Ami... The word, name really, came to the small halloween cybunny one night. She stood up, stretched, and walked to the window of her room. Several thoughts raced around her head, but the one that kept coming back was: Why?
Why had she let Sara disown Ami? The starry zafara had been her favorite little sister. A sweet musician who didn't mind posing for hours on end with her guitar for sketches. A wonderful petpet owner, whose Anubis never suffered.
And now, she was gone. Lost to an owner who hadn't come back for half a year. The owner had most likely forgotten her pets existed.
The cybunny shuddered, realizing how hungry Ami and the other pets must be. And not just those four. The other pets, whose owners never came back. Little kacheeks, fierce grarrls, beautiful aishas and, well, not so beautiful moehogs. All of them depended on their owners.
Sure, they could try to feed themselves. But pets weren't as good at games, which provided the money for food. And they needed to be groomed too. A nicely brushed coat wasn't just for looks, it was for health as well.
The cybunny recalled a disease that humans could catch because they weren't living in clean areas, and she was glad she wasn't able to catch it. The diseases here were much milder, compared to some of the things Sara had told her of.
She remembered when she and Ami had caught Neopox.
- - -
'Cheer up Sari, this can't last for much longer.' Ami said cheerfully, sitting up in bed. 'Sara will have those Neopox Pizzas in no time!'
'Yeah, she's great at Turmac Roll! She'll have the neopoints in no time!' she replied.
They both hopped out of bed and Ami pulled out a board game. Chess, their favorite.
She played with the white pieces, and Sari used the black ones. Ami took her sister's pawn, and she took Ami's a few turns later. The shoyru, for Sari had been a shoyru then, was about to claim her sister's king when their owner came in.
'Playing games after bed time again?' Sara asked, smiling.
The two pets put on guilty faces, and put the game away. The girl laughed, and put them back in bed. She gave them each a kiss on the forehead.
'Now go to sleep!'
'Goodnight Sara!'
- - -
They had shared a room then, so it was easy to catch the disease together. And when they did, they just went about their usual business, playing Kacheckers, Cellblock, and other board games for hours on end.
Ami usually won, she had more practice. Sari wasn't a thinker, she was a fighter. Strategy games weren't her strong point, even if she had read dozens of books on the subject, she couldn't really remember them. They were so dull.
Her sister was always trying to interest her in the manuals, but it rarely worked. So she had started making Sari read them, one way or another, just so she'd get an understanding of the game. Just enough to play it.
And it wasn't just game manuals. It was petpet ownership guides, cook books, spell books, anything that would teach her something. Something like patience.
- - -
'Come on Ami!' Sari tapped her foot. 'We're not going to get good seats!'
The zafara shook her head. Her sister was so impatient.
'We still have half an hour and we're nearly there!' she shouted back, but ran to catch up anyway.
The two pets hurried into the concert hall, after giving their tickets to the mynci at the gate. Sari's favorite band, Twisted Roses, was going to play today. Ami smiled, forgiving her sister for being so impatient. The band only played once a month after all, always on the first day.
- - -
She wished she hadn't been so impatient with her sister that day. Just as she wished she hadn't said many things when Ami was still here.
It was kind of funny, she thought, how you regret things only when it's too late to do anything.
That thought brought back the one that she hated the most: She had let Sara get rid of her little sister.
The only one who could always make her laugh, cheer her up, be there for her. Her owner was kind, but she couldn't always be there. Ami could.
Every now and then, she would write out a million apologies to her sister, but she never sent them.
She remembered that Ami hated letters.
- - -
'Letters, letters, letters!' Ami complained. 'I hate letters. Talking is much more civilized. Whoever thought of letters is silly! They're just words on a piece of paper. They could say one thing, and mean another and there'd be no way to tell! At least with talking you have a chance to tell if someone's lying.'
- - -
It wasn't enough anyway. She wanted to tell the zafara in person, to pour her heart out to her sister. But she doubted she would ever be able to. After all, she lived on the peak of Terror Mountain. Ami probably lived somewhere else. Somewhere warm, like Mystery Island or the Lost Desert. She had always hated the cold. Sari remembered that too.
- - -
'What about Terror Mountain?' Sari asked her sister. They were discussing ideal home locations.
'Far too cold. It'd be like living in a freezer! Remember when we went? And that was in summer!' Ami shuddered. 'Horrible, horrible...'
'It's not that cold...' the now green cybunny pouted. 'Anyway, why's Faerieland so warm? It's even higher up than Terror Mountain. Isn't it supposed to be colder if it's higher?'
'Usually. But the faeries keep it warm, silly!' the zafara grinned. 'Race you to the Hidden Tower!'
Ami shot off, and Sari coughed because of all the dust.
'HEY! WAIT UP!' she yelled, and raced off after her.
- - -
Ami never beat her, even when she had a head start. The halloween pet smiled a bit, remembering all the times that her sister had come close though. She always needed to train up on that in order to keep up.
The little zafara always admired Sari for her speed, even when she lost by a huge distance. She would look up at her sister when they had finished, out of breath, at their destination, and smile. She'd say: 'One of these days, I'll beat you.'
She never would be able to, unless, by some miracle, she was disowned again and Sara found her. But that only happens in stories, fairy tales. Sari sighed. She missed her little sister.
Sure, she was a pain sometimes, but that's normal. Younger siblings are always annoying at times. It's one of the unwritten rules. The laws of being a family. Another was never leave anyone behind.
She cringed, realizing no one followed those rules any more. Most of them, anyway. Pets were separated, families destroyed, the special bonds shattered by cruel words and even crueler actions.
Then, Sari looked up at the sky, at the moon. It was the same moon Ami was looking at, if she was awake. That gave her some comfort.
"Sister, I know I did the wrong thing. But I swear, I will find you and bring you home one day. Forever." She said softly, but fiercely.
Of all the emotions the cybunny felt that night, one was stronger than any other. One kept her from breaking the promise she made to herself, to her sister.
Regret.