Mid-January. Black hole enters the galaxy p.2

"…Vic starts describing what the job would be, how he'd be running errands for his dad, going to the bank or delivering files to his lab on days when he's working from home, doing the things he doesn't have time to do. He's like, But I don't know, I mean, I don't wanna be working for my dad. Rae says I mean that does sound really glamorous, more than other part-time jobs you could get, plus your dad's colleagues would treat you well, and…," Gar stopped to think for a moment, "yeah, she's like, Maybe it could turn into a real internship, like if they start to know you at STAR. Vic goes There, that's exactly what I'm afraid of. It sounded like he was pointing his finger around like he does but I can't be sure, since you know, my eyes were closed. Do I keep going?"

Gar was recounting this to Raven, Victor and Dick in the clubroom. The Five had all crashed at Vic's house the night before, and that conversation between Raven and Vic had taken place in the early morning, when they had both woken up before the others—as Gar too slept soundly on the floor next to them.

Dick turned to Raven and Vic at the end of Gar's report. "So? Is it accurate?"

Raven and Vic looked at each other, not wanting to confirm it was in fact accurate.

"He could've been pretending to be asleep," Raven said to Vic.

"He was snoring. If he could act like that he would've fooled Dick that one time he was avoiding his turn doing the dishes," Vic said back.

And so Raven and Vic were forced to turn back to Gar, who just then coupled the unbearably smug smirk on his face with an equally insufferable wiggling of his eyebrows, and admit the truth.

"Okay, I guess you can hear things in your sleep," said Raven. "Way to make us feel paranoid around you forever."

"And leave it to you to have the weirdest talent imaginable," said Vic.

Gar was puffing out his chest like he'd won a prize regardless. "All I'm hearing is jealousy because you don't have superpowers."

"Don't get too cocky with me or you don't get a ride out of town for Kori's party," warned Vic.

Dick perked up. "We're going out of town for Kori's party?"

Vic said, "Yeah, to that club in the outskirts. The Comet."

"A club?" It was the first Dick heard about that. "I thought we were having a sleepover."

"Kori told me in homeroom and the boys in Lit class," Raven offered as sole explanation.

But what sounded off to Dick was that Kori and nightclubs didn't go together in his brain. No one else seemed to find it weird, so Dick went to Kori herself with it.

"Is it a sleepover, or is it clubbing?" he asked her in the hallway between classes.

"It is a night of clubbing," Kori explained, not sounding excited. "Komila will assure us fake identifications to get us in."

"It's… exactly the kind of scene you hate."

Dick had heard of The Comet. It was a four-story all-night club in the outskirts of town that famously made it extremely hard for underage kids to get in; but once you were inside, everything went. No one stopped you at the bar, and no one asked any questions.

Kori looked at him with a blank face. "Why do you say that?"

Dick's eyebrows raised beneath his sunglasses. "Um. Don't you?"

Kori looked away. "I appreciate my sister for organizing it."

And Dick thought he understood then. "You don't wanna ruin her gift, I get it. But it's your birthday. You only turn sixteen once, you're allowed to be a little selfish."

Kori smiled. They had to part for class then, but he was heartened that she'd take his words to heart.

At the end of the day, Dick found himself being herded out of the school by Gar, along with Vic and Raven.

"Why couldn't we talk in the club?" Dick asked as Gar pushed them on around the side of the school, and leaped to look around the corner for possible onlookers.

"We were talking like normal people and then he got this look on his face," Raven related, "and he said he'd remembered everything now." She massaged her left temple, looking deeply aggravated. "That's all I can tell you."

"I'm trying to meet away from Kori," said Gar when he joined them.

"Why?" asked Vic.

"'Cause I just remembered this thing she told me last year!" said Gar. "About her sister. I can't believe I forgot! She said whenever she made friends, Komila eventually stole them. And she was really scared that would happen with us, if we ever met her!"

"What! That's insane!" said Vic.

"That's what I said!" Gar said. "But I just realized she must be scared that's gonna happen here! Look, Kori's never gonna tell us she doesn't want us to hang out with her sister, right? She's too sweet for that." There were eager nods all around. "So we have to take matters into our own hands. We don't have to, like, shun Komila or anything. But we gotta show Kori she's our best friend, not her sister. Right?" His friends unanimously agreed with that too. "Okay, now let's go to the clubroom before she suspects anything."

