Chapter 3: Worry
Filyn's POV…
"Hey! I'm back!" Filyn exclaimed as she came into the door with her hands full with shopping bags. "Jeez… This took way longer than it needed to." She muttered before noticing that no one was there to greet her.
"Um… Hello?" Filyn said as she looked around before stepping into the living room. "Is everyone here? Hello?" She then peered over the couch. "Hello—? Oh, there you are!"
Filyn saw both Sapphire and Venus sleeping with each other, closely hugging each other on the couch. They seem to be trying to fit on it since the couch was designed to fit one person that can sleep on it. But the way Sapphire is scrunching her eyes and squeezing Venus a little harder signified that she having a nightmare or something
'I should wake her up…' Filyn thought before putting her hands on Sapphire's arms and tried to shake her awake. "Oi! Wake—!"
—
"It's been a while… hasn't it?" I heard a soft yet familiar voice speak. "It seemed that you brought someone interesting… However…"
I heard the voice chuckling a little.
"The seventh piece for my little chess game has been placed. Three more pieces left…"
Who…?
"And one of those pieces is just as important as you are…"
Who is this…? Why am I dreaming about this again…?
"Now then… Wake—"
—
Sapphire's POV…
"—up you two!" I heard Filyn yell as I felt someone shaking me awake. "I got you the clothes that Venus wants!" When I finally stirred awake, I looked up and my eyes met with Filyn's face.
"Noo… Too sleepy… later…" I muttered before closing my eyes again before Filyn kept shaking me awake again. I groaned before hugging what I assumed to be a pillow.
"I hate to break it to you, it's six in the afternoon…" Filyn shrugged before giggling about something which made me a little suspicious. "Oh, and by the way, I think you're hugging Venus a bit too hard…"
"H-Huh…?" I looked where I thought I was hugging a pillow but it was a small head of blue hair close to my chest, feeling some sort of breath coming from it before realizing it was Venus. I then quickly released her from my hug, feeling really guilty. And then realizing from how we were positioned on the couch, being that I was positioned in the back and Venus was positioned in front of me, she looked like she was about to fall off. So to keep her from falling, I went back to hugging her again. "S-Sorry… for that…"
"Hm? What are you talking about?" Venus groggily asked as she felt some slight movement from her, and seemed to be waking up. Did she not notice I was squeezing her too hard?
"Oh… actually I was kind of squeezing you a bit too hard and…" My voice suddenly trailed off as I just noticed something. "Wait, how did we fall asleep?"
"Well, obviously you woke up a bit earlier than usual…" Filyn said, crossing her arms as I looked up to her. "And usually, you wake up at five in the morning…"
"Oh, I see…" I muttered as I carefully sat up from the couch, trying hard not to let Venus fall off of it by slowly moving her body with me with my arms while I felt her hands clinging on to me. "Venus? Are you okay?"
Venus slowly nodded before slowly getting off of me and the couch entirely. She then yawned and stretched for a little bit before turning her attention to Filyn. "Did you really buy clothes for me?" To which the redhead nodded, making her eyes gleamed with excitement. "Really!? Can I see!?" She asked before Filyn nodded again, making her smile in delight. "Yay!"
I smiled a little before shaking that expression off in place of a serious one. 'I'm guessing that she got her… um… underwear as well…' I then shook my head, trying my hardest not to think about it. 'Nope! I'm definitely not asking that…' I then cleared my throat, catching the attention of both of them. "I would like to see this as well…" I then looked at Venus with serious eyes. "If you don't mind, of course…"
"Of course!" Venus said, giving me a huge smile as she put her hands behind her back. "Thank you for saying that, big sis!"
"Y-Yeah… no worries…" I said while scratching the back of my head. "Just making sure that Filyn didn't buy anything weird." I then narrowed my eyes at Filyn with suspicion. "You didn't buy anything weird, right?"
"Of course I didn't!" Filyn exclaimed, frantically waving her hands. "I just went into a clothes store and bought some!" She then crossed her arms across her chest and looked to the side. "I mean… I just bought the same one…"
"I see…" I muttered under my breath before standing up from the couch. "Okay then, let's see these clothes."
