Disclaimer: If I owned it, the epilogue would NOT have gone the way it did!


Siblings

Cuore counted the steps silently as she followed Rydia up the flights of stairs. The numbers were a soothing counterpart to the unsettling meeting that she had just been through. Her new relation, she supposed he was, had been unwilling to speak to her, far more interested in the tome that was propped open in his lap, and when introductions had been made, he had given her a look that she had been unable to decipher, but had elicited a disapproving sound from Rydia. "Another sister," he had muttered, glaring at her. "She better not be as annoying as Arya," the boy had continued.

"We are not related by blood," Cuore had felt compelled to point out. "Siblings are people born to the same mother and father. I have neither."

Takeshi had just stared at her for a long moment before returning his eyes to his book. Evidently deeming it a useless task to attempt to speak to her youngest son any longer, Rydia had gently steered her out of the library and had led her up flights of stairs. Now, when Rydia stopped at a cracked door, Cuore nearly bumped into her legs, and the Maenad grabbed at the skirt of Rydia's dress to steady herself. "I was off balance," she explained when Rydia glanced down at her. The woman smiled.

"Don't worry," she reassured Cuore before knocking once on the door and causing it to swing inwards. "Arya?"

The resulting silence lasted long enough for Rydia to sigh and step into the room. Cuore hurried after her, not wishing to lose her grip on the soft skirt. It was surprisingly comforting. Rydia looked up; Cuore followed suit, craning her neck to peer into the shadowy rafters of the room. It was unusual architecture, Cuore noted. It almost appeared as though the wooden beams had been placed there post the room's creation. Odd.

Something shifted and Cuore caught a glimpse of silver. "Arya," Rydia repeated. "Come down from there, please."

This time, the silence lasted for approximately five point three seconds before a loud, irritated sigh came from the rafters and a girl fell from the ceiling, her torso swinging as her knees hooked around a beam. Long, silver hair fell behind her and came close to Cuore's height. "What?" the girl wanted to know, eyes flicking from Rydia to Cuore as Cuore shifted. "Who's that?"

"Cuore, this is Arya." Cuore did not recognize the tone of voice that Rydia was using, but Arya's quick glare towards her mother told her that it probably was not good. "Arya, Cuore."

"You are angry," Cuore noted. "Why?"

Blue eyes narrowed as Arya inspected Cuore. "You look like my mother."

"The coloring of our hair is different, as is our height and –"

"No, you look like my mother," Arya repeated, cutting Cuore off.

Cuore frowned. "This angers you?" she ventured.

"No." Arya glanced at Rydia for a moment before returning her attention to Cuore. She waited for Arya to continue, but when it became clear that the girl would not speak, Cuore took it upon herself to ask a question that had been bothering her.

"Why are you upside down?"

"Why aren't you upside down?" Arya countered swiftly.

"There is no logic to your actions."

"Does there need to be?"

"Logic is essential in all aspects of life."

Arya's lips twisted and she drew herself back up into the rafters before dropping to land on her feet in front of Cuore. She let her head fall, for though she still had to look up to look Arya in the face, the difference in height was nowhere near as vast now that the older girl was standing on the floor where she belonged. Though Arya's eyes were on her, she addressed her mother when she spoke. Her voice was not as tight as it had been before, and Cuore wondered at the change. "It's not fair. You can bring home a lost child, but I can't bring back a baby Chocobo? There's definitely a double standard here."

Rydia chuckled softly. "One of the many privileges of being a mother."

"I am not lost," Cuore pointed out. "This is the fourth floor of Eblan castle, presumably your room, and there are eighty two steps leading from the library to here."

Arya stared at her. "I can't believe you counted all of those."

Unsure if the statement required a response, Cuore waited to see if Arya expected one. When Arya did nothing but look at her, Cuore peered around the older girl to get a better look at her dwelling – and was shocked. The disorganization was almost painful to look at. She scooted past Arya and went over to the desk, climbing up on the chair so that she could fix the contents of the desk. "Hey!" Arya yelped, rushing over to her and pulling a sheaf of papers out of her hands. "What are you doing?"

"It's disorganized. There is too much chaos!"

"It's organized chaos!" Arya protested, trying to stand between her and the desk.

Cuore frowned. "Impossible."

"What do you mean, impossible? Hey, put that down! I'm in the middle of reading that!"

She looked at the book that she had managed to snatch off of the desk, its spine cracked from laying open and upside down on the wood, closed it, and set it back down. Arya groaned. "Chaos is, by nature, disorganized."

"Well, mine isn't. Go away before you mess it up even more."

With a huff, Arya picked up the book and reopened it, flipping through the pages as she searched for the pages it had previously been opened at. Wondering if she could fix the chaos while Arya was distracted, Cuore reached past the girl only to be stopped by Arya's hand snatching her wrist, albeit lightly. "Go away." She let go of her wrist. When Cuore didn't move, blue eyes glared at her from over the top of the book.

"Come on, Cuore," Rydia said softly, placing one hand on Cuore's shoulder. Cuore started; she hadn't realized that the woman had come over to her. Trying to ignore the disorganization, the Maenad slid off of the chair, noting the look that Rydia gave her eldest child and filing it away later for contemplation. "Arya."

She didn't look up, but her shoulders sagged. "I know, I know," the girl muttered. "We'll talk later."

Rydia touched Arya's shoulder gently. The silver-haired girl stiffened beneath her mother's touch. Cuore watched, wide-eyed, as Rydia sighed and let her hand fall from her daughter's shoulder. "I'll see you at dinner," she murmured before steering Cuore from the room and closing the door behind them. The last Cuore saw of the girl was a flash of silver as she leapt back up into the rafters just before the door shut completely.


A/N: Yeah, it's at the bottom this time. Why? Because this isn't a oneshot - or rather, it isn't a single oneshot. Welcome to my series of connected oneshots! As you can see, this is post-TAY, but not exactly canon. Because canon is broken. I'm fixing your game for you, Squeenix. You're welcome.

Anyway, I have a LOT of ideas for this story! Be warned - the oneshots aren't going to be in order, so I'll let you know roughly when, chronologically, each takes place. The focus of these oneshots will be all of the children, but there will be a particular focus on the family Edge and Rydia have here. I hope you enjoyed the first installment, and I look forward to writing more of it!

(Also, HUGE thanks to Mythweaver, to whom I owe the use of the names Takeshi and Arya, and thanks to both Mythweaver and Moonclaw, whose interpretation of Cuore I am using, and whose headcanons that have been put into fic will be used. Because they are awesome. Thank you!)