Raven and Vic marched back inside the school, but Dick made Gar hang back. "Hey. When did Kori say all of that to you?"

Gar replied, "Remember when we were locked in the pool 'cause those two brothers with God complexes wanted to blow up the school?"

"Yeah."

"That gave us time to talk."

"…Right."

Dick let Gar go then, but kept reeling as he followed the group to the clubroom. Kori had talked to him about his sister too; all she'd ever said was overwhelmingly hadn't she told him what she told Gar? Had she really felt insecure all these past few days? How hadn't he noticed?

By the time she returned home that day, Kori was in better spirits than she'd been since Komila touched ground in her they met in clubroom they'd told her missions were canceled for the day and they were going for a drive around town instead. For the day before her birthday, they had gone to the mall and then to a small Turkish café she'd been wanting to try for pastries and tea. She only got home in the late afternoon to get ready for her party, and didn't even mind too much that she was getting ready for a club.

When she got dressed, she made sure to include the necklace her sister gifted her, but found she was missing the white top she'd set aside to wear with it.

She went back to her bedroom. "Have you seen my…?" she began to ask Komi, but trailed off at the sight before her. "Everything you're wearing is mine," she finished in Tamaranean.

"You don't mind, do you?" Komi responded in English. She waswearing the white top, along with Kori's purple mini skirt, shiny silver jacket, and high silver boots.

"No, of course not," Kori answered. Her sister had bought her entire new outfits; it was dumb not to share clothes when they were the same size.

She stared at her sister a moment longer before diving into her closet to find something new to wear. The outfit Komi had put together made for a curious effect to Kori's eyes. They were clothes she owned, but she wouldn't have worn them together. She would've coupled the midriff-baring top with high-rise pants, the shimmery materials with more muted colors. Her sister's getup looked striking and show-stopping in a way Kori didn't know her clothes could look.

She ended up picking a crop graphic tee and a flowing mint green skirt instead, and they were off to The Comet.

Outside the club, Komi gave Kori's friends four fake ID's and Kori her own ID, and told them to go in first.

"What will you use?" asked Kori.

Komi had shrugged. "I'll just enter without an ID, they know me here."

In the ID, Komi wore her natural curls; Kori did look more like her sister's picture than Komi did right now. But Kori was stuck on wondering when on Earth Komi had been in this city before, and why the people at this club should know her.

Regardless, the Five advanced on the line for the elite club.

"I'm surprised your mom let you come, Rae," Vic was telling Raven. "She's gotten a lot more relaxed lately, hasn't she?"

"You could say so," she returned simply, looking away.

Gar turned 180 degrees round to her, because her tone had set off every alarm for him. "Or are you sneaking out?" he asked her with a twinkle in his eye.

"I am not sneaking out," she stated. Her voice got so cutting that even Gar left her alone.

They made it to the door. They held their breath as they showed their ID's, but they were accepted. Next thing Kori knew, she was in a sea of sweaty bodies, to music she couldn't recognize, and having lost sight of her friends.

Dick also lost sight of most everyone shortly after entering. He more or less kept seeing Vic, who towered over most people, and used him like a lighthouse to make sure he was close to at least someone.

It was Komi who found Dick, and pulled him into the floor to dance. "Stay by me and I'll protect you."

"From what?" he shouted back as he matched her rhythm.

"Getting your feet smashed. My dear Kori never did learn how to dance."

And Dick lost the beat. Given what he'd learned from Gar, he couldn't take Komi's words innocently anymore. He thought he was seeing through to her method—she moved in on Kori's friends, dazzled them, and put Kori down, and stole them.

How didn't I see it before? he asked himself. But he answered himself, Because you thought it was a bit of loving ribbing from a big sister. You didn't know she actually meant it.

Komila tried to stop him when he walked off without a word. "Hey, where're you going?"

"I'm going to find my best friend Kori," he told her.

He made his way among the sea of people. His brain got on mission-mode as he started planning how to methodically look through each floor.

And then the music stopped. A second later, the lights turned on. A police officer stood on the podium and announced this was a raid, and ordered everyone to stay still cooperate. People began to run for the exits.

Kori had the sense to follow the crowd. She didn't notice she was specifically chased until after a cop grabbed her arm and held her in place. When he cuffed her, she thought she was simply unlucky; only when he craned his neck and shouted "We got the girl!" she really started to worry.

