The next morning was a slow one for everybody in the castle and Gray Village as all of the people were only just resting up from the recent threat of an invasion. It wouldn't come to pass for what they hoped to be a long time—forever for those who were optimistic. The citizens were quite alright and could get back to their lives as normal since their world's safety had been assured. They had no trouble readjusting to this facet because they'd only kept their guard up while contributing to the town's defenses. However, the authorities and other employees in the castle took a bit longer to cool down so they could rest their heels, hence why a couple days off was allowed to allow them the opportunity to get some well-deserved rest. They earned it after all, and it was only natural that they'd take this chance prior to returning to their usual affairs and daily routines.
Strolling through a corridor to an elevator, Grora sighed in relief as she was thankful they had quelled Siralos' attack without too much trouble. She and Arbus took out a small group of his angels in that cave, mainly a fraction of it due to the rest of the force presumably having fallen to the undead within the buried city. Resting her hands behind her head, Grora replayed the events of yesterday into last night within her mind to recall what happened. She had a report to file directly with Kcalb and Etihw about that and was already going to their office to talk with them about that while offering a recommendation on how to punish Ater for her betrayal against the Gray Garden.
When the white haired cat demon opened those two portals within the castle, it was starting to look like the invasion would've most likely destroyed them all because the full force of Siralos' army would've likely come through those portals. They probably would've shown up had the Devil and Goddess not sealed off their entrance to this world and abolished the extension of more which would've become a significant problem. Luckily they completely sealed off every portal, and they were also glad Ater didn't have the opportunity to produce more from that scroll the squads found in that basecamp the Sun God's strike force established while they captured Lenny as he fled. That success was a great achievement on their part because hopefully they'd get information from him. More so was the accomplishment of stopping the invasion altogether as a grand victory.
Yet everything wasn't positive, at least mostly for Ater due to her betrayal. The cat demon fled into the second portal after she was discovered as the traitor, though she seemed to have been caught in a minor skirmish with the sun angels because they attempted to execute her. Afterwards she fled from them and apparently entered that strange city where Grora and Arbus found her. Yet they had also discovered Soa was there as well with that peculiar lich demon she accompanied. A strange pair, those two, especially since they struck a bargain with Ater just as she had done when turning the Gray Garden's fate over to Siralos—that latter bit was implied by the scroll she had. It was an odd deal, forcing her to fight the one she feared only to lose on purpose all due to Ater and her incessant desire to hear about the absent parental figures she and Arbus shared. That was quite a harsh blow to her when her sister rejected the deal altogether before Soa and the lich demon left.
Following their departure, Grora and Arbus were faced with the task of dragging a weeping Ater back to Blancblack Castle. The poor girl wouldn't shut up along the way as they crossed into the lower levels of that city towards the door. Her cries only infuriated her twin sister and the angel since both of them didn't want to hear her complaints. Surprisingly enough, the lich demon's vow that the undead wouldn't bother them was actually true. Ater's crying drew a patrol of them over, though they weren't hostile to the trio. That first squad was courteous enough to escort them out.
While Grora still questioned why they—and Soa of all people—refused to attack them, the matter didn't bother Arbus so much because of what her sister had done. Ater went behind Arbus' back when making that deal, having never told anybody about it. She kept it secret from everyone. That was what angered the black haired cat demon, especially because Ater did it to find out about their parents while involving her twin sister in the affair even when Arbus refused to comply with it. They were split over the subject of their parents, with Ater wanting them and Arbus wanting to be happy. She wanted Ater to be happy too, but realized strict discipline would need to be enforced if she was to satisfy her twin by teaching her the value of happiness. Arbus truly cared about Ater's wellbeing, and she didn't want her twin sister to be miserable by discovering a dark truth or a lie.
Although Grora felt sorry for Ater and Arbus, she nonetheless refused to capitulate to such feelings because she still didn't like them. She still bore her grudge against Ater for taking her eye even if it was an accident, and the angelic lady wasn't going to ever surrender that at all. She would only when the white haired kitty—and maybe Arbus too for that matter—was lying in a grave out in the cold. A grim notion, one she was hoping would come true soon so she wouldn't have to deal with those girls anymore. They were both nuisances, annoyances that should've been cast aside.
