Chapter 14 — Six Sisters

Zero's POV

"Sister Zero, is this the place?" One asked me as we all stopped in front of a shabby shack.

There was dried blood staining the grass in front of the cabin, behind us were several shattered trees, signs of the fight that took place here in the past.

"Yes." I replied as I opened the cabin door, due to my newly gained strength and the degradation of the door, I ended up ripping it off the hinges.

"Sister Zero, what have you done? The cabin owners will be furious." Four said worriedly as she watched the door that was left in my hands.

"Don't worry, I know the owners, they won't mind." I said to Four as I threw the door away.

We all entered the hut and looked around.

"This place needs a cleaning." Five said as she dragged her finger across a table and saw the dirt build up on her finger.

"It looks haunted." Two said as she looked around.

"I still don't think we should be here, we broke into someone's house." Four said as she stood outside in the doorway.

The hut was small, just a room and a bedroom, I walked towards the bedroom and opened the door, and there was a bed and a small table beside the bed.

"Sister Zero, why are we here?" One asked me as she entered the room next to me.

"I just wanted to see something." I replied as I approached the bed, it was possible to see some dried vomit stains on the floor and sheets.

"What happened here?" One asked again as she stopped beside me.

"A sick person lived here a long time ago, she was dying."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter now, that person has already died. Come on, I propose we find the treasure."

One gave me the look of someone who wasn't satisfied with the answer but followed me anyway, as we walked out of the room to find Three looking at us.

"Two souls, bound together by fate, this was their place of death, but it led them to their place of rebirth." Three said as she stared at me.

Okay, I'm scared now; I didn't know kids could be so scary "Right." I said with hesitation.

"Three, what do you mean by that?" One asked.

Three stopped staring at me, walked towards me and hugged my leg.

"Carry me, I'm tired." Three said as if nothing had happened.

I shrugged with a sigh, took Three under the arms, sat her on my left arm and she laid her head on my shoulder as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

I noticed that One was staring at Three.

"What's it? Are you jealous?" I asked with a smile.

"N-no, of course not, I'm too old for that!" One said as she looked away.

"HAHA! If you say. All of you come on!" My sisters and I left the house and went to the back of it, there was a big apple tree, and we approached until we were facing it.

"Listen, this is the treasure spot." I said as I pointed to the ground in front of the apple tree.

The sisters' eyes widened and they started jumping up and down in excitement.

"Now all I need is your help digging…" I couldn't finish as Two ran past me and began digging with speed and strength a child shouldn't have, chunks of earth flying everywhere.

"I found!" Two screamed as she walked away covered in dirt.

Five and Four ran towards the dug hole and started pushing each other along with Two.

"I wanna see!"

"Where are the coins?"

"I who dug the hole, so I who will see the treasure first!"

The three screamed.

"One, hold Three for a minute." I said as I handed Three to One to hold, One almost fell backwards while holding her sister.

"Excuse me." I said as I walked past Five, Four and Two.

Looking into the hole, everything seemed to be there, three bags full of bronze, silver and some gold coins. With the bags in my hands I walked away from the hole.

"So this is the treasure?" One asked.

"Yes, have a look." I said as I reached down and opened one of the bags for my sisters to see.

Her eyes widened at the sight.

"This is much money!"

"We are rich!"

"Think of all the things we can buy with it!"

Five, Four and Two said respectively, as One gave me a concerned look.

"Sister Zero, are you sure we should take this money? It seems dangerous to walk around with all that."

"Don't worry One, if anyone tries to rob us, they'll end up with broken bones." I replied.

"Sister Zero!" One scolded me for my answer.

"Sister Zero need not worry, One, after all she has us to protect her." Four said as she put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

"That's right, if anyone tries to get their hands on our big sister, they'll have to deal with me! HÁ!" Two screamed as she punched the apple tree, to my surprise the apple tree swayed from the strength of Two's punch, apples fell to the ground and the mark of Two's fist was left on the tree.

