A/N: This is a rewrite of my original series under the penname Dreamsofyesterday1. I hope I improve on what was already written before and any new readers enjoy the series. Here is the first instalment, enjoy!
Lily
Flickering stars in the night sky over a sleeping town dwindled as the sun outshone their distant light and brought with it the morning. One resident was the first to greet the new day as the first fingers of sunlight reached the windows of his floating home and drenched him in their warmth. His eyes opening wide and nostrils flaring as he awakened and took a deep refreshing breath, stretching to remove the vestiges of sleep from his limbs before leaping from his cosy bed. Taking a long, lingering, look towards the window at the growing strength of the sunrise he smiled and cartwheeled into the middle of the floor to kick-start his day with his favourite routine.
Little knowing as he stylishly made his bed and started to warm up for his morning exercise what the day would bring.
Down on the ground, out of the hero's view a young woman wearing a green sleeveless vest top and cropped trousers of the same colour was watching the airship. A soft breeze teasing at the shoulder length brown hair that hung about her ears as her cold blue eyes traced the familiar shape of it. Many years had passed since she'd seen it, or he who dwelled within. A soft smile touched her lips as she imagined just how he'd react when he saw her.
Bending down, she reached into the bag she'd discarded by her feet when she'd arrived and pulled out a letter canister. Unscrewing the top, she turned it upside down and shook out the sheet of paper inside. It fell into her hand and she gripped it as she let go of the canister for a moment, letting it fall softly on top of her bag. Holding the brief, but attention grabbing note open, she gave it one last read before rolling it up again. With another smile she picked up the canister once more and placed the note inside. Her eyes scanned the odd little town before her as she sought a means of shooting the canister up to its intended target.
It was not long before her eyes fell upon what she was looking for and, picking up her bag, she walked casually towards it.
Sportacus was just finishing up his exercises and turning his mind to what he would have for breakfast when the letter canister shot up through the floor. With his flawless reflexes he incorporated the motion of grabbing it in mid-air with a spiralling handspring.
"I have a letter," he smiled, gladdened by a chance for social interaction and pulling off his new move. As soon as he read letter he dropped it in shock, the cylinder clattering loudly onto the floor closely behind it. "Lily." was the one word he spoke.
So focussed was the young lady on the ground looking up at the airship that she didn't hear the light tramp of a pair of trainers approach her.
"Who are you?" asked a high pitched voice behind her.
She turned and saw a girl wearing a pink dress and with pink hair. She smiled as she looked the girl up and down; she was a head and shoulders taller than the pink girl. The girl in pink looked confused and obviously wanted to have her question answered.
"Lily" came the answer in a sing song voice, "and you are?"
"I'm Stephanie," answered the pink girl and held out her hand wanting it to be shaken.
Lily looked down at the hand and instead of shaking it she kept her hands by her sides and cocked her head, a white toothy smile mocking the offered hand. Stephanie shrugged and took her hand back. Looking down at her feet somewhat intimidated by the smile Stephanie tried to think of something to say. When she looked up again the smile was still there and the head still cocked, there was something about this girl that Stephanie didn't like.
"You're new around here aren't you?" Stephanie finally said.
Lily straightened her head and the smile shrunk a little its intensity weakened slightly, "Yes I am. However did you guess?" retorted Lily, yet again making Stephanie look at her feet.
It was a great relief to Stephanie when Ziggy and Pixel came up to her to see who the new arrival was. The only reaction Lily gave to their arrival was a raised eyebrow and a somewhat sarcastic half smile.
"Who's this Stephanie?" Ziggy asked bouncing up and down, excited to see a new face in town.
"Ziggy, Pixel, this is Lily. She's new in town." Stephanie introduced. 'And a little rude too,' she thought, trying not to show it.
Both boys offered their hands to be shaken but like Stephanie they only got an overpowering, mocking smile and a cocked head. Both boys withdrew their hands and turned to look at Stephanie who shrugged imperceptibly.
"I think I'd better go and get my football before Stingy finds it and thinks it's his," Pixel finally said, awkwardly, sparing a quick and intensely uncomfortable look at Lily before walking off at speed.
Torn between his still somehow lingering excitement at seeing someone new, and not wanting Stingy to claim anything else he found lying around, Ziggy pulled a face. It was after his reaction prompted a short, mocking laugh from the source of his excitement that he remembered he had a lollipop at home that needed eating. Without a word or motion he sloped away leaving Stephanie alone with the unfriendly girl.
Alone at least until Sportacus came somersaulting from the airship, coming to a stop behind Lily. Initially Stephanie felt a surge of excitement when she saw her favourite hero but it was quickly dampened as she took in the uneasy smile he gave her, so far removed from the warmth of the greeting he would always give her.
"You took your time," Lily condescended not turning around to look at Sportacus.
A confused and slightly concerned Stephanie turned her eyes from Lily onto Sportacus. There was something definitely wrong, his uneasy smile vanished as his eyes found the back of Lily's head and his arms flexed slightly. He seemed, Stephanie almost couldn't believe it….annoyed.
"Sorry. I hadn't expected to hear from you." He finally spoke, the emotion Stephanie had guessed clear in his tone as he continued, "What are you doing here?"
"I thought I might get a change of scenery; it does a person good sometimes." Lily purred in response, still not turning around.
"You know each other?" Stephanie finally chimed in, feeling brave enough to speak.
"Yes of course," Sportacus gave a small chuckle, his countenance warming as he looked down at Stephanie. "She's my sister."
Stephanie was taken aback by this. Sportacus had never mentioned any relatives and especially not a sister. More able to study Lily's features with a pout instead of a smile present she could see the resemblance between them. She felt dismayed about Sportacus only telling her he had a sister when she just happened to turn up and the disappointment showed visibly on her face. She was rewarded with a harsh chuckle from Lily who thought it weak of Stephanie to show she was hurt. Lily's reward for the chuckle was a stern look from Sportacus.
The shift in emotions on Stephanie's face hadn't been missed by him. She could be rude to him but to his friends….to a child.
"Ladder!" Sportacus called and motioned for Lily to climb it. Lily frowned defiantly but after another stern look she ascended the ladder.
Once Lily was in the airship Sportacus knelt down so he was more level in height with Stephanie and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry for not telling you about Lily, Stephanie. I didn't think you'd ever meet her and I never thought I'd see her again nor did I hope to."
"You didn't want to see your own sister?" Stephanie asked surprised.
"No I didn't. Lily isn't a very nice person as I suppose you've found out. We never got on when we were younger, I don't know why but we never did. I have no idea why she's here either and I will find out. Hopefully she won't stay very long either; she can be a bit of a trouble maker. How about I come and play football later when I've spoken to Lily?"
"Yeah Sportacus. I'd like that." Stephanie smiled again, cheered by Sportacus' promise.
Sportacus nodded and watched as Stephanie ran to join the others. It was obvious they were asking Stephanie what had been said as they all had surprised looks on their faces after Stephanie had been speaking for a few minutes. Sportacus shook his head and smiled, he then climbed the ladder to deal with Lily.