We then followed Filyn behind the couch where the bags were. She then showed the outfit from the shopping bags, which looked a little… weird. It has gloves and some ribbons with it which is kinda cool. She even bought shoes as well which is really nice, though I'm sure she just picked a random size for her.
Venus excitedly dug through the bag until she pulled out the outfit and examined it. "Woah! It looks pretty!" She exclaimed before turning around and showed me a blue mantle with yellow lining. "Look, big sis! It looks pretty, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so…" I muttered before taking out the gloves and the ribbons from the bag before showing it to Filyn. "But really? Gloves? I mean, I get the ribbons but really? Gloves?"
"Well, those came with the outfit and…" Filyn then awkwardly smiled as she scratched the back of her head. "I guess she would look cool when she fights and…"
I just shook her head before glaring at her. "No! Absolutely not! I'm not letting her fight!" I looked down with a sad look in my eyes before sighing again. "I just… don't want her to…" Then everything glitched slightly but quickly enough for Venus to notice it but noticed my expression on my face.
"Big sis? Are you okay?" Venus asked with great concern on her face, even stopping what she was doing. Even Filyn looked at me with the same amount of concern for a very different reason.
However, I still didn't want her to worry about me. "No, I'm fine." I told her, waving that question off before giving her a smile. "Don't worry about it for now, okay?"
"I… okay…" Venus replied as she looked down, still very concerned for me. But she does seem like she's willing to let it go.
"Well, I'm going to make dinner now." I said as I was about to walk over to the kitchen. "Just wait here and don't put on those clothes yet, okay?"
"Alright…" Venus muttered, still looking down. And from looking at her, she doesn't seem to understand why I act this way… Not that I want her to…
Then Filyn tapped me on the shoulder. "Think I can help with preparing the food?" She asked me as she crossed her arms. "If you're okay with it and um…" She then went up to my ear and whispered. "I want to talk to you about something…"
"Sure… I guess…" I whispered back to her before we both made our way to the kitchen, leaving Venus there. When we finally got there, I immediately took out the ingredients like the soup base and some vegetables, some cooking tools, some bowls, and a pot and started to wash some of the vegetables while Filyn started to take out some small bowls from the cupboard.
As I started to chop some cabbages up with a knife, Filyn started to ask, "Is 'it' happening again?" Emphasizing the 'it' in her question. She then lowered her voice for only me to hear. "You're losing control of your 'Corrupted Form' again, right?"
I stopped chopping and looked down. At first, I wanted to lie about it. But if I did, she would immediately catch on. "…Yes." I muttered in a rather somber tone.
Even though I didn't see it, I knew Filyn was setting down some utensils. "It has been three months since that happened again… but…" she let out a frustrated sigh. "This is the first time it has reacted so little… so I guess we're fine… right…?"
I just shook my head before going back to chopping the cabbage. "Even if it was only a little bit, it still doesn't matter since I will lose control again… So… we're just going to do the same thing as last time…" I quietly said as I finished chopping them up before putting them in a bowl. I then started to wash the lettuce before chopping them up before finishing up and putting them in a separate bowl. "But… I'm going to have to test it on the upcoming days… since I've never seen it react so little… and with very little range…"
"I-I see…"
There was an awkward silence, well, other than me placing the pot in the sink and carefully filling the pot with water. "Are we going to tell Venus this?" I heard Filyn asked in a low tone.
"No, we're not telling her anything." I replied quietly as I turned the water off before putting the filled-up pot on the stove and turning it on. "Plus, Venus was just born, so I won't overload her with information."
"Okay and…" I felt Filyn tapped on my shoulder, making me turn around. "Aren't you making a little too much?"
"H-Huh…?" I immediately looked back and noticed that I chopped a bit too much vegetables. I then noticed that the water in the pot almost overflowed. "O-Oh… I see…"
"Seriously? Did you not notice this again!?" Filyn pouted before groaning again as she shook her head. "I guess we're leaving the leftovers in the fridge… again."
"Hey! I don't do this a lot…" My voice then trailed off as I looked at the whatever I just created before turning back to Filyn. "Just nevermind about that, okay?"