I looked around at all my sisters, these are not normal kids.

"Did you see that, Sister Zero? I can protect you!" Two said as she lifted her arms and flexed them.

Then One approached me with a determined look "Sister Zero, I give you my word that I will protect you, I will not allow any harm to come to you."

"Thanks One, but you shouldn't worry about that kind of thing, you're kids." I said as I petted One on top of her head.

One pouted with her face flushing in embarrassment "I am not a child!"

"HA! Of course not." I said as I took Three from One's arms.

"Sister Zero, where are we going now?" Five asked.

"Hm! Let me think."

Good question. Where should we go? To any of the lands of Midgard? No. I'm a criminal, even though I've been declared dead, if anyone sees my face I'll be in trouble, the flower in my eye doesn't help anything, traveling long distances is not an option, especially with five kids accompanying me. I think we will stay in the Cathedral City region which is not ruled by any lord, but in a border town, if something goes wrong we can quickly flee to another of the lands.

"We'll take a trip, Five."

"A trip?" Five asked.

"Yes, we're going to look for a place to live, so come on all of you. To find a home." I said as I walked away from the cabin, my sisters following me.

"Yes that's right! We will live in a big house!" Five said.

"With a big garden for us to play in!" Two said.

"And overlooking the sea!" Four said.

Three continued to sleep, I felt One holding my free hand.

"And you One? How would you like our home to be?"

"I don't mind that much as long as it's a quiet place." One said.

"I see, a little peace would be nice. You don't like noise, do you?"

One nodded yes.

"Don't worry, we'll find you a quiet place to live." I said as I smiled at One and One returned the smile.

We continued walking through the forest towards the dirt road, a comfortable silence had formed, and the girls were more interested in observing the forest plants and some animals that occasionally passed by.

But I noticed something, One seemed to be looking for something, a look of confusion was on her face.

"One, is something wrong?"

"It's nothing Sister Zero." One said trying to pretend everything was fine.

"One, you're not fooling anyone. Whats wrong?"

"Well, Sister Zero, I don't know how to say this without worrying you, but…"

"But?"

"Don't you get the feeling someone is missing?" One asked me.

"Anyone missing? But all your sisters are here." I said as I looked at Five, Four and Two who accompanied me.

"I know, Sister Zero, they're not the ones I'm talking about. It's someone else, someone else who is missing." One said excitedly.

"Who exactly?"

"I don't know! That is the problem! As if it wasn't enough that we don't remember anything about our parents, now I have the feeling that someone is missing. What is happening?" One asked worriedly.

"I don't know One. I recommend that you do not pay attention to this, you may not remember these people, but I am still here with you, am I not?" I said as I smiled at One, trying to comfort her.

One smiled back "I think you're right, thank you."

"You're welcome."

So we go back to walking in silence, someone missing? The only person I can think of is... No, it must not be possible, they've never met him, they must be talking about someone else, probably a friend of their supposed parents, I don't think it's impossible, after all for some reason they consider me an eldest sister.

These girls become a bigger mystery every day, but that doesn't matter at the moment, what matters is finding a safe place for us to live, and maybe that way I can have a little normality in my life.

TIMESKIP

And we found a place to live, near the port town of Doveport, our house was set back from the town on a grassy plain overlooking the sea, it was a two-story clapboard house with a front porch.

The house was abandoned when we arrived, it took some time, but we managed to get it in better condition, and we lived there, going to Doveport just to buy food or essentials for everyday life, when we went to the city for the first time they stayed amazed, they asked one question after another about the city and its inhabitants.

Four wanted to see the ships in the harbor, Two wanted to play with the other children, Five wanted to visit all the restaurants and patisseries in town, Three and One wanted to visit different shops and merchant stalls in search of books, be it fairy tale books or books on world history, Three also asked me to buy her a doll, she clung to the thing as if the doll were her daughter.

For a while all seemed fine, that was until a problem arose, money, we couldn't live with our "treasure" forever, the taxes that were increasing every day only made the situation worse, damn Lords, I was getting desperate until One came up with a suggestion.

