"Lily, Lily, Shh." Aaron soothed her as she sobbed, "I need you to calm down. I know this is stressful and I know it's a lot to take in, but we have time. We have all the time in the world and you have time to breathe."

At this point, Lilith was having a panic attack, hyperventilating and pacing around the tent while sobbing. Her sister, that she hadn't seen, knowing that it was her, for...how long? Aaria, being two years younger, had been shipped off to France at the tender age of 4, when Lilith was 6. It had been 18 years. 18 years since she had protected and loved her baby sister, since she had held her close and sang lullabies to sooth her fears.

Aaria was there. Right in Lilith's grasp and she hadn't even seen her. She hadn't realized it and had forgotten. For a few years there, she had forgotten Aaria. The guilt was catching up to her as her sobs quieted while lost in thought.

"Lily, are you okay?" Aaron asked quietly, pulling Lilith close to him to look him in the eye. He had the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

She nodded a little, coming back into focus. "She's been there the whole time and I didn't-"

"Don't do that to yourself, Lil'." Aaron grabbed her shoulders gently, "You couldn't have known. Don't feel guilty, it isn't anything to be guilty about."

"Do you think she came for me?" She choked, worried. What if she had disappointed Aaria?

"I don't know, honestly." Aaron sighed, shaking his head. "That's something you'll have to ask her."

"How can I face her after so long? How, when I failed her?" Lilith wondered, letting out a deep breath to calm her breathing once again.

"You didn't fail her. There was nothing you could do, Lily, you were six. You were young and had no power back then. Especially not against your mother and especially not with the situation your family was in."

"I should've tried." Lilith looked down in shame at the memory. "They enslaved her, you know. Treated her like the shit that they were. Beat her, starved her, hurt her. If only I had stopped her-"

"Lilith, please." Aaron begged, "That was in the past. Aaria's here now and you can fix things, even though you weren't in the wrong in the first place. You two can be close again."

"But I missed everything." Tears came to Lilith's eyes again. "I missed her childhood and I missed all her firsts. I missed being able to have my baby sister, one of blood. I had Pegs, Angelica, and Eliza, but…"

"It's not the same knowing that she was out there being hurt and mistreated while you lived in luxury with three new little sisters that took her place." Aaron finished, knowing exactly what Lilith was saying.

Lilith nodded, "They never replaced her in my mind, but I don't think she'll listen to me about that. For as young as she was, she was always so stubborn." She chuckled tearfully at the memories.

"She'll understand, Lily, she probably went through the same thing, especially with Laf." Aaron reasoned, "She mentioned that he was like a brother to her at first. It must've been extremely difficult not telling you who she really was for so long."

Lilith thought for a moment, "Why did she do that, anyway?"

Aaron shrugged, "If I were to guess, I'd say she probably didn't want to barge in so immediately into your life. She might've thought that you had moved on and wanted to be sure first."

"What changed her mind into telling me?" Lilith half whispered.

"Again, Lil', you probably have to ask her." Aaron sighed, "I wish I knew so I could tell you."

There was an awkward pause, before Aaron spoke again. "About a couple days ago-"

"No, Aaron. It's fine, I don't want to talk about it and neither do you. I- Laurens." She simplified, basically saying that she would move on. She started outside and ignored Aaron's calling her name.

It was time to face her biggest hope and biggest fear for the last 18 years. It was finally time to face Aaria, her born sister.

A/N: AHHH IM SORRY ITS SO LATE! I was really really busy, what with the last few weeks before summer and then I was traveling for like a week- I'm so so so so sorry! I saw that some people were really excited by the last chapter and I'm really sorry it took so long to update ;~; Thanks for reading and hopefully I can post more often now that it's summer!