Having ridden the elevator all the way to the top floor while pondering on all of this, Grora emerged at her destination and strode up the stairs towards the double doors. Opening one to walk inside, she caught sight of the Head Angel with his older brother in there. Etihw herself was absent, probably out conversing with the employees and guards to inquire as to how they were feeling. An all too familiar idea was that she also used that time off from her own work to get away and be the lazy slouch she was known for being. The angelic lady felt she should've been here to hear this as the situation was critical and required her attention too. "I've arrived," she declared her presence.
"Ah, Grora, good that you came," the Devil remarked once he finished a conversation with Wodahs as they both turned to hear her report of the events that took place the following day while following up well into the night itself. "From the looks of it, I trust you're doing well, right?"
"Pretty much, though I'd rather not beat around the bush now," Grora responded. "Where's Lady Etihw? Shouldn't she be here too? She should also be kept updated on the mission."
"Lady Etihw is currently trying to garner details from Ater while trying to mend problems between her and Arbus," the Head Angel explained briefly. "They have not gotten along ever since Ater was recovered last night, and neither are on speaking terms." Grora frowned when he finished answering her inquiry, reminded of the conflict between Raspbel and Rawberry months ago. They hadn't spoken to one another either, albeit for a very different reason than this current sibling feud.
"Anyway," Kcalb commented, folding his hands together on his desk after he motioned for her to take a seat. "Let's get down to the bottom line as you've requested. From what I know about your mission with Arbus so far after Wodahs informed me of the situation, you've discovered Ater was about to be executed and got away from the sun angels by escaping into an underground city. The two of you followed her trail down there and encountered Soa's presence while rescuing Ater."
"You've got the gist of it, yeah, though I wouldn't exactly call it 'saving' her; it was more like a petty fight erupted between that little bitch and I," Grora elaborated briefly for the Devil.
"Let's avoid getting ahead of ourselves, shall we?" Wodahs spoke to keep their subordinate from going on a tangent about how she hated Ater and also so they could start at the beginning. "It would make more sense if you'd relay what happened after you contacted me before entering that place. What did you discover in there with Arbus, Grora? Is the threat of undead bad like Siralos?"
"Bad enough that there's probably thousands down there," the angelic woman remarked to answer his latter question first, though shrugged since she was about to go off from the point when she stepped through the monolithic door. "We encountered no resistance at first, finding cadavers of sun angels within—one even whizzed past us when scaling a tower for a better vantage point. I saw Siralos' troops fighting a horde of undead that outnumbered them and were winning, which I pointed Arbus to. That was also when we saw Soa heading towards their remaining soldiers who've survived up until she slaughtered them. I'm assuming they're all dead considering how badly they fared." Taking a deep breath, she paused here so the Devil and Head Angel could comprehend her account so far, letting them ask questions if need be such as one Kcalb posed to her about that.
"Are you positively sure they've perished at her hands? Wod and I still have to interrogate Lenny on Siralos' plans and inquire about the fate of their ill-fated expedition into that odd city."
"I saw her approaching them before blowing open the door to a cathedral they hid inside," Grora commented to clarify that matter further. "Their weapons and magic were useless from what I've seen, and I'm willing to bet they couldn't escape because the undead and Soa blocked them."
"I see," the Devil murmured, raising a bent finger to his chin and motioned for her to keep the account going. "Continue, if you'll please, Grora. What happened after you saw them?"
"We saw Ater enter a coliseum while following some weird lich demon whom we couldn't make out from where we were. Undead were there too, but they didn't attack them—I don't know why, so I'm afraid I can't answer that," Grora went on, stretching her arms behind her head. "The bottom line is that we snuck over there and split up to look for separate ways into that building as it was guarded by undead. I found Ater in the arena with the lich demon overlooking the area. She apparently made Ater fight me, and I won easily since the little shit didn't even try to fight back."
"Why is that?" Wodahs asked.
"From what I could understand following the conflict when Arbus rejoined us was that she made a deal with the lich demon behind everyone's backs. Ater never told anyone about it, which also shows she's a treasonous bitch who turned her back on our world, I should add." A grunt from Kcalb indicated she was to focus only on explaining what had happened, not insult Ater. Shrugging her shoulders while complying with the order, the angelic lady just kept talking. "That's not what's strange about this deal, it seems. For whatever reason—aside from telling the kitties about the two missing parental figures—that odd lich demon wanted Ater to fight someone she feared most while losing on purpose. I suspect she referred to me when she was explaining that to them, considering how Ater fought me and held back on purpose. At first I thought it was mind control or something, at least as far as control over her body was concerned since Ater was cognizant of our conflict."