"We could sing for the audience." One said with a smile.

"Sing? Since when can you sing?" I asked.

"Sister Zero, we always knew how to sing." Four said.

"After all, it was you who taught us." Three said as she hugged her doll.

"I don't remember teaching you."

"Oh! Sister Zero, how forgetful you are, you always sang to us and then taught us when we grew up." Five said.

"How about we show you?" Two continued.

Then they did something that surprised me, they sang, they sang like it was something natural to them, like they had been singing for years, not one of them was out of tune, they were all singing in sync, and for some reason I started singing too, I don't know how it happened, but for some reason it felt right to me, it felt natural.

So we decided to put this into practice, I put on my hooded robe and together we went to Doveport, we stopped in the town square and started singing, immediately people started crowding in front of us, they threw coins into a small wooden box that I placed on the floor next to me, at the end everyone applauded and asked for more, it worked every day, it was like magic.

With that time passed, but new challenges kept arising, the first being my increased strength, speed and senses, it was hard work, but after weeks of breaking doorknobs, cups and plates I finally managed to control my strength, I learned to apply force or enough not to break everything that could be seen ahead.

The second challenge... well... Let's just say I had to learn how to take care of six children by force.

"Get in that tub right now!" I said as I tried to force a mud-covered Two into the wooden tub.

It had just rained and Two thought it would be a good idea to jump in all the muddy puddles she found outside.

"I do not want!" Two screamed as she spread her arms and legs and held on to the edge of the tub, preventing her from stepping into the water.

"Let's go!"

"No!"

That wasn't working, I decided to change my strategy, and I started tickling Two's sides.

"HAHAHA!" Two burst out laughing, which caused her to lose her grip on the tub's edges and fall into the water.

"Very well, now let's get on with your bath." I said as I grabbed a bar of soap and a brush.

"Damn it!" Two screamed.

"Watch out for young tongue." Said as I rubbed Two's back, eventually the bath was over, I turned to get a towel to dry Two off, but when I turned to the bathtub there was no one there.

"Two?" I said as I looked around, all I saw was a series of footprints on the floor and the bathroom door opening and closing.

"TWO!" I screamed as I ran out of the bathroom, only to see a naked Two sticking her tongue out at the end of the hall.

"Come back here you brat!" I screamed as I ran after Two with a towel in my hands.

But it wasn't just Two that gave me trouble.

"Come on Five, open your mouth." Said while bringing a spoon with medicine inside towards Five's mouth, she had caught a cold.

Five covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head.

"Come on, the medicine isn't that bad." I said as I tasted some of the medicine to show Five my point, immediately my face contorted in disgust, I tried to hide it from Five but it seems she noticed.

"Fuck this!" With my remaining hand I pinched Five's arm.

"AHHH!" Five screamed, I immediately shoved the spoon into her mouth when she opened. Five's face contorted in disgust.

"See, it wasn't that bad." I said with a smile.

"How did this happen?" I asked Four in front of me.

The kitchen was a mess, pasta was strewn all over the place, and a horrible burning smell came out of a pan.

"I was trying to make a cake. I'm sorry sister Zero." Four said as she looked away.

I sighed, "The important thing is that you're okay. How about if I teach you how to bake a cake?"

"Serious?" Four asked as her eyes sparkled.

I nodded.

So we spent the afternoon in the kitchen making a cake for all of us, it was delicious, not bad for the first cake she made.

"Sister Zero?" Three asked as she opened my bedroom door.

"Yes Three?" I asked as I closed the book I was reading.

Three entered the room, she looked nervous about something; her hands were hidden behind her back.

Three looked from side to side and slowly removed her hand from behind her back, revealing her rag doll in one hand and her button eye in the other.

"Did your doll's eye come loose?" I asked.

Three nodded yes.

"Give me the doll." I said as I held out my hands, Three handed me the doll and the button eye.

