"Big sister?" Sol looked up from where she had been staring blankly at the small TV, watching a documentary about a pride of lions and shifted on the white rug she was sitting on to look at Luna who stood behind her, holding a hair bush in one hand and a handful of hair bands in the other.
"Wha?" she asked staring up at the girl who was looking back at her with the same golden eyes, Luna shifted from one foot to the other before speaking.
"Do my hair for me? I asked mommy but she got mad at me" Luna pleaded with big eyes "I want it like this" she explained briefly pulling up her hair into two separate long parts "Like that lady on the TV" she released her hair and the long blond strands fell down her back. Sol sighed, her breath making a low hissing sound through malformed teeth and the gaping hole where her mouth should have been; she nodded and watched as her sister's face light up in excitement.
"Yay!" she squealed, jumping down to land on the rug, sitting beside her twin who was quietly staring at her, Luna wrapped her thin arms tightly around the other girl before gently pulling away and shoving the hair bands and the brush into Sol's hands.
Sol began to gently pull the brush through her sister's long and slightly messy pale blond hair and pulled it up and tied it, trying not to pull at it too much. When she had finished Luna turned around and smiled at her happily and clasped her small hands around Sol's disfigured face and rested her forehead against her sister's. Sol breathed in deeply and closed her golden eyes in contempt, reaching up she placed her hand on her sister's head, patting gently she inwardly cringed as her small fingers brushed against the bone lumps protruding from Luna's skull, but at the same time it was rather comforting knowing that she wasn't alone like this and that she had her beloved sister here, just like her.
She began to feel strange, almost as if she was loosing control of her body and she was suddenly aware of the dull ache in her back, the throbbing pain in her arm and the burning soreness of her nail-less fingertips.
'No!' she thought despairingly as she realised what was happening, she was slowly waking up back into reality and desperately tried to force her mind to stay in her own pleasant little dream world. She didn't want to face reality, it was too painful, but her body seemed to have other ideas as she gently became more and more alert to her surroundings.
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Luna let her golden eyes flutter open in defeat and peered around before twisting her neck to glance around side as despair filled her mind as she had to accept to truth, her sister wasn't here anymore and she wasn't coming back. Hot tears stung at her eyes as she curled up tightly on the crates in the lounge area with a thick and scratchy old woollen blanket draped over her small frame. Her sister wasn't here, she was dead, she wasn't coming back and it was all her fault.
'Big sister? What's wrong? Did mommy hurt you again?' Luna shook and grabbed at the sides of her head as she tried unsuccessfully to block out the voice.
'It doesn't matter if she doesn't love you, because I love you ten times as much as she ever could' she pressed her face into the blanket covering the crate she laid on as she squeezed her hand tighter to her face and the other clawed at her neck.
'Hey, hey look, I found mommy's pretty ring, it's so shiny'
Tears rolled down her face "Why won't you leave me alone? … I'm sorry already…" she whimpered with her face smothered by the blanket "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
She suddenly found herself airborne and falling to the ground still wrapped in the blanket, she cried out in shock and pain as she hit the hard ground, though luckily the blanket was enough to cushion her injured arm. She lay in the confused pile of blanket she had landed in as she tried to understand what had happened and to calm the spinning feeling in her head before a loud cackle irrupted from the other side of the crates, a voice she already recognised, Rags.
"What the hell was that for?" she hissed furiously from where her face was pressed against the ground, the only reply was more laughter and she fought with the blanket before shakily standing, her head still spinning.
"you should see yer face! Ya look drunk!" Rags chuckled merrily, pleased that he had gotten some revenge for making a fool out of him the night before. Luna clang onto the crate with one hand for balance and she shook her head, her heart still beating fast from the shock.
"I feel drunk…" she groaned and then came to her senses, her eyes focused on his smirking face as her mouth turned into a snarl. "Nut cracking time!" she growled, grabbing the hammer from her belt and leaping over the crate she had been sleeping on, throwing herself at him with a murderous look in her eyes. Rags seemed prepared for the attack this time and his muscled arms shot out, one grabbed onto her hand clutching the hammer and his other grabbed onto her one that had managed to grip onto his jeans. Luna growled as she was pressed against him without being able to move her arms to hurt him or move backwards to try again, she simply glared angrily at him while he looked amused.
"Ya ain't so tough bitch" he chuckled, holding onto her tightly as she tried forcefully to pull away, his face fell for a moment as he noticed the tear stains down her angrily screwed up face but only a smirk replaced the confused expression on his face "Did I make ya cry?" he asked hopefully.
Luna snarled at him, her misshapen teeth snapping together loudly "No, I just got fucking sand in my eyes cause you pushed me!" she growled while hiding her inner embarrassment, she wouldn't let him think he could make her cry. She raised her leg to try and knee him in the balls but he stopped her by giving a swift kick to her shin, her breath coming out through her teeth in a low hiss. Rags chuckled, leaning his head forward he bit down on her neck making Luna cry out in pain.