"Wait, this lich demon knew about their parents?" Kcalb inquired, somewhat surprised that somebody they were vaguely familiar with was aware of the issue Ater and Arbus experienced.
"Yep, she did and said her 'Lord' sent her to deliver the term and make the deal with her," Grora elaborated further with a brief allusion to what else was brought up in that conversation the other night. "I don't know how they knew about it, so don't ask me why; but get this guys," Grora held her arms out slightly towards them with both index fingers jutting up. "Soa was with her too, and that doppelganger was surprisingly tame around us. Sure, she may have hurt us a bit, yet Soa's attacks only caused minor bruises and all as far as I know. She knew exactly what that lich demon talked about, and listened without questioning her from what I've seen. She even gave my weapons back when I had thrown them at the lich demon so I wouldn't have to use them against Ater."
"That is odd," Kcalb remarked to concur with her statement, opening his laptop so the sleep mode could be deactivated after he pressed the power button on it. "Though we may have already heard about this peculiar lich demon before from Soa herself, even if the individual herself wasn't mentioned directly. You do recall when Soa invaded Macarona's house before kidnapping her and Rawberry, right?" he inquired, remembering that she was gravely injured by the doppelganger.
"Hell yeah, I do. How could I ever forget what she did back then?"
Opening a program on his laptop and waiting for it to load, the Devil looked back at her as he continued to make his point known. "When Soa made her move there, she mentioned somebody she referred to as an adorable crow, a probable nickname of sorts according to Eti. Macarona also elaborated on that in her own testimony about what Soa said to Raspbel in Moreisineum, claiming that the doppelganger called this adorable crow of hers her older sister. Granted, the lich demon's the only individual other than Soa who you encountered, so it may be a different person. However, there's also the matter of Soa's master, whom Macarona also spoke of when she told us about what happened down there." Turning the laptop so Grora could see the picture on it, he let her observe the six headed statue for a few seconds before he spoke up again. "Macarona said Soa referred to this thing as her master and prostrated before it. I think the lich demon and Soa both serve the same being, therefore linking the two of them together. It's definitely a possible theory to consider."
Silently musing on whether the connection was strong or not, the angelic woman shrugged and stood up straight after having bent over to better look at the creature covered in tentacles. "It's definitely a possibility, I'll say," she agreed with the idea and continued her account. "Anyway, an argument broke out between Ater and Arbus concerning the deal and their parents. Ater thinks the two of them should've listened, but Arbus was completely against it because she didn't trust these enemies of ours and rightfully so. She believed they were tricking Ater and I've got to concur with her on that. It made Ater throw a huge fit the whole way back because Arbus broke the deal which made the lich demon and Soa leave, saying they had business elsewhere to handle. Fishy, right?"
"Indeed," the Had Angel nodded in agreement and so did his older brother. "Following the Doppelganger Murders Soa caused, I'd say we should definitely focus our efforts on those two."
"Quite right," Kcalb said and averted his attention back to Grora. "Anything else, Grora?"
"Just a couple details, really. The lich demon told us the undead wouldn't assault us on our way out; surprisingly enough, they didn't. Ater's wailing even caught the attention of a patrol that showed us the way out instead of fighting us. That strange lich demon also mentioned 'Skrevera'."
"Skrevera…" the Devil murmured, shutting his eyes to think about that. "Ater sent emails to Fumus and Reficul pertaining to that particular name, but they didn't know what it meant."
"As a matter of fact, I saw her send those emails which was when I first learned of it," the angelic lady replied, telling him this for the first time. "I decided not to report it at the time despite the fact she didn't have permission to do it. It wasn't my business anyway, and I thought the thing was relevant to her parents since I saw bookmarks she used with the first three letters of that word's two spellings when she went through family registers in the library once. I'd say she's getting quite desperate, though that still isn't a valid excuse for betraying our world all for the sake of finding a lead that may or may not be true. This is her home for god's sake, it should at least be that valuable to her instead of two individuals who were never around for her and Arbus. Even if a deity or some kind of demon knows, she has no right of turning our fates over to them for what could be lies."