Filyn just sighed as she kept shaking her head. "Sure… I'll make sure I use leftover rice… to balance out the saltiness of the soup… Right?" She said as I gave her a smirk before turning off the stove and took out some water. We then watched the water boil before putting the stove at medium heat before putting in the vegetables. I then mixed the vegetables and then later put in the soup base which I'm pretty sure I bought the miso soup base, waiting for a little bit before turning the stove off and placing it on a different stove.
As I was doing that, Filyn grabbed the leftover rice that was in a huge container from the refrigerator, which was rather a lot, and put it in the microwave. She then looked through the cupboard and took out some smaller bowls. When the microwave was finished, she took it out before scooping out the rice and placed it in the three separate bowls then put it right next to the bowls we're going to use for the soup.
"Okay Venus! I just finished cooking so come on over!" I exclaimed as loud as I could so that she could hear. "If you don't, we might eat it all!" I jokingly said even though I knew the two of us couldn't eat this.
And in a flash, Venus was there in front of the table before we even knew it. This absolutely caught us off guard since both of us didn't expect to see anything like that. "Yes! I'm here! Please don't eat it all!" She then noticed our shocked look which got her all confused. "Um, what's wrong?"
"What did you just do?" I asked rather cautiously, trying to process what just happened before I started to panic about what this could entail. I immediately rushed to her before kneeling down to her level before holding both of her arms. "What did you just do!?" I repeated again with a little more force.
"I-I just ran! Really!" Venus said, confused as to why I was acting this way. And from the looks of how she acted, she doesn't even know what she just did. And moreover, I had an inkling of a feeling I knew what this was. Because…
Just like her, I was born with an ability. An ability to read someone's soul.
"Venus… the problem isn't exactly that you ran… it's just that…" I looked down. Suddenly, a lot of thoughts followed into my mind like what if she lost control and got hurt or what if she got hurt like how I hurted before. I then stopped my thundering thoughts in my head before I finally spoke up. "It's just how fast you just ran."
"Huh…?" Venus just looked at me with further confusion about what I just said. "How fast did I run?" She asked.
'How the heck am I supposed to explain that to her!?' I thought to myself before shaking my head while feeling stumped on how I should explain it to her. "Well…" My voice trailed off as I started to loosen my grip on her even though I looked at her worryingly. "You kinda ran here way too fast for us to even notice and…" And my voice trailed off again, trying my hardest not to snap. "I mean… No one is able to run like that!"
"Um… Okay…" Venus then looked directly at my face with her huge blue eyes. "Why do you look so worried? Are you worried about me?"
After hearing that from her, I couldn't hold back anymore. "Worried? Of course I'm worried about you!" I suddenly snapped at her, making Venus jump. "What if you ran straight into a wall, hurting yourself in the process!? What if you accidentally broke the window while doing that and you fell out!?" I went back to strengthening my grip on her arms. "What if you pulled a stunt behind my back and in front of a bunch of people you don't know!? How are you going to explain to the people who saw you!?"
Venus suddenly started to shake in my hands in fear and her eyes started to tear up as well. Looking at her, it seemed like she didn't understand what I was telling her.
That's when Filyn started to speak up. Seems that she didn't want to stand by anymore. "Woah Sapphire, calm down. Okay?" She said in a not so yet stern way. "Look. You're scaring your own sister."
I sighed before trying to calm down again. Then I felt guilty about scaring her for the second time in a day. "Look. I'm now responsible for your safety. Okay?" I told her quietly as I pulled Venus into a hug. "So don't show anything like this again." I then decided what I wanted to say before speaking up again. "Don't show this 'ability' that you have to anyone other than us."
I felt Venus just nodded her head on my shoulder in some sort of understanding. "O-Okay, sis…" She replied with a tone of a little fear and confusion.
I then let her go before giving her a smile. "Alright, let's eat." I said as I then grabbed a bowl, walked over to the pot, and poured in the soup and vegetables before placing it on a table right next to the bowl of rice. "Here. Make sure you blow on it before eating. And eat some rice to balance out the soup."
