Water.

Deep, dark and suffocating water. The twins felt aprehensive about letting themselves be eaten by that strange mass, stuck in their positions, glaring at their own reflection in the dark blue water in Xever's tank.

Ava took a deep breath. "Ya ready, sis'?" She asked, giving Charlie a hand.

Charlie held tightly her sister's hand, and both took a few seconds to breathe before they softly dived into the water tank.

It was strange, really. For them, water was like an enemy they couldn't reach, defend themselves from, something that could make them so desperate to recover oxigen they would only make their own deaths come faster.

They opened their eyes. Xever was asleep in his waterproof bed, just like Doki said, and right by his side was Dokkaebi herself, whom was there only to make sure they wouldn't drown in their test, and her cold glare over the twins was not helping. Charlie was hypnotized by her glare for a moment, but quickly went back to reality and swimmed towards Xever.

They looked for something around him, anything, that they could steal. Money? Nothing. Jewlery? Why would he even have it? Gold or silver? Nope. They couldn't find anything he had that they actually could take and steal...

Wait. Ava looked down to Xever's bed; his legs, of course! She found what she wanted: a target. They swimmed back to the surface to breathe, with Charlie by her side. "The legs," Ava whispered to Charlie, "Take the legs." Charlie nodded.

So they dived back into the water, knowing what their target was. But there was one problem: if they tried to take Xever's robotic legs at once, there was a very high chance he'll wake up, making their job much more difficult. We gotta find a distraction, Ava thought. She signed for Charlie to come back to the surface.

"How are we gonna take the legs?" Charlie asked, wiping some water off her eyes.

"We've gotta think on somethin'..." Ava replied, looking down at the asleep Xever and the dark-brown eyed girl staring at their legs underwater, sat comfortably on her bed. "Remember what he said: We gotta find a distraction!"

"Right..." Charlie put a hand on her chin, "Let's see what do we have here..." She looked down in the water: there was absolutely nothing, except for their target, the beds, the water, Xever and... "Wait... I think I have an idea!"

"Oh?" Ava looked back at her sister as her ears went up.

A few moments later

"Okay." Ava said, "Let's do this!" And so they dived back into the water. They swimmed close to Xever, and positioned in a way that Charlie was close to the legs and Ava was by Xever's right side - Dokkaebi's bed was on his left side -, and Charlie reached out to grab the legs, calmly and slowly, trying to keep their "teacher" asleep.

Suddenly, Ava held her neck. Charlie looked up at her, with her hand inches away from their target, and saw the unexpected: she was drowning! As Ava tried to reach Dokkaebi with her hands, Charlie was desperate, fearing the worst. When Dokkaebi convinced herself the cat was really drowing, she swimmed off her bed and tried to reach Ava, but she (Ava) acted faster than her and pulled Xever up, as Charlie grabbed the legs; And, just as they planned, Xever woke up with Dokkaebi's lips touching his, something that kept him on that same position and his eyes staring widely at hers as they swimmed away with their target in hands.

Their plan was not only brilliant, but successful and also helpful - after all, everyone noticed Dokkaebi's crush on Xever, so they thought about giving her a little push on their relationship. They giggled happily as they watched both mutants confused and trying to explain what just happened.

"We're gettin' an A+ on this test." Charlie said between giggles and short cheers. "And now, my dear sister, we just received our official title as the best tricksters ever." She said, with a grin.

"Yea! I wanna see how will Xever get out of his tank now!" Ava replied, grinning along with her twin, as they got up and leaved the throne room, dragging their prize with proud looks on their face.

The next day...

The Troublemakers - as they now called themselves - showed up on the dojo, with their usual smiles - of which nobody else liked, because they only smile like that when they tricked someone -, after Dokkaebi ordered them to come see her.

"Charlotte and Evelyne," Dokkaebi mentioned their full names as their smiles began to fade away.

"Oh, crap..." Charlie murmured as they kneeled in front of Dokkaebi. It was always bad news when Doki called them by their full names. We're in so much trouble! Ava mentally cried.