"I can concur that it isn't proper justification, but bear this in mind, Grora," Kcalb explained softly, adopting a neutral stance in the issue regarding Ater's treasonous behavior. "Ater is decades old like Arbus. This problem's been an issue for them throughout their lives, though their reactions to it are different. Arbus has accepted the facts pertaining to what might've happened to them and knows she and her sister may have been unwanted by their parents; yet she's not letting it prevent her from being happy because she loves the Gray Garden and everyone inhabiting it. Ater's cause for concern is different as she fears the things Arbus isn't inhibiting herself by, seeking a truth for closure since she doesn't have any; it's taken quite a heavy toll on her heart and psyche. We talked about this once before after you read through their diaries if you'll recall, Grora."
"Yeah, I still remember that."
"Before our conversation then, however, Othros spoke to me and during our chat he asked what I would do when faced with the decision to tell them what we've found in that investigation. I still don't know whether telling them a dark truth or what may be a lie is right since it could make them unhappy either way. Even if the worst has somehow come to pass, it is still closure in a way even though it might not fully explain why the girls' parents wound up away from their lives."
"So?" Grora inquired, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "What does that mean under the circumstances? You wouldn't trust Soa and the lich demon after what the former did, right? After all, for all we know they could be lying in an attempt to cause more chaos in our world."
"For the time being, we wouldn't concerning this delicate matter," Wodahs piped up. "Still, what is just as strange as those two are the fact they and the undead weren't hostile to you. We've got to ask ourselves why that is and understand their intentions better in this regard. Soa's not tame from what we know of her due to the Doppelganger Murders, yet this sudden docile nature of hers could be a trap as you suggest. On the flipside, however, what if she has done a turnaround despite maintaining any of the darker characteristics comprising her personality? Are they truthful then?"
Their subordinate scowled, disliking the idea they were going to investigate this subject for further clarification. They were already well aware of what Soa could do and knew she was in fact a psychopath who reveled in killing others and causing chaos, finding pleasure in the effects of her actions. Trying to understand Soa was like attempting to multiply one twice. It was a fairly obvious perspective of the doppelganger considering what she did, giving Grora a good reason to not place her trust in Soa and the lich demon. "What, you're thinking about going in there in search of those two for a friendly chat before she eats you both? You'll just become her meal!"
"We're not advocating for that even if it may be an option to consider," Wodahs set Grora at ease with the plan of action. "We'll approach this situation with caution and see what'll happen. We don't know what they're planning, though we'll be on alert for whatever they might do. Their next actions could help us form a better impression of who they really are and what they want."
"What they want is our destruction!" the angelic lady raised her voice, beginning to lose a bit of patience with these guys. She couldn't believe they were looking for more information about a threat they already knew of due to Soa's actions and what she revealed months ago during those Doppelganger Murders she caused. It upset her greatly since she felt they weren't taking this issue seriously. "We should go back down into that city with them gone and sack it! We've got powerful manpower and excellent magic, it shouldn't be too hard eliminating their undead servants with the two of them gone! That way we can mitigate the threat by obliterating those things focus on them!"
"Careful, Grora, we don't want to end up like the sun angels," Kcalb chided her gently for the idea, ignoring her contradiction. "We've also got this thing—a Great Elder it seems—as a third cause for concern. The three of them together can be overwhelming to us all, hence caution as the necessary means of handling this matter delicately. Besides, we've not heard anything about Soa causing any trouble since then and our world's been safe for the time being. Therefore, while they may still be dangerous, we must regard this subject as a high level risk factor due to their strength. Soa is definitely stronger than Eti and likely myself too; what's to say the other two are the same or not? We put precautions in place and have taken necessary steps to protect our world, but we mustn't act on one or two incidents and information gleaned from them alone as sources."
"My brother is correct, Grora," Wodahs affirmed the Devil's logic. "Making the first move could be deadly in any situation because we don't know what may happen next. It is better to stay on top of this by analyzing what they do once they act before us. It's not the plan of action you do prefer at times, though understanding the threat better safely is a primary concern of ours."
"I get that, but what if we're too late?!" Grora asked, raising a point.