I think I can sew it back, I went to a drawer in my bedroom and pulled out a ball of thread and a needle, what followed was one of the biggest challenges I've had in my life, getting the thread through the eye of the needle, since the flower in my eye sent my depth sense to hell.

Two hours later I managed to sew the doll together and returned it to Three.

"Thank you sister Zero!" Three said as she smiled, hugged the doll and ran out of the room.

One was the least trouble to take care of, in fact, she was the one who helped me the most with the housework and taking care of the sisters, but that doesn't mean that she didn't give me work occasionally, but it wasn't due to the mess that she did, but because One wanted to be by my side at all times.

While I prepared the food.

"Sister Zero, may I help?" One asked as I prepared lunch.

While I went to buy food.

"Sister Zero, I will go with you!" One said as she put on her shoes and held my hand as I prepared to leave the house.

While I was using the bathroom.

"Sister Zero, do you need help?" One asked as she knocked on the bathroom door.

"Get out of here!" I screamed.

"Okay, if you need me just call." One said as I heard her footsteps walking away.

One, like Three, was a curious child, always asking questions and not liking it when I didn't know the answer, but I still managed to teach my sisters something, like reading, writing and basic math, I taught One and One helped me to teach their sisters.

With that, time continued to pass.

Spring.

"HAHAHA!" My sisters laughed as they ran in front of the house through the blooming flowers.

I was sitting on a chair on the porch watching.

Five then came towards me with something hidden behind her back.

"What do you have there Five?" I asked.

"A surprise! Close your eyes and bow your head!" Five said with a smile.

I did what Five asked, I felt something being placed in my head, when I opened my eyes I saw Five smiling in front of me.

I put my hand on the thing that was on my head. Was that what I was thinking?

"Is that a wreath?" I asked Five.

"Yes! You liked it?"

"Did I like it? Loved it." I said as I petted Five on her head.

Summer.

"Sister Zero, look at me!" Two screamed as she swam in the sea.

Due to the heat I decided to take my sisters to the beach near Doveport, Four, Five and One were building a sandcastle, while Three was beside me resting in the shade of a tree.

"I'm watching Two, you swim great!" I yelled back.

Fall

We were at home due to the rain that was falling outside, to help the girls pass the time I gave them sheets of paper and colored pencils to draw, Four came towards me with a drawing in her hands.

"Sister Zero look!" Four said as she showed me the drawing.

It was clearly a child's drawing, there were the six of us, holding hands in front of our house, the sun was in the corner of the canvas, the sky was painted blue with white clouds, the green grass and flowers were on the ground, but there were something strange, under a tree at the bottom of the drawing there was a person, a black being with wings coming out of its back and two books floating beside it.

There are no more doubts now. Somehow these girls know about him. But how, despite all the time we spent living together, many of my questions went unanswered. How did I come back to life? Why do I have this flower in my eye? Where did these girls come from? Why do they have false memories about me? And how do they know about him?

"Four, who is this person?" I said as I pointed to the figure under the tree.

Four slightly closed her eyes and then shrugged, "I don't know, I don't remember drawing that person. But did you like the drawing?"

"Yes, I like it, do you mind if I keep it?" I asked.

"Of course not." Four said with a smile, took another sheet of paper and went back to drawing.

I started walking among my sisters who were scattered around the room drawing, I looked at their drawings without them noticing and in all of them, hidden in some corner, and there was that black figure. At some point I need to ask them about it and maybe find out what's going on here.

Winter.

It was snowing outside, One, Two, Four and Five were playing in the snow, making snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other, except for Three who was in front of me, at the time I was putting clothes on her to keep warm.

"Sister Zero, I think that's enough." Three said, her voice muffled by the many layers of clothing I had put on her.

Only Three's eyes were visible through the clothing.

"Just one more scarf." I said as I wrapped another scarf around Three's neck.

"Okay, you can go now."

Three walked slowly through the snow, only to immediately fall flat on her face.

"I can't move." Three said.

I sweat nervously from this; I think I better help her.