"This can be really easy," said the officer across the table from Kori. "Just tells us where the coke is, and we'll let you go."

The cop had been trying to make her talk for way too long. Somehow Kori was still able to give a sweet smile. "I will not speak without a lawyer," she said for the umpteenth time.

The guy tried to laugh back. "You don't need a lawyer, we're just talking."

"I will wait for my lawyer," she reiterated. "Thank you for understanding."

She really thought they would just let her go eventually; but the issue seemed graver than she'd imagined. After what felt like hours, a lawyer actually arrived. Things moved quickly after she did: Kori clearly had no drugs on her, and even though she held the ID of their prime suspect, in her wallet there was also her library card and school ID, proving her a high school student of a different identity. The lawyer advised Kori to admit she had taken her big sister's ID and managed to reduce the crime to an infraction. Kori heeded her advice.

When Kori got her phone back, she had several missed calls from her friends and Galfore. None from Komila—she'd expected as much. A quick skim of the conversation on their group chat told her all her friends had gotten out. She sent a quick message to both the chat and Galfore's phone.

Kori (6:55 am): Everything is fine! I will be at home soon.

Then she left the station and grabbed a bus.

In the comfy nest she'd created on her airport seat, surrounded by her bags and with her face concealed by a wide brim hat, Komila looked up from her phone to see her little sister in front of her, seething. Komi's face blanched, but she schooled her features, stood and opened her arms for her sister. "Oh, Kori, you came to see me off! How… how did you even find me?"

"You always prefer the spot in front of the planes taking off," Kori stated. For the first time in hours she wasn't keeping the fury burning inside her from showing on her face; her sister's reaction told Kori she must look quite scary right now.

"…Right. You know me so well! I miss you already."

"Koma," started Kori, "did you attempt to set me up to be arrested for drug possession in your stead?"

Komi finally lost her smile. "Okay, that's a horrible thing to ask a sister-"

"Komila Myronovna Androkinova-"

"Okay, okay," Komi said, looking around worriedly. She gathered her bags and grabbed Kori by the elbow. "Let's talk outside."

People in the airport naturally and fearfully cleared a space around the sisters when they took their fight to the front of the building.

"Is this why you arrived later than Ryan said to expect you?" Kori demanded. "You were in Jump City, setting up this illegal commerce? You used my birthday to get me in a place where I would be arrested! How can you be so selfish?"

"I'm the selfish one? Did you even try and look at it from my point of view?" Komi returned.

Kori just looked at her, really interested to hear how she'd try to justify this.

Komila's voice took on a serious and emotional tone."You're sixteen as of yesterday, sister. You would be tried as a minor, and you have no record, so you'd get like a few days in prison and move on with your life. Whereas I could get a real sentence of years! You seriously can't even do this thing for me?"

Kori's disbelief made her go off in Tamaranean, "YOU! Are the most entitled! Egotistical! Machiavellian! Narcissistic! Big-headed…!"

Half an hour passed. Kori had been ranting in German for the last ten minutes—there was something about that language that was so satisfying to rant in.

Komi had sat through the tirade. "Are you done?"

"You are done!" Kori retorted in English, taking a moment to be proud of the retort. "You will march to the airport police and turn yourself in!"

"No I won't!"

"How could you think I would agree with this!?"

"I'm your big! Sister! You should be bending over backwards to support me!"

"You have not changed!" Kori cried. "I always give you chances but you have not changed! You are still awful! I feel genuine joy when I see you again, and you always ruin it!"

Komi crossed her arms and pouted. She assumed an insulted air and looked away. "You should be able to take a fall for your big sister. What happened to you, Korinka? Whatever happened to honoring your elders?"

"Koma, here is my deal," Kori responded in Tamaranean. "At the end of this day, either you will be in a cell, or we both will. You for the drug possession, myself for attempted murder aggravated by blood relation."

Komila was forced to accept her sister wouldn't budge. "Fine. I will serve my real sentence, instead of the play-pretend sentence you would, but you'll let me live with you after while I get back on my feet."

"No," answered Kori. "You serve your sentence, you leave the country immediately, and I do not tell our parents you were in jail."

"I'll go to jail, you let me stay, and I don't tell mom and dad you were at that party with me."

"You serve, I do tell our parents, and I sue you for emotional damage."