Venus nodded as she sat herself down on the table, grabbed a spoon, scoop some up, blew on it before she ate it. She then grabbed some rice out of her bowl and ate it as well. And after a while, when me and Filyn got our food, everything started to go back to normal but it was only a little since there was one more person in the room. Although we didn't talk that much because of the tension earlier, I did try to start a conversation to break it.
"By the way Filyn, I've decided to show Venus around Planeptune tomorrow." I told Filyn calmly as I was eating the vegetables. "And fortunately, you have to come with us."
"Really? That's amazing…!" Then her voice suddenly trailed off when she heard what I said about her. "H-Hey! What do you mean by 'fortun—!? I mean… whatever that word is!?"
"Well… unfortunately I only know half of the places in this nation." I clarified for her in a tone of annoyance. "And Venus doesn't know any of the places here… So you and I need to work together to show her around…"
"I see… so you're saying that you only go to the sweet shop and the coffee shop. Don't worry, I know." Filyn jokingly said, giving me a smirk before she started to speed eating her food. "I… ess… 'll… be… he… lping… ou… oth…"
I groaned, remembering the fact that she caught me with huge bags of sweets and coffee before. "Filyn… stop talking while you're eating… And I did not go there because I wanted to!"
Venus giggled a little, which made me eye her. I frowned a little at what I thought was her giggling at me."Heeeey! What are you giggling about!?" I asked Venus, who then immediately pointed to Filyn. "O-Oh. I see… Sorry… And um… are you finished with your food?"
"Um… No." Venus replied before she ate up what she could and somehow she actually finished her food. When she finally ate all her food, she then looked at me rather curiously. "Um, Sis? Why is your hair so long? And why is it so… soft?"
"Huh? Well…" I said as I ran my fingers through my hair. It indeed felt soft and it was also, as Venus mentioned, very long. So much so it could tickle the back of my feet. "I didn't really want to cut it so… it just grew out for a while…" I told her before I went back to eat my food. "And I don't know why it's so soft…"
"Y'know… I said this before but maybe you should at least cut your hair." Filyn told me as she finally finished with what's left of her food. "It might get in the way while you're walking and you might get it dirty and…"
"Meh." I replied before I then gave Venus a small smirk. "So? Do you want to touch it again?" But as my sister was about to say something, I giggled. "I'm just joking with you… You don't have to if you don't want to."
"O-Oh…" Venus muttered as she looked down, embarrassed. I then lean over to her and pat her head to comfort her. "H-Huh!? Sis? What are you—?"
"Don't worry about my hair. Okay?" I smiled at Venus as I rubbed her head before going back to finishing my food. When I finally finished my food, I looked my way towards Filyn. "Hey, could you wash the dishes for us? I'm going to show Venus around here." I then turned my attention towards my sister. "I mean… If you want me to."
"Um… Sure." Venus replied, looking at me rather curiously. And from how she looked, this definitely got her interest. "So… where are we going?"
"Hmm…" I hummed in thought as I tapped my chin. "Do you know where the bathroom is? Or where some of the important rooms are placed?" Venus then shook her head. "Then how about we start off small stuff first before we move on to the more complicated stuff, okay?"
Venus nodded before I took her hand and led her around the living quarters. First, I showed her the bathroom in which she surprisingly knows the basic things about personal hygiene and bathing. Though, I did give her an extra toothbrush from the cupboard under the sink since there's no way I'm letting her use mine's or Filyn's.
When we finally left the bathroom, I pointed at a few things that were of the utmost importance like Filyn's room and a library-like section. And the more I pointed them out, the more curious Venus got.
"That over there is my office." I pointed at the brown door that is near the kitchen. "It's where I usually work and where you might work one day." I then immediately corrected myself. "I mean! I'm not going to force you if you don't want to!" Venus looked curiously as I felt really nervous. "I-I mean… I won't rush you if it's too hard for you…"
Venus then nodded in understanding. "Okay. I understand, sis." She replied, giving me a warm smile. "So, what's that over there?" She asked as she pointed to an old-looking door which was down a hallway that had a sign that labeled it as 'The Super Not-So Secret Lab!'