"True, though let's not be too hasty," Kcalb acknowledged that notion and put forth a minor counterargument to make his own point. "Nothing's happened concerning them as of yet, so we've probably got time we should make use of instead of acting immediately which can cause conflict," he explained further. "A passive stance is needed to ensure we don't act rashly, thereby improving our odds of regulating the potential threat if it's there from a safe standpoint, understand?"
"Yeah, I said I get it, alright!" Grora retorted and began to walk out without being dismissed by them. She realized her behavior was getting too hot and knew she had to cool off for a spell so she could think clearly like them. "I'm heading to the gym if you guys still need me." Hopefully a bit of exercise would calm her down, which was exactly what she planned to do. Softly slamming the door behind her, the angel muttered a string of curses under her breath after she left. Grora was perfectly aware that caution was more valuable, but knew even she preferred action sometimes.
…
"I hate you, Arbus!" a wailing Ater cried, tears pouring down her cheeks as she shouted at her twin sister for she had done the previous night. "We could've learned about our parents, though you just had to give up on them! Why must you make things so difficult for us both, huh?!"
"I did it for your sake, Ater!" Arbus retorted, trying to make her white haired sister see the reasoning behind why she had to break that deal. "I'm your sister, and it worries me when you go behind my back making deals with untrustworthy characters who are planning on using you instead of keeping their word! What's wrong with you, Ater?! Why must you make things difficult?!"
"I had our best interests at heart, Arbus! You clearly do not!"
"Would our best interests include letting a deity invade our world and arranging a deal with somebody associated with the doppelganger that killed innocent people?! Are they best interests?!"
"I didn't mean for that to happen and you damn well know it, Arbus!"
"You did too! You made those deals in the first place, not me, Ater!"
Etihw sighed, pressing a hand to her temple as she began to feel the pain of a headache due to the heated argument between these girls. Ater and Arbus hadn't gotten along since last night, a feud that lasted well into today ever since the mission ended successfully. Grora and Arbus rescued Ater from the confines of that city Soa was also discovered in, and the time would come for a key decision she and Kcalb would have to make concerning Ater's betrayal. They were going to declare a trial for the poor girl to let her speak to any of the charges against her, but first they required Ater to make a statement explaining why she did what she did. Granted, she and the Devil already knew why since they suspected it had to do with her missing parents as Arbus confirmed it for them. She was reluctant to go through with the trial and so was Kcalb and everyone else contacted to be part of it. Etihw felt they'd reach a unanimous consensus and decide to spare her, probably giving Ater a slap on the wrist with a bit of community service, and she desperately hoped that was the case.
Right now, however, the white haired cat demon was being very difficult with them. Ater's insistence on Arbus having done the wrong thing by refusing to follow through with her for finding out more about their parents was getting on the black haired cat demon's nerves. Arbus' demands that Ater's methods of going about her own search for their parents was wrong annoyed her sister. The two kitties had never experienced a single spat in their lifetime as far as the Goddess knew, as this was really the first significant fallout between them throughout their entire lives. Although she could understand why Ater turned her coat even if she didn't fully comprehend how she attempted to fulfill her objective, Etihw couldn't disagree with Arbus after hearing her full report on the job. It was an uneasy conflict because she felt there might not have been wrong answers just as the lack of right ones was also present with it, knowing this feud was a double edged sword deadly to both.
"Look, can't you both just settle down for a bit so we can talk about this calmly instead of bickering over what happened?" Etihw asked, getting in between them to act as a mediator. While she hoped things could be patched up, the Goddess anticipated this fight would go on forever even if Ater and Arbus degraded its intensity. "We'll speak about this one at a time. Ater, you first."
"I don't want to talk! She abandoned our parents! I did what I thought was best for the two of us!" Ater cried, shifting the blame for what had happened onto the black haired cat demon.
"And what if they abandoned us, huh?!" Arbus countered the second part of the statement. "I'll concede it would be closure to know that much, but I have already come to terms with it! The actions you took to try and accomplish your goal were wrong, Ater! The ends don't justify means!"
"Well, what the hell would you want me to do, huh?! Just sit around and do nothing while everyone else is searching for them and come up short with nothing?! We have to help, Arbus, we have to try!" her twin sister insisted, claiming this was all Arbus' fault because she didn't want to even try finding them. "All I want is for us to learn about our parents and why they're not here! Is that so wrong, Arbus?! I fulfilled my end of the bargain, all you had to do was listen with me!"