"You're going the opposite way!" Komi exclaimed. She huffed. "Okay. I serve the whole sentence, and I leave, but you have to pay the late cancel fare for the flight I won't take today."

Kori rolled her eyes. "Deal."

They shook hands on it.

When Kori got home, she told Galfore he didn't have to say 'I told you so'. He told her he never would have, and that she could tell him the story later, when she was ready. Kori laid on the couch, physically and emotionally exhausted.

Almost immediately there was a knock on the door.

It was her four best friends. They entered the apartment with backpacks, and from them they took out sleeping bags, snacks, and a board game.

Kori watched them take it all out and organize it on her coffee table. "What… what is this for?"

Gar said, "You wanted a sleepover, remember?"

Kori somehow found the energy to laugh. "But it's eight in the morning?"

"But it's what you wanted, right?" said Dick.

Kori willed herself not to tear up. "Yes. Yes it is."

They didn't realize it at first, but come Monday, the fabric of the school had changed irretrievably.

The first hint of the schism was the fact that, when the popular girls walked through the hallway, Kitty walked in the front, with Jade and Angel flanking her.

The reason why became clear by second period, when they first heard the rumors that Kitty was the new president of the yearbook committee.

"But she was already cheer captain," Vic said to Gar, who had brought the rumor.

"So?" asked Gar, who didn't get why so many people were whispering about this.

"Well, that's too much power," sentenced Vic. "It topples everything out of balance! Hm. I'm guessing it happened over the weekend."

Raven peered at him. "Are you suggesting that being humiliated by Komila and having Jade and Angel turn on her gave her the drive to finish consolidating power?"

"Watch her go for Angel's Christian club and establish a monarchy next," said Dick.

After school ended and before they went to the clubroom, Dick stopped Kori in the hallway, because there was still something he needed to ask her.

"Kori? Why'd you never tell me about your sister?"

Kori didn't understand. "What do you mean? I have told you many things about her."

"Only good things, though." Dick shoved his hands in his pockets, vaguely uncomfortable. "Gar says you told him she always stole your friends, and you were afraid the same would happen with us. If I'd known… I would have acted differently this weekend. We all would've."

Kori smiled and fell in thought for some time, like she wondered at her own behavior too. "I told Gar that because it was relevant to the situation we were in at the moment. But I do not go around saying that about Komila… because I guess I do not want others to see her that way." She doubted yet a while longer before confessing, "…I never got to do Blorthogmbeforebecause Komila always stole my friends."

"Then why would you even defend her?" Dick asked her.

"It is complicated." Kori still wore a small smile as she said, "But I have to face that, while Komi is my sister, she is not nice to me."

"Yeah. I know. I saw it clearly the other night."

Kori nodded. "She tried to make me serve her jail sentence."

"…Wait, what?"

"It was hard to stand up to her," Kori said, wistfully. "But I managed to make her take her own fall for her own misdeeds."

"Right," said Dick. "You mean she's in jail? Right now?"

"She is doing ten to twenty-five for drug trafficking," said Kori.

Dick decided that if Kori wasn't making a big deal out of this, he might as well let it go too. "Okay. What I don't get is, why didn't you tell us she was like this? We wouldn't have hung out with her. We would've told her to get lost."

"Because that is not what I wanted," insisted Kori. "My relationship with my sister is… complex. I do love her, though I cannot deny she behaves questionably. But she is… ever so much fun."

Dick cocked his head at her. "That's it? You tolerate her bullying and framing you because she's fun?"

Kori held her hands in front of herself and moved them, as if she struggled to explain with words. "I mean I have fun when I'm with her. I feel joy. She is my sister—she is a part of me. In her and in my brother I find things of my own self. I cannot have that with other people. That will never change."

Dick nodded, trying to understand. He guessed he'd have to have siblings to know what she meant—to want to keep someone around even if they didn't deserve it, even if you'd throw them into the sea if they weren't family.

He laid a hand on Kori's shoulder. "Kori, what I want you to know is, what happened to you will never happen again. Not with us. We are gonna be friends forever. You know that, right?"

"I do," she smiled. If she didn't know it before, now she was certain. No other group of friends had passed the Komi test before: Kori was truly in a world anew.

End of Mid-January.

Thus ends the Blackfire cameo! I had SO much fun writing her! And yes Dick continuing to talk about not having siblings IS tempting fate.

Next up: February. Terra is in this one. :)

~The Lighthouse