Dokkaebi only glared at them, with the cold eyes only she - and someone else - had ever been capable to show, a glare that could make anybody cry and beg for mercy on her feet. "So," Dokkaebi said, breaking the silence but keeping her glare over them, "You two really did it, huh? What a surprise." She smiled, but nothing on her smile made her seem less evil and dangerous and scary.

"OH PLEASE MASTER DOKKAEBI DON'T THROW US BACK INTO THE STREETS!" Ava begged.

"AND PLEASE DON'T LET MR. BRADFORD EAT US!" Charlie begged. "We promise not to mess with Mr. Baxter's nerdy laboratory ever again!"

"And we also promise to never throw sticks for Mr. Bradford to catch!" Ava added, "And best of all:"

"PLEASE FORGIVE US FOR MAKING YOU AND MR. XEVER KISS LAST NIGHT!" They begged in unison, using the best - and only - weapon they had: their cuteness. They hugged eachother, let their ears go all the way down and made their best puppy - or kitten - eyes and hoped their punishment would be less destructive.

Dokkaebi simply stayed silent, as they kept crying for their forgiveness on her feet. Although she felt a little touched by that scene, she knew what she had to do. And so she began to laugh. And she laughed louder. And louder. It was just so funny!

"O-oh my!" She said between laughing, wiping a tear of laughter off her left eye with her thumb. "I'm sorry! I knew I looked scary, but I didn't mean to make you beg and cry like that!" She laughed a bit more, as the twins let their jaws wide open. "I was just going to say that what you did yesterday was just brilliant! I explained everything to Xever and even he agreed you two did an excellent job on your test!" She said, opening a friendly smile.

"Oh..." They said in unison, quickly letting go of eachother, "Well, um, thank you!" Ava said as Charlie nodded in agreement.

"Well, you two have sucessfully completed your first test. So, you'll be rewarded with a bedroom of your own, of which you two will share," Doki said, "And, as a bonus, I will be sending you in your first mission very soon, and I am sure you will be completing this one as well." She said as the twins shared grins. "Dismissed."

They thanked their master and they walked towards the exit, but stopped with Dokkaebi's voice: "Oh and by the way, you will have no classes today. Enjoy your free time!"

They thanked Dokkaebi one more time before leaving. "YEEEEEAAAH!" They said in unison as they playfully punched one another's shoulders.

The twins hummed happily the melody of a song they've heard Karai sing as they jumped between rooftops. They don't remember the exact lyrics, but they really like the song's melody.

"We've got the day off!" Charlie excitedly said, "Where should we go?"

They stopped on a roof to think. "Well, it's still in daytime, and as we're mutants, I don't think there's too many places to visit..." Ava said. "But! Maybe we could see our old home!" She suggested.

Charlie thought about it for a little while. "Okay," she said, "But I don't wanna stay there for too long, that place's gross!" She stuck her tongue out in disgust for remembering about that place.

"Alright." Ava agreed, "Wanna race?"

"Loser pays 15 bucks to winner!" Charlie said, preparing to run.

"Deal!" Ava said, running towards the next building's rooftop, being followed by Charlie.

After what seemed - and felt - like an eternity, they finally were in the old place they used to call "home": A dark, cold forgotten alley, close to a restaurant of which they used to steal food from and an orphanage, of which they used to live on before they've mutated. In the alley, there was two big boxes, both with old covers on their base, a try to make their beds a little less uncomfortable. There was also some toys they stole from the orphanage, wet forgotten bucks and a few gemstones the Shadows have forced Charlie to steal.

"Oh my..." Ava said, looking at that place. "So many memories..."

Charlie grabbed something from the floor. "Ava, look! It's my old journal!" She opened it, but the pages were all blurred thanks to the rain. "Aw, man! I wish I could read it..."

As Charlie tried to find a legible page on her journal, she saw her old "bedroom", laying by Ava's bedroom's side. She decided to enter the box, leaving the journal opened inside it. In the box, there was her old pink blanket covering the box's "floor", so she could sleep, a few bucks she's stolen from an old man, sunglasses she's stolen from a woman's bag, and many other stolen things she never actually cared about.