"Told ya, yer not tough" he growled against her scarred skin before lapping up the blood beginning to trickle down, he lifted his head a little and peered down, a cruel smirk forming on his lips "An yer flat" he added, looking down at her chest.
"you bastard…" she hissed through clenched teeth, her pale face turning slightly red from anger and embarrassment. Rags merely gave her that same evil smirk before forcing her backwards away from him and took off running down one of the many tunnels, Luna barked a low growl and tried to follow but found it hard to keep up as her shin was still throbbing, she rounded a sharp turn in the small tunnel and bumped right into someone.
"Heh, playin' kiss chase are ya?" she looked up to glare at the towering form of Hades, she tried to move around him before Rags escaped but the family leader grabbed a hold of her shoulder lightly, holding her still.
"Now you just ignore him angel, he ain't worth it" he told her as Rags cheerful yell echoed through the mine, she clenched her teeth together angrily, he had gotten away, the bastard.
"He's got it coming to him!" she snarled, looking up at Hades with a pleading look in her golden eyes, he shrugged but nodded.
"Yea, probably" he muttered to more to himself, knowing how troublesome his youngest son could be at times. "But it's best just ta ignore 'im, he loves attention an if ya fight him it'll he'll just fuck 'round even more. Besides it's time you go back, everyone's already waitin' outside"
Luna hissed quietly under her breath before straightening up and sighing "Ok. Bye, bye Uncle Hades" she said, giving him an endearing smile and wrapping her thin arms around, nuzzling her face into his side.
He chuckled lightly and embraced her in return "Bye angel, come back sometime, Suzie will love ta see ya again" he called after her as she ran towards the mines entrance, a smirk appeared on his face and he turned back into his home to go take care of that lovely young woman his cousin's family had given him.
When Luna immerged out into the blinding sunlight she found that her father and uncles were already waiting for her, she pulled her long untied pale hair forward slightly to hide the fresh bite on her neck, the last thing she wanted now was some stupid comment from Goggle, before walking up to them she saw the quick private smile her father beamed at her and grinned back.
"Hurry up, we gotta go before noon" Lizard said, taking a hold of her small hand in his gloved one and before leading her and his brothers down the steep hillside. "Jupiter called us earlier, sounded real pissed, he didn't say why though, just said ta get back fast" he explained to Luna, she nodded slowly as a feeling of fear began to grow at the back of her mind. What was going on? Had they realised that Jeb was missing? Or perhaps those police guys had come sniffing around again, whatever it was she guessed that it was in no way good.
She noticed, rather pleasingly, that she wasn't the one falling behind this time and that Goggle was slowly trudging behind while Pluto just seemed to be at ease, following his eldest brother happily, with his usual open mouthed smile.
"Will ya hurry up?" Lizard growled towards his youngest brother, Luna peered over her shoulder at Goggle, noticing that he hadn't made one of his snidely comments yet today, he looked half asleep trailing behind, his pale green eyes barely open.
"What's wrong with him?" Luna asked glancing at her father, knowing that he was the only one who would give her an answer as Pluto had yet to grasp the English language and Goggle looked dead on his feet.
Lizard huffed "Didn't have coffee this mornin'" he replied with a sarcastic role of his blue eyes, obliviously thinking his brother was very weak for needing caffeine to be able to do anything when he woke up in the morning, he casually leaned closer so that only she would be able to hear. "Ya know those tablets you gave Pluto, got anymore?" he asked, Luna nodded, remembering that time when she had made her uncle hyper by feeding him caffeine tablets, she was sure that she hadn't used all of them. She stuck her hand into the large pocket on her hoody that was still tied around her waist, after feeling around for a bit she pulled out two tablet pots and handing him the one he wanted. He simply stuffed it into the pocket of his vest.
"Aren't you going to give them to him?" she asked, slightly confused.
"No" he replied simply and smirked evilly at her, a smirk that she returned before both of their eyes shifted to glance at Goggle and then back again.
It must have been around noon by the time they had reached the Test Village since the sun was in the middle of the bright sky with hardly any shadows being cast anymore.
Walking down further from the hills that lead down from the mine, they were met by Cyst who was standing on the outskirts of the village with a grave expression on his face. Just as Lizard was about to ask what was going on the heavily deformed older man limped forward and roughly grabbed Luna by the back of her top, dragging her forward without saying anything and ignoring the small girl's cry of surprise.
"What are ya doin!?" Lizard snarled rushing forward to try and snatch his little daughter away from his uncle who turned suddenly pointing his shotgun at his nephew with the hand that wasn't stopping Luna from running off. When he had gotten the message across that he wasn't to be messed with he continued to drag Luna to Jupiter's house.
"Let go!" Luna whined, fruitlessly clawing at Cyst's hands and arms as she was mercilessly pulled up the porch and dragged inside the house. When they were inside the main room he pushed her forward, threw her was more like it, and before she could get a sense of her surroundings something hard hit her across the face painfully. She staggered backwards clutching her nose as blood poured down into her mouth, her gold eyes shot around, trying to grasp what had happened. There Jupiter stood right in front of her, looking positively furious with his large hand clenched tightly into fists. What the hell he had punched her?! She glanced over to Big-Mama who was sitting in an armchair in the corner with a look of sorrow on her face but still she didn't try to stop this beating and her father and uncles were being held off on the porch by Cyst.