In the end, this life wasn't all that bad.

It was currently night, I was putting my sisters to sleep in their beds, in their room there were two beds, a big one where Five, Four and Three slept and a small one where One and Two slept.

"Very well, it is time for you to sleep." I said as I placed each one on their beds.

"But we are not sleepy." Two said.

"Can you tell a story?" Three asked.

"Okay, what story?"

One then got out of her bed, grabbed a book that was under the bed, handed it to me and went back to where she was.

"That story." One said as she covered herself.

"I hope you guys sleep after this one." I said with a sigh, I sat down on a chair between my sisters' beds and started reading the story.

TIMESKIP

"… And the end. There, the story is over, time for you to sleep." I said as I closed the book.

"But what about our goodnight kisses?" Five asked.

Letting out a groan, I kissed each of my sister's goodnights on the forehead and headed toward the door.

"Sister Zero?" Four said.

"What?" I said irritably.

"Did you look under the beds to see if there are any monsters?"

"Yes I did." I said as I opened the door.

"And did you find any?" Four asked again.

I stopped for a second, half my body outside the room, turned to Four and gave a "Yes."

BAAM!

I closed the bedroom door immediately and waited outside.

"Three two one…"

"AAAHHH!" Screams began to come from inside the room.

"HAHAHA!" I should probably apologize tomorrow, or maybe not, they give me so much trouble, I guess it doesn't hurt to have a little fun.

Everything seemed fine, until one day we discovered our power.

We were in Doveport; one of our performances had just ended, at the time I was talking to some of the adults who attended the performance while my sisters were playing with some children in the town square, everything was quiet until I heard screaming.

"Let go, you will break it!"

"Give me that!"

Looking at the source of the noise, I saw that Three was arguing with a boy, the boy was trying to take Three's doll out of her hands, and Three was pulling the doll back.

"She is mine!" Three said as she raised her fist and prepared to punch the boy.

My eye widened at that, with the strength my sisters had, Three was going to kill the boy, I ran towards Three and managed to grab her fist, luckily, but with one last pull from the boy.

RISP!

The doll had been split in two.

Seeing this, tears formed in Three's eyes, she opened her mouth to cry and suddenly.

"AAAHHH!"

A deafening scream echoed throughout the square, windows shattered, the ground cracked, people grabbed their ear trying to block out the sound but soon fell unconscious, and it didn't stop there.

I saw One, Two, Four and Five covering their mouths with their hands, but soon…

"AAAHHH!"

Each of them let out a deafening scream.

I felt a nuisance in my throat; it was like there was something going up in it, so...

"AAAHHH!"

I was also screaming, during those screams a word popped into my mind, Intoners.

I don't know how much time passed, but one ago my sisters fell unconscious; I grabbed each one of them and ran towards our house. They seemed to be fine; I placed each of them on their beds and went to my room. What the hell was that? That screams? Where did so much power come from? I wish I could have continued my questions, but my vision started to go dark and I fell onto my bed.

TIMESKIP

"Sister Zero!"

I woke up to someone calling my name, as I got up I jumped back on my bed at what I saw.

"AAAHHH!"

It was a small monster covered in purple hair and with arms and legs sticking out from the inside.

"Sister Zero, it's me, Three." The monster said.

"Three?" I asked as I used my hands to part the monster's hair and there was Three looking back at me.

"Sister Zero, something is wrong with us!" Three said again.

"With us?" Looking around I saw that all the sisters were in my room and clearly there was something wrong with them, Four's fingernails were huge, the door to my room was ripped off and Two was holding the doorknob in her hands, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with One and Five… Well… Let's just say a child shouldn't develop that fast, I'll need to buy her new clothes.

After seeing this I can only say one thing.

"What the fuck is this?!"

END OF THE CHAPTER

Well that's it, Intoners have finally become Intoners. What will happen from now on? Well, I can't say. Leave your comments on what you think of the chapter, suggestions and criticism are welcome.

Until the next chapter!