And so she saw a toy; a little blonde doll with a pink dress and a red bow on her head that her father gave her on her 8th birthday party - the last one before her parents died.

"... Daddy..." Charlie whispered while holding the doll, softly touching her hair and her feet, her dress and her bow, her arms and her face.

She remembers the day she gained that doll like it happened yesterday.

It was her and her sister's birthday. She thought her mom and her dad haven't remembered their birthday. Her sister, on the other hand, was faithful. She knew their parents would never forget their birthday.

So Charlie asked her sister to come with her to see their parents. She agreed. They held hands and walked towards the hallway, and found two white boxes, one with a pink bow and the other with a yellow one; The box with the pink bow had Charlie's name on it. The other one had her sister's name. When Charlie opened her box, she found that doll, and a small cardpaper with a message written on it: Happy birthday, my little sunshine. ~Father

She doesn't remember what Ava received. But she knows Ava kept her gift hidden so she wouldn't find it.

She let out a tear for that memory. And, for some reason, she looked back at her journal: one page, one in the middle of thousands, was still legible. Charlie quickly grabbed the book to read what was written on it:

July 12th (translated)

We went to the beach today. It was so much fun! Me and Mom found a little crab in the sand. We built it a sand castle and made it the castle's king. Dad slept in the sand and a seagul slept in his belly. Me and my sister tried to swim through the sea, but the waves would always pull us back to where we started, so Mom taught us how to swim through the waves. After we were back home, Dad tried to bake some pancakes, but he ended up burning them and they tasted horrible. Dad's face turned black after the smoke stopped, so me and my sister gave him a shower in the backyard. He threw water at us, and in the end, Mom had to deal with one wet and silly husband and two wet and silly daughters. And in the end of the day, when me and my sister were in the bed, we prayed to God, Dad told us a story, Mom sang us a lullaby and they hugged us before they smiled and left to their room, and we went to sleep.

Charlie let out a tear. Their parents have always believed in God. So why did He let their parents die? Why didn't he saved them like He saved she and Ava? Was that only to make them suffer? To punish them for something they've done?

While Charlie explored her box, Ava entered her own "bedroom" and saw her old things there too: a few pictures of them as children - pictures that were all blurred by the rain -, dead flowers, some broken toys and the only thing she had managed to keep safe inside that old and dusty alley: a picture of the two sisters when they were humans, along with their dead parents.

That picture had been taken not long before their parent's death in a car accident, an accident that brought them eternal scars, both physically and mentally - while Charlie had scars over her belly and legs, Ava had scars over her back and a huge one cutting right through her heart, and it was a miracle that she had survived from that.

Ava touched the glass panel that covered that picture, tracing with her finger her mother's face; God, how she wanted her parents back... She wanted to hug her mother tightly and show her all her scars so she would lovingly kiss them and magically heal all of them; She wanted to play hide and seek with her father and feel him making tickles over her belly once he found her...

She couldn't help but cry at her parents' memory. As she let more and more tears fall down her cheeks and turn her fur wet, she reminded herself of every single day of their life after their parents' death - she would always think about comitting suicide, so that she could meet with her parents one more time. But one thing would always make her forget that idea, one person of which she could never leave - her sister. When she found out that her parents died, she promised herself to take care of Charlie and never ever let anything bad happen to her.

Ava softly opened a hole in the glass and grabbed the picture, observing her and her sister's short red-colored hair, her mother's long blonde hair and her father's short brown hair, as she walked towards Charlie and hugged her tightly, the picture still on her hands, and said at last: "I love you, sis'."

Charlie, too, had cried for the memories she found on her own box. She couldn't help but let out another tear and hug her sister back. "I love you too."

They both let more tears run free down their already wet face, but this time, their tears were made of the purest joy of having their sister close.

Thank you all for reviewing!

It's just so lovely :)