Of course, that's the only room I didn't want her to look inside. So, I just nervously chuckled as I scratched the back of my head. "Well, you shouldn't look in there." I told her as I immediately blocked the door from her vision. "E-Either way, that's the end of the tour! What do you think so far?"
Venus blinked, still looking a bit curious about that door I was blocking. However, she didn't make a move or anything. "Thank you for the tour, sis." She said, putting her hands behind her back. "Um… I think I can get around without getting lost…"
I chuckled as I patted her head. "Okay. Now, go ahead and brush your teeth before heading off to my room. You can sleep early if you want." I instructed her very kindly. "It's a big day tomorrow so we have to wake up early. Okay?"
"Okay, sis." Venus replied as she moved away from my hand as she then gave me another smile. "And… thank you." She then headed over to the bathroom.
When she finally left the room, there was complete silence or there was until Filyn spoke up. "You know, you should really train her to fight at least." I immediately jumped before turning around to see her leaning on the dining table.
"Jeez! Speak up if you have to!" I exclaimed angrily as I stomped my foot, immediately shook off that jittery feeling. "I can barely tell that you were there in the first place!"
"Heh. Sorry!" Filyn apologized, smiling a little before it faded off her face as she then crossed her arms. "You know… You should train Venus the basics at least… In case something bad happens to you… Plus, you always say that to always prepare for the worst…"
"Yeah… but…" I looked down to my feet to avoid looking at Filyn's face. "I just… I don't want her to get hurt…" I solemnly spoke as I then unconsciously started to hug myself. "Also… when I first found her… when I learned that she was my sister… and when I saw her ability… It honestly… scared me… like… she was an embodiment of all of my old insecurities… and…" I took a deep breath. "I… don't want her to live the same way that I had gone through… that past I told you about…"
"I know but… nevermind…" Filyn said as she too looked down as well. "Sorry for bringing that again…" She then stood up and walked away from me.
After I heard her close her door, I let out a huge sigh of sadness. 'I just… can't even bear the thought of her getting hurt… I just… can't…' I then immediately shook those thoughts away. "Let's head in for the night. I mean… after I brush my teeth… of course…"
I made my way into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then when I went into my room, I saw Venus just sitting on the bed, and from how tall it was, her legs were dangling from it. From how she's looking down to her feet in thought, she's probably been waiting for me or something. However, she has yet to notice me just standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Venus." I suddenly spoke up, quickly catching her attention. I then walked over to her and sat down right next to her. "So, why are you still up?" I asked her kindly. "Is there something wrong with the bed? Or is it my room that's wrong?"
Venus slowly shook my head. "No, it's not that. Everything is fine. It's just…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down again. "I can't sleep."
"Huh? Why? You were sleeping okay earlier." I asked, tilting my head before I immediately took a shot in the dark. Though I wasn't sure about this, it was a small clue that clicked with me. "Is it because I was not right next to you?"
Venus nodded while she looked down. "Sorry… It's just that…" Her voice then trailed off. "With you not there… I…"
"No! It's okay." I said, reassuring Venus before wrapping my arm around her pulling her close to me. "Just don't worry about it, okay?" I rubbed her arm to comfort her. "So to get rid of your sleeplessness, let's sleep together, okay?"
Venus only nodded before I unwrapped my arm that was around her and slowly swung my legs onto my bed. Then Venus lay down right next to me as she then wrapped her arms around me before closing her eyes. After I was sure she fell asleep, I too closed my eyes before darkness enveloped around me.
—
'Something is still there…'
'I'm dreaming that something is there…'
'It's right in front of me… Staring back at me… It's eyes… The red on my hands… I don't want to see it… I never want to see it… I can never look it in the eye… It hurts… It hurts… IT HURTS…!'
…
'But… everything should be okay… right?'
That's all for now! Sorry to cut this a little short but I just really want to flesh out this version of Planeptune instead of having it shoved into this single chapter where I could just leave multiple important details out. Thanks again to decode9 for helping me again with Venus. Either way, not too much to say other than Please Review and Stay Safe!
Edit: If you're wondering why Sapphire is acting this way, it's because made her in a way she completely overreacted to things and would immediately jump to the problem as quickly as possible, destroying any chances of it spreading. Either way, what do you think about this chapter?