She let go of her face and reached quickly for her hammer, snatching it up and throwing her uninjured arm in a blind swing to attack him with a vicious snarl. Jupiter snarled back at her and swung a sharp blade at her, she cried out in pain as the metal sliced upwards from her elbow to the back of her wrist, she instantly dropped the hammer and it flew across the room to land on the hard wooden floor as some blood splattered on the old rug underneath her. She bent over double, clutching her bleeding arm to her chest as she breathed out in panted growls; she glared out through the long blond strands of hair that hung in her face and watched as Jupiter stood there for a moment seemingly taking pleasure in her pain.
"You asshole…" she slurred, spitting blood from her mouth, she felt something else in her mouth and spat in out, a yellow-ish white piece of tooth landed on the floor, feeling around and pressing her tongue to her teeth she found that half of one of her top canines was broken. Jupiter growled, deep in his chest, and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking her forward so that she staggered and fell to her down but couldn't use her arms to catch herself and landed at his feet. He roughly pulled her head, so hard that she though he would tear her scalp off, and pressed something cold against the side of her head. Her golden eyes widened in fear when she heard the click of the gun, this was it? He was just going to shoot her brains out? With no time to defend herself?
"Jupiter! Stop it!" Lizard yelled, furious and terrified at the same time from the doorway but Cyst was still blocking his path. Now Big-Mama did look worried but she was perhaps too frightened to do anything.
Jupiter growled, tightening his grip on her hair "This thing-" he began viciously, giving an extra hard tug on her hair "Killed Jeb! What the fuck are we suppose ta do now?!
"There's no proof!" Luna cried shrilly, still clutching her bleeding arm to her chest as it was too painful to move it at all. Jupiter snarled and pushed her around so that she was now facing Cyst and her father, Cyst glared at her and pulled something from the pocket of his jeans. The nails she found and tortured Jeb with, the thin pieces of metal were still stained with his blood.
"Now who else goes 'round carryin' nails and a hammer with them?!" the family leader snapped, glancing at the hammer that lay on the floor "An' 'sides, she was the last one to see him!" he growled and looked back down at the gun in his hand, apparently deciding that this was enough evidence to kill her.
"Jupe…" Big-Mama uttered quietly, trying to plead with her husband, he glared her down quickly.
"No! This has gone far enough! I told ya all she was no good!" he yelled "I told ya she was a demon!"
"I didn't kill him!" Luna cried out, trying to save herself "I only made him bleed a little" she panted out and squeezed her eyes shut "I saw him talking to police; he was going to tell them everything!" she wailed, purposely avoiding that Jeb had only been talking about her, not the rest of the family.
"what?" Big-Mama growled, her fear quickly turning into anger at the stupid man's betrayal, she had never trusted him to start with.
"Pluto, you remember, right? You were there!" Luna called out to her uncle who was standing behind Lizard and looking distraught. Jupiter's head snapped around to face his son, who stood there for a blank few moments, before nodding his head up and down heavily.
"Pluto… pretty… hid … room… Jeb… men… Pluto… sleep" the retarded man rasped out awkwardly, Jupiter looked unconvinced when Goggle came to the rescue.
"I saw them too; they were there right before the last victims" Goggle, who had been watching in fear spoke up and Lizard shot him a thankful expression. Jupiter snarled again and pulled Luna closer and hissed.
"I don't fuckin' care if ya killed 'im or not. It's still yer fault so yer gonna go and get him back" he kicked her forward and Lizard shoved Cyst aside, running in and scooping her up in his arms tighty.
Jupiter ignored them all and marched over to the stairs where he stopped "If she ain't gone by tomorrow I will kill 'er" he growled out before stomping up to his room. Lizard glared at his father until he was out of sight and then quickly moved toward the door, snarling at Cyst on the way out for coming in between him and his daughter, ignoring the worried looks of his brothers he stormed out through the village and threw open the door of his house with one hand, slamming in shut behind him his walked in and sat down on the worn couth, holding his daughter closely to his body.
He pulled her back a little to look at her, blood was running from her nose and mouth as well as tears ran from her pain filled eyes. He gentled placed on hand on the back of her head and rubbed carefully where his father was been yanking at her hair and began to wipe some of the blood away with the back of his glove.
He let out a growl as she clutched tightly at his vest, he wouldn't let them do anything like that ever again.
Cybil-kitty- This is one of the chapters that I've been planning for over a year, I'm glad I've finally written it down- whew. Anyway, in the next chapter Siren will appear for her first proper chapter and we will see what happened to the police that had been asking about Luna- hehehe
Thank you so much everyone who has added this story to their favourites, I've noticed that I get a lot of emails recently with new people's name. Teehee. Please review, it really helps me.
One last thing there's a link on my profile to a little drawing of Luna, if you want to have a look.