"That's not the point, Ater! We're not talking about our parents right now! The subject we are discussing right now is your betrayal! You made a deal with a lich demon associated with Soa! You opened up portals for the Sun God's army! They could've attacked us because of you!"
Once more Etihw sighed, frustrated they weren't really getting anywhere to make progress. "Look, Ater," she spoke up calmly to intervene before they could start yelling at each other again, "I understand how you feel, truly I do. Yet I cannot deny what Arbus is saying because it is indeed the topic we are in fact talking about right now. We can speak about why you did it at a later time, though for now let's concentrate specifically on the what, Ater: the actions you took to ensure the answers you sought would be achieved." Putting the why off to the side for now was a smart idea, but the Goddess hoped it wouldn't have any negative ramifications. Ater could've perceived a lack of the why as an uncaring attitude from her, misreading what Etihw was actually saying. "Tell me, what were the terms of your arrangement with Siralos' forces? Let's begin with that, alright?"
"I only went to him because I thought that would give Miss Grora proper justification when she would fight me! I had to lose on purpose and I accomplished that! Is that hard to understand?!" Ater shouted, not really answering the Goddess' question. She stormed over to the bed she and her twin sister shared while she said that, plopping down on top of the covers and glaring at them. Her eyes were full of tears, and she was weeping bitterly because she felt they didn't understand her.
"Yes, we're well aware of why you went to him," Etihw remarked, aware that joining their enemies from the Sun Heaven would've been a good reason for wanting to fight the kitty. She had suspected it right from get-go when Arbus brought up the term Ater was given in the deal she made with the lich demon. However, like she already said, they were not focusing on the why; just what. "Yet that doesn't explain the terms of whatever deal you made with the sun angels. I'm sure those guys only asked you to open portals in the castle, but you at least set your own terms, correct?"
"I asked Siralos to spare Arbus and the citizens!" she yelled, finally replying to the inquiry. "I kept up my end of the bargain with him by opening those damn portals just because Miss Grora needed the proper justification! He gave me his word he'd spare them and let me choose the means of my own execution! I expected him to let Arbus and I learn about our parents, but they attacked me instead! I only fled there because Miss Raspbel gestured for me to follow her over to that city!"
"That was not Raspbel, Ater, it was her doppelganger, Soa," Etihw clarified for her.
"Whatever!" Arbus interrupted, losing her patience with the conversation as she could not take much more of her sister's incessant whining over how she tried so hard to fulfill the deals she made behind everyone's back. "I don't give a damn about who you saw, Ater! The point is you've done something wrong! How dare you betray us and throw your life away just because you can't handle missing Mom and Dad! I was worried sick about you, Ater! Do you even realize how much I'll suffer if you let yourself be killed just for the sake of finding them with an untrustworthy lead?! Do you?!" She breathed heavily, having made her point which was a valid concept because of her frightened concern for the other's life. Although Ater did appreciate it, she did not accept it since she was still stubbornly insisting that what she did was right even if the means were wrong.
"Well, what am I supposed to do besides sitting around doing nothing while I wait for word on them?! I'm worried sick about them, and you don't even care about them at all! I had no choice, Arbus, no choice! Lord Kcalb hasn't found anything, but I did! I considered the safety of you and the citizens when I made that deal with the Sun God! All of you were still a priority because I care about you! Why is it whenever I try to do something right, I get punished simply because I care?!"
"You don't even know if he would've spared us, Ater! You had no guarantee he was going to let us live because you did this all by yourself without even trying to confirm if he was telling a lie or was being truthful!" Arbus fired back, pinning all the blame where it rightfully belonged on Ater, even if her intentions were good and understandable. "You've no way of even knowing how that lich demon is a reliable source or not! Instead you've just plodded along without thinking!" It was a cruel accusation because it was true, and although Ater tried to speak to the valid points her sister raised, the black haired cat demon refused to let her speak again. "Absolutely not, Ater, I am not going to hear you prattle on about how much you miss them and how you attempted to search for them by going against us and your home world! This investigation is consuming you, Ater, and I will not be a part of it because I would like to be happy, thank you very much! I've accepted the facts that could be truths concerning the fate of our parents and why they're not here, but you're a coward who won't even acknowledge those concepts by running away from understanding them!"
