimmer of safety. She couldn't make out much about the silhouette in the door way, but the light from behind highlighted the outline of pretty golden curls. A tiny, fragile smile tried to make it's way to her lips.

"You came back?"

Slowly, Angela let her legs uncurl, gingerly letting her bare toes touch the cold floor as she crept to a perch on the edge of her bed. Her attention fell away from the visitor, the smile on her lips faltering like a newborn foal not yet accustomed to it's legs. Her eyes found the visitor again: wide, pleading, and entirely unsure.

"Am I still a pumpkin?"

[Lilith]

"No." There was no sternness, not even negativity in the word. Which really was just odd considering it was basically the very epitome of negative, zero, null. But somehow she managed to make it sound like a promise of something more.

Lilith walked slowly into the room, came to a stop before the broken girl and half smiled. It was about the best she could do with half her heart breaking. Again. How many times was she going to end up doing that? A deep breath was taken, slowly, as if she was trying very very hard not to cry. Which she wasn't. Not one bit.

Okay maybe just a little.

"You're my little sister. I'll always come for you."

Yeah, okay so tears happened. She hid it by suddenly, though oh so gently, hugging Angela to her. A vow was made again, this time to herself, that no matter what happened, no matter who did what or what did what or anything else, Lilith wasn't ever going to let Angela go ever again. Okay so physically yes... obviously. But not right in that second at least.

"And you can still be a pumpkin too if you want. As long as you're my pumpkin."

[Angela]

Sister.

Angela knew that word.

Sometimes people called the nurses Sister.

Sometimes the strange black and white people with the hats were called Sister.

Sister.

Sister. Brother. Mother.

Shakespeare's Sister. Sister Act.

Little Sister.

Those last two words lingered in Angela's mind. Little meant small. Little meant fewer. But Little Sister meant something else.

Little Sister. Baby Sister.

My Little Sister.

Angela felt the hug wrap around her. It was a new, strange sensation, different from the hug the last time her Visitor had been there. It felt tight. It felt sad. It felt damp on her shoulder. She raised her arms, rested her hands awkwardly on the Visitor's back.

"There, there," she said quietly, something she'd seen people say when they let her sit in the room with the chairs and the television.

"Don't cry Big Sister."