"You're the coward, Arbus!" Ater retorted, jolting to her feet and storming right in Arbus' face to pin the accusatory insult onto her instead. "You're not even trying to help me! I'm the one doing all the work, you're sitting on your ass doing jackshit aside from enjoying happiness!" Those last two words were delivered in a sarcastic tone, bitterly cold with the emphasis on them because Ater phrased it that way to portray her twin as the coward abandoning their family for happiness.
"Can you both just stop fighting for once so we can talk about this cordially?!" the Goddess attempted to intervene by raising her own voice, though she was drowned out amidst the argument.
"Then why don't you just get the hell out and go off in search of them, then?!" Arbus cried in an angry tone, furious that Ater wasn't listening to reason. "You care about them so much, why don't you go find them then instead of sitting around on your own ass here?! I won't stop you!"
"Because I don't know where to look!" Ater retorted. "I found a lead on them, Arbus!"
"And you don't even know if the source is reliably dependable or not, Ater!"
"I still have to try, Arbus!" Ater insisted in her whining tone.
"Then go ahead and let yourself be consumed by something that's engulfing you already!" Arbus shouted, throwing her arms out at her sides to emphasize how sick and tired she was of Ater and her constant whining over what the black haired kitty believed was a foolish endeavor. "I don't want any part of it, Ater! You want this to engulf you, fine, just keep me out of this from now on!"
Ater sniffed, tears drenching her whole face. She could not believe Arbus was really doing this by abandoning the efforts to try and find their parents, all so she could be happy without them. That was how she perceived it, and the notion made her clench her teeth in seething rage. "Fine, I will, but know this Arbus: you and I are through! We're no longer sisters anymore, understand?!" The sudden escalation of their fight reached a dangerously high level, one that would surely make an impact on the cat demons' sisterly relationship forever because of what it implied. Etihw gasped when the white haired kitty made that drastic proclamation, wishing it wasn't so since she did not want it to pass. Although the Goddess tried to make Ater take it back, Arbus wouldn't let her.
"You don't mean that, Ater!" the black haired cat demon challenged her twin sister.
"I do too, Arbus!" Ater reaffirmed her decision to permanently end their sisterly bond. "We are done with each other, Arbus! As your former sister, I hereby disown you from our family!"
It was like a bad dream had come true with this drastic separation between the two of them. Both cat demons had reacted very differently to this subject in spite of being twins who agreed on everything. For once they couldn't agree on something that ended up tearing them apart for good. Etihw could not help but stare at how heated this conflict became, how it escalated quickly into an overly dramatic situation that would unlikely be mended. While Ater was still crying, turning away from the Goddess and her twin sister, Arbus was handling it different. Unlike Ater, there were not any tears in the black haired cat demon's eyes as she stared furiously at the girl she once called her twin sister. She was growling, realizing Ater was throwing a hissy fit over her own damn problems without accepting responsibility for her actions by being a stupid child. It was harsh, though Arbus accepted the fact her former sister was being childish by foolishly refusing to accept the facts.
"Ater…" Etihw murmured in shock, trying to calm the other girl down. "You mustn't—"
"No, save it, Lady Etihw," Arbus interrupted her coldly, holding her arm in front of Etihw. "She wants it to end this way, fine, we'll no longer be sisters anymore. I'm through with her too."
"B-but—" the Goddess tried to stammer out a gentle rebuttal of that acceptance, but failed.
"Forget it, she's already made it clear she just wants to throw her own life away," the black haired kitty went on and began to get a few suitcases out of the closet she and Ater once shared to start packing them with her own sets of clothes. "I'll have no part of it anymore. I want to be happy instead of wallowing in miserable grief. She wants to be consumed and end our bond, fine by me. I wasted my own time and effort attempting to get her to see reason while understanding logic for her own sake. She doesn't want my help, she can be swallowed whole by this obsession of hers."
"So you're both just going to end it like that?" a shocked Etihw asked, desperate since she wanted them to make up rather than fight and get separated. "But what will you do now, Arbus?"
"Yep, it's officially over, so I'm moving in with you, Lady Etihw," Arbus said unopposed.